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 Kanluwen wrote:
Bear in mind, you might be talking about the novel while I'm talking about the little fluff/profile book that came with Soul Wars proper.

I could understand the confusion with regards to Malendrak as it talks about Anvils of Heldenhammer holding a gate and Malendrak's men doing the same--but it makes it clear that he's holding a different gate.

I was talking about the Soul Wars novel.

 Nova_Impero wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

 Nova_Impero wrote:
There was a Stormcast in Soul Wars that was transformed into a Knight of Shrouds, but at that point, they are no longer a Stormcast.

You're referring to Malendrak, right?

He wasn't a Stormcast. He was Freeguild.

I was talking about Pharus Thaum. Although, I'm trying to think if he turned into a Knight of Shrouds or not now.

He wasn't turned into a Knight of Shrouds. He was something altogether different. Ever since that book I've felt like GW wants to do Undead Stormcast which is cool IMO. I'd prefer that over Chaos Stormcast.

 Red Comet wrote:

 Nova_Impero wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

 Nova_Impero wrote:
There was a Stormcast in Soul Wars that was transformed into a Knight of Shrouds, but at that point, they are no longer a Stormcast.

You're referring to Malendrak, right?

He wasn't a Stormcast. He was Freeguild.

I was talking about Pharus Thaum. Although, I'm trying to think if he turned into a Knight of Shrouds or not now.

He wasn't turned into a Knight of Shrouds. He was something altogether different. Ever since that book I've felt like GW wants to do Undead Stormcast which is cool IMO. I'd prefer that over Chaos Stormcast.

That makes sense. For some reason, I thought he turned into one.

 Kanluwen wrote:
Additionally, I don't know if anyone has mentioned it yet or not but the March(Assassins) issue of White Dwarf has Phil Kelly talking about Stormcast.

People make comparisons between Stormcasts and Space Marines, but Stormcast don't fall to Chaos. Instead they become more and more ordered with every reforging--they lose their ability to register morality in shades of grey and begin to see it only in black and white, wrong and right. In a way, that's just as scary as a noble warrior falling to Chaos, because while they are technically on the side of Order, the Stormcast Eternals are uncompromising, lethal and brutal in the pursuit of their goals. What price will the people of the realms have to pay for salvation at their hands?

Good to know, thanks.

Well, if Undead Stormcast becomes a thing, welcome back some of the TK line, led by Settrus/Settra! I could see the Necrosphynx coming back that way; maybe Ushabti. Necroknights would be tough, but Stalkers could return!! Could be an AWESOME army on the table.

Undead Sigmarines would be fun, but I have a feeling GW is not going to go that route. Now as I said I don't know modern background very well, so there may be something in there, but GW seems to try to establish very distinct faction identities for new model releases these days. Marines get Primaris (technically something that if they respected established background would have been a Chaos thing thanks to Fabius Bile instead of Imperial) which sets loyalists and traitors apart. Meanwhile, Chaos Marines get revamped to feature a much more clear faction identity (talking about Thousand Sons and Death Guard here) including all new units that double down on the faction's theme. Similarly, you could have put any kind of Dwarf side by side in Fantasy without trouble, but they went to a lot of trouble to exaggerate Fyre Slayers and Overlords to easily distinguish both faction, even if they are both dwarfs and the core theme had been present in the old setting.

As such I doubt we'll get undead Sigmarines in anything but name - a soul that used to be sworn to Sigmar now in service of Nagash. Visually, I would not expect any crossover, which to me defeats the purpose of have and undead (or the other classic, a Chaos) version of something.

I'd happily throw money GW's way if they made Tomb King kits available again, though.

 Red Comet wrote:

 Nova_Impero wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

 Nova_Impero wrote:
There was a Stormcast in Soul Wars that was transformed into a Knight of Shrouds, but at that point, they are no longer a Stormcast.

You're referring to Malendrak, right?

He wasn't a Stormcast. He was Freeguild.

I was talking about Pharus Thaum. Although, I'm trying to think if he turned into a Knight of Shrouds or not now.

He wasn't turned into a Knight of Shrouds. He was something altogether different. Ever since that book I've felt like GW wants to do Undead Stormcast which is cool IMO. I'd prefer that over Chaos Stormcast.

Correct - bit more info here:

http://whfb.lexicanum.com/wiki/Pharus_Thaum

 Geifer wrote:
Undead Sigmarines would be fun, but I have a feeling GW is not going to go that route. Now as I said I don't know modern background very well, so there may be something in there, but GW seems to try to establish very distinct faction identities for new model releases these days. Marines get Primaris (technically something that if they respected established background would have been a Chaos thing thanks to Fabius Bile instead of Imperial) which sets loyalists and traitors apart. Meanwhile, Chaos Marines get revamped to feature a much more clear faction identity (talking about Thousand Sons and Death Guard here) including all new units that double down on the faction's theme. Similarly, you could have put any kind of Dwarf side by side in Fantasy without trouble, but they went to a lot of trouble to exaggerate Fyre Slayers and Overlords to easily distinguish both faction, even if they are both dwarfs and the core theme had been present in the old setting.

As such I doubt we'll get undead Sigmarines in anything but name - a soul that used to be sworn to Sigmar now in service of Nagash. Visually, I would not expect any crossover, which to me defeats the purpose of have and undead (or the other classic, a Chaos) version of something.

I'd happily throw money GW's way if they made Tomb King kits available again, though.

Honestly I think they might do the undead Stormcast at some point, but if they do they already have a precedent for them not looking super similar to the original stormcast. Click that lexicanum link that Mr. Morden linked and you'll get a good idea of what they'll look like. They'll look as visually distinct from a stormcast as a chaos space marine looks like from a normal space marine.

I could live with that kind of distinction. As long as such a model build on the familiar appearance (and with Sigmarines that is undoubtedly the armor) and just throws on faction specific modifications, I'd buy that in a heartbeat.

I'm planning on theming the few Sigmarines I have around Shyish just like my free people. I never liked the bobbleheads plastic Tomb Guard got. On the actual models, that is. They'll make fine skull masks for my archers. I probably even have enough to outfit my easy to build Liberators and the Ballista I'll eventually buy. Add a Castellant and I'll have a nice little allied force of Sigmarines. All I need after that is some fortifications to man.

That's as close as it'll get until we get actual rules for undead Sigmarines with matching keywords and all. That would be fun to have.

I'd much rather Sigmarines remain their own, exclusively Order thing. AoS is already stuffed to the brim with them when they're part of one faction. Let the other three have their own identities beyond "Chaos/Undead/Savage Marines" Introduce elite armies by all means, but we don't need four varieties of Not!PowerArmour.

For example, I'd love to see the power level of Vampires taken up and Soulblight expanded into a full force of elite shock troops that could go toe-to-toe with them.

Honestly I'd take anything that expands Grand Alliance Death. That said, of all the undead around I like spirits the least. So of course GW would choose them to expand Death with new models...

Just to say, we can't even seem to get a single plastic vampire on foot. Closest thing to that will be the Archregent when it gets its separate release, but that's Flesheater Courts and not Soulblight. And for a Grand Alliance that is just the relabeled Vampire Counts models (now with extra spookiness!), that's pretty dire. So sure, I'd take fleshed out vampires on principle alone.

But models aside, I don't know what kind of identity you are looking for. Look at the diverse range of Order armies. Where's the identity overlap between capitalist dwarf sky pirate, isolationist murder trees and and crusading lightning boys. Other than trying to push their world view on the rest of the world, which is no more substantial than everything in Death being undead. And the best thing about it? It gives people the choice to pick a faction they like while sticking to an overarching theme. Why should that be an exclusive feature of Order?

Nagash has what, eight Mortarchs? Each with their own portfolio? Manni can still do things Sylvania style with an assembly of creatures of the night led by vampires, while Neferata gets all the hot vampire chicks. So you already have two Mortarchs that share the vampire angle. How much more room for vampires is there before GW has to branch out and do something else?

In spite of never playing them, I always thought Richter Kreugar's company was a great addition to Fantasy simply because it wasn't all human skeletons and emphasized that as long as it's dead, it can, will and should be pressed into service. Now contrast that to the actual models we have, which is for the most part peasants, nobility and critters from a small province of the Empire. I think in the context of Age of Sigmar and the many themes of the Mortal Realms, that's very limited in scope and has plenty of room for expansion. Honestly my first choice would not be more Sylvanian looking stuff. As much as I'd like to see new vampires, too.

 Geifer wrote:
In spite of never playing them, I always thought Richter Kreugar's company was a great addition to Fantasy simply because it wasn't all human skeletons and emphasized that as long as it's dead, it can, will and should be pressed into service. Now contrast that to the actual models we have, which is for the most part peasants, nobility and critters from a small province of the Empire. I think in the context of Age of Sigmar and the many themes of the Mortal Realms, that's very limited in scope and has plenty of room for expansion. Honestly my first choice would not be more Sylvanian looking stuff. As much as I'd like to see new vampires, too.

I don't think you need specific rules for the undead of different factions, even the Cursed Company just treated skellie as skellies. Though it would be cool if GW did some tutorials on converting undead from other AoS factions, in a similar vein to their recent videos on Chaos Cultist conversions. It could add a bit of visual diversity to skellies/zombies we see on tabletops.

As for stuff that expands Death, there's still plenty they could do with vampires -- Necrarch style vampires and lesser vampires wielding magically infused weapons or Blood Dragon style armoured vampires. There's no reason why either of those would need to be inherently Sylvanian in style. Personally I'd love to see a Zombie Pirates of the Vampire Coast type release, especially since Harkon was a Mortarch and they all still seem to be kicking around.

We need the vampire heavy unit of Total War Warhammer Vampire Pirates in miniatures for AoS.

They just look so good.

 nurgle5 wrote:

 Geifer wrote:
In spite of never playing them, I always thought Richter Kreugar's company was a great addition to Fantasy simply because it wasn't all human skeletons and emphasized that as long as it's dead, it can, will and should be pressed into service. Now contrast that to the actual models we have, which is for the most part peasants, nobility and critters from a small province of the Empire. I think in the context of Age of Sigmar and the many themes of the Mortal Realms, that's very limited in scope and has plenty of room for expansion. Honestly my first choice would not be more Sylvanian looking stuff. As much as I'd like to see new vampires, too.

I don't think you need specific rules for the undead of different factions, even the Cursed Company just treated skellie as skellies. Though it would be cool if GW did some tutorials on converting undead from other AoS factions, in a similar vein to their recent videos on Chaos Cultist conversions. It could add a bit of visual diversity to skellies/zombies we see on tabletops.

As for stuff that expands Death, there's still plenty they could do with vampires -- Necrarch style vampires and lesser vampires wielding magically infused weapons or Blood Dragon style armoured vampires. There's no reason why either of those would need to be inherently Sylvanian in style. Personally I'd love to see a Zombie Pirates of the Vampire Coast type release, especially since Harkon was a Mortarch and they all still seem to be kicking around.

Just a bit of clarification since I was tired when writing that and it didn't quite come across as intended (no promises this one will be any better ), when admiring the variety in Kreugar's company I mean the actual models. As you say, there's no reason we need different rules for skeletons of roughly the same size. My problem is that there is no practical way to acquire an army's worth of non-human skeletons. Even converting different zombies is a lot of work and I wouldn't do that above skirmish level. So I'd certainly appreciate it if GW could do something about that.

I've started to doubt the point of Blood Dragons when the latest generation of von Carsteins rolled around and suddenly sported heavy armor. It invaded on the distinct feature of Blood Dragons, and any heavily armored vampire unit Death might get to give the Von Carsteins more options would certainly not make it any easier on Blood Dragons to show their own identity. I guess Blood Dragons could go the way of Brettonia. No, not squatting. Just a fully mounted army, and with the way GW doesn't want to do horses anymore those mounts might just be little dragons with a big one for character (as we already have one). Or something. Never really cared for Blood Dragons myself, so I'm not exactly qualified to think up anything.

Similarly, even though Necrarch distinctly fill the role of butt ugly old dude vampires, the Von Carsteins getting Buff vampire faces (as a friend of mine put it) kind of intruded on their domain as well.

Of course all of this is me dwelling on the past and GW would certainly give them their own visual identity if they redid them. They're good at that these days. Especially Necrach who don't have any legacy models GW wants to consider keeping around, which is what the probably have to do with the Zombie Dragon rider.

I'd certainly take Zombie Pirates, but I think goblin sky pirates are ahead in the queue and it would be impolite to jump ahead.

Preferably I'd like to see something which is distinctly AoS and not just a rehash of old stuff. I'd take that, too, mind you. The more undead, the better. But I think the best Age of Sigmar releases so far have been those without a direct equivalent in the old setting, trying to make something new and give the game and its armies their own personalities.

 Galas wrote:
We need the vampire heavy unit of Total War Warhammer Vampire Pirates in miniatures for AoS.

They just look so good.

They have this awesome faction in Total Warhammer that AoS is lacking, with, like, mummies and sphynxes and stuff! GW should totally make an AoS army like that!

I am busy writing some army fluff and stories for my Stormhost and I had some questions.

- How tall are Stormcast Eternals and what’s the reasonable upper limit for this?

- How physically strong is a Stormcast Eternal?

- How powerful is a Stormcast Eternal versus a mortal man? Five men? Ten men? A hundred men?

- Are the Sacrosanct the only Stormcast mages or can all Stormcast do “cantrips”? For example cleaning their armour, healing minor wounds, making torch lights?

Stormcast are pretty powerful and also run high on endurance too.

Their armour alone would make them many times stronger than a human and I would say that in stature and power they are comparable to Chaos Warriors. So many times but nowhere near 100 times (although in stories such statements are often very crude anyway)

In addition they appear to need very little food and water and very little sleep. Apparently able to march for days on end and fight at the end. This suggests that they tire very slowly and are able to recover from exertion far quicker. And this is also through chaos infested lands and thus even more wearing on mental and physical status (not to mention that you can't forage off the land).


Strength wise they are strong but its their ability to move and fight almost without sustenance and rest that makes them fearsome warriors. They can press home a rout or invade deep behind front lines and remain battle ready. Think of them as comparable to world war 1 tanks - they are powerful, but can be taken down, but their real strength is being able to push far past the limit of a human and deep into enemy lines. Smashing and crushing all before them.


As for mages they show some pretty awesome power in books like Pestilence.

They are a bit like Marines in that their power varies depending on the narrative needs (in fact a bit like Vampires)

They do tire but at a slower pace as has been noted, they are highly resiliant but not immune to disease and plague.

They can't do magic/call upon Sigmars power except fro specific members.

They are big boys and girls and tower over "mortals".

 Mr Morden wrote:
They are a bit like Marines in that their power varies depending on the narrative needs (in fact a bit like Vampires)

Aye I'd also wager that we might see the power of the average warrior reduce somewhat in the lore and background stories from the initial Realmwars series. Which isn't bad, Realmwars is Stormcast fresh from the forge, all forged but one time; all fresh to wage war on Chaos. If we see them diminish a little as the lore settles that's no bad thing and would fit with more of them being reforged and some of the power of the storm from the initial surge of invasion reducing.

Also don't forget they draw power from Sigmar so some variation makes sense. In Inferno 2 (or 1 but I think its 2) there's one story where one has fallen and been captured within an Ogors fighting pit and he's powerful, but not as strong (it seems) as his fellows. It would seem that an individuals power might well be reliant on how well they are linked with Sigmar.

Adding to the last one, so far only Sacrosanct members can do proper spells, but other stormcasts have access to prayers and some innate abilities (Neave Blacktalon can phase-shift pretty much, all knights relictors can call upon Sigmar's Storm to heal or destroy etc.), and the more often you respawn, the more "godly" and less mortal you become, so you lose parts of your mortal psyche, but often gain supernatural abilties (that might or might not be useful- for some, it's just lightning "leaking" from eyesockets, for others like Gardus Steelsoul, he can glow with Sigmar's light, healing the sick and burning the wicked).