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One could literally build an Ossiarch army by rolling randomly and do well with it; Petrifax Elite sub-faction is that broken. And really, Ossiarchs are more about not screwing up than anything.

At any rate, my bets are:
Spearmen - generic battleline
Archers - battleline with lumineth allegiance
Cavalry - battleline with lumineth allegiance
Horny Elves - maybe battleline with cattlelord general?

Alarith Stonelords(the "bull helmets") will likely be Battleline with an Alarith Stonemage. I'd imagine the other Elementari Temples might be similar.

 Kanluwen wrote:
Alarith Stonelords(the "bull helmets") will likely be Battleline with an Alarith Stonemage. I'd imagine the other Elementari Temples might be similar.

Agreed. I wouldn't be surprised to see sub-factions based on the Elementari Temples at some point.

 Overread wrote:

 ingtaer wrote:
Also not a fan of the Cow Elves, mountain cow, nor the wizards but really like the spears and cavalry. That empty armour is a thing of beauty however and will be picking that up regardless, might have to get the starter set they announced if it seems like the army is playable with just those limited options (never played AOS before so have no idea).

Army building wise the only mandates are that you take leader and battleline minimum requirements for the point value of the game.

The bull aelves are unlikely to be battleline, whilst I'd imagine that the spears and cavalry and perhaps the archers will be battleline. So long as you take those minimums you can then build your army from whatever else you want up to the maximums (eg at 2K the max for leaders is 6); with no limits on troops, which form the bulk of the models in most armies. War engines and monstrous creatures are both limited (4 of each at 2K) so right now there'd only be 1 model that would fit into that (the huge bull avatar).

Now leaving out the elite infantry and avatar might leave you a little weaker or might leave you "not broken"; however you shouldn't have trouble with a solid core. Plus there's every chance GW might introduce other powerful options. Heck right now with Ossiarchs a whole army of deathriders (basic cavalry) can do pretty darn well.

That's what I am hoping for, that I can build an army with the spears, the Calvary and the archers. The hammer bros might be okay if I can do a head swap on them, and I wonder if they might have other weapon options than just the hammers. But I think I'll pass on the other stuff.

They do not have options other than "just the hammers". There's another hammer variant that has a crystal on the back, but these are effectively 'Aspect Warriors' in terms of a concept.

They're called "Alarith Stonelords".

"Alarith" is the Lumineth term for "Mountain", apparently, and the concept is that these Lumineth are trying to make amends for the Lumineth having destroyed Hysh during a philosophical schism.

There's four "Elementari Temples" that are participating in these, each devoted to a specific element: Mountain(Alarith--hence the "Alarith Stonemage", "Alarith Stonelords", and "Alarith Spirit of the Mountain"), Wind(we haven't seen the Lumineth name for them yet nor their associated unit/spirit), Zenith(same as Wind), and River(ditto). Each of the temples has a ritualized set of wargear(sound familiar, Aeldari players?!) associated with it. The Alarith helms have horns from a beast called a "Stoneheart" that dwells on these mountains and are effectively immortal unless they lose their horns--because wildlife in Hysh isn't just going to be crap like mountain goats, there are mountain goats that are magically immortal except for having an Achilles Heel of their horns. The horns are used by the Stonelords and the big 'cowlords' to channel the strength of the mountains(or in the case of the big things, to allow for the spirits to possess the construct intended for them to inhabit).

The link I put on the previous page with Phil Kelly is a tremendous thing to have right now for "figuring out" how this stuff is supposed to work.

What you're asking for, in the form of "an army with the spears, cavalry, and archers" is something they have already confirmed is doable. We've only been shown the 'neutral' side of things with a Teclisian bent towards the Elementari Temples. We've seen nothing from the Tyrionian side of things, which might be where we see more 'mundane' heroes.

Do we know that the Tyrionic side is part of this army? Similarly, do we know how many of the other elements actually engage in battlefield warfare? It could be something like Tau where they have four castes but only one of them really sees the tabletop.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
Do we know that the Tyrionic side is part of this army? Similarly, do we know how many of the other elements actually engage in battlefield warfare? It could be something like Tau where they have four castes but only one of them really sees the tabletop.

This was exactly my thinking. We dont yet know if theres any plans to actually make models for other elements.

Personally I think they'll be treated like Stormcast chambers, with a new model line every few years based on a different element. But it could just as easily be the Tau model.

Well interestingly the Tyrionic part of the Empire is the militaristic one so you would think they would be the ones getting models like the Fire Cast do?

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
Do we know that the Tyrionic side is part of this army?

It would be really weird for the build-up of mentioning the Lumineth as being devoted to Tyrion and Teclis and not having Tyrion involved.

We haven't really gotten much about the Tyrionic side of things(at least that I have seen), information-wise, just that the basic stuff(Dawnriders, Wardens, Sentinels) are effectively 'neutral' and would show up in a host devoted to either. It sounds like the Tyrionic side of things might be more hero-based than unit-based.

It also was kinda/sorta implied that the Elementari Temples may be more linked to Teclis than Tyrion because they are more warlike which seemed like a kinda weird thing to be said about Teclis?

Similarly, do we know how many of the other elements actually engage in battlefield warfare? It could be something like Tau where they have four castes but only one of them really sees the tabletop.

We see all but the Water and Earth Castes on the tabletop.
We see the Fire Caste repping the Fire Warriors, Battlesuits, etc.
Air Caste are repping the flyers.
Ethereal Caste is the Ethereals.

There is, technically, an Earth Caste model via Farsight but it's basically just a modified Riptide.

All of the Elementari Temples are supposed to get involved with warfare. It sounded a lot like the Alarith are really the only ones with such massive constructs due to the more nebulous nature of the other two 'big' elements(Wind and River) and the last one(Zenith) is one that seemed to be implied to be more of a 'mastery of the other elements' kind of deal.

I am wondering if they will be getting a whole different battletome.

I think, at most, it might be like Stux mentioned and some of the Elementari Temples or the Tyrionic side of things come later.

But if it's like I'm getting the vibe of?

They've been hinting/implying from what I've seen that Tyrion is more of a 'defender god' than a 'warrior god' these days. I wouldn't be shocked if what makes an army Tyrionic is having specific Tyrionic heroes that are kinda/sorta Paladinish in their appearances and playstyles.

Wouldn't be shocked if Light of Eltharion is part of the Tyrionic side of things to be honest.

Honestly I hope the next hero revealed is a loremaster remake. I just hope the Light of Eltharion isn't the only melee / spell caster hybrid this army gets. As much as I love the mages so far, I feel like we need a few more heroes if that makes sense.

I personnaly wonder if they will add the Phoenix Temple units to the the Lumineth. They are thematically very similar for obvious reasons and could represent the "fire temple" of the new Lumineth.

Phoenix Temple are in Cities of Sigmar, so probably not.

 Kanluwen wrote:
Phoenix Temple are in Cities of Sigmar, so probably not.

The Cities of Sigmar book introduced some sort of non-ally mechanic to include Sylvaneth units in Living City and Karadron Overlords in Tempest's Eye. Maybe they could make Phoenix Temple units available in both Cities of Sigmar and the Lumineth Realm Lords with slight differences when it comes to battle and command traits and artefacts in fairly the same way. I would personnaly find this rather smart. The Phenix Temple is basically four units so it's not like it's a huge part of the Cities of Sigmar either.

 Kanluwen wrote:
They do not have options other than "just the hammers". There's another hammer variant that has a crystal on the back, but these are effectively 'Aspect Warriors' in terms of a concept.

They're called "Alarith Stonelords".

"Alarith" is the Lumineth term for "Mountain", apparently, and the concept is that these Lumineth are trying to make amends for the Lumineth having destroyed Hysh during a philosophical schism.

There's four "Elementari Temples" that are participating in these, each devoted to a specific element: Mountain(Alarith--hence the "Alarith Stonemage", "Alarith Stonelords", and "Alarith Spirit of the Mountain"), Wind(we haven't seen the Lumineth name for them yet nor their associated unit/spirit), Zenith(same as Wind), and River(ditto). Each of the temples has a ritualized set of wargear(sound familiar, Aeldari players?!) associated with it. The Alarith helms have horns from a beast called a "Stoneheart" that dwells on these mountains and are effectively immortal unless they lose their horns--because wildlife in Hysh isn't just going to be crap like mountain goats, there are mountain goats that are magically immortal except for having an Achilles Heel of their horns. The horns are used by the Stonelords and the big 'cowlords' to channel the strength of the mountains(or in the case of the big things, to allow for the spirits to possess the construct intended for them to inhabit).

The link I put on the previous page with Phil Kelly is a tremendous thing to have right now for "figuring out" how this stuff is supposed to work.

What you're asking for, in the form of "an army with the spears, cavalry, and archers" is something they have already confirmed is doable. We've only been shown the 'neutral' side of things with a Teclisian bent towards the Elementari Temples. We've seen nothing from the Tyrionian side of things, which might be where we see more 'mundane' heroes.

it has little to do with "mundane" aesthetics. The Bulls literally do not look like they belong in the same faction, or even the same game. It's unfortunate that the hammer men are hammers only, but at least i now know where i stand. Looks like the starter box is a good deal for me.

 Togusa wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:
They do not have options other than "just the hammers". There's another hammer variant that has a crystal on the back, but these are effectively 'Aspect Warriors' in terms of a concept.

They're called "Alarith Stonelords".

"Alarith" is the Lumineth term for "Mountain", apparently, and the concept is that these Lumineth are trying to make amends for the Lumineth having destroyed Hysh during a philosophical schism.

There's four "Elementari Temples" that are participating in these, each devoted to a specific element: Mountain(Alarith--hence the "Alarith Stonemage", "Alarith Stonelords", and "Alarith Spirit of the Mountain"), Wind(we haven't seen the Lumineth name for them yet nor their associated unit/spirit), Zenith(same as Wind), and River(ditto). Each of the temples has a ritualized set of wargear(sound familiar, Aeldari players?!) associated with it. The Alarith helms have horns from a beast called a "Stoneheart" that dwells on these mountains and are effectively immortal unless they lose their horns--because wildlife in Hysh isn't just going to be crap like mountain goats, there are mountain goats that are magically immortal except for having an Achilles Heel of their horns. The horns are used by the Stonelords and the big 'cowlords' to channel the strength of the mountains(or in the case of the big things, to allow for the spirits to possess the construct intended for them to inhabit).

The link I put on the previous page with Phil Kelly is a tremendous thing to have right now for "figuring out" how this stuff is supposed to work.

What you're asking for, in the form of "an army with the spears, cavalry, and archers" is something they have already confirmed is doable. We've only been shown the 'neutral' side of things with a Teclisian bent towards the Elementari Temples. We've seen nothing from the Tyrionian side of things, which might be where we see more 'mundane' heroes.

it has little to do with "mundane" aesthetics. The Bulls literally do not look like they belong in the same faction, or even the same game. It's unfortunate that the hammer men are hammers only, but at least i now know where i stand. Looks like the starter box is a good deal for me.

Honestly I think I disagree with you on that. The armor does a good enough job to make them match the rest of the army in my opinion, matching the hammer guys and spear guys armor enough to fit in the same army, and it does a good job of playing up the greco Roman theme with a more high born Minotaur style. At least that’s what I get out of it personally, but I can accept it’s not for everyone. I’m just glad it’s not a variation on a construct of dead elven souls like a wraith knight or the eidolon...

I also feel that the battle cattle fit in with the rest of the faction quite well. They did a very good job of making what is at its core a giant bestigor look completely non-chaos. But it will not appeal to everyone and that is OK.

 Tiger9gamer wrote:

 Togusa wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:
They do not have options other than "just the hammers". There's another hammer variant that has a crystal on the back, but these are effectively 'Aspect Warriors' in terms of a concept.

They're called "Alarith Stonelords".

"Alarith" is the Lumineth term for "Mountain", apparently, and the concept is that these Lumineth are trying to make amends for the Lumineth having destroyed Hysh during a philosophical schism.

There's four "Elementari Temples" that are participating in these, each devoted to a specific element: Mountain(Alarith--hence the "Alarith Stonemage", "Alarith Stonelords", and "Alarith Spirit of the Mountain"), Wind(we haven't seen the Lumineth name for them yet nor their associated unit/spirit), Zenith(same as Wind), and River(ditto). Each of the temples has a ritualized set of wargear(sound familiar, Aeldari players?!) associated with it. The Alarith helms have horns from a beast called a "Stoneheart" that dwells on these mountains and are effectively immortal unless they lose their horns--because wildlife in Hysh isn't just going to be crap like mountain goats, there are mountain goats that are magically immortal except for having an Achilles Heel of their horns. The horns are used by the Stonelords and the big 'cowlords' to channel the strength of the mountains(or in the case of the big things, to allow for the spirits to possess the construct intended for them to inhabit).

The link I put on the previous page with Phil Kelly is a tremendous thing to have right now for "figuring out" how this stuff is supposed to work.

What you're asking for, in the form of "an army with the spears, cavalry, and archers" is something they have already confirmed is doable. We've only been shown the 'neutral' side of things with a Teclisian bent towards the Elementari Temples. We've seen nothing from the Tyrionian side of things, which might be where we see more 'mundane' heroes.

it has little to do with "mundane" aesthetics. The Bulls literally do not look like they belong in the same faction, or even the same game. It's unfortunate that the hammer men are hammers only, but at least i now know where i stand. Looks like the starter box is a good deal for me.

Honestly I think I disagree with you on that. The armor does a good enough job to make them match the rest of the army in my opinion, matching the hammer guys and spear guys armor enough to fit in the same army, and it does a good job of playing up the greco Roman theme with a more high born Minotaur style. At least that’s what I get out of it personally, but I can accept it’s not for everyone. I’m just glad it’s not a variation on a construct of dead elven souls like a wraith knight or the eidolon...

Do we know how big the bulls are? Are they demon sized or something more like the dreadnought size?

Comparison and teaser pics we've been shown leads me to think that the Stonelords are going to be about the size of Bloodthirsters, and standing on the same base.

 Thadin wrote:
Comparison and teaser pics we've been shown leads me to think that the Stonelords are going to be about the size of Bloodthirsters, and standing on the same base.

True, but some art pieces show the battle cattle to be the size of 40k Titans, so I wonder if the Big Version as shown in the art is the "true" size of them and the smaller ones are just aspects, like avatars of Khaine.

Honestly all I am hoping for is an Akhelian King Esque lord at this point. I would love to be able to represent a captain of my own making, just because I am a special snowflake.

I was completely on board with this army until the cow stuff showed up. Now I am instead pledging my blade to the Dark Gods. What a total disappointment. If they had stuck to a conservative High Elf look, I think they would have made a boat load of money.

Even though I am dark elf player to the core, the new releases got me excited to collect some new high elves, but then the cow and hammer aesthetic showed up.. I still may just get a very small part to collect for painting purposes.

ingtaer wrote:Also not a fan of the Cow Elves, mountain cow, nor the wizards but really like the spears and cavalry. That empty armour is a thing of beauty however and will be picking that up regardless

Bloviator wrote:I was completely on board with this army until the cow stuff showed up. Now I am instead pledging my blade to the Dark Gods. What a total disappointment. If they had stuck to a conservative High Elf look, I think they would have made a boat load of money.

This, same for me.

The "basic troops" and cavalry had me really excited, but the latest stuff could not impress me less. It doesn't matter really, since I have more than enough projects already, I just feel a bit disappointed after the great start.

The cow stuff doesn't do much for me, but I figure I'll just wait & see how the whole project turns out before passing any real judgment.
The main concern will be "How much of my old non-CoS High Elf stuff can I re-use?". For that I don't need to care about cow models or even lore.

I think one of the main issues is that people are still hung up on high elves.
For some reason they expect them to come back from the grave, so anything different is instantly bad.

They are mountain elves, their fluff and back story push this heavily, so expect a theme that fits.


The mallets look horrible, but they do have alternate heads for them luckily which look less comical.
The helmet decorations also look out of place, maybe better as masks with the horns shortened a bit.

The battle cattle is a win for me.
Really do love how it looks and it’s different at the same time.


But seriously, all this “but high elves used to” just needs to stop, these aren’t high elves.



Don’t get me wrong, I loved the whole high elf theme, but it’s gone for now (likely forever since they ported over characters)



This is no different from how players were screaming at OBR because they weren’t tomb kings.

It’s also no different than it will be when a mounted army releases and people expect bretts.

Nah. It's that people don't care unless they can proxy their old gak.

These aren't "mountain elves" or "high elves". These are Teclis' Aelves, called the Lumineth. They referred to themselves as "Realmlords" because of the powers they controlled and the fact that they chose to reshape Hysh to their liking.

It didn't go so well and now you have the elemental temples where some Lumineth go and devote themselves to one of the elements to try to bring balance back to Hysh. Alarith('Mountain' rune) are the elemental temple of the Mountains. Phil Kelly explained it in the video I linked earlier(which I even helpfully queued up to him talking) as a Lumineth will go to the mountains and basically undergo a 'trial' from the mountain's spirits to prove themselves worthy. If they succeed, they'll be granted a measure of the mountain's strength. The horns on their helmets come from a functionally immortal creature that is linked to these mountains which the Stonewardens have used as the basis for the construct that the Mountain Spirits enter. The masks are centric to the whole spirit angle, allowing for the spirits to possess the constructs.

 Kanluwen wrote:

These aren't "mountain elves" or "high elves". These are Teclis' Aelves, called the Lumineth. They referred to themselves as "Realmlords" because of the powers they controlled and the fact that they chose to reshape Hysh to their liking.

It didn't go so well and now you have the elemental temples where some Lumineth go and devote themselves to one of the elements to try to bring balance back to Hysh. Alarith('Mountain' rune) are the elemental temple of the Mountains. Phil Kelly explained it in the video I linked earlier(which I even helpfully queued up to him talking) as a Lumineth will go to the mountains and basically undergo a 'trial' from the mountain's spirits to prove themselves worthy. If they succeed, they'll be granted a measure of the mountain's strength. The horns on their helmets come from a functionally immortal creature that is linked to these mountains which the Stonewardens have used as the basis for the construct that the Mountain Spirits enter. The masks are centric to the whole spirit angle, allowing for the spirits to possess the constructs.

Blah blah blah....
Doesn't change my opinion that the models equipped with mallets & horned helmets look stupid.
Fortunately I've only seen 4? units (spears/cav/Teclis/mallets) of the range. 2 I like, 1 I'm neutral on, 1 I won't waste $ on. Two of those I know will cover some of my existing High Elves. So I'll just wait & see.

Dude, i love the new giant cows. I'm so getting 2-3 of them.... For my BoC army. Oh you thought i was getting them for the Aelves? Heck no thats stupid.

Random thought - I wonder if GW in India is a big thing - if not I wonder a good/lawful faction of cow god asthetic models might sell really well out there. Remembering that its only a sort of western view that looks down on "Cows"