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Do you prefer the classic or modern GW naming convention?
Classic, more generic names
Modern, copyright-friendly names

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Made in us
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 Grimtuff wrote:
 Da Boss wrote:


This is most notable to me with the new Space Marine stuff. The Primaris Marines have names that are kinda meaningless and samey to me, and when I read them I have no clear idea of what they are describing. Assault Marines, Tactical Marines and Scouts were at least clear. Terminators and Devastators, a bit less so, and I have always thought Terminator was a bit of a crappy name - Cataphract is actually a much better one, conjuring up heavy armour in my mind.


I have the same feelings with Primaris, with several of the units beginning with the letter I blending into one another.

The sole exception is Intercessors. The name fits, as an Intercessor is someone who intervenes on behalf of someone else, usually via prayer. They are meant to be the proverbial cavalry that came in the Imperium's darkest hour to save them. Fits perfectly with the "knightly" feel that Marines are supposed to evoke.


I can understand this even it I have grokked Primaris unit names. I do think there are a fair number that work just like Intercessors (Infiltrators, Reivers, Suppressors). While the In- prefix is silly and over done, there is almost a type designation going on there. With In-prefixes units mostly being troops, E-prefixes being Heavy Support and potentially Hell ______ being special weapons teams in Tactius armor. Of course, there already a number of exceptions that makes it not work. Looking at you Inceptors.

I personally don't find any worst than Eldar stuff. I suffer from Finecast blindness (as in I skip pass considering getting any them). So when a player brought in their old Eldar stuff to play a game but didn't really remember what it was that was an ordeal. I didn't really realize it at the time since I built my whole army myself, but codices don't always inform the player what everything is all that easily. It didn't help that I believe that Eldar army had Forgeworld in it as well. Even now I couldn't tell you which is which between a Wraithlord, Wraithknight, Wraithseer or if there are more Wraith_____ units. Except they are the ones I would think they would be.

So new or old you get used to the names with familiarity. I know I have played my fair share of 40k players that didn't seem to know thing one about space marines (Firstborn, Primaris, Chaos or whatever). I would have thought that to be like living in a big city and never seeing an airplane. Sure, it could happen but still seem unlikely.
   
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Nuremberg

Definitely part of it for me is not "growing up" with the new names and therefore finding them a bit sillier. I can see that. Doesn't really change how I feel about the names though!

   
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Longtime Dakkanaut






New names are slowed. I much prefer the old ones.

   
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Longtime Dakkanaut




 Da Boss wrote:
T It is an ass backwards way of looking at it like GW is the centre of all fantasy stuff and people are coming to it through them first - I just don't think that is so! I think most people would come from general fantasy first and then probably see the models somewhere and search for them.

Given the fact that GW sales probably outweigh literally all of the other fantasy/scifi wargames sales put together, given that they have by far the highest mainstream presence, I'd say it is the most likely way someone would get introduced to it. Even if they just wanter into a model/game store, they'll see two things on the shelves most prominent these days- GW and the (amazing quality, btw!) D&D official models. Anything else will be purely based on luck.
   
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Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

Old.

The Adjective Nounverb stuff that GW vomits out is awful. Embarrassing, even.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/12/12 01:00:08


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Cronch wrote:
 Da Boss wrote:
T It is an ass backwards way of looking at it like GW is the centre of all fantasy stuff and people are coming to it through them first - I just don't think that is so! I think most people would come from general fantasy first and then probably see the models somewhere and search for them.

Given the fact that GW sales probably outweigh literally all of the other fantasy/scifi wargames sales put together, given that they have by far the highest mainstream presence, I'd say it is the most likely way someone would get introduced to it. Even if they just wanter into a model/game store, they'll see two things on the shelves most prominent these days- GW and the (amazing quality, btw!) D&D official models. Anything else will be purely based on luck.


For sure, it was the same for me. I walked into the local toy shop and saw the 5e Slaan Mage Priest and I was like "WTF is this?!" I thought it was awesome.

But crucially, my introduction to the fantasy genre was not at that moment, it was from fantasy literature. And video games too, to an extent, probably much more of an extent for young people now, that and movies. But in that literature, stuff had the traditional names. So my interest came from that, and I was not particularly interested in the name GW gave it, I understood what a Lizardman was (from Conan cartoons) and that was what drew me to it.

So in that sense I would say most people come to GW from generic fantasy or sci fi, and a much smaller minority are coming to fantasy and sci fi from GW. If you are in the market for this sort of game you almost definitely have some sort of primer to pique your interest. For me it was fantasy novels and 2000AD comics, for kids nowadays it is probably video games and movies moreso, but the point I think still holds.

   
Made in us
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Classic, by a mile. The new copywrite names are just.... so.... LAAAAAAAAAAAME. It's self-parody.
   
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Legendary Master of the Chapter





SoCal

 LunarSol wrote:
I like the direction of the new names, but find they're not as catchy as they could be. Gloomspite Gitz, for example, is a catchy non-generic name for Goblins. A lot of the faux-latin lacks gravitas even when pronounced correctly.


I’m on the complete opposite side on this issue. “Gloomspite” is just two words shoved together that pass right out of my mind, whereas a distinct name that hints at meaning stays with me longer.

For example, the sword Excalibur sounds cooler than Master Sword, Guandao is more interesting than Green Crescent Dragon Blade, and even The Six Finger Sword sounds more mysterious and important than Farslayer even though it shouldn’t.

It’s like energy blasts in DBZ sound better in Japanese than translated, Makankosappo vs Special Beam Cannon.

TLDR: Gloomspite sounds like a flavorless translation of a cooler name.

As for the faux Latin, it depends on how well it hints at something larger rather. I don’t mind “Astra Militarum” as much as “Tempestous Scions” because the former sounds like an old institution across a large span and the latter sounds like it was a polite way of saying “spoiled brats”.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/12/12 20:20:34


   
Made in us
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Dallas, TX

Old; I have no idea what it’s being referred to when they talk of judicators, is that the storm cast with spears? Or the ones with bows. I understand they did it to have brand rights, but to us normal folk, it’s too nerdy.
   
Made in fi
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TheGenuineMetz wrote:I feel like there's a lot of emphasis placed on having two words in a name. Idoneth Deepkin feels unnecessary when Deepkin would do, with "Idoneth" being the in-setting name they have for themselves, like Asuryani for high elves.
That's it for me. The new double names just make no sense either in-universe or as a description outside of it.
Dwarfs were called Dwarfs because that's what they were. People in-universe could plausibly have called them that, or a similar name in their own language, and it made sense as a name for a product towards the customers. They called themselves Dawi, but rebranding the products as such would have been less descriptive. Rebranding them as Dawi Dwarfs would only make sense if to differentiate them from some other kind of Dwarf, and in this instance is strange because they are synonyms. The new AoS names don't make sense in-universe, they don't make for catchy or practical product names, and they don't really have any good reason to exist. They just don't work on any level.

The more unique names for fantasy races are equally pointless. Aelves I can live with (and happily live without), but Orruks and Ogors or whatnot just feel like misspelled names more than anything. They clearly aim for some level of recognition without actually wanting to be the thing people know, because uniqueness.
   
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NC

There has been three eras of 'naming' it seems.

Era of the Common Naming Originally, things were just named Dreadnought, Scorpion, Terminator, Warrior, etc. Occasionally, we'd get unique names such as Nob, Carnifex, Incubi, etc. Flavorwise, it seemed like an Imperial Officer graduated from the academy and was asked to name things.

Era of a Five-Year-Old Naming: Then came the era when GW went all in on Space Marines. We got Thunder Wolffire Missiles with Wolfy Wolfy Wolfmarines riding Thunderwolf Yiff Yiffies. We had Bloody Bloody Sanguinary Bloodmarines with bloody whatever the hell they wanted. Everything was devoid of creativity. Xenos had it terrible with Pyrovores, Toxithropes, and Wraithblades. It was all derivative and awful. It was like some five year old named everything.

Era of Bloat: At least now, we've gone back to the fantasyish names. Sure we have Aeeaetldarri and such that changed their names purely for copyright reasons. The names are not awful. We have Intercessors, Reivers, Aberrants and Triarchs. This rather fits in nicely next to things such as Dreadnoughts, Incubi, and Zoanthropes. It was like an Imperial Researcher graduated in some highly specialized field of study and decided to name things in some overly complex manner in an effort to impress someone. Some things may also be derivative, but a "Contemptor Dreadnought" or other verber nourns and adjective nouns is more of a symptom of unit bloat in Marinehammer.
   
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 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

As for the faux Latin, it depends on how well it hints at something larger rather. I don’t mind “Astra Militarum” as much as “Tempestous Scions” because the former sounds like an old institution across a large span and the latter sounds like it was a polite way of saying “spoiled brats”.


That really did make me LOL

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Not really fussed either way.

I do prefer Astra Militarum, but use both. I really like Drukhari. But it’s Orcs, Ogres, Trolls and Gobbos.


   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

The issue is that so many names would be fine if they just dumped one of the words. Nurgle, by far, got hit the worst here, both in 40k and AoS, and removing a single word often fixes it instantly:

Foetid Bloat-drone
Biologus Putrifier
Foul Blightspawn
Feculent Gnarlmaw
Myphitic Blight-hauler
Pusgoyle Blightlords
Putrid Blightkings (and I still think they should've been called Blight Knights, but that's my own hang-up...)
Sloppity Bilepiper

And it's expanding further. As far as we know, there is a single type of Slaangor in the upcoming AoS Slaanesh release. If there were more, the new Warcry book would have included them (this is a 95% certainty though, so we could be wrong here). But they're not called Slaangors, they're called Slaangor Fiendbloods. This implies that there are other types, yet they're not included. It's just another two words mashed together for no reason.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I do prefer Astra Militarum...


It genuinely makes me cringe when I hear people say that out loud.

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"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
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SoCal

I think it could have worked reversed, as someone mentioned earlier.

Militarum Astra
Militarum Tempestus
Militarum Prefectus
Militarum CRASSUS

   
Made in se
Regular Dakkanaut




Sweden

 Pacific wrote:
Hey folks,

I'm not sure if this has been a poll previously (apologies if so!)

I was listening to a discussion on a podcast recently where the hosts were discussing how to pronounce 'Ynnari', 'Aelves' and that 'Fyreslayers' is spelt with a Y (there was some disagreement!)
I'll be honest that while I think it's fair enough that AoS (as a new game) had it's own branding as large parts of it are essentially a new game universe, some of the changes applied to 40k and existing ranges hasn't sat as well with me.
So for example:
Imperial Guard -> Astra Militarum
Eldar -> Ynnari

I also think even within AoS, as an effort to 'build brand' and copyright some of the names are a lot less relatable; I think Sky Dwarves would have been a better name than Kharadron Overlords for example!

Is this just because I'm a grognard and set in my old ways? I do find it a lot more complicated these days to keep on track with all of the names*. Sea Elves would have meant a lot more to me than Idoneth Deepkin for example!

*(although let's not get started on paint names, where I'm trying to track down a paint and find it has been changed three times since!)

How does everyone else feel about it?
(I don't give a damn, gimme them minis is also a legitimate viewpoint!)



"Sea Elves" and "Sky Dwarves" are desciptions, not names.
In your logic, Asians would be called "yellow-ish humans", Africans would be "Brown people" and caucasians would be "pale peach people".

However, when people casually talk about Warhammer, they use the nicknames, or the old names. It's only people new to the hobby that uses the official names. ^^ At least when it comes to 40k.
You ARE a grognard and set in your old ways, but so am I. However, there's still a huge difference between a desciption and a name. "Texans" is a name for people coming from Texas. "Biggest state yee-haws" would be a description.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Absolutionis wrote:
There has been three eras of 'naming' it seems.
Some things may also be derivative, but a "Contemptor Dreadnought" or other verber nourns and adjective nouns is more of a symptom of unit bloat in Marinehammer.


So what would that different type of Dreadnought be called? Dreadnought V2? Dreadnought B? If there are different types of a certain unit type -like Dreadnoughts- there need to be a name difference.
"-I shoot at your dreadnought."
"-What Dreadnought?"
"-Uhm... The Dreadnought."
"-Yeah, but what Dreadnought?"
-"The one on the right of the other Dreadnought."
-"Oh, you mean my Dreadnought. Got it!"

If there are different types of a certain unit type -like Dreadnoughts- there need to be a name difference.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Kall3m0n wrote:
 Pacific wrote:
Hey folks,

I'm not sure if this has been a poll previously (apologies if so!)

I was listening to a discussion on a podcast recently where the hosts were discussing how to pronounce 'Ynnari', 'Aelves' and that 'Fyreslayers' is spelt with a Y (there was some disagreement!)
I'll be honest that while I think it's fair enough that AoS (as a new game) had it's own branding as large parts of it are essentially a new game universe, some of the changes applied to 40k and existing ranges hasn't sat as well with me.
So for example:
Imperial Guard -> Astra Militarum
Eldar -> Ynnari

I also think even within AoS, as an effort to 'build brand' and copyright some of the names are a lot less relatable; I think Sky Dwarves would have been a better name than Kharadron Overlords for example!

Is this just because I'm a grognard and set in my old ways? I do find it a lot more complicated these days to keep on track with all of the names*. Sea Elves would have meant a lot more to me than Idoneth Deepkin for example!

*(although let's not get started on paint names, where I'm trying to track down a paint and find it has been changed three times since!)

How does everyone else feel about it?
(I don't give a damn, gimme them minis is also a legitimate viewpoint!)



"Sea Elves" and "Sky Dwarves" are desciptions, not names.
In your logic, Asians would be called "yellow-ish humans", Africans would be "Brown people" and caucasians would be "pale peach people".

However, when people casually talk about Warhammer, they use the nicknames, or the old names. It's only people new to the hobby that uses the official names. ^^ At least when it comes to 40k.
You ARE a grognard and set in your old ways, but so am I. However, there's still a huge difference between a desciption and a name. "Texans" is a name for people coming from Texas. "Biggest state yee-haws" would be a description.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Absolutionis wrote:
There has been three eras of 'naming' it seems.
Some things may also be derivative, but a "Contemptor Dreadnought" or other verber nourns and adjective nouns is more of a symptom of unit bloat in Marinehammer.


So what would that different type of Dreadnought be called? Dreadnought V2? Dreadnought B? If there are different types of a certain unit type -like Dreadnoughts- there need to be a name difference.
"-I shoot at your dreadnought."
"-What Dreadnought?"
"-Uhm... The Dreadnought."
"-Yeah, but what Dreadnought?"
-"The one on the right of the other Dreadnought."
-"Oh, you mean my Dreadnought. Got it!"

If there are different types of a certain unit type -like Dreadnoughts- there need to be a name difference.

I do agree that there's somewhat of a unitbloat in most armies and SM escpecially, but it would be damn boring with one dread, one tank, one infantry, one airplane and so on.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2020/12/13 02:05:16


Nurgle protects. Kinda.
 
   
Made in gb
Walking Dead Wraithlord






The poll suggest people are not fans of dumb nonsense names like Facemeltorz or Megadestructors ???? Ohhhwww naaawww...

Who could have guessed

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/12/13 04:26:04


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AngryAngel80 wrote:
I don't know, when I see awesome rules, I'm like " Baby, your rules looking so fine. Maybe I gotta add you to my first strike battalion eh ? "


 Eonfuzz wrote:


I would much rather everyone have a half ass than no ass.


"A warrior does not seek fame and honour. They come to him as he humbly follows his path"  
   
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Primaris still need a unit called "Iterators" just sayin.

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Newcastle, OZ

I much prefer their old names.

No, not "space marines", "Imperial guard", etc.

"Space marines", "Space elfs", "Space orks", "Space Dwarfs".

You knew what was wot, in those days.

I'm OVER 50 (and so far over everyone's BS, too).
Old enough to know better, young enough to not give a ****.

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Monticello, IN

Does anyone SERIOUSLY think the lore was improved by making the Elves the Aeaeaeaeaeaeaeaelves?

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 CthuluIsSpy wrote:
Its AoS, it doesn't have to make sense.
 
   
Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter





SoCal

 Just Tony wrote:
Does anyone SERIOUSLY think the lore was improved by making the Elves the Aeaeaeaeaeaeaeaelves?


No. Didn’t they already call themselves the Asuri or something like that? Why wouldn’t GW use a name hat sounds alien and already exists in the lore instead of dredging up the lame 90’s marketing fad of misspelling known words?

   
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 Absolutionis wrote:

Era of a Five-Year-Old Naming: Then came the era when GW went all in on Space Marines. We got Thunder Wolffire Missiles with Wolfy Wolfy Wolfmarines riding Thunderwolf Yiff Yiffies. We had Bloody Bloody Sanguinary Bloodmarines with bloody whatever the hell they wanted. Everything was devoid of creativity. Xenos had it terrible with Pyrovores, Toxithropes, and Wraithblades. It was all derivative and awful. It was like some five year old named everything.


I believe the five-year-old was Matt Ward


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Pacific wrote:
lord_blackfang wrote:I prefer intelligent old names like tyranid units being named after anciant roman military ranks or british slang for horrid old women.

Nowadays the Lictor would probaby named something like Chamelelurking Stealthscyther.


Brilliant

Agree about the Harridan (and remember the Dominatrix!)


Termagant also means a horrid old woman! Mad props to whomever went against the grain in the 5-year-old era and named the Harpy and Crone.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/12/13 08:18:15


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Sweden

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
 Just Tony wrote:
Does anyone SERIOUSLY think the lore was improved by making the Elves the Aeaeaeaeaeaeaeaelves?


No. Didn’t they already call themselves the Asuri or something like that? Why wouldn’t GW use a name hat sounds alien and already exists in the lore instead of dredging up the lame 90’s marketing fad of misspelling known words?


Asur, Druchii and Asrai - High Elves, Dark Elves and Wood Elves, respectively.

 Pacific wrote:
I also think even within AoS, as an effort to 'build brand' and copyright some of the names are a lot less relatable; I think Sky Dwarves would have been a better name than Kharadron Overlords for example!

Is this just because I'm a grognard and set in my old ways? I do find it a lot more complicated these days to keep on track with all of the names*. Sea Elves would have meant a lot more to me than Idoneth Deepkin for example!


I think Sky Dwarfs is a terrible name as well, it's so on the nose - Kharadron works just fine, just... drop the "Overlords"-part. Kharadron Overlord sounds like it should be to an Admiral what a Warboss would be to a Big Boss.

Honestly, I think it's part grognard, part the new names just being needlessly long or overly descriptive. Idoneth Deepkin could have easily been just Idoneth and it would still work.

I agree with H.B.M.C. - a lot of the names sound like they should be for subfactions, not just individual units. Putrid Blightkings I kind of like, but... shouldn't there be more kinds of Blightkings? Foul Blightkings, Feetid Blightkings, Dyspeptic Blightkings; if there's only a single kind of Blightking unit, then the Putrid-part is just superflous.
   
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Fixture of Dakka







 lord_blackfang wrote:
Termagant also means a horrid old woman! Mad props to whomever went against the grain in the 5-year-old era and named the Harpy and Crone.


While the Crone was a new unit, I'm pretty sure the Harpy existed in Epic back in t'day, in the same way the Trygon, Exocrine and Haruspex did, so this would likely just be them using the appropriate existing name for the unit. I guess the Crone came around as they looked for a synonym for Harpy, tbh.

*EDIT* - Huh, that was the Harridan, not the Harpy, but I can see how they got from A to B there. Was FW making an actual Harridan at the time?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/12/13 10:20:11


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My Pile of Potential - updates ongoing...

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 Kanluwen wrote:
This is, emphatically, why I will continue suggesting nuking Guard and starting over again. It's a legacy army that needs to be rebooted with a new focal point.

Confirmation of why no-one should listen to Kanluwen when it comes to the IG - he doesn't want the IG, he want's Kan's New Model Army...

tneva82 wrote:
You aren't even trying ty pretend for honest arqument. Open bad faith trolling.
- No reason to keep this here, unless people want to use it for something... 
   
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Pointed Stick wrote:

"Master-Crafted Instigator Bolt Carbine"

"Twin Icarus Ironhail Heavy Stubber"

"Wyvern Quad Stormshard Mortar"


I feel this would save a lot more of my time both in sayin' the names as well as in processing the written words...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
 Just Tony wrote:
Does anyone SERIOUSLY think the lore was improved by making the Elves the Aeaeaeaeaeaeaeaelves?


No. Didn’t they already call themselves the Asuri or something like that? Why wouldn’t GW use a name hat sounds alien and already exists in the lore instead of dredg


Because Asuri is a much less known word, and GW wanted people to know their new brand from a word they already know.

...

So they used a mispelling of the word that already exists and widely known by the general public in such a way that nobody knows how it's supposed to be spelled in order to look it up...

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2020/12/13 16:18:31


 
   
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H.B.M.C. wrote:The issue is that so many names would be fine if they just dumped one of the words. Nurgle, by far, got hit the worst here, both in 40k and AoS, and removing a single word often fixes it instantly:


I look at this way, how often do you hear people calling units Tactical Dreadnought Armor? Lots of older units have longer names that few, if anyone, uses fully. So what if some things have longer names now? More often than not most will reduce it to shorten version. Sure, it's unnecessary most of the time, but it isn't really hurting anything either. So I am not really phased by it.

It is certainly preferred to the number of things called Warriors in GW games. I mean I can think of three things of the top of my head with name. Granted, that's a little unfair given all Warriors also have their faction as part of their name. Though even Chaos Knight is two different units dependent on the game being talked about. Yeah, a lot of times there isn't likely to be a category of say Bilepipers, but just in case there is the naming convention is ready for it.

Just Tony wrote:Does anyone SERIOUSLY think the lore was improved by making the Elves the Aeaeaeaeaeaeaeaelves?


When I seriously don't think it was impaired by the change. I could also argue that elf is a pretty loaded name that brings a lot of baggage with it. While aelf isn't that far removed, and obviously done for legal reasons, it also allows the audience to understand these creatures aren't necessarily the same as Santa's, Tolkien, Celtic or more modern incarnations of elves. Though they probably share many, many similarities. If asked, "Why bother then?" I would counter with, "Why would it bother someone then? If it isn't really that big of a deal."

***

I do actually prefer the modern naming conventions. You want to know why? In the case of Age of Sigmar, it freshens up a very tired and well-worn genre for me. It brings me back to the early days of Dungeons and Dragons when the DM would describe a monster or something, and because I didn't have any frame of reference (Greek mythological monsters not withstanding) it ignited my imagination. I get a little bit of that when I hear something like mindstealer sphiranx. The name is a little mystery to solve. Mindstealer means it might have some psychic or magic abilities to read minds or maybe even take control of them. While sphiranx seems like a messy version of sphinx, so I can expect a have half-humaniod half-cat like monster. That's the kind of thing I used to live for playing D&D. Imagine getting a job to hunt a monster plaguing a town. The legend calls it a Mindstealer Sphiranx but little else is known about it. The name gives some clues, but doesn't give away the whole thing. And when your character finally encounters it all the details and assumptions you made come into focus and you get to see just how close your imagination came to what the monster really was.
   
Made in gb
Ultramarine Librarian with Freaky Familiar





H.B.M.C. wrote:The issue is that so many names would be fine if they just dumped one of the words. Nurgle, by far, got hit the worst here, both in 40k and AoS, and removing a single word often fixes it instantly:

Foetid Bloat-drone
Biologus Putrifier
Foul Blightspawn
Feculent Gnarlmaw
Myphitic Blight-hauler
Pusgoyle Blightlords
Putrid Blightkings (and I still think they should've been called Blight Knights, but that's my own hang-up...)
Sloppity Bilepiper
Agreed, but because it's a pretty simple change for me to do myself, I quite like the new names.

I think it's certainly a case of "if you grew up on it, you're used to it".
Biggest example being tanks, Tau battlesuits, or Eldar aspects, and some of the more familiar looking Space Marine chapters (seriously, Emperor's Children are traitor, but Blood Drinkers are loyal? That's a definite subversion).


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Saturmorn Carvilli wrote:
I do actually prefer the modern naming conventions. You want to know why? In the case of Age of Sigmar, it freshens up a very tired and well-worn genre for me. It brings me back to the early days of Dungeons and Dragons when the DM would describe a monster or something, and because I didn't have any frame of reference (Greek mythological monsters not withstanding) it ignited my imagination. I get a little bit of that when I hear something like mindstealer sphiranx. The name is a little mystery to solve. Mindstealer means it might have some psychic or magic abilities to read minds or maybe even take control of them. While sphiranx seems like a messy version of sphinx, so I can expect a have half-humaniod half-cat like monster. That's the kind of thing I used to live for playing D&D. Imagine getting a job to hunt a monster plaguing a town. The legend calls it a Mindstealer Sphiranx but little else is known about it. The name gives some clues, but doesn't give away the whole thing. And when your character finally encounters it all the details and assumptions you made come into focus and you get to see just how close your imagination came to what the monster really was.
Agreed. And I'd also like to tie in on the "freshening up the genre" in how they've done the Lumineth and Kharadron - associating elves and cows/bulls is definitely off the beaten track, and getting dwarves out of the ground and into the skies is a nice way to take them.

If we went for the "Sky Dwarves" or "Sea Elves" kinds of description, we'd be referring to Skaven as "Rat Men" or Mechanicus as "Robot Men".

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2020/12/13 16:53:41



They/them

 
   
Made in us
Dakka Veteran




 H.B.M.C. wrote:
The issue is that so many names would be fine if they just dumped one of the words. Nurgle, by far, got hit the worst here, both in 40k and AoS, and removing a single word often fixes it instantly:

Foetid Bloat-drone
Biologus Putrifier
Foul Blightspawn
Feculent Gnarlmaw
Myphitic Blight-hauler
Pusgoyle Blightlords
Putrid Blightkings (and I still think they should've been called Blight Knights, but that's my own hang-up...)
Sloppity Bilepiper

And it's expanding further. As far as we know, there is a single type of Slaangor in the upcoming AoS Slaanesh release. If there were more, the new Warcry book would have included them (this is a 95% certainty though, so we could be wrong here). But they're not called Slaangors, they're called Slaangor Fiendbloods. This implies that there are other types, yet they're not included. It's just another two words mashed together for no reason.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I do prefer Astra Militarum...



It genuinely makes me cringe when I hear people say that out loud.


This!

Are all bloat drones foetid? Are there other bloat drones that aren't foetid? Who cares!?

Are all ghoul kings abhorrent? (checks interwebz) Yup. Why bother telling us?

No such thing as a regent above regents, either.

Some banshees are Myrmourn, some Tomb? What the feth?

Stormcast units I can't keep straight. TempestORs, ConucssORs, JudicatORs (this one would be fine were it not for the others) ProsecutORs..........

Monsters in LOTR make BRUTAL Power Attacks. Haven't finished reading the current rulebook yet, but are there other power attacks that aren't brutal? HOW DOES THIS HELP US UNDERSTAND THE RULES OR ENJOY THE GAME?!?!?!?!
   
Made in us
Inspiring SDF-1 Bridge Officer





Mississippi

GW can take its new names and get stuffed.

Still call 'em Imperial Guard, for one.

It never ends well 
   
 
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