AoS N&R (‘The Last World" p134. Adepticon preview p131)

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**Da Boss**

The feet are the worst part of that kit for sure, but I dunno how you could design a foot that works on a walking castle-robot without making it look too sci fi.

The legs themselves aren't too bad - lots of cogs and chains to give the impression of it being some sort of mad, improbable contraption rather than a mech.

But it's waaaaay too far in a particular direction for me. I never even liked Steam Tanks and Gyrocopters, always refused to use the 'copters in my Dwarf list even though they were a no brainer for some mobility in the old dwarf list.

I think it's hard to justify the firearms not spreading to all other factions if all other factions can loot a cog fort, why can't they loot some of those nice rifles and machine guns the cities people are using? So for me it doesn't work as a cohesive setting, which has always been one of AoS's problems for me- it had too many legacy kits from the Old World for it's own identity to come through, it was always designed as a parking lot for Fantasy concepts rather than it's own setting from the ground up.

**Kid_Kyoto**

Overread wrote:
You wait until the Cogfort ARMY is a thing

Codex Cogfort Kingdoms!

I remember many ages ago some griping about units like Pegasus Knights and whole armies of Ogres, I mean, yeah. But that ship done sailed and sailed back with a hold of spices and silks from the Orient. It's a bit too late to complain about stupidity in GW games, that's always been part of the charm.

So for me still no AoS playing but I can definitely see a Mobile Oppression Precinct being added to my Arbites. It's a Precinct but it's Mobile, to better Oppress.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
(Come to think of it a faction that just does nutty clockwork weapons and vehicles would get my vote)

**SamusDrake**

A little more on that Daughters of Khaine mini-game in White Dwarf...

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/tuuxdman/inside-white-dwarf-523-imperial-knights-defilers-and-more/

Outside the 41st Millennium, the Daughters of Khaine get gladiatorial with their own new mini-game, reenacting the deadly trials of Draichi Ganeth – the Tower of Blades.

First, you build a team of custom challengers by selecting their fighting styles, origins, and flaws – a great opportunity for customising some miniatures if ever there was one. Then, you’ll send them up the floors of the infamous tower, battling vicious creatures** and dealing with unexpected twists as you climb as high as possible for the glory of Khaine. How far up will you get?

**Ashiraya**

Da Boss wrote:
I think it's hard to justify the firearms not spreading to all other factions if all other factions can loot a cog fort, why can't they loot some of those nice rifles and machine guns the cities people are using? So for me it doesn't work as a cohesive setting, which has always been one of AoS's problems for me- it had too many legacy kits from the Old World for it's own identity to come through, it was always designed as a parking lot for Fantasy concepts rather than it's own setting from the ground up.

I always assumed it's like Final Fantasy. Tech exists, but does not necessarily beat magic, so does not simply replace it. And AoS is an immensely magical setting.

Yes, a Cities of Sigmar arquebus can be looted by their foes. But...

Greenskins? Might not care to understand it.

Disciples of Tzeentch? Kairic Acolytes already throw fireballs, what need have they for a black powder gun that isn't any stronger?

Seraphon? They have poison blowpipes that can fell monsters as it is. Bullets, pfsh.

And so on. Those factions that have both the technological inclination and physical ability (ie, not fat-fingered gargants) to do anything with that arquebus already have something of their own that's comparable or better. Daughters of Khaine fight with blades for religious reasons (the main exception being the very magical Melusai bows). Skaven have their own better (maybe...) guns. Chaos Warriors similarly focus on melee for religious and cultural reasons, they don't even bother with so much as a warbow.

**Overread**

This is always something "odd" with fantasy settings in that there's often a LOT of basically hyper-racism in terms of technological spread in settings.

Sometimes its covered by the tech being very new, eg steam tech in the Old World for the Empire.
Or its a faction who are naturally isolated from most others such as Skaven

Or running on a resource that's very limited in access - can also throw warpstone in for Skaven there too as most factions can't get hold of the stuff and even if they could its not healthy for them to do so.

That said there are also practical reasons too which you can even see with modern real world armed forces. Such as

1) Comprehension - you might be able to loot stuff, but having your regular infantry comprehend how to use, maintain and utilize it over their regular trained gear is the problem. So whilst a single squad might master it; it will never enter general service - and wargames typically show general service items and extreme exceptions but not hte stuff in the middle.

2) Maintaining. So you steal a musket - great. But you've got no infrastructure to maintain, rearm and repair those stolen muskets. So they are great for one fight, but thereafter its a dead lump of metal and wood that you can't really use.
Again, even if you can work it all out; you might lack access to a ready source of things like gunpowder to make it work.

3) Equivalents. You don't need a musket when you've trained for generations and can shoot an arrow from a bow with just as deadly a result. Magic often goes a long way here in covering over the whole aspect of making things similar in impact in the setting.

**Mad Doc Grotsnik**

There’s also using it safely.

I mean, I could probably, just about, load and fire a musket or black powder field cannon.

But can I do it right? Or safely? Or am I more likely to encounter the sort of error that you only make once. Either because you’ve been blowed up, you’ve blowed up the cannon, or both. And if you blew up the cannon on the Cogfort…I’d imagine it’s going to be missing a significant portion after.

And I’m a (fairly) rational Smelly Hooman Bean. How well do you think an Orc or a Skaven is gonna be? Warplock Engineer might be alright, provided they get to it before some Clanrat looking to improve their lot.

**Da Boss**

I reckon a firearm is probably easier to use than a torsion based war machine, and Orcs have always had plenty of those. Not easier to make, but easier to use for sure.

**Ashiraya**

I would not be surprised if the greenskins do use looted cannons in-universe from time to time. But because they don't make them on their own, they are not plentiful enough to be a faction mainstay.

This does happen with the Ogors, however. The Ironblasters are all looted or commissioned since the Ogors do not craft cannons themselves (and yes, they do commission them - AoS Ogors can be forward-thinking). I doubt the Orruks would bother paying others to craft them, though.

**Mad Doc Grotsnik**

It’s also what you can be bothered to repair, or can successfully bully Gobbos into repairing and maintaining on your behalf.

So, if they found one? I’m sure Orcs would enjoy a cannon. They’re big, noisy and messy. Lovely stuff. But as soon as it gets dented or clogged? That’s probably about it.

**kodos**

https://www.tga.community/forums/topic/44679-age-of-sigmar-the-last-world-rumour-thread/?page=69#comment-778196

Hi all,
Thanks to @Snarff who reached out to me with the info about where to look, we found out a series of The Last World information that we think is quite solid and worth sharing, so everyone can have a better view of the bigger picture or even create some interaction with proper rumourmongers.

We've summarised it in the following bullet points:

-Archaon will kill Sigmar (again, our source also said in a way that's 'disgusting', more than what Boole let on).

-This leads to Stormcast going crazy, and even fighting a civil war against CoS. Celestant Prime also potentially dies here. Due to Sigmar's death they can no longer reforge.

-Azyr is gone, but before his death Sigmar merged the rest of the realms.

-1000 Year timeskip, mortal characters will be dead. Some will be brought back (no details on how) or we will find new characters that coincidentally are too similar. Others will become generic models. Models will be fine, no squatting.

-Game will be called Age of Sigmar: The Last World

-This change is done to make the setting more approachable to 40K/WHFB fans, and to sell us new models with the new aesthetic.

-Previous lore will be largely ignored. It's a hopeless new world (a la 40K). It's not a 'soft reboot', it's a new world that will coincidentally share armies with the old realms.

-Most characters will not remember what happened during the transition.

-It's not '8 realms on a map', it's them all stitched together into something resembling Medieval Europe and the WFB world. Some landmarks will remain, but mostly in terms of name. They're bringing in a lot of WHFB-like locations like 'Nine Peaks, a Duardin hold overrun by Gitz and Skaven'. Current Cities of Sigmar will be placed on the Europe continent and populated by medieval Germans.

-Stormcast Eternels can no longer reforge, so instead of reforging, they will inject Sigmarite/Sigmar's essence into highly trained mortals to refill their ranks. They will also burn hundreds of wizards every day, but we don't know the purpose.

-CoS is fully empire/imperium. Xenophobic against all other species, religiously fanatic and split into Aqsha/Ghyra who worship Sigmar (he's dead) and Taal respectively.

-Both CoS and SCE will be searching for pieces of Sigmar and Sigmarite (think Ur-Gold). New Stormcast will have more skulls, litanies, candles, soul-fire, purity seals, and loincloths like Grey Knights or Black Templars

-No real mention of Beastmen/Beasts of Chaos

-The 'not-Cathay' faction are potentially evil nomadic snake-worshippers who worship an Eastern divine Snake

That said, please, don't reach out to us privately or ping us because this is all we know, and it would be hard for us to find something else at all.

Also, don't shoot the messenger, please. In the end, we share this because we think it is solid and handy, but rumours and rumours and the only way to know what is going to happen is waiting for a year until we get the proper reveal by GW.

Thanks!

Note: The timing might not be the best, but this is not an April Fool's joke

**Angronsrosycheeks**

lmao, If they do this they will genuinely kill the game outright, which makes me just a bit doubtful of the whole thing, even more than the original leak.

**Vorian**

Boole came along:

Thanks for adding to the rumors — happy to fill in some of the gaps too:

SCE still have the ability to Reforge, but it works completely differently now
They’ve become more like the Crusaders from Diablo — when an SCE dies, their weapons and armor are shattered by a thunderbolt, and the power is transferred into a successor, along with their hopes and legacy
So when an SCE dies now, it’s a permanent death

At some point in The Last World, SCE and CoS did come into conflict
But after that, they grew closer, enduring The Dark Time together
The SCE are now revered by the CoS, mainly because the people no longer fully understand what the SCE really are
They don’t live among them, but the SCE still act as the shield of Order, fighting on every front, for the CoS and for Sigmar

In The Last World, the Age of Sigmar is now remembered as the Age of Myth

People barely believe that there were once eight Old Realms

After those realms were destroyed, The Last World fell under the rule of Chaos — a period known as The Dark Time

It wasn’t until the Cities of Sigmar on different continents reestablished contact and unified again that The Dark Time came to an end
That’s when the Sigmarite Calendar began

During The Dark Time, humanity reforged alliances with the Duardin, Aelves, and Seraphon, standing together ever since

As for Sigmar’s death — that’s really just a claim made by Chaos cultists
We’ve gone back and reviewed that part, and we’re pretty sure Sigmar is not dead
The 5th Edition Core Book actually devotes an entire chapter to what happened to him, complete with illustrations:

According to Sigmar’s followers, he created The Last World and then vanished — but before that, he defeated Archaon
There’s a detailed illustration of this

According to Chaos cultists, Sigmar created The Last World and vanished — but in their version, Archaon found him and killed him in the most brutal way possible
Also has an illustration

What both versions agree on is this: Sigmar disappeared right after creating The Last World
The only thing they confirm is that he met Archaon before vanishing
But in the later parts of the book, Archaon is just as absent — he’s gone into hiding for unknown reasons.

What really convinces us Sigmar is still alive are the events in the book
Multiple times, he directly intervenes through divine miracles, wiping out Chaos forces and protecting the CoS and SCE
Archaon refuses to show himself whenever these miracles occur
Classic storytelling — sure sign he’s still around

The CoS are now split into two nations — one of which is called the Sigmarite Protectorates — but that’s mostly because they’re located on different continents
By the time the narrative of The Last World begins, the CoS have already reunited across the seas, functioning again as a unified faction
They’re collectively called the Sigmarite, and both continents are home to many of the cities we know — some have been renamed, but they’re still the same cities:

On the continent made up of Aqshy, Ghur, and Chamon:
Hammerhal
Hallowheart
Tempest’s Mourn
Embergard
Port Misthavn
Sturmcrag
Ulfenkarn

On the continent formed from Shyish and Ghyran:
Wyld Holme (which was Hammerhal Ghyran)
Greywater Fastness
Lethis

Realmstone and Endless Spells still exist — no changes there

There’s also a new resource called Blessed Godstone, which comes from the shattered fragments of Azyr
During The Dark Time, huge amounts of Godstone fell as meteors across The Last World
Most of it was originally statues of Sigmar from Azyr
Now these fragments hold immense power, and the CoS swarm to wherever they land, mining them and hauling them back to their cities
They see it as proof that Sigmar’s will still walks the world — that he’s not dead and continues to protect his people
Naturally, every time a new Godstone deposit is discovered, it sparks a war

For the enemies of CoS, Godstone is just as valuable
It can banish Daemons and the Undead, serve as the core component for rituals, or let a mortal wield powerful magic with just a small fragment
Pilgrim-navigators also rely on it — they carve it into symbols they believe represent Sigmar’s guidance, using it to lead armies through Realmgates without falling to Chaos

Funny thing, though: even though Sigmar is gone, he can still send down meteor showers of Godstone to help the CoS and SCE push back their enemies. Archaon clearly knows what’s going on, which is why in The Last World, the Everchosen has pulled back to the Eightpoints in the Northern Ruinlands, gathering Chaos forces

As for The Last World feeling a bit too much like WHFB — there are plenty of differences:
For starters, even the humblest peasant can use magic
And the Small Spirits of CoS still show up everywhere, helping people with their tasks
The map of The Last World also doesn’t match the real world — the continents are literally just the original Eight Realms maps cut up and stitched together
Honestly, it’s actually pretty cool

In addition to the two main continents, there are three islands:
Ulguroth (with the Umbral Veil) （DoK）
Jungles of Izta（Seraphon）
Hyshia（CoS Settler’s Gain and Lumineth）

And finally, four new factions appear on different parts of the map, each with their own concept art:
Karujin (not-Grand Cathay) (We believe this is the Yuan Dynasty of China)
Kingdom of Lorennar (not-Bretonnia)
Hanzor Fiefdoms (not-Nippon)
Ursal Chiefdoms (not-Kislev)

**nels1031**

Ninja’d

Initially flabbergasted, but Boole’s clarification does make the pill easier to swallow.

Definitely not bothering with any AoS BL books that might be coming out, or ones in my backlog or haven’t purchased yet.

**MobileSuitRandom**

Yeah ... so the point is to have TOW as a grimdark low-ish fantasy Warhammer setting and AoS as a grimdark surrealist high fantasy Warhammer setting? I mean, why not, even kind of makes sense conceptually, feels a bit more like 40k Gathering Storm changes rather than WHFB End Times I guess

**Billicus**

I've never been keen on the bubbleverse side of AoS but I expect people who are real fans of the game probably are. SCE being functionally immortal I've never liked much although the degradation was a good evolution of the idea and brought some stakes back. Overall this sounds really cool to me but I am at best a casual AoS fan (bought a few starters, played a handful of games, played quite a lot of Spearhead, never really engaged fully with the lore).

**Nevelon**

The fact that this reads like a parody and tomorrow is April 1st is at war in my head with the fact that’s it’s the kind of thing GW might actually do.

I’m going to doubt it for now.

**OrlandotheTechnicoloured**

Sounds like pure april fools nonsense to me

**Platuan4th**

We still have a year before we really find out, but I think I'm out if this happens. I like the Realms(honestly, it's not that different from having the different planes in D&D) and just turning it into "The World That Was but Different" doesn't appeal to me as a setting since we have Old World.

**streetsamurai**

This has to be an april fool joke cause it sounds like an absolute gakshow

**BertBert**

Crossing my fingers for you AoS fans that this is not happening to you.

**nels1031**

BertBert wrote:
Crossing my fingers for you AoS fans that this is not happening to you.

Meh, its not nearly as drastic as End Times. Probably closer to the rift in 40K on the grand scale, though it'll suck for people who are attached to certain mortal characters. Boole (who was the original reliable rumorposter and was doom and gloom about the changes) has warmed up to it, per the quote above. New factions is always fun, if that's true.

Functionally, on the grand scale it makes the Realms a bit easier to wrap ones head around.

**Alpharius**

streetsamurai wrote:
This has to be an april fool joke cause it sounds like an absolute gakshow

..it is suspiciously close to that date.

Though it wasn't posted by K_K...?

**Grimskul**

Does feel a bit weird since I feel like the last couple of editions is what really fluffed out the mortal realms a bit compared to how barebones it was at the very beginning and now they're doing another soft-reset on the setting. I do think some Grand Alliances are getting a bit bloated and there needs to be some consolidating, but as far as the lore itself goes this kind of feels like it's going too far to do that.

**Da Boss**

If it's an April Fool's it's in poor taste - the point of that is that it's confined to the day itself, and upsetting people like this would be really unpleasant.

But I think it'd require co-ordination of too many different people for that to be the case, and I could see this being true.

Port Misthavn is probably my least favourite - Port Mist Port.

**Ashiraya**

This feels like trolling on purpose.

Look at what it's actually saying.

A thousand years has passed, barely anyone remembering the previous world?

Calling Age of Sigmar the "Age of Myth" (which is the name currently used for the in-universe age after Sigmar arrived in the Realms but before Chaos did)?

Injecting mortals to create new Stormcast?

A hundred wizards sacrificed a day?

This is blatant trolling. It's a mix of "we're doing an End Times on AoS too!" and "we're grabbing a bunch of stuff from 40k!" It feels written by someone who hates AoS and just wants to upset people who like it.

AoS isn't selling badly. What reason would GW have to stir the pot this much?

Look at how reluctant GW is to kill off remotely any character who still has a model. And GW would do it with all the mortals?

Come on.

**Overread**

I'll be honest a time jump and reset of setting elements would remove a LOT of the problems of the wibbly wobbly time and location issues the current setting has.

No idea how they will handle the whole idea of characters outlasting others. I'm guessing this means a wave of new named characters or renamed models unless you're a soulblight or Gotrek and can outlive things.

**LunarSol**

The first post feels way too much like its copying 40k's homework without much thought. The second post sounds far more like a natural progression of the setting. Very well could be a result of cherry picking specific elements to focus based on personal bias for the overall change.

**Overread**

Honestly I think so long as factions (ergo models) are retained it will blow over. Doubly so if this is what lets BL Authors work better with the setting and perhaps shifts it from a GOD focused story machine to character driven.

AoS feels like it has a load of aborted characters; one or two that rise; but no real long stories. Even Gotrek feels like they can't settle and keep hitting a re-set button with him.

**Coenus Scaldingus**

On the one hand not sure what the point is of making AoS more like WHFB/TOW and 40k rather than something more unique, but on the other hand I already like the sound of the supposed new direction (second post) more than what I've seen of the current lore, so...

--------------------------------------------------

The Godstone talk sounds a lot like a set-up for a new Mordheim.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Da Boss wrote:
If it's an April Fool's it's in poor taste - the point of that is that it's confined to the day itself, and upsetting people like this would be really unpleasant.

100%. April Fool's jokes can't just be set up days in advance and only officially executed on the day itself. Otherwise, where's the line? Can I convince people of something in October, only to reveal half a year later that it was an elaborate April Fool's? No. Just no.

Besides the timing, and apparent lack of originality of some of the ideas, it does feel like some people are against the change on the principle that it would be too drastic — something I know people were also saying about WHFB being exploded at the time... At least from the sounds of it this is a much softer reboot. Changed but comparable setting, same miniatures, changed but comparable rules (one imagines). Now, from an in-universe perspective it has always bugged me that most armies in AoS looked identical to those from WHFB after thousands of years of supposed changes, indicating massive convergent evolution combined with stagnation. Same with TOW versus WHFB now, and soon AoS versus AoS 1000 years later. But from a practical perspective, models being invalidated is just the worst. Invalidating rulebooks every few years is bad enough, but invalidating lovingly built and painted models is something I wish would be avoided under any circumstances. So if all this is happening, I hope that part of the messages proves accurate.

**Mr_Rose**

It would have been cooler if the more diffuse and wibbly parts of the Realms got separated off into a gas giant type setup with all the habitable bits of the planes turned into moons.
The Kharadron could have a roaring space trade, the totally-not-dark elves could get their black arks back for… similar purposes, relmgates would still have a point…
Everyone has to deal with the new cosmology but suddenly the magic is everywhere in spaaace so there’s people out there trying to make a living without ever touching solid ground.

Call it Warjammer.