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My preditction... in about 2-3 months we'll be seeing the release of the new Empire book........

CthuluIsSpy wrote:

Spazz wrote:With the current trend of every army gets monstrous inf/cav i wouldnt be suprised to see dwarf bear riders.
It may not be in the dwarf lore/back ground, but GW has changed things in the past to suite the current incarnation of the game.

Bear Cavalry, anyone?

Well, after reading this I quickly flipped through old White Dwarves to take a look at release trends. This is what I noticed:

Plastic Kits:

Big Monster Kit- 100%
Everyone gets some kind of big, monster unit. 60% chance of being able to make at least two variant monsters. 80% (I think) chance of being able to take it either as a character mount or a choice of its own.

Monstrous Cavalry/Infantry- 80%*
75% chance of being a Cavalry unit, as they seem to really want to flesh out that new unit type. 50% chance that the kit will be able to make at least two variant units.

Some other Big Kit- 60%*
Empire Wiz Wagon, Ogre Ironblaster, and Vampire Counts throne.100% chance it can make at least two variant models.

Cavalry (Regular)-40%
Surprisingly, only Orcs and Vampire Counts got any. The Vampire Counts can make two units out of their kit.

Infantry-40%
Again with orcs and undead being the only ones to get a unit type, with the undead being Tomb Kings.

Plastic Characters-40%*
This alternate method of providing characters with models still seems a bit experimental.

Other Trends:

Standardized Magic Phase: 100%
If an army functioned differently in the magic phase before, it doesn't now. Ogres and Tomb kings lost their special casting rules, while warrior priests no longer spam dispel dice.

New Generic Character-80%*
Everyone since Orcs and Goblins have gotten a new generic character.

New Special Character-80%*
Again, everyone except Orcs and Goblins.

*Trend appears to have been established after Orcs and Goblins

So, any new army is probably going to get a big monster, and a monstrous unit, as well as a new character type. It looks like infantry and normal cavalry will only get done in plastic if there is not already a plastic kit. Magic Phases will be brought in line with 8th ed, magic items will decrease in prominence, and the army will be generally shuffled around to make way for the new units. I think this would be a good basis to make predictions from.

How about a steam land raider fo rthe dwarves!

guzzoid wrote:How about a steam land raider fo rthe dwarves!

To be fair the Stanks are dwarven tech

Hlaine Larkin mk2 wrote:

guzzoid wrote:How about a steam land raider fo rthe dwarves!

To be fair the Stanks are dwarven tech

No they are not. Exact opposite, the dwarves distrust Stanks as they are so unmanagable.

Johnny-Crass wrote:

Hlaine Larkin mk2 wrote:

guzzoid wrote:How about a steam land raider fo rthe dwarves!

To be fair the Stanks are dwarven tech

No they are not. Exact opposite, the dwarves distrust Stanks as they are so unmanagable.

when I said that I meant a horribly bastardised version of Dwarven tech that they don't like

With the whole end of the world thing this summer, you'd think GW would cash in on the craze and do lizardmen.
Nothing says mayan global downfall like a new lizardmen book.

-Matt

And then they'll lower their prices.
Just to feth with us

I'm betting that when DE get redone, Power of Darkness will become the signature spell for the Dark Lore. If a caster takes another lore, they won't get access to it. Which kinda sucks, considering magic is the ONLY thing that keeps DE troops viable against:

T4 anything

Monsters

Artillery in general and gunlines in particular

Monsterous infantry and cavalry

Heavy Cavalry

Considering that every new army has gotten a monster, and most have gotten monsterous cavalry, severely gimping DE magic will lead to them becoming the new Wood Elves - a joke unless the player is a tactical genius.

I'm going to take a stab at guessing what Dwarves are going to get, based off of my earlier observations, and some random guesses with regards to how exactly that occurs.

Big Monster: I would expect to see one, as GW seems to have a real trend going one for all factions in both systems. I doubt it will be a traditional monster, as that just doesn't fit dwarves. Instead, I expect it to be some sort of Crazy Engineer contraption. I would expect one of the following:
-A mobile Castle
-An airship of some sort
-A really big cannon
-Some kind of steampunk walker
I personally think that the big walker or castle ideas are most likely, as there is nothing really like them in fantasy (yet), and they suggest themselves to being more suited to dwarven play-style without being redundant like the cannon. Both also seem to me to have more room for variants and serving as character mounts, another thing we see with the big models.

Monstrous cavalry/infantry: Again, GW really seems to be pushing these things, so I could see one coming. Like for the big model, I really see the engineers guild rejects pile being the place to go for inspiration. Things like that blood bowl model or mechanical horses/bears would fit for monstrous cavalry, while a warjack style unit designed like an armored dwarf warrior would make pretty sweet monstrous infantry.

If dwarves do get a big non-monster kit, I would imagine that it would also be a warmachine, but of a more traditional kind. Probably this is where we would see a big cannon/stonethrower equivalent. Putting the goblin hewer on a chariot base and wheels could be interesting as well.

Lastly, I could see dwarves actually getting plastic infantry. Both the ironbreakers and hammerers are currently metal, and metal infantry is on it's way out for plastics, and has been since 7th ed. The only infantry so far release in 8th ed were both conversions of metal to plastic, and so I would not be surprised to see Hammerers, Ironbreakers, and possibly even slayers come out in plastic. The reason I say Hammerers and Ironbreakers are most likely is that they could probably do a hybrid kit, with fancy armour and different helmets/weapons.

That's probably all we'd get, as they seem to release 3-4 plastic kits per wave. We'd also of course get a whole bunch of finecast models, including some special characters we have not seen for a while, a new type of character (in finecast), and possibly a plastic Thane.

Rules-wise, I could see magic phase getting made normal, with runesmiths having to channel, lots of bound spells like the empire, and the anvil of doom functioning like a real wizard. The army would probably use lores like metal and fire.Runes would be reduced to just a couple pages, maybe as upgrades to normal magic items, maybe kept as their own thing.

That's all that I can really guess, but what I'd expect given current trends in production.

Crazy_Carnifex wrote:I'm going to take a stab at guessing what Dwarves are going to get, based off of my earlier observations, and some random guesses with regards to how exactly that occurs.

Big Monster: I would expect to see one, as GW seems to have a real trend going one for all factions in both systems. I doubt it will be a traditional monster, as that just doesn't fit dwarves. Instead, I expect it to be some sort of Crazy Engineer contraption. I would expect one of the following:
-A mobile Castle
-An airship of some sort
-A really big cannon
-Some kind of steampunk walker
I personally think that the big walker or castle ideas are most likely, as there is nothing really like them in fantasy (yet), and they suggest themselves to being more suited to dwarven play-style without being redundant like the cannon. Both also seem to me to have more room for variants and serving as character mounts, another thing we see with the big models.

Mind if I conjecture on this? There seems to be an easy out for this one that wouldn't involve the Engineer's Guild but rather the Runelords: Statues of the Ancestors animated by certain Runes.

Kind of a "Break glass in case of fire" set of runes that were carved into them and the knowledge of it hidden away and kept secret until now.

In one of their stories I think there is a reference to rune golems

Why does every army have to "come in line with the rest"? What is it about wanting all armies to be the same and have the same things? Why can't we have armies that don't play or act like the others in fundamental ways like the Tomb Kings used to be and how the Dwarfs are? I for one don't want to see a magic phase for Dwarfs. I started playing them from High Elves and Chaos because i was sick of being so spell heavy.

I would hate to see every army reduced to one or two "unique" models with everything else just being the same from one book to another. I hope Bretonnia keeps thier lance formation and gains some rule to make their cav more powerful/viable as compared to other books. I would like to keep Dwarfs somewhat how they are now with their lack of magic and special way to build magic items. I don't understand why everyone keeps saying all the new books need to be "brought in line" when all that means is made the same. Is having something different really that detrimental to your play experience? I would think having more options than just what your models look like for choice would be more in favor than taking away the uniqueness of armies that play differently from the standard rules.

Not all the books are "coming in line", it is more like they are being pulled back into the fold. TK had a magic phase out of the magic phase that made no sense. Empire had a magic phase were if you got a spell off against them you were lucky.

The armies are keeping their flavor, it is just making the game easier and more fun to play

Platuan4th wrote:

Crazy_Carnifex wrote:I'm going to take a stab at guessing what Dwarves are going to get, based off of my earlier observations, and some random guesses with regards to how exactly that occurs.

Big Monster: I would expect to see one, as GW seems to have a real trend going one for all factions in both systems. I doubt it will be a traditional monster, as that just doesn't fit dwarves. Instead, I expect it to be some sort of Crazy Engineer contraption. I would expect one of the following:
-A mobile Castle
-An airship of some sort
-A really big cannon
-Some kind of steampunk walker
I personally think that the big walker or castle ideas are most likely, as there is nothing really like them in fantasy (yet), and they suggest themselves to being more suited to dwarven play-style without being redundant like the cannon. Both also seem to me to have more room for variants and serving as character mounts, another thing we see with the big models.

Mind if I conjecture on this? There seems to be an easy out for this one that wouldn't involve the Engineer's Guild but rather the Runelords: Statues of the Ancestors animated by certain Runes.

Kind of a "Break glass in case of fire" set of runes that were carved into them and the knowledge of it hidden away and kept secret until now.

Oooo-yeah. That would be cool. I could see them turning up as monstrous infantry, depending on how powerful they wanted to make them.

I still prefer my idea of a steampunk walker with a gatling gun and flamethrower...

CthuluIsSpy wrote:I still prefer my idea of a steampunk walker with a gatling gun and flamethrower...

Steampunk Ironman? Please excuse my nerd bulge

Johnny-Crass wrote:

CthuluIsSpy wrote:I still prefer my idea of a steampunk walker with a gatling gun and flamethrower...

Steampunk Ironman? Please excuse my nerd bulge

I feel this is worth offering up here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUjG1HSSaGI

Brotherjanus wrote: Why does every army have to "come in line with the rest"? What is it about wanting all armies to be the same and have the same things? Why can't we have armies that don't play or act like the others in fundamental ways like the Tomb Kings used to be and how the Dwarfs are? I for one don't want to see a magic phase for Dwarfs. I started playing them from High Elves and Chaos because i was sick of being so spell heavy.

I would hate to see every army reduced to one or two "unique" models with everything else just being the same from one book to another. I hope Bretonnia keeps thier lance formation and gains some rule to make their cav more powerful/viable as compared to other books. I would like to keep Dwarfs somewhat how they are now with their lack of magic and special way to build magic items. I don't understand why everyone keeps saying all the new books need to be "brought in line" when all that means is made the same. Is having something different really that detrimental to your play experience? I would think having more options than just what your models look like for choice would be more in favor than taking away the uniqueness of armies that play differently from the standard rules.

I'm not sure that is what is happening.

Tha 8th ed books remind me of the Simon and Garfunkel song, "after changes upon changes, they are more or less the same."

There are more options being added in order to break away from the notion of the 'standard' list.

curran12 wrote:

Johnny-Crass wrote:

CthuluIsSpy wrote:I still prefer my idea of a steampunk walker with a gatling gun and flamethrower...

Steampunk Ironman? Please excuse my nerd bulge

I feel this is worth offering up here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUjG1HSSaGI

HOLY CRAP THAT WAS THE MOST FETHING AWESOME THING I'VE EVER SEEN!

I really need to start watching the old batman cartoon ^^

Oh wait...is that the old BM cartoon? It looks...different.

CthuluIsSpy wrote:

curran12 wrote:

Johnny-Crass wrote:

CthuluIsSpy wrote:I still prefer my idea of a steampunk walker with a gatling gun and flamethrower...

Steampunk Ironman? Please excuse my nerd bulge

I feel this is worth offering up here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUjG1HSSaGI

HOLY CRAP THAT WAS THE MOST FETHING AWESOME THING I'VE EVER SEEN!

I really need to start watching the old batman cartoon ^^

Oh wait...is that the old BM cartoon? It looks...different.

I believe it is Batman: The Brave and the Bold, which is semi-new, like within the past 3 or 4 years. But still...it is ALMOST as glorious as the Ghostbusters fighting Cthulu on a roller coaster during a lightning storm. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5YUuHFObwc&feature=related

Its cool...but the acting is a bit off.
And it still doesn't beat mecha John Wilkes Booth

Dawi-Marine'Va wrote:The Dwarves need three things, no more, no less.

1) Updated lore, and maybe some new heroes~
2) New models~
3) Slightly updated rules~

If they TOUCH the Runes, someone will die~

I don't understand the rune system. Scrape it. Durp!
Seriously though, it most likely will be scraped in favour for normal magic items. GW is trying to simplify the game too much.

CthuluIsSpy wrote:

Spazz wrote:With the current trend of every army gets monstrous inf/cav i wouldnt be suprised to see dwarf bear riders.
It may not be in the dwarf lore/back ground, but GW has changed things in the past to suite the current incarnation of the game.

Bear Cavalry, anyone?

I'd be more in favor of beer cavalry, myself.

timetowaste85 wrote:

CthuluIsSpy wrote:

Spazz wrote:With the current trend of every army gets monstrous inf/cav i wouldnt be suprised to see dwarf bear riders.
It may not be in the dwarf lore/back ground, but GW has changed things in the past to suite the current incarnation of the game.

Bear Cavalry, anyone?

I'd be more in favor of beer cavalry, myself.

Giant clockwork bears, powered by beer.
It'll basically be a keg with mechanical legs stuck to it. With a bear's head on the front.