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Like many of you, I am looking forward to the release of the Duardin early next year. We have already seen the Fyreslayer Hero leak, and we can guess that there will be a plastic Slayer unit to follow (I think with two weapon options, one with two-handers, one with two weapons), as GW will not be re-releasing the current metal ones. And apparently they will be a mix of Slayer and old FW Chaos Dwarf in style and/or feel. All well and good.

However, I saw a rumour (I think it was from Lady Atia, which will make it the only reliable thing in this whole post...) that the Steamhead Duardin would get a couple of new releases, but their bulk would be re-released plastics from the original range.

This being the case maybe we could guess the basic clan warriors will get replaced (they are looking a bit tired), but the Longbeards/Hammerers and Irondrakes/Ironbreakers would stay. And I don't think I would really have a problem with that.

Let's add some more speculation. The Gyrocopters will stay as well - the plastics are too recent (relatively speaking) for GW to trash. And if we think 'Steamhead', it sounds like they may fit perfectly. We might suppose that the likes of the Grudge Thrower and Bolt Thrower will disappear, as they are not very steamheady. Same might apply to the basic Cannon.

The Flame Cannon might fit, but that is metal and/or Finecast at the moment, right? Either a Finecast re-release, or replaced by a brand new artillery something?

That leaves characters. And I have a feeling we will see a whole bunch of these moved to a Finecast re-release, just like the Seraphon did.

Which would mean that, as far as the Steamheads are concerned, Dwarfs/Duardin may not actually be changing as much as we/I thought. They gain one or two things (maybe - the rumour could easily have meant a couple of new things for the Fyreslayers, which would tally with the Hero and a plastic troops release, which means the Steamheads get nothing new, like the Seraphon), but basically stay the same...

What got me thinking about this was my High Elves. I have been moving them to garrison duty (taking them from the office to back home, as I need space in the cabinets for the growing Seraphon horde...), and started wondering if any Elven plastics would stay.

My first thought was the Phoenix models. There is no way they are going to go the way of the Do-do. It fits well enough into the setting and is a (relatively) recent plastic. I reckon the Phoenix will stay in the AoS range.

Then I looked at the Sky Cutter.

That might well stay. It is another fairly new(ish) model. Which means the High Elf aesthetic might, to a degree at least, remain. And if the Sky Cutter stays, why not the Lion Chariots? The Dragon Princes? The Archers and Spearmen are both tired, so they could go, sure. But the Loremaster of Hoeth? Perfectly reasonable model. Someone at GW would have to be very determined to get rid of these models as they still stand up well today.

Looking at the other elves, Sisters of the Thorn spring to mind as something that could easily stay as well. And the Witch Elves (they charge enough for them...).

Anyway, all of this is pure speculation, based only on what I might be tempted to do if I were running GW and was interested in saving a bob or two.

What do you chaps think might happen? Not what you want to happen, but what you think GW might actually do...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
New Duardin Thought: With AoS and a redesigned background, there is no need to replace the clan warriors for dwarfs. Just drop them and make the Hammerers and Irondrake kits the new 'core' troops. I mean... why not? Makes more sense than investing in a whole new plastic kit, and you instead use those resources to create something really funky (here's hoping for a massive cannon?).

Oh, and the Cannon and Organ Gun are now a common plastic kit, aren't they (he said, trying to remember building them)? Yeah, they could very well stay as well...

I think the basic canon/organ gun kit will stay as it's a dual plastic kit. In fact I think 99% of plastic kits will stay across the range. However, I agree that I think a general design direction of AoS will be more focus on Irondrake/Ironbreaker units than generic Warriors units. And that's a direction I like.

I don't think Steamhead Duardin will get any new releases. I'll be interested to see if they release two battle tomes for the two Duardin factions next month. I'd kind of doubt it though.

We've seen most of the Dark Elf range on rounds in pictures, same with a lot of the Warriors of Chaos and even Ogres. I wish they would get to re-basing quicker even if battle tomes weren't ready yet. A rebase gives me permission to buy in my mind.

Next year is apparently a lot of AoS Tzeentch, so there's that.

I'd wager that the new releases for old races will be mostly hero models. These could be made slightly buffed up and in more heroic poses than the rest of the range. It wouldn't be out of tone as heroes have always been made to stand out as models. I have no problem with using old minis with the new scale as Sigmarines are supposed to be towering demi-gods (I don't remember if their height is mentioned anywhere) and the bloodbound are made into hulking brutes by the power of khorne - for now it still feels right to use the old minis next to the new ones.

I really hope for a steamhead Duardin book alongside the Fyre slayers. Not sure it will happen, but we'll see...

I think GW will drop every finecast and metal kit from the dwarf range. The warriors and thunderers and miners will likely go too and there is no need to replace them.

Seraphon only got finecast repackaged because they don't have plastic alternatives, but dwarves have a good range of plastic heroes.

Speaking of which, will the Dragon Slayer go OOP despite being so new?

We have had fluff about a "cannonade". Maybe a type of formation... hopefully a giant crazy cannon as you say, Matt. Worst case scenario it is GW's venture into the soft drinks market.

The last thing - ARGUABLY THE MOST INTERESTING - is that Longbeards have one of the "joke" rules on their Warscroll. What will happen to it? As the kit is still very new (the other side of the Hammerers kit).

 Bottle wrote:

The last thing - ARGUABLY THE MOST INTERESTING - is that Longbeards have one of the "joke" rules on their Warscroll. What will happen to it? As the kit is still very new (the other side of the Hammerers kit).

I wouldn't worry too much about that,Manfred has his if it's night time he's better rule and I don't think he's going anywhere anytime soon.

I was wondering more if the joke rule would be removed when the Warscroll gets put into a battletome.

Ahh gotcha,dunno about that...hope they keep them tho

I think I would prefer to see them go, but I'm more just interested to see how GW handles it. :-)

Probably looking quite a big further ahead, was rereading the Stormcast Battletome. So each Stormhost has a Lord Commander - which we don't have yet - but also outside of the 3 strike chambers types (Warrior, Exemplar and Angelos) there are 4 other types mentioned (Ruination, Sacrosanct, Auxiliary and Extremis) and book states that Sigmar hasnt seen fit to launch any warriors from those yet.

Fingers crossed for Paladins riding Dracoths!!

You can already play paladins riding dracoth with the profile of Lord Celestant on Dracoth. They will just need to be many and played like individuals. But it doesn't really matter, anyway.

About the aelfs, I believe they will just rebase the whole dark elf army. To me, and seeing what they've done with lizardmen, they are the "new" true Aelfs. Shadow elves, yeah.

That's the reason I don't believe about a resculpting of dwarf warriors/shooters and the warmachines. Why bother when you can just rebase them and selling them at a better price?

Not really sure we will have a Slayer box. And anyway, we will only know one week in advance...

Yeah, after the lizardmen, I pretty much expect just repackaging for a lot of things.

Fyreslayers are a distinct faction to Duardin. So they have to have something other than a single clam pack character.

Not even GW are going to launch a 'new' army when the only analogue for those troops currently available is finecast.

Could be wrong, but I don't think so. Especially as GW must be aware that AoW are eating into their slayer sales with a (lovely) plastic kit.