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 NinthMusketeer wrote:
Worth noting is that many of the regions will tend to be unusual and fantastic, aside from making for a fun story the average plain of (relative) normalness would rarely be an important military objective. There are more normal areas mentioned in the fluff, though battles don't really occur in said places during the story. Also of note is that unlike WHFB magic-users are relatively common; it seems that every tribe having at least a handful of shamans is/was normal, while nations had much more developed capacity.

Inhospitable places would logically be less interesting military wise. If nobody can live there why bother fighting over it? Need one heck of a reasoning to have all the fighting concentrate on where people AREN'T.

What do you mean bringing her back? She was in the Bloodbound Battletome.

@tneva82, I guess it depends on whether the conquered area lets you control better magical forces, gain an area for an impenetrable fortress (definitely a good use for floating islands) or just for pure psychology effort.("Oh crud! He took over and put forts all over that living mountain in the middle of a volcano sea! We ain't storming that!")

CragHack wrote:
So if they brought Valkia back, maybe there's a chance to see Prince Sigvald again. At least I'd be sold on that :>

Given that Throgg bashed his skull in while he was crying over the ruined stumps that used be his hands, I doubt it. Not to mention that his model was generically renamed.

The Age of Sigmar Realms-setting seems much closer to D&D's Planescape/Great Wheel setting than it does to, say, the Forgotten Realms. Hell, even Azyrheim (or whatever Sigmar's city is called) seems to fill part of Sigil's dramatic role. People were described as just getting on with life in Planescape as well, despite living on (among other things) an endless plain devoid of colour, riddled with fiends, and being the metaphysical manifestation of despair. In this place, Hades, there were towns, with some actual mortals living there; the towns existed to give DMs something to work with, but also suggested that ultimately even the craziest of places will have some crazy people willing/able to live there.

In general, Age of Sigmar seems to be to be set in a combination of Norse Mythology and the Planescape setting, with the realms depicted in line with Warhammer's magic winds and factions. 'The little people' just are not the focus of such a setting, but they can definitely exist, and can be used to put the crazy stuff in perspective.

 Manfred von Drakken wrote:

CragHack wrote:
So if they brought Valkia back, maybe there's a chance to see Prince Sigvald again. At least I'd be sold on that :>

Given that Throgg bashed his skull in while he was crying over the ruined stumps that used be his hands, I doubt it. Not to mention that his model was generically renamed.

He was also ruined when he fought Galrauch, the whatever something moonkin and was later betrayed (and killed) by his favore doctor. Slaanesh restored him even better, more perfect and beautiful than he was before :>

Anyways, look at Mannfred - that bastard has been killed like what? 3? 5? times. And GW still ressurects him.

Yeah, but Mannfred's effectively undead so y'know.. and Valkia was a semi-demon who Khorne has a real thing for.
Sigvald was magnificent, but a magnificent mortal.

 AegisGrimm wrote:

Looking at the maps from Godbeasts I'm wondering how much the geography has been altered by the Chaos conquest. I had assumed that a lot of the more wacky features were the result of the RoC bleeding into the mortal realms. But the titbits about some of the pre Chaos nations seems to suggest that some of them are from before the Chaos invasion.

I have the same wondering. How the hell are/were mortals supposed to live in these realms?

You're making the mistake of assuming the people writing this stuff are putting any effort whatsoever into worldbuilding beyond "Here are some names of places or whatever in the Fyreworld of Fyrey Fyre, ruled by Lord Fyreson Fyrefyre Burnington the Third, draw a map that looks brightly coloured and kewl and fart out a couple of hundred words about how awesome Sigmarines look when they fight there, you've got 'till 3 on Friday afternoon, chop chop." - the sole purpose of AoS' structure is to be as nebulous as possible so it can be endlessly reinvented and reworked or just outright overwritten, so new model/faction releases don't have to be constrained by what's come before.

At this point I'm more interested in seeing what models, if any, can be salvaged from the new aesthetic/scale/pricing structure - when are we expecting Orcs leaks?

 Yodhrin wrote:
At this point I'm more interested in seeing what models, if any, can be salvaged from the new aesthetic/scale/pricing structure...

In 1996 $25 would buy a Rhino. In 2016, it buys one Knight-Heraldor.

RoperPG wrote:
Yeah, but Mannfred's effectively undead so y'know.. and Valkia was a semi-demon who Khorne has a real thing for.
Sigvald was magnificent, but a magnificent mortal.

Mortality is a very slip case here. Wasn't Valkia, the semi demon also pwnt by Kurt (or w/e that Empire guy name was?) at the last battle? And then if Mannfred is effectively undead, why Konrad and Vlad stayed dead? And Sigvald was also 'technically' immortal - he didn't age. Later, when he was reforged, Slaanesh assured that he was also immune to everything, but other Chaos.

 Breotan wrote:

 Yodhrin wrote:
At this point I'm more interested in seeing what models, if any, can be salvaged from the new aesthetic/scale/pricing structure...

In 1996 $25 would buy a Rhino. In 2016, it buys one Knight-Heraldor.

http://www.saving.org/inflation/inflation.php?amount=25

So with inflation that'd be worth $38.52 compared to the actual cost today of $37.25

Vorian wrote:

 Breotan wrote:

 Yodhrin wrote:
At this point I'm more interested in seeing what models, if any, can be salvaged from the new aesthetic/scale/pricing structure...

In 1996 $25 would buy a Rhino. In 2016, it buys one Knight-Heraldor.

http://www.saving.org/inflation/inflation.php?amount=25

So with inflation that'd be worth $38.52 compared to the actual cost today of $37.25

So, in a way, GW is selling their Knight-Heraldors at a 35% discount?

So, in a way, GW is selling their Knight-Heraldors at a 35% discount?

Shhhh.
Don't give them ideas.

 Yodhrin wrote:

Neronoxx wrote:

 Yodhrin wrote:

 Jackal wrote:
Still early days on the fluff to be honest.
I think they are starting to shape it up now as well.

They are beginning to add a bit more depth to it which helps forge the story a lot better.

As I said though, early days currently with the fluff.

The big crash-bang end-of-the-world tabletop-excuse fluff was never the strength of Warhammer; it was a world, a place, with people and cultures detailed from the boring Mighty Heroes types all the way down to the guy fighting every day down in the gak, both literal and figurative, just to keep the cities of men from drowning in rats(and not even the upright kind that likes to stab you). You can't build that kind of interconnected human detail on a foundation like AoS, with its disconnected trope-themed "realms" and vast armies of god-slaying god-made supermen teleporting in whenever the plot requires it.

Is that a fact? Can I put you on record for that? "You can't build that kind of interconnected human detail on a foundation like AoS, with its disconnected trope-themed "realms" and vast armies of god-slaying god-made supermen teleporting in whenever the plot requires it."

Is it presumptuous of me to remind you that this universe has a lot of room to grow? Or have you already decided that everything that will come from Age of Sigmar is terrible?

Quote me on it if you like, but do include the whole quote in future yeah.

I don't care if you hired a hundred of the most talented writers in the world and had them work for a hundred years - if they had to work within the tone of the AoS setting as it's obviously intended and had to maintain the aspects of the background which have evidently been designed around selling models and making it easy to keep pushing out big, epic-conflict-focused scenario supplements, they're not going to be able to produce anything that will appeal to me; do you really see us getting AoS-equivalents of Drachenfels? Matthias Thulmann? Marienburg: Sold Down the River? How can there be the same stakes in an AoS story featuring ordinary humans when the setting contains a faction that is literally an army of ambulatory Deus Ex Machinas? AoS is army book fluff writ-large, which is fine if you like that kind of endless bombast or if you just want an excuse to push your models around with your mates for a couple of hours, but don't pretend it can be anything more than that without being changed so much as to be unrecognisable.

I exalted this comment, but I also want to point out GW writers have always been guided towards super heroics or plot device to make things, NOT happen and go back to stale mate. The writing in End Times was pretty good, if not for full of instant super power ups saving the day, even though the war was being lost.

Orc stuff:

https://war-of-sigmar.herokuapp.com/bloggings/652

I hate how he looks.

That's a 40k Model....

RoninXiC wrote:
That's a 40k Model....

Does look a bit like a Ork wearing a looted Tyranid warrior actually.

I'm not sure how I feel about the Megaboss... he looks more like a Space Marine then the Stormcasts...

Mawcrusha could be cool though, judging by the blurry pic. Need to see the normal Orcs.

Great, more 40k conversion bait.

He'd look better not painted in Bad Moon Yellow.

In iron or brass he'd look bad as all get out.

I'm really looking forward to seeing these models; my Blood Axes could always use more backup!

That is...yeah. Wow. That's for 40k.

While the yellow is a bit too much for me (and I play Badmoons...), this model is the first model that stirs my interest in AoS.

I agree that it is both 40kish and would look much better painted in more iron/earthy type tone.

I'll hold off on judgment until I can see more than a pixelated yellow and green blob

Definitely made me doubletake at first - thought it was a 40k model. That said, I'm hyped. Think the yellow was a brave choice for the debut scheme and I'd like to see different colours to get a better feel for the miniatures.

Not a fan of the paintjob, but the model is pretty nice

Personally, I'm pretty cool with the new look. It's suitably big for an Orc (Orruk, whatever) leader and it seems mainly to be the paintjob that makes it off-putting for people. Looking forward to better pics until I make a stronger opinion but I'm definitely interested.

The model itself looks awesome, I think it's definitely the colour that makes it look 40k.

Shame the pictures are so blurry.

 Grimskul wrote:
Personally, I'm pretty cool with the new look. It's suitably big for an Orc (Orruk, whatever) leader and it seems mainly to be the paintjob that makes it off-putting for people. Looking forward to better pics until I make a stronger opinion but I'm definitely interested.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the paintjob in the slightest. Do orcs in Age of Sigmar just have lots of yellow paint lying around? Why would they bother painting their armor instead of having the gobbos bash appropriately heavy metal sheets into something that'll stop a choppa like they always have? Are they repainting it after every fight, or are these ladz not getting stuck in proppa, because I'm not seeing much in the way of nicks or gashes or rust or...anything orc-y, really.

Also, that 'Green Horde' looks waaaaay more yellow than green

Apart from that, though, and even allowing for the blurriness of the photo, it really looks like he's wearing a suit of powered armor. That's not a fantasy orc warboss, it's a meganob - something that GW seems to have acknowledged with the new name.