Malign Portents

[bsharitt]

27 minutes ago, Caladancid said:

Where did they say the six months until Malign Portent reveal?

Actually do we have any dates or timelines beyond the February 17th date in the email they sent out?

[Tzaangor Management]

31 minutes ago, Caladancid said:

Where did they say the six months until Malign Portent reveal?

It's in the Warhammer Community article:

We want to make sure that by the time the Malign Portents are fully revealed, everyone has an army to face the coming tide of darkness with. To that end, we’re inviting you to take part in a worldwide muster over the next few months. By following along with each step, you’ll have a fighting force worthy of the challenges to come.

It's possible they're aiming for a smaller army, but starting from a Start Collecting Box and working up to 2,000 points has got to be a six month project and lines up with the Tale of Four Warlords in White Dwarf.

A lot of conjecture on my part I admit and I may have oversold it somewhat in my excitement in the first post 

[ZephyrExia]

Overall I am happy with the announcement. 

I just don't like how they 'explained' the realms the 'A traveller's guide to the mortal realms'. The light/shadow = day/night is a tad uninspired, and the 'edge' of the realms, and 'only the centre' being populated (generally), to me, makes the realms seem less interesting as a whole. I personally don't understand the need for entire realms to be mapped out. It plops AoS's universe from being Old word < 40k land < AoS, to Old world < AoS < 40k in the sense of having your own 'place' in the universe. It limits the scope of creativity players can have.

I preferred the near-infinite multi-dimension-world setting where each realm was essentially its own self contained universe, connected by realmgates. 

I guess I'm a little saddened by the current direction GW is going with the world of AoS.

Looking forward to how Malign Portents ends up though

[Austin]

1 hour ago, Tzaangor Management said:

It's in the Warhammer Community article:

We want to make sure that by the time the Malign Portents are fully revealed, everyone has an army to face the coming tide of darkness with. To that end, we’re inviting you to take part in a worldwide muster over the next few months. By following along with each step, you’ll have a fighting force worthy of the challenges to come.

It's possible they're aiming for a smaller army, but starting from a Start Collecting Box and working up to 2,000 points has got to be a six month project and lines up with the Tale of Four Warlords in White Dwarf.

A lot of conjecture on my part I admit and I may have oversold it somewhat in my excitement in the first post 

No big deal. We are all speculating wildly haha. In some ways, maybe that shows the countdown provided by GW wasn’t really a countdown to revealing much at all. 

Six months just seemed so long, I was hoping for much less time until we could at the very least get the book. 

[Greyshadow]

All this new stuff is incredible. My favourite part of what we got on the website was the clip explaining the Mortal Realms. Just amazing. This was what I was waiting for. Love the new Shyish maps too. Introducing the campaign well before it kicks off as a global event was something I thought they should have done a long time ago. I am primed for AoS right now.

[Sleboda]

3 hours ago, Twitch of Izalith said:

Ahh takes me right back to the 90's - when stuff was a lot more colourful lol...

A unit version of the cairn wraith would be a really cool addition. I hope they go there!

I still use those models to this day,  plus the older Lord of The Rings wealth models that were similar (still Citadel models).

Good times. 

[Rungi]

8 hours ago, RuneBrush said:

In a single day and a load of (completely unique) video shorts, GW have moved the entire timeline along into a new age.  That's no mean feat and has been done partly in response to people wanting more background for AoS - we've even got free Black Libary stories for crying out loud!  GW have openly said that this is a campaign like we've never seen before, first step in any campaign is "Setting the Scene", which they've achieved to great effect.  Next step will be starting to introduce the key characters, which they're doing with the book and the Heralds.

The "campaign like we've never seen" idea feels important. Though of course new miniatures a exciting, what they did give us seems responsive to much of the AOS feedback I've read. They've given us more than just golden Stormcast against Khorne Warriors, they've given us a more clear scaffold for understanding the realms without confining them (or us), and they've continued moving the narrative. That responsiveness feels exciting. 

7 hours ago, HorticulusTGA said:

2. With the Maggotkin release around the corner, a Battletome + New models announcement was unlikely. Instead we got :

- 4 Heroes (for each GA),
- 1 Campaign book (for Narrative and Matched plays),
- Rereleased thematic sceneries,
- Global campaign website, with awesome background, timeline, artworks, videos (the Mortal Realms explanation is incredibly good),
- Also free wallpapers and BL short stories.

- NEW MODELS 100% CONFIRMED (see the AOS Facebook page).

With all the focus on Shyish and Nagash, I'm almost certain we'll see a new Death Battletome between February and January (if we follow the hints in the background and in the GHB17 - i.e. the lack of Allegiance Abilities -  it's gonna be Deathrattle).

This has left me wondering how factions other than those shown (Nurgle, Moonclan, Stormcast, StD, GA Death) will be brought into the campaign. The painting contest or whatever that "muster" is seems to suggest everyone can join the fray, but thus far we don't know how. 

Anyone notice any clues as to how different groups will be engaged? Any ideas about the scope of this event? Is it the sort of thing that is so cataclysmic that you either participate or peril?

[The Cranky Dwarf]

9 hours ago, Twitch of Izalith said:

@The Cranky Dwarf looks like she has a big scar on her stomach so I guess someone else thought the same thing...

But did you also post saying that you wish fyreslayers, savage orcs, bloodreavers, acolytes etc would cover up a bit more? 

People should not expect a Fantasy Heroine to be dressed in a trouser suit and sensible shoes because its politically correct - its a fantasy miniature not a boring everyday life miniature...

Dont get me wrong I totally think those fellas should armor up. IMO the fyreslayers armor into skin bit is silly .Though i suppose it is just how much i used to like wulfrik's image of a maurader with cold resistant clothing, looking like someone who is in it for the loot rather than the bloodlust . Ah oh well.

[Rogue Explorator]

5 minutes ago, Rungi said:

The "campaign like we've never seen" idea feels important. Though of course new miniatures a exciting, what they did give us seems responsive to much of the AOS feedback I've read. They've given us more than just golden Stormcast against Khorne Warriors, they've given us a more clear scaffold for understanding the realms without confining them (or us), and they've continued moving the narrative. That responsiveness feels exciting. 

This has left me wondering how factions other than those shown (Nurgle, Moonclan, Stormcast, StD, GA Death) will be brought into the campaign. The painting contest or whatever that "muster" is seems to suggest everyone can join the fray, but thus far we don't know how. 

Anyone notice any clues as to how different groups will be engaged? Any ideas about the scope of this event? Is it the sort of thing that is so cataclysmic that you either participate or peril?

The Harbingers each do not just lead their own faction into Shysh, but are heeded by all members of their respective Grand Alliance, for various reasons. It is mostly explained in the (quite well hidden) Insight videos on the character pages. I remember the Fungoid in particular has some explanation how he leads of Destruction into Shysh.

[Yeled]

3 minutes ago, Rogue Explorator said:

The Harbingers each do not just lead their own faction into Shysh, but are heeded by all members of their respective Grand Alliance, for various reasons. It is mostly explained in the (quite well hidden) Insight videos on the character pages. I remember the Fungoid in particular has some explanation how he leads of Destruction into Shysh.

Yeah, it took me a while to find those videos. They are quite buried, aren't they?

[Kyriakin]

19 minutes ago, Sleboda said:

I still use those models to this day,  plus the older Lord of The Rings wealth models that were similar (still Citadel models).

Good times. 

i akways thought you could make a Nighthaunt "wraith" army out of the various Middle Earth miniatures (Ring Wraiths, Morgul Knights, etc.).

The lack of size would be OK for cloaked ghosts IMHO, and the army would obviously have internal size balance.

Might have to use those twisted-shaped Reaper Wraith Harvesters for Spirit Hosts though, which makes the army "non-GW".

Ditto, Easterlings and Free Peoples.

[someone2040]

Hmmm... so I've had the good grace of it being released in the evening in Australia, and having had the opportunity to sleep on it.

I do definitely hear where everyone disappointed is coming from. At the end of the day, GW is a business that runs off getting people excited mainly about new models. The fluff and rules are just ends to a mean, but models are where they make their money. So I think in some ways, it's fair when GW hypes stuff up that people are most excited about the opportunity to see new models.

I personally think that the timing of the announcement is not that great. It seems like Malign Portents is not even due for over a month, so why not have a count down leading to a time closer to that? If we're truly getting a 'launch' of the book + heralds on February 17, why wasn't the count down counting to like February 10 or February 3rd when it would actually go on preorder and they could tell us more about the exciting stuff coming up?

I would've much ratherered we just get this Nurgle release out of the way, tell us that Malign Portents will all be revealed on February X. Until then, join us in mustering your armies and head for the Realm of Hyish where an event of untold magnitude is set to take place.

The website is kinda nice. There are some cool little scraps of information to pick up from the pages and videos. It's not exactly user friendly, for a lot of the sections it doesn't actually seem like something is there (Until you figure out, hey if I actually press the non-obvious play button, a video actually starts). Or the mini-scrollable sections like the descriptions of each realm. It's not exactly intuitive in some sections.

I get the feeling that the website is purely going to be fluff/campaign driven. So you want announcements on new products, you go to the Warhammer Community page or Games Workshop page. You want to find out the fluff behind a new faction, well the Malign Portents page will likely reveal more information there.

 

Overall, seems alright. Will be interested to see what's revealed over the coming few weeks. My suspicion is we won't really get much while Nurgle is being released other than the fiction, and they might drop something cool at the Las Vegas Open happening late January.

[someone2040]

7 minutes ago, Pariah-Miniatures said:

Correct me if I’m wrong, but Azyr is the only place not trashed by chaos... however I recall chaos was also unable to do anything in the realm of shadow due to unseen forces..

so something got retconned or they already forgot their own fluff

I think GW like to pretend that Azyr is holier and better than everything else so make statements like that.

I don't think it's totally incorrect in this case. We do know that large hosts of Chaos went to the Realm of Shadow, we just know that many of them never returned and were lost there. So who knows what really happened there. Similarly we don't really know what's happened in the Realm of Light as those two realms are explored the least in the fluff so far.

[meet.the.doctor]

13 hours ago, Planar said:

From watching the videos I get this feeling that the heralds will bring some sort of "destiny dice" option for every GA

The same what I thought after reading the teaser for Fungoid Shaman.

13 hours ago, Infeston said:

I find it a little bit insulting to say the people need to manage their expectations better. Especially if it is such a huge crowd voicing their frustration. I mean i got a little disappointed, but also I found the videos and the lore pretty cool. But I also have to defend the people complaining, because I think they are right in doing so.

I often read in this forum that TGA community tries to be a community where people try to be constructive and positive. But I often find posts where some people shut down people who are complaining just because they criticise GW. I think this positivity is often used to completely shut down any opposition. I often see replies at TGA which can be summarized as "You are not positive. So you are wrong and don't have any right to complain!" And if I look back at the posts in this topic I don't find any unconstructive complaints like I have seen on Facebook. In fact I see many people trying to be still constructive in voicing their frustration. 

And I really don't think it is a good way to assume the people complaining have some kind of deficit in their expectation management. 

When I read posts like this I often get remembered back to "Black Mirror: Season 3 Episode 1". I think this episode perfectly portrays what happens to a society, forum or community, which only concentrates on being positive about some things. In the end there is no room for critique even though it might be justified.

Totally agree. We have to remember that we are the ones who keep the company running - like share holders - if we don’t like something we shout and than don’t buy. Simple as that - negative response is a warning - „I am not goint to spend money!”. People should be negative when they want, and treating GW like a baby that will get upset when you shout at it, is not a good aproach. Let them know that they do wrong - and seems they are learning from that in recent years. The survey was a good example.

And back on topic. I hope that MP is really introduction to AoS 2nd Ed. New Battletomes won’t solve much. We get Death one - And Dedtruction players will be disapointed for another year. Not mentioning (a)elves ones. Rules wise it is pretty simple - both GA Death snd Destruction need to get 2 things - teleport straight to enemy lines and multiple mortal wounds. Everything on alpha strike of course and one drop. I hope that apears in MP, for both narrative and matched play. After that all GAs are equal and we can move on to new-maybe-8-pages-of-rules and start from scratch but without only Chaos - Stormcast releases anymore. 

Otherwise we get a campaign that in the end Order or Tzeentch will win. Ohh wait maybe Nurgle will be OP now so either Chaos in general or Order will win, my mistake.

[NinjaDetective]

18 minutes ago, Pariah-Miniatures said:

So the now revealed “near” infinite realms are flawed by their own design.

starting, civilization starts in the center, but inevitably it will pock mark out like vast roots from an old tree. Eventually, it won’t take a life time to reach the edge of said realm. It would only take one generation to do so.

gw got to get their logistics and ****** together, short of this they really think their customer basis is too stupid to understand how implausible their own realm universe is set up. FFS 

But dependng on the size of the realms eventually could be a billion years. So effectively infinite

[MacDuff]

Gotta remember, a 'lifetime' in these gnarly places might be VERY short.

[Tonhel]

I don't know if this is already posted, but posted on Dakkadakka about some artwork done by Johan Grenier for GW

What do you think? It seems possible to have a  new cloaked skeleton / cairn wraith unit?

Also Darkoath marauders?

[Turragor]

1 hour ago, Pariah-Miniatures said:

So the now revealed “near” infinite realms are flawed by their own design.

starting, civilization starts in the center, but inevitably it will pock mark out like vast roots from an old tree. Eventually, it won’t take a life time to reach the edge of said realm. It would only take one generation to do so.

gw got to get their logistics and ****** together, short of this they really think their customer basis is too stupid to understand how implausible their own realm universe is set up. FFS 

I like their world building and don't find it flawed (edit / in the specific way you mention here) and I think you should read your posts over before hitting 'submit reply'. You know, word them more constructively. 

Most I've read are real, I dunno, acidic in tone.

[Spiky Norman]

2 minutes ago, Tonhel said:

I don't know if this is already posted, but posted on Dakkadakka about some artwork done by Johan Grenier for GW

What do you think? It seems possible to have a  new cloaked skeleton / cairn wraith unit?

Also Darkoath marauders?

Also it looks like it's everyone against Death. Those Stormcast have a perfect chance to clubber some grots, but seems focused only on the skellies.

Also grots, normal grots. Maybe Gitmob will still be a thing in the future.

[RuneBrush]

One comment I will add which I think is relevant to the thread.  GW's scheduling department are completely independent of any other departments.  If you ever speak to any of the rules writers or sculptors, it's pretty clear that they have no knowledge of what's coming out when until we do.

2 hours ago, meet.the.doctor said:

People should be negative when they want, and treating GW like a baby that will get upset when you shout at it, is not a good aproach. Let them know that they do wrong - and seems they are learning from that in recent years. The survey was a good example.

You're 100% right - where it falls down is that there are a lot of people who aren't able to express negativity in a mature manner and come across as a petulant child

2 minutes ago, Tonhel said:

I don't know if this is already posted, but posted on Dakkadakka about some artwork done by Johan Grenier for GW

What do you think? It seems possible to have a  new cloaked skeleton / cairn wraith unit?

Also Darkoath marauders?

I spy...  Order, Chaos & Destruction allied together and some funky Nagash/Tomb King scenery

[Lousy Beatnik]

The vague size of the realms, wanting precise maps... these were never an issue for me, and I'm surprised to see it's still such a carry on now!

Malign Warseer... Portents sounds good to me. After the snooze-fest handbook, it is sounding like pretty much everything I hoped for. New models aside, that is. New models (both brand new and remakes) are always welcome, and while I didn't like the terrain the first time round, it suits the new setting more and many people are happy to see them back.

[Spiky Norman]

3 hours ago, meet.the.doctor said:

We have to remember that we are the ones who keep the company running - like share holders - if we don’t like something we shout and than don’t buy. Simple as that - negative response is a warning - „I am not goint to spend money!”. People should be negative when they want, and treating GW like a baby that will get upset when you shout at it, is not a good aproach. Let them know that they do wrong - and seems they are learning from that in recent years. The survey was a good example.

 

I could not care less if some of the overly negative responses here would have been sent as an email to GW. Actually that would have been a lot better, as they would have gotten the feedback directly. Don't treat GW as a baby.

What I would advocate for treating like a baby is this community, if you want to use those words. It should be nurtured and cared for.
From what I've gathered, TGA was created specifically as a place for people that are actively participating in and enthusiastic about the hobby of Age of Sigmar.
That does not mean that there are no place for critique, but it does mean that members should consider both content and tone of what is voiced. That members should consider how they can contribute to, and not detract from, making this an even better place for people that like AoS and hobby as a whole.
Does that mean that sometimes you should refrain from posting what you want, when and how ever many times you want? Yes, I think so.

[Turragor]

7 minutes ago, Spiky Norman said:

I could not care less if some of the overly negative responses here would have been sent as an email to GW. Actually that would have been a lot better, as they would have gotten the feedback directly. Don't treat GW as a baby.

What I would advocate for treating like a baby is this community, if you want to use those words. It should be nurtured and cared for.
From what I've gathered, TGA was created specifically as a place for people that are actively participating in and enthusiastic about the hobby of Age of Sigmar.
That does not mean that there are no place for critique, but it does mean that members should consider both content and tone of what is voiced. That members should consider how they can contribute to, and not detract from, making this an even better place for people that like AoS and hobby as a whole.
Does that mean that sometimes you should refrain from posting what you want, when and how ever many times you want? Yes, I think so.

This is well written! I agree with it. 

[NurglesFirstChosen]

I think it’s obvious that great great things will come in the form of a new death faction. 

Its a very positive thing that gw are filling out the fluff behind the game itself - this is as good as an opportunity as any to do so.

This forum is filled with negativity. I’m not sure what you were expecting from the start of a period of omens - malign portents is the START. 

[Kramer]

5 hours ago, someone2040 said:

I personally think that the timing of the announcement is not that great. It seems like Malign Portents is not even due for over a month, so why not have a count down leading to a time closer to that? If we're truly getting a 'launch' of the book + heralds on February 17, why wasn't the count down counting to like February 10 or February 3rd when it would actually go on preorder and they could tell us more about the exciting stuff coming up?

 

At least two more months! They whole paint your army in preparation of the malign portents launch already has two announced. 

'To that end, we’re inviting you to take part in a worldwide muster over the next few months. By following along with each step, you’ll have a fighting force worthy of the challenges to come.

For your first challenge, we’re asking you to paint a Start Collecting! set of your choice. Perhaps all this talk of Death has you wanting a Deathrattle skeleton horde of your own, or maybe you fancy ransacking the realms with an army of Ironjawz. Every Warhammer and Games Workshop store around the world will be joining in (and there may even be some prizes on offer), giving you the chance to show off your newly recruited host. If you don’t live near a store, don’t worry – you can follow along with the Warhammer Age of Sigmar Facebook page. You’ll be able to showcase the first part of your army on the 10th of February, where we’ll also be announcing what you need to paint to join in with the next stage of the muster.'

So that's at least two more steps and I personally still reckon it's going to be a summer campaign.