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Malign Portents


Will Myers

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1 hour ago, Jamie the Jasper said:

I'm very excited about Malign Portents and have given myself a new, slightly spookier avatar to celebrate! :D

So, who's participating in the painting challenge? I'm painting up an Anvilgard box, which is probably double the number of miniatures of a Start Collecting box, but I'm so pumped for this that I actually think I can do it!

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With no new sc boxes I think I'm going to skip this. The one faction I'm currently tempted to collect (Ko) doesn't have an sc box yet, and I am hoping for a new Aelf or death faction to collect this year so I don't want to dive into a project that might get abandoned when the new and shiny arrives.

Will probably start my path down the Malign Portents Road by picking up each of the harbingers when they arrive.

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13 minutes ago, Skarloc said:

The Malign Portents book cover doesn't show any numbering reference (like The Realmgate Wars books did) but at the bottom of its slide, the Shyish symbol is printed.

Can we expect 8 books in total, one for each Realm?

I expect it to be one book.  

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I have to admit I found the whole extreme mythology of demi gods and continent sized monsters difficult to relate to and get on board with - Its fine as a mythological background - but as a game setting it wasn't adding much for me. I'm fighting a battle with less than 100 warriors on each side.

To this point I have mostly been playing competitive games for that reason and going back to Warhammer Fantasy for narrative games - though we have also played some narrative old world games using AoS rules.

I will be very happy if they relegate the greco-roman high fantasy concepts to the age of Myth (or 2015 as its also known) and take us off to a dark fantasy setting with a bit of cosmic horror thrown in for good measure. 

 

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1 hour ago, bsharitt said:

Am I the only one who's a little concerned about Nagash being the big bad and it seems like they're setting him up to get the c rap kicked out of him again? Poor Nagash, the guy can't catch a break. Hopefully I'm wrong, and Nagash wins, or at least doesn't die this phase of the story.

I can't see this happening.  I imagine that AOS is moving to the same model as Privateer Press, where the narrative evolves on a micro level, where places and relatively unimportant characters can expire, but at a macro level, the Grand Alliances remain in (relative) balance.  This is a necessity in games where customers represent all of the main factions.  Settings without major NPC factions are somewhat constrained in this way.  I suspect that it is also part of the incentive to keep the realms infinitely vast.  A lot can happen to/within each realm, but since it is so vast, the core of the setting can remain intact.  I think the Age of Hope was an exception in terms of balance because it was the kickoff of AOS, and the relative imbalance between Alliances provided a mechanism for GW to establish that the Stormcast are unquestionably the flagship protagonists of the setting.

At worst, maybe Nagash will fall, but someone will relatively seamlessly take his place, model and all.  And even in this case, it would have to be someone that doesn't already have a model, so it wouldn't be a Mortarch.  GW has no incentive to invalidate current models, IMO.  Way too much investment goes into each one.  That means someone has to represent the Nagash model.  I also think that GW will want to avoid models representing different Ages or timelines.  Perhaps eventually we will get there, but the setting is (hopefully) way too young for that.

I imagine that the campaign will unfold with Nagash ripping everyone a new one, to the point that it takes efforts from all the Alliances, in some uncoordinated effort, to foil enough of Nagash's plans to reach some sort of relative stalemate.  Nagash will still be the relative "winner" as he goes from MIA during the Age of Hope to a major power within the current timeline and moving forward.

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12 minutes ago, Twitch of Izalith said:

I have to admit I found the whole extreme mythology of demi gods and continent sized monsters difficult to relate to and get on board with - Its fine as a mythological background - but as a game setting it wasn't adding much for me. I'm fighting a battle with less than 100 warriors on each side.

To this point I have mostly been playing competitive games for that reason and going back to Warhammer Fantasy for narrative games - though we have also played some narrative old world games using AoS rules.

I will be very happy if they relegate the greco-roman high fantasy concepts to the age of Myth (or 2015 as its also known) and take us off to a dark fantasy setting with a bit of cosmic horror thrown in for good measure. 

 

Just for balance, I'm exactly the opposite and really loved the high fantasy mythic law vs chaos background, and really didn't care for WHFB's medieval grimdark, so I hope it's not going to change too much!

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21 minutes ago, AdamR said:

Just for balance, I'm exactly the opposite and really loved the high fantasy mythic law vs chaos background, and really didn't care for WHFB's medieval grimdark, so I hope it's not going to change too much!

Agreed,  high fantasy allows for both ways.  With never ending realms, etc just carve out a whole map to play on that has cities, etc. 

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18 minutes ago, AdamR said:

Just for balance, I'm exactly the opposite and really loved the high fantasy mythic law vs chaos background, and really didn't care for WHFB's medieval grimdark, so I hope it's not going to change too much!

I don't know why those two concepts (grimdark and high fantasy) must be opposed. Instead they could be melted into one setting (I'm thinking about the Diablo series).

The way I see it, GW will not leave the high fantasy away from AoS, but use MP to make it less "shiny-shiny-master-of-the-universe", at least during the campaign.

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15 minutes ago, AdamR said:

Just for balance, I'm exactly the opposite and really loved the high fantasy mythic law vs chaos background, and really didn't care for WHFB's medieval grimdark, so I hope it's not going to change too much!

 I think that's the cool thing about having 8 realms - It basically equates to 8 settings that can be very different from each other in terms of what they look like and whats happening there so hopefully there will be something to inspire everyone depending on their tastes - a bit like the armies.

I'm not so much a fan of the medieval aspects of the old world - I don't want AoS to go that way because there are too many limitations but I love gothic horror and dark fantasy so Shyish is likely going to be a cool setting for me.

I'm cool with the Order vs Chaos storyline too - In fact my one problem with the old world was that the high elves and the Empire didn't seem like credible opponents for Chaos - where the stormcast have a bit more presence :)

It was just the godbeasts stuff that got away from me a bit...

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Honestly what I like about AOS is that every faction takes swings at each other instead of the old world where largely it was just chaos doing it's thing while all the other factions were on the sidelines reacting to it or largely doing nothing. My favourite story from the campaign book is how Ironjawz took back the mawgate crumping stormcasts and chaos. 

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I’ve not found AoS to be shiney at all. Certainly in the narrative, from the human perspective on the nature of the Bloodreavers in the very first novel there’s always been a fair bit of nastiness. Sure we’ve had loads of high fantasy stuff but it’s always been in the GW “Grimdark”style.  

 

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the beauty of the setting is that there is everything you could wish for there.  In one of the realms there could be a demiplane which to all intents and purposes is old Bretonnia, while another could be a steampunk centric society and elsewhere a realm of upside down sky shepherds.  Everything can fit in, everything can have a place because now we think in terms of planes of existence and dimensions and universes rather than can we fit this in on the map we've already got.

and this one looks like it's going to be good.

My first army in Warhammer was skeletons and I've always had a soft spot for the traditional dry undead, and If those shadespire skellies are anything to go by I think we're in for a real treat.

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I like where theyre going with Malign Portents, and the clarification of how the realms work is a great touch. I just hope they knock off the 8 month gaps between faction updates, 2017 was not a good year for AoS in my area after the buzz for Kharadrons died down!

Will be nice to see Nagash and the Death alliance properly established, and i can only imagine they have similar plans for Malerion, Tyrion and hopefully Gorkamorka over the coming years!

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Hopefully we see tomorrow something for Malign Portents. Although it seems that 40K will receive something big (a new race?) and that without a countdown counter :P So surely Malign Portents is going to be huge. Atleast that is what I hope!

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14 minutes ago, Tonhel said:

Hopefully we see tomorrow something for Malign Portents. Although it seems that 40K will receive something big (a new race?) and that without a countdown counter :P So surely Malign Portents is going to be huge. Atleast that is what I hope!

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A nearly month long count down to say "Stay tuned for more" for AoS, but dropping a new faction in 40k almost immediately? Sounds about right....

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41 minutes ago, bsharitt said:

A nearly month long count down to say "Stay tuned for more" for AoS, but dropping a new faction in 40k almost immediately? Sounds about right....

Well, it's Warhammer World Open day, so hopefully something is previewed for AoS or Shadespire is possible, as a sidenote compared to the 40K reveal... 

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7 hours ago, Jamie the Jasper said:

So, who's participating in the painting challenge? I'm painting up an Anvilgard box, which is probably double the number of miniatures of a Start Collecting box, but I'm so pumped for this that I actually think I can do it!

26167061_737630339767095_6304930443953751943_n.jpg

There's no SC box for Skaven Skryre, so having had a natter with my local GW chap, we've agreed that a hypothetical Skryre SC box would have Stormfiends, Clanrats (they'll be allies; without them, there are no hordes!) and a Doomwheel. So that'll be what's keeping me busy until 10th Feb!

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50 minutes ago, bsharitt said:

A nearly month long count down to say "Stay tuned for more" for AoS, but dropping a new faction in 40k almost immediately? Sounds about right....

I laughed at this.  

Also, I really don’t think after listening to all the comments that this is any sort of reboot. Explaning what has been taking shape in the novel? Yes. But, you can read anything written in the past year or so and see exactly what is discussed on the MP website. 

I mean, bring it on for sure. As a quick review of my posts will show I am an AoS fanboy both of the game and novel. I just also want new models, particularly for Death.

I  can’t wait for the campaign book though, the artwork alone looks amazing so far.

 

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6 hours ago, AdamR said:

I have to admit I found the whole extreme mythology of demi gods and continent sized monsters difficult to relate to and get on board with - Its fine as a mythological background - but as a game setting it wasn't adding much for me. I'm fighting a battle with less than 100 warriors on each side.

6 hours ago, AdamR said:

Just for balance, I'm exactly the opposite and really loved the high fantasy mythic law vs chaos background, and really didn't care for WHFB's medieval grimdark, so I hope it's not going to change too much!

I loved  AoS when the story was about gods fighting, mortals dying on a whim, and a heavy focus on belief on the mystical and arcane. The KO's brought in technology, and then books started talking about technology, reintroducing a form of 'civilisation' to each realm, limiting the 'infinite possiblity' of the realms, all put a downer on the story for me. The last thing I want is for AoS to become WHFB again.

I am curious to see the Ordinator though, because from the character's description in the video on the Malign Portents webpage, it seems like stormcast wont have warmachines (at least, not yet) as they mention he makes buildings, and enhances allied artillery.

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I'm rather content with MP.

For me it was no surprise that they didn't reveal a new army or a great new range of models immediately. Especially after they casually announced the Nurgle book between the holidays. But I guess we'll see something for Death in 2018 sooner or later, they've build the perfect setup for a release later this year when the event is in full throttle.

Concerning the world, man I'm happy they finally picked a clearer direction for the realms which is a little bit more defined. I understand why some may have preferred the endless opportunities of infinite realms n stuff but these are not gone strictly speaking. The spheres are still described as incredibly large and it's good that the story is advanced and narrowed down a bit...

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So the "A whole lot of gold" from the next WD is 99.99% sure Adeptus Custodes codex (we'll see tomorrow, but there is picture of new terminators on War Of Sigmar). 

In February we'll also see two new Shadepsire teams (Skavens and Fyreslayers, also from WOS)

Is there still room for Malign Portents related AOS models release between now and the 17th of February ?

MP_Date II.png

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3 hours ago, ZephyrExia said:

I loved  AoS when the story was about gods fighting, mortals dying on a whim, and a heavy focus on belief on the mystical and arcane. The KO's brought in technology, and then books started talking about technology, reintroducing a form of 'civilisation' to each realm, limiting the 'infinite possiblity' of the realms, all put a downer on the story for me. The last thing I want is for AoS to become WHFB again.

I am curious to see the Ordinator though, because from the character's description in the video on the Malign Portents webpage, it seems like stormcast wont have warmachines (at least, not yet) as they mention he makes buildings, and enhances allied artillery.

Well, I don't think there is any risk of AoS becoming WFB aka 30 Years' War/Renaissance Europe with MAGIC (although I loved WFB).

There wasn't a place in WFB for the Wood Knight riding on steed infiltrating city sized worm.  Fortunately, AoS has just the thing for him! Whether the possibilities are endless or not, there is still room for plenty of high fantasy.  But grim high fantasy.  Really grim.

All that being said, I am a little irritated that with no hype train countdown we already saw a new 40k unit today.  Ignore the fact that its an awesome unit I will buy, and just focus on the hype train that was created for no reason.  If the website had popped into being with a countdown to 17 Feb, wouldn't that have solved all problems?

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5 hours ago, Tonhel said:

Hopefully we see tomorrow something for Malign Portents. Although it seems that 40K will receive something big (a new race?) and that without a countdown counter :P So surely Malign Portents is going to be huge. Atleast that is what I hope!

b8adc640205751a407cb6be2ddafeb6a732f3e98

Necrons maybe? Or they announce a new race. I doubt they will actually release anything new until everything else gets a codex - or their facebook is gonna light up really hot again!!

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Just now, Twitch of Izalith said:

Necrons maybe? Or they announce a new race. I doubt they will actually release anything new until everything else gets a codex - or their facebook is gonna light up really hot again!!

sounds like a custodes/sisters of silence thing to me.

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