The Great Gnaw- Skaven release?

[BarrowLord]

I would love to see Skaven get a Legions of Nagash style book.  One that glues the fractured faction back together while still offering diversity in play.

[Nikobot]

Skaven were an army of similar size or larger in some cases, in terms of unit options, as dark elves, high elves, vampire counts, daemons of chaos, dwarves and several others

Look at what they are doing with armies.. They are reinventing portions via development and expansion into something new. Like DoK, a small portion of DE has its own book, fyreslayers used to be but a portion of dwarves and now reinvented. Daemons of chaos and mortals seem to be destined for 4 god-related tomes, plus StD.

I think this approach is their way of reinventing what was old into something new and different and marketable.

LoN was the only time they have grouped it all together, but there seems to be "new death" to come. 

I don't think GW views the old stuff as a preferred option and LoN was unusual, maybe a bandaid. I don't think they view it as marketable and not where they are taking the development.

So why should Skaven be any different to the aforementioned WHFB armies.  So I'd expect to see a combined skaven as a "plan B" and the Plan A to be the reinvention of at least part of skaven. If that means new units and models them I'd be happier to see Plan A than a merged tome with little new like LoN.

[Num]

@Nikobot I agree that GW making a new army seems plausible. But when we look at existing clans such as eshin, moulder, masterclan and verminus, they have so few models each that it may also seem plausible that they juste pick one (say Eshin or Masterclan) and transform in a new line (refresh the battlelinrles, add new options...).

Or perhaps it's just me daydreaming because I want to make my existing models more playable

 

Anyway, I'd be more than happy to have at least some allegiance abilities, or better a battletome.

[Nikobot]

@Num

Your right about the small size of the clans, that's what my post alluded to.. all those other WHFB are no different to skaven.  They've been split up into very small, unplayable factions.

This just seems to be path they are taking to develop them from that point on. 

I'd also like them to receive any love possible as soon as possible ? But I see potential with some skaven clans to expand as DoK did and I'd hate them to miss out on that, with new models, units, and probably more expanded rules that the newer, focused tomes are getting. 

Skryre and pestilens seem very expansion-worthy and have the scope to pull it off in my mind. 

[Rogue Explorator]

55 minutes ago, Nikobot said:

Skaven were an army of similar size or larger in some cases, in terms of unit options, as dark elves, high elves, vampire counts, daemons of chaos, dwarves and several others

Look at what they are doing with armies.. They are reinventing portions via development and expansion into something new. Like DoK, a small portion of DE has its own book, fyreslayers used to be but a portion of dwarves and now reinvented. Daemons of chaos and mortals seem to be destined for 4 god-related tomes, plus StD.

I think this approach is their way of reinventing what was old into something new and different and marketable.

LoN was the only time they have grouped it all together, but there seems to be "new death" to come. 

I don't think GW views the old stuff as a preferred option and LoN was unusual, maybe a bandaid. I don't think they view it as marketable and not where they are taking the development.

So why should Skaven be any different to the aforementioned WHFB armies.  So I'd expect to see a combined skaven as a "plan B" and the Plan A to be the reinvention of at least part of skaven. If that means new units and models them I'd be happier to see Plan A than a merged tome with little new like LoN.

Skaven and the former Vampire Counts (and Seraphon) have one thing in common that the other former Warhammer Fantasy armies lack: They are still commonly described assembling in armies that operate and look very much like those of their Old World precedessors.

Now, I agree that this does not mean this is how GW will keep them going forward. However, even knowing we will get some form of new or updated Death faction in the next few months and even if GW was to give full support (battletome and new minis) for one of the Skaven factions this year, that still leaves a number of subfactions severely lacking and in some cases even incapable of sustaining an army of their own.

Seeing how we have a precedent in LoN, I can very much see the possibility of a no-new-model battletome for skaven to tide them over until they have more self sustaining factions. As you say, it is more of a bandaid, but if a bandaid is all some of the clans can get for years to come, I am sure people would happy about it. This would not mean they keep going forward as combined force any more than expect Death to, nor does this necessarily mean the same format as LoN had.

 

Aside from allegiance abilities, I think the biggest thing Skaven need is an allowance for more intermingling of the Clans. The m.o. of Skaven both in WHFB and so far AoS is that one Clan takes the lead (sometimes under the direction of a Masterclan member) and then bulks up its numbers with hired representatives of other clans (now clan types). So, if Skaven could take a larger amount of allies than other forces can and if Masterclan Heroes could work more like MP heralds (do not cost ally points, can lead armies without being allegiance), representing a "typical force" would pretty much be fulfilled.

 

All in all I think we should keep in mind that certain types of armies need some variation on the normal composition rules to represent their forces as they are described in the lore and that GW has shown itself willing to tackle these cases. Before Disciples of Tzeentch, all the monogod armies where split into 2-3 allegiances, with some worrying (I certainly did) they would get allegiance only for sub-factions, making combined monogod forces severy disadvantaged. But Disciples established monogod armies being keyworded for their god, not only combining before split up daemons and mortal factions into one faction, but allowing all four Monogod forces to include Slaves to Darkness with mark.

 

But I think there is also one case where a "soup battletome" is the way forward, that being the Free Cities and the countless order mini factions. I think sooner or later we will see all these combined under an LoN style Umbrella.

 

That, or AoS at some point moves more into a WH40k style army composition, allowing armies composed of multiple detatchment with different allegiances. At that point, no special solutions would be needed any more, though it would also enable some other combinations in matched play people might not be so happy with

[Kyriakin]

If GW continued their policy from Dwarfs and Elves (i.e. one classic release and a new "wacky" one), I would choose Clan Eshin as the classic archetype and Clan Skurvy* as the more "out there" faction.

* Technically, Clan Skurvy has always existed, but was never explored.

Anyway, that would be Ninja Rats and Pirate Rats covered. Would just need Zombie Rats to complete the triumvirate of cliched geekdom.

[Kugane]

I believe I did read somewhere that GW was working on a big Skryre release wave. I personally am not a huge fan of Skryre in general, so sort of hoping we get either a Clan Eshin or Verminus release instead.

[Kirjava13]

Stormfriends are currently en route to @Kugane to... befriend him for his taste in clans.

And if that rumour is true I will be a happy ratty.

[Kugane]

15 hours ago, Kirjava13 said:

Stormfriends are currently en route to @Kugane to... befriend him for his taste in clans.

And if that rumour is true I will be a happy ratty.

Its from the same source that leaked the Khaine and Idoneth release about a year ago. The Skaven stuff was said to be released around the time of something they call AOS 2 if I remember correctly (I cannot find the post anymore)... No idea what AOS 2 is, but if I do remember correctly, Idoneth Deepkin would be released before the AOS2 release.

Looking at our schedule, Skaven could very well be next in that case.

[BobbyB]

Harry from warseer mentioned skaven when AoS first happened, and more recently Hastings has said they're on the table,  and made them sound skryre-esque if not actually skryre, would love to see skryre get an update

[Kirjava13]

2 hours ago, Kugane said:

Its from the same source that leaked the Khaine and Idoneth release about a year ago. The Skaven stuff was said to be released around the time of something they call AOS 2 if I remember correctly (I cannot find the post anymore)... No idea what AOS 2 is, but if I do remember correctly, Idoneth Deepkin would be released before the AOS2 release.

Looking at our schedule, Skaven could very well be next in that case.

I dare-hope to dream, yes-yes!

As far as I know, AOS2 is one way people are referring to this "second edition" of the game that's supposed to be on the way in summer with a rules update and new Nighthaunt and Stormcast. Given that we are also apparently expecting Moonclan Grots and Darkoath at some point, I am struggling to be too optimistic about a release of a rattier nature... but it needs to happen!

[Kyriakin]

Around a year ago, I remember Lady Atia (I think) saying about Skaven and Slaanesh.

Edit: I can't find it now. Maybe it was cross-wires in my head, and it was actually the Harry rumour mentioned above. It was someone reliable though. She definitely mentioned a new KoS way back though.

[MightyMetro]

I really enjoy the unique flavor of each of the main clans.  I think that each army just needs a couple of new additions to freshen things up.  Heres my wish list:

Moulder: a new class of hero on foot, other than the pack master; a winged rats kit; a warscroll to allow for a mounted version of the FW broodhorror.  

Realistically, i guess that anything Moulder will continue to come via FW.

Pestilens:  I’m pretty happy as things stand and wouldnt expect  much else.

Eshin:  A couple of new assassin models.  In terms of rules, i’d like to see a variety of characters with unique skills, like 40k Imperial Assassins.

As a mysterious ninja faction, Eshin are, in my eyes, auxiliaries / mercenaries.  An Eshin boss would use covert operations to achieve their goals, rather than form a warhost.

Again, a rules shake up could make things a little more interesting. Lets turn their ninja skills up to 11.  As im wish listing, how about 4” unit cohesion for gutter runners with Gryph-hound style Darting Attacks allowing d6” movement in the combat phase directly after attacking.

Skyre:  The stormfiends, warp lighting cannon and doomwheels still look good and pack a punch..

But with 2 leaders, 8 units and 2 war machines all currently available.  Can we expect more? Maybe some kind of me mechanical cavalry?  

 

Reality:

i think a lot could could be achieved with just a few models and some innovative rules, but i dont think its gonna happen.  

Each of the factions has a number of kits that are old and need updating.    Rather, than replacing those units, I think any new Skaven will be a new clan taken from the fluff. See https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Skaven#Clans

I quite fancy Clan Volkn, “a Warlord Clan of pyromaniacs based in a volcano with obsidian weapons and armor.”

 

Lets talk wishlists:

What would you like to see for the traditional clans?  

How about a new clan?  

[Num]

Well, that is an interesting question

The Spear of Shadow novel features Kretch Warpfang from Clan Rictus

Clan Rictus is an interesting one because in the book Heraldry of Skaven, they have just about every type of Skaven units (rat ogors, warlords mounted on rat ogors, acolytes, jezzails, assassin, "deathvermins" stormvermins...). It would be like a "Skaven" allegiance all by itself. And they have already been developed in the AoS fluff in the spear of shadow book. See pics below

 

In terms of "original" clans that have the potential to make some interesting releases, I would say:

- Clan Skurvy already mentioned

- Clan Gritus, with slaves, pit fighters and monstrous Moulder creations (my personal pick)

- Clan Volkn because of the "mountain" theme and red fur

 

Personally, if a new clan would need to be released, I hope it would be Clan Rictus so we could still use all our minis I'd also love to have a new Behemoth in form of the huge Doomwheel-type of mobile fortress that appeared in Spear of Shadow

 

P.S.: Hope the pics are OK, I can remove them if the admins prefer

[Kirjava13]

As I think is quite clear by now to anyone whose eye has passed over my posts, I am hurting for more Clan Skryre, and I have spent more time than is probably healthy thinking about them.

So for heroes, the Arch-Warlock and the Warlock Engineer are good as a general and second-tier spellcaster, and I have dreamed up a combat hero in steampunk armour (Steelfur Verminchief) and buff/debuff support hero (Chemfiend). 

For troops, two dual-build plastic kits would first replace ex-Globadiers, and provide both fodder infantry (Skryre Acolytes, melee and ranged varieties) and elite infantry (Death Globe Bombardiers and Steamvermin); these would incorporate the weapon teams. The Stormfriends could remain as is, and there would be a new kit for Jezzails. "Cavalry" would be provided by Doomflayers upgraded to be more like mini-Doomwheels- keep the rolling ball of death idea, but make it a bit bigger and put a single pilot in control of it. 

As far as big models go, the Doomwheel and the Warplightning Cannon are still fine. Lacking any better ideas, I came up with a Warplightning Howitzer, another big gun, though perhaps a tunneling machine ala Mantic's Veer-myn or some sort of warpstone-powered mechsuit could be fun.

Will anything close to this happen? Almost certainly not- to be able to let players keep using their models, GW would have to keep most or all Skryre units that currently exist, ensuring that a refresh of the line would require new Globadiers, new Jezzails, new weapons teams (apart from the Warpfire Thrower and Poison Wind Mortar) a new Arch Warlock... That's almost a Daughters of Khaine-level release as it is. New units on top of that? I'm not exactly holding my breath...

[Skreech Verminking]

Well I myself am hoping for A Clan Mors release.

it would be so nice to see the Clan still existing and kill- slaying dwarthings .

after all there might be a change that Quiek came back from the dead☺️

[AthlorianStoners]

I think all Skaven factions should have clan rats available as battleline. 

[hughwyeth]

8 hours ago, AthlorianStoners said:

I think all Skaven factions should have clan rats available as battleline. 

Yeah no idea why this isn't the case already. Clanrats are common to all clans, that's like the whole skaven thing, hundreds of rats everywhere!

[MightyMetro]

9 hours ago, AthlorianStoners said:

I think all Skaven factions should have clan rats available as battleline. 

 

1 hour ago, hughwyeth said:

Yeah no idea why this isn't the case already. Clanrats are common to all clans, that's like the whole skaven thing, hundreds of rats everywhere!

Isn’t this the purpose of the generic SKAVEN slaves? I always wondered why they cant be Marked with a Clan like StD. I could imagine slave owners branding their slaves in this way.

However, with only 20 points difference between 20 slaves and 20 clan rats. I would probably favor clan rats in a non specific skaven army

I assume than clanrats are Verminus so that faction has two units.  Clanrats are regular troops and Stormvermin are the elite / unique faction option.  

Tbh, im not a big fan if the Verminus faction. They dont capture my imagination like the other clans

[Rogue Explorator]

2 hours ago, hughwyeth said:

Yeah no idea why this isn't the case already. Clanrats are common to all clans, that's like the whole skaven thing, hundreds of rats everywhere!

Not quite correct. Clanrats as military units where common to all warrior clans in the old world (which was all Clans but the "big four"). Skryre and Moulder might have had them, as certainly not every member of these Clans was a Warplock or Master Moulder/Handler. However, the basic members of Pestilens and Eshin where plague monks and nightrunners. It should propably be noted that Moulder, Skryre or Eshin where likely originally not meant to ever be fielded as pure forces of these Clans. They mostly existed to explain where the common clans got their weapons, warbeasts and ninja mercenaries from. In world, these clans where so wealthy and powerful they never had to field pure forces of their own, they had countless lesser client clans they could hire or coerce to do their fighting.

However, that was the old world. We now have an entirely different Clan system in AoS. There actually is no Skryre, Eshin, Moulder or Pestilence as singular unique Clan anymore. Instead each of the big four has spawned entire lines of Clans based on their MO, with the name now denoting a type of clan and traditional warrior clans, now called clans Verminous, still the most plentyful.

I am unclear wether the original four are still around. But if they are, they are no simply the biggest and most powerful among a great number of clans that act like them.

One thing this change has brought with it that the Clans spawned from the big four now all do commonly field entire armies unique to them. And along with that, their own Leaders and basic Troops. A Clanrat is only the basic member of a Clan Verminous. The basic member of a Clan Pestilens is a Plague Monk, the basic member of a Clan Eshin is a Night Runner and the basic Member of a Clan Skryre is a weapon team member or Skryre acolyte. This does raise the question what the basic member of a Clan Moulder is, they can not all be heroes. We might see eventually, but maybe they even have the luxory of most of their member being civilians? Granted, civilians that on a daily basis handle rabid monsters that murder and eat them given half the chance (knowing Skaven, they get the chance on a daily basis as well).

 

This also means that the power dynamics among Skavenkind  have massively changed. Before Skryre, Eshin and Moulder where nearly untouchable monopolists of fantastic power and they mostly stuck together and propped up the council of Thirteen. They gave the Skaven a small measure of stability only threatened by Pestilens, who at times fought the entirety of all other Skaven and always remained something of a renegade splinter faction within Skavenhood. This meant that not even Clan Morrs (the most powerful of the "traditional" clans) could go past the monopolists, resulting in the format that nearly every Skaven army consisted of a Warrior Clan units supported by specialists, no matter whose behalf they where fighting on.

This is now different as there are no countless Clans that can provide monsters, wonderweapons and assassins, some of them likely quite small and unimportant. Essentially, the monopolies are broken, a powerful Verminous Warlord can now likely subjugate one of the weaker Clans Skryre or Moulder to get his hands on their produce. Meanwhile, the weaker non-Verminous descendant Clans lack the power and wealth to have a Verminous Clan doing their bidding and are forced to field armies entirely of their own. This makes Skaven armies potentially very diverse, as each clan type could be leading an army composed of all elements of skaven society and each type of clan could show up as a "pure" force, with every mix in between thinkable.

The issue currently is, that this diversety is ill supported, with the only force halfway doable being a dedicated Clan force supported by an ally allotment from other clans or a GA Chaos army composed of all clans that could just as well include any other Chaos Model as well. All but Skryre and Pestilenz  Clans suffering from a lack of fitting allegiance abilities is propably the biggest roadblock

 

41 minutes ago, MightyMetro said:

 

Isn’t this the purpose of the generic SKAVEN slaves? I always wondered why they cant be Marked with a Clan like StD. I could imagine slave owners branding their slaves in this way.

However, with only 20 points difference between 20 slaves and 20 clan rats. I would probably favor clan rats in a non specific skaven army

Well, Skavenslaves are a compendium unit, so it is unlikely they ever get to be part of any allegiance unless the unit gets redone. I would assume all Clans keep countless Slaves, but they might not be used as commonly on the battlefield anymore.

41 minutes ago, MightyMetro said:

I assume than clanrats are Verminus so that faction has two units.  Clanrats are regular troops and Stormvermin are the elite / unique faction option. 

Verminous has four units if you count heroes. Warlords are exclusive to the warrior clans as well (their equivalent being Plague Priests, Arch-warlocks, Master Moulders and unknown for Eshin). And then there is the Verminlord Warbringer (with all Clan types but Moulder and Skryre having a Verminlord representative).

41 minutes ago, MightyMetro said:

Tbh, im not a big fan if the Verminus faction. They dont capture my imagination like the other clans

This is a big problem with the way the factions where split up in AoS in general. In most cases the more special and unique units where split from the basic elements of armies. Naturally most hobbyists, but also GW, tend to gravitate towards the more interesting special units, leaving factions like Greenskins, Gitmob, Verminous, Deathrattle, Brayherd, Gutbusters or Freeguild somewhat in the dust. Since these tend to form the backbone and greatest number of their people (in the case of Deathrattle the entire GA really) this generates quite the disconnect, as bar Freeguild and Slaves to Darkness (who have the advantage of being integrated with more interesting stuff via Free Cities or Marks), these basic representatives are actually underepresented on the game tables, in the stories and are unlikely to ever get more extensive support from GW.

I am split on this developement. On one hand I really like some of these (Brayherd, Deathrattle, Verminous) and am rather irritated by how jarring it is how rarely the "normal ones" show up.

On the other hand I am currently struggling with putting together a full unit of Skeletons and realise once a again what a chore horde units are in reality (which, bar Gutbusters, all the above are made of) and that all intentions asside collected a full such army is of the table for myself. Add that I can fully understand most wanting the fancy stuff in general and particular the creators propably not being to thrilled with making general skaven variant mk x.y.

There are some signals towards these being somewhat supported (Shadespire Warbands for Verminous and Deathrattle) and at least Slaves to Darkness might see Slaves to Darkness supported via Darkoath eventually (though I fear these might flop, popularity of StD is propably due to being fieldable in multiple armies via Marks, which Darkoath lack).

 

 

For all my love for Skaven, I think Moulder or (more likely) Skryre are the only ones I think I could ever collect due to these being fieldable with a much smaller miniature count.

 

I think smart money is GW supporting Clans Skryre first. They already have a good basic of rather new plastic kits (Doomwheel, Warp Lightning Cannon, Stormfiends), they are already popular for a number of reasons (Stormfiends being top tier battleline for some time in the Competitive side, a diverse roster and great conversion fodder creatively), they can be played with a very small or very large model count, they really grab the imagination, are very markatable and have some absolutely classic units. They even have one of the few existing units I could see getting a new kit, as Skryre akolyte models are ancient, an absolute classic and can easily be expanded with more weapon options, giving people far more reasons to get a new kit for them than is usual.

 

If GW where to do an entirely new type of Clan, I think an (aero-)nautical "Clans Skurvy" one is the best bet, it is really the only basis not covered by the existing ones Clan types, offer great creative space for models and they fit in line with the other sea themed releases and lore bits.

[hughwyeth]

5 minutes ago, Rogue Explorator said:

Not quite correct. Clanrats as military units where common to all warrior clans in the old world (which was all Clans but the "big four"). Skryre and Moulder might have had them, as certainly not every member of these Clans was a Warplock or Master Moulder/Handler. However, the basic members of Pestilens and Eshin where plague monks and nightrunners. It should propably be noted that Moulder, Skryre or Eshin where likely originally not meant to ever be fielded as pure forces of these Clans. They mostly existed to explain where the common clans got their weapons, warbeasts and ninja mercenaries from. In world, these clans where so wealthy and powerful they never had to field pure forces of their own, they had countless lesser client clans they could hire or coerce to do their fighting.

.......

If GW where to do an entirely new type of Clan, I think an (aero-)nautical "Clans Skurvy" one is the best bet, it is really the only basis not covered by the existing ones Clan types, offer great creative space for models and they fit in line with the other sea themed releases and lore bits.

Excellent post, thanks for the clearing up. 

I don't recall pestilens as a playable clan when I was playing fantasy (3rd or 4th i think?) so have not really thought of them as skaven proper!

I think the issue with so many clans is GW will never support all of them properly (as you've indicated) with plastic battleline units, heroes and other units. If they do Skryre, that's great because weapons and warmachines that blow up is a very skaven thing, but it's only one aspect of skaven. We're still missing the loads-of-rats skaven thing with grey seers. Moulder could do it, but clanrats really feel like they  should be the common battleline unit for all skaven and then each clan can have their own unique battleline. I think the LoN battletome is excellent and skaven should follow a similar model.

[S133arcanite]

I would love an eshin release with too many heroes each for doing a different job: hero killing, monster killing, war m killing, objective taking, unit leader killing. Maybe they can have more than six heroes?

 

Maybe a Beastclaw Raiders style moulder release ignoring restrictions on behemoths: Hell pit abomination, flying rat, swimming rat to kill idoneth, giant ridable rat, dragon rat, (you get the idea)

[MightyMetro]

36 minutes ago, Rogue Explorator said:

...

If GW where to do an entirely new type of Clan, I think an (aero-)nautical "Clans Skurvy" one is the best bet, it is really the only basis not covered by the existing ones Clan types, offer great creative space for models and they fit in line with the other sea themed releases and lore bits.

Thanks @Rogue Explorator for a great post, the history, and clarifications! Really enjoyed reading it.

At the moment, Moulder are my favourites, but i could definitely get behind a new faction with a unique twist. Fingers crossed we see something soon!

[Rogue Explorator]

8 minutes ago, hughwyeth said:

Excellent post, thanks for the clearing up. 

I don't recall pestilens as a playable clan when I was playing fantasy (3rd or 4th i think?) so have not really thought of them as skaven proper!

I think the issue with so many clans is GW will never support all of them properly (as you've indicated) with plastic battleline units, heroes and other units. If they do Skryre, that's great because weapons and warmachines that blow up is a very skaven thing, but it's only one aspect of skaven. We're still missing the loads-of-rats skaven thing with grey seers. Moulder could do it, but clanrats really feel like they  should be the common battleline unit for all skaven and then each clan can have their own unique battleline. I think the LoN battletome is excellent and skaven should follow a similar model.

I think Pestilens being playable solo was only possible for some time in the WHFB lifecycle (I think the 6th edition army book had themed clan army lists?), but at least as far back as the 4th edition army book (which is when I got my start in the hobby) Pestilens where very much a force for itself in the lore, being one side in the propably most brutal civil war Skaven have gone through and only somewhat quieting down after. It took a long time for them to be playable by themself (though they too had a number of client clans later on).

 

I think future support for factions old and new is a big question mark for the future right now in general. Even if GW only plans to give continued support for faction they newly created for AoS they have a lot on their plate already.

It does not help that there used to be lots of rumors floating about that GW had completely given up on supporting existing factions and would instead churn out all new factions all the time. This was somewhat supported by the release pattern for the last few years, even when the faction that saw a release was not nearly all new, it was still a new sub faction (like a new Stormcast Chamber, in the case of Order Draconis with its own battletome, or Primaris Marines). However, since the end of the Kirby era, GW has made a number of shows of support for old faction, via GHB/Chapter Approved and no model battletomes/codices and smaller splashes like the heralds and Firestorm, even if the release of actual miniature waves still seemed to corborate the notion. I think with Idoneth we see the release of the last army that started developement in the Kirby era and we already got some different signals from LoN and DoK and (I believe faster to develope) single character releases for older stuff.

Unless some very deep insider openly blabs, we will never know if this was ever truly the plan (it fits in its aweful shortsightedness, but that is no proof), but what does seem obvious is that:

1) The plans for future support and army release pattern saw a massive shift a few years back when we started seeing an influx of new factions in 40k and the release of AoS, while classic wave releases for existing forces simultaniously dropped

2) When we got the switch to "new GW" the release pattern and future support plans changed again, at first only visible in rules releases, with all the no new model "releases" that before where quite rare. But we still have no idea how that affects future plans, since likely every bigger release we have seen yet had entered developement and planning in "the old days".

 

Right now the best guess is a middle ground between all new stuff and support for existing ranges/collections. But since we can not really reliably draw from the past to predict the future at this point and GW still being prone to showing behavior that does not exactly seem intuitive, we actually have no idea how much support beyond rule updates any AoS faction that is not Stormcast will see in the future.

 

And not knowing how much support GW plans for "established" AoS factions, we can thus also draw no conclusions how many Factions AoS will eventually see blessed with a release.

If the plan indeed is "one miniature full release for everyone and that is it" (something that would ultimately burn out the hobby, I believe), GW very much could get around to every Clan type and then some.

But if we ultimately move back to there being a bunch of staple Core armies, many factions will need to be left in the Dust and it is hard to see how more than one clan could ever be sustained. Just offering continous support to all four mono god armies, plus Sylvaneth, Stormcast, the two new Duradin and 4 new Aelven factions is a tall order. And that is only two (incomplete) GAs accounted for.

 

One thing I could see is GW doing more "splashes" of thematically linked units for various factions like they did with the heralds. There already is some talk that the Stormcast mages come as part of the magic expansion and not a Stormcast Wave.

If we get a wild mix like that a few times a year and it moves up to include bigger units and behemoths, everyone can always expects the possibility of some new goodie without having to wait on a full release (that leaves you knowing that your favorites will not be seeing anything new for the next few years). And that even if there ends up being a large number of factions on some level of support.

I think this would be my favorite solution, particularly since we have digital warscrolls, so scattered rules are not as big a problem.

[S133arcanite]

2 hours ago, Rogue Explorator said:

Gitmob, Verminous, Deathrattle, Brayherd, Gutbusters or Freeguild somewhat in the dust

An easy way to fix the brayherd problem would be to give them the slaves to darkness ability, and then they can fight alingside your Disciple, Maggotkn, Hosts or Blades. I for one, with a large Tzeentch army, would love to be able to incorporate the goatmen