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"Outside the box" factions


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A couple of other threads have had me thinking about this.  Specifically, first the whoopsie in WD with the SC: Greenskinz box mistakenly listed as Order, and second the Daemonic seraphon..

Outside the box, non-obvious factions.  They've already done one thing that, if proposed in 2013 would have been instantly dismissed with ridicule for the proposer:  Order Daemons.

What other left-field combinations are there that would be fun to explore?  That would embrace the possibilities of the (near) limitless Mortal Realms.

I would love to see Order Orruks.  It is not impossible, any more than Order Daemons is/was impossible.  Maybe starting conceptually with Ruglud's Armoured Orcs and Black Orcs, working outward from there (not toward Iron Jaws, but in a different direction).

I would love to see Destruction Aelves.

I would love to see Chaos Skeletons.

I would love to see Death Duardin (or any living race really).

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I would really like to see destruction beastmen, where they don't follow chaos but just roam and ambush and destroy. Would add a nice aesthetic variation for destruction too.  Some sort of death elves could be cool too, where they refuse to let their souls be taken and sort of live on as a race of liche folk. 

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3 hours ago, amysrevenge said:

I would love to see Order Orruks.  It is not impossible

That could be awesome- run with almost roman style regimented blocks with tower shields and complete martial discipline. Bred for a war, not a fight.

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I would like to see a Destruction Death faction.  It was stated somewhere that early on (age of myth maybe) Nagash went around Shyish and basically put an end to the other death gods which he viewed as rivals.  He has since pretty much solidified his hold on Shyish, but what if there was a rogue god that escaped to another realm?  Or maybe just a rogue group of necromancers or something similar who are avoiding Shyish and trying to stay out from under Nagash's thumb.  Maybe they are nomadic because they don't want him to catch them?  And maybe they are semi-indiscriminate raiders as they roam around.  Something maybe similar to the Beastclaw background.

 

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Order Skeletons, which I guess would be Tomb Kings.?
I'd also like to see Regiments of Renown make a comeback, could make for some great stories in the Realms (insert Gotrek here). 
Also one more Vote for destruction Aelfs, preferably something akin to Wild Riders but as an army. Lots of trophies and pelts, shapeshifters (bear, wolf and Eagle varieties), a champion riding an Elk, hunting Hounds and either an Avatar or Eidolon of Kurnous. 

 

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9 hours ago, amysrevenge said:

I would love to see Destruction Aelves.

Something like this has been on my wishlist for sooooo long. I always wished that wood elves were more of a elves-and-animals focused faction rather than elves and trees. Feral Aelves, perhaps Wanderers that spent too long on Ghur and "went native" so to speak would be where I'd take it. Take some of the old Wood Elf lore from the Wild Hunt and such and take it to the next level. Some of the units could be callbacks to old Wood Elf stuff that is no longer part of the Wanderers faction - close combat berserker types as a callback to wardancers, some sort of eagle/hawk rider, some sort of avatar of the hunt type thing to replace Orion, etc. Throw in some appropriately epic Ghur beasties and you've got a stew going.  Such a faction would be a great fit for Destruction, and it would give Destruction a much needed aesthetic variety (currently everything except grots is some variation on "thicc lads," and grots will forever be tied together with orruks in my mind).

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2 hours ago, Kronos said:

Order Skeletons, which I guess would be Tomb Kings.?
I'd also like to see Regiments of Renown make a comeback, could make for some great stories in the Realms (insert Gotrek here). 
Also one more Vote for destruction Aelfs, preferably something akin to Wild Riders but as an army. Lots of trophies and pelts, shapeshifters (bear, wolf and Eagle varieties), a champion riding an Elk, hunting Hounds and either an Avatar or Eidolon of Kurnous. 

 

Regiments of Renown was a great concept and something that would be really cool to see come into Age of Sigmar.  If they implemented some form of pure mercenary system then that would be a really neat way to deliver small bits of outside-the-box factions.  Not only could you explore some really niche things without having to make a full army - but you could do a bit of cross pollination between the armies.  For example, the old unit of Ruglug's Armored Orcs was a cool unit in the old world that sold their services to the highest bidder but also fought differently than other orcs.  For Orc & Goblin players they were cool because they were an orc unit that wore heavy armor (no others did aside from Black Orcs) and they were also armed with crossbows - which nothing else in the army had.  For other armies they could be good because they were also good in a fist fight as Orcs tend to be.

They also had a number of other fun units.  I really liked the undead unit (name escapes me) because the models for that unit had undead Dwarves, Humans, Elves, Orcs, and I think a goblin as the standard bearer.  I thought that was neat to have models for skeletons from various races and they have not really done that since.

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Destruction elves is a thing I'm on board with. I'm going to relate this to magic the gathering because its easier for me, in my head I'm seeing a R/G elf faction.  Look up Radha if your not sure what I mean, I feel like her art work gives you an idea as to what I'm talking about if your unfamiliar. I'm a fan of wood elves and I'd be all in on using them as a foundation for a Destruction faction. I'd like maybe to see some native american influence too, it would give Destruction some needed complexity in its look and psychology that I think we would all welcome. Right now the faction seems to me to be portrayed as intellectually inferior to the others, orruks, grots, and ogors are all basically just running around indiscriminately bashing things. Which is not necessarily a problem but a more thoughtful, though still nomadic and aggressive, force would be a bit of variety that would still fit. Order and Chaos both have a  great amount of variation in motivation and aesthetic while all seeming fairly coherent together. I'd like to see Destruction get to a similar place and I think some feral elves is a good start.  Wood elves as they are now already dont really fit in order. They're nomadic rather than empire builders. I feel like they're in the faction mostly because they're elves and elves don't like slannesh so they just look like they should go into order. But I think destruction can hold a grudge against chaos just fine without working with order. 

Secondly some Order aligned humans that are born and live in Shyish, that also happen to have some undead allies. I'm imagining some human settlements existing as an initial and desperate defense against death as it tries to  spread from its home realm out to the others.  I could see some vampires, or some other dead kind of thing, that are free from Nagash and don't want to serve him again so forge some tenuous alliances with order. I love the idea of a faction inspired by some Gothic or classic horror vibes. You could even get some frankenstiening happening too. Some weird alchemy or pseudoscience, or whatever you have to do to avoid calling it straight up necromancy, that involves stitching together some monstrosities. The witch hunter look from the world that was is too good not to build on as well. Who ever up at GW  makes this happen is investing in their kids future because ill spend enough to put them through university. 

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I would like to see barbarian tribes following Order (Sigmar, Alarielle), like in one of my projects or Destruction (following Gorkamorka).

Or seeing more riders on horses (don't have to be Bretonian Knights, but these could be a subgroup).

And yeah, Brayherds for Destruction would be nice, too.

 

In case of Ghur Aelfs, I have the feeling the closest thing to them are Lion Rangers at the moment.

And wouldn't Regiments of Renown be simply a Order Army with some additional units?

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11 hours ago, Skabnoze said:

They also had a number of other fun units.  I really liked the undead unit (name escapes me) because the models for that unit had undead Dwarves, Humans, Elves, Orcs, and I think a goblin as the standard bearer.  I thought that was neat to have models for skeletons from various races and they have not really done that since.

Richter Kreugar the Damned and his Cursed Company 

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What about an army of wildmen, free peoples that somehow have formed a cult worshipping Gorkamorka. It could be built around a wild hermit aesthetic and would be fun to see humans in the frantic wild poses of orruks. Maybe they are mind controlled by waaagh magic and have cool glowing green eyes.

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I'd love Orruks Anything. I mean, I can imagine a highly disciplined Black Ork (or how are they called in the new background) mercenary tribe, that prefers to be on the side of the Free Cities.

In the same vein, it's easy to imagine tribes of orruks, who ditched Gorkamorka and instead worship Khorne. Chaos Orruks should've been done ages ago.

And then there is Death Orruks or more like Death Destrucktion. Orruk shamans who are necromancer and raising their kind as zombies and all manners of abominations.

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On 6/12/2018 at 10:06 AM, amysrevenge said:

A couple of other threads have had me thinking about this.  Specifically, first the whoopsie in WD with the SC: Greenskinz box mistakenly listed as Order, and second the Daemonic seraphon..

Outside the box, non-obvious factions.  They've already done one thing that, if proposed in 2013 would have been instantly dismissed with ridicule for the proposer:  Order Daemons.

What other left-field combinations are there that would be fun to explore?  That would embrace the possibilities of the (near) limitless Mortal Realms.

I would love to see Order Orruks.  It is not impossible, any more than Order Daemons is/was impossible.  Maybe starting conceptually with Ruglud's Armoured Orcs and Black Orcs, working outward from there (not toward Iron Jaws, but in a different direction).

I would love to see Destruction Aelves.

I would love to see Chaos Skeletons.

I would love to see Death Duardin (or any living race really).

I can't believe how far we got before a mention of Chaos Stormcast.

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2 minutes ago, SuperHappyTime said:

I can't believe how far we got before a mention of Chaos Stormcast.

Haha I was dreaming of Tzeentch seducing some Stormcasts with promise of restored/replaced memory back when they were first hinting at the problems with reforging.

 

ETA: It's hard to bring the idea up without someone grumbling "Chaos Space Marines! Bluh bluh bluh."

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This is not exactly outside the box, but with all of the shade spire war bands getting war scrolls and being field able as special, characterful units, it really got me thinking about how much I loved the old school regiments of renown and dogs of war. They were a brilliant mercenary faction that contained all kinds of units and all kinds of species! Every unit had a great back story too. I’d love to see a new dogs of war faction, full of unique characters and characterful regiments! They would lie outside of the grand alliance schema, and incorporate all kinds of races joined together to make a quick buck!

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Lots of great ideas here!

I support the idea of Undead Order in the form of Tomb Kings. Settra coming back and sealing some alliance with Sigmar in his war against Nagash. Have the army be a collection of animated statues (Ushabtis, etc..) and some sort of molten gold skeletons to change a bit from the stereotypical skeletons (like Necron exo-skeleton structures?). Could also fit in Balti Gelt in here, he was an Incarnate after all so he should show up in AoS. Plus he was a mix of necromancer and gold/metal magic dude, the perfect mix for this.

Idoneth Deepkin were a missed opportunity for Destruction Elves. Their fluff was so much more adapted for Destruction than just an "uneasy" relation with Order. Such a shame. I agree with many that Wood Elves, and more specifically Wild Riders, are a concept that would fit for Destruction Elves. But even then, GW might just stick them to Order no matter how feral and bloodlusty they become. DoK and ID are pretty wild and destructive too and still Order

Order Orcs could easily fit with the concept of Black Orcs. I always thought Grimgor & the Immortals lived some sort of very disciplined military life, destroying all in their path of course, yet very far from the mindless squabbles and stupidity of the average greenskin. Similar to Orcs in Warcraft, they could be noble warriors with a strong sense of justice, acting as some elite mercenary force at the service of powerful lords (get ideas from historical honour guards with foreign origins like the Vangarian Guard or elite attached troops like the Janissaries). Now that would be cool. 

 SCE could possibly fit anywhere:

- Destruction: their minds degenerated to the point they behave like beasts and can only devolve into war-crazed maniacs following ages and lives of violence. Their animal-like state of mind somehow starts to merge/feed Waaagh power!

- Death/Chaos: they become fully aware and conscience of what Sigmar designed them to be, and their ultimate fate. They turn to Nagash/Chaos Gods in a desperate hope to gain back what they lost, avoid reforging or to break free from the future reserved to them if staying with Sigmar. They become resentful against Sigmar, as they never asked to be like that and were not told anything, just used as puppets. If Death, this could be put into place by Gelt (again, if he comes back) as his ability with metal and necromancy could work in an alternative reforging. If Chaos, Vandus suspects of the full scope of Sigmar's intentions, as some sort of megalomaniac that does not care of his people's well-being to achieve his personal goals. Vandus then schemes a plan to change the whole SCE process with good intentions, which leads to a rebellion in a series of events known as The Vandus Heresy... Wait a minute, I've seen this somewhere!!! 

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There's a lot of good thoughts in this thread. First off, I think some armies need to be re-aligned.

Daughters of Khaine and Idoenth Deepkin could easily be Destruction forces. 

The various alliances of Beastmen should be Destruction.

Skaven should be their own Grand Alliance. I don't play them, but they're such a unique force and have plenty of clans. I'm holding out hope for a Skaven Invasion campaign at some point. 

I'd love to see Order Death factions. One could be similar to Tomb but also feature humans and be focused on protecting souls. 

Another could be a true Vampire Court where the Vampires protect their humans from Death, Chaos, and Destruction because the Vampires need humans to feed. 

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Barbarians who could fight for any of the four factions would be nice to see. They're the majority of the Mortal Realms afterall, and they could fit into all of them and it gives every Faction a release of sorts:

  • Order would represent those who haven't been fully 'civilised' into the Free Cities yet, plus most of the Stormcast came from them.
  • Chaos would be Darkoath, of course.
  • Death would be those tribes who worship Nagash, whom we know are a thing.
  • Destruction would be those fiercely independent tribes who just care for their own survival, or even worship Gorkamorka.
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