Your five year plan for AoS

[Enoby]

Imagine, if you will, you wake up to a letter coming through your mailbox. Upon opening the letter, you find it says "congratulations, you have randomly been selected to have full control of AoS for five years; this includes release schedule, lore, design decisions, campaigns, and offers." You call up GW HQ and, sure enough, it's genuine. 

What would your five year plan be for AoS, if you had ultimate control? 

[S133arcanite]

Year 1-

Battletomes and Endless Spells for Free Cities (Everything Ordernot in a current battletome)

Light and Shadow Aelves

The Release of Slaanesh-Global Campaign + models

New Battletomes for Fyreslayers, Seraphon, Ironjawz

Hordes of Gorkamorka- Battletome for everything Destruction not in current battletomes

Year 2-

Sky Grots.

Deadwalkers become a whole faction

Darkoath, Skaven books and updated models

 

[Overread]

A 5 year plan? Well I wouldn't be able to put it into years as such but I'd say this would be what I'd hope for the game:

1) Equip all armies with functional Battletomes that do not have a battletome as yet. This might coincide with new models for new armies to be released; and also for those that currently exist. IT might also merge some and such. This would be the primary early objective.

2) Once the game has all its currently released models with a Battletome I'd focus on releasing a skirmish game akin to how Killteam is. With a core focus on using the game to introduce new players to AoS.

3) I'd perform a second-pass on early Battletomes that came out before AoS 2.0 - note this might have been done for some factions in part 1 - for example if Skaven were combined into a single Battletome (akin to how Grots have been done). 

4) Moving forward I'd start to pump out alternative sculpts and new monsters and characters through Forgeworld. 

5) Start to cement a lore time-line into the setting. Perhaps starting it a few hundred years after the retaking of the Realmgates by Sigmar. This allows for the period of confusion after the gates are restored to be left without a formal time line. It just makes dealing with the earlier lore easier. From then on progress with creating both short term and medium term adventure stories for characters as well as an overarching series of interlocked narrative stories that tell a more major story. By having a tight timeline it allows for a more evolving style of lore to be developed showing how characters and nations are changing in relation to each other; plus there's still a few hundred years of war and peace and confusion prior to this and after the realmgates are reclaimed.

6) Move toward AoS 3.0 - likely in the latter part of the 5th year. The focus being on polishing the rules rather than making massive fundamental changes. Combining up all the previously adjusted rules and fleshing out some key areas such as terrain. Bring back the index in the rule book and use it as a release that cements the game in its form. At the same time use this to launch a wave of new Battletomes ,with the focus again being on updating content, giving new lore and also adding one or two new models here and there (remembering that over the preceding 5 years there were likely several releases for many factions that added new models not in the current Battletomes).

7) A new feature for 3.0 - mythic monsters. Develop an NPC control system for large monsters that roam the realms - using this to launch a selection of GW and FW monsters and beasties of the Mortal Realms. Tie many to specific armies so that they've a long term viability, but at the same time sculpt them free of icons and insignias so that they can be used as wild roaming monsters on any game. 

This is basically taking the idea of Endless spells as a new feature and advancing in a new direction. 

8 During the 5 years release AoS the RPG game - either in house or from a 3rd party.

9) Open negotiations and start work on getting CA to make AoS Total War. This would likely be in the 3rd or 4th year and might not release until after the 5th year. 

10) Look at the specialist games and  bring back Man O War and Mordhiem - though rename the latter of course. The latter might get a White Dwarf release early on and later a dedicated game of its own with 3D card terrain and plastic terrain and the like. 

[CaptainSoup]

I would first like to change this request to full control of GW, so I can make GW private. That way we won't have to worry about shareholders and other silly things like that. From there I would make sure the primary focus are the customers (hobbyists) and making sure the game is growing in a healthy fashion while still making enough of a profit to keep the doors open. Once you set those in stone everything else will just fall into place, all the issues and gripes would resolve themselves. 

One thing I would make sure to push on is updating older pre-CEO change battletomes and patching up older armies until they can get around to getting their own tomes. 

That's pretty much it. Not to be a downer, but this thread will probably turn into a wishlisting thread of what people want from the game. Ideas from what armies to get updated to wanting to gut AoS completely to bring back WFB. This is fine and all, but my solution imo is more elegant with less micromanagement so the game can grow into it own wonderful thing that's already taking place today.

But that's just one skeleton's take on it. Ho! Ho! Ho!

[Skabnoze]

1.  Order the immediate expansion of Spiderfang with more models and resculpt kits (except the Arachnarok).

2.  Update Ironjawz with a small release wave of models (a dual unit box or two and some new heroes) and an updated modern Battletome.

3.  Do the same as #2 for Beastclaw Raiders

4.  Do the same as #2 for Bonesplitterz

5.  Do something with Gutbusters & Greenskinz.  This could be combining Gutbusters in a larger allegiance with Beastclaw Raiders & rolling Greenskinz into the Ironjawz book, or giving them their own book, or something else.  I am not overly picky on the mechanism of update - I just want them brought fully into AoS.

6.  Prioritize the update of the other straggler factions in other Grand Alliances (Dispossessed, Free Guild, Death Rattle, Soul Blight, Skaven, etc).  Again, I am not overly picky about the exact mechanism - I just want to bring an end to allegiances that are still somewhat in limbo from Warhammer Fantasy.

7.  Hand the reigns to someone else 

*Note:  I would probably not really be very hands-on with any of the above.  I would simply tell someone to get that stuff done.  The team seems to be doing a great job at what they are doing on their own.  I would most likely either spend time in the pub or messing with the code-base for their app projects (possibly both at the same time).

[sorokyl]

1 hour ago, S133arcanite said:

Year 1-

 Hordes of Gorkamorka- Battletome for everything Destruction not in current battletomes

1

Let's hope they don't do that!   With gloompsite, the only things left are:  Greenskins, Gutbusters, misc Ogors. 

I would much rather see Ogors have something made just for them. Sorry Greenskinz, you aren't worth muddying up the Ogors book...   With Gitmob being removed, I feel confident Greenskinz are not long for the store, so really we only have Ogors left!

[Shankelton]

1. Provide battletome for every army currently waiting in limbo, combining or building on the factions as listed below. Though this only applies if there are not already releases planned to support all the factions.

- Darkling Covens and Dark elves for the base range for Shadow elf expansion

- High Elves as base range for Light elf faction

- Dispossessed as its own faction, squating thunderers/ warriors and using the 8th edition line to form a new idenity with "Creation" as a buzzword.

-Merge Wanders back into slyv. Give the option to play tree's only or elves only, as well as combining arms. 

2. If it isn't going to get a battletome, or isn't going to be used in a new release, squat it into compendium yesterday. There's too many "what if's" floating around, and people are worried if their army is going to get updated. Rip it off like a band-aid so we know what to expect for older models. People should be able to see with confidence, the direction of armies instead of guessing/gambling.

3.  Updated Tomes for Ironjawz, Fyreslayers, Beastclaw, Seraphon. Update language and general rules, bring them up to the standard of current tomes. Mini releases for all (even 1 box with more then one warscroll would be good.)

4. Recombine Skaven. Ultimately should get a big release, and would rather see them have to wait longer then deal with tons of resin or even metal models.

Sure there's more I could think of, but getting those tomes out/ finally cleaning up the models should be highest priority. No one should have to ask "is X going to be squatted" or, "I like X, but is it going to be removed?"

Edit: Also, put those rumors of Freepeoples including Disposessed in the ground. Free Peoples should be there own big release, and human centric. A mirror to Slaves to darkness/ Darkoath.

[Lucio]

Throught the 5 years, update various battle tomes to ensure that they get Endless spells and a terrain piece. Things like an Ironjawz forge, a Khadaron Overlords Skyport, Seraphon altar etc.

A key theme will be discarding a lot of what's come before if it's not innovative or unique, or otherwise doesn't fit the "Gods walk amongst us" feel of AoS. Boring old humans and aelves have no place amongst the Mortal Realms.

Year 1 - Implement Slaanesh's release plotline + associated Aelf armies + Darkoath, Devoted of Sigmar

Year 2 - Release Free People, some form of Duardian playing on their "race in decline" theme, so lots of automaton, Something with Ogors, probably playing on the Suneater aspect. Skaven book to combine Pestilens, Moulder and Skyre as forces, with a core of Clanrat / Stormvermin available to all 3

Year 3 - Update edition to consolidate rule changes and fluff. Core box set will be Stormcast + Next best selling line. Scrap any remaining army lines that haven't been redone. Brutal but the focus should be on cool new models, not supporting things endlessly if they don't have a new theme

Year 4 - New type of barbarian Aelf, use this to launch a Skirmish update, with asymetrical play (Gotrex is the other side!), Scourge Privateers (who got a repreave in Year 3) will also be used to launch a sea based side game, something that can be played in 30-60 minutes to serve as a "pre game" if you want. Ideally each major faction will end up with a "Naval" force, so the Vampire fleets of Nagash, the Grot Pirates, the Darkoath Galleys and the Scourge Privateers all form the land forces best suited to a naval game, but also theme the ships.

Year 5 - Launch a clash of the diety's campaign thread. Pushing the realms into disaray. Use this to cut away any rules bloat or similar that has accumlated over the last 5 years.

[Melcavuk]

Without putting it into years because between the lead time on design and what current projects are underway slapping a random year number on seems challenging but here's the narrative, campaign and box set releases I'd go for:

Wylds Rebel - The Siege of (Insert city here), revival of Wanderers and Dispossessed
Wanderers - with the former coming back as a destruction barbaric Aelf faction, having encountered the Wyld Winds at realms edge they have become raw forces of nature and destruction. A force to reclaim the realms from the encroachments of civilisations. Lots of elementals, destructive magics, shamans and pseudo prayers. Also comes with a Wyldform Treelord kit (additional sprue) allowing variations such as Thornback Treelords (artillery variant) that look less dignified and more savage.
Dispossessed - Returning as the Azyrite Architects would roll in many of the existing Duardin kits (Hammerers, Longbeards, Ironbeards, Iron Drakes) but adding in Stoneborn kits, the Architects literally awakening the cities that have build for Azyr, the first stone laid becoming the heartstone of a Golem Ancients, massive stone constructs held together with runic magic. Also gaining heavy stone constructed infantry as blockers, runic magic to pass through stone (slow resilient force with mobility through tricks).

EDIT: Nice darker tone for the Duardian is that the whole time that Grimnir has been working seemingly without question for Sigmar, building the cities with his kin, making the cities defenses etc they are all hard coded to answer to the runic powers of the Azyrite Architects, essentially meaning that should the Duardin will it, they can assume control of all Golems across the Freecities and hold the cities themselves, or worse strip them entirely of defenses. The duardin god has not been subservient but using the resources of Sigmar to rebuild and restore his peoples, knowing if they ever came to blows the Duardin hold the keys to Azyr.

The campaign is based around an ongoing siege of a Freecity, it comes with the Age of Sigmar urban conquest campaign book and scatter terrain for urban games (upturned cart, broken well, toppled statues, warning beacons). At the same time siege engines for cross faction use are released and optional siege terrain (walls, towers etc). Based over a number of months release both factions and siege engines to add to existing forces are added, with an additional slot on the force building chart depending on size of battle SIEGE to add in engines of war or defenses.

The Broken Chains - Release of Slaanesh, revival of light and dark aelves.
Both remaining Aelven factions are released, any models that arent rolled into the two factions are removed and placed into Legends. These would be the final aelf factions for now to remove and ambiguity and rounds out the Aelven roster quite well.
Slaanesh gets a big mortal release, along with supplementing battletome.
Malign Portents style event.

Of Iron and Ash - Ironweld Arsenal and Freepeople Merge.
Industrial era style Freepeople army, a balance of smog belching engines of war with beaten metal plating, they embody a knightly feel but with mechanised "steeds", squires etc attending to crude industrial tech. Completely devoid of actual magic but with arcane looking technology to supplement themselves and try to bring order to the realms. Darker aspects such as caged wizards being used to fuel heavier engines, tortured beasts of war chained to pull massive destructive cannons to the fore. Grim, uncomprimising and utterly devoid of faith in anything beyond the will of man, simultaneously Order but the antithesis of the Sylvaneth.
Campaign event as Skyre and Ironweld clash out with arcane technologies laying waste in the Realm of Metal. Armoured Footknights with crude blackpower weaponry clashing with lightning wreathed ratmen.

[DerSpielRelaxo]

5 year plan? Establish communism!?!? What are we tau?

I see something has been pulled up from the dregs of /tg to tga.

I don't really mind on release schedule too much, I'm much more interested in the running of gw and rules writing.

To begin with I'd implement a protocol for releasing new rules, I love the direction gw is going with asking top players to demo new armies but I'd like to crank this to 11. Get the best players of a faction to come in 6 months beforehand and say hey you're good with this army if you want we'll show you the rules you can have your input into this. what do you think we could improve here, what is absolutely broken/breakable? This I'm hoping will increase the quality of battletomes so we don't get any more tzeentches that are so good they need to be nerfed to oblivion.

On the same vein with rules, ghb is awesome but sometimes I look at the changes and think " why did anyone want this? " Get a public input into this, even if you ignore it completely having a little check box system that you send out to the public and say tick 3 factions that you think need nerfing and 3 you think need buffing this will allow gw to see quickly what the general consensus is with very little data sorting needed. 

Both of these policies work for 40k/chapter approved too. Tbh gw is doing a much better job with public communication, but that doesn't mean it can't do more.

Release schedule : focus on getting the last few things without battletomes either into a beasts of chaos style battletome or updating them. 

 

[Wraith01]

Mordheim!!!

Lots of new factions!

Price reductions. 

A comic book series.

Some huge yearly events!!!

[Fairbanks]

I'll be a party pooper:

1. Because of the development cycle, nothing you suggest will be out for at least another year-year and a half.

2. At least half to 66% of the year will be split with 40K and other GW games (Titanicus, Kill Team, etc)

[123lac]

I would re-design the GHB to be a purely digital resource that is continually updated and re-balanced as the game evolves. I would also strip all faction rules from the battle tomes and place them into the GHB. The idea being ONE source of rules for the game. I'd also change the model to be a subscription based service. $5 per month and you're covered for matched play rules, allegiance abilities, warscroll battalions, everything. Download through the app store and you're set.

 

You can probably tell I hate the current system of needing multiple books, FAQ and Errata print outs etc.

[Swampmist]

As a primarily WM\H player who is looking to get into AOS as a side game, I'm probably not the target audience for this thread. However, I also think I have a fairly unique perspective as such, and I think it's worth voicing, so here we go:

1.) My first act would be to bin the concept of non-campaign rules being in a physical release. New Battletomes for things like lore and art for each release will stick around, but rules will be moving to a digital format that is easier and cheaper to update and FAQ. This format will have a free to access central location in the current rules app, which will update to include an errata page. Azyr will change business model to be a one-time payment per army, and will get additional features like open war cards. One of the major benefits to this system is that it gives a lot more time for internal playtesting; there isn't the ~month of lead up required for print. It also drums up hype early, and makes sure that people who want in will be prepared to go in.

2.) Make sure that every army that is planned to be kept up-to-date is given a battletome, or atleast a semblance of one, which will of course include creating more combined factions (i.e. a combined skaven battletome.) Along with this, update the Grand Alliances for open and narrative play. Matched play for these massive groupings will be given very extensive playtesting due to the number of possible combinations and synergies, and as such will likely come out later on in the 5 year period.

3.) As for playtesting, this is probably the most radical change: Implement a system of Open Beta Testing for new models and rules. For a period of 2-3 weeks each month the releases for ~3-4 months in the future, as well as any legacy changes and general rules errata that are coming out at the same time, these rules will be available in beta form to be playtested on and reported on by community members. This would require a forum for battle reports and discussion and a specially designed form for taking feedback. To facilitate this I would look to bring specific well-known faces in the community, both from within the company and without, in to run the process. This would also include attempting to hire top players, and having them work on internal playtesting. The goal of this is to have each release be impactful on the tournament meta while also being fun to play for the casual player, and getting input from the community before finalizing the rules is a great way to do this. Also, yes it is shamelessly ripping off Privateer Press and I'm not sorry for it.

4.) Create a new system further than matched play, which is a form of tournament packet. Doing this would include trimming the scenario count down to 6 or 8, adding new scoring options and scenario\objective types (e.x objectives only scored by Flying or Warmachines, objective "Zones" instead of just points of interest, ect). Also, take a hint from places like ITC and have secondary objectives be a major part of scoring and army building. This would hopefully diversify army building while reducing the amount of work TOs need to do and increasing the complexity for the players who want that kind of tournament crunch. This change would also allow matched play to more heavily edit core game rules, like removing the rolling for first turn every turn (which I would absolutely do for this tournament packet.)

5.) Have a large narrative event with accompanying 2-3 book set every year, focusing on different areas and battles in the mortal realms with lots of fun scenarios, battalions, ect. Each of these would have an accompanying narrative league and tournament series, which together would ultimately determine the final results of the event. The narrative league sections would include a painting competition as a large part of the points scored, and both halves would have bonus points awarded for good sportsmanship.

Those would be my 5 major goals, and hopefully they sound interesting enough to get yall thinking.

[Ironbreaker]

7 hours ago, Melcavuk said:

EDIT: Nice darker tone for the Duardian is that the whole time that Grimnir has been working seemingly without question for Sigmar, building the cities with his kin, making the cities defenses etc they are all hard coded to answer to the runic powers of the Azyrite Architects, essentially meaning that should the Duardin will it, they can assume control of all Golems across the Freecities and hold the cities themselves, or worse strip them entirely of defenses. The duardin god has not been subservient but using the resources of Sigmar to rebuild and restore his peoples, knowing if they ever came to blows the Duardin hold the keys to Azyr.

 

Wow

[valenswift]

9 hours ago, Overread said:

 

8 During the 5 years release AoS the RPG game - either in house or from a 3rd party.

 

http://cubicle7.co.uk/our-games/age-of-sigmar-roleplaying-game/

[JackStreicher]

Year one-five: Introducing a 15% discount for big orders. 

Released races:

Darkoath Barbarians,

new Soulblight models: Blood Knights and Vampire infantry, giant bats and batswarms

FeC with a lot of new Units, The return of Bretonnia as Knights of the burning Lily led by Abgorash (which is neither human nor vampire, but a being holy and terrible all at the same time).

Free Guild (With varying buffs depending of which of the major cities of each realm they are from, new Free Guild Knights, Crazy new Steampunky Vehiclrs, flying ships etc.),

Skaven united, new models

IdK receiving a fortgewirkt Kraken, merwyrm gets cheaper and the IdK Keyword.

Dispossessed getting cavalry, all normal Infantry receives gromril armour, Pikemen, receiving ironweld to be added to their BT.

New Aelves of malekith

Slaanesh getting love 

Hysh  Aelves

New Campaign after the Soulwars/Expanding the Soul Wars

new Seraphon Models and BT (Armoured Kroxigors), Salamanders, new Saurus, elite cavalry and feral dinosaurs.

Fyreslayer getting some love (and trousers xD)

Big Ironjaws army expansion (half armoured orcs, half-orcs?)

ogres united in a BT with a new Infantry  hero, new cats, ice trolls, Infantry (heavily armoured Mongolian-Style warriors)

Regular updates fixing points and Warscroll texts.

Rebellion against Nagash by s.o. Calling himself the once-perished king. -> followed by new sand scorpions, ushabtis (higher fantasy influence), Skeleton Warriors and Tomb Guards, Bone giants etc.

 

 

 

[Imperial]

Why no one say: 5 new battletomes and 5 new chambers for SCE? 

Points changes each half year.

More changes in warscrolls after FAQ! Why we need wait 1-2-3 year until ability will change on all units to current version? Last example: unmodified mortal wounds and crew merged in artillery (grots artillery want say hello!).

More cool terrain custom terrain kits like 40k got.

IJ/FS/BCR/Sylvaneth/Skaven/etc/etc update.

Gw can release hero in some combo box, but why they cant release some units with same scenario? 1-2 kits with hero per ~3 year will be cool!

[AaronWilson]

That's a real toughy. For my self my early goals would be release a battletome for all existing armies, merging a lot of the very small factions into one larger tome as well as bringing some old ranges (like the old empire range) into the modern game.

I think my next steps would be to try and refine the battletomes to as level playing field as possible (there will never be true balance) and I'd look to try and do a "matched play book" which had everything you needed to play matched from the core rules, malign sorcery, ghb all in one ( so like realm rules, artefacts, command abilties, all the battle plans, etc in one place). 

[Saxon]

10 hours ago, Lucio said:

A key theme will be discarding a lot of what's come before if it's not innovative or unique, or otherwise doesn't fit the "Gods walk amongst us" feel of AoS. Boring old humans and aelves have no place amongst the Mortal Realms.

Wash your mouth out with soap!!! Can't have a game without the humans or who looks after things after the Stormcast go smack?

[paul7926]

To be honest I think that GW are doing a good job recently.  I've had to actually stop trying to play 'everything' because I can't keep up.  

I don't have a grand plan but I really think the priority should be:

1) Getting everything a current battle tome with priority to those who don't even have one.  Even if that means a few of the things that have been separated are rejoined for now.  They can be separated again in the future if they get a major release of models and can stand on their own with enough choice.

2) Figure out some way of making a one-stop place for all rules.  I don't know how but with rules all over the place and now WD looking like it will have monthly updates or additional rules it needs to happen to make the game more accessible to newer and casual players.  Maybe have an online resource for quick updating funded by a reasonable single purchase and even a small subscription with maybe a print-on-demand (at cost) for those like me who prefer paper to electronic.  There are tons of issues here and I don't have the answer but something needs to be done.

3) Do a proper skirmish game.  The latest incarnation from WD is fine for now but it could do with a bit more love.  I don't expect them to go too far because Warhammer Underworlds is their low model count competitive game for AoS so going full 'kill team' means that they would have 2 products aimed at the same demographic.  They need something to capture the newer or really casual player leaving Underworlds and 'full fat' AoS as the tournament options I think. 

4) Reduce the AoS competitive points cost from 2000 down a little.  I personally think that it's currently a little high which means that there are fewer real hard choices to make in list building.  I'm not sure what the best points level is but I do feel like 2k was used because it's always been 2k and the first few fan made points systems just went along with it.  Although this is personal opinion and I'm highly likely to be wrong on this one.

[JPjr]

Pretty sure anything I suggest would see within 5 years GW go from being one of the most rated UK companies on the FTSE index to a broken, bankrupt mess but what the heck...

In terms of battle tomes and armies, as most people suggest I'd have all hands on deck to get everything shipshape and Bristol fashion by mid/end 2020 at the latest. If this means ruthlessly culling several old lines then just do it and provide a secure home for old warscrolls etc so whilst they might not be competitive they can still be used for fun.

Talking of Warscrolls, set up a dedicated section for them on the Community Site (along with the FAQs etc). Whilst it's great being able to just look at them and download them from the product page it's also less than optimal. Have a dedicated Warscroll directory where you can easily check them by date updated, faction etc seems like a no brainer to me to make it more accessible.

Skirmish/Path To Glory etc rolled up in one bundle and developed properly. Keep it slightly looser than Kill Team, it makes sense in the grim dark future that people in war zones will belong to specific armies, make this more like putting together a party of adventurers.

But talking of the full game sit down the 10-15 biggest tournament organisers from all around the world, produce a standard GT tournament pack & rules that gets published once a year and is valid for the next 12 months (and of course is 100% optional but just exists as a guideline).

tournament players then know which rules, abilities etc will be in use for the next twelve months. That then means you dont have all this wailing and gnashing and moaning about new rule sets being added in White Dwarf or new supplements etc. For those of us who want more flavourful games they can fire loads of experimental rules at us (or we invent ourselves) that we can use to create our own sandbox game, and then each year the tournament committee can pick and choose which ones make for a better/easier/fairer competitive experience, refine what has worked over the past year and it all gets laid out in one place.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Really though the big thing for me is exploring the IP to the max. We're at a very odd moment of time right now when both boardgames and roleplaying games are enjoying both an incredible popularity and even, shock horror, being seen by some people as 'cool'. Unfortunately I think Warhammer sized war-games kind of fall between the cracks here, so if I was GW I'd be exploiting the zeitgeist to get more diverse games on the table that draw people in and get them interested in the Warhammer worlds.

They've got a huge back catalogue of classic boardgames that could be re-purposed and remade for current tastes and the new setting, a game like Fury of Dracula could easily be remade as The Call of Nefarata, and set in the Mortal Realms, just update the mechanics to reflect the latest developments in game design.

Importantly DO IT IN-HOUSE, I keep discovering random 3rd party games based on GW properties that have been out for a while and no one talks about at all. Put it front and centre, use them to advance the lore if it needs be to make them central (though not at the cost of making them hard to get into for total randoms).

Think natural progressions for newcomers, Boardgames > hybrids like WHQ > Skirmish Game > Full Game.

And have everything work back and forward along that line, next WHQ set in AOS make sure a big % of the models works straight out the box as a skirmish force (I had almost zero interest in starting a 40K army at all, but BSF gave me essentially a ready made Black Legion Kill Team force and the basis for a CSM army, so I bought Harken as he looked cool, now I want that new CSM Sorcerer as he looks amazing, and there's clearly more Black Legion models coming so I'll soon have a 40K force without even thinking about it).

Likewise an RPG, I know Cubicle 7 are working on an AoS one, so that decision is made but really support the ****** out of it, and if you cant do that or Cubicle aren't developing bring it in house. Keep it light, with more an emphasis on roleplaying than endless dice rolling and looking up tables. Appeal to the people that thought they had no interest in fantasy but have actually watched every Lord of the Rings film several times, and now subscribe to things like Critical Role. 

There will be a backlash from a certain section of the community, there will be a gamer/comic-gate style uprising of horrible people. BIN THEM, make the community more opening, diverse and fun, the absolute majority of people, especially ones who have been in to this for years are great people, the toxic scumbags are just a very loud, vocal minority used to getting their way and great at cajoling people into siding with them. IN THE SEA WITH THEM, if you love this hobby then you should love it being more popular and there being a wider range of more interesting people involved.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Partner with someone like IDW to bring out 3 or 4 monthly comics set in AoS. The young adult/kids books they're bringing out look great, such a good idea, lean into this heavily.

Or just go all in and partner with Rebellion to develop comics and TV/film/computer game opportunities (at the same time do a deal with them to once again work with their IP (a Judge Dredd Kill Team or WHQ style game anyone?).

For the love of god be more diligent with handing out licenses though for things like clothing. It really doesn't help the image of the game when everything your IP is attached to looks like it would only ever be worn by someone with Cheeto dust in their ****** beard. 

Acknowledge that its a bit of a silly, dorky hobby, but at the same time you can make it a bit less embarrassing without alienating the people that have stuck with it through the years. Actually look through the archives, rather than t-shirts, sweaters etc that look like they've just been scraped off the floor of a teenage metalers stinky bedroom, go retro. Nice vintage fantasy logos on faded, quality tees. Do the trashier lines if you have to, there's obviously a market for them but have some options that aren't totally naff.

Talking of archives I would really celebrate the game's history and especially the artwork. Think what Stranger Things has done for D&D, lean into that 80s nostalgia. Put together some genuinely beautiful hardback books of artwork from the likes of John Blanche, Ian Miller etc, either dedicated ones to legends like that or a history of fantasy art from the 70s/80s to people like Paul Dainton who is doing amazing stuff (shame about the early 90s to 00s stuff can be a bit naff, but sure you'll still find enough good stuff).

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Then after you've done all this look for a new job as the company has crashed and burned and there's a load of angry men in Boltthrower t-shirts picketing the offices because they heard a rumour there was going to be a female space marine.

[khadgar567]

well, we all kinda united on getting our paws on our favorite armies so the overarching goal would be published most of the tomes for remaining armies.  then i don't know maybe the full-scale introduction of Amazons of lustria with seraphon alliance option and lust aelves of slaneesh with malerion alliance then. probably make big survey to remove some factions from the game. but regardless of survey remove iron jaws from the game or fix their plot to make it sense ( either push them to storm cast oruks or remove the f ing storm cast similarities. and make them properly savage oruks with iron jaws.) after that make series of info tomes to flesh out realms with proper info like two books per army describing their non war times.

[Nacnudllah]

I'd come out with a few new kits for Tzeentch, Khorne, Pestilens, Flesh-eaters, Fyreslayers, Seraphon, Sylvaneth, and Ironjawz so that I could update their battletomes to include their Allegiance/Summoning abilities (maybe just make a new hero for each to go with the updated battletomes.

[pseudonyme]

They will never release skypirate grots as it is one of the things the community wants

 I can see démons terrain along side the half confirmed Kill team : Inquisitor expansion. With a box of démon infantry and their related terrain like the different boxes they did.

I would also bet on a vampire revamp. How would they revamp it, absolutely no idea. The only twist I can think of is letting them field human order units because vampires plot all the time. But it might not be really exciting in terms of release. The technological take also seems unlikely.

Elves obviously.

The big question for me is the rumoured automatons faction. It would be  à great twist if it was à Death or Destruction faction, but I guess it will be an Order one.