The Rumour Thread

[zilberfrid]

8 minutes ago, Neil Arthur Hotep said:

So is this an Underworlds starter set or something completely separate?

I do see the Godsworn Hunt which has been powercreeped out of use, so maybe a way to play the Underworld sets in Warcry?

EDIT: well, it's quite clear in the article. It seems rather Underworld-like. Not sure if it's different enough to have a reason to exist.

Edited February 3, 2021 by zilberfrid

[KingBrodd]

Hammerhal Herald!!

[Clan's Cynic]

2 hours ago, Enoby said:

I'm in the same boat. Especially as Nagash comes off as a Saturday morning cartoon villain half the time. Chaos gods are mysterious entities without a real character to them - more like ideas given a name - so it's fine to have association to them in the Chaos armies, but Nagash seems a bit underwhelming and if you don't like his character, then you probably won't like the narrative of Death as it's all about him at the end of the day.

Undeath needs a downside, definitely, but that downside shouldn't be being shackled to Skeletor.

I think Nagash needs to become a viable 'alternative' to worship in the Mortal Realms, insofar as he's the God of Death, meaning if you're not lucky enough to be chosen by Sigmar to become a Stormcast then odds are you're going into Nagash's clutches when you snuff it. One of the things that warmed me up to Death were the Malign Portents stories and some of the Black Library books, wherein you had honest mortal worshippers in communion with their deceased ancestors who still revered Nagash, mercy killings from vampires/cultists to prevent innocent souls being claimed by Nurgle, necromancers protecting humans in Shysh, etc. More stuff like that, less Dreadscythe Harridans.

Nagash was/is and probably always will be an arsehole but I liked - I think it was Josh Reynolds - angle that by having devoured all these other Death gods, he's actually taking on the professional responsibility of being in-charge of the afterlife and not just a meglomaniac who wants power and souls because Nerhahaha ****** you He-Sig-man! I mean he's Nagash, he'll always be that in some way, but I would like there to be more to him.

I'm not saying this as a jumped up "I'd like to see a Mortal Death army" (although I would) so much as I'd like to see Death as a kind of 'dark Order' of sorts for those who've passed on. My issue with the Studio depiction of Death is that it's largely nothing more but serving as an antagonistic force to Order, which it should be, but really that's all it feels like? 

Edited February 3, 2021 by Clan's Cynic

[NotAWzrd]

I do love the cartoony Skeletor / He-man dynamic of Nagash and Sigmar as much as it might be a meme at this point. Skeletor Nagash is the anti-hero of AoS for me, nestled in between Sigmar as the protagonist and Archaon / the Chaos gods as the antagonists. However I can see why that’s not the same for everyone, and I think there have been some great points made about it!

[Yokai]

1 hour ago, KingBrodd said:

New Boxed Game 'Bladeborn'.

My guess is that GW didn't sell enough of the Godsworn Hunt, so they try to piggyback them with Khagra's Ravagers to get rid of them. (see the Shadow & Pain box set for another example).

[zilberfrid]

7 minutes ago, Yokai said:

My guess is that GW didn't sell enough of the Godsworn Hunt, so they try to piggyback them with Khagra's Ravagers to get rid of them. (see the Shadow & Pain box set for another example).

In the pictures, they are white plastic, not the brown of the Underworld set. They are new castings.

[Overread]

People underestimate how much it costs to recall stock, unpack it and then repack it and then ship it out again to sell. Why do all that when you can just leave stock out there to sell (gw stock in its own stores won't devalue and 3rd parties already paid GW for the stock so if they devalue it or throw it out GW doesn't lose anything); and cast and then box up new products.

 

What I think does happen is sometimes, with main products at least, if an army isn't selling all that well GW might try to encourage sales and people to start/expand armies by doing something like a Christmas Bundle. GW has a luxury of time, they don't have to sell out superfast with their products the same way DVDs or Music have too. Those markets devalue very fast after the release of a product; whilst GW products, if anything, increase in value over time direct from the manufacturer. So if something sells poorly GW isn't left with as big a problem as other firms, sure its a slow recoup on investment which is not ideal, but its not lost. 

[hoonked]

31 minutes ago, zilberfrid said:

In the pictures, they are white plastic, not the brown of the Underworld set. They are new castings.

To be fair the casting is fairly cheap and as far as I know it should be reasonably easy to make new casts of pre-existing molds. The expensive cost is the mold, so if the mold has not paid itself it's ok to use it to make new castings for a new board game.

I'm not saying GW did that, they are not exactly transparent about their sales, but economically it could make sense.

[Neverchosen]

3 hours ago, KingBrodd said:

New Boxed Game 'Bladeborn'.

Hmm... think I am going to get this! I will pilfer the contents for various heroes and get an alternative game! 

I mean I say this, but I am probably just going to buy Khagra’s Ravagers and call it a day unless this is a decent value.

Edited February 3, 2021 by Neverchosen

[sandlemad]

It looks like a lightweight version of Warcry with predetermined warbands using the WHU minis. The space marine/necron one looks similarly like mini-Kill Team.

If anyone’s familiar with Blitz Bowl as a boxed version of Blood Bowl, this seems to be the same trick, something for sale in B&N and similar stores that will lure new players into the wider game. I get the cynicism but you don’t need to speculate about X product not selling when this release is perfectly explicable in terms of GW’s other tactics.

Awkwardly though I don’t think it offers anything to someone wanting to get into WHU, as you’d need to pick up cards which are only available with the warband boxes. 

Edited February 3, 2021 by sandlemad

[Overread]

Just now, hoonked said:

To be fair the casting is fairly cheap and as far as I know it should be reasonably easy to make new casts of pre-existing molds. The expensive cost is the mold, so if the mold has not paid itself it's ok to use it to make new castings for a new board game.

I'm not saying GW did that, they are not exactly transparent about their sales, but economically it could make sense.

Well plastic colour is purely an additive in the mix so these new castings will be using the very same moulds. 

Once the mould is made GW can keep casting with it. Also they've done this before. These games aren't really "intended" for wargamers and existing customers. Their focus is the board game market in bookstores and hobby shops and such. It's part of GW's major outreach program to get more people into wargames. That's why they are using the Underworld models and why they are all push-fit models using coloured plastics. The idea is that people who are not wargamers buy them - clip them out - push them together and start playing right from the very beginning. 

 

 

GW has woken up that the entire wargame market for fantasy and sci-fi basically relies on GW to get new customers. Almost all the other brands just don't have the market outreach and marketing and resources to grow their fanbase easily/greatly from  totally new people. GW is the startpoint for so many. So the more competition there is in the market that means more people drifting from GW. I think they are also very aware that from the 80-90s many of the hobbies of that era are in a slow death - they have good sales now because their kid customers are now adults able to keep buying; but the likes of Hornby and Meccano and such are not getting new kits. Lego realised this and its why they now do so many movie-tie-in product lines. They need new young customers to keep fresh blood entering the hobby. Otherwise what happens is your customers get older; and older; and then die off. All the time they are also dwindling in number. Fresh blood means more customers. 

[robinlvalentine]

4 minutes ago, sandlemad said:

Awkwardly though I don’t think it offers anything to someone wanting to get into WHU, as you’d need to pick up cards which are only available with the warband boxes. 

It seems really weird that they're talking about this like it's a good entrypoint into Underworlds. Unless they've very generously bundled all the cards for those two warbands in this box - which I'd be very surprised by - this set is useless for getting into Underworlds because as you say you'd have to buy the warbands again to get their cards. Worst of all, Godsworn Hunt can't even be bought with their cards anymore. Seems like a recipe to confuse and frustrate newbies rather than welcome them into the fold. 

[JackStreicher]

I like the Models... mhm

Btw, concerning the awesome Art: Who else is getting the impression, that the Godsworn hunt is getting utterly whacked by the Chaos Warriors? XD (Look at us naked humans fight those giant, plate-clad Warriors of the dark gods) 🤣

 

 

I mean, this absolutely looks like the spear-woman will be fine 🤣

 

they Are, in fact just cuddling: 

Edited February 3, 2021 by JackStreicher

[Clan's Cynic]

Godsworn Hunt not having Underworlds cards I can live with because they're no longer legal competitively, but Khagra's Ravagers literally aren't even out yet, so I know if I was hoping to get into Underworlds afterwards and found out I had to rebuy the entire Warband just to get the cards to make them playable I would not be happy.

[Black_Templar_Lad]

Soooo. Yall just see that Total War Warhammer 3 trailer?!!!!!!! 

 

Ice Guard!!!! 

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

4 minutes ago, Clan's Cynic said:

Godsworn Hunt not having Underworlds cards I can live with because they're no longer legal competitively, but Khagra's Ravagers literally aren't even out yet, so I know if I was hoping to get into Underworlds afterwards and found out I had to rebuy the entire Warband just to get the cards to make them playable I would not be happy.

GW generally seems to make it harder than it needs to be to get into their "real" games from their spin-offs. Warcry is a good example. It should be an easy entry into AoS, but it does not work well for that in practice because all the terrain you need for that game pushes the price of entry up so much. It's a good game in it's own right, but it could work a lot better as a small scale intro to AoS.

[Black_Templar_Lad]

Omg im sure that's a little Cathay tease at the end too!!! 

Im hyping right now. 

[Overread]

 

[Clan's Cynic]

Cathy as a launch faction? What in the world...

Far beyond the world and its petty wars there exists a dimension of pure, malevolent magic: The Realm of Chaos. It is a terrible place, incomprehensible to the mortal mind. It whispers promises of power, but to behold it is to be seduced by it. To relinquish your soul to it. To become it.

The four Ruinous Powers rule over this place, ever seeking to slip their bonds and engulf the world in a tide of daemonic corruption. Nurgle, the plague god; Slaanesh, the lord of excess; Tzeentch, the changer of ways; and Khorne, the god of blood and slaughter.

On the border between the worlds, two mighty kingdoms stand sentinel: the stern warriors of Kislev and the vast empire of Grand Cathay. But each is beset by its own trials, and now both have cause to cross the threshold and send their armies into the Realm of Chaos.

The world stands on a precipice. A single push will plunge it into cataclysm.

And there is one who schemes to achieve just that, an ancient figure who desires nothing less than to wield supreme power. But to succeed, he will need a champion…

The coming conflict will engulf all. Will you conquer your daemons? Or command them?

Edited February 3, 2021 by Clan's Cynic

[Overread]

I did NOT Expect Cathay! 

[Clan's Cynic]

Warhammer Community article on Kislev and Cathy and another piece of concept art for Kislev.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/02/03/watch-kislev-battle-a-bloodthirster-in-the-first-trailer-for-total-war-warhammer-iii/

Edited February 3, 2021 by Clan's Cynic

[sandlemad]

It is absolutely wild that Kislev and Cathay, of all factions, are headlining a WHFB game. If you said that ten years ago, you would have been laughed at.

Ogres when though

[Nighthaunt Noob]

I was thinking about this old Azyrheim Cryer recently as a source of rumours. 

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2020/05/15/mysteries-of-the-mortal-realmsgw-homepage-post-1/

Certainly it has been a sign of some things to come (Bugman model, Vampires, Morathi's narrative resurgence, Slaanesh, possibly the Seraphon WU band). There are still some things that I don't think we've heard about in here. Possibly still more hints left in this article or just filler mixed in with the real rumours?

Edited February 3, 2021 by Nighthaunt Noob

[Overread]

Kislive had an army at one stage and were a big part of the lore in that they basically held Chaos back from the greater parts of the Empire and human factions. So they were sort of expected as the game was building toward their own version  of the End Times and Chaos sweeping down from the Northern wastes. Cathay though are totally and utterly new and never ever had an army 

[elfhead]

There was a Cathay army in warmaster I think? 
 

very nice trailer. I don’t play the game but I had looked at the concept art for TW2 so much, so really looking forward to the concept art for this game!