The Rumour Thread

[Neverchosen]

24 minutes ago, Lucentia said:

An eastern style dragon spirit (probably with a further aesthetic twist of some kind) seems a safe bet for Lumineth at some point.  I could see one as part of the water/river temple too, I think in some Asian mythologies dragons are often tied to water? 

That is true but these dragons have the wings and four legs most closely associated with European Dragons. I would be absolutely fine with different dragon archetypes represented by the different Lumineth temples. 🤔

Of course these are not necessarily representative of a specific model and the artist was just told dragon iconography and interpreted European Dragons.

Edited February 8, 2021 by Neverchosen

[Yokai]

Aren't Malerion and his aelves supposed to be draconic?

Edited February 8, 2021 by Yokai

[Overread]

Yes but so far that few lines and bit of art in the Battletome are all we have for his forces. Which is surprising when you consider how we don't really have a vampire army but we have way more stories about them. So far Malerion and his armies have managed to hold most of the realm of shadow to themselves (Morathi is off in a corner and Chaos appeares to have never made massive inroads like they did in some other realms) without any major offensive movements. 

I'd be somewhat shocked if we make it to the end of this latest wave of changes and we don't at least hear some hints of his forces moving. We have Soulblight on radar now; we've got two waves of Lumineth - Malarion is the last big hinted at force in AoS thus far*. 

Then again perhaps he's got his own reveal - AoS Storm of Dragons. Malerion's forces launch into war with legions of dragons forcing other factions to bolster their air capabilities by recruiting/taming/enslaving/catching/building dragons (and draogn-like) creatures of their own

 

*excepting possibly a skeleton army for Nagash but that remains to be seen how Deathrattle and Soulblight line up

[Neverchosen]

2 minutes ago, Overread said:

Chaos appeares to have never made massive inroads like they did in some other realms. 

Well it is hinted that Ulgu used to be a stronghold of Chaos ruled by Be'Lakor that was overtaken by Malerion. Which has me even more excited for Malerion's eventual reveal as it may tie into the best Chaos character this side of Slambo. 

[willange]

31 minutes ago, Overread said:

Malarion is the last big hinted at force in AoS thus far*. 

*Screeches in Grotbag Scuttlers* 

I know people think that the Scuttlers are nothing more than a possible starting point for cool conversions, but I really do believe they'll be a real army eventually.  They show up in the lore CONSTANTLY (way more often than Malerion or his people) and there's obvious design-space (ruleswise) for another sky ship army.  They could be made to be very mechanically (and visually) distinct from KO.  My dream is for a mixed-race destruction faction with strong pirate motifs and and a play-style that's more fast and melee happy than KO.

Also, there's a lot of space in the CoS-area to break out a new faction or two.  The Order of Azyr is regularly referenced and could easily be a new and more inquisitorial take on Devoted of Sigmar.  The Ironweld Arsenal honestly deserves to be its own faction with a cogfort mini or two as well as some mechanically enhanced infantry.  

There are of course approximately 1.21 gagillion more factions referenced in the odd battletome here and there, but I don't put much stock into those without more references.  Then again, stuff like Sons of Behemat sorta comes out of nowhere sometimes.  I mean, obviously Behemat was a character, but the first references to them being a faction in the game were all in warhammer community videos and articles (with the exception of sky titans I guess, but those were technically a different civilization).

Edited February 8, 2021 by willange

[KingBrodd]

5 hours ago, TheR00zle said:

I'm not so sure about that your swoleness, the community said they'd be focussing on the villains for the first few weeks(not that it's a bad thing).

You're Swoleness 😍

Oh that's what I'm most excited to see so I'm happy about that!! I want to see Zombies and Werewolves!!

[Beliman]

6 minutes ago, willange said:

I know people think that the Scuttlers are nothing more than a possible starting point for cool conversions, but I really do believe they'll be a real army eventually.  They show up in the lore CONSTANTLY (way more often than Malerion or his people) and there's obvious design-space (ruleswise) for another sky ship army.  They could be made to be very mechanically (and visually) distinct from KO.  My dream is for a mixed-race destruction faction with strong pirate motifs and and a play-style that's more fast and melee happy than KO.

I really really really hope that you are right. I will be over the moon if I can build an army of Grotbag scuttlers, riding mecahnical-beasts and flying squigs and just going full kamikaze.

[alghero81]

It they ever reimagine Dreadfleet but in the skies it’s quite sure Grotbag will get some presence.

And for AoS they can just simply put them with the Gloomspite like Rippa that has nothing in common with them, until time will come to see if they expand in something of their own.

I know many armies are referred to in the lore, but apart Malerion is totally possible the next one will be out of the blue as Idoneth at the time. 
From WU we can see things that actually have a miniature like Rippa wolf riders, Kurnothi and the vampires that for now don’t have a home.

[Adamcbutton]

4 minutes ago, alghero81 said:

It they ever reimagine Dreadfleet but in the skies it’s quite sure Grotbag will get some presence.

And for AoS they can just simply put them with the Gloomspite like Rippa that has nothing in common with them, until time will come to see if they expand in something of their own.

I know many armies are referred to in the lore, but apart Malerion is totally possible the next one will be out of the blue as Idoneth at the time. 
From WU we can see things that actually have a miniature like Rippa wolf riders, Kurnothi and the vampires that for now don’t have a home.

To be fair, Grotbag Scuttlers would be just as “out of the blue” as the Idoneth - just a higher up blue this time!

[BaylorCorvette]

So now that Slaanesh and Daughters of Khaine are officially up for pre-order this coming weekend, the only for sure confirmed AoS stuff that still has yet to be released/have a release date is BR: Teclis, right? With February so loaded on AoS stuff, I'm assuming the big release in March is going to be 40k related, in addition to the Serephon WU Warband. Which means April or May will likely be BR: Teclis, my money is April rather than May. That leaves over half the year with unknown AoS releases. Obviously there is at least 1 if not more Broken Realms releases to fill out the next several months. All of this we can predict with a fairly high level of certainty. The real question is, what's the next big unknown thing for AoS? Is it AoS 3.0? Or will that be delayed until end of year or next year due to COVID? Is it Soulblight Gravelords? I think pretty good chance since we have seen the leak of the Vampire Lord package. Perhaps battletome updates for other armies? This is the first time since November-ish that I haven't really known what to expect for AoS.

[amysrevenge]

4 hours ago, BaylorCorvette said:

Having 28mm bases would be interesting, means no fighting in two ranks with 1" reach weapons.

Only if you line them up intentionally in square lines.  If you contract into the gaps the 2nd rank still fights.

[HorticulusTGA]

15 minutes ago, BaylorCorvette said:

So now that Slaanesh and Daughters of Khaine are officially up for pre-order this coming weekend, the only for sure confirmed AoS stuff that still has yet to be released/have a release date is BR: Teclis, right? With February so loaded on AoS stuff, I'm assuming the big release in March is going to be 40k related, in addition to the Serephon WU Warband. Which means April or May will likely be BR: Teclis, my money is April rather than May. That leaves over half the year with unknown AoS releases. Obviously there is at least 1 if not more Broken Realms releases to fill out the next several months. All of this we can predict with a fairly high level of certainty. The real question is, what's the next big unknown thing for AoS? Is it AoS 3.0? Or will that be delayed until end of year or next year due to COVID? Is it Soulblight Gravelords? I think pretty good chance since we have seen the leak of the Vampire Lord package. Perhaps battletome updates for other armies? This is the first time since November-ish that I haven't really known what to expect for AoS.

How about : 

- April/May* : Broken Realms Alarielle

- July-August : AOS 3rd (Orruks vs SCE)

- October/November : Soulblight Gravelords

* Edited to be less aggressive @BaylorCorvette haha 😛 BTW that's not a very huge yearly release schedule for a "new edition" year IMO.

Edited February 8, 2021 by HorticulusTGA

[BaylorCorvette]

3 minutes ago, HorticulusTGA said:

How about : 

- April : Broken Realms Alarielle

- July/August : AOS 3rd (Orruks vs SCE)

- October : Soulblight Gravelords

I would love an aggressive release like that, but I think the next BR book won't be announced for at least a month but probably 1.5-2 months after Teclis is actually released. I would be shocked to see an announcement of the next BR book before June. I guess the unknowns are, how many BR books are there going to be? Just three-ish? Or several more? Also what was GW's release schedule supposed to look like in terms of gap between BR announcements? We know COVID has pushed things back a bit. But based on their Underworlds revised release schedule they are going to double up to get back on track in a few months. Will something similar happen for other games as well? All that factors into when we should likely expect the next BR book to come out. For all we know GW's original plan was to have a couple month gap between BR books, although I don't know if that was really the case prior to COVID. At the end of the day only GW knows the answers. But since this is the rumor thread, it is fun to speculate!

[SirSalabean]

Are we saying March for Lumineth? 

[Aelfric]

4 hours ago, Neverchosen said:

Hmm... I am looking at this image in more depth and I am getting some interesting take aways. The Shardspeaker looks to be summoning the Keeper of Secrets. Also there is a ton of Draconian imagery throughout this image. Are the Slaaneshi forces invading an area full of dragon worshippers (Ulgu?/Hysh?) or is this a part of their own domain?  Also of course some freeguild representation and keepin in step with the current models in the City Range.

I keep looking for the White Rabbit.

[Neffelo]

9 minutes ago, SirSalabean said:

Are we saying March for Lumineth? 

I can't imagine it being any sooner with the way they are structuring releases. 

[SirSalabean]

7 minutes ago, Neffelo said:

I can't imagine it being any sooner with the way they are structuring releases. 

Well in March it goes back to weekly releases. Other than kill team and 40K codexes I can’t see it taking longer than the end of March 

[Overread]

2 minutes ago, SirSalabean said:

Well in March it goes back to weekly releases. Other than kill team and 40K codexes I can’t see it taking longer than the end of March 

Don't forget the whole release system is only based on current estimations. That plan might be if lockdowns end and more staff can come back to work at GW direct. It might also be based on estimated sales and demand so it might well persist or not. I'd say until GW can operate without Corona safety restrictions and the risk of a lockdown/shutdown due to infections their release schedule will be constantly open to change. 

 

[LuminethMage]

5 hours ago, Neverchosen said:

That is true but these dragons have the wings and four legs most closely associated with European Dragons. I would be absolutely fine with different dragon archetypes represented by the different Lumineth temples. 🤔

Of course these are not necessarily representative of a specific model and the artist was just told dragon iconography and interpreted European Dragons.

Those dragons look similar to the shapes shown in the LRL Battletome, where they are called phoenixes. They are associated with the Tyrionic side, and the sun spirit. Not the Zenith or another temple. 

But we have so little information, so could turn out to be different in the end. : ) 

[Jaskier]

2 hours ago, SirSalabean said:

Are we saying March for Lumineth? 

That would be great! 

I think my wallet would also spontaneously burst into flames given I also collect both Daughters of Khaine and Slaanesh, so I rather selfishly hope not! 

[LuminethMage]

11 minutes ago, Jaskier said:

That would be great! 

I think my wallet would also spontaneously burst into flames given I also collect both Daughters of Khaine and Slaanesh, so I rather selfishly hope not! 

March doesn't seem unlikely, right? There isn't much in for AoS otherwise, and it could be still over a month (second half of March seems likely if they do it in March). The tie-in novel is also still scheduled for March afaik.

So, you might better have a fire extinguisher ready in March : ) 

[Neverchosen]

4 hours ago, Overread said:

Yes but so far that few lines and bit of art in the Battletome are all we have for his forces. Which is surprising when you consider how we don't really have a vampire army but we have way more stories about them. So far Malerion and his armies have managed to hold most of the realm of shadow to themselves (Morathi is off in a corner and Chaos appeares to have never made massive inroads like they did in some other realms) without any major offensive movements. 

I'd be somewhat shocked if we make it to the end of this latest wave of changes and we don't at least hear some hints of his forces moving. We have Soulblight on radar now; we've got two waves of Lumineth - Malarion is the last big hinted at force in AoS thus far*. 

Then again perhaps he's got his own reveal - AoS Storm of Dragons. Malerion's forces launch into war with legions of dragons forcing other factions to bolster their air capabilities by recruiting/taming/enslaving/catching/building dragons (and draogn-like) creatures of their own

 

*excepting possibly a skeleton army for Nagash but that remains to be seen how Deathrattle and Soulblight line up

I am actually really hopeful that the Aelven focus of Broken Realms is building up to Malerion entering the narrative... I am not expecting him or his forces to get released in earnest but rather that he will step out of the shadows at the climax of the narrative. Similar to how they built up Teclis' tensions with Sigmar over the misuse of Penumbral Engines before introducing the Lumineth Realmlords.

Maybe Slaanesh breaks free or the Aelves get attacked by Vampires and are in desperate need of rescuing and Teclis sends desperate word to Tyrion for help. Then a martial force of Aelves sweeps in for the rescue quicker than expected. It would be a cool moment of realization as Teclis expected his brother and instead is met by the ghastly visage of his (Im)Mortal Enemy. This also saves a full Tyrion reveal for down the line, and gets the Aelven factions into a nice narrative place of tense alliances before the release of 3.0 and a renewed focus on Destruction's invasion of Azyr. 

[LuminethMage]

40 minutes ago, Neverchosen said:

I am actually really hopeful that the Aelven focus of Broken Realms is building up to Malerion entering the narrative... I am not expecting him or his forces to get released in earnest but rather that he will step out of the shadows at the climax of the narrative. Similar to how they built up Teclis' tensions with Sigmar over the misuse of Penumbral Engines before introducing the Lumineth Realmlords.

Maybe Slaanesh breaks free or the Aelves get attacked by Vampires and are in desperate need of rescuing and Teclis sends desperate word to Tyrion for help. Then a martial force of Aelves sweeps in for the rescue quicker than expected. It would be a cool moment of realization as Teclis expected his brother and instead is met by the ghastly visage of his (Im)Mortal Enemy. This also saves a full Tyrion reveal for down the line, and gets the Aelven factions into a nice narrative place of tense alliances before the release of 3.0 and a renewed focus on Destruction's invasion of Azyr. 

From my perspective it would be great if Teclis doesn't end up in a damsel-in-distress situation, but actually achieves his goals mostly (of course there can be unknown side effects, which in the end make things go wrong in the long term, that's part of the fun). 

But I really wouldn't enjoy it very much if the Lumineth in their first real appearance as protagonists have to be bailed out by others. I wouldn't find it great if in BR Morathi, Morathi ended up in Slaneesh's belly because of some horrible magical mistake (maybe caused by the Idoneth attack) and Teclis/Malerion swooped in to rescue her. 

I'm all for the aelf faction ending up in a narrative place of tense alliance with lots of scheming and minor backstabbing though, I just hope they get there in a different way. I really liked that part about the aelves in AoS - that although they really don't like each other, they can pull together when needed. 

The marketing for the Lumineth hasn't been great so far, most of it being joke videos by GW about cows and Australian elves, the rest simple "have a look at the models" videos with nothing added (no story, no voice). If you compare that to what GW did with the Tithe vids for OBR or the stuff for the Gitz it has been pretty bad. BR Teclis is the first attempt of GW to actually make them look good (finally with a great vid), so I hope they'll kick some ass in BR Teclis and don't end up having to be bailed out by someone. 

[Neverchosen]

1 hour ago, LuminethMage said:

From my perspective it would be great if Teclis doesn't end up in a damsel-in-distress situation, but actually achieves his goals mostly (of course there can be unknown side effects, which in the end make things go wrong in the long term, that's part of the fun). 

But I really wouldn't enjoy it very much if the Lumineth in their first real appearance as protagonists have to be bailed out by others. I wouldn't find it great if in BR Morathi, Morathi ended up in Slaneesh's belly because of some horrible magical mistake (maybe caused by the Idoneth attack) and Teclis/Malerion swooped in to rescue her. 

I'm all for the aelf faction ending up in a narrative place of tense alliance with lots of scheming and minor backstabbing though, I just hope they get there in a different way. I really liked that part about the aelves in AoS - that although they really don't like each other, they can pull together when needed. 

The marketing for the Lumineth hasn't been great so far, most of it being joke videos by GW about cows and Australian elves, the rest simple "have a look at the models" videos with nothing added (no story, no voice). If you compare that to what GW did with the Tithe vids for OBR or the stuff for the Gitz it has been pretty bad. BR Teclis is the first attempt of GW to actually make them look good (finally with a great vid), so I hope they'll kick some ass in BR Teclis and don't end up having to be bailed out by someone. 

Oh sorry for the miscommunication, this idea wasn't for BR: Teclis, but rather for a hypothetical final Broken Realms title. A culmination in the Morathi/Teclis/Alarielle saga. I am almost imaging this as an attempt by the various oppositional armies (Chaos and Death primarily at this point) to get revenge on the Aelves for their successes in their respective Broken Realm titles. I should have made that clearer. I just specified Teclis' POV as I thought his perspective would make the most clear dramatic reveal for Malerion, as Morathi's relationship to her son is complicated, at best, making the reveal harder for me to speculate on...  Of course, I would happily have the character introduced in any other manner and already mentioned, I would be really interested in a narrative about Be'Lakor and Malerion settling some old rivalries over the lordship of Ulgu. 

Also, I was thinking less Damsel in distress and more besieged general(s) waiting for reinforcements and getting them from an unexpected and contentious ally. Like if instead of the Rohirrim arriving to help protect Minas Tirith, if it were Saruman. Also I am admittedly not a very gifted writer (hence my difficulty in properly conveying this idea), I would trust the actual authors to do a significantly better job at telling this story and in a more balanced manner.

Edited February 9, 2021 by Neverchosen
I wrote this on my phone and it made even less sense than my typical posts...

[LuminethMage]

36 minutes ago, Neverchosen said:

Oh sorry for miscommunication, this idea wasn't for BR: Teclis, but rather for a hypothetical final Broken Realms title. A culmination in the Morathi/Teclis/Alarielle saga. I am almost imaging this as an attempt by oppositional armies to get revenge on the Aelves for their successes in their respective Broken Realm titles. I should have made that clearer. I just specified Teclis' POV as I thought his perspective would make the most clear dramatic reveal for Malerion, as Morathi's relationship to her son is complicated, at best, making the reveal harder for me to speculate on...  Of course, I would happily have the character introduced in any other manner and already mentioned, I would be really interested in a narrative about Be'Lakor and Malerion settling some old rivalries over the lordship of Ulgu. 

Also, I was thinking less Damsel in distress and more besieged general(s) waiting for reinforcements and getting them from an unexpected and contentious ally. Like if instead of the Rohirrim arriving to help protect Minas Tirith, if it were Saruman. Also I am admittedly not a very gifted writer (hence my difficulty in properly conveying this idea), I would trust the actual authors to do a significantly better job at telling this story and in a more balanced manner.

Nothing to say sorry, even if you wanted this to be the story of BR Teclis : ). That's fine fine of course. Was just saying why I wouldn't like it personally, but understand now what you mean. All good 👍

Edited February 9, 2021 by LuminethMage