The Rumour Thread

[Killax]

I think we will see a new Age, the Age of Iron doesn't sound like a bad plan etc. For the game itself though I think the most interesting aspects to come are indeed revolved around the Grand Allegiance Death being much more fleshed out and hopefully Destruction will recieve some awesome goodies aswell.

Other than that though I think Nurgle and it's Rotbringer Battletome is still on the shelves, with only the production of new models being an issue as to why it isn't here yet. I honestly believe that the initial plan indeed would be to follow up the Blightwars box with that Battletome because it increases the interest in such sets aswell.

@Gaz Taylor correct me if I'm wrong but I thought we would see all 4 "Heralds" with Blood and Glory. I'm happy with the two though  
 

Quote

The Malign Portents release is coming in 2018 and includes both Narrative Play and Match Play content.

There will be 4 Heralds for each of the Grand Alliances included. 

Now what I believe Malign Portents thus will be is a book that follows the same concept as the actual rules for Firestorm. So what I expect in it to be is:

- 4 Heralds (as spoiled) for all Grand Allegiances
- 6+ Battalions, at least one for Grand Allegiances
- New scenarios
- New lore and follow up on the Battalions included
- Hopefully a link to an actual store campaign so 2018 will indeed be focused on Malign Portents
- Likely another card deck that is made for Malign Portents scenario play

Based on the Herald of Death and Herald of Chaos I wouldn't even count out the creation of "less popular" other Herald designs. So while I dont want to upset players or give them false hopes I would not be extremely suprised to see this:


As a part of a Order Herald from the Free Peoples/Free Guilds. It still strikes me as this is either a feather in a hat (like Free Guild have) or a writing feather which could indicate some form of Free Guild taxmaster or tallyman. The whole design certainly strikes me more as Age of Sigmar as Warhammer 40k.

For Destruction pretty much too much is up in the air. We do have some spoilers who could indicate a Grot from the Spiderfangs or Moonclan but those shots are so 'random'.

[Arkiham]

they have said on facebook that they are planning new terrain for the up and comming year as order has been rebuilding in the realms.

 

how much you can rely on that though 

[Gaz Taylor]

8 minutes ago, Killax said:

@Gaz Taylor correct me if I'm wrong but I thought we would see all 4 "Heralds" with Blood and Glory. I'm happy with the two though  

I wasn't expecting to see all four at all. It's too close to the end of the year and this is going to be a big release so why would you drop a big reveal when you can keep it for 2018  

[RuneBrush]

34 minutes ago, Gaz Taylor said:

So personally, I would wait until next year  

Completely agree with this.  GW were pretty up front earlier this year in saying they were giving 40k the lions share of the releases due to it being an anniversary year.  I've found it a great opportunity to catch up on projects and also look at some of the "side" releases like Firestorm and Shadespire too.

[sandlemad]

Combat Phase's interview with Josh Reynolds (episode 219 for the AoS stuff) turned up a few very minor things. He wasn't able to talk about the Soul Wars novel as it ties in to 'other things', so that's a good hint that it's a Malign Portents related book and that the campaign/box/setting book/whatever is going to be at least partially about Nagash returning to war with Sigmar. Not unexpected, given what has been built towards in pretty much all the AoS death fiction so far but it's some confirmation.

He also mentioned that it's going to go badly for all concerned and not in a 'chaos gods laughing in the background' sort of way, that chaos is going to get hit hard too. You could definitely read too much into all this but it's worth a listen. He also mentions an upcoming AoS novel set between the Realmgate Wars and the 'current' time of City of Secrets/Spear of Shadows, covering the founding of a city by the forces of order.

[JReynolds]

29 minutes ago, sandlemad said:

He also mentions an upcoming AoS novel set between the Realmgate Wars and the 'current' time of City of Secrets/Spear of Shadows, covering the founding of a city by the forces of order.

That'd be the second Hallowed Knights novel (which I'm due to start writing in January), if anyone was wondering. 

[Malin]

1 minute ago, JReynolds said:

That'd be the second Hallowed Knights novel (which I'm due to start writing in January), if anyone was wondering. 

Not anyone, everyone

Thanks for the info!

[stato]

They said in the B&G seminar the new logo was the start of a darker season of Sigmar (season being an unspecified period of time). Upto now the game (realms) have shown their light and good side, now its about showing and building the dark background.  The key thing that was repeated often, the good guys might not always be 'that' good.  No idea if this will be a new game, armies, or books.  But I think its safe to say we will probably see all those in some form.

[Turragor]

53 minutes ago, Killax said:

I think we will see a new Age, the Age of Iron doesn't sound like a bad plan etc. For the game itself though I think the most interesting aspects to come are indeed revolved around the Grand Allegiance Death being much more fleshed out and hopefully Destruction will recieve some awesome goodies aswell.

Other than that though I think Nurgle and it's Rotbringer Battletome is still on the shelves, with only the production of new models being an issue as to why it isn't here yet. I honestly believe that the initial plan indeed would be to follow up the Blightwars box with that Battletome because it increases the interest in such sets aswell.

@Gaz Taylor correct me if I'm wrong but I thought we would see all 4 "Heralds" with Blood and Glory. I'm happy with the two though  
 

Now what I believe Malign Portents thus will be is a book that follows the same concept as the actual rules for Firestorm. So what I expect in it to be is:

- 4 Heralds (as spoiled) for all Grand Allegiances
- 6+ Battalions, at least one for Grand Allegiances
- New scenarios
- New lore and follow up on the Battalions included
- Hopefully a link to an actual store campaign so 2018 will indeed be focused on Malign Portents
- Likely another card deck that is made for Malign Portents scenario play

Based on the Herald of Death and Herald of Chaos I wouldn't even count out the creation of "less popular" other Herald designs. So while I dont want to upset players or give them false hopes I would not be extremely suprised to see this:


As a part of a Order Herald from the Free Peoples/Free Guilds. It still strikes me as this is either a feather in a hat (like Free Guild have) or a writing feather which could indicate some form of Free Guild taxmaster or tallyman. The whole design certainly strikes me more as Age of Sigmar as Warhammer 40k.

For Destruction pretty much too much is up in the air. We do have some spoilers who could indicate a Grot from the Spiderfangs or Moonclan but those shots are so 'random'.

That looks like either a 'frilly sucking tentacle' or a 'long hairy ear to me'.

I also don't think they'll rename the franchise in ages - maybe I misunderstand you. I think they'd stick new editions or large worldwide events under the "Warhammer Age of Sigmar" brand so Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Malign Portents/ Warhamemr Age of Sigmar: Age of Iron.

It doesn't make business sense for them to change the brand (logo, all older branded materials) to Warhammer Age of Iron and then on for example Warhammer Age of Death, Warhammer Age of Frilly Sucking Tentacles, Warhammer Age of Long Hair Ears.

[Killax]

30 minutes ago, Turragor said:

That looks like either a 'frilly sucking tentacle' or a 'long hairy ear to me'.

I also don't think they'll rename the franchise in ages - maybe I misunderstand you. I think they'd stick new editions or large worldwide events under the "Warhammer Age of Sigmar" brand so Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Malign Portents/ Warhamemr Age of Sigmar: Age of Iron.

It doesn't make business sense for them to change the brand (logo, all older branded materials) to Warhammer Age of Iron and then on for example Warhammer Age of Death, Warhammer Age of Frilly Sucking Tentacles, Warhammer Age of Long Hair Ears.

Yeah could be that too I guess, though I think a herald making the reports or documents could be really interesting too. They played with that same idea for Deathguard and it adds nice non-combatant characters that are actually quite the rarity.  Like the Herald of Death being an armoured Nighthaunt character and the Herald of Chaos being a Warqueen of Darkoath characters.

What I mend is that they won't rename it to Age of Metal but the setting still is set in specific Ages. The setting as far as I know doesn't refer to this exclusively as the Age of Sigmar. 

[Charles]

44 minutes ago, JReynolds said:

That'd be the second Hallowed Knights novel (which I'm due to start writing in January), if anyone was wondering. 

Only the faithful, were wondering ?

[BobbyB]

Regarding the 40k/AoS balance they mentioned in the seminar that 'you would expect the elastic to snap back the other way at some point'. Can't wait!

[Turragor]

13 minutes ago, Killax said:

Yeah could be that too I guess, though I think a herald making the reports or documents could be really interesting too. They played with that same idea for Deathguard and it adds nice non-combatant characters that are actually quite the rarity.  Like the Herald of Death being an armoured Nighthaunt character and the Herald of Chaos being a Warqueen of Darkoath characters.

What I mend is that they won't rename it to Age of Metal but the setting still is set in specific Ages. The setting as far as I know doesn't refer to this exclusively as the Age of Sigmar. 

Actually moving forward in ages I think is sensible and could be interesting. It's quite a contrast to the old GW which was, as far as I understand, very much a snapshot or like tv episodes in a long running tv series - where changes were kind of narratively reset at the start of the next episode for the most part. Then ofc eventually ended for fantasy and here we are.

But moving forward in ages with large sweeping changes to the lore or setting could be intersting.

[Killax]

5 minutes ago, Turragor said:

Actually moving forward in ages I think is sensible and could be interesting. It's quite a contrast to the old GW which was, as far as I understand, very much a snapshot or like tv episodes in a long running tv series - where changes were kind of narratively reset at the start of the next episode for the most part. Then ofc eventually ended for fantasy and here we are.

But moving forward in ages with large sweeping changes to the lore or setting could be intersting.

Exactly and I believe Games Workshop under Rountree is generally looking to make GW more progressive and less stagnant (pre 2015) as it used to be. Social media is an obvious part of this but also product lines continueing on 'the coolest things' instead of making mice steps and basically have the whole game set in a particular yearcount.

One of the advantages of doing this for Age of Sigmar is that they narratively speaking can also write certain armies out of their excistance which then really softens the flow when certain model lines get replaced and without doubt lot of Warhammer Fantasy models will eventually dissapear from Age of Sigmar.

Moving forward is basically what happend under Rountree so far and I really like it. There is no extreme hidden scheme from Games Workshop. Obviously they won't spoil everything but you do recieve a good indication that things are changing before they change. The logo is just an example. In addition to that Age of Sigmar also needs it's own website and I think it would be even cooler to have this done in 2018 with a new lore setting. The new lore setting will logically cross into what we knew offcourse. The fact that Nagash is upset with the way things are going isn't news for example.  We will certainly see lore progress and Im very happy that it isnt all concentrated around the Storm of Chaos like it largely was in Warhammer Fantasy.

In the end it's also a good think that Nagash returned as even the oldest WFB knows that he's at least as scary of an adversary as Sigmar or Archaon. What I wish to see is more of these epic characters. They are doing it for Warhammer 40.000 in the form of Primarchs and I think Age of Sigmar would lend itself very well for a real personification of Gork and Mork, Khaine and eventually more.

[Turragor]

29 minutes ago, Killax said:

Exactly and I believe Games Workshop under Rountree is generally looking to make GW more progressive and less stagnant (pre 2015) as it used to be. Social media is an obvious part of this but also product lines continueing on 'the coolest things' instead of making mice steps and basically have the whole game set in a particular yearcount.

One of the advantages of doing this for Age of Sigmar is that they narratively speaking can also write certain armies out of their excistance which then really softens the flow when certain model lines get replaced and without doubt lot of Warhammer Fantasy models will eventually dissapear from Age of Sigmar.
 

I think I most like the idea of letting community event results dictate the broad strokes of the fate of the realms (ofc the exact setting for those events are dictated by the team at GW) and then all the minutiae - the small and large characters and how exactly their story played out against that community determined backdrop - is perfect fodder for the black library writers.

[BobbyB]

Early rumour engine today, is it a rose? My own bias leads me to see nurgle everywhere

[RuneBrush]

41 minutes ago, BobbyB said:

Early rumour engine today, is it a rose? My own bias leads me to see nurgle everywhere

Rose with thorns...  Part of me wants to say Nurgle too, but we've equally not seen the Order Malign Portents character.  Could of course be something random and a new Gardener faction where they wield shears and dangerous spray guns of bug spray.

[TheNotebookGM]

14 minutes ago, RuneBrush said:

  Could of course be something random and a new Gardener faction where they wield shears and dangerous spray guns of bug spray.

At moths with frilly ears.

[Still-young]

Why would a rose with thorns be Nurgle?

[RuneBrush]

39 minutes ago, Still-young said:

Why would a rose with thorns be Nurgle?

It plays towards the whole "Garden of Nurgle" concept, where Nurgle isn't about corruption but about rebirth from decay and repeating in a perpetual cycle.  We're seeing it a lot more now in AoS, there are quite a few stories about it and even models are following that theme (Horticulous Slimux)

[Frozenbeast]

A vampire? seen the whole death "re-boot" coming up in January I can see a couple of new models like a mounted vampire...-esse or not mounted but vampire...-esse.

[Killax]

36 minutes ago, Frozenbeast said:

vampire...-esse.

Ese, ?eres un vampiro?  

[ShadowSwordmaster]

Vampire = Rose. 

[Davariel]

I'm at once excited and a little apprehensive about this darker new age and return of death being hinted at. On the one hand it all sounds awesome in and of itself - narrative progression and Nagash returning in a big way is a big thumbs up. I love that GW is daring to move things forward.

But... (and this may be an unpopular opinion) I wonder if Age of Sigmar is actually ready to leap forward like that. It's a little hard to take GA Death seriously as a threat when it's roughly the same size as the Stormcast product line, never mind the entire rest of Order. A clampack and 1-2 new boxes won't really change that (especially when they'll probably be matched by new Stormcast releases ). Wouldn't it be better if they spent a year releasing/fleshing out 2-3 new death armies first?

Likewise it feels perhaps too early in the narrative development of the realms to take them back into another dark period. Sure, we know how everyone and their grandmother feels towards Sigmar, but there's plenty of stuff in the setting that's a bit of a blank. We don't know much about how our gods of life and death (Alarielle and Nagash) feel towards each other. Wouldn't it be better to establish that before launching Nagash's war? Or fleshing out the social dynamics between the Orruks and Ogors, or some of the plots between the various Mortarchs.

Maybe all this is just baseless rambling, but one of the things I did like about WFB was that I could pick up an army book and get a clear sense of where that civilisation fit into the world as a whole. How it related to all the other factions and peoples, its history and the places that were important. GW has made great strides in that direction, but the approach has been a little scattered and piecemeal across supplements, Black Library books, and so on. I don't mean to dismiss the work they've done building the setting at all, just suggest that perhaps they could do a bit more before delving into another world-changing event.

After all, you've got to build things up before you can tear them down

[Sharkbelly]

We've seen the new herald models for chaos and death. That leaves order and destruction. 

Some kind of Sylvaneth character? A fancy savage orruk with feathers? That looks like a peacock feather to me...