The Rumour Thread

[dirkdragonslayer]

Malerion has been being "rumored" since 1st edition, any mention of him in any rumor schedule needs a heavy pinch of salt. And I don't see how Silent People would somehow be Death unless its a bunch of zombie bug carcasses.

[Neverchosen]

So I have a really stupid inane and slightly whiny question, why do all of the new monohero releases have to be Infantry Styled heroes? Why can't we get mounted heroes? I feel like we have a shockingly small number of cavalry mounted heroes in AOS they tend to either be footslogers, riding monsters or are themselves monsters. 

I hope that we can get at least one new mounted hero if we are mostly getting hero releases. 

[Rachmani]

4 minutes ago, dirkdragonslayer said:

Malerion has been being "rumored" since 1st edition, any mention of him in any rumor schedule needs a heavy pinch of salt. And I don't see how Silent People would somehow be Death unless its a bunch of zombie bug carcasses.

Well, we at least have WoW that established undead bugs in common fantasy lore. I‘d say it’s much more likely than it first seems.

[sandlemad]

@Neverchosen It's an odd one. I think this is down in part to GW making mounted heroes mini-centrepieces. Whereas traditionally in WHFB you had a clearer delineation between foot hero, cavalry hero and hero-on-monster (loosely), in AoS these mounted heroes seem to have been bumped up to dudes in dramatic poses on larger bases.

Vandus Hammerhand/soul wars stormcast lord, the Kruleboyz boss on gnashtoof, the Lumineth lord regent, the Akhelian king, loonboss on giant squig... Often these guys don't even share the same kind of mount as the rest of their faction. Apart from them, you do have cases where you can build a 'big cavalry' hero out of the regular cavalry box (flying blightlords, other stormcast cavalry) but this still seems to be a deliberate trend, making mounted mini-centrepiece characters from what once would have been regular cavalry heroes. So then these become a bigger multi-sprue affair and beyond the remit of something small to accompany a quick battletome update, unfortunately.

There might be something there about AoS having more conceptual focus on mounted characters inspiring infantry or mixed troops or acting on their own rather than the older 'here's my Empire captain on barded steed to lead my knights' style.

Edited December 30, 2021 by sandlemad

[zilberfrid]

22 minutes ago, Neverchosen said:

So I have a really stupid inane and slightly whiny question, why do all of the new monohero releases have to be Infantry Styled heroes? Why can't we get mounted heroes? I feel like we have a shockingly small number of cavalry mounted heroes in AOS they tend to either be footslogers, riding monsters or are themselves monsters. 

I hope that we can get at least one new mounted hero if we are mostly getting hero releases. 

I'm afraid it's because it's literally the least they can do to taut a box as having new models. It's not about what a faction needs, it's about what GW knows it can get away with. Thoigh the Kharadron Loondrinmaster isn't really an infantry hero.

[Ratboy genius]

Someone come drop a credible rumor please the natives are getting restless and posting paragraphs of word vomit 

[xking]

https://www.wargamer.com/warhammer-age-of-sigmar-soulbound/champions-of-destruction-details

[novakai]

36 minutes ago, Neverchosen said:

So I have a really stupid inane and slightly whiny question, why do all of the new monohero releases have to be Infantry Styled heroes? Why can't we get mounted heroes? I feel like we have a shockingly small number of cavalry mounted heroes in AOS they tend to either be footslogers, riding monsters or are themselves monsters. 

I hope that we can get at least one new mounted hero if we are mostly getting hero releases. 

there are some exception like the Loonboss on squig, Endrinmaster on balloon, sorcerer on disc, and Horticulus

 
I don’t think anyone would know unless you ask GW

 

You take your pick of community theories

easy to design and reuse assets for, lower effort and they have their interns design them sometimes. 

Mounted hero take more effort in designing, splitting the model on the sprue, making an assembly instruction,

Small Heroes are costed around the same price and they are easy to calculate the discount of the models inside when doing these boxes. Most of these small heroes are on round bases between rarely above 50mm or using oval bases.

 

 

[Noserenda]

I suspect its purely sprue space as you see them for smaller races, or smaller mounts, i guess even a basic horse and man sized figure would use too much real estate? 

[Indecisive]

The Lord Arcanum on Gryph came on a single, albeit larger sprue. It did share said sprue with another mini.
https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/stormcast-eternals-masters-of-the-sacrosanct-2021

That, and the Magister/LoonBoss being in boxed sets. I think they're perfectly capable of including smaller mounted heroes in them, they just choose not to.

[novakai]

22 minutes ago, Indecisive said:

The Lord Arcanum on Gryph came on a single, albeit larger sprue. It did share said sprue with another mini.
https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/stormcast-eternals-masters-of-the-sacrosanct-2021

That, and the Magister/LoonBoss being in boxed sets. I think they're perfectly capable of including smaller mounted heroes in them, they just choose not to.

I would say the Lord Arcanium is an exception since he was made for Soul Wars which is a starter box set like the Gnashtoof Killaboss is for Dominion and not a typical boxset.
 

they haven’t put any monsterous size model in these boxset since Blightwars with Horticulous 

Edited December 31, 2021 by novakai

[Indecisive]

29 minutes ago, novakai said:

I would say the Lord Arcanium is an exception since he was made for Soul Wars which is a starter box set like the Gnashtoof Killaboss is for Dominion and not a typical boxset.
 

they haven’t put any monsterous size model in these boxset since Blightwars with Horticulous 

Less me saying starter boxes are indicative of a trend, more me trying to imply mounted heroes do not take up that much more space. Stormcast mounted heroes are on the larger end of things.

[SeanMaguire1991]

5 hours ago, Noserenda said:

Crusade itself isnt the problem, obviously, its used heavily in 40k without a problem after all, if anything its passé because its so horrifically overused as a fantasy trope like guilds.

No, its the overall context that comes together badly, the very specific colonial overtones, the try hard peasants crusade imagery and the constant insistence that most of these groups are the equivalent of building a castle on a swamp, 3 or 4 tries along itll work out fine but mostly its a suicide mission.

It very much reeks of the team getting excited by some ideas and noone asking important questions until it was too late, that and it landing like a problematic damp squib at the end
 

I find it hard to care for the plight of the Chaos Worshipping marauders when faced with Sigmar's crusade.

In my opinion the "important questions" would get laughed out of any creative writing room because anyone familiar with Warhammer's themes would know it highlights some the worst of humanity and your not supposed to have a hopeful outlook.  

[Neverchosen]

I feel like this has been a bit of a diversion, but that the big take away is that Halfling Bretonnians are not only economical but inevitable 😎

[novakai]

4 minutes ago, Neverchosen said:

I feel like this has been a bit of a diversion, but that the big take away is that Halfling Bretonnians are not only economical but inevitable 😎

Boy I hope that 4 chan poster take the bait and use this for the next rumor dump 

Malarion and Umbraneth Darklords in May
Summer of Silent people

October The Pot Knights of Halftonnia 

source: dude trust me

 

 

[zilberfrid]

47 minutes ago, novakai said:

Boy I hope that 4 chan poster take the bait and use this for the next rumor dump 

Malarion and Umbraneth Darklords in May
Summer of Silent people

October The Pot Knights of Halftonnia 

source: dude trust me

Umbraneth Aetchlords

Demiling Cueliaenaeries

Silent people... Will probably be something like Quaeit Fawlkes Mutelords once the naming person is done with them

[Public Universal Duardin]

1 hour ago, Neverchosen said:

I feel like this has been a bit of a diversion, but that the big take away is that Halfling Bretonnians are not only economical but inevitable 😎

Please, Apollo, grant this mortal the gift of foresight.

[Maogrim]

6 hours ago, novakai said:

Boy I hope that 4 chan poster take the bait and use this for the next rumor dump 

Malarion and Umbraneth Darklords in May
Summer of Silent people

October The Pot Knights of Halftonnia 

source: dude trust me

 

 

#IKnowAGuy

#MyRelativeWorksForGW

Pot Knights of Halftonnia!!!!!!!!!!!! 😍

[Fellman]

Do we get a new year preview this year as we did last year?


New Year Preview – Sample the Decadent Delights 2021 Has in Store - Warhammer Community (warhammer-community.com)

[Still-young]

2 minutes ago, Fellman said:

Do we get a new year preview this year as we did last year?


New Year Preview – Sample the Decadent Delights 2021 Has in Store - Warhammer Community (warhammer-community.com)

Not this year. 

[Clan's Cynic]

1 hour ago, Fellman said:

Do we get a new year preview this year as we did last year?


New Year Preview – Sample the Decadent Delights 2021 Has in Store - Warhammer Community (warhammer-community.com)

No live streamed Preview, but will apparently be showing some things off via Community. I wouldn't get my hopes up for much though.

[KingBrodd]

42 minutes ago, Clan's Cynic said:

No live streamed Preview, but will apparently be showing some things off via Community. I wouldn't get my hopes up for much though.

I hope that we at least get something for AOS shown off tomorrow. If we get another Space Marine or 40K model shown off and we get nothing I'll be dissapointed. 

I wouldn't be surprised to see a Warcry or Underworlds Warband Previewed.

[silverstu]

53 minutes ago, Clan's Cynic said:

No live streamed Preview, but will apparently be showing some things off via Community. I wouldn't get my hopes up for much though.

Yeah I think they might save a few things for a reveal at LVO at the end of Jan [I may mistaken about that event!].

There is quite a backlog of stuff for them to get through in January already! But I hope they give us a teaser taster at New Year of what might be coming in 2022.

[Noserenda]

10 hours ago, SeanMaguire1991 said:

I find it hard to care for the plight of the Chaos Worshipping marauders when faced with Sigmar's crusade.

In my opinion the "important questions" would get laughed out of any creative writing room because anyone familiar with Warhammer's themes would know it highlights some the worst of humanity and your not supposed to have a hopeful outlook.  

So you are saying Colonialism is fine when used against subhuman heathens? Sounds familiar...

I dont think these things were laughed out by the writers, because i dont think the writers are actually arseholes (Because generally they arent) they just didnt have the outside perspective to see where it was all going, and seeing as if im right its cost the company time and money that only reinforces the importance of it.

Its not about hope either, repeatedly going over just how grimderp suicidal the whole thing is is wasting word count that could be used for literally anything else like talking about how the different Order factions organise or support their crusades which is sorely lacking imho.

Hell, a two page spread describing different ways of moving the floaty rocks instead of just raw manpower? Wind spirits, clanking steam wagons, harnessed hydras, Ironclads etc etc the potential is pretty limitless.

[Clan's Cynic]

22 hours ago, Noserenda said:

So you are saying Colonialism is fine when used against subhuman heathens? Sounds familiar...

I think their point was more, "Sigmarite colonialism is depicted as an unarguable improvement over the literal demon-worshipping marauders who happily torture, betray, butcher and/or forcefully convert pretty much anyone for funsies in the name of gods who will torture them for eternity after they die." This isn't pitched by the writing as propaganda to dehumanise them so the Freeguild feel better about shooting them, this is 'word of god'.

Ultimately this is the clashing problem with trying to insert criticisms of colonialism into Age of Sigmar/CoS/Dawnbringers. The Mortal Realms have been depicted as so utterly nightmarish for humans who aren't trying to climb up the Chaos totem pole - which explicitly WILL twist you into becoming an utterly despicable monster - that it's really, really hard to argue that Sigmarite colonisation is anything but an overall improvement, including for your immortal soul.

It doesn't help that the worst we've really had written about the Azyrite/Reclaimed divide is that the Azyr can be uppity and often look down on Reclaimed. Compare that to 40k, where a lot of the human civilisations that the Great Crusade conquered were doing pretty well for themselves and their only crime was "we'd just rather not be part of your club" and separatists are violently crushed down to the last drop of their distant bloodlines.

I'm sure in the future we'll (probably) see more stories depicting a murkier reality to such things, but right now it's been largely depicted as a pretty Light Shade of Grey vs Black conflict when it comes to Sigmar vs Chaos.

Edited January 1, 2022 by Clan's Cynic