The Rumour Thread

[Rachmani]

11 minutes ago, OkayestDM said:

On a side note, Kruel Boyz take extremely well to Contrast Paints, and are surprisingly easy to paint if that is the primary medium you use, which may well have been the intent.

Yeah, this. I basically used Contrast paint+, which just means I added some little details and highlights in the end and got much better results than I imagined (first time using it). 

[novakai]

I think what helps Kruleboyz is that they are bulkier and have more surface area, and I am guessing they rank Greenskins as something easier to paint then regular skin

[Maogrim]

1 hour ago, Public Universal Duardin said:

Heh, they do have a bit of hidden grimdarkness too, something GW likes in their poster boys.

Honestly, I'd be okay with the Lumineth being poster boys. I like them. Much more than Stormcasts--whose lore is awesome but naming scheme and looks are unappealing to me. I know, I know, I have said the unthinkable as a dwarf fan.

But if you think about it, Lumineth are more duardin than Stormcast are. It's the silly hats and bulls, you see.

*whispers to himself*

I ... must not smile. Don't let the joy overcome you, Maogrim. Just think about the Archmage and simply nod in benevolent approval...

*nods in benevolent approval*

[dmorley21]

4 hours ago, JackStreicher said:

According to Rumors GW switched to another Poster-Boy faction for AoS.

Which faction might it be? I am assuming Lumineth, however Soulblight appears to be a bestseller.

If true, I’d hope Cities of Sigmar. 
 

They already have unique cities that could easily be their own battletomes as many of the cities work in different factions of order. It could make for a really ecosystem for Order armies. A new kit could be both Living City and Sylvaneth. 
 

But it would probably be Lumineth. 

[Doko]

1 hour ago, Harioch said:

Even better if the poster-boy seat was taken by a different faction each year

+1. This would be the best option that every player prefer,but i guess thats too much for the same company that think that have 20+ diferents models for marine sargeants is rigth.

[Shankelton]

43 minutes ago, dmorley21 said:

If true, I’d hope Cities of Sigmar. 
 

They already have unique cities that could easily be their own battletomes as many of the cities work in different factions of order. It could make for a really ecosystem for Order armies. A new kit could be both Living City and Sylvaneth. 
 

But it would probably be Lumineth. 

Honestly, cities and the people of the realms becoming the centrepiece is a dream scenario.

We need more grassroots stories in the mortal realms, not just gods clashing

[Chikout]

4 hours ago, JackStreicher said:

According to Rumors GW switched to another Poster-Boy faction for AoS.

Which faction might it be? I am assuming Lumineth, however Soulblight appears to be a bestseller.

This is a very weird rumour. What do you mean by poster boy?

If you click on the AoS section of Warhammer community you see this. 

 

Are you saying this is going to change? Are they going to redo all the plastic bags you get in store, build a new statue, have a bunch of new black library novels featuring the new faction?

This is what poster boy means to me. It's literally Stormcast on all the posters right now. 

If you mean another faction is going to get more kits than Stormcast, then it's already true. In second edition even Slaanesh had more kits than Stormcast. 

It's possible that 4th edition could have another faction as the star. Cities of Sigmar would be the logical choice. The game is called Age of Sigmar after all. 

[The Red King]

17 minutes ago, Shankelton said:

Honestly, cities and the people of the realms becoming the centrepiece is a dream scenario.

We need more grassroots stories in the mortal realms, not just gods clashing

You'll be sad when you find out there aren't any more but the Spear of Shadows book is basically a normal adventuring group in the mortal realms novel.

 

I felt like the cities book should have had a city that can coalition each army.

 

Har kuron= DoK

Living city= sylvaneth

Tempest eye= Duardin

Settlers gain= lumineth

Misthaven= Idoneth

One more for Seraphon. Maybe exclesis in the realm of beasts due to its attachment to the old world and the whole thing about Kroak showing up to fight Kragnos and they stuck around leading to more jungle forming around the city?

 

It makes for some wonderful themed armies and provides a perfect jumping off point to lure people into AoS armies "proper".

[Indecisive]

3 hours ago, novakai said:

I remember in terms of player base was Warrior of Chaos, Orc and Goblins, Empire, Dark elves and then High elves and Vampire counts.

but I doubt they are switching Posterboys since this feel like it came from Cinderfall gaming and he usually regurgitating stuff rather then having reliable sources

Hard to say now, for fun I dug through Total War stats/polls. Don't play it, but though it would be fun.
Not exactly indicative of WHFB playerbase but instead contemporary faction popularity.

Empire, Skaven, Lizards, High Elves skew popular.
Warriors of Chaos and Beastmen on bottom end of things.

One tasty poll was this one, with almost 12000 response it has quite the sample size. The relevant result is "I don't play this race"
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScJjhszdgfENi29-jsuXqk9sYyO_RhMTX_wQcNPeu6o5RQuvQ/viewanalytics

9% I don't play this faction for Empire versus 66% for Beastmen. Ouch.

[Noserenda]

24 minutes ago, Indecisive said:

Hard to say now, for fun I dug through Total War stats/polls. Don't play it, but though it would be fun.
Not exactly indicative of WHFB playerbase but instead contemporary faction popularity.

Empire, Skaven, Lizards, High Elves skew popular.
Warriors of Chaos and Beastmen on bottom end of things.

One tasty poll was this one, with almost 12000 response it has quite the sample size. The relevant result is "I don't play this race"
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScJjhszdgfENi29-jsuXqk9sYyO_RhMTX_wQcNPeu6o5RQuvQ/viewanalytics

9% I don't play this faction for Empire versus 66% for Beastmen. Ouch.

That does have a huge amount to do with game mechanics though, which are radically different to the actual Warhammer game, like, barely related. 

In particular Beastmen (Chaos in general even) are near unplayable in TW apparently, which is going to particularly skew the results and i can confirm for myself the Dwarf campaign in TW 1 is tedious garbage that put me off playing them later on despite them being one of my faves and oldest, arguably biggest Warhammer army (In points, Skaven and Undead have soooo many more minis lol) not to mention DLC's people dont own etc etc.

Edited January 4, 2022 by Noserenda

[novakai]

20 minutes ago, Indecisive said:

Hard to say now, for fun I dug through Total War stats/polls. Don't play it, but though it would be fun.
Not exactly indicative of WHFB playerbase but instead contemporary faction popularity.

Empire, Skaven, Lizards, High Elves skew popular.
Warriors of Chaos and Beastmen on bottom end of things.

One tasty poll was this one, with almost 12000 response it has quite the sample size. The relevant result is "I don't play this race"
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScJjhszdgfENi29-jsuXqk9sYyO_RhMTX_wQcNPeu6o5RQuvQ/viewanalytics

9% I don't play this faction for Empire versus 66% for Beastmen. Ouch.

Well for a video game I would say faction army gameplay matter more then aesthetic especially when it can take 23 hrs or more to finish a campaign like TW. Army that can give you easy wins are more popular like Empire and High elves. That and historically both Chaos and Beastmen had terrible campaign mechanics that where not fun and got outdated plus they are a DLC faction so not everyone has access to them compare to the base faction

[Fyrenn]

1 hour ago, novakai said:

Well for a video game I would say faction army gameplay matter more then aesthetic especially when it can take 23 hrs or more to finish a campaign like TW. Army that can give you easy wins are more popular like Empire and High elves. That and historically both Chaos and Beastmen had terrible campaign mechanics that where not fun and got outdated plus they are a DLC faction so not everyone has access to them compare to the base faction

they updated the beastmen in TW with the last update for WTWII;  if anything, i'd say they are too easy now... but definitely much improved as far as playable and enjoyable, in a way.  Just probably to little too late for people who play the game. 

Hope it doesn't reflect reality, where beasts are left behind or get a new model or something cool just before they are souped in to chaos or further forgotten in the era  😞 

It's hard to get around it, but rehabilitating a forgotten / underserved faction takes time and effort, not a few fluff pieces or a new hero in a box.  There are limitations to what GW can do, but in some cases i feel half support is worse then no support. At least that way you know where you stand (for the time being, etc)

[Indecisive]

I can actually buy Beastmen being last though, they seem like a niche thing everywhere. Be it AoS, TW, or WHFB.

[Neverchosen]

1 hour ago, Indecisive said:

I can actually buy Beastmen being last though, they seem like a niche thing everywhere. Be it AoS, TW, or WHFB.

That makes me sad I think they are one of the coolest armies in all of those systems. After Slaves to Darkness they are probably my favourite faction (alongside BCR and DOK), and if rumours are true and they get souped I am going to be in serious financial destress. I keep trying to tell myself I can go with just Dragon Ogors but I know if some of the other units get updated sculpts I will be all in. 


I wonder if Wheel of Time will increase their popularity, I personally spent the whole show referring to the villainous army as Beastmen.

Edited January 4, 2022 by Neverchosen

[novakai]

I mean I feel like if they got merge into slaves they would just be treated like Kroot and the other Tau Auxiliary, which mean basically an irrelevant existence  both in gameplay and in lore.

[Gitzdee]

This is an interesting topic. What AoS army needs a reboot of the model range the most? I think there is great potential for Beastmen, Seraphon and Skaven. Skaven being the Eldar of AoS at this point are the obvious choice for a reboot imo.

I think Cities of Sigmar needs to be redone from the ground up. Imo we lack a human army like the Empire used to be. I dont want the Empire back because i think the design is really outdated now. Models like the von Denst look great and should expanded upon. Its a relic from the whfb age. Its a collection of should be legend models with a fun story behind them because AoS would have many models without them. Many of the Order armies have already been replaced, Elves got DoK, Idoneth Deepkin and Lumineth, Dwarfs got Fyreslayers and Kharadron Overlords. I think the next logical step would be a human or even a mixed race army and call it Dawnbringer Crusades and remove Cities of Sigmar like Soulblight did with LoN. I predict this will be the theme of 4th edition.

Edit:
Also Wanderers should be replaced by Kurnothi and combined with Sylvaneth.

Edit 2:
With Idoneth Deepkin and Fyreslayers getting new models and potential new battletomes almost all new Aos armies have been updated already.
Soulblight gravelords, Nighthaunt and Ossiarch Bonereapers put Death in a good place. 
Orruk Warclans just got a massive upgrade and i think Gloomspite Gitz still have great looking models, Ogors could use some love at some point but i dont think they need it most at the moment. SoB are fine and will get a model + battletome at some point is my guess. Overall i think Destruction is looking good.

Edited January 4, 2022 by Iksdee

[Brian Damage]

24 minutes ago, Iksdee said:

This is an interesting topic. What AoS army needs a reboot of the model range the most? I think there is great potential for Beastmen, Seraphon and Skaven. Skaven being the Eldar of AoS at this point are the obvious choice for a reboot imo.

I think Cities of Sigmar needs to be redone from the ground up. Imo we lack a human army like the Empire used to be. I dont want the Empire back because i think the design is really outdated now. Models like the von Denst look great and should expanded upon. Its a relic from the whfb age. Its a collection of should be legend models with a fun story behind them because AoS would have many models without them. Many of the Order armies have already been replaced, Elves got DoK, Idoneth Deepkin and Lumineth, Dwarfs got Fyreslayers and Kharadron Overlords. I think the next logical step would be a human or even a mixed race army and call it Dawnbringer Crusades and remove Cities of Sigmar like Soulblight did with LoN. I predict this will be the theme of 4th edition.

Edit: Also Wanderers should be replaced by Kurnothi and combined with Sylvaneth.

Personally I hope that CoS don't become an entirely human army. I know you could just ally in other Order factions were that to become the case, but thematically I like the idea of an army of Humans, Elves and Dwarves fighting under the same banner. Maybe newer kits could even have all three represented in a single unit?

[JackStreicher]

17 minutes ago, Brian Damage said:

Personally I hope that CoS don't become an entirely human army. I know you could just ally in other Order factions were that to become the case, but thematically I like the idea of an army of Humans, Elves and Dwarves fighting under the same banner. Maybe newer kits could even have all three represented in a single unit?

Same! It’s currently a bit weird that every race only works with its own people instead of for example an aelven general commanding humans and dwarves etc

[Clan's Cynic]

8 hours ago, Indecisive said:

Hard to say now, for fun I dug through Total War stats/polls. Don't play it, but though it would be fun.
Not exactly indicative of WHFB playerbase but instead contemporary faction popularity.

Empire, Skaven, Lizards, High Elves skew popular.
Warriors of Chaos and Beastmen on bottom end of things.

One tasty poll was this one, with almost 12000 response it has quite the sample size. The relevant result is "I don't play this race"
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScJjhszdgfENi29-jsuXqk9sYyO_RhMTX_wQcNPeu6o5RQuvQ/viewanalytics

9% I don't play this faction for Empire versus 66% for Beastmen. Ouch.

I don't know how viable Total War is to measure popularity for the wargame. Warriors of Chaos was absolutely one of the most popular factions on the tabletop, if not the most popular in a lot of places. 

WoC and Beastmen are both paid DLC from Game 1 who have (until very recently for the Beastmen anyway) extremely outdated mechanics and very limited rosters compared to every other faction in the game. The WoC campaign barely functions in 2 due to changes to the AI and size of the map and they're still a pretty popular faction in MP. Whilst Beastmen weren't popular, it's worth noting there was a very loud campaign to see them get a DLC and a mechanical update which did eventually appear. Even in 1 they were considered pretty bad to play.

Empire is a triple whammy of being Game 1's posterboys, being the most 'historical' faction for non-Warhammer Total War fans and 40k-only players going into it thinking they're akin to their precious Imperium (how many times have you seen 40k-only/new players refer to The Empire as the Imperium?) 

High Elves are Game 2's posterboys, the fandom wanted them for ages, they have the easiest campaign on Normal difficulty and elves are always popular in general.

Skaven are a weird one. According to Steam achievements, more people have finished a Tomb Kings (a DLC) campaign than Skaven one. It doesn't help they were even less played until the Prophet and the Warlock DLC added in most of their missing 'iconic' units and mechanics. I think a lot of Skavendom is largely memes.

Edited January 4, 2022 by Clan's Cynic

[KingBrodd]

2 hours ago, Iksdee said:

This is an interesting topic. What AoS army needs a reboot of the model range the most? I think there is great potential for Beastmen, Seraphon and Skaven. Skaven being the Eldar of AoS at this point are the obvious choice for a reboot imo.

I think Cities of Sigmar needs to be redone from the ground up. Imo we lack a human army like the Empire used to be. I dont want the Empire back because i think the design is really outdated now. Models like the von Denst look great and should expanded upon. Its a relic from the whfb age. Its a collection of should be legend models with a fun story behind them because AoS would have many models without them. Many of the Order armies have already been replaced, Elves got DoK, Idoneth Deepkin and Lumineth, Dwarfs got Fyreslayers and Kharadron Overlords. I think the next logical step would be a human or even a mixed race army and call it Dawnbringer Crusades and remove Cities of Sigmar like Soulblight did with LoN. I predict this will be the theme of 4th edition.

Edit:
Also Wanderers should be replaced by Kurnothi and combined with Sylvaneth.

Edit 2:
With Idoneth Deepkin and Fyreslayers getting new models and potential new battletomes almost all new Aos armies have been updated already.
Soulblight gravelords, Nighthaunt and Ossiarch Bonereapers put Death in a good place. 
Orruk Warclans just got a massive upgrade and i think Gloomspite Gitz still have great looking models, Ogors could use some love at some point but i dont think they need it most at the moment. SoB are fine and will get a model + battletome at some point is my guess. Overall i think Destruction is looking good.

If Ogors got all the fine cast replaced and given a named Hero they would be perfect. Heres hoping to more than just a Hero and Battletome like last Edition.*

I'm guessing this Edition that the Sons dont get a new model which is understandable in a way. If they do I believe it would be an updated Mancrusher kit which I would love!! 

 

*We also got the Mawpot.

[Rachmani]

The Ogors would be such a blast to upgrade. Imagine what they could do in terms of details & dynamic poses with a faction of well, ogor-sized minatures.

[Ratboy genius]

1 hour ago, Clan's Cynic said:

.

Skaven are a weird one. According to Steam achievements, more people have finished a Tomb Kings (a DLC) campaign than Skaven one. It doesn't help they were even less played until the Prophet and the Warlock DLC added in most of their missing 'iconic' units and mechanics. I think a lot of Skavendom is largely memes.

As far as tww skaven go, to complete a skaven campaign pre auto resolve update you'd have to play through every. Single. Battle. as skaven or lose your army because their auto resolve was so bad. This changed with dlc but it was mostly painful

 

[RamsesIII]

1 hour ago, Clan's Cynic said:

I don't know how viable Total War is to measure popularity for the wargame. Warriors of Chaos was absolutely one of the most popular factions on the tabletop, if not the most popular in a lot of places. 

WoC and Beastmen are both paid DLC from Game 1 who have (until very recently for the Beastmen anyway) extremely outdated mechanics and very limited rosters compared to every other faction in the game. The WoC campaign barely functions in 2 due to changes to the AI and size of the map and they're still a pretty popular faction in MP. Whilst Beastmen weren't popular, it's worth noting there was a very loud campaign to see them get a DLC and a mechanical update which did eventually appear. Even in 1 they were considered pretty bad to play.

Empire is a triple whammy of being Game 1's posterboys, being the most 'historical' faction for non-Warhammer Total War fans and 40k-only players going into it thinking they're akin to their precious Imperium (how many times have you seen 40k-only/new players refer to The Empire as the Imperium?) 

High Elves are Game 2's posterboys, the fandom wanted them for ages, they have the easiest campaign on Normal difficulty and elves are always popular in general.

Skaven are a weird one. According to Steam achievements, more people have finished a Tomb Kings (a DLC) campaign than Skaven one. It doesn't help they were even less played until the Prophet and the Warlock DLC added in most of their missing 'iconic' units and mechanics. I think a lot of Skavendom is largely memes.

I think that measuring a race's in-game popularity based on their campaign completion rate is somewhat flawed. Skaven, despite being considered one of the strongest races in the game, have some of the hardest campaign completion requirements in Mortal Empires (which is the most commonly played gamemode by those who own both game 1 and 2). Not only is it difficult to expand to all the capitals required due to the food limitations, but obtaining near-full Skaven corruption in so many regions can be tricky, definitely less simple than the Tomb Kings' campaign objectives (granted, recent growth and public order changes have made their campaign start tougher recently).

 

 

 

[Brian Damage]

 

18 minutes ago, RamsesIII said:

I think that measuring a race's in-game popularity based on their campaign completion rate is somewhat flawed. Skaven, despite being considered one of the strongest races in the game, have some of the hardest campaign completion requirements in Mortal Empires (which is the most commonly played gamemode by those who own both game 1 and 2). Not only is it difficult to expand to all the capitals required due to the food limitations, but obtaining near-full Skaven corruption in so many regions can be tricky, definitely less simple than the Tomb Kings' campaign objectives (granted, recent growth and public order changes have made their campaign start tougher recently).

 

 

 

Yeah I can't speak for everyone, but personally I very rarely complete a Total War campaign anyway, I just play until it stops being fun. If you took my completion stats as an indication of popularity, my favourite factions would be Empire and Beastmen, when in reality Skaven and Vampire Counts make up the bulk of my playtime.

[Chikout]

Not sure about this one. It kind of looks like DoK.