The Rumour Thread

[Chikout]

I do think Malerion has to come eventually. He is the major god of a realm, whose faction is supposed to be much larger than DoK. Now that the cities are out, Malerion's faction is the last obvious hole in the lore. There are other factions that have  been hinted at but none of them are described as being the dominant faction in a realm. 

If 4th edition is set in Ulgu, it would be very surprising if we went through the whole edition without getting Malerion. 

[Hollow]

52 minutes ago, Beliman said:

Am I the only one who doesn't care where we go?

I care, but only because I can see the huge potential of exploring the Realms properly, rather than what we currently have. GW really needs to further define and characterize the different realms IMO. I personally would prefer for an Edition cycle to be accompanied by different "Realm Expansions" across the edition's lifespan. (Rather than the narrative books we currently have squashed into the end of an edition) 

So you would have the edition launch set in Ulgu for example, with the starter set, a big rule book, and then shortly after a "Ulgu" campaign/lore book. Then 9 subsequent books across the entire 3 years of the edition representing the 8 Realms, 8 Points and The Aetheric Void (Making for a total of 10 books per edition) leading into the next edition. 

It would allow for each Realm to be steadily built out across each edition, for all factions to be covered (You could have a "Versus box" accompanying each of the Campaign books) 

[Vagard]

Actually there are 5 realms that has been less mentionned thant the others in the game : 

- Hysh

- Chamon

- Ulgu 

- Azyr

We've seen the others at least for each edition box set and even during the campaigns :

- 1ed Aqshy (Vandus vs Khul) 

- 2ed Shyish (necroquake, sacrosanct vs NH) 

- 3ed Ghur (Thunderstrike vs KB)

-Ghyran (after discussion below, it is true that it appears many times in the lore even if it never has been a starting box realm)

Hysh and ulgu have been a bit developped during the broken realms because of the LRL and the road to god Morathi, Azyr cannot be a battlefield to me becase it's sigmar' realm and kind of actual paradise. Ghyran has also been used during the realmgate wars for Alarielle's arc. 

During the end of the BR series, we were already shifting to Ghur with Kragnos reveal. Same for Nagash's plan in shyish during the end of the 1st ed. 

We can see a pattern here where a god is plotting something somewhere and the next edition takes place there. With the leaks we have, my guess is on the horned rat doing his things in chamon or ulgu (the two most unexplored realms lorewise) and a brand new central mini for skavens (not the horned rat I guess but maybe verminlord even if the fig still fit very well). 

Thoughts? 

Edited October 19, 2023 by Vagard

[Morglum StormBasha]

You can’t say Ghyran is underdeveloped. I was a major part of aos1 realm gate wars leading up to the rebirth of Alarielle. Id say more black library books have been set in Ghyran than any other realm as well. 
 

Chamon also covered off very well by KO and Tzeentch lore at this point 

[Vagard]

I don't really read AoS book but yes there is a big arc in ghyran for Alarielle and even a boxset with horticulus vs Naeve. And yes chamon is also covered by some battletomes or novels but if you don't play KO or Tzeentch, chamon lore is the less mentionned realm in AoS. 

I mean every realms have been mentionned and something happened in every of them. But some less than others. But you're right for Ghyran, many thing happened there so also less likely to be the 4ed battlefield (I placed it in the "less mentionned" family because it was not a starting edition boxset realm)  

 

EDIT : In the other hand, new dawnbringer building have been hinted multiple times. The 2 major realms for the twintailed crusade are Aqshy and Ghyran and we know for sure that one of them is succeeding. It will be a bit strange that the new terrrain features don't match with the realms where events are occuring. 

Edited October 19, 2023 by Vagard

[Gitzdee]

I would love Chamon next as a contrast to Ghurs beast theme. I would also love to see Hysh and get all the other Gitmob units!

Edit: All the Underworlds warbands from Ulgu are all really great models. Lots of awesome options left for 4th.

We could also try to guess what the next big mechanic for the edition would be. This 3rd edition had strong Monster influences. Almost all units are Monsters or had rules buffing/hunting Monsters. Could 4th be about Artillery? Would be most welcome mechanic and would fit Chamon i think.

Maybe we are getting the good old Chariots/Warmachines (AoSified) back, might be Hysh. Warmachines strongly fit with rumoured Skaven, SCE and missing things like the Steamtank, Hellcanon and many others.

Edited October 19, 2023 by Gitzdee

[Vagard]

13 minutes ago, Gitzdee said:

I would love Chamon next as a contrast to Ghurs beast theme.

Could be the long waited era of the machine and a good starting point for chorfs ! 

Era of the machine could also be a good idea to develop skryre clan and SCE warmachines in the 4ed boxset

Edited October 19, 2023 by Vagard

[Ejecutor]

44 minutes ago, Vagard said:

Actually there are 5 realms that has been less mentionned thant the others in the game : 

- Ghyran

- Hysh

- Chamon

- Ulgu 

- Azyr

We've seen the others at least for each edition box set and even during the campaigns :

- 1ed Aqshy (Vandus vs Khul) 

- 2ed Shyish (necroquake, sacrosanct vs NH) 

- 3ed Ghur (Thunderstrike vs KB)

Hysh and ulgu have been a bit developped during the broken realms because of the LRL and the road to god Morathi, Azyr cannot be a battlefield to me becase it's sigmar' realm and kind of actual paradise. Ghyran has also been used during the realmgate wars for Alarielle's arc. 

During the end of the BR series, we were already shifting to Ghur with Kragnos reveal. Same for Nagash's plan in shyish during the end of the 1st ed. 

We can see a pattern here where a god is plotting something somewhere and the next edition takes place there. With the leaks we have, my guess is on the horned rat doing his things in chamon or ulgu (the two most unexplored realms lorewise) and a brand new central mini for skavens (not the horned rat I guess but maybe verminlord even if the fig still fit very well). 

Thoughts? 

I would say Ghyran is quite promiten as well, isn't it? Part of it is cause Hammerhall, but Nurgle and Alarielle has been quite promitent lore whise.

[Ejecutor]

33 minutes ago, Gitzdee said:

I would love Chamon next as a contrast to Ghurs beast theme. I would also love to see Hysh and get all the other Gitmob units!

Edit: All the Underworlds warbands from Ulgu are all really great models. Lots of awesome options left for 4th.

We could also try to guess what the next big mechanic for the edition would be. This 3rd edition had strong Monster influences. Allmost all units are Monsters or had rules buffing/hunting Monsters. Could 4th be about Artillery? Would be most welcome mechanic and would fit Chamon i think.

Maybe we are getting the good old Chariots/Warmachines (AoSified) back, might be Hysh. Warmachines strongly fit with Skaven, SCE and missing things like the Steamtank, Hellcanon and many others.

Did someone say Cog Forts?

[Tonhel]

If this edition was about monsters, I don't think there were more monsters / ridden monster miniatures released than i.e edition 1 or 2. Atleast this is my subjective feeling. 😀

[Ejecutor]

In terms of rumours this morning I've started to see the 40k battleforces data including content and prices, but nothing AoS related. Anyone got the AoS battleforces data coming around?

[Chikout]

1 hour ago, Vagard said:

Actually there are 5 realms that has been less mentionned thant the others in the game : 

- Ghyran

- Hysh

- Chamon

- Ulgu 

- Azyr

We've seen the others at least for each edition box set and even during the campaigns :

- 1ed Aqshy (Vandus vs Khul) 

- 2ed Shyish (necroquake, sacrosanct vs NH) 

- 3ed Ghur (Thunderstrike vs KB)

Hysh and ulgu have been a bit developped during the broken realms because of the LRL and the road to god Morathi, Azyr cannot be a battlefield to me becase it's sigmar' realm and kind of actual paradise. Ghyran has also been used during the realmgate wars for Alarielle's arc. 

During the end of the BR series, we were already shifting to Ghur with Kragnos reveal. Same for Nagash's plan in shyish during the end of the 1st ed. 

We can see a pattern here where a god is plotting something somewhere and the next edition takes place there. With the leaks we have, my guess is on the horned rat doing his things in chamon or ulgu (the two most unexplored realms lorewise) and a brand new central mini for skavens (not the horned rat I guess but maybe verminlord even if the fig still fit very well). 

Thoughts? 

Gyran featured in the realmgate wars, the sparks of hope campaign, the broken realms and now in Dawnbringers. It's the most explored realm that hasn't had its own edition. Hush featured fairly prominently in broken realms. Azyr will never feature as a main edition realm unless they decide to do another end times. Chamon featured in the realmgate wars. This week's battlereport on Warhammer plus is set there. It hadn't really featured since then though. Ulgu has been mentioned the least. 

I definitely think that Ulgu is the most likely setting for 4th edition, but there's a possibility that Chamon could steal it. 

[Vagard]

8 minutes ago, Chikout said:

I definitely think that Ulgu is the most likely setting for 4th edition, but there's a possibility that Chamon could steal it. 

Ulgu also was the place for many event during broken realms : this is where morathi became a godess, where the CoS city has been lost, and we followed all the battle with slaanesh, CoS and idoneth there. We also had some informations about Malerion being there. 

IMO Chamon had less light than Ulgu (haha) but both have not been very expoited as the other (Azyr doesn't count as it is Sigmar's realm) 

[Beliman]

2 hours ago, Hollow said:

I care, but only because I can see the huge potential of exploring the Realms properly, rather than what we currently have.

Yeah, that's exactly what I think too.

[Goatforce]

4 hours ago, Acrozatarim said:

I don't personally think Ulgu is particularly likely for 4th. If Dawnbringers is leading into some hint of Skaven as the foe for the 4th ed starter, well, it's focused entirely on Aqshy and Ghyran. A reveal of some sinister Skaven plan therefore feels more likely to imply one of those two realms as the backdrop.

Then again, maybe 4th ed just won't have a realm focus in the vein of 3rd's Ghur.

Aqshy was the focus of 1st edition, Ghyran less so but was still a major part of 1st, and given Allarielle was a major factor in beginning the "Age of the Beast" with her life ritual I doubt Ghyran is the focus of next edition.

One of the Skaven clans is Eshin, they are based in Ulgu. I would imagine they will be the focus of the box set (though not the full range refresh). Also we have seen Underworlds turn its attention to Ulgu in the new editions of it, and when the boxed games shift to a new realm that tends to be an indication of where the narrative is turning.

Broken Realms also only really fully turned its attention on the Realm of Beasts in its last book with Kragnos' attaxk on Excelsis, it is likely we still haven't seen the narrative thread that will take us to the next setting yet, and we may not until book 4 or even a later one if there are more than 4 books.

[Chikout]

Honestly the main reason I want to see 4th edition set in Ulgu is that it would mean an Eshin themed launch box. I don't want a retread of Warhammer 8th edition especially if the Stormcast are updated 1st models. I'd much rather see GW do something different for the starter. Give us gutter runners but also some completely new Eshin units. 

[Flippy]

5 hours ago, Beliman said:

Am I the only one who doesn't care where we go? I mean, we moved from Aqshy to Ghur, traveling around mutiple zones in the same edition. But in the end, only a few scenarios where "unique" enough to be remembered and most of their abilities are part of the game now (new look out sir=Galletia veterans).

About the miniatures, I think that it doesn't matter too. If someone says that Kruleboyz came from Hysh, nobody would blink an eye because the main setting already talks about "nearly infinite realms that can have anything in it", why not a new branch of orruks? or ninja-rats? or thunderstrike SCE? or Nurgle?

If we had diferent traits and artifacts, or even unique terrain abilities for each zone... I don't know. Am I missing something?

You are not wrong, but the change of the realm can change a lot when to comes to the general aesthetic of AoS (Warcry included). I think it's high time we leave this not-very-attractive landscape behind...

 

[Chikout]

4 minutes ago, Flippy said:

You are not wrong, but the change of the realm can change a lot when to comes to the general aesthetic of AoS (Warcry included). I think it's high time we leave this not-very-attractive landscape behind...

 

Have you seen this scenery in the flesh? It looks surprisingly good in person. I actually much prefer it to the last season of Kill team. 

[Snarff]

29 minutes ago, Flippy said:

You are not wrong, but the change of the realm can change a lot when to comes to the general aesthetic of AoS (Warcry included). I think it's high time we leave this not-very-attractive landscape behind...

 

I actually adore this terrain. It's screams AoS and is finally something else than generic buildings/ruins/statues. I would have liked a bit more variation, but that did come eventually with the Scales of Talaxis terrain.

I'm very much looking forward to what new terrain Warcry will bring us, especially if it's natural Aqshy terrain. This season gave us some super cool Seraphon terrain pieces, I'm hoping to see some other factions in there too!

[Ejecutor]

13 minutes ago, Snarff said:

I actually adore this terrain. It's screams AoS and is finally something else than generic buildings/ruins/statues. I would have liked a bit more variation, but that did come eventually with the Scales of Talaxis terrain.

I'm very much looking forward to what new terrain Warcry will bring us, especially if it's natural Aqshy terrain. This season gave us some super cool Seraphon terrain pieces, I'm hoping to see some other factions in there too!

If we move to Ulgu in the end the terrain could be interesting. Cannot give it shape in my head.

[Aleser]

Cool utility on new deepkin warband

Edited October 19, 2023 by Aleser

[Baz]

4 hours ago, Ejecutor said:

In terms of rumours this morning I've started to see the 40k battleforces data including content and prices, but nothing AoS related. Anyone got the AoS battleforces data coming around?

Soulblight, OBR, seraphon and slaves to darkness are the rumoured box sets. 

[Snarff]

42 minutes ago, Ejecutor said:

If we move to Ulgu in the end the terrain could be interesting. Cannot give it shape in my head.

I can definitely visualize something, but they can go literally any way with it. Walls of Smoke rising up from the ground, Cobweb-covered flora/rubble/skeletons, gloomy purple torches, some AoSified spider creatures/lairs/eggs, caves etc.

Or fauna and flora specialized to nightlife. Nocturnally blooming flowers, ferns or other plants that cloak the area in spores. Or creatures specialized to low-light environments. Pale Axolotls, blind fish, centipedes, bats, snails, etc.

There's so much untapped potential in the natural side of the realms, I can't wait for it to be explored. I hope we get a more expansive Bestiary and Flora guide (I know about soulbound, but I want something like an encyclopedia written by in-lore scholars or whatever.

[Ejecutor]

32 minutes ago, Baz said:

Soulblight, OBR, seraphon and slaves to darkness are the rumoured box sets. 

But what I saw was all the models inside and the prices. I mean if someone saw the same for AoS.

[LordSolarMach]

17 minutes ago, Ejecutor said:

But what I saw was all the models inside and the prices. I mean if someone saw the same for AoS.

As far as I know, the rumours of what's in the 40k boxes come from Valrak.

After pestering, he did a video mentioning those four AoS boxes. He openly doesn't care about AoS (honestly, he really only cares about Space Marines), so he was pretty vague. The only detail he mentioned was that the StD box would be "Be'lakor themed" with Eternus in it.