The Rumour Thread

[daedalus81]

Those cards with alarielle on it - looks like silver scratch off cards (like lottery)?

So this is stuff the store will have only or will those tokens be available to customers?

Edited June 30, 2016 by daedalus81

[AdHocGames]

3 minutes ago, daedalus81 said:

Those cards with alarielle on it - looks like silver scratch off cards (like lottery)?

So this is stuff the store will have only or will those tokens be available to customers?

They're not. Just leaflet to write our store details on to hand out. The items are to give to customers as small prizes and rewards. There's 100 badges in the kit and some wristbands.

[Carnelian]

  I really hope they make a campaign pack like that for general release. Seems like a no brainer

[Karl]

On 30 June 2016 at 9:41 AM, Dangermouse425 said:

Can't wait. I'm resisting going for Sylvaneth just so I can have MOAR ORRUKS!

WAAAGH!

Same as!

[AdHocGames]

On 7/3/2016 at 0:47 AM, Carnelian said:

  I really hope they make a campaign pack like that for general release. Seems like a no brainer

It's not really that good for players to be honest. The pack is very much geared towards retailers, giving us ways to advertise the campaign easier and reward our customers. The part you want is the General's Handbook, which is released on the 23rd for just £15.

[DamonRafael]

45 minutes ago, AdHocGames said:

It's not really that good for players to be honest. The pack is very much geared towards retailers, giving us ways to advertise the campaign easier and reward our customers. The part you want is the General's Handbook, which is released on the 23rd for just £15.

I would also like to have the tokens, to be honest

[Carnelian]

Yes it was the tokens and map I was wanting!

[shinros]

Right saw this post on facebook. This was on the post about the out of stock sylvaneth and the high demand and they are making more. Death fans raise your nagash's 

Poster 1: Now we just need some new death models to counter all this life nonsense. 
New zombies? Pretty please with entrails on top?

Poster 2: I have ten thousand unliving servants crossing their fingers for a Soulblight release with plastic characters and vampire infantry/cavalry.

GW: We'll pass the request on to Nagash, and see what he can summon from the magics of Shyish. (with 22 likes) 

GUYS WE NEED TO PRESS THIS ON FACEBOOK SHOW THE DEMAND POSSIBLY NEW ZOMBIES AND PLASTIC VAMPIRES. 

I shall leave with this funny poster from facebook. 

Nagash sent to me
Twelve deathlords drumming
Eleven fell bats flying 
Ten vampire lords a-leaping
Nine Lahmians dancing
Eight mortis engines a-moaning
Seven tomb banshees croaning
Six ghouls a-flaying
Five zombie hordes abaying 
Four cairn wraiths swinging
Three mortarchs singing
Two terrorgheist in chic
and blood knights made of plastic (hold the iiii in plastic here for effect)

 

[WoollyMammoth]

@shinros
If they got started today we would not see a new model until late 2017. Surely there are some in the works. I've heard whispers of a new kind of tomb king. So far the trend has been either

A. Reinvention of an existing faction (Flesh-Eaters) with no new models
B. Brand new faction with all new models

Sylvaneth is actually the first exception to the rule, but basically all they did was create a brand new faction on top of the treeman kit. In terms of the old VC army, there's really not much left to work with after Flesh-Eater Courts. Though some factions like soulblight and nighthaunt are begging for new releases, I wouldn't be surprised if they reinvented DEATH with a brand new IP instead. They did it for:

empire (basically replaced by stormcast)
dwarves (fireslayers)
orcs (ironjaws)
elves (sylvaneth).

Next they will have to replace generic vampires and skeletons - but with what? What kind of crazy IP will they come up with? A lot of us death fans love classic horror themes, but GW is specifically moving away from everything classical and into completely new IPs. What can death be that is completely new?

-

On another topic - apparently White Dwarf is changing to a monthly magazine. Does this mean releases are going to be once a month too? 

Edited July 6, 2016 by WoollyMammoth

[Dez]

7 minutes ago, WoollyMammoth said:

@shinros

-

On another topic - apparently White Dwarf is changing to a monthly magazine. Does this mean releases are going to be once a month too? 

I'd seen this exact thing pointed out by a well known rumor resource today.

[daedalus81]

Quote

Sylvaneth is actually the first exception to the rule, but basically all they did was create a brand new faction on top of the treeman kit. 

There are a number of kits that came out just before or during End Times, which I think qualify as "AoS" models - all the elf releases (presumably the DE models where supposed to come with the Khaine book),  slaughterbrute, all the End Times book stuff (of course), gyros and other dwarfs, etc, etc.

I expect we will see a mixed release eventually.  The chaos warrior kit will probably fade away along with others, but things like the more recent chaos lord is here to stay.

[GreenMarine]

My predictions:

- The factions that are cobbled from old models are a stop-gap. They will be phased out in favor of a concise set of factions / armies specifically for AoS. These will eventually become composed of entirely new releases that fit the current level of production quality.

- Slaanesh will make a return and each Chaos god will have a sub-faction with model range.

- Schools of magic will return with rules for what wizards of various factions can take. Something like "a unit that could take Arcane Bolt or Arcane Shield may roll for an alternate spell on this list instead." Probably as it's own expansion book.

- They intended this from the start or at least grew towards this as a goal, but wanted to try and take advantage of existing collections to migrate users over. This transition wasn't handled well and instead of trying to present AoS as a new phase of eld Warhammer, they should have rolled it out as a new game and separately phased out Warhammer. They realize that mistake, but mostly expect to see it fade as support for AoS improves and AoS builds its own following. Unfortunately, they are paying a tax in hostility towards customers + the new IP tax.

- General's Handbook will shift a bunch of discussion towards the rules themselves and what works / doesn't. Because GW has positioned points as an alternate way to play, they'll have an out to more aggressively balance the game while keeping narrative options open for casual play. Question remains how responsive they will be to concerns about rules, but 40k FAQs shows a level of responsiveness better than in the past and a willingness not to wait to a major codex to offer fixes to problems.

- General's Handbook will become a periodic release independent of codex style releases enabling GW to balance the game for comp players separate from army specific rules revisions. They'll feel more comfortable making comp changes in this situation (bonus points if they move to annual or biannual comp seasons that include balance changes for that season).

- As GW shifts towards more responsiveness and care with rules, we will see a softening of customer response. GW takes a position of "best quality miniatures games in the world" and they have that in components, plastics, etc, but need to extend that to their rules and game design.

- Board game releases will continue and GW will start to realize the board games are a platform. For example, I can play with my gorechosen in gorechosen, silver tower, and AoS. This makes me want to own a gorechosen model. If the board games are good, side effect will be players engaging across a broader range of games strengthening GW's market share and slowing losses to competitors.

This seems like a more complete vision of where to take their games than the previous CEO had, hopefully what I'm reading in their actions is intentional. AoS might have been launched as a major mis-step, but it seems very possible they can recover it if they continue to be as responsive as they have been.

[shinros]

44 minutes ago, WoollyMammoth said:

@shinros
If they got started today we would not see a new model until late 2017. Surely there are some in the works. I've heard whispers of a new kind of tomb king. So far the trend has been either

A. Reinvention of an existing faction (Flesh-Eaters) with no new models
B. Brand new faction with all new models

Sylvaneth is actually the first exception to the rule, but basically all they did was create a brand new faction on top of the treeman kit. In terms of the old VC army, there's really not much left to work with after Flesh-Eater Courts. Though some factions like soulblight and nighthaunt are begging for new releases, I wouldn't be surprised if they reinvented DEATH with a brand new IP instead. They did it for:

empire (basically replaced by stormcast)
dwarves (fireslayers)
orcs (ironjaws)
elves (sylvaneth).

Next they will have to replace generic vampires and skeletons - but with what? What kind of crazy IP will they come up with? A lot of us death fans love classic horror themes, but GW is specifically moving away from everything classical and into completely new IPs. What can death be that is completely new?

-

On another topic - apparently White Dwarf is changing to a monthly magazine. Does this mean releases are going to be once a month too? 

Honestly I don't think Death will get changed much at all and sylvaneth are not actually elves either. I suspect Death is going to get more of a flesh eater court treatment with a few new models here and there. The skeleton models are fine they just need a repackage IMO. Now the zombies? They need an update badly and perhaps a elite vampire infrantry unit and plastic blood knights. 

Do remember majority of the end times models I suspect were made in preparation for AOS since AOS was in the pipeline since 7th edition right? 

I think the biggest thing for them will be the new tomb kings if they do it since nagash is the undead god now. Can't have the same old khemri anymore. 

The thing about the human faction is that actually they were not replaced entirely of stormcast GW do talk about the devoted of sigmar a lot espically in the fluff. I also do recall when someone asked to see more of the warrior priest from sliver tower and the devoted of sigmar GW dropped a hint that they are in the pipeline. 

Since in the season of war they note that the devoted of sigmar are the ones going out of the cities cleansing the lands. Stormcast are just standing around guarding cities. I suspect we might see a wanderer update considering our new goddess of life desire's people to defend the forests and her city since sylvaneth don't care for it. 

Edited July 6, 2016 by shinros

[polarbear]

I think GW has shown an ability to cash in on nostalgia, and I could certainly see Tomb Kings or Brettonia reinvisioned in a flashy, of course a bit different, way. Not necessarily imminent at all.

[shinros]

1 minute ago, polarbear said:

I think GW has shown an ability to cash in on nostalgia, and I could certainly see Tomb Kings or Brettonia reinvisioned in a flashy, of course a bit different, way. Not necessarily imminent at all.

It would not surprise me if bret's fold into the devoted of sigmar OR they could re imagine them and make them worship Alarielle as the new lady of the lake. 

[WoollyMammoth]

@GreenMarine
I agree, except some of what you are talking about is already happening. You can post rule questions on the AoS facebook and get a reply within a few hours, and the important questions are organized directly into the published FAQ. They already realize board games are big; they have released about 5 in the last year, and silver tower can be played with most of the unmounted hero's available. 

I don't think they will discontinue successful models just to make new ones. Dryads were just rebooted, despite being a very old model. There is no reason to throw out a product that is selling. 

AoS was not a misstep, sales have grown since 8th ed fantasy battles. Fantasy was a dead limb that needed to be fully severed. I think they planned on releasing points but needed the wound to heal before they attached a better one, so they took a year to flood the market with their new IPs and purge all the haters so that we could start fresh now.

@daedalus81
End times has nothing to do with AoS. The way they do everything has changed completely. They don't release models or books like that anymore, AoS is organized in a specific new way.

@shinros
You're right - Sylvaneth aren't elves, nor are fyreslayers dwarves, or stormcast humans/empire/brits, or Ironjaws orcs. And we will never see another wood elf, dwarf, empire, brettonia or orc release ever again. They are dumping their weak IPs for strong new ones. They have yet to replace a single model with a better one, and after a year, I think we can expect they never will. That's not to say they might release something extremely similar - like branchwraith/branchwitch - which is a prime example that they wont replace a model, even if its nearly identical.
 

[daedalus81]

Quote

End times has nothing to do with AoS. The way they do everything has changed completely. They don't release models or books like that anymore, AoS is organized in a specific new way.

I'm not so certain of that.  Skullcrushers, wrathmongers, skullreapers, skarr, and scyla (and 3 other character models) all made it into bloodbound with no issue.  I'm sure blightkings are going nowhere and archaon is almost exactly the same as he was before -- aside from being on a giant monster.

Edited July 7, 2016 by daedalus81

[RuneBrush]

I don't think GW has got a formulaic rule for what models to keep/ditch.  From a practical aspect I would imagine the mold and model quality plays a part and it's popularity on the sales front.  Beyond that it'll be down to a few conversations on what works with the new vision of that faction.  Sylvaneth have had a mountain of new releases - but dryads are still there without any changes (they're 9+ years old).  Nothing has really been done for Aelfs yet so we don't know.

I would be surprised if some foresight hadn't gone into the End Times models though for use in AoS.  Bearing in mind End Times was the prequel to the Age of Chaos from a game perspective (fluff wise it was Age of Myth) I can't imagine any company not taking the changes into consideration with new releases.

[The Jabber Tzeentch]

I'd seen this exact thing pointed out by a well known rumor resource today.

White dwarf going monthly has been 100% confirmed from GW first new format issue will be for September 2016.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AdHocGames]

2 hours ago, RuneBrush said:

I don't think GW has got a formulaic rule for what models to keep/ditch.  From a practical aspect I would imagine the mold and model quality plays a part and it's popularity on the sales front.  Beyond that it'll be down to a few conversations on what works with the new vision of that faction.  Sylvaneth have had a mountain of new releases - but dryads are still there without any changes (they're 9+ years old).  Nothing has really been done for Aelfs yet so we don't know.

 

I would imagine it depends upon how "Warhammery" each existing kit is, and it's age and total sales. The less uniquely styled kits, like the Empire core plastics, will likely be dropped. We've already seen this with the Tomb Kings being dropped - you just can't copyright Ancient Egypt. Other kits will have long since paid for their manufacture.

 

[Dez]

1 hour ago, The Jabber Tzeentch said:

White dwarf going monthly has been 100% confirmed from GW first new format issue will be for September 2016.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I meant alluding to there being monthly instead of weekly releases.

[Shane]

8 minutes ago, Dez said:

I meant alluding to there being monthly instead of weekly releases.

I expect a big monthly drop shortly after each new issue. Then smaller releases the three weeks following (reboxes, terrain, dice, books. 

So each new month brings with it a new AoS/40k faction or boardgame. 

[The Jabber Tzeentch]

1 hour ago, Dez said:

I meant alluding to there being monthly instead of weekly releases.

I'm sure that's implied, I don't recall any time when GW release something that's not in the white dwarf. I very much expect it'll go back to a larger monthly release schedule.

 

Also, I have updated the original post as it had a multitude of formatting errors from editing it on my phone. It's now organised a lot more clearly in to sections.

Hopefully the next batch of AoS rumours will be arriving soon!

[AdHocGames]

56 minutes ago, The Jabber Tzeentch said:

I'm sure that's implied, I don't recall any time when GW release something that's not in the white dwarf. I very much expect it'll go back to a larger monthly release schedule.

 

Also, I have updated the original post as it had a multitude of formatting errors from editing it on my phone. It's now organised a lot more clearly in to sections.

Hopefully the next batch of AoS rumours will be arriving soon!

This week's releases are all Horus Heresy, but the teaser for the next WD is about the Season of War so maybe we'll see something that week.

[AdHocGames]

So next batch of releases are coming the same week as the General's Handbook. There's a series of small 2-5 miniature sets coming for £10, these look like they will be snap fit pocket money kits. There's a small scale starter set, for £20, with 13 miniatures, rules and some exclusive Battleplans.

Also coming are Bonesplitterz Orruks, with a new battletome and all their kits repackaged.

And also interestingly there is something GW is calling a Starter magazine coming for Age of Sigmar. There will be a comic strip explaining the backstory of the game, some how to guides an a Liberator miniature. Stores will be required to carry a couple of these as part of their stock.