"More" people from the Realms

[Beliman]

Anyone miss named characters and/or unique units?
I know that a lot of people loves to play with their own background, but I miss to have some units with their own Lore or an “added” value.
I'm sure that some people remember Bael-Grimnir:
 

Spoiler

Imo, I don't need new models for them, I just need an excuse to play with them (rules!). They don't even need to be the most broken thing in the army (look at Brokk "Tophat" Grungsson), but some rules to draw players atention. Imho, Skumdrekk has an awesome rule to interact with their own army without being broken and still be really "fluffy":

Spoiler

Bet-master: Skumdrekk and his hobgrot kountin’ krew take bets at the start of a battle as to which of the lads will die first. If they win, as more often than not they do, they gloat loudly about their good judgement and the takings they will rake in at battle’s end.
If this unit is part of your army, after deployment but before the first battle round begins, you can pick 1 friendly HOBGROT unit to be the Kountin’ Krew and 1 friendly unit to be the bet. You cannot pick this unit or the Kountin’ Krew to be the bet.
If the bet is the first friendly unit to be destroyed during the battle, you can pick 1 extra triumph enhancement for your army that can be used during the battle and even if the points total of your army is not less than that of your opponent’s army. The unit that is chosen to benefit from the triumph must be either this unit or the Kountin’ Krew.

Kharadrons have a lot of awesome people in their ranks, maybe some of you remember Drak Grolsson, one of the most young endrinriggers to be promoted and his last stand with his skyriggers vs Tzeentch on the Aether-War:

Spoiler

I just miss some fluffy rules (with maybe some new paint scheme). Some other non-hero units could have the same, like "Veteran Arkanauts" or " Vessels of Renown":

Spoiler

So, what do you think? Anyone want to see more named characters or something like "promoted" units?

Edited March 25, 2022 by Beliman
Grammar

[readercolin]

Lore for units is nice.  Fluff is nice.

What I absolutely do not want to see is unique abilities tied to named units.  The "best" example of this is Stormcast because they have so many of them.  But lets say I want to play an army with some hard, recursive threats?  Then I must take Yndrasta - no other model does what she does.  Want a more durable army?  Then I must take gardus - no other model does what he does.  Want beefier battleline infantry?  Then I must take Vandus Hammerhand if I want to give them extra attacks - no other model does what he does.  Want a 2 cast wizard?  Then I must take Aventus Firestrike or Krondys - there are no other native 2 cast wizards available.  Similarly for IDK, the Akhelian king gives strikes first, but Volturnos is the only unit that can give extra attacks in the whole army.

I'm ok with god level characters having special rules - they are gods, and they have to have SOMETHING to make them worth their obscene points cost.  But if I have an endrinmaster, he really should have some other fluffy way of showing he's different, but not be the ONLY way to aquire that ability.  Maybe give him something slightly better - he repairs boats for 3 instead of d3.  Or maybe he gets an ability that is available on a different model, like the admirals command ability.  Or maybe he is just a normal endrinmaster with +2 attacks.  All of those are acceptable things, but I never want to look at something and go "well, I guess I HAVE to take this named character if I want this ability".

[Kadeton]

I'm with Colin. More stories about people in the Realms is great! Ways to represent those characters in the game is good too. Exclusive rules for named versions of generic characters is not.

I would rather have something similar to an expanded list of command traits (or a more involved version, like the Anvil of Apotheosis) and use those to represent whatever characters I wanted. Or a set of "regiments of renown" options for representing famous units, without having to have separate warscrolls for them. Generic base plus customisation is a good way to do things, IMO.

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

I liked the upgraded generic units from Broken Realms, like Kaiser ven Brecht and Arcobalde Lazerne. Too bad they settled on warscroll battalions as the way to give those guys rules over their generic counterparts. Although maybe non-matched play is where these guys should live.

I think it would be nice to see more named examples of generic heroes and units. But I don't really know how they should be implemented mechanically. If they get good matched play rules, you will end up seeing lists composed of mostly named characters in some cases. That can't really be avoided. And as fun as named characters are, I personally would like the game to favour "your dudes" lists.

[SunStorm]

Going back to Fantasy, special characters have always been tricky. I’m trying to remember if any of the rule books had it explicitly written that Special Characters should only be taken with agreement of your opponent or if it was just an un-written rule we played in my area. Some people just never used them and hated playing against them. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Warhammer_Fantasy_characters is a good read to see some of those available. Even if not all of them got minis, a lot of them did.

I will say Warhammer Underworlds has done a good job of introducing smaller scale named heroes to armies, but you very rarely see them taken in AoS lists. 

 

 

[Ferban]

I don't mind unique rules on named characters.  The reason they have big stories behind them and tons of lore is precisely because they do more than a generic character of the same type or class.  Guardus wouldn't feel like Guardus if every Lord Celestant gave a 5+ ward.  

As long as they are pointed correctly (which is a whole 'nother issue), I think unique abilities bring good flavor.  And they make those characters feel special on the tabletop.  

[Jator]

I always loved special  characters in Fantasy. Never used them, as I prefer to play with "my dudes", but they add relatable faces to root for,  and insight about different aspects of their factions. 
 So yes, AoS could use more named characters, specially from the not-a-god tier. They don't even need to create minis for them nowadays, as Bael-Grimnir shows. Just write a cool backstory.

 

[Snorri Nelriksson]

I never liked using special characters...BUT many armies do they need them at least one or two to make more memorable.

Aos uses too much old WHFB characters without developing their own nor expanding them too much(unless they're big players like Katakros).
 

Edited March 31, 2022 by Snorri Nelriksson

[Tibus367]

Maybe I am the weird one here.  I personally prefer more generic hero's so that I can create my own story behind them along with the army they lead and the lands they originate from.  

[Popisdead]

On 3/25/2022 at 7:00 AM, readercolin said:

Lore for units is nice.  Fluff is nice.

What I absolutely do not want to see is unique abilities tied to named units.  

Fair great assessment.  

[NinthMusketeer]

I think it is OK to have unique abilities tied to named characters, if anything I think that is much of what they are for; showcasing eccentric abilities that shouldn't be generic for mechanical and/or narrative reasons. Skumdrekk is a great example. Yndrasta's bracket-based monster debuff is another decent one. Abilities that enhance the effect of a certain sub-faction are also something I'd like to see.

What I don't like is powerful generic abilities on named characters that aren't appropriately tailored. Yndrasta's model revival is a great example of this; it is an extremely potent evolution of Rally, so much so that it eclipses the character's identity and turns her into more of a support piece than monster hunter. Gardus' 5+ ward is a massive defensive buff that isn't specialized enough to reflect the specific character. Gardus didn't hide in the back while 5+ ward dragons ate his enemies.

And something I outright abhor is GW's rabid insistence on making named characters always come from the poster boy faction. Stormcast have it the worst, every stormhost-tied character is Hammers of Sigmar save Gardus. This is doubled down on by a good chunk of them being pointless and having no more fluff or relevance than a generic unit entry.

Solbright should just be a generic Lord-Arcanum on Dracoline for people who want one individually/a different sculpt than the kit.

Gavriel would have sold/be selling far better as an alternate equipment option for the Lord-Celestant.

Bastian should have been a generic Lord-Commander. (With a head option to run Lord-Commander Vandus featuring a new promotion.)

Edited March 31, 2022 by NinthMusketeer

[Beliman]

1 hour ago, NinthMusketeer said:

Bastian should have been a generic Lord-Commander. (With a head option to run Lord-Commander Vandus featuring a new promotion.)

I completely agree in everything but not sure of Bastian. I think that a Primarc/Chapter-master characters suits for Stormcast and it's a big name to make an history. 

[NinthMusketeer]

Fair point.