EccentricCircle

Assuming that i can get a few projects finished by years end i have a few thoughts for projects in 2020. Fyreslayers are the only order faction that i don't have a force for, and dwarves are an old favourite so it might be cool to get a small force, probably no more than one of each unit to add as mercs to my other dwarf armies. Pros: i already have a couple of kits, endless spells, terrain and magmadroth. Cons: they are expensive, and don't look that easy to paint. Alternatively i'd like to get a horde of beastmen, so that i can use them for solo campaigns. Beasts are so iconic a threat that they should really feature somehow! Pros: lots of model variety, rank and file are cheap. Cons: lots of resin models, not much in bundles. Finally, I'm kind of tempted by warcry, though I'd likely never get to actually olay it, so would possibly just be getting it for the terrain. I've had an idea for a while to make a chaos army themed around the less popular gods, and cypher lords could make cool aposates of Necoho, with beastmen for zuvassin, and some chaos warriors for malal. We shall see...

Spoilers for Realmslayer but...

Its interesting from a lore perspective that his special abilities do describe him as an Avatar of Grimnir. That answers that question.

Yeah, I've got a few KR cases they are good, but have to be tailored to the model a fair bit. I'm not sold on magnets for precisely the reasons you suggest. Often the weak point is between the base and the rest of the model, so securing the base tightly and leaving the top heavy part unsupported can be counterproductive. I tend to get the inset trays for RU boxes and line them with the thin foam sheets you get in blister packs (or used to, I know GW have stopped doing them, but most other manufacturers still do). Then models can either stand up in a rows, or lie on their sides, with foam in between to keep them separate. But it takes up a lot of space to do it that way.

Although that said, Daemon Udders and the Dairies of Hell would be a great name for a rock band!

I've been thinking a lot about storage solutions recently, and wondered what the consensus is on the newer style GW carry cases. Traditionally I've preferred the older style carry cases with the slotted foam layers, since these are pretty robust and compact. Most of my mini collection is fairly traditional infantry, or 25mm scale figures. However an increasing number of newer models simply don't fit into the standard slot sizes. Warhammer figures are creeping up to 32 mm scale, and the prevalence of larger bases makes it physically impossible to fit things into slotted foam trays, even if the models themselves might fit! Fpr larger models and terrain I used the "keeping them standing up in Really Useful Boxes" approach. However when you are trying to store an entire army these take up a lot of space, and for some reason the deeper trays for the boxes are bizarrely hard to find. I've always liked eggshell foam for cavalry scale figures, but for newer armies these sorts of model sizes are the rule rather than the exception. Many are far too fragile to work with eggshell foam without snapping off protruding limbs every time you close the case. I've recently finished painting a 2000 point-ish nighthaunt force, which has similar problems. So far they've just lived on a display shelf, but the time has come for them to make way for the next project, and go to live in a box for a while. I was looking at the Warcry figures in the store, and while all of those whips and spiked chains look amazing, I just can't see them surviving for more than a couple of trips in and out of the box. So the only thing I haven't tried (to my knowledge) are the newer GW style foam cases. Clearly they have introduced these around the time they shifted to basing more of their standard troops on 32 mm rounds, so I have every confidence that it would help for that problem. GW must also know that they currently have a trend for fragile fiddly bits on plastic models, so the question is do the newer cases actually store those without them just snapping? In short; are they worth the investment? Does anyone know of a way to store spiked chain wielding plastics without resorting to just keeping them in a glass display cabinet all the time, and having a minion carry them to the gaming table upon a satin cushion with all the pomp and circumstance of a coronation?

I love the names of your battalions!

In some ways Forge World have kind of lost their niche though. GW proper can make bigger, better models than ever before. Now that each new faction has a £60-100 centrepiece model, there isn't as much for Forge World to do. Back in the day you legitimately couldn't make those sorts of models out of metal, so doing them in resin made sense. But plastic will always be the superior material for that kind of thing, and whatever economy of scale GW have worked out in order to be able to make those airfix type kits is clearly paying off. Everyone I know would rather have those sorts of models as nice plastic kits, rather than brittle and hard to work with resin. The only thing Forge World seems to have left up their sleeves are the ridiculously huge models like Smaug and the new Khorne Dragon, but those are so insanely expensive that I can't imagine they are selling many of them. I literally know of no one who has bought one of those £200+ models, and very few people who have anything that cost more than £100. (Obviously some folks on this forum will undoubtedly chip in to say "I did", but the population of one of the net's biggest GW forums isn't representative of what's actually going on on the ground). They can release more of those giant dragons, and huge god beast type models, but I can't see that actually turning a profit for them. Maybe it works for 40K but I feel like even today AoS is still slightly too niche.

Interesting! Do Forge World still manage the middle earth stuff? Its hard to tell with the way those products are split between the two webstores? i was trying to find out when they last renewed their Lord of The Rings license, and how long they have it for the other day. With the new tv series in the works i was wandering whether GW would be doing anything to tie into that, or whether the LotR people might be shopping the license around again.cense Maybe slightly off topic for AoS, but relevant to FW plans, and the general longevity of resin and metal casting capacity in general I'd think.

I would think so yes. He's definitely in that "metamortal" kind of range, much to his chagrin I'm sure. That said, I'm going off information in Kinslayer, Slayer, and Realmslayer, I've not read the other End Times books, so don't know if he shows up later in that arc. His exit in Slayer seemed pretty final, so I don't think so, but I'm not certain.

I do wonder if the entire point of some of the mercenary companies was to provide a way for players to keep using those units in a variety of formats once they were discontinued. We've actually got two examples which use of out production models: the Dwarf artillery battery, which and the mounted battalion which has to be led by a Freeguild General on Horse. Given that there is reason to be concerned about resin Ogres, and there is every chance that regular Chaos marauders could be replaced at some point, I think that it isn't a good idea to treat any merc unit as being safe. As has been discussed at length, the advent of Cities of Sigmar could potentially make it quite hard to use some of the discontinued models without proxying them. However anything in a merc company will still slot strait into that, and other, armies regardless of how they change the keywords.

Yes and no... Grimnir resurrects Gotrek, and sends him to take his place holding the gates to the Realm of Chaos, so that Grimnir can be free to travel back into the Mortal Realm and help in the battles of the end times. Its implied that he imbues him with some of his power (symbolised by trading axes), but he doesn't elevate him to godhood per se. He is definitely Grimnir's heir, and his chosen champion. He is his replacement in the sense that he takes over doing his job, but not in the sense that Grimnir passes his divine portfolio on to him.

I dunno, I find it hard to believe he could be trapped in the realm of Chaos for that long and not pick a fight with Khorne, and its not as though either of them would have been reticent to beat each other up.

I think there is a case to be made that he is the toughest entity in any warhammer universe. We know that he wandered the Realm of Chaos for millennia until the Ruinous Powers grew bored of tormenting him. Gotrek's whole modus operandi is to pick a fight with everything he meets, kill it, fail to die in the process and then find something even tougher to fight. From this we can conclude that: a) Khorne didn't beat Gotrek in a fight and b) He ultimately got fed up of trying.

I think that that is pretty normal. When it comes down to it, excitement about the latest "new thing" is really just enjoying imagining what you can do with it. You foresee yourself painting the models, playing the game, reading the book. If you then get the thing, but loose the momentum to do all those things then its going to feel like an anticlimax, because potentially you've spent a lot of time thinking about doing it all and then your suddenly... not. If that happens repeatedly, and it becomes clear that you simply don't have time or energy to actually do all the things then that's bound to sour you on the prerelease excitement. After all, when you are imagining painting the models there will be that nagging doubt at the back of your mind as to when exactly you're going to get around to doing that... I don't think that that is necessarily a bad thing however. There is no rule that you have to get excited about every release (despite what GW's marketing people would love you to think.) There is no rule that you have to keep up with it all. Barring the odd limited release, anything new is still going to be around in six months to a year, so its absolutely fine to take a step back, and say "I'm going to do some meeting engagement games for the time being, I'll check out Warcry if and when I feel like it." That might be annoying to other players in your area who haven't gotten into ME, but are trying to get a warcry group together. If that is the case then there are plenty of compromises possible. even if you want to play the game, no one is forcing you to spend 100 quid on it, when you could just grab some rules cards or whatever. Games Workshop have gotten very good at building hype for these kind of events, and communities like this one have a tendency to play right into their hands. We reinforce the hype, and in some cases greatly exaggerate it. Its definitely better to recognise that, and make a conscious decision not to pay as much attention, rather than trying to keep up with everything, when you just don't care as much as you used to. Taking a break from that aspect of the hobby, and focusing on other strands might be just what you need to remember why you used to enjoy engaging with it all in that way. Even if it doesn't you might end up saving money on stuff, which is always a plus!

And while I'm at it... Legions of Nagash I've been meaning to put all of my nighthaunt units into a legions of Nagash list for a while, and see what it came out as, and it turns out that both halves of the army are around 2500, so the whole is well over 5000. I've included the Ghouls in the photo as well, so that they don't feel left out, I'm not sure if I'd actually have enough ally points for them at 5K or not! Now I just need a battalion of long legged beasties to go with the Ghoulies, Ghosties, and Things That go Bump in the Night.

As promised here are my Dispossessed/ Dwarves, with a couple of Fyreslayers along for the ride. The army is theoretically 5880 points, but isn't really a legal AoS force. Some stuff, like the adventurers don't have stats, and the Steam Tank wouldn't really be allowed in a WFB Dwarf army, which is what this essentially is. One of my favourite colections though! From Left to Right: Magmadroth, Mine carts, Thunderers, Quarrelers, Gyrocoptors and aviator, Slayers, Adventurers, Hammerers, Longbeards. Smithy with Runelords, Runesmiths and Anvils of Doom (plus Fyreslayer forge), Drunken Dwarves and Battle standard bearer, High King on Throne of Power, Iron Drakes and Ironbreakers. Dwarven Lords and Thanes, around 100 Dwarf Warriors, Flame Canon, Organ Gun, Canons, Bolt Throwers, Grudge Thrower, and Miners.

The lore I've written for my Tomb Kings army is that they were frequently neglected by Nagash, who being Insane/distracted/busy, didn't often exert direct control over them. He's not actually omniscient, so they were able to plot and scheme when he wasn't looking, and learn of a ritual to create a magical field around their kingdom where he can't exert influence over them (or any undead). They knew that the moment they tried to put this into practice, or openly moved against him it would be game over, so instead they sent an emissary to a free city of order. They proposed an alliance with the Free Peoples, and a mortal army led by a cabal of Amethyst Wizards were able to steal one of the books of Nagash and enact the ritual. Nagash saw what was going on, took over the Tomb Kings army, and had them try to fight off the Free Guild, but they were able to complete the ritual and there is now a little kingdom in the middle of the desert where the undead are free of Nagash, and have good relations with the Humans. (Apologies this is totally off topic for this thread, I thought I was posting in the Tithe one where it would have been only mildly off topic!)

I'm on board with any death faction, so these look great. They are not Tomb Kings (which will always be my first love), but they look like they should be a bold re-imagining of some of the units. I'm sure I'll have fun with them in due course.

I've just finished painting the Sylvaneth side of Looncurse and the new endless spells, which means that the army is now just over 5000 points. Here they are marching across my table, accompanied by some older tree men who don't quite have stats any more, and a few Ents who are providing moral support (albeit slowly!) I really need to finish painting the last few Dispossessed Dwarves so I can post a complete photo of them too!

Interesting. I just flicked back to see if I could see a German helmet. And it definitely looks like one. Only I can see a WWI helmet, because clearly I only skim read your post, and so was looking for the wrong thing! I think its like an ink blot test at this point. If you look hard enough you can see anything!

In general I don't think there is a vast amount of egyptian influence in this design, but honestly that bit to the side of the head looks more like an Egyptian nemes headdress than a Chinese queue! If it weren't for the fact that the top of the head looks more like a conical helm anyway... The more I look at it, actually, the more I think it just looks like a string of bones!

I think we can be pretty certain that the designers at Games Workshop know about the Amarna Heresy. They have historically had a lot of history enthusiasts on their team, and I don't believe for a moment that they just decided to name a major period of 40K history "the Horus Heresy" for no reason. Akhenaten's reign isn't the only religious movement to be known as "the X Heresy" but its a pretty big one, particularly if you are invoking ancient egyptian culture with Horus at the same time... Its worth noting that while Aten is usually depicted as a sun disk, which is absent from that stele, there are a set of candles mounted on top of it! Maybe the religion requires the light of the sun god to be represented with actual light rather than being depicted graphically.

I see a scorpion before an oval, forming an eye of horus type shape, so plenty of deserty iconography, even if the candles are more gothic.

I think that's him sitting in a grave stone shaped throne with candles on top isn't it?