HollowHills

Theory: allocate the first wound you receive to the arch revs flying buddy so you lose the keyword and can sit in the woods without being shot.

It could be Ogors vs orruks. The pact of bones that has been broken being an alliance between the two. That way we would see a new plastic sculpt to support the battletome release for those two factions as well. I don't think they would do a box with an all new faction as one side and then an older WHFB faction as the other.

They are ****** soup tomes without new models though...

Does anyone know if there is an actual preview seminar at the event? Possibly our best hope for a big announcement.

Idoneth endless spells.

I think a lot of the small third party stores attempted to expand by offering a good level of online discount 20%+. However, this can mean you have a small shop staffed according to the customers in store trying to deal with large online orders from all over the country. Best thing to do is complain and if that doesn't work raise it on social media.

Warriors of Chaos, Bonesplittez, new death and aelves reunited.com.

No one I know seems to greatly care about Warcry. The belief seems to be that it may get played for a few months and then drop out of popularity. Whereas with AoS you can largely expect the same people to be playing it for years. Maybe it appeals more to an audience unfamiliar with wider AoS.

Follow up question... If not a new grand alliance then what is the narrative pay off? So for example we got endless spells and nighthaunt from malign portents. Where is the story about sigmar losing allies going?

Latest fluff seems to suggest Teclis and Alerielle are unhappy with Sigmar. We also have older fluff suggesting Malerion was plotting against Sigmar in some way. Furthermore, if all the rumoured aelf factions are released we'd have the following list: Daughters of Khaine, Idoneth Deepkin, Sylvaneth, Old Dark, High and Wood elfs that still have kits (aelves), Malerion aelves and Hysh aelves. That's six unique battletomes as possibilities, more if they don't soup the older kits. This would leave Order as Stormcast, Free People, Fyreslayers, Dispossessed, Kharadron, Seraphon. Also six factions. From a gameplay perspective it would also make all the grand alliances must closer in size than they currently are. It also perhaps makes it easier to balance without ending up with order soup (like Imperium soup in 40k) eventually ending up as very powerful. So what does everyone think? Is this a real possibility?

I'm not targeting anyone in particular but there seem to be a lot of apologists for GW on this forum. Why defend them? GW are making record profits yet now decide to push up prices on a scale we've never seen before. Paints, start collecting, existing kits, forge world... None of us benefit from these continual price increases.

So 2005 to 2018 would turn £18 into £26.40 using BoE calculations on inflation. If anyone can recall the actual date of release then we could have a clearer idea. That said old woods were presumably hand sculpted and made in the UK. New sculpts are digitally sculpted and made in China. So they should be cheaper to produce all things considered. (otherwise GW wouldn't have moved to China in the first place). So I do think it is an increase in real terms £25 would probably have been the sweet spot. But who can say? Inflation varies based on industry. I'm still pissed off.

What a joke, was thinking they would be £25 rrp in line with similar models. Genuinely just rinsing us for cash.

Most FEC summoning isn't that great too be fair. I'm not scared of some ghouls etc. Given they were already struggling a bit vs the newer books I don't think FEC are going to dominate from now on. Skaven will still be too good, but at least the top lists have seen a fairly good bump in points. Slaanesh and fyreslayers will remain strong.

Anyone wish that skaven went up more? The horde spam is just not engaging to play against. Especially with the death frenzy spell.

And therefore bad.

The price increases are pretty indefensible, but this is capitalism. We have to remember that GW are not our friends. We are consumers to be extracted from in order to pay dividends to share holders. Anyway... 1) they are increasing prices on old stock who have largely paid off their moulds. 2) they are increasing prices on heroes and centrepiece models presumably understanding most people will need at least one for their army. 3) UK inflation has been low for the past decade. 4) The weak pound means GW likely benefits GW in terms of the profit they make in the EU and US. 5) They just paid a massive bonus to staff. If that's how much they are paying staff then shareholders are getting even more. So there is basically no reason for these increases other than greed.

It's genuinely a joke that GW will be releasing Sylvaneth two months after the "late bloom" announcement video.

It better bloody be Sylvaneth...

Tickets - https://www.dicesaloon.com/events/age-of-sigmar-1000pt-tournament Rules: The core rules, including allegiance abilities, endless spells, pitched battles (General's handbook 2019) and Meeting Engagement rules (General's handbook 2019). Realm rules are not in effect. Army Size: 1000 points. Battleplans: Meeting Engagement battleplans from the General's Handbook 2019. Number of Games: Four. Army Selection: Armies must be composed to meet the requirements of a Meeting Engagement force from the General's Handbook 2019. Publications in Use: The Core Book, all current and in-print Warhammer Age of Sigmar battletomes, Grand Alliance books, warscroll compendiums (including Forge World), General's Handbook 2019, Malign Sorcery, and any warscrolls and warscroll battlions with a Pitched Battle profile, unless their release falls on the weekend of the event. The most current warscrolls for your models, e.g. those found in a battletome rather than a Grand Alliance book. Model Requirements: Models must be on the correct ROUND base sizes as per the official GW size chart. If army specific scenery is used it must be the official GW model. Conversions and third party models are acceptable provided they are clearly recognisable as the unit they represent (you can't use one GW model as a different one with no conversion, for example) and are on the correct base size for the model they represent. Army Roster: Your army must be recorded on an army roster. All text must be clearly readable for us and your opponent to check. You will need to send your army roster to the organiser (thehollowedhills@gmail.com) at least 48 hours prior to the event start time. You will also need to bring a hard copy to the event. You must use the same army roster for each game. All options available to your army must be recorded, including but not limited to: Allegiance, allegiance abilities, artefacts of power, spells, sub-factions etc. The roster must also clearly show your army divided into the Meeting Engagement requirements, Spearhead, Main body etc, and the battlefield role of each unit (i.e. leader, artillery) Please also include four Hidden Agendas on your army roster. Matchmaking: Battleplans will be selected by the TO. Games One and Two will be assigned at random, Games Three and Four will be paired. Hidden Agendas: You may choose four hidden agendas prior to the event. Each must be unique. One hidden agenda of your choice can be scored per game, once scored you must cross this hidden agenda out on your roster and it can no longer be scored. If you can score two or more hidden agendas in a game you may choose which to score. Painting: There are no painting requirements, however each army will be given a score between 0 (unpainted) and 5 (Outstanding achievement) for painting by the TO. All models, including summoned units, are judged. If your army covers multiple areas (such as one amazing model and one unpainted) a mean score will be assigned. These scores are assigned to the final totals. Scoring guidelines (not set rules) for painting are as follows - 0 - Grey plastic. 1 - Three colours on the model, patchy application, no basing. 2 - Three colours on the model, clear definition, based. 3 - Multiple colours on the model, use of basic techniques such as shading or dry-brushing, based and rimmed. 4 - Multiple techniques used in combination such as shades, highlights and blends, based and rimmed. 5 - Outstanding overall paintwork, model conversions and customised bases. A contender for best painted army. Conduct Scoring: Any game completed without conduct issues earns 1 point. Conduct is expected in line with the guidelines in General's Handbook 2019. These points are awarded in line with the TO's discretion. Repeated conduct violations will result in disqualification without refund. Scoring: Major = 4 Points Minor = 2 Points Draw = 1 Point Loss = 0 Points Hidden Agenda = 1 Point All Four Hidden Agendas = + 1 Bonus Point. Painting = 0-5 Points. Conduct = 0-4 Points. Army Roster 48 hours prior = 1 Point. Army Roster hard copy = 1 Point. Tiebreaks: Majors won, Minors Won, Hidden Agendas scored, Painting, Conduct. If a winner cannot be determined after these are applied a draw is declared. Prizes: 0-5 total tickets sold - First Place store credit. 5-10 total tickets sold - Second Place store credit. 10+ total tickets sold - Third Place store credit. 15+ total tickets sold - Outstanding achievement in painting store credit. (Participant voting). Note: Dice Saloon are the hosting venue and set their own rules, terms and conditions etc in addition to anything listed here.

Clearly you mean me, which is fine and I'm happy to respond, so "they" is unnecessary. You're right it's a loaded term and I am slightly against the way they are handling it. I think it's a bit silly to pretend a biologically female warrior is going to be as strong and equipped for war as a male warrior. The exception being aelves who seem to be fairly androgynous. Now of course some might respond "but it's fantasy realism doesn't matter when you have flying sharks and rat people", which is to some extent true. At the same time though, those things exist within the internal logic of the setting. However, there isn't any clear internal logic in the setting as to why human women (who have the same bodies as real life women) would be as strong or capable for war as human men.

To clarify by crusade I meant more a concerted effort to deliberately improve representation of women and ethnic minority people in warhammer. Even at the launch for AoS stormcast were all male and so were khorne. Then a little while ago, probably around the time of blightwar, there was a big change. Suddenly kits are much closer to an even gender split across a lot of age of sigmar armies. The reason I raised this with regard to the store models. GW clearly like making limited models represent their two core armies, stormcast and marines. Now as marines are all male in long established canon, GW can't suddenly release female models for them. As such we are in the position where they are releasing lots of female stormcast as exclusives.

These seems unlikely. As far as I'm aware GW pretty much continue selling stock until right before the new version goes on pre-order. Other than sylvaneth it's highly unlikely we'll see any AoS release prior to the open day in just over a month. While KO definitely need a new book, and are a decent candidate for an order release, I don't see idoneth. They could benefit from a new book, but it would be fairly unprecedented for GW to release a new book so fast.

@swarmofseals thanks for such an insightful and detailed post. It's really interesting to hear from someone balancing the divide between rules writers and players. I have three questions: 1) How do you think the activation system of aos impacts balance? I k ow you've touched a bit on this but I'd like to know further. For example, thralls seem overcosted even at 130. This seems to be primarily on the basis that a 5 up save means that unless the unit goes first, it will probably die. Doing 30 wounds to a unit with a 5 up save is not that hard. However, if they activate first they probably can do a lot of damage. It seems like there are a few units which work like this and end up falling out of favour. 2) How are base sizes taken into account? For example, bloodreavers and marauders are both horde units that fill a similar role in a chaos army. However, reavers are on 32mm with marauders on 25mm. As such you can get a lot more marauders into combat. 3) What is the point of units like Lotann and how do you even fix them with points? Support characters that don't contribute a single powerful and reliable buff seem to have no place in AoS.

It could go on pre-order 29th.