[The Rumour Thread]

So if we round up the rumours around the Idoneth Deepkin:

• Follow Mathlann (who we know from WHFB was a bit of a "difficult" God, represented Poseidon in the game)... which I know was more High Elf before but the High Elves themselves didn't like Mathlann that much. If Mathlann is more like Khaine...
• A couple of heroes - one riding some sort of sea creature, or otherwise (magic?) - I personally don't think Mistweaver will be part of them despite...
• ... Them coming from the mists and magically affect the areas they raid by making it as though it's "underwater"
• Greek aesthetic (ties in with Atlantis, Poseidon) - helms, spears (makes sense) and by extension harpoons?
• Shark cavalry or chariots?
• Giant turtle, ridden by Aelves? Is this a behemoth, a chariot, a war machine? If not behemoth, could there be more to come?
• Soul-stealing - does this relate to Teclis failing to create a race of perfect new Aelves, who just somehow aren't magically bound the souls recovered from Slaanesh? "Woe is us, lets retreat to sea and come out to take what we can get". Does it link to Nagash? Hide in the deep to disguise their tenuous hold on their Aelven souls? This I guess also pitches them again Chaos (would be anyway) and against destruction. 
• 8 lines - 8 units from combined boxes (very common now, and a good idea) seems likely. 
• Kraken/octopus logo. 
• They're Order (get over it )
• They're not "High Aelves" (get over it )

My feelings:

• Inspired by Atlantis, Greek Gods. Spears, harpoons, tridents, helmets. Fish scale style-armour. Could even be a little bit African even, if you look at some of the Atlantis stories. All with an AoS twist.
• Would have been High Aelves, but by virtue of stealing souls they just can't be. Doesn't make them wholly evil, chaotic, death or destruction (hence Order), just like the Dark Aelves themselves really (bar Morathi, but she hates Chaos and Nagash so that's that). Bitter?
• Not all of them will need to steal souls. Some perhaps are chosen of Mathlann, hence lead their kin to land. 
• Don't think we'll see fish Aelves, rather more souless, more undead looking. Gaunt. Sad. Angry? (I can't help but think of Little Mermaid and those stolen souls the fat Octopus woman took ()
• I think rumours will emerge of their battleline units. Nothing we've heard so far screams battleline to me yet. This has got to be a dual kit like the Melusai and Khinerai? I think they'll be the ones above.
• I think rumours will emerge of a larger sea creature than an Aelf riding a nasty turtle, though honestly don't know. Snapping turtles are mean  though!
• Some mechanic like the Sylvaneth woods. Hope it's not that bloody boat though! Stargate-esque Portals? Water funnels? Something cool.
• Can't see it being a horde army

[The Rumour Thread]

I would imagine, from a business perspective, that it makes no sense to hype up a release when you've just pushed out a release that's from the same Grand Alliance and even the same sub-group as the DoK and Deepkin are.  EDIT: I'm holding off DoK because Deepkin sound more intriguing!

I have known people who work at GW and products are around for a good while before released, and will have product codes, or will even be manufactured and in the warehouse long before announcement!

[Let`s chat: Anvilguard]

11 minutes ago, Jamie the Jasper said:

I've only played a few games with Anvilgard myself, all around the 1000 pts mark, so I'm not the best person to offer suggestions on list building! What I will say is that I expected the Fleetmaster to be completely useless, but I've actually fallen in love with him! Having a 40pt throwaway character that has no particular purpose and which your opponent won't see as a threat is great for sneaking onto objectives or holding big monsters up in combat while you shoot them from afar. He's surprised me by being at least somewhat useful in every game so far! 

Well that's reassuring! I can afford a Fleetmaster if I go for a Chariot to finish my above list, rather than Sorceress/Assassin(s). I was gonna have him 'walk the Hydra' then see what happens, be it throw him to the lions, sneak off to objective or just be a little thorn with a crossbow. 

I have a Dreadlord painted with a lovely Sea Dragon Cloak, but now I'm thinking it's a good excuse to paint Lokhir Fellheart up... He does have that awesome Kraken helm, very Anvilgard. 

[Let`s chat: Anvilguard]

25 minutes ago, Jamie the Jasper said:

 

Yeah, I imagine that the Stormcast Eternals that garrison Anvilgard would be heavily outnumbered by the irregular troops of the general populace, so if I was going with a fully balanced representation of the factions I'd probably have no more than 20-25% of the models in my army made up of SCE. And I'd assume that my army would need to be led by a SCE hero because they're the only ones able to keep the various races in line and working together as a coherent force. That's pretty much the route I'm going down with my Anvilgard army, although I probably have too many SCE at the moment just because I needed some cheap models (money wise) to fill out the army quickly for a local campaign, and SCE are generally pretty cheap on ebay. Eventually I plan to add some bigger units of non-SCE infantry like Dreadspears and Flagellants to help me get back within that arbitrary 20-25% area.

Your army sounds cool, got any pictures?

It's in my signature, but currently a million miles from completion! 

It's 1k to start, Dreadlord on BD, 2x5 DKnights, Hydra and probably a Chariot. Could go 2x Assassin, 1x Assassin/1x Sorceress instead of Chariot. Expanding from that (1250) would definitely be Chariot, plus a combo of heroes, beyond that more DKnights/chariots I'm guessing and definitely another Hydra!  I can then start to make use of Ebondrake Warhost Battalion, and the Implacable March and probably a Balewind Vortex (though this might lose me friends, I've not played a game of AoS since 2015!)

I've got a Fleetmaster and 20 Corsairs, but not sure how to make this work with the above list as I lack regular battleline units to make a DE Order list. Probably buy Darkshards, or more Corsairs to make it a Scourge Privateer army with Serpentis allies... Who knows!

[Let`s chat: Anvilguard]

17 minutes ago, Jamie the Jasper said:

 

When I first joined this thread I was surprised that mono-faction lists (or lists heavily skewed towards a single faction) seem to be the norm, just because I was drawn to Anvilgard for the opportunity to create themed mixed Order lists. As we all tend to do, I wrongly assumed that my motivation would be shared by most people and when that turned out not to be the case I found it a bit jarring at first. Particularly as I didn't even realise that mono-faction Anvilgard lists would gain access to their own specific battle line options until you pointed it out.

It still seems to me that the main reason for taking a mono-faction Anvilgard list is to gain the greatest advantage from the Implacable March ability, which is a totally legitimate reason, but is anathema to me in terms of the way I approach the hobby. Of course, I do want to maximise the usefulness of Implacable March, but within a set of constraints that I've created for myself - I want all of the Anvilgard factions to be represented in my army to show a cross-section of Anvilgard society, and to challenge myself to build and paint a cohesive looking army made up of models from lots of different factions. For me personally, a mono-faction Anvilgard list would be a wasted hobby opportunity. But I no longer expect everyone else to think in the same way!

Hi @Jamie the Jasper! The idea of the cities having a cosmopolitan make up is really interesting and a good break in some ways from Dark Elves = Evil, High Elves = Good and they all hate each other's guts so unless GW had a big narrative, don't ally them and they certainly don't live together.

For me though, I feel a bit cynical about the SCE models and, as someone who came into the hobby and was force-fed Space Marines at the age of 11 (), they're a bit much to take. I wouldn't proxy the models either just to benefit from the rules, so I think in my mind I'd be keeping it to a DE army purely from a modelling perspective anyway. I've got a narrative in my head that a Dreadlord on a dragon, in command of a knightly order, would probably never want the SCE around interferring in something they can manage on their own, least of all humans or Duardin. I have included Kraken imagery co-incidently, so that at least meets that Anvilgard 'look' and my Aelves are suitably dreary!

If I wasn't using models I already owned, I could well imagining picking a city and unifying them however - that does present an excellent opportunity.  The Scourge Privateers particularly suit the Anvilgard theme - Aelven 'pirates' using the city for their benefit? Definitely. 

[Let`s chat: Anvilguard]

28 minutes ago, Kaleun said:

If you are interested, the Anvilguard boxed set is a bang for the buck. I can recommend it. It gets even better if you get some discount on it.

I had a look, you're right it is. It's probably the direction I'll expand into, that or darkshards for Order Battleline and then I can take whatever I like. I'm just looking to keep my existing models at the minute and build lists around them, which I can comfortably do up to 1500 points. I'm not competitive, but if I keep losing I might be a bit more aggressive with army selection and purchases! 

[Let`s chat: Anvilguard]

Thanks @Double Misfire. I was pretty certain this would be the case for all points, but wanted to check. My only hope would have been that I could take a mixed battleline of Corsairs/Drakespawn but I can see why that might not be very 'fair'.

I would rather not take a cosmopolitan list if I can avoid it as 1) I don't mind being uncompetitive (as long as I'm not stomped week after week) and 2) I want to use the models I already own before I go buying a load of other faction models!

 

[Let`s chat: Anvilguard]

Having read through the thread, I have a few Qs that need clarifying if anyone is able!

1) Can allies outside of the Anvilgard be taken? For example: Reaper Bolt Throwers.

2) Do you still need to build around a particular Faction first, as opposed to mixing battlelines? For example: 2x5 Drakespawn Knights (OS battleline) and 1x20 Corsairs (SP battleline) to count as the 3x Battleline for larger scale games?

3) Provided you have enough to meet requirements, you can take a Battalion in addition to Anvilgard allegiance, in addition to Order Artifacts? For example: Dragon, Hydra, 2x Drakespawn knights, 1xDrakespawn = Ebondrake Warhost, but also can use Implacable March and give the Dreadlord on Black Dragon a Relic Blade or whatever?

Thanks kindly!