Overread

If you look at Endless Spells and Scenery its a slightly different plastic in many cases. Basically I believe its used because the designs are far simpler and many of the details larger/less fine. So its easier to farm that kind of production out. Meanwhile a huge amount of books are printed overseas even from most major publishers.

Honestly if GW has a lot of battletome filler weeks that's good news! Certainly for updating older factions there's at least 6 or so factions with large model ranges who just need a rules update.

Estimated date sounds early considering we've got several big things to come - unless this means GW is going to drag their heels with skaven and flesh eaters. Granted slaanesh is getting a longish wait and Cultists are only just about to end theirs

I shied away from power relations because I find that such topics can get quite heated and varied depending on who plays what army. I think it also confuses the issue for some thinking that a certain army is designed to be strong/weak when it really the result of balance which might be changed at any point.

At the same time most factions now have sub-groups. In fact pretty much all of them do. Each with their own unique attributes. The way I see it GW gave sub-groups to all armies in AoS in some form or another but it doesn't mean that they are going to make a whole model line for each one. Most are just unique colour schemes. Stormcast might get a bit more in getting heroes from specific ones as dedicated models, but otherwise I can't see them making two or three whole armies for them.

Honestly I'd rather GW focused on new human and race factions rather than sprawling Stormcast out into an endless number of releases. Also lets not forget that space Marines being the biggest seller is both a good and bad thing. It's good in terms of easier marketing; but its bad because it means GW often has to put more into other factions to help get their head up. There's also the risk that clubs can get dominated by "marines" which can turn people away from the game. Those marines need xenos and such to fight against. Also lets not forget not all Space Marine chapters are of equal value; some have come and gone over the years and with them many of the changes were just a paint job and a few heroes. AoS is currently more than just Liberators in different colours. Marines becoming dominant was more accident than intent and GW ran with it and it self perpetuated. I think with stormcast they've clearly copied the pattern, but I hope they don't try to make it run away and self perpetuate popularity; which honestly is where I think we are today. Some love Stormcast, others don't; but they don't appear to be heavily dominating to the same way marines do. That's a healthier game for us and GW. It's much easier for them to work with a game where they've not front-loaded one faction as the core and it means more diversity and armies and factions for regular players. SC I think just got a LOT of attention very fast and very early on which helped push them way forward. Right now my impression is GW is going to slow things down for them and use that slack to release stuff for the other factions. Moving forward we might not even see any new stormcast stuff for a good long while barring the odd hero.

Ahh true, however they've got nothing on the GW store now so I think its safe to say that, barring a big release, they are gone. I could see GW bringing them back with a new expansion to Gloomspite oneday. However both the loss of Greenskins and Gitmob does make one wonder at the future of many of the Aelves who are all lumped up at present.

You realise you're going to the Special Hell for that - the one where people who talk in the cinema go?!

There's a new vehicle that they showed off last week, the medical unit and his assistant and also the models from the previous duel release (wolves and cultists). So there's enough for 2 solid weeks of releases for them, Personally I think if GW can ensure at least 1 new Battletome per month for the year we'll be in a really strong position for AoS come the end. 2 a month every so often would be great and there's certainly some that could be updated without releasing many if any new models.

Well Cultists are up on the GW page for pre-order next week https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/01/27/pre-order-preview-genestealer-cults/ So that means the next two weeks will likely be all Cultist pre-orders before we'll see anything new for AoS.

@ZealousJ I might have made mistakes too - any corrections are most welcome! I was under the impression KO had a much earlier Tome and that Tzeentch were newer but I could be wrong.

@OrzoAlso to add I'm much in the same position of deciding to start a Skaven army. Right now I've grabbed a few metal sculpts that I like. I've focused more on things that are one-off (eg a hero or leader) rather than those that might be closer troops and thus require more models to work (eg acolytes or gutter runners). I'd say many of the newer plastic models are fairly safe investments and that, after the Goblin Gitz and Beasts of Chaos Battletomes; there's a high chance that any new Skaven tome will be a single book that combines all armies; with options within to allow for Clan specific forces. So going general makes a lot of sense; its unlikely that investing in things like Clan Rats would be a waste and its very unlikely that plastic kits will get replaced (the most likely is the rat ogres kit since GW already released new ogres but only in the Blood Island starter set years ago with High Elves; much of that getting caught in the crossfire that was the launch of AoS - so they've got masters for those models and we might see new ones appear).

Do check the thread below as well, since there's a reasonably high chance that GW will remove metal models when they update Skaven. Thus some might vanish from the store, now GW might release new sculpts and kits to replace them; or they might not. Or they might release them but not for another year or uncertain period of time. So if there's some sculpts you really like the look of in metal then I'd say they are good buys now. Ebay already has many of them, but interestingly (at least UK ebay) has most priced higher than getting them brand new from GW (eg Skyre Acolytes are near double the price on ebay even though GW still sells them direct).

I figured this would be helpful to new and experienced players alike in keeping track of how the state of the game generally is and a track on what is likely to come in the near future from what GW has officially said. GAME EXPANSIONS Note I've listed this as expansions, however several of them are so widely used that they are considered core to the game in many play areas. Malign Sorcery. Endless spell components are considered to be core to the game. Use of realm specific rules varies region to region, though generally quite well accepted in most places. A single boxed set that contains: rules for Realm Spells, Realm Artefacts and Endless Spells. 14 warscroll cards 13 endless spells (Balewind vortex is the "missing" Endless Spell model as it has its own box) Forbidden Powers. Another expansion boxed set like Malign Sorcery. Endless spells and new terrain feature are generally considered core to the game. Mercenaries and new terrain feature rules vary region to region, but generally good uptake. Note set appears to contain less than Malign Sorcery, however most of the models in this kit are much larger. Rules for Greyfyrd Lodge Fyreslayers and Tenebrous Court Flesh-eaters - both mercenary company bands. Model and rules for Penumbral Engine terrain feature 4 New Endless spells Warscroll cards for new models and several new terrain sets (as listed on the GW store page) Older expansions. These are often still valid to play, however as they were generally linked to time-limited events run by GW they are often not so widely used after their general campaign period. Model stats presented in them are likely very out of date though and I believe some battleplans have been reprinted in latter publications. The books can sometimes have lore in them which is often an engaging read for those after a bit more depth and understanding of the world and story of the Age of Sigmar Malign Portents - mostly a campaign book with battleplans and some narrative battle systems. The rules for models are now present in the respective armies in the Battletomes; whilst the terrain feature is no longer sold by GW. Note currently GW only sells this in e-book format. Skirmish - a rules set for playing smaller games with far fewer models. Whilst most new battletomes have details for their army for Skirmish within them, the original book is now out of date. GW reprinted updated rules in a White Dwarf issue in 2019 (need to edit in when I find which one) - note this WD might be a bit tricky to get hold of. It's hoped/expected that Skirmish might get its own updated book in time - however Warcry has somewhat jumped into its slot of the smaller format game right now. Realmgate Wars - some of the first campaign books to be released for the game. The story lore from them is already sold in books by Black Library. Meanwhile the stats and many of the rules are now very out of date. GW only sells these now as ebooks. Path to Glory - much like the Realmgate Wars this is another very early publication in the AoS timeframe and is now quite out of date. BATTLETOMES Note: Old Battletome = earlier editions which have lore and warscroll cards; but have no allegiance abilities, pre AoS 2.0 rules New Battletome = more recent release with AoS 2.0 rules, includes more depth and allegiance abilities and other extended content. Current count (note includes all announced Battletomes) No Battletome - 0 Old Battletome - 0 2.0 compatible Battletome - 24 Grand Alliance Order: Free Cities - combines Free Peoples, Dispossessed and Aelves - New Battletome, No Terrain, No Spells (however all universal Endless Spells get realm bonus as default) Daughters of Khaine - New Battletome, No Endless Spells Fyreslayers - New Battletome, Endless Spells and Terrain feature Idoneth Deepkin - New Battletome, No Endless Spells, Unique Terrain Kharadron Overlords - New Battletome Seraphon - New Battletome - Unique Terrain Stormcast Eternals - New Battletome, Unique Endless Spells Sylvaneth - New Battletome, Unique Endless Spells, Unique Terrain Grand Alliance Chaos: Beasts of Chaos - New Battletome, Unique Endless Spells, Unique Terrain Blades of Khorne - New Battletome, Unique Endless Spells, Unique Terrain Disciples of Tzeentch - New Battletome, Unique Endless Spells Slaves to Darkness - New battletome, Unique Endless Spells Hedonites of Slaanesh - New Battletome, Endless Spells and Unique Terrain Maggotkin of Nurgle - New Battletome. Unique Terrain Skaven (All Clans) - New Battletome, Unique Endless Spells, Unique Terrain Legion of Azgorh (Forgeworld Chaos Dwarves) - New Battletome Tamurkhan's Horde (Forgeworld Nurgle) - New Battletome - WARNING Tamurkhan has been removed from sale from FW - army status at risk Grand Alliance Death: Flesh Eater Courts - New Battletome, Unique Endless Spells, Unique Terrain Legions of Nagash - New Battletome, Nighthaunt - New Battletome, Unique Endless Spells Ossiarch Bonereapers - New Battletome, Unique Terrain, Unique Endless Spells Grand Alliance Destruction: Ogor Mawtribes - New Battletome - Unique terrain, no unique endless spells. Orruk Warclans - New Battletome - no terrain - no endless spells. Gloomspite Gitz - New Battletome, Unique Endless Spells, Unique Terrain Forgeworld Armies - downloads for Rules found here : https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-GB/Downloads#warhammeraos Removed armies: Note these are armies no longer listed on the GW store for sale, they might have Generals Handbook rules, or they might have been consolidated into other Battletomes/armies. Brayherd - No Battletome, Allegiance Abilities GHB2018 - However army likely replaced now with Beasts of Chaos as unified force. Greenskinz - No Battletome - all models removed from sale Gitmob (goblins) - No Battletome - all models removed from sale Aelves - general listing (includes most of the old elf model lines and aelf lines from AoS) Now majority rolled into either Free Cities or removed from sale. Darkling Covens - GHB2019 rules only - however model line is in Free Cities Wanderers - akin to aelves above. Beastclaw Raiders - combined into Ogor Mawtribes Gutbusters - combined into Ogor Mawtribes Everchosen - now rolled into Slaves to Darkness Consolidated future Battletome release rumours/hints: Lumineth Realm-lords - Revealed at the New Years event, release in Spring 2020 https://www.warhammer-community.com/2020/01/04/reveals-from-the-new-year-open-day-2020gw-homepage-post-1/ Sons of Behemat - shipping manifesto seen with their name on and teased in a GW video, but no actual photos nor details yet. WARNING = products likely and actually on last orders Realm of Chaos: Wrath and Rapture - all models within are now on individual sale - very likely this box will vanish. AoS Forgeworld models have had quite a purge over recent months, it might be continuing so consider them "At risk" even if they aren't mentioned as being on last chance. Other Age of Sigmar Games: The following are other games set within the Age of Sigmar: UNDERWORLD: A card and board format game which features small warparties of warriors adventuring and competing over small battlefields. The game features core packs which update every so often with a new edition (Beastgrave is the current edition). These contain boards to play on as well as warbands to play with. Many races feature their own unique styled warband which is sold with its own cards and rules. Launch periods often have custom card protectors and dice for newly released factions. A minor negative point is that many universal cards (can be used by any force) are often sold through different warbands so there's a bit of a "collect them all" aspect to the game. The models released in this have full rules for the full AoS game and can be used in it. Those which had battletomes published after the release of a warband will have the rules within the battletome; otherwise the rules will be included in the box and on the GW website under the rules tab for each warband on their store page. NOTE The GW store often shows two listings for many of these warbands. One on the "Underworlds" tab which has a slightly higher price and will have all the Underworld cards included. The other is on the army page for the warband under Age of Sigmar and will feature a slightly lower price but also no cards. Note some warbands do fall out of production when it comes to card supply; however the models remain on sale under their respective army page. Sometimes you can find "out of production" warbands with cards in retailers (3rd party and GW stores). WARCRY A skirmish game format which features its own unique set of rules and boxed game. The game works by using small warbands of warriors, either unique chaos themed ones or regular models from all current GW armies for the game. The game is sold through terrain packs which contain terrain features in plastic as well as card boards to play the game on. The terrain positions and design vary depending on randomly drawn cards which detail the setup of the game; the position for starting for both players; twists (unique variations to the rules/stats which can include wandering monsters such as chaos furies). Players roll dice and make choices on how to play through the battle. Games are short and brutal aiming for a quick to setup and quick to play game ideal for new people with limited budgets and for any gamer with limited time or after a different scale of combat. All models can be used in the regular AoS game (most Warcry unique models are all from the Slaves to Darkness AoS army

According to https://whc-cdn.games-workshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Core-Rules-and-Bases-Sizes-EN.pdf They are on 60mm bases. Mostly anything on a round base now should be on that list and be fixed; those on square bases might change and a new Battletome might change a few as well, though typically the bases get bigger not smaller.

@Tiger I think the Mallus Darkblade reference is showing how a dark sided character can be the focus of a story and do well. In the AoS world that can be done again with armies like Daughters of Khaine. Heck if you want an AoS example look at both Warqueen and Heart of Winter stories - one follows Slaves to Darkness the other Scourge Privateers As for Daughters of Khaine they've been around in the AoS world for many generations now; hiding in the shadow realm and also working with most of the major order factions. So they've got a huge wealth of potential lore and references. From how they live and work with more good and well natured factions to also how they survive on their own and their world views. Right now mostly what we have is the generic overview and the views of their ruler Morathi.

Aye, that said with at least 1 model going out of production in the last week it could be that the update for Skaven is a lot closer. We've really no idea - GW could jump the gun and push Skaven in before Slaanesh.

Loads of things. From fleshing out how their society works to their views on life and the world around them. How they interact with other armies and agents of order; if there's any hint of rebellion within their peoples. Morathi rules them with an iron fist and secrete snake police so there's ample room for Queens and Witches who might disilke the way their people are ruled. Furthermore there's a huge story element with tehir relationship with Khaine since he's not actually returned and is instead partly held hostage by Morathi as she has his heart and steals the prayer magic for herself (boosting her power since she didn't get to be a demi-god/god like the other mighty Elves that survived the end of the Old World - such as the two brothers and her son).

I'd wager Skaven won't hear much until Slaanesh is out. The only thing we might get is the release date for the combined box. Otherwise GW is front loading AoS with a few too many "coming soon" releases without delivery. And I wager we won't hear much from either of them until Cultists are out, which I'm wagering might be next week (we'll have to wait and see later today on what goes up on the GW store).

Daughters of Khaine, far as I know, don't have any stories that focus on them alone save for a couple of shorts in Malign Portents (on the website for it). They also appear in the Heart of Winter Novella in a decent supporting role. There's also the odd Witch Aelf that appears in Khorne battle tournaments here and there, but only as a background reference not as a central character (I recall one appearing in Warqueen novella). Morathi herself features quite centrally in the very early lore and in the lore around the capture of Slaanesh; but thus far DoK are very new, but also a fragment of a former army so unlike Idoneth there are bits of their history around, but never anything central to them. Hopefully this changes and there's a skilled author beavering away on a story for them.

Genestealer Cults - pretty much going to be the next big thing any week now for at least 2 weeks of releases Slaanesh - all but confirmed at some point and Wrath and Rapture is out Khorne - possibly getting an update Battletome - Wrath and Rapture is out Flesh Eater Courts - possibly getting an update - Duel kit not yet out Skaven - possibly getting an update - Duel kit not yet out. That's how I see it, so any future release are going to be well after mid year I would wager. If GW does a major Battletome every month that's taking us into June.

Rolling Collegiate into Freepeoples makes a lot of sense; that said we really don't know the final fate of anything on the store. I think the christmas sort out was mostly done to make the AoS section much more navigable and easier to use which is has achieved! There are still things in there that are not clear. Eg Greenskins are being removed as a faction with all their models barring 1 now gone., despite them having their own tab. Meanwhile Gutbusters and Beastclaw Raiders are listed separately despite the fact that its fairly clear that they will most likely be rolled into one force (though that would be a major release for GW considering how many of the Gutbuster models are currently in resin - almost the entire army! ) Further they've mashed all the remaining Aelves into a single listing - which I'd be surprised at if they followed through with a Battletome. Personally I'd hope for them to do them in 2 blocks - Dark and Light (not just because of the history of the models, but also the designs of them in general - because unless they redesign the appearance of the dark and light are very powerfully different); with the great chance that the old wood elfs will get rolled into the light force.

Ahh yeah that is an odd one as its such a versatile kit too! I really wish GW could be a tiny bit more open with withdrawls - sure we don't like it but they could be up front and say "the mould busted" or something

Battlemages?

From what I gather GW is changing printers for the cards and currently dont' have one so they've set it all to last chance. I believe their plan is to negotiate a new printer and get it back on track.