Overread

Dear GW Leaks Department and Potato Technicians Please release an updated rumour/leak for the Christmas period in order to stave off the infighting and rumour addition withdrawal symptoms that some loyal long term fans are suffering from. Many have adapted to your new standard of releasing large chunks of information about future releases officially during the week, but some are still hooked on the old addiction of far off rumours and hints at what might come. These people need our help and need a steady stream of unreliable unverifiable and unofficial official rumours in order to avoid having serious relapse into antiGWitis which, at its most serious, could result in addictions to steam punk, grim mediveal and even infinite sci-fi series. Yours - a concerned gryph hound addict PS - 3 pages and not a single Archibald - what's up with that?!

only @The Jabber Tzeentch could do that as he's got the first post. Or a passing mod could edit it as well. It's the most viable solution since banning all other talk would make this thread move so slow we'd forget it was here with the currnet pace of rumours; esp if limited to just AoS rumours.

Honestly what was the last rumour we got? The slaanesh fiend sprue? Other than that we get a few people who drop in the odd comment or rumour, but they are often very light rumours* - ergo Moonclan might be coming "soon" and that's about it. There really isn't any meaty or chunky rumours floating around today. GW is much tighter on them and at the same time they are rolling out material so fast that there isn't the hunger for rumours. It's not like it was when GW never told us anything and we had to guess at what was coming from hints in WD and from store pre-release schedules. Heck I suspect we got more rumours then because staff inside GW were leaking them out to try and keep fans in the loop because the company at the top wasn't. Right now stuff is coming so fast that I suspect that in itself is helping to stem the tide; plus the community outreach GW is doing now is massive. Honestly this thread long ago went past being just rumours. It's rumours, new releases and general hobby chitterchatter. *and let me confirm I'm not ungrateful for those rumours and tid bits. But when a rumour really is just a few words there isn't much to go on save people guessing and going right into wishlists and dreams and hobby chatter.

Honestly I think one thing that holds FW back is that they don't work with the core GW team. From what i gather they work separate and because of how GW compartmentalizes information and tries to prevent leaks, the FW team isn't alway aware of what the main GW team is going to do. That's fine when all the main team does is just roll out a new codex or edition, but it can throw FW out of hte loop if GW goes and does something BIG or changes things up

Easier just to keep the same names. Lions of Charace are Lions - then GW just updates the sculpt at some point in the future just the same as they've done in the past. No need to change anything or start using "counts as" rules which only make sense for old-world players who are familiar with the old armies. Not need to complicate things, esp since many of those old sculpt will be the only sculpt for a specific model for some years yet.

I think when it come to Aelves in AoS they are clearly divided into groups, but they are closer to human factions in so much as they are just regular aelves born to different societies. I'd also say that there is a lot more fluidity in faction interactions and cohabiting going on in AoS than in the Old World. OId World many factions kept to themselves and whilst that is true in AoS, there are also a lot more references to factions trading and getting along with each other and living together. An Aelf in a human city isn't that abnormal - enough to be noticed, but not enough to really stand out. I think the only thing that unifies the Aelves today is the visual design of their models. For example many High Aelves having those tall pointy helmets. That's the kind of thing that GW can divide further if they want with new sculpts with a greater divide on visual design. However a lot of that depends on which Aelves they unify and which they leave standing on their own. There's also potential that they could link up Dark, High and Wood Aelf units into a single force, though its less likely. I'd imagine that Wood will remain their own thing. We also don't know if the new Light and Dark Aelves will be amalgomations of existing forces or totally new armies like Idoneth. Honestly I think the only real worry most of us have is that GW introduces 50 factions which results in them having no time to give any meaningful number updates over the years. I guess GW's view might be that with the Grand Alliance structure players can go sideways and bring in more allies for new models so it doesn't matter if their own single faction doesn't get attention for a while. And that might well work - I'd certainly be shocked if GW could keep every faction supported to the same number and variety as Stormcast

@123lac I would rather see the existing sculpts and models remain viable and than in time see GW release new updated sculpts. I think scrapping them would be a wrong move. Also look at Daughters of Khaine - three kits from the original game expanded with a few new units and suddenly their whole flavour and appearance changes a lot. I'd rather see than than GW scrapping whole armies and races once more. That said considering we've seen many of these minor factions appear in the BL fiction recently I don't think they are in any danger of going anywhere. I think GW realises that whilst they blew up the old world they basically have to keep a lot of it around. BEtter to steadily upgrade and replace models than strip them out. Heck it wouldn't surprise me if we saw Brets and Tomb Kings return! Whilst Tomb Kings would need a few new basic troops, much of their line was newer and would ideally fit AoS themes; whilst Brets I think would need new sculpts (and just imagine the awesome cavalry GW could do now - not static standing horses but charging beasts with those long mails of armour and cloth flowing in the wind!

That beast has been in the works for ages and ages now - but yes its a mighty and impressive beast!

Far as I'm aware FW has yet to really revise their AoS line and focus. They clearly need to revise their listings and adjust things and release some new models too. I know last year GW said that FW was now using a dedicated AoS team and that they were going to address the fact that FW makes very little for AoS (and fantasy before that). So I'm hoping that in 2019 we start to see this. I would be great to get more mythical beasts, warriors, heroes and wandering realm monsters from FW! And yes they did say they wanted to revise their own army listings -creatures like the myerworm are ideal for armies like Idoneth and Scourge; whilst other beasties are ideal to be shared around too. Hopefully they can do a few inter-alliance monsters and not tie everything to one specific alliance.

Yep plus we know very little about them. We know that Idoneth are a full people and able to breed, but they have an issue with their offspring being born without souls. They can still live they are just not fully alive unless they harvest souls. Meanwhile in Daughters of Khaine we only know that both Khinari and Melusai are elite units kept hidden much of the time within the temples. The story states that they all come from the blood pools where Morathi creates them personally. So thus far the have no bred and there's no evidence to say if there are any male variations or if they've ever tried breeding with regular aelves. This creates an interesting situation for Morathi since the only way to get more, currently, is from the souls from Slaanesh. Now in theory that well will run dry eventually and even before that her additional quota of souls could be stopped and Slaanesh could escape; prevent more being taken or the other Aelven gods (Morathi is only near demigod in power not full god) could take away her allocation. So we might well see a story event where she's forced to create male variations in limited number to allow her elite troops to be replenished. Of course such creatures might not bend to her will so easily as the males of her people and the Doomfires. It also might be that they are born soulless like the Ideoneth or that might be quick only they have to suffer from. Note Bloodwrack medusa are not melusai and are instead formed when a regular Aelf is bitten by one of Morathi's head serpents.

It was both really. The souls harvested from Slaanesh's belly are twisted by his corrupting force. Morathi escaped with body and soul, but her body was twisted into her huge form with snake tail and wings. She uses illusion magic to appear almost aelfen and normal. That's why when the Idoneth were made they were twisted and damaged too. Khinari and Melusai, whilst twisted in Morathi's image, are also damaged by the warp which is part why they take a twisted form. Morathi guides it, but the damage is already there from Slaanesh.

We know that the new light aelves are angelic in design whilst the dark ones are more demonic in appearance. That said the Dark Aelf armies are not tied to Malarion's army at all. Darklings are their own thing and basically a bit like Daughters of Khaine (women ruled); whilst Scourge Privateers are very much their own army (most of them based in fleets and black arks). Shadowblades are basically Sigmar's Inquisition forces. So none of those have any reason (at present) to be rolled into Malarions army.

It wouldn't surprise me if GW could unit several of the Aelf forces under one banner. Now that the old Dark/High/Wood elf forces are shattered there's no reason that they couldn't unit some under new alliances. Letting them form a new larger force. Of course there would be some oddities on classic models in terms of appearance, but much of that can be written over with lore and a good paint job on the official army Also GW can pump out way more than one new army a year right now. I wouldn't be shocked if AoS sees several fresh armies released. Certainly the light and dark aelf armies. Heck don't forget Daughters of Khaine only has a handful of sculpts to function. Duel and Triple unit kits can cover much of basic troops. Heck Darkling Covens has 2 kits that cover 5 options in their line up

Of course there's every chance that GW is just going to have an article on how skirmish exists without updating the book at all!

I think all wargames start small and get bigger. Just look at Warmachine for a more recent example. When it started it was a small tight skirmish game; now they've added larger modes to it and options to play with vast forces whilst the base army size has steadily gone up. IT also makes sense, the longer a game is out the more models they release for each army. Furthermore the larger most long term fans armies get. Even if they are not adding new types of unit they might be adding more of the same kind of favoured units. Basically as time passes people own more models and want to be able to use them on the table top. Balance wise the longer a game is out the more features and types of unit the developers are able to add. So after a while when you've got super heavies, air, deep striking, ranged, close combat, skirmish, specialist, psychic etc.... that's a lot of "questions" that an army can ask and need answers for. So at the building level there's pressure to want more models so that you can deal with more potential situations. Now some games resist it, Infinity resits it by being complicated and deep for each character; Malifaux does by its card system. However you can bet both game franchises might well add larger scale battles at some stage as people go form having a small team/gang of models to having a warhammer sized collection of them. Named characters often helps hold it back from exponential growth desires, but as soon as any generic warriors appear there's potential to form up into larger forces.

Yeah plus it totally removes it as a possible gift for most people as even though many do shop late for Christmas that leaves what 2 days over which time shops shut early; postal orders will NOT get through on time and, regardless, most people won't even be able to tell anyone it exists. It might be that GW could do something special, eg preorder on the 16th but then have it go on sale on the 19th instead. Ergo end the week early due to the holiday season. That lets them have a per-order period, but cuts the normal week into a half a week (which would likely mean suppliers would get it shipped a little earlier to get it distributed through the system.

GW is almost running full steam as if they've forgotten about Christmas; that or they've convinced staff to work over that period! Heck chances are their production side doesn't slow up too much considering the big volume sales time it is for them; so it might be that management has worked out that if al they have to do is write a few pre-written articles for the website they can leave it all in the hands of a few staffers to quickly add items to the stores and update the community pages. Ergo they could keep going! It does seem that pre-order on the 16th might be on the cards since its not hinted at for the 9th. But it does seem odd to have a product like that pre order so late and pretty much miss Christmas (23rd release is very late!). I honestly thought they'd be pre-ordering on the 9th for the last time this year and then having a release on the 16th and then nothing more new until the new year.

I feel that your view on points vs value is missleading in so much as you're not actually arguing against that concept. What you are proposing is that the "value" of a model within the game is not a simplistic concept and is made up of more than one component. So I feel that you're agreeing with people in that there is a "value" for a unit and that points aim to represent that, but that you're disagreeing with their interpretation of what that value is and the components that comprise that value. Now I'd agree with that. One can sit down and use probability theory to get a general idea of unit performance, but even when that is done at a simplistic level its very clear that performance can be related to so many elements during the game. Position, relative position to other elements (eg auras and terrain types); stat modifiers etc... There's a huge amount that can affect the resulting outcome of a units performance. Heck just leave wargames and go to computer games and compare real time battling with auto resolve in something like Total War. The pure number crunching without tactics, (ergo position etc..) clearly shows that a stark contrast in results can be achieved; with a heavy bias that good playing can typically result in improved results. I'd caution you against provocative approaches. They can be attention grabbing, but at the same time sometimes can confuse the issue as you say one thing, mean another and then end up half doubling back to almost what you were saying to start with. Ergo you can leave someone (esp a newbie) more confused at the end than educated. Though I appreciate that this article is more an introduction and filler than the meat of the discussion.

WAIT does that say new fiction or faction? Darn that GW Leaks Department potato camera is bad! And yeah this is early if its a full skirmish revision - at least in my view.

It's a larger flaming torch, one of two (or possibly more now) that fit either side of the Blood Cauldron. Clearly GW is going to update the model with a supreme brand new version featuring at least 50% more fire and 110% more blood!! Though yeah I'd wager that is a sisters item too although it looks like its on a post rather than barrel or the like so could be fantasy .

Killteam is working great for 40K so I fully expect to see it for AoS and likely with a revamp to skirmish. It's a bold move by GW to take modes that were once a corner of the main rules and make them their own product, but it really works. It breaks that "its expensive" barrier for many new people (esp younger on tighter budgets) by giving them a major game with its own focus that can run on one box of models. Once they are in that one box can turn to two, then three or perhaps a commander model. Now they are well on their way to a 500 point army; they've bought into the game and they are hooked and now its still the same costs, but they've far more attachment, justification and reason to save and now they are working toward a 1K army and playing 40K proper as well as Kilteam AoS would benefit greatly from this, but yeah we need a solid year like 40K just had where GW can give the bulk of Grand Alliances clear structure. So that those people who get tempted in are hooked and held and have reason to expand with a clear pathway.

I can see GW releasing a bunch of new models in advance of Slaanesh being released from prison (or something else major happening) since they've been fighting non-stop since he was imprisoned. In fact when you look at Chaos armies the Gods themselves are quite removed. Instead its greater deamons that do a lot more of the interaction with corruption and mortals; all seeking favour of their God. It's a bit like a company, the lower ranks don't need to interact with the guy at the top much; their orders are filtered down through stages. The loss of the head might stifle things for a while, but the company (chaos) can keep going forward because all the underlings are still in place. Heck it might ramp up a notch as some of the Greater Deamons think that there's a chance to take the big seat! As for skirmish I can't see GW pushing that product line until they've cleaned up the listings. Right now would be a bad time to tempt people into a skirmish game with factions like Shadowblades with 2 models to their name with no "future" or s tructure clearly planned out for how players can take that temptation into a full AoS army. Even something as simple as putting Battletomes for allies on the shadowblades tab so that players are shown that they are small elite force best used as allies for other forces etc.. And that, of course, is only one of many examples.

In fairness to GW I'd expect the lore and releases and structure for at least the next 6 months or so to already be set in near stone pretty much. Esp since models and sculpts and a lot of work will already be underway right this very moment. So sometimes when cool ideas come along we are already too late

In fairness some of her GW ones I think its the GW or whoever is directing choosing those odd camera angles rather than her. Certainly her early videos with them had odd camera angles and cuts all over the place. I think they've streamlined those out mostly now as they were not needed and just confusing

Slaanesh doesn't even have to break free to cause huge chaos and trouble. Even if he were still contained but managed to stem the tide of souls seeping from his belly it would send huge ripples through the Aelves and might well uncover Morathi's involvement whcih could further fracture alliance and unity of Order. Another aspect could be that Slaanesh finds a way to twist those souls escaping him and piggy backs off Morathi's syphoning and sends a surge of twisted, mutated aelven souls to his forces to bolster them in a dramatic way. Cutting support for some of the Aelves most powerful units whilst at the same time bolstering his own. An ideal moment for the Demonic and Anglic Aelves to arise. Plus if Malarion's forces arise in power we can possibly expect to find out the real reason he gave Sigmar that grand arena!