Overread

Aginor if you cast a spell and there is no legal target then clearly the spell does nothing and ends. The wizard simply stands there and finds themselves a fool with no legal target and lets the energies flow away. You still count as having cast the spell so; 1) You have used up that spell casting count for the wizard. 2) You have actually cast the spell, so you also cannot recast that same spell in the same turn and must wait until your next magic turn to cast it once more. So its a double gamble not just on the wizards spell cast counter, but also on the spell itself.

Page 233 in main rule book under Wizards section of the rules (also in the pdf online) Casting spells - "In order to cast a spell, first say which spell the wizard is going to attempt to use (it must be one they know). To cast the spell, roll 2d6. If the total is equal to or greater than the casting value of the spell, the spell is successfully cast." Most spells state then if they are successfully cast select a target within x inches etc.. Ergo technically speaking yes you can cast a spell without a target; though in the real practical world players measure range and will likely declare targets before attempting to cast (though technically you don't have to). In theory this means that yes you can measure the distance to several units to your wizard and then cast a spell without telling your opponent the target of the spell until after you've attempted to cast and they have either allowed it or attempted to unbind it. You are not required to tell your opponent the target of the spell until after the casting phase (which includes the counter casting) is completed. Of course if the spell is target self then you will have to declare as that is information on the spells warscroll and thus openly known to all players. Note because measuring distances is freely done at any point if you don't measure and just declare you're casting a spell your opponent is free to read the range from the spell description and measure possible targets to your wizard before they choose to unbind or not. Note 2 this appears to be how spells are intended to work, however its likely one of those mental leaps most players won't realise until after its shown to them as otherwise many are going to copy-cat how ranged attacks work where you declare targets before attempting to hit. edit - note that most spells state something along the lines of "if successfully cast pick a target within x inches" this implies quite strongly that if there is a legal target for the spell then you must use the spell if it is successfully cast. There is no choice built into the language. Therefore you cannot attempt to cast and then not use a spell if there is a legal target within range of your mage for the spell. So you can't trick your opponent by moving a mage close and then wasting your spells to get them to waste their dispels.

The last rumours I've heard are all 40K. I figure we've got the remaining nighthaunt and Stormcast stuff and then its the new Titan game with at least one or two weeks of August and then its right into Space Wolves and likely then Cultits and Orks. Along that way we might see smaller Sigmar releases; I'm thinking things like Endless Spells, but that depends how fast GW wants to roll them out for other factions.

@Kyriakinnot to mention that many of those were quite new models in the range - TK were not a back-burner faction like Sisters of Battle, Dark Elves (who have been turned around for a while now ) or Bretonnians

Yeah they got 3 new kits which are very good kits; they've fleshed out well but I've a strong feeling that we'll see more for Daughters- esp if the story setup between them and Slaanesh is twinned to a big release! Granted at that release I would fully expect Slaanesh to have the lions share, but even one new kit for Daughters would be good and I'd not begrudge Slaanesh getting multiple kits. The big thing would be that the story for Sigmar would thrust both factions into the light for a while. I'm assuming its daughters and slaanesh because of how the lore currently has Morathi syphoning off souls from Slaanesh and the demons and legions that remain are raiding the shadowlands where Morathi and here people make their most powerful and primary home. Therefore it stands to reason that those two factions would be the focus of a big release. Heck the inside cover art for Daughtesr is daughters VS demonettes

I thought Daughters were doing well despite the fact that they've got one of the most expensive basic troop types. That said they are partly overshadowed by the fact that sea-elves came out hot in their heels and huge turtles, eels and frekkin sharks (with harpoons on their backs) might have distracted some buyers. The Blood Coven is gone, but it appears to still have quite a bit of stock in the distribution network; but it sells out pretty quick from most stores that I've seen so they are selling good. I think that at present most fans want to see more sensibly priced witch Aelves

Honestly this issue is more for Order than anything else. The other Grand alliance are not as tricky; but Order has a huge number of subfactions from just the three elf forces being broken into about half a dozen subfactions each

Don't forget Witch Aelf prices are still based on their Pre Sigmar days when they were part of the whole Dark Elf faction and were an elite choice. Granted they WERE expensive then; but its worse now that they are a battleline troop. They really should drop in price or get resold in a bundle with two sprues or a getting started kit or such. Right now its easy to get the first 30 or so as you can get the last stocks of the Blood Coven still kicking around which should give most enough cauldron and shrine parts for their needs for a while. But thereafter the price is really abusive to Daughters players. The Black Coach being expensive isn't too surprising as its a big detailed model that GW doesn't expect to sell in large numbers to each faction player. Much like how Morathi is very expensive when most Daughters players are expected only to get one.

@GeneralZero The model doesn't look too complicated to put together so long as you use the visual pictures on the website. Dry fit the parts together to see where they go and how they fit (dry fit is jsut holding bits together with your hands to see how the join area is - no glue or anything used). Looking at the model and its pose you might consider pinning the hand to the carcass on the ground and the arm into the shoulder joint area. Check my link above for pinning (I show both regular and bone pinning). Also do a search as there are loads of other guides on things like pinning (and youtube videos too).

Honestly I can't see them getting rid of them either. Why throw away investments in models that are still perfectly fine and spend even more money on new ones when they can simply merge them into other groups. If they wanted to cut down on groups they could blend them into other factions. Considering that most of the factions are already broken into a limited alliance pool anyway. It wouldn't break things if, say, Shadowblades became part of Order Serpentis or any one of the other Dark Elf blocks. They could still be taken as allies by the very same groups that can take them now and the Order wouldn't be broken because they can already take all those model as allies. That, to me, would be far preferable over cutting down the range even more. I still hold that the removal of Tomb Kings was more driven by the old Management and a very different attitude toward fantasy, Sigmar and the whole concept of rules and selling models. It was the first step toward what I think, had we remained under the old management, dropping more and more of the Fantasy line until it was basically a boutique line of models. That the 1.0 rules for sigmar included things formally such as "if you have a beard you get an attack bonus" etc.. also shows that the attitude was drastically different back then.

Yes that's exactly it and it makes a HUGE difference. I found with metals before I scored joins I'd have to hold bits together for AGES, even small arms into sockets, before the glue would bite enough to hold itself whilst curing. With scored join areas it bonds far quicker, again even a small arm into socket benefits from a few lines criss crossed with a scalpel blade. The glue still takes time to fully cure and harden, but it makes the join areas seal up a lot quicker to a tacky hold that will keep itself together. There's also the old trick (mostly) of putting tiny tiny tiny (I mean really tiny) bit of greenstuff into the join area to help hold bits together. Greenstuff cures and sticks and firms very fast in superglue, so a super small bit can cure in a few seconds so when placed into the join area it can help seal the two parts together for a few moments. Note that the greenstuff itself will then be a weakpoint in the join, so you make it very small as its only there to help hold the parts together for the glue to form the primary bond. If it helps I wrote about working with resin and put some guide photos here https://warminiatures.wordpress.com/2016/01/27/relthoza-vaxiss-ground-attack-leviathan-assembly-guide/

The issue with GW beefing up all the subfactions to full armies is not just the time it would take; nor the range bloat it would generate but also the issue that with that many factions it becomes a lot harder to please players with new updates to those factions in the form of new models. That's why I think many want to see a couple made into full armies and the rest built into things like "Free Cities" and other alliance blocks; so that several "factions" are never going to be full armies, but cna work together as a single force very well and any one update to them adds to the single force - thus cutting down on the wait time between new models for fans.

Resin is quite different to work with and some hate it and some love it: 1) First up resin can have bubbles within the casting. This is very rare in properly cast metal; almost unheard of in properly cast plastics, but does happen in resin. Even well cast production resin can have a bubble here or there. These require filling (greenstuff or proper use of liquid greenstuff) and can take a bit of time. The problem with them is that they can sometimes appear in a location that causes them to obliterate detail on the model. If it just a small segment you can often fix it with greenstuff; but if you're unlikely it can obliterate a whole chunk and suddenly you've got to order a replacement part. 2) Resin is softer than metal or plastic, this makes it easy to scrape clean ( mould lines) but you've got to be a little more careful as its easier to snap or break parts if you don't work with it right. It can also have some thick sprue connection parts that have to be sawn off with one of those little jewellers saws. Again careful steady work and its not an issue. 3) Resin comes out of the mould with a release agent on the mould that aids easy separation. As a result you have to give resin a bath when you get it. This is simply a bit of luke-warm water and a drop of washing up liquid. Then scrub with an old worn toothbrush. It's not a hard scrub, you're just cleaning off the residue (that you often can't see though you might just feel it being a little more slippery before scrubbing). If you don't clean it off then superglue and paint might not adhere correctly and, as a result, your model could prove a nightmare to work with. A clean up removes all these issues (note its often good policy to wash metals too). 4) When assembling superglue works great and bonds fairly quick (resin is more textured/porous than metal) though scoring the join areas (just as for metal) is very important. You might also need to pin parts, again just like for metal, to help support some areas of the structure (the WORST model ever for this is probably the Tyranid Titan from Forgeworld which many people put a bit of scenic terrain under the middle of the body as otherwise its a LOT of resin held up by four very thin legs! Others have gone nuts putting and drilling long metal pins up the middle of the legs for support) 5) Resin can bend when under pressure and heat. This means sometimes you get parts which are bent or warped. Hot (not boiling) water or light use of a hair drier (again you're not trying to melt it just soften it). and then bending it should repair this. Note that its best to do it in small bends and rewarm between them rather than trying to do it all in one go. This is safer and reduces the chances for the resin to break (this is the opposite of working with something like metal where the fewer bends is safer). Just like bubbles, sometimes the twist/warp/bend is beyond repair. Forgeworld (and indeed most miniature companies) are very good at replacing damaged/broken parts that are beyond reasonable repair and are the result of manufacture defect. So if you get really bad bubbles or a serious warping take some photos to show the problem and email them. They will typically replace parts without issue and the photos not only help to prove your case, but also help them be more ware of repeat incidents to keep an eye out for them Resin is about the best at holding very fine detail and allowing complex structures and shapes to be cast. Metal follows, then plastics. In general this means resin is often favoured for boutique lines; although there are resin plastic hybrids and other varied materials on the market now - Hawk Wargames uses a very tough resinplastic thingy that holds very fine detail; whilst GW plastics have closed the gap somewhat as well. Resin still rules, but it has its own tricks and trials to working with same as any other material.

@Lysandestolpe - motorized rotating stand You can also get a dirt cheap rotating cake stand but you'd have to turn that by hand. It would let you look really cool and professional and make it a lot easier to do rotating videos of your models

What are these ratmen, these skaven you speak of?

@DantePQ great painting there - very nice daughters! A bright and very bold scheme that works really well and isn't their default black and red and gold approach. The gold on their weapons really stands out powerfully

I can't find any mention of this, However "look out sir" only requires that the hero unit be within range of your other units to get the effect. So it stands to reason that yes our Cauldrons and Shrine do get "look out sir" protection. Think of it not as the whole shrine/cauldron dodging but the units standing upon the structure.

Both are good options so you can't go wrong either way, however the key is to realise that Khinerai are very fragile units so they are best as surgical strikes; support, contesting objectives late game or in an isolated area of the battlefield. As such you might find the ranged version easier to get start with as they can swoop in; fire their spears and then run away from that combat; their initial appearance on the battlefield gives them a bit more rending power too for that turn. They most certainly don't want to start on the battlefield and instead want to strike in from off the table so that they get that bonus and so that they appear where they need t obe without having to travel there on the table (and thus risking being shot up).

Pushfit is a lot more fun than putting arms on things like Slaanesh deamonetts where you are basically holding one smooth bit of arm against another smooth bit of arm and hoping that the glue cures just right that you can't see a seam or that you're not 1mm out of alignment.

*pokes his nose in* So oh mighty Stormcast players and people I'm a bit curious on the use, function, viability and general performance of gryph hounds and how you make use of them and see them fitting into your armies. Both with their synergies with other units and when they are on their own.

Yep in one way the Avatar on the cauldron is protected since whilst it remains on the table its always got a queen with a prayer who can animate it every turn that its needed; whilst one on foot has the modest risk that if your queen(s) are killed off fast it might not be able to activate for a turn or two.

If Slaanesh is going to be the next big event and tied to Sigmar then a January release or into 2019 makes some sense. It gives a decent amount of time from the 2.0 release and the Necroquake events. Enough time to have a few months build up to Slaanesh escaping or otherwise reaching out from his prison to influence his followers (still not sure if he will escape or if he'll remain trapped but able to reach out since at present the Aelf factions rely heavily on harvesting from his belly for new peoples)

I'd only use Khinerai to hold a distant objective that the opponent hasn't secured in the latter part of the game. Whilst they can strike the board fast and hard they are very fragile and thus no good at holding onto anything; even their rules make them want to hit and run - dodge and weave into and out of cover etc.... A tough holding unit is something that, I think, Daughters don't have. Instead its built as a fast alphastrike faction with internal synergies to boost their attack phase, primarily in close combat. The toughest, by her wound mechanic, would be Morathi, though she's an expensive unit to field and has other uses on the battlefield. I think if you want what is essentially a tarpit unit you need to look outside of the faction into the allies for something tough and long lasting. Check/ask in the allies thread (linked in the first post of this thread)

4. Things I heard down the pub from my mate

Aye I can well see them giving Khorne some anti-magic capacity considering all the spells being thrown around. Otherwise it basically requires them to take allies to function as an army in the current edition. In fact it wouldn't surprise me to see a few factions get a cheap mage or anti-spell caster added to them over time. I also wonder if we'll see GW bring back the beasts of chaos faction for Sigmar since its sort of gone right now.