Overread

A new release! Sacrosanct & Other Stories GW continues its oddly messy collected edition habit with this newest collected book. For some reason they are convinced that the best way to release AoS collected editions is to give a smattering of stories that are repeated over and over. A somewhat annoying pattern, esp since Unique stories to this book: Sacrosanct, Shiprats by C L Werner A Dirge of Dust and Steel by Josh Reynolds Stories collected (thus far) only in this book: The Dance of the Skulls by David Annandale The Sands of Grief by Guy Haley Auction of Blood by Josh Reynolds Callis & Toll: The Old Ways by Nick Horth Stories repeated in other collected edition: The Witch Takers by C L Werner (Gods and Mortals) The Prisoner of the Black Sun by Josh Reynolds (Hammerhal & Other) Wrathspring by Andy Clark (Sylvaneth, Legends of the Age of Sigmar: Omnibus 1) The Volturung Road by Guy Haley (Fyreslayers, Legends of the Age of Sigmar: Omnibus 1) Great Red by David Guymer (The Realmgate Wars: Volume 2) Also keep an eye out in the new year for Gods and Mortals out next January which appears to be far more exciting with a larger number of new short stories (currently not released on their own), several new to collection already released short stories and only a smaller number of repeated short stories (collected in other books). Unique stories to this book: Obsidian by David Annandale Blacktalon: Hunting Shadows by Andy Clark Vault of Souls by Evan Dicken Pilgrim’s Trial by Robbie MacNiven Force of Personality by David Guymer The Library of Forgotten Moments by Josh Reynolds Order of the Fly: Tourney of Fate by Josh Reynolds Gravesend Gold by C L Werner Stories collected (thus far) only in this book: Eight Lamentations: The Tainted Axe by Josh Reynolds Bear Eater by David Guymer Gods' Gift by David Guymer The Hardest Word by David Guymer The Road of Blades by Josh Reynolds Stories repeated in other collected edition:The Dance of the Skulls by David Annandale Pantheon by Guy HaleyCallis & Toll: The Old Ways by NIck HorthAuction of Blood by Josh Reynolds The Witch Takers by C L Werner

@Jais my thanks for your thoughts! I've actually been messing with the dice theory and doing some rough numbers (I mean to write it all up in neat at some point); and do indeed agree that the opponent can matter. Going against Skaven all double blades would be ideal for the most part as you're slicing into lots of rats; whilst if going against stormcast it would be the opposite -wanting to get attacked to generate all the more powerful mortal wounds to hurt those tougher fewer models that they tend to use. That said its heartening to sound like you favour more daggers over more bucklers - I must admit the model itself really shines when made with daggers over bucklers and dagger (personal opinion and remembering that I still like them with bucklers). 60 Double Daggers and 30 Bucklers would certainly give me a nice core to work with that I can vary around and choose what I want from.

As befits a dragon at 1200 points! He's a one man army unto himself! Yeah this is the kind of model you'll see appear once or twice if ever in your lifetime and many clubs just won't have one. It's a huge Boss monster that replaces a large chunk of a functional army. He's the ideal monster for a big "apoc" scale wargame or just for some good fun meat-grinding and fighting. I think for something like this the balance can be tipped in its favour somewhat. Remembering that its only ever going to go down on the table for fun *waits for it to be so broken that it ends up being bought by every tournament gower and the next big GT or whatever is full of 20 armies with this dragon** *which would be a good thing since it would drive sales and make FW give us even MORE dragons of such epic size and scale!

Remember the difference between your average GW store owner and your average GW fan is that the store owner gets paid a salary by GW. Otherwise they don't get that much advanced warning on up coming releases and many are not as "clued into" the rumour mill as many die-hard players are. So they've no real capacity to spread rumours aside from when a release is very very close to being a reality. Plus they are under contract and don't want to risk it so even if they knew stuff, most wouldn't want to let on and risk it being spotted. Also I really hope the person who made Vorgaroth is now working on another dragon! That is an outstanding dragon model! I really look forward to seeing more such mighty beasts!

@Jais (And others) out of interest when you run 90 Witches what composition of units do you use and equipment do you take on them? I'm curious as I'm aiming to build up to a nice sold 90 witches before breaking out the paints and I've currently got 30 blades and 30 bucklers so I'm pooling ideas on what the next 30 should be.

The old warscroll cards are odd. They are portrait style which means, on most models, there's a big empty half of the card with nothing on it, whilst the text squeezed into the top is a smaller font than in the Battletome. For something designed to be quick reference card they sort of fail - being big and smaller in print size. I fully expect to see the new style landscape aspect cards (like the ones in the Malign Sorcery box) to be rolling out at some point. GW is likely having to run stocks as low as they can (in house and perhaps also in the distribution network) before doing a big bulk order from the printers. They might (and I stress the might) also be waiting for a key moment to make this order as they could revise them for armies with Battletome Adjustments since publication.

I think we're going to have to get you some medication! That or some new glasses - possibly both!

To my eye it looks like a horn, thick base curving to a tapered tip. The shape and dimples on it look like rivets which makes me think its metal as opposed to bone/wood/something else. I'd figure it could be part of a helm or staff and I'd lean toward it being chaos based

@JPjr they don't appear to be on the Black Library website at all, and I could only go by what they listed. Might be worth dropping BL an email about them as they are reprinting a lot of the old Classics in collected editions right now. If they are not currently listed it might be that its an oversight (since BL can sell digital books on their own without needing a paper copy so the cost should be minimal). However it could also be that they were made with contracts that BL doesn't own any more so they don't have distribution rights

It might be a throne/chair or its a mantel rising up from her mid-section that arches up behind her with her lower body being far more tree-like as standard. Ergo its her trunk and roots as the sylvanath would say. As for the creature on her hand it doesn't look like a beetle to me, but it is some kind of spirit creature. It might be a companion for her (many have them) or its part of a spell such as summoning a swarm of them. As for who the character is it might just be that instead of half her upper body being tree and half aelvenlike she's got more aelven upper body parts, but is still a revenant.

My honest view is that Battalions need to be taken out of the points system along with command points and given their own allocation system. Right now the point cost for many battalions is quite steep and even with the free command point its a lot of points for not a single model on the table. Plus a lot can be quite restrictive in what you take, which often makes you inclined to take minimum unit counts which makes for a lot of vulnerable groups. As for khinerai they ARE fragile models; however they are also a great tool to have in a game. They let you have a unit that you can put anywhere on the table (more or less) which can strike with good damage and which should at least get its first turn of attacking first; which makes up for their fragile nature. They are ideal for bunching up and going for a mage or other hero or warbeast; or sending after archers/siege gear. They are also good late game for dropping down and contesting or taking an objective. In addition you can swoop them in to help out your other units; letting you bring them in to flank enemy units already engaged with your forces.

I can see that happening - I think GW is going to push excess a little away from just "sexual" into more areas so adding music into it as a general type of "pleasure" is a great move. It adds to the faction and I think could branch it out a bit more without actually losing anything at the same time.

The only nerf is one people suspect will happen based on Daughters current high standing in the rankings at several major competitions. However no one has any firm rumour or news from GW itself - its purely speculation. Point changes are often the most common, but sometimes it might be an ability changes how its worded or it might be a combination.

Aye and Ive no issue with Fyreslayers getting updated and new stuff, I just feel that AoS really should get itself to a point where every viable faction that is going to stay has a Battletome or a combined Battletome. Right now I feel like over half the range is sitting there in a confusing state to many and it confuses those new to the game trying to work out what army to get when some have their rules spread all over the place and no certain future at all

I'd be surprised - if just because they do already have a Battletome and there are loads of factions and subfactions without one. Granted some of the older ones do need updating, but at the same time I'd have thought it better for GW to focus on getting factions with nothing out there - at least Battletome factions are known to be safe for the long run (as safe as any army can be); whilst many of the smaller factions with nothing are totally unknown. Even forces like Skaven don't know how they are going to look organisation wise.

Yeah I think it got uploaded in the late evening by UK time which would suggest they worked on it beyond 5pm to get it all done in that day - great bit of work. Then again GW today has a full video setup on site - one thing you can credit them for is that they keep a lot of their business in-house and in the UK. I think its mostly just printing paper and books and card cutouts that gets sent abroad.

Khinerai are good in both forms, ranged have more survivability of course. The real trick is using them correctly. Khinerai are not a power-house of attacks, nor are they tough as they have only one wound and a native 6+ save, boosted to a 5+ in the combat phase from their shield. So they are not made to weather attacks; they are made to deal the out and they are made to be fast, agile harassment units that can mess with your opponent. In objective games they can be very powerful as they can be held back and appear late game to contest or secure objectives that are far from the enemies models; or they can be used to assault ranged dedicated units or artillery. With their rending they can even be used to hunt for heroes (eg mages) hiding in the background; or they can swoop in to give a series of support attacks to a unit already engaged with other units. So what they are is a fine scalpel of a unit designed to make specific surgical strikes. Used well and with a plan they can tip the scales in favour of a win for the player.

Personally I'd rather see then stay at a higher points value (Daughters should be a close combat heavy army) so that you can't spam them, but then nerf their close combat abilities a little and boost their ranged. At present they are a ranged unit weighted to close combat which underperforms against other close combat choices; I'd rather see them as a ranged unit with a ranged focus which underperforms in close combat, but which can at least hold their own for a little while.

I'm still on the fence about Inferno (new and old) but those short novels I'm very into! I also like that there isn't a single Stormcast on the cover and hope that they might not have many if any in the stories themselves. Not that I hate Stormcast, but the current novels are very very full of them - it would be both refreshing and important to give strength to the other factions to have them stand on their own feet against the struggles and trials of the Mortal Realms.

I wonder if another angle for the Blood stalkers would be to give them the ability to move and fire so that they can at least advance and keep firing and charging into close combat. Then again that could tip them too far into being too good in close combat compared to their close combat orientated sisters and thus I'd come back around to wanting to see them tougher at range. I get that the idea of them is to be a skirmisher, to be good in both ranged and close combat situations - to me their issue is that barring the rending and small chance of a mortal wound, they are better in close combat - esp for a unit that might only have 5 or 10 models to its name (even at 3+ to hit and wound that's not many attacks esp once you factor in saves). They do feel like their ranged power needs "something" to improve them. More attacks or more damage, perhaps more accuracy or another ranged trick in addition to or instead of one mortal wound at 6+. Honestly most abilities that hinge on a 6+ are a bonus if they happen, but most times won't be part of what you base a units entire strength around. Overall they do feel off - not enough power at range to make them really sting and not enough shots to give them volume of fire.

No, multiple armies get little snippets like that without any release.

I've done some maths and updated the Witches and Sisters thread, including the difference between taking bucklers or an extra blade. https://www.tga.community/forums/topic/18324-daughters-of-khaine-witches-and-sisters/ Provided my maths is correct the upshot is that duel blades/blade and whip (for sisters) are going to deal more wounds in general and thus are ideal for any opponent that has a weak save and which they can expect to kill quite quickly and take fewer return attacks. Meanwhile bucklers are ideal against targets that might well survive the first round of attacks well, but which are going to have a lot of return attacks. The mortal wounds also makes them ideal against heroes or elite units that might well have better saves.

I really hope GW holds off on Stormcast for a while - right now they've got more listings than some grand alliances! Plus there's a big danger that if they keep releasing lots of Stormcast they will end up just repeating themselves in what they release which will invalidate old models. SC have a bit of everything right now - mages, monsters, dragons, siege, ranged, fliers and endless spells. They need a period of nothing to let SC players catch up and to let others take the centre stage and get releases. Plus I'd honestly hate for AoS to end up like 40K and have one post-child faction that gets all the attention and thus all the sales and thus all the more attention. One of the biggest strengths of old fantasy was that it had no poster-child faction so all factions were more equally treated. Granted this also hurt marketing somewhat - SC are clearly the big good guys that make marketing easier - but I'd hate to get to marine level worship.

I can't see why 2019 would be lighter on AoS releases - AoS needs a heavy year of releases even if its just new Battletomes that tidy up the listings. GW can't keep AoS as it currently is forever. Right now if you go to 40K, Bloodbowl, Lord of the rings or any range from GW you can easily see each army on its own tab on the store and easily get their Rules/codex. Right now AoS is a mess all over the place - some armies have Battletomes, some are in the Grand Alliance book, some are in the Generals Handbook, some are spread between them etc... It turns people away (even those with old collected models) because it leaves them confused about what is going on. GW needs to clean house with AoS if they are going to build on the already big successes its been having. Sure I agree we might not see many full new armies, but at the very least they need a big year to clean things up.

I'd really like to see the Cult codex appear, that gives 40K an almost entire clean slate of Codex releases with only Sisters of Battle and "new armies" for the new year; leaving a nice big chunk of space for AoS Battletomes.