Pariah

Since I was so negative at first having only played my goblins (which are still awful and unplayable with the build I have), I figure I should mention how my games with my other armies. Played a few games with celestial vindicators: liberators, retributors, prosectors, basically the 1st edition starter stuff plus a knight heraldor. The army wasn't awful but I had the same terrible play experience which made me get into other armies than stormcast, they simply have so few dice that ever decision felt like a gamble because your never sure when your 3 attacks on your awesome leader just all come up as 1s. Played a cities of sigmar army last game, now that irondrakes are battleline it was 2 10 man units of them, 2 gyrobombers, a cogsmith, a warden king, and drycha hamadrath (living city) at 1k points. shot my opponent to pieces, went 2nd, turn one wiped his protectors, double turned, turn 2 took out vandus hammerhand, the game was over from there, lost a single irondrake all game. Was pretty fun, not sure the balance on shooting in this edition, was my time playing a gunline.

played my first game of 3.0 tonight, have a lot of thoughts, many of which are unfortunately negative. want to preface that I am in no way a competitive player, quite the opposite, spent the latter half of 2nd edition losing nearly every game with my goblins but I didn't mind much because I enjoy pushing around my plastic soliders and rolling dice, don't care much as to who wins so long as the game is fun. my army in 2nd was a bunch of goblins I'd been working on pretty much since gloomspite were released. the core is a 60 man unit of spear stabbas with some loonsmashas, the incredible sub-optimal loonboss with a giant cave squig, the cave shaman, and some squigs for battleline. also some rockgut troggoths, madcap shaman, boingrots, depending on the game size (max 1500 because I got caught up painting other game systems). It felt like 3rd edition was designed to punish my (already unsuccesful) way of play. Points went up on everything, will be fine at 1500 because it seems to have happened to everybody, but at 1000 really hurt combined with the squigs becoming minimum 12 for 160 in warscroll builder now. basically my whole army because just the spear formation, hidden loonsmashas, their support models, and some squigs for battleline. this was also largely because there is no longer a points decrease for max size stabbas. the limit of +1/-1 on everything but rend on saves annoys me simply because it makes 2 of my warscrolls just plain worse even if it's normally not a change at all if there is other modifiers. the stabbas shields and moon banner both provide a +1 save (one if 10+ with shields, one against shooting). unless facing rend now only one applies. additionally my go to artifact is the cammy cowl which to my understanding can only be taken by characters who already have a -1 all the time (the various loonbosses) meaning that that only applies once unless the enemy has a plus to hit to cancel out. oh also now backstabbing mob is only a plus one (errata change) making the stabbas that much less likely to have attacks go through. the coherency was annoying when my unit was near dead but was less of an issue than I expected. what was a huge point of frustration is the limit of 1 command ability per unit. given that I had my army built around supporting one unit (the stabbas) it sucked to learn that I can only use either the loonbosses or the all out attack on them, not both. not to mention that all my gloomspite stuff built around giving me extra command points was useless because the unit I could use them on could only recieve one at a time, so they just built up them disappeared because that's a thing now. what I'm getting at is that it feels like this edition was engineered to push large units for existing and make sure that its hard to create an army with synergy around a core unit. It's just frustrating because I've been playing about this build for a while now and it's never been powerful or game breaking, it's just the way I have the most fun, buffing a big unit and rolling lots of dice and having small goofy units in the background like the troggoths or boingrots do their thing. I don't have the points for my goofy units now and the big unit has been nerfed. I'm not sure if the points on warscroll builder are final, and maybe the gloomspite battletome 2 with come out and fix these issues, but it just felt like the game was slowed down and complicated by unnessicary extra rules (the heroic action things, the battalions which have not a lot of affect on the game, at least the first two don't). I could always rebuild my play style and army from the ground up, but I don't have a lot of time to paint my goblin backlog because of work and quite frankly find it annoying that my already not very effective army had been rendered even less so in the new edition in a way which makes it less fun to play (yet again losing isn't the issue, it's that I have less synergy and most of my models cost more points now meaning less "comic relief" units can be taken. maybe I'm being too negative but so far my fears about the new editions changes seem to be coming true. I hope other people are having more fun with the new rules than I am. Edit: also it feels kinda dumb for this post to be why I came back to the forms after a long time, but I figured it'd be a good place to share my experience

Gloomspite Gitz would be my personal pick, although I am definitely biased as they are my favorite army in general. They have a ton of variety in unit choices, and nearly all of the options are useful in building an army, but none are really to overpowered. I haven't played them, but skaven seem super fun to. I will say painting all the foot infantry for either army might not be super enjoyable, but with contrast paint it should be a bit easier now.

Personally I really like the 2nd option, the 1st feels too noble, the second really seems to emphasize how powerful and in command he is, after all he is the most powerful mortal in AoS.

I'm a bit late but I pledge to paint 16 Saurus Warriors. They're for Dungeons and Dragons but they're still AoS miniatures.

Just curious, what draws you to wargaming specifically and not other more mainstream competitive activities like chess or competitive video games or the like? After all, even with their best efforts most wargames are pretty awful at balance, aside from the rare occurrence like Warmachine was for a time. It's just that one similarity I've seen among all people I've played against at my flgs is a love for miniatures, even if they play super competitively.

I don't have a picture of it all in one spot, but after getting my first job over the summer I bought more than I should have. I'm trying to work my way through it my having a spreadsheet to track steps in the painting progress. I'm using this one to track 2020 so far https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14K75Q69_CJ14WDJ4CHBu0IFGaQXZlDygyKKJ3xsY-tE/edit?usp=sharing Not all of the stuff is AoS, some is for D&D, but I'm still hoping to get all of it done.

Here's the lore for my main army, the Bloodmoonz, a gloomspite army. The Bloodmoonz are a tribe of grots hailing from the Realm of Metal. They worship an aspect of The Bad Moon, The Blood Moon. They wear red and black cloaks to blend in with the red light caused by The Bad Moon eclipsing Hysh in the sky. The copper that they mine in their mountain kingdom is seen as a holy substance, blessed by their god. Their dominion once extended into the surrounding valley, but those lands were seized by warring tribes of chaos cultists. Throughout the Age of Chaos, the Bloodmoonz were driven back further and further, until they only held the very top of the mountain. In a final hail mary, the Bloodmoonz, lead by the Overlord Grimm, known for his cruel and cowardly ways attacked the nearest of the two tribes, worshipers of Tzeentch. He sent his hordes of stabbas to their deaths at the hands of the enemy’s expert sorcerers, cowering at the back of the formation. In those initial waves was the lowly Gritgik, a grot who was small and weak compared even to other grots. Along him bounced his pet squig, Chompa, another runt. While their fellows were cut down by spellcraft, Gritgik slipped away down another corridor. There he found a room full of slaughtered acolytes, and a magister leaned against the wall, blood gushing from its side. As Gritgik drew closer, it cast a curse on the grot. “Destroyer of knowledge, murderer of my brothers, may the thing you care for the most be your undoing. Know that your pet shall one day be the one to kill you, and that you shall never be able to escape this end.” Gritgik, contrary to the expected reaction, was filled with as close to courage as a grot can get. While many would be scared to have their death foretold, for Gritgik, this meant he faced no threat of being backstabbed by this peers. With this knowledge in hand, Gritgik raised his blade and rushed to the rear. He marched forward towards Grimm, and in a single jab finished the Loonboss. In succession three other grots attacked, but were struck down as well. From that day on Gritgik became known as the Invincible. Gritgik rallied the grot forces, and prepared to retake the rest of the mountain. His strength had provided the grots with a surge of energy, but another of the warring tribes had set up camp around the base of the mountain. Bloodthirsty butchers moved up the deadly paths, ready to defeat whoever had won the battle. At first Khorne’s strength surged through the barbarians, and Gritgik’s forces were driven back. Then the Bad Moon rose over the mountain, eclipsing Hysh, and the red light filled the grots with a rage equal to that of the barbarians, After a brutal struggle, Gritgik carved his way to the barbarian chieftain, squig in tow, knowing this wouldn’t be the end of his journey. With a swing, he decapitated Khorne’s champion, and the day went to the Bloodmoonz. Since then, Gritgik the Invincible has only grown in strength. Much of the valley is still held by the forces of Order and Chaos, but he refuses to give up his ambition of recapturing his tribes homeland. Knowing that he can only die at the teeth of Chompa, he leads crusades at the head of his army to make sure that his pet’s stomach is kept forever full. His most trusted commanders are the boingrot bounder knightley brothers Dumit Rattlehat and Crawk Clattershield, who are both too busy trying to outcompete each other to ever consider backstabbing Gritgik. He has also, under the guidance of his shaman advisors, began a building project at the top of the mountain. Using his endless supply of grots and spiders as workers, the Bloodmoonz build two towers towards the heavens. In between the towers a giant web is spun. Once the towers grow tall enough, the web will trap the Bad Moon over the valley forever, completing Gritgik’s conquest. Or at least, so he hopes. There's some more stuff, but this is the basics. https://docs.google.com/document/d/12li56XuercFMDyU5wMxGAww8f8mqEHmSZqk0FO8m4NE/edit?usp=sharing

One of the Bloodmoonz, my gloomspite tribe.

1. I don't play the army but they are my favorite chaos army. 2. No, warcry warbands are not battleline unfortunately.The Warhammer Community site put out an article building an army with all the warcry warbands and used chariots for battleline, so that is an option. https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/12/12/slaves-to-darkness-the-warcry-armygw-homepage-post-4/ 3. The new start collecting is all new designs, yes. 4. Not sure, would have to check the ghb. 5. Probably permanently available, GW has given no inclination otherwise and they are a regular warcry release. 6. No allies cannot fill the battline role. You would need StD battline or you could mark the StD units Slannesh and run the army with the Slannesh alligence.

So how are the warcry warbands supposed to be run? Are we going to be able to put multiple leader models into big units? Any ideas?

I really like that box. Granted, I think GW has done a great/maybe even better job when you look at the way warcry was done. About half and half male and female, and male and female leaders too. One thing I do have a problem with is the way certain games add female characters as leaders and commanders (looking at warmachine and hordes). That does mess with immersion, as it makes it seem like the only women allowed in the army are prodigies and makes it feel unbalanced and makes them less relatable. Maybe it's just me but often I end up giving certain rank and file troops the most backstory. I really want an even spread for most armies between infantry and heroes.

Just thought I'd put my thoughts out there as a "zoomer". If Games Workshop plans on being sustainable, they need new and younger players who will continue to enjoy the hobby for many years to come. They are competing with a lot of other hobbies and such, especially video games. Most people I know, male and female, play video games at the very least casually. If GW wants new players, they are going to have to reach out to as many people as possible. Of course, that is just from a business perspective. Personally, I would love to see more representation, even though it probably wouldn't affect my armies much, as I play gloomspite gitz as my main force now. However, I really enjoy the variety of characters in warcry, as it added to the feeling that each was a warrior who had earned their keep. I would love to see the new people at the local store, new players are always good. I really don't think that it is too much to ask of GW to include close to an equal amount of male and female characters given how much more inclusive many video games have become, with Apex Legends including LGBTQ characters in their game (I think). In conclusion, anything which gets new people in the hobby is pretty great, after all, it just means we get to play more games.

I'm young and I mostly play pick up games at the local gaming store so I have to transport everything, but I far prefer physical copies. I love how non-digital this hobby can be, and it feels way more authentic to me.

For me, AoS is my first Games Workshop Wargame. Originally my dad introduced me to the hobby and got me into Warmachine and Hordes, but when they updated the game and completely ruined the competitive balance we ended up quitting. We also played with an Iron Kingdoms RPG group, and one night decided to grab some cool miniatures we saw on the shelves (the storm strike Khorne v. Stormcast box) which lead to us getting hooked. That was pre-generals handbook and since then I have got around Stormcast, Dispossessed, and Gloomspite, as well as a bunch of Warcry stuff. The funny part is that the stuff I love about AoS is stuff I never did/had the opportunity to do in Warmahordes. I love the narrative gaming side of the hobby and painting which I never enjoyed, but has now become my favorite part of the hobby.

I love the skull pass goblins so much, they are so easy to find for as old as they are and I personally like them better then the new ones. Their faces just don't seem as vicious as the current models.

Since some of you in this thread seem pretty experienced when it comes to custom terrain, I was wondering if you could give me some help/advice. I bought a bunch of balsa wood (plus some similar stuff for platforms that is a little more sturdy). I plan to build a fort for my goblins inspired by some of the stuff in the old skirmish book from the 90s I think. I watched a couple videos about working with balsa wood but I'm still kinda lost. What tools should I use? Does the wood need sealed/treated with anything? Any other tips? Thanks in advance.

I started wargaming... well it's kinda hard to put an exact number on it. See, my first models (I can remember) were a couple of metal goblins from some random game that I got at a convention which my dad took me to when I was around 5. I went to tons of conventions back then I guess, I don't remember them but there is pictures of me looking at giant LOTR and historical battles being set up. I mostly played with LEGOS for a long time, and read tons of books, which helped lead me towards imagination based games. Fast forward to 7th grade I think, and I start playing Warmachine and Hordes with my dad. I didn't paint to much, but enjoyed playing. I have a decent collection of Trollbloods (collecting dust for the last 3 years). I also joined an Iron Kingdoms RPG group like half a year. I started playing warmahordes with some friends from school as well, and started painted consistently finally. Then 3rd Edition (i think) came out and all the sudden only the new models were any good. My dad and I saw the stormstrike box (the liberators, retributors and khorne warriors one) and split it to try a new game. We then got to 2 player starter and were hooked. I think this was right before the Generals Handbook was first released. The games were rather one sided, as the khorne were super underpowered, but fun nonetheless. We play mostly narrative or pick up games at home and at the local game store. Since then I have grown to love painting more than playing, even though games are great too, and am super lucky to be able to borrow paints from my dad when I need them. I have collected some dwarves and tons of goblins now as well. I have also picked up some Skull Pass dwarves, which are almost as old as I am, which are a future project once I finish up some grots. I also started playing actual D&D with my family (my dad runs it) set in the mortal realms. I'm not smart enough to figure out to mix text and images so I'll caption them at the bottom. 1. First 2 minis ever. Not sure what game, a couple of goblin musicians, if anyone knows please tell me. They still have the paint I gave them when I was 5. 2. Trolls from Hordes. One on the left was the first one I ever completed, right is the most detailed/recent one I did. 3. Gorak Longstrike, Pygmy Rifleman, my first ever RPG character. He was painted by my dad. What I lacked in roleplaying ability I made up in choosing the biggest gun he could carry and making him a killer shot. He might have been compensating for something, but who knows. 4. First stormcast on the left, best/most recent on the right. 5. Some of by Grots, who go by the name the 'Bloodmoonz' . They are known for red-tinted robes, a powerful loonboss and varied color in their squigs. 6. Some Warcry models I painted. All my Iron Golem were converted to have demonblades which in my backstory for them they forge. 7. Finally Gha (short for some long old world elven name I got from messing with a name generator) he is a reskin of one of the PCs for the D&D starter set for the mortal realms. He is an aelven wizard who worships Teclis as the God of Knowledge and is attempting to find study Teclis's creations, of which he is almost completely unaware, but he knows that Teclis left Gha's people to do something.

As someone who is a teenager and involved in the hobby, I have to say my spending has increased on the hobby, but I never buy GW product at retail, my local gaming store gives a good discount and I've been buying some stuff off ebay as recent for CoS. I worked a job all summer to get money for the hobby ~30hrs a week, and it allowed me to branch out from only purchasing bundled products like start collecting boxes and starter sets and collect the army I wanted from when I first started playing Age of Sigmar about 3 years ago, Moonclan Grots. Granted, the high entry price to the hobby has made it near impossible to get my friends to invest in the hobby and if I play with them I let them borrow spare models. I am also kind of a unique example because I stopped playing video games a few months ago so I would have more time to paint because of school and sports being time consuming. Honestly, I think a far bigger problem with entering the hobby is paints. I am fortunate that my dad has a large collection I can borrow, but paints would be what is really costly for a lot of my friends. When I clean up after a project I am always amazed how many different colors I use, just to achieve pretty simple paint schemes. I am also pretty careful with my purchases because I only play with painted models, so any unpainted ones get to stay off the table until I have made some progress.

Might be my first time joining one of these. I pledge to paint 10 Boingrot Bounderz. Beyond that I would love to get some paint to my Loonboss and second unit of Stabbas.

This guy has a pretty good strategy to make more nets, if you don't mind some variation in your warband.

Shyish because I love how it is only limited by the imagination of the races of the mortal realms that believe in an afterlife. There is so much potential for myth inspired armies.

Painted this guy up for a friend.

not exactly painting, but this is a drawing I did in art class.

Finished the Wild Riders the night before the tournament. Really enjoyed painting them and had a ton of fun deciding the schemes. I converted the leader with some of the Sisters of the Thorn bits to make it so she can be used as an archmage in skirmish. They inhabit a giant crater, in which a giant comet landed and melting into a pool of arcane water in the realm of life. (Definitely a Tzeenchian comet). The disruption caused ever changing seasons around the crater, with a quarter of each season, with its own tribe of native aelves. The aelves are nomads, following species of animals which are adapted for their specific season. Some female arcane members of the tribes become called by the spring, and join the overarching ruling council which settles disputes between tribes. In addition, the spring is known in legend as granting wishes in exchange for eternal servitude (The people chosen are done so because of their influence on the future, so Tzeench is able to prevent them from having an effect on the realms). They fought off every chaos army (except Tzeench) , and they were unable to fight off tribe after tribe and the everchanging seasons. I will probably work on some heroes for skirmish as warrior who were deemed worthy by the spring.