Skabnoze

I think Skaven are a faction where we can expect to see at least one more of the clans get a dedicated battletome (Skryre is my bet - they just have too much untapped potential) and the rest get rolled up into a combined battletome. With Legions of Nagash and now Beasts of Chaos I think it is probably a given at this point to see Skaven combined. It is also worth noting that Nighthaunt have their own battletome and big chunks of that army were retroactively added into Legions of Nagash. So I would not at all be surprised to see units from factions with dedicated battletomes brought into an anthology book based off of keywords of some kind. That way something like a Skaven combined clan book could still add Pestilens or Skryre (assuming they end up with their own book) units into their force. So I could still see GW making an Orcs & Goblins style book. Moonclan seems like there is enough there that GW will probably give them a full dedicated battletome and there is a lot of unique themes for them to really explore and amp up with a book like that (more than probably any other existing subfaction within Destruction). I would like to see Spiderfang eventually developed into a full army - but I dunno if they will ever get around to that. An Orcs & Goblins anthology battletome could wrap up Greenskinz, Gitmob, Spiderfang, Troggoths, Aleguzzler Gargants, and probably pull in some units from Moonclan, Bonesplitterz, and even Ironjawz (Ardboyz would fit quite well given their background) in the same way that Legions of Nagash incorporates Night Haunt. Another thought is that GW could combine Gutbusters, Firebellies, Man Eaters, Aleguzzler Gargants, Troggoths, Greenskinz, and Gitmob into one book. That would leave Moonclan and Spiderfang to eventually get their own books. That seems like a book that could really work well. There is already fluff for the Ogors now worshipping GorkaMorka and the old Ogre Gnoblars have now been turned into Grots - so there is a lot of potential crossover. If they created a fluff reason for the various tribes to start gathering collectively - such as a couple particularly strong warlords then I think the whole thing would come together fairly well. Going into order, I think there is a good opportunity for GW to put out one or more anthology books also. They could combine the various Elf factions into one book if they wanted. It would also make sense to combine the Free Peoples, Dispossessed, Collegiate Arcane, and Ironweld Arsenal together. If GW did it right, I think they could deal with all of the existing small disparate factions with 3-5 books. I think the vast majority of the playerbase would be very happy with that and both GW and the game would be in a better state. It is really the everyone-wins option.

I agree. But I think GW will probably surprise us with a revamped battletome sooner rather than later. There is so much errata around the current book that it is fairly non-functional. Also I don't think they were able to really nail down the playstyle for the army effectively. I give them credit for trying something different, but it is far too prone for un-fun match-ups for both the KO players and also their opponents. There is room for some new models in the range also - but they honestly don't need new kits. What they need is for GW to go back to the drawing board with the functional rules-design of the army. If there was a single existing battletome that needs to be rewritten from the ground up I think KO makes the most compelling case - despite my personal desire for GW to rework Bonesplitterz more to a crazy shaka zulu force and away from british longbowmen.

Preach! I have always been a huge fan of Trolls going back to 5th edition Fantasy. Over the years I collected a ton of trolls - including multiple copies of the old Bloodbowl Ripper Bolgrot star player. I have around 18 or so Trolls - which is way more than I could realistically field in Warhammer Fantasy and probably more than I could really field in AoS also. The only troll that I don't own is the Forgeworld Hag and I will probably remedy that pretty soon. If GW made a way to field a decent force of all Trolls then I would do so in a second. I don't need it to be great - just to not be completely awful.

I understand that comparison. However, in this case I think it is warranted for the concept it appears that the designers were trying to evoke. I am certainly not a professional artist or designer, but I am aware that things such as silhouettes are important. The Privateer Press trolls are the typical cartoony muscle-bound brute and Privateer over uses that particular design across a huge chunk of their models (Trolls, Skorne beasts, Gatormen, warjacks, etc). I honestly don't mind that particular aesthetic and I like a number of their models that they use it on (I used to collect Trollbloods, Minions, and Mercenaries), but in the case of the Shadespire Fungus Troll I think the designers used that particular body shape very much on purpose. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, if you really look at the model body shape and the proportions you will notice that he is not really shaped like the muscle-bound brute and more like a mushroom. His waist tapers and his legs are straight and trunk-like. His body from the pectorals and lats flare out extremely. He still has a lot of the visual hallmarks of a typical GW troll such as the long lanky arms. If you were to cut off his arms he would look like a walking mushroom with a face. I really think that the GW artists made these specific choices for body shape on purpose for this reason. Age of Sigmar does not really have much in the way of lore for Troggoths, but the old Warhammer Fantasy lore was that trolls ate damn near anything and they would start to take on traits of their most common food source. So you had the stone trolls that lives in mountains and mainly ate rocks. The River Trolls lived in swamps and marshlands and ate fish, drowned rotting animals, and all sorts of other foulness. If you imagine a Troll that lives deep in the mushroom filled caverns that Moonclan grots and squigs inhabit and mainly eats all of the fungus then this guy seems to fit what I would imagine that troll would grow to look like. But, not every miniature is for everyone. I was pretty excited about the Idoneth Deepkin since I think an army on sea turtles and sharks was pretty cool - even though I tend to really dislike elves in general for most games. But after getting the book on release the overall army has way too much of an emphasis on Namarti and I just can't get behind that. If you cut them out and just go with the fish then the army becomes extremely limited extremely quickly. Most of the synergy in that book is around the Thralls and less around the fish. I just can't really get behind the thralls both visually and thematically. I understand the theme they chose for them, it just is not my thing. So I get that people have the same response to stuff like the fungus troll.

Warmachine does not generally make models as great as that.

That has me pretty excited actually. I really like Thunderscorn and have always liked the Dragon Ogres (especially the new plastic ones), but they sort of stunk in 8th edition and there was not enough there to really build an army around for Age of Sigmar. I'd probably buy into it if they combined most of the chaos beasts together.

Riptooth is on a 50mm. Those hexes on the Shadespire (sorry GW that name is probably going to stick) boards are quite large.

True, the older troll models are on 40mm bases. But given that he is off-center on the base and the club takes up a larger portion - I am inclined to say think he is on a 50mm. But, that does make the frog thing pretty large.

Fellwater Troggoths are on 50mm bases - I expect this guy is on one of those.

I have all of the old trolls going back about that far as well. The more I look at the new proportions for this troll the more I think it may be distinct to whatever this unit is and not be the new direction for Trolls. Earlier in the destruction forums I was remarking that it is interesting that the older trolls all had thinner torsos and big fat waists with a big gut. This guy is the opposite with a larger torso and a thin waist. However, if you ignore the details on the model and look at the silhouette of the body he is shaped less like a muscle-bound brute and more like a mushroom with the way his upper torso flares and his whole lower body tapers. His waist is completely straight and his legs shaped like the stalks of a mushroom. I am pretty sure the artists did this quite intentionally to subtly reinforce the fungus monster concept.

I think that if they did that they would do some sort of Legions of Nagash style anthology allegiance book and I think Moonclan could possibly be rolled into it rather than become the main faction keyword. I think Moonclan will continue to remain the evolution of the Night Goblin subfaction of grots within Age of Sigmar.

You have not really looked at what GW has done with Goblins throughout the entire tenure of Warhammer Fantasy have you? Childrens Cartoons have firmly been the domain for Goblins as far as I can remember. Personally, that is what I love about them. Not every army is going to appeal to everyone. There are lots of armies in Warhammer Fantasy and Age of Sigmar that I love and plenty that I don't. However, even when it comes to armies that don't visually or thematically appeal to me I do appreciate that GW tries to satisfy a broad range of tastes with their game. I appreciate that the game has armies for those who are more serious and armies that appeal to those who like the more goofy stuff. I have been worried that when GW gets around to doing Grots for Age of Sigmar that they would lose their heavy comic cartoonyness. As someone who has collected all things goblin (along with other armies) since the mid-90s I really want to see them retain their core sillyness but transfer into Age of Sigmar. Ironjawz are a more serious take on orcs and an evolution of the serious & highly-martial theme of Black Orcs from Warhammer Fantasy and I appreciated how GW handled that. In the end, I think we should simply be glad that GW is catering to a lot of different tastes while accepting that something is bound to not appeal to everyone.

I am ok with Squigs evolving to have more fungus visual elements. They have always been meant to be fungus-animal hybrids. The older squig models often had mushrooms sprouting from their heads. I think that we can still expect them to be balls of teeth with humor. That is the iconic look and I can't see them straying too far off a decades-long proven concept. But, I do think they are going to heavily embrace the fungoid theme Night Goblins have always had and dial it up to 11 as they usually do. The Fungoid Shaman was not something completely alien. Old Night Goblin fluff going back from 8th to 4th edition has generally referenced that Shaman often eventually mutated into giant mushrooms over time due to consuming too much exotic fungus. The theme of Age of Sigmar so far has been to mine ideas from very old-school Warhammer Fantasy and then go crazy with them. I expect that GW is probably going to take the ideas of cave-dwelling critters and fungus and just go nuts with it for a full Moonclan book.

Yup, I agree with you on that point. I think I said the same thing when that picture first leaked. It is pretty much a dead-ringer for most of the Warherd models.

Nope, it is not a coincidence. While all of the rumors and leaks for the last year have pointed to grots, this is the first obvious Aelf image leak. This is most undoubtedly from the new celestial elves that have been hinted at in the background. It’s a shame too as I am a bit tired of Aelf releases and I was hoping to see something different...

Go check out the older ones from the 90s when they stood on 40mm bases. They had a couple with standard Minotaur heads. Given how much of Age of Sigmar had been inspired from old old Fantasy I would not rule it out.

One thing to consider is that low model count forces can be a benefit in a timed tournament situation. It makes almost every phase of the game quicker to resolve - which is not something to overlook. It is also easier to travel with less models. Elite armies are often partly popular in competitive situations for that reason. Brutes have other advantages over Ardboyz than that, but Ardboyz have some advantages also. Very few people would look across the table and expect a very easy game when an Ironjawz player plops 90+ Ardboyz onto the table. That’s going to be a rough fight most of the time.

Charging and punching someone in the face is the most reasonable thing an Ironjaw could possibly do.

All of the Speed Freaks and buggy teasers so far have referred to Orktober. It seems pretty obvious that we can expect October to be mainly comprised of 40k Orc releases. The question is what are they going to do for September and November.

Nope. Moonclan Grots used to be Night Goblins. This is obviously a reference to where they keep their most rare and precious fungus.

It looks like the main reveals were for Forgeworld and for KillTeam. The rest was just small teases for upcoming things. I am not surprised to see them trying to keep up the momentum for KillTeam though.

You are obviously the life of every party...

Well, that is obviously a big Squig. Two legs, sharp teeth, and beady little eyes.

To be fair, this is a pretty common rule in games and especially common in games that heavily rely upon synergy. I was glad to see GW finally add a specific clause that stated this was the case. The main problem is GW still has a sales reliance upon making some publications backwards-compatible with their new editions and they did a very poor job of updating rule verbage across all of the units for a new edition. This type of rule is generally what allows designers to make some truly interesting, flavorful, and unique abilities. Often times you can do very cool stuff by outright breaking the core rules. However, you have to design the game to only break the core rules in specific circumstances that are narrowly defined. You also need to make sure that most rules conform with the appropriate wording for the core rules. This rule is fine, and it should be helpful for the designers to add interesting mechanics to the game. The problem is how GW handled their old rules. I understand that they still have a large part of their sales strategy wrapped up in army books and they are hesitant to errata them much in order to not ****** off customers by having books with large swathes of incorrect rules (like Kharadron Overlords), but they need to willing to make the required updates to rules text. Honestly, they need to get better at pre-planning a vision for each game edition and then adhering to that for a long term duration of the edition. That would help alleviate this issue. But this is not a new problem for GW. They have been slowly improving in this regard though. Hopefully they can reissue a lot of the books with the most crusty rules at a decently quick pace.

This whole line of thought is absurd. Leaving combat implies you are scared of the enemy or unable to bash them into red paste. This is the sort of conversation a bunch of sissy elves would have - not the meanest and greenest fighting machines in the mortal realms. Shame on you all...