robinlvalentine

I don't think Deadwalkers/zombies as we currently know them will exist for much longer. They're too generic for the way GW approaches AOS - it's just zombies and necromancers like you'd find in any fantasy setting. They'll either be discontinued eventually (that basic zombie kit, while a true classic, is ancient at this point), or they'll be reimagined into something totally new and different.

Yeah this is definitely true - I've lost count of the number of times that, when putting together a mini myself, I've discovered I like it way more than the photos. A combination of a lot of modern GW poses looking better in 3D than 2D, and the in-house painting style being so extreme in places.

Ultimately whether a model looks good or bad is totally, 100% subjective. There's no point trying to argue about it or declare things objectively right or wrong. It's purely personal taste and to each their own. Even stuff like the three strings on the bow... it doesn't matter whether things like that are realistic, for some people it looks silly but for others it looks cool, and ultimately looks are all they're going for. It's not like these bows actually have to function at any point… I really don't like the look of the Lumineth myself, but I don't see that as something to complain about. It's nice to have less temptation in my hobby life, to be honest!

Thanks very much Tarquin, really great advice! The GW saw is actually very different from a jeweler's saw - it looks like this https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Citadel-Saw-2017. I've had mixed results with it so maybe time to get a jeweler's saw instead...

I'm thinking of picking up the Grymwatch warband for Warhammer Underworlds, but while I'm a fan of the lore for Flesh Eater Courts, I'm not a fan of the models, and for me they don't reflect the background well at all. So I'm thinking converting them quite heavily, and was wondering if anyone who'd done similar had any tips. Inspired by various Flesh Eater Courts conversions I've seen, I was thinking of picking up some Freeguild Guard and a Cawdor gang box to work with. I know the Cawdor bodies are practically cliche for conversions at this point but they just seem a perfect match! Basically the look I'd be going for is still degenerate and mad, but with more actual vestiges of the noble equipment and finery they think they're wearing, and just generally a bit more recognisable as something that was once human. I guess my goal, really, is to make their delusion a little more plausible, so you can see how they could still believe themselves to be warriors and knights. So for example, Duke Crakmarrow seems a good fit for the Cawdor leader's body - I'm thinking I could just put his head on that body, replace the icon thing with the head of the Duke's halberd, and replace the flamer hand, and I'd be pretty much there. Similarly the Butcher seems like a simple head and arm swap with a Cawdor. For some of the more hunched ghouls, I was wondering about using their top halves, but replacing their legs with Freeguild Guard legs - the ones without shoes seem like a good fit! I could potentially saw off the top of a couple of ghoul's heads to give them Freeguild helmets, too. For the 'harriers' (giant bats) I'm tempted to just leave them as-is - there's a few evil looking birds in the range that could fit (for example the crows from the Beasts of Chaos endless spells) but they're all a bit expensive to get hold of for the sake of one model. But open to ideas! In terms of my conversions skills, I am relatively inexperienced and quite rusty. Since coming back to the hobby as an adult, I've done a few little weapon swaps and head swaps, but nothing as extensive as this, and I have no experience with green stuff. What pitfalls should I look out for? And for sawing up lots of bits like this, is the GW mini saw (which I've got) the right option, or do I need something more subtle? TL;DR - I want to convert the Grymwatch using Cawdor and maybe Freeguild parts, any advice or tips?

This is a great point. There's a wargame called Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago that I preordered a bunch of stuff for, and a book based on it was included as part of the bundle. I would never have thought to buy a book in that setting otherwise, but in the end I read the whole thing. It turned out to not be very good… but if I had enjoyed it, it would've been a great gateway to their other Frostgrave novels. It could totally have made sense to, say, bundle the entire Soul Wars novel in with the current starter set. (Side note: if you ever feel like Black Library novels are of shaky quality compared to mainstream fantasy stuff, try reading novels put out by other wargaming companies, or even novels based on videogames. It really could be a lot worse...)

Couldn't disagree more, I think the Underworlds minis are fantastic. I'm not a huge fan of push fit, but the things they're able to achieve with it are nothing short of incredible.

Hah, snap! EDIT: And Nick Bayton from Warhammer TV has just confirmed on Facebook.

Actually the art is often quite different from the finished minis. If you go back and look at some of the art of Hrothgorn on cards, for example, a lot of it looks very different in the same way this does. The card art seems like it's commissioned before the designs for the minis are finalised, which makes sense.

Yeah, I think the logic was along the lines of 'if you'd find it living in a dark forest, it's Beasts of Chaos. If you'd find it living in the Eightpoints, it's Slaves to Darkness'. Some monsters run with the beasts, and some live among/get captured by humans. I do think it's fair enough really - in a system where Chaos armies can't just mingle freely as they have in the past, it makes sense that STD would have some monsters that are mostly unique to them. Almost every other faction gets its big gribblies and centrepiece models, why not them?

Yeah... this was always going to be a combat heavy system, but those playtests are written up more like battle reports than RPG write-ups. I hope there is a bit more to it.

Based on the art it seems like it might even be a mix of Ironjawz and Bonesplittaz

This does look very similar to the rumour engine - but worth noting that the art isn't always perfectly representative of what the models end up looking like. The Ogor Hunter ended up looking very different from some of his art, for example.

Various bits of card art have revealed every unannounced warband that's coming - which includes an Orruk one (also Nurgle and Daughters of Khaine).

This screams giants to me, especially when combined with a bunch of other recent rumour engines showing big, ramshackle bits. Hoping the 'AOS version of Knights' rumours are true, I think that's a super fun idea, especially if they can be taken by every faction. Maybe mercenary giants, or like the current giant kit there could be bits to customise them for each faction.

Not to be off-brand for these forums, but if you're not interested in Age of Sigmar minis, presumably aren't into the lore, and you (understandably) find the rules confusing, have you considered just going with a different wargame? Systems like SAGA: Age of Magic, Song of Blade & Heroes, Dragon Rampant, and loads more, are designed to allow you to play fantasy battles with whatever minis you have in your collection in a much simpler, easy to understand way. Age of Sigmar is very much designed to support its own expansive universe and huge range of models, and it's deliberately a very large, complicated beast. If you're basically just looking to get some dwarves, elves, and skeletons on the table and get battling, I'd really recommend looking into other games instead.

Yeah it screams Catachan to me

Chaos mutations can be pretty much anything you want! Some, like the ones you mentioned, have a more Khorne look to them, but ultimately a Khorne follower could have any mutation you can imagine.

It's studio-made scenery. I don't mean to be a grouch, but this conversation happens every time GW releases photos like this - people theorising objects in the background might be unannounced new stuff. If it was, GW would be putting it front-and-centre. It's always studio-made scenery.

All this Endless Spell/faction terrain stuff seems like it was a bit of an experiment on GW's part to be honest - simpler models made in China, allowing them to compensate a bit for their limited production capacity, plus an attempt to create a new type of product (Endless Spells) and find a way to get people buying a type of product that typically doesn't sell that well (terrain). I think it's a mistake to assume GW always has some grand and firmly planned out strategy. Endless Spells and faction terrain seem inconsistent and scattershot because... well, they are. They're GW trying something out and seeing what works and what doesn't. Keep in mind as well that GW thinks almost 100% minis first, rules second. There'll never be a rules reason that justifies something existing or not existing - rightly or wrongly, the rules are an afterthought, written after the models are already finalised to give you something to do with them.

Not a single part of your empire army was in Cities of Sigmar?

Absolutely loved this novel, I really feel like he took a seeming pretty limited setting and expanded it into something totally fascinating. SPOILERS I think the ending is intentionally quite ambiguous, but I think you are supposed to assume that, one way or another, Rayner and Zuvass are the same person - and that basically the former's actions at the end are him starting on the path to becoming the latter. There are quite a lot of hints towards that throughout the novel.

Yeah 100% this

I don't think you can take it as a certainty that a Kurnothi army is coming. Do you also think a goblin wolf rider army is on the way? And as Kronos says, the Darkoath never materialised. It seems to me that the Underworlds armies are like concept pieces - some of them relate to upcoming armies, some to existing armies, some to old armies that aren't even in AOS anymore, and some to little experiments that might never be armies. You can't take every single one as an omen of more to come.

Gloomspite's definitely my favourite of the year, and I think maybe my favourite AOS novel so far. It does such a good job of making the core characters really likable, and then dropping them in a bunch of really horrible, dangerous situations that have you really invested in their fates. Started Dark Harvest over Christmas and really enjoying that too, it's like a Warhammer version of The Wicker Man!