Malios

Your style is very GW with the colour choices and highlighting. There's nothing wrong with that, and you do it quite well. But its time to broaden your horizons with fresh ideas and styles. Within GW, look at the Forge World masterclass books. Forge World paint in a very different style to "the citadel method" and may open up some new ways for you to experiment with. Outside of GW, look up the likes of Angel Giraldez on facebook + youtube. He also has his own book range. He paints in a different style to GW and almost exclusively uses Vallejo gear + paint. His techniques are difficult at first but achievable with the citadel paint range (which I'm assuming you own.) There are also other artists out there like Richard Grey, The Cult of Paint (Andy Wardle, Henry Steele etc) and even John Blanche who have their own style and ideas which is well worth looking into. These guys are consistently in the top entries of the Golden Daemon for a reason. Experiment with their ideas: some may work for you. Also look beyond tabletop wargaming into the scale modelling and diorama community for different styles. AK Interactive as a brand has some great tutorial books for example. The use of weathering powders and mediums, the use of chipping effects, the use of enamel-based washes and paints for different effects etc. Lots of styles to take and choose from. Its a shame that "tabletop wargamers" and "scale modellers" often see themselves as two different hobbies: both hobbies each have their own great ideas (tabletop wargaming often utilises more vast colour selection and highlights for effect whereas the scale modellers have great tricks for creating weathering and realism) and can learn alot from each other. And finally, I'd really look at getting an airbrush and making your own wet palette. It opens up many additional doors as another tool at your disposal. With new techniques and styles to play with, you can experiment more to push beyond what you know. Hopefully this helps.

Does the BL sales figures also include third parties such as Audible or Amazon? Or just direct sales from the website? Because I see the appeal in Audible: its monthly subscription is cheaper then buying direct from BL website.

Miniature wargaming in Australia is a "luxury item." Which basically means its not essential and can have whichever price tag the distributor (GW) wants to place on it. Rumour is we also pay the brexit tax in our pricing, which isn't alsupposed to happen. We're supposed to pay GST (which we do) but not stacked with Brexit as well. Australians generally receive a 30 - 60% markup from the exchange rate. A keeper of secrets is $130 approx if you exchanged UK prices, but has been marked up to $188. Stores that sell for 15 - 20% off (they do exist) don't make much profit from individual sales from what I hear beyond constant turnover of products. That speaks volumes at how high the distributor pricing is before it gets to the retail side. So yeah, we do get ripped off substantially in this hobby.

Best advice is not to use GW paints through an airbrush. Once you use a better brand with dedicated airbrush paints (Vallejo, AK Interactive, Scale75, MIG, even Tamiya), who also have dedicated thinners, you will understand. You can use GW (or even standard hairy brush) paints if you really don't want a second set of paints, but the additional $$ spent saves you lots of time and drama.

Airbrushing works well for models with lots of smooth surfaces. Space Marines of all types and Adeptus Custodes armies for 40k / Heresy are testament to this. There are several ways to do it, depending on the tone of metallic that you want. You can do it all with the same metallic colour, such as the Angel Giraldez true metallic silver method, or you can use several colours via the airbrush. But regardless of the method, the aim of capturing that definition with the airbrush is to go from dark to light. The hard part about this with metallics is that metallics are shiny, and being the same colour they tend to blend into one another: You have to use more extreme shades on the dark/light scale to create that zenithial definition. A common method with gold is to use a dark copper as the base colour, then a 50-50 mix of copper and gold, then bright gold as the extreme highlight with the airbrush. Then use bright silver with your normal hairy brush on the edges where the light catches.

The bar for books was set by Forge World's Imperial Armour series and the early Heresy books for me. The Realmgate Wars books came close and were a good step in the right direction because they needed to add some foundations to the (then unknown) AoS setting. Forbidden Power was a step backwards however. Hopefully, as others have explained, Wrath of the Everchosen is a step forwards.

I agree with all of your raised points. The decision to retire seasons in Beastgrave led to me giving up on Warhammer Underworlds myself because of exactly what you've explained. Sure, you can play "legacy" games of Warhammer Underworlds but thats like telling a Bretonnian player "sure, you can play Open Play in AoS." Its a shame because Warhammer Underworlds was great and Beastgrave had some good changes from Nightvault to shake the game up. But, not to get distracted on a tangent topic. Its one thing to observe and accept the business practice, and another thing to like it. "New GW" may be more open and engaging then "2000s GW" but their business practices are the same old toxic habits. As the old saying goes, which Kramer touched on without actually saying it: vote with your wallets. If you don't like it, don't buy it and let sales figures do the talking.

Its an alien concept for warhammer players to have armies or product lines "retired," particularly those players who've had their armies for decades and never needed to replace them. At GW pricing its also a scary concept: a sizeable sectorial army for Infinity or a new army for ASOIAF may only set you back by $200 - $300 AUD retail (if not bought second hand), which most warhammer player pay just to fill their battleline units. But its also the norm of the industry. It shouldn't deter us from the hobby knowing that it will happen: you all build armies knowing that the General's handbook shakes things up annually after all. If anything, it gives a greater appreciation to enjoy it while it lasts. Its too soon to say that's GW's market strategy anyway. If it does happen however, atleast you'll be ready for it.

I wouldn't fear it: it won't happen for some time, or most likely won't happen at all. Its more to gain the acceptance now before it becomes a shock that GW is a company out to make profits: eventually a progressive narrative product has to progress which means something eventually has to be discontinued. [Edit] Skaven are pretty safe, being solely GW IP. Clan Skyre was just an example (and what an example!) of what could happen when a progressive storyline mixes with marketing and profits.

A fair point: I fully understand where you're coming from. I don't blame you for that opinion because I was much the same. If you broaden your hobby scope a bit and start looking at other companies who use progressive storylines, you realise that its actually the norm to discontinue lines: GW (and surprisingly Privateer Press) seem to be the exception and I put that down to the GW systems having a "static" setting for a very long time. Card gaming systems "retire" seasons all the time which Warhammer Underworlds is trying to emulate. Corvus Belli, who as a company have a self-imposed SKU limit, discontinue entire Infinity factions so they can release new kits and factions to match narrative developments. (Corvus Belli still provide rules and some support for discontinued factions however and provide plenty of notice before they do it: its not a shock-horror surprise and kick in the balls like when GW does it.) Watching the decision to retire seasons in Warhammer Underworlds, as well as the selection of kits that went into Cities of Sigmar's battletome and the subsequent retirement of kits that didn't make the cut makes me believe that GW are going that way as a business. GW has in the past also discontinued entire lines (dogs of war, Squats, and almost sisters of battle) and entire gaming systems (GorkaMorka, Battlefleet Gothic etc.) so they are more then capable of doing it. It sounds bad when I say "don't get too attached to your models," because it is when you're paying GW pricing to watch your investment get discontinued. But, at the same time, companies have limited SKUs and production space, including GW: eventually you need to discontinue something for something new to come around, particularly if it will be more profitable then the items being discontinued. A progressive narrative is a tool to do that. Smaller factions are easier to get rid of then larger ones. [Edit] Just as we saw the narrative progress with the release of the warrior chambers (Conquer back territories in the Realmgate Wars), the extremis chamber (in response to Archaon and the Varanguard) and then the Sacrosanct Chamber (in response to the Necroquake and the Soul Wars), I wouldn't be surprised if we eventually see the opposite occur and Stormcast chambers get discontinued because their sales are bad and they no longer serve a narrative use.

The smaller factions is an interesting concept. For starters, its likely that GW are chasing the profits: releasing new, small factions that haven't been seen before in one hit on a regular basis might be seen as more profitable then the old business model where players already had a space marines army from two decades ago and -might- buy a new kit with each edition. On the other hand, AoS is a progressive setting: smaller "once off" faction sku's are easier to remove in the narrative if the sales aren't going their way. GW wouldn't be the first company to have this approach. For example: Its hinted in the Skaven Battletome that Clan Skyre, whose model range is 80% failcast, are sizing up with Clan Pestilens for a Skaven civil war of Realms shaking proportions. GW could greenlight this to occur and Skyre loses. Clan Skyre could then be wiped from sales overnight and their units delegated to non matched-play status with something new in the Skaven narrative to take its place. Sure, you'll have some unhappy Skyre players, particularly the meta-chasers, but welcome to progressive storylines mixed with Capitalism.

The yellow contrast is much darker and more yellow. I wouldn't advise that one. You'd have to go a bone colour for the base and choose your washes carefully. You'd need a glossy or satin wash rather then a matt wash to get that ivory effect and would need to consider gloss varnishing the model before applying the wash to get a smoother flow over the surface.

Its one of the most clever AoS novels written so far in my opinion. Josh Reynolds really did well with it. The setting was dark, the characters and their motivations weren't straight forward and overall you genuinely felt the depressing reality of Shadespire as you were reading it. The thing I appreciated most was that time itself was not linear: Shadespire itself defied even the loose definition of Physics that the mortal realms possess which made the ending make sense in its own twisted way. Bit of a shame that Beastgrave threw Shadespire's concept under the bus with its own advancement of Warhammer Underworlds: there was so much potential in Shadespire to be covered. Warcry or even Warhammer Quest could have easily had spin off campaigns or kits set in Shadespire for example.

AoS is in a pretty good spot at this point. With Forbidden Power wrapped up, we know that the Aelven factions are coming and Archaon is bringing his own friend back into the fold which will likely be accompanied by the multi-part versions of chaos warriors, chaos knights and possibly marauders (or equivalent). My ultimate dream faction would have been an elite vampire faction: the opposite of your standard death armies with a low model count but powerful models with fresh Blood Knight sculpts both on mounts and on foot. The Soulblight allegiance / Legions of Nagash allegiance just isn't quite there for me unfortunately. Ossiarch Bonereapers now fill that gap in Death's arsenal however so its likelihood of happening are slim. Although there aren't too many left anymore, this is a good opportunity in the lull post Forbidden Power for GW to retire the lingering failcast sculpts and reproduce / combine them into plastic kits (if they plan to keep them at all that is). Skaven are the biggest example of a fantasy era army that made a natural transition into AoS' setting like they were there all along, but are in much need of failcast retirement as well as fresh sculpts. They missed an opportunity I think with alot of the battletome re-releases to expand upon the initial smaller AoS armies like Sylvaneth etc. An extra character is nice, but an extra unit box or two would have done most of those factions wonder to "shake up the status quo."

Forge World used to be awesome. At the start of this decade, in a time where GW had little interaction with the community, Forge World was the Australian hobbyist's best friend. Not only was Forge World cheaper then retail GW back then, (good conversion rates, yewwww!) but they were giving us what we the consumers wanted. Chaos Dwarfs? Forge World had you. Heresy era and mk6 armour for space marines? Forge World had you. Specialist and heavy weapon options (mainly for space marines because GW were stingy in their plastic kits)? Forge World had you. Awesome looking kits like the Verminlord before they had plastic versions? Forge World had you. The now discontinued Imperial Armour books were quality products (excluding the rules which got out-dated pretty quickly) and the early heresy black books blew anything GW did at the time out of the water. The best value books though were the Forge World master class books: being painting books, they don't really age and still have some really handy tips. ....then everything went pear-shaped 2015 onwards. Essentially, as GW were starting to clean up their act, Forge World did the opposite. The loss of direction for the Heresy with Bligh's passing, the out of nowhere last chance to buy for entire ranges and the substantial price increases for converting into local currency (in many cases double the price for Australians) were the nails in the coffin. After a decade of really good releases, I lost faith in Forge World very quickly. What has made things challenging for Forge World in my opinion has always been the lack of retail support and the lack of advertising. The wide-spread recasting of Forge World products is also a modern problem that Forge World (and by extension GW) has to face. Because Forge World isn't well advertised (it may appear in White Dwarf sometimes, but not always. Its social media presence is also not announced by GW as much either) and not seen in GW / warhammer stores, it often only caters to the "veteran hobbyists" and "warhammer enthusiasts" who have the stable income to afford it and the knowledge to find it. That really limits the target audience and isolates the targeted consumers (ie 12- 20 year olds) from purchasing their stock outside of Nottingham. In modern times this is absurd, considering that Black Library is widespread in GW stores so there's no real excuse for it anymore. To also touch on the recasting problem (because its a separate topic in itself,) the advantages of resin also means that it is easier to recast. Whats scary is that the -demand- for Forge World products are there, but the utterly ridiculous pricing drives consumers to recasters who often match or exceed forge world's quality for 1/3 of the price. Why pay $180 Australian plus shipping for a Primarch when recasters will match the quality and clean up the model flash for you for $25? Beyond the ethics of it, there's little reason with such a substantial difference to not go with the latter. So yeah, Forge World are in a really strange spot. They're isolated from the main company from a communication perspective and are often slow or caught unaware by releases (book 7 for heresy and 7th edition 40k release as an example.) They're also isolated from GW's primary consumer base because they're not sold in stores or advertised very well. They're also discontinuing their main heresy, 40k and AoS ranges left right and center and only supporting boxed games like Blood Bowl and Necromunda. I'm fully aware of SKU limits, worn out resin moulds and poor sales as reasons to discontinue stuff, but compared to where they were six years ago... leaves me a bit disappointed. [Edit] as an Australian consumer, I wasn't aware that FW pricing in the UK has remained pretty even compared to GW's unjustified price hikes. You learn something new every day. GW really are the WotC of this industry... It sucks that they are so far ahead of their competitors financially that there's no real competition to keep them in check.

You do raise a valid question: if Mordheim is what you're after, then Mordheim is what you're after. However I'm mostly reiterating what WarbossKurgan said above. I've nothing against Mordheim: it was a cool setting and for its time it was an ambitious game. Had GW continued to officially develop it, it could have been great. The topic of Mordheim fills me with nostalgia. But, it was also a game of its era that had its own fair share of troubles and problems: Alot of book keeping Too many obscure or contradicting rules Its hard to determine what was official and whats not these days You quickly discover there's no point equipping armour, or shields, because there's so many ways to negate armour saves. It was a waste of gp cost. Similar to the above, all of your warband members end up taking ranged weapons by the end of it Dwarf and High Elf warbands were game shatteringly broken. Alot of time wasting to be frank. As a system, the game mechanics of Mordheim haven't aged as gracefully as we're led to believe either. Not to mention getting your hands on suitable miniatures and parts for the mordheim specific bands these days: not impossible, nor is it impossible to convert them with modern kits, but it will be pricey. In its own way, AoS Skirmish has more scope and variety. Individual models may not have as much choice for customisation, but your scope of models to choose from is the entire grand alliance. And hey, if you want the narrative campaign elements that Mordheim had, develop them to suit your needs. Alternatively, look at the Hinterlands rules. [Edit] if you're feeling brave, you can try and make your own version of Mordheim using AoS skirmish. Some custom warscrolls and such. Could be interesting: I'd give it a go if it was polished and effort went into it like with Hinterlands.

Age of Sigmar Skirmish definitely has its place. Up front: A "matched play experience" is not AoS Skirmish's strong suit and you're wasting your time if you're playing Skirmish to provide that. If you want a skirmish sized matched play game, then look to Warcry and Warhammer Underworlds to provide it for you. The strong elements of Age of Sigmar Skirmish are: A crawl + walk + run approach for new players Affordable A hobbyist converter's paradise, and Narrative, narrative, narrative! Skirmish is great for a crawl + walk + run approach for new players: it breaks Age of Sigmar down to the absolute fundamentals. There's no allegiance abilities, no mortal realms rules, no battalions, no endless spells, no resurrection mechanics, there often isn't large models with scaling abilities as they take wounds... basically anything that can confuse or overwhelm a new player is not present. You can use it as a platform to teach people the absolute fundamentals like moving, shooting, combat, as well as simple spells and abilities in the Hero phase. You can then build upon that foundation by expanding the scale from individuals to small squads, then to allegiance abilities until you end up at the 2000+ points level and beyond with all the extras. Skirmish is also highly affordable compared to its larger brother: I don't need to delve too deeply into this topic. Tabletop wargaming isn't a cheap hobby, and a cost-affordable approach is both appealing and in high demand. Because of the low model count, Skirmish presents a means for hobbyists to go nuts with injecting character into their miniatures. Each individual is a hero or a villain in the making (as much as the game may make you think otherwise) so conversions, battle trophies and themed ideas are the lifeblood of Skirmish. The more converted, the better! See AoS28, Hinterlands and Blanchitsu for inspiration for what's possible. And finally, Its all about the narrative. Skirmish comes down to individual stat lines rather then synergies formed by allegiance abilities and expensive heroes like regular AoS, and quite frankly some models just have better statlines then others. A nighthaunt warband in skirmish is particularly hard to beat for example because they all have solid statlines, ignore AP modifiers and ignore most terrain. This makes Skirmish completely broken, with no degree of fairness to it: some models are just flat out better then others. The way you counteract this is to inject lots of narrative into the games you play to make it engaging as well as challenging. The opponent with the nighthaunt may be facing more challenging objectives, or the other player may have more miniatures at his disposal to even the odds. You're only limited by your imagination in this respect: something that seems to be declining in the modern tabletop wargamer. Its a fair statement to say that the newer and upcoming generations of wargamers are growingly dependent on the need for strict left and right of arcs and structure to how they play, which is why matched play is so dominant. The tabletop RPG market has gone through similar developmental changes to match the generational trend with simpler rulesets and more focus on "out of the box" adventures. With all of that said, AoS Skirmish has its place just as the more "competitive" Warhammer Underworlds and Warcry have their place. Some tips to get the most out of Aos Skirmish: Convert your miniatures. Rather then just slapping them together, take your time in developing character into each individual miniature. Its as much a hobby project in itself as actually gaming with them. Keep an open mind: to get the most out of AoS Skirmish, you need to throw any concept of "even footing" or "matched play" out of the window. Be creative and find your own ways to find balance through the battleplans you play. Communicate: because it is so broken, communication with the other player across the table is vital. Come to agreements, be prepared to make up stuff as you go along and be flexible. The less you chase the win and the more you focus on the in between, the better the experience in AoS Skirmish. Use the terrain rules: it can make all the difference. Look at AoS28 or Hinterlands as an alternative: they're not official, but alot of effort went into them. Consider them, take ideas from them. And finally, Make up your own rules and ideas. Its in the White Dwarf updates and is a vital component of Skirmish. Alot is missing compared to regular AoS, so fill in the gaps!

I confess that the increasing prices over the past 10 years have made me downscale my GW related hobby from large army formats and regular 2000pt games to skirmish and smaller game sizes less frequently. Without going into depth, GW are a unique beast in the wargaming market. Most wargaming companies don't or no longer: - Have brick and mortar stores - Have such a large media footprint, including access to regular, free painting tutorials - Produce their own monthly magazine - Edit, produce and publish their own novels and audiobooks - Sell their own artwork - Produce their own paints range and hobby gear or, - Produce their own terrain. There was a dark time when they didn't do those things and shot themselves in the foot, but GW now does all of those things. Their revenue is also larger then all of the other companies combined by an exponential degree: GW has no actual competition to balance the market. They don't conform to the pricing or business trends of the other companies: they ignore them. That's why GW get away with the prices they charge: no other wargaming company is in a position to really challenge them. So I confess that I've moved to the smaller format games over time: Skirmish and Kill Team in particular. As GW's scale becomes larger and larger with bigger games requiring more expensive models then before, the smaller format has kept the hobby affordable for me and I can invest more effort into individual models for theme and conversion which I enjoy more these days. Gone are the days of forking out $1000+ on a single 2000pt army for a period of time before moving on to the next $1000+ army. That's partly what drew me to AoS initially: it offered a smaller, more affordable scale compared to 7th Ed 40k or Fantasy before its retirement. This has largely been superseded now with AoS 2nd edition where alot of rules reward players for large hordes of miniatures. So, I'm not out of the GW hobby: I respect their lore and setting, and respect their quality of miniatures compared to the competition. But, I disagree with some of their business practices. As a result, I've moved to their smaller scale gaming systems and have shifted to focusing more on enjoying the hobby aspect rather then the gaming. This is partly because I'm getting older, but also because I've dipped my toes into other companies and have seen what GW do well versus what they don't. At the end of the day, we can only vote with our wallets. GW does alot of good for the industry, but there's alot they need to improve upon as well. [edit] A few examples of what I mean by seeing the good and the bad in GW compared to other companies. - For the entry price of fulfilling all of the minimum mandatory requirements for a Primaris Space Marine Battalion in 8th Ed 40k, I can purchase two complete 40 point armies for A Song of Ice and Fire Miniatures Game. ASOIAF's rules are free and updated regularly via their War Council app and the starter box includes all peripheries to play including 2D terrain markers to start off with. On the flipside however, CMON's distribution and support leaves alot to be desired compared to GW and the models, although they aren't bad, cannot compare to GW in quality. - Corvus Belli have a highly structured tournament system (ITS) for both Infinity and Aristeia! Their rules are also updated regularly with annual season tweaks and mission updates which GW kind of copied the concept with the General's Handbook / Chapter Approved. However Corvus Belli does it for free, focusing your money instead on buying the models. - GW makes some good paints and colours. Their washes and some of their technical paints are phenominal. However, their 12ml base and layer ranges are more expensive then Vallejo and Scale 75 who make far better paints in 17ml dropper bottles. Vallejo primer spray cans are also $14 a pop compared to $25 - $28 from GW. But again, citadel paints are widely available through GW brick and mortar stores as well as most independent stockists who sell GW: Vallejo and Scale 75 brand paints are not.

As a relatively new Runefather who split to forge his own lodge, I played a few games with a mate the other weekend to get a feel for the army and the new edition. Having played against beastclaws (as thats his army) at the 500, 750 and 1000 point ranges, I learned a few valuable lessons: Vulkite berserkers really are our bread, butter, main and dessert all in one... and that I need more. Hearthguard units, both Auric and berserker varieties, have their part to play, but not as the elite linebreakers their fluff portrays them to be. It is unwise to field Hearthguard units in units of 5: they die to a gentle breeze (particularly when that breeze just happens to be a freeze ray charged with electricity from a Thundertusk) and don't output much damage, even with magmapikes. It is unwise to put your heroes, namely battlesmiths and runesmiters within range of a thundertusk's freeze breath weapon It is unwise to use Runefathers on Magmadroths as linebreakers in general. Even more so against beastclaws. It is unwise to forget about activating one's runes every turn. Grimwrath Berserkers may not be game breakers, but they can be a nasty surprise if positioned right. And, It is completely ok to have a book of grudges to accompany your army everywhere it goes and record the losses. In many cases, most of the above lessons have been reiterated over and over in this thread and its predecessor thread, so many "I told you so's" are warranted and I'll roll with them accordingly. But new Runefathers have to learn things the hard way.

Thanks for the alternative perspect Kramer. A part of me, having seen elfshead's work, was inspired to re-look into the Cult of Slaanesh as the elven aesthetic fits slaanesh if some effort (and a healthy supply of Hellstrider / daemonette bits) is put in. I'll think on it some more.

Thank you for the advice. Much appreciated.

Hey guys and girls, I've been eyeing off Slaanesh mortals as a potential new army: I'm not against Slaanesh daemons, but the concept of a Slaanesh mortal champion thinking he was great enough to be a god appeals alot more. There's lots of narrative and character to represent in an army themed around that. Anyways, beyond the depravity summoning mechanics I'm under the impression that the majority of Slaanesh's other allegiance abilities either cause re-rolls or reduce enemy bravery (the mounted Lord of Slaanesh being the exception with his attack twice allegiance ability.) What I take from this is that where Khorne , Tzeentch and Beasts of Chaos can tolerate hordes of single wound, single attack models because of their allegiance abilities, the slaanesh allegiance abilities really don't benefit such to the same extent. Instead they benefit multiple aggressive heroes due to the depravity mechanic as well as models with multiple attacks to make the most of those re-rolls and the speed to carry it out. I'm not really in any rush to start this army now as I'm aware that eventually Slaanesh will receive a battletome which can really change the game. I'm also not necessarily a fan of the pragmatic, Slaves to Darkness aesthetic for followers of Slaanesh which means if I was to invest in this army now, it would consist of as many conversions possible. So I figured I'd ask for your opinions and experiences on Slaanesh mortals as it stands now. Is what I'm reading accurate or am I pretty off target with my assumptions? There is a difference after all in reading something on paper and experiencing it in person. Your experiences are greatly appreciated.

G'day fellow warlords, I've been eyeing off doing a Skaven army for a while and they would make a great, thematic foil to my future Ironjawz project both for being different on the table and different to paint. Granted I know they really need a battletome, or some form of alliance ability which has so far prevented me from jumping on the Horned Rat train, but ratmen who on average live for a decade tops, scheming to destroy the realms in the quickest and least thought out way possible all the while backstabbing those above and stomping on those below in the eternal race to the top of the chain really, really appeals. I've been watching this thread, as well as the previous skaven / verminous thread and I've noticed the general patterns tend to be ridiculous amounts of bodies with spears, a hero or three to support them and maybe an anchoring unit to punch or hold the battle line. I'm fully aware that options are limited thanks to allegiance restrictions etc. and the competitive meta, but considering my community isn't too competitive I don't have to squeeze every ounce out of units to perform their absolute maximum average. I thought I'd try something different. The theme of the army would be based off two things: treacherous flying skaven fleets (a mix of Clan Skurvy with the tenacious backstabbing of Clan Treecherik) as the theme with as much plastic as possible rather then risking the older finecast kits. Having finishing a Horus Heresy project, I'm a little over using resin at the moment. Here's three proposed lists, all similar with the same core but slightly different: List 1: 2000 points: Grand Alliance: Chaos. Allegiance: Chaos. - Skaven Warlord. Warp Forged Blade and shield. Warlord. Malicious Conqueror. Crown of Conquest. - Skreech Verminking - 20 Clan Rats. Blades - 20 Clan Rats. Blades - 20 Clan Rats. Blades - 20 Stormvermin. Halberds and shields - 15 Gutter Runners - Ratling Gun team - Ratling Gun team - Warp Lightning Cannon - Warp Lightning Cannon - Hell pit abomination List 2: 2000 points: Grand Alliance: Chaos. Allegiance: Chaos. - Skaven Warlord. Warp Forged Blade and shield. Warlord. Malicious Conqueror. Crown of Conquest. - Verminlord Warbringer - 20 Clan Rats. Blades - 20 Clan Rats. Blades - 20 Clan Rats. Blades - 20 Stormvermin. Halberds and shields - 20 Gutter Runners - Warpgrinder Team - Ratling Gun team - Warp Lightning Cannon - Warp Lightning Cannon - Hell pit abomination List 3: 2000 points: Grand Alliance: Chaos. Allegiance: Chaos. - Skaven Warlord. Warp Forged Blade and shield. Warlord. Malicious Conqueror. Crown of Conquest. - Skaven Warlord. Two blades. (I simply like the model) - Grey Seer. - 20 Clan Rats. Blades - 20 Clan Rats. Blades - 20 Clan Rats. Blades - 20 Stormvermin. Halberds and shields - 20 Gutter Runners - Ratling Gun team - Ratling Gun team - Warpgrinder Team - Warp Lightning Cannon - Warp Lightning Cannon - Hell pit abomination

I'll admit that I've been a large fan of the reimaged Duardin in Age of Sigmar from a fluff point. Both the Kharadron Overlords and Fyreslayers took a fresh perspective on "dwarfs" that was refreshing from the tolkein-esque standard that we've come to know in the genre. From what I've seen locally, which isn't a hyper competitive crowd but likes a good scrap, fyreslayers never tend to do badly but also never tend to win spectacularly. This is partly because I agree with previous statements that the fyreslayers currently are a one trick pony: an extremely reliable pony in what they do (ie hordes of vulkite berserkers get in close and force multiply the grind until they win), but a pony that people have figured out due to time. Being a small, on release faction with three non-hero units (of which two are reliable and the third not so much), its hard not to be a one trick pony compared to newer factions like daughters of Khaine that have seven non-hero units and four "themed battalions" to play with. I don't think any immediate fixes are warranted as Fyreslayers are not in dire straits, but an additional two units to the lineup, a re-review of the Hearthguard Beserkers and runemaster and a few additional lodge batallions or themes in line with the Kharadron Overlords format would go a long way to reinvigorate the faction.