Nos

Seems plausible, good shout. Must say I've come round to the Kruleboyz pretty fast. Separate them from the GW Orc archetype, they're very compelling. The Gutrippaz as a sort of hoplite/Zulu impi composite, *chef kiss*. Although I tell you who dosent *remotley* fit in with them? Kragnos. Still lol at that contrivance. So obviously a way to trail Dominion and nothing else.

Great thread, thanks all Over the past year I've been a health worker working in a pandemic and also contracted a chronic eye condition in which my cornea frequently is ripped off the surface. Its currently manageable but it might not always be. In short, it's made me thankful for my vision and made me rethink what I want to gain from painting. So I've been prioritising playing with paint and learning how to finish things to a good standard in a short space of time, just trying stuff, being kind to myself. Bob Ross ethos basically. Inspired by Marco Frisoni's limited palette experiments I painted the very desaturated guys with a limited palette of olive, black, white, magenta, yellow, cyan and red (and silver for weapons), took about 2 hours, was fairly indifferent to them but focussed on what I liked and what worked rather than what upset me about them. My main aim was to create colour and interest despite only having 5 colours and black and white. Then I did the same thing again later in the week, taking forward the things I had learned about colours, paint consistency (was using new paints) and did the next two. Main thing I realised was that I'm much happier with thick paint and glazing down than I am with light paint layering up.. Took a bit longer at 3 hours but again, 2 more minis, more things learned, more things to utilise and enjoy. I know I can paint a unit of five guys to a standard I'd be happy to game with over the course of a few relaxed evenings now, and that's liberating.

Has there been any word on cheap Easy to Build stuff ala the old Castigator and Gryphound box? They were good to practice on before committing to an army. I been practicing speed painting for my Kruleboyz on some of their Grandads wot I bought 21 years ago but would like a go at some proper Y Generation greenskins before fully going ahead

The whole shield/totem thing being Kragnos' aspect is especially weird given that pretty much every faction has a unit with faces on their shield without anything like as specific an explanation. I've never once looked at one of such models and been like "yes but who does this face *belong to*?" It's just a fantasy convention at this point. Making it a Kruleboyz "thing" seems a bit contrived. And the totem by Kragnos feet- there's no way I'm believing that wasnt a last minute addition. They're good models but after after seeing the clever synthesis between Slaanesh and the Aelf factions, Dragon Ogre with snub face being worshipped by orcs with iconography that looks nothing like him dosent land for me visually.

The dimensions are completely different. The old SC range is consistent in its dimensions and the armour plating across all the former chambers has a shared, chunky aesthetic. The new guys are much more sleek in their profile and dimensions. The head is smaller. The legs are longer. The torso is less square and more athletically shaped. The armour is more conceivable as something a person could wear, less like Space Marine power armour. They look more like super heroes and less like bodybuilders in a can.

Shame if you have a SC army already and dont want them looking like they fell into a vat of weight gain powder while reforging

The new green skins look Evil, which is a bit weird. Destruction are pretty ignoble and violent obviously but they dont seem motivated by badness. These guys look pretty sadistic. And not at all the sort of dudes who would be into Kragnos for any particular reason. More like the kind of guys who would try to snare and capture something like Kragnos tbh.

Quote reminiscent of Bob Olley Orcs from long long ago

They look like they're from a different series Good models but they're quite antithetical to the more high fantasy orientation of AOS.

Yeah its pretty atrocious. I can't see it's like appearing again, thankfully. I think I was like 14 when I bought it? I'm glad times have changed on that front

Thing about these rumours is that they dont seem to pair up *at all* with the Grimm's fairytale nature of their reveal. They sound quite militarily capable, not creepy bog lurker child snatcher types. BUT I was at home seeing my parents for first time in over a year and going through some old minis, found my Ghazak Khan. Forgot I had even bought him. Anyways, it's a sign

It dosent need to be Star Wars level. Star Wars is a bit like the Beatles in that the precise circumstances that allowed for a moment in which a single thing could come into being and dominate popular culture on a near global scale- I'm not sure that can ever happen again. But you can be not Star Wars and still make money hand over a fist at a level which dwarfs GW's current revenue. Thing is though, re the Sattire thing- I think this is likely to be the biggest issue. A license without clear goodies and baddies is unlikely to appeal on the aforementioned scale. A media empire based around fictions in which *all* protagonists are at best pretty much irredeemable and at worst existentially appaling and awful is not just going to be challenging, its likely to come across as boring. The closest analogue to something like that which has succeeded is Game of Thrones. But while it was excessivley and expertly morally grey, the reality of life in Westeros would be a positive Nirvana for the subjects of the Imperium.

People buy phones every few years, and they dont do it to watch netflix. Netflix et al arent reliant on the creation of phones either. My phone is due an upgrade after 2 years, but I'm not getting one til I need it for precisley those environmental reasons. I'll still be able to watch all streaming services on it though. Wargaming as it exists in its present form is barely 60 years old, it's very much a post-war product of increased leisure time and expendable income, like most hobbies really. As a concept it has been around for ages but it was as the preserve of upper class eccentrics. I've always been into broader wargaming parallel to GW, in fact I never dropped wargaming even when I did drop GW for a while, I kept up with other historical and genre rulesets. I've been going to the vatioys warhaming cons for a decade or so in the UK and as of the last 5 years or so ive seen the older members end their involvement but theres precious few young people coming in from the other end. Theres also a fascinating aspect surrounding the "stuff" of wargaming itself, be that history or sci fi and fantasy. All are increasingly under challenge for the way in which they represent and portray humanity and associated concepts which at the time where acceptable and a given but which look less favourable given the input of marginalised social groups. A lot of the reaction to this from the core group of wagamers has been protective and defensive though, further ghettoising themselves. The reality is it just means the hobby is seen as more niche and a weird generational enclave where a new generation of kids to whom diversity is powerful and essential are not welcome and quickly put off. GW are (slowly) proving themselves hip to this though and sorting themselves out. But without a next generation to take it forward, Its not looking good for the future of wargaming sadly, as we know it. In the UK, at any rate.

At the moment. But its already far more accessible and ubiquitous than it was two years ago. Its only going to get easier and cheaper. This Warhammer + thing isn't about right now. Its setting up a platform for the future. These conversations are exactly the same sort of thing that occured with other shifts in big IP production. "Why would marvel, the biggest comics publisher ever, change to something else?" "Why would Xbox/Ubisoft etc give you access to all their games for a small fee a month when a new one costs the same as a years subscription?" Capitalism isnt about selling products in the same way anymore. It's about capturing and maintaining peoples information to make them endlessly involved in your ecosystem and that of favoured partners. Plus the cost of literally anything physical is going to become harder to produce and justify on account of the issus around global warming and waste. There's also the fact that wargaming is a hobby which has only existed for a generation or so. Its not a sure thing. It grew up in an era where personal social and civic spaces were easily available or accessible in which you could have massive 6ft tables etc and have space at home to store endless models . The supply of those places is diminishing outside of a wealthy middle class. It is a very tactile and analogue hobby which Is one of its joys. But it is also one that is increasingly going to be off limits to an increasing number of people due to the increasing growth in social inequality of the 21st century. But the hobby itself isnt guaranteed to last for more than a few decades. GW's IP on the other hand isnt dependent on models, or at least, has by the far best chance of existing in isolation. Again we're talking long term, as in about a decade a so, but it will pick up speed fast.

They're not building this stream to bring people into the hobby The aim of the subscription model is to use the patronage of those already involved to buy into the subscription model until the money from that reinvested back into the subscription means that the subscriotion itself becomes the most sellable product. Far easier to sell a 6.99 per month product you can cancel anytime than a one off 100 pound commitment and you dont need a shop or to hire a person to do it The future is media and data. GW will obviously be massively invested in their models for a while but I think people will be surprised how quickly products which further the lore and universe independent of the gaming systems take precedence. GW need just one of their animations or series to be a sucsess that gets public attention, and an established media empire will come in and throw money at them for the rights to a part of it, and so on.

They're not looking to bring people into the hobby so much with this. They're looking to set up their own revenue stream. The focus wont be Disney, Netflix obviously- that would be crazy- but they will be looking to monoplise the market of media related to GW products currently available elsewhere into this service. Bear in mind pretty much all GW products released ahead of time on other services come from GW, they can turn off that tap whenever they like. People looking at this now thinking "why would I bother when I can go to X or Y for my GW content" ' well, they wont be able to have access to those sources much longer I'm guessing. I'm pretty positive subscribers will have first or exclusive access to certain products too. Basically- if you're into GW stuff just now, to maintain that level of investment is going to become harder and harder without this subscription. *Of course* it will prove popular with enough people for GW to benefit from it. At which point the relationship between playing the games and being a subscriber will become more and more symbiotic. I'm not saying this because I claim to know the future or anything, it's just how every subscription model has entered the hobby and entertainment economy the past few years. If you don't subscribe, you get a second class experience, very intentionally so.

Been saying all year that GW have been cribbing off Disney with the MCU. Especially with how quickly 3D printing is making ground now too, it was shaky to start with but the quality and availability of printers and sculpts is growing exponentially. GW are still very much at the top of the mountain but charging loads of money for stuff people will find easier and easier to get will become an unstable foundation in quite a short space of time I think. The GW universe will become less model bound and much more a case of if you want to be involved read the comics buy the supplements watch the shows *then* play the games. It will be designed to be all in.

Neither do I...?

Think you misread the tone of my post dude So long as it's not illegal, I genuinely dont care how GW do, or dont, market their toys Was literally just a wry observation FWIW I'm pretty sure Cursed City *wasn't* a sucsess despite selling out as fast as it did. Successful companies aren't in the buisness of hiding phenomenonal money making ventures and generally scotching all reference of them from history as far as they are able.

Absolute Baller Move releasing the Cursed City models without even mentioning Cursed City

The more personalised names likes the above tend to be reserved for Regiments of Renown in Twarhammer. Every faction gets access to half a dozen units which don't require the tech tree prerequisites, they all have a more Yeoman type epithet.

Bravery/Psychology actually mattering Gameplay which encourages unit formations and not conga lines Mechanics which respect the rules rather than override/break them (activation, I'm looking at you. What an absolute farce that was). More focus and drama in actual fights rather than just tacking MW's and multiple FNP saves to make combat an irrelevance

The more I think about it the more I think that this was simply a poorly executed narrative event, the Belakor aspect I mean. Because even without the immediate AOS 3 reveals, people would not honestly have believed SC were just going to not be a thing or die out or whatever. People would always have assumed it would be a temporary problem that Belakor had caused because if it wasnt it simply strikes too hard at an essential aspect of AOS. It would never have seemed credible for long

Very pleased to see the GW trend in sculpting BIPOC representations continues. The dude with cornrows is their best yet I think

You're right in that it's pretty egregious. Wouldnt surprise me if there was some lore intended to at least half heartedly explain it that has been jettisoned in the push to get to AOS 3 as close to schedule as possible.