Nos

I sort of ended up in that neighbourhood today. I was going for a more John Howe/ Alan Lee palette but this is how it ended up

It's not about piracy ,its about locking the game behind a £60 subscription to play it, and its about how using the data from subscribers will make it easier to sell things to those individuals and focus on creating more of what will sell or be consumed by said subscribers

In pretty much every area GW models are going from strength to strength but they seemingly *cannot* do big monster heads that don't look like theyve been fudged out of play dough

You dont know what thre intentions of the box were or what GW's expectations are. Nobody besides GW do. GW has never said. What they have said at length and repeatedly is that this box is perfect for *anyone* looking to start 3rd edition. Not just on the product itself but in multiple lead ups to it and on the reveal itself. And it comes with a separate introductory booklet called "Start Here" (was reading my copy yesterday), hardly suggestive of content for seasoned veterans only. So the argument that GW didnt Intend this for beginners is palpably false. They've not just said it in passing, theyve said multiple times as one of its main selling points that this is for *anyone* to get into AOS and included content supportive of that statement Obviously you can make as many assumptions to the contrary as you like but you're going to have a job proving them on the basis of nothing vs GW's precise explanation as to who Dominion is for. Although having looked at my box just now I recant what I said about the box comparisons above because they do actually show the respective forces in a cool battle type scenario.

From the perspective of someone new to the hobby, this is marketed, very explicitly, as being for beginners and the place to start. Thats undeniable.

Everybody includes beginners to the hobby then

"The perfect way to get started with the new edition of Warhammer Age of Sigmar" Literally the first thing it says below Dominion on the webpage I'm talking about the marketing and advertising from GW itself here. That's what people new to the hobby are going to base their decisions on, not your second hand assumptions. So to say it's not aimed at beginners when the product description includes the following "If you’re looking to plunge headfirst into the new edition of Warhammer Age of Sigmar, look no further than this glorious boxed set" "This supplementary booklet is exclusive to the Dominion box and provides newcomers with the perfect starting point for the Warhammer Age of Sigmar hobby, including the story and gameplay rules for a fateful clash between the Stormcast Eternals and Kruleboyz included in the box." To say to a beginner thst it's not aimed at them with that description is tountamount to gas lighting quite frankly

Another thing, although this is a broader GW trend not just limited to AOS It would be easier to sell something like these sets to beginners if it was made apparent what it was you were getting beyond a massive lump of models. The picture on the back of the current box (recieved mine today) it's just like a pattern of models, all sparsely set out. Not set our how the game plays or anything, just a load of individual models put down on a flat space. It communicates nothing besides "quantity". The difference between the sense of what components you were getting to play with on the back of the 6th edition box, below, and the current AOS set, is night and day. One looks like a boxed game, and the other more like a starter entry point into a complex concept or system. Weirdly, Dominion, which is far greater value for money, looks simultaneously more formidable while also being a bit empty and in a vacuum. And Dominion is actually the first GW boxed set to have two 1000+ plus armies, but again, that's not made clear, it's just an island of minis.

Humans and Chaos are basically the GW USP. The fight against entropy, literally and figuratively. You can get orcs, dwarves, etc pretty much anywhere else. We'll see what happens obviously but much as *I* like them it feels like GW's attempt to brand basic fantasy archetypes as their own-aelves, orruks etc- is a hard sell. Soulblight and Gloomspite have definitely hit that sweet spot for me in terms of being what they are and having something to tether them to existing fantasy tropes while using AOS to push them in further interesting directions. Deepkin and OBR have been excellent as new concepts. Everyone else - meh. Either really abstract and shapeless, or just constant repetition of a theme. That's kind of AOS to a T though. Theres some excellent novelty and creativity in there but it's mainly either too vague and wacky or reads like it was written by someone who got a word of the day calendar. It's quite forced and dense. You have to really commit to it. Bottom line is it might just be a bit high concept. Old World and 40k, the main story is that humanity is under constant threat but is itself pretty irredeemable and dangerous to itself and others. But you can explain it easily. And theres very relatable start points- this is a militia defending their homes from invading raiders etc. AOS, all the realms and Gods and stuff, the lore has been written at least in part to justify the consequence of the End Times. It made sense in 2015 but now I wonder if for new players it isnt abit like watching Age of Ultron without having seen any of the previous films in the trilogy. The longer it goes, the harder it gets to become involved from scratch

My opinion, in a nutshell: In general, Independent streams arent going to be able to continue to profit without megacorps taking a bigger share. I dont just mean GW, I mean all monolothic capitalist entities will find a way, just as they did with social media, to take far greater control of the platforms which currently enable profit for individual creatives. Initially it will start like this- companies will just use their greater resources to push out competitors, quite possibly at a loss, by offerings few unique things and cheap imitations of everything else that's popular. But in 5 years time they will dictate the shape of how and where and why anybody delivers content about their product to an unprecedented degree. I guarantee you in 5 more years that most of GW's online audience will be paying for WH+ and that engaging within the hobby without a subscription will be, by design, much harder Not saying that WH+ itself is going to force independent channels and streamers to take a reduced role. It will take some time. But its inception is just 1 act of thousands that marks a further shift in capitalism away from individual autonomy on the net. It's not a cause of it, its evidence of something already happening. Its going to happen everywhere. Obviously nobody can predict the future, but pretty much any other view than this is working on the assumption that the most powerful economic and technological forces in the world are going to change direction suddenly, which is unlikely, or accept limitations, which is something that has literally never happened.

That's an amazing spot although it certainly reinforces to me that Ironjawz armour is just super dumb, really bad design. Poor guy is drowning in there. I've always felt it deep down despite loving orcs, always reacted badly to Ironjawz, shadespire gangs etc. Most contemporary sculpts which are riffs on an old range- Vamps as an example, or indeed Kruleboyz- really highlight the advantages of modern approach to mini sculpting. But Grimgor honestly is far better proportioned for me than his new incarnation who just looks gawdy and bloated, like a regular orruk in drag.

While this is true, in a cease and desist situation from someone like GW irrespective of legality, a lot of content creators are not going to be able to afford the initial fees or the attrirional cost of getting to a win

I love Louise which is why I sincerely hope the Masterclass *isn't* her revealing her secrets. Looking at the picture she tweeted, I dont think it will be- more 'Eavy Metal studio than 'Eavy Metal Army Painter. GW has basically commercialised and copyrighted Duncan Rhodes painting philosophy and not given him anything like the remuneration and respect he deserves. *No body* has done more for GW in the past decade to get hobbyists into the hobby and keep them within the GW fold, or to sell GW's frankly rubbish and vastly overpriced hobby supplies. Louise is very much in that same mould of delightful, sincere, eager and just all round good person, a superb ambassador for all that's good in the hobby, and it would be a travesty if they did the same with her talent.

It's not about now. Wont be any initial changes for a while. But the nature of streaming *is* going to change. Just as with social media, hyper rich companies are not going to simply sit and watch independents earn off something they have a stake in. AOS Analogy- WH+ is Necroquake. Wider monetization and monopolistic of streamed content will be the Soul Wars

So I actually dont think it's a bad deal really, for what it is BUT A) Its a starting price. It will go up. Twice the price in 3 years wouldnt surprise me at all B) Involvement in the hobbying aspect to keeping up with the franchise will be increasingly locked behind it C) And this is the big one; the current proliferation of independent streamers is not going to last. It's the new internet frontier at present but we've been here before. The attraction of autonomy and independent creators brings in the audience, then that gets sold or annexed by some massive monolithic corporation. But even before that, for every young kid getting into the hobby now, WH+ is £5 now going directly to GW that would otherwise have been going to a Twitch sub. WH+ is going to mark *right now* as the apex of independent GW streamers. Writing is on the wall now sadly. Will take time, but not as long as were thinking it will.

If I was a subscriber paying for that model and then it got released a year later I wouldn't be subscribing again

Or to vastly reduce the access to their products they have been giving to other Streamers up to this point Nothing GW does is out of altruism

Called it

The official lore is that its Kragnos' likeness But there was later an article on the inspiration behind the design which confirmed they are just a 3D realisation of John Blanche/Kev Adam's classic orc shield designs So they were designed first and then given contrived lore as an afterthought. As I said on reveal day, *nobody* would have been like "wow who are those shields meant to represent?" If GW hadnt brought it up. So many units have shields with stuff on them, I've never once been like "oh hey is that meant to be Dave? And whose dismembered hand is that?" Malignant orcs have malignant shields, news at 10, what could it mean

Yeah I wasn't joking Of course GW are going to lock certain mini behind a subscription. I think silence on the AOS app and digital editions for 3rd edition is related to the subscription model as well.

Chances of them being model reveals linked to having a subscription is pretty high I'd say

Ironjawz dont have a battletome though. They're a sub faction now. Do they have more units lined up? I mean great if so. Obviously in that instance theres sufficient there on the basis of other times to give them the full faction treatment. But I was operating on the basis of what we know rather than hypothetical/aspirational scenario. I would like them to be their own thing, I'm really won over by them now.

4 Heroes inc Troggoth, one spellcaster the rest all melee/leadership units One battle line One other infantry unit 2 missile units That's it Which other armies have less than that?

Yeah thought as much. They dont seem to have enough going on for a unique army. More like fun auxiliaries. Would fit with the retro inspirations behind Kruleboyz as well, all different species of orcs. Probably alone in this but a reworked Animosity rule would be fun.

Are Keuleboyz getting a dedicated Tome? I thought the strongest evidence pointed towards them being part of a new Orruk Soup book