Fulkes

FW seems to be shifting to focusing on HH, TOW, and specialist games. Seems like the long term goal will be to move 40k and AoS entirely to the main studio.

Lorewise it still works. The realms are all seperate from each other and thanks to the end times we know that the warp contains countless seperate universes in little bubbles of reality. So they were probably leading off that and made some assumptions.

I think GW is trying to take a lot of things out of the boxes they're in so they have more creative room to expand model lines without being stuck just remaking kits. Marines are just getting the bulk of it since they're replacing the old Marines with completely new ones to break the most conventions all at once.

I'd argue the things bumping into the Firstborn is because they're eventually going to replace the Firstborn. They at least give some playstyle differences, but that's not really completely relevant to the AoS. I do feel like Fyreslayers were rushed out and made on a much too limited resource pool, but that's just my assumption.

Exactly. I like the "quarrel of gods" aspect of the setting, but inside of that it just feels like the setting doesn't really let some factions (namely the death ones) really explore the servants of the gods and their own schemes in a meaningful manner. Then again I also feel like Death just needs more in general than Shyish to work with. It's a good foundation, but I want to know how the realms change and shape the death armies since they so often rely on the inhabitants of the realms to create their forces. Like what does a Death army from the Realm of Life look like? How about the Realm of Metal? I admit some biases of my own as I say this since I've started work on a Nighthaunt army (who is a faction that strangely lacks any sort of sub-faction rules) so it's a bit more front and center in my brain on how this can spin out further.

Colorwise I'd argue for Fyreslayer Flesh which is a ruddier color for skin, and bronze for the helms, but then you're pushing the entire model into the orange spectrum which is a problem in and of itself. Monochromatic schemes can work but it's a real pain to make an army of them easilly readable. As for unity on the table top, I can respect that, but it really depends on the army. If the army is a traditional military force (like the Lumineth, or Chaos Warriors) then similar arms and armour just make sense. But the Fyreslayers are continuing the traditions of the Old World Slayers, at least visually, which moves them from being a purely identical force in my book. Some more variety in axe designs, some different manners in how they braid beards, proper running, leaping and attacking poses, as well as different styled helms with various plumes would have done a lot for the army. As it stands though they're very same-same and not very high energy, which feels counter to the Slayer name. It just feels like they made only a small handful of resources for the army and were then forced to use them for the entire army without making anything new, which is honestly where I think most of us hit a wall with the faction: it doesn't feel like a lodge of hundreds of unique dwarves who get hopped up on magic runes and booze before blitzing into battle, it's a slow methodical brick army that is one guy and his hundred near identical cousins, plus maybe a big lizard. Of course that's not touch on the goofier poses like the two axe guy balanced on the balls feet like he just nearly tripped but caught himself.

That was beautifully explained for someone like me who hasn't dug into the AoS books and now we just need to see that more on the table as a whole. At the very least it'd let the armies and Mortarchs feel more important than they currently do.

I really struggled on this thread topic for a few days, and I'm really lukewarm on them and it bothers me. I love the lore, and the art is fantastic, but the rules and the models leave me a bit lukewarm. The big rules issue for me is that it's an army of barely clothed berserkers hopped up on magic runes but they move the same as a normal Duardin wearing plate armour. Like at least give them a 5" movement. I get they have short legs, but they should at least be able to jog faster than a normal Duardin for crying out loud. The models bother me for a different reason. The units feel so identical that it's hard to tell them apart. If there was at least a little extra on the models (like different helm designs) that made them stand out from each other beyond what weapon they're carrying it'd help, but the silhouettes are so identical it just all blurs together. They don't really have the amount of dynamic movement you'd expect for something with the "slayer" name. So basically there is a rules thing that bothers me, and a model design thing that bothers me (beyond some of the perfectly symmetrical models) that just makes the army come up a bit short.

Yeah, they said the same in thw WHC article IIRC.

Thanks for the heads up! I've got no specific plans so far. I chose Nighthaunt over IDK for my new year, new hobby resolution as something I can reasonably get back into painting with and other than wanting grumpy ol' Kurdoss and the Black Coach I've got no real plans on how I want to run the army yet. I think I might just go for the wide collection approach so even if the rules change I have options.

So I picked up Soul Wars today, should my next purchase (other than some characters as I've got one of most of them as well) after this box be another Soul Wars, one of the smaller boxes, or should I be looking at something else?

Easiest easy to fix death is to break Nagash. Put him in a state where his control isn't complete. Maybe he's lost more of his mind than he thought when the End Times happened and those holes in his memory are a symptom of his control being less than 100%. We just need more going on in death because Nagash is either a bit underwhelming as a god on the table or he's not as strong as he could be (may be his many setbacks could be blamed).

I think Sinbad would disagree about skeletons not being fit.

Plastics and digital sculpt have surpassed what hand sculpted resin can do. Don't get me wrong, I love some of their sculpts, but so many of them are more than a decade old and have aged poorly, but even the new stuff isn't beyond what plastic can do.

I don't think so. It looks maybe 40mm wide tops.

FW isn't handling 40k's rules, the 40k rules team is. And they haven't had a new model for 40k from FW since the Astratues around the launch of 8th. Since then anything they got to use were things from the HH.

The more I look back at what FW has done over the last several years, the more I think it looks like they're phasing out AoS and 40k models and eventually will be focused on the side game stuff instead. That said, with modern plastics, GW could do a dang good re-imaging of Chaos Dwarves as proper faction, and I have my fingers crossed they do something with them in plastic.

I'd rather assume they're dropping their non-specialty games products to be honest.

He's a Black Library model tied to a character whose one of the more popular 40k characters (and has beena round for decades), so it affects nothing for regular releases. The hair sculpt is a bit of a miss but I'm not sure how you're supposed to sculpt a fade.

Now THAT sounds like proper Shyish engineering.

Shows they're at least making assets that can be brought into an update for the army in the future.

I actually really like the idea of Flesh Golems as an undead zombie like addition but with GW I'm.sure they'll hit us out of left field with a concept no one expects.

So more Blood Bowl Flesh Golems and less generic zombies? I'd be down for that. 01.webp

True, the more dynamic art would have been better, I was just looking at the sculpt they went with instead and why I think it falls a bit short.

I've been thinking about what's wrong with Teclis and I think it's because something is missing from the model: namely the magic. He looks like he's channelling so much magical energy that it's lifting him into the air, but the paint job doesn't sell that and there is nothing around him to help sell the sensation (like Nagash's swirling books, or the Prime's magic-nado). It's a techically well executed model, but that lack of visual to show he's channelling magic (say by making his eyes, open hand and end of staff look like they're glowing with power) lets the concept down.