Mutton

This again is why GW needs to start doing roadmaps like the one they recently showed off for Necromunda. That way customers aren't languishing while waiting for releases without any time frames.

Everything's gotta be reboots and sequels---the familiar is warm and safe. Nothing can stay dead. Gotta clap when you see Talabheim!

I think there must be some element of the Sons of Behamut release we're not seeing. While I wouldn't be surprised if the army was simply Bragg and the aleguzzler kits, it doesn't seem...feasible as a whole faction. 1) There'd be zero diversity or ways to play the thing, aside from potential mini-faction rules, which, even in themselves would be highly limited with so few warscrolls. 2) They're selling us warscrolls for the army. So are they going to sell us 2 cards and maybe one sheet of tokens? Seems like a stretch. Although GW's greed knows no bounds, so who can say? 3) It feels unlikely anyone would be able to convince John Businessman that they could release an entirely new army (warscroll cards, tome, and all) with only two models in the range. It's not enough to build up marketing hype. So my guess is that there are going to be more models than we can anticipate (or multikits), OR the whole Sons of Behamut thing isn't a full army, but rather some kind of mercenary sub-faction for Destruction.

That gives me time to save some cash for a whole lot of big lads.

Was sort of hoping for more stuff for Slaves. I feel like non-Archaon Slaves lists are...lacking.

Having as much information as possible certainly helps. I'd also like to note that Infinity has a very different design philosophy compared to AoS. Despite having a number of factions with various specialties that give them different play styles, the game still revolves around ingrained rules that don't really change. Factions are varied because they have better or worse hackers, infiltrators, etc., and units are unique because one might have Holoprojector Lv1 while another has Mimetism---static skills assigned like keywords. Infinity is a tighter, leaner wargame with fewer paths of error by virtue of the restricted design space. Age of Sigmar's factions and units, in comparison, all have strikingly different rules, and are really only limited by the writers' imaginations. Khorne have blood tithe, Ogors count more for objectives, Slaves have Chaos Marks, Idoneth have a whole chart of phases, Tzeentch have destiny die, etc. Units can go first in combat inherently, when they charge, if they spend a command point, etc. There's a gulf of disparity between two warscrolls in AoS compared to the narrow gap between two models in Infinity. GW rules writers are always pushing the bounds of what can be done within their rule set, which can often mean breaking it in places. These two methods by Corvus Belli and GW don't mean either is better than the other, but it does mean they're shooting for different goals and that the road to balance isn't equally obtainable. Can GW do better in assuring us that things like Slaanesh, Tzeentch, Petrifex, or what have you don't crop up? Of course. I also don't believe they could ever attain the balance of a game like Infinity, but I also wouldn't want them to. Trying to achieve perfect balance would mean reducing all warscrolls and abilities to a deeply limited selection of things like, "reroll 1's to hit" or "add 1 to wound." The GW designers aren't ignorant of what goes on in tournaments, that's been shown time and time again, which is why I don't think even more statistics would contribute much to their thought process. They've already moved from yearly changes to bi-yearly, and I think it's been working. The massive cracks in the process come from not enough development time, editing, and QA. These are things that, though I have no evidence to support this, I believe partially lies at the feet of the corporate GW system itself; and it very well may be that the rules writers simply don't have the time (or staff) needed in the early phases of each project. All things considered, they do a laudable job at keeping every faction playable (not to mention completely unique).

I think the first one is a Medusae spear for the DoK Underworlds band, and the second one is a broken ship piece for a Sons of Behamut base/accessory/weapon/etc.

Suggestions: 1) Battalions are too impactful. 1b) Drops affecting who gets to choose the first turn isn't fun or thought-provoking---it's a test to see which factions have the better battalions. I think the entire "# of drops" mechanic needs to be...well, dropped. 2) Price non-hero monsters appropriately. That is, big, single model units with fewer attacks need to be sub-200 points, unless their warscrolls are really efficient or have some other nuance that makes up for their inherent downsides. Because objectives mostly rely on number of models, and because number of models = more attacks = better statistical average to do something, monsters are always immediately at a disadvantage. Monsters also tend to have damage charts, so they get worse over the course of the game (shorter move, less reliable attacks, worse abilities, etc.). The latest change to Ghorgons and Cygors was the right direction to steer. 3) More serious analysis of statistics when designing weapon profiles. Aka, why a single attack that does d6 damage is usually terrible. Nothing more to add, except why on earth are recent unit champions getting worse weapons than their underlings? 4) More serious analysis when designing sub-factions. These sub-factions tend to be the make or break factor for an army. This is where we see the game-shattering combos unfurl, and it's also where we see entire swathes of a book languish in their sub-optimal graves. Petrifex, Hagg Narr, Gristlegor...we know how seriously they affect the entire scene. 5) More crazy off-the-wall stuff. You've made a fun, popular wargame---now think of ways to break the rules. Stuff like Drakfoot, Spell in a Bottle, or Morathi's Iron Heart are all really interesting abilities that change the way we look at the game. Sure, rerolling hits is fine, but it's not interesting. Not everything has to break the mold, but it's something to keep in mind.

The current iteration of drunkenness is too crippling. It's the #1 reason no one brings gargants. We're talking about a rule that makes your unit sit there and be useless about 16% of the time; and it also makes 12" charges impossible---it's not a fun rule. Most abilities in the game enhance a unit's effectiveness, and I think a gargant's drunkenness should likewise work in favor of its destructive power, not against it. There are so many other ways they could go about it that would naturally include the gargants' allegiance abilities.

Who says it can't be? Looks like the perfect Solar (raygun) Engine Bastiladon to me.

Oh no...an army of giants? Giants are just bigger Ogors...*powerful sweating*

Best: Orruk Warclans - A huge range of depth in its options and unit choices, seamlessly merges two entire factions into one cohesive force, and lifts the orruks into the top echelons of the competitive scene without being massively busted (some might say a little too strong, but that can be easily fixed). I don't play orruks, but every time I look at the variety of tribes and list-building opportunities, it gets me excited. Worst: Beasts of Chaos - Somehow this book kept me from playing beastmen, despite loving them since the early days of Fantasy AND already having a sizable army. Even when it came out, most units underperformed from lackluster abilities and warscrolls. Despite being the "chaos monster" faction, had some of the worst monsters in the game. On top of all of that, the lore constantly reminds you how despicable it is for beasts to align themselves with any one god, but then forces you into taking marked armies because they're simply superior. To this day it's still languishing near the bottom, and even die-hard beast lords rarely bring out their toys. I honestly don't know what they could do to even fix them at this point, which is part of why they dive beyond even the legendarily miserable experience of Hedonites. Good: Fyreslayers, Cities, Sylvaneth, Slaves, Khorne Okay, but problematic: DoK, Idoneth, Nighthaunt, Legions, Skaven, Ossiarch, FEC Poor: Hedonites - Shouldn't have left anyone's desk with how completely broken the base mechanics of this faction were, and the fact that players were shelving their armies in protest goes a long way to illuminate how poorly thought out this thing was. At least it can theoretically be fixed in FAQ (and maybe already has). Most Disappointing: Mawtribes - Though I won't deny the power boost the Ogors received as a result of this book, there were simply too many missed opportunities exhibited at every turn of the page. Cool rules addendum'd to be useless. Unnecessary restrictions on just about every trait or artifact. Only 2/6 tribes are playable (maybe 3 if you have a zillion ironblasters lying around). About half of the warscrolls felt like they weren't even looked at and copy/pasted over from 1st edition and will never see the table in any significant number. Nerfs to things that didn't need them. You're mostly pigeonholed into a handful of list types, with little way to experiment beyond that. I love the Ogors, and Mawtribes are in a decent place power-wise, all things considered, but when you look at how much of the book you're really ignoring to get that power, it can't be anything but disappointing. The book I'd give the "most squandered potential" award to. Favorite: Gloomspite Gitz - A smorgasbord of units, battalions, and army compositions that essentially combine 3 small factions into one. There are so many ways to build this army, and it feels like you could spend years expanding and trying new things. Its only downsides are its lack of competitiveness in certain areas (namely anything that isn't hordes of grots), overpriced units, hyper-specific battalions, and some lackluster random mechanics. But even with these foibles, the spirit of the faction shines through and can make for some brilliant games of AoS (so long as you aren't going full 120 greenies).

Disappointed they went the laziest route possible in 'fixing' the Nurgle Daemon Prince. It should have been changed to 1 MW per 6 to hit. But now it's just a useless ability that no one in their right mind would ever use.

I'll never stop laughing if Teclis spent all this time and effort trying to create "perfect" elves and they just turn out to be plain-old High Elves.

Any thoughts on using a mostly Slaves force in the Tzeentch allegiance? It would mean having access to almost all of the same stuff, but then also Destiny dice, agendas, and better casters.

There a reason the Tzeentch/KO warscrolls still aren't up on the site?

Who wants to bet that following Wrath of the Everchosen we get another narrative book "Battle for Azyr" or some such for Destruction/Order, featuring Gordrak and his siege upon the walls of Heaven.

Yessss, finally the Ogor warband!

Breaking: New book preview intended to sell product looks [powerful/weak] out of context with the rest of the rules. More news at eleven!

I'm really happy about it. Avatars at 180, that can't even activate without a die roll, was awful. Now I can feel a lot better about running one! I'm glad the Stalkers came down too---I've constantly railed on them for being statistically dreadful...which is still true, but if you're going for the big snake battalion then your tax has gone down drastically.

Awesome. I anticipate spending a lot of time with this thing.

In another month it'll equal or surpass the Gloomspite with Warcry releases. But yes, CURRENTLY not the most.

Slaves have the most new model kits for their line than any other army released. -Resculpted Warrriors -Resculpted Knights -Brand new lord on mount -Every Chaos Warcry warband released (6 boxes, soon to be 8 ) -Every Chaos Warcry monster released (ogroid, cyclops, sphiranx, chickens, furies)

I'm going to predict that Nurgle is the real winner of this book. Good auras, combos, and buffs all around.

Marauders seem quite good now. Also, some of those Daemon Prince marks are incredible. I might be running one of those Daemon Council armies.