Mutton

Hasn't been long enough to tell much about the state of the meta. But there are two things I do know for certain: Skaven units are still grossly undercosted. Slaanesh's summoning is broken.

On reddit someone showed off this image. Pretty darned similar.

I'm also not totally convinced on the headstone design. It could just be a decorative callback on a non-TK-related model.

Ya'll think we're going to get a whole 'nother week of Warcry articles? Because I'm kind of over it and just want it in my hands already.

For whatever reason, the rules writers loooove giving BIG models BIG points costs, regardless of how useful that model really is. We wonder why hordes are everywhere, and it's because most monsters are priced way out of efficiency (for competitive tables). BoC's entire issue is the BIG MODEL/BIG POINTS conundrum. The Hellpit Abomination was the only recent monster(non-hero) that I feel was priced appropriately.

I like the idea of it. There's a better way to implement it waiting to be found. Just look at Warcry's solution.

People keep saying they'll reveal the other Warcry warbands. I would find that an odd choice. Why leave them out of the core book if they were going to reveal them before the box came out anyway? Doesn't make sense to me.

They're not amazing, but I can see using these warbands in AoS as cheap screens/objective cappers. The Furies' ability to cower away from combat at 12" movement is interesting...as is the Cypher Lord's 4+ -1 to hit ability. The Iron Golems are kind of meh though.

You get +1 Toughness for having cover in the game. So if any of those T4 guys have cover, suddenly that ability is quite useful.

Injury table is disappointing. Where's my multi-page list of horrible maimings? And improving your warband members seems quite limited. Everything else looks cool.

So Warband boxes are going to be around $60-65? Woof. Think they missed the mark there. I was excited to buy multiple as soon as they release, but now I'm likely going to put off buying them for awhile. $40 would have been the sweet spot, especially since we're only getting 8-9 models in each box. This pricing is even more premium than Witch Elves, which basically cost as much as gold.

It's worth looking closely at the warband group shots at the bottom of the page. Some of them show off alternate builds or weapons we haven't seen in the main reveals, such as a staff-like weapon for Corvus and what looks to be a banner/icon for the Iron Golems.

I think for a Slave to Darkness book to be successful it needs to avoid the trap the BoC book fell into: Unmarked/Undivided armies shouldn't be patently worse than Marked armies.

A Beasts of Chaos warband would be cool. Have 3-4 Gor models with a champion joined by a special Spawn of Chaos.

There's no simpler army than Gutbusters. Don't even have an allegiance you have to remember. No special command abilities. No shenanigans. No synergy. Blunt as a butcher's cleaver. Run forward and die---that's our mantra.

I'm confused on how the woods work now with these keywords. An Awakened Wildwood is 3-6 Citadel Woods (does that include the old Citadel Woods?), but they also say the Old Citadel Woods count as 1 Awakened Wildwood terrain feature. So...are you setting up 3-6 Old Citadel Woods, or 1 Old Citadel Woods? And if you're only setting up 1 Old Citadel Woods, wouldn't that be a big disadvantage since you could set up 6 New Citadel Woods over a larger area?

So I'm a bit confused on this. Does this now mean if you take an artifact or trait that lets a priest know an additional prayer, that they basically get an additional "cast" per turn?

Our battalions still need to come down by a decent amount. Other than that, I'm quite pleased.

You guys think the Black Oak might be a new model? We also have whatever was released from Lake Lethis roaming around. I'm wondering if there'll be a second wave of Forbidden Power releases centering around powerful, faction-specific vault characters.

Hooray for Troggoth point reductions! Dankholds and the Gitz battalions are still too expensive, but I'll take what I can get!

On a completely unrelated note, Creature Caster makes some good stuff. 😗

Maybe someday in the far flung future we'll find out how the dang thing plays.

Agreed. It's always important to remember that big companies are not our friends, even if the age of social media and constant customer interaction would have them convince us otherwise. GW is a business that has the singular goal of making money for itself and its shareholders, and these company men will never be content with booming profits. Nothing short of owning ALL of the money in a giant Scrooge McDuck bank vault will make them happy. Arguments like "inflation" and "well it's just an expensive hobby" have never held water and are sycophantic diversions---don't get drawn into them. These are simply excuses most companies will cower behind to justify their bulging pockets. This is not a specific rant at GW. We have far worse companies out there doing far shadier things; and the world of hobbying isn't going to end because they upped the prices on some models yet again. But just remember, GW isn't a small band of friendly, cool dudes like Duncan, Peachy, or Ben Johnson. Those folks are the artists, the ones who develop or tout the products we love because they love the artistry. The real power and intent always lies behind a board room of faceless business men and shareholders always looking to pluck another penny from our coin purses. Never forget this fact and protect yourself from questionable business tactics and the illusions of consumer loyalty (whether to a single company or an entire market).

Do we know what the contrast paints look like over a base that isn't white or grey? Does it simply not show up at all? Does it tint the base color?

I'd prefer if Gutbusters remained their own thing, if I wanted to play Beastclaw, I'd play Beastclaw (kind of the same attitude most have about allies); however, I wouldn't be affronted if they blended them together. I'd just like regular Ogors to get a proper book with cool new AoS lore, an actual allegiance ability, and all the rest of the standard stuff. If we get new models, dope, I think new Ogor sculpts could look incredible...but if we don't, it's fine---as long as all the models that do exist become viable (looking at you scraplauncher, ironblaster, and leadbelcher). And GW designers, if you HAVE to make our abilities and spells "lolrandom" because we're Destruction, at least make the effects worth being random. Our current Butcher has like a 33% chance to do something useful, or just stand around like an idiot. It is called the CANNON OF THE SKY TITANS. This thing should be a menacing beast. I swear, if they just keep it as yet another single shot, 4+ to hit with D6 damage...