[The Rumour Thread]

To the topic of a new Idoneth-Battletome: I really wonder why they should get a new battletome as the current one is pretty nice in all terms. The Endless-Spells could be simply delivered with Data-Cards. The rules would be available anyway on the app or online as warscroll. Therefore no need for a new tome only to add 3-4 Spells. Also it would rather harm the faction in a similar way SCE-Players get pretty unhappy when forced to buy another Battletome. Again.

 

Khorne on the other hand is pretty much different:
The Tome may not be too old but yet there were a lot of changes. The whole summoning-part, changed profiles with wrath and glory, units missing in the battletome like the slaughterbrute which got the keyword after the battletome and so on. Also the new endless prayers will most propably be tied to bloodtithe and therefore require even more ruling-updates...therefore Khorne gets the Battletome for cleaning up the current mess, which is great as it is a pretty iconic faction. Also some old design-flaws are currently changed. Newer armies get their tribe-rules for free, simply by playing given enclave,chamber, whatsoever, old factions had to buy expensive mega battalions for this for example.

[How do you guys deal with frustration or losing games?]

First of all: Thank you all very much for all of your Feedback! I am very happy to see such eager participation on this topic! There were many very interesting suggestions and also aspects of the game that were mentioned. Quite funny as some of the mentioned aspects, especially the fact that the game ain´t perfectly balanced, were something I tought already about and simply forgot as it was before my struggels with this topic started I am quite eager to read more from all of you on this topic

22 minutes ago, Overread said:

We can suggest our own methods but they will be tinged by what the cause(s) of the frustration are, so its not totally easy without hearing more from yourself @Charleston. 

Thank for all these very detailed and explicit suggestions! I guess I will trya some out!
A bit of my background: I jumped back into 40k October 2017 and started with AoS about a year ago. My first steps were all cound to the local gw store and quite positive. I started a small StD-Force with a SC!-Box and played a lot with the few units within it. I enjoyed it really much, althrough I lost like 90% of my games. I wasn´t frustrated but knew that there is more possible in the game with some more units. So I stocked up with some more StD´s and was even able to compete in a local casual tournament. I had only one "bad" game against a friend of mine who was concidering to start AoS as he had his old WHFB Forces left. I guess it was the first time I felt somehow treated "unfair" by the game as I noticed how his army seemed to have anything mine didn´t had.  (Rend, cool offensive Spells etc). Althrough it was a fun game I noticed I was a bit to stuffy about the rules during that test game and felt horrible afterwards for this. That was a point were I actually decided to play for fun. And althrough my friend didn´t jumped into AoS I had a great Summer with the last months og AoS 1.0 in which I also merged my Slaves with Khorne Units to add the touch of killy meele that I felt was missing. The SoulWars and 2.0 Launch was also great and that was the time I learned to love the game. Only downside was the travel required to the local gw store. As our store got a new manager by the end of the year who really killed the community there I stepped a bit back from the hobby until January were a friend of mine and his brother started AoS with Idoneth and Seraphon. And at this point I somehow more frustrated about the games. While playing in my lgs was all about having an army, tell a story and stuff, I suddendly play 80% of my games against the same two players who are still testing and tailoring new lists.

It´s funny at that point because as I am writing and want to share some examples on where frustration comes up, I noticed that most issues come from the other two players trying new stuff for their armies, which actually isn´t an issue at all but rather a kind of service as I get some cool games served. I often land during games in some situations I could totaly avoid by paying more attention to my enemies. Like charging fully buffed Chaos Knights into an Eternal Starhost (that 2+ ignore Rend Battalion for Seraphon) which was dumb as it costed me 4 CP only to get my own unit wiped out by 10 Saurians with 1 Wound. I was frustrated like hell and currently it became a really fun anectode. I guess through the fact that my enemies play verys different lists which I am not used from a single faction I also only see some strong combos and get the false sense that the whole army is straightforward better than mine. Which actually isn´t as our group as a winrate of Idoneth 40%/ me (StD/SCE)40%/ Seraphon 20% which isn´t far from 33/33/33. Therefore there is no real reason for me to be really frustrated, but still I get salty sometimes even before the game when my enemy tells me "All the great mean stuff in his list" that he has prepared.

I guess I should visit out gw again as I´ve heard they have a new manager again and maybe playsing some other opponents will be a good idea. Writing things up really helps.

[How do you guys deal with frustration or losing games?]

Hi dear TGA Community!

I want to ask you about your opinion and personal experiences on a topic that bothers me more and more in the last time: Frustration. And how to deal with it in the best manner possible. I am feeling quite unhappy right now with my temper after some frustrating situations, but often feel also overwhelmed n how to handle this.

What I am actually refering to are situations in that a pretty nice game turns into 2 hours of simply beeing crushed. I have this quite often when playing against two friends of mine who like to play board and card games in a rather competetive mindset . We have  good games, but they end often in becoming salty because of some rules of the enemy that seem unfair or due to the feeling that the powerlevel of the game was ****** from the early beginning on. In the aftermath we often talk about the games and about what could have been done differently and come always to the conclusion how good (close/tense) the game was actually. Therefore I guess it is also about my frustration and how I deal with it.

I would love to hear your stories. Do you have any tricks or tipps how to keep frustation away from the table? Or Anectodes which somehow match the topic?

 

[The Problem of the Free Peoples and the Freeguilds in Age of Sigmar]

5 hours ago, Sleboda said:

This is why variety is awesome. I, personally, prefer armies with very little in the way of special rules or options. Frankly, I prefer my models to be similar (single-part, mono-pose metal models were my jam). I like my games to be straightforward and not full of gotchya moments or conversations that start with "Actually, ..."

TBH, I struggle a bit just to make legal lists that factor in all my options.  Too many rules sources.  Too many ways to tweak.

I get that people enjoy the microfiddling, and sometimes that appeals to me as well, but the Gutbusters you describe sound great, and Idoneth are just a pain.

While I totaly get your point and have to agree with you, my initial statement meant rather that newer factions simply have also stronger rules.

[The Problem of the Free Peoples and the Freeguilds in Age of Sigmar]

My guess is that GW had switched their strategy on old models, or rather they are currently in a new release pattern. After AoS Launch and WHFB Death the old Factions were supposed to be "starved" with no more new content, beeing replaced by new ranges and factions. The Factions had rules and sales were continued in a reduced manner so people would at least try the new thing out before switching to a new, fancy faction (which is a matter of time as every single person want´s to play with shiny toys which are in the new stuff) that would be btw also more expensive. That would also lead to a lack of interest in buying second hand armies as the sold factions from whfb were not shiny enough or split into too many subfactions. By introducing Alligiences this was also reinforced: New Armies had more rules. This was indirectly punishing the decision to play an old army. It is up to now. Imagine playing Gutbusters Alligience, having no additional Rules, Command Traits or Artifacs, against freaking Idoneth who are all about special stuff. It just feels bad. Like, you build an old army from scratch and it feels frustrating bad against new ones. I still have this feeling every single time my StD hit the board... Therefore, a lot of old armies disappeared without creating a huge second hand market as noone really wanted them. There were exceptions like Seraphon or Beastclaws, who were old armies with new Tomes and Rules, and I am quite sure GW did this as kind of controll group. Also from my understanding, Seraphon were never as common as old Imperium of Men and therefore offered more potential customers (I guess this had also to do with the selling point of aztek-dinosaur-people). We now see a change in selling tactic by GW. They turn back the factors they introduced to keep sales on old factions low and even start enchancing sales by new content (Battletomes, Endless Spells and Terrain). It may be because they don´t have to fear the impact of a second hand market or just because they are simply grasping for any single thing they have to enchance sells to maximize profit. I guess it´s a mix of both. But it may be pretty sure that we will see Ogors, Free People and Aelves coming back, most propably all this year.

At this point I also want to say: Be carefull with my theories as they are all crafted with my today-knowledge looking back onto the transition. As I was not an whfb player and started playing just a year ago it may be that some coincidences and sequential business-decisions by gw are warped into a conspiracy-sort of explaination by myself.

[The Rumour Thread]

10 hours ago, Bjornas said:

Based on previous announcement-release timeframes, does anyone have an idea on when the new Blades of Khorne-book will be released?

 

In general, GW follows the "Tease a Bunch of Releases, Release them one after another, Tease the next batch" sprinkeld with some news that rather noone has expected.

As the January-Teaser-Wave was finished at the time we got the LVO Teaser,  we should get first of the new announced modells like within 1-3 Weeks for Preorder. From my impression, Releases that show Teaser only take longer until they are up to preorder. Therefore the Khorne Battletome will pretty sure drop before the Warcry and next AoS-Chamber-Thingy Expansion. We also know that Vigilius is on like a 16 Days Countdown left untill Abbadon arrives, but yet we don´t know if the Shadowstrike(?)-Box hits before Abbadon or both at same time.

I would expect the following order of Preorders:
-This week new SC!
-Next week some minor Release, maybe the new Nightvault Warband
-Shadowstrike Box
-Second Wave Shadowstrike with Abbadon
-Blades of Khorne Battletome
 

Disclaimer: This is not a rumour, only my guess.😉

[The Rumour Thread]

28 minutes ago, Ben2 said:

Spoiler

 

Part of it is the fragmented nature of rumours and which bits of the process people have seen and when they know about it. GW switched about a year from little additions to ranges to renewing ranges, which means the pipeline behind that switched about 3-4 years ago. Rumours get spawned from concept art, not all of which is used, and there can be big differences between the art and the finished minis, test sculpts and prints (again not all of which are used, and I was expecting the Eldar Spirit Seer to come out ages ago, but the model got forgotten about when studio guys got moved around and it sat on someone's desk for 3 years) or when it finally gets to the design studio and they have to work out what the hell to do with the pile of models they've just been given, and then comes playtesting, box art, manufacturing, etc. Leaks trickle out from various points and get mixed in with channers making stuff up to wind people up.  And then you get a bunch of chinese whispers or potato cam shots. 

I heard some squats rumours a couple of years before Kharadron Overlords, and discounted them because a) Squats and b) people keep seeing unreleased/limited release stuff from 2nd ed in peoples collections and getting excited. 

I got told about baby stealers being a big deal in the new GSC, but it turns out it's just a bunch of character models getting little buddies and there was a lot of chatter because genestealer familiars are as popular with the sculptors as Nurglings are. Similarly GW have only shown 25% ish of the new Chaos stuff and Blackstone was a soft preview of the range.  

Warcry I've known as Killteam but Aos since autumn last year, but I've not known the details regarding it as a) I'm not interested in AoS much, though 2.0 softened me a bit and I've played a bunch of Underworlds and think it's one of the best designed GW games in years and b) I was far more interested in the stuff coming out for KT and 40k. And 40k is going to hit us like a train this year. 

However Darkoath (which will include the StD range) has peaked my interest, as sixpack barbarians done with modern sculpting hit's the spot for me as an old fantasy player. I will definitely be getting into AoS Killteam.  

I was expecting Warcry at the back end of this year, and the LVO announcement to feature more of the Chaos stuff or maybe hints from the big 40k summer releases, but it's possible it's coming sooner. 

I've been told the leak seen is pretty much correct. Watching the trailer though you can pretty much educated guess half the background detail, and Stormcast vs Chaos is also a pretty easy guess from there.

I know the Kill Team studio guys were pushing hard to get new minis assigned to them (and used the slow sales on the faction starters and commander sets to say that they needed something new) and now they've got the new format we've seen in the latest release of a more aggressively priced product with new models and more material (twice the missions per set for example). I had hoped they'd follow the new coke formula with Warcry, and will be disappointed if they don't.

And Kill Team: Inquisition around Easter (though with White Dwarf losing the new release section the schedule is even more malleable now). Wade was incredibly pissed I a) knew about it and b) had mentioned it in public but to be honest I completely lose track of what Community have talked about, as I was sure they'd shown a bunch of stuff they haven't and I'm being a bit more circumspect now. 

But this month and next month features the last two Underworlds boxes for this season, Vigilus 2, a range refresh for Chaos in 40k with a giant pile of kits, Primaris Wave 2, one or two more AoS battletomes, possibly another Kill Team wave and then KT:Inquisition at the back with some Specialist stuff sprinkled in as well and that's just the next 6-8 weeks.
There's a lot of 40k this year, a lot, and the release schedule is not slowing down with at least one big £95 ish box a month every month for one system or other, constantly slamming into our wallets. 

 

 

Thanks for sharing! To be honest, I am really curious what gw plans to make with 40k. I was a bit afraid of the pace of the codex rereleases and that afterwards 40k will see not much love. Vigilius proved that there is more to come, althrough to be honest I didn´t received much input about it as noone around me seems to use the book. Therefore I was afraif gw will rest campaigns in 40k afterwards, at least up to the point I saw your post. That lets me hope for some cool story arcs and who knows, maybe even new Necron stuff.

As for AoS, the year had a great start so I am curious about further releases

[The Rumour Thread]

I would be so naive and would predict SCE not to have a new Battletome untill 2020. This year we could see some new Tomes, including a Duardin Rework, Seraphon, Ogors, maybe even Aelfs. Beside of this we will pretty sure see the StD Relaunch and maybe 2 other big range releases (Slaanesh and a new Faction would be my humble guess). The next Stormcast chamber was already hinted to be the Too-Often-Cast-Eternals (Or Recast-Eternals? In my opinion they need a mocking name already) which propably won´t be intended to hit shelfs this year so SCE players can build something new after Sancrosanct before buying the new SCE range.

 

[The Rumour Thread]

How about a little bit of wishlisting on LVO announcements?
I would love to hear what you guys expect to be announced or what you at least would wish to hear of

[AoS 2 - Clan Verminus / Skaven Discussion]

Well, I guess I am starting a Skaven Army in 2 Weeks.

The Endless Spells are a bit concerning. The Rat Swarm is great, the Bell also althrough could be used 1:1 as Nurgle one without the lightnings. But the three Warpstones look incredibly fragile. I am really wondering what the Designers tought about this one.

Battletome Skaven let it sounds like the Clans will be reunited again as in the Beast of Chaos Battletome, which makes some things easier

[The Rumour Thread]

So, after we now know that NDA did drop a wishlist instead of a rumour in, what 'rumours' can be dropped? Seraphon, Gutbuster, Dispossesed? Darkoath seem to be pretty much confirmed by GW due to new Warband and Harbringer. What about other rumours?

Btw., It´s quite interessting how the amount of leaks/rumours dropped in the last time. I know that during the last years 40k-madness releases went on so quick, that we had a lot of spoilers like 1-2 Weeks ahead for that game. Can it be that GW shut down the Leaks-Department? Has Brexit already tossed the company to a point at which the potatoe-cam had been eaten?

 

[AoS 2 - Slaves to Darkness / Darkoath Discussion]

I had yesterday my first game with my slaves since over 8 Months.  And it was a blast!

Short background: I started around a year ago with StD to play AoS. We had a local campain back there and even a small local tournament at out local gw. But I noticed quite fast that my StD are lacking some heavy punching power against a lot of armies. I had at this point a Lord on Manticore, 30 Warriors, Chariot and Knights + Sorcerer as my army, which even was enough to get 2 wins at out local tournament I mentioned. But after the campaign ended I noticed quite fast that in a lot of match ups I was simply not able to do anything due to the lack of shooting or rend. So I decided to jump on the God-Train and mixed quite a lot of Khorne into my StD, playing also Khorne Alligience since that time. I did get some Choosen and a Lord on Pony in the meantime, but mostly relied on a Slaughterpriest and the other Khorne-Buff Heroes.

Yesterday I played a 2k Game against a friend who started pretty new into AoS a month ago. Perfect situation to play my "lackluster" army. I played to fun, keeping the Alligience-StD table as a main priority without loosing focus on mission Objective (The sixt one from GHB with the 3 stars coming down). And this ended in an game I enjoyed like long time not more. I took as many heroes as I could and tried to let them finish his beasts and heroes so they may ascend or at least gain a bit of their gods attention. It ended up in some weird activation patterns ("Yeah, I could kill your troglodon easy with my knights, but I won´t so my Lord can attempt it on the next turn again"), facepalms ("What the...wait a second...I need to kill your Hero with a Combat Weapon? No Magic? How is this supposed to please Tzwwntch anyway? Nevermind, I guess my Sorcerer Killstealed that Troglodon") and generaly a lot of fun ("My Lord kills your general and....wait, he failed all hits? Damn...yeah, sure, activate him...how many saves?...ugh....I have rerolls...but I guess my Lord is a Spawn now").

So, overall, I ended playing the army in the intended way: Seeking Chaos glory whilst slaying my foes. I even won due to objectives (6x5 Warriors is damn handy for Objective Missions) and will play them more, even before the rumoured Darkoath drops