madmac

Yes, as someone who has recently painted a lot of Seraphon, none of their current models have that snake or dragon like ribbing under the tail. It doesn't rule out Seraphon, (could be a snake endless spell, or Sotek thing, or redesigned Kroxigors) but it could just as easily be a dragon type monster. A new dragon model for Hysh Aelves would be interesting. The existing plastic kit isn't terrible, but not really up to AoS centerpiece standards, either.

I think Gutbusters will get some plastic hero kits, it's something they badly need (Literally 100% of their hero options and all Maneaters are fincast) and they've been teasing Ogors a long time to just roll out a book and endless spells, IMO.

*Shrug* I don't own any Aelves except Deepkin, so it won't do anything to me. They won't though, aside from maybe some specific models, and you know that.

Eh, Sigmar is a young game, and so wave two army releases haven't happened yet for most armies yet, but they will. Do you really think no released armies other than Stormcast will never get a second wave of model releases down the road to go with a new armybook? Not ever? I mean, I could be wrong, I'm not married to the idea of split High Aelf releases, it's just the only explanation I see for all the recent hints to be pointing towards Teclis taking action before his brother.

Ogors I think are definitely the next destruction release, unless they decide to squeeze Bonesplitterz in as a quick minimal release. Ironjawz will probably be last, just because I think they'll get a bit more story focus when they come out and that focus appears absent at the moment.

I never said anything about huge, or soon. My guess is Teclis with a bare minimum of new models and Tyrion years down the road with a proper army release. The only thing huge right now is the big pile of basically unsupported models that is the Aelf section in the webstore, GW has said they plan to support all factions by 2020, and that necessitates doing something to solve the Aelf problem.

Yeah, I'm not sure how that got misread. I'm just saying release Teclis now to start cleaning up the High Aelves, and give a story reason for Tyrion to join his brother in two years or whatever when the full model range is ready. Ultimately the same army, but separate releases. I wouldn't have leaned that way three months ago, but all the recent fluff with Hysh seems to be pointing to Teclis coming soon and Tyrion still focused on other things.

I agree with you, except that I can't see Teclis and Tyrion being different armies with the current fluff. I think it'll be more like a two stage release, first Teclis will unite the High Elves and take action, and then Tyrion joining the fray with more new models will be basically the second wave release for Hysh Aelves.

I know a few people at the conference have said it was at least one per GA, not total. Besides I don't see them realistically hitting their target of supporting all factions by 2020 if they only do four more battletomes including Sylvaneth this year. That said, I think there's some clear standouts for most likely: Chaos: Slaves to Darkness/Everchosen/Darkoath. It's in the lore, (including the focus of a number of recent books) it's in Warcry, it's one of the heralds, it's definitely coming. Order: After Sylvaneth, I think Teclis and his Aelves. He's part of forbidden power, the Slaanesh book teases light Aelves pretty heavily and depicts Teclis as more active/concerned than Tyrion and Malerion, the teased Shadespire mini looks like it belongs to Hysh Aelves, I think momentum is pointing this way. I would love to see updated BT for KO and Seraphon but nothing really seems to be leading that way at the moment. Destruction: Gutbusters. Ogres have been the center image for Destruction since the 2.0 core book, which was repeated early this year with the faction symbols, they're going to be added as mercenary options in either Forbidden Power or the Generals Handbook, and they're the one Destruction faction that doesn't have a tome yet. By comparison there really isn't any lore movement or teases with Orruks that I can recall, other than Ironjawz and Bonesplitterz seemingly both having rules for Forbidden Power. Death: New faction, tied to forbidden power, unclear until we have forbidden power on hand. I do like the idea of a nautical death faction, though. Goes well with Deepkin and KO being opponents, too.

Hah, a Grand alliance of Deepkin, KO and Fyreslayers, with some Stormcast support? There's all my painted Order armies right there (Well, KO are WIP, but still) I may actually be able to play this campaign.

My best guess is either Hysh Aelves or Wanderers, since Lion Rangers are traditionally a High Elf thing, but the shoulder pauldron is similar to some of the Eternal Guard (Wanderer) shield designs. I'm actually becoming increasingly curious as to the long term plan for Wanderers, they seem unlikely to be rolled into either Tyrion's or Malerion's forces, the new Sylvaneth book doesn't look to include them, and they don't really have a patron god or centerpiece unit to theme an army around.

Chaos: Darkoath/STD. It's that or Tzeentch, and there's a lot of suggestion towards STD and none for Tzeentch that I've seen Destruction: Gutbusters or combined Ogres, based on the early preview graphic for the 4 alliances being pretty reliable so far. Plus they're including Maneaters in their new Mercenary rules, would be weird to do that for a completely unsupported faction that doesn't even have allegiance abilities. Death: Either Soulblight or Skellymans, leaning towards the latter based on rumor engines. Order: Some type of Aelf faction, based on rumor engines and that lion they just previewed for Underworlds.

I can't dispute that, but the DoK already have a strong reptile/serpent theme going, hard to see them adding a brightly colored lion. Hysh Aelves, from how they've been described also I think probably have a strong Greek Aesthetic, and Lion Rangers already bring a kitty connection, so it's not implausible, I don't think. I won't go as far as likely, but it's a thought. On the other, other hand, that tail though...I dunno. Maybe just there to make it a magic lion instead of a real one.

I would hope not, given that puts Order at two updated tomes and no new armies for the entire year. If we go back to January... Chaos: Skaven, Blades of Khorne, Slaanesh, + at least one more. Throw in Warcry and this has really been the year of Chaos. Destruction: Gits+ 1 more Death: Flesheater Courts+ New army Order: Fyreslayers and Sylvaneth only? I just don't see it.

Honestly yeah, I figured now was the time if there was another one in the works. Probably they were planning to announce Sylvaneth today, but between the leak and the delay had to address it early. Even that would have been a pretty small announcement though, since it's nothing we haven't known about for weeks. That's interesting... Death would have to be a new army, not too surprising given recent rumor engines. Chaos will probably be Darkoath, given the only other real options of Tzeentch or a new army. Destruction could really really use more than one Tome, but if I had to pick one, I'd say Ogres. Especially with Maneaters being a Mercenary option in the new GHB. Order, I'm going to disagree and say anything but Stormcast. They've been pretty firm in saying no Stormcast in sight for the last few months. If they get a new army, I'd say coin flip new Aelves or Free Peoples, if a battletome update, Seraphon.

The Warcry bands we've seen do seem to include some larger models, like the Ogre, or the lion-thing, and some of the infantry models look a bit more elite or leader-ish, IMO. For Deepkin, I could see them using a base of Thralls and Reavers, maybe one Eel, and 1-2 Isharaan Heroes.

That is a stupidly cool looking Sylvaneth hero... I don't have room to start a Sylvaneth army though, and I don't see myself getting Looncurse because I super don't have room to start a Gloomspite army.

Start with 2 Runesons (Javelins) for the re-roll synergy. Eventually add a Runefather and Runesmiter. Even with Lofnir I don't think you'll ever need more than those 4.

The Start Collecting Box is always a good starting point for the army. You'll get several core heroes, Magmadroths, and battleline. The only thing you really lack from there are a few standalone heroes (You want the Battlesmith for sure, the others are optional) and Hearthguard. Hearthguard are super-great now, but you don't need to start building those up until you've got a good army core of the other stuff. Hearthguard are basically just your elite melee/ranged guys, once you've got a basic force you can decide how many of either you want.

I don't really see how Blood Warriors are "much better than Vulkites" personally. Cost: 160 vs 200 (for 10 models) Movement 4 vs 5 Wounds same Bravery 7 vs 6 Save 5 (4) vs 4 Attacks: 2 3+/3+ - 1 dam vs 2 3+/4+ - 1 dam Blood Warriors get to re-roll ones to hit, or take gorefists for the 6 save mortal wounds, always have no respite and can take one glaive in a unit of 10 Vulkites get a ranged attack, Berserk Fury 1/battle, and either re-roll all hits or else get an equal save, still better attack profile, and mortal wounds on the charge. Vulkites are mostly better and also 20% cheaper. They are quite good for their cost. As for Hearthguard, they don't replace Vulkites because they don't fill the same role. If you want a big smashy ball of guys, yes, Hearthguard are better. Hearthguard as screens or objective grabbers are just wasteful and not as good. Each HGB unit needs a hero babysitter to keep up their effectiveness, and putting them into small teams just pointlessly spreads out heroes and buffs for no real gain. You will never convince me the 3x HGB list is optimal.

I would call them a semi-elite army now. The thing that holds them back from being a fully elite army like Stormcast is that they're still infantry based, unless you go all in on Magmadroth. That said, with the overall point increases and changes to make more units and heroes viable, I'd say the average unit count went down by about half. You're looking at fielding about 40-60 guys instead of 100+, and the unit diversity is higher, so you get that unit count from a mix of guys and not painting 90 Vulkites.

Vulkites are also not as reliant on hero support, so you can send them off on their own, and they earn some of their value back even when they get slaughtered thanks to Berserk Fury. Vulkites are still very solid and I predict as people come to grips with the new battletome we'll see a lot more 2x Vulkites for objectives and battleline slots than we will all Hearthguard armies. There's not much much benefit to having more than 2 units of Hearthguard Berserkers and even that is extremely expensive.

It was always possible on a 1, so the trait makes it so you can hit single models on a 2. Not really worth it IMO, just because it only helps much before you start taking damage.

I've definitely seen the new magmadroths put in some good work. When you've got a Runefather swinging for 3 damage hits, with an artifact bonus, and all the other droth attacks, and the mortal wounds from breath/tail and Volcanic Blood dishing back mortal wounds, it's a lot more damage added together than you might expect at first. The ability to buff armor saves on Magmadroths combined with the extra wounds also makes them quite a bit less squishy than they used to be. That said, I haven't seen a full Magmadroth list in action yet. Lofnir definitely is geared towards including Forge Brethren, but it's not the most intuitive build.

Fjul-Grimmnir is actually kinda decent now. He gets an upgraded version of the Vostarg command ability, and the Chosen Axes aren't quite so much of a non-factor, now that they all have 2 wounds and aren't losing any abilities for being a small unit.