The Golem

@RuneBrush @Infeston @Vanger Thanks a lot guys! ?

Question: is there a charitable soul here on TGA who could write a transcript of that video for a poor deaf Golem? You will be rewarded with a lot of internet hugs.

On today's news: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/05/21/21st-may-warhammer-adventures-tales-for-younger-readersgw-homepage-post-1/ https://warhammeradventures.com/

Did anybody mention this? I don't think I saw it in this thread..

By the way, I think this picture from WarCommunity should make people less worried about the future of the factions inherited from WHFB (like the darkling covens): It's a bit small, but as we can see those factions are still very present in AoS lore.

Wasn't there a rumour engine that looks just like this model's mask?

But aren't the souls of the chaos warriors automatically picked up by their gods? I thought Nagash couldn't claim their souls? Was I wrong? Edit: I guess it doesn't matter who Sigmar is stealing this soul from. Nagash, Chaos... all the same. As long it ends up in Azyrheim to be purified, redeemed and reforged.

I am really intrigued: what is this lady stormcast going to do with that khorne warrior's soul? Send it to Azyrheim to be reforged?

People who are going to have an Open/Narrative Play game usually discuss about how they are going to play, the size and the composition of their armies, the scenario and the objectives of the game, which special rules they will use, etc. It's just that simple. It's all about discussing with your fellow player before starting the game and decide how you're gonna play it. Open Play is basically a sandbox where you do whatever you want. You have a ton of options at your disposal: you can build your army the way you want and you can pick any special rule from any game mode (allegiance abilities, time of war, open play cards, rules of 1, etc.). With so many options, you need to decide how you're gonna play it and thus you will need to discuss about the settings of the game with your partner. Remember: AoS is not some kid's game where the one who has the biggest collection (or the rarest card) wins by default; it's a game played by people who want to have a fun time. As to how to play without points, when you're familiar with the game, you can easily build approximately equivalent armies with your opponent without having to rely on points, simply by talking about what minis you are going to play with. And by the way, the game balance brought by the point system is also an approximate balance. Sure it's a very very useful guideline for quick games with people we don't know, or for tournaments. But it's not a perfect system and there's no way it could be perfect (if we actually wanted a perfectly balanced game we would be playing chess or checkers). That's why playing with or without points doesn't really make a big difference as long as you and your opponent are on the same page. And for that, the key is communication.

The one from the Darkling Covens faction. That is the current warscroll.

I noticed that and I don't worry too much about it. I think the Word of Pain was the best spell available to the sorceresses in the 2015 compendium, but only the sorceress on foot could have it. The other spells (from the sorceress on cold one and the one on black dragon) were so-so in my opinion, especially compared to the Magic Bolt. Now remember that this new compendium is meant for Open & Narrative Play, so the rules of 1 don't apply. Therefore a dark elf player can cast several Word of Pain/Magic Bolt per turn. I know you'd like more variety in the magic spells, but personally I prefer to keep rules simple like they were at the beginning of AoS. So i'm not particularly disappointed with the sorceresses having the same spell. However I am slightly disappointed with the new corsairs warscroll. In the new compendium, the corsairs have only one melee weapon (dark elf hand weapon) whereas the scourge privateers have 2 melee weapons (vicious blade & wicked cutlass) with different stats. Now I'm all for simpler rules and I approve the fusing of the 2 weapons into one. It makes the dice roll smoothier in the combat phase. But if you remember well, the corsairs can have 1 melee weapon and a reapeater handbow OR 2 melee weapons. If they choose the first configuration, they can obviously shoot and then fight in combat, which is neat. But what if you choose the 2 melee weapons configuration? Do you get more attacks? An improved To-Hit stat? Nope. You get to re-roll the To-Hit results of 1, which is a little "weak". And to add with that, if you use the command ability of the Black Ark Fleetmater on them, they get to re-roll all failed To-Hit rolls anyway... So as a result the corsairs with a repeater handbow are automatically preferable to those with 2 hand weapons... So far this is my only disappointment with the new compendium: there is almost no reason (or none I can see at the moment) to take corsairs with 2 hand weapons over corsairs with handow. Edit: oh and I'm also disappointed that the Black Ark Fleemaster's command ability only works for the combat phase (therefore it doesn't help the corsairs to shoot better). Appart from those 2 problems, I think the Dark Elf compendium really got better compared to the 2015 version.

They did a LOT of changes here and there throughout the warscrolls. Too many for me to list them all. There are a few things that bug me in this new version but overall I think it is better than the 2015 version.

The barbed scythe blade on the bottom left corner of this picture was in one of the rumour engines if I'm not mistaken. The hand holding the chains/reins of the turtle in this picture. And maybe the quivers & arrows on this picture (not sure).

Right, I see now. I didn't notice them before. After further scrutiny, I believe those are not windows but doorways actually. We'll need to see the kit when it'll be available for preorder, but I have the feeling that the doorway can be either open or condemned with bricks. Maybe we can choose to glue a brickwall inside them. Take a look at the condemned doorways on the bottom pieces of this first picture and compare them with the open doorways on this second picture: the pillars are the same.

I think it's a baleful realmgate that has been converted to fit the ruins in this photo.

Don't forget this teaser that will be unwrapped tomorrow: Seems very Nurgly to me.

Well, actually...

Hi! Thanks for your comment. I too hope to finish painting my army with that color scheme, but I'm a slooow painter. That's why I decided to cap my army at 1.000 points and after that I will paint another faction set in Port Stellis (either some aelves or the duardins). I am currently painting a unit of 5 liberators (you can see one of them in my first blog entry). I want to try and mimic the texture from my battlemat: http://www.playmats.eu/img/cms/wizualizacje mini/am.jpg

Thanks! Probably not. I haven't completely decided yet and I will do a color test with a single mini later but I know that they won't follow the same scheme as the stormcast guys (or the classic druchii corsairs, or the dark eldars from WH40K).

Hey! It's been a looong time since I last posted in this blog (nearly two months!). Well I haven't forgotten about Port Stellis at all, I was just working on some other projects meanwhile. Anyway! Here are my first vanguard stormcast from the Stellar Champions stormhost: three Vanguard Raptors with Hurricane Crossbows. Back then, when I started to assemble them, I had the choice to equip them with Longstrike Crossbows or Hurricane Crossbows. When we look at their stats and ability, the Lonstrike Crossbows are obviously meant as some sort of sniper rifles: with them, the raptors can shoot once per turn over a long distance and with great accuracy. They are perfect to snipe at enemy heroes without taking too much risk. However I dont think it is particularly exciting to play with sniper stormcast who sit on their butts and shoot at the enemies from afar. Which is why I preferred to equip my raptor guys with Hurricane Crossbows: more firepower (6-9 attacks) but shorter range (18") and lesser accuracy (4+ /4+). That way the raptors will have to get quite close to the enemies and thus more exposed to danger. On another topic, I have slowly started to prepare my corsairs aelf from Port Stellis. And I decided I will convert all or most them, using a few bits from WH40K dark eldars, to make them look like a motley crew (by the way, the corsairs from WHFB look a bit to homogeneous for my taste). Here is a preview of my first Port Stellis corsair: That's all for now! I will probably paint my Vanguard Hunters next and continue to assemble/convert my corsairs meanwhile.

So we are going to get something new for AoS in December. And it's... uh... another stormcast eternal... https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/11/23/revealed-new-warhammer-holiday-season

It looks like a fanmade warscroll made with the unofficial warscroll designer. There's even a typo in the keywords (storrmcast)

That's great to hear. Please do share your army's backstory here on TGA!

Hi guys! With all the stuff lately about the Free Cities, such as those from the Firestorm campaign box, or about making our own cities, I started to think about a setting for my Order armies. I must say that I really love the idea of several races (humans, aelf, duardins, etc.) coexisting in a same army under the banner of their Free City. So I cooked my own Free City: Port Stellis. What is Port Stellis? It is a harbour city located on the Coast of Fleeting Hopes, in one of the thirteen domains of Ulgu. The Coast of Fleeting Hopes is a very dark region: the night lasts half of the year while the day is bleak and gray during the other half. Port Stellis was originally an aelf corsair campment but it developped fast to become a fully fortified city thanks to human, duardin and aelf settlers. To this day, Port Stellis has become the home of nearly 100.000 people (humans, aelves, duardins and stormcast eternals) and the number is growing. The city and the surrounding region possess many special and uniques features which make it a strategic place for the Order alliance. What factions are there in Port Stellis? Here is a list of some of the main Order factions in Port Stellis at the present time (more may come when the city gets bigger): Collegiate Arcane Dispossessed Free Peoples Order Serpentis Scourge Privateers Stormcast Eternals The others Order Factions are not necessarily absent from Port Stellis, but they don't have enough people present in the city to be considered as "real factions". Now, let's see the special features of Port Stellis! The Star Ocean Gate and the Scourge Privateers "I've sailed thousands of miles, thousands of miles, chasing the stars...♪" — excerpt from a popular song among the aelf sailors The primary feature of Port Stellis is a huge Realmgate situated in the middle of the city bay. Its leads indirectly to the realm of Azyr. Since this gate is on the very surface of the water, a ship or a boat is required to pass through it. However crossing it is particularly dangerous because before you can arrive in Azyr, you need to sail through a mysterious interspace which separates the realms of shadows and heavens: the Star Ocean. The Star Ocean is a magnificent and breathtaking vision: a starry night sky, without any cloud or any light pollution, and a perfectly still ocean which reflects the sky just like a mirror. When a boat passes through the gate and enters the Star Ocean, it is exactly as if it were floating through the cosmos. It is all quiet and silent with scintillating stars everywhere and beautiful clouds of interstellar dust. However the Star Ocean is seemingly infinite and thus dangerous: if a captain goes astray or simply doesn't know how to follow the secret path hidden in the stars, then there is no way back home. The ship will get lost and wander forever... To this day, only the aelfs corsairs of the Coast of Fleeting Hopes know the path through the Star Ocean and to the realmgate at the other side. And even if they know the way, they still need the blessing of Sigmar to open the gate to Azyr. Note that those aelves worship Sigmar under the aspect of Silmaris, God of Cosmos, Lord of storms and Guardian of the Star Ocean. Since the corsairs are the only sailors who can travel from Port Stellis to Azyr and thus transport passengers and/or merchandises, they have a huge importance in the city and they are one of the most influential factions. Among them, Captain Naritha Blackbird is the most powerful of all: she commands nearly all the aelf corsairs of the Coast of Fleeting Hopes. The Scintillating Mines and the duardins miners "Brothers, sisters, never forget that Port Stellis is flourishing thanks to us and our hardwork!" — Barik De Bier Half a day's walk from Port Stellis are the Scintillating Mines. They are a network of underground galleries in which duardin miners extract precious gems called clariæ . It is an iridescent gemstone that emit a scintillating light, like a little star. Clariæ gems are Port Stellis's first export merchandise but there are also a lot of jewelers in the city who specialize themselves in carving those gems and craft beautiful jewels out of them. The wizards of the Astromancer Guild are also very interested by those gemstones and they are actively studying them since they believe they may have magical properties. The duardins of the Miners' Syndicate pride themselves on providing the city's primary source of wealth (the gemstones) and thus they have a lot of influence in Port Stellis. Although they wish they could do business without the aelf corsairs, they need them to export their gems in Azyr. The Miners' Syndicate is led by Barik De Bier, the richest duardin in town, who wears clariæ rings on each of his nine fingers. Rumors say that he became incredibly rich during his youth when he found a melon-sized gemstone while digging in the mine's deepest tunnels. The Stormkeep of the Stellar Champions "Sigmar's light shines eternal!" — motto of the Stellar Champions A garrison of Stormcast Eternals is present in Port Stellis. They are the Stellar Champions, one of Sigmar's stormhosts. Their most striking feature is their dark armors adorned with stars. Their leader is the noble Lord Aquilor Andras Silverblade. The Stellar Champions' mission is not only to protect Port Stellis and keept it clean from chaos corruption, but also to chart the region of the Coast of Fleeting Hopes and hunt the strange wild monsters who may become a threat should they get close to the city. Sometimes they are accompanied by the aelf corsairs who are always interested in hunting and capturing monsters. The Order Serpentis "I will take back what is mine and those barbarians will regret being born." — Sicath Somberheart A detachment of the Order Serpentis is posted in Port Stellis. The knights are led by Sicath Somberheart, an old white haired dreadlord who aspires to take back his lost fiefdom from the hands of Chaos barbarians. When the Age of Chaos came, he had no choice but to flee with his soldiers in Azyrheim because the enemies were too numerous. But after several centuries he will finally have his revenge... In fact his lands are only a week's walk from the Port Stellis. So far his soldiers have been training and defending the city along with the regular army, waiting for the day they will be fully ready. New drakespawn riders regularly come through the Star Ocean Gate to join Sicath's cause and pledge fealty to him. Sicath has the secret support of a few sorceresses of the Darkling Covens who are also waiting to take back their own lands in Ulgu. If Sicath is successful in his quest then they too will move in Ulgu and go to war with their chaotic enemies. The Astromancer Guild "The long dark night is coming. Sure it will be gloomy around here for half a year but this will also be ideal for studying the constellations!" — Caïus Lorentius Port Stellis is the home of the renowned Astromancer Guild. It is a college of wizards who seek to master the magic of heavens (although a minority of them choose to learn the magic of shadows instead). The Guild is led by the grand master Caius Lorentius, a very stern scholar who possesses his own Celestial Hurricanum. That's it for now. I will write more about the Coast of Fleeting Hopes and its strange inhabitants later. Here is a stormcast on which I tested a color scheme for my Stellar Champions Stormhost. When the real army will come, I will probably do a few minor tweaks in the color scheme (like painting the halo around the helm in a different color, perhaps silver) but the idea is there. The vanguard stormcast from the blightwar set will be painted like that. Meanwhile I ordered a gaming mat which will represent the typical terrain around Port Stellis and in the Coast of Fleeting Hopes: I can't wait for it to be delivered at my home!