sandlemad

Probably something dragonish but visually distinct from the old WHFB ones or the stardrakes. Something that has the same relation to a dragon as the stromcast tauralon has to a Pegasus, some magical Hyshite beast.

Ha, I've got four of 'em and an old metal tyrant/bruiser with a pistol and boomstick. Slipped my mind entirely, should have said more access to blackpowder weapons. Pistols, deck guns, cannons, shrapnel launchers, explosives, things on swivel mounts with gobbos hanging off.

Pretty much! It'd be a tricky brief, making a grotbag scuttlers faction work without stepping on the toes of Kharadron, Gloomspite or Skyre. I think the key to differentiating them from Skaven would be to put less emphasis on the super-science/sorcery (e.g. warp lightning cannons) and more on the "how the hell is that working" (e.g. snotling pump wagon, spear chukkas, that chainsaw/bomb/pogo stick combo from Blood Bowl, a lot of 40k ork stuff). It'd be cool to see a Destruction faction with access to blackpowder weapons; swashbuckling, soot-stained grot sky-pirates festooned with pistols and constantly falling out of their airships. RE: rumours, it'll be interesting to see how much info on the pointy elves we'll actually get. Maybe a trailer with a few models and a battletome cover? Last LVO was more about previewing Shadowspear and indirectly only through that the range refresh for Chaos Marines and the next chamber opening for Primaris. Not a precedent exactly. I don't think we saw all that much of Gloomspite when the models were first shown either, a lot of the range was first noted from blurry scans and such.

Well put. That all-encompassing totalitarianism of Nagash is the thematic thing about Death as a bunch of factions. From Soul Wars: That being said I do think the tension of having some Death factions or elements which complicate that is worthwhile and interesting. Following from that quote, it becomes a deliberately ambiguous issue as to how much Arkhan is his own person and how much he is Nagash's image of Arkhan. When he seems to steer his king in a certain direction through cunning and advice, is that Nagash thinking through something through him, or Arkhan contributing to a larger gestalt and exerting some influence? That's good tension! That's on the individual level but there's much that can be done with it on a faction level. The FEC are a mix of those who worship Nagash and those who try to avoid him but at best they're fickle. They inevitably serve Nagash's will, particularly if he seizes control of them, but they have personalities, they can't always be relied on, they don't always get on with other Death factions, if Nagash isn't paying them direct attention they do go off and have their own interests... That's all possibility, that's all stuff that can be worked with and angles that can deliver fascinating background. Same with the Ossiarchs, specifically the Crematorians. Loyal, disciplined, but filled with a growing horror at how they're being used and conscious enough to feel a glimmer of hope when they recognise that Nagash's power isn't absolute following the Necroquake and they might, might be able to defy him, just a little. We don't actually need closure there, we don't need a sudden new faction of anti-Nagash undead because that gap, that interesting tension is enough to do a huge amount with, without undercutting that core Death theme. If whatever new Death faction has something like that wiggle room - and by golly if they do Zombie Pirates/Dreadfleet/Wraithfleet they'll almost certainly have enough pirate-y personality to have a contentious relationship with Nagash - then it'll deliver something interesting. It also lets Nagash go even more Saturday morning cartoon villain as he radiates cold fury at his unreliable, scheming underlings.😀

Yeah, random tables out the wazoo might not be all that popular in current AoS design but they'd be fitting and hilarious here. The goblin flagship could be called the Waaaghzoo.😊

If they do go with grotbag scuttlers, I can see that being distinct from the existing destruction armies. Make it fast, ramshackle and shooty, and you'd have something that would play differently and be very visually distinct. Lots of messy airships careening about the place, with some skirmishers and maybe a bit of horde infantry. The trick would be making them distinct from Kharadron but shifting the emphasis to, I dunno, insane gadgets, minimal armour and high volume of fire would probably work.

It's really something and yeah, probably more of an indictment of the expense of buying chainrasps solo. Obviously that's down to weirdness in how bits of Soul Wars are repackaged but when you can chainrasps for only like 12% of their normal retail cost, it's a weird situation. (I too am getting the proverbial blob of 40 chainrasps because why the hell not. Now to play around with how to make the dreadwardens look either distinct or like normal dudes. Not fussed about repeating poses in blocks of this size but I'd rather leaders should either stand out or just blend in entirely where not needed)

I'd agree, there are those ranges that owe conceptual allegiance to WHFB units/armies (Idoneth, Ossiarchs, Fyreslayers) and those that actually make use of old kits and expand upon them (Gloomspite, DoK, Sylvaneth, Ironjawz, Nighthaunt). With a little adjustment to their design and background early on in the development process, there could have been a good case for the Idoneth having Scourge Privateers as a sort of auxiliary force of allied scouts, a bit like Spiderfang to the Moonclans, and maybe having a closer aesthetic connection. But GW decided not to take that route, presumably because they wanted a cleaner break. Even with the promotional 'traditional-ish elves' stuff we've seen, I think that's the approach GW will take here. No guarantee, particularly as some of the Phoenix Temple stuff could be argued as having a more Hysh-adjacent aesthetic than the Privateers did an oceanic one, but still.

The face doesn't seem that far outside the range of possibilities we see in the models, which to be honest could do with a bit more diversity. The ogre plastics suffer from the same kind of issue as space marines, plenty of similar-looking bald men with the same expression and similar facial features. It would be nice if he was shaggier but this does add to the list of ogre heads which could be used to break up the ranks a little, alongside the beastrider heads and the new blood bowl dudes. But I do get you, I'm kind of cooling on him a little for his lack of furs and the lack of that wild stone age aesthetic the old one and the art had. Still like him, will still be getting one (if nothing else it's a hunter and frost sabre for something like £10-15 quid cheaper than it used to be, with added gnoblars) but depending on what the 360 shows for his back, I'll be adding in the heftiest fur cloak I can find and maybe swapping out the head for... something. I'd love to use the old one's head but the neck joint and the angle would be a struggle. Might just GS on some more facial hair.

Seconded, the Vigilus books were the closest GW proper has come to the brilliance of the FW heresy or imperial armour books. The psychic awakening books have really fallen far short of that, basically just being a few tacked on rules for 'left behind' factions with cliched recycled narratives. I think there may be scope for something like Vigilus to be done here. Both the ossiarchs and chaos have very recent battletomes so I don't think there's much they really need. Ideally then the book can pull on the development the eighpoints got in Warcry and the StD background, as well as the more military stylings of the ossiarchs to make something like an actual campaign account.

Yeah, it's good to know but it does highlight the subjectivity of how this feels. DoK have fewer warscrolls and kits than Fyreslayers, FEC or Ironjawz/Bonesplitters but they feel less one-note and less homogenous as a faction, both in aesthetic and unit roles. Same for Kharadron and Idoneth, both have a good amount of meaningful diversity despite relatively low kit/warscroll counts. Part of it might be that a lot of warscrolls in the thinner-feeling factions tend to be alt-builds on the same kit but that can be done in a way that feels like it's stretching a little (e.g. the many warscrolls from the abhorrant on terrogheist kit) or in a way that makes quite a few distinct things (e.g. the DoK cauldron of blood). It's certainly subjective but how one-note some factions is something that has kept me fairly uninterested in them.

And coming at the time of the year when folks are at their brokest, after the holiday season.

No, the tau are fighting genestealer cultists. It was in WHC article posted literally yesterday. If the exodites come back (and a lot of the rumour engine hints that could be interpreted as exodites also fit the scraps we've seen of pointy elves) it's not through the tau-based psychic awakening book. Not sure why you're speaking so confidently here.

Probably worth mentioning that we now know the contents of a few more issues past #5, useful for folks who'll be picking up the occasional issue: https://www.fauxhammer.com/featured/mortal-realms-magazine-contents-list-issues-1-80/ #6: Thorns of the Briar Queen #7: paint and a shade #8: SC ballista and Kantor Blue paint #9: 3 sequitors and 2 castigators #10: Tomb Banshee and Khorne red paint #11: a frame of the Sigmarite mausoleum

I think it's a new iteration of the lunar crest the Teclis models had on his helmet. That was part of his devotion to the elven moon-goddess Lileath but largely got associated with him. Suggests to me that if that isn't Teclis himself or his avatar, it's some sort of priest-wizard leader dude with great authority in Hysh. There's probably potential in the background for something symbolic and interesting about these dudes being an army of the Realm of Light and Teclis sort of being the moon while Tyrion is the sun... and then maybe something further about how despite the moon only shining with the sun's reflected light, Tyrion is blind and can only see through Teclis.

I swear, you get better and better at this each time.

That's a lot of Jes Goodwin concept art. They might be using it simply because it means they can avoid showing OOP high elf models or old high elf art but could be promising.

That would be cool. I also like how the cover is arranged so that the ossiarch officer attacking the monstrous armoured antichrist is really in a pretty heroic pose, nobly facing ridiculous odds.

Hrothgorn and his kitty are great. So pleased those are actually gnoblars, the dude on the right in the art is more obviously that and they are as ever fantastic little dudes.

The images from the Kharadron battletome on the NZ website show art of a female arkanaut, helm off. I don't think there was anything in particular in the previous battletome or other background sources that said this was impossible but it's nice to see.

Art variation. There are a few freelance artists who do the work for UW, well in advance of the actual warbands being released or even sculpted, meaning that despite them often hewing to the models, the designs don’t always match and sometimes show pretty different looks. If you check the cards that show the ogre hunter so far, they vary quite a bit from this image. He’s got long hair, a moustache and no hat in one that came with either the base kit or the ghouls. In this case, the artist most likely was told to do a sabretooth style beast and no one went back to change it to match the existing GW creature design. When this card was previewed it did raise the question of if GW were going to change that design to this but given that there’s now quite a bit of art (including box art) showing the traditional mohawk and lower jaw tusks design, this one looks like it was simply a standard bit of art inconsistency.

That’s the kurnothi cat from the basic Beastgrave box. Still, this was the release I was most excited about, far more than any new army. Will be interesting to see how the model looks, there’s a fair bit of variation in the art we’ve seen already. Presumably he’ll be closest to this. Looks more like regular goblins from the art than gnoblars though, as with the cards we’ve seen.

Lotta good choices - the Gobblapooza are the funniest and most creative of a funny, creative range - but it’s got to be Katakros. Incredible details, a variety of well-executed textures, one of the most exquisite poses of a GW model, a whole characterful narrative from the diorama. Easily one of the best miniature made for AoS.

All along, no one noticed the glaring absense of a giant robot faction in AoS. Zombie-shipwreck mecha with repeating cannons for hands could fill that void.

I dunno, blackpowder weapon zombies with a glint of personality, ghost ships, mutants with swords for legs, monstrous undead crabs, actual mecha made from shipwrecks and drowned men are all pretty fantastical. They'd stand out nicely from the other Death factions and would be a good way to reintroduce rotting flesh to Death's aesthetic, but in a unique enough way (maritime, combined with blackpowder, seawater and rotting wood) that it wouldn't step on Nurgle's toes/conceptual space.