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Most companies don’t get into specifics like this outside of internal meetings but the fact that we’re 10 years into AoS (development wise) and GW are putting effort into modernising the older Stormcast figures means that they must have the numbers to back up their popularity. Companies don’t usually continue to back failing products that heavily. Whether that popularity is down to them being pushed or their being pushed is because they’re popular is a moot point now. At the end of the day AoS is outperforming what WFB did and part of that will be down to its most visible faction selling well. Just remember though, unlike Space Marines this is probably it for Stormcast in 4th. They might get stuff in Warcry, Underworlds and during the end of edition narrative but unlike 40K, some of the other factions get to flourish for the rest of the edition. 3rd gave us decent sized updates for Sylvaneth, Seraphon, Cities of Sigmar, Slaves to Darkness, Nighthaunt, Flesh-Eater Courts, Gloomspite and Orruks, that’s a third of the factions in the game. I get not being a fan of Stormcast but there’s also certainly going to be plenty to come in the next few years, and part of that is down to the success of the Stormcast drawing people in

Whereas Primaris marines are different from firstborn from an enhanced biology standpoint, the Thunderstrike Stormcast are just wearing new armour that by lore is designed to help their souls return to Azyr upon death, as justification for better proportions in models. These are just Stormcast Liberators like the old models so players can continue to use the older bulkier models or these with the same rules

People like feeling like they're getting a good deal. With the launch boxes, for a reasonable price, you get two decent starting points for two armies that you know are going to get some love in the next few months with lots of hot new kits. Those might not both be your preferred choices for armies but with the hype around the new edition, if you're vaguely interested in one then you're likely to consider that enough to pick up the box and either resell/start collecting the other half. And that's part of the reason for having a consistent "hero" faction. If I'm getting into AoS in 3rd edition and just brought Dominion then I have a nice little force of both Stormcast and Kruleboyz. 4th ed comes along with a Stormcast vs Skaven launch box, and I'm already starting to picture how I'll use half of that box when I've not even seen the models and at some point I'll build and paint the Skaven half. Now for some people, mainly those with a stable interest in the hobby and a focus on a few specific factions, those boxes are rarely going to hit the mark. But they're also not the target demographic for them. If you only collect Soulblight then the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th ed starters and launch boxes won't hold much interest for you. But if the 5th ed box is a big faction update for them... well you might consider buying it and figuring out what to do with the Stormcast later.

I mean aside from updating older sculpts to the new Thunderstrike style, plus the odd new unit, we're probably reaching a stable point for Stormcast similar to what Space Marines had from 2nd-7th edition. I think they'll get more as time goes on but it'll be much more restrained compared to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd launches. Even with 8th and 9th edition adding a lot of new Marines, 10th was incredibly restrained with mainly updates to existing models. Take away the new Terminators, Sternguard and characters and they got a new Apothecary type, a "new" Dreadnought, and a single new infantry unit. Tyranids on the other hand got both new exciting things, updates to resin kits, and the return of long removed weapon options. From what we've seen in the trailer it looks like the 4oS launch is mainly updating older Stormcast units to Thunderstrike with a few new units and characters for the Ruination chamber, and the Skaven are get a similar update to Tyranids in terms of scope then that's ideal. We keep the Stormcast relevant to help attract new players and a neglected faction gets its long over due glowup

There are CCGs that were discontinued decades ago that still get fan made expansions released online, and even within the Warhammer Studio itself, old games are kept alive by the people working there on their own time (Inquisitor 28 is great example of this). As long as you have something that vaguely resembles the rules, something to use as models/terrain/cards, then there's nothing stopping you from continuing to enjoy the games you love long after they're no longer available.

Thanks for starting the thread. And that was my main thought too, there's so many lost little ideas in the fandom that something like this really does deserve to be catalogued as both a record of the hobby for future people to look back at when trying to remember and a resource of locations and names to help us populate the backgrounds to our armies and campaigns. The stores cities I've looked into are: Birmingham (UK) - Gheist's Isle (no realm) defended by the freeguilds of Griffin Peak lead my High Marshal Grimwing against the Green Horde of Durlak da Destroya Burton-Upon-Trent (UK) - Zennigan's Chance (Chamon) floating city built in a region known as God's Hoard Coventry (UK) - Bastian's Vale (Ghyran) settling in a valley previously inhabited by a colony of Flesh-Eater Courts ghouls and claimed by the Hammers of Sigmar led by Bastian Carthalos Derby (UK) - Goblet Gate (no realm) Dudley (UK) - Marona's Glimmering (Shyish) Leicester (UK) - Zennigan's Magna (possibly Ghur based on their poll) Loughborough (UK) - Bastian's Rock (no realm) Manchester (UK) - no city named so far Nottingham (UK) - no city named so far Nuneaton (UK) - no city named so far Sheffield (UK) - Firestrike Rock (no realm) Wigan (UK) - no city named so far Wolverhampton (UK) - Callous Gate (no realm)

I got the latest delivery recently. Hadn’t had a chance to go through it until now but the back of issue 58 features a bunch of upcoming models, most known but the ‘ard Boyz are 10 of the new ones which is nice to have confirmed

Nah, that's the kind of mentality that eventually stagnates the setting. GHR is effectively already the 5th Chaos God, having it force it's way to being on the same level of the other four would disrupt the flow of the great game and potentially spiral other story threads off from it now that the status quo of the four has been forever changed. It'll be a net positive narratively for Grand Alliance Chaos with no real change overall.

That's an odd choice but a welcome one as I'd been meaning to pick up one of those for a future project

I believe that like 40k they're getting rules for Spearhead at the launch of the new edition, but being replaced as new books come out: As well as updates to Matched Play and Path to Glory, the new edition of Warhammer Age of SIgmar is accompanied by Spearhead, a fresh game mode that plays in an hour or less using the contents of each faction’s Spearhead and Vanguard boxes. I can't remember where they said that each faction would get a Spearpoint box but I'm sure they have (and it makes sense from a branding point of view).

FWIW the cards we had said build and paint. Obviously stores will do it in a way they can get away with that is in the spirit of the campaign whilst promoting engagement. Like if I were running a store I might say built and primed is half a point, painted is the other half, and then if people are struggling with painting emphasis games to get them engaged. But the staffers will know how best to do that That’s really cool, thanks for sharing

Very fair, I figure if I can get most of the painting done over the next month or two then I only need to play one or two games in store to do the rest but it's obviously geared up towards those who spend a lot of time on the hobby. Hopefully there's plenty of spare coins going around that you can get later on

I mean obviously it depends on your own work load but you have 3 months to do enough of those things to earn the coin for what it's worth. I'm using it as an excuse to work through my Daughters of Khaine in my pile of unmade stuff rather than buying much too.

The event starts on the 6th April so I guess we'll see stores start promoting it over the next week or so ready for it. You sign up as either a protector or destroyer of the city (regardless of faction) and then have a score sheet to complete to earn points. If you get 18 points that you get a success for your side and a Coin Malleus. Points are for: Paint a full Vanguard or Spearhead box (6 points) Paint a leader/hero (1 point) x2 Paint a battleline unit (1 point) x2 Paint a behemoth (1 point) Paint an artillery unit (1 point) Paint any unit (1 point) x4 Play a Path to Glory game (1 point) x4 Play any game of Age of Sigmar (1 point) x4 Complete a Path to Glory Quest (2 points) And then there's bonus points for introducing a new player to the game

That's a good point. It might be worth waiting until after the event starts to give them all a chance to post it or the Community team to publish a list.

So here's a general question, probably more for it's own thread, but with each GW store being assigned a new named city to found/destroy as part of the upcoming campaign leading up to 4th ed, is there any interest in cataloguing those? Or would people be too concerned about giving out details of where they live?

Whilst not as big as a new 40k edition, they'll get a bunch of new players interested in the new edition so having stuff like this easy to find on the new edition articles (it'll be linked in the bottom of the rest of the articles coming over the next few months) will help get them aware and interested in the setting.

Which page is that on?

Mistweaver Saih has a lot stylistically in common with the Khainite Shadowstalkers so I think it's safer to say she's more a proto Daughter of Khaine than any of Malerion's followers. That said Malerion will almost certainly happen at some point, he's too big a plot point to not. But the Chorfs will come first

I wonder if the reason GW stores are going to be running Path to Glory events is to help sell through Vanguard boxes in store ahead of replacing them

I mean that all tends to be down to a difference of opinion in different groups, and people upset by something will likely be more vocal and active about expressing their opinion. If a community has been hit heavily by scalpers then they tend to be much more unwilling to tolerate even more mundane actions. Supply within in that market is a factor as well. Like if the CoS spearhead was hard to get in Spain then they might mistake you buying and splitting one with you buying and splitting a dozen for profit etc.

It's nothing to do with speed or planning etc. Whilst those are all factors in the overall thing the main issue is the size of the GW brand and how much is made in house. Of course they're doing things like balancing safe working practices at the factory with ever increasing demand for models. GW took a stab at what they thought The Old World would sell, they turned out to be wildly wrong, so they have to reallocate production time to restocking that, in the mean time 10 other kits go out of stock, so they have to then work out what priority there is to allocate production time there is to restocking, and this will be done based on demand and complexity. That production time restocking will include putting in orders for new boxes, instructions and books which aren't printed in house, as well as shipping. The whole thing is a bit like spinning plates. Thing is GW rarely destroys stock (they do but it's a last resort) so if you go to the actual shops, especially Warhammer World, it's not impossible to find old box sets where they've got a few extra copies waiting to be sold, same as lgs do. So the whole thing is nothing to do with how long it takes to cast a sprue, or ship a product to stores, or order boxes etc, it's about the sheer number of sku's they have to keep available as best they can. And trust me, as frustrating as it is to wait for restocks there's plenty of fandoms where production of merch is carried out in factories in Asia where there just is no restocks. Maybe we have to be patient but GW will eventually restock most of those things.

Scalping is an attempt to buy up supply to sell on at an inflated price once it's no longer available at rrp. It works best for products in incredibly high demand with multiple short windows of stocking or with very limited availability. The point is to force people to pay much more than they should do for it. That's why it was an issue with things like limited edition books and box sets, there's a set quantity of them that scalpers can easily soak up to deny the rest of the market When they're breaking the boxes down to sell the units inside individually there tends to be only a slight markup, with the benefit for the community being that if you only want more Von Ryan's Leapers and Barbgaunts, I can do so whilst spending slightly more per sprue than I would otherwise, but without having to spent the total of the cost of the box and get stuck with a bunch of kits I don't need. It's all about profit and exploiting the market but one is working within it to provide a service whilst making profit, the other is about denying others access to something so you can control the supply and price to extort them.

As I said in my post, the previous starter faction seems to get more than a single character. Look at December's Necron release. They got 3 characters, 2 named ones and an alternate lord. Likewise Nighthaunt got two characters and a unit. Obviously nothing is certain but I think Orruks will get more than one character (even if it's just stuff for Kruleboyz and Ironjawz)

Orruks are likely to be one of the first 4-5 releases. Whoever was the "enemy" faction in the previous edition's starters seems to get an early release with a few things. 9th ed 40k had Deathguard as one of the first few codexes with a new character and terrain 3rd ed AoS had Nighthaunt within the first 6 months with 2 characters and a unit 10th ed 40k had Necrons has the 3rd codex with 3 characters I could see Orruks with a unit and a couple of characters being a December/January release. I know we all want Bonesplitterz to get the love Ironjawz and Kruleboyz have but they could also be done with one new unit, a couple of plastic character updates and the existing plastics they have.