[The Rumour Thread]

I could see this box containing nothing but the two Spearheads plus terrain, and I could also see it containing a few extra models. But I don't think they'll price it at more than Leviathan's £150

[The Rumour Thread]

37 minutes ago, LordSolarMach said:

Combat Patrol has at least one White Dwarf list that isn't available for purchase in a box (Tyranids: Insidious Infiltrators). 

They could do something similar for Ironjawz players.

There's also a Rogue Trader one built using two sets of Navy Breachers and two sets of Elucidian Starstriders.

[The Rumour Thread]

3 hours ago, Dragon-knight77 said:

It be most focus on AoS 4th hence  "Mortal Realm Reforged" obviously.

But there a chance they might tease the whole inquisition 4 boxes

It won't be, it's just going to be AoS 4th. Even Warcry and Underworlds are going to have to wait for previews to let the hype train focus on building up interest in 4th.

1 hour ago, zamerion said:

I has the Hope to see more things

There isnt a lot of things to be released in two months.

kt and warcry, dwarves for tow, chaos space marines, and dawbringers if im not wrong.

It depends on whether the 22nd June date we've had is the release date or the preorder date. If it's the release date then that's an 8th June preorder which fits with Leviathan's 10th June preorder date. If so then you've only got 11th, 18th and 25th May, plus the 1st June preorder windows to fill. Chaos Space Marines, TOW Dwarves, KT and Warcry, and then Dawnbringers nicely rounds that out. And last year GW did a Not 40k preview a few weeks after Leviathan launched so that could make sense for showing off things like the Inquisition, Mechanicum, Necromunda and the next season of Underworlds.

1 hour ago, novakai said:

Yeah but that about it and everyone know they are comming.

in previous editions we only got maybe one small battletome release after a new edition is release and that about it for the year

Last year they did squeeze in two new codex for 10th before Christmas which was a surprise. So it's possible we get something, but it's mostly going to be Stormcast and Skaven this year (outside of Warcry and Underworlds)

Just now, novakai said:

They would need to release a Ironjawz box first for that to even happen 

They have been releasing alternate Combat Patrol lists through White Dwarf using regular releases (Vanguard Space Marines, Tyranid Lictors and Rogue Traders so far I believe) so Ironjawz could probably happen through that even if they don't get a box

[The Rumour Thread]

I really like the new Prosecutors. Definitely think the improvements to the posing and wings over the old ones is exactly what they needed. I think they'll have fully enclosed heads on the sprues as well as these but either way these might be my favourite models from the new box (and I was lukewarm on the old Prosecutors)

[The Rumour Thread]

1 hour ago, cyrus said:

Look at this one with old ardboyz 😂😂

Hey now, those are still available in TOW if someone particularly wants a set 😉

[The Rumour Thread]

It's worth noting that Coherency can vary so we could see some of the more awkward to rank up units like Harridans get larger coherence numbers

 

[The Rumour Thread]

6 minutes ago, Flippy said:

They are good. A bit fancy and generally in line with the most recent Stormcast: Annihilators, Praetors etc. It is funny, though... the "easy to paint" argument was raised time and time again with regard to SCE - and here we are, with Reclusians in the starter box.

You have to have some models in the easy to paint faction that are more challenging to allow painters to progress their skills in the same faction. Same as with the Terminator Librarian or the Bladgeguard. It's possible these will be in the launch box but not in the actual starters, or they could be in both. Either way they're still easier to paint than lots of other things in the range.

 

And personally, they look really good to me. Looking forward to adding a unit or two to my collection, and I love the idea of priests grounding them by reading off their deeds and names endlessly.

[Can't remember where I've seen this.]

15 hours ago, Luigi delle Bicocche said:

Hi, i'm new here. Despite having read a few topics this is my first time writing here. I'm doing this because I'm looking for some leaks I saw a while ago and that at the time many considered unreliable. Those leaks were talking about a model that was called "[SOMETHING] the Spear of the Everchosen". Now we all know that that was Abraxia, but at the time the only name (or should i say title) we knew her by was "Her Highness in Ruin" and therefore it was considered unreliable. I remember that in said leak there were other info of other factions as well but cannot remember any. Also a user on discord said they remember there was also Ascended Khul in that list, but it cannot be sure for them as well.

Now, since i most likely read it here, does anybody remember anything like that or am i just making this up? 

Ascended Khul was a rumour going around for a while but I don't believe it was ever substantiated by any of the actual rumour mongers. The only thing we've had confirmation wise is that Vandus and Khul's story is apparently concluding soon.

[The Rumour Thread]

34 minutes ago, novakai said:

 GW can also replace a dated model with a new model but that said new model may not be an exact replacement. Like Handgunner being replace with Fusiliers. It not a full squating but a softer one.

of course since it’s a reboot edition, it quite possibly that they be more focus on churning out battletomes (w/ standard hero model) then big model releases at least for the beginning of this edition. (Granted in 40K, they did release a Kroot expansion for Tau so something’s may still happen)

There's also been a few smaller updates that are bigger than a single character (Necrons with 3 characters and Dark Angels with 2 characters and 2 units). And AoS 3rd had Nighthaunt (2 characters and a unit) and Sylvaneth (Lady of Thorns and two units) within the first year of its life. So there should hopefully be something reasonable over the next year after 4th drops

[The Rumour Thread]

1 hour ago, Matrindur said:

It could happen but 40k also got a few single reveals first and then showed off the rest together at a preview event.

Specifically they showed the Terminators, the Phobos Lieutenant, the Terminator Librarian, the Termagants, the Von Ryan's Leapers and the Winged Tyranid Prime in weekly monday articles with the rest together at Warhammer Fest.

The solo articles also got slots in the list of articles like the Liberators and Clanrats. The only difference is that they where in the same list as all the other articles while ours are split between "About the new edition" and "Model reveals" but that could just be for better readability

We also know they'll have the set on display at the Realms Reforged events in mid May which fits with this schedule. We've got 5 Monday's left between then and the 16th May when the US Open happens in Dallas, Texas and the whole box is previewed. And with one of those being the 13th May it might be used for something else instead.

[The Rumour Thread]

24 minutes ago, Ejecutor said:

I don't consider that they are bloating again the army. They are releasing more minis, yes, but the removal was made with that in mind. With the releases from the 4th edition they are going to have the army on the point they wanted to. It is not like one day they decide to remove and the next one they look at the army and realise they need more minis now.

Honestly having had a few days to clear my head and think about it, as a Stormcast and Space Marine player this is kind of how I want to see those factions going forwards (that said still frustrated with what happened to Beasts and Bonesplitters).

If they stick out a pdf rule book with rules for whichever chambers and unit types are currently not the focus of the narrative so that people can play with them but keep the line less bloated in terms of SKUs, then maybe halfway through the edition offer a made to order run on some of those models, advertised well in advance, to let people round out collections if they want to.

I have zero problem with using my first edition Liberators and Prosecutors in place of the new ones if I don't want to pick up the new models, nor with using the pdf rules if I want to bring my Sacrosanct of the shelf. Or my Heresy plasma gun squad as Hellblasters in 40k. And if I do think the updated models coming out are better, I can pick them up at my own leisure.

 

 

[The Rumour Thread]

Just and idle thought, do you think that Beasts of Chaos, Bonesplitters and Sacrosanct Chamber will get Spearhead rules in their online tomes?

[The Rumour Thread]

4 minutes ago, Gitzdee said:

My only problem with Warcry is the lack of support/ updated profiles for newly released models. Just let me use my new shiny toyz.

(Or am i missing some info?

If you mean AoS rules then those are all on the War Com page. If you mean new Warcry profiles for new AoS/Underworlds kits then those are slowly trickling out in White Dwarf

[The Rumour Thread]

35 minutes ago, novakai said:

Funny thing is if THWG theory is correct then anytime some 40K player start a Daemon of Chaos army or bought a Daemon prince for their Chaos Marine army, then all that revenue would have been report for AoS because all the daemon stuff (especially product like Be’lekor ) are label as AoS products first and foremost.

Not quite, AoS and 40k both share the same studio within GW (along with Underworlds, Warcry and Kill Team). That's why you hear people talk about both the main and specialist studios, there's only really two. So miniature designers in the main studio can work on all five games that fit into the main studio (I'm not sure how specialist studio divides its work force) whilst rules designers seem to work on separate games but they all report to the same overall studio head.

[The Rumour Thread]

14 minutes ago, Cdance93 said:

I am just not buying this. On any meaningful level only the Group’s balance sheet and P&L matter.

looking through the annual report lightly I don’t see any kind of corporate structure but I would be surprised that a design studio would have its own P&L unless each studio was its own subsidiary within the group. 
 

sure for budgeting they may want to know the actuals for each studios products.

Sadly that's exactly how some businesses work. It's a symptom of very significant silo mentality in the business. It's less about charging each other for their services internally (that's almost certainly over simplifying it), but more about proving the value of each department's contribution. So the studios very much need to justify how much time they spend on each project, likewise the different online stores will each have their own stats regarding this. And one thing that some people hate to have in those scenarios is to have to argue about how much of a products failure (or success but usually it's due to worries about perceived failures and blame) belongs to each department involved in delivering it.

[The Rumour Thread]

8 hours ago, Ejecutor said:

The rumours are a big bunch of whislisting and bull... but a CoS vs Skaven box would be awesome!

Here me out, Skaven vs Idoneth as the first set in a new season set in a flooded city.

4 hours ago, Ejecutor said:

I think so. Part of their new hero base or something like that.

The rumour is it's some sort of jump pack hero for Sisters so that could be part of the base used to make it look like they're jumping.

1 hour ago, Hollow said:

I would love a "Necromunda" style game set within the Mortal Realms. As others have mentioned I think Warcry has pivoted to be a way for units to be released for factions outside their AoS release windows. The mechanics of the game are solid and with the removal of some of the Chaos Warbands, it frees up space to explore other units. 

I have nothing against Underworlds but just see it as the logical area that might see a "replacement" if it's the case that Gw would rather replace a system than start up another one. 

A Necromunda-style system with different seasons set in renowned cities across the realms would be cool. 

 

Honestly I'd love a more Necromunda/Gorkamorka/Mordheim themed game set in the Blight City, with each clan of Skaven represented by a different warband, that's a lot more focused on the campaign and narrative side of things than Warcry, especially with the Skaven promotion system of dead man's shoes.

[The Rumour Thread]

1 minute ago, Luperci said:

At least for my main faction (KB) there aren't any 15 year old kits they can force in there I suppose 

You never know, they might sneak in a spare copy of Dominion into a box with the new figure just to clear warehouse space

18 minutes ago, Ejecutor said:

Yeah, but I agree with @CommissarRotke, previously Battleforce were something exclusive for Christmas.

They've used Battleforce as a product title in the past for none Christmas stuff. The Christmas thing is a fairly new thing in the grand scheme of things. Previously it's been used for the start collecting equivalents as well (back in the days of 3rd and 4th ed 40k)

[Warhammer Store Crusade Cities]

Birmingham has been running games in which the heroes leading each players armies can try and escape Gheist's Isle's harbour in the face of an invading army to prepare to bring reinforcements to save the city, using a board made from Cursed City tiles, which is really cool.

 

The Derby store has updated with a description of Goblet Gate's location, trade and history. They're also having a painting contest using to determine the city guard's colour scheme with free minis to use to do so. Might be worth seeing if your local store is doing the same.

 

To the south of the Living City in the realm of Ghyran, lies the region of Futilla Wood. The ancient trees cast long shadows and the haunted glades chime to the sound of tainted beasts. Sitting proud on an outcrop of solid Gyranite realm stone, the city of Goblet Gate guards the eastern approaches to Futilla Wood. Famed for it's fine wines produced in the rich, loamy soils surrounding the city, Goblet Gate has become a major trading hub suppling The Living City, the Phoenicium and many other great bastions of order beyond.

However, the city has a dark history... Once it used to be the seat of a another master, an undead monster who was banished with sword and flame centuries before. Many citizens still tell the tale that the Goblet their famed city was named after was once used to collect the blood of its people for sinister and dark rituals. They even say that armies are mustering in the haunted woods beyond the city ready to claim the city for themselves and secure the treasures still sealed away in the bedrock and catacombs of the troubled city.

Now in the darkest of nights, screams ring out once more and the city guard are hard pressed keeping law and order. People are going missing and murmurings of a dark prophesy coming true are all that can be heard in the inns and boarding houses of Goblet Gate...

 

Nottingham's city is called Firestrike Vale.

 

[The Rumour Thread]

48 minutes ago, Son Of Morghur said:

Yes, and honestly, I would find it weird that they lead the  lore of the Beastmen so close to a new release (or at least to somwhere) during Broken Realms, just to scrap everything because of old world. I would understand why they would want to change the beasts as we know them to destruction, and I find that they fit at least as well in this role as in chaos. But I do not think that they would scrap the WHOLE assets and the design (and probably the minis that got designed to), they would or will at least reuse them or a part of those (be it just the base assets) to some degree in another fraction, at least if the lore really seemed to lead to a refresh!

The lore is changeable (as we have already seen because of financial reasons), but the effort of the design team and everything behind such a big release? I wouldn't be so sure!

 

Also, there have been some intriguing lore entries in the white dwarf #498 as a reddit user posted here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ageofsigmar/comments/1bbntk5/galletian_bestiary_from_new_wd/

Here are the images: We do see some more lore and wildlife, not to mention the silent ones who got also already posted here if I remember correctly. What is even more intriguing, ist that we have a mention of a non-chaotic cockatrice, so this would still be a hint about a future possibilty! Here are the images again:

  Hide contents

 

All of the beasties in those pages really deserve to have models in AoS

[The Rumour Thread]

10 minutes ago, Tonhel said:

 

No, BoC didn't get that. DoT and HoS got that. That's the painful thing. BoC could have got it, but instead it was given to HoS and DoT (Tzaangors/Slaangors).

The underworlds warband. Not buyable anymore.

I hope you are not claiming that BoC got proper attention during AoS?

Beasts of Chaos can take Slaangors and Tzaangors (including Shamans, Enlightened, and Skyfires). So whilst they were released with those armies they were also for Beasts of Chaos. The Warband for Underworlds looked great and it being no longer available is nothing unusual, all the Beastgrave ones are.

The Endless Spells and terrain were sculpts specifically for AoS, so even if the Beastlord could be argued to be an unused WFB sculpt (which it probably wasn't) they definitely had time and effort put into them. Likewise we know the main studio staff were improving the overall Beastmen look from Underworlds and the various 40k Beastmen they produced. And they were featured regularly as Chaos forces in novels, instead of pushing something else instead. So it was almost certain they were considering keeping a hold of the range for AoS until something change internally for TOW.

[The Rumour Thread]

1 hour ago, The Red King said:

@Luperci Most ToW players aren't using newly bought kits because they literally can't. This drip feed release of the factions has squandered all the massive hype ToW had at launch. By the time they release wood elves or whatever they'll have lost out on TONS of impulsive buyers (including me) that would have jumped right on the bandwagon when the iron was hot.

@EonChao The beasts of chaos range isn't being "shuffled around" in any kind of way that actually reduces the load on production because they are still entirely available for ToW. Combined with the shocking blow to consumer confidence that is squatting last editions release faction I think it's pretty safe to call the squatting anti-consumer. It certainly isn't pro consumer and judging from the reaction of the customers I'd be hard pressed to call it neutral either so anti consumer is the only option left.

Shuffling the Beasts of Chaos into TOW likely reduces the amount of product that they're likely to need to make as TOW is a much more specialist system than AoS with likely smaller levels of stock that need to be maintained betweened the webstore and physical locations.

However I buy into the idea that they've been moved to TOW because they're the older kits. Because there's nothing to replace them then they've been removed from AoS so that each sale of a Beasts kit can be a confirmed sale for TOW metrics wise. It's stupid idea but it's exactly the sort of weirdness that a big company would do just because it makes one person higher up have an easier job.

Personally I'm wondering if Beasts were meant to stay in AoS as a faction but weren't due for a range refresh until late 4th, early 5th and someone higher up told them to pull the plug now to make things easier on the finance team. I suspect it'll be a long time before we hear anything concrete though

[The Rumour Thread]

1 hour ago, The Lost Sigmarite said:

Me too. Maybe sometimes GW is overambitious with AoS ? Or maybe the WFB grognards are right and "nobody wants to play Age of S**tmar" ? Maybe the game isn't selling as well as we think ? I mean, for what I've seen at my local gaming club, AoS is popular, but is it popular enough to warrant releases on the scale GW has done ? Maybe not, since they're retiring some kits.

Honestly if you speak to anyone currently working in, or formerly in, head office, and even on a retail side of things, Age of Sigmar vastly out performs the last years of Warhammer Fantasy Battle. Whether or not TOW will outperform it eventually remains to be seen but probably not with how inaccessible the game is for new players. It's great it's back but it still has a lot of the issues that WFB had.

1 hour ago, Baz said:

Yes in Dawnbringers Lord Kroak tells Alarielle that Kurnoth is not lost. 

It's interesting that in the background since AoS began Kurnoth was described as a dead god but since the release of Belthanos Kurnoth is described as a dormant god. 

Wasn't it also mentioned in Dark Harvest that Kurnoth is stirring in his "death"? I'm not 100% because it's been a while since I read it but it rings a bell.

57 minutes ago, Tonhel said:

I think they are still trying to find a balance in amount of stuff they should release for AoS. I.e I like almost all miniatures released for AoS, but ofcourse I don't have the money to buy all of them.

I like the mini's in the FEC armyset, I always like the mini's that are released for Warcry and underworlds and than TOW came back. I love it that GW is releasing so much fantastic stuff, but I can't double my monthly hobby money, just because GW decided to release non stop cool stuff.

Love the Saviours of Cinderfall, but still haven't bought them.

 

GW's main issue over the last 5 years has been production capacity. They just can't keep up with it demand for most of their products. Much as I hate the line being culled, this is part of the solution. It hit Space Marines last year, it's hitting Stormcast now, the Beasts and Bonesplitters stuff is being shuffled around. People can't afford everything but there's enough people in the hobby now to buy most things. AoS doesn't sell as well as 40k but that's honestly a boon to us. I like the fact that I can still find the FEC box if I look for it, unlike the newest Kill Team one which already might as well not exist.

46 minutes ago, Tonhel said:

It depends how you see the Dominion sales. GW sold a lot of it to independent stockist. So that counts as a sale for GW financial report. But not all shops that ordered from GW managed to sell their Dominion boxes.

It's difficult to compare the last years of WFB with AoS. Kirby was steering WFB to its dead.

It will be interesting to see how TOW compares to AoS and certainly to Warcry and Underworlds in sales. Same as it would be interesting to see how 30K compares to 40K.

 

 

How GW sees it is all that matters. They sold more of it than any other box set. If those sets didn't sell outside of that then that's inconvenient but it still outperformed every other fantasy big box, they just need to make sure they get the balance better this time.

And you won't see TOW catch up to AoS anytime soon, it's not new player friendly in anyway. It might outsell Warcry and Underworlds but it's targeting a different target market to them. Likewise 30k won't ever outsell 40k. It does really well from what it seems but it's also probably produced to a much smaller quantity than the average 40k release.

25 minutes ago, The Lost Sigmarite said:

You think this is still the case now that TOW is back ? Has the AoS train lost steam since the release of 3rd edition ?

I used to think the 4th edition starter box was gonna blow everything because if the Skaven inside, but now that GW has enraged a lot of the community with its anti consumer squatting move, I don't know.

It's not an "anti-consumer squatting move." Products have a shelf life and get removed from sale after a certain amount of time in any hobby. When their main issue recently has been production capacity, removing a bunch of older kits so they no longer have to worry about stock probably is an overall consumer benefit on the industry side of things, even if it sucks that we've lost a bunch of models. It'd be anti-consumer if they weren't providing free rules to allow people to continue to using all these models. And remember they did the same with a bunch of Space Marine stuff last year. Some of it got replaced but plenty didn't.

[The Rumour Thread]

38 minutes ago, Son Of Morghur said:

You are right!

But on the other hand, the designers who dare to absolutely break these boundaries, make very interesting models a lot of persons here like. The different warcry bands and some underworld warbands would have been more difficult or even impossible to implement in Old World than in AoS (that's why they nuked it in the first place, or at least, that's one of the reasons) ! I kinda feel like this is really one of these moments where they dared to make something truly completely different. Same goes for this asian style themed Vampire Underworld warband that was also really interesting.

I think that there is a certain difficulty or disadvantage for the designers and GW, who try to make something new, but they make something new from these old pieces, and certain expectations are carried over.

But a lot of these unique models just got scrapped which I find still annoying and weird, and we now have a wild mix of everything.

And sometimes it's cool, sometimes it feels out of place. The new warsong revenant for example, is really cool, but  he also has a completely different vibe looking a lot like an anime character with the sword on his back.

I do not mean that these things are 100% bad, I just wonder about the design choices because sometimes they do neither fit the old design of 8th Old World, nor do they feel like a commitment to really trying to redesign an army and look out of place, and sometimes they also feel a bit lazy...

It maybe feels like I am trash-talking, I do not mean to (I think that a LOT of redesign are really well done, especially the whole vampire and ghost range). I am also aware that the whole redesign is complicated and I am also happy that we are still having some clear inspirations directly out of the old world (like lumineth "elyrian" cavalry, spearman and so on).

Just looking at Kragnos, I think he just feels out of place, he has aesthetically speaking, nothing to do with any of the destruction armies and always looked like he belonged to beastmen. It maybe makes a bit sense, if they release the spiritual successor of those under the form of his own army, but time will tell.

Something to be clear on, it's not a few designers daring to break the boundaries of older stuff, it's all of them.

All of the studio staff, in each studio, are fans of Warhammer through and through. They both want to shape it with new creations as well as capture their vision of older existing things and so you get some things that are very strikingly different from what's come before, like the Warsong Revenant, Shadowstalkers, Ossiarch-Bone Reapers and Corpse-Rippa Vulcha, as well as stuff that plays it very safe like the Boingrot Bounders, Grimghasts and Fyreslayers. But either way you'll often find that someone who worked on one think doesn't fit the feel of that faction was done by someone who has had their hand in other models for the faction that you love.

 

[How safe is my faction?]

40 minutes ago, EntMan said:

There are, and they look great. But I don't think that means they are long term safe in AoS though.

Warcry and Underworlds are both handled by the same studio as AoS, sculpt wise at least. If they're making things in that, especially in Warcry, then it's with a view to use it in AoS. There may be exceptions (and the Sylvaneth are the biggest of those with how diverse the model types are in it even by Warcry standards), but their designing them from Heart of Ghur onwards with a vision for how they fit into the current AoS armies rather than just being explorations of the niches of factions like Warcry 1.0 was for Chaos

13 minutes ago, Tonhel said:

Great post!

I am a bit suprised that you think Underworlds and warcry are in danger. I think it adds more customers to GW, even when they are not interested in AoS main.

Ofcourse they could remove all AoS sidegames and focus all their resources on AoS main. Maybe bringing back TOW has an impact on the resources. It seems unlikely as it are two seperate studios, but who knows.

 

Underworlds probably isn't in danger. It seems to sell well and be fairly popular event wise. From a design perspective it's a useful testing ground for new sculptors and existing ones to flex their muscles and make some truly inventive new models. I do think they'll move away from including them in the Battle tomes, but they'll still likely get datasheets or have equivalent models in AoS you can use them to represent.

Warcry is a bit more uncertain, it seems to be less popular but I think that's why they've moved to the new smaller boxes model with both it and Kill Team. Again it's a useful tool for releasing new units for AoS factions that aren't getting a major focus this edition as well as building hype towards upcoming releases. Like Kill Team it's also probably a decent driver of terrain sales. Depending on what targets they have for it and how important they think it is to have a fantasy skirmish game to not lose sales to the many other ones in the market, it's probably safe.

TOW has no effect on AoS resources, separate studios are handling the models and separate studios are handling the rules. The main thing seems to be the supposed siloing of factions to make it easier to track metrics.

21 minutes ago, Davariel said:

I wouldn't be surprised to see the two small Nighthaunt heroes disappear at some point too (the Cairn Wraith and Tomb Banshee). They're slightly older and are have had their concept largely taken over by newer units.

Like the old resin Maggotkin sorcerer they're probably ideal candidates for making a new hero release to go with a new battletome. I think they'll be safe for now until they do that. That said the Myrmourn and Grimghasts both occupy the same space but with the new regiment system you could see those characters work with those units better in regiments instead of awkwardly being very similar

16 minutes ago, Tonhel said:

The only difference  between the TOW and AoS is that for AoS it is a Treelord Ancient and for TOW it is a Treeman Ancient. For AoS naming this a neglectable difference. The treemen in TOW has two base sizes included. One for the old metal one and one for the current one in AoS.

Treelords/Treemen are an evolution of the Dryad sculpts. It is perfect possible that the current Dryads and Treelord mini's move to TOW when the Wood Elves Arcane journal is released and Sylvaneth get new sculpts with  the same improvements as seen in their warcry unit.

The treelord base thing is because it was a WFB kit, so there are people who brought it and still have it on a square base in their Wood Elf armies. Sales wise they're going to keep them separate though and the Treelord does fit the Kuronoth Hunters/Revenents feel much better than the Dryads.

If the Dryads were going to go then they just had the best opportunity to do so with the recent cull. Wood Elves are bound to be no more than a year out for TOW and they were happy to remove the Branchwraith

[The Rumour Thread]

5 hours ago, novakai said:

The shadow stalkers for warcry came first before the Gallowdeep warband so they are not new 

the sephural guards where just Bonerattle skeletons I believe which existed as kits at the time, yes they got refresh eventually 

Snarlfang is arguably the one warband where it popularity in underworlds may have let it becoming a full unit in AoS, while most warbands where teasing something that was plan to be release within the next year of that warband releasing

The Sephulchral Guard were sculpted by the same person who did the Skeletons for Cursed City which defined the look for the late 2nd ed refresh their standard kit got. The whole thing was a process in updating those kits for the new setting I believe.