Neverchosen

I feel like the entire Fyreslayer range was designed similarly but each release is just another concept art for another Foot hero 😢

I completely agree that this is openness is not limited to Age of Sigmar. I also had no issue playing Warhammer Fantasy and having my Dark Elves fight my Cousin's Old World Vampire Counts. Furthermore, as a huge Tolkien fan I also never had much of a hard time justifying playing Games Workshops Lord of the Rings game. I just happen to enjoy that with Age of Sigmar the justification is much simpler in terms of developing my own unique setting that exists in conjunction with the larger world but also not beholden to it. For example I am trying to do the same with 40k but I do find myself bumping against the lore more often than with Age of Sigmar. For example, I have some chaos knights and I liked the idea of them having a networked artifical intelligence that fell to chaos, but then I had to try and figure out how an AI would exist in a setting that specifics that AI are exceedingly rare so then I tried to develop a dark mech faction and then this created more questions until I abandoned the idea completely.

Personally it has not caused me any issues as named heroes can easily proxy into my narratives as unique characters, I use Yandrasta with my Stormcast but instead she is a unique character that would be noted for looking and fighting like the legendary hero. Gods can easily be seen as an empowered avatar of their chosen deity or even simply appearing in an hour of need, and cause the faithful to rally. Furthermore it is not much of a stretch for Bastian Carthalos to help this beleaguered Stormkeep in their campaign, similarly Archaon or Kragnos might see some purpose in this region and join my Slaves to Darkness or Ogors but since they are their for a specific purpose it more or less just confirms that this strand does exist against the larger tapestry, not that the insights of my armies have grown beyond finding out their legends have some basis in truth*. Finally the force itself has enough customization for my narrative purposes for these campaigns so the variety in heroic builds has not really had a negative impact in developing my own setting campaign or narratives. But of course this is not meant to be prescriptive and it is fine if you don't enjoy the way I play, as I find a lot of fun and fulfillment personally in playing this way and it is fun to develop my little corner of the lore with my friends even if it isn't always the most orthodox interpretation of the larger narrative setting. It is more my way of investing within a larger narrative the idea that my own stories will matter, knowing that they can't impact the larger setting they can influence the setting of my own imagined world and this way anyone can join the campaign without the knowledge of the history of Hammerhall or the Age of Chaos or anything beyond the basic knowledge of the factions and setting. *Not unlike Tolkien's sheltered Hobbits encountering heroes, creatures and historical figures. Yet still the average Shire citizen is likely to scoff at the idea of Dragons despite their encounter with Sharkey (Saruman)

Hmm... this discussion of Troggoth, Kruelboyz and Hobgrots is making me realize that Chaos Troggs would actually make a cool Chaos Dwarf unit. If they took my rider idea and gave it a mutated head with tusks the kit could be used in Kruelboyz and a hypothetical Chaos Dwarf army while also bringing back a new interpretation of a classic WHFB race.

For me the lore is an expansive network of myths and my armies get to play with these myths as archetypes. In other words, my Slaves to Darkness have never marched under Archaon but might know the name, my Stormcast were reforged and sent right back to where they were born never exploring Azyr beyond knowing it as a type of heaven. The idea of different Realms would be as faith based to my armies as they are to people in our world. The lore of AOS is a tapestry in which my narrative would simply exist as a single thread. I like this sort of narrative freedom, like the idea that one of my factions can utterly wipe out another army, not realizing that it was just a small fraction of the larger faction in the lore. My Slaves to Darkness are crusaders that were corrupted by demons and have returned to their homeland to impose their new faith as they had once tried to do for their former Godking (Sigmar). The Stormcast were the faithful few that never gave up their faith and have been brought back to resist this invasion. My Ogors just want to keep their lands free from the unceasing fight of light and darkness they never asked for, once tolerating these opposing factions they now ride to war against those that would bring ruin to their ancestral lands. These story beats are informed by the lore but are just my own interpretation of the armies and their stakes. In other words, for me the lore of AOS works best as the shared mythology of a world of your own invention.

I still think the idea of Hobgrots on Smaller Troggs to harken to the Breaka-Boss on Mirebrute Troggoth would make a fun cavalry unit where the mount is more dangerous than the rider and better integrate the Troggoth's and Hobgrots into the army for greater cohesion. It also ties into the armies use of beasts of burden but also Hobgrots use of sentient species as tools of war a lesson taken from their large hatted chaotic employers Then you can have Gnashteeth as a faster attack option either as light cavalry or as @Swamp Trogg suggests a fast independent unit of monsters. In other words Kruelboyz introduced so many fantastic concepts that were begging to be expanded upon. Right now Kruelboyz are in a similar place to Idoneth and Fyreslayers, they have the DNA of an amaziing range but just need a little more expansion upon the themes. It is not entirely about the size of the faction as Daughters of Khaine, Flesh Eater Courts and Kharadron are similarly small forces that I would love to see expanded but feel much more cohesive. Still I imagine that Kruelboyz will expand on these ideas and become one of the most iconic factions in all of AOS.

But the Slann were originally a part of 40k, alongside this dude.

Okay, this is a huge pet peeve of mine. Why on earth did GW not make Tyranids a species in Warhammer Fantasy (or update in the move to Age oF Sigmar) and give each unit the ability to be built without silly bio-weapons? Similarly why on earth did they not give Seraphon a sprue of cool crystaline blaster weapons for some sci-fi goodness. The fact that Demons are the only faction that can truly work in both has always irked me when Giant Insects and Star Lizards could easily join them in crossing between Science fiction and fantasy.

How it feels waiting for a new model today:

My friend offered me the Space Marine side of Leviathan and despite thinking the models are fairly cool and well sculpted looking at how to build it out into an army is just such a headache. As the tanks are all boxes but cannot all work with every unit, some models are locked to chapters but also everything can be run with generic space marine rules. Somehow. I am supposed to remember the difference between the various armour types but I can't tell Gravis from Phobos at a glance despite one being heavy and the other light... and somehow they are adding even more? Personally I cannot tell the difference between a First Born, Primaris and Horus Heresy miniature. There is also so much unit redundancy that it actually hurts my brain. Worse yet, I am suppose to be able to spot the difference between made up sci-fi guns from across the table. Like I cannot fathom how people keep track of this stuff, nor can I understand how anyone can build a list when any given unit has like 4 variants vying for the same battlefield role. I do like the theme and paint scheme I have devised for them, but I think I will trade my half of the box for hopefully chaos demons or cities of sigmar. Stormcast have this to a certain extent, but the signifiers are much clearer and the range is smaller. Thunderstrike armour creates a massively different silhouette, but the units are also armed fairly distinctly from each other. The Warrior Chamber models tend to be boring and generic making them easy to identify, Sacrosanct wear tabards and cary around weird crystal vials, Vanguard are hunters and wear pelts. Finally their mounts are distinctive fantasy creatures and their heroes are often easily identified as distinctly ornate or possessing angelic wings. I doubt that Stormcast will maintain even this level of distinction in the long run but I am very hopeful we never reach space marine saturation. I do think that Stormcast have the most annoying naming convention of all time where Paladins or Dracothian Guard with Hammers and Paladins with Axes have different unit names rather than simply Paladins or Dracothian Guard. I know I have complained about this many times but actually looking at Space Marines in depth has actually made it worse rather than better. Whereas starting Stormcast has really simplified my understanding of the army. Now back to rumours any idea when we will get future Warcry news? I still am very interested if the terrain is shifting to the Crypt of Blood and the Andtor setting or if that is just a one off for the new entry level starter set.

I honestly hope they use the name Umbraneth... 😱

Does the Blacktalon series hint at any artillery for the cities?

I kind of liked the idea of Wanderers in Cities as they felt like a natural extension of the idea of a city not bound entirely within its walls. Namely that they can represent hunters and scouts as there would need to be outposts for the defence of a city in the mortal realms. I think this is even more true of the Dawn Bringers as their would need to be scouts and searchers to help find fertile lands and also find others if the company ever got separated upon being attacked. But I do get that does involve a bit of explanation as just having Robinhood elves hanging out in the city square might not look as good as say some more militarily styled dreadspears. I am also realizing that the old black dragon is sticking around so if I go cities I will likely go for a proxy and maybe look at Creature Caster or Dungeons and Lasers for a proxy. Also I would one hundered percent put a Duardin onto the Steam tank to give them a more prominent largerscale hero model as well.

I am with you here, the Corsairs and Duardin look fantastic, and I am sad to see the Wanderers go. But at the same time most people are hoping for updates and luckily we have the old world so I assume people are expecting the models to have some level of availability. Personally I think that people will see how great these models look together once running mixed factions. Also there was so much redundancy between the Aelven ranges so luckily people will still be able to run their Phoniex Guard as Black Guard and their Phoniex's as Dragons. Honestly I am quite thankful how many models survived the culling.

Secretive Chaos Cultist in Ulgu are going to be absolute fire. Morathi's flitartions with Slaanesh worship in the Old World the Secretive cults of Tzeentch in a world of courtly murders and intrigue, Khorne creating blood lust in imperialistic lords looking to take space beyond the realm, Nurgle sowing sickness deep in the shadows. Lets not forget the Great Horned Rat and his minions in the darkness beneath and the strange Bestial forms that can crop up in a land of perpetual shadow. But yes some spikey elves with a mirrored mask where you turn the mists into colourful Tzeentchian haze will look utterly amazing.

Glad to finally get clarification, RIP Shadow Warriors/Sisters of Avalorn you were my favourite of the city Aelves. I do like that it settles that if I go through with my city plans that I can theme my force around a port city with Duardin roots, populated by humans, that hire mercenary aelven pirates, with a Stormkeep in the centre of the city.

What about those of us in the frozen wastes of Andto... I mean Canada.

I think we are pretty safe on that from what we have seen thus far. Expect winged monsters, strange shadow magic, mirror faces and strange geometry for Ulgu:

It is funny, I love the edginess of Dark Elves. Michael Moorcock interpreted for goth teens and I am totally excited to see what is done with the God of Edgelords with mommy issues in AOS. Plus if we get the Light of Eltharion, the Spirit of Durthu, the Avatar of Khaine and the Eidolon of Mathlann... is there a chance that we will get the shade of the Darkblade? I think the thing about Dark Elves is that they are not relatable in anyway. I used to joke with my friends that if I won I'd be happy to have won a game but if my opponent won I was happy that they killed the fascistic slavers.

Reminds me of the State Alchemists in Full Metal Alchemist, but in an older style.

I know this is a little arbitrary but I am holding out so much hope that the artillery has an integrated crew to help emphasize the various types of fantasy races in the Cities range. Having a Duardin crew member and a human and Aelf head option for the other crew member(s) would just be so great. I feel like we will get just human or duardin crew and that is what I am expecting but it would just make me so excited to see better integration of such a cool and key element of why I love the cities of Sigmar!

Well if it is a Flesh Eater, it could easily be an injured noble lord being carried gently to the tournament field to witness a friendly jousting match... when the reality is much. much more disturbing.

It went okay but since I haven't heard back I think my user name ended up being unfortunately apt.

Oh I was just making a joke about how often things that appear to be for a medieval fantasy end up as 40k from these rumour engines... hence the link I included. I am very confident this is FEC and it looks amazing!