Neverchosen

I am curious if we can guess approximately how much of an army is being presented in Dominion? How close did Indomitus get the armies to a full list? Can I likely get Dominion, toss in another battleline for both factions, and get a Stardrake and Maw Crusher and call it a day? Or will a start collecting box to round them out? What about the regular starter set that is likely incoming? I know it is impossible to tell as points will change and maybe even the manner army lists are built will look different. But I still am curious how well we can map the possible contents in relationship to Soul Wars and Indomitus. I think this is the biggest plus for Kruel Boyz being part of Warclans would be that there is a start collecting set already available. It gives new players the chance to add on a start collecting set right away. Although as someone more interested in the SCE half I am leaning towards the Vanguard set as I love me some suboptimal builds with cool themes 😎

I can imagine that they turn it into a wandering beast if that mechanic is implemented or maybe a generic chaos creature. But I am with you it is not my favourite model but again my weakness for plastic minis nearly got me to jump on board with it. Still might fall for it if they do give it cool wandering monster rules or let it work with all of chaos.

It is plastic and got a really strange push within Warcry, it got a unique release alongside the other chaotic beasts. I was oddly tempted to pick it up as I love Warcry but I relented as it is not a STD unit.

I dunno how I feel about the terrain piece it is really neat but the spherical part looks more like the 'balloon' section of a KO craft than anything to do with SCE. Still a cool piece but like I said it looks like it is designed for the wrong faction. Also the objective markers are cool but I would never purchase them. Actually it would probably make for kitbashing/converting KO airships a little easier now that I think about it...🤩

Despite falling into the doom and gloom crowd I am curious how many releases necrons and nighthaunt received beyond their big boxes? I feel like it could be possible that a 'wave' within a week might be dedicated to IJ and BS... even if it is something as small as a new Hero for Iron Jawz (maybe a hero in a scrapwork chariot pulled by pigs that can be built as a non-heroic unit) and maybe a small elite unit for BoneSplitterz.

Hahaha, that is totally fair and as I said the end point is the same as I agree that this rule not changing is a missed opportunity (even if the mechanics do not bother me personally), as I think having a shoot into combat mechanic tied to warscrolls or even as a generic risky command ability would be significantly more interesting than what we currently have. 🙂 It would also make the units that can pull it off with minimal to no risk feel that much more unique and special. Like it could have been an army wide trait for Kurnothi if they ever come also letting Skaven roast their fellow rats to shoot at a bigger target behind them would also have been a really fitting rule.

I know not everyone agrees to such things, but this seems like a quintessential example of where a house rule could apply to me. Although I do personally agree with you both that this rule is disappointing, I do not find it immersion breaking. Firing accurately and avoiding friendly fire feels more plausible than Lightening Empowered Angelic Warriors battling Celestial Mesoamerica Lizard people. I think my issue comes from the fact that this could be a really fun mechanic from a design perspective. Typical ranged units could avoid shooting into combat thus allowing for special rules to allow for either extremely accurate archers to fire into combat safely (e.g. Shadow Warriors) or severely callus archers to risk hitting their friends (e.g. Man-skewer Boltboyz).

People can see through this tactic? 😳 I always say that is part of why I like playing as evil armies since if I win I can be happy to win a game, but if I lose than hey at least the good guys saved the day. Although, as I look at getting an 'ostensibly' good army as my third faction I will have to develop new excuses. 😅

I just have to say I still love these models.

So I am pretty unfamiliar with crusade is it essentially a progression based army builder like Path to Glory and what makes it more narrative? I have heard really, really good things and I did look it up once but I remember none of the details. I guess I am curious at how easily adapted the rules would be for AOS as there seems to be more unit customization in 40k.

I could imagine a tamed sky beast--I would love a massive flying cetacean that willingly allies with the Kharadron or a bound flying cephalopod with blades affixed to its tentacles. Of course both ideas work equally well for IDK so it might be a fight to see who gets the better sky based sea monsters. Maybe the whale fits the KO better as I think IDK do not seem partial to marine mammals.

I think this will allow for some fun counter-play mechanics like assassins and rogues shutting down hero abilities, with poisons and precision strikes. Beast masters and sirens calming beast rampages. Duardin masons making terrain harder to destroy. Also with rules for unit champions giving out commands the abilities to target and slay single models will be much more desirable. I think that there are a lot of potential specialties that can be created just to combat these cool new rules. Essentially it provides a cool opportunity for new unit types and existing units to fill new potential niches. Even if nothing like this is introduced the units that are designed to combat monsters or take out heroes are already looking much more notable as unit choices.

You are thinking strategically and all I can do is grin gleefully and think of how my stonehorns can smash faction terrain.

Really loving the little icons for the heroic actions. Heck even if I don't end up liking the rules (so far I have liked what I have seen) I will still love the presentation!

I can think of one command ability so simple even Bert the Turtle can follow!

And so it begins! https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/06/02/the-new-edition-of-warhammer-age-of-sigmar-delivers-the-most-comprehensive-ruleset-ever/

This is my favourite part, I live in a condo with limited space but we have a decently sized table/island in our kitchen. It is a little more narrow on the lower dimension and a touch wider on the longer dimension. But overall it will allow for something close to an appropriate sized game... no more need to go to a gaming club or friend's house or stick to skirmish sized games at home.

I honestly really want Chaos Dwarves to be a mixture of the old and new and as such I think that the Bale Taurus and Lammasu as bounded demon engines would be pretty awesome update. My dream version of Chaos Dwarves would be: A distinct and fully playable subfaction within Slaves to Darkness. Narratively they would be mercenaries that have ties to Chaos but their own distinct agenda, culture and relationship to Chaos. They will forge an alliance with Archaon providing weapons and troops but be rewarded handsomely with prisoners of war and funds. I would like to see the Furnace Kings with the full facemask that we often see in recent deceptions of chaos dwarves but leading into the massive iconic hat of the classic models. The masks will include the iconic tusks, but only when the mask is removed you see they are still present, a Chaotic gift to the followers of Hashut. I feel like they would have a number of dual build kits that would help bolster their ranks and keep many classic options without investing as large an investment as releasing an entirely new faction. A mounted hero on a mecanical demonic bull, a sorcerer turning into stone, a unit of chaos dwarves that can lob grenades and armed with blunderbuss' or hand weapon and shields. Bull Centaurs a hard hitting cavalry option that is a little slower than Chaos Knights but harder hitting. A heavy artillery Hellcanon that can fight viciously in close combat and the crew is there entirely to keep it under control. Finally a Mechanical demonic Lammasu ridden by a named hero who will give massive buffs to Chaos Dwarves. 1/4 Chaos Dwarf Units can be a unit of Hobgobs that will get the Slaves to Darkness Keyword, this way they will not appear in ever Slaves to Darkness army only those with a heavy Chaos Dwarf Presence.

Here are some of my last minute hopes for 3.0. Many of the things I do want are either incoming or rumoured so this is a list of things that I have not heard for certain. My biggest hope is for updated scenery rules and most importantly some simple siege mechanics, I think having a table for structures and materials would be a good start that could be combined with updated rules for garrisons. For example you could cross between wooden and gate or stone and tower and it would give a defence and wound value for various structures. Although this wont account for all terrain types or siege scenarios it would be a great starting point. I also think it would be nice to have this rule balance with faction scenery as it would be nice to smash the Bone Tithe Nexus. I miss general spell lores and miscasts, I do not think I would want them to return in the same manner as Fantasy, maybe a little more specific and tied to realms. Maybe each lore has 3-4 spelss and a miscast can simply result in d3 mortal wounds? I would like Realm rules to be both more streamlined and impactful but still optional. Maybe the realms can interact with certain non faction specific key words. Ghur should always include a wandering beast but also make monsters more deadly. Shyish could give deathless minions to every army but also negatively impact bravery. I just find the current tables tend to be interesting but I will always forget about them for a turn or two. I have seen some suggestions for Wandering Beasts as a mechanic like Endless Spells. I am absolutely on board with this concept as I think this would be the best way to introduce certain monsters so that all factions could have access and also they can optionally pose a neutral risk on the battlefield. I love that GW is dabbling with mercenary rules and heroes that fight for an alliance not just an army. I would like to see these concepts expanded in some way. I kind of like the idea of being able to even create a Dogs of War style army using a mixture of Gargants, Ogres, Fyreslayers, Chaos Cultists and certain City of Sigmar units such as Scourge Privateers. Although this last hope is maybe just wishful thinking but would be cool for White Dwarf. I would also like them to expand upon the Anvil of Apotheosis. I think it needs to be stream lined if used for matched play or limited to narrative games but either way it is a cool set of rules that should be more readily available. A focus on updating existing armies, this is pretty straight forward I believe that many of the smaller factions ought to have a second wave and many older armies should get some model updates. Also I do fall into the camp that would like certain new subfactions to expand on pre-existing armies to avoid over-saturating the game. Malerion's aelves can merge with DoK, Kurnothi can expand the Sylvaneth and Chaos Dwarfs would make my S2D complete. I do want some new armies to help round out missing elements of the game namely a new human and Duardin faction, Silent People and something entirely new for Destruction. Not just Destruction but Beasts of all shapes and sizes to take a central role in the edition. Beasts of Chaos, Skaven, Searaphon, Beastclaw Raiders, Kurnothi Aelves, Silent People, Vykros vampires all deserve some degree of spotlight in the Realm of Beasts. More Gods and Godbeasts, this doesn't have to be on the tabletop but broken realms has introduced us to Morathi's ascendence and Kragnos' release. I think the current pantheon in AOS are like the Olympians so now it is time to get into the smaller deities. It will be hard to strike a balance as bloat is essentially always the fear with such a vast and interconnected high fantasy realm as AOS. I am conflicted about the idea of introducing some more broad keywords, but I do think it would give some options for rules for cavalry, chariots, black powder weapons and siege equipment. Even if the rules are not core rules but simply interactions that exist such as a master rider giving buffs to fellow mounted units or a spell that causes heavy rain making black powder weapons take a test to see if they fire. These are what I could think of off the top of my head. There are probably lots of other things that will come to me later.

Dominion looks great, Third edition sounds solid, I just finished basing my army, I have an upcoming job interview, my country is increasing it's vaccine game, and I am slowly getting ready to start working on my Ogres. There is a sense of ease approaching, as the world tries to find equilibrium and we hopefully get to breath the fresh air and move forward once again. I am also still grateful to this awesome community for making this pandemic and isolation much more tolerable even if my contributions are at best a mild annoyance to my fellow posters. ☺️

I am absolutely counting on them being an expansion. 😇 I want a ranged unit of heavily armoured Dwarves blasting enemies away as my Warriors march forward, a Hellcannon to compliment my Warshrine and a Hat Rocking Hero to lead them... If I can add some supporting Hobgrots all the better! I have finished my Slaves to Darkness army barring the possible inclusion of Be'Lakor and Varanguard (both would be big financial purchases for me), but I would gladly expand to add some more diversity and unit dynamics to my army.

I would love this, however as the proud owner of the original Warcry boxset I can say that the Iron Golems and Untamed Beasts are only around for Rally the Tribe and Warcry itself. And even when they are rallied in it is usually to camp on objectives or to be a speed bump for enemy units.

I think we are on the same page here my friend, the Hamlet joke was simply a tease. I just think that I fundamentally see the humanity in struggle of trying to maintain one's humanity. I guess in a sense we can consider the Vampire and Stormcast two sides of the same coin. But as you said they lose different parts of themselves and so their struggle with humanity is notably different even though both grapple with immortality and free will. It would be nice if the Stormcast learned a little of Vampire's strive for independence, but Sigmar seems to only target the most faithful whereas Nagash looks for the most duplicitous. I will also echo the lesson of staying away from the gods, I think that a lot of the Mortal Realms issues would have been resolved if more people followed that advice.

Thank you both for the information, I personally find Stormcast to have a strangely opaque hierarchy and structure that make them a difficult army to theme around. Luckily they also seem like a Slaves to Darkness level army in terms of allowing for a mixture of themes and options. Hopefully @MitGaswill forgive me if I build them all with chaos helmets and purposely make it a suboptimal faction to battle and lose against my Slaves to Darkness*. 😅 *In reality I want them as the fit the narrative I developed for my army as former Sigmar Loyalists who converted to chaos. My Stormcast will be the ones who remained faithful and fell to their Chaotic cohorts.

I am a fan of all species as they are just waiting to hear the beckoning of their true Gods, and don't forget that we have the best ogres: Plus my Chaos Warriors need to test their mettle against something and I like to test my Paint Brush on various things. I am hoping to eventually have an army per grand alliance (StD will always be my bread and butter) but as my best friend is a dedicated Death player I may skip it.