Neverchosen

I think that if they truly are one half of the launch/starter set I would be surprised if we do not see both revamped as it seems GW likes to have a somewhat vanilla sub-faction represented in the box. So I personally imagine easy to build clanrats and stormvermin (or some other elite Verminus unit) but likely not an alt build option as I was proposing which I sadly never suspected them doing to begin with as GW loves to stagger such releases and force people to buy multiple units at different prices.

I feel like the easiest thing for getting a complete Skaven refresh involves something GW doesn't love doing namely having the basic and elite infantry share a box with slightly different builds. Clanrats/Stormvermin, Nightrunner/Gutterruners, Plaguemonks/Plague Censer Bearers.

Models that most need updating:

Some thoughts: -I think silent people can fit in as a weird deathly insect/beast army, -I also think that a Duardin Death army could be cool and showcase different death rituals with entombed terracotta duardin and also give the ability to chose between following Nagash and Gazul for major subfactions. -I have always wanted something to showcase the living followers of Nagash and to be lead by beautiful angels of death like in Evelyn De Morgan's famous painting https://www.demorgan.org.uk/collection/the-angel-of-death-i/ Something about the promise of becoming a beautiful seraph in the afterlife only to have the lore showcase that these are constructs of Nagash to promote reverence and worship.

I remember stating a few times on here that Aelves needed the overhaul and focus for narrative and lore reasons. Namely they were last seen devoured by a chaos god who was in turn chained and bound between dimensional planes. I think that they did a fantastic job between the Lumineth, Daughters of Khaine, and Idoneth Deepkin. Obviously we still need to see a return of Malerion (and Tyrion) but the lore and direction of the Aelven factions seems to be solidly guided and understood now. Which means that it is time for the Duardin to get some much needed love and attention. Yes Duardin were in a much better place at the start of AOS in terms of lore, narrative and tabletop presence but since then have continued to slide into the background and their is little for them in the current setting driving their conflicts and stories beyond Gotrek and the set up involving Grungni. I think that they will take centre stage in the narrative going forward and with Chaos Dwarves being hinted at and the thought of them reclaiming their old holds across the realms, I feel like Duardin are going to be a major presence in the next edition. The fact that we might get Skaven as the enemy faction in the next edition box makes this feel even more pressing and interesting.

The current models have two toes but my Guess is a Crypt Infernal Courtier Of course I will never say no to Halflings on Chocobos

All I want is the option to build Maneaters from each realm!

Not only Warcry but lots of Key Sniffing Critters available in this set! I absolutely love this set they look like something out of Mordhiem.

Yeah, and an additional plus is that simpler models make the more dynamic and ornate models stand out more.

Lets put your equation to the test: - Infernal Guard (Blunderbuss or Greataxe) and Hobgrots -Chaos Trogg Thralls - Bull Centaur -Lammasu/Bull Taurus - Hellcanon Might need room for a generic hero or two but otherwise your math checks out.

I keep imagining the idea of the Fyreslayer lodges with the most Ur-Gold summoning a flame wreathed avatar of Grimnir that can go absolutely wild on the battlefield. I am imagining a massive Duardin god erupting from the ground. This will divid the Orthodox Fyreslayers with their Avatars from the Reformists that see Gotrek as Grimnir incarnate. We also need a Magmacanon that taps into lava veins to belch forth destruction. Alongside Magmadroth Cavalry I would love a Magmadroth Chariot.

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.