Neverchosen

I dunno if being close to the release window of a new edition means no new factions, especially if we are roughly a year away. Particularly as AOS designed armies with second edition in mind and they updated Space Marines just prior to the new edition. I feel like a new order and death faction could round off this edition. Order is hard to predict as I feel that Aelven forces have been well explored and Duardins and Humans could use a day in the sun. Death will probably expand on one of the subfactions of Legions of Nagash, Soul Blight seems to be the favourite bet.

History has shown that the prevelant view of Vikings as violent horn helmed barbarians is highly inaccurate. Instead like most historic cultures they were a people of diverse beliefs, hopes and ideas. Slaves to Darkness jettison dull reality in favour of violent horn helmed, heavy metal mutant, demon worshipers. You may never win a game but you will look awesome losing. Furthermore, you have the mortal realms in a stranglehold. So any lose on the tabletop is only just a pyrrhic victory for the opponent.

I like the lower value and I am okay with the idea in theory: But only if they guaranteed the unit would work for specific armies. I would pay a little less for an additional random Slaves to Darkness or Idoneth model, but I do not want to randomly get a model for a different faction that I would have to trade away for the thing I wanted. I would be a fan if the loot boxes were available as a cheap but random booster set for every army, making army building a little easier and giving more varied unit variety in future games. Even if it was something I am not currently in need of for my armies a few push fit models or a new hero would likely see the battlefield on occasion or be fodder for a kitbash. But overall this seems like a bad direction and a predatory gamble style marketing ploy. Although, I am guessing that 9-10 of the 'Imperium' loot boxes will be some brand of Space Marine. So once again Space Marine players will probably get the benefit that every other army needs more.

I am getting better at not just jumping on all of these and yelling Malerion elves, but I immediately thought Black Guard when I saw this. I assume it is something undead and cool but still a cool draconified Black Guard is my hope.

Amazing!!! I sincerely doubt I will be able to afford a full Sons army especially as I have somehow ended up with the beginnings of an Imperial Knight army. But I will try and buy a single one to run as an ally for my current armies. But I am more excited to see what you think of them and see all the interesting conversions and paint jobs that the community will unleash. 😇

So maybe I should stick with my original plan for Goblinhood and his band of merry squigs.

That is perfect for me. I am a rather shy and non-competitive person that much prefers friendly games with people I know. I was dragged to a tournament once when I was a kid during WHFB days and had a massive anxiety attack. Luckily, I have a good group of friends that I mostly introduced to the hobby. I think that Gloomspite Gitz seem to balance fun, cool models and interesting mechanics and goblins are pretty easy to bring into other game systems like tabletop RPGs. I have been holding off on them as I keep hearing rumours about Grotbag Scuttlers and I am secretly hoping for Pirate themed sky grots.

As for the cost of Sylvanth it seems largely tied to the fact that they function around terrain mechanics involving a piece of scenery called Wyldwoods. They gain certain buffs for fighting in and near the terrain and can use them to teleport models across the board. They place one on the board at the start of the game and can summon further wyldwoods through various means (notably through spells). I assume for friendly games three would be an ample number but I have never played the army. The Warcry set Souldrain Forest seems like a decent deal but again I do not play the faction and have no great insight into their cost. They can also summon Dryads which are their basic infantry unit which I can imagine adds to the army's cost as well. I will say that the Sylvanth start collecting set seems like a pretty good value netting you a monster, a hero and a big unit of Dryads. The unit size in the box is a little awkward though as they are a minimum of ten but the box comes with 16. An additional unit should net you 30 though which seems like a decent sized unit or a good number for summons. There are probably further hidden costs like units might get bonuses over certain sizes or possibly due to Spite units being very low value for points and a high cost for models?

My friend has just gotten into AOS and is making a city army with a Disspossed theme and has gotten the start collecting set and I bought him Gotrek as a present. He is unsure how to move forward and I was wondering if his bearded brethren could provide some help? His goal is to remain pure Duardin and he wants to expand in some way and is not sure if he should go Tempest Eye and ally in KO, build a Barak-Thryng army and ally in his Dispossessed or remain as a pure Dispossessed army. We have also tossed around the idea of building some 40k Armigers as some custom dwarven steam tanks an exciting, albeit intimidating project. He is not a huge fan of Fyreslayers which is funny because they are by far my favourite Duardin faction.

Are Gloomspite bad? I always heard they were really swingy and unpredictable, making them less competitive but does this translate to them being a bad army? I am asking because I am thinking of starting a Gloomspite army as I have heard they are really fun.

In changing inspiring presence you would make the units immune to battleship feel more unique and lore friendly. Also I love the idea of a return of fear/terror. It is also such a great effect for spells and items.

I suggested such an idea in another thread so it seems great minds think alike. I think this change would give heroes more playability and variety and thus makes their presence feel more dynamic and characterful. It might make less seen heroes such as a Loonboss or Exalted Champion more optimal as a hero choice than a Fongoid-Cave Shaman or Chaos Sorcerror Lord depending on the scenario. It is always frustrating to see CP starved heaven forged battle angels flee from battle while cowardly goblins sit back and laugh as half their unit is wiped away. I do think that it would require that battleshock tests be revised somewhat as they are currently extremely damaging to units before implementing such a change. I am excited to see how the new system in 40K works out to see if they are applicable to AOS.

@swarmofseals I agree that any changes like the one I suggested to inspiring presence would require a more holistic reimagining of the battleshock phase as a whole. I was thinking if such a change were to occur it would be in an update from one edition to the next, in the hopes that Battleshock would not fundmentally upset the balance of the game making horde armies unplayable (especially as I am thinking of getting into Gitz). But I am still grateful to the responses showcasing why it would not work with our current battleshock system.

@Landohammer I really liked in Fantasy (at least in 6th ed.) how the unit would use the general's leadership value instead of their own. It gave reason for leadership being included in their profile and also made it something to consider in terms of inclusion for certain heroes. I feel like inspiring presence being changed to having a unit use the heroes' leadership value as opposed to an auto pass might be an interesting change? Although, I have a feeling it would rarely get used it is cost a CP... At the very least it would make Skaven and Goblins seem more appropriately cowardly.

I think that every army is potentially interesting and rewarding if you enjoy the models and play style so making recommendations somewhat difficult. I think an important aspect is to factor in is your love of 40k. So I think the important question is what do you want out of this game? For example do you play Orks? If you do play Orks, destruction factions will give you a host of kitbash materials and would allow you to reuse paints. If you do not play Orks, playing a destruction faction could open you up to building an Ork force one day in the future. Similar logic applies to Chaos although you are less inclined towards them. Eldar and Aelven forces can also provide you with some good model synergies. There are also some carry overs between strategies, as the armies largely emphasize similar feels across systems (elves are quick, chaos is tough, orcs are strong). Conversely you can build something entirely different and really embrace the new system. Sylvaneth are very low tech and fantastical and would provide you ample opportunity to stretch your horizons as a gamer and hobbyist. Seraphon are pretty unique in either setting and a decently strong army competitively speaking and again will give you many opportunities on and off the table. I think that all of the options you listed will be really fun and greatly add to your group, but nothing is better than just having a friend to play alongside, so consider which army benefits your own enjoyment first and foremost. Kharadron Overlords have always reminded me of 40k tactically, but are aesthetically pretty unique plus you could run them as Squats in friendly 40k games (maybe proxied for Admech?).

I think that you point to one of the greatest strengths of AOS: which is no matter how inefficient my build may be, it is still possible to be remotely viable. If I play Beasts of Chaos I may be at a disadvantage but I can build my army with Gors, Minotaurs or Dragon Ogres and still be able to play and impact the game. A Cities of Sigmar player can freely choose to play just Aelves, Duardin or Humans and still easily win a match or can mix them together and still easily win a match. Whereas I remember in Fantasy having a unit of chaos knights that could only be defeated through spells or artillery and thus required a direct counter. This limits people's ability to play what they want and build thematic lists to even be able to enjoy the game. True certain builds in AoS can and will dominate certain army lists and become the obvious choice for competitive meta players, but they are not a prerequisite for building an army (except for battleline). I am always surprised to see in AoS how many armies can function with limited to no magic but also how many can go pure magic without breaking the system.

@JPjr that is a fantastic idea but I feel it suits heavy cavalry much more so than light cavalry. Maybe split the key words of the two and have light cavalry have the ability to fall back and charge? Would this add additional confusion or be to overpowered? Then you could have distinct battlefield roles for something like chaos knights smashing through a line and getting wedged into combat vs marauder horesmen disrupting a flank through speedy interference style attacks. I also could see chariots benefiting drastically from your rule.

I am curious if that is the direction that Gordrakk's narrative is heading? I feel like Sigmar will attempt to close off Azyr and Gordrakk will find a way to smash it open denying the ability of Sigmar to close it off again in the future. This would result in Azyr gaining a much needed vulnerability and open it up as a setting for future campaigns.

I think it is largely unfair to compare the intricacies and importance of a developing narrative framework with a well established one. I also think the investment in both narrative systems will result in people becoming defensive of which ever narrative they prefer. I think comparing AOS to Rogue Trader or earlier editions of 40k would be more appropriate. But even with that comparison we have the virtue of retrospect and knowledge of where those world building elements would eventually lead. I think the thing that I love about AOS is the potential and speculation that exists within the narrative. I am confident that the lore writers will develop amazing stories in the mortal realms and create plenty of regions and cultures that feel important and impactful. However, my current love of the lore is the idea that currently my armies are my own. My cousin, who I got into AOS, has gifted me with some Imperial Knights and I have to confess the lore, rules and community of 40k are all fairly intimidating. AoS may be confusing but I think it has a feeling of openness that appeals to me.

As @Evangelist of Cinders points out the Idoneth are strangely the Lumineth's only ally in game. I agree that it would be a hard one to describe in lore. However, I think that Teclis himself seems to be the biggest hinderance. I think it would be interesting if his inclusion in a list closed off using Idoneth from being used in the army.

I have really enjoyed the manner in which Cities of Sigmar can take certain allies (Stormcast, Sylvaneth and KO) as a portion of their army as I find it clearer than point percentages. But I think that this sliding scale effect applied to that would make that rule much more attractive and fun. So for example: Slaves to Darkness can ally in maybe 1:1 for which ever mark they choose allowing an even split between their units and a God specific faction and vice versa. But conversely if you tried to include Blades of Khorne and Hedonists of Slaanesh it might result in like a 1:10? I chose this specific example as it would alter the relationship of bringing Slaves to Darkness into God Specific factions by making them maximum 50 percent of the army thus giving players more incentive to play them in Slaves to Darkness.

How would you like to see these Gods develop? Personally I think it would be cool if Grimnir returned and left Order in favour of Destruction and worked towards overthrowing Gorkamorka. Two rival Gods of destruction battling eternally alongside their followers only caring for battle. I think it would be suitably epic and very interesting. It would also help to better define these two Gods in an interesting way. There is a lot of animosity between Fyreslayers and Greenskins, so it would make Ogors and Gargants the middle-ground between the two factions and give them a more distinct place amongst the destruction factions. Also because Fyreslayers are mercenaries switching their grand allegiance would hopefully not directly impact any order armies using them as allies. I would like Grungni to remain in an alliance with Sigmar. I feel like Sigmar currently has very few remaining friends.

I have speculated on this a fair number of times, but it feels like the various Aelf factions have been designed in such a way as to allow the armies to be combined into soup armies. Lumineth and Idoneth have an uneasy relationship as both were created by Teclis, admittedly this is the hardest to combine from a lore perspective but would lead to truly awesome reimagining of High Elves. Next the Kurnothi and Sylvaneth would make perfect sense together and could be the basis of a reimagined Wood Elf faction. Finally Malerion and Morathi can of course be brought together as you pointed out and create a new version of Dark Elves. I also love that within each of these possible alliances there is a high degree of strain and tension. I think releasing them as separate armies with their own unique lore was a really great way to develop the factions and see if they could stand alone but I also think that the ability to combine them in the future was a great insurance policy so that they could support the army and player with new rules but not have to commit to the faction if sales were not great. But I am a huge fan of how soup factions have been handled this edition, as they allow you to use the models that you like but promote synergies that make focusing on subfactions more rewarding.

I am loving the lore and development of the Aelven pantheon. I really hope it is building to something huge. Personally I would like Malerion to be seduced/manipulated by Slaanesh but I also like the idea of them developing their own Grand Alliance. I hope that one day they will better develop the other Gods outside of the Aelves, Sigmar and Nagash.

Thanks, it is a something that I think would work really well in the AOS setting add some diversity and help flesh out destruction as a faction. I also loved your earlier suggestion of skin-walkers and I could easily imagine them being different sub-factions of a human destruction style army. Or possibly even skin walkers representing the male elements of a very gendered society. But at the very least I think they would make sensible allies. I could also see GW using either concept with more traditional destruction forces. Grot witches and Orruk skin-walker shamans would both be interesting-- albeit less exciting than a proper diversification of Destruction. Also a Frankenstein-esque unit would be ideal for this faction and could add some much needed muscle to a pretty lightly armed/armoured army.