Double Misfire

@Shenordak He's perfect, I love him! Can't wait to see more. Figured I might as well drop this guy here. A Gunmaster I converted for my Greywater Fastness collection months ago, but only finished a couple of weeks ago to take to an event: When I originally converted this guy he was intended to be Valius Maliti, the architect who designed Greywater Fastness for Sigmar in the background for the Season of War summer campaign, only for the Disciples of Tzeentch book to then go and say Maliti had been the bloody Changeling all along! I figure he's now a good representation of one of Maliti's former apprentices, forced to hide his features beneath a metal mask after the Changeling disfigured him with warpflame on being unmasked.

He had one of those before, didn't work out well for the poor guy in either continuity... There's still hope! Nagash's ghostly guy is on a 25mm base, giving a slim chance that the other heralds are roughly the same size and on the same. Destruction could get a particularly gobby grot, Chaos could have a smaller daemon, and I'm still unrealistically holding out for Order getting a nice dwarf.

So for anyone without the time/energy to watch it, the Warhammer Weekly video explains that when the Malign Portents event hits and the Knight of Shrouds and the heralds and the other three grand alliances' heralds are released that if you and your opponent both have available models for your GA's herald you'll each be able to include your respective herald in your army free of charge, similar to the Truthsayer and Dark Emissary in the Dark Shadows/Albion campaign 100 years ago. Posting the Knight of Shrouds again because he looks amazing:

Very cool community article on Nurgle allegiance in Blightwar: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/08/28/nurgle-abilities-in-blightwargw-homepage-post-3/

Not wanting to shy away from GHB2 hype, but new Black Library AoS nevel announced with a 10 page extract avalible: The Hardest Word Summer of Reading: Day Two When Hamicar Bear-Eater, self-styled greatest of all Sigmar's heroes, must defend the critical Seven Words, he does so in typically bombastic style. READ IT BECAUSE It's a preview of a new novel you can expect from David Guymer next year, starring a character David describes as "the Age of Sigmar equivalent of Ciaphas Cain"… THE STORY Hamilcar Bear-Eater, greatest hero (in his own words) of Sigmar’s armies, is the latest in a long line of castellans to hold the critical yet precarious stronghold of the Seven Words. With skaven threatening, Hamilcar can conceive only one sure way to hold the Seven Words – to challenge the entire horde to single combat. Written by David Guymer http://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/the-hardest-word-ebook.html

Sure hope we get allegiances/battalions for the individual Free Cities in Firestorm. I decided my army was from Greywater Fastness since it first turned up in the Season of War a year a go and it would be a great excuse to theme my army around even more cannons.

@Hrudian I love it, totally unique, and yet immediately identifiable as what it's supposed to be; the way you've painted the GUO's skin a gnarlier, darker colour than the Nurglings', and the pond and reeds on the base are really nice touches. Now, if you'll excuse me I'm off to search for a pair of nail clippers...

It's wednesday already! The first painting I've done in a few months, a trio of heroes I never got around to fully completing that I'm finishing off the details on for Brothers of Sigmar at the weekend:

Rob and Joe to Team Green Beer please. Double not grudging Ben and Adam.

WARNING: NOT MATCHED PLAY, IGNORE AT YOUR LEISURE: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/08/07/epic-battles-devious-betrayals-and-66208-new-battleplans-open-play-in-the-generals-handbook-2017-aug-7gw-homepage-post-4/

The most excited I have been for a new release this year: Also pictures of vines and stuff: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/08/06/skulls-for-the-skull-throne-your-preview-of-next-weeks-new-releases/

Order in the court: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/08/04/keeping-order-in-the-generals-handbook-2017/

New Black Library novel about Kharadron hitting in November with a metal name and rather swanky cover: Overlords of the Iron Dragon A Warhammer Age of Sigmar novel Brokrin Ullissonn, a down on his luck duardin captain, has a change in fortunes when he finds an untapped source of aether-gold – but is the danger that awaits him and his crew worth the prize, or are they doomed to further failure? READ IT BECAUSE It's the Kharadron Overlords' first starring role in a Black Library novel, and it's as packed with high-skies action, excitement and danger as a sky-ship's hold is with aether-gold! THE STORY Far above the highest mountain peaks, a new power has arisen. The duardin have developed new technology and weapons of war, and now they sail the skies in their amazing airships, seeking wealth and plunder. Brokrin Ullissonn, Captain of the Ang Drak, has a reputation for bad luck. Unless his fortune turns, and soon, he will lose his ship and his livelihood. When he and his crew discover the location of a source of aether-gold of unparalleled quality, the temptation is too strong to resist. No matter what dangers present themselves, the duardin desire wealth beyond all. But when Brokrinn realises what the true cost of the aether-gold will be, is it too late for him to save himself, his crew, and his ship? Written by C L Werner http://www.blacklibrary.com/coming-soon/november/overlords-of-the-iron-dragon-ebook.html?utm_source=WarhammerCommunity&utm_medium=Post&utm_content=BLNovemberPreviewAug2

Balanced, Diverse, Fun – Matched Play in the General’s Handbook 2017 https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/07/31/balanced-diverse-fun-matched-play-in-the-generals-handbook-2017-july31gw-homepage-post-3/

Community article for all those who care: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/07/27/grand-alliance-death-in-the-generals-handbook-2017-july27gw-homepage-post-3/

The lack of Devoted is awfully weird, but the factions aren't listed alphabetically like in the GHB's matched play points, so you've got to wonder what goes at the top or bottom of this page: Everybody's forgotten about the Excelsior War Priest in their quest for flagellants, and the two plastic aelf heroes from Silver Tower are also notable absentees, when the Eshin Deathrunner and even the Gaunt Summoner's familiars were able to make it in.

Review of AoS Skirmish I hadn't seen posted yet: https://war-of-sigmar.herokuapp.com/bloggings/2029 It looks like the warscrolls that made it into Skirmish are non artillery/behemoth and come in plastic. Khorgaroths even managed to sneak in and they've got the monster keyword. Intaresting... Black Ark Fleetmaster super cheap as ever.

Hm, ok. Looking unlikely that he'll get a warscroll or matched play points.

Dechala didn't have much of a story in Champions of Chaos, just the fact that she might have been a High Elf princess at some point. I haven't read it for 15 or so years, whenever it came out, but I think there was a daemon prince in her expanded backstory in Liber Chaotica Slaanesh (Sigurd? can't remember his name) that dated her back to the first Chaos incursion about 5000 years before Azazel was born. (Might be wrong, but I don't have my books handy!) Was Dechala ever expanded on in any Black Library novels? I know she got killed by Tyrion in the last End Times novel, but beyond that she seems like a cool character GW never did very much with.

Thalion's swan winged DP form inspired me to read up on Azazel, and a cool bit of background in his original Champions of Chaos background mentions that he's always in the air, and never allows his feet to touch the ground (despite at least one of his quality model's feet being on the ground, presumably it wouldn't need a flying base up the bum). If you're going to go the whole hog and buy a scourge kit, why not have his feet suspended too. There are some really cool daemonic and not daemonic looking options in the scourge box and it would go a long way towards making him feel otherworldly. You could even have him attached to his base by flowing parchment, Prosecutor style so you don't have to furnish him with an ugly flying stand.

Human Blood Bowl team status: 100% improved https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-GB/The-Bright-Crusaders-2017

@Killax I get the feeling we should take this to another thread so as not to clog up the rumour thread with stuff that isn't rumours. I'm putting all my images behind spoilers so people don't think they're new models. I'd call the aesthetic brought on by 6th edition Warhammer more grimdark than fantastical, with WFB with Gav Thorpe at the helm the minatures, art and background took on a darker, moodier tone (with much more skulls) than had come before, likely taking inspiration from the Bosch/Goya inspired religious horror pioneered by Mordhiem, developed and released a year earlier. 7th edition Empire here. Definitely not more fantastical than what came before, no siree: There were no Stormcast, guys swinging anvils or elemental dwarfs in 80s/90s Warhammer. I don't see your point. The sketches you're referencing were concept art created for the 6th edition chaos range who they match the asthetic of. A couple of character models from this range have even survived to join the Bloodbound and Slaves to Darkness ranges, the overall aesthetic of Chaos not having changed much from 6th edition to the present day. You've just contradicted what you previously said, you just described the Bloodbound releases and End Times Nurgle stuff as having been inspired by the concept art for the 6th edition Chaos range. Are you saying that the new ranges designed specifically for Age of Sigmar (Stormcast, Ironjawz, Kharadron, Fyreslayers, Arcanites) have been directly lifted from GW artwork from the 80s and 90s? The strongest similarity I can find is the arcanite stuff and the Tzeentch art in Realm of Chaos: The lost and the Damned, none of the other new ranges look anything like the characters depicted in any piece of 80s or 90s GW art I can name. This baffles me. Apart from an urban legend about the original He-Man toy range having been designed as tie-in toys for the 1982 John Milius Conan movie, only to be hastily rebranded by Mattel when the movie proved to be too violent for the kids they would have been aimed at, Conan has nothing to do with He-Man, and apart from fashion sense (which neither share with Stormcast!) very little in common. If you're going to draw comparisons between Conan and something from AoS, he's got much more in common with the Darkoath Chieftain from Silver Tower, created as a homage to the original Heroquest and Warhammer Quest barbarians, who date back from a time when GW was much less interested in the uniqueness of their IP and were lifted from/created as a homage to the original Conan/fantasy barbarian archetype. Stormcast are a funny one in that they're almost directly lifted from Space Marines and all the traits that made them the most popular 40k range, given a solid fantasy twist. Space Marines were in turn early 40k's answer to the popularity of Chaos Warriors with gamers in the 80s; Chaos Warriors originally debuted as a bad guy inversion of the DnD paladin archetype, who were in turn inspired by the Knights of the Round Table as depicted in Le Morte d'Arthur, bringing the archetype almost full circle.

Spooky skelletons yess @Killax I've noticed a couple of posts by you stating that GW is returning to a previous more fantastical aesthetic apparently lifted from earlier editions of Warhammer as a counter to the apparently 'historical' look favoured by GW from 8th edition onwards as if it is hard fact and it makes my head hurt. I'm starting to wonder if I have been playing a completely different version of Warhammer to you for the last 20 years (or possibly reading different history books), as I fail to grasp how, using the Empire (unarguably WFB's most directly historically influenced main army and the setting's protagonists/POV characters in most of its incarnations) as an example, these images from late 80s and early 90s publications... ...are more bombastically fantastical than these images from the 8th edition Empire range and accompanying books: I personally don't think GW are taking direct visual cues from any 'era' of WFB at all with AoS and are ploughing forward with the models and concepts they want to make, building on the legacy of the old setting but without any of the constraints forced upon them by its comparatively narrow scope. Additionally you've used the term "sword and sorcery" to describe what you consider non-historical fantasy at least twice. The term "sword and sorcery" was first coined to describe the style pioneered by Robert E. Howard's original Conan the Barbarian stories, which as well as being set in a typically low magic setting reminiscent of Earth, were written by Howard as a means of writing multiple stories set in different historically inspired settings and locales starting the same protagonist and without the amount of research he would have had to put into a "proper" piece of historical fiction, making them by definition historical fantasy and forever associating the term "sword and sorcery with it".

Some heroes are more OP than others, but if you use fluffy stuff like Warrior Priests and Darkoath Chieftains you're obviously asking for it.