AngryPanda

That’s a very good point, I hadn’t thought about it in this way, with models being most important, followed by lore and then rules. Models are phenomenal, arguably the best that AoS has released. This is really great because models usually take a very long time to update after making their debut; some of the 40k range is still Finecast and between 15-20 years old. GW has given us an absurd number of names characters (7!) My hope is that if we were to get new model or two, it would be a vanilla chaos lord hero to take reliance away from our named characters, yet I’m generally pleased. The design team knocking our release out of the park is a very valuable blessing to Slaanesh enthusiasts, and for many years to come it’s ensured we have a great range to collect. Lore comes over time more frequently than the models and sculpts. Though we didn’t get any specific novellas dedicated to our faction, we will potentially receive more over the next edition through campaign books, supplements, etc. Slaanesh has been a central figure within the AoS storyline for a while, and I can imagine Archaon is happy to see that he has been found. It will be interesting to finally see how he, Teclic, Tyrion, Malerion, Sigmar, and the Chaos Gods react to their youngest sibling being discovered. The rules are the most fluctuating of the other two categories: models and lore. They are, in my opinion, mostly ok. There are some obvious offenses (Slaangors), but Painbringers and Twinsouls are pretty good on paper and are clearly defined in their roles on the table; the only thing that is needed for most of our units is a generous points reduction. Thankfully, this can be done with the new core book in July. If points aren’t dropped, then it would suck, but it wouldn’t mean the absolute end of the world for us as there will be other opportunities for points to decrease or rules to change.

This is my favorite model in the range, in addition to the Killaboss on the Gnashtoof. The armored, but shambled together look really nails it for me, but the Gutrippa spearmen and hobgrots look plain to me. Personally, for me it’s going to depend if more infantry are released, specifically an armored and more elite version of the Gutrippas. If not, then I’m probably going to pass.

A couple weeks ago I stated a theory of mine that at least one or more writers either feel salty about Slaanesh’s first release, aren’t fans of the army or simply don’t like them, or both. I took a guess from the numerous rumors that there was drama/debate behind the scenes when releasing our somewhat recent disappointment of a battletome, and this confirms it somewhat more so. However, I feel that Dexcessa is actually pretty decent, and can be considered a cheaper replacement to a KoS or a more reliable Sigvald.

Dexcessa is the clear winner, Synessa is trash. I’m almost certain that when they were writing the rules for Synessa, the writers must of slipped and hit their heads while smoking impure crack-cocaine; there’s no way any reasonable AoS gamer (much less a writer) would look at the birth child of a God and say “yea let’s only give her one cast with no bonuses.” A Shardspeaker is better! Comparatively, Dexcessa had more attacks and the ability to apply one command ability for free to a Daemon Unit; lists with her in Lurid Haze that also take the Supreme Symberites battalion, in addition to the Rod of Misrule, is essentially going to give Slaanesh players infinite command points and a free CP on a Daemon Unit. She’s also quite mobile as well, making her a prime deep strike candidate. I personally still feel that both Glutos and Sigvald are superior for army synergy and spell casting, and melee prowess respectively. If I were to take Dexcessa, I’d run her along a 6-man unit of Fiends to give them free command ability benefits. Or, try taking a 30-Woman unit of Daemonettes with a +4 save (Lurid Haze) and immune to battleshock. I could definitely see Dex replacing Sigvald in some lists, or working as a budget KoS.

Dexcessa is the clear winner, Synessa looks like a complete joke! I want to know what they were smoking at GW for them to believe that the literal birth child of a chaos god can only cast a single spell, with no rerolls or bonuses, only to have an otherwise average shooting attack. Seriously, whatever they’re high on must be some good s***. This is worse than a keeper of secrets! Comparatively, Dexcessa had more attacks and the ability to apply one command ability for free to a Daemon Unit; lists with her in Lurid Haze that also take the Supreme Symberites battalion, in addition to the Rod of Misrule, is essentially going to give Slaanesh players infinite command points and a free CP on a Daemon Unit. She’s also quite mobile as well, being able to run and charge on a unit that is fast (12 inch movement) will make her pretty consistent; the ability to fly is also very strong. I personally feel that both Glutos and Sigvald are superior for army synergy and spell casting, and melee prowess respectively. If I were to take Dexcessa, I’d run her along a 6-man unit of Fiends or 30-girl unit of Daemonettes (maximize the immunity to battleshock) to give them free command ability benefits. I can see her replacing Sigvald in some lists, but for Lurid Haze He would probably be a better choice due to the deep strike potential. In other lists Dexcessa might actually be the superior option in a few circumstances.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the twins are 260 and 280 respectively; my guess is that you’re suppose to take them together to get the best of both worlds. This would make them 540 points for essentially two KoS (assuming the rules are similar to them to some capacity). I also wouldn’t be surprised if the rules for the two had synergies between one another.

I guess that confirms these two rumors: Edit: I just realized that posted earlier, there was a much deeper, in-depth sketch; I still think these two rumors are connected somehow to either this character or another model within this release.

If I were to collect a new faction, it be a ranged skirmish army l; running around with lotr-esq swamp Goblins/Orks seems to have a lot of potential! I’m putting the finishing touches on my Khorne stuff, there my Slaanesh stuff is next for the chopping block (which should be a lot faster for me to paint). If these guys are interesting, I’m considering starting them as my next army after Slaanesh if they’re not too over the top in design.

Regarding the rumors of a combined Duardin faction and Malerion, I think it’s safe to say that at some point both are going to happen, at least that’s my opinion; Duardin much sooner. The Duardin have already been hinted to be receiving a combined book, and my guess (speculating on the patterns from past GW releases) that Grungni is going to be the equivalent of a LoW choice for the army; a version of Katakros, Alarielle, Glutos, etc. for the dwarfs to use. As for Malerion, his release is going to be massive; the shadow/dark elf parallel to Lumanith is going to be a huge hit that will rake in the sales. GW knows this, which is why they’re slowly teasing him and waiting for the right opportunity to drop the army. Just look the success of Lumanith Realm Lords: people have wanted the equivalent of traditional elves in AoS since the beginning, and now they’re considered one of the most popular armies in the game. It wouldn’t surprise me if the eventual release of the dark elves shifts the meta or heralds a new edition, which is why I’m suspecting that Malerion will come at least somewhere in the middle of AoS 3 or towards the tail end of its lifespan. My hopes are that at some point this edition, BoC receive some love and get a few new kits. If they were to update Warherds accordingly, and give us the equivalent of some armored minotaurs, I’d be very happy. I could also definitely see nurgle getting some pestigors, or Khorne getting his own version of a Warherds unit and some Khorngors.

I wholeheartedly agree, which is why one of the reasons I’m most excited for AoS 3.0 is the rumored focus towards updating older factions in the game. As a long time Khorne collector (since 2016), and as someone who started collecting Slaanesh this year, I was rather disappointed with the weak battletome that HoS received. However, I’ve heard a rumor that when BR: Kragnos drops there will be a rewrite of the terribly written Slaangor warscroll, so all hope is not lost there I suppose. Right now the biggest concern is getting some decent point reductions once AoS 3.0 drops, and I’m hoping GW takes all the criticism the book received seriously and makes some decent adjustments. As for Khorne, I’m really hoping there’s a rework to the warscrolls for the Bloodbound mortals: a lot of them are very outdated and don’t fit with the current meta. If one wants to build a competitive Khorne list, it’s going to primarily consist of Chaos Warriors for objective camping, a couple of Blood Thirsters, one or two Slaughter Priests, and a Blood Secreter. That’s pretty much it, unless one wants to go for marauders instead. This lack of diversity due to the aging of the book has really hampered a number of people’s experiences and enjoyments when playing the army (from what I’ve personally seen).

I agree, and taking a guess at what differentiates Kragnos from Archaon and Nagash (Skarbrand is too faction focused, used as a reference because of how good he is in combat) is that Kragnos is going to be a lot more consistent. Archaon has some moderately reliable abilities that allow him to instant-gib certain units or provide utility, and special rules that either increase his staying power in unique ways that correspond with the Chaos God’s blessings. Nagash is hard to kill and is a great caster, adding flexibility to most death armies. Kragnos is very straight forward: point him into the direction of whatever you want dead and he’ll do his job well. I’m fairly confident that the design philosophy leading up to Kragnos was centered around the AoS rules team realizing that Destruction didn’t have a cookie cutter “ Super Unit” that could be incorporated into any function-wide list without penalty, and wanted to give Destruction players the equivalent of an Archaon or Nagash. Edit: apologies for the reposts, internet connect had a burp and reposted my comment a couple of times. I would be grateful if a mod can delete the comments with "j", or if someone could let me know how to delete the reposts 😅

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On average, that’s very high; this also doesn’t take into account the damage he can do with his damage 4 melee attacks and bellow of rage ability. I’m wondering how he’ll do against other heavy hitters, like Skarbrand or Archaon.

He’s going to absolutely annihilate anything that comes into combat with him, while also being pretty impossible to kill without very serious dedication (+2 save and almost immune to magic). A damage 4 -3 rend weapon that’s very consistent, in addition to some high mortal wound potential, leaves me hoping that he’ll be pointed at least 800 or more; any lower and he’ll be op. I can see this guy being the go to for competitive destruction lists assuming he’s lower then 1000 points.

Same. I’m not a fan of the headpiece or the poncho that he is wearing. I was hoping for more of a jagged, scrapped together armor-warrior theme, instead of the shamanistic vibes I’m getting.

Most of the time I feel the Warhammer community is rather chill compared to other groups, such as some the gaming and sports communities at large. When there’s a controversy, it’s usually discussed in a healthy manner and very rarely reaches any extremes. I believe the points that 2+ Tough made are legitimate, and didn’t cry wolf. By content creators going overboard, I’m referring to other communities that tend to take things too far, and often causing more damage then good.

That’s why I always take what they say with a grain of salt, and I try to either read between the lines or read the “technical” definition of what’s being said; I’ve learned not to get my hopes up too much with certain releases because GW has both pleasantly surprised or disappointed me in both extremes.

My apologies for the long response time, it’s been a hectic week. I agree with you, content creators tend to go overboard with certain criticisms, and don’t take into consideration the impact they have on the community at large. Even outside of Warhammer, there are tons of communities where this is a huge issue, and a number of people or companies suffer the brunt of unnecessary/over-the-top criticism due to the words of a handful of people. GW 100% has the right to disclose any information that they choose to, and I very much prefer that this is the case (out of autonomy) to an extent. Private matters such as law suits, employment, or internal matters are confidential, and should continue to be this way. There are other instances however, where I feel that disclosure of certain information is somewhat necessary, especially when it comes to community expectations. Not because they need to, but rather to build trust with their consumers and to tighten the communities connections to one another. Just to give a brief example, the image attached is a conversation in which a GW representative confirmed that primaris would have SIA in the Deathwatch release back in October, which they did...but as a almost useless 2 cp stratagem that nobody uses. I can’t help but feel that Cursed City is in a very similar boat, for all the advertising made it reasonable to assume that this was going to be a supporter long-term release. If GW is to disclose info to the community, I’d much rather have them (with reasonability) be up front and honest about what’s expected, so that as a customer I know of what’s to come and I’m not disappointed or discouraged.

It looks like she skinned off someone’s face to use as an organic face mask to cleanse her pours of the inevitable blood splatter from raiding a puny peasant village; she’s going to fit perfectly with my Blades of Khorne army

I’m really hoping this is true: being both a mortal Khorne and mortal Slaanesh player has caused me to feel a ton of burnout this edition. Slaanesh because the recent book was, in my opinion, the worst battletome to be released since Sylvaneth. There was a survey that started on the Hedonites of Slaanesh TGA forum that get a decent number of responses regarding the absurd point costs and poorly written rules; I and a few others have sent the survey to GW, and it’s been confirmed that they’ve at least seen it. The hope is that when AoS 3 drops with the new core rule book, GW will consider the feedback and lower the points to values that are far more flexible. Khorne mortals have always struggled, especially Bloodwarriors; a majority of the mortals have never really belonged. Most of the mortal range is outshined by the superior Daemon choices, such as Bloodthristers, flesh hounds, bloodletters, etc. If they were to get a rework, it would be more complicated then simply lowering points, as Blades of Khorne would need a number of updates to their warscrolls to make them interesting and up to date with the current meta. These are just two examples, for there are numerous other books that have stagnated via the battletome creep. Sylvaneth and Beast of Chaos deserve their time in the sun, and this edition is the time to do so (Ghur is the perfect setting for this); but my hopes have dwindled via GW’s poor battletome balancing recently and the Cursed City fiasco. As +2 Tough has stated, it seems as if GW has regressed to its “old ways” of lacking communication and feedback with its customers.

I was really hoping to get a Florida Man army in the starter box, fingered crossed that the rumored “cruel boyz” goblin army is just a bunch of Florida men not wearing shoes and are high on illegal substances.

The gameplay was great, really looking forward to the survival mode; Dwarves with iron breakers supported by cannons are going to be the ultimate castle armies for scenarios like the one shown in the footage. I was hoping to see more from Khorne’s perspective, as they heavily focused on Kislev’s units, but time will reveal everything. Can’t wait to see how the other Chaos God realms look, especially some of the lesser-known areas between the realms; the drifting castle (if included) has always been one of my favorite locations in the lore because of how creepy and mysterious it is. Cathay and the hobgoblin empire are also going to be pretty exciting to see when they’re finally teased; I’m also left wondering what the preorder dlc race is going to be.

Zombies with a corpse cart and a cheap necromancer or two are going to be mvp against armies that struggle against hordes, or against armies that utilize large-based units; mortal wounds caused by a chaff unit is very nasty with the right buffs.

I honestly wouldn’t mind if this was the case, for if AoS 3 decided to tone armies down across the board, it would make the game feel more like a skirmish as opposed to a game of chess/activation war. If this was true however, then it would mean that some armies would feel more op, and they would need to be updated to compensate for the new edition. Armies like DoK and LRL would be at the top in the tournament scene if everyone else was brought down in points and they remained the same.

With these point values, my guess is that it’s going to be a solid battletomb. Nagash getting a point increase sucks, but looking at the other units in the army, there are definitely going to be some decent lists. Blood knights, for example, are very generously priced at 195 points; they’re revealed stats should of at least put them at 200 pts. A 40-man zombie horde is a steal at 230 points, especially considering that it’s rumored they’ll be doing mortal wounds (!) on 6s to hit. Wight Kings are only 115 points, and can support some blocks of skeletons or grave-guard economically. Overall, there’s going to be some legitimate variety in army composition. Now, if only GW put this much effort into writing the Slaanesh tome....