OkayestDM

What I'd really like would be for each of the Chambers to feel like they have their distinct role, but for each of the units to cover a lot of territory. As originally conceived, we can only field a few units of elite warriors, so they shouldn't be so tightly specialized. Here are things that would make me happy: Libs, Hunters, and Sequitors all become generic Battleline. Libs are the tanky ones, Hunters are the killy ones, and Sequitors are the adaptable ones - they don't actually need to change much. Paladins all become more tanky and more killy, and their role makes them better in certain circumstances without weakening them in others (Decimators should still be a serious threat to a single hero, etc). Evocators don't need to change much, they do their job well enough. Options to make more models Battleline: Palladors, Dracothian Guard, Prosecutors, Gryph-Hounds, etc. Obviously, buffs to warscrolls, Alliegance Abilities, etc will all be greatly appreciated.

Hang in there bud, we may yet be pleasantly surprised.

My guess would be most likely a 5-10 point drop. Possibly up to 20 (I feel they warrant it) but not sure if GW would move that dramatically. Certainly not more than that.

I think GW knows that they need a balance between the two. New models generate sales, which they need as a company, but keeping older models relevant generated good will with their customers and encourages sales of older stock, which they also need. GW has done a lot to foster the goodwill of their customers. They've spend 2 years updating all of their armies into the same edition (which, according to long-time WHFB and 40K players is unprecedented). I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on Stormcast for the time being.

And, to be fair, because of the disproportionate amount of attention they received in the early days compared to the other armies, even the other ones new to AoS. Also because they are representative of the tonal shift and design changes of AoS as opposed to WHFB, which a lot of people have never gotten over. Stormcast stand in stark contrast to the grim, gritty, grimdark flavor that permeated WHFB, and a lot of people just don't like that. Which is fine, everybody's tastes differ and what appeals to one person won't appeal to another. Many people complain about their lore being weak - and to a point I get that, especially in the game's early days - but Ironjawz are basically just big tough orruks that like to hit things, and I've never heard anybody complain about how relatively simplistic that lore is. There's a number of reasons people don't like Stormcast, and many of them are legitimate and/or just a matter of personal taste. I love them personally, and eagerly anticipate the day they get their next update and all of the goodness that will bring (especially with how much GW has improved its lore writing and army flavoring over the past 2 years!)

With at least 3 chambers yet to be opened (Ruination, Covenant, Logister), there's definitely going to be more models coming down the pipe-line. My hope is that the releases are more like the Extremis Chamber: fewer kits overall. We don't need the bloat, and we sure don't need the hate that would come with another big release. Given that the next major story-arch is expected to be Order vs Destruction, the Ruination Chamber feels like the next logical step, though there's really no telling. The expected counter to Destruction would be tough units that hit really hard, but that's basically what our Paladins are supposed to be. Unless they go for a 3-man linebreaker type unit, I can't see a good addition to be made there, and honestly between the Paladins and the Drachothian Guard we wouldn't need a new unit if they patched up the warscrolls. More siege/artillery pieces would make sense if they're going to be focusing on city battles. Many people are hoping for Lightning Gheists, which would realistically probably function best as a predatory endless spell, given their lore. End of the day, our army doesn't really need more. What we already have just needs attention.

The real thing to watch for will be if any armies don't get points changes. That's a good sign that the army might be getting an update.

Lol, I knew I had seen this somewhere, I just couldn't remember if it was GW official or a community thing. Nice! A book that expand upon this and the gives you ways to craft the command traits, artifacts, spells, and unique rules/abilities of each city would be the dream.

If AoS has proven anything with the plethora of returning Old World heroes, it's that you don't have to be a daemon or a demigod to come back from the dead in this universe. A simple conversation can sort that out. It's a narrative game after all, just agree on a reason that they cannot benefit from reforging. Piece of cake. GW has made a point of showing many ways in which Stormcast can be perma-killed, and the beauty of the Stormvaults is that they're filled with artifacts and beings that Sigmar himself was afraid of! That's pretty much open season for people who want to see Stormcast die for real. You got options man.

Most likely, but a guy can dream! Unavoidable pun of awesome. I'm sure they'll open up more realms, either as some kind of campaign supplement or else when they do the next round of Battletome updates. There's simply too much fertile ground there. Personally, I'd love for them to make a list of traits that you can splice together to customize your own city. Heck, custom cities could literally be its own supplement!

I wonder if they'll finally add Azyr to the list of realms to fight in.

The ability doesn't specify that they must be setup "from reserves," merely that they must be set up, which would include various teleportation methods beyond the reserves system, such as the SCE prayer "Translocation" or the Soul Scream Bridge. Additional, Vanguard Hunters can be set up in a different reserve which allows them to deploy within 6" of the table edge, and more than 7" away from enemy models. It's very verbiage specific - but the way it is worded, it doesn't have to be reserves specifically. Personally, I believe that the intent was for it to be tied to the Scions of the Storm ability, but they just didn't write it out that way, and there has been no errata to clarify the point. EDIT: I didn't make it far enough to notice that this answer was already given more succinctly, my apologies.

You are correct in fact. According to the battletome: "Subtract 1 from hit rolls for attacks that that target friendly Stormcast Eternal units that were set up on the battlefield during the same turn." I never realized that, I always assumed it was directly tied to the Scions of the Storm ability. Nifty. Still wouldn't affect units set up on the battlefield at the start of the game, as they are set up before turns are taken, but good to know!

Slightly custom for me. White armor with gold trim and silver scales, yellow and light-grey robes with silver trim, with black and yellow plumes. Probably going to go with black or dark brown gloves and boots. Whichever one I use, the wood/handle parts of the weapons will be the other color. Metal for the weapons will be gold.

Shock and Awe only applies if a unit was set up in the Celestial Realm and then deployed on the battlefield later. It only effects a unit that was deployed from the heavens, and only lasts until the end of the turn that unit was deployed.

Yes. A unit/model always counts as being wholly in range of themselves, and the Staunch Defender ability does not specifically exclude the hero who uses it.

Another faction to consider - assuming the aesthetic appeals to you- is Ironjawz. They're probably one of the most user-friendly armies for someone starting in AoS. An exclusively melee faction with a small but mostly very effective unit list (Brutes have kind of lost their place in the current meta), they're pretty straightforward but they also have enough stuff to be interesting, tactical, and very gratifying to play.

Ok, this has me thinking of a potentially interesting list: Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals - Stormhost: Anvils of the Heldenhammer Leaders Drakesworn Templar (420) - General - Storm Lance Lynus Ghalmorian on Gryph-Charger (240) Battleline 5 x Liberators (100) - Warhammer & Shield 5 x Liberators (100) - Warhammer & Shield 5 x Liberators (100) - Warhammer & Shield Units 8 x Desolators (800) Total: 1760 / 2000 Extra Command Points: 0 Allies: 0 / 400 Wounds: 93 The idea in my head is they Lynus sticks close to the Desolators to provide +1 to hit buff, Stormhost ability, and any of the buffing spells (Celestial Blades is my favorite, but Azyrite Halo and Thundershock could be useful too.) The Drakesworn provides redundancy/further buffing. It looks like those +1s would stack. I went with 4 units of Desolators so there is a wounds buffer to keep their attacks bonus. The extra 240 points could go into anything (including another unit of Desolators, if one were so inclined.) I was considering adding in some Judicators and going for the Thunderhead Brotherhood to reduce drops and add a command point, but the points don't work out. Moving the big block o' Desolators around the table would be tricky, and the list is a 1 trick pony that'd be pretty simple to debuff. Grabbing objectives would be iffy too. Probably not Tournament worthy, but would make for one heck of a fight.

I feel like the warcry bands will be "army adjacent". The elf warband we were given a glimpse of serves at Morathi's behest, but they don't appear to be full-fledged Daughters of Khaine. I imagine any other warbands released will be along the same lines, not necessarily a proper part of the army, but affiliated with it in some capacity. I'd be willing to put solid money on a Devoted of Sigmar warband for the Stormcast, and possibly a "soulbound" party for CoS.

If you want to go all in with buffing the kitties, a knight Azyros with his rerolli g 1's to hit will do the trick, and his buff benefits other TE units as well! (That's a lot of Stormcast units in a CoS army though . . .)

I've been contemplating using Shadow Warrior helmets to replace the Stoneguard headgear, wouldn't be as tall, but would look pretty slick. Once I'm finished with my Sisters of the Watch, I'll have plenty. I might use the cowhead as the helm for the alternate weapon option. Alternatively, I could throw those on some Bestigors in my BOC army for a bit of unit variety!

I'm a little disappointed that the Dawnriders aren't automatically (or at least hero specifically) battleline and instead require an equal number of Wardens to count. I was hoping to be able to build an all cav force. Not the end of the world, just foils my plans. Not sure how I feel about them being best against horde infantry either. I have nothing against it - and quite love the idea of cavalry smashing through a blob of gribblies - but the fact that they aren't as good against elite enemies is a little disheartening. Then again, with their base attacks, mortal wounds, charge bonus, and self buffing sell, maybe they're a lot more versatile than I give them credit for. That 14" move is pretty sweet. I keep finding myself lamenting their lack of unit variety, and then remembering how much fun my Ironjawz are. I think folks are right and GW will later be expanding our forces with a Tyrion half which will likely flesh out the currently sparse hero/unit selection, possibly giving me a cav hero to make make those Dawnriders battleline. Nitpicking aside, I like what I've seen. The faction looks pretty tough in general, and the various options all look pretty comparable on paper. Their speed is actually pretty much what I was expecting, and the weapon profiles aren't as elite as I feared. The limited rend actually surprised me, though it makes sense with the effectively faction wide Mortal Wound potential. The maximum unit sizes surprised me, but in a good way. Archers limited to 20 and Stoneguard limited to 15 are a nice way of preventing them from getting too out of hand, and a nice break from standard GW unit size conventions. The fact that none of them get a horde discount is also appreciated - because they really don't need it and this means GW is starting to actively take the weapon-range to base-size ratio seriously, which could bode well for earlier factions where this doesn't appear to have been taken into account. Good catch, I didn't even think of that! An interesting development that has some fun implications for the continued strain/fracturing going on within the Order GA.

I'm pretty sure the protective endless spell is actually 3 seperate models placed around the unit, which would allow it to accommodate pretty much any size.

You could also go 3-4 ranks deep (particularly with the pikes), which would allow you to peel units off of the back of the formation without loosing the Shining Company bonus, at least for a while.

I feel this is probably most true for competitive play against strangers. In a game between friends or acquaintances who take the other players fun into consideration and/or talk things out before-hand (the only games I play), this really isn't an issue. Competitive play gets a lot of conversation, so I think we forget that the silent majority of the players are casual and just in it for fun. I certainly agree that a more balanced game is better, as it makes it harder for inexperienced players to inadvertently create an unfun game for their opponent, and prevents the cheese that can appear frequently on the competitive scene. All that said, for most players the easiest way to avoid this kind of scenario is a quick conversation and some self-balancing when it comes to the units/combos/synergies they bring to the table. And that appears to be the mentality with which GW approaches army design. Granted, if you mostly or exclusively play competitively than little of what I said will apply to you, and the above quote is completely valid.