OkayestDM

The short answer is at the time I assumed GW was taking the opportunity to clean up the model range. Stormcast hadn't become the Space Marine equivalent GW clearly had been banking on, so I figured they would ratchet back on their plans for them and redirect their efforts in other directions. (This is around the time a lot of people began referring to the Aelf factions as the Space Marine equivalent in AoS - at least so far as popularity is concerned. At the time, I honestly thought factions like the Lumineth were being groomed to take center stage as the "hero" faction for the setting.) To be clear, I'm delighted that OG Stormcast don't appear to be going anywhere, I love the models and enjoy getting them on the table. But with over half the range consisting of heroes, most of whom are passed over for more efficient models, and the other half typically consisting of 2-5 variants on a theme (with one or two being clear winners in most cases), I'm curious to see what GW plans to do with the remaining chambers.

I had honestly expected GW to quietly retire the unopened chambers when they released the thunderstrike armor. I was pleasantly surprised when they didn't, though given SCE's current model bloat and the resulting internal balance struggles, I can't see them opening another chamber without first retiring some of the existing models. Regardless, we've had 2 stormcast models with hood released, and I dearly hope that the hood and cloak motif, à la Dark Angels, is a feature of one of the chambers. It looks so good!

Man, if they made a new wave of Ogors that looked like the Cursed City one, I'd buy into that army so fast . . .

They said in the stream that these models represented the most basic troops in the army, so the generic battleline option, which gives me some hope. A different paint job might have gone over better, but I too was a little underwhelmed by them. They also pointed out that it was intended to look like the equipment didn't fit them properly, for whatever that's worth. These troops may not look great, but as the bottom of the barrel that's supposed to look a bit ramshackle, I hold out hope the rest of the range will impress more. We'll see. Something from the stream regarding the new 40k edition that is actually exciting for us is the fact that they said faction rules and datasheets (warscrolls) would be released free digitally on day one. They also talked about fundamental changes to their battleshock phase. (There's also a change to the command phase, but it seems more or less in line with what we already have.) 40k's Battleshock no longer causes models to flee, it instead makes them less effective at holding objectives, and may make them otherwise less effective in combat. If AoS adopts this change, that could be very interesting!

I don't think any faction is missing. It might be one of the earlier factions redone. It might aso be new . . .

Not yet sold on the 3 previewed CoS troops, but if they're just the grunt troops, that's encouraging. And OH MY GOSH! The Tzeentch and Stormcast are AWESOME!

Getting some STRONG Deep Rock Galactic vibes from those Votaan.

Good gosh, those models are so, so good!

Not for nothing, the Lion looks absolutely fantastic.

We'll see!

Far left is looks Seraphon, though I'm not getting Kroxigor vibes from the snout. Might just be the angle. Helmet for second from the left is the back end of a twin-tailed commet, and the figure appears to be infantry. Cities priest? Skirmish model? The other three look like Space Marines.

Wow. Whitefang hasn't been this forthright with rumors in quite a while! The multi-limb OBR really piques my interest. The necropolis stalkers are my favorite units from the range, and I'm delighted that this aesthetic is being expanded upon.

SEE?! SEE!!!

You say that, but BoC still haven't got their warscroll cards! I say these rumors are pure wishlisting! WISHLISTING I SAY!

I'm looking at this as a Stormcast player. I'd kill for our MW on death ability to work more like this.

None of us believed the Brets vs Tomb Kings rumor because it absolutely screamed of wishlisting. Yet here we are . . . I'm surprised that GW went with two faction that - despite their devoted following - purportedly sold rather poorly. That said, it's a good move if they want to distance themselves from AoS. None of our factions are comparable to the Brets, and while OBR clearly draws inspiration from TK, there is a huge aesthetic difference between the two factions. In other news, the BoK rules preview is promising. The ward save and mortal wound abilities both seem relatively restrained without being useless, which I approve of. The extra attack ability could be huge, but I'm guessing it's one of the more expensive Blood Tithe abilities. They also promised to preview Slaanesh rules tomorrow. Here's hoping they do a good job this time.

You might want to consider splitting up one of the evo-cat units. It's pretty hard to get 6 cats into combat, and at least 2 units of 3 would give you better board control. Not sure if that will mess with the battalions though.

I am very much looking forward to seeing how GW handles the rules for Khorne and Slaanesh. Both of these books have the potential to be a huge win, they just have to stick the landing. I'm a little surprised that they revealed those two times so soon. Perhaps the rapid push-out of the first 3 Spring battletomes bodes well for at least one of the death tomes coming with additional/updated models. There's been a number of tumor engines that are speculated to be FEC. Much as I'd love more OBR as well, I feel like this is less likely, and they'll probably just get the solo foot hero treatment.

OBR are consummate kitbashers.

Somebody on here had said something about being ok with certain heroes doing mortal wounds, but it got lost in the shuffle. It isn't something I had considered before, but the tragically underwhelming "melee foot hero" would be an excellent candidate for this, if MWs weren't already too prevevelant. It would give them a unique role and make them more dangerous, but the limited number of attacks would prevent them from going overboard. Of course, GW might still get caught up in power creep if they did that, but MWs being the a feature of hero models exclusively (including wizards with their spells) seems like it would make them feel more exceptional and distinct from standard troops. That said, we'd probably find ourselves back in a hero-monster meta if that was done.

This is where I'm at. Lumineth are the faction I wanted, but I wish Power of Hysh functioned more like OBR's Nadarite blades. The mortal wound dependency isn't fun.

So, are Beasts of Chaos just not getting warscroll cards?

All Out Defense still has some play and tactical use due to Rend. I'd rather keep AOD, but change the way it interacts with Rend: saves can only ever be improved by 1, and any save stacking beyond that is ignored when applying rend. This allows the defender to try to protect key units in a pinch, but keeps high-rend attacks valuable and useful.

Based on the wording, yes. Otherwise it would say "other friendly units."

In my case it's just that dwarves are lacking in my mini collection, and these guys are generic enough to fit in the other games I play. I've been waffling back and forth about picking some up, and this box suddenly made it very convenient to do so.