RocketPropelledGrenade

Ooh, I love the shark, especially the red stripes and the base!

There's also more to roles than damage. We've seen the beginnings of GW really feeling this out with stuff like the Sons of Behemat objective manipulation, but even elements like mobility, battlefield roles for different battleplan purposes, etc. Bringing up Lumineth as an example of design goals again, the Wardens demonstrate tools like threat range (3" spears combined with decent movement), reactivity to enemy actions (increased effectiveness when charged), and the ability to operate in other phases of the game (the unit wizard--a controversial element, I know, but still something worth noting). And while they are a potent unit, they have weaknesses that some other warscrolls in the same army do not, let alone warscrolls in other armies. For example, the reactive bonuses they get for receiving a charge are a cool design tool, but not one the Wardens have much control over, which makes it a double-edged sword. You're incentivized to place them in harm's way to maximize their power, which is interesting risk/reward play. Similarly, it has already been noted that the Stoneguard's additional wound changes how they interact with damage. Sure, the lack of toughness and damage carry-over mitigate that, but they don't eliminate it entirely. Not by a long shot. More wounds=less bodies for objectives, but also more wounds=incoming damage does less to reduce fighting strength. Again, specialization! Adding in damage negate effects like Protection of Hysh/Protection of Teclis is another axis that can muck with damage as well.

That makes sense! Been there myself.

Took a bit of a break from my Deathriders and painted this guy:

Looks super cool! I do have one minor nitpick with the description, though. How is "Think of the Seelie Court of the Fae, only way more sinister," not just the Unseelie Court? That's gonna bug me all day if I don't get an explanation.

Fair! It's definitely a subjective thing. I would put the deadwalker kit down as a contender for the worst kit GW still produces, so naturally I want to see it gone, but I admit some of the ones you mention are fairly bad. Some I think are merely simplistic or lower detail, though. Salamanders are fine, gorgers are actually kinda cool, the chaos spawn is iffy but was iffy from the moment it replaced the old metal spawn (which was much cooler).

I disagree as to most of those kits being anywhere near as dated something like the Deadwalker zombie plastics or as hokey as the Wight King on Skeletal Steed finecast. They could just purge the worst kits from Legions, but then they lose a large number of units, and zombies seem a good bet for something that will be included. Now, I will admit I'm a bit of an outlier in terms of quality judgments, as I still like a number of widely-reviled kits like the Seraphon Cold One Knights and the Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (dated in size, but still badass looking). And I do agree that people shouldn't get their hopes up too far. I just don't quite agree on where "too far" is. I think seeing a couple heroes and a couple unit kits is not an unreasonable expectation, and more than that isn't yet in the realm of pie-in-the-sky. I'd wager on updated zombies coming alongside the new Vampire Lord as a minimum, honestly.

Strongly disagree with the "if everything is good, nothing is," line of thought. The iconic use of that kind of thinking in The Incredibles was never meant to be taken as a serious, credible argument. There is very little derived from it that works well either. If everything is good, it can still be good in different ways, with different specializations or parts of a toollkit. You can also have something be good but not perfect, and therefore open to rock-paper-scissors counters by other good units that have different strengths and weaknesses. And you can have things that are kinda good, but benefit from synergies to become stronger than the sum of their parts. These are all valid and possible design strategies. Many games achieve them, and Age of Sigmar could get there eventually.

I voted 15-20, but for me, it's more like 15 being the average would be good. 20 is a lot, and not needed in most circumstances. But I would like to see more than 10-15 implies. IMO, 10 warscrolls should be what they should be aiming for as a floor, and that for tightly-themed and narrowly-focused armies. I can think of several types of units I would like to see for any faction at or near that amount. I acknowledge that the more warscrolls there are, the higher amount of "chaff" warscrolls there would be from a competitive perspective. But while I am sympathetic to the competitive perspective, it's definitely not the only one that matters. Cool themed or oddball list ideas benefit from more warscrolls. Modelers and other hobbyists benefit from more kits, which is a likely consequence of more warscrolls. Lore enthusiasts benefit from more types of units and characters being covered. As long as we avoid the "chaff" warscrolls being ones that are essential to the army's functioning or core aesthetic (I am thinking of Liberators and Chaos Warriors here), no one's going to feel obligated to take a bad warscroll. But those warscrolls (and kits) existing is still of benefit to the fandom and hobby.

Same. If it weren't for the Soulblight tease, I'd have 100% locked in my next army. As it is, I'm waiting for more info to choose between the two.

Finished the first model of the Deathrider unit I've been working on this month, and figured I'd show it off, with more to come!

Love the mace on the vampire, and the army theme implied by "Grave-Lords." Love the new Lumineth archers, and am super looking forward to the Wind Spirit based on their helmet designs. ...I'm gonna end up with both of these armies eventually, aren't I?

I recently decided to set myself some goals each month to stay motivated, and got the recommendation to share them here. So, here's my current January goals and progress towards each: Assemble Kavalos Deathriders – Assemble 5 – Complete Assemble Mortek Guard – Assemble 10 – Not started Assemble Mortisan Boneshaper – Assemble 1 --Complete Assemble Direchasm – Assemble 8 --Complete Finish Painting Immortis Guard – Paint 1 – Complete Paint Kavalos Deathriders – Paint 5 – In Progress I've also got a few stretch goals, such as assembling Underworlds warbands (I've put together 3 warbands beyond the ones in Direchasm already).

Speaking of Underworlds warbands, just noticed the article today said we will be seeing previews for Khagra's Ravagers this week--hype!

I sincerely doubt both "dead" and "divine" refer to AoS things. How this stuff usually goes is that if there are two keywords, like "Decadence and Decay," then one is AoS and one is 40k. I'm guessing "dead" will be some variation of vampires, whether vampirates or a more classic Soulblight approach*. That means "Divine" almost certainly refers to 40k, and may well be something for the Sisters of Battle, who are known for their manifested faith and are known to have a couple releases in the pipeline. Failing that, it could be Adeptus Custodes, Talons of the Emperor combined codex, or many other non-AoS things. I think that is more likely than double AoS, especially if we're supposed to get an update on Broken Realms on a weekday like was apparently said. *It could be the Underworlds warband, but the smaller games tend not to get a headline presence. The notable exception I can think of was "Shadows, Iron, and Broken Realms" where "Iron" was for Necromunda. However, I think the fact that we had two other headlines made it make more sense, plus they were lacking in other 40k universe news to mix in with the double dose of AoS. Basically, that event was unusual based on my recollections of what we've been seeing.

I think I heard this one too.

I have heard that this is the case, and have never seen anything to contradict it. That being said, Sylvaneth are not my area of expertise.

I am trying not to read to much into that myself, but yeah...it is very tempting to take that read. Emphasis on trying, I guess!

Seems quite possible to me. My fear is that the various delays that led to them pushing back the various 40k codices will see other releases (like Khagra's Ravagers) pushed back. But I hope not--Khagra's warband look super cool.

I'm actually debating having one of them pull double duty as a D&D mini in the future!

Just assembled the warband! I screwed up Bahannar slightly, but it's fortunately not super noticeable. Thinking of painting them in Syar colors when I get around to painting them, because I like that better than Ymetrica. Hoping to try playing with them soon.

I like your ideas overall, but there's mechanical problems with this one. Namely, Ossiarchs don't play with command points, and don't play well without Relentless Discipline points. In all likelihood, that, more than any lore reason, was why they got zero allies, and it's why I don't think we'll see them being able to be souped in anywhere else.

Yeah, vampires that have a balance between monstrous features and being able to pass for human would be nice to have again.

The advice already provided is pretty comprehensive, and I'm not yet super familiar with how Lumineth actually play on the table, so I don't have too much to add. I will say Dawnriders are very solid for their points cost and incredibly fast, so fitting in more might be good. If nothing else, they could buy time for your other units to catch up, but with Aetherquartz boosting their already respectable 4+ save, I expect they could be tanky too. Syar might be a good choice for that reason also. Welcome to the game, and hope you enjoy your time playing!

I voted that I didn't like them, but mostly because the poll didn't have the actual option I wanted. Fyreslayers have a lot of aesthetic potential, but have barely tapped a tiny fraction of it. They have the same model, over and over again, with slightly different armaments. I'm not 100% sure I could tell their infantry units or heroes apart from across the table without leaning down for a closer look. The only exception is the Magmadroth, and that's on the mount, not the rider. Now, the Magmadroth is in fact one of my favorite monsters, so the range certainly isn't all bad! But they desperately need more distinct units and heroes. The suggestion of Salamander cavalry made earlier would be perfect, as would, I dunno...some artillery pieces, or some kind of fire spirit unit (as opposed to the magmic invocations, which aren't units and don't count). Maybe a giant ur-gold golem or a duardin who temporarily takes on a fragment of Grimnir's spirit like the Eidolon of Mathlann or the Dwarf Avatar ability from Warcraft III.