[The Rumour Thread]

4 hours ago, shinros said:

"The battle for control of the mortal realms continued. While gods and demigods pondered their next moves, and the sigmarabulum rang to the hammer blows of reforging, an insidious evil was taking form, solidifying out of the pure madness that is the realm of chaos. 

Nine in number, the gaunt summoners hailed from the Crystal Labyrinth. There, the coven had created Whisperfane - an impossible mind - maze filled with deadly illusion, and one of the dreaded Silver Towers. With a push of their unfathomable minds, the Gaunt summoners could shift these twisted citadels into the reality of the Mortal Realms. There, many a brave warrior would be lured inside with the promises of riches untold. Many entered, yet few returned. 

Plans within plans, plots within plots. Who can tell the endgame of those cabalistic sorcerers? Their methods insane, their goals inscrutable - yet it is said in ancient and little understood rhymes that `death becomes the smallest fear when the Sliver Towers appear`

Fear them, for they are coming............. "

Yeah this image is a two spread image and the last page of the story of the All - gates campaign book with this passage on the right hand side. Plus Grungi has gone missing suddenly. Coincidence? Oh and all the sliver tower stuff is part of the tzeentch Arcanites don't you think it's strange that GW told us to use other profiles when points came out? 

When did Silver Tower get released in relation to All Gates?

Just wondering if it could have been pointing to that, and not necessarily anything else?  Not that there couldn't be Tzeentch release, and certainly that's what the rumors all seem to point to, but seeing this...  Makes me think of the board game more than another campaign.

Of course, how cool would it be if they could link the board game to the table top war game?

[The Rumour Thread]

45 minutes ago, daedalus81 said:

There is just a je ne sais quoi with the nature and spontaneity of the unknown in the rumor mill.  Instead of checking GW's web page every month or so for updates I'm hitting the forums on a regular basis to see what else might have popped up.

This is an excellent point.  In a way, the mystery behind the releases may even bring the community together a little more.

[The Rumour Thread]

Just now, daedalus81 said:

Thing is they have a lot of disparate systems without tons of crossover.  If I buy one release I won't feel like I should have waited when something else hits in a different system.  Where with GW it's sort of the opposite.  If people saw everything that was coming you'd see most people just waiting for what they want out of the line-up and not venturing into other areas for their "fix".  

Also, if you spend enough time on Dakka half the conversation is about which army should have gotten the update and whether or not the update was good enough.

Fair points... But I'm relatively certain Death should have gotten the update, and the update was ****** anyway...

Seriously though.  I understand what you mean, and don't necessarily disagree with you.  But I also feel like that is somewhat a product of GW's previous standard operating procedure, which 40k is still suffering from.  

AOS has many differences in it's mechanics and presentation that I think will limit it's exposure to those issues.

• AoS doesn't have killer armies.  There is no Eldar here.  Most armies can pull out wins if lists are built well and played well.
• AoS has smaller armies.  Meaning I can have a few favorite armies.
• AoS Grand Alliances encourage you to be interested in at least (theoretically) 1/4 of the AoS world... Although at this point, Death and Destruction lag behind in updates and armies, I don't suspect this will always be the case.
• AoS has more ways to play.  Not everything in AoS is about the competitive player.  Meaning that as long as they continue to put forth armies who at least seem like the writer(s) of their battletomes cared about them, there should be generally positive reception.

  That's all I can think of for now.

But at the end of the day, I guess my main thrust is that GW has been making the move toward being a more customer focused organization, and that can be nothing but good for them.  Visibility in terms of releases can't really hurt them I don't think. I'm not suggesting they go as far as FFG with months lead on what is coming out, but I think a few weeks lead up, with a couple of articles discussing mechanics and fluff would be well received in general. 

Also, if you are correct about this, what does it say about GW that the only way they can get people to buy their latest product is if they keep what you really want hidden away, so you have to get your fix somewhere else?

[The Rumour Thread]

5 hours ago, Tiger said:

Keep in mind that the downside of having a public schedule is a potential backlash, if you need to change it for whatever reason or being (truthfully or falsely) accused of playing favourites for certain factions.

It's nice to know what's coming, but in practice it only meant that I've looked at the releases when my own faction got something. I feel there is some sense in keeping things air tight, it makes us check whenever there is an update and makes discussion going when small bits of rumours are posted.

Not sure I agree with this.  Take a look at Fantasy Flight.  They announce things months in advance.  Then do 4 or 5 preview articles to boot.  They don't give specific release dates, more like time frames.  i.e. an 'on the boat status' means it's still about 2-3 weeks from the store shelves. iirc.  FFG has a great relationship with their customers.  I mean, just look through their forums.  You will see very little FFG bashing in there.

Anyway, they are always going to hear about how they are biased.  That's just how things work. Unless they change the way they do releases to be more like Warmahordes, and release new models for all factions at once, they are never going to get out from under that.  And even if they did change their release planning, they'd still get it, because reasons.

Anyway, all of that said.  I really like the direction they've been going, except for the fact that they hate Grand Alliance Death, my proof is reasons.  Seriously... Where are my Deathrattle and Soulblight at?  

[The Rumour Thread]

2 hours ago, Sleboda said:

Aww, I'm just goofin.  I'm a majorhugebig TK fan, and even I have accepted that they are toast.  I figured orhers would not seriously think TK were ever coming back and world see the humor in my post.

 

Apologies to those who still hold out hope for the TK and didn't know it was a joke.

 

Btw. Kharn bit not a joke.  Local GW manager told me he has seen the issue.

Personally, I am still holding onto hope and conspiracy theories for the return of the Tomb Kings.

Remember, Settra didn't die in the End Times.  In fact he pretty much gave a huge middle finger to the Chaos Gods, and got away with it.  Not something many can claim.  Also, I keep hearing about some obscure hints in the fluff.  One of which iirc, was about a character running afoul of some undead in a skull encrusted chariot.  Now that's just something I was told, so not sure where it is off hand, but I trust the guy who told me about it.

Of course, I'm also not holding my breath.

[The Rumour Thread]

52 minutes ago, Sleboda said:

From my butt.

Well, now I know it must be true.

All hail Sleboda's Butt, Lord of Games Workshop Prognostication!

[The Rumour Thread]

2 minutes ago, Nico said:

Do you think that the release of Thousand Sons models suggests that Tzeentch AoS stuff is on the way?

I don't necessarily think so, since there is no cross over between AoS and 40k for that model.  Unless that model is released with some Season X of Tzeentch type branding.  And, of course, if we start seeing new Tzeentch deamons, then that changes things significantly.

[The Rumour Thread]

10 hours ago, Sleboda said:

White Dwarf model is Kahrn.

New Tomb Kings will be called The Eternal Legions.

Do not toy with my emotions Sleboda!

Where did you get the Tomb Kings info?

[The Rumour Thread]

18 minutes ago, RuneBrush said:

I can see where you're coming from - brother is a huge TK fan/collector so I hear similar comments from him.  The season/age that we've been in was very much Order & Chaos driven but this is now done and ultimately re-established Order as the guys currently at the top of the tree. 

I actually think Death is being saved up for something special.  Chaos has received a bit of a kicking and Destruction only just emerging as a force.  Likely Nagash has been waiting in the wings to see what happens and has some devious machination to twist things to his own ends - which would be very thematic!

I really, really hope this is true.

As mentioned, I believe the next focus is on Tzeentch.  But maybe, as in the case of the Stormcast getting released along with Bloodbound, Tzeentch will need someone to be opposing.  Maybe Death will be in there.  I feel like that wouldn't be a bad spot.  Two factions best known for powerful casters...

[The Rumour Thread]

10 minutes ago, The Jabber Tzeentch said:

There is a rumour of death getting a release sometime in the future but it's very non specific

I saw that, but it doesn't give me a ton of hope.  I mean it's nice to see a 2016 date attached to it, but it's so non-specific as to resemble a guess.

Not trying to be whiny, but it's frustrating looking at these lists of yet more Order and Chaos Releases, which likely contain new models, while Death has had one battletome, that was a re-pack special.  Bad enough we lost variety in our Alliance with the loss of Tomb Kings, but the lack of attention since AoS dropped, is very disappointing.

My only hope is that the long lead up to a real Death update means major items in the development pipe.  But when that new Battletome finally does drop, I'll be very disappointing if it isn't magnificent.

[The Rumour Thread]

I just wonder why GA Death isn't getting any love.  It's killing me. (See what I did there?)