Neil Arthur Hotep

~€45 for 20. Exact prices are in the rumour thread.

It really just depends on how they structure the book. It could be that we get different lordships as subfactions with dynasties as additional customization. If they go with dynasties as a main thing, I would hope they don't arbitrary lock us out of running Vyrkos or Avengorii in certain lists for "flavour" reasons. I would really hate to have to run generic vampire lords or VLoZDs as general in most cases. Or being disallowed to have a Wight King/Necromancer general.

LoN subfactions were not handled like almost any other type of subfaction because of their weird relationship with the mortarchs, both locking one of them as your general and locking out of taking the others unless you had the "head" mortach in your list. They also all had their own artefact/ability lists instead of locking in your first artefact and ability in like most subfactions do. And they determined what battalions you could take to an extent. There were also the special cases of Legion of Grief and the original Soulblight allegiance. I fully expect none of these mechanics to return. Instead, we will likely see standard subfactions like other current books get. We will definitely not see Legion of Sacrament and Grand Host return, because they make no sense in the new book. And at that point, I also expect the Legions of Blood and Night to go or be reworked.

According to that 4chan leak that was right in all other aspects, Arkhan is no longer in the book, but Nagash and the others Mortarchs are.

Short answer is that it's not clear yet. We can't really go off of LoNs past mechanics because they had a weird subfaction system that is almost certainly being retired.

Personally, I can more easily see OBR as "new Tomb Kings" and IDK as "cthulhu elves" than I can see the new Stormcast as Bretonnian. I can rationalize that description if I try, but when I think Bretonnia I would have expected different, more medieval helmets, tabbards and (above all) horses. Maybe there is a unit still to be shown that hammers this home, but given just the models we know of already, would you not be more likely to call them "gritty stormcast", "realistic stormcast" or even "angel stormcast"?

Come to think of it, are we even confident that we will see mongolian inspired wolf riders/steppe goblins anymore? Bretonnian Stormcast definitely did not pan out (as far as we know), and since those rumours were connected, I'd say that counts against the wolf rider theory. Plus, when I think swamps and mires as the newest teaser implies, I don't really think wolves.

I would think that Blood Knights get their support in Neferata's or Mannfred's faction. Or maybe there is a Prince Vhordrai faction, as well. I could see room for a 1-in-4 FEC and Nighthaunt faction, too. Maybe even one that allows you to build a Deathrattle Kingdom list, but that's more wishful thinking than anything else.

I think this is the kind of difference that give factions their own flavour and identity. Gravelords are still a bit of a soupy faction, so I think giving vampires extra customization options to show that they are the ones in charge would not be bad design.

The new Fell Bats seem to be a lot bigger than the old ones. They were previously on 40mm bases, but check out these absolute units in the back near the Terrorgheist: Maybe they are more of an elite choice now.

That all looks pretty reasonable by GW standards. Lauka Vai even looks kinda cheap. I think that means she is smaller than we though previously. Sigvald size maybe?

They usually just reveal some assorted special rules, right? Makes sense, those are most exciting in a vacuum.

They come 20 in a box. They are half the price of wardens.

The Necrospinx is a perfect Vengorian Lord proxy already. It has the exact same body configuration. Only downside is that you have to source a Necrosphinx somewhere.

Some hopes and dreams now that we know gravesites are back: Gravesite deepstrike stays. It's a fun mechanic that I believe often went underused. Might as well keep it around. Deathrattle and Deadwalker non-heroes can still be resurrected (maybe at half strength instead of full?). I would like if any hero can do this, not just the general. Or even if it was possible without a hero. Failing that, I hope we get the ability to have double/triple generals like other factions. Otherwise, it's going to be the VLoZD show again (maybe the Vengorian Lord, too). With generic battalions and other command point changes, it seems like in AoS 3 command points will be more abundant. Since LoN was previously balanced by being command point starved, I think we will move to resurrecting half strength units, not full. Which would not be the worst if horde bonuses are mostly gone. Deathly Invocation goes, healing gets baked into the warscrolls. I like that skeletons, zombies and vampires now heal in different ways. Zombies heal by killing, as they should. Vampires heal by damaging things. And skeletons just get back up after fighting. With all this healing going around, we don't need deathly invocations anymore. This will simplify positioning a bit, which would be welcome. Maybe necromancers retain a healing ability and become healer heroes? Gravesites can provide a minor heal to anything, not just summonable. A big problem for the viability of Blood Knight lists in the past is how badly they interacted with LoNs core mechanics. I hope they benefit more this time around. I think making them and heroes able to benefit from gravesite healing would be good. An extra free d3 or so heal would really count for something on these units, unlike on skeleton blobs.

Those Vyrkos rules can't come out soon enough! They have all of my favourite new sculpts. I want to see if wolf and bat focussed army is possible.

If any dwarves get souped, I think it's Dispossessed with Fyreslayers. Because slayers were an established part of the Warhammer Fantasy Dwarves range and they have a small enough number of models to work as a subfaction of a "big dwarves" army. But souping in Kharadron is what makes no sense to me. They have a strong aesthetic and play style that is very different from the other dwarves and it would definitely be like souping up Idoneth and Lumineth.

Personally, I am about 80% confident that the new faction is some kind of Greenskin army, between the rumours and that teaser banner. But it has been established in Underworlds that the Silent People (or at least their artefacts) can have a symbiotic relationship with other creatures. Could that be where we are headed? I'd find that interesting. It does not match up with the mongolian goblin wolf rider rumours, but kinda matches that teaser banner with the masks.

1d3 wounds healing on a 3+ save is cool, though. Does not help against mortals, of course, but will make it hard to kill the Vampire Lord with standard rend 0/-1 attacks. If all new Vampire Lords are on a 3+ with a chance to heal in combat, good combat profile and are wizards, I'll be happy with them. Hopefully plus "mount traits".

I would tend not to believe this because it's all established topics of speculation. I also don't think an all-dwarves soup army is very likely, with how popular Kharadron are.

Generally, I agree with you. Stormcast don't need a redesign at this point, in so far as there are way jankier sculpts in other armies. But I can understand why GW felt the need to give them new sculps, anyways. I think from GWs perspective, one of the strengths 40k had over Warhammer Fantasy is that the game had a faction that was it's "face" with Space Marines. So when they decided to reboot Fantasy for Age of Sigmar, they wanted a protagonist faction like 40k had, which is Stormcast. That line of thinking is probably not wrong. It makes it easier to advertise the game and easier for new players to get into it. So I think the question is not really whether or not we should have a protagonist faction. GW will have one anyway, because it makes sense from a business perspective (but also from a writing perspective). The question is whether GW is handling their protagonist faction appropriately. What we don't want is a 40k situation, where Space Marines have become so absurdly big that they make up, like, half of all armies. But I think GW's handling of Stormcast last edition shows that they don't want to make Stormcast the Marines of AoS in that way. They got a new release in the beginning of the edition and then that was it, apart from some single models here and there. That time is now rolling around again. So what should GW do with Stormcast? I would say, they should make sure that Stormcast, being the focus of their general advertising, should reflect the quality of models that GW puts out at the time. They should always look as good as model making technology allows. I don't think it's controversial to say that GW's models have got a lot better since AoS 1, so a new take on basic Stormcast makes sense in that way. GW also seems to want to move to a more grounded, grittier Mortal Realms this edition. The narrative focus seems to be on securing the realms from Chaos and Destruction again. Because of this, in order to have our protagonists match the tone, the slightly more realistic, less exaggerated new Stormcast make sense. Personally, I have not felt like Stormcast have been overshadowing other factions since I came back to the game two years ago. I think they are being handled fairly well. It seems to me like we can have a protagonist faction in AoS without it becoming a Space Marine situation.

I like Lauka Vai a lot, actually, but I really have to see her rules before I go all in on a big center piece. As for how good the batgletome will be: It's definitely written with AoS 3 in mind at this point and the life span of battletomes does not really correspond to their release timing very much. It just depends whether the early edition jank works out in your favour (DoK) or not (LoN).

Nice to see Gravelords will start going up for preorder next week. I was fully expecting to have to wait until the last weekend of May. Excited for the battletome spoilers we will no doubt see next week. I'm surprised gravesites are still in, though. Too bad, though, that this wave of releases does not have any of the models I really want. I guess I will pick up the battletome and a vamp lord. I am still busy enough with Cursed City, anyway.

I'm glad to see the new edition announced. Exciting times! The new Stormcast models look good. I never disliked Stormcast like some people did, especially right at the beginning of AoS, but their aesthetic never especialy appealed to me, either. This new look where they moved away from the huge World of Warcraft shoulder pads and made them just a hair slimmer makes me like them a lot more. Still not enough to make me want to put them into my Cities army, but enough to make me excited about going up against them at some point. The new angel lady is also very cool. I think GW has found a good balance for Stormcast as the main protagonist faction. I think being in every starter set, getting new models at the start of every edition and generally being the go-to for special releases is a good place for them to be in. This way, I don't feel like they overshadow other factions, but there is an option for new players who want a faction with guaranteed support. I hope their new battletome establishes them as a faction of simple, powerful rules and good fundamentals. At this point I am most interested in our new antagonist faction. Personally, I have no nostalgia for Fimir. They just look like 80s DnD monsters to me. I'd rather see something completely new. Or, failing that, at least some cool kind of greenskin. The banner with the masks looks promising! I wonder if they will be Kragnos' dudes. Also, I just want to mention: I think Cities of Sigmar stocks are rising. Three new cities in Broken Realms, new witch hunter models, and now redesigned Freeguild featuring in the new destruction faction teaser. I think we will be seeing the faction expanded sooner rather than later.

Even though the Freeguild faces and weapons are not great, I think easily the worst thing about them is their onesie-clad body. I really think they could do with a resculpt, not an upgrade sprue. See Greatswords for reference, those still look really good because they are wearing actual clothes.