Neil Arthur Hotep

Interesting. It seems so much more approachable to me than the huge blocks of text we had before. No more digging through the rules text for activation timing, casting values, your phase vs. any phase etc. But what I am really excited about is the Anti-KEYWORD stuff. I'm super excited to see what new roles all those redundant units from past editions get. Really exited about Ruination, too. I am already finding myself planning out colour schemes.

I don't know about you guys, but I am super excited to play 4th edition. Can't wait to see the warscrolls for my factions. What they have been doing for Stormcast is so good!

I use them on for Steelhelms and they are a huge time saver. Since I magnetize for transport anyway, they are very convenient. Highly recommend them.

For my rarely-used Citadel paints, I always had minor spills and the last bit of paint usually dries up or separates.

My first thought was that they intended the shorter coherency distance to close the loophole where miniatures on 25mm bases, but nobody else, can deploy in a long line. Based on my personal experience, this change won't affect me a lot. I already have my 25mm base dudes in base-to-base contact all of the time, and now with 3" combat ranger there will be even less reason to ever take them off their movement trays. I wish, though, that we had gone back to "within" instead of "wholly within" on measurements, since the conga lines that originally necessitated that change are now completely impossible.

Boo. More rend, fewer mortals. They want to address save stacking, but it sounds like they didn't fix it structurally (by making rend apply after save bonuses are calculated) but by limiting access to save bonuses. So potentially, some factions can still save stack or the mechanic will make a return as battletomes are released. Really happy with unit roles. The game will benefit a lot from a stronger rock/paper/scissors and better functional signposting like the Anti-Charge ability on Vindictors. 25mm base supremacy is a thing of the past. I don't really get why they want to discourage retreating. If anything, I think the game would benefit from players retreating more often.

There are a few instances where I suspect an old WHFB kit is internally just treated as a regular AoS kit. Blightkings are an obvious one. But also something like the Hurricanum/Luminark, which played a pivotal role in Broken Realms and has appeared in official AoS art, such as here illustrating the Realm of Azyr. I would bet that this kit stays in AoS unless it gets replaced, and that it doesn't get replaced for another 5 years or so at least. Which is pretty funny, considering it literally says "Emperor Karl Franz" on it. I think several 8th Ed/End Times kits are in that category.

I have been thinking about this whole "battle formations" thing, too. Like others, I don't really see it as a super big improvement. Even though you were never required to paint your models a certain way to get access to subfaction rules, I suppose it is somewhat nice for people who do feel a strong compulsion to do this kind of thing, but would like to paint their guys differently/use a different subfaction's fluff. I was recently thinking about how I never used Living City even though I think ambushing is pretty fun. Mostly it was because I have a tech-heavy cities army, so I think I kind of just mentally skipped over the nature subfaction. I might have considered them more seriously without the fluff mismatch. But I am not really convinced this kind of benefit necessitates a restructuring of the whole subfaction system.

I honestly don't think it's any deeper than "When did this kit come out? 8th ed? Let it ride for a few more years.". Although Grave Guard definitely deserve better.

It's not like gold/blue is a bad colour scheme, but I think anything that is mostly painted gold is hard to make look good. I like the colour scheme change because it illustrated the change in the characterization of Stormcast. When they were the big heroes retaking the realms, they were painted in gleaming gold. Now that they are tragic characters ravaged by their past, they get painted in more down to earth, more natural steel and leather colours.

Didn't they say combat phase rules as well as magic and prayers are this week?

I can't view these images, could you reupload them?

They just get strapped into a little baby carrier beforehand.

On the one hand, we really don't have to pretend our Games Workshop holy knights that were supposed to be fantasy Space Marines don't look like Games Workshop Space Marines that are supposed to be holy knights. On the other hand, I still think Stormcast look way cooler than Space Marines.

If anything, this guy looks like a fantasy miniature. Not the other way around.

I was just thinking about the evolution of the Stormcast aesthetic. It seems to me that the first Stormcast models were at least somewhat inspired by the World of Warcraft art style (with its exaggerated triangular physiques and huge pauldrons) that dominated fantasy art for a while. Which is funny, considering that the Warcraft games, in turn, draw a lot of inspiration from Warhammer in the beginning. I think the newest Stormcast looking more Dark Souls inspired illustartes the change in the popular taste for fantasy media. And again the DNA of Warhammer is in the mix, given how Dark Souls aims to capture the feeling of early western fantasy games like Dungeons and Dragons from the perspective of a Japanese teenager who only half understood what was going on at any moment. Of course, with the history of DnD and Games Workshop being so intimately connected, things are coming full circle once again. That's the nice thing about cultural exchange, all kinds of art pieces keep being created and constantly influence and enrich each other.

Every day I inch closer towards starting a Stormcast army. These guys might be the coolest ones yet for me. We are getting closer to the mood of the original concept art, aren't we?

It's only really a problem with their washes and stuff, but those are their most expensive paints, as well. It's not like the pots are a deal breaker if you are used to them, but dropper bottles are just so much more hassle free.

If I was using the hammer, would go with the lance/hammer combo, as well, for what it's worth. I think it makes sense to kit out the Griffon for a really scary charge/alpha strike. It has really good mobility and with counter-charge/engage the foe, it seems very scary. -4 rend on the charge with counter-charge is no joke, and getting counter charges had been really easy in my experience.

Currently mostly Vallejo since that was the general recommendation when I came back to painting about 5 years ago. No real complaints about their paints, either. Both model color and game color work well. A notabe exception to this is that I the classic Army Painter washes (Strong Tone and Dark Tone). I have a few contrast paints. They are good, but the Citadel paint pots are such a downgrade over dropper bottles. I spilled both the white and black at some point, which given the cost is pretty annoying. These two things, cost (citadel is about 1.5 times the price of other good model paints at no increase in quality) and the paint pots, make me avoid Citadel overall. I kind of feel like I have progressed past the Citadel system in my painting, anyway. For beginners, it's nice to have the structure, but once you get comfortable mixing paints and using the color wheel, you don't really need it. Currently, I am looking to maybe get a speed paint set. I already use inks a lot, and speed paints are kind of just purpose-made model painting inks. I am hearing good things about the new Army Painter and Vallejo ranges. Might go with army painter, since their washes are already my go-to.

It's probably the best character to put it on. I am still a bit split on the Warhammer. It's cool, but it adds, like, 2 damage per activation. I don't know if it's even worth it, really. I get that, honestly. I am planning a monster-heavy list with the Griffon and Tahlia Vedra at some point, and I think I won't be putting the Hurricanum in that, either. It does not pair that well with fast stuff that wants to move around a lot and charge, since its buff range is pretty small (9" wholly within). Great with Steam Tanks, though, and probably in some other situations. I am definitely interested in hearing about your experiences with Lethis. The prayers look like they should be fun and impactful. Make sure to get those games in before 4th drops and we move to battle formations.

I think it's actually way funnier to call the guys from the other game Spacecast Eternal.

I will add my impressions real quick. I have had three games so far post-scroll. So far, I am still winning (or at least competeing). I have run Fusilisers twice since the nerf. I find that they still do OK damage against low-armour targets. But how valuable is that, really? Their Unleash Hell is really bad now. It was a big threat with the added mortals, now it barely matters. A block of 20 is unwieldy and needs to be protected, necessitating screens. That, coupled with the higher points, makes me agree that they are not really worth it right now. With current rules, I'd like to see them at 140 or so points. I am thinking of switching to Cavaliers for a bit. I had a test game using Misthavn, and getting that juicy first turn charge is pretty easy. I have not had that problem because my list runs a Hurricanum and Alchemite. They save a lot of points on All-Out Defense and Attack. I think more human lists should look into the Hurricanum. It pays for itself every game for me. Yeah, same for me. I have tried running heal and the Blackwater artefact on a priest Steam Tank, but didn't need it in the one game I brought them. I will keep testing. For the Tanks, save stacking still helps keep them alive pretty well, but not being able to heal them 3d3 is certainly a noticable downgrade. Again, the Hurricanum helps a lot with this. Can't recommend it enough. Between Chain Lightning and Storm of Shemtek, it contributes a lot. I am also not at all shy about charging Zenestra into combat for an extra 2d3. I currently run 10 and 20 infantry blocks, but they just die if a hammer gets into them. So, accurate. They occasionally live if they are on a 3+ save, 5+ ward, at least. But you really cannot count on the Zenestra ward being up all the time. Feeling this one pretty strongly in my human only list. I have never got the two shooty tactics to work. Mount the Charge and Raise the Banner are managable, though. I like your list and I like this idea. I have personally not movef out of humans because the opportunity cost is so high, though. The Tanks and Hurricanum are very good for me, and they all benefit a lot from the Alchemite, Zenestra and Command Corps. Every human unit I add also benefits from them, so I am personally hesitant to dip into elves or dwarves. Consider just save stacking with AoD, Finest Hour and Mystic Shield. Most of the time, just two buffs are effectively unrendable. Sometimes even just one. Plus, I think you don't get Blizzard and a lore spell. Or are you spending an enhancement on it? Let me know how that works out for you! I ran the number on Lethis once and came to the conclusion that, for my list, it was not quite worth it. The removing ward prayer in particular has a high chance not to add any value, although it is certainly a magic bullet against those high ward characters (if you can roll a 4+). I want to run Lethis because it's just the coolest city, but so far I am still sticking with Hallowheart and Misthavn. Not sure which on I prefer yet. Well, realistically it won't matter in 3 months, anyway.

If Cities are treated like Stormcast it will certainly be a signigicant shift in their design. They currently have one allegiance ability and 12 subfactions. Reworking that into 4 abilities and 4 subfactions would be a challenge.

So heroic actions were removed after all. I speculated about that earlier this week.