RamsesIII

On the one hand: Radukar possibly being present in the main narrative? Sick! On the other hand: I don't like the chances for new Cursed City content, transformed Radukar was one of the biggest predictions for an expansion, we'll see.

I'd be happy if gitmob/hobgoblins brought along a few normal orruks as part of their Waaagh! so GW would sell orc boyz and other old kits again, since TOW should still be away for some time (assuming it uses the same scale).

Agreed, it's actually looking quite solid now, and there seems to be a greater amount of customization than I expected. It also seems to have quite a bit of singleplayer content which I appreciate a lot!

...Huh! Seems like we're quite a few Spaniards over here. 😮

Bretonnian stormcast vampires?? 😵

While I personally doubt it, that would be a very fitting portrayal of the massive Waaagh! Gordrakk is supposed to be leading. As someone who cares more about the hobby aspect than the rules, I'd appreciate the variety in sculpts.

But Chaos isn't an entity with goals restricting BoC, the way Nagash would force his will onto undead or the chaos gods would restrict their followers. BoC are literally the most free of all chaos factions! Each brayherd fights whom they please, when they believe is right, and has goals that are their own, not that of any god. They could, if any writer wanted, wage war against Slaanesh, Archaon, another beastlord, etc. They'd probably need some kind of narrative power boost to be a huge threat, but that has nothing to do with Chaos or Destruction. Some people find chaos-alignment boring? Yes, well, I'm sure some people won't be buying Soulblight Gravelords kits because Death isn't interesting to them. And I'm sure some people aren't fans of Destruction factions generally not having a purpose beyond "let's have a good fight, that thing looks the biggest and the toughest, let's wreck it". It's pointless to make these assumptions about whether BoC would have more fans with what you propose or not. Maybe some people would like it. To some other people, like myself, it'd be taking away some of the faction's appeal, making a big retcon in their battletome and losing the one Chaos faction not serving a god. Something unnecessary when feral kurnothi are right there waiting to be expanded upon as a potential Destruction army.

As a BoC fan I do Also, changing GA won't make them popular. Lore, models, units and mechanics will, and those can be done without taking them out of chaos. Why make Destruction BoC and undo the majority of their lore when you can just do feral kurnothi with minimal changes? I guess I'm not opposed to a group of Beastmen not being chaos-aligned (like with the tzaangor enlightened story) as it can give them some more depth, but I wouldn't like it becoming the new norm. They fill their own niche within chaos, and they're debatably the most chaos-aligned of all factions (not out of convenience or allegiance to a god, but because they are the true children of chaos).

I feel like some people are forgetting that Beasts of Chaos already don't follow the chaos gods generally speaking, and that marked gors are considered weak/outcasts by their brethren for surrendering their will to a single chaos god as opposed to bearing their heritage with pride, being "the true children of chaos" as they call it. BoC aren't the chaos gods' disposable pawns anymore. Which is why I hope that if Kragnos is really the Gorfather (today's picture does make him look a bit more BoC-like tbh), he isn't a part of Destruction and doesn't bring the beastmen with him to that side. It'd be a complete 180º from BoC's entire story and a shame in my opinion, as they're the only chaos faction that actually serves true chaos as opposed to personal, maybe-too-orderly whims of one of the gods. BoC deserve love, yes, but I'd rather it not come at the cost of their current identity. And on a side note: It'd be cool to see Ghosteater as a playable, official model at some point. Or Morghur, or even Moonclaw if I'm allowed to have unrealistic dreams.

I get not liking the fact that they're the posters boys though. I've skipped quite a few good box deals just because half the models were Stormcast and I don't personally know anyone who collects/plays Warhammer in my area to split the box with. I don't know much about business and I won't deny there probably needs to be a poster boy though. Sometimes the hate for them is a bit too strong, I'll agree on that, and I'm glad GW seems to have toned down their protagonism/support a bit. If the "knight aesthetic" 3rd edition rumour is true, I hope it gets me more on board with them, as it stands I would much prefer Cities of Sigmar-style units over them.

I wasn't expecting Kroak at all! My goodness, he looks absolutely incredible. We're suddenly getting so many crazy reveals in such short succession.

Dude I just want to buy Cursed City if it's still around at the end of the year, I don't want to think about 3rd edition.😭 My only hope is that GW decides to put Stormcast Eternals in the starter box again.

Damn, I wasn't ready for that Tzeentch horrors box. I'm supposed to be saving up but that's the first Tzeentch pack where I like all models, huge battleforces that I couldn't afford aside. This sudden acceleration in the BR releases is going to be delightfully cruel to my "cheap collector" self.

I think the zombie dragon holds up pretty good, it's certainly nowhere near as bad as some of the models most in need of a makeover, so I wouldn't expect it to be replaced anytime soon. Let's not forget that it doesn't only act as a kit for FEC too, but it's also the kit to make Prince Vhordrai.

I personally disagree with the notion that BoC should be part of Destruction, or that their AOS lore is headed that way. It's true that they've distanced themselves from the chaos gods, but only in favour of true chaos, without the selfish, sometimes orderly whims of the gods. According to their battletome they now claim to be the true children of chaos, in a few ways one could argue that they're the most chaos-aligned of all armies. Morghur seems to have become a chaos deity of sorts (not like the five), Ghosteater still fights for chaos, and I don't know what other named characters they have in the lore currently, but so far it seems they're doubling down on their allegiance, it's just that they're done being expendable meat for the chaos gods. It's also worth noting that, at least as far as I'm aware, none of the Destruction armies destroy because destruction is their end goal, it's more of a byproduct of what they find fun, what they need to do to survive, to dominate, etc (though there's exceptions of course, like against bitter enemies). BoC hace a practically religious dedication to destroying all kinds of slightly developed civilization. The philosophy isn't quite the same. I'd be fine with a portion of BoC being fieldable as a Destruction army though, or a subspecies coming from beastmen. The lore did mention enlightened non-chaotic gors who were unfairly driven away by Sigmar (or someone else, can't remember) and later became tzaangors.

Ah, but who's to say those birds aren't there for a reason eh? Perhaps everything is as it should be. All in accordance to some form of scheme, even.

Oh I would love that. Or BoC doing anything significant, really.

Personally, I think that if GW fails to make a new product accessible to to their players (which to be fair, can't always be done especially with an army that relies on a few gigantic models) that's on them, other companies can and should capitalize on any gaps in the market because that's what companies are supposed to do. I personally prefer to buy GW's products because I like to maintain a uniform style for my miniatures, and thankfully I don't love Sons of Behemat so I'm not feeling tempted by the expensive models. But I don't think there's anything wrong with "knockoffs" (if they're good quality) in a hobby that isn't cheap, and has a tendency to get pricier at times (not always). Besides, it's not like a mega gargant is... a very innovative concept. I'm not sure what sets them apart lorewise, but aesthetically, they're just particularly detailed giants that are extra big compared to previous versions. I don't doubt that those Colossals were motivated by Sons of Behemat release, but it's hard for me to see it so uninspired and lacking in artistic integrity when the thing it's based on is such a typical, tried and tested concept whose real risk comes from its implementation as a business decision in a tabletop game, not from its artistic design or concept. Maybe I'd be more inclined to agree if we were talking about one of the crazier Gloomspite Gitz models and not about the extra-big giants (which admittedly shine for the actual execution of the old idea, they look fantastic). Oh no, sorry, we're talking about gargants, completely different thing... but is it though? So in the end I don't see it as something so terrible, not from the artists involved who as far as we know could be completely pleased with putting their own spin on various existing designs (a task which isn't lacking in dignity by any means, much less considering how many once innovative creatures are now staples of every fantasy world) or from whoever told them to work on that. It forces GW to stay competitive, and allows some people to get into the setting, game or painting/kitbash hobby even when their wallets wouldn't normally allow it. And someone picking up that non-GW model because they like that design better is perfectly valid too.

I'd personally prefer it if SCE wasn't in the 3.0 starter box, I get that it's supposed to be the "beginner-friendly" army but it's also the one that's consistently led me not to buy any of the starter sets. I don't hate the army but I don't quite dig its aesthetic as much as the majority of the other armies and I would have likely picked up at least one of those sets if we had a different army instead of SCE, though I don't know if that's an unpopular opinion or not. A wider variety in starter set armies might be beneficial, though I do get the advantage of having a consistent element in them. I'd like Cities of Sigmar much more, though I wonder if it might be a little odd if one of the starting armies has quite a bit of content taken from old WHFB armies. I mean, I wouldn't mind at all, but I'm not sure that would apply to everyone.

I do agree on that, I don't see these zombies being ported straight to Soulblight Gravelords, not without many additions to differentiate them. Plus admittedly the graves make them look "higher-tier" in a way, like they're supposed to be stronger than the abundant zombie chaff. I wonder if that might be a thing actually, having both weak zombies in great numbers and a few slightly more elite kinds of zombies.

Eh, I think the new zombies look fantastic. Furthermore, they suit the AOS "take old Fantasy and give it a new spin" ideology more than the skeletons, for better or worse, so regardless of how good of an idea that would be or how well received it would be, I wouldn't see it as an oversight but a very deliberate choice. I do think that being able to take off their graves would be ideal for more options though.

I disagree, not about destroying Azyr specifically because I'm unsure of my thoughts on it, but about the idea that substractive elements in the lore are inherently bad in the long run. If the lore only allows partial victories and there's no real consequences to the events of the stories then the world will become stale, much like 40k (and Fantasy before the End Times) where everything inevitably returns to the same status quo. Having the chance for real progression and change is one of AOS' strongest points, so while I agree that most character deaths or massive events that take an entire army out of the game should be avoided, I do believe that eventually there needs to be a situation that results in big consequences for everyone, even if it's something that's done sparingly. I don't think we've reached the point where that's necessary yet though, but something to the scale of the destruction of Azyr (not necessarily that particular event) could be a good move for the game some years later- and it wouldn't necessarily require the disappearance of a model line, the AOS universe allows for plenty of creativity to justify the content of the tabletop game.

Agreed. I would personally also like to see Moonclaw come back even though I don't think it's likely. Now that the beastmen are no longer incondicional pawns of the Chaos Gods and consider themselves the true children of chaos, who better to lead them than the son of Morrslieb himself? Well, Morghur would work well too, though the battletome mentioned that those who praised him as a god were seemed kind of 'heretical' by the other Beastmen (not sure if it was that extreme or if it was simply looked down upon). He could also have a significant grudge against the skaven for blowing up his mother in the End Times.