NotAWzrd

Vamps don’t need to be direct antagonists to Nagash, but I expect at least one Soulblight Mortarch to be subtlety undermining his rule, hopefully Neferata makes a play. Using subterfuge and working in the shadows is befitting of vampires after all. I’m hoping to see the political side of the courts, and the infighting between the vampiric houses personally.

Do we think both zombies and skeletons then? The skeleton Underworlds warbands is one of my favourites but I swear the skeleton warriors kit is one of the most infuriatingly fiddly kits I’ve ever had to put together, I wouldn’t miss it honestly. I’d be happy if we only get zombie thralls of various kinds + vampires.

Yup I think so too. Broken Realms: Morathi set up the Hedonites battle tome. I think this book could focus on Nighthaunt and perhaps Bonereapers as well, tying up any loose ends regarding the necroquake before they shift gear and delve into the new Soulblight stuff later on. Then subsequent Broken Realms books can focus on setting up 3.0.

I think they’ll be their own thing later on. Nighthaunt and Bonereapers have a good chance of appearing in this book though as it mentioned Nagash, Soul Wars and the Necroquake.

Yeah I see that, I think if you did her hair white/silver she would look more undead. If it is indeed a legions of Nagash revamp, what models do you guys think will be carried over?

@Aelfric That sounds great! The new Hurakan kit might give you some more bits as they are quite antelope-like. If I can get the right effect with green stuff I was planning on maybe giving my Dawnriders shaggier fur and horns, like a horse equivalent to a highland cow if that makes sense.

Agreed. Dark Riders in particular are great models. There were some rumours about the Umbraneth and Malerion fusing with their mounts, becoming more draconian than the Dark Elves, so that could mean a return of cold ones in a more twisted form.

I’m really pleased we’re seeing more of the mortal realms menagerie. There’s so many strange beasts and weird creatures that inhabit each realm. From the Dracolines and Fangmora Eels, to the Steeds of Slaanesh and now the new Lumineth mounts. I’m still hoping for some kind of elongated Llama head in the Vanari Lord box. How do you folk feel towards horses in AoS now? I really want to make the Dawnriders weirder somehow.

Underworlds does have some quirky familiars / companions in a lot of warbands, so this could be a weird bat-creature accompanying it’s vampire masters. Might be linked to the fell bat advent rumour engine. Awesome idea, she’d look great with the greenish silver armour they wear. Could also kitbash with some Melusai parts for added chaotic mutations. Now that Bonesplittaz are confirmed, a reasonable guess is that these could be the related rumour engines.

Thanks for putting that together, it was getting hard to keep track of all the death related rumour engines. I think you’re spot on with everything, especially the “Creature/Beast of Ulfenkarn”. If it is indeed the Warhammer Quest, there’s lots of potential for some of these being expansions similar to the Blackstone Fortress adding warbands and monsters, hence the menagerie of death rumour engines. There’s a reasonable chance that some of these could be an indication of Flesh Eater Courts in the future, if they aren’t part of the Soulblight Gravelords. I used to think the critters with keys was hinting at the Carrion King / Ushoran combined with that foot on the ruins. A subtle nod at his imprisonment by Nagash in the Shroudcage maybe? I think you are right with it being tied to whatever Ulfenkarn will be though, it’s more bestial than ghoulish.

The armour panel, foot and shield are in the same position, the shield design, the tassel on the mounts face and fur colour are different though. Looking highly likely to be a dual kit.

Ulfenkarn does sound suspiciously like Wulfen... 🤔

It looks vaguely Nordic? Combine that with icicles and that other druid looking rumour engine and this could be something completely new. I did think the leg with the similar colouration was perhaps FEC but it might be too bestial for that now. The black armour, pale skin and red hair is very Dark Eldar Wyche-like. I’d have personally gone with white hair but as you say a blended style would work well. Castle Ulfenkarn maybe? The setting for Warhammer Quest? Could be a kingdom of Shyish though à la Ossiarch.

It’s important to bear in mind that we don’t fully know the extent of how much COVID-19 has affected their release schedule, nor how far along each release was or is, despite how much we can speculate. They could have quite easily decided to shift things around to make room for the smaller games. The more entry level products like Underworlds, Warcry: Catacombs, Warhammer Quest and a new Kill Team box being brought forward makes more sense than full faction releases, when a lot of people are either in some form of lockdown or only have access to immediate family and partners.

Agree 100%. We need discourse within the Death grand alliance and warring vampire kingdoms certainly gives us that.

Does make me wonder in what direction they will take Malerion’s forces, as I always thought they would be the dark mirror to the Lumineth considering Hysh and Ulgu’s duality. I do love how interwoven Slaanesh’s influence is though, lore-wise and aesthetically.

@HorticulusTGA Agreed. I don’t think GW cares enough about Cities of Sigmar for them to release a dual box just for the vampire hunter model. Also, there is such a myriad of death rumour engines that I still think they’ve been teasing more than one death release, so fingers crossed for the Warhammer Quest or similar. As for the Roo-mineth, I love them, I love them, I love them. I’m genuinely starting to get disappointed when something new comes out and it’s only riding a horse.

The new broken realms book (with accompanying wind temple release), the vampire underworlds warband and the witch hunter vs undead Warhammer Quest is my guess. It makes sense for them to focus on their more entry level products and boxed games like underworlds and Warhammer Quest whilst so many people are stuck at home. Also this doesn’t rule out a future death release, as Silver Tower and Blackstone Fortress were followed by release’s for Tzeentch and Chaos space marines respectively.

As for units that don’t exist, I haven’t read their battletome or anything but surely Flesh Eater Courts are the faction in most need of something new? If there’s anything in the lore that reinforces the idea of a horrific mirror to Bretonnia that would be awesome.

I understand your point here, in my head I was thinking of a new model too as opposed to just doing a simple head swap, so apologies for the misunderstanding. With this being a largely high fantasy setting though I think its logical to have a varying representation of gender throughout, as well as strange, nonsensical body types. I don’t want anyone to feel discouraged for doing conversions or taking creative liberties with their armies that’s all.

Age of Sigmar has been giving us great female sculpts lately, from the Nurgle Sorceress Fecula Flyblown to the new Chaos Underworlds warband. Leena Stormspire, despite having an incredibly goofy expression, is another example of awesome female stormcast that really need to be more than just store exclusives. I love that GW are moving away from the outdated supermodels in bikinis aesthetic that a lot of third party models still have whilst showing that women, just like men, come in all shapes and sizes. There are many, many women in the real world who are bigger, taller and stronger than the average man, and so it shouldn’t be a surprise to see that represented on the tabletop in some capacity. I’d hate for current or prospective female AoS fans to see that, despite the many blessings, curses and mutations of chaos, some people can’t stomach the idea of a female varanguard. If you don’t like a model you don’t have to buy it, but it’s great to have options for everyone.

A few things I’d love to see... A new set of Warcry warbands representing the non-chaos humans for each realm. Each of which can either be folded into a future Cities of Sigmar book like they did with StD, or have them as allies for certain factions like the Underworlds warbands are used. Actual Darkoath units (like the War Queen, Chieftan and Godsworn Hunt) to replace the maruaders and horsemen. Spites! We’ve only seen a handful of them and I love the Guillermo Del Toro vibe as weird insect-like fairies. More of that dark fairy tale side to the Sylvaneth is something I would love to see, and perhaps let the Kurnothi be their own faction instead.

Death could do with more infighting like there is in Order and Chaos. Soulblight factions in open rebellion against Nagash makes sense, but I think a challenger to Nagash’s relative omnipresence within Shyish is needed as well. Giving him multiple usurpers to deal with would make things much more interesting.

@jakenj9 The Shroud Queen from the Khainite Shadowstalkers is another proxy idea, they have the same weapon load out (in fact they are basically the same model).

The Skink Starpriest would look great painted as a Grovyle.