ShyishBarry

I'll have to wait and see if the line expands and what the rules are like, but I really like the look of both the crossbowmen and the Killbow, so I think I'd be running shooting-heavy if I end up getting into Kruleboyz (which doesn't seem unlikely, but time will tell if this is just the New Shiny Effect). As for book presence, I think these guys are gonna end up being their own book, but with the ability to take units from Warclans, kinda like a lot of Chaos armies can take units from other books and have them function properly. I wouldn't be surprised if they end up as a part of Warclans either, though.

It'll probably be guts, but I wish it were snakes because snakes are cool and are a type of beast.

Looks to me like the kind of leather stuff some of the new Slaves to Darkness models have, so I've got a feeling that it's more likely to be some poor guy's skin being worn by someone, rather than a balloon.

Huh, looks like they just updated the article like minutes ago to remove the last paragraph about Kroak, Morathi and Gardus managing to draw Kragnos away for now. Guess the intent wasn't to spoil that much and someone messed up along the way.

I'm cautiously optimistic with the new orc-goblins. The robed shaman look is intriguing me, and does kinda make sense considering that they've really put their religion front and centre in advertising material (worshipping Kragnos, the totems). But a lot of it will come down to execution, and this one fellow we saw might not be representative of the full army. Warhammer Plus, meanwhile, not too positive on that one, I don't think it's a good idea at all and I don't expect it to stay in business for long.

I think it's gonna come down to execution a lot for me. If they're going for very traditional types of Warhammer Fantasy hobgoblins and normal orcs and stuff, I'm gonna be disappointed (and given the way Soulblight turned out, that doesn't seem unlikely), but if they, say... make them an army of big goblins where all of them are just covered in armour and spikes and blades, looking like Kirk, Knight of Thorns from Dark Souls, that I'd be excited for.

Lauka Val can be built as a generic lord, at least. Not gonna lie, a bit disappointed with the large number of unique characters rather than new units, I'll have to give some thought as to whether if I want to get into Gravelords after all. But it's not like all this was unexpected, anyway.

I hope that we get more vampires and vampiric creatures. Lauka Val and dire wolves are a given. I think we'll get a little bit of rules. On the other hand, I fear that we'll end up with an undead chaff-heavy Gravelords because while I get the Vampire Counts appeal, personally if I wanted to play a skeleton army, I'd just play Ossiarchs.

Agreed, actually having bat swarms as like... units that are part of the army always felt kinda goofy to me. Like Dracula having three squadrons of regular bats following him around. Now, a cloud of bats gathering on the battlefield suddenly, that feels appropriate.

I very much hope for new characters, both to make AoS more its own thing, to tie it better into the new lore, and because both Olynder and Katakros are pretty cool characters. In particular, I would like to see Vhordrai given a new fancier model over Abhorash returning, since they're basically the same archetype but Vhordrai's "lord of the cursed teleporting castle" is really fun.

I'm also inclined towards Soulblight not getting much shooting; that part of the vampire mechanical identity goes as far back as Fantasy, and I think it's an interesting one. Having skeleton archers but not as battleline could be a good compromise, giving them some shooting but keeping it limited.

Yeah Kragnos is super fascinating like that. Some people think he'll be in Beasts of Chaos, some that he'll be in a Kurnothi army in either Order or Destruction, some think he might even be with a dwarf faction... Personally I think he'll be the leader of an all-new Destruction army.

Rise from your grave, TGA! Anyway, if they do keep Grave Guard I really hope they give them new models, since it would break my heart to have the chaff skeleton warriors with the fancy new sculpts, and the elite Grave Guard with the... honestly not even bad, but just very dated sculpts. Kinda like what's going on with the Start Collecting Chaos Warriors vs. Chosen.

Looks like GW took down the painting guide, presumably they didn't want to dilute the Kroak hype with Be'lakor content. Kroak looks really cool, hope the rest of Seraphon line gets similar revamps.

Seems unlikely to me, given how bad Underworlds warbands are and even the Warcry gangs were for a good while (maybe still are? I don't know StD that well). Maybe Radukar will change, if he gets a solo release with Gravelords. Your best bet is probably just using them to represent normal units.

C'mon, man. Anyway, I think the story's going in an interesting direction, while Nagash might not have been getting big active wins, passively having access to everyone who dies meant his position was super strong. Excited to see what this will mean for GA Death. With both Morathi's betrayal in the last book and this splintering of Death, the theory that Broken Realms leads to the dissolution or a restructuring of the four Grand Alliances seems ever more plausible...

Going back a bit, but since no one mentioned it, I'm gonna throw in my guess as this being a weapon for the Idoneth Underworlds Warband. It's not an exact match for any of their weapons, but it has a similar vibe, I feel.

This'd be a pretty good idea honestly, and would make sense given Morathi's new situation; she's not really a member of either of the three other Grand Alliances, but her membership of Order has taken a blow too. On a side note, I love how the Skaven have a Fractious Coalition with themselves.

If I had to guess, it'd be with either Be'lakor or Kragnos, as I don't think we know enough about either book to make a firm call yet. So it'd make my hypothesis for the books' realm status look like: Morathi: Ulgu + Aqshy (also the Eightpoints, technically) Teclis: Hysh + Shyish Be'lakor: Azyr + Chamon / Ghyran Krugnos: Ghur + Chamon / Ghyran Chamon would seem more thematically fitting for Be'lakor, but it's hard to say for sure. My wild long-shot guess would be that the Nurgle part of BR Teclis leads into BR Be'lakor being partially about Ghyran, the same way the vampire rescuing Ven Brecht leads into BR: Teclis's focus on Shyish (assuming that rescuer is a vampire in the first place).

Good analysis! I think we're more likely to get Ghyran involved in either Be'lakor or Kragnos, given the Mannfred short story, rather than getting into Alarielle or the dwarves, though. Aqshy is covered already, actually, since Anvilguard / Har Kuron is there.

Honestly I usually hate boob armour, but on a vampire I don't mind it too much because they're vampires, of course they're gonna be vain and put form over function. Not that I wouldn't still prefer regular armour for her too. Also hard agree on the armoured skeletons, they went in a really cool direction with them (also means that the Cursed City skeletons will fit right in with the regular ones!).

I highly doubt the thing that saved Ven Brecht was Be'lakor. There's both the size issue as well the fact that it'd seem a little beneath Be'lakor to break into a prison personally just to rescue one Stormcast. Surely he'd send servants to handle something like that, right?

Can't imagine why they'd retire the FEC endless spells if they weren't planning on combining it with another army, my guess is definitely on an Orruk Warclans style book with an FEC and a vampire side where you have subfaction options to run one or both. I'd be sad to see FEC go as a distinct faction since I think their lore is some of the coolest GW has ever put out, but I can't deny that model-wise it's a decision that makes a lot of sense.

I think the use of "princely" in the article is just meant to refer to Be'lakor having a role to play in it, rather than being a reference to whoever the book is named after, and that y'all are looking too deep into it (yes, I undertand the irony of saying that in the rumour thread).

As much as I'd like the creature to be a vampire or Malerion, I think it's Be'lakor. The way they draw attention to its size makes me think it's not a vampire, and its mannerisms feel a bit too... unprofessional, is maybe a good word? For it to feel like Malerion, based on how he's been characterized as a subtle and reticent schemer in what scraps we've gotten. But since we haven't seen anything of Malerion properly yet, he's still my #2 guess after Be'lakor.