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Released in different tiers. They more you paid for it the more powerful profile you can use. 😂

Some thoughts: Adds a 'monster' keyword to factions who lack them. Solid profile for factions who lack a punchy monster. Wild state does not seem like much of a hindrance with M12" and R&C. Potential band-aid unit for low tier factions yet won't add much to top tier since it has to compete with already powerful units. Interesting toolkit unit (pinning units in place + modifiers). I don't see myself buying one because of the majestically bad decision on putting it with overpriced terrain. 3D printing + kitbashing is the way forward since I won't support GW with one of the greediest FOMO boxes I've seen yet... And it does not even include the book. I really hope this particular type of box flops hard and it seems most people are already looking at alternate models. If this is a sign of the community finally saying enough is enough this might lead to a good thing. As a concept though, it is cool and if the next incarnations add more sidegrade stuff it could be a solid addition. Probably end up getting the book and ignore the model till it is releases separately if the price is acceptable. Super frustrated I cannot simply buy what I want but I guess they rather I bought 3rd party models/3D print it. 🤷‍♂️

Given HoS' speed and the "wild" status not being that dangerous as we can quite easily make sure it is aimed in the right direction (run and charge + M12" the "must charge" range only applying at the start of the charge phase). Keep it bound as long as possible without sacrificing anything to your strategy and don't worry if it happens to turn wild. The extra minus to casting and pinning units in place is another useful addition to our toolkit. Being available to all won't be as big of a deal as I first assumed since the factions with strong units will have remove 400pts of units to make room wheras for HoS it is a net gain. Having the 'monster' keyword certainly doesn't hurt. In the end, it is another non-hedonite unit which is better than what what we have. I think we'll see plenty of creative kitbashes to cause I'm sure heck not paying the insane price for the bone boi + terrain I'll never use. Oh, and you still have to buy the book too. As a box and release this really symbolises the worst instances of GW greed I've seen in AoS, so I am glad the team confirmed Thondia is separate from the GHB. The fact remains though, this pricing and release sets a very ugly precedent. While I enjoy more narrative stuff I hope the box itself (Incarnate + terrain) is a massive flop.

They are, I suppose, but they're also not in that you can create pretty much anything you want under the banner of X dynasty. That said, I do lament the fact we cannot get the archetypes of mind-games vampire, martial arts vampire, and sorcerer vampire as regular vampire lords. That's about in terms of issues I have with the book though. In either case, that is what I meant with a 'SBGL tome.' Give us the clans and a chaotic sandbox of rats!

Yeah, that is what I meant. SBGL is a good example of how to do it. It didn't butcher the flavour of VC/SBGL and applies the dynasty rules much like how the old bloodlines worked.

A SBGL tome would make more sense to me. Retain the various clans yet allow for a rat filled smorgasbord to pick units from. Besides, a unified theme doesn't exactly scream Skaven, does it? 😛 I'm not opposed to some AoSification but certain factions are so cool and iconic the way they are. Skaven, to me, is one of them.

That was my thought as well. Bat-like ears, some kind of flayed skin-insanity, bones, and overall hunched over ghoulish look to them. Doesn't really fit the Skaven aesthetics but then again, GW could be AoS-fying the Skaven with new twisted abominations from Clan Moulder.

Oof. Hope leaked pic which said Hedonites are up for their own Tome Celestial was from the upcoming one and not a doctored photo. 😅 *huffs some hopium* Edit: HoS scheduled for May. Huzzah!

Building of Mat's list but embraced purist Hedonites I've been toying with this: Name of the game is hit first or be fast enough to set traps. Dexc + Siggie support each other with 2x5 seekers disrupting movement. Syn does what you'd expect. Slickblades serve as, well, a hammer unit while the small Twinsoul unit act a mid-field punch (or more aggressive if need me, 8" movement isn't slow, after all). I was thinking using the Dark Pageant or even a 4th archer unit (for quicker DP gen). Archers do exactly what you'd expect. The approach is heavy on the MSU and disruption since the list lack Belakor's shenanigans. No idea when I can test it out but I wanted to make more concrete suggestion that the generic "I think HoS still have play" take. And another version with a dual Chimera. No longer a purist HoS list but more of blistering fast list with a good chunk of ranged MWs. The Chaos Warshrines are Chimeras because warscroll builder does not list Chimeras among BoC units. The grand total of the list is 1985pts and two drop.

Now I got images of something akin to Elder Scrolls dwarves + combining some of the celestial engines of AoS. Time to build a new god!

Looking at my Duardin collection. Hm... hm, hm, hm. Bunch of old war machines and whatnots + a random assortment of marine bits. This could be fun.

Far as future releases go I did not expect them to pretty much get two tomes out back to back (FS/IDK), much less them doing it twice (DoK/NH), and then a third time (??/??) + tome celestials/battlescrolls + another campaign book. It would be fun with more and they're probably hiding their Christmas/winters reveals away from us now. It could still become better yet it hasn't been a bad year, is all I'm saying. On a similar note, not saying you should sit down and be happy cause, well... When it comes to salt I pretty much own a salt mine conglomerate by now. 😂

At this point, it is what it is. Even though it is a competitive list for a competitive field I think there are useful things to pull from this interview and list. For example, if you remove Belakor you can use those points for control/disruption in other ways. I'm thinking like a unit of Slickblades and Seekers. That way you get a unit which can lock units in place or protect objectives + a hammer with the slickblades. The Chimera though, has pretty Slaaneshi rules. A light unit which is fast as heck and gift MWs. I'm thinking the Slaaneshi version of the Mutalith/Slaughterbeast. I have fairly lukewarm expectations for the WD and I do not see the GHB doing much either. On the other hand, they have identified us as a Prime Hunters list. We'll see. For now though, I want to try and think of a list which exclude Belly and work in a two drop army instead. I mean, just because he sees it in this light doesn't mean he's got it all figured out (and said so much himself). Or maybe it is just the first hints of summer which has me in a good mood. 😆

Breakdown of the video (or stuff I picked up on): Summon Exalted chariots on a 7 or 9. Aim for big blocks of 20-30 Daemonettes late game. Aim to get summons in on T2. Think of summoned units how they'll impact the turn after they arrive (8-9s charges ain't reliable). Control, control, control. Battle Regiment super important since HoS do not deal with a DT very well. Belakor is a bae. Good offence and control ability is great for any chaos army. Speed is our armour. Use it to pounce on objective + stall with chaff. MSU. Bravery is usually meh so big units of mortals will melt away. MSU. Force your opponent to split. You have the speed to frustrate. Twinsouls are a trap. Best units are Slickblades, Siggie, and archers. Does not rate Glutos either. Not terrible but not amazed. Fane is excellent backup and anti-deep strike when combined with summoning. Chimera is a dangerous assassin. Fast, MWs, and is an excellent target for Synessa with all out attack (hitting on 3s instead of 4s makes a big difference). Other units such as the Fomoroid and Cockatrice are interesting picks. Don't get attached to your units. Charge Siggie in! Aggro mindset. Slaanesh players should look in other books to extend synergies. Slaanesh on their own is not good. List composition: Lurid Haze for deep strike. Fast, punchy, early DPs. Synessa for toolbox and CAs. "Only 104 wounds." Speed again, keep out of range and hit HARD. Avoid damage, do not take it on the chin. One drop or two drop. Say no to warlord and Lurid Haze artefacts are not worth it. Might (probably) have missed out on stuff so fill in the gaps if find any!

Interview with the guy who went 5-0.

Aye, a Kill Team of squats would be nice since I think that would be a good move to gauge actual interest in the army for GW. Silently crossing my fingers and braiding my beard in the hopes we'll see a full Chorf warband for Warcry. All these news of HoS updates (and wins), CSM soon arriving, and Tempest of War (40k) is making my body produce natural hopium. Feels weird but good!

There are a million ways to break code, the joke, "it is working and I have no idea why, it is not working and I have no idea why.", is a bit of a developer classic. 😂 Basically, it can be something so simple as an update messing with the code that fetches warscroll data or something completely different which screws with something else which leads to X and Y. Hard to say really since I have no idea how they structured the app and even if I could I'm more of a hobby developer.

I hear they pulled resources off the AoS team to pull it off. 😆

There are probably metrics which show greater profits when creating these dual faction boxes than start collecting for single factions. They cannot create a false sense of scarcity if there's an abundance, after all. The key of the boxes of late is just that, they contain unique models. Now with the upcoming Thondia (or what it is called) we have yet another box with a unique model available nowhere else. Sad part is it works and nothing will change because we won't.

It sends the message they did something wrong and, I assure you, designers usually have a thick skin since we're quite used to getting harsh feedback. It is a part of being a designer. It is an extremely important part too since most designers hate designing bad things. Especially since if we don't get the right feedback whoever is our boss will continue to make us build on bad design and the worse it gets. Again, from a designer perspective it is incredibly frustrating to not know what works and what doesn't. GW isn't a small-time company trying to make ends meet. They charge a premium and having some kind of Stockholm Syndrome relationship where you are thankful for bread crumbs isn't good enough. When you, in this case GW, charge a lot of money for rules and models it is reasonable to expect quality in return. Finally, stop using the design team as a shield for GW. Might seem like a good idea to stand up for them but in actuality you're standing up for corporate. It is their decisions which you validate and now the design team has to work even harder with yet another layer of rules because, like @Neil Arthur Hotep also noted, they were not allowed to make the changes which were actually needed cause it would hurt GW's bottom line. If we silence ourselves to risk not hurting GW's feelings you're making the job of the designers even harder. Especially since Dunning-Kruger effect is usually strong with management and execs so they'll delude themselves into believing they know game design now. Few things suck more as a designer than someone in management giving you idiotic advice or direction. You will usually have to have to cobble together some Frankenstein solution which they will take credit for if it works or blame you if does not (word of advice for designers, document who said what and why you're doing X or Y. Do not let anyone coast on your designs or use you as a scapegoat... And it is also a great way to remain objective in a conflict, i.e. talk about a specific thing/behaviour rather than a person). So I'd turn it around and say GW gets the community they deserve. They can do a lot better. Unfortunately, GW would rather deliver a worse game than ease up on the profits. Sure, they're a business but if that's the argument then why should we take into account their feelings? I mean, if they're excused for treating us like walking talking moneybags surely we should be able to criticise their callous and anti-consumer practices without having to tip-toe around the risk of offending an imaginary game designer? TL;DR: By defending poor decisions by GW you're hurting the designers since now they gotta juggle even more layers of poor design on even tighter deadlines. They're professional designers, they know how to handle feedback (in any form) and they want to make the best game they can. Like yourself, I doubt the designers themselves deliberately mishandles the game due to laziness. My perspective is that without our voice when we dislike something the designers won't have a leg to stand on when arguing their designs to their respective decision-makers.

If you want a more positive environment might I suggest not starting a fight the first thing you do? Glad you're excited but I'm struggling to find a positive a play-tester abandoning their army just before release. Granted, it could be a lot of reasons for quitting an army. The timing, however, is unfortunate.

It starts out as excitement for a fresh army. You keep hoping, hoping, hoping. Maybe next book, maybe next edition, and so on. Some players want a realistic chance at winning. The "fun" and "it is just toy soldiers" ends up feeling like getting shamed into playing by players who doesn't have to deal with constant uphill struggles for years and years. It is a game and games can quickly turn sour if you feel it is unfair, after all. I mean, if minis is all that matters why is GW so important/popular? Why is finding games so important? Why is matched play the dominant mode even in casual settings? I am all for the rule of cool and all that but for a lot us the game itself matter a great deal too. As does having your lovingly crafted models be faithfully represented on the tabletop. For example, if you've been stuck in the bottom tier for years and then find out the new tome does nothing I think you'd be forgiven for moving on. That said, there are many other reasons for letting go of an army. For example, when moving I sold off a lot of stuff to new players since I figured it be better if they would see the tabletop than sitting in a storage forever. I would have liked to keep them but I also know I'd never actually use them. What I'm saying is, just because a play tester does something does not mean it has to be game related and some players don't like to hoard armies if they move onto another one. At some point that "what if..." stops being worth the wait. If you want to have fun now the promise of a distant maybe 3+ years from now rings quite hollow.

Matt's 5-0 list: https://www.tabletop.to/gt-odz/list/mateusz-eljasz Very interesting list. I imagine he is using Siggie and the Chimera as tactical missiles (chimera also solid source of MW/DPs). Archers do what they do and Synessa and Belakor use their toolbox. The mounted elements for objective play. No idea how he utilised summoning but either case. 5-0 is damn impressive and I like it because there's a lot more HoS in the list than some of the jank we've seen before.

When GW realised people absolutely eat up centrepiece models and, especially, how successful the primarch releases were it was kind of inevitable. A whole setting where the marines were the coolest and us gamers love the space opera theme (AoS is fantasy opera, I suppose!). Perfect fit. At this point we simply have to accept AoS isn't that big of a game compared to 40k and that GW operate on an attention economy. Not saying AoS is dying or anything. Sucks to be the less popular system/faction but at least we're likely to see an interesting NH release and we still have Thondia + the other two upcoming books. Wait, what is going on, I'm talking like an optimist again? 😲

The aftermath of an epic fight with Winnie the Pooh.