petitionercity

See this is bull.... Ok, boys and girls. The head of Specialist Design Studio (forge world/specialist games) is Andy Hoare. He runs the studio doing 30k, AT, AI, LI, Necromunda, MESBG, Blood Bowl and TOW. Under him, Rob Alderman runs three of these games - MESBG, Blood Bowl and TOW. Warcry is produced by the main studio. Honestly whatever this stream was, it's bull.

This also can't be true as Rob Alderman has been the project lead for TOW (under Hoare) for over a year, at least, and possibly much longer since he's been running BB and MESBG since he joined Specialist Games a few years ago. News of this broke last October on dakka, when he updated his Facebook and Instagram, but that could have occurred before - just when people notice these things. It might be the case Jay Clare is part of Rob's TOW team, since he wrote blood bowl and mesbg with him, but he might be focused on the latter two.

Sugden said in a previous video working at Specialist Design Studio was her favourite part of her career at GW, and she'd defend them to the hilt!

The video helped me! At first it's atmospherically blurry, but the with it in focus against the khemri terrain with skeleton warriors surrounding it ... 😘

Rather a pun to do with the Georgian period?

That article is fantastic legalese nonsense! I love it 😍

I think heresy is your guide for how things will be costed

All fantastic ideas, and it's your last point - write as civilisations - that the game desperately needs. I find it so mind-boggling this hasn't occured, beyond novels and - sometimes - Soulbound. The Realms don't yet feel real, mostly. Ideas of economy, craft, history, learning, development and so on are really missing - at least in published materials. The high magic world of AoS could be so fascinatingly developed, it shouldn't feel like the world that was, but it should be as developed as that world was.

For this thread, I'd ask a different question - what can 4th edition borrow from 1st or 2nd edition of AoS? What can it borrow from other GW games, including Warcry, Kill Team and even the Specialist Games Studio (formerly forge world and Specialist games)'s games? What would you want from other major wargames (as GW staffers of course play many games!)?

Design process is iterative and refining; the effort put into this process could have been huge, but the final results smaller - reflecting the cutting of ideas to get to something that is complete as a release, but also less of a financial and aesthetic gamble. And that's key. Some of the new kits will sell well, others will not - more new kits probably would have meant more wouldn't sell well (rather than equally all kits selling well). Other factors include production capacity - producing more kits means a longer design and production time means a longer wait to release, means more playtesting and writing, means more time to recoup investments, etc. Overall, it's a fantastic range which can have more. If this lot sells well, you can imagine further releases being moved forward in the production queue. Hopefully.

From the book is there any leak of the page of alternative paint schemes beyond Hammerfall Aqsha? I'd love to see how other cities are painted, and - especially, hopefully - converted.

You know, seeing this, I had this utterly heretical thought. What if Cities had been saved for the 4th edition starter, versus Skaven, or one of the other "in need" factions? I just can't face another "stormcast Vs X" box; whereas having an analogue to the 5th or (especially) the 6th edition WFB box, with a whole new "human" or "human/dwarf/elf" range, would have been lovely. Im not sure, but are stormcast really popular enough to be relied on to draw in buyers in the way marines really carry 40k starters? Whereas Cities especially could and should provide AoS with a more solid core faction (hopefully with realm-based variations, as these are Asqhinian, right?)

Potentially relevant - and deeply sad - news https://www.facebook.com/groups/223862092661901/permalink/806203951094376/ While I understand this, its really sad - WAP was a love letter to Fantasy, and it's a real shame to see The Old World be its deathknell. While it will continue, it really won't be the same.

They aren't wretched, they are wonderful 😍

I think it's that Kislev didn't officially have rules in 8th, or rather had a vestigal ruleset from an older edition. I imagine we will see Kislev eventually - but that they need the financial success of the predominantly re-released older material to guarantee a new army? In some senses one can imagine "Warhammer The Old World" becoming "Warhammer The New World" or "Warhammer The Silk Road", expanding the game's remit, geographical focus and narrative, just as "Necromunda Underhive" went on to be "Necromunda Dark Uprising", then to "Necromunda The Ash Wastes".

I'm not sure. Summer 21 was Dominion, so summer 24 could be the new edition (yikes, what has AoS actually achieved since Kragnos?) So if Dawnbringers runs til at least December, then it's only six months away from the end of edition - it makes sense that Dawnbringers just carries on til summer? But I much prefer middle of edition, since I'm not sure what has happened this edition - or rather I'm not sure how the AoS world has been more concretely expanded and developed. Was the world building (and "narrative") really just confined to warcry?

Does Dawnbringers look like the gathering storm/broken realms/ark of omen-style end of edition series of books? Or something else?

Yeah, I am not commenting on the AoS books; you made a cheap dig at new heresy, which was both misinformed and misinforming. So I corrected you To repeat, the heresy team is led by Andy Hoare, who I'm sure you know (since you worship the black books) co wrote Books 2 and 3, and wrote among others IA 13 and IA 2 second edition (as well as brilliant old 40k things like codex witch Hunters and codex kroot from chapter approved), and was a lead writer on Rogue Trader by FFG (alongside Owen Barnes, a lead on dark heresy, who he brought into specialist games). He was one of the old hands of FW in the "Bligh era", in that he is perhaps unfairly eclipsed (alongside French) by Bligh. Hoare's portfolio expanded to include managing heresy in 2019, following the success of SG, which likely was the best decision for the property given his experience in the first edition, his closeness to other key people in heresy (eg John French) and other deep dive pieces of GW IP. Plastic heresy is presumably his baby, alongside Mark Bedford as the head mini designer for FW, and we are lucky they are running it. If you want to see what the heresy team (ie the specialist games team) have done, check out Titanicus's campaign books (for example the wonder Crucible of Iron one), or the lore in the necromunda books I mentioned above.

Given they are by very different teams, I think it's worth rethinking that assertion More so, heresy is led by one of its longest standing contributors (Hoare), includes one of the FFG rpg's most prolific authors (Barnes), and a host of other hobby weirdos we all love. A better thing to compare with would be the Aranthian Succession or the House of books if you want recent FW/SG products - or indeed any of the excellent AT and AI books

Wouldn't it be best for gw to simply consolidate the scrolls of similar units into one (with more generic options) - this seems really possible with Stormcast, as so many of the units have minor differences.

What are the rumours around this year's Christmas boxes? I remember people discussing this, but I can't find them

Wee question but one I haven't found a good answer for. Has anyone ever done a (fan) update of older 1st edition/compendium-era datasheets to better match later books (like adding Cities of Sigmar keywords to units from the Order alliance book and the compendium pdfs for Bretonnia, Empire, Dwarfs, High Elves, Wood Elves and Dark Elves)? Also did anyone ever save the compendium pdfs from when AoS first launched - wanted to go back and review them (and those mad ideas in them!).

What do you think makes it that Necromunda, with similar challenging price points, seems to be doing better than Warcry? Or is that a misconception on my part, and Necromunda isnt more successful than Warcry? I still keep wishing that Warcry was closer to the way campaigns worked (and flexibility of warband design) in Mordheim and Necromunda; equally while I do feel each setting in Warcry has had rich evocative possibilities - the game itself hasn't managed to use worldbuilding to really construct a modern Mordheim or Necromunda (whether the Underhive, the ash wastes or the more expansive world it is today). Cursed City was much closer to that, rather than Warcry. I just dont get that there's a real world behind the events of Warcry - but this may be different with Ghur? If there was that strong kernel of worldbuilding, I'd think there would be more for players to latch onto, irrespective of the prices?

Reinvention of the cities of Sigmar! Excellent news - mortal humans are getting a proper AoS representation

Does anyone feel there just isn't momentum in AoS since the release of third? Or is it "lateral", in fluff or other non-army releases? I just don't know what this edition "stands" for, although that isn't necessary to enjoy a game, but I feel a bit lost as a (mostly new to AOS) player. Also does anyone ever play "historical" AOS, and play in the periods before the game itself? It seems a rich several millenia - has anyone charted it and/or written rules for it? 🤔