Durgin

My opinion: first of all, a good battletome should be unique, both concerning the aesthetics of the army and its gameplay. I like when, on the battlefield, your army acts according to its lore and uniqueness among the others. I like when I have multiple choices to choose from, without being forced to play only a certain combo of units (if not, the same units...): I don't say that all the army choices must be overpowered, I just settle for having a fair amount of choices that are somehow decent in game, that allow me to variate my gameplay and strategy. A thing that I particularly love is to have sub-factions to choose from (for example, KO skyports-kruleboyz clans etc etc), because it adds A LOT of flavour and it gives many ideas for conversions and hobby time (if only my beloved skullbugz were a fair choice in-game T___T). In general, I consider a battletome "good" when it has a strong identity and it is able to translate it in gameplay.

I agree for what concerns fyreladies, but without linking them to Valaya cult. Valaya is a goddess that doesn't match well with war, I would prefer simply to see female warriors devoted to Grimnir. Moreover, I think that fyreslayers desperately need to include also "average"/civilian dwarfs, merging some concepts of the old dwarfs armies like miners and clansmen, with the actual caste of warriors. A society in which there are non-professional (yet stubborn and tough, as proper dwarfs are) warriors (clansmen and miners, obviously redesigned to fit the theme of fyreslayers, so maybe with a more tribal-aggressive look), that rally in case of war to protect the stronghold (after all, I suppose that a stronghold of fyreslayers might include also normal workers and civilians, to survive), side by side with proper professional soldiers, the fyreslayers caste, let's call them the Spartiates of the fyreslayer society. The civilian militia brings on the battlefield regiments of core troops and warmachines, while the fyreslayers caste provides elite troops of fiery warriors, magmadroth cavalries and chariots. This way, not only you would have more variety (both in terms of gameplay, but also for what concerns the visual aesthetic of the range), but the fyreslayers would aesthetically pop out, as slayers did in old dwarfs armies, and gain a more specific role that fit well their abilities. I know that these are just wishlisting, but I confess that every time I see one of the minis of this army, my dwarf heart cries because it's weird how GW failed to give justice to a badass concept like fyreslayers.

What really perplexes me about Fyreslayers is this. Their potential is clear (ok, maybe I'm biased because I love Dwarfs..), and it would be extremely easy to make them shine, with just some care from GW designers. I think they are probably the worst designed miniatures made in GW, please don't get me wrong if you like them, but there are a lot of technical issues that hurt my eyes: mirrored beards, almost 2 face expressions in the whole range (very lazy 3d sculptors...), weird poses and a general army of clones effect that really makes me sad. The question is: is GW willing to make something with them? Judging the latest addition, I fear it doesn't. The new character is basically an auric runesmiter with less spikes, it's not a bad miniature, but it adds almost nothing to this range, aesthetically speaking. Ok, Fyreslayers take their visual look to the old dwarf slayers, but I think that GW seems stuck in a kind of crative limbo with them, and this despite they indeed have enormous potential! Strictly limiting the designers to the dwarf slayer look is weird, because in my opinion Fyreslayers should better incarnate the war aspect of Dwarfs, so there is plenty of stuff to work with, like runic altars, ur-gold/armoured troops (what is the difference between basic troops and elite troops, in the actual range? Only a different weapon.. a bit sad), war machines (a new thematic version of the flamethrower cannon?). GW overcame the "no cavalry" taboo of old dwarfs with the Magmadroth, and it has been a very good move, but then they didn't exploit it as they could: monstrous cavalry of medium sized Magmadroth (maybe a different kin of Magmadroth), or even a gigantic magmadroth bigger than the actual, that acts in game as the chaos mammoth, carrying troops and arrogance all around the tabletop. It seems like, at the moment, GW just gave up with them, and it's really sad.

I do love the frostlord kit, I think it's one of the best looking monsters out there and moreover it's a kit full of alternative parts/options that nowadays is hard to find in GW releases (for example, I do love too the Corpse Vulcha sculpt, but the kit itself is a bit poor, and gives you only a couple of alternative options to choose from, and no extra bits!). The Stonehorn is impressive, maybe now we are used to even more gigantic creatures, but it's a big guy that surely doesn't go unnoticed on the battlefield! Obviously, I expect that GW will release an even bigger monster, if my beloved Ogors will ever get an update to their range, but I honestly would prefer a new kit for the battleline troops, I would be a bit sad to see the frostlord kit disappear, Seb Perbet did an outstanding job on those sculpts!

I think that there won't be official AOS rules for TOW minis, but there is no reason not to use TOW miniatures in AoS and viceversa: rockgut troggoth, after all, are just renamed Stone Trolls ^-^ And you can use Old World new state troops (if GW will ever make them) to count as freeguild troops. I just don't believe that GW will give double rules for Old World minis (as it happens for Underworld).

Hello! I'm Matteo and I recently discovered this incredible community! I lurked for a while, but I've been so impressed by the positive attitude and enthusiasm of the users that I decided to create an account and participate in a more direct way! As you can easily guess, I'm Italian, my English is not good but I'll try to communicate in the best way I can. I'm a painter, principally, but I recently started to collect a Kruleboyz army (I fell in love with the models and lore!), and I can't wait to start playing my first games with them. Cheers from Italy!