Flippy

Since you consistently refuse to use his name I assume you are not really interested in hearing any answers 😄

The "Seraphon approach" is something else. You can use the same set of minis as two distinctly different forces and I really like this idea for the Dark Elves - having the Blood (Morathi) and Shadow (Malerion) version of the unified force.

This really depends on whether you decide to take the WFB into account. He was the Witch King after all. But even in AoS - my perception is that Morathi is a second-tier god and Malerion is the real Druchii Chad, just waiting to be unleashed.

A few lines in books but also a surprisingly high number of Dark Elves, currently residing, for a lack of better place, in the CoS faction. The unification of Druchii is not impossible.

I don't now how to rate the pigs yet. Zoggrok seems really good. Ragerz are strong for their points (just 100!); I can imagine Da Choppas with multiple Ragerz units, all buffed by Warchanters and that is scary. Ardboyz: I play mostly with my Seraphon now and the new Ardboyz are very much like Saurus. Very solid warscroll, both defensive and offensive use is viable.

Though I would be happy with new OBR models, they are definitely not a micro-army.

I’ve finished the Saurus - and my new PtG general, Saurus Oldblood. Now comes Skink Starseer.

I’ve brought my 5 Saurus to a basic tabletop standard - and I think that’s it for August. I will hopefully finish them next month.

What’s the point of buying directly from GW? Do you get any benefits? I’ve never ordered from them.

This is very much a personal preference. I have some very fond memories of long Talisman sessions - and I loved them exactly because the game had a lot of downtime and allowed for plenty of social interaction over the game table. Regarding the impact of alternating activation on the game, there were some nice WH40k-based observations on how any reactions affect the game length. In short, unlike the combat phase (where choices are usually simple), the alternating movement forces you to make more meaningful decisions more often. It's fine if you like crunchy games. I don't and I think it would turn AoS into even longer experience (the difference with other games may be due to many different factors).

I see this mentioned time and time again and I would like to offer a different perspective. The game is already on the lengthy side - are you not afraid that any alternating activation will make it even longer? I don't mind the "downtime" as this is ultimately a social game and I much appreciate the IGOUGO approach - you get "your" stuff done and then sit down, have a drink and chat a bit. I can make occasional redeploy or some unbiding rolls, but the need for constant focus that comes with alternating activation would change AoS a lot.

That’s the Warchanter problem. I wonder how will they solve this.

IJ should still be far more readable on the tabletop then Fyreslayers, thanks to natural (base) size progression. Ardboyz 32 --> Big Boss hopefully 32 --> Brutes / Warchanter / Shaman 40 --> Megaboss 60. The army is also very intuitive to understand for any opponent: bigger base = more wounds and harder hits.

His armour is almost identical and that's the main problem. The concept of foot hero for Ardboyz is good. Lore-wise, this guy can be almost-Brute with regard to his stature - but some visual distinction would be appreciated.

With regard to Bonesplitterz this would probably mean dealing with anger of around dozen of people in the world.

As the Ironjawz are clearly the sayians of the Mortal Realms, I really hope for the “full power” aesthetic for the Weirdbrutes…

Fine, this sounds reasonable - but why would I need any Krule units for my IJ PtG?

I am an Ironjawz player and I never even bothered to read the Krule part of the tome I own. You have four different armies in the book and GW is clearly aware of this. The question is - which direction will GW choose now. They can push the unification and a mixed Vanguard would support this approach. My guess would be that the idea is to strengthen the IJ and Krule part, give them separate Vanguard boxes but keep the single tome. And, sadly, eventually cut the Bonesplitterz.

Still WIP, but I want to praise GW for their design of Seraphon. You can get really far with a relatively big brush and just contrasts, washes and drybrushing - and I love that.

I do not know (or care, to be honest) much about CoS, but I try to spread such articles - mainly out of belief the form itself has a lot of value and is innately superior to any YouTube clips, podcasts etc. There is nothing like writing. Having said that - you can argue that Blissbarb spam is not the intended way of playing HoS and neither is Kroak/Slann/Incarnate a proper way of Seraphon. Yet here we are…

Have you already seen this? Looks like an in-depth analysis. Cities of Sigmar: Top Three Power Combos – Plastic Craic

I’ve played two PtG games today (600 pts) and devastated my friends twice. In such small games the Starborne Slann domination wraps the game around him. If you can kill the Slann fast, you win - if not, the MW output and the summoning kills you. Also, the Salamander (aka Spawn) is surprisingly good in melee. I think I will have to switch to Coalesced to keep the PtG fun for everyone 🤔

Cosmic Skinks freshly delivered from the Temple-Ship.

With such perspective I would stick to the new AoS ranges only. At first sight of Malerion Druchii are doomed to share the fate of their noble cousins. We may only hope that GW spares them weird helmets and cow- demons that skipped leg days.

For August I plan to finish a unit of 10 Skinks, then paint 5 Saurus Warriors and the Realmshaper Engine. Luckily, all of this stuff is already assembled & primed and I've already made some good progress with the Skinks.