Rogue Explorator

Sure looks like Freeguild, so must be Spiderfang Grots: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/10/23/the-rumour-engine-tuesday-23rd-october/?fbclid=IwAR3zKjHvSfP_jvYiteR16J3G8_PzgJwR94T4922TcHGEzCLuEsl-hJs69vw

I would be genuinely shocked if this is anything other than Bonesplittaz.

Given how the current options for greatweapon Tzaangor very quickly start looking the same, that Tzaangor is very welcome. Hopefully the rest of the warband will give some interesting bits, as they seem to be getting bolder with the warbands overall (outside the Stormcast). The tokens look like a must have for basing and terrain purposes, even for non-Underworlds players like me. I really like the grot as well. Some elements new to Moonclan there.

That is a rather massive preview, just most of it for 40k. Yes, we all "know" Darkoath and Gobbos are coming, but we do not know quite when. AoS had most of the year pretty much to itself as far as new miniatures go. I think getting the word out to 40k players that they are back in the loop for new miniatures takes priority at the moment and with how much attention AoS has already gotten this year that is quite bearable.

Lets see: The new Nighthaunt warband looks great. They feel quite a bit more oddball and wacky than the main release, which I find very appealing. Something, something Khorne vs. Slaanesh. No telling quite what, but if they slap the venerable name of "Realms of Chaos" on it, it better be good. I am inclined to think it will be, if only to see all daemons finished in plastic at long last. The squig is real cute. I like it much more than the Troggoth. I feel they went more than bit to far on being disproportional on that one, though I get that it has its fans and I am not a Destruction guy. Not AoS, but Blackstone Fortress looks like it could be really exciting. A Silver Tower style release for 40k hot on the heels of the amazing (not even out yet) Rogue Trader? Yes please. Just hope that does not mean RT is the only such release for Killteam, I have high hopes for that game.

So happy with this. Beastmen are my number one faction in all Warhammer, but I did not think we would get something like this. I am currently mostly busy with Killteam, but still, with this announcement all my other AoS project are now put on total hold. Luckily, most of my WiPs and kits have some level of compatibility with Beasts, so I do not feel like it is a waste. Most of the included kits hold up quite well and the army lends itself to converting, so I am quite happy even though the Herdstone and spells seem to be the only new miniatures. Still, I hope this proves popular enough to get further support in coming years.

Nice work on the beasties. Count me in as being put of by beastman chariots as well. It is a legacy of that aweful time of Chaos being split of into three armies. It seems at the time GW was at an creative low and decided that Chaos was to wild and Warhammer would be much better of with even more pseudo historical analogue armies. So Warriors of Chaos spend the next few editions as always being inexplicably heavily armored Viking Supermen (before they where actually very cosmopolitan with members from all over the world going to the wastes to join warbands), while Beastmen had to become a beast headed portrayal of the "Barbarians at the Gates". Since GW really did not do any really fantastic units at the time and cavalry was out of question for them, they got stuck with chariots being their thing (which I guess is in line with ancient greek/roman era "barbarians"), even though that never really made sense for their preexisting or later on developed lore as non-creating deepwood raiders. In case it is not obvious, yes, I am still chuffed about how much of its unique character and appeal lost back then, something Chaos is still not fully recovered from and that the beasts in particular still suffer heavily under.

Ahem, we actually have a interesting looking rumor engine everyone. Back to rumors and baseless speculation: Am I the only one reminded of the scales on Morathi and the Melusai? Think it would be neat if Slaanesh and DoK ranges where visually tied with some such similar elements, considering their lore-ties. Also wondering if this could mean a return of some insectoid features to the Slaanesh range, they where quite common in Realm of Chaos era Slaanesh Champions.

I actually think 11 is Darkoath. There is a second smaller birdskull of the same design and tied up with strings through the eyesockets as one of the skulls on the Darkoath Chieftain.

Nice kitbashing. I particularly like the high priestess, I would have not thought the gown goes so well with the wanderer parts.

Looking at what it would take to make the remaining GA books obsolete in the context of current rumors and speculations: GA:Order might be the easiest. All Non-Battletome factions are a part of the Free Cities, an "Armies of the Free Cities" Battletome in the style of LoN could easily take care of them all. Free Cities sooner or later is pretty much a given in my eyes, Order simply has to many obscure factions to handle them any other way and the Free Cities are simply becoming to big a part of the setting to go without a BT of their own. Destruction could be done LoN style, but it is more all over the place than Death was before LoN. It would be odd to see a Waaagh Hordes Battletome including Gutbusters, but excluding Ironjawz, Beastclaw Raiders and Bonesplitterz. The other option would be to do all of them with a full replacement of GA:Destruction, which would be unprecedented. That leaves the more likely route, implied by current rumors: That GA:Destruction gets so many faction releases in 2019 that doing a faction unifying BT would be superflous, though then GA:Destruction would still cover a few factions and models not covered elsewhere. GA:Chaos is sort of tricky as the Non-Battletome factions contain part of two different groups in between GA and faction level, these being Skaven and Beasts of Chaos. The only factions without BT not included among those two are Slaves to Darkness, Hosts of Slaanesh and Daemons. Looking at the above,, I would judge Slaves and Hosts as very likely to receive a Battletome and new miniatures within reasonable time. Skaven seem reasonable to get the LoN treatment and are often requested to do so, as currently their individual factions do not do to well and a non-monoclan Skaven force can not really be done outside of GA:Chaos, which is a very weak and not very thematic option. Beasts could be done LoN style, but I do not really see GW doing it. I think they will languish in obscurity for some time to come, alongside the remaining daemon units (which may be cut down to three if daemon prince becomes a full part of Slaves). Overall, I do not think all GA books becoming entirely obsolete within the next one or two years is very likely. We will see a fair number of factions expanded by the end of 2019 and there may be up to four LoN style tomes (Free Cities, Skaven, Beasts and maybe something destruction). But I think ultimately there will just be a few factions and scattered models that will languish in No-Battletome land for a long time. Factually, of course, the GA books are pretty much obsolete already. The unit warscrolls are all online and in the app. What little lore there was, has almost all been reprinted,changed or superceeded, if not already elsewhere, then in the second edition big rulebook. That just leaves a few batallions and I will admit, with the newest GH not yet in my posession, I do not even know if many of those even still have points.

Only a short while back I would never have believed the amount of releases rumored from confirmed sources here. But with the pace GW has shown this year, I think anything is possible. In fact, I think they may eventually have to slow down simply due to outpacing demand for new things. I know we are moving a fair bit out of AoS territory here, but I think Gorkamorka could fit in as another Killteam expansion. Rogue Trader, from what we know so far, adds spaceship/interior battlefield rules and non-mainline factions. Gorkamorka looks like a good base to add vehicle rules. Both have in common that they are based on an old line. Fingers crossed for an inquisition expansion based on Inquisitor (the 48mm one) adding more RPG and obscure lore elements. To bring this back around to AoS, with most Killteam rules revealed, it looks like the basic system would be very easy to port to AoS skirmish. GW looks to be rather invested in making Killteam big enough for an ongoing line, if it is a success, I think an AoS variant will likely be greenlit. That would put it at one to two years until we see it in stores. Would be a great vehicle for the smaller factions unlikely to ever see a Battletome of their own (like Swifthark or Scourge Privateers).

GenCon is also very important for tabletop RPGs (at least it was when I was more into them). I think looking at what crosses over with other GenCon fields, I would expect teasers and reveals for Killteam and Shadespire. The timing and context looks about right to unveil Shadespire season two and the first warbands. For Killteam, my first thought uppon seeing the upcoming Rogue Trader was "this looks like an 'official' version of Inquisitor 28" and was has been revealed about their plans to expand Killteam and that Rogue Trader is one of multiple future expansions deepens the suspicion that they are doing something like that, as wel as bringing back official support for a playstyle much closer to the original Rogue Trader. While the actual hobbyists that partake of such playstyle and modeling are propably a fringe group to the greater customer base, they do provide great free advertising for GW with their many blogs and impressive conversions, so I think support is warranted. So GenCon, with its strong base in boardgames and RPGs would be great place for GW to unveil more upcoming Killteam stuff (we already know that some GSC are also upcomming for Killteam). I think specialist games (Bloodbowl, Nekromunda, Titanicus) will be at FW Open. I would not expect much for the main lines. If we are really lucky we might hear something about further developement of AoS Skirmish and Path to Glory as well.

Well, non-etb have more individual parts and often more optional bits. That means more sprues. And that means more moulds.

I first looked into this thread expecting to be bored. I was not. Now, on my second look you have posted the amature for a custom sculpt, which is quite the opposite of boring. You better step down your game or I will take you to account for this false advertising

A first Battletome Hosts of Slaanesh does not have to come side by side with the release of Slaanesh in lore. If Emperors Children really come this year, a plastic KoS (and hopefully fiends, maybe the masque and new heralds as well) will need to be close on their heels. And it makes sense that would be tied up with an AoS release (as daemons are not part of the Legion lists in 40k), which, looking at Maggotkin, would propably mean just two to three mortal kits. That looks about right to represent the current hosts in lore, but not really like the lineup of a Chaos god in full vengeance mode (that would be more of a Bloodbound or Nighthaunt scale release). No, I would be quite happy with Slaanesh staying locked up for a fair bit more, so long as hosts still get a full release in the meantime.

Anybody else notice that the black coach is driven by a Guardian of Souls? Or is that only news to me?

The longbeards look amazing. This is going to be one beautiful army. That would be true based on the painting alone, but I think the custom shields really make these. Like the story too, though I can not really bring myself to imagine a Duradin living like a modern single. I just have it stuck in my mind that they would live in extended family units and would never let one of their own, no matter how kinless, dwell alone. Who knows what sort of bad ideas a beardling (i.e. not longbeard) would get up to without the watchful gaze of a few longbeards and matrons on them at all times!

The pace GW is releasing things is completely blowing me away. Both new Battletomes, for factions that get a large sized release each, one week after the new edition, with miniatures for both, including One of the centerpieces? Yeah, that I would not have believed it if told beforehand. I will add that it took centuries from the beginning of the Realmgates Wars to the start of Malign Portents in setting. And if I read the Soulwars sample chapter correctly, it might be quite a long time between MP and the actual start of Soulwars as well. Yes, it was only a short time for us, but the Stormcast have been hundreds of years nonestop at War and most have been subjected to reforging over and over by now.

Ironweld Arsenal has both dwarves and humans and is notorious for their tech

This would see everyone still using Slaves in their Monogod armies no longer able to use a good chunk of their army as they used to. Add to that the existing monogod armies, bar maybe Khorne (only really missing Khorgor), are still far from covering all the basics of a classic Chaos armies, and I would want the markable to stick around a bit longer. I do not think it would be an issue for Slaves to Darkness to contain the old markable ones side by side with new Darkoath units. There already a few factions made from multiple distinct subfactions. We have Monogod armies (daemons, dedicated mortals, marked Slaves), Stormcast with their many Chambers, Ironjawz (real Ironjawz and Ardboys, who are regular ork wannabe Ironjawz). Markable Slaves and Darkoath both occupy the same niche in the Mortal Realms, the multitude of Chaos Tribes not particularly high in any gods favor, they just represent different kinds of tribes (Those who follow the Darkoath way of Undivided and those of uncertain shifting dedication). Could even be that in the future, Slaves are further expanded by further different kinds of tribes. It would be as if they had made a "Chaos Marauder" army in WHFB and after initially making Norscans, later waves are made of Kurgan and Hung. It is the variant that gives players the greatest amount of options: Want a pure Darkoath force, you can collect only the new stuff. Want a Darkoath themed force, convert older Slaves to fit the look. Want a classic host of Chaos Warriors undivided, they are still around and you can convert the new Darkoath to fit their look. Want your own themed tribe, convert everything. Want your Monogod army build around classical Chaos Warriors, that option stays as well. Want a vast Mortal horde gathered from disparate tribes, Slaves can do that as well. Everything else would be taking options away just for the sake of it all "looking tidier". It is what they did initially with splitting the old armies on the transition to AoS and then "enforcing" the split by favoring faction armies over GA armies in the rules. And I would not exactly call that one of the better received parts of AoS.

Actually FEC are already tied up heavily with Ushoran, who is another old world (background) character. I feel that out of all Death forces so far, Nighthaunt is the most unique to the Mortal Realms. I guess I would just like to see that mirrored in the factions Mortarch.

Heard it here first indeed Seriously, I would much rather see the Mortarch of Grief being original to the World that was, we already have so many world-that-was characters running around, particularly in GA:Death.

It is clearly Skarsnik grieving the loss Gobblar.

Dang, that looks spot on. GSC did not even come to my mind. Well, maybe that means GSC get a decent sized release, which could very well use (besides, so far all their miniatures are very nice and great conversion fodder). That being the case would bode well for those new for AoS factions that are still a bit basic in range (Sylvaneth, Ironjaw, Fyreslayer and Kharadron).