RexHavoc

Those are fantastic. Honestly the first models GW have revealed in a long time that have blown me away the first time I'm looking at them! Not at all cluttered, striking poses and nice chunky details for ease of painting! Even the tactile rocks look decent and plausible for a battlefield! I love those 'hand' cannons. I can just imagine him up in the gunsmiths just going 'NO BIGGER!' to everything on offer until he is all but wheeling about small dwarven cannons! 🤣 I do hope this is part of the battleline set and not some €50 character kit. There is no way I am going to be able to choose between any of the poses shown here and its begging for more customisation on top! I'm hoping there is an easy way to get a bundle of these! (Or hopefully its the one kit they throw in every battleforce/vanguard/start collecting set so it becomes easy to end up with plenty of them anyway!!)

If you play the London GT campaign, you'd also have to have to buy the zero day DLC for access to any terrain. 😅

I've just built my first Cygor for beasts of chaos. I love the model, it looks so cool and I love how the alternative versions look so different from each other (unlike some other multi version kits!) so I was excited to finally getting around to making one for myself! It is the single worst kit I've ever built in my life! The thing is a huge pain in the butt! Many of the bits of hair, spikes, horns etc are extremely fragile and have snapped off more than once! Its necklace has tiny connection points that don't line up on both side at the same time! The instructions are dire! So many pieces are misnumbered, I spent a good quarter of an hour trying to work out why an arm didn't fit at the elbow before realising that its also misnumbered, possibly more than once as it looks likes its used in the alternative build as well! What's worse is that I have ended up with three more of these kits to have to build.....😅 I love the smattering of greenish blue here! Really gives some life to what could otherwise just be 'brown wood'! Great stuff!

This was really well written, thank you. It sums up nicely many of the issues I have been seeing myself. I've seen posts online which tell of a huge increase in drama across groups, its a shame to be seeing more and more stories like these cropping up on groups. Whilst its easier to ignore for someone whos already invested into the game heavily, it must be making it harder to convince new players to invest heavily (both in money & in hobby time) in a game that is drawing negative attention. The 'mashing of units' in the current game is why I love (and have tried to stick with) playing the original skirmish over the main game. The main game always seems to end up being about how quickly you can pile all the models into the centre and then watch as handfuls are deleted off the tabletop. I've not managed to sit through a youtube battle report for third edition as the ones I have tried have all become like this. At least with skirmish, the games were quick enough that if you ended up loosing your models a bit to quickly you'd have time to throw down some more terrain, reshuffle your deployment and play again. I've never been much for the rules, I've always been more about making cool models and just wanting to see them run about on the tabletop. All the extra rules and strategies just bogged down what I want to get out of the game. I understand that a complex game can be fun, but AoS (main rules) doesn't feel complex, just bloated with extra things to remember. Its a bizarre mixture, it feels GW wants to cash in on the tournament scene, appeal to narrative players and only give the rules enough attention to sell (more) models. I also remember that the start of AoS being the best time for the game. I loved how folk were just having a blast, coming up with new narratives, crazy conversions and paint schemes, and getting stuff on tabletops as quickly as they could. I get why GW would add points and battletomes, but I still think the community would have carried on forming their own balancing versions for tournaments or pick up games and would have done a better job of it. It would have worked well, leaving GW to push narrative events and new models and let the more competitive players build a points system that they actually enjoyed using (and probably balanced it better!) I've actually yet to read BR Kragnos, but you are not the first person I've heard mention the ending flop. Again, I think this is one of the biggest issues with the game over all. Its in an odd place where GW both want to move the narrative on AND still be able to continue selling character models at a huge mark up without them being invalidated. It makes for difficult story telling, there is no drama when your main characters are protected by plastic armour (Its like plot armour, but it protects GW ability to keep selling models!) 🤣 I also still stand by my decision that bringing Gotrek back & getting rid of Josh Reynolds were overall damaging to the game/setting as a whole. The game definitely needs a decent release schedule to keep it feeling alive, but I agree that this version does just feel like its slapping on a new red cover (side note: I'm a HUGE fan of the red/gold version they have now gone with, and do have a twinge of regret that I brought almost every book for 2nd edition and sticking with that era only! The red and gold are so much more warhammer than the sterile white covers/boxes previously used!) and releasing what is amounting to little more than a 'balance patch'. 3 year edition cycles are dumb and its change for changes sake (and profit of course). Its definitely amounted to a feeling in my group that they are just treading water until they release the old world, just to see if they can continue with AoS as a 'main game'. No one here wants to buy into the lore and books if they are all going to be 'End Timesed' in a year or two. (and yes, battletomes are now €42.50 here, which is insane for a rulebook you might only get a few months out of before they release some new game version & zero day errata) We've also noticed they have dropped the amount of the LE battletomes down to around 700 per release and some are still sitting on the store weeks after release. Again, not a healthy sign and not a good one for anyone toying with the idea of playing AoS but who was already aware that GW LE books sell out often 5 minutes prior to the actual release time! Coupled with the possibility of the old world replacing AoS (How ever slight that notion might actually be), its going to bring in less new players. Which means less money, causing them to consider loosing AoS altogether. Its a cycle GW don't seem to bothered by (not going by their pro I also hope that it is just a lull, and hope that we the first big release of next year brings in a new wave of AoS excitement. But I can't shake that notion at the back of my mind that arranging anything for AoS this time next year might be a waste of time right now! Thankfully, my gaming group is pretty chill. Whilst we have all kind of abandoned AoS right now, I've been itching to get back to playing. My main opponent is never too bothered about what we play, they are just as happy playing MtG, board games, Video games, oathmark or WFB. They are not a hobbyist at all (I paint all their armies) and they are just content playing games. The issue is, we all pretty much feel the same way about AoS right now and even I'm having a hard time getting that excitement levels up and keeping them there. Its been easier to engage with other games so much more recently. Being able to watch themed shows, battlereports, converse with people online about models or campaigns and basically engage in the hobby outside the actual hobby itself does help keep excitement for projects up. I think the only reason we have all drifted towards other games recently is the wave of 'whats the point' with AoS, when it seems a very uncertain game to be playing right now. Not that GW can ever take away the game/setting now its out there. Same as with WFB. I also agree and I do wish they would change the names of the game modes! One of the biggest issues I've run into is when I've had with conversations on groups (outside of this forum that it) about game styles, I've then seen the argument that match play is the 'standard' that everyone follows and anything outside of that is the oddity! Sure, its probably the most common and it will be the easiest to find pick up games for, but I've seen opinions on how people play everything from 'narrative is just match play but you named your commander' to 'Open play is just for people that want to smash their biggest toys together'! There is such a weird atmosphere with the AoS crowd right now, that play modes are set in stone and that everything should be spoonfed (lest you are deemed a cheat and be caught playing outside the sandbox!) Personally, I've never understood the need for so much competitive focus on a game that demands so much imagination and creativity prior to even getting on to the tabletop! Also never understood the need for so many to require the game to be balanced (points wise & rules) to be able to play. Its understandable for pick up games, but outside of that so many seem to come into the hobby with this idea is the standard and anything outside that box is the oddity! I'd like to know which real life battle came with equal armies and had a fair chance of either side winning! ================================================================================= One other issue I've had with AoS recently is that after 7 years, we still have such an odd disparity between the lore and the actual model ranges. The lore is this magnificent, ridiculous over the top imagery which is quite often lovecraftian in the level of cosmic horror. Whilst some models convey this, due to so many things being ported over from WFB we are left with a model range that is surprisingly bog standard. Even some of the more recent releases have been closer to the Euro Grim dark style of WFB/LotR than what is displayed in the lore & art. Range updates are so sporadic. Some getting just a random new hero and others getting nothing. I know we are getting a big CoS overhaul soon, I think what ever they do here will make or break the future of the setting! One last point, I wish GW put as much effort into their books as cubical 7 does. I brought several bits from them for WFB (not for the roleplaying rules, just for the lore & art) and the quality is fantastic. I've taken a quick flick though a couple of the soulbound books and they look amazing. I'll be adding some of the reference books to my shelf for sure! I know that a lot of the old lore for WFB was built upon heavily from the earlier WFRP game, and clearly Cubical 7 are doing the same for AoS now. It just irks me somewhat, as I have no real interest in the game itself and have to pay the parts of the book that will never get used! But their source books are just so good.

Ah the good old GW socials. Know less than we do and still manages to stir up more wonderings than what we started with.🤣 Im taking the CoS refresh to mean we will loose the remains of the wfb helfs, delfs, welfs and dwelfs.. I mean dwarves 😅 I'd better start adding in some extra odds n ends to orders over the next few months just in case.

I don't want to derail into pricing talk (and summon sleeping mods) but I've been buying new in boxed/sealed WFH boxes for cheaper than their AoS counterparts. (Except those sealed metal blood dragon knights, they did bad things to my wallet!😭) I've had an easier time buying random bits for a Tomb Kings army for my misses, than I have trying to fill gaps in AoS armies I already own part of! Rising costs & things being out of stock constantly (or removed from ranges completely) makes it impossible to encourage someone in my group to pick up a new AoS project. Thing is, I don't mind paying higher prices if the service/quality matched the higher cost. Its harder to get people here buying as well as most of my group feel that an AoS army has to be an 'all-in purchase' now, rather than building it in stages, on the grounds that the model range could be removed/out of stock/replaced at any random point before we had a chance to finish it. Anyway, that's enough derailing from me. I have a windmill to go and fight.

I'd assumed later into the new year. The article did say something on the lines that it would be a long time before we saw the warscrolls from the set released separately. I doubt we would see them get the other models before xmas, only for the standard battletome etc to come out in X amount of months time. Under the assumption we won't see either until the first AoS release of the new year.

Wow, lot of responses to the thread. I'd worried that it would be seen as too negative! I don't have enough reactions to respond to all! 😅 Yeah, there is another local club to me but they are entirely 40k focused, with zero interest in AoS. I'm not against playing 40k, its just I own a ridiculous amount of Epic 40k (and I do mean ridiculous) and almost all the issues I have with AoS exist in the current 40k rules as well! I'm ok with the model range seeing less releases but it still feels jarring to know the game got less design time that a 'side game' (A side game GW didn't even have confidence in on first release!) Yeah this has definitely been a factor in saving the hobby for myself in the past year. I've removed all the official GW accounts from any social media I use. It felt pointless (any news get reposted right away anyway and better pics always appear within minutes of any promotional post!) Though the other groups I kept are just reposting the GW info, removing GW pages tricked me in being less negative overall. I'm no longer tempted to write comments on GW pages under the misunderstanding that GW were actually listening or interacting, and that mind set has thankfully bled over to the rest of the hobby. There is just no point writing comments like 'price is too high', 'these rules suck/are wrong/too good' or 'why can't you make enough stock'. Yeah the BL fomo is ridiculous. I've cut back from buying most releases- though in too deep with the standard hardback HH siege books so resided to complete that before banning all new 40k books. I was pleased to know that the last book was on its way- until they announced it was being split into two 😡 Yeah it could be, I find it odd that the biggest AoS groups have very little interest in battle reports, conversions, painting and the biggest conversations are always meta/rules/rumours. I know its whats get the most people excited. Even here and on dakkadakka, painting logs etc are surprisingly quiet. Warseer used to have a buzzing painting log forum for WFB stuff. AoS never seems to have picked up a home for painting. I've thought about this, most of us are happy sticking with 1st edition/skirmish. We just can't get the buzz going for the game. One of my main opponents couldn't care less what rules we use, they are happy out playing just about anything. I love oathmark, we have been planning a huge LotR game using oathmark as the basis. Used to play Fubar a lot for 6mm (which are the rules that onepage built their game from). I don't particularly feel that swapping out the rules would change some of the issues we are having. If anything, we want to spend more money on 'Official' AoS, we just don't want it to be money spent on edition cycles- we want to buy new campaign books, new models, new terrain. We'd like to actually be able to order models as well- not scrap about at a weekend on the off chance that there is stock left at the actual time pre-orders go live or not rush to buy something just on the off chance it will sell out and never be seen again! GW are making it too hard to give them my cash! As I've said above, they might only be addons but we WANT to give them our money and buy addons. Its just become a minefield or a case of 'buy everything now, regret it later' and hope picking that buying a huge kit for one bit of terrain isn't then repackaged a month later. GW gives more attention to MESGB terrain than it does for AoS! (And I am broke from buying that! 🤣) I'd also like to see 5-6 year cycles. I'd not have half the issues with GW as I have right now if we were not in a 3 year cycle. We stuck with the early rules as all of us here are sick of books being outdated within months/less than 2 years. The supply issue is awful. My misses orders a huge order every xmas for club gifts. Whilst we except the pandemic made things bad, the issue we had with GW is their stock control was zero. Last few years, she'd order the big order which was almost always older items (not limit stock or new hype items) and one thing would go out of stock. She'd order in November and we were chasing them January for it. (During the pandemic, it got as far as end of February before the November order was on its way) We'd finally chase them and they would say 'Oh sorry item X was out of stock. It will be back in stock next week and we will send the order out'. The next week still not sent, item X back in store. Contact them again 'Item X back in stock, but Oh sorry items YZ are now out of stock'. They don't put items aside once ordered/paid for and they don't ever contact customers with order issues until we chase (and we always gave them weeks before doing so) Its happened every year, even before lockdowns started. Now we get around it by breaking EVER order up into the smallest lots we can to get bundles into the free postage values (€25) and not have one big order tied up with one item going out of stock. Its not a good practice, but better than chasing orders week after they due. You can only imagine what its like on delivery day when multiple units of MESBG MTOs are all showing up in small, €25 value boxes 🤣 I love oathmark and stargrave. I picked up both frostgrave & shadowdeep but no had a chance to play them yet. Didn't know Frostgrave had a solo campaign, I'm still missing quite a few of the books for it, so I will have to pick them up. I got stargrave so I could play solo 'not-romunda' when nothing else was planned! I don't mind the model releases slowing down (I'm a very slow painter!) I just think it would be nice that AoS had the level of attention that 40k side games are getting! A moving narrative is all I ever wanted for the game (after all, if it moves past a point you are not keen on, you can always keep setting your games in the past) but agree there isn't enough emotion stirring on the whole! I do wish that they would go all out on the narrative- I get they won't want to kill off a model that is selling for €110 as then people wouldn't buy them as much! I think the lack of W+ content shows just how little GW put their trust in AoS narrative. We still play WFB. The issue we have is that some here are less willing to spend big on AoS on the change GW could kill it off (proven by their removal of WFB). Its also been super easy (until the last three months when people have convinced them selves the old world is coming next year for sure!) to buy WFB models for less than new units cost for AoS. I brought some new in box tomb kings for less than the equivalent bonereapers costs direct. Whilst most of us are happy to use models in any settings without issue, again its harder to convince people here to spend money on new AoS models when there is the possibility that they can't be used in the old world (if we happen to decide to switch from WFB to the new version. You never know, it could be the best game ever made!) and every purchase has become a count of how many games can we squeeze this model into', which can take away from just buying a new AoS model just because its cool! Sad to see we are not alone. I'd not fault anyone for liking the game in a different way, but it does feel like narrative players are expected to segregate themselves away from the main hobby sites just because some would rather buy new models/convert/write lore than get constant rules updates and point adjustments. I agree with you. I do feel that sometime around 2nd, GW started making changes to the game to bring back in the more competitive crowd and then we saw a huge upsurge other players being told we were playing the game wrong. I understand that 40k is their big money maker, but in two years we could have seen something more than one W+ cartoon. But then I'm still bitter about them not letting Josh Reynolds finish the eight lamentations (only to recently bring out godsbane, which the blurb could have been the same book just with stormcast plastered on top!)

Isn't the next one due to come out in december? There was a road map posted in this thread a few pages back I'm sure (I Just can't find it now! haha)

Preface to the post before I start: I wanted to avoid any negativity and have tried to stick to being as constructive as I can with the issues I'm facing with the game. I mostly wanted to vent a bit and get the ideas floating in my head out (Mostly so I can get back to painting!) My group have pretty much moved away from being interested in playing AoS. This is mostly due to a few factors, some of the more obvious ones (which I will avoid discussing on the forum) and the lockdowns did not help. A lot of the 'AoS resentments' have come from the release schedule and the like, which GW could possibly improve. In short, there are a few problems with the quality of life of the game that I'd love to see GW address going forward. Release schedule. Most of my group have gotten sick of the release schedule, whilst we are all aware that GW need to release content regularly to keep the cash flow coming in there are a few things they could do to improve the QoL for buyers. For instance, AoS books are very hit or miss if they will remain in stock pass the pre-order window. I personally hate the rush to get online to order an AoS book just because its releasing alongside a 40k LE, or that it might even sell out instantly itself. It would be nice if they released AoS books or other 'in demand' or short print run items away from other huge game releases. Review embargoes. For example this weekend- the chaos set. The reviews appeared from the third party chaps, just as the local store sold out of the set. It would be nice if GW allowed the reviews to appear before the set has been put out for release (and potentially sold out). I wanted a more independent review of this set (not GWs BUY BEST SET EVER promotion) to see if the models would really be worth adding to my force (as its massively converted) Same thing with their books. GW will send an email out promoting the books release- usually about half an hour after the book is already sold out and never to be reprinted. Thondia. Whilst I'm not keen on 'season of war' as being a thing, campaign books are my jam and are something I wish they did a lot more of. However, thondia had a really bizarre release and the big terrain set was off putting (I know technically you don't need it, but if they are releasing a campaign book with a new model, it would have been nice that the new model wasn't behind a €200 paywall at release) We did toy with the idea of splitting the bundle, but after trying to hash out who would get what (or what would be left with me to paint for the group gaming table) interest just kind of fizzled out. Terrain. AoS terrain is weird. They seem to bring out a new building, release it in multiple sets and then it gets scrubbed from the store almost instantly or only available in much larger sets. It would be nice if we could go back to having a terrain range that was available all the time (or just go full on back to white dwarf articles encouraging people to scratch build again!) or provided more lore friendly terrain. (Where is the AoS housing & shops?) I've seen more than one post around that 3rd edition isn't doing as well as people would like to see, which can be off putting when trying to get people into playing. Things like Dominion (hyped to be a 'buy now or forever miss out', but now sat on store shelves discounted) or the old world is coming...soon...one day...maybe...sometime. None of this helps GW promote that AoS is going to be around a long time (even if they have been clear that the old world is just going to be a side game, it doesn't seem to have been taken in!) AoS needs something like a long term road map, or more promotion of the long term (not just showing a random mini part once a month!) Underworld/beastgrave etc warbands. Probably some of the best models GW are putting out, but they are so flakey when it comes to availability. I'd much rather buy them without the cards, but never know if and when they are being moved over to the main range. The costing also doesn't make much sense, you can buy the 4/5 models in a warband for slightly more than the cost of an individual character from the main range. Its an odd thing to do when warband is often moved to the main range alongside the same range character (For example, the kharardon overlord set is utterly bizarre. Thundrik's Profiteers which has a khemist sculpt is €2 less than the Aether-Khemist alone) It would be excellent if there were more consistency to these sets being moved over to the main AoS range once they are done with their run of underworlds. Warhammer+ content. Happy to be corrected if wrong- I dislike W+ massively so don't have it. But where is the AoS content? We are into the 2nd year of W+ and other than one hammer & bolter episode, where is the AoS series? Whilst I'm well aware that 40k massively out profits AoS, GW doesn't seem to want to put any effort into the lore/non-hobby side of the game. This reads to me that GW are not confident with the setting. I'd certainly have gotten over my W+ issues a lot quicker and brought in to it this year had some actual AoS/fantasy content been there. Warhammer community has gone back to reading like a business newsletter (which I know first and foremost it is!). I'd really like to see more staff models and the like. I total get that its just their advertising space and not really for 'hobby content'. But I'd be more tempted by so many more new models or projects if we saw a bigger range of painting on show. 'Community policing'. This isn't something that GW has any control over, so this isn't anything they can resolve but I've seen some pretty bad practices in the last 24 months (and thus venting!). I've had one person in my group buy into AoS, only to drop the game due to having been booted off a facebook group after some from that community (including a fairly well known content creator) dog-piled into them for wrong doing (in short- they brought more than one copy of the hachette magazine and thus the logic was they were "stopping new children getting into the game"). They lost all interest after seeing what the community was like and went back to playing older games. The facebook moderator removed them for defending their purchases, citing that it was more trouble to moderate the rude people than removing the one person completely. In addition, after seeing someone else being told by a stranger they were ruining the game for using plastic dinosaurs for their seraphon army, and not a week later the same complainer was posting pictures of the unpainted 3d printed models they were taking to a tournament. The jump in logic was mind boggling! Discussion online of AoS have shifted in the last 12 months or so to more and more of the rules talk, meta chasing, complaints on how others enjoy the hobby. I don't think its anything anyone can control but its a strange shift and I know some narrative only players feel pushed out of the spaces made for AoS conversation. (Discord seems to have a ton of narrative groups, but very few seem to cross post to here any more) Anyway, that's me having vented! To brighten the thread up a bit, here's my WiP Slaanesh mortals army. (Yes, they are based on squares as they are going to be pulling double duty as a a 6th Ed WFB army). I've been slowly pulling apart last years battleforce to make more conversions for the Slaanesh-cast warriors! I am not looking forward to the cleanup of the daemon chariots! Those wheel spikes are horrid! 😅

I suspect the boxes will see a far higher price tag than normal seeing there are placing in two huge characters models in the chaos ones. If they do that with the AoS ones, most of the big models are €100+ these days. I'm not complaining about the price, they will still have some good value in there I'm sure. I just think this is another barrier for getting people playing AoS, the christmas boxes were good the first couple of years and it was great too see so many people pick up a set or three to start new projects or start playing. (My local store still has some of the AoS battleforces from last year- not a good sign!) Though thankfully, the only big model from the AoS range I have that I'd not want more than one of is Morathi, so if they do the same with our battleforces I'll still pick one or two sets up for sure.

I always hate a good Cubic 7 thread! They put out some amazing art work and their attention to detail in their stuff is fantastic. These threads always makes me want to buy their books, but I just can't do it as it feels a waste as I'd never play an RPG. (I did buy one of the WFRP books and some of their WFB maps and the quality was amazing but the cost of them is high for not having an interest in the core of the book) Sometimes I wish they were in charge of putting out more books on the miniatures side of the universe as well.

I suspect that what they really mean by "quite unlike anything you’ve seen before", is something very similar to the current chaos warcry humans but with the pictured sigmar bits replacing the chaos symbols/skulls/yokes that those minis current have. The "Quite unlike" bit will just mean they will be the larger 'heroic' scale we are used to seeing from them now (which 'stops' people mixing in stuff like from frostgrave & fireforge etc) and will have the more dynamic style poses, with arms flailing about every where and everyone on at least one tree trunk and four tactical rocks (which makes it harder to use the models in square based unit games) I loved the mortal artwork designs in the 2nd ed rulebook, the 'undead' human was amazing and deserved to have been a kit two years ago or more. Its very late in the games life to suddenly be bringing back in 'new' mortal designs when they have been retconning old WFB kits into CoS, letting people buy up big collections to now risk bringing in a whole new model design for mortal units. Personally I'm using Victrix kits for almost every human based army I do nowadays, just got another huge batch of kits to make some rather stylish looking Slaanesh mortals and sloppy Nurgle war elephants. I got bored waiting for GW to bring mortals to the Mortal Realms and would only buy new human/mortal kits once they come in a battleforce deal or cheap set so I could use just one or two models per kit as champions for mortal units.

I like the Vs boxes, but then I usually can find use for both sides of the box. The ones I haven't brought are the couple that I've just had no use for or already owned all the models. I never bother selling halfs of boxes, they either go towards club armies or into the conversion pile. I wish they wouldn't paywall new heroes/units in these big boxes, but then so far none of the sets I've brought have had items in that I can't make a use off so its yet to bother me directly. I really like most of the underworld sets, I think the sets are really good for the most part and seems to be a good way for the design team to get some more unique sculpts into the world without having to design and gamble on a whole range. I do think they shine a bad light on GWs pricing though, they can release a set of 4-5 minis all of which are unique sculpts but then a standard non-name AoS character can cost the same as one of these sets (The vampire lord/crimson court baffles me for example) I just wish they would put them out at launch without the cards in them. The cards just end up in the bin and its such a waste. I love the start collecting sets and have brought hundreds (maybe not, but feels like it!) but sad to see them being replaced with the new vanguard type sets. which I'm not so keen on. They were obviously better when they first came out but even with the price increases, most of them had some good value in them especially if you were creative with the bits, left overs and use of the models. The Christmas battleforces were good, but I do feel they took a bit of a nose dive last year. I only brought the Slaanesh one because I'd guessed that we might see one and I wanted to get the Myrmidesh kit to bulk out my Slaanesh-stormcast models (and they should have plenty of left overs to convert even more of the cheap stormcast models) but had held off buying them on release. Other years I've brought multiple sets, as they were a great way to stock up on models and parts. I really liked the Broken Realm sets, though more for the art on the boxes than the contents of the sets themselves. The art looked really nice on the shelves and a lot less clinical than the rows of white boxes that AoS has had (at least up to dominion era red & gold boxes). I would like to see something more like the old WFB regiment sets make a return for new boxes. An affordable set of minis that come with an entire unit in the set, with spare parts to make banners, heroes, general etc. I'd like to see them make more sets interchangeable between boxes as well. Like how Oathmark sets, the parts work between both foot troops & rider sets. GW love making their complex sculpts and all plastic is convertible, I just miss the ease of being able to mix and match heads and weapons with out the extra chopping.

GW who never do sales, who put out a twitch stream egging people to queue in a virtual queue and buy dominion immediately on release as it was limited & was going to sell out quickly even with all the copies they made, with characters models that would not be available anywhere else (possible for ever, possible for 6 months, who knows with them), with a brand new orc army with a strong WFB aesthetic and with enough FOMO advertising and hype to rival kill team, all with it coming off the release of the FOMO & panic over the botched cursed city release. And yet here we are. I'm sure some people will still try to defend this as them over estimating stock levels by a small amount or that not everyone wanted more stormcast in a big set or that some didn't want the full rule book and 2 new armies so have the smaller sets or perhaps people didn't want the big collections edition rulebook over the bog standard art (as if people don't try to collect every other limited edition book) But clearly AoS is not selling in the amounts that they wanted/expected it too. Its not a good sign for the life of the game, for those that want the game to remain supported.

I've always been lore/narrative over anything else. I love making up new lore for myself (I never expect people to like it, but I don't need them too) But I was once told I was ruining 40k as I was playing Skaven as a chaos force, for Epic 40k, when epic hadn't been been sold by GW for almost 10 years. I was surprised I was doing so much damage to the entire hobby, but hey! Here we are! 😁 * Same guff from folk when I posted my slaanesh-cast, mostly because they are on squares (because we still play WFB & like oathmark) but also because people were so caught up with it being against 'lore'. (I never even tried to claim they were stormcast, fallen or otherwise. I just like the armour for them over the usual spikey & skull stuff of chaos) My chaosdin overlords have mostly been left alone, but then they are mostly just dwarves with big shoulder pads, as I never got too far into the painting (Painting the Ironclad destroyed my soul- far too many buttons and dials and readouts which had I know there were so many before starting to paint them, I'd have left them alone in the first place!) I gave up posting my timeline for my AoS campaign as there were complaints- some people thought it was too WFB and shouldn't be in AoS, and some people thought it was too AoS to be incorporating so much from WFB. * I did have the last laugh. A couple of my space skaven models were featured as part of another article in a very popular warhammer fan magazine. I take great pride in my accomplishment, I single handedly ruined the entire 40k hobby.

I've been removing as much 'official' content from my social media and alert feeds that I can. Got sick to death of FOMO advertising. Not only that but people repost GW 'news' the second its out anyway. Getting rid of so many 'Hype' posts has really improved my hobby and my stress levels. I much preferred it when I could go online when I wanted at any day of the week, browse through GWs store and buy anything that caught my eye- new or old. I spent a lot more money then. All this FOMO stuff 'QUICK BUY IT NOW THIS SATURDAY ONLY' makes me save my money in case something better is coming a week or two later. One of many reasons I didn't bother buying into 3rd Ed. And I know I'm not the only one. GW were so busy trying to get everyone to spend their money recklessly on every new release, they have pushed people away from spending anything at all. I've spent a hell of a lot of money on other games and products simply because I had money burning a hole in my pocket that week and the batch of releases were so hyped up and I had no interest in sitting in a virtual queue* for an hour to buy some product that would be forgotten about the week after. *sidenote, the virtual queue was stupid. I figured out how to exploit it the first day it was up as did many others. I did inform GW and refused to use the system but I know that people that did exploit it to buy multiple copies of various item. The queue system did nothing but punish regular users, it didn't stop scalpers at all.

Its still not reasonable to lock things behind the app. This isn't a digital hobby, even if digital products can be used within the hobby. If they lock things behind paywalls and apps, they will only encourage other means of getting rules for those that don't want to use apps. The game already appears to be declining in popularity. The old world will further divide peoples money/attention. Putting warscrolls behind paywalls or apps only is only going to further push people to play games without these hurdles.

Well thats a terrible blow to the ease of introduction to the game or for people that are happy with older editions but might want to add newer models to their games (and don't want to write their own stats) Either GW are so sure that this is going to encourage more people to buy battletomes (Perhaps their profit margins on tomes are huge) or they know that they make so many errors and updates with rules that they can't be bothered with people complaining that the warscroll in the boxes are wrong every time something is updated.

They've already confirmed that it won't be Epic scale or anything other than the standard. They don't really use a consistent scale so they can't really come out and say that it is 28 or 32mm but they've confirmed that it will around the scale we have now.

Yeah, I wasn't sure. I certainly didn't see anything but then I find the warhammer community page a mess to navigate and I've removed almost ever 'official' GW source from my feeds, I just didn't see the point in following them for news.(*) So fair enough, I did wonder if they were clear about it. I still don't like that they put out three books for a single army, even if you could pick and choose which two of them you needed. But if they were clear about it, at least it wasn't sneaky. Thanks for update. *As for not following them for news, this is totally off topic, but I removed their social media accounts as they don't have anything of value to add. They only have scripted answers to ANY question and any news is posted ad nauseam across hobby pages (Including non-warhammer/AoS groups) that there is just no need to actively follow both hobby groups and GW pages. I wanted to keep the hobby groups as there is good stuff posted there, so might as well condense getting my news from them too. So I do now miss the odd thing- like information on the books, but overall its helped remove some of the negativity from the hobby.

I'm normally pretty sceptical about 'rumours' like this, but I believe the part about dominion not selling well at all. After all their 'FOMO QUICK BUY IT QUICK ON RELEASE DAY OR MISS OUT' stream hype and advertising, and its still available pretty much everywhere. I don't think a limited release set still being sold almost 6 months on can be seen anything but a failed release. The rest is stuff we pretty much know anyway or is the most credible guesses at what can be expected (warcry, nighthaunt)

My issue with is it feels like GW has only just finally cottoned on to the fact that our models last forever and to keep selling the same kits over and over (especially to people that might already own enough models) the only other way to do it is to keep invalidating rules and releasing new books. (Though as I point out below, I'm aware that this issue with multiple books isn't new at all) I also don't think they made it very clear that if you had the first book, you only needed the 2nd if you didn't have the Broken Realm books. (I may be wrong about this though- maybe they announced it pretty clearly, but I had already removed a lot of the GW new feeds by then as I'd gotten sick of their behaviour. So maybe I missed it) I also don't think that it makes it alright because rules are on a app- free or behind the W+ paywall. I've zero interest in using apps for games, hardly anyone in my group uses them. The majority of us are all in IT and spend enough time behind a screen. Games are an escape from screens and quite honestly even if I wasn't in IT, I don't want to be checking my phone all the time when playing a board game. There's also the inconstancy with releases- GW will release multiple waves of minis and books for one army, but could go years without a single new model for others. It hasn't always bothered me- I buy and use what I like and don't care for what GW want to be selling at the time, but I can imagine its rough on players who's hobby does centre around them playing the most up to date rules. If GW keep this trend up there will have been more editions of Lumineth battletome than there has been of the game itself. (And yes this has happened before- armies have gotten 3 army books within a single edition of WFB, in very much the same way. I don't think people were that happy with it back then either (the books were a tad cheaper after taking inflation in to account but not by enough to argue that they were cheaper and could get away with it back then)) I do think GW need to have more goodwill when it comes with AoS and it wouldn't take much. How about a Necromunda style roadmap, instead of crappy rumour engine pics of bits of models. Let players have an informed choice on what armies to collect and play and allow them to plan their games and hobbies around an actual release schedule. All this FOMO sales and hiding releases in fear of delays (or whatever other excuse they want to hide behind) is actually just saying that the consumers are too dumb to make purchases without being scared into missing out. Instead, they could do a 12 month roadmap (divided in the quarters so they dont' have to give exact dates) and be like 'Hey you have 6 months to finish painting up your Orcs, cause then you can buy the new chaos dwarves'. Its still advertising but its a far more positive (and healthy) way of selling the hobby.

C7 do amazing stuff. I have some of their Old worlds maps and the empire cities book. However, the problem i have is as amazing as their products are, I shouldn't have to go and buy RPG books to get decent lore for a game I actually like. I'm not a fan of RPGS in the slightest, never really played one and never intend to. I brought the cities book as I skimmed through a PDF version and it was chock full of lore and art and actually very few rules. But a lot of the other books they do are designed to be games books, with hundreds of pages of rules and character profiles. And as I have no use for those parts of the books, I'm paying a fair whack for a handful of pages. (That said, being in the same country as C7s office & warehouse I do get things cheaper than trying to buy anything from the UK now, so whilst its not a saving, its a saving in comparison!) I'd like to buy more C7 books, but I just feel they are expensive for the handful of pages that I'd actually enjoy.

I've said it before here and repetitively elsewhere. If we follow GW logic as true, then we didn't start seeing anything 'new' for AoS until either just before the soul wars stuff or until the year after. GW have always stood firm that it takes 3 years + to design a range and have it made and released. Its been rumoured for years that 9th Ed was being worked on/ready to replace 8th when they were told to scrap WFB for AoS. Stormcast were being rumoured as being the clockwork soldiers of the empire that were meant to have come out with 9th- Harry the rumourmonger was posting about them long before AoS rumours back on warseers days. We know forgeworld were about to release 'battle for blackfire pass', the follow up to Tamurkhan, which would have featured Dwarves Vs Orcs which is likely too have included things like Airships and other models that matched the 8th Ed dwarf releases. KO were released, a year and a smidge after 1st Ed AoS (so not long enough to have been part of the three year + life cycle of release) I still suspect that the models from that campaign would have been repurposed for KOs. They even fit in perfectly with the 8th Ed dwarf kits in scale and design. The Idoneth were in WFB lore from years back- even if it was a tiny little text box that only hinted at them. The idea that most of the stuff done for AoS is 'ridiculous' and 'wouldn't have fit in with WFB' is a ridiculous argument from those that dislike AoS. Releases do not match the timeline GW give at all- which they made a huge deal about with the SoB release for 40k. They would have repurposed everything they could to have gotten AoS its rushed and out the door release. Sure, they made the AoS lore & style more bombastic, but there is no chance that a lot of what we see now wouldn't have been the direction 9th Ed would have taken. Just look at the range of End Times models to see how they were going with the overall design. 'down to earth gritty Euro Fantasy' would have been replaced either way. Yeap, the hobby is so much bigger than just the people that post online. Even my own small gaming group, I am the only one posting about the hobby online. I've a mate that doesn't even follow GW and only knows about things coming out that he is interested in because I either mention it to him at work or he sees what I post in our friends (unrelated to wargaming) group chat. He's a huge 40k fan but hasn't a clue about warhammer outside of the Horus Heresy books and models. Its so utterly bizarre to me, but there are people that do just treat the hobby as someone might treat a TV shows they only watch sometimes or those that only watch the big team sports events etc. We are the most likely to be the folk glued to news and rumours, always checking for updates and pouring over old books and model collections and can remember the price of every model off by heart.