Davariel

You know, I'm a little torn on the attendants. The idea behind them is great, and they're nice models in and of themselves. I'm just not sure I like the image of a handful of ordinary humans in an otherwise all SCE army. I like how Stormcast armies look as a force of mighty warriors. I like how mixed armies of Stormcast and ordinary mortals look, too. The idea of a full SCE army with just two or three ordinary humans tagging along, though? I can't help but think they'll look a bit out of place. Maybe the Ruination Chamber will have more attendants in the rest of the range, who knows. In any case, the Reclusians are wonderful!

I was painting some Nighthaunt today and it felt very strange to think that these gorgeous, modern sculpts were released as the counterpart to a range that's just been declared outdated and tossed out. Even though I know Sacrosanct is its own case, even though I've had about 3-4 armies go OOP and I'm as inured to it as anyone can be, and even though I haven't played in years and just collect models I like these days... it's still really weird to think of an army that new (and that was so heavily marketed as the face of the game just as it really took off!) getting cut.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the two small Nighthaunt heroes disappear at some point too (the Cairn Wraith and Tomb Banshee). They're slightly older and are have had their concept largely taken over by newer units.

I started painting my first batch of Bretonnian bowmen yesterday to test out my planned "TOW style" army scheme. Contrast is a godsend, I've never gotten yellow to look so good with so little effort.

The news has me considering redoing the bases on the handful of Beastmen I own. I tried going for a Ghur badlands theme with them (what with the Era of the Beast and all!) but I was never entirely satisfied with the results. Now that their story will likely see them menacing Bretonnian peasants instead of Dawnbringer crusades, I might give them some nice forest bases instead.

Wow. This was a much more brutal culling than I expected, and anyone who's spent hours and hours of love on their armies that are now getting discontinued has my sympathy (I've been there, several times!). I will say that this is a really bad look for AoS. Some uncertainty around the model ranges was understandable after the messy launch, and there was certainly a grace period where GW could get away with discontinuing stuff as they tried to figure out what they were doing. However, it's taken AoS way, way too long to "find its feet" and decide what it wants to keep. Around the point everything was covered by a battletome and had received at least minor support (which was late 2nd I think?) they really needed to commit to supporting armies long term (with perhaps an exception for unique cases like Cities). Pulling a move like this - especially with the relatively recent Sacrosanct - is pretty terrible for maintaining confidence in the product line and encouraging long term investment in armies. Whether or not that will amount to anything... who knows (probably not). But I do think it's both unhealthy and highly discouraging for AoS to still be conducting major purges this far into its lifespan.

Fair enough! I should have added a disclaimer that I was only stating my own opinion 😄

I completely agree with this. It's hard to get excited about the new Liberator when it's essentially a weapon swap Vindictor with some very minor armour and shield differences (plus a slightly odd helmet), but it's ultimately a good thing for the game that the SCE range is moving towards a more cohesive, polished, and (by most accounts?) popular design.

Those foot knight conversions look excellent. The more I see of those models the more I like them (and I thought they were good to begin with!).

Having just painted the new Beastlord alongside some Gors, there's really not much room to revamp the range to match it. The Beastlord has the exact same design language and details as the older Beastmen, it's just a more modern (and lovely!) sculpt.

AoS really, really needs to decide what model ranges it wants to move forwards with and stick to it. This kind of uncertainty around units and armies being removed isn't healthy for the game.

I agree with what RexHavoc said. Personally I think AoS tries to have it both ways in terms of being a setting or a story, and the results are often mixed. As a story, there's clearly a serious amount of effort that goes into the campaign books and short stories. There are some genuinely big story developments, and major events do take place - but beyond introducing a new army or new model, there isn't always much follow up, or serious consequences. Rather than an organic story that develops naturally and lets events build upon each other, a lot of the time it feels like AoS has a slightly scattershot approach to storytelling - plot threads are introduced out of nowhere, abruptly resolved, or left hanging, and then the story swerves towards the next army release/new edition anyway. That sounded a bit more cynical than I intended (and I do like a lot of the AoS narrative!), but sometimes it feels like a lot happens, but nothing really changes. Obviously that's important because AoS isn't just a story, and you've got people spending time and money building armies to use in the setting (RIP the stuff I bought to make a themed Har Kuron force, haha). But I think AoS is missing something in its approach as a setting too, The focus is often on the same cast of named characters, and what's going on at the highest level between them and their armies and cities. I love how much room AoS leaves for you to sketch out your own corner of the realms, but it's also so big that I think any force of "your dudes" can feel slightly disconnected from the broader setting.

It would be funny if the trailer isn't referring to any lie in particular, and instead someone is using it as propaganda, creating a rallying cry against Sigmar for their own ends. Obviously that can't be the Skaven, or it would have said "Sigmar Lied-lied"...

Meanwhile, I'll be very surprised if I manage to paint even half the peasants in the army box before the foot knights are released...

The Bret exiles seem very popular, I wonder if it's because they offer so much room to be creative and put your own spin on things.

I'll be working on my Bretonnians again. They were my first Warhammer army back when I was a teenager, and I never had the money or skill to do much except amass a bunch of badly painted core knights. I am excited beyond words to build the army I'd always wanted... well, stock issues depending, haha. At least I've got some unpainted minis or models to strip and repaint in the meantime!

Is it morally justified to use advanced technology like chariots, if they are only used for the purpose of toppling civilisation? It's a question Beastmen philosophers have been grappling with for centuries. Or at least it would be, if Beastmen had any philosophers to speak of.

Trying to find firm rules about the way GW handles anything is probably a fool's errand. They're not exactly known for their consistency. Just when you think you can see a strong pattern... they'll turn around and do something differently for no apparent reason.

I personally feel like the post-WFB grace period where GW could get away with axing entire armies and figuring out what they wanted to do with the range has passed. It's one thing to drop armies that have never had a coherent direction in AoS, it's quite another to drop ones that have had full battletome support. That's not to say GW can't or won't do such a thing, just that I think it would be very toxic and unhealthy for the game.

I imagine updated Dryads would look extremely similar to the Branchwych, without the scythe or familiar. I'd love to see them get a dual kit that builds either normal dryads or a unit with weapons and adornments (similar to what the Lady of Vines has).

It's interesting to hear talk about updating the Witches/SoS, I'd have said they fit seamlessly with the rest of the DoK. Perhaps the biggest flaw of the kit is that it only makes five specific poses... but that's true of many modern kits too. Dryads are an interesting case (and one dear to my heart) as the models are actually really old, but they've aged pretty well and still fit the overall Sylvaneth style. I'd definitely expect a new kit at some point, but wouldn't call them a high priority compared to stuff like phasing out resin, replacing the marauders and 25 year old Skaven sculpts, and so on.

That was my first thought on reading this too. It feels to me like the writers are trying to reconcile the different takes on Bretonnia that have existed over the years - both in terms of good versus grimdark, but also by adding avenues to take stuff like the bombards in the variant army lists. It's not exactly the Bretonnia I fell in love with, but I'm honestly really liking what we've seen so far.

On the bright side, it seems like the rumoured Bretonnian box could be decent. Unlike the Tomb Kings, the core Bret plastics hold up pretty well considering their age (I'm biased here because Brets were my first Warhammer love, but IMO most of their 6th ed range still looked good next to 8th ed stuff). Plus their new kits should provide lots of extra bits to convert the old Knights with. That Tomb King box is a tragedy, though.

It's funny to think that those old skeletons put my friends and I off starting Tomb Kings over a decade ago. I don't mind old models but some definitely age better than others.

This is one of my favourite plogs on TGA, full of such wonderful conversions and creativity! Not to mention top notch painting Makes me regret not starting a Tomb King army back in the day...