Davariel

I'm at once excited and a little apprehensive about this darker new age and return of death being hinted at. On the one hand it all sounds awesome in and of itself - narrative progression and Nagash returning in a big way is a big thumbs up. I love that GW is daring to move things forward. But... (and this may be an unpopular opinion) I wonder if Age of Sigmar is actually ready to leap forward like that. It's a little hard to take GA Death seriously as a threat when it's roughly the same size as the Stormcast product line, never mind the entire rest of Order. A clampack and 1-2 new boxes won't really change that (especially when they'll probably be matched by new Stormcast releases ). Wouldn't it be better if they spent a year releasing/fleshing out 2-3 new death armies first? Likewise it feels perhaps too early in the narrative development of the realms to take them back into another dark period. Sure, we know how everyone and their grandmother feels towards Sigmar, but there's plenty of stuff in the setting that's a bit of a blank. We don't know much about how our gods of life and death (Alarielle and Nagash) feel towards each other. Wouldn't it be better to establish that before launching Nagash's war? Or fleshing out the social dynamics between the Orruks and Ogors, or some of the plots between the various Mortarchs. Maybe all this is just baseless rambling, but one of the things I did like about WFB was that I could pick up an army book and get a clear sense of where that civilisation fit into the world as a whole. How it related to all the other factions and peoples, its history and the places that were important. GW has made great strides in that direction, but the approach has been a little scattered and piecemeal across supplements, Black Library books, and so on. I don't mean to dismiss the work they've done building the setting at all, just suggest that perhaps they could do a bit more before delving into another world-changing event. After all, you've got to build things up before you can tear them down

I dunno, the new model's not perfect but it's perfectly in line with the marauder/Slaves to Darkness aesthetic. I'd rather have this than a female chaos lord whose armour was so massive and thick you couldn't tell if it was a man, woman or daemon underneath it all! Plus... it's nice to see a model that's (more or less) just human. Feels crazy that chaos is our only source of regular humans whilst order gets nothing but armoured giants these days

I'd be so disappointed if major resources got devoted to that kind of project. All the limitless possibilites that GW could come up with for AoS, all the weird, wonderful and wacky things that would never have been possible in WFB... and we get Stormcast with skulls/chaos stars instead of lightning bolts? Gimme a break! Seriously though, the sky's the limit these days, and Forgeworld in particular could really push some of the traditional fantasy boundaries.

If nothing else it's exciting to see Skaven getting some love! Will be very interesting to see how GW handles the rats (and their, ahem, "friendship" with the rest of Chaos) going forward... And if that pic really is an accurate representation of the warbands in Shadespire... then put me down for the Nagash warband

A gorgeous paint job, as always Nice to see the handmaiden getting some love - such a wonderfully detailed model. I wish the plastic Sisters of Avelorn looked more like her!

That rumour engine pick looks too spiky to me to be aelves or death (though a new faction for either could have very different aesthetics of course). I'd actually guess it's something for Slaanesh since it's got the "SPIKES ERREYWHERE" look of chaos in a more elegant, curved package. Maybe a helmet crest or unusual sort of weapon?

I kind of feel the opposite about him, actually - I think GW have done an excellent job of designing a model that would fit nicely into most death armies (and appeal to most death players). It's ethereal in the same style as the wraith, signalling it's a Nighthaunt model (while also linking it to Deathlords since they're all covered in spirits)... but the corroded sword and chainmail tie him to Deathrattle, while the bat wings on the helmet are pure Soulblight. Seems like he does a good job of representing GA Death as a whole - just by varying the paint job I think you could make him fit perfectly with most death armies!

Interesting stuff! I wonder what the other heralds for the other Grand Alliances will be? My guesses would be something like: Chaos: Herald of Archaon. It's the only herald that really works for more than a fifth of the GA - plus I would not be averse to Archaon getting his own Mouth of Sauron type servant... Destruction: Herald of the Waaaagh! I wouldn't expect a fighty Ironjawz type herald here, since that would overlap too much with Gordrakk IMO - instead I'd guess a particularly mad shaman whose mere presence makes those around him start thumping each other! Order: This one's easy since Order is pretty much Sigmar + friends these days... it'll be a Herald of Sigmar. I hope it'll be a badass warrior priest or preacher, but who am I kidding, it'll be another Stormcast. Maybe a named variant of the Knight-Heraldor.

Death. Death! DEATH!!!! Just so much awesome right now. Especially love how that guy blends the aesthetics of multiple death factions together. A hint of things to come, perhaps?

Wonderful conversions full of character - loving the Mordheim-esque vibe to your work! Looking forward to seeing what you come up with next

Those knights are looking really nice! I'd say the soft gold blends very nicely with the white and helps the bright colours stand out more - keep up the great work I still can't believe that GW discontinued such beautiful models, but kept selling hideous stuff like the fell bats and bat swarms...

Whoa. Those vines. I need those vines in my life. Bases, terrain, even Sylvaneth models... there's just so much you could do with them!

Just be grateful you're not a high elf player More on topic, while it's good to see GW make a concerted effort to rebox things that are going to be sticking around, those price increases are just painful. Eternal Guard are $70 AU for 10 now when they were $47 before! I wish GW would at least be consistent in pricing reboxed stuff (as an amusing aside, Sisters of the Watch are *still* listed as Sisters of Avelorn on the Aussie webstore. Is this the case elsewhere?)

The unusual choice of colours works beautifully - the contrast of blue and orange really catches the eye! Looking forward to see what you do next

A lot of interesting thoughts and analysis here. Speaking as a High elf player I think GW's treatment of the faction has been awful (I feel more incentive to rebase my Bretonnians than my High elves... if that doesn't suggest a problem I don't know what does), but I agree with many of your thoughts regarding the sub-factions. I think the biggest problem is that there's simply too many to handle. It would take years to try and update even some of the aelf factions. IMO the best way forward would be to pick 2 or 3 of the ones with the most distinct themes - say, Scourge Privateers, Phoenix Temple, Lion Rangers, or Daughters of Khaine - and slot them for updates in the next 12-18 months. Everything else would be merged back into armies more like the old Dark/High elf armies, perhaps as Darkling Covens and Swifthawk Agents respectively. It wouldn't be ideal, since there'd be some different aesthetics in the merged factions, but no more than the differences between vanilla and vanguard Stormcast. And of course some potentially interesting factions might miss out. However, it would make sure every aelf faction has the legs to stand on its own, which I think is more important given how unappealing they are and how few people seem to be playing them nowadays. I'm not sure how much promise there is for many of the aelf factions though. What future does Order Draconis have when Stormcast have already gotten a bigger, better dragon and monstrous drake-like cavalry? Likewise for Lion Rangers and Vanguard Stormcast (and you just know we're going to see a Space Wolves equivalent Stormcast chamber at some point ). If there are new Cthulhu aelves coming, Scourge Privateers might find themselves redundant. And so on. One final unit you didn't cover but is probably worth mentioning is the Sisters of the Watch. I'm still baffled that GW moved them to Wanderers when literally every high elf faction is desperately starved for units. The aesthetics of the models are very much high elven, too. They even have a fire motif for crying out loud - which doesn't exactly fit with the green leafy forest look of the Wanderers. Personally I'd like to see them moved over to Phoenix Temple (aelfs with firebows in a fire themed faction? Madness I know). They fit perfectly aesthetically and would add some shooting to a defensive but currently melee only army. And at that point, Phoenix Temple would be dangerously close to a fully fleshed out faction - just add a couple of heroes and a basic battleline unit and you'd pretty much be done. It'll probably never happen though

High elves aren't what they once were. Things got so bad our own Everqueen left to start her own faction

I look at the lion styling on the armour and I think that it's certainly Stormcast... Then I tell myself that no one at GW could possibly think that another Stormcast release is a good idea given how the factions and alliances stand right now... right? Right...? Isn't there a Stormhost that has something to do with anvils/anvils in the name? (I'm not familiar with all the Stormcast background)

In the grim darkness of the near future there is only 40k

That is a gorgeous colour scheme you've pulled off on that ship. Bold and incredibly striking

On its own daemon prince Thalion is an incredible conversion, but the subtle continuity with his mortal model really takes it to another level. Just absolutely incredible work. I am in awe of your skills!