Travis Baumann

Community reveal article phrases it as such: Meanwhile, Skaeth’s Wild Hunt offers us new insights into the Mortal Realms with our first look at the Kurnothi – aelf-like creatures with a savage style of their own. First look suggests more looks are coming.

I am starting up a Sylvaneth force now that the Battletome is out. My first additions are the contents of the Looncurse box so looking forward to painting the Arch Regent, Kurnoth Hunters and Tree Revenants. I kind of wish the endless spells were individual as I really like the magic centipede Gladewyrm but that tree is super weird looking. I cant help but think of it as an opening that Slannesh would quite like to jump into... not sure why they designed it that way. Anyways, my must have in the army is Drycha, absolutely love that model but after that I am a bit lost on what to get. Are the non-bow Kurnoths worth it? I want a couple of units of the Spite-Revenants to go with Dyrcha and I like how they look but not sure they will be very effective. Also wondering about how the AoS warscroll for the newly revealed Kurnothi warband for Beastgrave will fit in since they will be an isolated group for the time being. Assuming they will ally in with Wanderers but hopefully with the Sylvaneth as well - maybe not even as allies since their name is so close to the Kurnoth hunters.

I have no interest in Beastgrave as a game but love both of the starting warbands for this season, especially the Kurnothi. Way cooler to me than any of the Warcry teams. Hoping they do a Warcry version of these guys with more models and variation and then a full AoS army. I think the poses are ok, I think the photography foreshortens some of them but I bet they will look awesome in person. I am torn on pulling in Wanderers. I would love for them to be a wholly stand alone force with maybe a combo battalion to pull in Wanderers easily but I do like the direction of AoS steadily distancing itself from the world that was and typical fantasy tropes with all new armies. The more they are tied to old-school forces from the world that was the more the designers' hands and imaginations are tied. Regarding someone who mentioned pulling back in the Sylvaneth, please no. I am reading the new Tome right now and I love them as they are. I am not that far into it but they do not mention Wanderers at all in the origin of the Sylvaneth. Allariele wandered alone after being awoken by Sigmar and out of isolation created a new race of her own. Some of the race had visual traces back to the "protectors" from the world that was that remained in Allariele's memories but they don't mention them in the origins so I am more than happy for them to exist completely on their own.

I honestly don't think the last warband will be Hysh. In Looncurse the Sylvaneth have a "partially ajar door" into the realm and literally bath in the light of Hysh to receive its blessings of enlightenment. I am not sure the Dark Gods have much or any foothold in that domain anymore (if they ever did). Aqshy on the other hand roils the blood and temperament hence why Khorne found such purchase there. Now that I posted this it will most definitely be the opposite but that is my feeling at the moment.

Never looked at the Merwyrm before. That thing is awesome! I would absolutely love to include that in my Idoneth army even if rules wise it sucked. I might buy it anyways. $115 is a bit steep for a non-functional beasty but my force is from Ghur and I already have some weird creatures in it so this would perfect for my force's background story.

Tzeentch didn't get updated yet. That one is from late in the 1.0 realm and probably is still doing ok on the table top but I think that needs to drop too.

I like Chaos and I want a better Skirmish type system to play in but I don't like any of the models for any of the warbands shown so far so hope the next reveals are something that gets me a bit more excited. I bought Looncurse and a few other Sylvaneth bits. I really want the Battletome to drop to figure out how my next army is going to go together.

The Heldenhammer survived but barely. The new faction was not in the Stormvault but the single entity that escaped might be the new Mortarch/foundation for the new death faction. They tell you nothing about the being and it plowed straight out of the area with a wake of destruction behind it. It really gave no clue as to what may come but there is SOMETHING out there that Teclis has refused to help Sigmar battle. It IS on a level that Sigmar was worried about it. I wanted more out of that book but I like what was there.

I disagree entirely with your aesthetic critiques of Idoneth and Nighthaunt. I started both armies at their release and have loved painting them. There are no crabs in Idoneth (although I would like there to be) and while the Lady Olynder has a "sheet" over her frightful face, most of the Nighthaunts are leering skulls. I don't think your going to get a good response of ideas for a new army by bashing the last few. There is a good chance that you will not find what you are looking for. Next up for all new will most likely be either Light or Shadow Aelves. I anticipate more of a "reworking" for the Destruction and Death armies that are still due this year rather than an entire force launch. I highly doubt we will see an All New army this year (the warbands for Warcry will fill that slot) but I do hope to see reworkings of all the major players with perhaps a new miniature and the obligatory Endless Spells and Terrain.

I was under the impression that the GHB was finished before the release of Skaven hence why their update is coming at a later date. I know it throws a wrench in the idea of them working out all the details a year or two in advance but it sure seems that Skaven are not taken into account here at all. There definitely is a different mind set in terms of the "spirit of the game" from the dev team and real world. Hence why they printed the code of conduct both in the GHB and in White Dwarf. In my opinion the table should be set up before anyone knows who is where so that way if a player is aiming to ****** someone with it, they may be ****** themselves. edit: Those asterixis make what I said seem way more vulgar than what I did... not sure the censor helps in those cases...

Perhaps competitively but I liked the idea of non-GA forces teaming up thematically and it sure gives people options of buying something out of their GA or norm and having fun with it on the painting table and the gaming table. My favorite bits of the story involved the out of the norm team ups with FEC and the Fyreslayers.

Not a rumor per say but some fuel for speculation. I was going through the Hedonites of Slaanesh book and this paragraph caught my imagination. I had been internally thinking about Teclis' Hysh forces and imagining Angelic Aelves. On page 25 the last paragraph reads: As Morathai draws ever more Scathborn from Slaanesh's belly for the war she fervently believes is on the horizon, Teclis beings to gather armies of his own. he amasses the martial orders of the Realm of Light and invokes ancient pacts with the sprits of Hysh to bolster his gleaming warhosts for the new era of conflict to come. So initially I was imagining the Aleves that he pulled from Slaanesh to be these Angelic Aelves but this sounds more like some sort of High Alef equivalent of armies with the addition of non-aelf angelic spirits that are potentially native beings of Hysh. Very curious to see these new armies materialize.

On a game by game basis... Just take turns painting up the models but then don't perma-split them at all. Just have them as a pool and discuss with each other what you want to take each game. They are all "generic" so to speak and can be used by anyone. The Skaven player probably should get their faction-specific ones though... not only are they thematic, it seems that people enjoy using them.

I thought all the old-time TK fans were clamoring for their return so they could use their existing armies (basically as-is). If they come back in some other form, will any of the vocal TK'ers actually be happy or will we just hear another huge round of whining and wringing of hands at how GW has done them wrong yet again? Are the TK legacy players actually so sad about their lore/story/characters being dead or about their army being not playable on a tournament/match play level? I am confused about what they actually want here. I have massive old armies from WHFB and when I got into AoS I had to eventually let all that go. Dark Elves are NEVER coming back in any form that I will be able to field that army. At first I was upset, now I am over it and moved on to what, in my opinion, are way more fun armies to build, paint, and most importantly read and imagine about. I initially had a mixed order list fielding what units translated over but that really does not look as cool on the battlefield as a cohesive from-the-ground-up AoS purposed army. My Nighthaunt and Idoneth armies are super fun to paint, to list build, to write back stories for. The Dark Elves and High Elves got kind of stagnant and boring. What is there left to say about their backstory or how they carved a niche out of these Mortal Realms? I just bought Loon Curse for the Sylvaneth side and that is going to be my next army. Love Drycha and the new Archregent character. I am all for letting some of the past go. I have a massive Seraphon army with over 70 skinks, 40 saruon, old Slann on palanquin, etc. I am looking forward to what the future of Seraphon hold but I do not feel compelled to rebase these or even love the aesthetic of the really old plastics. I would love to see a totally reborn Seraphon line at some point. I feel bad for those holding on for the really old legacy stuff to come full circle but I have to ask, if you love the game and the world, why don't you check out a new army in the mean time? By the time you finish it and are having fun again, you wont be as crushed when things don't go exactly how you hoped with how they deal with the old legacy stuff. I personally hope the new Death release is a reimagining of Barrow Kings, Liche Lords, and Death mages combining Death Rattle, Zombie Hordes, and Death constructs into a really cool aesthetic. Legions of Nagash does not need to be redone. Nighthaunt definitely do not need to be redone. While I love Vampires in all different forms, I have never liked them being part of the Warhammer World. We have enough already with Neferata and the other dude in LoN. I really hope the new Death faction is something other than Vampires. When GW is not knee-****** reacting to overly loud keyboard warriors they actually surprise us with outstanding new takes on high fantasy that I personally never saw coming and want more of that. Every faction does need a 2.0 Battle Tome to bring them up to speed and in the case of all Order Legacy force from Freeguild to High/Wood/Dark Elves to Ironweld/Duardin to whatever... I hope they roll this all into one soup Tome whether it be Free Peoples or Remnants of the World that Was or whatever but just do it and then everyone can have one last round of cursing the gods and lamenting their fortunes and we can all move on with the massive/awesome/new Mortal Realms and explore all things that might be instead of once was.

Well there is still Malerion's "Dragonite Darkaelveish" which has me stoked for all the possibilities based on the hints dropped so far. I feel you may be right though as far as the brothers are concerned. Their dialog in Forbidden Power made it seem that they would be biding their time. They pretty much outright told Sigmar that the armies of Hysh would not be marching out on his behalf now that the Death entity had been released and what he and the Smith god had done to his gift of enlightenment. (Although to be honest, not exactly sure why he is so mad about this... once you give something, it is up to the receiver to utilize it. Also not sure why Sigmar doesn't go, oh wait, let me check it out in its original form = perhaps the Duardin god wrecked the original in reverse engineering it) I kind of wish we had Order split and a new Lawful Evil alliance form but that would just add extra confusion. The Grand alliances were a good idea in the burgeoning days of AoS but now seem to be creating some limitations in terms of development. Not going anywhere soon though based on the previews from the events.

I really enjoyed the lore and the entire first section of the book but was very let down that there was no reveal. There should have been a bigger culmination in that entity and what it really was but still liked it. Putting the below in spoiler tag just not to ruin some bits for people still getting it... I think the boatman and the bridge are really cool but the pyramids thing and the horrorghast are not to my liking. I like their concept, just not their miniature. The Penumbral Engine looks really cool as a steampunk magicky thing and will probably end up on the table somewhere just for visual/obstacle bits. I think they should not be "owned" but an objective to be fought over when used rules-wise but we will see how it plays out. I paid around $85 US for it which seems pretty steep in retrospect... not sure I enjoyed the read THAT much but looking forward to painting the Charon dude and the bridge at least. This is definitely for people interested in the campaign and story. This is in no way comparable to Malign Sorcery which was a game-wide extension of magic and artifacts, nor is it like the Portents lead up to the Necroquake which was also all-alliance encompassing and built up for what seemed like nearly a year prior. I love the concept of Stormvaults hidden throughout the realms with either artifacts or entities within. I really liked the short story in WD of the Kharandon finding the one protected by the White Flower Prince or whatever he is called. At the time they did not name him which they do in the FP book. I wish there would have been more of a bestiary/vault guide for all different potential encounters with the artifacts and entities throughout the Realms, detailed and various maps of the vaults, maybe even an artifact generator for undocumented vaults.... That could have been a game-wide expansion ala Malign Sorcery and kind of what I hoped/thought this to be but they did not go that route so a bit disappointing I guess.

The current Sylvaneth Wyldwoods do have bases, they are just abnormally shaped, not round so it could be either I guess but Tom's discussion was based around it being scenery. We will see, I don't know if I am in for the box though. I want to start Sylvaneth and while I love the Gloomspite I don't think I want a predominantly Squig based force (which is what I suspect the boxed set will be since the mentioned fungi but the Gitz use the stuff in a myriad of ways, not just the living variation that you can ride to war).

On yesterday's Warhammer Weekly Tom mentioned a few rumors he heard about the Sylvaneth / Gloomspite box. New Sylvaneth hero, something Branchwychy apparently and there are rumors of a new Wyldwood scenery piece. They speculated a bit about whether this would be a supplemental scenery piece or replacing the old Wyldwood (apparently it will have a round base if the rumors are correct). Tom also elaborated a bit more on the Fyreslayers from things he heard saying it is a pretty significant re-write of scrolls and abilities (nothing about new miniatures though).

Also known as Hobbitses in space.

The question was asked at the panel about Dark Oath and the response was the Warcry teams will give a good start on that or something to that effect. They of course are quite cagey about future releases beyond the ones they are prepared to show but it definitely sounds further down the road but still may be this year at the rate they are going. I highly suspect Sylvaneth are coming in the Flora hint for the boxed set so I anticipate a Tome right around its release along with that flying moth-creature someone highlighted in this thread and of course some endless spells (maybe a variant of the wood terrain feature?)... I am quite excited for this as I am just looking for a good excuse to buy and paint Drycha.

This does appear to be the full Slaanesh release without the Dark Prince itself being fully released from the prison. There is more to come than what we saw here according to what was said in the panel itself. It is a dual release for both systems with what being shown fitting into both universes to a point but was more heavily favoring AOS with endless spells and terrain piece (which looks like a portal of Slaanesh peering through from the prison?). There are still three different army builds, not just Seekers (that is actually stated in the Community preview). Maggotkin covered all of Nurgle, Disciples covered all of Tzeentch, Blades covers all of Khorne, This is going to cover all of Slaanesh for the foreseeable future. The Chaos gods cannot walk the Mortal Realms, the Dark Prince's release will most likely have huge narrative effects but not army building ones. I fail to see how this is not a "major" release. That Keeper alone is a major release but there is a lot more than that with what is already shown.. easily on the level of Daughters of Khaine release.

A couple of things I have noted that keep coming up in this thread that Tom and Vince talked about in their last Warhammer Weekly Adepticon preview episode two nights ago (I do recommend checking these guys out, their weekly show has really grown on me and they have a lot of good info): - first off, that piece of scenery/Forbidden Power - they mentioned that Forbidden Power has to do with the mythos of Sigmar just prior to gating off Azyr and the subsequent age of Chaos. Sigmar went across the realms and took artifacts of immense power and sealed them away in the vaults so the Ruinous Powers could not get a hold of them. The Necroquake has shaken those "locks". This piece of scenery is apparently one of these "locks" and any army can take control of it thus supposedly unlocking the Vaults/Forbidden Power. At least that is what I got of their summary from the panel which of course was vague enough to leave a lot of room to fill in the blanks at a later date but give us a tease of what is to come (i.e. a bit more than just Malign Sorcery 2.0). Forbidden Power is also supposed to advance the overall Soul Wars narrative. - Warcry is going to be something like Necromunda meets Kill Team for AOS. The kits ARE multi-build, this question was asked. All factions WILL be usable in Warcry. They are NOT pre-built warbands, you will be able to use your existing models. It WILL be supported on the level of Kill Team and is a new IP they want to flourish. - Slaanesh is getting a dual release for both AoS and 40K. It was listed under Realm of Chaos on their Community Page but they previewed the cover of the Tome for AOS. They said there IS more to come. What we saw is predominantly demon-kin so would work for both systems (although the demon-prince looks very hand to hand vs shooty, there may be optional builds). We may very well see mortals and additional models prior to actual release. - They said outright in the panel that they are going to attempt to bring EVERY faction they can up to AOS 2.0 levels. Some will be fast and furious for the time being with a book, endless spells/runes/prayers, and a piece of scenery. This appears to be the norm of release now so it will not change anytime soon. There will be some armies getting more and some all-new armies making their appearance in the Mortal Realms for the first time. It IS going to be a HUGE year for AOS. Also, regarding Stormcast. They opened the panel by saying their huge reveal was.... a new Stormcast Chamber. Which apparently was met with a room of absolute silence. They moved on with a "just kidding" so they are aware of the "online vocal crew". I am not sure if any of you are watching the new Stormcast pod-casts but they offer up a wealth of information on how GW actually goes about designing and planning their projects. I see a ton of speculation in this thread that could have some clear light shown on it by watching these. The latest featuring the godfather of the Warhammer design world, John Blanche puts a pin in exactly how Age of Sigmar came to be. He is asked point blank, how did design on AOS start.. He said with Stormcast. They were looking for an equivalent of Space Marines with the various Chapters that could be the basis of their new game. He spent "ages" working on designs for Stormcasts and the entire game is based around them and how they could port other things from the World that Was into this new setting. That is the basis. They did their work well. Stormcast are very cool and by packaging them into every release I have 2600 points of them and I have not bought a single stand-alone model. I have not painted them yet nor plan to for some time as I have a lot of what I deem "cooler armies" to work on first but I have no beefs with the SCE and as Phil Kelly stated in an earlier episode of Stormcast, that the Age of Sigmar story is really their story so they will continue to be a focal point until the end of the Mortal Realms.

My Idoneth Aelves have purple skin, my Daughters of Khaine have blue skin, My Orruks have green skin, My Nurgle have yellow/olive skin. My Nighthaunts have polished gold "skin" and skulls and while I don't count Stormcast as human per say, they will not have Caucasian skin when I get around to them... have not decided yet but I want them to look like some of the pictures of the lightning infused artwork so translucent skin with some sort of blue lightning underneath maybe. My point is it is weird to discuss "real world diversity" in a game where humans are a minority and nothing dictates what anything can look like in this magical setting.

At the last convention/event they teased something for each of the grand alliances and at least one fully new army (plus Forbidden Power and Warcry) if I remember correctly. As far as armies that have great models but need a new book I think Tom is on point with Kharadon Overlords and Sylvaneth. The Sylvaneth line has been of interest to me since the beginning days, Drycha and Allarielle are awesome models and I like the tree revenants as well as the Kurnoth hunters. I would be curious to see if they get endless spells but they are sort of the original included scenery army. Wouldn't mind a hero like Rocket-Rat or something but they do have a good looking force. I personally feel that Slaanesh is a ways off. They have a good thing going with the story of milking her majesty's imprisonment and they could have the towers that shackle her fall one by one, each tower bringing an advancement in story as well as a new army on the scene culminating in the next huge season/story turnover with a wicked four way showdown between Slaanesh, Light and Dark Elves, and Nagash. It would be cool to have Slaanesh consume Nagash and feed off o his power for a while and conclude the Soul Wars saga (The fight for souls will never cease however, just conclude that story focus).

Plus Sigmarite is a thing. Gold is boring in context of the Mortal Realms and the Aether Gold the Kharandon Overlords seek sounds like a gaseous air-born thing and not stamped gold coins. It seems like the only reason the Fyreslayers seek gold is that some of it might be chunks of their dispersed god. I think that rumor engine might be something for Underworlds like new objectives or scenery like the couple of kits before. I honestly hope it is, I think Idoneth deserve something way cooler for their endless spells (like a tidal wave or giant tentacle beast). I saw mention of an Idoneth 2.0 Battletome in some of the comments above but I don't think that is necessary or coming. They came out right before Soulwars and have summoning techniques in line with the new methods. Aside from endless spells specific to them, I don't see anything missing. From Maggotkin forwards it seems that the tomes were written with AoS 2.0 in mind. I am ok with not everyone needing endless spells/prayers to be honest. Not the biggest fan of them. I am finishing up the Black Coach for Night Haunts and then diving into painting my Idoneth next and hope they get some extra stuff but I kind of doubt they will... it was a pretty big release as it is.