Greyshadow

This came out this morning in The Tithe Part 2. You can see the light of Hysh about to be eclipsed by Ulgu.

Beastclaw would make a great alternate play stile like Gavespawn is for Beasts. That’s my guess of how it might work in a new tome.

The celestial charts in the core book, the revolution of Hysh and Ulgu and the visibility of Sigendil in all realms imply to me that the realms are discs floating in the same physical dimension like galaxies in our universe. If you built a telescope in Ghur you might be able to observe the underside of the Azyr disc for example. Strangely, gravity seems to work like electromagnetic field lines in our universe with a downward polarity on the surface where people live. I like to imagine that if you stood on the underside of the disc you would be thrown into the void rather than stick to the surface. Otherwise, their would be cities on both sides of the disc that we would know about. East and West (roughly) align with the rise and fall of the sun in our world. Maybe the plane and direction of rotation of Hysh and Ulgu give East and West and North and South are derived from that?

Not saying you are a new player but this sort of thing hits new players the hardest. As a grognard, I knew that when Age of Sigmar hit anything that wasn’t Khorne or Stormcast could disappear at any moment. I had the cash to buy up all the things to finish off my armies and I did. GW don’t tell you this but you have anywhere between about 4-15 years to complete your collection from the time the models are released. New players don’t know this and they see this beautiful Swifthawk agents boxed set and decide this is the force for them. They might save up for ages with plans to expand then this happens. Not good at all. Last Chance to Buy has not been that great as you have to be keeping a very close eye on things to ninja a popular model. It has been better than what we had though. I’d encourage all new players to do a bit of research beforehand to get a feel for how long your chosen force might be available for.

I am sure this could be handled in a better way but it is a bit of a difficult one. If they signal their plans too early then scalpers move in and fleece the community of the hobby money. Too often and people loose confidence armies will be around long enough to finish.

Firstly, I have seen how gut punched people feel when they find their army is no longer supported. I have sympathy for all who have been left disappointed too. My perspective on it though is that GW releases loads of new models every year. Eventually, there is only so much stock you can sustain. Way back in the late nineties GW stopped selling every lead model they had every made. It was actually threatening to drag them under. When Age of Sigmar was initially released we knew this type of cull was on the cards. Cities of Sigmar has clearly bought the issue to a head and some hard decisions have been made. GW never made any promises that what we collect would be around for ever. At least now we know. Personally, I will always keep and play games with my painted armies. I am thankful for the now quite exclusive units that I was able to collect and enjoy. P.S. I hope I haven't been disrespectful to those who are disappointed, totally not my intention.

Thanks for putting this up @zilberfrid. Given what we have with mercs in the Generals Handbook maybe some of these models might be coming back - I wouldn’t count on it though.

Firstly, those older dwarf models such as the old rangers and slayers are gorgeous. They have that wonderful hand made feel that oozes charm and character. I was trying to encourage people to stop implying that old equals bad in my last post. For example, I’ve read posts here saying Freeguild Guard models are bad because they are old. People then almost assume they are rubbish. I’ve painted forty of those bad boys and they are really very nice. Also apologies, I didn’t express myself very well in my last post.

Not sure about the choice of red hair as it looks a bit close to Fyreslayers. I can see they are going for an Autumnal palette here. Interesting to see how close the Beastmen are to the current range in appearance. I think maybe we have an issue in the community where we go on about about old miniatures just because they are old. What matters is that the models are good and that they fit in with the current range. I'd struggle to imagine better models for the current Ungors, Gors and Beastigors. They are really, really nice. These new Beastmen would fit in with the older models perfectly.

The way I justify it is that it is more than likely that The Emperor Karl Franz would be remembered as a revered ancient saint from antiquity. His name is on Age of Sigmar models for the same reason we adorn our standards with Latin.

I painted up a contingent of Freeguild Archers to use as rangers in my Skirmish warband earlier this year. Beautiful models with lots of cool bits to customise them. Made a corporal, second-in-command, young blood, a medic and a cook out of them. They are great, I hope they stay around.

Demigryph Knights were featured in the Firestorm Hamerhal boxed set. I’d be surprised if they were discontinued. They also fit the new theme very well.

I’ve been working on the extra Azyrite Ruins you get with the townscape set for most of my hobby time this week. I have also just finished a Freeguild warband for Skirmish. I wasn’t initially planning on getting the starter set but it is such a good deal. I think the Iron Golems might be my favourite warband too. Only reason I am thinking of just buying the book on its own is I now have a good collection of ruins. Although, I love how thematic the ruins are from the Warcry set - dilemmas!

The campaign system that @bottle revealed is just brilliant. Narratively compelling but with some nice built in features to prevent run-away. Definitely getting the book. The only reason I am avoiding the boxed set is that I am putting the finishing touches on a cities worth of Azyrite Ruins and doing any more ruins right now would probably do my head in! (Tempted though as I think the Iron Golem may be my new favourite warband).

If pushed, I’d be looking at the contents of the free cities boxed sets that were being sold when Firestorm was new. I think those models and the ones that fit most closely with those themes are most likely to be safe.

I hope the current look stays around too but I could see a new flagship range that fits with the more high fantasy aesthetic of the Age of Sigmar with the current range kept alongside like the Valhallans being kept alongside the Cadians.

Seems like the Soulblight are coming to me. Not sure who the narrator is but Vlad or someone new would be my guess?

Free cities for me just - a new Ogor Tyrant is just brilliant

I own two fully painted armies - Free Peoples and Gutbusters! It doesn't get any better than this!!!

Yes! Last game session our group got the seventh shard - only one to go before we can face down the Gaunt Summoner in battle. This is a party of Stormcast and Seraphon - we will be cutting that fiends head off as soon as we get a chance! Oops, back to rumours!

Oh man I nearly fell off my chair with astonishment when I saw the Free Cities cover! I have been painting my Twin Tails Regiment from Excelsis for most of this year for skirmish! The future is looking bright for my puffy sleeved friends - long may it continue!

Wow this game looks great. So hard to choose a warband though as they all look so nice.

I voted Corvus Cabal but it could indeed by the Cypher Lords. Otherwise, what @Still-young said - I really like all of them.

What size do you think that board is? Same as the Blasted Hallowheart or is it Killzone size? Seems Smaller than the current standard skirmish size of 30”x40”. Looks quite cramped but I guess the terrain spreads everything out a lot.

My goodness - this warband captures the post apocalyptic horror of the Age of Chaos amazingly well. Imagine these abominations facing off against the Stormcast, how awesome would that look. That champion is probably the most Blanchian model ever released - awesome work GW.