Hollow

I think AoS is doing a pretty good job of curating a sizable range of diverse factions with their own distinct identities. If you take a look at the different Grand Alliances in terms of "Collections". Death is in a very strong position. 4 Pillar factions each with their own well-supported ranges (pending the FEC update). The spooky bois, the boney bois, the Vampire bros and the Ghoul guys make for a well-rounded Death Grand Faction. Apart from a few stragglers (such as the Graveguard in the Soulblight), post-FEC update the 4 Death factions will reach mature "Maintenance status". I wonder what we might see for death in the years to come? Grand Alliance Destruction on the other hand is in a bit more of a state. I'd say that The Gloomspite Gitz are in the strongest place thematically and design-wise. I do wish they would just bite the bullet and release a new Shootas/Stabbas kit. With a new plastic Madcap Shaman kit, some new Spider riders and a Scuttleboss on Gigantic Spider, the range would be super strong. The Ogor Mawtribes need a full Seraphon/Cities level revamp. The Orruks need the scalpel. Savage Orruks/Morboys/Arrowboys, Savage Boar Boy/Maniaks, Maniak Weirdnob, Savage Big Boss, Wardokk and Wurrgog Prophet all need to go, I'd mourn their loss. (Put into the studio for a repaint and rebase to squares to be a part of the Orcs and Goblins ToW Army, bring back the big stabba!) Orruks Kruelboys/Ironjaws expanded with at least a couple of squad-based kits each. Finally, the SoB needs another giant kit. A lot of work to do across the Destruction GA. GA Chaos is.... well, Chaotic. I'd say all the Gods are pretty well-represented and STD have a copious amount of Warcry warbands for variation. We all know it's the BoC and Skaven that need the love. It's just a matter of waiting and seeing what/if anything happens. I love both and want to collect more of each. GA Order is certainly stronger than Chaos. I'm excited to see what happens with Sylvaneth and how they might be expanded thematically to include the Kurnothi. Sylvanth are a faction I would love to collect but I would like a break from all tree-folk, all the time. Stormcast are in a strong position and well catered for which is to be expected (although they are running the risk of becoming bloated and over-represented like Marines have in 40k)I hope they are bold and cut the Liberators, Decimators, Judicators, Retibuters/Protectors and update them with Thunderstrike armour proportions. Seraphon are super solid (although how many years do you think Temple Guard will languish as part of the collection?) Cities is on the horizon and I suppose we will see how GW intends to cater for the rest. (I've made my Duardin thoughts known elsewhere lol!) Overall I am very positive and optimistic about AoS where it is in terms of "maturity". There have been a few missteps along the way IMO (endless spell models) and some factions have taken or are taking waaaay too long to see some much-needed TLC. However, the future looks bright for AoS and I think 4th Edition is where we will really see it cement itself. I just hope Gw focuses on the fundamentals when it comes to models. (Like infantry, cavalry, elite-infantry kits as opposed to single heroes or mega-monsters)

The other option is to have Fyreslayers / Duardin stay separate, with Dispossessed collecting dust with cities? I'm not sure what people actually want when it comes to Duardin's representation in the Mortal Realms. If a Battletome is to mainly contain lore and Battle tactics in 4th (With Battlescrolls being on cards and on the app) I would rather a large £40 Duardin Book that covered Duardin of all shapes, and sizes than a £32.50 Battletome for Fyres Slayers, Kharadon, Dispossessed separately.

Removal of a majority of AoS Kits... to the Old World, where they belong. Which means they can still be purchased as models from GW. I just think that AoS needs to make a more distinct cut from the majority of Old World kits. This isn't exactly a controversial position, is it? This also needs to be thought about in consideration of 4th edition. I likely see AoS following 40k 10th with a complete reset. With 24 Faction Battlescroll decks available at launch. The Rules and Battlescrolls available for free online and through the app. That means that you have to ask yourself what Battletomes will look like and what they will include. There will be no need to dedicate pages and pages towards in-book Battlescrolls. Having a single large Duardin Battletome filled with lore of all the different types of Duardin across the realms, with distinct advantages to having your army made up of units all with the same keyword. It means you could have interesting and unique Duradin models like Warcry Troll Hunters, draped in skins and hides holding big ass axes. Or an AoS take on miners for Underworlds. It would allow for creative exploration of different types of Duardin. Have CoS Duardin be their own thing. Dwarfs in the new AoS aesthetic would be great and would keep to the "everyone working together" vibe of Cities whilst having a distinct aesthetic.

Remove? I would have the Gyrocopter (Along with the other Dispossessed kits) moved into their own Dispossessed Duardin sub-faction. I would keep and add to the Dispossessed aesthetic with new Warmachines and Units. I would like to see a 4th Edition Duardin release be a single large Battletome of 300+ pages with 10+ New kits split across FyreSlayers/Kharadon/Dispossessed. As for the Sisters of Thorn? I would move them to ToW Woodelf faction where they really belong. They could still be purchased by those who want them but they would be moved into a legacy AoS tier. The General on Griffin? Yep. It's a fine model but it's time for the chop (The same with 90% of the Empire models)

Agree with this. Age of Sigmar has 24 solid thematic factions. (9 Order, 7 Chaos, 4 Death. 4 Destruction) We are a good year away from the launch of 4th Edition and with Cities and FEC on the horizon, the game will be "complete". By the end of the year. With each Faction sitting on a V3 version of their codex. How do people feel about the release schedule in terms of Battletomes over the last 3 years? I remember a convo before stating that a "hard cap" of 30 factions for Age of Sigmar would be a good spot. Whilst this is possible, I'm not sure if it would be good for the game if there are as many as that. I know there are many that will have kittens at the suggestion, but I still think it would be better for the game as a whole if Duardin (Fyreslayers, Kharadon and Dispossessed) - (As well as other Duardin types) were all presented under one Duardin Battletome. With the emphasis on picking one sub-faction but with less effective soup lists possible. I also think the return of Malerion and the introduction of Shadow elves should be presented alongside the Daughters of Khaine under a single Battletome. For me, Age of Sigmar should stick with '24 Factions' and look to develop and expand on them. A consolidation of the Duardin under one Battletome and the reunification of Morathi and Malerion under another would allow for the introduction of lots of cool Duardin and Shadow Aelf models without expanding the number of factions. There would even be a free space for something completely new. 24 factions is a good amount IMO (With 3-year edition cycles = 34/36 months) Having 10 months worth of space to allow the edition to breathe and for campaigns etc is important. Or you could say ****** it, add new factions every year or so and double up on releases. With how mature many of the ranges are, they could just keep expanding.

Duardin are interesting. On the one hand, you have the first AoS Faction being Duardin, with the Fyreslayers. A full sky-pirate mech Dwarf range in the Kharadon and a selection of decent looking Dispossessed in Cities. Both the Fyreslayers and Kharadon could really do with 1/2 new unit kits each. The Dispossessed still look pretty solid. Should Aos spin the Dispossessed off into their own faction? Keeping the general aesthetic of the range and adding some new kits to give 3 fully fleshed-out Duardin Factions. Fyreslayers/Kharadon/Dispossessed? Or do you move those dwarf kits under ToW banner, and keep the Dispossessed kits as available Cities options without model support?

This is why I feel it is the right time to rip the band off when it comes to Cities. Although I think 4th edition could be the edition of the "final transition" so to speak. I think Games Workshop should generally be far more cut-throat when it comes to maintaining ranges. Having "legends" and retiring/replacing/renewing units should be apart of most updates IMO.

It's how long it has taken that I find a bit frustrating. With TOW around the corner, I would have really liked for AoS to be its own, fully formed thing by now.

I for one was hoping for an almost complete cut of all Old World Models from the line.

If you mean the Cities box, the Seraphon one was like £130.

I really feel like GW should swap up the way they preview/show off new miniatures. I think they would benefit by having a reveal at a preview show followed up by articles on WarCom giving further information and doing deeper dives over the following weeks. Rather than showing off new models on WarCom before previews. I really like the Cities, the manticore is sick, but having already seen everything else apart from the Wizard dude I just feel like it takes a bit of the wind out of the sales of the preview. I'm sold though. There was also so much 30k stuff. It's fine and I understand the desire from some cross-over, but with the crazy amount of 40k stuff over the last couple of months, I would have really liked to have seen more for AoS. I'm also at the point where I can barely watch the actual show and prefer looking through the Warcom article, which is a real problem. I want to like the preview. I am a Twitch viewer, but the super stilted corporate-style presenters and the drawn-out way they show off the models is toe-curling. Find some of the comments regarding Underworlds and Warcry a bit strange. These are great systems that allow for a lot of cool kits that wouldn't otherwise see the light of day. What we did see was a little underwhelming. I want awesome Skaven so bad and these are decent but not a fan of the big plumes of plastic smoke (on most miniatures tbh). The Kruel Boys are solid. Although as others have said the kit appears a little light on numbers.

Today's pre-orders are decent. Nice to see The Dawnbringers Book up, the artwork is really nice and I think the £25 price tag is ok, although pretty disappointing to see that it is only 80 pages! 80 pages is really light. I have mentioned before that I think the special editions don't provide enough additional value IMO. Ideally, the book would be 150 pages+ priced at £22.50 for the standard edition and £40 for the Limited Edition (with some kind of more added value than Gold print, coloured paper edges and a tag) I think all 4 of the Dawnbringer Boxes are also decent. I'm not sure if I think this kind of release strategy is the best. I really like the 4 character models and wish they had them available separately alongside the boxes. I appreciate that some may think this way people are "forced" into buying into an entire faction. I'm not convinced. I think the boxes are pretty good and with the characters released alongside them, it would highlight the "deal" you are getting if you plump for the box. £80 is a good price point for AoS to aim for when it comes to their "Get Starting, Vanguard, Dawnringers" boxes. Do we really need multiple types? I was beginning to think that Vanguard would essentially become what Combat Patrol has become in 40k 10th. To finish there is a weird smattering of ebook downloads which are just kind of lumped in at random and a ridiculously overpriced Blank Diary at £22. (How many of these do you think they sell?) All in, an AoS preorder slot that rates a solid "B" for me.

I feel like this with most things in life. Although I have definitely changed when it comes to the more inconsequential things in life. "Warhammer" is a fun hobby. It's little plastic men, playing games, reading, writing, being creative and allowing your imagination to run wild for a bit. ****** it, I like allowing myself to get a little hype. It's fun. I realise we live in boring reality, but wouldn't it be cool if we get a full CoS range drop! With new Birdmen of Catrazza! 🤩

Looking forward to it, but these "limited" editions are such a huge rip-off. Gold lettering, a book tab and coloured paper edges are like 50p worth of extras at a printers.

I really like this reveal. Super happy it's not just an OK Ogre wearing some armour. The CoS aesthetic so far is 100% my jam. I'll be up to my eyeballs in city kits when they release!

I agree that it is tiresome, but it is NOT right. I have played many, many TT games and the idea that there is some perfectly balanced game out there is complete and utter nonsense. The Warhammer games are fun. That's the number 1 requisite for a tabletop game IMO. I also think that the game is pretty damned balanced considering you have over 2000+ datasheets over 25 odd factions. 40k malders who complain about everything and have been doing the same stuff for the last 20 years. The game has changed... it's those dummies who have not. You see it all the time. "I haven't played a game since 5th edition but everything about the current game is ******" like WTF? Just go away if you hate GW that much.

No. People complaining like that are the worst of 40k forums. (I bet most haven't even played a game in years) Whilst it is of course important to listen to customer feedback, there is a small portion of the Warhammer "Community" that is just toxic sludge. They will never be happy. As for 10th I have been really enjoying looking through all of the rules. I remember a time when the idea of GW launching a new edition with all the rules free for all factions, as well as points, online was just a pipedream. Now they have actually done it and I don't think they are getting anywhere near the credit they deserve for doing so. Would really like to see Characters be able to join Units in AoS. Something I would really like to see explored in 4th is the idea of Transports. I think AoS is really missing a trick in regard to gameplay and modeling options.

I'd really like to see Nurlge in AoS be expanded upon. An infected mortal unit could be cool. I'd also really like to see a cavalry unit (Rotting horses) and a ranged unit (Like a big plague catapult or trebuchet). Those 3 units and a couple of plastic character kits and they would be such a solid range.

Another hope (although I suspect I may be in the minority) would be that 4th moves away from big Faction-wide 10 kits releases and moves to more 5/10 kits spread across the factions of a grand alliance. I personally would love to see 2 full new kits (not single characters) for 5/7 existing factions than the introduction of a new faction with 10 new kits. (Although both would be preferable)

I'm completely ok with Stormcast being the "poster boys" for AoS. I feel that with 3rd edition the SCE have become so much more fleshed out. We are actually starting to see some real depth, which I hope is expanded upon in 4th Edition. I do think there has to be some practical realities to consider. It is great introductory marketing to have Sci-Fi super warriors in Marines and Fantasy super warriors in StormCast. It's a very digestible and approachable entry point into huge IPs. (Some who already play the games seem to take for granted that they understand and know the settings. Put yourself in the position of approaching GW for the first time.) What I do hope, is that GW is far more ruthless when it comes to maintaining the SCE product line, and doesn't allow it to become the bloated mess that Marines have become in 40k. when it comes to "Number of Kits" I think the screenshot showing 68 entries on the GW website isn't actually a great reflection of the StormCast Eternal collection. There is currently about 50 Kits in the SCE collection. 18 of the 68 shown are paints and multi-purpose kits. (I think counting mult-kits as multiple different entries in terms of "support" is a bit unfair) Going forward I would actually like to see GW keep a solid 50 kits and operate a one-in-one-out policy for new kits going forward. Want to release 3 more SC kits? Great, either upgrade or replace models in the line. Like a well-pruned and maintained Bonzai Tree. Cut the bottom performing and oldest 10% each year.

I thought it was a fun little bit of lore. The SummerKing is a cool name. Reminds me of the Pale King in True Detective.

I personally hope that AoS doesn't go down the route of 1 realm per edition. They probably will and it can be done well, but I would like to see AoS 4.0 really focus on The Great Horned Rat's place within the Chaos pantheon and for the Skaven to launch attacks on all realms simultaneously and for Quarterly releases to focus on individual realms.

I really hope to see more Cities. 🤩

I think it is fairly safe to say that if they are going full "New Edition, New Battletome" then they will probably do what they are doing with 10th 40k and have the Warscrolls online for free and available to buy in card decks until new books come around.