Hollow

It is interesting to see on Social Media that some people are reporting that they have received their MTO Tomb King and Bretonnian minis already (and they have arrived in fully branded clam packs with artwork) It makes you think that these models were actually planned for standard release, but due to the huge demand for the first wave of releases, they changed these follow-up models to MTO to capitalise on the demand (which they have clearly underestimated) It makes sense, considering these models would fit well within the range as generally available minis.

19. Models have individual point values.

Many people have worked on the project and more has happened with HH since his death than before it. The novels, the models, the artwork. Of course, he was influential but to say the HH died with him is patently absurd. The entire setting, system and lore have gone from strength to strength. No. No, it is not a fact. It is a ludacris idea that bears no resemblance to reality.

I should have just ignored it. If you think Savage Orks are some kind of racial play-up that says so much more about you than GW.

Points are all but irrelevant for me. I collect WARHAMMER, when I am thinking about a new faction to collect the first thing I do is go through its Warhammer store page and click all the models I like and put them in a basket. Then cry at how much it will cost, source those models from online retailers and start buying. At that point, I will sit down with their Battletome, Codex, Army book and start thinking about what kind of force I would like. I've sold models and collections over the years and honestly regret doing so. I wish I still had many of the armies I have lost over the years. Now I am a bit older I don't see myself selling things off. I have plenty of space and so I just see myself getting what I want going forward.

Sorry what? Chaos? Beasts of Chaos? Orcs? The Undead?.... These are archetypal fantasy baddies. If people are projecting actual peoples onto these fanasy stereotypes then that is very much a them problem and they would be best left to shout into the void that is Twitter. I can't believe that in 2024 we have this kind of non-sensical, uber sensitive anti-fun. Ewww.

It's kind of hard to predict as I think refreshes of kits like these are far more driven by sales and the lifecycle of moulds rather than pure creative desire. With the kits being relatively old, most (if not all of the ones you mentioned) will be in pure profit mode, (having payed off their R+D). Also, most of the kits you mentioned are actually pretty decent and will be around for many more years to come. I think the Daughters of Khaine (Witch Aelves/Sisters of Slaughter), Sylvaneth (Dryads),Seraphon (Skinks) and FEC (Ghouls) are perfectly decent kits and would much rather see resources for those factions put into something new or towards other updates (Updated Saurus Guard for example). The Skaven (Clanrats), S2D (Marauders) and GSG (Grots) on the other hand are really showing their age and I hope for updated kits.

I think a lot of people also buy models with the intention of playing with them... at some point, they just never actually do.

The problem with that is it is pretty derivative of the LOTR aesthetic. I think a cool aesthetic for Grungi's Duardin would be to have a prevalance of fur, pelts, hide and leather. The Khardon have the heavy metal armour look already. Have a hunter/mountian-man aesthetic. Big pipes, cross-bows, hammers and tool boxes with big fur lined cloaks made from leathery hide. Buckles, belts . Sleigh-chariots pulled by Rhinox style creaturers, Stone tricycles. Funnily enough, GW touched on what I think would work with the Leagues of Votann's Grimnyr model. With it being AoS they could really push the "magical rock and ore" dynamic. With them being used to power wacky vehicles and war machines. You could even have them "becoming one with the mountain" with rock and crystal sprouting from their skin and beards, fusing with and becoming part of the moutains themselves. I played around with Image creator for some concepts. This is something approaching how I thinik Grungi's Duardin could work.

In terms of a "design ethos" and style guide for a potentail Grungi's Duardin Faction I could see an approach of - Fyreslayers - Fire & Axe. Kharadron - Air & Powder. Grungi's Duardin - Stone & Hammer. You could have Duardin with stone-scale skin, Mountian "Goat" cavalry and rock and ore Gholems. With characters incorporating elements of different rare stones and different types of Hammer being the weapon of choice.

Why they only made 2500 Copies of the leather bound The End And The Death I just do not know. They could have easily sold triple that amount. It really does feel like GW leaves a lot of money on the table. I'm not so sure. I personally would really like to see them and there has been so many hints that Grugni is up to something. On the one hand AoS has both Fyreslayers and Kharadron, which are two decent Duardin factions, but they are pretty small and could really do with some more unit option to flesh out their ranges. Does AoS really need 3 full Duardin factions? (Potentially 4 with the rumoured Chorfs on the horizon) I suppose it really depends on what the AoS studio aspires for in terms of faction count for AoS. There's currently 24 AoS factions. They could just straight up add "Grugni's Duardin" "Malerion's Aelves" "Kragnos's Drogrukh" and "Chorfs" into the mix, bringing the total faction count to 28. Although I suspect that with ToW having traditional Dwarves. You might be right.

This is a great question and one I ruminate over pretty frequently. As/when GW updates or releases a new model,unit or faction these days, they are generally of a quality that will carry them for many more years to come. I have come to the conclusion however, that there is so much potential design space within the Warhammer settings that I really don't see the. hitting creative blocks any time soon. With AoS you still have the vast majorty of factions with what I consider to be pretty significant gaps within their ranges. You have several that could go through complete redesigns/refeshes, several that could be expanded significantly and that's before you even consider the pleothera of potential new factions could be explored. There could also be new games that take place in the setting of The Mortal Realms. New Skirmish, New scales etc.

Yeah... we are oil and water. 😅

A personal hot take. I hate "Meta", balance, Math-hammer and those who are obsessed with comparing theoretical matchups of specific units in isolation. I can't stand the prevalance of online whinging and moaning that comes with people exlaiming that things are broken and need nerfed or boosted after rules have been avalible for a matter of days. Worse more is the fact that those who scream loudest are then just parroted and their takes are taken as the prevailing conventional wisdom. "Woodelf archer spam is broken" when it is something I bet my bottom dollor on hardly anyone having actually played and having practical real-world experience of. (Not having a go at anyone specific, was just an example) The rush to have a hot take, breakdown or to look through rules for a couple of hours and proclaim the the sky is falling and that certian things are over/underpowered. Bit of a rant, and unfortunatley it isn't going anywhere. I just really dislike it. Bluergh.

This is a direct quote from GamesWorkshop's most recent 6 month financial report for 2023/24. "The total number of jobs in our Warhammer Studio is 310"

You can read about staff (and lots of other interesting GW info) in their 6 month reports which can be found here - https://investor.games-workshop.com/annual-reports-and-half-year-results

So deleted that they have rules and huge ranges of new models! If only Lizardmen had a complete new range of updated plastic models that can be used. Oh wait, they literally do.

A lot of the Beastmen kits have sold out with the release of ToW, many were avalible before the ToW dropped. (Same with the CoS Dwarf Kits)

I just do not get the uproar regarding factions being "squatted" (which is completely the wrong term.) I assume these folk haven't read the Arcane Jounrals yet. They are 50 page 'booklets' that add a little flavour and a few options, but that's about it. For all intents and purposes the "Legacy" factions are in a better spot than the Core factions! They are getting free rules and most of them have entire ranges of updated new models which are for sale today! Like... it just seems mad to me that people are screaming "my faction has been set on fire" when you can literally play the armies, you can buy the armies and you are getting rules for the armies AND they have models you can buy NOW and are updated sculpts. Unless you only attend and play in offical GW tournments it really doesn't make any kind of difference.

The Square Based Youtube channel is great. I'd highly recommend it to folks interested in all things ToW. The army breakdowns Rob has done are genuinely the best I have come across so far. The Square Based Podcast with Val are entertaining, informative and open with some super spicy interpretive dance! lol https://www.youtube.com/@SquareBasedOldWorld

So it will be a..... short wait?

2025 is a curious one. 40k 10th was in 2023 and 11th edtion wont be until 2026. AoS 4 is scheduled for 2024. There could be a new HH starter set as Age Of Darkness released in 2022, although I suspect they want HH (and ToW) to have longer cycles than 3 years. I wonder if we will see a new system, an updated one, or if they will go for significant releases for the current editions. (Which could mean multiple large scale releases for 40k, AoS, HH and ToW.) I'd love to see AoS kick into high gear with the launch of 4th edition. Skaven, Beasts, Ogors, Chorfs, Malerion. Yes please.

No it is not. No I am not. and again... no I am not. Yeah... ok. This is forum talk that has been taken and repeated so often that it has become "fact". There has never been confirmation of this. What you have read on Warseer and Dakka isn't gospel. So what would you "debate" they are then? Orks? Elves? Dwarves? Reptiles? I'd say the super humans that look like humans, are written about as humans, operate as humans and are tasked with defending humanity are.... infact, human. In the interview he said that the sales were dissapointing, which is not the same as being bad. They were dissapointing because of the amount of resources they allocated to them. As a side note Rountree giving Merrett the boot was one of the best things that happened to the company in 2016. (Which coincidentaly was the beginning of GWs meteoric rise in value) As someone who had a trade account in the early 00's I consider my direct sales experience to be completely irrelevant to how GW operates today. It's such a different company. (Although WOC, HE and Empire were the top 3 in my experience) Anyways... this is all off topic and irrelevant.