Hollow

Just woke up. Thought it was a solid showing. Even though most things aren't for me, I'm not so caught up in myself that I would describe a show as "poor" or "dissapointing" because it wasn't tailored to my specific tastes. I've never understood the position some people put themselves in - "I collect said faction, I want things for said faction, and every time GW talks about or reveals anything but stuff for that faction (which will be most of the time) I will be dissapointed" it just seems so self-defeating. Anyways... I can step back and see what is generally good for the Warhammer 4. (40k, AoS, HH, ToW) I think this was a pretty well rounded show. The Callis & Toll warband are excellent and will 100% be picking those guys up. Really nice to see the Kroot get some love and it was cool to have a non-marine focused preview show for once. Funnily enough, I think that the Croneseer has shown that if/when Malekith shows up, that DoK and Shadow Elves will infact be separate forces.

I suppose "hard reset" carries some negative conitations. I think of it more like a "Fresh Start". With AoS 3, you have the rule book, some expansions, a narrative series and all existing factions have a Battletome. There is an art style to them and as an edition it feels "complete". Even if they keep 90% of the rules the same, having the way Battlescrolls are laid out, Battletomes are designed and a fresh art style would require a definitive break from 3rd and the beginning of 4th. I'm not even sure if this is the best way of going about things, and as I said, I might be completely wrong, I just feel like that is the way we are heading.

Yeah, and they have been working on that side of things for 4/5 years. I also think it is perfectly reasonable to expect second waves and future support for factions in 2025/26 etc. In terms of a Battalion Box with 1 new Plastic model, Dice set and Arcane Journal, with a smattering of resin/metal kits as direct only? Yeah. My money is still on the 9 core getting that in 2024 or into early 2025 at the latest.

It's ok for a company to make money yah know! I want GW to have massive cash injections. I want the company to be successful. I want people, to want, to spend money with GW. I think it is a great company.

Really? As someone who still playes multiple different editions of 40k and Fantasy I quite like the idea of an edition being a "complete" thing before moving onto the next. I was never really a fan of having some factions not getting an edition update. I don't see it being that problematic if the PDF's are avalible at the start of the edition for free like in 40k 10th.

Yikes... you are correct. My memory is failing me. I was thinking of 7th to 8th.

It was pretty hard. With the Index books, which I think lead them to the super hard 10th edition (and what I think we will see going forward) Let's call it a semi-reset then. 😉

As was 9th. I might be completely wrong about this but I suspect GW has pivoted to "New Edition = Reset" for 40k+AoS. It just makes so much sense from a financial perspective. Everyone goes out to buy new indexes, cards, etc and it allows for the edition to be approached holistically from the outset. It's a massive cash injection, that I think is too hard to pass up. Again, I may be wrong but I think we will see a full AoS 4 reset (I also think this is why they have released all the Battletombs with several months to spare to minimise backlash from books only being viable for that edition for a couple of months.)

Whilst this can be a bit frustrating as a customer, when there are things that clearly need TLC and are left to wither on the vine. As an individual who works in a creative industry, I do think it is pretty admirable that GW has a pretty clear line between it's designers/creatives and the bean counters. Of course there will be projects that "need" to be done, but the best work from creatives always comes from allowing them freedom to explore and work on stuff that grabs their attention and gets their creative juices flowing. It's a delicate balancing act, which is very difficult to get right, I actually think that GW doesn't get enough credit for this, as many people (understandably) just want what they want and don't see why GW just doesn't make it, now!

I actually don't buy into the "This is logistically imposssible" argument in regards to a potential 12 month ToW release schedule. The army boxes being released for the remaining 7 factions (Going by rumours they are called Battalions) and will not include the rulebook or other gaming accessories. So essentially it's like releasing 7 Combat Patrols for 40k or Vanguard/Spearhead boxes for AoS across the following 11 months! With a development lead of 4/5 years and containing 90%+ existing older plastic kits. The metal/resin models are Direct only (and MTO is a different kettle of fish with up to 180 days to fill orders). You also need to condsider what the SDS actually has on their slate. Necromunda is pretty much a "complete" range. Apart from the occasional release and book I don't see the system getting much over the forseeable future. Frankly, some of the gang ranges are approaching the scale and scope of some 40k/AoS factions, how much more are they really going to add here? If you go to Warhammer.com the vast majority of the system is also in stock. The same can be said for Bloodbowl, MESBG, etc The Horus Heresy is under the wing of the main design studio. The same as Kill Team, Warcry, Quest... So SDS basically has Legions Imperialis and ToW. Legions Imperialis had a great launch. A lot of the line needs new stock. However, the main box is in stock. It is also faily limited in terms of development space. I still personally think that we will see the 9 core factions get their Battalion/Arcane Journal + 2/3 plastic kits (Rereleases+new) + 2/3 Resin kits in 2024. With 2025 seeing additions and second waves.

I think it makes a lot of sense to have the 9 core factions released in 2024. It allows for the game/setting to become "established", maintains the hype train across the year and for 2025 to be focused on expansions and additions. (It would be amazing to see Kislev in the first half of 2025 and Cathay in the Second half of the year)

I agree, and it is great to see the system, setting and squads evolve over time. I do think that the success of the system was partially due to it being so Chaos heavy at the beginning (As previously mentioned, Chaos is a very popular faction) So in some ways, the heavy Chaos leaning in the beginning has allowed for the system to expand into giving other factions a look in. I do hope that the next WarCry setting is a settlement of some kind. The Gnarlwood is ok but lacked personality IMO.

I've said the exact same thing in regard to what the potential ToW roadmap looks like. Makes perfect sense to me. Get the core 9 factions out of the gate in 2024. Allowing for expansions and updates in 2025 and beyond.

I think people are overlooking WarCry as it's own system. (Which is a lot of fun) Yes STD has a lot of options that can be used from WarCry but Warcry is it's own thing, not just a means to add to AoS armies.

Do they? Don't get me wrong, I love a good centerpiece, I just want a bit more meaty substance to factions.

I just wish the AoS design studio would round out (most) factions with an infantry/cavalry/ranged unit or two. I always feel like so many of the factions feel very "top heavy" with lots of characters and big centerpiece models, without much diversity in terms of "standard" boots-on-the-ground infantry/cavalry/ranged 5/10 man units (which is what should really make up the bulk of most forces)

I really don't see why not. Infact, I think it would be cool if Black Library branched out and did more exposition and lore based books in collaboration with established fantasy artists and writers (rather than just focusing on novels) This is an off topic tangent so I will leave it for now, although if GW/BL were to release a series of 9 super ornate fantasy style tombs detailing the realms I would be more than happy to fork out a bunch of cash for them and I suspect I wouldn't be the only one. Imagine a 9 book series in a similar vein to what I just knocked up using Bing Image creator below. It would be so sweet. Drools*

There is absolutly no need for that to be the case. There are only really 8 realms. Each with a mountion of thematic potential. If you can have 18 different Space Marine factions with characters in both 40k and 30k, I think the prospect of having a few pages in a Battletome detailing the adventures of a specific faction within each realm isn't that big of a deal. Most of the Battletomes in AoS are barely 100 pages long, each could easily accomodate a section of 8 parts with realm specific characters, settlements and POI's. I am a big advocate for making the Mortal Realms a truly deep, dynamic and multi-layered fantasy setting. It's something that AoS (whilst improving upon) needs to do a lot more work around. The Characters themselves would not all need to be major warriors or leaders. Infact, I would like to see more politicians and civilian characters that could bring a bit of grounded relatability to the setting. A great way to incorporate character depth would be to explore lineages, marriages and family trees. (ASOIAF has 1000/2000 "named characters" in it's relatively miniscule setting over half a dozen books from a single author) you're telling me the design studio of a multi-billion pound market cap company doesn't have the creative wherewithal to have a single new faction character for each of the 8 realms? Come on! This is not how I view the Mortal Realms at all. I see each faction represented on the table top as "factions of note" (out of hundreds) with a significant presence in each of the realms, with huge swathes of territory, cities, townships and hierarchys. Each of the realms are massive. I would love for the AoS design studio take a note out of ToW book and have a "living" interactive map similar to that on the Old World Website (x8 for each realm) adding new and interesting aspects of each faction as/when their Battletome is released. Ultimately it comes down to resources and what GamesWorkshop wants from it's flagship fantasy setting. The handful of maps they have (which are merely dusted over in photoshop and copy-pasted across their publications) smacks of minimal effort. I've said it before (and I'll keep saying it to hopefully manifest it into being) AoS needs to have a series of weighty leather bound tombs (several hundred pages each) detailing each of the 8 Mortal realms with a swathe of newly commisioned art work, fiction and cartography. They need to invest as much time, effort and energy detailing the setting as they do their miniatures.

Oh No they weren't!

Not having enough "AoS-Specific" Characters is a real problem for the game and setting IMO. Each of the factions should have a character of note for each of the 8 realms at least. It would help flesh out each of the realms and it would also be great fodder for more Black Library AoS novels, of which there is a severe lack IMO. I really liked how the CoS touched on each of the realms within their Battletome and would like to see something similar in other faction battletomes, not only detailing significant settlements, but characters making an impact there.

I wonder if they are going to stick with the 2 armies at a time following on from Brets and Tomb Kings? Or will we see a change up and have 1 army at a time each couple of months?

The designers were also tiny so it was ok for them.

I like him. I like the old school metal model vibe.

When sculpting by hand the models were done 1 to 1. They were scuplted in the size they were cast. Crazy.

Whilst I suspect you might be right, I really hope that AoS doesn't paint itself into a corner by never killing characters with current models.