Hollow

With 40k Beastmen and now this guy, I feel like GW is taunting BoC players. 😅

I personally think it's very "Warhammery" to have a setting where you know the dark powers get the upper hand but the protagonists fight to the bitter end and last man anyway. With Age Of Sigmar carrying echoes of "The World That Was" there is no reason why things can't happen. It's fantasy... so much potential. You have 500 years of history to document and explore pre-end times. It could be interesting to have a narrative from an elven mage's perspective, haunted by visions and premonitions of the End Times 400 years before they occur, they have to try and put machinations in place many years before the actual events of the End Times to ensure their essence endures into the mortal realms. There are many Old World Characters that transcended the apocalypse. Was it their strength of essence that carried them across the void or did some foresee the approaching calamity and marshaled their forces and resources in preparation? I think the Old World should really embrace The End Times. There is so much potential in further exploration of how it all went down. Perhaps there could be an Age Of Sigmar story regarding a party of plucky adventurers falling into the bowels of a Seraphon Temple deep in the Realm of Ghur. They are stripped of their weapons and armor through a series of misadventures only to come upon a tomb filled with a series of reflecting pools. A Skink Star Priest appears to explain to them that as humans, they must take a message to another human on the Seraphon's behalf. A message which is very important but that can only be given by one human to another. The Skink explains that the human's name is Karl Franz, The Location Altdorf. The adventurers enter the reflecting pools, which act as portals through time and space - directly to The World That Was.

I think the horse proportions look really good. (My mum/sister keeps horses) and it looks like the proportions of a 16/17 hand thoroughbred.

^ 100% this. I really don't like the way that printed publications are becoming "disposable". A beautiful book should provide value and happiness over many years. Not utilized for some transient content and binned. That is an incredibly unsustainable way of going about things. I would actually really like (as I have mentioned before) AOS to consist of 10 big books. A core rule book for the edition and a big book (similar size to the rule book) based around each of the Mortal Realms and 8 points. With miniature rules free online and in inexpensive card decks. 10th edition 40k gives me a bit of hope, I'll be curious to see how/if rules are done in the new Codex books/Card Decks.

I'm all for digital content as a FREE option or as part of a Warhammer + subscription, in ADDITION to printed content. I do not want Warhammer to turn into yet another subscription service. I like books and printed media. (Although I would prefer fewer publications of much higher quality) I still have publications that I love from 20+ years ago. The idea of losing access to stuff if you don't pay a month's sub sucks. I really don't like how everything is becoming a sub and you don't actually own anything.

It's not gloom, it's concern.

Currently, there are 21 3rd Edition Battletomes. (With Cities, Seraphon and FEC on the way) That means a total of 24 Battletomes. What do people hope will happen for 4th edition? That we will see the introduction of yet more Battletomes? How many is too many? Just keep adding more and more? Keep pumping out copy-and-paste books in small batch runs? Even the limited edition Ossiarch Bonereapers book is still available and those print runs must be tiny. I personally think that after 7/8 years of amazing growth and quality management, GW is in danger of slipping into a post-7-year slump that so many companies fall into. (New management drives growth and expansion and then becomes complacent and runs out of ideas, which I am starting to feel is happening at GW) When I think about the 30-odd-month release schedule for AoS 4th edition. I'm not exactly inspired when I think that nearly each of those months will see essentially a reprint of a battle tome with a model or two.

Some seem to think that advocating for a Huge 400+ page book of new and additional material for Duardin factions is somehow wishing for their identity to be scrubbed. I personally think pumping out low-effort 90-page battle tomes with a handful of units doesn't do the factions or the world-building any favors whatsoever. I also think that GW is digging a bit of a hole for itself in regard to the sheer amount of printed content they are putting out. I love printed content, I just think that many of the Battletomes/Codexs are very low-effort cash grabs which I don't think is good for the game.

I just don't see the benefit of having 3 different types of dwarf factions that are split between three books and take months/years for GW to give proper attention (if ever) to. What is the benefit of splitting them up into different releases? (apart from charging £32.50 per book) You could easily have a Duardin Book that explored the different Duardin factions, allowing you to build a "mono-faction" or a combined Duardin force. I want to see lots of new units for Dispossed, KO and FS. I just don't see the benefit to customers, players, the game, the company or the setting, having them split up like this. The Battletomes are super slim. Give me a huge Duardin release and a 400 page combined Duardin book exploring all the different Duardin factions (big and small)

Proper combined Duardin book containing all different kinds of dwarfs?

Well, I thought that Warhammerfest would be the venue and opportunity to really step things up a gear, that they would use the first huge event post-Covid (that they have been hyping for months) to actually show something more than 2 character minis in 10 minutes. It was a Warhammer Community article worth of content. My expectations for what GamesWorkshop (as a company with a 2.4 Billion market cap) is capable of are clearly out of whack. I was wrong. No point in moaning though. I think I'll take a step back from TOW and check its development in a few years when they actually have something to show. It's clearly an afterthought for GW and so it will become one for me. Shame.

Yeah. This means they never make any mistakes and everything they do is completely perfect. GameWorkshop is not the small company it was years ago. It is completely acceptable to expect to see more regarding a project that has been worked on for years now. Just because the company is successful doesn't mean they aren't leaving money on the table hand over fist.

Well, the Old World "preview" was literally everything I feared it would be. A super low-effort, token gesture cash grab with one or two people working on it. It's been 5 freaking years and that's all they have to show at their first major event post-Covid? Bitterly disappointed, although not surprised. GW makes some incredibly poor decisions across the board when allocating its resources IMO.

I don't think the Orcs on either side of the pig are dynamic enough. The look kinda static for being on the side of a charging pig.

Well yeesh. 25 mins for Age of Sigmar? Why does it always feel like GW is pulling their punches? What we saw was good. Love the cities stuff (but only a single unit?) The heroes and war pig are cool but I really wish GW would release more units for factions. You would have thought WarhammerFest of all places would be the forum to have a full faction to release or even a big new box set.

Both the Commemorative models of the KB and SCE look great. 😭I want them!

Overall the reveals today was a solid B+. I would have just liked to have seen more, with it being WarhammerFest I feel like they could have pushed the boat out, having revealed so much of the starter set already, it lost a bit of its punch. I'm actually surprised that Marines and Nids aren't getting Codexes until Autumn. I like the Stormcast, the FEC are decent as well, but not enough for me to consider picking up though. The LOTR diorama is really nice, although again, a bit light for the first major in-person Warhammer event in several years.

I feel like that is the definition of Warhammer.

At this point, I'm trying to not think about it. Keeping expectations low and excitement in check. please be good. 😬

Indeed. I do not think Games Workshop has employed Skynet to make Seraphon Art. 😅

I think there might be a bit of a misunderstanding here. I don't think the artwork is being completely created by AI frameworks such as Midjourney, using prompts. I do think there are some AI program elements being used though.

As an Art School graduate with a degree in Design, and as a professional designer who uses the entirety of the Adobe design suite on a daily basis, there are several aspects to recent GW works that clearly have used AI elements. Considering Photoshop itself has integrated AI software for textures and materials, means that AI is already a part of a lot of creations, It is only a matter of degree. The fact that no artwork is attributed also helps.

I've created an AI in wargaming thread so as not to derail the rumor thread.

So I just asked Chat GPT. Has Games Workshop used AI in the creation of it's recent artwork? I do not have access to Games Workshop's internal processes or information about their use of AI in creating their artwork. However, it's worth noting that the use of AI in art and design is becoming increasingly common in various industries, including video games and entertainment. AI can be used for tasks such as generating textures, landscapes, and even character designs. Games Workshop may or may not have incorporated AI into their art creation process, but it is possible that they have experimented with it or plan to do so in the future. Do you think it would be a good idea for Games Workshop to use AI in the creation of future art work or gaming material? As an AI language model, I do not have opinions or beliefs, but I can provide information on the potential benefits and drawbacks of using AI in art and design. One potential benefit of using AI in the creation of artwork and gaming material is that it can automate certain tasks, which can save time and reduce costs. For example, AI could be used to generate terrain and landscapes, or to create complex textures and patterns. This could allow artists and designers to focus on other aspects of the creative process, such as conceptualizing and refining characters and storylines. On the other hand, some may argue that using AI in art and design could lead to a loss of human creativity and originality. While AI can generate impressive results, it may lack the nuance and unique vision that human artists and designers bring to their work. Additionally, there may be concerns about the potential for AI-generated content to be used for malicious purposes, such as deepfakes or propaganda. Ultimately, the decision to use AI in the creation of artwork and gaming material is up to Games Workshop and their creative team. It is possible that they may choose to incorporate AI in some capacity, while still relying on human creativity and vision to bring their games and stories to life. Inconclusive lol. Although I did get it to create example Army Books for all 20 ToW factions, including rules and background short stories. I'm also currently putting them together in Photoshop with AI-prompted Midjourney artwork. Something that would have taken me weeks/months has taken me a few hours. I'll show the finished example projects soon.

Just to add a little to the presenter/name situation. Does anyone else see the apparent use of AI in the new Seraphon artwork? (Particularly the Slann images) I'd be surprised if there is half as many artists at GW in 3/5 years' time compared to now. I wouldn't be surprised if all customer-facing promo work for the company will be done by AI in the next few years.