Hollow

Nice to see the Spearheads coming up on order. I asked about them the other day as I plan on getting the Cities box. If this will be the AoS version of 40k's Combat Patrol, then I can see them wanting to pump out the majority of faction Spearheads so they are available with the release of AoS 4th.

The Darkoath are great. I hope we see more kits in this style. The Gnomes are nice. Not particularly taken by the 40k minis (2 40k factions I don't collect)

I would be disappointed if Cities of Sigmar went through 4th edition as they currently are. In my ideal world, I would like to see CoS get a 2nd wave of 9 kits. 3 Human kits (Religious character, New Flaggelents, Cogfort) 3 Aelve kits (Character, 10 man infantry kit, Cavalry kit) and 3 Duradin kits (Character, 10 man infantry kit, Warmachine) all done in the new CoS aesthetic. Then remove all the current Duradin and (Dark) Aelve kits from the range. That would "complete" the range. It would be all new models in the AoS aesthetic and could be added to through Warcry/ Underworlds in the future.

I wonder when we will start to see the release of Spearheads, Leading up to 4th? We have seen 3 so far. Stormcast, Cities and Flesh Eaters. I really want to pick up a couple of the Cities boxes.

Old News.

I'm super happy to see Kroot getting some love in 40k. I like to see Xenos getting support. I hope to see other Alien races (There are rumours about Vespid) in the T'au Empire.

You can add me to the list of those wanting to see a lot more content in Battletomes in 4th edition. I really hope that we see some more artwork, maps and expanded lore and would likely not go the route of picking them up if it's just basically going to be the same content copy-pasta'd again.

When it comes to AoS 4.0 I am pretty torn on what direction GW is going to take. On the one hand, I agree with Baron, the game of AoS is in a good state. The Battletomes feel pretty solid, not just in terms of rules, but art direction, layout etc. I could see AoS 4 being more like AoS 3.5, with Battletomes being usable in the new edition and the focus being on re-releases, updates and essentially consolidating what AoS 3 has already laid out. It would allow for exploration into other things with more of a focus on the game's setting, lore and timeline. At the same time, I agree with Marcvs. I can't help but feel like modern-day customer expectations and (GW's pockets) call for more of a hard reset. With AoS 4 kicking off with the redundancy of all AoS 3 edition battle-tomes and the release of new Index books/cards for all factions similar to what we saw for the 40k 10th edition launch.

It is disingenuous to say that WFB is 40 years old. It's been completely unsupported for the last decade! Also, the Games Workshop of the 80's, 90's and 00's was completely different to the one of the last 10 years. The GW of the last 10 years has so many more staff, designers and resources. It's a deliberate design decision that GW has made regarding what to focus on in AoS. (Due to mark-ups amongst other things) I don't even think that AoS should have as many infantry options as ToW, I just feel many of the AoS factions feel a little sparse when they only have a single 10-man infantry unit and a single 5-man (special) infantry unit. Hopefully, we will see infantry choices bulked out through upcoming Warcry Releases. (Like the recently announced Pyre and Blood) and new infantry/cavalry options in 4th.

Cheers, but I'm in the UK and this is already more than enough for me to be getting on with (I'm also doing Bretonnia and Beasts for ToW and have 40k, AoS and HH as well! 😅)

I have mentioned this before regarding AoS factions, but I don't think they have enough infantry/cavalry options. So many of the factions are top-heavy, with lots of centre-pieces, characters, monsters etc but not many options when it comes to "boots on the ground". The experience of building a list in AoS feels a lot more like deck building and putting together a warband, as opposed to mustering an actual army. The High Elves in ToW have the Ulthuan Militia (Spearmen or Archers), Sea Guard, White Lions, Sword Masters, Pheonix Guard, Shadow Warriors and Sisters of Avelorn. That's 8/9 different options when it comes to infantry units alone. (Never mind the granular size, magic items, command and formation options) The Lumineth have the Vanari Auralan (Sentinals or Wardens), Blade Lords and Stone Guard. That's it... and the Lumineth are one of the better-supported factions in AoS. I really hope we see more factions get decent, 10-man units added to their roasters in AoS 4. Put some meat on their bones. As well as more options when it comes to building a unit.

I was rummaging through various boxes and dusty chests in the forgotten depths of my game room, and look what I found! Over a couple of hours, I've managed to cobble together a rag-tag collection of High Elves that have most definitely seen better days. (I don't think they have even seen the light of day for 20 years) Chips, cracks, broken weapons, missing shields and tails (Although I was happy to be able to find all the parts for the broken-up Prince on Griffon at the top right). Time to order some correctly sized bases, pull out the Isopropyl, greenstuff and modelling tools and hit up eBay for some missing components! The janky High Elves of the dusty box shall ride again!

I'd love to see this. Beastmen units that are inspired by the different realms. In fact, It's something I'd love to see across many of the factions. How is a Ghyran-Gor different from an Uglu-Gor? Using the realms themselves to inform the design of miniatures is a great idea.

I could see something like Necro having a better ROI for sure. If you invest £1 million in Necro and generate £3 million, that is a massive 200% return on your investment. Then something like AoS invests £25 million and generates £50 million, which is only a 100% ROI. At the end of the Day though, Necro only generates £2 million total and AoS generates £25 mil, even though Necro is more "profitable" in terms of ROI. Are you saying something like Necro is more profitable than AoS in absolute terms? Or in terms of ROI percentages?

Whilst I have no insider knowledge, I do think that parts of the internet over-blow the potential "bad blood" between different designers and departments at GW PLC. I also think that some conflate the incompetence and peculiarity of the Kirby years and the explosive growth and systemic changes seen under Rountree's reign. GW is a very different company from what it was pre-2015. Rountree took over as CEO On Jan 1 2015. (GW was trading at approximately 500p per share) today it is trading at approximately 10000p per share. The company has seen ENORMOUS growth, and like so many companies it is struggling to fully understand, cope and navigate that growth. The diversification of products, the explosion of growth during the pandemic and its IP penetrating the cultural zeitgeist have all contributed to more people than ever looking to buy their products. There have been so many outside factors regarding shipping, inflation, conflict etc that they are just struggling to adapt and they are also a company that is terrified of over-expanding due to what happened regarding the LOTR bubble. I think some in the company are waiting for the other shoe to drop. I just hope that they take some of those stacks of cash they have and get to work ASAP on new manufacturing, storage and logistical capabilities.

The quality of the stuff from the ToW so far has been great. I do think the way it has been released has been pretty poor. They should have had a combat patrol-type mini-game as part of the rules similar to 40k and pumped out 9 Battleforces for the 9 core factions to begin with. Then started with secondary waves of resin, single kits and MTO. It would have allowed people to pick up the faction they want and to get building, painting and playing. They seem to consistently leave so much money on the table. There is clearly a conservative aspect to management that is terrified of overproducing. I believe this was all but debunked when various Youtubers jumped on the rumour only for GW and Amazon to release a statement just a few days later that completely contradicted it. The rumour was ridiculous anyway and didn't have any connection to how a PLC operates. I just do not believe that this can be the case. Which other possible systems would AoS be trailing? HH?

I think that depends on how they approach 4th edition. If it is a reset similar to what happened in 40k 10th edition. Then the order in which we see new battletomes could be completely detached from the order that factions received an update in 3rd. I do not know, but I suspect that we will see a launch of AoS 4th very similar to what we saw for 40k 10th and all 3rd edition Battletomes will be for 3rd edition and we will have Battlescroll packs for each of the factions to kick off 4th. TBH I think a few lighter weeks regarding releases is a good thing if it means that GW can focus on sorting some of their stock issues.

There is a difference between disagreeing and searching out every single post a person makes to put a sly passive-aggressive reaction next to them. Not one or two to express genuine confusion or disagreement, but literally on every single post over and over again. But I suppose the easy way to stop it is just not to post.

Not for some apparently. I'm a little confused as to why some people are confused (Although not Doko, he is perpetually confused regarding everything it seems) Do people seriously think that the BoC range will remain unchanged and available as is, in AoS and ToW simultaneously throughout the life span for ToW 1st edition (however long that is) and AoS 4th edition? Like... come on. It's like a big flashing neon light that some are just refusing to see.

Yes, and like the other Warbands from Beastgrave, they are no longer available.

I wasn't making a reading. I was just stating the exact situation with Grashrak's Despoilers in reply to a question about them. They are not available on Warhammer.com and that is a direct quote from the Element games website. Make of it what you will, but this is the current situation regarding the kit.

and the fact we have just had an entire edition called "Era of the Beast" with no Beasts. 😅 Just how many tea leaves does a bowl need to have?

Grashrak's Despoilers are no longer listed on Warhammer.com. They are also not available from any of the online retailers. With the likes of Element games stating- "This product is currently unavailable - it is likely that distribution has ceased".

The "evidence" is just inferring from what is happening across the ranges. Fantasy models being removed = squatted, refreshed = update of the same or redesigned High Elf = Lumineth. BoC being out of stock online and in stores. No significant updates or releases for the faction over 9 years. (I don't consider a herdstone, endless spell, warband and single character "significant") BoC being a core ToW faction with a unit roaster and army photography within ToW publications consisting of the entire BoC range. BoC range are all models from Fantasy. There is a clear distinction between factions of ToW and AoS. Add several rumours from various sources and I think there is a pretty strong argument that this is indeed happening. The real question is how it will be done. A complete chop/squatting of the faction and range in AoS completely, moving the current range to ToW and a new AoS-fied Beasts faction to replace it, or for removal of the BoC as a singular faction and more beast units appearing in other chaos factions. What I do not see happening. Is for BoC to stay within AoS as they are and to be launched in ToW using the same models.

Indeed. The BoC model range is being squatted from AoS and being ported over to ToW. What remains to be seen is if BoC as a faction will remain in AoS under a new thematic identity, be removed entirely or be folded into other existing Chaos factions. That's my bet. That is the writing I see written on the wall and time will tell.