Turgol

I would not bet for new BT/models soon. But could they have a future? Absolutely. GW showed some escepticism at AoS launch about developing armies based on their old, more traditional lines. But that has certainly changed with NH and Gloomspite. And traditional dwarves are popular. Plus, Grugni and crazy Grugni stuff only seem to fit there. FS is Grimnir and KO are not directly working with him ATM.

There is something like a pattern in AoS releases, yes. January new big release February-March: one or two small or mid size releases April one big release June one big release. Give or take a couple more small releases. What is purely wishlisting is your list of factions to expect, not the number. We know two thinga for certain: of two or three pending big releases, Darkoath and Slaanesh take two. One open for grabs (I would be aelves, but thats just me). And then you have two or three small-mid size updates. Can be just about anything.

Are those daemonettes new?

Could only find the mangler squigs and the loonboss on mangler. They are mindblowing good.

Squig knights; now that's a brilliant idea! And execution seems perfect!

I did not mean to suggest it was all caused by lack of marketing. Rather that two months after release, the game had its death sentence because of not making up with huge financial expectations (2 million player base, never got past 1,1, which was already very high). Why it did not reach those levels certainly lies in a mix of execution problems (an extreme mix of some servers crashing because of excess of players and some others feeling like a graveyard was a huge problem, appart from what you mention) and simply dropping the ball quite early out of too high expectations. And yes, the original design with three parallel wars, six capitals, and so on, had so much potential that it hurts.

It was pretty awesome. They had too high expectations without enough marketing to back it up, linked to an awful handling of release that made them bleed customers when they needed it. It was AoS level lf awful release handling, without the company backing them long enough to revert the situation. Sad for the history ofgaming. Had it achieved a numerous continous customer base, it had the potential to make gaming history as a second (and better) ever evolving MMORPG world.

This is by far the less original design of new factions for AoS (perhaps tied with IJ). It is pretty much an update of night gobbos which would have been quite normal on WHFB (even if some stuff would have been considered OTT. But greenskins being comedians in WH, no one would have cared). As an old WHFB, the prospect of updating old armies is really attractive. Gosh, I wish my dwarves would get that treatment! That's the bright side of this release: spectacular, state of the art models of a classic army. Downside: it is less surprising and spectacular than completely new factions.

Given for AoS 2019: Gloomspite Gitz, Darkoath, four remaining underworlds warbands, Underworlds season 3. Likely: Slaanesh. Risky bet: Shadowkin, either Ironjaws, Fyreslayers, Kharadron or Sylvaneth update.

Darkoath = human tribes that adore the Chaos Gods pre turning to chaos warriors. Same old marauder story. Just adapted to the mortal realms with new aesthetics (and much more developped, at least as models, than marauder ever were).

It's in the new SCE Battletome. A Lord Arcanum of (obviously) Chamon. I'll quote it (p. 30): "The Lord Arcanjm of the Grave Brethren - the foremost Anvils of the Heldenhammer Sacrosanct Chamber - hails from another era entirely. Though his history is shrouded, his ability to wield the transmutative magic of Chamon is such that he turned the gold stores of the rebel city of Agnostai to granite with a wave of his hand."

I do agree with you there. We do not have enough new characters and outside of Vandus, they normally feel irrelevant or unexploited. I do think GW has made an increasing effort to include new characters, but so far have failed to exploit it. This is not due to wanting to go back though! And bare in mind that from the start the survivors of the world that was were pictured as central, demigods and gods as they are. The heroic ordinary characters are those missing.

Eh, no? All characters that have returned were those whose ET stories were built as to make the transition: incarnates (+ mortarchs), Gotrek, Thanquol (skitterleaping at the end of his ET book to the realm of chaos), inmortal chaos daemons. The exception are the hints of old world human characters making it as Stormcasts. Balthasar Gelt is the most obvious hint. But it is just that: small connections to live up the idea that the realms were formed from and are the continuation of the WHFB world. Just listen to Realmslayer and you will see how well it can be made.

All of that was already available (though not in plastic) for night goblins in fantasy. Remember: design program for AoS is take a familiar idea and give it a complete overhaul.

Yeah, no. Number one GW rule: decisions are commercial. You do not discontinue a whole line of models because you left something out of the fluff. Especially when including something in the fluff in AoS is as simple as possible.

My 5 years old daughter is too young for this ATM. And my two other children are even younger. But I guess in two-three years I have the perfect present for her and her siblings!

Would be great, but there is no info whatsoever regarding that.

The new command abilities mechanics seem to me a fantastic change. What we have seen on CP generation, though, seem to me to limit the impact of that change of mechanics. Having all heroes be able to use abilities and to have reactive abilities as well could add a lot of depth. With 1 CP per turn that is all very limited though. Battalions makes sense (“army coherence bonus”), but it is both marginal and unfair for some armies. All of this would be solved if there were additional CP sources.

I love the suicidal constitution of the Knight Incantor. It makes me think of the Bright Wizard in Warhammer Online, if any of you played that game.

[Have you head anything after SCE v. NH?

I would guess that although the artillery is not to be directly seen on the art, it will be there. It also seems to be at least one SCE hero and one infantry type short.

The official nickname for SCE is Sigmarines.

Ha, what did I say?

Some comments: -This was massive -AoS delivered ALL: background book, maps, new magic, new rules, new starter set. -New Nighthaunts are impressive. I mean better than highest expectations. Design team deserves a hug. -New Stormcast are good (but not as impressive as NH by far). Some heroes are awesome though. -I guess mysterious shadowy figure could be Khalida. Back when MP was launched, Phil Kelly confirmed there could be more Mortarchs. I guess this is the first of the new. Could be Isabella as well I guess.

It is obviously AoS 2 with starter set and probably new magic. That is certainly huge, as it implies at least five different things: a starter set, two new factions, rule changes and a new supplement (plus fluff evolution). Given how massive those two previews are, I would not expect any further faction (Moonclan, Slaanesh, etc.).