Sception

my understanding is that significant portions of what was planned for the old world - including new factions, more significant model support, and potentially a more original ruleset - were ditched a good ways into development to be replaced with the much lower ambition version we've been seeing since the previews started getting more specific - supporting only existing oldhammer factions (and not even all of them), sticking mainly to existing models no matter how outdated, rule set that cleaves very closely to oldhammer design. That sounds kind of like I'm criticizing the version of The Old World that we're actually getting, but really I'm not. TOW is starting life as a side game, not a main game. 30k, not 40k, and honestly 30k's success early on was imo significantly attributable to the fact that it was marines vs. marines, basically a game with a single faction model range distinguished by faction rules and paint jobs rather than actual models, and only after actually establishing itself was it able to diversify with legion specific units and non-marine factions. It was probably never even possible to support TOW with a full range of new faction lines out of the gate in terms of production capacity, it also would have been a bad idea financially, setting it up to fail with way too much up front cost and, lets face it, a very uncertain player base. Will Oldhammer players really come back after what happened with AoS's launch? Will TW:W players really convert to tabletop players? Even if they do, that's a subset of a single video game series' player base. Starting as small as possible and only ramping up proportional to the interest the game actually generates is a much healthier approach, one much more likely to lead to long term success. ... I still wish we had gotten new skeleton infantry and horse sprues instead of the dragon, though. The dragon's grown on me, but those old skeletons just don't hold up, and the 8e TK plastic releases included big centerpiece monsters that still hold up perfectly fine. Honestly, a bone giant/heirotitan plastic kit would also have been preferable to the dragon, but that may still be coming, I don't think we've seen the old bone giant kit in the background of any TOW pictures or videos to de-confirm a new one. Going by the Brett release, we're probably getting at least exactly one other new plastic kit. Mummy infantry is depressingly likely, since that would be a brand knew unit like the infantry knights were. I've still got my fingers crossed for plastic ushabti though, as I never much cared for the last round of resin ones.

This is the bare minimum. Honestly, I just wish 4e would do away with batch pricing. Give units a minimum, a maximum (increased through reinforcement), and a price per model.

Ah, frenzy. The most powerful debuff ever to pretend to be a buff. It's good to see it again.

This is a cool conversion idea, but only two of the fell bats in the box have wings that would be usable for this, which would lead to a pretty noticeable chorus line effect, plus the price point of the conversion would be fairly prohibitive. Six of these flayers would cost us$300, plus tax. Does anyone know of a decent third party or 3d print option for similar wings? Since the main body of the model would still be official GW stuff they'd probably still be usable in GW stores/events.

There are currently 20 FEC warscrolls in the App, not 18. New releases we've already seen: Ushoran Gorewarden Judge Executioner Bishop cryptguard knights varghulf (presumably replacing existing model/warscroll) 20 existing plus seven new is 27, which is how many warscrolls are in the new warscroll pack. There's a chance there's still new stuff unrevealed, but only if its new models for existing units (unlikely but desperately needed for the generic courtiers if they remain as units) or if by coincidence there are exactly as many old warscrolls going away as there are new units we haven't seen yet, which while technically possible seems tremendously unlikely.

My experience with oldhammer vs. AoS is that time lost to things like comparing stats & checking charts to determine hit & wound values or adding up & playing out combat results were more than made up for by time saved from moving & activating entire units as coherent blocks rather than individual models. You'll have twice as many models in your army, making for much more of a big battle feel, but in practice they operate as only seven or eight individual elements that you have to think about or physically interact with, which allows for the higher level of system complexity without adding much if anything to game time. my AoS games still take longer than my oldhammer games used to, and that's mostly down to moving blocks of units one model at a time in AoS while taking care to measure each one, moving around obstacles and other models individually, checking coherency and control ranges and aura ranges as I go.

"27 warscrolls" matches exactly the current count plus the new units we've already seen. Unfortunate imo, as I've been hoping some existing scrolls would be retired or merged. For instance, ghoul king on foot and archregeant are not distinct enough in concept, appearance, or function to warrant being two different units imo. And the Underworlds warband would make a lot more sense as a single unit than as a separate hero and unit. And, unless there are more new models coming that haven't been revealed, it remains positively criminal that the generic ghoul, horror, and flayer courtiers are going to remain as key support heroes that you're supposed to build one of the normal box models as when those units can only be fielded in exact multiples of their box size.

I agree at first look, but there's still a lot we haven't seen. Still 3 other delusions, plus it's possible some of the unit rules might be re-worked to encourage a more defensive play style that could fit with defend the realms. Plus there may be extra subfaction bonuses for particular delusions, etc. It's a long shot, but I'm hoping for some sort of option to change delusions mid game - like maybe a command trait to change delusions once per game, or maybe as a command ability on one of the heroes, which would allow you to start with a more generic aggressive delusion but transition to something more techy & situational mid game if the right opportunity presents itself.

It's dumb when a retinue runs too fast and the hero that goes with them can't keep up and falls out of formation due to two different run rolls. It's dumb when a character charges into combat and their loyal bodyguard fails the roll and just stands idle while they watch their beloved leader go of to their death unsupported. It is dumb that /so many/ of the units in this game are 5 wound infantry hero melee beatsticks that are almost universally terrible because they are so easily picked out and killed. And there are so many obnoxious rules - bodyguards, gelato champs, look out sir, sequential combat activations, short range "wholly within" bubbles - all of which are grasping and failing at the idea of heroes being attached to specific units. Regardless of your opinion of the 40k implementation, the game is suffering for lack of such a system.

Being right out of a Fromsoft game is what I love about him, but absolutely fair enough, nothing can appeal to everyone. I will say he's not what I envisioned or wanted either, and I DO know what I envisioned - a diorama style situation like Katakros or the Sisters of Battle procession, with a whole royal court of attendants around Ushoran who I pictured as big, but not gigantic - again, like Katakros. But I love the souls game, so a huge gothic boss monster straight out of the Souls was always going to win me over. And if you think about it, the heavy themes of faded and tarnished nobility that run through Souls Games and heavily influence their art design is a good fit for FEC's narrative in AoS. But again, I absolutely understand not caring for it. Thankfully the undead factions are varied enough at this point that most necromancy fans should be able to find one that appeals. Personally my favorite remains the 80s cartoon toyetic goofiness of the Bonereapers. One day they'll get their second wave, and I'll be all over it.

yes the cryptguard are one kit with options for swords or halberds.

I didn't much care for the bone dragon at first, but I've warmed to it this morning. I like it more in profile than front on, Which makes me think I'll be ok with it in person as a 3d object. I'm not surprised that the howda/rider & dragon were designed by two different people, because they feel unfortunately disconnected, and I hope the liche rider can be assembled without the sand vulture without too much trouble removing it. Overall I think the sphinx remains the superior centerpiece kit, but I'll probably pick up one of these eventually. I would have traded it in an instant for new basic skellies though.

I'm warming to the bone dragon. IMO it looks much better from the side than from the front, which makes me think I'l like it more in person as a 3d object than in most of the still pictures from the preview.

I could very much see myself getting the FOMO box, Cardinal, Judge, and Ushoran for fec. I've got enough leftover ghoul stuff from oldhammer to round that out into a solid 3k I figure. Love the look of em. Mostly fur & skin too, should be quick to paint. The bone dragon... yeah, I don't think I care for it. Certainly don't like it as much as the Brett's pegasus hero. And I won't be getting any big army box of TOW tomb kings, not when most of it will be made up of those old skeletons. That said, I'll happily replace my old metal tomb guard with the plastic ones once they're available for less than like 200 bucks a box. And I might pick up some necroknights. Mostly I'm happy I already have an army's worth of tomb kings, plus enough old vamp count skeletons to not have to use the old plastic skeleton warrior bodies for anything. I don't envy new TOW undead players collecting the army from scratch with old boxing fist skellies, and resin ushabti and catapults.

AND... that's the show. Big reveal is obviously the Flesh Eater Courts. I love them, including Ushoran. He's not what I wanted him to be - I wanted a Katakros-style diorama with courtiers gathered around in like a mock procession, not One Big Guy, but for One Big Guy I do actually quite like him I think. In case anyone is curious, I looked closely at the tattered skeletal wings with bits of flesh on the Morbheg knights, and they do NOT match the recent rumour engine that we've been thinking might be something for OBR: .... I might change my mind when I see it in person, but I'm not overly impressed with the Tomb King bone dragon. The posing seems weird, it looks awkwardly top heavy with the big howda on skinny bones, and I'm not convinced the anatomy works (ever the problem with six-winged dragon designs, and why I tend to prefer four-limbed versions). IMO the old Royal Warsphinx looks a lot better. Again, though, the opinion may change when I see it in person. I didn't look closely at the whole video, but the one pic I took does confirm returning old models for Tomb Guard (yay) and Skeleton Warriors (boo). I'm glad I have a bunch of the old vamp count skeletons, as they're generic enough to use as tomb kings if you swap out the shields, official gw models so I can play them at the store, and just look a lot better than the old old tomb king skittles.

TOMB KINGS new skeleton warriors de-confirmed.

He's HUGE .... It does look like the current plastic range for FEC all remains in place - the new ghouls are a new semi-elite mordant unit, not a replacement for crypt ghouls, and the horrors, flayers, terrorgheist, etc all seem to remain as they are. I was kind of hoping some of the older plastics would get retired and replaced, but the current range is anemic enough that I might not complain... except for basic courtiers. If ghoul, horror, and flayer courtiers are still key hero units but lacking in models I'll be a bit annoyed at that. New Varghulf, though! It does look to be on a new base size (frustrating to those with existing varghulfs they'll have to rebase). It also seems to have lost its wings, which will be unfortunate for converted varghulfs that took pains to emphasize the wings.

FEC! Holy Cow They're Amazing

Necrons! Wrong game, but it counts as undead to me! Plus a new necron-focused narrative campaign. Cool.

Cool model, but I kind of wish I had waited for the proper reveal rather than spoiling myself on a potato-quality pic w/ watermarks.

At time of posting, World Championships event coverage is live over on twitch The Preview show starts in about 3 hours. Undead expectations are high: Age of Sigmar: this is pretty much the last possible preview show before the new FEC battletome and range are due for release, and we've already seen a couple cool new FEC heroes on Warhammer community. A full new FEC release reveal is almost guaranteed. FEC have been desperate for a proper model range expansion since they were first split off from Vamp Counts / Soulblight. Additionally, chances are high that we'll see the first proper Mortarch reveal since Katakros back in 2nd edition, so this is a big deal for Death in the Mortal realms in terms of both models and lore. While fec is the primary undead news expected for AoS, we could also see the next Dawnbringers book reveal. It's likely that book would also focus on the new FEC refresh, but new releases for other death factions aren't entirely out of the question. Unlikely, but still possible. The Old World: TOW is supposed to get some time in the preview, and we've already seen what is supposed to be the full supported release range for the new Brettonians, which makes it likely that we could finally see some real focus on Tomb Kings - what models will be returning, what we might see new. A Tomb Kings preview isn't as certain as FEC - we might just see some sort of FOMO release box for brettonians for instance, like a 'you've seen the new brett models, now check out the new box you'll be able to buy them in' sort of deal. But still though, going in I'd say the odds are with us here. 40k: the big 40k preview is supposed to be Dark Angels, so big shrug in terms of undead, BUT the new Necron Codex is on the way. We've already seen previews for Imotekh and a new Overlord, and we're not expecting a big range refresh this time around, so that might be it. However, it's entirely possible that there might still be some new Necron stuff yet to show tonight. Side Games: It's side games, who knows, there's always a chance of something. I've heard some potential FEC underworlds buzz, but it might be just noise.

Absolutely fantastic. Sadly I can't do 3d printing (no space w/ proper ventilation in my apartment), but I imagine people will be selling things like this online soon enough after TOW releases. I had been working on a homebrew Tomb Kings rules update for AoS. I'd abandoned it when I realized I was going to end up re-rebasing the army for TOW, but if a solution like this could allow me to avoid that then I might revive the project.

Nagash doesn't really need singular attack dogs. I'd picture Ushoran's usefullness being more in terms of the control Nagash could exert over FEC enclaves generally through him. like a half-broken radio tower that sometimes lets you control a robot army, but half the time it's on the fritz and the robots will start behaving in a totally unpredictable manner. If anything, I imagine its the sort of thing that would especially drive a control freak like nagash to distraction.

Ushoran's madness should make him inherently unreliable. I'd like for him to be the leader of both nagashi and anti-nagashi ghouls, depending on what side of the bed he's waking up on today. On his most lucid days he'd know both he and nagash were monsters, but be unable to resist Nagash's control. On a more deluded day, he'd be the champion of freedom leading his people against the tyranny of a dark and cruel nagash, his madness breaking the bonds of nagash's control and allowing him to strike back against his master. but on his most deluded days he'd swing right back around as the willing and devoted paladin of a bright and benevolent nagash - not actually under nagash's control but 110% loyal regardless. But that's just how I'd characterize him.

I mean, you could spread them out 10 long, or put them on a hill.