Baron Klatz

Or leaping over some base scenery holding them up while they pull a dynamic arrow shot. 😄

Yeah I’m guessing those will go with the branch-like thing to be Kurnothi antlers sprouting from their heads. (Having them be a touch more plant-like would help with the Sylvaneth theming and those Lamentiri seeds on their stomachs affecting them) So safe to say Kurnothi vs Death warbands? On Death had a thought that maybe the “NightHaunt” is just a spirit leaking out of the Ossiarch construct or an imprisoned alchemist ghost to give more that vibe they’re walking bone mechs the empowered souls inhabit/imprisoned in?

Underperform doesn’t have to be a legit failure, might’ve just been slightly under the line the management then, before the current reorganization, was demanding(the one full of inflated ego like threatening players they’ll pull support or “posting on our forums is a privilege”, calling SoC Premium Dlc, taking Saga title off so they could overcharge and put on pre-order DLC’s, etc) Point for point the fanbase was angry about it and the jumped up pricing regardless which caused mixed reviews(later dropping to negatives) and the first rumblings of boycotts. I’m just saying brace for sticker shock backlash when a price is finally put on TOW. Even the thickest rose-tinted nostalgia glasses will be tested then. 😄

2 things to keep in mind is that also caused controversy because it took away a legendary lord and caused the new FLC heroes from now on instead(so drop in content) and they fibbed about how different each lords were from eachother having very similar mechanics. On numbers, people didn’t have to buy the Dlc to enjoy fighting them or the new content added to the map.

Yeah, apparently insiders are saying Chorfs dlc underperformed because of the price. TOW rolling up with a $250+ box when $25 is too much for a whole new race isn’t gonna please them. Noserenda has the right of it that gamers aren’t just waiting over 8 years like a dam about to burst. They’ve been seeping over the years into the tabletop through AoS, KoW, 9th Age, WAP, OPR and the attention black hole that is 40k. TOW isn’t gonna magically find a new reservoir of them. Especially now that we can all see the game isn’t made to pull them in. Majority that did wait are disappointed there’s few to no faces from TWW in it, only 9 supported races out of the 24 from the game which didn’t even lead with Kislev or Cathay which caused initial hype in the first place. Like over the years I’ve seen 4 “Will you be getting into TOW?” polls on the TWW Reddit and the majority vote is always “It Depends”. Every year there’s less of those votes and the iron is getting cold with Vermintide nearly over and TWW having major issues causing players & modders to leave and now the new Thrones of Decay dlc got delayed all the way to April which will miss a lot of hype it could’ve built for Febuary. Right now the only thing the TWW side seem interested in is what new units TOW can put into their game. Just foot knights & a skele croc-dragon aren’t exactly wow factors.

Isn’t it that number on the central picture in the back? 93 models?

Hahaha! Man people complain about the infantry but the skeleton cavaliers look like Lego skeletons. 🤣

Alrighty then. opening the Gorger section in my hands right now: Looking at the ritual and it says it’s taking place in Behemat’s stomach remains because he was Gorkamorka’s/Gulping God’s most legendary servant. Not sure what you were going for there my dude. Even the Warcry Gorger stuff and earlier stuff of Butchers throwing meat into the tree maws that open up on the trunks and in the ground of the Gnarlwoods was in honor to Gorkamorka. He’s a hungry god, anything maw related now is just his maw/jaws/gullet.

Yep, she’s my biggest investment right now with the campaign. 😄 She’s cool, likable, good tactician mind to use the Realmscapes against the enemy and a proper badass even going up against a Ogor in a duel. So of course I’m wary it’s bait to hit me harder when her “rise in position” is because of the pole under her head if things go south for the Life Realm crusade.

Yeah, basically every Destruction faction is apart of Gorkamorka’s body. Ironjawz his fist, Kruleboyz his grasping hand, Ogors his mouth, Sons of Behemat his feet, etc. And they can’t stand chaos corruption such as when the Ogroids/Goroa turned from Gorkamorka to Chaos to get more power to avenge their lost empire which made Destruction as a whole, from Orruk to Grot, hunt them down. We know Hashut is a chaos entity that humans turned to in the Age of Chaos to help survive, making the Horns of Hashut cultists, so that’s a big no-go on Chuardin being anything but Chaos GA. Gulping God & Sun Eater are both Gorkamorka. Interestingly the last battletome actually became anti-Maw. It got added to the myths that caused the Everwinter curse by outcast pagan Ogors daring to worship something so hungry that wasn’t attributed to Gorkamorka’s mighty gob and so he breathed a deep sigh of disapproval that followed them in shame becoming the Everwinter. Seems tantamount to Sigmarite pagans worshipping Ghal Maraz over Sigmar like he’s nothing without it. (also I love how the growing myths just show Destruction has to record it’s history through story-tellers & word of mouth. The other 3 GA’s have all these new heroes with scrolls & books keeping records so you actually get some accurate history but Destruction has to rely on stuff like these guys to keep centuries of stories straight: ) On the subject of what could come for CoS next edition, I’m hopeful for a small update for Hammerhal Ghyra rangers since the main army units are from Aqshy(thus the red colorings, cover art having fire swords and Dappled Efreet leg-fish running underfoot on the fusiliers bases which are common Aqshy vermin). Hopes are the: Marshall Iscilla Thorian(Ghyran crusade leader) getting a model showing her off as a sword & shield Marshall tapping into the Realm of Life’s power(plants bursting up around her for a tactical rock) Druid mage hero- Maybe a unit of ironwood armored infantry for new Ghyran heavy units(wouldn’t be too far from the rest as all those wood shields the Castellites use are made from Ironwood, so these guys are just draped in shields on their bodies) And Beetle cavalry for the new monstrous cavalry units. They appeared twice now both in the AoS3 Core Book and in a CoS battletome story of saving the day against a Kruleboyz ambush so seems some build-up for armored beetles to go with the moving fortresses of the Freeguilds.🪲 “Not every insect carries the foul touch of the Plague God upon its body, however. Not only do bugs and grubs provide [Hammerhal Ghyra's] main source of food, but larger species of insect native to Verdia are harnessed as beasts of burden or even war-mounts – the famed Shellriders of the 68th Veldtguard have employed rockcrusher scarabs to great effect in their massed cavalry charges. Docile and pliant andronicus beetles are more common than carthorses in the city's farming strata, and have the added benefit of a powerful pair of glittering wings. Indeed, beetle-flight is one of the few ways for one to reach the docks of the floating drift-isles and the highest levels of the city.”

Nah, remember the lead-up to AoS3 and we had weeks of “Visions of the Beast” engines every week that slowly pieced together the Kruleboyz reveal up to the trailer? https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/05/27/the-rumour-engine-visions-of-beasts-part-10/ https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/05/28/the-rumour-engine-visions-of-beasts-part-11/ You can’t tell me that exact set-up wouldn’t be perfect to reveal mysterious new Skaven lurking about preparing a new assualt on Order the Stormcast are scouting out with their celestial equipment(more rumor engine shards). 😁 These Christmas advents are likely something sooner than AoS4.

It seems that way. Though someone did point this out about the draconith. ”It’s not a nerf. Before a unit with multiple attacks could split them and not lose any, by only assigning one attack each to the model with the -1 incoming attack rule, and the rest to whatever else is in range. This is a side grade that helps address this issue, and also makes the units more capable of supporting the rest of your army in combat. Seems interesting to me.” That’s CoS biggest strength. Since release I’ve seen on Reddit & Twitter new CoS standard, empire, Bretonnian, Kislev, middle eastern, samurai, wizardly, high tech(Necromunda ho), lawful undead, nature rangers and chaos warriors versions along with some 3D Printer sales wanting to give them even crazier stacked helms and packs that make them look like battle billboards. At their core now they’re medieval high fantasy troopers so can be converted into any direction. I do wonder if when we ever get to the Realm of Shadow will those Nethermaze hatcheries be expanded on with the Skaven we saw.

I’d say this is the thing. old empire Could go wackier if they really tried and at most it was the artwork that showed it off while the figures remained 90% historical fantasy looking and fairly subdued. Meanwhile CoS looks like they came galloping off those artworks and are walking talking high fantasy caricatures of the empire with decorations on every trooper that completely tossed out any historical tie-ins(there’s people going over the details of their armors that range from north European, east European Hussites and even some Japanese styles mixed in there) So fair to say why you see Empire in these but also fair why so many former CoS players walked out angry their army got “Lumineth’d”(made much more wacky and fantastical) I mean hobgrots are pretty standard mercenaries and even back alley merchants. I think if some work for Chuardin it’ll be like city-Ogors over in CoS.

To the CoS it definitely is. They look out of discworld with how wacky they and their big helmets, magic smelter pot warforger, angular clothes, Ogor-crow nest and Gargoylians are. Even their knights are heavily overloaded with exaggerated armor to where one AoS Cavalier would be the equivalent of a Knight Order Grandmaster in the world-that-was(just like black orcs are average troopers now) Your other examples were already high fantasy from the get-go being ancient alien lizards, hell knights & daemons and undead magic cannibals so the translations aren’t as drastic yet. Haha, be careful on the certain tones without Whitefang around. Remember your “Ironjawz won’t get anymore updates” prediction a few months before they dropped in. I’m kinda wondering if the thunderbolt is Grottish because stuff like the Snarlfang swords have that weird bolt bend so maybe closer to Hobgrot constructs? Between the wings, pulleys & bomb I’m hoping for a Vulcha flying unit with hobgrots dropping bombs from on high now.

Yeah, at length I call them a good middle-ground. They definitely have old aesthetics(fitting as some were in stasis since then or even the manifestation of Slann memories) but when you compare the old savage jungle fighters covered in scale weapons & skulls vs the cleaner magi-tech smooth weapons & armor like they just came off a clean environment you can see which way they’re leaning(magic space dinos that hobbyists can either build off of or muddy up for new jungles) old: New: They’re a good baseline to build from. Especially if future stuff gets wilder like some new lore teases. “A cabal of slann lead by Starmaster Tuomoq propose a radical notion. They posit that it was not Chaos that devoured the world that was but Sotek, for the Serpent God desired for the slann to abandon physical limitations and, in a new cycle of creation, become creator-god energy-beings of unbound potential. As visions continue to assail him, Tuomoq's proclamations become increasingly esoteric, until he and his inner circle suddenly vanish; their vessels are last seen bound for the uppermost reaches of Azyr, where the strangest cosmic entities convalesce. Though many slann mourn him as finally being overwhelmed by the mental strain of aeons, private adherents to his teachings continue to lead many Starborne constellations.” -Seraphon 2023 battletome. (which I liked the new Dawner book even nodded to their astral bodies as the reinforcements Kroak sent down were so hastily beamed over that there are visible holes in their scaley physicality forms where you can see galaxy voids instead

Really only the draconith princes got a nerf and it’s so that debuff on melee attackers doesn’t stack, making them less tanky and more support monsters. Everything else seems average to good changes like NightHaunt basically getting a new artifact. Hear hear! Give us those Pestilens with giant rat-faced blood ticks, Eshins with shadow clone jutsu and Skryre’s attack submarines, blimp fleets, castle-sized Doomwheels and gigantic bug-legged parasite engines! (With the last Dawner Ghyran story having them in the Scabrous Sprawl where we first saw the parasite engines infecting Behemat’s sleeping body as they pulled up entire forests to keep their walking cities fueled I’m extra hopeful for a return to the continent corrupters)

Hear hear! We need wheel cult zealots, pugilists & Templars at least before we Roll on. And maaaaybe a new Deadwalker unit of Nagash punishing this new faith by sending them against their brethren and dirtying the holy wheels

cool examples people pulled up:

Diorama creator competition! Winner will even be put in the White Dwarf magazine! first time browsing their examples and whoa they’re good.

Yeah I’m thinking Kruleboyz. same bolty thing as the last engine and a stumpy hand. So hoping for something kool like Vulcha riders cavalry! 🤞 🦅

Yeah. Seraphon Starbloods blew it up with a black hole bomb and the Bonesplitterz warband absorbed its damaged spirit.(fortunately the Silent People got the heck out of dodge before then when the Ossiarch came knocking for bug bones & Deepkin wanted their unique souls, it’s partly how the warbands found the tunnels that lead across the sea and into the Gnarlwoods to escape) There’s not many malevolent mountains in the lore right now so it’s probably a new thing we don’t know yet like or a metaphor like a mountain cracking open to reveal another terror like Kragnos but this time Silent People who did fully hibernate in safe mountain and came out Tyranidized from the Ghur energies.

Haha, do you mean Gholems or Gholemkind? Because there is a (literally) huge difference. Gholems: giant Titan-like mechs that are too massive to be carried by airship so operate in the Skyports. Gholemkind: a race of apparently mineral people that worship Grungni and ally with Kharadron but are willing to sell their services to humans. Of the two I see Gholemkind much more likely as a Kharadron sub-faction to give them heavy duty elite melee & ranged options if not go pure “Trogg herd” with a stonecold Gholemkind commander at the helm. Gholems seem to outrageous for now until something justifies them(like a big 5th or 6th edition escalation of chaos duardin trying to pull the sky-ports down and the Gholems able to jump off and counter-attack their armored siege gargants) Near future-wise I’d expect the Cogmunculus first: Would be perfect for a near-invulnerable(2+ Save) melee & mid-range shooter unit to bolster Kharadron combat at the cost they guzzle Command Points(which fits the new KO focus) which are required to “program” them just to carry out simple battle instructions like charging, piling in, using line of sight, etc. (plus Endrinriggers can repair them too) I’m willing to argue Annihilators & Retributors can remain seperate. Retributors prove themselves to become Annihilators so it works they’re a little less elite until they get reforged enough to become the meteoric paladins. just give a new “retribution soul-maces” load out plus the glaives & great axes since the Annihilators are the new hammer bros. I have similar feelings for packing all Redeemers together But keeping Vanquishers separate as they can flesh them out instead with their cool lore having “Dojos” that mirror Custodes “Katas” in sword tactics they can specialize in before battle(anti-horde standard, crippling strikes to weaken large targets, future sight Wards and debuffing enemy To-Hits). And for a bit of flavor since after a Vanquisher bonds with their celestial greatsword they take it with them even if they change chambers they can align with any sword-using hero Stormcasts to all attack one after the other on the same target ala Lumineth Lightning Reflexes(which should be ours by lightning right 😄⚡️)

Yep! Dlc unlocked today as well as a patch further smoothing the game out: One thing though is there’s been a bug with PlayStation not unlocking the Dlc if already bought. They said they will have a patch for that later today. Edit: Patch Notes link, pretty decent. https://www.aosrealmsofruin.com/update-notes/1-1

Finally getting our Christmas Angel vs Thanksgiving Turkey fight! 💥 Also Goonhammer had an interesting interview with Gav Thorpe about it: https://www.goonhammer.com/warhammer-age-of-sigmar-realms-of-ruin-interview-with-gav-thorpe-and-sandro-sammarco/

GK are a surprise focus but I’m guessing they want to address if they’re even still a unit(which lorewise made little sense with how crazy rare they are) or broken up into hero models only or something new like special champions that can lead the lance formations.