Baron Klatz

On the Tzeentch Realms of Ruin stuff the magic relic they find after the NightHaunt battle. it’s a crystal with 9 parts to it. If that’s not a hint then I don’t know what is. Hopefully then both the new narrative book & a free short story will have the draconith perspective on things. They have conversations in the battletome and small quips in Soulbound but novel-wise so far they hadn’t any real focus. Would be nice to get some of dragons to comment about events and seeing another empire trying to rise from it’s own ashes like theirs. I’m sure they’ll keep it for many years & editions to come. Even the beaky marine didn’t go when it was outdated decades out and just moved to the back lot when the Liberator replaced it. The Liberator Stormcast designs are just as integral to the new generations of Stormcast as the beaky marine was to even the design cues of the newer Primaris stuff despite being more refined. So there’s little point in changing it when it’s the anchor to the whole origins of a new franchise.

I love that the mask-helms look closer to the Protectors now! I always thought that design needed more love with how “medieval alien” it could go and it fits defensive type Stormcast so well! I wonder if the game will have anymore surprises in store for the models. 🤩

So far I’d say if Ossiarchs got word of the big crusades and secretly sent advanced parties to help clear their ways and succeed in settling new lands. The Ossiarch tome notes they’ve done that several times in aiding Dawners unaware of their intervention as a thriving metropolis in dangerous territory means lots of bones for them to tithe. Nezzhil’s Morghast hunters idea is good too. After Broken Realms where the Ossiarchs & FEC in Hysh had a bad falling out and went from willing allies to bitter enemies(to where the Alarith Lumineth even leased the FEC their mountain because the ghouls are adamant about taking out vile undead & blocking the portal to Shyish there now) and capturing Ushoran could turn such fortunes on their head if they have their Summerking who can order them all to behave without question.

I know we just had a “Don’t worship everything Whitefang likes” moment on here but them liking this post now has me hopeful we could be seeing a Tornus the Redeemed Venator model. 🥹

Oh that’d make a lot of sense! Fits both the Era of the Beast that the forest spirits would manifest more hunters to take down the beasts & rampaging incarnates with a “brother” to the Lady of Vines demigoddess and be a great narrative boon for the Dawners in Ghyran having supernatural trackers like that to aid them pushing Order into enemy territory. It’d be cool if we’d also get smaller hunter spirit-hybrids based on the Kurnoth Hunters to help round out the other Revenants with a halfway between the stoic tree-revenants & crazy spite-revenants. There’s a lot of creative art commissions for other varieties of Soulbound Sylvaneth and more Ghur-flavored exotic tree people could really be great going forward with the Excelsis Dawner narratives Cubicle7 are working on.

If she ends up being the big antagonist for the final Dawner book my money’s on a daemon princess level character on Sigvald’s level(maybe slightly bigger or more impressive diorama) who’s both a beat stick & spellcaster powerhouse with army buffs for that final boss build. (especially looking at it like an rpg lead-ups being a status effecter(Harbringer), a powerhouse(King Trugg) and likely a deadly support leader next with the Summerking so the Ruin Queen can really test your skills with a versatile mix while crushing steam tanks bare-handed)

Could be. Would be a nice way to thread out their refresh if it’s both new high-tech Skryre units besieging Aqsha & Ghur Moulder Skaven blown up by the built up digestive magic they tampered with and got twisted into new mutated forms. Would also like to see Clans Pestilens get those giant red ticks as monster units they unleashed thanks to taking samples from Kragnos: ”> As the Battle of Excelsis raged around them, these skulking killers slipped through the carnage in search of their quarry. Kragnos was pulverising a Sigmarite chapel with his oversized mace when they came upon him. His sheer size and manic fury was almost enough to make them turn tail and flee. Recalling the warpstone riches Ikbite had promised them, however, the Shushbik assassins crept up on the rampaging Drogrukh and, with their daggers, clipped a pawful of his mattered fur. Reacting with terrifying speed, Kragnos instantly whipped about and squashed three skaven under his hooves. The surviving assassins fled in terror, clutching their prize. > > An unbearably smug Ikbite was proved correct in his assumptions when Pestilens plague-brewers added this 'Hair of the Earthquake' to their malefic concoctions. As they did so, the ground beneath Blight City began to tremble and splinter. Great fissures opened in the earth, spilling forth a tide of daemonic, rat-faced blood-ticks that swept across the city, plunging into the many gnawholes that dotted the skaven capital. Thus was unleashed the ninth of the Thirteen Great Plagues.” Edit: oh and a small release for Clans Eshin to show them helping Belakor to try and take Ulgu from Morathi-Khaine & Malerion. That way the 4 in AoS4 could be for the 4 great clans.

“A series of devastating earthquakes has ravaged the Gnarlwood as something stirs deep below the forest surface. ” Good to see this plot-line is still going. They’ve been building on the Gnarlwoods getting ready to burst with strange energies and twisted creatures shambling out of it through several systems now including Soulbound. I wonder if that’s the reason they jumped to Andtor in UnderWorlds so soon because nobody’s gonna want to be underneath the meat forests in the very close future?

I imagine a new Maggotkin release by the 4th Dawner book. They’ve already made it abundantly clear the Nurgle forces are so nasty there they can easily take on FEC swarms and ambush the Ghyra crusade right out the gate with greater daemons and it’s only a fragment of their power. so 3rd book should deliver on the FEC refresh with their new situation in the Realms and then 4th will be the final boss fights I’m guessing.(Maggotkin for Ghyra and maybe Skaven for Aqshy) Also this has been going around regarding TOW I’m guessing the big news is just the leaked peg lord and either a TK hero or the peg lord turns out to be a dual kit like some say. (Would be funny to get exaggerated Brets news alongside actual hyped FEC news, who’s the delusion now? 🍖 🍷)

Haha, not that such a thing wouldn’t be scary too since the Phoenicium is sitting on the areas known for tree volcanoes. A sequoia there could spell your doom while preserving you in molten amber. 🌋 🍯 I think the city will be fine though. They could use it in the future with Sun-god Tyrion’s expansion and either give a CoS ally bonus with it or just use it as easy Lumineth lore expansion for them getting involved in more events outside Hysh with delegations & colonists sent under the Ur-phoenix when it revives in Hysh and returns to Ghyran.(also something something shadow falling could be Ulgu or the blind sun-king’s watch over the city) But anyway speaking of deadly trees, Drycha Hamadreth story today that seems to take place after Fort Gardus started to fall to a mix of Attack on Titan Rumbling & green big pig missile. https://www.warhammer-community.com/2023/09/22/dawnbringer-chronicles-vii-wrath-of-the-forest/ Also nice the free download PtG shown off the confrontation in the Fortress city: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2023/09/21/discover-the-divine-blessings-and-dismal-setbacks-that-might-afflict-your-twin-tailed-crusade/ King Brodd spoilers so skip if that’s important to you: Interested in how King Brodd recovers from being felled. He *could* just shake it off but that was some serious head damage between all the Kharadron opening up on him and Gardus delivering the final blow ala Thor-style to the head. If dead we might see a new revive mechanic with his connection to Behemat with a respawn back in his chest bile. Behemat’s dead heart sits under the Great Green Torc which acts as a link between the Life & Death realms so would work as a focal point for Brodd’s soul to be pulled down into him before vomited up again with a deluge of life magic.

Haha, Yep! (Sorry I didn’t just use spoilers, I forgot how to do them on this site. Little frustrating every forum uses a different system for censors instead of a standard method) And I think he must have played the recent patch of Total war warhammer 3 where you can cheese Ai armies with a flyer leading them everywhere because he and his prosecutors do just that to the Destruction forces to get them away from the crusaders and then ditch the brutes entirely. 😄 edit:before that he and the redeemers basically stomp out a nasty daemon force with him one-shotting the leader(Venator’s special arrow ability) and work in tandem with the Freeguild so their mobile walls funnel Ironjawz into the Stormcast who can match them in combat better.

For Stormcast fans the biggest news is a certain famous someone from Hallowed Knights, that’s not Gardus, and fellow Stormcast Eternals who went from 😈 to 😇 are playing a big role in aiding the Life Crusade! (And making the angel units look cool again, please let the next battletome give our fly bois a big boost) Also today’s video probably had the coolest idea for how to apply a big angry pig to a siege since the Ironjawz x BCR alliance. Final note is the leader of the Ghyran crusade is really cool and now I hope the next Freeguild is Ghyran-based so we get her and beetle cavalry. Just a cool character in general, opposite of the hot headed commanders in Aqshy, nice to see how she focuses much more on terrain tactics and plant growth to affect a battle. Plus she has fun ideas, she saw the Maw-gruntas with those side attachments for Ironjawz to attack from while rushing through enemy formations and immediately thought they could do the same for Steamtanks, 10/10 idea gal.

Yeah I just see this as a way to move stock (this lines up with the old start collecting too well) but they over-tuned it way too much in comparison to the rest. I don’t see this being a harbinger of anything major like 4th edition changes(though of course I expect a new round of better battletomes, that’s just solid money makers) and honestly if one of the merc forces had to be broken i’d take the older army over the new armies which would REEK of power creep to sell the newest minis. Hopefully they just nerf the shooting in a quick FAQ patch when they see the issues. That said, I Love the flavor. Expeditionary force that uses grappling lines on it’s smaller airships to zip around, willing to use trench warfare and go WW1 with their advanced weapons, bigger use of their nullstone weaponry to fight magic armies and a nice shout they call gods abominations as a scientific military force. That’s all excellent. 👌

Lore-wise the heights make sense. Steelhelms: malnourished militia or soldiers living on more inhospitable Realms so smol Cavaliers: either well fed nobles or hard-bitten warriors that fought their way out of their doomed villages and survived crossing the dangerous wastes to civilization so like better off Order of Azyr members or the Arch-knights are very tall(sometimes I wonder if Azyr energy making them be able to reach a Stormcast’s shoulder like the Silver Tower warpriest) Deathrattle: started human-sized with Shadespire but between Shyish’s growing energies causing undead to swell with power and the introduction of Ossiarch Bonereapers weeding out smaller skeletons for parts only the most armored and heroic bone bois can survive the Realmscapes battlefields to fight for their undead kingdoms or under their vampire allies. Same explaination they gave why Soulblight lords are so tall up to Stormcast height really, all that death energy does an undying body good. 💪💀 (well until you slightly overdose and explode into a Vengorian or Vyrkos horror anyway)

Sounds solid. Braggit’s an interesting choice, I can see his boyz as a useful distraction, might your Endless Spells be used to make him a little deadlier? (Annoy an enemy to run right into a Malevolent Maelstrom?)

Haha! That’d make an awesome reference to the voice of Vegeta being Gorgutz from DoW series(that’s why his max health was over 9,000 for the reference. Listen to any video with Vegeta’s voice slowed down and you can hear him, it’s awesome. :D)

Which makes sense. It’s a BIG Waaagh. It doesn’t start out that way, they need to build momentum as smaller clans first showing the others who’s boss first as they conquer them to build up. So a mixed group doesn’t make much sense as a starting point I think the Ironjawz vanguard guesses are on the right track since Kruleboyz are in everything else already(especially since they can keep out just enough points for a great pig big to slot into it for 1000 points Ironjawz ) Ah good call. That’s even how they can differentiate the two. Ironjawz ferals go more nude into battle with their trophy heads that talk to them for the wild spiritualism aspect of Gorkamorka Beast breakas wear more monster pelt and trophies for the Hunter aspect of Gorkamorka.

It does seem a likely direction in-spite of how loyal the Bonesplitterz fans are. That’s the only wriggle about the situation I don’t like because I full support splitting the Orruks up into armies that can be fleshed out and given more attention. Maybe even Weirdbrutes & possible future Weirdguttaz as the Bonesplitterz successors as portions of the Ironjawz & Kruleboyz fall into the Gorkamorka madness and could have the Spiritual Successor of the Big Waaagh with both books having a Weirdwaaagh sub-faction that makes them Battleline and opens up Coalitions with the other one. That way you can take the Ironjawz tome to be more Brutal but kunnin’ Waaagh or the Kruleboyz tome to be a Kunnin’ but Brutal Waaagh. We’ll see next edition, hoping for a refresh of Bonesplitterz(maybe into Wildboyz to make new ones with a new twist so TOW gets the old savages) but expecting something more severe.

Seeing rules talk popping up has me looking at the fun people have been having in recent battle reports and I love seeing how players use their model skirmish lines to their advantage be it in hugging terrain to cut down numbers, stretching a unit out to take advantage of auras or other shenanigans that make the individual models feel like they can alter a battle as AoS flows between mass battles and individual model skirmish importance. With AoS Battlescroll recently easing up Coherency for more elbow room this emboldens it further so here’s my top 3 examples from recent games I’ve watched. First off, proof time is a circle. Beast of Chaos congaline punishing a mirror match for trying to ambush with his army. Maybe Skaven are related because that’s some good cheese. 🧀 👌 Second formation with actual Skaven, this sacrificial skirmish line that actually wraps around the army in a Miniature Wargamers vid. A mighty Skaven victory as their brave slaught-er-Sacrifice! put the charging Chaos Warriors in the middle of the open and sitting ducks for all the artillery to unload with barely anything left to contest objectives that the Stormfiends couldn’t handle. Third is a sneaky Ossiarch tactic of a congaline to contest the vicious Saurus warriors who normally rip them apart but with a Harvestor safely at the back of the long line he kept replacing his losses to slowly overwhelm the space lizards with a continually stream of bone bois. Honorable mentions to a CoS vs Gloomspite battle I keep on hand for inspiration as a brave Freeguild line quickly breaks ranks to hug the terrain to deal with monster swarms on all sides to be slightly more manageable piecemeal attacks And a formation from back in 2019 where a total mad lad used this as the ultimate spearhead for his Demigryphs to charge in after. If y’all have any examples to share(especially pictures!) I’d love to hear/see them and the fun or sneaky strategies and AoS freeform goodness people cook up thinking outside the “blocks”.

Bonesplitterz getting anything would be great to see with how long they’ve suffered since getting shuffled into the Orruk fold. The crazy monster hunters need love one way or another. On Weirdbrutes my first thought is magical focused Brutes for battle shamans. Maybe Gordrakk’s quest for those artifacts he avoided to attack Excelsis instead have paid off being found and energized his boyz with new powers? Another angle could be Brutes being weird and starting to go Bonesplitterz. In the Broken Realms stories Gork contacted Gordrakk by possessing a Ironjawz that converted into the Bonesplitterz so they could go that direct, switch fist-smashed armor for Ward paint and giant spirit cleavers while being hulks. Would be fun if likewise the new Ardboyz included some Kruleboyz changing to Gork & Ironjawz praise and training in hopes they can beef out too into massive warriors. Give a vibe the three Warclans are interconnecting more with paths into eachother rather than be 3 hodgepodge groups crammed together because big green and mean.(or alternatively put Kruleboyz into their own tome….with all the new creatures they’re catching and raising they got room for expansion on their own)

Indeed. The slow replacement of old armies to pure AoS ones is sure to be a painful process but for every bandage removed it’ll be a healthier system and setting as a whole with the “leftovers” feelings gone and AoS making new fresh chapters for itself. On that note I do appreciate both Soulbound and the new book are addressing these things. Era of the Beast already continued the Nullstone Brotherhood as a reason why Phoenicians & Wanderers left the main cities and set out on distant crusades to avoid the persecutions and now the tome gives even explanations why the Phoenicium is less active. (also has a nod to why Hammerhal Aqshy changed it’s colors from Azyrite blue & gold to red and grey as the new generals like Tahlia pushing for natives to represent their city and country. Though stubborn holdouts still try to keep the old colors) Yeah that was a Big problem with CoS that it was barely CoS at all. Even the Sports Station made fun about that: And while it completely side-blinded me they pulled them all out(especially since I kept saying they’d be the big new Coalition army for every faction 😂) I do understand this method of both wanting factions to stand on their own legs and make it easier to balance so they don’t run into obsolete units.

It was probably on your assumption of them taking the place of Stormcast as posterboys. Freeguild are awesome but don’t hold a candle to how easy it is to recognize a Stormcast Eternal by just a glance at their huge shining armor or seraphim masks and between being new painter starters…well this comment on Reddit sums it up: “ BaseballWorking2251 28m Best thing about aos is that i don't have to be a good painter to mount a respectable stormcast army. Cos is for experts. Glad i didn't play the old world, I would not have stuck with it. Look forward to see what some local brush masters can do with some of these.” The new Freeguild are amazing but would scare off people as an entry point with those crazy details, which is an important part of posterboy status for easy entry. Stormcast Eternals are as simple as dipping into a golden paint pot and ready to go. 👌 ⚡️

Expectations: coin flip between new great weapon elite unit or new “Demigryphs”(Gargoylians?) Reality: another Witch Hunter!

It would’ve been cool if it looked closer to the Ottoman bombard from Age of Empires3, I agree. I also wonder if the Whisper Blade is a low key new take on Witch Hunters for the future? But in all I like what I see. The faction is really doing it’s own thing with just the right amount of gothic & 40k spices thrown in to the Mortal Realms curry. Lastly, look at the very bottom monk’s head and the line he shaved down it. Is that supposed to symbolize an upside-down hammer? 😆

I won’t be too surprised if they don’t put in great weapons(yet) just on how buff heavy these all look. Like between the battle-priests in the Steelhelms unit already that look to buff defense and all these “turn weapons into fire swords”, “surgeon & holy healers” and “big priest unit” they might be counting on the imperial guard flavor of stack so many buffs on the plain guardsmen that he becomes a blender. But yeah, I can see teases coming for a 4th edition wave. Maybe the Ghyran side of the city for hardier exotic cavalry and troops used to dense jungles, magic flora & giant insects there they can bring? Edit: also showing these off to Discord friends. They’re loving them! “these models are amazing kinda give me a "what if we put 40k back into fantasy" vibe” “What an incredible mix of berserk and 40k”