Baron Klatz

Well so much for being historically accurate. The trebuchet was invented in Louen’s time, not the past. 😛 “Q: Are the models getting bigger? A: No, the new models will be in the same scale as the returning range from Warhammer Fantasy Battle. The base size change has come about because some of those ‘90s and ‘00s models became difficult to rank up, and we’re taking the opportunity to fix the problem. It will mean that newer models joining the range can be more dynamically posed, but proportions remain the same.” In their heart of hearts they know it’s because of the pole-arms. Soooo many spearmen & men-at-arms grabbed eachother when being moved or taken off the tray.

Yeah! His blog’s big on pointing out the lore and using it for inspiration. If a box set or book review is hefty enough they’ll usually do a seperate lore post just for it. My favorite is the NightHaunt lore review and going over how it “fleshed out” so much from their first tome and how the Realm of Death worked. Very good stuff to pull new curious people in to the characters and lore. http://www.mengelminiatures.com/2022/05/review-nighthaunt-battletome-lore.html?m=1 Like my favorite bit they highlight really gets the Narrative juices flowing for crafting an AoS scenario unique to it’s setting. “One thing that this edition of their battletome does more than the last is spend quite a bit of time talking about the nature of ghosts and afterlives in the Mortal Realms in general. Some of this is stuff we would have read before in places like the main rulebook, but it dives a lot more into the minutia of it. In the Mortal Realms there are many afterlives. Essentially, if a culture believed in a specific afterlife enough, it would manifest within Shyish and once they died their souls would go there. After awhile, if that culture died off, or the living stopped believing in that afterlife, it would fade away in Shyish and all of the souls would disappear into oblivion. It also mentions how there are aelf afterlives there, that hover above the rest in the sky, and duardin afterlives that exist beneath the ground. The underworlds also weren't gated communities. It was possible for souls to wander from one to another, creating a blended culture. All of this first started to change during the Age of Myth, when the living first started to settle in Shyish. They made their homes amongst the underworlds, some of them are direct descendants of the souls who lived there already. This caused a lot of resentment amongst some of the souls, who were offended by the vibrancy of the living, but at the same time a lot of the underworlds lived in harmony with them, as long as they helped protect the lands. This was especially true during the Age of Chaos, when the living and the dead often had to fight together to survive.“

Well hopefully down the line they extend things but I think it’s all but certain they’re sticking with the 3 cycle. 10th edition is already underway for 40k(who very much needed it) and AoS3 is set-up so it doesn’t really need much change per edition besides the Realm focus being shifted to another Realm along with some easy refinements and can get away with that for several editions as we go through the Realms and new seasons. As is, the 3 year cycle works more now than it did before for 40k 8th and AoS2 who both could’ve stayed around longer.

Between Valrak being right about Adepticon and saying 2024 and this line from the last article of 2022: ”So that’s it for now, but stay tuned to the Warhammer Community website for more information throughout 2023, which is of course the 40th birthday year of the venerable game of Warhammer!” I think it’s pretty safe to say this is just a news year and 2024 is likelier.(And I still personally expect it to be 2025 since 40k & AoS are gonna dominate this year and next with their editions)

Well the Red Harvest Warcry set did say Morathi completely depleted Archaon’s stores of the stuff which forced him to “outsource” with mining facilities in other Realms to build up his plans from scratch. http://www.mengelminiatures.com/2021/11/review-warcry-red-harvest.html?m=1 Could be the Chuardin find a way to mine plenty of it for him and win into his good graces for the civil war.

End Times: “No need. I’m waaaaay ahead of you.”: Was really happy to see the Sigmarabulum again in the new animation and more “in the flesh”. Been a while since our glorious first look at it’s celestial splendor in 2015. 😍

Second edition was literally go Hearthguard or go home. Now no matter where the fiery winds of Ur-gold blow they aren’t dependent on one playstyle so even if next seasons goes against them they can change things up between Hearthguard death balls, Vulkite banner swarms, hero holdouts, Lava Priest demagogues and Magmadroth mayhem spam. Between that and their Ur-gold Rune power ups their tool box has been noticeably expanded to roll with the punches. Definitely excited to try them out! Just like with the Kharadron all those command options are looking very spicy for armies focused on discipline and micro-manage tricks. Also goes with their mercantile kinship with the multiple times the two factions have made treaties with eachother since despite being from opposing Alliances they both value orderly conduct and commodities. 📈

He 100% deserved the model of the year spot of 2019. AoS keeps getting robbed by sheer 40k fan numbers. 😤 We need to do a petition to finally get that event separated into 3 categories so AoS & LotR can have a chance.

I like the cheeky “take refuge in dark runes and blood miracles” at the article’s end. They really like to play up the “I-can’t-believe-it’s-not-magic!” angle with them. 😄 I was a little worried when I saw Khorne mentioned they’d try to force duardin in there too for the old anti-magic nostalgia reasons but more than glad they’re sticking to their guns that there’s magical dawi now between the Corebook confirming aethermancer duardin and the other duardin using it like Fyreslayers channeling Aqshy’s flames or spicing drinks up with realmstone, Cogsmiths making stuff like magic plant guns in Ghyran and kharadron basically using it but being adamant that magic and gods are just misunderstood science. If they ever get around to Rootkings I hope for Druid duardin wizards to really drive it home. They’re the same as the other people born from the realms where every blade of grass and rock is crystallized magic so they should be a fresh change of pace. Not even getting into the “mingling” stuff like the examples of a Fyreslayer and a Warden king both having Daughters of Khaine lovers. They ain’t your grandpapie’s dwarves anymore. 😄 And Arkhan & Katakros fans rejoiced! They’re nearly must-takes. 💀👍 Narratively I feel it’s intentional looking between them and Nagash as he’s still in recovery while the Ossiarch leaders are now pushing harder to maintain their massive empire they nearly built overnight and expanding out to pacify Shyish that’s gone wild from both Ghur energy & vampires seeing a power vacuum. His time will come again when Death is once more in ascendency but now it’s the numerous terrifying leaders of the relentless undying armies that must contest shifting realms and new rising gods grabbing for fresh domains and to crumble the empires of other rival deities.

Obviously just subtle Lion advertising as he’s 40k’s version of GK. (but seriously wouldn’t read much into it unless you think Grom & Felix are showing up too from their past celebration videos. Like I wouldn’t be surprised at them reusing the model eventually but nothing super hinty)

He’s actually not. He’s a homunculus like the little ones seen in their infantry units that carry drug supplies. They’re artificially created by flesh crafters. We do see some halflings in the “Harrowdeep” novel as the Stormcast Errants are on their journey. They’re under attack by Kruleboyz which I can’t help but think is a LotR wink. And then in God-Eater’s Son where the Aqshy plains marks the periwinkle/indigo blooded ones called the Rockwrist tribe the Freeguilds want to take on as miners along with the other strange humanoid tribes there such as the cavern humans that evolved to spit poison and clans that mix the blood of the dead with their war-paint. Felt very “40k ab-humans” just instead of planetary evolutions it’s tribes that had to adapt & survive near a thousand years under daemon rule.

Well I’m still not 100% convinced on that but boy does Valrak sound leaps more accurate compared to that nonsensical wishlist Faeit posted. At least He actually got Adepticon right compared to the misses Faeit/Natfka has been swinging. Also fairly certain any list containing “Empire” in the prediction is way off base anyway since it’s not a unified Empire but the four factions the articles presented. So at least say Reikland vs greenskins or something.

Death news is 10/10! 💀 All the problems I had with Soulblight’s start up are fixed with a Very good variety in the Vanguard having the new dynamic skelies but also knights & vargeists in there if you want to go Kastelai or Avengorii dynasties too so a great basis for whichever vampiric empire you prefer. And the Wight king going solo is ssoooooooo good. That said I’m probably gonna leave them on hold ‘til Christmas and I grab the Crypt of Blood & True blades for it because Ossiarchs kinda win out with a Vanguard that has a bit of everything I want from their force in it. I’ll probably end up going tome+vanguard+ new boneshaper + bone-mech walker soon to begin my service to the Legions of Nagash and continue their conquest of the Eight-Points! 💀 ⚔️ 👹 Lastly love how Realm of Beast themed the new heroes are. Boneshaper turning that monster bone into a whole Archai and the werewolf huntress keep the Ghur focus strong. Even with the limited updates for now I really appreciate them matching the flavor of the Realmscapes we’re fighting on.

Oh that was in their 2019 tome too. I think it was more a play on “you are what you eat” so they devoured the Underlords to become Underguts who are just as gun crazy. I really like those tribes because besides being a new idea for Ulgu their albino skin, making large firearms armaments & explosives underground and attacking by suddenly exploding out of the earth and swarming enemies with their numbers, pale subterranean beasts and guns puts me in mind that the Underguts are AoS’ version of Gears of War Locusts. I have theorized before though that the Underlords may have had a hand in causing Terrorgheists tho. Their AoS origin is they were a native species in Ulgu but went extinct and regrew their ecology in the afterlives of Shyish. That much hunting underground cavern creatures seems like a very Gun-obsessed Ulgulian duardin thing to do*. It’s a good resurgence story at least going from dead species to venerated in another world with even gaining god-beast connections.(imagine if the Dodo did that? Came back for revenge as killer zombie dodo’s with a bird god for what we did) “There are many tales about the origins of the Terrorgheists. Some say they were once the noble mounts of vampires, kept alive long after death by dark magic. Others believe they came to Shyish from Ulgu to feed on death itself, but were enslaved by Nagash and gifted to his vampire servants. All that is known for sure is that the last living Terrorgheists have long since vanished. Now they exist only as undead slaves, to be corrupted and controlled by those with the power to master them. They inhabit dark haunts throughout the realms, in towers and caves where they hang upside down in repose. Hundreds of monstrous bats are drawn to these places, the creatures burrowing inside the sleeping Terrorgheist. When the monster is slain, these lesser bats burst forth. If one of the bats is caught, it can be taken to the king and nourished with his blood and magic, until it grows into a new Terrorgheist.” “They are the remnants of an ancient chiropteran race that used to prey upon megafauna and leeched them dry of blood. Many were hunted to extinction or otherwise starved when the spread of civilisation robbed them of their favoured prey and they retreated into caves and vaults to die, embittered and voracious and it was these corpses that early necromancers discovered and raised as Terrorgheists, their hunger now magnified by the dark that animates them” “While they are mostly associated with the abhorrants of Ushoran as they find kinship with these creatures Soulblight vampires also seek out Terrorgheists to add to their menageries not entirely for battle. The Terrorgheist is a feared symbol of Shyish across the realms, an undead alpha-predator that the Soulblight nobility. Goblets overflowing with fresh blood are raised in toast to Morbheg, the dreaded father of Terrorgheists, who is said to have supped upon the ichor of godbeasts and many dynasties use elaborate coat of arms incorporating the Terrorgheist. Khirogarvii from Ghur, an offshoot of the Avengorii even worship every Terrorgheist as a shard of Nagash’s black soul, cladding themselves in armour and capes made from Terrorgheist remains to better achieve communion with Nagash.” *Also actual shadow duardin are a thing in the Realm of Ulgu: ”Though they are largely the same in appearance as other Duardin they are known for having a heightened sensitivity to light, especially their eyes. To mitigate this they wear eye coverings, such as goggles, when visiting other Realms. They are very similar in culture to other groups of Dispossessed Duardin. Though they are known to be even more suspicious of others than their kin, for in the Realm of Ulgu honesty is a rare commodity and a hasty contract can be full of unseen perils” https://ageofsigmar.lexicanum.com/wiki/Shadow_Duardin

It was alright but I do wish they copied more from the White Dwarf update. Even just a piece talking about vampires exploding into Avengorii monsters from the cosmic beast energy would paint a more intense picture of just how hard it is struggling with their beast nature as giving into bloodlust actually means permanently morphing into a undead chimera or lupine horror. And the Neferata quote set their attitudes on the Dawners. The Death free cities like Lethis are pretty good on the art aspect. Death has a lot of good pieces of city art. I suspect that’s why the new Freeguilds have so many bones and skulls in their weapons and armor since between their own allies, feuding vampires willing to make parlays, Ossiarchs aiding potential new tithe sources, the heroic ghosts of Hallost saving the living and even the Deathrattle kingdoms backing up humans against common foes- “Oh you mean the Wight that stays down by the rice field? That’s Glimskull. Keeps to himself mostly. Scared the salt out of the lot of us at first, but he’s saved more Dawners than half the Freeguild combined. Wouldn’t break bread with him, mind. But when the ‘reapers come, you’ll be glad he’s on our side... Keeps the birds away from the fields too.’ — Jakub Helios, Grimreach Settlement Farmhand Soulbound: Champions of Death, Pg. 121” -the mortals of Shyish have a slightly easier time settling the afterlife continents despite the undead horrors there and general anti-life magic around. Also for great city arts I give a vote towards this Hammerhal Ghyra piece in the magazines.

The one from “The Forgotten Dead” short story.

I’m hoping they show up right as AoS3 ends as they migrated out of the Beastgrave first, especially when the Ossiarchs came knocking for their exo-skeletons & Deepkin wanted their unique souls, and it’s only after the Seraphon black hole bomb went off and sucked up the mountain that the warbands found a underground connection from Lendu to Thondia and ended up in the Gnarlwoods. The Silent People may have taken those routes first before the warbands did and spread out through Gallet’s labyrinthine catacombs that serve as Thondia’s bowels. But it’s noted it was only the Necroquake that woke them up from their hibernation cycle early so they might be laying low for a very long time still. And Ulgu could even fit if my “shadow magic in the base of the Seraphon ship crash” theory is right and they hopped through the ship to hide in Ulgu’s eternally dark caverns. Regardless, hope we get them at some point. AoS needs a slew of new races to really spice things up.(who knows, maybe they’re planning a new races only update year in the future after the refreshes so Gholemkin, Silent People and things like Aetars, Sanskrits, elementals, squid people(both Valay and the savage half-aelf ones) with further Ogroid & Draconith expansions to stand on their own) The great Ossiarch debate. Ordered legions of undeath that can be firm but fair with their treaties or manipulative horrors that only look humanoid to put down your guard as they play the long game. You decide! ☝️💀 or

My favorite bit is the NightHaunt proving “unstompable” at first so the Bonesplitterz Drakkfoot tribes, veterans of hunting the ethereal daemons & transparent monsters in Aqshy, taught them that they gotta believe in themselves to stomp the ghosts. “The Sons of Behemat have largely been unaware of the going ons of the other races, since so little affects them. There are some humorous bits about them trying to catch Endless Spells after they appeared, but the first big impact on them were the Nighthaunts. In one of their first encounters with them, Lady Olynder turned the Mega-gargant warlord who attacked her into a bunch of black roses blowing away on the wind. This event, witnessed by the rest of the tribe shook their faith in themselves, and then after that found they could no longer stomp the ghosts. They just passed right through them. This fear was spread throughout the entire gargant society until the Drakkfoot Bonesplitterz showed them that if you believed in it enough you could harm the Nighthaunts. Amusingly the gargants refer to these times as the Sole Wars.” Plus they’re also smart on trading where necessary. There’s accounts of Kruleboyz having parleys with Maggotkin so they can get samples of their diseases to turn into deadlier toxic weapons. and Hobgrots are merchants by nature. “You swindle and deal among the realms’ unsavoury societies, until it’s time to grab your slitta-knife and line up in formation. Most Hobgrots are more merchants than warriors, but no one who follows Gorkamorka can avoid the fight forever. When an Orruk clobbers a group of Hobgrots into submission, roaring that they’re joining the Waaagh! and they’re going to like it, the Hobgrots quickly form ranked lines. The profits of their trading prove useful here, for every Hobgrot goes to battle with a slitta-knife, as well as Duardin-sourced ‘bangstikks’ which poison and ignite their foes. Hobgrot Slittaz never forget a debt, and they call in favours to gain the upperhand amongst more brutal creatures. Many in the realms dread the smirking grin of a Hobgrot as they whisper “You Owe Me…”” You will paint your fancy new cloaks and like it!

He would be up for it. People found it easier to kitbash him from Annihilator parts already. Also we need a revamp of Blacktalon in her new armor. If there is one thing I really appreciate about the new style it’s that it does feel like a joint effort between men, duardin and aelves in rasing the power of Order. Besides the duardin smiths influence of putting ancestor/god masks on everything: The Thunderstrike have very visible Aelven influences that help that Order combo immortalized feel so they can fit into any civilization from the dour Celestial Vindicators who appreciate Grungni’s industrious heirs to the haughty Tempest Lords living alongside the Lumineth. Well I hope Ruination is more than just siege engines(basically Stormcast turned into siege engines) but the rest sounds like an amazing idea and simple to implement with the new rule. Could just give some siege weapons Monstrous Rampage commands against terrain and Garrisons Save profiles depending on the material plus a Mysterious Terrain effect for the arcane to act as magic defenses if not just some D3 mortal wound boiling oil Commands.

‘Tis at least one consistent element between the two armors. (makes even the Squidmar shield jokes work)

Definitely not and even if GW do replace them these will always be the true chads of AoS to me. ⚡️ I get people liking the new sleek style but man these guys are badass.🤟

Oh that’s a great point for when the narrative cycles back around to Death focus. That’d give the Gholemkin time to establish themselves(and probably get another update) as well expansions to the other duardin forces if it becomes a concerted effort to save their goddess. Oh we know it already let’s him spy on Azyr and the Stormcast training within it. A 2019 white dwarf reaffirmed that. ”It is also used by Malerion to secretly observe the Eternals.” That could lead him to move forward if he’s seeing all these new super-super powered demigods growing in numbers and having enhanced abilities to boot.(seriously the Warscrolls don’t do the new stuff justice. Vanquishers can tune in to their realmstone greatswords to predict an enemy’s actions before they do them and Knight-Relictors can turn recent slain souls into ghost grapeshot that can wipe out a horde of enemies before sending them on their way. Annihilators don’t even have to come down like meteors, some just open rifts they come bursting through like an electrified cannonball. Really hope in future editions those abilities are added after restructuring.

I kinda wonder if that’s how they could run afoul of Malerion too if the Dawncrusades(their very name meaning bringing light to the darkness) trying to spread out into Ulgu to which Malerion sees an opportunity to punish trespassers that push their luck on grabbing territory while solidifying his treaty with the moon daemons by giving them plenty of hosts for their parasitic offspring to spread on. Though that could justify Stormcast intervention then instead of Cities focus as that’s some otherworldly threats they’re against. So it could be either: AoS3 ending- Stormcast Questors vs Kruleboyz (possibly seperate tomes) AoS4 start- Cities of Sigmar vs Skaven or AoS3 ending- Shotgun Destruction, Beasts & Kurnothi things for a wild finale AoS4- Malerion vs Stormcast Eternals Thunderstrike updates(I’m thinking more heroes with holy lanterns like the Questors have and angel & Prosecutor units for the Lawful good vs Lawful evil vibe. Plus Kharadron tome had Morathi-Khaine’s air legions tangle with Prosecutors protecting the kharadron so a round two of Ulgurothi vs upgraded angels would fit) AoS4 onwards-Cities Ironweld update vs Skaven after the tech. Because we know Skaven love getting their claws on new tech.

You know since they ended up using the War of the Sky Portal soldiers from the 2018 artwork- -I wonder if this strange background priest from the 2017 Living City artwork is also planned? (embedded link is case my phone one goes wonky https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/423561353115074571/1090143280857100358/0441596F-0E8E-4200-9BBD-96CF757AB1D5.png )

That would fit my theory of needing a Skink general to unlock Raptadon battleline. Also man I can’t wait to see the Soulblight Vanguard. I really like that the current one is themed on their Deathrattle sub-faction to show off their autonomy but I just can’t justify spending money on those old dusty grave guard even for their amazing new commander. Even when I saw the starter box at a retail store I couldn’t do it. Only way that was happening was if I bought the Mortek guard that was there too and substituted them in but I already maxed out my hobby budget on Lauka Vai and the other good looking Soulblight options.(and anyway I rather wait for the actual Ossiarch update to jump in on the bone golems) I hope I live long enough for the golden day that Age of Sigmar finally leaves the last trace of it’s ancient model dead-weight behind. ☺️