Baron Klatz

Nah, battleline changes too many things like battleline Magmadroths losing their behemoth placing so you can take more. So you’d need to meet the conditions and make them battleline on the field for them to count. As for bounty Hunter I think Fyreslayers can be in a good place since our battleline Magmadroths can take it(no longer behemoth and too big to be GV), our 2 wound & heavy warded doughty infantry can absorb a lot of hits and Rally back with Battlesmith while Hearthguard, Berzerkers & Doomseekers can go on the hunt themselves.

I think just cheaper Endless Spells. Seems that’s the only tweak 3.0 factions with tomes get right now. Looking like a nice way to quickly wipe any MSU dominion battalions with a magma invocation so our Bounty Hunter Hearthguards (and Lofnir Magmadroths?) can carve up the enemy to teach them not to contest Grimnir’s children in the underground if they want to stay out of the oven. 🔥

Tbf, we haven’t gotten the actual lore on that battalion yet. With them actually called “Headhunters” that target the strongest my guess is they’re supposed to be more tribal in nature and using venom weapons from the local giant insects & spiders since poison weapons in-game increase damage or cause mortal wounds like with the spidergrots. With how sacred those giant insects usually are to tribes that Spidergrots see the largest as gods it’s likely “only use on a strong victim” handwave like with the Bonesplitterz hunting the mightest beasts to absorb their power.(favorite bit there is those swimming after the 12-headed megalodon god-beast to try and kill it. What mad lads)

Yeah I call misinterpretation. Everyone saw “Infantry focus” and assumed hordes because that’s the older mindset of how GW liked it’s infantry(especially in 2.0) buuuut that article was pretty clear this is an elite infantry battle. “Veteran” infantry, pictures of only hulking big bois, Bonds of Battle benefitting mostly 32mm and bigger bases, lore talking about seasoned survivors. It’s kinda going along with 3.0’s heavier skirmish focus as a whole like the recent Skaven rules making self-heal units instead of overwhelming swarms like before. And now even Deadwalkers look better in MSU units for capturing points.(maybe that’s why zombies are the last real swarm unit we’ve had. Dead concept that’s just shuffling along 😛) I am looking forward to how wild this will be with multiple ways to ruin somebody’s force. Feels like in the growling tunnels of Gallet nobody is safe.

Huh, I wonder if they new tome will make Chosen battleline? Seems almost 100% with how Stormcasts have Paladin battleline now. Would make for the next best Chaos small elite army. Varanguard + Chosen with whatever extras you want to fit in and march out with your apocalypse demigods.

Yeah that’s a slippery slope from streamlined to horribly watered down I’d rather not have them mess with because that’d flip the table on the whole game and kill a lot of flavor which many other wargames already sacrifice for balance. Even as a Stormcast player who benefits from 2 row pile-ins I don’t think it’s worth making the entire game start from scratch to address a fundamental design(reach vs power). Just give a lot of the 32mm-60mm units 2” reach attacks on average if they lack a pole-arm option. Just one changed value that many wanted for their big bois, simple as.

Oh yeah, if Gutfort siege season happened I’d imagine warmachine’s would only be one part. You need scouts too to survey the vast rings of barricade teeth and likely boosts to ambush units for both sappers that became tunnel veterans in Gallet and the defenders setting traps among the trenches. So it’d be a mix of things to make the battle plans feel like a combination of city fighting and slogged down besieging as the armies battle around the massive earthworks and forts.(probably defensive bonuses for troops that dig in, some artillery shots that can bust a unit or terrain, ambusher battalions going down to 7” deepstrikes, scouts being more fleet-footed to retreat after fighting, etc. that way everyone from Ossiarch machines, Fyreslayer lava tunnelers and NightHaunt speedsters can participate) I imagine mounts and monster cavalry to have their day in the southern Everwinter continent as everyone has to keep on the move like the Beastclaw nomads while if we go west towards the sea it’s gonna be flying unit boosts and city fighting around the ports.

Spear units will be grateful tho at not nearly being obsolete anymore once we’re out of the Gallet tunnels and lose the second row rules.(same as monsters are finally happy Heartland Hunters are gone) Honestly just take the data this helped the large units the most on(Vanquishers, Sequitors, Gluttons, Troggoths, Berzerkers, etc) and change them to 2” range on Battlescroll. They’re all big enough to reach anyway like the Stormcast greatswords being 10 feet long or Fyreslayers Fyresteel causing searing flames to strike out. That way spears can remain relevant without having a crazy “go 3” now to compensate” arms race. Yeah, the Eshin hero trailer. Could be different armor styles to show different backgrounds. Hopefully the whole chaos Warcry range is a big hint to how Order’s CoS will look but I’d settle for Roman-at-arms from Aqshy here for swordsmen & golden Conquistadors from Ghur for crossbows there. I expect plenty of time in Ghur still with enough sites on the map to 4 more seasons. I’d guess a season in the Gutfort next to introduce a Ogor release and give a focus on siege stuff(warmachine, scouts) before going elsewhere and eventually hoping over to Lendu for a foreign conquest in sinister lands.

If that turns out to be future Freeguild Guard that mix of Roman segmented shoulder armor & cheekguards with north European studded jerkin & brimmed helmet would be a unique look enough to justify how they reboot CoS with armor that can fit the blistering heats of Hysh & Aqshy(Mediterranean romans) or the overgrown misty realmscapes of Ghyran & Ghur(north European) to finally replace the puffy Renaissance look. I’m thinking the unveiling will happen in 4th edition if the new Season takes place in the Realm of Fire, that way they can practically march out of Hammerhal to unveil themselves.(plus finally time for a big Fyreslayers release) Last interesting note is Soulbound already showed off Roman-like troops in their Realm of Light art. I wonder if they got the inside scoop back then?

Can’t show leak pics here but some chaos warriors battletome pics are up of their unit section and we got to see Belakor’s Legionaries facing frontward. They look a lot like the Freeguild dudes at the bottom left of the War of the Sky Portals art: Spikier of course but have the round shields, semi-wide-brimmed helmets and studded jerkins with semi-Roman armor that give them a Roman + England/north European Guard flair. Could very well be this was a sneak peak from 2018 at what the new standard Freeguild and their traitor counterparts will look like. Noice. Plain CoS was expected since the Dawncrusades made the Fyreslayers & Deepkin drop their pretenses for stuff like only the duardin or aelves from them. So now they’re all fair game to support the plant people from steamtanks to hydras. Fyreslayers is a really nice surprise now that they don’t need an Ironoak commander anymore to get in duardin. It’s been noted before how well Fyreslayers allies work with Sylvaneth to give them more punch so this is pretty cool. (And kinda makes me if Hammerhal will bond them closer together in the future as the main link between Ghyran & Aqshy) Also battleline Kurnoth Hunters, huzzah! Might just be stylized but you know, could be a subtle hint at what the Gloomspite update might bring. Never enough Troggoth heroes. I’m just happy they benefit from the heavy infantry 2nd row rules. That would’ve been the worst thing if they were on the cover to represent the tunnel battles of Gallet but got left out of the juicy seasonal tactics.

Lovely~ 🥰 This was also pointed out on Reddit: ”One funny counter to Expert Conqueror hordes is Orruk Brutes with You Messin'? . Your thirty Clanrats count as ninety models? No, buddy, they count as zero.” Seems the kings of the Realm of Beasts(Ironjawz & Knights Excelsior) are gonna make sure newcomers that just fell through the Realmgates know who’s in charge.

I really love the flavor change here. Marching from the open plains of Thondia where monsters roamed free to cramp winding tunnels with terrifying storms overhead is thematically moving from beasts to the heavy elite as stomping Ogors & clanking armored demigods push their way through shifting tunnels(pretty much the intestines of the continent. Gallet=Gullet) and claim important objectives while watching for giant creeping insects and explosive realmstone clusters. Very excited to grab this and see the future ones as they travel through the varied realmscapes. Will we head north towards the Gnarled Woods & Gutfort next and focus on scouts & sieges? Continue west and hit the shoreline strongholds and ports that may mean infantry and war machines/airships to defend them from monsters or flyer focus for sea island battles? Or are we gonna go south into the Everwinter ravages and focus on monsters & monster riders again to push through the ferocious blizzards? Really hoping each season continues to drop a Thondia-like Tome as well. Never enough Mortal Realms lore. Lastly the big focus on Gallet tunnels and insects makes that new Incarnate rumor of a giant realmstone spider elemental seem all but certain now. Probably will be the July 4th anniversary reveal. 🕷

Aqshy humans definitely have the biggest potential for interesting aesthetics since they mix multiple cultures together. Hammerhal: Azyrite Greeks, wasteland tribesmen(some former chaos worshippers), super/crazed-religious Europeans garbed in gold(thanks to Azyrites introducing the European look) Edassa: mix of African & European warrior cultures Flame Scions: big melting pot of firey samurai, Roman gladiators and African religious warriors. The main Fire themes orbiting Africa, Rome & Japan can make for some amazing Order humans with their very unique appearance. Could be why all the new battle boxes are Lore-wise set in Aqshy. Set-up for the CoS overhaul in or near 4th edition and a new season of war in the Realm of Fire.

Ooooh, the Comet plus Heraldor idea is already clever but the whole Seraphon package has me itching for some Starborne. 😍⚡️✨

That’s actually a good point. I thought all the Vanguards automatically equaled $130. Odd(but in a good way) if these are cheaper. NightHaunt’s needed a financial win after how long their chain spooks were in a really bad spot and reaped peoples wallets.

As someone who likes the unorthodox alliance of Stormcasts and DoK in the past that was a positive to me, especially after the DawnCrusades narrative kept pointing out Stormcasts, Fyreslayers & Khainites are all working together to help the settlers.(made a nice image that they’re putting aside their bickering gods to aid the imperiled mortals) Between that and the lore justification that both God-king Sigmar & Morathi-Khaine don’t want to open up another war front between eachother when Kragnos is causing every realm to be besieged by Greenskins and Chaos is on the rise it makes sense they call a truce to save their civilization. Certainly Morathi-Khaine knows she needs the peace time now to double down on pacifying her recent conquests and getting the hang of her new godhood. Of which there’s already big trouble as her Shadow Queen aspect has been enraged by losing that fight to Kragnos and busted through the palace with her servants saying the Aspect flew off to Ghur for a second round with the God-beast. Which is gonna drag Morathi-Khaine after it so it doesn’t get destroyed and lose part of her soul in the process. This while continuing to grow out her worshippers is putting a lot of strain on her. I imagine the next Stormcast Battletome will have DoK as allies again too now that there’s a truce and Morathi-Khaine kept her bargains of sparing the populace’s of the cities not killed in the initial conquests, freeing the Stormcasts she had imprisoned and now aiding the Dawners. With Ven Brecht working in the shadows of Har Kuron to aid the Anvilgard resistance and any possibility of seeing the Barony of Thunder’s take on these events as a secretive Stormhost strongly in support of the Khainites has me excited to see the next tome’s events. Edit: oh lastly, as much as I adore the moving narrative of AoS that keeps it feeling progressive and fresh. I understand why they don’t move Too big or quickly with any changes. For newcomers, big and constant changes can seem really scary to keep up with so a vast setting that keeps a semblance of itself since the start while things do move forward and get tweaked here and there with the occasional changed city, warped landscape/continent, new god or surprise army reveal keep things from being overwhelming.

Oh, that’s a fun rule to balance out all the resilient self-healing and extra saves effects with a big offense bonus. So now both a 40 unit blob “spear” or 20 unit blob “shield” if you want a focus on range swarm or regenerative little tarpits. Haha, no problem! Been there countless times myself. Hope this week sees you better rested. (certainly deserve it for being such a great and energetic mod)

In the “Red Hour” novella it turned out one being that was making daemon prince-level champions in Chamon was a former “mother of heroes” God-beast that was corrupted by Slaanesh in the Age of Myth as it grew envious of other gods having so many heroic worshippers. It was dangerous enough with making such champions and insidiously twisting events around heroes to draw them into chaos(protagonist just had a twist of luck that defeated the chaos big bad and saved the day? It’s behind it and slowly possessing them to become a bigger and bigger glory hound until fully corrupted) that Sigmar locked it away and the tombs of it’s champions so people forgot about it and drained away it’s power. So there’s certainly enough loop-holes in the Realms between Greater daemons and corrupted God-beasts being able to do it in Slaanesh’s place and justify the prince models. Them and the leaks from Slaanesh’s dwindling prison having lost over 1/3rd of it’s chains now allowing more power to sift through, even though the rarity of Slaanesh daemon princes is the consequence of relying on droplets of it’s power rather than getting it from the full source.

For Kruleboyz I think the best thing they introduce are AoS’ version of Mek Orks with the Chamon Big Yellers clans: ”Big Yellers tend to favour bright colours and loudness over stealth as they believe the best and brightest of all of Orrukdom should not be hiding. Big Yellers are notable for their extreme laziness but this has led to the ingenuity of their weaponsmiths. Instead of travelling through the wilds they prefer to travel using the waterways of their homelands and has launched entire Waaagh!s on fleets of skiffs and rafts, usually downstream as it is less trouble compared to traveling upstream. The warclan has also developed a rugged industry which is visible in their fortresses which have many winches, drawbridges and mill-wheells. Even their archery ranges are automated to allow target corpses to be stripped of arrows and the ranges to be reset without having to walk back and forth. As they originate from Ayadah they have close ties with the Gloomspite Gitz of Skrappa Spill.” (Ayadah’s where Da Bad Moon victory vomited celestial debris over an entire continent making it nice and dank overhead for both groups to enjoy) “Big Yellers prefer bright colours and loud sounds over stealth and subtler forms of intimidation. Their laziness mean they spend a lot of their time tinkering with their weapons carrying out "kustom modifikashuns". Thus their Deffspikerz are able to wield superior missile weapons, which also solves the issue of having to walk up close to the enemy. However when the effects of the Waaagh! reaches its height Big Yellers can be motivated to break into a run, albeit for a small time. The wealthiest of the Big Yellers travel in captured Cogforts which have been heavily modified. These contain firing gantries armed with beast-skewer killbows and massive winch-driven mega-choppas that can smash defences and cut down giant monsters.” Them giving Destruction access to advanced machinery & and what amounts to giant walking fortress robots is a pretty big new path. And Kragnos is a good God-beast starter that helps show how Destruction takes on characteristics of a God’s body, hopefully on the road to many more to flesh out Destruction’s pantheon besides Gorkamorka with more realm-native wild gods.

Isn’t that already a thing with the new kit being 2 Mancrushers at the vanguard price of $130? https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Mancrusher-Gargants-2020 I’d imagine something like a Mega-Gargant + 1 Crusher so they can be used together as 2 units or also grab the 2 Mancrusher kit for the full 3 Gargant mob and mega-Gargant leader ready to go.

Well mind a lot of Slaanesh granting powers and giving birth all happened because someone messed with the prison like when Archaon cut some chains or when Morathi-Khaine went swimming in it’s guts which left such an opening afterwards that Slaanesh was able to birth through the small rift the Twins in the Uhl-gysh twilight realm to lead for it. If Slaanesh got loose then stuff like Sigvald and other followers would fully ascend to daemon princes instead of colossal mortals, the Hedonite forces would be more organized rather than searching around and getting into parties and harem distractions and on the other coin for Order their civilizations would come more under threat from council nobility who already take advantage of attractive servants and pleasures like Azyrite nobility having the glowing blue rocks from their home-realm Azyr transported to the lower realms to make extravagant shining noble quarters out of. These would be ripe for Slaanesh to corrupt and hobble Order’s expansions with inner long established cities making soft people that can turn.

Well on the garb that’s mostly the models as many people note what their clothes represent. Also likely done for another mirror to eachother since Hedonites & Lumineth have so many units and flamboyant traits in common from being influenced by Slaanesh(even Teclis’ rebirth of them & aetherquartz scrubbing their souls can’t erase being in it’s guts for 10,000+ years) On Hysh’s deserts those are tidbits all over the place like the new Stormcast battletome having a story of a Tempest Lord Retributor finding tribes of his people in the Xintil deserts(the central mega-continent Teclis & Tyrion live on) where he raised them up from tribes to organized militaries to batter down the Khornite kingdoms there. Mostly the Lumineth battletome and Soulbound books dealing with Lumineth will be helpful: “The Alumnians are unparalleled explorers among the Great Nations. They strive to emulate the legend of Tyrion as he journeyed across the Luminaris Sea to the searing landscape of Xintil, gaining great insight in return for his eyesight.” “The Syari are one of the so called Teclian nations who primarily base their culture on the teachings of Teclis, being adept at manipulating the energy of Hysh. The capital of their domain is the city of Ar-Ennascath, where a yearly competition of craftmanship is held. It is surrounded by wastes among which prowl dangers from the time of the Ocari Dara, such as hellish sentient chasms and time-warping predator-spells.” “Plain of Sigils: Each new dawn these vast salt plains are swept into ridges and dunes that, from above, form the sigils of Lord Pha's hermetic priesthood, granting boons to those who prove worthy.” Thus why Hysh art tends to be so sandy & dry. Yeah, there’s a reason the Flesh-Eater Tome has a Aqshy sub-faction that worships Hysh as a realm of purified Fire compared to their own. Best places to escape the heat would be either Ymetrica with it’s soaring mountains and nature spirits making the lands greener or Zaitrec whose lunar magic allows the nation to experience night to commune with the moons(even if the whole continent still glows from all the magic there). There’s also braving the Iliatha matriarch nation and it’s inner volcanoes as the coastlines around it are shown to be cold and barren. Also I say keep the Steamtank. Worst comes to worse you can always kitbash it into something else like take the wheels off and put it on the floating Lumineth shrine as an adhoc “Megalith Tank” your Dawners put together to defend their new town with Kharadron ally rules.

Yeah, with the focus being armor metallic focused paints seem likely. NightHaunt players are praising theirs for the same thing. All 3 seem very solid starter kits with good options that’ll save around $50+.

I guess the Sylvaneth starter sells well enough that they could postpone it. Bit of a pity since we could’ve gotten Revenants and Kurnoth Hunters to spice up the arboreal assembly. But oh well, Daughters Vanguard is awesome with the Ironscale leading those powerful units and Skaven Stormfiend cyborg horrors marching with clan rats who just became self-healing tarpits so they’re effective out of the box is excellent! Also cool to see Fyreslayers & Deepkin hero seperate releases. Finally the Flamekeeper trio procession strategies can begin with amplifying the ur-rune recycles. 🔥 Most interesting to me is the upcoming GHB mentions it’s gonna explore the lands of Gallet. That’s further away from Excelsis and with the crawling pits being there and the giant footprints it could very well tie into the Sons of Behemat release and the rumors of a new Ghur Incarnate spell spider that came up from those pits. Could also point to us slowly going across the realmscapes season by season. Would very much like to end with going across the seperate continent in Lendu that’s said to be a calm predator landmass but because it’s a patient killer. Very intrigued what new dangers & creatures could lurk there. Lastly GW didn’t have to go so hard on this paint trailer but God-king bless them they did:

I’d just count their God-Queen Alarielle and the 5 Kurnothi models(despite their beastly parts & stomach seed lamentiri) due to having actual flesh. Sylvaneth Revenants and Tree Spirits only take on the appearance of aelves to ease their allies. They can go full eldritch nature horror if they wanted. Oh that’s already Lumineth with the Realm of Light being full of deserts and, being the main sun of the setting for lands without their own, is constantly bright daylight or timid twilight. That’s why they wear those puffy Arabic pants and garbs along with the super tall hats to ward off the 30/7* solar heat and why the Hedonites there went full Persian garb. *(there’s between 26 to 30 hours a day in the Realms that fluctuates depending on how quickly Ulgu & Hysh cycle eachother)