amysrevenge

I *still* haven't played an actual game since before COVID, but I'm plowing through those goblins. Got about 40 to go!

I've finished all (!) my squigs, and have managed to keep that enthusiasm going for night goblins. 30-ish finished, 90-ish to go! Then on to topping up the spiders.

Thinking on it more, I reckon the most probable compatibility is forward only, not in both directions. By that, I mean that it seems most likely to me that they might come up with dual rules so that you could use your TOW models in AoS, but that they would NOT come up with dual rules so that you could use your AoS models in TOW.

Frankly, that sounds too soon based on how I've read the updates. Haha. Hoping for the best though!

Based on the information we have received, the answer is: we have no idea. Based on nothing but feelings, I would classify your desire as "possible but unlikely". Not in a 1:99 sort of way, but more like 40:60. I don't expect any real deliberate cross compatibility, but I wouldn't die of shock if it turned out that was the case.

Popular opinion (what the???) I'm still very much enjoying this thread, even whilst seeing some opinions I don't agree with. Some very interesting points are being raised, taking angles I hadn't considered before. Even where I end up not agreeing, I'm enjoying thinking my way through the posts. And on a couple items I think my own opinions may have shifted as a result.

The only way I've enjoyed the preview streams live is doing it in discord sharing with clubmates.

Not sure about the popular-ness of this one, but the recent tone of the discussion has led my thoughts here. The FOMO style of release lately has made me less interested, in general, in being at the bleeding edge of the game. I'm in a place in my life where I can't jump on something in the first couple of weeks. So, I've missed it and now it's gone and it's the next thing. That I also miss. So at some point I've missed like 4 things in a row, and there's no going back. It's harder than ever these days to be part-way engaged - you either need to be all-in all the time, or casual in the garage.

Unpopular opinion: We (those of us chatting Warhammer on social media) are not statistically representative of the Warhammer consumer base*. For every one of us, there are dozens (hundreds?) of Warhammer customers who rarely if ever interact with the online/social media community. We engage with the hobby in a dramatically different way, and have different focuses and different attitudes. Shaping the game to our specific tastes isn't necessarily the optimal overall choice. *Anecdotally, I think maybe 3-5 out of my local community (in the 100-200 player/hobbyist range - no fewer, potentially more if they interact with the wider hobby world so little I don't know of them) are active on Warhammer social media, and none of those are on the AoS side other than me.

To elaborate on my "getting better isn't the point" popular/unpopular opinion. The more you do something, the better at it you get. That's just how humans work. However, the *reason* you do the thing doesn't have to be to get better at doing the thing. Getting better is a side effect; doing the thing is the main point. And if getting better doesn't happen fast enough (for whatever value of fast enough you like), that's not a moral failing. You're not hobbying "wrong" if you can't manage flawless NMM after 10+ years of painting, or if you go 1-4 at your 15th tournament.

I guess it struck a bit of a chord - I should update to say that it's not necessarily an unpopular opinion to *have*, but it seems like an unpopular opinion to say out loud.

Unpopular opinion: You don't have to constantly improve at hobbying, or at playing the game. It's a hobby: it's perfectly fine to make art for the sake of the art, not just as a stepping stone to make better art next time. Or to play a game to have fun, not only to get better at playing the game. It feels like there is a lot of implied pressure to practice and improve and do better. That's not the point, or at least it's not the only valid point. The experience itself can be the point. (This isn't limited to AoS - culturally we seem to be in a place where the only point of *any* hobby is to get better at doing the hobby, not just to do the hobby.)

Unpopular opinion: consumers having detailed knowledge of long term plans (or even medium term plans) for the product line would have a net negative impact on sales and excitement. A couple months for vague hints, and a couple weeks for detailed previews, is about sufficient.

Unpopular opinion: the more balanced/competitive the system gets, the less fun actual gameplay is.

I'm painting squigs and LOVING it.

For large-scale production, nobody comes close for me. For small batch, "artisanal" products, there are places that have individual models or small lines of models that meet or exceed what GW can do. Creature Caster has been mentioned here, I also have several Mierce Mininatures models that are fantastic, and here and there I've picked up some pinterest-based 3D printed models that turned out phenomenally well, But even then, in terms of the whole experience, GW is hard to match. By "whole experience" I mean starting from a sprue or bag of parts, through to a tabletop-ready painted model. For starters, I am so over washing resin. As far as assembly instructions go, nobody I've seen is within light years of GW for clarity. As far as ease of assembly, modern GW CAD-sculpted models are industry leading. This is actually a strike against as far as customizability/conversion goes, but that's almost a different issue. The plastic they use is a good substrate for paint - I've had some resins almost seem to repel the type of primer I like to use haha. Even after a good soapy wash. Anyway, it's subjective. The models I buy are mostly GW ones, but I also dip a lot into small-scale alternates.

Just a small tidbit about non-compete clauses in general. This is specific to Canada, but might apply in other places. My wife signed a contract with a 6 month non-compete clause in it. Her lawyer said that non-compete clauses like this are basically not legally binding or enforceable, but many large employers put them in their standard contracts anyway. Rather than raise a stink and get lawyers even more involved she decided to sign anyway, and made the ethical decision to abide by the terms she committed to by signing, even though they were not legally binding.

My 10 year old daughter is SUPER in to behind the scenes YouTuber drama. I get plenty of exactly this sort of thing from her. Hahahaha

Oh no, that's the phone I have. Definitely waiting for y'all beta testers to finish up before I start paying haha.

You've seen Crab with Knife. But have you seen Giant Crab with Giant Knife?

I don't really get it either, and yet you have the actual world where there are heaps of people who do exactly this, happily. So even though I don't get it, I'm not going to stand in their face and tell them they are doing it wrong.

I strictly enforce a "no unpainted models on the table" rule. For myself. I have no requirements for my opponent, other than "please at least have mostly-assembled models on the vast majority of your bases". I am happy with limited-scope events (such as a league or a tournament) enforcing whatever painting standard they wish. I'm unhappy with a public (or public-ish) play area enforcing the same. Happily, I've never encountered this in the real world.

I'm not boycotting for any ethical reasons, but I also won't be signing up until there is a workable AoS army builder. Not as a protest, but just because that's the service I want, and once it's available I'll sign up. I don't care even a little about 40k cartoons or lore, and I also don't care about battle reports or painting videos. WH+ is a service aimed at people other than me - which is fine, not everything has to be about me.

If I was relying on them as my only army I'd think about it, but it seems like a lot of effort for what would be my... 12th? 15th? AoS army. I have other things I can play AoS with, so I'd stick to squares with an Old World army I think. I don't need to double dip. Not to say that this couldn't change, it's likely a few years off. The only action I'm taking right now is to work on my Gitz and Beastclaw and SCE and Beastmen first.

Thinking more about it... I have many back burner AoS projects right now. One of them was to be a Dwarf-based Cities of Sigmar army (with dozens of classic metal models). I think I might re-prioritize for now, work on other things, and potentially put the Dwarfs on squares some day in the future. I have years and years of projects piled up already, so it's not big thing to rearrange.