Azamar

Some kind of bridle perhaps?

The cow spirits are growing on me I think, but the stone guard less so, mostly because of how much better they look in some of the mock ups with plumes in this thread. It occurs to me, aesthetics aside, that they’re also going to be a pain to transport with the helmets as they are. There’s no way this is the whole range though- I think they’re just showing off the mountain aspect at the moment and I’m willing to bet there’ll be at least one more aspect from the start- the veiled lady might be the mage for the wind aspect for example. For some baseless speculation, I think they’ve laid out the faction with the three core units (spears, archers and cavalry) with Teclis and Eltharion as all rounders. Then for each of the 4 aspects there’ll be a fighty hero or spirit, a mage and an elite unit, either at release or planned down the line. Wishful thinking? Maybe, but I think it’s feasible that we could see 3 out of 4 aspects at release: Mountain: Spirit of the mountain, stonemage and stoneguard. Wind: Unseen combat hero, veiled lady, mounted archers (dual kit with dawn riders) Rivers: Unseen combat hero (dual kit with wind hero). Unseen mage, elite unit (dual kit with stoneguard) That only needs two more as yet unrevealed kits to achieve (the river mage and a combat hero) with the rest coming from the other half of dual kits we’ve already seen- a big release but not that different to ossiarchs (11 kits including the one in feast of bones, we’ve seen 9 so far for lumineth). If this is a whopper of a release we may yet still see Tyrion and the zenith aspect but it’s feeling unlikely. Or they could be making Phoenix temple units the Zenith units (possibly with a redesigned Phoenix given that banner, or a new mage) allowing all 4 aspects from the start- which would explain why they were the only old high elves to stick around. Again, pure baseless speculation, but I reckon it’s possible!

The new infantry looks great to me! Willing to bet that’s a lot with more than one unit you can build from it. I’m less sure about the giant cow thing though. I might pass on that one.

There’s a bit of lore in the newer fyreslayer’s book that Grungni is believed to be “crafting something wondrous that will unify his scattered children” in a new stronghold in chamon. On the same page there’s also mention of reunification talks (duardrazhal) so there’s a couple of directions they could take duardin, albeit likely many years off.

I agree- let’s not pretend the old Eltharion could enter a building with his hat on, and IIRC Caradryan had a helmet half as tall as he was. In typical AOS style it’s dialled up to 11 with the new mage, which will never be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s growing on me

I misread the article and thought the mark of Teclis was referring to the scabbard in the picture right below, but yeah reading again it’s the mark of the sun spirit

Looking closer at the mage, i think he’d look a lot less goofy if his eyes had been painted closed- something about the intense stare with that zen like pose just seems off. The prominent lower lip doesn’t help either but again I think that’s the paint rather than the model itself. I can get past the giant horns- elves have never really been known for their sensible, understated headgear after all.

I dunno- I thought the veiled head looked really well done-looking forward to seeing the rest of that model. Also, the ‘mark of Teclis’ seems to be the old rune of Asuryan, which still features prominently on the Phoenix guard kit (iirc it’s on the throne of the anointed on Phoenix model as well). I still wonder if Phoenix temple might have at least a partial link to the lumineth

It’s a reason to fire a solid shell I suppose, as the impact on that will be less (just -1 damage). Although the ironclad might still be better with shrapnel or, better yet, a volley gun. There’s a fair amount of weapons with high number of shots at one damage (thunderers, endrinriggers, khemists etc) so if you’ve got a good mix of units it probably won’t be too bad, and without the teleport shenanigans you’ll be running rings around them anyway. Maw tribes are crying at the moment though

Absolutely love these models, and even more than the infantry now we have a few more angles of them (the horse with the fully extended forelimb looks a lot less goofy once you can see the full pose). phoenix design on the banner is odd though- could be a new type of Phoenix rather than a redesign?

I’ve quoted the above because, for me, this is the point that really puts the argument to bed. However you want to spin it, the wording for Mad as Hell is identical to every teleport/ deep strike/ summoning ability out there (or at least those I’ve looked at to confirm). If you want to play it that Mad as Hell activates if at least one enemy unit is more than 9” from you, you have to accept that any teleport etc ability is going to work the same way (i.e I can drop a spirit of durthu right on top of your support heroes, as long as at least one of your units is more than 9” away). Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but my opinion is, that is clearly bonkers. Like @Kasper just said, I think the issue is people are getting hung up on the meaning of the word “any” in that particular faq. However you can only put it in context with the phrases ‘within 9”’, or ‘more than 9”away’. The faq was written based on the former, and I doubt the writer considered how it might affect the latter (apparently they’re only human).

Not that many unfortunately. There’s the eidolon aspect of the sea, Aventis firestrike and the lord arcanum on tauralon that have 2 spells. Morathi and the slann have 3 and Kroak has 4. Can’t find any others although I haven’t looked at compendium units.

These are a great read, thank you.

I don’t really have a horse in this race, (don’t play Tzeentch, or face them that often as a casual player) but reading through the last few pages out of interest, I would say I agree they don’t split from battleshock losses. Closest I can find on the current faqs is the clarification that a unit is destroyed “when the last model is slain or flees”, implying that they’re two different mechanisms. Very far from a concrete answer, but the closest we’ll have for now. For the pink horror banners I think I’d play it this way: abilities that activate on an unmodified roll mean they activate if the right number is showing on the dice. So if a destiny dice showing a 1 is used, then no models will flee and d6 horrors come back. That 1 would still technically have casualties added to it as a modifier, but there’s no point in doing so as, regardless of what the total is, the ability states that no models will flee if the dice was a 1. That’s how I’d play it anyway

I’ve called all my ships “The Barag (something), my Ironclad is the Barag Azamar (The Eternal). my frigate is called Barag NuDron (Very roughly translates to “Thunder Child) and my gunhauler is called Barag Akrak Dar (lucky gambit) I’m planning to call my next two gunhaulers Barag Kol Izril (Black Pearl) and the Barag Garaz (Fearless) For extra nerd points I’ve converted the names into runes (using an old dwarf army book) and painted them in shaky freehand on the side of my completed ships. The frigate isn’t pictured- it was the first one I did and I instead tried to make a name plate for it, but lost it.

He also exploded in the end times if I recall correctly. I think he’s earned the right to be a bit grumpy. he also growing on me with the screenshots for the video. I saw someone mention somewhere that they look more like a duo than mount and rider, and that kinda makes the pose make more sense. If there’s room on the base I’d be tempted to have him standing on a Balewind vortex or similar, rather than just floating there like a grumpy phantom.

The trees on Teclis’s base solve a rumour engine I think.

To get the negative out of the way, Teclis looks... weird. I think it’s the pose and the way he’s off centre on the mount perhaps? In any case I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought that. I like his flying Sphinx though. As for the rest, I really like it. The infantry style really hits the spot for me in particular, and I love the hollow armour- looks really well done.

I wouldn’t rule out Tyrion being part of the faction yet- if Teclis is there he surely can’t be far behind. really looking forward to seeing what these guys look like!

I think you and @satyricalsophist have hit the nail on the head here- can you imagine an ironclad with 10 thunderers and a khemist on board, floating around with a -2 to hit bubble in combat (-3 to hit the units inside) that then counts as 22 models on an objective and can teleport? WW mentioned it felt like someone added these restrictions at the last minute, and I wonder if this is what happened when the play testers found a broken combo?- to me having that sorted before the book is even out (rather than having to wait for an faq fix) is a good idea. It’s a shame every single thunderer ability doesn’t work when embarked, but the -1 to hit abilities and counting towards objectives feel like there’s a reason they shouldn’t work when embarked.

Might depend on what skyport you’re using. In Barak Nar Skywardens have quite a lot of potential on the charge, so you probably want them to have the combat weapons plus a skyhook in larger units. endrinriggers might spend a lot of the game near your boats rather than on the offence- if so then taking ranged weapons would be better.

I don’t really know much about the new Tzeentch book, but I’m not sure what any army could do against that to be honest. edit: although isn’t locus of change against melee attacks?

Even speaking as someone who’s very pleased the new book, I agree. The battleline feels very restrictive- it’s disappointing that skyriggers are linked to the one new hero rather than being a general “battleline if KO” choice. If you didn’t want a named sky port, or did but one of the half of the choices that don’t unlock a battleline, then you’ve either got to take the new hero or stick to the old three units of arkanauts- which isn’t great for list variety. At least arkanauts are dirt cheap now, which frees up points to go elsewhere if you want your own skyport led by an admiral for example. It’s a bit of a shame, but also something an faq or future ghb could easily fix, so fingers crossed.

If you’re after traditional archers with pointy ears then shadow warriors are the way to go- the kit can also be built as sisters of the watch for a more arcane type of archer. They’re part of the cities of sigmar battletome, but I think you can only order it through the online store (but you can usually order them for delivery in store)

It would go by the sky vessel keyword, so no. But thank you for the hilarious image of a bunch of balloon dwarfs launching into the air like some kind of chain of monkeys