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Love the look of the new Undead model, especially if it's going to slot into Nighthaunt as well. Which is interesting, because Jervis said on an interview that they chose the allegiances in the GHB on factions they don't think they're going to be getting around too anytime soon. So maybe this character is both a Deathlord and Nighthaunt? Also cool to hear that all 4 Grand Alliances are going to get a new hero. Although, seems inevitable that it'll probably be plagued by posterboy syndrome (Stormcast, Ironjawz and some flavour of Chaos god that's not Slaanesh). I'd really love for GW to do more than 1 for each alliance, like kick off the campaign with say 8-12 new clampack/small box hero kits. Still, more models are only a good thing, and can't wait to see the next step in the AoS narrative. Lastly Ironjawz. Colour me not impressed. To me, they just look like the regular Ardboyz kit with a few different heads and slightly different poses. Unlike the other warbands, nothing really screams at me as an amazing model that's really different to the existing AoS kits. Stormcast had female stormcast and the leader which has a cool pose, the Bloodreavers are hairy and cool, and the Skeletons are dynamic compared to the AoS ones. Maybe they just suffer a bit because the current Ardboyz kit is already somewhat dynamic (Compared to many old Fantasy kits anyway, and the bane of everyone putting them on square bases).

So originally the group had organised this day to play Skirmish or Path to Glory, that went straight out the window as soon as people heard that the GHB 2017 was dropping on the Saturday. Instead, the day was filled with much fun getting in a game of the new edition. For me, I'd be bringing out my Free Peoples, a force I've been building up on the side the past year or so. I also bought some Beastmen along from my 8th days, that with a few extra models translated basically into a 2000 point force also, but they stayed in the case today. For my first outing, this was the list I was bringing Freeguild General - General - Indomitable (Add 1 to save rolls within 6" if didn't charge) Freeguild General with Stately War Banner Freeguild General on Griffon - Armour of Meteoric Iron 20x Freeguild Guard 30x Freeguild Crossbowmen 20x Freeguild Handgunners 10x Freeguild Greatwords 3x Demigryph Knights 5x Freeguild Pistoliers 2x Cannon 1x Gryph Hound Which rounded the force out to 1960 points. Some of the models were 'on loan' from my older warhammer armies, potentially to be re-based in future. Note that I forgot to pack another 10 Freeguild Guard, so in this game the Freeguild Archer models are subbing in for Guardsmen. My opponent was packing a mixed Destruction list based on his GHB1 list. His list looked something like Ogor Tyrant Moonclan Warboss with Great Cave Squig Moonclan Grot Shaman Frostlord on Stonehorn 6x Ogors 20x Moonclan Grots with Spears 20x Moonclan Grots with Bows 3x Fanatics 6x Ironguts Gargant Everyone else at the club was playing Scorched Earth, and what would you know it, we rolled it up also. Definitely happy enough with that, since it's the only scenario in the new book that's completely new. After setup was complete, the board looked a little bit like this: The armies prepped and ready for war My opponent got the first turn due to finishing deployment first, and got ready to roll with his new allegiance abilities. The stone horn revved up, and sauntered forwards 6" in the hero phase while the Ogor Tyrant was bolstered by the Moonclan Shaman with a Mystic Shield. The army for the most part ran forwards, eager to engage the enemy. Of course, I knew I had made a mistake as soon as the Frostlord surged forwards. The Frostlord managed to successfully charge the Greatswords, wiping them out before they could retaliate, and razed my side objective for an early lead. He rolled a 2, so was up to 5 points at the end of his first turn! A large hill to climb. In my turn, the Freeguild great company swerved off to the side. The Freeguild Guard were bolstered with Inspiring Presence and quickly marched to block a potential charge against the gunline from the Stonehorn. On the right flank (unseen in most pictures!), the Pistoliers stayed on the objective but moved into shooting range of the Gargant whom had surged up the field. The Freeguild General on Griffon kicked his mount forwards, eager to engage the Gargant. In the shooting phase, the cannons took a toll on the Tyrant, dealing 5 wounds but failing to take him out. The Handgunners had some of their unit still in range, but only managed to take 1 wound from the Stonehorn . In the combat phase, the General on Griffon flew over the Gargant to attack it from behind, felling the towering gargant which fell to empty ground. The Freeguild units re-organise their battleline to take on the oncoming threat My opponent then won the initiative, and chose to go first. The Tyrant bellowed at the Ogors nearby, urging them forwards. The Grot Shaman was a bit too cautious though, and wasn't particularly feeling in the mushroomy mood, and failed to cast mystic shield. In the backline, the Frostlord decided that the Cannons were tastier treats, heading around the back to take out the Free Peoples artillery. The Ogors smashed into the Freeguild line, but not before being peppered with shots from both the Handgunners and Crossbowmen, downing two Ogors before they even made it into the battle. The Stonehorn smashed into the cannons, dealing 3 wounds with it's charge to one of the cannons. The Ogors make it into the Freeguild, but without the backup of their Tyrant As it so happened, the Frostlord beat both the Crews to death but the cannons were left around. The Ogors were unable to punch through the Freeguild Guard, whom took down another Ogor in retaliation. Still, the points were counting up, the Destruction were now up to 8 points and taking a convincing lead. The Freeguild General sent the command, it was time to show these beasts what disciplines and training was worth. He swiftly sent the order to the Guard, Crossbowmen and Handgunners to hold the line. The Griffon after finishing off it's meal, swooped on after the Grot Archers on the far flank while the Demigryphs swept up the hill, looking to take on the Grot Shaman if the Tyrant was felled. In the shooting phase, huge volleys of shot and bolt were shot around. The handgunners hammered the Stonehorn, taking out 6 wounds, while the Crossbowmen split fire between the Tyrant and the Stonehorn. The Tyrant was felled, but the Stonehorn was left on 3 wounds remaining. Fearing for his life, the Grot Shaman ordered the Grots to let loose the Fanatics, which crazily swung into the Demigryphs. In the combat phase, the Stonehorn finished off the cannon that was in range. The Griffon swept into the Grot Archers, but his aim this time wasn't convincing, only managing to kill a few while sending more running due to the Griffons bloodroar. The Fanatics managed to kill a noble Demigryph Knight before being savagely pecked to death. The Ogors still couldn't get through the Freeguild guardsmen, their blows being parried and blocked while the Guard dealt a few more wounds to the Ogors. Still, the Free Peoples were still far behind, with only 4 points to Destructions 8. What happened next, was that the Free Peoples won the initiative roll. However, it looked like it might be better off to let the enemy take the turn, their backup was still far off in the Ironguts, and the Stonehorn and Ogors both on their last legs. So the Destruction got to go, with the Ironguts deciding to stay in the backline. Unforeseen was the cunning Grots having the foresight to retreat from combat with the Griffon, keeping the objective in their favour. The Stonehorn tried to smash it's way through the lines again, but was shot down by the Freeguild Handgunners stand and shoot. Additionally, the Crossbowmen of the Great Company provided supporting fire to the Freeguild Guard, shooting it's way through the Ogors who were bought down in a hail of Crossbow bolts before they could even land a blow against the Freeguild Guard. The Ogors in the Freeguild backline were finally cleared up at the loss of the Greatswords and Ironweld Arsenal, but the points were racking up, they had now accumulated 11 points to the Freeguilds 4. Now was the time for the Freeguild to take the offensive to the enemy. We would have to make sure we claimed the enemy objectives in this turn, to stall their own resources while catching up in our own. The entire Freeguild company surged up the board, with the noble Gryph Hound been relegated to supply duty keeping the middle objective. The Demigryph's swung around to the side, they would need to keep the objective on the far flank safe in future turns. In the combat phase, the Griffon managed to wipe out the far objective, finally the Freeguild had taken superior control of the battle. The points now were 7 to 11 in favour of Destruction, could they keep their lead? The army marches forwards while the Demigryph's make their detour towards the far objective Destruction won the roll off this time, and were more than happy to play on the defensive. Cautious of the blasting the Ogors had received earlier, and unsure where the Freeguild army was heading, the Ironguts backed off. If the Handgunners wanted to shoot them, they would have to work for it and the points were still racking up. the Destruction force now had accumulated 13 points, while the Free Peoples were only on 7. Still, the Free Peoples marched on. Marching the forces up and over the hill. The Crossbowmen at the doubled, their firepower would be needed in the final turn. The Handgunners moved up, blasting away at the Ironguts but not managing to get much damage through. The Demigryphs in the meantime had taken the far objective, while the Freeguild General on Griffon had swooped around to harass the Grots from the rear. The Freeguild Guard and Griffon both made their way onto the Grots holding onto the objective. The Guard managed to kill a few, while the Griffon added to the count, but at the end of the day, many Grots fled but 3 remained, crucially keeping the objective for the Destruction forces. The Free Peoples were catching up, now 10 points to 13, but were they catching up fast enough? The Grots died well, and still held the objective at the end of the fourth battle round The initiative roll would be crucial, if the Free Peoples held the initiative they would surely take the game, razing the objectives, but if the Destruction won they could still accumulate points. As it so happened, Destruction won the roll off and the Ironguts surged forwards. In a show of pure bestial fury, they smashed into the Freeguild Guard and smashed them into the ground, the Grots still held the objective and the Destruction ended with 15 points. In the final turn of the game, all focus was on the 3 Grots. If the Free Peoples could kill those Grots, they would hold 2 of the enemy objectives and be able to raze them for bonus points, if not, the Destruction would run away with the victory. The General ordered the Handgunners to stand fast, while the Crossbowmen mounted the hill. The Grots however, were short and sneaky, hiding behind the much larger Ironguts. The Crossbowmen could only slay a single Grot, while the Generals pistol failed to wound. Would the Grots win the day? The Handgunners plonked away at the Ironguts, dealing massive damage laying 3 of them out. As it so happened though, both the Freeguild General and General on Griffon managed to slam into the Grots. The Freeguild General, leading his forces, got the job done, slaying the 2 Grots. Finally it would come down to how much bonus supply could be gathered from the Destruction objectives. The dice were rolled, and in total the D3's came up as 3 and 1, meaning the Free Peoples would get a total of 6 points, bringing them up to 16 points to Destruction's 15. Victory to the Free Peoples The end of the game, the Free Peoples had snatched the victory at the final hour Wow, what an amazing first game. It was excitingly close. Losing one of my side objectives first turn was devestating, as it put me on the back foot from the start in terms of victory points. Still, I managed to claw it back right at the end of the game. Definitely some things I bought away from this game is that with my Great Company, and even having only 2 home objectives, I felt it would've been difficult to manage both keeping my own objectives while engaging the enemy. I badly misplaced my Gryph-Hound (Which was essentially useless in this matchup), and should've kept him on my far objective, freeing up the Pistoliers to go do some work. I also think it was a mistake to have all my fast stuff on one flank (Especially given the point I just mentioned). My opponent held one of his objectives with just his single Grot Warboss, a faster unit on that flank could've given my opponent more grief, potentially muddling up his battleplan even more. Putting both my cannons close by as well was also a huge mistake. I knew there was definitely the possibility of him going around the back rather than smashing into my lines with the Frostlord, and should've separated the cannons to stop them both going down in one shot from the Frostlord. I also didn't split my fire with the Crossbowmen efficiently enough at one stage during the game. I probably could've killed both the Frostlord and Tyrant with the Crossbowmen, but instead focussed more fire on the Tyrant which overkilled him, while the Stonehorn was left on 3 wounds. It didn't make a difference in the end, but something to keep in mind in future. Overall though, great game to kick off GHB 2017 with. Looking forward to getting more games done in future!

I think there's enough room to squeeze in one more release. Deathguard may only go for 2 weeks, and it's possible Admech may also land in the last week of Deathguard releases (It's not going to have any models attached to it, so not reason it couldn't slot in), you've got early-mid October to play around with before the Specialist Games bonanza kicks in. Shadespire is likely to be released/pre-order last weekend of October. No idea how the 'expansions' are gonna land, could be as simple as one every week throughout November, or just dump them all on us the week after. So plausibly, the release dates could look something like Aug 26 - GHB 2 Sep 2 - Blightware Sep 9 - Firestorm Sep 16 - Deathguard week 1 (40k Codex 4) Sep 23 - Deathguard week 2 Sep 30 - Deathguard week 3 + Admech (40k Codex 5) Oct 7 - ??? Oct 14 - ??? Oct 21 - ??? + Bloodbowl Elves Oct 28 - Shadespire Nov 4 - Shadespire expansion races Nov 11 - 40k Codex x2 (40 Codexes 6 and 7) Nov 18 - Necromunda Nov 25 - Necromunda Extra Dec 2 - Army bundles, terrain, 40k Codex (40k Codex 8) Dec 9 - 2x 40k Codex (40k Codexes 9 and 10) Dec 16 - Chapter Approved Dec 23 - Dunno, some small stuff? May be something like Made to Order or something. Personally I don't think we're going to see many new 40k models this year other than Deathguard. Necromunda will scratch the itch in some ways for 40k players, and probably save some new race for January release.

I really like what they've done with the Blightwar box. Love the idea of the 'VS' box series, I think it makes more sense to go that way in future than to do more Realmgate War stuff for now. This means you get the fluff behind these little side conflicts taking place in various regions of the mortal wounds. I also love both the character models and the fact you get the Vanguard Chamber stuff, hopefully it comes at a decent discount (Or at least, it being a boxed set means I can pick stuff up from UK resellers cheaper than AUD). The stuff I'm not sure about though is putting the Nurgle allegiance ability inside the box. This is the kinda thing which there really should be a battletome for, and does make me wonder if we're actually not getting a proper Nurgle release anytime soon. Will have to wait and see, but I dislike needing to buy a box of miniatures (especially a combo box with stuff outside your faction) to get stuff key to your faction.

I think you'll find it's a lot less than that. They seem to be starring stuff that got Massive Regiment bonus as well (Gors, Bestigors and Ungors all didn't change in points, but got Massive Regiment bonus). So it is a change... but not necessarily a straight up change to points. Also what's interesting is that Skirmish predictions keep on track. Great Bray Shaman dropped to 90 points, which is what Skirmish Renown was back calculated as... Sorry Sylvaneth fans, it's looking more and more likely your Kurnoths are going up!

It's basically what it should've been in the first place. All attack profiles have half damage. It's just GW ruled it that way for quickness of the game I guess. It does make me wonder whether or not we should be expecting warscroll updates though. Little things like that, and the Dispossessed/Slaves to Darkness Allegiance Abilities crossing over with existing rules on battalions/warscrolls make me wonder. Probably not high in likelihood, the Rogue Idol only has digital rules after all (So they can do whatever they want basically), but does make me wonder.

Sorry to clarify. I meant that these kind've 'army boxes' usually come out around Christmas time, while the boxes we're being told about now are clearly not Christmas releases.

Wow, talk about information overload over night. Went to bed finding out about Blightguard and listening to some talk about the Hobby Battle Companies, wake up and find out we're getting a new map based campaign set and some 'army' sets. What's surprising to me though, is the timing feels a little wonky. This kinda stuff usually comes out around December, where they want to put out some army sets for the holiday shoppers. Additionally, GW are burning through a lot of 'supplementary' content pretty fast, we've had Skirmish, Path to Glory, and now a map-based campaign in Firestorm coming up. Makes me wonder if next year we'll keep a fully blown Siege warfare supplement and something else will take it's place in the GHB. As to the boxed sets themselves. I'm a little mixed. I actually like the little mixed factions, and that both sides have a hero and units (and the Stormcast are supplementary). It fits how it should be, that the Stormcast supplement the defenders of the free cities and not the other way around. On the other hand, they may not be super great boxes if you don't want the Stormcast. The Free Peoples box especially, everyone has Liberators (and most likely a Castellant) as they've been out the longest (and the Libs are in the starter set). It just feels like these boxes would be nicer as larger sets focussing on a particular faction (or faction-group with Dispossessed comboing with Ironweld Arsenal and Free Peoples comboing with Collegiate Arcane) than requiring the Stormcast. Seems like we're almost over the release drought that was 40k, and could definitely be looking at a lot of content coming our way in the next few months.

For the record, I'm not suggesting that the books don't have value. They have tremendous value! and I certainly wouldn't want to do away with them. I just don't feel that printing the points inside them is a value add. Perhaps I am in the minority (Although, I suspect that going into the future, I'll likely become the majority at some point!), but the points is my least looked at section in the Generals Handbook. The day the GHB came out, I plonked all that stuff into a google docs spreadsheet so I had access to it wherever I am. Additionally, Warscroll Builder is a great tool that I frequently use for similar things, looking up points and designing lists. So the points side of things aren't really what I'd buy a battletome for. I'd buy a battletome for the artwork, the fluff, the cool pictures of models on battlefields. That's where the real work goes into a battletome and why they can't just churn out a book every week. The warscrolls and points, I just prefer dealing with them digitally. And I can definitely understand that for some people, they'd just prefer a physical product. So I don't begrudge GW for printing points in their books. But I do think some time in the future they'll need to get digital properly. All it would take is having to put up with something like Skyfires for a year I reckon

Personally I think it's appalling what they did with the Indices in 40k. On hey guys, grab the indices, you'll need them to play! Oh, just kidding, we've got a new Marine dex coming for you in 3 weeks time and half the content in the indices are going to be out of date in 6 months time. Sometimes I'm pretty glad I play AoS, at least we get all the warscrolls for free. That being said, I don't mind points becoming obsolete in the battletomes. Personally I feel the same, that keeping them digital is the best. Not only does it mean they can update them all in one place, but potentially they could decide to change points outside their regular cycle if certain warscrolls become an issue *cough*Skyfires*cough*. That being said, if they're deadset on printing them, then it's just something you'll have to live with that in up to 12 months time the points in your battletome may become obsolete.

He was saying that between 4 kits, you can build 2 shrines and 2 cauldrons. So you're both right, you can't buy both, but he wasn't saying you can (Just that each kit has the option of being built as one or the other).

I guess to clarify my point. I have no issues with the content of the box. If I had to make an allies set out of the Slaves to Darkness range, I think they chose pretty good models (Even if it's basically the same as the Start Collecting, just swapping Warriors + Sorcerer Lord for a Chariot). What I guess feels odd, is that Slaves to Darkness are already a range that can be integrated into different Chaos gods easily, or on their own, they're a pretty decent sized faction. On the other hand, all the other allies sets, are for factions that are more auxillary in nature or smaller factions like Spiderfang and Daughters. I think this largely comes from the more auxillary and smaller factions in Chaos just don't have the plastic product range to make an interesting Allies set. A lot of the Skaven clans are mainly just infantry sets (and other than Verminus, pretty ugly and old). Thunderscorn only has one plastic kit and probably would've been a bit too similar to the Warherd set. Maybe you could create a Monsters of Chaos set, either double Slaughterbrute/Mutalix or one and a Chimera? Dunno, that's just to me why it feels a little out of place. If I'm a Chaos Player and I think allies, I'm probably not thinking "Cool, I can bring in some Slaves to Darkness to supplement my force" - because you can likely already do that just by marking them your factions god.

I think in general, GW tends to do these things in sets. The theme of these sets is obviously Allies, and they obviously wanted 2 kits for each Grand Alliance. I think they also wanted to put in some of the more interesting kits as allies, as you're generally not going to take plain old troops in your allies slot. Lastly, kills 2 birds with 1 stone to give some of the more minor factions some love with some combo kits. That being said, Slaves to Darkness feels like the odd pick in this case (Already having a Start Collecting, being a fairly mainstream army). Not that the kit isn't interesting, but I think it shows that the more auxillary factions for Chaos don't really have enough depth in their plastic range to support an allies box. It could be a sign that in future, the races that got allegiance abilities like Free Peoples, Wanderers, Darkling Covens, Brayherds, etc might be next in line to get a Start Collecting, to further promote them as 'proper' factions. But who knows when that will happen, as some of them suffer from a Start Collecting Set probably containing every plastic kit in their range or doubling up on kits (Something GW has yet to do in any of the Start Collecting sets). Interestingly, I think in Australia the Daughters box will fall below the Start Collecting price point. The two kits individually add up to $150AUD, while currently all Start Collecting sets in Australia are $140AUD. So I'd personally be predicting in Aus that the kit will come in around $110AUD.

So interestingly, there is only one set that current comes in above 400 points. That being the Venom Clan boxed set, coming in at 480 points. I don't know much about Spiderfang, but if we take it that all sets should be 400 or less (Allies in standard games), then I think potentially we could see Spider Riders drop to 80 for 5 or 160 for 10 (Depending on how GW pushes their box set = min size agenda) and the Arachnarok comes down to 240. Alternatively,t he Arachnarok could drop a ton (or different prices for different variants), but 80 points is a lot to drop. I think that's a pretty good guess. I would fathom they indicated they all come in 'around' 400 points is because a few of the sets under GHB1 points come in at less. Overall, loving the fact we're going to get more discounted boxed sets more than anything. As long as the value is good, I think these are all excellent combinations to add as products. It also solves the dilemna for some factions, where a Start Collecting Box would likely need to double up on kits or provide all the kits in the range, something GW doesn't seem to be very keen on doing. For example, Daughters of Khaine. A Start Collecting set for them would likely need to double up on a Witch Elf set, or provide the Doomfire Warlocks and hence have every kit in their range. This boxed set avoids that, by not marketing itself as a Start Collecting, but hopefully providing pretty good value none the less. Good to finally get confirmation about the Handbook release date, also going to be interesting to see what kind of tokens and the like they have for the Warlords Edition. I got burned a bit by buying into all that stuff in 8th edition (Most of it still sitting around unopened), so going to be a bit wary this time around and make sure that it's going to be useful for my games. Overall, bring on GHB2017!

Bloodbowl definitely was the first thing that came to mind when I saw that rumour image. I reckon the Elven Union team is a pretty good fit based on the image above.

I imagine Stormcast as those who essentially most of the time are in their armour. Like they stroll around the keeps, castles, etc in full armour, always ready in case needing to be called into action. Hence, the only times they might be outside their armour would be for feasts, sleeping (although during war, might even sleep in their armour) and showering. I would imagine when they are outside their armour, they wear pretty plain stuff for the most part. Perhaps the more 'noble' ones like Tempest Lords might fancy a bit of a dress up with the latest fashion. Otherwise I see them more like monks, pretty plain, boring clothes, as they have no real need to have wordly desires as their primary purpose is to fight in Sigmar's name.

The High Warden is a bit too large and powerful of a model to be using in Skirmish so I would not suggest using him. For the record, in the official Skirmish book, Games Workshop didn't add any models that had a renown of over 30. The High Warden would come in at 44 renown. I would suggest instead using the High Elf Archmage from that set as the Leader of the Warband. The other alternative if you really want to use the model is to use both the Rules and Renown for the Glade Lord on Great Eagle. This may cause confusion though, as you wouldn't be using the actual High Warden rules.

Forgeworld are an interesting problem. In theory, quite a lot of the Forgeworld stuff slots in quite nicely into the Age of Sigmar. But the problem is they haven't been rebranded, they're all just using legacy names and hence they feel 'compendium' and 'old world' like. I wish in some ways, I wish they'd just migrate over Tamurkhan's Horde and Legion of Azgorth into AoS proper. Either drop the keywords for Tamurkhan's (There's gonna be a NURGLE allegiance at some point anyway), or create some new faction for them to fall under. Same thing for Legion of Azgorth, lose the old world faction and create a new one. Invest a bit of effort into creating a place for these two factions to exist in the Age of Sigmar, just like Games Workshop did for all the other factions they currently sell. Lastly, either lose the special characters or better yet, make them generic. All factions need leaders, they just don't need leaders from the Old World. At the moment, both just feel a little out of place, exactly like you're playing an Old World army in the new game. We know they can fit in (Just like we know Brettonians and Tomb Kings can fit in), but we also know they're a bit out of place running around with characters from the Old World.

You're probably right, I believe they've said it will be released in August. Historically I've found GW tend to get a bit confused over pre-order and release. With them hyping up what ultimately just becomes a date when you can pre-order something, as opposed to when you can actually get your hands on something. So hopefully they're specific about it being released in August.

Hmm interesting, I originally missed the 'profiles' part of the update, which led to me being pretty disappointed. I guess that means in future GW will tighten up their rules writing instead of outright banning stacking. You don't need a specific global rule if it's written into each rule itself. Good to know that the Compendium isn't being left behind in terms of points. This doesn't rule out them putting at the front of the document that they're there for friendly matched play but not usable in tournaments. Most impressed to be honest that they're giving official answers to these questions. Good to clear up where the Compendium stands given people were a bit worried due to the lack of pages in the GHB. Based on todays update, where they mentioned we're going to get a look an indepth look at Order this Friday (Similar to Death last Friday), we can project that potentially they will follow the pattern with Destruction and Chaos the following two weeks (11th and 18th). Which would mean we can probably predict that it goes up for Pre-order on the 19th or 26th. This probably makes sense with the Fate of Konor campaign going on. That'll end up being week 5 or 6 that it ends up being released on, right near the tail end of the campaign. So it won't detract too much from Konor, and it'll get everyone pumped to be getting into AoS right after it's over.

Thanks for the comment Davariel, interesting thoughts also. Here are some of my thoughts on your thoughts below! I've said it before, but the Grand Alliance books IMO were both a blessing and a curse. It gave us all these additional factions, and fluff for Age of Sigmar, but it didn't really do anything to make the game better. If anything, for some players (like High Elves), it made it worse. In regards to recombining them. I think for the Dark Elves, I do agree, which is why I think Darkling Covens and Order Serpentis make logical sense together. Shadowblades I would merge in as well, as I don't think they'll ever be expanded upon. I think the other Dark Elf factions (Daughters, Privateers) can stand on their own though, with a unique aesthetic and theme behind them. The High Elves I don't necessarily agree though, because when they transitioned them they purged the 'core' of the High Elven race. That's why the High Elves are in an odd spot, because they don't have a common place to goto to be the 'bridging' faction, as the units that previously did that (Spearmen, Archers) are all legacy Highborn now. So to me preferably, it's the High Elves that actually need a lot of love soon out of any of the factions in the game. While I hate Stormcast stealing the Aesthetics of the other factions, I think it'd probably resolve alright. Order Draconis could ride on proper proper Dragonlings (With wings), or infantry versions of the Dragonblades I think would look really cool, because the most distinctive thing about the Order Draconis isn't necessarily the Dragons, but their Dragon armour. No idea what GW were thinking by stealing the Lion Ranger aesthetic for the Vanguard Chamber. Honestly, I'm just not really sure where they can go with the Lion Rangers. I suppose the much desired Lion Cavalry makes sense. I think Lion Rangers struggle a bit because the Lion is also a strong motif in the Stormcast. I think the Scourge Privateers will come out alright. There's definitely the links with the sea beasts with the Cthulu stuff incoming, but I think the Privateers are one of those forces which are interesting to build a small force around. I don't necessarily think every faction has to be interesting enough to build a 2000 point army for, it's just currently none of the Aelf factions (bar perhaps Wanderers) are interesting enough to build an army for. But back to that point on building a small force. I think the game needs smaller factions also, the ones that are more interesting to play small games or start a Skirmish force. Where they might have heroes/units appear in fiction. The types of factions that you can use as allies. I love that Scourge Privateers showed up in City of Secrets for example, but I don't necessarily know how to expand the faction to make it a worthwhile '2000 point' army faction. That being said, I think most factions should be able to built into a proper army if the collector so chooses choose. So not so happy with where Lion Rangers currently are, especially since it could've been remedied by keeping the Korhil model around and just making him a generic Hero for Lion Rangers. So most if not all factions should both have battleline and hero units at minimum apart from factions that are clearly designed to be auxillary factions (Ironweld Arsenal and Collegiate Arcane for example). I did write something about the Sisters initially. I don't particularly mind that they're in the Wanderers, but I do think they'd fit better elsewhere. My preference is actually in the Swifthawk Agents or Eldritch Council. In Swifthawk, they would be the guardians of sacred places (While the Shadow Warriors wage the undercover wars). My favourite is actually putting them in the Eldritch Council. Obviously their arrows are magical, and I think they could present the Eldritch Council as a gathering of those who use the Elements in various ways to fight against Chaos. The Swordmasters being non-magical warrior monks. The Sisters being matriarchical fire wielding archers. It would give an interesting way to evolve that faction in future, with other elemental themed units. I don't necessarily like Phoenix Temple like you suggest, only because other than fire, there's not really anything to link them. No phoenix motifs or iconography, which I find to be a strong part of the Phoenix Temple Aesthetic (and hence, wouldn't want to dilute it). For a similar reason, I wouldn't put them in Order Draconis (dilutes the aesthetic). Eldritch Council and Swifthawks on the other hand don't have a hugely unique Aesthetic to dilute in the first place.

My guess for allies would be, that in general those who are allies are going to be akin to 'battle brothers', armies that regularly fight in cooperation with each other. So for Free Peoples, I would presume the other human races and probably Stormcast. But not sure if we'll see Duardin or Aelves as 'allies'. I don't think Grand Alliance armies are going anywhere. I think they're there to represent when you've got a variety of forces coming to a common cause. While for allies, there's enough critical mass of one particular army, that essentially the force 'operates' like a Dispossessed or Flesh-Eater Courts army, and the allies just go along with the flow letting them be in charge. For example, if we had a Free Peoples army with some Stormcast allies, my assumption would be that the Free Peoples are essentially in charge, and the Stormcast are only minimal in numbers, been sent by Sigmar to aid the force. On the other hand, if the force was 50/50 Free Peoples/Stormcast, neither force is really in charge, so they operate more as a cooperation of forces rather than one being in charge.

I think it's more an inclination that the High and Dark Aelf sub-factions other than the Darkling Covens are just too small to be meaningful enough to make an allegiance ability for. Same goes for Devoted of Sigmar. Many of these factions have very interesting themes and strong powerful identities. You could easily make Allegiance Abilities for them, but I guess they're waiting to develop these into more rounded factions rather than commiting to creating Allegiance Abilities for them now. One could hope that perhaps they're getting battletomes in the next year, but I don't know if I'd hold my breath for that.

So all I'll say is, perhaps my points wasn't clear enough. I like what they are trying to do, but the execution has been lacking. Maybe the direction has changed, but certainly they haven't communicated that with us. I also don't think Path to Glory proves anything in terms of what GW is going to do with older factions. Any faction that doesn't have a battletome was rolled into a larger grouping. Skaven clans were lumped under Skaven apart from Pestilens which has a battletome. All of Death was lumped under Death apart from Flesh-Eater Courts which, again, has a battletome. The only faction that wasn't lumped into another was Slaves to Darkness, as I guess, they can represent any of the Chaos Gods. We already know that Nighthaunts are getting their own allegiance abilities in GHB2, a faction that in Path to Glory was lumped under Death. So yeah, I don't think we should be jumping up and shouting at GW just yet. It's also important to recall, that Games Workshop have actually migrated some of the legacy factions into the Age of Sigmar. They've done so with Seraphon, Flesh-Eater Courts, Sylvaneth, Beastclaw Raiders and Bonesplitterz. 3 of those (4 if you count Flesh Eaters) were done after the Grand Alliance books came out. Many of those were no-model releases, which is disappointing in some respects, but Games Workshop have been transitioning legacy armies. We just tend to forget. I suspect that we're both a bit right. Games Workshop probably are never going to give some of the factions in the Grand Alliance books any love. I think they'll pick and choose the things they are interested in working on. They obviously want to do a lot of new stuff, but I think they'll also choose some older stuff as well.

Personally, if it were up to me, I would've split the Tomb Kings into two factions. Desert Princes : Tomb King, Liche Priest, Tomb Herald, Royal Warsphinx, Casket of Souls, Tomb Guard, Skeleton Chariots, Necropolis Knights, War Sphinx Architects of Death: Necrotect, Ushabti, Sepulchral Stalkers, Necrosphinx Kill the Skeleton Warriors, Skeletal Horsemen, Carrion, Bone Giant, Tomb Swarm, Tomb Scorpion kits. That way you have two very clear factions, the Tomb Kings and their servants as well as the ones who make the statues of war. I actually think both factions are kind've interesting, where the Desert Princes are basically done and dusted while the Architects of Death can be added onto later on. But if I had to say, I think Games Workshop didn't want another faction primarily based on Skeleton Warriors. Even if those Warriors are quite different (Elite Warriors, Chariots, Snake Riders, Sphinxes) to the Deathrattle ones (Warriors, Horsemen, Elite Warriors). And perhaps the idea of Skeleton Legions being led by Tomb Kings just isn't that much different than Skeleton Warriors being led by Barrow Kings. I do think it's such a shame, I'd be pretty tempted by a Tomb Kings list like that I reckon. Don't need to collect the old drudgy Skeleton models, you just get to make a list out of the best models in the range.