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Introduction One of the things I really like about the latest Warhammer 40,000 releases for 'The Gathering Storm' is the idea of a Triumvirate. This was a word I had not heard before and as well as sounding very cool I also liked the meaning behind it: I have also recently been thinking about backstory writing for my Age of Sigmar mixed Order army, and as I recently finished my third centre-piece model for the army (A Freeguild General on Griffon), it seemed the perfect chance to add my own "Triumvirate" into my army. The Roots of the Story: When Age of Sigmar first came out, I put together a backstory for my army called 'Siegfried's Desperados'. I had a blog on Dakkadakka which was quite popular at the time, perhaps because it was one of the safe havens away from the heat the game was getting from some disgruntled veterans (especially on Dakkadakka). You can check out the thread here if you are interested: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/663727.page To summerise, the initial background I created for my army was that they were a mercenary outfit (called the 'Desperados') operating out of Azyrheim. I wanted to add a bit more grey and a bit more low fantasy into the backstory (as it was something Age of Sigmar didn't really have at the time), so I came up with some hooks and ideas of the dark side of aelven society in Azyrheim (lots of intrigue and assassinations among the nobles), the ideas of slums in the city, and that a mercenary outfit might employ a necromancer in their ranks. This was also an excuse to add in Aelves, Duardin and even Death into my army which was all a lot of fun to play with before the General's Handbook came out. But since the General's Handbook came out the narrative and story behind my army has taken the backseat. I have been focusing a lot more on Matched play and my narrative outlet has been with Hinterlands. As the recently finished Freeguild General on Griffon was meant to be Siegfried Stormhart once more, I thought it would be fun to update the story of the Desperados, and so the Triumvirate was born. The Triumvirate of Mistmire; Master Geppetto, Siegfried Stormhart and the alchemist, Massym Al-Izzar Creating a Triumvirate: I want to throw out the question to all of you, what cool Triumvirates could you add into your collection? All you would need are the following: 1. 3 Cool Models 2. A Cool Story that connects them For me, I had my 3 Centrepieces. The Griffon, the Steamtank and the Hurricanum. I wanted them to have some sort of purpose other than being in an army together, so I decided to bring back the old Necromancer I used to run in the Desperados pre-GHB. He goes by the name 'Cornacaprious'. I decided that he has since betrayed the Desperados, and has resurrected an ancient vampire (with the title of the "Blood Queen"). This gives me a reason to finally paint my Neferata model and also gives the triumvirate a goal to accomplish (they of course seek to kill both the Necromancer and the Blood Queen). So with the scene set, I put together a 4 pages as if they were from a campaign book and detailed my Triumvirate of Mistmire. I would love to hear what you think, but more importantly I hope this inspires you all to go off and create a Triumvirate for one of your armies too. My Triumvirate:

@Barteth sure so, I will say I don't play what I consider "min maxed" Hinterlands lists and they all come from my collection as it's something I get to do with my bros when I invite them over. The most notorious was my brother's Fellwater Troggoth (named 'Fish') that got 2 wound advancements after its first game (after getting a long charge and taking my Wizard out the game). That thing was a nightmare for me and my (other) brother to get rid of, with 6 wounds and healing D3 back every turn. In the first game I had tried to take it out with my Wizard but an unlucky casting roll saw that plan fall apart lol. My other brother had a good run with his Spirit Host later that day against the Moonclan Grots before being taken out over 2 turns by the Grot Shaman. We play with loads of big LOS blocking pieces (2 large buildings, a solid rock face, 40k 3rd Ed Ruins and a spaced out Gardens of Morr) and also lots of large cover pieces (3 large forests) which make cover saves common. Big scary things (The River Troll, the Spirit Host, the Skull Reaper) are able to hide out of sight before they launch up into your grill. If any of those in particular get +wounds after the first game they become even tougher. Not that they were breaking our games, just a fun piece that required Mortal Wounds to take it down reliably and we never had access to many MWs too. No doubt our warbands would get destroyed by a Heraldor + Lord Celestant combo. @Double Misfire Yeah I frequent the Bristol store where the staff all used to be the Bath staff, so they mentioned it to me!

I've just re-read your feedback from back then and you call out Pink Horrors and Lord Celestant a good 5 months before they became the hot issue they are today. You should be out winning tournaments with your incredible farsight, or is it a 'with great power comes great responsibility' type thing

Lots of great input. Here are some more of my thoughts: It is important to remember the purpose Mortal Wounds serve in the game from a mechanics perspective (I.e. They are a hard counter to models with high armour saves). It is also important to note that knee-****** changes can swing the meta of a game in wild and unpredictable ways, meaning small tweaks and gentle adjustments are better. For those reasons I am against taking out Mortal Wounds entirely. I haven't found them to be problematic at all in low numbers (I.e a single Wizard with Arcane Bolt) and in fact they have been crucial tools in the game for dealing with that one high wound model that's chopping through your Warband. I don't want to penalise Warbands who only have access to D3 Mortal Wounds a turn because for me the problem only arises when a Warband can generate high volumes of them. For example the Heraldor and Celestant combo which can get you up to 9. That's why I am in favour of some sort of cap at 3 and then subsequently either being negated totally or weakened substantially. edit - look what it censored haha

Thanks for the discussion everyone really insightful! Yeah the Lord Celestant is proving to be the new filth. I have had some PMs about his strength too. It seems to me the most problematic things that crop up in Hinterlands are always to do with Mortal Wounds and I think the next rules update is going to need to tackle that. From Heraldors to Celestants to Pink Horrors it always seems to be about a Warband having an unseemly amount of Mortal Wounds that just obliterates the other Warband. This is the rule I am leaning towards, it is a second Rule of Three: Only 3 Mortal Wounds per turn inflicted by the player can bypass the enemy's Save Characteristic. The player may choose which Mortal Wounds do so, all other Mortal Wounds inflicted by the player can have saves made against them and count as having rend '-'. Thoughts behind the rule: It's another "Rule of Three" and so feels familiar to the player. It curtails heavy use of Mortal Wounds but has no effect on a Warband running a single Wizard and no other access to Mortal Wounds. Possible downsides are 1. It is an extra rule and deviation from the standard rules. 2. It makes armour stronger. Reading the above, while I wouldn't want to ban heroes as I made Hinterlands especially to fit them in! Maybe the amount you can take should be restricted further. If we limited Heroes to 1 for every 3 models total it would stop some of the more broken starting builds (looking at you, Stormcast!) While I am here, I might as well mention the last rules tweak I had planned and that was to change the starting experience. All non-heroes will start with experience based on their wounds, so a 1 wound model will start at level 1 and a 2 wound model at level 2, etc. So those are the changes in the works. What are people's thoughts and comments on them? I also wanted to ask if you would rather the rules patch came out sooner, or later. I have got much more exciting content for Version 3 in the works, but it won't be ready till the summer. I had planned to release the rules tweaks with version 3 as I am conscious that people won't want to constantly redownload the book - if, however the most active players would appreciate these amendments, I can release a version 2.2 much sooner. Looking forward to hearing from you all. Edit: Thinking about the Mortal Wound rule more. What about just a flat out restriction to 3 Mortal Wounds a turn and no further can be generated? It's super simple and no-nonsense. I've been playtesting the above version, but this might be a lot more straightforward.

Sounds great! If you're happy to share you could post your modifications here. You're 100% right that the rules were made to be as easy to modify and tailor as possible

Glad to hear you are having fun! (And thanks for the tweet today), I look forward to seeing your feedback. Players have been sending through lots of feedback recently that is all really useful (and will hopefully guide the changes for version 3 in the future)

What a fantastic looking Warband! Glad to hear they have met success too!

There will be a Hinterlands cameo hopefully at RAW17 (at least a game, amidst all the narrative mayhem!) and there might be Friday Night Hinterlands at BLACKOUT. So if you can make it to either of those events it should be fun!

Welcome to the forum, and here is definitely the right place to leave feedback. It's me who made the rules, but all the changes for version 2 we informed by the amazing feedback the community gave, and I've already received lots of feedback on version 2 which is informing the changes for the next update (which I am thinking of releasing over the summer). So let me know what you find and hopefully your group will have lots of fun along the way!

Reading through this month's White Dwarf I notice "Grotbag Scutterlers" are referenced 3 or 4 times. Do we think the ST gribbles are getting a full release in the not too distant future?

Incredible work Steve! So from reading your comments you were able to do to the bulk of painting just from rattle cans and then tidied up, did some final highlights and then the gold trim to complete it? I am always intrigued by these approaches because I haven't yet invested in an airbrush, so being able to do it with rattle cans is intriguing. Where they all GW brand, or were some from another brand?

This is amazing to hear! I hope every catches the AoS bug through Hinterlands. Its a great excuse to start real small and have loads of fun!

Great question. This has been asked a couple of times now so I will update the FAQ to include the answer too. The rule is meant to be played that Heroes do not begin with any advancement rolls. The idea is they already have superior abilities and the 50 experience represents that making them level up slower than regular models. The rule I am considering (and play testing now) for a future update is that models (regardless of the hero keyword) start with experience based on their wounds profile. I am conscious that currently elite non-hero models such as Kurnoth Hunters are favoured due to the way the rule works.

Shadespire looks intriguing. Female Stormcast!!!!! I'm going to get into this game so much. Seems like the sorta thing I could play in a lunch break, and as one of my colleagues is an avid warhammer fan too, it sounds perfect! If we get a set of unqiue sculpts for the factions, and if the minis are of the same scale/quality, it will be a must buy for most AoS players too!

In my opinion this is fantastic idea perhaps if you made a set campaign pack you could create battalions that allow for a bit of wiggle-room and give a bonus that is themed around the story. I really like the battalions from the Campaign books that do this too. This is expansion material in my opinion and not for the core rules, but it is an awesome idea! I want to do some source books or 'campaign modules' at a later date and will definitely be incorporating this idea into mine. i had thought originally to do this as a "battletrait" but doing it as a warscroll battalion will look much cooler in my opinion. If someone makes something cool with this, let me know so I can stick it in the OP!