Clan's Cynic

Knights of the Realm On Foot are 'new' insofar as they weren't a thing in the 6th Edition Army Book (though appeared in older editions). Elisse Duchaard is also a new character. I think that's it modelwise, sans updated sculpts. With this being done by the Forge World team, there's probably going to be some things which get rules, but won't automatically receive models. Horus Heresy and Necromunda probably being the most prominent examples of this. The Grand Army of Bretonnia already mentioned Squires and Sergeants At Arms. It's also been noted that the Arcane Journal lists Cecil Gastonne and Yeoman Guards, as well as Border Princes Brigands, Bombards and Outcast Wizards, which we haven't seen yet either.

Good news, the Core Sets are confirmed to be sticking around.

Confirmation the 'Core Sets' will be sticking around.

GW probably constitute confirmation of TOW's pre-order as the big reveal.

Pre-order next Saturday (January 6th). Oh and Artillery Dice yet live.

The Old World up for pre-order next week. Also lists what Tomb King and Bretonnian stuff will be returning. Most importantly:

He plays an Oompa Loompa in the new Wonka film.

Might be something TOW, since the rumour is it'll be going up for pre-order next Saturday and they'd be announcing that tomorrow. Although I'll take anything which isn't another bloody Dark Angel.

We need something to talk about with the lack of rumours and it's fun to grumble.

There was no way Johnny and Ron weren't going to be #1 and #2 but I was expecting an AoS model to slide into third place. But looking at what people were voting for here, I think there were just too many good models that split the vote heavily, which is an excellent 'problem' to have.

Mini of the Year results are in and they're not a surprise; disappointing, but not surprising.

Dwarfs Plastic - Slayers. They're the only infantry unit which didn't receive a plastic kit (except Rangers) and presumably the CAD exists due to the Dragon Slayer releasing with 8th. They have however shown a photo with the old metals, repainted at that, so maybe this is just a fool's hope (or they're deliberately being sheepish about revealing them yet). Plastic - Anvil of Doom. Thorek Ironbrow's model was ancient and it's never had a 'generic' version in model form. The Dwarfs have never done big centrepieces and I think this would serve as an appropriate middle ground. Resin - Dwarf Lord with Shieldbearers. I could possibly see this being plastic instead of the Anvil of Doom, but ultimately, it is just two dudes holding aloft a third one. The other metal/Finecrap Lords were otherwise pretty modern sculpts and have aged fairly well, plus we've already seen several of them used for TOW photographs. The Shieldbearer is a very iconic Warhammer Dwarf thing, so I'm 100% convinced we'll see a new one in some form. Resin - Ranger/Hero. The Engineers and Runesmiths may be getting their old sculpts reused and we know from the Grand Army of Bretonnia that they've come up with new Lords and Heroes. A Ranger Hero (or even Lord) seems like an obvious new inclusion that would justify a model to boot. Resin - Named female Queen. Call it a hunch.

I disagree just because the Age of Darkness box is very difficult to split due to the inherent points/money imbalance of the Spartan and Contemptor. It definitely feels like it was designed as an Army Box-first, with some marketing handwaving of "yeah you can split it if you want, I guess..." As a set for one person to consume for themselves alone, it works much better and probably what GW expected most people to do with it. We'll find it either way in a week or two.

They followed up on that starter miscommunication from WarhammerFest, in that they apparently don't classify Age of Darkness or the Legions Imperialis Core Set as 'starters' either, because the assumption is people getting into those games are not 'starting' hobbyists. To GW, a starter set is very specifically the three tier boxes that only 40k and AoS have (Warrior -> Harbinger -> Extremis, etc), which is what they meant when they said "TOW won't have a starter set", even though most people would definitely classify Age of Darkness - and the Bretonnia/TK set - as being such.

Age of Darkness and the Legions Imperialis Core Sets both include the big rulebook, but aren't temporary/limited. Both of them are also from the Forge World team.

They're front and centre of the updated TOW site, which would strongly suggest they're not FOMO boxes. Nothing 100% confirmed yet though, I believe.

40k only got a Teaser Video yesterday too. TOW presumably got a bunch of reveals because it's close to launch. Maybe they'll do a Preview for New Years Day, but that seems unlikely if they've not talked about it yet. Standard New Model Monday maybe? Then LVO on the 18th.

Definitely Callis and Toll in there. Clearly a Nighthaunt. Warcry warband maybe? The Chaos 'Knight' from the Advent Calendar. Lady of Ruin people theorised, was it?

Age of Sigmar "What's Coming?"

Interestingly one of the Border Princes characters is a Kislev Boyar. With them setting up the 'moshpit' of Border Princes as being one of the principal focuses of TOW, it's a good sign that Kislev is still on the cards for the future, albeit still some ways in the distance.

TOW is focusing on the literal Old World of Not!Europe initially, whereas the Ogre Kingdoms are off to the East. If I had to guess, Ogre Kingdoms will get the spotlight whenever the focus shifts to there and Cathay. Hopefully alongside Chaos Dwarfs. Ironically Ogres (alongside Dark Elves) are one of the most complete Fantasy ranges right now, with only the new Tyrant and Gorgers not being a leftover.

The only Army Sets being Bretonnia and Tomb Kings at launch is a bit so-so with me. I understand GW are usually loathe to drop everything at once, they're clearly awares of how little impulse control a lot of people in this hobby have when it comes to spending and presumably want to spread it out over a longer period. My issue is that a lot of potential Empire, High Elf, etc players are probably reading that article and going "Hmm... I'll just wait until [My Army] set drops and then get into it." I'm sure in the long-term that won't have much impact on the game, but in the short/medium term it's not great having a lot of people still sat on the fence waiting for their turn. I'm fortunate enough to still have my Dwarfs from before, so it's not much of an issue for me to just grab the two rulebooks and get started, but it's still not great for newer players. The presence of the rulebook in these boxes also disincentives people from just buying/painting models in the mean time, since none wants to be sat with a second £30 rulebook that you can only flip for like £5 on Ebay, or to have bought a collection and realise if they'd only waited a few months they could've got it all at a substantial discount. If Horus Heresy was any indication with how they did the Libers, it'll probably be another pair of armies every three months. Although the Liber Imperium and Liber Mechanicum didn't drop with any new models like TOW presumably will be, so maybe it'll end up longer.

It's almost certainly TOW and presumably Tomb Kings at that. From last week's rules preview: "There’s no Old World Almanack next Monday – it’s Christmas Day after all, but check in on the 26th for something of an off-white Christmas…"

Considering the popularity of Dark Angels - or rather, more Primaris - it probably does qualify as huge... just not for anybody who isn't into Space Marines, but we are something of a minority in that respect. Considering how many Rumour Engines aligned with them, I think they probably were always the intended reveal.

Kind of surprised it's Battle for Macragge and not Island of Blood and/or Battle for Skull Pass, considering we're not meant to be far from TOW.