Clan's Cynic

My guess is they'll come in a Destruction sourcebook if we ever get one of those, since they don't seem to hang out in human territories like some did in WHFB.

Vulkite Berserkers went up to 160pts without a bulk discount, which doesn't come as much of a shock. Looks like Heroes generally went up 10-20 points, with some exceptions.

No Unbinds/Dispells is really weird considering anti-magic has been a Dwarf thing forever and it's not as if they threw that theme away given Fyreslayers use prayers and not 'spells'.

Just lore today. That makes me concerned Magmadroths aren't really seeing any changes. I hope I'm proven wrong.

What I think we might see is Darkoath being rolled into Everchosen/Slaves to Darkness rather than the standalone, pure-Darkoath release a lot of us expected. More a copyrighted Marauder kit upgrade than a full blown army of them.

I was extremely deflated at the distinct lack of any new models at announcement - barring Endless Spells Prayers - but the potential for more elite, less blobby Fyreslayers has... ahem, rekindled my excitement. I'm also a sucker for faction-specific dice and as somebody who's regretted missing out on the old LotR rune dice, I'll snap these ones up.

With the Namarti box being cheaper than Vulkites and the Magmadroth no longer being available standalone, I feel like GW are consciously aware that they very much 'outpriced' a great deal of the potential Fyreslayer audience. That being said, I could see them trying to make them more elite by just overpricing everything points wise and not doing much else. I do however hope they actually took a look at the overall army and make them less spammy, more individually strong and more (points) expensive.

He was. You could buy him separately for a while, then he randomly vanished for some unexplained reason along with a couple of the other standalones. Considering the Darkoath Chieftain is still available I can only assume the molds broke or something.

I think GW always planned to add non-Chaos warbands. Do we really think for a moment GW could release a AoS product whilst resisting the urge to vomit Stormcast all over it and remind us that Stormcast exist and you should totally buy Stormcast guys, they're awesome. I do think this announcement is probably a kneejerk reaction to the negativity surrounded the lack of non-Chaos warbands however. I think the truth will come out depending on what form they actually take. If get get a White Dwarf/Community article about "here's FREE rules for using your AoS models as Warbands!" then, yeah, it was probably a stapled on job. We could also see them in a separate, paid supplement book that comes shortly after whilst the core game only includes the Chaos lot.

I can't say I'm not disappointed with the Fyreslayers. I think if there was any AoS-only (as in, not WHFB) army that needed a new release to go alongside of their updated Battletome, it was these guys. Granted, GW probably take Endless Spells(tm) to be that although the impression I get is the majority of people, including me, see them more as glorified tokens than proper units. The biggest hurdle for Fyreslayers to overcome when appealing to newcomers is that people quickly realise they're going to have to paint up 90+ identical, naked dwarfs, who are more expensive than other, newer infantry boxes (Deepkin) and go elsewhere. They definitely didn't need a new, one-off hero though, already swimming in them as they are, which is probably why we saw nothing like FEC and Skaven did. It's not so much the lack of new models right now that upsets me, it's that with us getting a new Battletome it all but confirms we won't see anything for at least a year. At least the forge spell model looks great. I really like the Slaanesh kits though. They have a nice exoticness to them without being (too) over the top.

I'll be content with it being Chaos-only so long as we get a Chaos Dwarf Warband.

For me it's a question of longevity. With 'mainline' Games Workshop releases of armies that aren't minor ones (Sisters of Silence, Inquisition, etc) you generally know you're safe in going ahead with that army. They're going to get rules updates at some point, they're probably going to get new models in a few years, they're very unlikely to end up squat'ed (I'm saying this without a shred of irony on an Age of Sigmar forum of all places mind you). Forge World armies just don't have that same guarantee. Chances are they'll receive rules at launch and then anything after that - especially going into future editions - is a very big gamble. Will they ever receive new releases? Will their rules be updated? Will those rules actually be good and not nigh-on unplayable (see: Renegades & Heretics in 8th)? I loved Chaos Dwarfs, I loved Renegades and Heretics, but I couldn't justify the risk when I'd already be paying more than a 'mainline GW' army I'd know I was probably safe with going into the future. It's an easier pill to swallow when it's one off, large models that either act as centre pieces, can be proxied or - at worst - you can swallow a £150 model being 'worthless' in a few years so long as it still looks good on the shelf.

I think it comes down to the question of if GW are willing to expand upon the more 'standard fantasy' races or not. We know they've had their big push towards more copyrightable concepts, which begs the question of if they'd be willing to try and make something like High Elves or Dwarfs more unique whilst balancing the aesthetic of still being a lot more 'typical' than something like Fyreslayers or Kharadrons. I think they absolutely could do that if they wanted to, but it begs the question of if they'd be willing to try. I would however be content with a Not!Legions of Nagash book that perhaps encouraged mono-race armies more than the Legion of Blood/Night/Sacrament does. On the other hand, expanding those ranges would give people a sense of security that they're not going to get squat'ed once the molds break and would be more willing to invest in ranges that consist primarily of legacy models.

What gives me some hope for Dispossessed is my memory of the 8th edition Dwarf releases. I remember at the time there was a lot of grumbling (for Dwarfs, anyway) about the new aesthetic of the Ironbreakers/Drakes in particular, that their design seemed a bit too curved and flat, almost closer to Space Marines than they were befitting the traditional Dwarf. Considering AoS - despite how obviously rushed it was - would presumably have been on the cards at this point, it's entirely possible that was deliberate. It could just as easily mean absolutely nothing mind you and be me reading too much into it. I think if Dispossessed get anything it will be in a Battletome: Free Peoples rather than their own dedicated book however.

I'm torn on how I want to paint these chaps. On one hand, I like the ethereal look as I find that 'real' clothes on what are ghosts seems... strange. On the other hand, I get the feeling 90% of people will be going for said ethereal look and it's very quickly going to be looked down upon as lazy and uninspired. Decisions, decisions.

Chainrasps are probably this starter set's Poxwalkers from Dark Imperium. A horde unit that you want a lot of but can only get by buying more starter sets. Presumably it's their way of capitalising on the Ebay market in their own way - people who buy in tons of boxes to sell the individual units. Like the Poxwalkers I think we'll get an Easy to Build set down the line with unique sculpts, but only five or so in a box.

The Undying King has a pretty great depiction of Nurgle worshippers who believe they're the good guys (Shyish IS a pretty terrible environment to live in...), adhere to something resembling honour and warped chivalry. The Knights even watch one another's back. It's worth a read just for their chapters and the book is miles better than anything in Realmgate Wars series.

It's a pain in the ****** to be sure, but there's enough stores out there that anniversary's aren't so uncommon. This also means that even if you personally cannot reach a store, there's liable to be plenty of these models up on Ebay at not-too-horrendous prices. I wouldn't be surprised if people here and elsewhere coordinate to get one another a model if there's an event happening locally anyhow.

Was Rogal Dorn sucked into the Mortal Realms on that second piece?

I think it'll depend on timing, considering Slaanesh would also count as a 40k release (the Daemons anyway). I think it's more likely we'd get Darkoath, then Moonfang, then Slaanesh to mix it up a little.

First thing I thought of was...

Does seem that way. I'm surprised at GW pushing ahead with Darkoath in their bid to desperately copyright everything. Fantasy Barbarians, whilst a bit more niche than Medieval Knights and Standard Fantasy Dwarf, aren't exactly uncommon. I'm sure they'll put a spin on it (Skin Wolves?), but it's unexpected. That being said, I'm more excited for them than I would be Chaos Fantasy Marines. Moonclan should be great and would line up with the squig-looking mouth from the rumour.

What happened up until 8th was that the Starter Sets would have a mini-rulebook, a little paper booklet that contained all of the rules for the game and nothing else; no fluff, no hobby content, just the full set of rules. They were actually quite sought after on Ebay and such by people who didn't want the models just because of how much easier it was to carry around and read through.

Part of me hopes the Maiden of Grief is Isabella, but then another part of me wants her and Vlad's story to have had a definitive ending with the End Times.

They really look nothing like the Slaught unless it's a retcon and I really cannot see Games Workshop making a Xenos faction that looks too close to another faction just because their ability to diversify model lines is usually very good. I don't get where people are getting anything but Nurgle from them. The giant flies are identical to those buzzing around Typhus, there's Poxwalkers, Nurglings, tentacle mutations in-line with those from the Death Guard kits. Nevermind that the Slaught themselves are quite literal Maggot Men. They use Frankenstein-esq creations akin to the Dark Eldar, but models look too much like they're mutated than from mad science.