Clan's Cynic

What rules? The Death Guard release was meaty but on par with the Primaris, who we know will receive bucket loads of new releases down the line anyway. Chaos didn't get a Triumvirate box, but they did get Mortarion/Magus so that could be hand waved. Stormcast Vanguard and Custodes were roughly on par with Chaos Daemons and Thousand Sons respectively. The problem is that these Chaos releases come after years of absolutely nothing for 40k. I find it hysterical when certain entitled Imperial (usually Space Marine) and Stormcast players act slighted by GW because for once they're not in the spot light. The 'Chaos gets too much!' argument is utter nonsense when it's assured that the Imperium/Stormcast (granted, AoS has become better about diversity of it's range recently) will always have new stuff pumped out for it and be daddy's favourite. Chaos' time in the sun will inevitably end, but we know the Imperium's never will. It's Xenos/Destruction/formally Death players I feel sorry for.

I genuinely can't tell if you're being sarcastic. Imperials and Stormcast got: Assassins Deathwatch Sisters of Silence/Custodes Wave 1 Triumvirate of the Imperium Triumvirate of the Primarch Primaris Marines Stormcast Vanguard Custodes Wave 2: Full Army Boogaloo New Imperial Knights Rogue Traders* Sisters of Battle announced* Stormcast Wizards* Meanwhile, Chaos received... Disciplines of Tzeentch Thousand Sons Death Guard Daemons of Nurgle Whatever-Nurgle-is-in-this-box*

40k is getting it's 21542651st Imperial faction and you think it's Nurgle they're pandering to?

For Age of Sigmar it's probably going to be the June 30th Open Day. That is unless some stuff leaks out in a big way - credible pictures, etc - in which case they tend to 'reveal' it on Warhammer Community.

Pretty sure GW could release nothing but Space Marines (see: the current state of 40k) and they'd 'lead the industry'. But what I've noticed is that AoS continually generates far more hype for exactly that reason. After Kharadrons people really started paying attention to it's rumours and announcements. There's something just... unknowable about it, how the new releases could be absolutely anything and pretty damn creatively designed at that. Just watching the speculation and weird ideas people come up with is great, because they really could be onto something. It's a big part of - after swearing it off post-End Times - I've become more drawn to Age of Sigmar. When it comes to 40k, I've done nothing but roll my eyes, ("Let me guess... it's going to be Marines and/or an Imperium release... yep.") but with AoS even as somebody who doesn't play Stormcast there's something to anticipate. Because in fairness, there hasn't actually been any new models for Death beyond the Harbringers that every Allegiance received. The Nighthaunt will change that of course, but the campaign and magic supplement are a sandbox that everybody gets to play around in rather than a release specifically for them. Legions of Nagash was nice, but didn't come out with anything. Compare than to Disciples of Khaine (Order) and Deepkin (Order). All in all, from what I can tell people are pretty happy about what they're getting, but I think a lot of people expected the "Year of the Death Allegiance" rather than the "Year of the Realm of Death setting" we got.

I really quite like that the Idoneth - or at least some of them - feel guilty over their actions. I'm guessing it was done to distance them from the inevitable Dark Eldar comparisons, but it's nice to see a somewhat more nuanced faction who aren't just unrepentant in doing nasty stuff without remorse because Grimdark(tm)... it actually makes said Grimdark(tm) all the better.

In fairness though, when the vast majority of Order's armies follow Sigmar, a god who has thus far been nothing but benevolent and the rest of the Alliances have malevolent aims (corrupt everything, kill everything, kill-then-undeath everything) it's not difficult at all to see why people call Order the good guys. Groups like the Daughters of Khaine are more like the Token Evil Teammate. With the exception of them and the Darkling Covens, by and large Order is a pretty stellar bunch. It's part of the reason I detest Nagash being written as having ran around getting rid of every other Underworld/Death God. It just turned Death into yet another "we kill because our leader(s) a ******" when there could have been a lot of potential for a much more nuanced alternative to Order, where Death isn't necessarily something to be feared, gods who give a damn about protecting the souls of their charges, etc. We see hints of this in the fiction, but it all falls flat when Nagash is just such an unrepentant arsehole backed up by his harem of arsehole lieutenants. I really hope we see more Death Gods appear that he can't just nom... somebody akin to what Morr was, albeit not on Sigmar's payroll (or dead-dead).

I think with Legions of Nagash we'll also start seeing more of the older armies homogenised into Battletomes which will ramp up the releases quite a bit. Just a theory mind.

AoS will never top 40k by virtue of Space Marine sales. I'm willing to bet that they've made more money from combined Space Marine sales in the past year alone than all of Age of Sigmar, regardless of how popular the game has become. That's not a slight against AoS itself, but if there's one thing that 40k players have it's brand loyalty, thus why in the Dark Age of 7th so many people moved on to Horus Heresy rather than try Age of Sigmar. My one gripe with nu-GW is that for all of the improvements they've brought, they appear to be doubling down on the Imperial focus that was already obnoxiously prevalent even whilst Kirby was at the reigns. If it's not some variety of Space Marine, it's an Imperial army no doubt brought out not because they thought it was cool so much as "I bet we can make better returns on SM players buying them as allies than with updated Xenos." AoS still has an issue with focusing too much on the Stormcast - particularly in the fiction - but there is still a great deal more diversity in new releases than 40k... at least for now. I'm optimistic they'll continue this trend. The fact AoS is such a blank slate where designers can really go all out probably helps with this a great deal. I could make a gripe about how too many old and new armies are Order, but at least the allegiances are flimsy enough in-universe that Daughters of Khaine vs Freeguild is a lot more reasonable than Space Marines vs Imperial Guard. I still consider myself a bitter, jaded WHFB player at heart, but I've absolutely found myself a lot more excited for AoS' announcements ("AIRSHIP DWARVES! SEA ELVES! GORGON ELVES! COMBINED MORTAL AND DAEMON CHAOS GOD ARMIES!) than I have been hoping and praying that the 40k will, this time, not just be something to further homogenise 40k into "Imperial Soup and Friends" and I've been disappointed on every front since Fall of Cadia.