Clan's Cynic

So funnily enough, the Daemons of the Ruinstorm PDF list for Horus Heresy has a similar "not meant for tournaments, seek permission first" clause but they're allowed at Warhammer World events. It may be they still end up allowed even at GW's. Not to give people false hope or anything, but there is a precedent and one they hopefully follow given it's another Forge World/Specialist Team game.

If TOW sells well enough, a New World (and Far East) expansion seem inevitable. I don't like coming across as a GW shill or that I'm being dismissive because "****** you, got mine (Dwarfs)" but I think some people are just taking the "they're not legal for tournament play" thing way too literally. It's been wild how many people I've seen straight up saying GW has 'squatted their army again' like they're pouring petrol on them and setting them alight. We've known it'd be a get-you-by PDF for a while. If people in your community are having a hissy fit towards you putting Skaven or Dark Elves on the board because "noooooo GW said it's Legends so I won't play with or against them!!!" they were always going to be a pretty miserable opponent to play against regardless. The more push back this idea that Legends = Literally Unplayable gets, the better (regardless of game system). Remember that Specialist Team are not 40k or AoS, in that not even the 'core armies' are going to be receiving points and balance changes every six months. The PDFs are probably going to have far more longevity to them than anything Legends for 40k/AoS. If the balance of them turns out to be pretty awful, yeah, that is going to suck... but based on Heresy and the like, I don't think it's going to be much different for core armies either.

Las Vegas Open on the 18th.

Alternate build of the Handmaiden of the Lady that GW didn't preview for some reason.

Alternate build of the Handmaiden we haven't seen yet.

I imagine part of the reason they're pushing the TOW armies so hard is because in terms of tracking sales, every person buying up 'Darkling Covens' to use as Dark Elves in TOW technically counts as as an Age of Sigmar sale, whereas somebody buying post-reboxing Empire State Troops counts as another sale for The Old World. Similar to how the Leviathan and Contemptor finally got plastic models after about a decade, but were promptly exiled to Legends to deemphasise them in 40k. I do hope as a community, tournament organisers and players are pretty lax on allowing 'Legends' armies. I've already seen some panic from people more used to the 40k community's diehard need to toe the party line that it will mean "no tournament will ever allow Legends armies!" The Horus Heresy community has largely fought off certain elements who tried to insist upon Legacies content being banned/limited from events. I hope the Fantasy scene does the same.

It's wild to me that not even StD got the Hellcanon back. Of all the models to survive the Fantasy purge, I would have expected it to be one of them given how iconic it is, both to Warriors of Chaos and the Chaos Dwarfs. 'Mechanical horror' is definitely a great avenue that AoS Chorfs could explore, especially since it would probably be more 'daemonic' compared to the more Frankenstein, black comedy mad science of the Skaven.

Yet another Almanack, this time going into some detail on the design process and returning models. Rob: There’s one Bretonnian model coming out that had been designed decades ago and never released. It was incredible to be able to find things like this buried at the back of a cupboard. Rob: Some collectible metal models and oddities from the history of Warhammer Fantasy Battle will be available on a Made to Order basis, whereas everything else you’d expect to see for representing unit profiles will be available normally. For most units, the most recent version will act as your standard miniature for Warhammer: The Old World, but we could bring back older versions for collectors, or people who want an alternative.

Another Almanack, this time on converting up 'unit fillers'. Nice to see some conversion/kitbashing articles out of WarCom. Never thought I'd read that out of a modern GW article.

Not sure if they meant to put this up ahead of the influencer embargo tomorrow, but the Arcane Journal article does reference them directly, so maybe they got an exception allowance.

Today's Almanack is about the Arcane Journals.

After the Grimdark Live rumours got Chaos Dwarfs in 3.0 wrong, I'm too bruised to allow such hope into my blackened heart.

I'm guessing it'll be what units were in the Legion of Azgorh list, since I believe they mentioned if a unit had 8th Edition rules it would probably get rules in some form. I doubt they'll go back to the 6th Ed list until it's time for them to be in-focus again.

The reason I doubt BoC would be squatted is because they're next to Skaven and Lizardmen among armies which you can glance at and think 'Warhammer'. Sure, evil goatmen/satyrs aren't wholly unique to Warhammer, but there's not really any other major IP - neither wargaming or fantasy - in which they're especially iconic the way Elves, Dwarves, even Ogres are. In an age where GW is desperate to project their OCDonutSteal IP wherever it can, BoC being expanded seems more likely than squatted. I think if GW were going to bin off BoC, it would have been when AoS first launched alongside Bretonnia and Tomb Kings. Hell, they were less popular than both those armies for a long time in Fantasy, but nonetheless they survived and with pretty much their entire range intact at a time when GW weren't shy of carving them up (Greenskinz come to mind here).

I love Endless Spells. Having actual models to represent them bounding around the battlefield is one of those unique touches that makes AoS feel different to it's contemporaries and perfectly suits the 'Bigger and Badder' tone and visuals of the setting.

Guessing it's a catch-all term for the Slayer Heroes and Lords (Daemonslayer, Dragonslayer, etc), whereas Slayers refers to the unit.

Almanack III, this time on painting the models. Includes the 'Eavy Metal recipe for the new Bretonnians.

Aye, they appear to be as they've been shown in a few preview photos now (top row, centre, under the Engineer).

Good to know Gyrocopters are in. I know the assumption was they would be, especially with Irondrakes being shown, but their conspicuous absence from any Dwarf photographs thus far had left that lingering question - what with them being relatively 'modern' designs in-universe.

That tracks with Elves having a lot of them.

Another daily Almanack. This time on designing the models and redesigning what they could for copyright purposes. Cynicism aside, it's not a bad read.

I was surprised they hadn't done that to be honest. I was at least expecting Island Of Blood, with those models being much more 'modern' in design. I guess the "Space Marine Cocaine Fund" was running a bit low for their liking.

Huh, you know I never looked that hard at the symbols. Neat.

GW realised the awesomeness that is the Karaz Ankor could only be contained for so long and, eventually coming to their senses, decided to move them up the queue. Too late to come out ahead of Bretonnia and Tomb Kings of course, but they spared themselves from an even bigger Grudge. For now. In all seriousness, it could just be that the Summer Empire vs Orcs & Goblins rumour was false, or that Dwarfs are coming sooner. Or this just managed to slip through the cracks somehow and it's been sat in a warehouse forever long. When you think about it, if GW are planning on re-releasing armies in pairs (like Tomb Kings vs Bretonnia) it actually makes the Summer rumour more suspect. There's not enough armies on the list for them all to be 1v1 pairings, and the Empire being in the middle of a civil war - as well as their recent surge in popularity due to Total War - makes them the most fitting faction to drop on their lonesome. Dwarfs vs Orcs & Goblins Wood Elves vs Beastmen High Elves vs Warriors of Chaos Empire (vs Empire)