Clan's Cynic

I wonder if Sancrosact will end up one of the Detachments Battle Formations, where your Liberators/etc get their various spell gimmicks instead of specific Sancrosact models?

To be frank, the mood around Fantasy models being squatted has always been mixed here. It's not as bad as it used to be, but there's definitely been times when people were practically giddy at seeing another "Fantasy model rightfully squatted" as a sort of strange revenge against the hatred a lot of Fantasy players had for Sigmar's launch. That's lessened as the years have gone by, but I don't think it's ever entirely gone away.

If I recall correctly, Beastmen are a mix of 6th edition (2003) and 7th edition (2010), except for the Endless Spells and Herdstone (2018), Underworlds warband (2019?) and the new Beastlord (2023). Bonesplitterz I think are entirely from 8th (2011), except for the Underworlds warband.

I'm neutral. I don't mind Stormcast being in every starter set because, as others have already said, they're a very good 'starter' army and were clearly designed from the ground up to be exactly that. Plus the start of the new edition is their only real release wave, unlike 40k where you can expect at least half a dozen variations of Loyalist Power Armour to appear in an edition so the fatigue is real. True, Stormcast do get more in that way than most armies, but it could be a lot worse. On the other hand, having two different armies back in Fantasy was something I actually quite liked. Variety is the spice of life as they say, so having two different armies getting big new releases/updates to older sculpts is certainly nothing to scoff at.

Maybe that one suit at Nottingham who is obsessed with sticking Tzaangors in every box possible just got his wish, with BoC making way for Battletome: Tzaangors and Codex: Tzaangors. "All good things come around again... in blue!"

Ogres aren't a 'Core' TOW army for the foreseeable (at least until they do a 'Eastern' expansion) unlike Beastmen, so I think the odds of them getting an AoSification with new sculpts is pretty good... but I was also confident Beasts of Chaos would be sticking around and I was obviously wrong about that, so I don't know what to believe anymore.

Admittedly part of me feels like people shouldn't be too shocked that a game built on the bones of abruptly squatting peoples Fantasy collections would, perhaps inevitably, see squattings of their own occur when it worked out well for GW before (I realise I said a while back I'd be surprised if BoC was squatted but I was obviously wrong in that assumption). On the other hand, just like back in 2015, I can't begrudge anybody for being extremely upset the army they spent hundreds/thousands of pounds buying, building, painting and playing with is thrown in the proverbial bin.

An ouroboros of squatting (especially now Squats are back).

Interesting that Horns of Hashut are getting squatted, considering they're a Warcry 2.0 launch warband. Optimist in me says it could be tied to AoS Chorfs, the cynic in me says they just sold that poorly.

Early warning of what's going away in 4.0. It's official, Beasts of Chaos and Bonesplitters are off to the great Old World in the sky, at least for competitive play.

I'm late to the discussion, but as somebody who was quite looking forward to Thunderstrike Liberators, I'm not the biggest fan of them. I don't think anymore needs to be said about the Handsome Squidward helmets, but the one-handed hammers feel ridiculously big, even by Warhammer standards - closer to Warcraft than anything. I think it's especially jarring when Thunderstrike has tried to give them more realistic proportions, so it stands out more.

Characters unlocking specific, thematically-appropriate units is definitely one of my favourite things about Conquest listbuilding, so I'm very happy to see it mimicked here.

Sounds like the Detachments in 10th. EG you no longer pick Imperial Fists as your Space Marine sub-faction, now it's a 'defensive ranged tactics' set of rules instead. There's been some controversy around it, but I actually think it's a much better system. EG If I want to run a Phobos/stealth-themed Imperial Fist army, I can do that without feeling hindered by my paint scheme. So for example, the Magmadroth-heavy sub-faction would no longer specifically be Lofnir Lodge, it'd probably be something like "Magmadroth Tamers Battle Formation"

Army Building changes in 4.0. Some pretty big changes, so worth giving the article a read. Summary: Every army now comprises of 1+ Regiments. Regiments are led by a Hero, who can take up to 3 non-Hero Units (4 if the Hero is a General). Heroes have a list of what units can be in their Regiment (EG Alarith Stonemage can take ALARITH units and Vanari Auralan Wardens). Unique faction leaders can usually include any unit from their army. Some Heroes allow you to take additional Heroes in the Regiment ontop of that (EG Mighty Lord of Khorne can take GORECHOSEN Heroes) Units in a Regiment are deployed as a single drop. Most non-unique units can be reinforced "with more than one model" but double-reinforcing is gone. No limit on the number of units you can reinforce. Other 3.0 restrictions are gone. Battlefield Roles (EG Battleline, Behemoth) are gone. Auxiliary Units are units outside of a Regiment No limit on Auxiliaries, but they're each a single drop Player with the least Auxiliaries gets an extra Command Point Command Points are a "scarce resource in this edition." Sub-Factions are called Battle Formations Battle Formations focus on the fighting style rather than specific backgrounds (EG like the 40k Detachments do in 10th) Command Traits have become Heroic Traits, can be given to any Hero.

Interview about the Blood Bowl Gnome Team. Mostly linking it because I love the art.

Is that Donald Sutherland?

Annnnd there it is. Standalone release of the Wildercorps Hunters and Gorger Mawpack also.

I've said this on various other threads before, but my point still stands. I've never known as many people get turned off AoS as when they find out or remember that Double Turn is a thing. Ultimately, if you're struggling to get people through the door due to a single mechanic that is already controversial among people actually playing the game, something is up. No amount of "trust me bro, you'll totally get used to it after you've played the game at 2000pts for a while!" is going to convince people who were already looking for an excuse to keep playing 40k or going to another game instead. I also find the argument that people who dislike Double Turn need to "git good" very much contrary to what I've seen many of the same people try and sell AoS on - that it's a far more accessible, casual friendly, relaxed wargame compared to 40k. Frankly, if the designers believe Double Turn is this amazing, unique mechanic that all their playtesters and influencers adore, why I have I pretty much never seen anybody pushback or gripe when it's been increasingly neutered every edition going forward? Everybody knows a GW hobbyist's favourite thing to do is complain about basically everything, so it's funny that - anecdotal as my experience may be - watering it down is largely seen as a positive. Why do they feel the need to do that if it's so good as the marketing insists?

They are very much designed for casual readers who aren't hanging off GW's every word and WarCom post, which is fair enough when there's a large, quiet majority who are that way, but it would be nice if they did actually have some meat on the bones for the people like us who are 'in the know' to chew on as well.

Calis and Toll are back (again) for this week's Dawnbringer Chronicle.

Priority Roll article for 4.0. Nothing new here, just more marketing talk and another reiteration that it'll stop you selecting Battle Tactics if you take it. Also a tease that list building/composition has changed somehow, but that'll be in another article.

Given how massive Blight City is supposed to be, I could definitely see that being where Underworlds and/or Warcry takes place going forward. Even with billions of billions of Skaven, there's probably still space to have people end up stranded there, or venture inside as an extremely dangerous dungeon crawl. Hell, maybe even there'll be a new WarhammerQuest game set in there?

'Modular Rules' article for 4,0.

Might be interesting for anybody around Nottingham, or in Texas. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a Preview Event around the same time, since they've done IRL and Online WarhammerFests in May before (albeit usually earlier in the month).

Shrimplified not Shrimple is definitely just marketing buzzwords they know people like to hear, but I have a bit more faith in the AoS team to pull it off than 40k's.