[AoS 2 - Nighthaunt Discussion]

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.

[AoS 2 - Nighthaunt Discussion]

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 Rumour Thread]

6 hours ago, Enoby said:

I think the issue, at least for me, is that they've gone from overly oppressive boogie men to Saturday morning cartoon villains with almost 0 room for characterisation besides exaggeration of their god's traits. In the Realmgate War saga, Khorne suffered from this the most; for servants of the Blood God, they didn't seem all that amazing at fighting and were easily destroyed by the Stormcast. It's no fun having Chaos being an inevitable defeat for everyone else, but similarly it's not always fun being the Skeletor or Team Rocket of the setting. A bit of balance would be nice. 

It's been a while since I read the books, but the Realmgate War saga was one of the reasons I stopped playing Khorne - their fluff seemed so dry. 

With how good Malign Portents has been, I'm hoping that Chaos gets a similar treatment - a way to make them less black and white. It seems like the Darkoath may be a good way to do that, or maybe during a Slaanesh focused campaign when s/he gets released. 

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.

[AoS 2 - Nighthaunt Discussion]

13 hours ago, ZaelART said:

Yes, the model with lamp/vase is a warhammer anniversary exclusive, available only in stores on the anniversary of the store opening. I think that sucks, and I'm hoping there will be more models available than what we've seen so far. The exclusive miniature is a clampack that makes two variants. So that essentially rules out two miniatures from the preview.

I'm also hoping that the other banshee models might be a dual-kit that would allow you to build the Myrmourn variant as well, as they're better in larger units, it would be nice to be able to create different looking models without doing too much converting.

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.

[The Rumour Thread]

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

[The Rumour Thread]

59 minutes ago, Enoby said:

I wonder if we'll get two Chaos releases (Darkoath and Slaanesh) or just one. 

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.

 

[The Rumour Thread]

5 hours ago, HorticulusTGA said:

Yeah, that's either a female Bloodbound or Darkoath, or a variation on the Warqueen theme. 

That is neither, also : new Freeguild facing those Chaos knights ?

First thing I thought of was...

[The Rumour Thread]

40 minutes ago, Naflem said:

So the heralds for order and chaos are parts of two new armies/battletombs from AOS (lord ordinator in the new Stormcast and Knight of Shrouds for Nighthaunt); wonder if they borrowed models from upcoming armies for that rather than them being purpose-designed... and if so, does that mean moonclan/fungoid grots and norse barbarians in the near future...

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.

[The Rumour Thread]

2 minutes ago, bsharitt said:

So I've not bought a lot of GW starter sets in general(only being in the GW side of the hobby for a couple of years), but is it common for the starter sets launching with a new game to include the full rulebook. When Dark Imperium came out for 40k 8th, a lot of reviewers made a big deal about the book in the box, but that may have been because it was the full hard cover version. The only other GW starter set I bought was Kill Team and it came with the mini 7th ed rule book(paperback and I think missing the lore book that was sold in the set). Just wondering what the odds are that the new Core rulebook will come in the starter.

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.

[The Rumour Thread]

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.

[The Rumour Thread]

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.

[The Rumour Thread]

6 minutes ago, Thebiggesthat said:

When you don't apply the same rules to both list to suit an agenda, you lose credibility, just worth mentioning.

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. 

[The Rumour Thread]

6 hours ago, Burf said:

Oh please, do go on. It's not like chaos has gotten more releases in the past twoish years than the entirety of the Imperium and Stormcasts put together or anything...

 

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*

 

[The Rumour Thread]

1 hour ago, Mandzak-Miniatures said:

I am excited for absolutely none of this.

GW is on this Nurgle ride that has passed its stop several times. Some models look good, but I am very over it lol. At this point I feel like it's pandering, with a little bit of patronizing haha.

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

[The Rumour Thread]

31 minutes ago, Barkanaut said:

When is the next big GW news day? 

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.

[The Rumour Thread]

14 hours ago, MacDuff said:

This all is precisely why GW leads the industry. They are constantly surprising us with fluff, minis, and gaming concepts I don't think anybody in this community anticipated. We had Cthulhu, fishman, and more pedestrian guesses, but nothing like this. As those in marketing know, 'new' catches attention, and 'new' sells. Consider me hooked.

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. 

2 hours ago, PJetski said:

When did they say it was the Year of Death?

LON, a new Nighthaunt release, a global campaign, the narrative being focused on the Soul Wars, multiple novels, a (supposed) magic supplement... what more do you want?

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.

[The Rumour Thread]

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.

[The Rumour Thread]

15 minutes ago, BURF1 said:

Order aren't really the good guys, destruction aren't bad guys, and death is more selfish than anything.

I think it's more players trying to cram the grand alliances into the 'good/evil' box that's the problem than anything to do with the actual factions. Oh and order's getting too much stuff, but to be fair so is Chaos, and the chaos stuff is nowhere near as fun, interesting, or unique. Just rehashes of the same stuff we've had for 30 years.

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).

[The Rumour Thread]

Just now, Barkanaut said:

Trust me for AoS this was a great year. They usually only get 2 a year or so. Allegedly there is death army coming and early next year slaanesh. So there is two and they are fairly reliable rumors. 

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. 

[The Rumour Thread]

9 hours ago, Barkanaut said:

Not going to lie my group has been pretty bored if 40k. 8th promised to be new and amazing and it’s been endless power armor and now an imperial knight wooow.However AoS is impressing many and gaining traction. Also the new 40k lore is basically a repeat of 30k but less interesting. Chatter around the net many think  AoS stole the show barring sisters. If it wasn’t for sob propping it up would have been a loss for 40k. 

 

There is a real chance GW coy,d mismanage 40k and at the same tim3 manage AoS so well we see AoS being the number one game and setting. 4 armies in one year is huge if d4ath comes out with one as rumoured. AoS releases if they keep accelerating will equal 40k in terms of support in a year. 

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.