Noserenda

Youll typically want another box of Clanrats or Stormvermin if you arent planning to spec into one of the great clans, i wouldnt worry about getting the spells or terrain right away, they wont be needed in small games as much as more furry bodies New army book coming soon though, so everything is kinda up in the air, you cant go too far wrong with a couple of boxes of things you like the look of!

They are awesome, im thinking three assassins at the front and two gutter runners at the back? Gives me some hopium for Eshin triads making a return though im sure theyll just be the standard meh in AoS like all the other underworld bands. Im sure some of the starter box bands got the standard minis and no rules/cards releases but between my shoddy memory and general disinterest i wouldnt swear to it

Awww yeah, very happy with the Skaven, exactly what we actually need Seems like 3 Assassins and 2 gutter runners too? Which means we might see Triads back! Ofc telling what type of Rat assassin a given model is is more art than science Shadow elves are alright, definitely very similar to the Warcry ones which is a shame creatively i guess? but still right up my alley Its pretty true to Underworlds roots as alt sculpts home. The rules preview sound more like current GWs obsession with bloat but that said ive not played underworlds since the first season so i may be way off.

The ability to make a narrative or open list on the app without it moaning you arent playing matched would be nice, and require near zero effort.

Haaaaaa, did i mention my other main army was Dwarves? Kharadon are alright but FS are a continuing stain on all good Dawi.

Baiting us poor Eshin players and then releasing a crappy rat daemon range would be a really crapper, which kinda fits with this tease campaign though. Maybe focus on tidying up the 90's models first?

Ech, if Skaven are going to get some new shadow stuff id rather it wasnt something already essentially done, not once, but twice before by Dark Eldar and Elves.

I think its more complicated than having a "girls faction" as i know more than few women despise the concept. More about having representation, something id never really experienced until becoming disabled (As the society "default" middle class white boy) but my word it is some powerful stuff. So adding some boys to the DoK probably wont drive away many, if any women, adding them to the other factions is probably paying dividends though!

******, this breadcrumb nonsense is infuriating, even when its showing me Skaven, which i very much want, its nothing but frustration.

Announcement of an announcement is always weaksauce, especially as its probably only going to be vague tomorrow anyway. Im sure they expect hype but it just makes me groan.

Yeah, hate to break it to you that blood bowl is a separate game made by a separate team that has zero impact on AoS releases. So you just look bad.

I mean, they have already been updating Skaven in waves since the 90's, which is why some of the range is so dated and some of it is holding up fine. A lot of stuff got updated just before WFB died so its in ranked up poses but they dont actually look awful in a mass of ratties unlike Ogres. Eshin has some of the oldest kits in the range, and hasnt had any real development in a loooong time, then Skyre has its acolytes costing an insane amount for very dated minis and the various weapon teams needing a plastic update. So in a perfect (ha) world: Eshin Sorceror hero Skyre Warlock Engineer hero Nightrunners unit Skyre Acolytes unit, maybe some new options included, crosses over with... Skyre Weapon teams box (kinda like the Imperial guard heavy weapons) Gutter Runners Warcry Warband Triad underworlds band Isnt toooo unreasonable but i guess we shall see.

Hmmm, could bond it to a deathmaster and hide him forever... More Skaven for him to rampage through my own stuff ofc. Have the prices for this weeks preorders leaked yet?

Theres one V box id love. Skaven versus their most DEADLY FOES... SKAVEN

Strikes me as just a monster rather than anything endless spell feeling? Generic monsters is a good idea when they are wanting to centre monsters in the game but not update everyone to actually have any!

Bloody hell, i wish events in Blighty had swag

Good preview overall i think, i was drifting off when they lead with a terrain box for AoS but the narrative book is genuinely quite exciting. I kinda wish the NH dude was a warmachine rather than a special character but hes still cool. The Underworlds band is boring, but hey, new Necrach vampire! Who i bet will be the basis of a thousand conversions Norse are well executed but not exciting, good to see a bit of gender mix too, even if its barely a step above token. For the Skaven release id like to see new night runners, hopefully the return of triads and eshin sorcerors personally, with some gutter runners via Underworlds and then tidying up some of the metals/resin, mostly the poor old globadiers!

I mean, i can tell you for a fact the best customer our GW store had was purely a collector and had absolutely no interest in the games. Retired gent came in every day or so, chatted and picked out a box of minis he liked the look of to paint, came back when he finished them, plus any supplies he needed. The only people who bought more models was the staff and that was mostly for hoarding purposes (Though weirdly enough i have a batch of minis i bought around then in front of me being worked on). Now that just one anecdotal example, but if you asked any regular at the store about the guy they would have had no idea. Anyone at the local clubs either. By the nature of their hobby collectors arent interacting with gamers at all socially so id fully believe there are plenty more of them ignoring the tiny niche of gamers even who chat in forums and such. Thats ignoring all the people who do game but dont meta chase or follow the game particularly closely, i know at least 3 people personally who collect one or two ranges obsessively, just buying models they want regardless of performance. Arguably im drifting into that category myself in my middle age, i mean Eshin Skaven is pretty far from optimal right now

Its possible things have shifted over the years but certainly GW previously thought rules being good or bad were almost irrelevant to model sales, the majority of people just bought stuff they like the look of. Theyve famously said in past reports that their primary market is collectors rather than gamers roughly around the birth of AoS? Im not sure the latter is entirely true, new editions certainly provide a notable bump on their graphs which certainly implies some connection, but then new editions inevitably come with a swathe of shiny new models anyway

Im expecting a bit on the Night haunt/DoK releases for AoS, Probably the Heresy Box, Norse for Blood Bowl, Maybe Ash Wastes proper reveal and the knights codexes for 40k. Unfortunately i think the Skaven/Sylvaneth release is still too far out

I dont think complexity attracts many players (though some, definitely) but it certainly repels them when implemented badly. No the biggest draws are always models and imagery, essentially marketing Thats just looking at GW sales over the years, typically the most complicated games are less popular but overall 40k has always been stronger, largely due to the setting.

Subscribers are getting their issues so its up and about already

It feels like a lot of more casual people are being driven away from 40k right now too, certainly our group was, which opened us up to AoS. I think you may be right about not playing the game entirely right either, like we haven't had many problems with coherency, (that i noticed) though also small games and a lot of older armies on 25mm bases probably helps too.

Yeah the narrative scenarios section is weirdly disconnected from the rest of the narrative section which is mostly PtG and then a bunch of scenarios that are super specific, often asymmetrical situations, and typically the sort of thing a narrative builds up to rather than rolling a dice to pick one at random, which was certainly the old assumed reason to play narrative in 40k, not sure about AoS. But now we have Crusade/Path to Glory and it could do with changing up a bit. When we arent doing a game day we usually pick a more "meeting engagement" scenario from elsewhere or improv one anyhow. +1 to Open play being good though, the keeners in the group played a few games of it before everyone else got their PtG sorted and it was a pleasant surprise, though some of the twists (I think it was twists anyhow?) were hilariously imbalanced

Yeah the complete and utter lack of forward momentum in the AoS story is weird, one of the things that pulled our groups eyes over last year was the much better standard of the campaign books compared to the lacklustre 40k efforts, exciting developments, characters we care about and actual change are something they should be pushing, not dropping. Hell, now we actually know what some of the places are! I am hoping its just a release schedule thing and not a mandate from above or the relevant person(s) quitting.