Aussiemandias

Plastic gorger? It looks both big and wiry/stringy. Ogor minis also have random bits stuck through them- bones usually and other gubbins in the case of the Butchers.

This. Death and Destruction need more fleshing out than Chaos and Order. Design-space wise you have a few undead tropes left largely untouched- Frankenstein's Monster type patch-jobs, among others. Add in some variation on skeletons- undead dwarfs, elves, orruks? Bring back Krell, give him a mission to kill the Best and Brightest the Mortal Realms have to offer/assemble the largest armies of undead. For destruction, Troggoths could be broken off from Gloomspite to allow them to a) come into their own and b) free up space in Gloomspite for more goblin variations. If Orruk warclans are a trifecta of three orc playstyles, Gloomspite can certainly break off Troggs for Night Gobbos, Forest Gobbos and Plains Gobbos. Destruction also needs a war machine faction. Catapults, trebuchets, siege towers and ballistae! Why run up close when you can have a right laugh throwing bits of rock/previous town/etc at a city to tear it down that way. Where's the Destruction faction that just want to tear it all down first, before rebuilding (or even letting the realms decide what happens). Fimir could fill this role- Chaos spurned them for the Great Game and better followers? Well you can't win the Great Game if the Fimir flip the board and eat half the game pieces. Mmm, crunchy. Hell, even a rogue stormcast/azyrite faction- souls too broken/reforged too many times/too wrapped up in bitterness that have escaped and now only want to cleanse the realms of everything, the line between friend and foe irreparably blurred. All in all, there's plenty of unplumbed depths for the design team to explore for future factions, miniatures and themes.

Yep, and we've also been waiting for Malekith/Malerion's elves for a similar amount of time. Some factions might never see the light of day until even more years down the track. It's been what, since 2017-18 that we had mention of Grotbag Scuttlers? I'm indifferent on the rider for the manticore, I'm just keen for the manticore and that someone other than Chaos gets some dangerous and cool beasties. I've tuned out of The Old World, especially after the upbasing article- I'm not, repeat, not rebasing all those orcs and goblins I have from whfb. I might get a few orc boy boxes if they're at least 20 to a box but as it stands, TOW is a no from me- I have the 6th ed whfb book so I'm good. At least the new Bret bannerman replaces the old, godawfully unbalanced SLAB of metal/resin they had. It feels too little, too late and all that. I used to be bitter about the end times, but grew to love AoS- the old world doesn't feel as 'genuine' as WHFB pre 8th did. As for epic....While cool, the epic stuff really put a dampner on things for me. It might not be warhammer 40k in a literal sense, but it's still SPEHSS MEHRENS IN SPEHSS. Given how much attention 40k has gotten between 9th and 10th editions, it's just...I'm tired of 40k. AoS can put out a few minis here and there and still feel fresh. I get space marines sell, but it gets exhausting seeing new marine stuff almost every week. At least Skaven are slated for 4th edition. Hopefully it's a full revamp and not just one specific clan getting the limelight.

They defs need to consolidate the heroes and maybe even some of the basic units.

I find things to be okay as they are. Sure, we have monster hunter kruleboys, but their design aesthetic is all about being: Swamp orcs Sneaky stalking types versus typical orc blunt brutality Care more for being cunning than brutal Opportunistic Bullies Compared to Bonesplittaz, whose aesthetic is more: Caveman orcs Shamanistic, superstitious, neanderthal types, leaning into the brutality via primitive/stone age motifs. Unga Bunga Compared again to Ironjaws, who are: Black Orcs turned up to 11, yeah baby! Blunt Brutality turned up to 11 In your face, heavily armed and armoured one-tactic orcs. Kruleboys as monster hunters would be more poachers, trappers and overall Tarzan's Clayton types versus Bonesplittas, who would be all about that mammoth hunt for food, clothing, etc. They'd both get a kick out of it, but the former would find it enjoyable by inflicting cruelty because they like being cruel and enjoy seeing a target futilely try to escape, the bonesplittas would enjoy the hunt because the hunt is good fun and that's what orcs are about. Age of Sigmar, to me, has good diversity among factions (not counting Fyreslayers). Order could use a little bit of expanding in regards to Idoneth and Fyreslayers, but all factions seem healthy and diverse due to how certain heroes unlock battleline. The only Alliance I can see that needs some lore expansion is Destruction, given that they're all variations of 'smash stuff'. Take Order- There's Sea, Wood, Blood, Shadow, and Light elves. Fire and Steampunk Dwarfs, Thunder Dudes in Stormcast,and Divine Light Lizards in Seraphon. Plenty of diverse, disctinct miniature lines. Chaos has a faction for each of the Big Four, then Undivided, Skaven, Beastmen and hopefully chaos dwarfs soon to make a full 'eight' stars of chaos. Overlap will happen superficially, but I think that's good, as it shows that each faction has elements of a society and isn't just a trope. What if someone wants to play gladiators, but thinks Morathi isn't that hot?

I just woke up and checked the reveals. MANTICORE. Big Scorpion KITTY! If I hadn't committed to Sons of Behemat, I'd be a Cities of Sigmar convert. So excited for them to have such a cool centerpiece model and more than just drip-fed reveals at long last! The underworlds pack doesn't interest me, but hoo boy, Skaven pestilens fans are going to have fun- new censer bearers? \o/ And the Kruleboyz warband has me interested in getting into the game, whole-heartedly. I just love me some Monster Hunter and monster hunters. Drum Orruk feels very 2am drunk karaoke, like he's belting out some Whitney Houston and I am here for it. AND IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII WILL ALWAYS

I liked the story, but it did seem to focus more on the upcoming rumoured trogg and skaven for 4th. The back and forth bravado/petty one two upsmanship between them is a nice touch to make them feel like the mercenaries they are/were supposed to be

I like it. Not going to pick it up for my mawtribes, but I do like the skinny waif-like city ogors compared to the regular beefy mawtribe ogors. It's like cities were like "Hey, they have goblins riding in a crow's nest! We need to do that!"

As a mawtribes player, I'd love me some plastic maneaters. I don't care if they're going to be CoS, I'd buy them and field them regardless. Besides a range refresh for the plastic kits, Ogors just need plastic heroes, a maneater, and a named character akin to Greasus Goldtooth from WHFB. Bloodpelt hunter was a weird release, given the other hunter mini is still around.

Given the previous time between the first two harbinger stories, we should expect the next two on the 23rd and 30th. It'll be interesting to see if the CoS heroes are the focus of the final story, given how the first two seem to be all about mucking up things for the everyday folk of Order.

I think this is the right place- which variant of the mega gargants is most fun to play? I ask as I found a pair of old WHFB giants cleaning out old minis and am giving them a dettol day spa. Figured I'd start the Sons of Behemat as they look like a blast to play regardless of bringing less than ten models to the table. One other question- how recent is the army book? I'm a little leery of picking it up only to have it invalidated a few months down the track.

I should have some paints arriving tomorrow or Tuesday, but I have almost finished assembling my SBGL force. Just 10 skellies and 5 blood knights to go. I'm keen to give black primer a go for the skeletons, given they have a lot more armour and less exposed bone.

Haha, you won that battle and left one grot alive so he could tell the tale!

Well, they did put Khorne in the list of Khorne's dream Skulls to Reap when they did the bloodthirster mini (or was it Khârn?*) The scriptor mortis' rules look ok- they feel like they're not as good as they're being made out to be- especially when fighting factions that either can shoot him from afar, or get stuck in quickly and eat the vellum from his book. Preorder soon for Arena of Shades means in the next week or two? * alt+0226 for the â!

I made mention a couple of days ago too, but from Oz. It's a shame, as that was one variant I didn't have (and the old WHFB heroes turned Maneater). I hope if they redo Maneaters for AoS, they make it 3 to a box and I can make a LRL Maneater.

I'm having a blast with assembling my Soulblight! The skellies look intimidating at first glance but they have their core bodies separated into triads (so parts 26, 27, and 28 are all for the one skellie). I ordered a corpse cart* and built into the Lodestone variant- the +1 to casting in an army with loads of wizards was too good to pass up! The zombie save bonus is well, an added bonus 😁 I think it's complete as it stands for now, barring maybe a second corpse cart and a box of ranged skeletons, should GW decide that skeletons can have ranged weapons again (I mean Ossiarch get catapults and greatbows, Nighthaunt are getting crossbows, so skellies get rifles?) *Not just the cart lol- 2 necromancers, the cart, and some more skellies for 2 units of 20

I'm not overly familiar with how GW does stuff, but do things go "Sold Out Online" before put back on the store with a round based mini photo? A bunch of Maneaters just had the random Sold Out Treatment. No rumours of AoS-ified Maneater box? (I lament for I did not have the female maneater sculpt) Excuse prices, je venir d'Australie... Not trying to stir the (maw) pot, but usually this is a sign that the kit is due a revamp or is being removed, right?

Yeah I totally agree- outside of a core unit overhaul, it's most of the hero/specialist units and much of the BCR side of things. It might be 2023 that we'd see any revamp of destruction armies. The mawpot without plastic butcher was an odd choice, but I suppose given both the pandemic and other factions, it wasn't feasible. I just want some AoS destruction rumours!

Given this year is definitely shaping up to be quiet for AOS, barring faint Skeletor noises from Nagash with that battlebox. So we know DoK and NH are on the horizon... I'd put good money that the rumoured 30k boxset is revealed, especially with the HH characters being released. I do hope AOS gets some spotlight- just something to be excited for if not for myself, then for other players. Fingers crossed for some Ogor goodness (this is supposed to be Destruction's time in the sun)

Is there much for the narmarti with Idoneth? Every box set seems to have them present, but the word on the street is battleline eels. I won't ever collect them but they're such a beautiful army, and an interesting take on Sea Elves! As for me, I'm enjoying 3rd edition even if I've only had a few games and most of my stuff is currently in storage from a move, but I'm building my way through the 'new year new army' of SBGL - Picked up the holiday box and a SC! with options on a second SC for more grave guard. I'm enjoying their fluff and that while Nagash is The Big Boss for Death, he's taken a bit of a backseat here.

I like Kragnos too! Not gonna buy him, but I think he's neat. Give him a low model count (more than gargants- like unit size 3) of stompy centaurs so he has his destruction varanguard equivalent. I think he's definitely destruction and while he looks like a BoC model, the key difference (in my opinion- feel free to disagree!) is that the BoC want to tear down civilisation and then make edifices to raw, primal, chaos/devolve the realms. Kragnos just wants to tear down civilisation and make dragon omelettes. My unpopular opinion is that Dominion looks like it's selling poorly due to there not being a Jareth knock-off for Kruleboyz. The orruks remind me of the babe.

I would say that it really does depend on your local community and that online forums can magnify negative views and opinions. Humans are just wired to focus on the negative (sadly). With my personal anecdotal evidence: I am enjoying AoS 3.0, but I will miss the free warscrolls- it was a quick and easy way to get to grips with a unit/test a proxy without having to lug around the battletome. It is a loss, no matter which way you slice it. My advice would be to download the ones you want (if available) or ask if any kindly souls have the warscrolls from the kits. Pretty sure GW is still printing them at the back of the instructions. Hopefully the updates make it to the instructions.