Maogrim

I extend my humble greetings to Sigmar's chosen warriors! Would someone be so kind as to explain to me what the Lord Imperitant is good for or against? A friend of mine just bought a pretty huge collection of Stormcast Eternals and seems a little overwhelmed with choosing models to actually invest time in painting them. So the Lord Imperitant is a really cool looking model and I noticed him showing up in a few lists, but I'd like some more solid reasons for recommending him.

Spot on. It's hard to swallow sometimes that a 5 model squad of Alarith Stoneguard are 45€ / 36.5£ with just the heads of the hammers as interchangeable options. Fortunately nobody has to pay full price for GW models. And they are amazing sculpts and I love them deeply.

So I hope all Chaos-affiliated Ratmen fans on these splendid forums are looking forward to the next Skaven battletome which will bring a brand new Pestilens War Abbot OR a fresh Rat Ogre handler hero and absolutely nothing else.

Hey, it's me again. I said I was going to do the Scinari Cathallar next and, well, here's a WIP: I was going for ye olde translucent dress effect, and I think it was coming along quite well. I would love your opinion, if you don't mind sharing. I feel like I need to get her facial features a little softer..

Oh, don't worry, friend. See, my distant relative @Kaleb Daark and I just hide deep, mutual appreciation behind him calling us non-smiling, troublesome, untrustworthy sausages for beasts ... and me wanting him to finally spell that race correctly. Interesting question though! I personally would believe Malerion to be the most likely. Dark Elves were always an iconic and beloved part of Warhammer, and each Aelven god has the potential be a money-printing machine, if their rules are halfway decent. So I believe him to be safer bet than something like Chaos Duardin (though I would LOVE to see an AOS take on them) or Silent People (whom I believe will never be a faction in Age of Sigmar).

Not quite accurate. Our souls are pretty fine. Better than others' in fact. Better than those of our so-called cousins from the seaside. True Aelves have no use for those shabby things you might call a soul. Oh, and it's Aelves. Will you ever learn?

Fun fact: GW has released one (in numerals: 1) unconditional battleline unit for non-Stormcast armies in over half a year. And there's none (in numerals: 0) on the horizon for the next few months.

Everyone on TGA loves the Soulblight Gravelords tome, right? And I do too, from the snippets of it I caught. But there is one thing I don't like about it: the leaders of the dynasties/legions are awesome models, and I love that they all have at least one named character and that they are viable... But what I don't like is how it invites builds that mix dynasties. Some of the more competitive lists seem to regularly feature both Belladomma and Prince Vhordrai, and that doesn't really sit right with me, with the constant infighting and rivalries going on between the vampire dynasties. Sure it's cool if two dynasties' leaders team up once in a while, but it shouldn't be the norm and from the lists I see on the Soulblight subforum it's becoming the norm for non-Nagash lists.

I do have a PDF of the tome, but I really prefer a physical copy. So, if a Drycha + Spite Revenants core isn't very good, in what kind of army would you run her?

So which factions will even get Vanguard boxes, and what are the determining variables? Only 3rd Edition tome factions, beginning with Stormcast Eternals and Orruk Warclans? Excluding factions already present in dual a Starterbox, meaning beginning with Maggotkin? That would also exclude Idoneth and Fyreslayers. If 3rd edition is no defining factor, then Lumineth or Ossiarch might get one. But those factions already got one of the larger armyboxes..

Your theory doesn't match with the time line. The River temple, like the other temples, was conceived after the last Lumineth civil war, when Teclis led his surviving people to seek attunement with Hysh's elements. The Idoneth on the other hand were Teclis' first attempt at recreating High Elves, so they precede Lumineth society and subsequently the inception of the temples by a good stretch of time. River temple, Zenith temple as well as Tyrion and the last two Great Nations will undoubtedly become part of the next larger Lumineth expansion and have already been mentioned 'in action' in the tome's lore section.

Jeez, how many Necroquakes does the man need to end until you guys stop complaining? 😉

Oh ma GAWD, its Public Universal Duardin with a SUNMETAL CHAIR!!!!

So, since I vaguely recall someone suggesting that there wasn't enough (a)elf talk I'd like to give my two cents on the rumour of GW switching poster boy status to Lumineth: I personally do not see this happening. Although Lumineth got their infamous second wave and the tome includes plenty of design space for future growth (temples, nations, Tyrion) they do not receive any suspicious amount of additional support. There's still no Start Collecting box for Lumineth except the limited ones in form of the outdated launch box and the recent army box. Three other Order armies were or are going to be featured in dual army boxes, meaning Dominion and the upcoming #FyreVSWatyr. They also did not get any special edition or limited models for things like the Warhammer Plus launch or Game Days, holidays and such - I think these were one or two Stormcasts, a female vampire, two Ironjawz and the recent Gutrippa captain. Also there is no Tome Celestial for Lumineth; Soulblight Gravelords got one before them, although the army came out after Lumineth. From a lore perspective recent insights into Lumineth society painted them in an even less friendly way - I highly recommend reading the entry on Settler's Gain in the core book. And lastly: GW loves their big and bulky armor-clad humanoids on their promotional posters and plastic bags. I do not see them abandoning Stormcast Eternals in that regard.

Ah, don' t be too harsh. She's new here. She'll find her way eventually, with a little guidance. But you seem to require said guidance as well, considering that you mistake 'thoughtful' for 'aloof', 'stern' for 'stuck up' and 'selfassured' for 'haughty'. The other two are fine.

Welcome to the light, sister. Please allow me to welcome you in the Archmage's name and show you around a little. Over there you will find what some ignorants foolishly deem to be silly helmets of the enlightened and honorable Alarith temple. I am sure you will find the majestic animal imagery to your persinal liking. Whoops. Now I waw almost smiling again.

MSU Alarith Stoneguard are done. Pretty happy with how they came out. 5 more will be added, but I think I'll do the Cathallar next.

*whispers to himself* I ... must not smile. Don't let the joy overcome you, Maogrim. Just think about the Archmage and simply nod in benevolent approval... *nods in benevolent approval*

And which part of my post would instigate such a counter attack by yourself, resulting in what reads like a vindication of the crusades as a bellum justum of sorts?! Never mind, we'll just get modded, and rughtfully so. Let's just say: thin ice, my friend.

While I personally find discussion about historical allegory and following implications fascinating, first I would like to humbly suggest to @SeanMaguire1991 and @Noserenda to leave out phrases like 'says more about you than'. This should not be the space for low-key attacks on the character of another person, except he's outright stating harmful sexist, racist etc stuff. Now, on to the topic: I think asking whether 'Dawnbringer Crusades' is somewhat ideoligically tied to Christian crusades is valid. Fantasy games and their lore are texts and insofar do not develop out of thin air; they are inevitably influenced by the author's / authors' knowledge about history. Even if an author says 'Yeah, no, that's not what I meant' they can and should still be subject to critical literary analysis. Especially today where authors have the possibility to influence heavily how their texts are perceived; e.g. the Harry Potter series, whose author has constantly tried to retrospectively paint the story more diverse and inclusive than the text itself accounts for.

That is an interesting take. I perfectly get what you mean and as a first reaction I was very much inclined to agree... But in what ways could Malerion's faction differ, especially after the stealthy shadowy theme is also represented in Khainite Shadowstalkers? On a first glance less skin and more armor and flowy fabric like scarves could be a given. Helmets are a thing that Daughters typically don't wear, but they mustn't remind one too much of the Daughter's coronets/headpieces. Jagged daggers would also be too similar, so probably things like spears again? In the Lunineth tomw shadowy demon-like creatures are mentioned. Instinctively I would expect something with leathery bat wings, like that one Malerion artwork. But leathery bat wings are very much present in Daughters as well, with the Kinerai and the Goddess / Queen B**** of Ulgu herself. What would your ideas be as to make Malerion's Aelves unique from the Daughters of Khaine? This question goes out to the rest of the community as well.

It's certainly a possibility, and it would make sense if they want a mirror images dynamic between Lumineth and Shadow Aelves both with two gods at the helm (siblings in Lumineth's case, mother & son for Umbraneth). And they do seem loosely allied at the moment. I for one would rather Morathi stayed on her own though.

The thing is the Daughters of Khaine and Idoneth Deepkin already have larger rosters compared to Ironjawz and Kruleboyz. So if they were to soup Malerion's Aelves + Idoneth + Daughters of Khaine to create something akin ye olde Dark Elves (which also contained a small nautical theme as well as the Khaine cult) that'd result in a significantly larger book than Orruk Warclans. And I also would imagine that such a beloved faction like Dark Elves would deserve their own standalone incarnation, in the eyes of the developers as well as in those of the fans. Now, Daughters + Har Curon is something that would make much more sense to me and would underline how much Har Curon is alienated from the other Cities of Sigmar and how powerful Morathi has become.

But surely they won't do another Daughters tome?! The book seems to be in a very good condition and is still quite new. What they could do is a Slaughter Queen or Hag Queen outside the Cauldron box. But then again the shown model features noticably shorter hair while the fomular thus far seems to gave indicated that leader status in the Cult of Morathi-Khaine goes along with bigger hair. The whip and short hair could indicate a hero specialized in supporting or fighting alongside Sisters of Slaughter. Perhaps in order to make melee builds for Daughters a little more attractive in contrast to the popular Blood Stalker builds. Me personally, I would have preferred a stealthy assassin type hero á la Malaneth Witchblade.

It wouldn't make sense to churn out a hero that's bigger and more impressive than Olynder, the Mortarch of the faction. I think the Black Coach and Nagash will probably remain the biggest models for Nighthaunt. Would be very cool if they finally got proper subfactions.