Races available on the website

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Daeron
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Races available on the website

Post by Daeron »

The GW website now offers the models per race. So we are listed as Aelfs. Some interesting observations:
- Sylvaneth are not elves, just the walking tree people.
- Skeletons, vampires and mummies each have their own race
- Stormcast eternals and chaos warriors are both "Mortals"
- Humans are a separate race (from Mortals)
- Beastmen have lost their monsters. Those are just the beastmen infantry now. The monsters don't seem to have a race.

Well... I think this just made the Guardians of the Deepwood an army box :)
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Re: Races available on the website

Post by Amboadine »

Those are some fairly significant changes then and would seem to imply an expansion of races rather than the contraction expected.
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Re: Races available on the website

Post by Daeron »

It's what I expect as well. More armies, with fewer units per faction and a stronger theme. They couldn't get it done in the previous games, and I think this is what they hope to achieve in AoS.
The format is much more suited for it. Instead of giving an army book and needing to update them (or get flamed) every edition, then try to incorporate all these sub themes, they can just bring every subtheme they can think of and make a 100$-200$ box like the "Guardiand of the Deepwood" and say "Here's a starter army for this theme". Since, in AoS, that is actually a viable army, it will be much easier and more seducing to get started on it.
I love the look of Guardians of the Deepwood, but.. Who wants to start their wood elf army that way? Right? But if that becomes a solid army that can rival the entry kits from AoS, then we're speaking a wholly different beast.

So yeah.. That's what I'm guessing: more armies, smaller in number of units but more stylised.
Looking at the Stormcast Eternals, we're already seeing something like that (for now anyway). They have Liberators, Judicators (Liberators with bows), Paladins, Prosecutors and characters.
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Re: Races available on the website

Post by Duffman327 »

When you think about it, it can actually make the hobby cheaper to start. (Lets not get in the whole $$$$ thing) but for starting the hobby you can go in and find what you like and just stick with a couple of small units. over time you can build up a larger army but in the beginning you dont need a lot of minis.

Its good for me as it take me ages to assemble an army so i can play with a few units i have together. I think it is also great as you can have whatever minis you want in a game. if you want a vampire lord in your DE faction, there is nothing to say you can't. Love it!!
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Elros
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Re: Races available on the website

Post by Elros »

Duffman327 said:
When you think about it, it can actually make the hobby cheaper to start.

That's my first impression, too. The barrier to entry is pretty low, because someone just needs to buy a few units and they are off. No need to worry about Army composition, points, etc. The lack of restrictions also lend itself to players who want all elite units, etc.
The question is if the game will have the strategic and tactical depth that WHFB used to have, or is it going to turn into "whoever rolls the most dice wins" style of 40k.
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Re: Races available on the website

Post by Gnosis »

Elros wrote:The question is if the game will have the strategic and tactical depth that WHFB used to have, or is it going to turn into "whoever rolls the most dice wins" style of 40k.

Of course it's going to be the latter unless you comp it, and then you end up with the same restrictions that turned those people off WHFB.
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Re: Races available on the website

Post by Red... »

Of course it's going to be the latter unless you comp it, and then you end up with the same restrictions that turned those people off WHFB.

It always struck me that the biggest barrier to Warhammer Fantasy was that people prefer guns and science fiction to bows and fantasy. I'm not sure exactly how Age of Sigmar fixes that problem.

Back on topic. The approach that GW seems to be taking now regarding smaller bands within bigger races seems similar to Malifaux. It's a decent approach, but as the folks at Wyrd discovered, it has its limitations. Either, you constrain your players to using the pre-set bands, which grows a little repetitive over time (seeing the exact same combinations, over and over), or you try to introduce compatibility between bands within the larger races to allow combinations. The latter is tough to do right in terms of balance though: making a model usable in several bands may make it silly weak in some bands and overpowered in others.
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Re: Races available on the website

Post by Gnosis »

Red... wrote:It always struck me that the biggest barrier to Warhammer Fantasy was that people prefer guns and science fiction to bows and fantasy. I'm not sure exactly how Age of Sigmar fixes that problem.

That might have something to do with it, but I think it has more to do with the WHFB universe not having poster boys like Ultramarines which young teenagers are drawn to. Versatile army with a bit of everything, simple but striking colour scheme, relatively few models to collect, big guns, cool power armour etc.

Enter the Stormcast, a faction of alternative Ultramarines trapped in magical bubbles! If your dad's a Democrat and he doesn't like guns, these are just the thing for you!
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Re: Races available on the website

Post by Red... »

True, there have traditionally been fewer role-model heroes in fantasy - high elves were too pretentious; dark elves too evil and pornographic; wood elves too tree-huggery ;empire and bretonnia too feeble and bearded; orcs and goblins too gnarly, erratic and dumb; lizardmen too reptilian; skaven too rodent-esque; dwarfs too paunchy and slow; ogres too ugly; vampire counts and tomb kings too creepy and, well, dead; beastmen and demons too far away from human form; warriors of chaos too evil and norselike; and chaos dwarfs too discontinued.
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