Models for the chop

[Darkmark]

Well, sad news for us all. According to Lady Atia, a reliable info source, the following models from our range are leaving us:

Malekith
- Morathi
- Harpies
- Shades
- Reaper Bolt Thrower
- Dreadlord on Dark Steed
- Dark Elf Supreme Sorceress on Cold One
- Cold One
- Dark Elf Supreme Sorceress
- Dark Elf Assassin with Two Hand Weapons
- Dark Elf Sorceress with Skull Staff
- Lokhir Fellheart
- Dreadlord with Great Weapon
- Dread Lord on Cold One

You can find her full list here: https://war-of-sigmar.herokuapp.com/bloggings/575

Sad news indeed.

[Daeron]

Considering they all have the last chance to buy icon on their image on the GW site, it's quite safe to confirm this list. Tbh .. No big surprises. These are all finecast models, and some of them are quite old. I liked the shades and bolt thrower myself... I hope they get a terrific replacement.

[Amboadine]

Well at least I have all of those that I want.
Guess these either won't be in the 10 Aelf factions or we get some new shiny toys.

[toots]

this is brilliant news - all our collections are increasing in value!!

[Darkprincess]

So let me get this straight...

GW are dropping Dark Elves, High Elves, Wood Elves, Brettonians, Empire and Dwarfs...

Not much left then is there? No reason to give any more money to GW anymore I guess...

They probably expect us all to start buying the Age of Sigmar models - but the ones I've seen so far are either really ugly or, even worse, they look like retarded space marines

In the grim darkness of the near future, there is only Chinese counterfeiting...

or maybe 3D printing, once they can break through the quality barrier...

[Darkmark]

Considering they all have the last chance to buy icon on their image on the GW site, it's quite safe to confirm this list.

TBH, I haven't been on their site for some time, so fair play there. The useful shield pack is on the last chance list too.

[Daeron]

GW are dropping Dark Elves, High Elves, Wood Elves, Brettonians, Empire and Dwarfs...
Not much left then is there?

Your pessimism is astounding, and... wrong. I'm not preaching love for GW, but at least let's be honest in our arguments.
- Dark Elves: only fine-cast models are being removed.
- High Elves: only fine-cast and 10 year old models are being removed.
- Empire: only fine-cast and 10 year old models are being removed.
- Dwarfs: only fine-cast and 10 year old models are being removed.
I don't know the age of the wood elves well enough to draw conclusions there, but it seems to be a similar trend.
The Bretts do seem to be leaving or may see considerable change.

Why is it, when the release of a new army book comes with rumours of new models, that everybody gets excited for new models but now, when they announce the retirement of these old models before new ones are released, people are losing their mind? Unbridled panic!
Of course, with the release of a new army book in the past, nobody thought they would reduce the model range. Since we "know" they could be reducing the model range, I understand if this creates uncertainty... But to treat this like a removal of our model range is wrong.

Were you really attached to the Harpies? Or the old Morathi on foot? Or even the Shades?
I can't remember the last time anybody used these models, except perhaps the old Morathi on foot. That one pops up every once in a while. Yet 10 years ago she was nicknamed horse-face. Most people go for the plastic one, even for conversions. The Harpies are perhaps the most popular conversion. I don't remember seeing shades for years, unless they were converted.
So we lost a few mounted characters... But if we look at our own P&M section, few of these popped up at all. Like those mounted nobles, who would be outnumbered by conversions 3 to 1 at least.

On the flip side of this announcement, this makes it very like for the following units to -remain-..:
- Bloodwrack Shine / Cauldron of Blood
- Hydra / Kharibdys
- Witch Elves / Sisters of Slaughter
- Dreadlord on Black Dragon -----> IMPORTANT! Means dragons are still around!
- Black Guard / Executioners
- Cold One Chariot / Scourgerunner Chariot
- Cold One Knights
- Dark Riders / Doomfire Warlocks
- Bleakswords / Dreadspears / Darkshards
- Corsairs! --> Naval theme continues
- Shadowblade
- Fleetmaster (more naval theme!)
- Sorceress on foot

13 kits, good for 21 units. We still have more to offer than most armies. Our old army book is covered almost completely, aside from a few units nobody used or people converted anyway.
The future is uncertain, sure, but we are far from gone.

[Shadowspite]

GW are dropping Dark Elves, High Elves, Wood Elves, Brettonians, Empire and Dwarfs...

No. Well, not completely.

Bretonnians do seem to be gone completely and forever. Understandable, since they don't really fit in the new setting. They got screwed by GW, but that happened back in the End Times when it was made explicit that their entire religion and culture was a lie and they were just dumb tools for puppetmistress Lileath. GW's treatment of the Brets was atrocious, but that's water under the bridge now. And then the bridge burned down and some arse dumped several tons of diseased cattle carcasses in the river. And then concreted it over and built a Tesco's. They're done.

DE, HE and WE are staying. They each have been mentioned in the AoS fluff and have their own faction keywords (Exiles, Highborn and Wanderers). Some of their models are being discontinued, and they're being subdivided into various cults and mini-factons, such as Blood Cults (what used to be Khainite DEs), Phoenix Temple Guardians (HE phoenix/Asuryan-themed units), and so on. Any elf unit that isn't on the list of discontinued models is probably safe for the forseeable future. It will get repackaged with round AoS bases, possibly renamed, but otherwise left as-is.

WE are, I notice, keeping their infantry archers (Glade Guard) while the HE are losing theirs. That suggests there will just be a single (a)elf infantry archer troop type, and they will use the Glade Guard models. Likewise, Silver Helms are going, but Dragon Princes are staying. So, again, there will be a single (a)elf horse-mounted heavy cavalry unit. The idea seems to be slimming down the range by getting rid of the less cool-looking (or older) member of each pair of similar units. We DE players are lucky in that our units are generally quite distinct, both in form and function, from HE and WE units. Our 'archers' have repeater crossbows rather than longbows, so they both look and play differently from WE Glade Guard and HE Archers. Our heavy cavalry ride cold ones instead of horses, again keeping them distinct enough to earn a place in the new game.

Empire is an odd case. When the new AoS 'Free Peoples' faction (the new catch-all for non-Chaos humans) gets new models, I suspect they won't look much like 16th century Germans. But a lot of Empire units will still exist. Steamtanks, organ guns and cannon are known to be explicitly mentioned in the Grand Alliance: Order book. Like the elves, anything not listed as discontinued is probably safe for a good while yet.

Dwarves are now split into the fire-themed 'slayer' dwarves and the steampunk dwarves. Units that don't fit in either faction are going away, but most dwarves can be shoehorned into one or the other. New models will more clearly emphasise one theme or the other, rather than trying to keep every dwarf looking like it belongs in the same army as every other dwarf. So expect the new Steamhead Duardin to be rather more steampunk-looking than anything you've seen before from GW dwarves. I would not be surprised to see them get giant steam-powered mecha.

[Darkprincess]

Were you really attached to the Harpies? Or the old Morathi on foot? Or even the Shades?
I can't remember the last time anybody used these models, except perhaps the old Morathi on foot.

Well actually I use the Morathi on foot mini (the old metal one) as my army general (albeit in the fluff guise of being Lonicera). I still have another one of these still in its blister. I was going to try a better conversion with it but right now I think I'll hang on to her in case her value increases... As for the harpies, I use them as Fell Bats in my VC army, Van Helsing style, and I've used Harpy wings stuck on daemonettes as my Slaaneshi Furies...

On the flip side of this announcement, this makes it very like for the following units to -remain-..:
- Bloodwrack Shine / Cauldron of Blood
- Hydra / Kharibdys
- Witch Elves / Sisters of Slaughter
- Dreadlord on Black Dragon -----> IMPORTANT! Means dragons are still around!
- Black Guard / Executioners
- Cold One Chariot / Scourgerunner Chariot
- Cold One Knights
- Dark Riders / Doomfire Warlocks
- Bleakswords / Dreadspears / Darkshards
- Corsairs! --> Naval theme continues
- Shadowblade
- Fleetmaster (more naval theme!)
- Sorceress on foot

13 kits, good for 21 units. We still have more to offer than most armies. Our old army book is covered almost completely, aside from a few units nobody used or people converted anyway.
The future is uncertain, sure, but we are far from gone.

Well your words are reassuring. Thank you. I guess we'll all have to see how this plays out in the future...

I'm not trying to be deliberately pessimistic, honestly, but after what GW did to the entire Warhammer Fantasy world with its 30+ years of established lore, I can't say that I trust them further than I could throw them to be honest, especisially given what they've tried to replace it with

[Darkmark]

Actually, I quite hope we see a new style battalion box with a cauldron, riders, and 'shards.

[Darkprincess]

It would seem unlikely (though I suppose not impossible) that a premium model kit like the Cauldron would be included in a battalion box, as these have traditionally tended to form a core army rather than having all the fancy stuff (I remember wishing they had one with Witch Elves many years ago, but that was never going to happen because back then, Witch Elves were all metal - and special choices to boot).

Riders are a possibility, and the core infantry will certainly be there.

Most battalions have included 2 units of core troops (not necessarily the same type in all cases), a cavalry unit and something else. For example, the old Tomb Kings (Remember the, GW? - Many people still play them) had two units of skellie warriors with the options to build them either as archers or spearmen, a unit of 8 skeleton cavalry and a unit of three chariots.

So with this in mind, a good choice now would probably be 2x DE Warrior units (with the option of RXBs or spears as per the basic kit), a unit of dark riders and maybe a chariot or some other single unit - but I'd be very surprised if it were a cauldron as that's a big, complex kit in its own right (I know - I've just built one).

I'd like to see it include a unit of Witch Elves, but given the high price of the Witch Elf kit on its own, it seems unlikely that this would make it into the battalion box - be really cool if it did though

It's just possible that GW could capitalise on the naval theme and release a battalion with corsairs and stuff - since there is nothing in these boxes that's not in the regular model range - it's just a question of repackaging, there's no technical reason why GW couldn't release more than one battalion box for a given army - in as much as the DE could get a naval battalion with the corsairs and a dry land army box with the regular lineup.

<<crosses her fingers for a Cult of slaanesh battalion with 2x units of Witch Elves as core>>

Hehe - dream on...

:p

[Shadowspite]

A 'Start Collecting: Exiles Blood Cult' box with witch elves, executioners and a cauldron, with the usual ~30% price reduction the 'Start Collecting' boxes have... now that would be cool.

[Daeron]

I'm not trying to be deliberately pessimistic, honestly, but after what GW did to the entire Warhammer Fantasy world with its 30+ years of established lore, I can't say that I trust them further than I could throw them to be honest, especisially given what they've tried to replace it with

That is understandable. I'm giving it more time myself... But I've seen what it did to a friend of mine, who was very much in love with his army and all the fluff around it. He was bummed out for months (and probably still is, a little).

As for the kits! Speculation time!
- Start collecting is 65 euros per kit, so with a discount the budget goal should be up to 90 euros. My guess would be 1xBleakswords, 1x Cold One Knights, 1x Cold One Chariot.... OR.. the Dreadlord on Dragon or something
- There was a Sylvann army box, 185 euros (20%-ish discount, after the prices of the kits was -lowered- btw) so a bigger box is possible too. Perhaps, a Cauldron of Blood and 4x Witch Elves as they tried to sell before? Or a COB, 20 WE's and 20 Exes? For about 190 euros?

[Shadowspite]

There's also a Chaos box ('Lord Heldrath's Chaos Deathtide') at £110, which IIRC works out to about a 30% discount. So the Sylvanneth box wasn't a one-off.

[Saintofm]

They came up with a cool rule for harpies in the PDF, so I am guessing they will get the same treatment our other troops have; the standard harpy and another flying type of monster. It is too perfect to not have that.

Malekeith needed a new model for years now.

They probably want new models for lords on foot and so on. Remember the assassins we have now are largly different from the ones back in sixth ed. So we may get new minies for them as well.

Think they will give us driders?

[Darkprincess]

I just noticed that Empire Free Company are on the Last Chance to buy page now
So much for it just being the Finecast stuff...

That's a real shame as these are one of the most versatile and conversion-friendly model kits in GW's range (zombie pirates, anyone?)

Very sad - all the cool stuff is going, and despite all the assurances from other members here that there will be good stuff coming soon, I've yet to see any new stuff that's gotten me excited

[Shadowspite]

They came up with a cool rule for harpies in the PDF, so I am guessing they will get the same treatment our other troops have; the standard harpy and another flying type of monster. It is too perfect to not have that.

That will probably not happen. Harpies are Chaos troops now. Even in the free warscroll compendium PDF, they have the Chaos keyword rather than the Order keyword. If they ever return with new models, it will probably be as a Brayherd unit (they're also in the Beastmen warscroll compendium).

Malekeith needed a new model for years now.

Malekith is now Malerion, and he's some kind of draconic shadow-god. It seems very likely he will get a new model eventually, but it probably won't look much like his previous one.

They probably want new models for lords on foot and so on. Remember the assassins we have now are largly different from the ones back in sixth ed. So we may get new minies for them as well.

IIRC, the only assassin model still in production is the one that used to be Shadowblade.

Think they will give us driders?

No chance in heck.

Shadow daemons are a possibility and will probably appear alongside a new Morathi model. All the rumours indicate that the first new Aelf models we see are going to be the Shadowkin, who seem to be the Aelves of Ulgu who follow Malerion and Morathi.

I just noticed that Empire Free Company are on the Last Chance to buy page now
So much for it just being the Finecast stuff...

Finecast and the really old plastic kits. Free Company are the latter. They're, what? 17 years old now?

High elf spearmen, archers and silver helms are going away too. Also pretty old (14 this year, I think?). Just be glad we got a new plastic DE spearmen/crossbowmen kit relatively recently, since the previous version would have been even older than the HE stuff and would almost certainly have been scrapped alongside them.

[Killerk]

Well I will be selling my range soon. I'm backing out of warhammer.

I will start collecting 9th age thou . But never the less I'm getting rid of all my GW stuff. So if any one wants beautiful and expensive models, mine will be up for grabs shortly, they will go through a painting studio to fix them up, and then will hit ebay.

I will get a proper Druchii line in time (once I see the appropriate models).

[Sabious]

Sounds tempting. Do we get a sneak peak at the models before ebay?

[Daeron]

I just noticed that Empire Free Company are on the Last Chance to buy page now
So much for it just being the Finecast stuff...

Finecast and the really old plastic kits. Free Company are the latter. They're, what? 17 years old now?
High elf spearmen, archers and silver helms are going away too. Also pretty old (14 this year, I think?). Just be glad we got a new plastic DE spearmen/crossbowmen kit relatively recently, since the previous version would have been even older than the HE stuff and would almost certainly have been scrapped alongside them.

By the looks of it, there is also no replacement policy. IE: they are retiring a kit, but not replacing it with a new one that could take up the scroll. A new model is released, with new rules. Perhaps they are delaying the revamp until the old stock is completely sold out. My guess is that it's their new planned obsolescence, even though in theory "old models" retain a value with their unique, old scrolls.

Perhaps we can end up with our tabletop version of the black lotus.

[Gnosis]

With Total War: Warhammer so close to releasing, this is just about the dumbest move GW has ever made timing-wise.

[Saintofm]

With Total War: Warhammer so close to releasing, this is just about the dumbest move GW has ever made timing-wise.

Agreed. The video game seems to be in in the Warhammer Fantasy setting, not the age of Sigmar one with at least four main army books (maybe we can get something with pointy ears and antisocial tendencies in one of the expansion packs?).

Add the complete clearing out of the Black Library from these eras, and its almost like they are telling us they do not want our money.