Khorne Attacks & A New Quest For Age Of Sigmar
August 8, 2015 by brennon
This weekend sees more re-packaging for Age Of Sigmar by Games Workshop but also two new products which include the next campaign book, The Quest For Ghal Maraz, and the Khorne Bloodreaver which have a lot more options...
A Mighty Quest
The first of these new products is the book called The Quest For Ghal Maraz. This seems to be the next step in the story which sets up the new Age of Sigmar universe in the Warhammer world and seems to feature the Stormcast looking for the mythical hammer while running into the Daemons and more.
"The whereabouts of Sigmar’s sacred hammer, the weapon of legend known as Ghal Maraz, has been discovered. Limited is the foremost goal on the mind of the God-King, who sends twelve Stormhosts to the Hanging Valleys of Anvrok, determined to retrieve it at any cost.
Meanwhile, in the foetid reaches of Rotwater Blight, the search for Alarielle’s Hidden Vale continues apace. Can the Stormcast Eternals forge an alliance with the Sylvaneth before the pestilent tide of Nurgle’s foul magic consumes their world entirely?"
Of course as always there is a Limited Edition version of the book coming out as well. While I like the idea of these big background books to help build the universe having one so soon seems like a bit much, especially with another £45 investment.
Khorne Bloodbound
The bloodthirsty warriors of Khorne have banded together once more with the Bloodreavers. This set of models featured in the Age of Sigmar big box but now come with additional options and continue to look epic in my opinion.
It will be interesting to see if we get alternative 'Marauder' types for the other factions when they come out or if these fur clad warriors will remain in the service of Khorne.
The rules for them are HERE.
Skaven Rise
Last but not least the Skaven get a big boost with Clan Pestilens having a bunch of their models be redone including the Plague Monks, Censer Bearers, Plagueclaw, Warp Lightning Cannon, Plague Furnace plus a Priest and Grey Seer on Screaming Bell.
It looks like Games Workshop are converting over the ranges they need to see continue in Age of Sigmar at the same time as developing new factions. Eventually I wouldn't be surprised if the old range vanishes from stores and goes online only.
What do you think about the story for Age of Sigmar?
"While I like the idea of these big background books to help build the universe having one so soon seems like a bit much, especially with another £45 investment..."
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Have they scaled back on the painting quality with the AoS releases? I don’t remember them being like this during the End Times releases. The Sigmarites had noticeable washes but with these being organics the lower quality shows up more. I understand why they’d do it, I’m just asking whether they have done it or if I’m just noticing it now.
Haven’t followed the story, but I love that chaos banner carrier!
I don’t think so @redben if I could paint to these standards I would be more than happy. Besides I don’t want the chaos to be comic book style like the previous Warhammer figures. I think the painting standard is the same, with the same effort going into them.
Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying it takes no skill or effort to paint like this. I mean that the techniques used are more basic.There appears to very little layering and blending, and much more use of block colours, edge highlighting, washing, and drybrushing. These are all techniques that don’t need a lot of practice or skill to use, but at the same time can be done well by someone with a lot of skill. The change in the paint range a couple of years back brought with it a change of philosophy from aspirational to achievable and quick. The… Read more »
I’ve noticed this to. When looking through the pictures sometimes some of minis are clearly painted by the eavy metal team and other times they haven’t. The ones of the lower quality look very close to the ‘how to paint’ style. So I think they are just showing people that you can achieve good looking minis too if you follow their guidelines. Even though I’ve been painting for years I brought the ‘how to paint age of sigmar’ guide and really impressed with the results it’s given me. I use to ignore these in the past but now I might… Read more »
I’m going to keep an eye on the 40K releases to see if the same thing is happening there. If it isn’t then it’s an interesting insight into what GW are trying to do with AoS.
Is it a conscious decison to make some of the paintjobs more acheivable to us mortals maybe or they just needed them ready for photography with only a small window to meet schedules?
In my opinion, the detail of how you want to paint is really down to personal choice. Those with buckets of experience will still paint in their own methods with layering,blending etc. Those with less experience or time will paint with more block work then shades. If GW have given more inexperienced painters techniques that will give them models they can be proud of, well thank you GW.
I think it’s much more likely to be the first one, @wesadie1969. Even if pushed for time those techniques could have been used. It seems like a conscious decision to paint in an achievable style. @galadriel72: Certainly for us customers it is. For GW it’s a strategic choice based on how they want to market their product. It’s a tricky balancing act to present your minis looking as nice possible so that people want to buy them, and presenting them in an achievable style so that people don’t get frustrated that their minis don’t look like the ones on the… Read more »
To be honest @redben I look at a GW or FW mini and I want to buy it because I’m thinking “I can paint it better than that”. I look at some ranges painted by master painters (cough cough Infinity) and I’m put off by the feeling that my own attempt won’t be that good. That’s just me though 🙂
I think a lot of people are put off when minis are marketed with paintjobs at that high a standard. People buy the minis because they look great, and because their own efforts don’t match that, they’re not satisfied. Sometimes the mini doesn’t even need to be painted, and the level of detail on the sculpt puts some people off even trying to paint it. It is also true that a beautifully painted mini is attractive to many potential customers. The likes of Rackham were very successful by doing this (and were then very unsuccessful at running a business lol).… Read more »
@redben : you’re absolutely right, it is a tricky balancing act. So what GW have achieved is create stunning figures, painted in a simplistic fashion that even the most novice painter can aspire to. Of course it is a strategic choice but then surely a great business strategy is to maximise your market potential in order to achieve the highest possible profit. Allowing people the potential of recreating the stunning works they have seen in the white dwarf mag will no doubt increase their sales. GW are a business. They are there to make profit. Surely this is the aim… Read more »
“Of course it is a strategic choice but then surely a great business strategy is to maximise your market potential in order to achieve the highest possible profit. Allowing people the potential of recreating the stunning works they have seen in the white dwarf mag will no doubt increase their sales. GW are a business. They are there to make profit. Surely this is the aim of every successful business” If this were true then it would mean all the times GW were producing aspirational paintjobs they were deliberately minimising their market potential in order to not achieve the highest… Read more »
There is a significant difference in the up close pictures from white dwarf and the actual gaming distance. It depends on what you want to achieve. Are the figures going to be for showcase or are they for gaming? When gaming we see them from 3 foot away of which the tiny details are not seen. We may choose to paint this for our own purpose but as a mass gaming, the figures are stunning. With the new paint system of GW, the paint splatter articles and the tutorial videos, it gives new and existing gamers the aspiration to achieve… Read more »
I don’t know if I’m coming across like I’m criticising the quality of the paintjobs here. I’m trying hard not to (because I’m not). I’m talking about using paintjobs as a marketing strategy and what it says about GW’s marketing strategy with AoS given that they’ve have moved towards a more achievable style with it. It doesn’t depend on what you want to achieve, it depends upon what GW want to do in marketing their product. They’ve marketed their product very successfully to both gamers and painters with aspirational paintjobs in the past, so it’s not to do with one… Read more »
You might be right, but I remember seeing the first minis GW painted and thinking ‘ok, I’ll give that a try’ and failing miserably. I couldn’t work out what went where. Now, as an adult, when i paint (because of various reasons, mostly cramps) my hands shake and I find it difficult to paint at all. I’m also not a good painter generally. Seeing these simpler paint schemes and the excellent videos done by Duncan Rhodes helps folks like me who don’t enjoy painting that much. The schemes being ‘achievable’ is great for folk like me. Heck, my toddler paints… Read more »
I’m with you @bubbles in my middle age years I too often find painting for long periods that my hands shake and I go cross eyed. I’m not an artist as I hated art way back when I was in school (I took a very dislike to the teacher). I like to think that I can paint to a good wargames standard one of which looks good at the wargames table distance. Having said that I do like the direction GW has taken with the paint splater articles and videos as even an old timee as myself can learn new… Read more »
Sorry I meant to say at the startt of the previous post @bubbles15
I can’t get over the oval bases for larger models and veichles, could’t they be round, like for 40k? These ones look really weird
I don’t like oval bases either, but it’s not limited to Fantasy. Lots of 40k figures use oval bases these days. All the large stuff like Knights, Riptides, Wraithknights, etc but smaller things too. I think bikes, or some of them, might be on oval bases. Certainly Carnifexes and the latest plastic broodlord were both on oval bases.
This is the book I was waiting for, it has mission and tactical add-ons for the game, which is what I think is its most pressing need. Looking at the scenarios, they also address the balance between side issues too. It does mean you are fighting essentially from pre-made lists, but it is a start. I’m glad it cam out quickly, as I have felt like the game as it stood was incomplete, I am hoping this fleshes things out somewhat. The models are nice, but I have to be honest, I was so blown away by the quality of… Read more »
Nice figures and also noticed they are doing a different range of skin tones and colours and not just caucasian.
Hits and misses with this lot… but much better than the Sigmarines. Still, one has to wonder why you would armour up your legs and leave your chest bare. Is there something in the fluff that explains this?
I like the new rat people, although I have no use for them.
There are already a lot of things our store doesn’t carry any more. Not sure if that’s an indication of replacements on the way, or if the local GW is circling the drain.
I don’t think any of the rat people are new sculpts @cpauls1 – just repackaged and with circular bases.
@cpauls1 maybe Khorne forbids torso armor so his minions are more prone to get bleeding wounds. Or maybe Slaanesh stole all the nipple plates and now they can’t find them since he’s gone missing.
This is why I prefer Chaos Warriors with they full plate armor over these. They know how to protect themselves in battle. I do notice stupid armor and weapon designs these days more than before. Back in day I could things like that slide but now after watching lot of skallagrim who actually knows about these things I pay more attention to those.
You’re either confused or going on no background information from AoS. These are not chaos warriors, these are the AoS equivalent khorne chaos thugs. They don’t wear much armour because they are savage cannibals that don’t care about being cut in battle, they are blood cult fanatics.
The Blood Warriors have full armour. Because they are the khorne chaos warriors.
It’s banging a drum out of tune, but metal was expensive and heavy in the middle? ages and thus the main rank and file would only wear chain or plates of it. Most of it went into the shield boss.
However, these are berserkers. Nutcase warriors. Armour is for wimps!
Dunno about the size of these sculpts, but fluffwise chaos warriors are usually towering monsters. Protecting your lower bits might be sound for protection against slash attacks from smaller weaker creatures? :p With these though i think the armour is serving as an extra spiky weapon for when you just want to kick your food around for a bit. Having nice big wounds to show Khorne probably doesnt hurt (!) either. I like these warriors but theres something about the cut out muscles that looks a bit too cartoony to me. Also the arm joints seem to need green stuff… Read more »
In the latest White Dwarf it is mentioned that the Bloodbound are so fanatically devoted to Khorne, and considered so generally disposable by their patron, that they don’t bother much with armouring their torses because ‘Khorne cares not from whence the blood flows’ and finds the shed blood of his followers as acceptable as that of the enemy, just so long as it is shed in combat. It is implied that the tendency to armour the legs and arms a bit more might be to prevent a warrior being incapacitated by non-fatal wounds before they reach the cut and thrust… Read more »
A real shame there’s no new sculpts for the plague monks.
Quite like the new sculpts for the Khorne geezers. They really look like a Chaos Warrior dedicated to Khorne should IMO.
Not normally one to baulk at GW’s prices but has anyone noticed the price for 2 Plague Censer Bearers yet?
http://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Pestilens-Plague-Censer-Bearers
Made me do a little bit of sick in my mouth.
Wow. That is quite… insane?
I do like the khorne guys too though.
Yeah thats wrong .. jezzail teams then? :p for censer bearers they are easily made from plague monks, imo.
I managed to get through this whole thread without even thinking about GW prices until your post lol
The description says 5 models, not 2? I know that’s expensive, but it’s a little more palatable.
Ah thats better then, I think we all thought it was for the two in the picture (or at least I did)
Yeah perhaps i was being too hasty :p might have its explanations though .. still a bit too much imo
Hmm GW must of changed it today [Monday] after a weekend of WTF?! from people. Over the weekend it was just 2. I remember someone elsewhere asking about this and I checked and it said two on Saturday/Sunday.
GW memory holed it http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:5VSoqwygllEJ:www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Pestilens-Plague-Censer-Bearers+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk
Well, considering on of the Stormcast Characters is £18 on his own, they might be consider not over the top (who am I kidding)
The old Skrolk mini used for the regular plague priest is priced pretty nicely, compared to what I was expecting. It still holds a good standard imo.
http://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Pestilens-Plague-Priest
I have already ordered my copy of Quest for Ghal Maraz. I am very interested in seeing where they take the narrative next, and the first book had some rather good battle plans and time of war rules, so hopefully we will see more of that.
The Khornate guys aren’t my faction of choice (I like the Stormcast, even if everyone calls them Sigmarines), but those are very pretty models, in a psychotic bunch of cannibals kind of way.
Given that the Skaven models are not new sculpts, I wonder if this is a sign of GW’s strategy. Those units/characters that will be staying in AoS will simply be repackaged, and then supported by a range of new releases, while others get phased out or become online exclusives.
The bloodreavers apparently have 25000 different possible build combinations from what’s in the box and 20 minis for £35 is pretty good value
I guess, then again the marauders were 20 quid for 16 minis
I just broke down and purchased the Hardcover AoS book, great quality, but it was like buying a textbook when I was in college. We also bought an Island of Blood WFB set that was on clearance I like those minis better, but I probably will buy the AoS set because our youngest likes it. Never played GW games before outside of the Hobbit:SBG and did a demo of AoS and find myself liking it.
If you base the elves and skaven properly you can use them in KoW too. I’ve got 2 of the Island of Blood sets on the “some day” shelf and plan to do just that.