GW News: Combat phase in #NewAoS

Some interesting new releases previewed this evening:
First up, a new boxed game for Middle Earth, this time from Return of the King, complete with new plastic Théoden:


It’ll probably be around £80 or something ridiculous, but I’m hoping that they’ll release smaller versions like they did with AoS and 40K. If they don’t I’ll be miffed as this is the first boxed game that actually gets me excited since Escape from Goblin Town, which was yonks ago.

Next, the first Fantasy board game released by GW since the End Times did away with it, and not only that, it features Slayers:

Probably the first board game where if you die, you still have a very good chance of winning!

And finally, the Gretchin version of Wacky Races:


MUUUUUTTLLLEEEEEEEEEYYY!!!!!!!!!

 

New theoden is welcome. now some gondor please lol

 

Would rather see some new Lord of the Rings Dwarves before Gondor, plastic not Forge World rubbish

 

Or forget all the LOTR stuff... Khemric Titan... enough said!

 

I like the LOTR stuff, and am looking forward to seeing what they do with the new edition of the game now that they’ve got rid of the hideous money-grabbing warband format. Furthermore, although I would love to see a Khemric Titan, it’s extremely unlikely seeing as they so cruelly ditched Tomb Kings.

 

If by unlikely you mean impossible, then we are in agreement. At this point though, it is one of the few GW models that I would actually buy at full cost.

 

Lights! Camera! Dakka!

 

I'd love are release of the lotr 24 man boxes

 

Agreed, if GW brought those back they would be great. They were changed to 12-man boxes in February 2012 to take account of the rebranding of what was then just the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game into a new format that involved groups or 'warbands' of troops each being led by a single hero. You could have heroes not leading troops but you couldn't have troops without them being led by heroes. This was the hideous 'warband format' ruleset that was purely done to get people to buy more hero models in my eyes, and during this time I simply refused to play any games in GW larger than around 500-1000 points (so that I wouldn't need to buy any more heroes specifically for those events) and otherwise played the game using the previous ruleset. About 6 years on and it looks as if this horrid army selection format is finally being retired, as the army contents in Battle of the Pelennor Fields would be deemed illegal according to that format and GW wouldn't dare to put an illegal army in a boxed game, much to my relief, and it would be the perfect time to bring back the 24-man boxes for £15 that we all knew and loved. However, I think it would be too much effort for GW to go back to reboxing all the plastic minis into 24-man boxes as they would have to redesign the packaging again, especially as the Hobbit ones were all released during the reign of the 'warband format' and were specifically made as boxes of 12.

Anyway, from recent events I have found that I can put together a reasonably accurate prediction of what is on its way from GW for the rest of the year:
This week: Space Wolves and Tooth and Claw (Confirmed)
Next week: Battle of the Pelennor Fields and new edition of Middle Earth (Got to be as next week will be the last week in August and GW definitely confirmed that Battle of the Pelennor Fields would be released in August)
September: Moonclan AoS release (May alternatively be Darkoath but Moonclan would fit in really nicely with Orks coming in October due to the shared Greenskin theme - GW has acted on themes before with DoK and Idoneth being released in consecutive AoS release months and having the obvious Elf theme)
October: Orks and Specialist Games releases for Quarter 4 (The former is confirmed, the latter should be occurring either in October or December as November will probably be another AoS month - we already have been given a peek at yet more stuff for Blood Bowl so I imagine that will be released at this time - and there will also be a preview of the next batch of 40K Codex releases once Orks have been updated)
November: Darkoath AoS release (interchangeable with Moonclan as I've said before but Chaos only got their last tome and army release in January with Maggotkin whereas Destruction's last tome and release was Beastclaw Raiders two years ago - if GW has any sense of justice they will release Moonclan first)
December: Genestealer Cults, possibly World Eaters, maybe some additional Specialist Games releases (The former is practically confirmed, GW needs to catch up with Khorne in 40K so that would be a good time to give World Eaters a Codex and possibly some new minis after GC and I imagine any specialist games stuff not released in October - Necromunda Delaque Gang comes to mind as GW haven't given us preview shots yet due to Cawdor being released very recently - will probably be released at the end of December to round off the 2018 releases).

 

Orks... in October you say?

There may be an ORKTOBER on the horizon!

 

This is how I feel when I fire my 75 strong Khalida led Tomb King Skeleton archer unit with Righteous Smiting cast on them. They did some serious work against my wife's Wood Elves this past weekend.

 

And it looks as though GW will be teasing the next AoS army to get releases either tomorrow or Sunday through Warhammer Fest Europe.

 

Insect/fungus Grots should be revealed this weekend or next one, according to the rumours. Might be a blend of new models / Moonclan / Spiderfang.
Sounds awesome if you ask me, Destruction really is in need of some love!

 

If Destruction I might be interested on having a look, at the moment I did have the plans on a Squig army but the options are a bit small. Plus relying on Squigs, I did get told to play Beastclaw but nah. A lot of people play them, there is Orks but not much of a fan on them.

 

In which case, it may well be that my prediction is correct, as the Fungoid Cave-Shaman harbinger has the Moonclan keyword. This may also incorporate the Grot Scuttlings from Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower too, as they were the first Goblins to feature bug-like traits yet they most resembled Night Goblins. I’m not counting my chickens yet, in case GW do surprise us with Darkoath instead, but I’m confident that it will be Moonclan, due to the reasons I mentioned before in my prediction:
1. Moonclan in September would go really well with Orks immediately following in October due to the common Greenskin theme.
2. As you have said, Destruction need more love than Chaos at the moment. Their last Battletome was Beastclaw Raiders released exactly two years ago in August 2016, whereas the most recent Battletome for Chaos was Maggotkin in January this year.
3. Moonclan would really benefit from updated Squig Herders and Squig Hoppers, as not only would they be better sculpts, but they would also be plastic and more widely available (the current versions are webstore only). Mangler Squigs may also get an update due to being resin, but they are a much newer model - I remember when they were released and have the White Dwarf they first appeared in - so we’ll have to wait and see what GW do with them.

I’m unsure on whether they will actually combine Moonclan and Spiderfang or not, but it might work if they do because while the models have vastly different dress codes, the Goblins themselves look very similar in terms of how scrawny they look and their face shapes - both look vastly different from the Gitmob Grots (perhaps due to the Gitmob Grots being older models). In any case, I look forward to seeing what’s revealed!

 

What about a brand new destruction faction?

 

Now I am curious, could be Moonclan with some added Squigs and insects, with the added mushrooms of course. But who knows, it won't come quick enough.

I saw Forgeworld has got these Vorax Class on preorder and it's rare for me to say things about robotics and machines, they actually look good.

Update: Well doesn't seem much for AoS. Parks for 40k, Kill Team, new update for Warhammer Underworld teased. Nurgle Bloodbowl
Also this


I want it now and they teased about who this Endless Spell belongs to. Not revealed but their is a waiting game.
Beastmen? Maybe. Has to be something Realm of Beast related

 

As I've said before, the Fungoid Cave Shaman specifically has the Moonclan keyword, so unless they really want to change his keywords, it's almost certainly going to be Moonclan.

And in the meantime, are we going to see plastic Chaos Dwarfs or more Beastmen? This endless spell teases neither Darkoath or Moonclan:

 

Just updated my post with this, as mentioned it looks very Realm of Beasts. So hopefully, great timing if so as I am working on my Beastmen army. Hmmmmm

 

It's certainly an unusual piece. It may be for Legion of Azgorh as they got their Forge World Warscroll Compendium quite recently, or we may be seeing Beastmen updated after Moonclan and Darkoath, as the spell mini resembles the Minotaurs and Ghorgons. Perhaps we may even see Minotaurs as their own faction - that would be fun!