it has been discussed the rumor about GW "firing" the playtesters? not that their work was that much useful, as i believe they were not involved in the process of codex / battletomes design.
meh, maybe they'll actually properly hire the playtesters then so they can have actual consequences for leaking. Right now playtesters are essentially just volunteers according to the various white-dwarf articles about it. Having professionals might improve their work... Plus, it might reduce the leaks by giving GW a bit more control. And as an added bonus, if they're actual colleagues, they might not be ignored by the writers whenever they do try to do their jobs.
Well in this case I can understand GW getting annoyed at the playtesters leaking stuff before it is meant to be released, but it still sends bad messages about GW being quite happy to dispose of playtesters who don't play by their rules. GW have had problems with playtesters since the glory days of 7th-8th Fantasy and 5th-6th 40K. If they hadn't, then 7th wouldn't have been broken by Daemons, Dark Elves and Vampire Counts, 8th wouldn't have seen Elves and Warriors of Chaos become so OP, and 6th 40K wouldn't have been messed up by Tau and particularly Craftworld Eldar wanting to bring Apocalypse to standard-sized games. So nothing new there when I see even the 'New Games Workshop' having issues about the quality of their playtesters.
"These two warbands are battling over esoteric artefacts found in the Ravening Ruin. This crucible of life energy formed around the Realm-shaper engine of a crashed Seraphon temple-ship named Talaxis, creating a ferocious forest – which is beautifully represented by a brand new set of finely detailed terrain." New warcry influenced by seraphon. Thats kinda intresting.
I particularly like this new set of Warcry scenery, it could easily be painted up as Lustrian jungle scenery, what with the Lizardman ruins, jungle trees and bamboo scaffolding that could easily have been built by Skinks.
O cool Unless we see an actual seraphon warband it's probably going to be limited to that one line of fluff. The terrain does look rather good though. Meh, depends. Are there actual consequences for delivering a faulty product? And unfortunatly, broken games don't have a whole lot of consequences.
It looks to me like either a ppiece of scenery or a large model. Seeing as we have the Realmshaper already it might as well be a large model.... New Engine of the Gods...? Grrr, Imrahil
It can't be an Engine of the Gods because we've already got a decent plastic kit for that. It would be pointless for GW to redo what is already a decent Stegadon kit, and it's unlikely that Mazdamundi would return given he was killed off in the End Times (though given such a shitty character as Alarielle was given a free pass to come back, it would be good to see a decent one finally return). I'm wondering if it's the Standard of a new Saurus Battle Standard Bearer (or 'Astrolith Bearer' for you AoS 'Seraphon' types): Given he's a Finecast model and it would be nicer to have a plastic version, not to mention that GW would likely love to give Lizardmen the 'One-Unnamed-Hero' treatment as they're not one of their favourite factions.
I could see an astrolith bearer, possibly wielding the spear we saw a couple weeks ago that looked very Seraphon. I doubt it's a brand new unit, so AB is most likely
This looks VERY promising. It might not be the case, but a re-sculpted Standard Bearer/Astrolith makes sense: •The current model is Finecast •The current Saurus pose and head are a bit ho-hum looking •It fits this AoS season's theme of buffing troops •It fits GW's theme of one new/upgraded model for old factions. •Based on what the Astrolith is, and the cool conversions/kit-bashes others have made, it could stand an upgrade. (Although there are aspects of the model I like, specifically the Lizardmen glyphs spelling out "Games Workshop) All that said, I agree with other comments that it could be a small terrain piece or possibly even a warband model. This rumor, along with the potential Seraphon spear rumor, and the jungle base rumor could indicate one model or a few. As an another guess, while I don't think it will be Mazdamundi, it could be a re-imagined Slann model. This rumor could be part of the throne or the magic that the Slann is summoning. The spear rumor could be held by his Skink attendant.
If we're getting just the one new model with our new battletome, I'd be willing to bet it's the Astrolith Bearer.
Ima be real though. If it's just the astrolith Bearer. That's pathetic. Like cmon give me my new kroxigors damnit