Imagine for a second that the Games Workshop higher-ups inform you that you can choose a project and they will see it through to completion. The project can be a new army, book, a model, a unit, a terrain piece, an animated series, etc. As long as it is in Games Workshop's power to create, it's fair game. It can be something totally new/unique or something updated/finished from the past. Once completed, the item is available to you and the wargaming community to purchase. What do you get Games Workshop to create?
Now this is a question I am eager to answer! A tricky one, to be sure... to be honest it depends on how much involvement in the project they'd let me have. If I were allowed to see every part of the project and request any changes and supply any assisting material I wished, I'd love to see them create a Brythonic Celtic-themed Albion army for TOW, guided by my own army list idea which has been in turn inspired by this legend's artwork. However, if I were not allowed to have any involvement beyond the initial request, I'd be too afraid that they'd go the 'easy' route as so many people would and base the army too much around campy Gaelic Irish myth (and more recent inspired pop culture fads like Slaine and Highlander) to trust them with making an Albion army. Brythonic Celts or bust! Instead I'd request them to release full Arcane Journal and plastic model support for the TOW factions currently under the 'Legacy' label (including a fully-updated plastic army for the Chaos Dwarfs), to end the debate on whether they will eventually get improved support or not with the most desired outcome.
That seems like a fun project. What kind of models/units would you include in such an army? What kinds of fantastical creatures or equipment? Does Albion already have pre-existing lore? If so, would your army idea work within that framework or supersede it? Oh that's a good one. I was going to choose a Thunder Lizard model for my pick, but a full TOW treatment for the Lizardmen seems even nicer. If you could only choose a single legacy army (besides Lizardmen) to receive an arcane journal, which one would you select?
Hmm... Now this is an interesting question... What would I have GeeDubs do, were I to be given the power to declare a project that they must work on? Hmm... *Ponder pose activate* The easy and less serious answer would be to have my fan army/fanfiction validated and made cannon. Create an animated series about my redcoat lizards, create a battletome, anything along those lines, and suddenly I can brag about how I was the one to create a new subfaction in the world of Warhammer. *Cue le egomaniacal laugh* But for a less ego-stroking answer... I would have GeeDubs work on a battletome and a codex. Let's take the Anvil of Apotheosis, and take it to the next level. Let's create a tome that is about creating custom factions within both 40k and AoS, and maybe even TOW. In depth rules about creating a fully balanced custom faction with rules and all. And as a bonus, I would decree that all pre-existing/canonical factions be 80% made using these same rules, the 20% leftover being the exclusive rules and details to make the canonical factions stand out. This would give an air of transparency for faction rules and balance details going forward. Look, I'm not saying that they have to be tournament legal, but for friendly games, narrative campaigns, or even just for encouraging creativity, I will have GeeDubs release the Nations of the Realms Battletome/Races of the Galaxy Codex/whatever the Arcane Journal would be called. As a bonus, it would still allow me to create a unique ruleset for my redcoats. Win/win.
That is interesting. A tough project, but I think the payoff would be huge. Being able to assemble customized armies to that degree sounds like a really fun idea. I'd love to see it implemented!
Before the destruction of WHFB, GW (Forge World) released Tamurkhan: The Throne of Chaos... This is perhaps the best GW publication I have ever seen. Everything about it is pure quality; from the art, to the background, to the page quality and of course the Chaos Dwarfs and Chaos War Mammoth rules. Rumor has it that this was actually the first of what was to be a 4 book series, with each of the remaining books featuring one of the remaining Chaos Gods: Slaanesh, Tzeentch and Khorne. Nurgle is by far my least favourite Chaos God, so I'd imagine the continued series would have only gotten better. Furthermore, there is evidence that the remaining books would have also have featured additonal Chaos Dwarf units! I would have loved to have seen what Forge World would have done with the complete series (and the models that would have accompanied it). So that would be my project for GW, complete the four book series!
When I was spit-balling ideas and what-ifs, I really dove into the potential of what this project could bring to GeeDubs. Like I said, aside from just the power to customise armies and bring about forces that are uniquely yours, it would also give the rules and balance a sense of transparency if even canonical factions largely use the same rules for their own construction. Imagine if the next edition of whichever flavour of Warhammer you enjoy, this was the first tome released, and when the official race battletomes/codexes come out, players can actually see how they were built up, outside fo the unique flavour rules to make the official races stand out. Alas, I can see the two reasons why GeeDubs wouldn't release such a tome outside of this hypothetical scenario where I can make this decree. One: The ability to create such custom armies? That sounds like amazing potential for conversions and kitbashes... oh wait, that sounds like fantastic potential for those third-party models and bits that GeeDubs despise us using. The other, imagine what the meta-chasers in the tourney scene would be like with this power at their fingertips. That was partly why I suggested not having custom factions be tourney legal, but also i imagine that when GeeDubs do their narrative battle reports to further the timeline, they don't want to then explain how Elder Scrolls khajiit just battled skaven. They'd want to preserve official events for official races/factions. I'll refrain from the usual commentary about how of course you went with omething Dawi-Zhaar... simply because The Red Book is everything you said, and the absence of the other three that were (allegedly) planned is a loss to us all. And like you, Nurgle is my least favourite of the Chaos Gods. I can only imagine how awesome Tzeentch's volume would have been. (I like the big blue birds, sue me )
Hahaha The Chaos Dwarfs are definitely a big part of it, but my second favorite army are the Warriors of Chaos. In all honesty, my original impetus for picking up the book was the Chaos War Mammoth entry. It was only after getting the book that I really got into the Chaos Dwarfs. It's a masterpiece. Pure quality, far beyond the usual offerings from GW. Slaanesh and Tzeentch for me.
Great theme! Let's see... Fantasy Full support for all TOW armies, no discontinued models and miniatures for the monster arcanum creatures. So yeah, khemric titan! 40k I would love a new army... and chaos is limited to csm, demons and knights. I would like dark mechanicus.
hard to say, that would depend on the current mood. Today i'd say TOW, a month ago it would have been 40k.
This, except the Khemric Titan would replace the Bone Dragon as the super-mount for a Tomb King or Liche Priest... and the new faction should be Xenos, because let's face it, Xenos bring the real variety to 40K and stop it from just being Horus Heresy +10,000. That's if my Albion request above was denied.
And what about choosing between your two fantasy options: all TOW armies fully supported miniatures for the monster arcanum creatures Which one wins out?
Of those two options, I'd go with miniatures for all Monstrous Arcanum creatures... but that's just me.
Again... if i look at the general picture and the overall community (having more people involved in the game, thus having more chances to play it), then it's the first choice. If i have to look at MY deep, dirty desires... then it's monster arcanum.
I have a few things I would consider but top of my list would be similiar to what @NIGHTBRINGER mentioned. I never read the Throne of Tamarkhan book or seen it in real life, but if I was directing a project I would love to see some Badab-War-Forgeworld-Imperial-Armor series campaign books created, BUT for some major events in the WHF universe. Kinda like my beloved Lustria campaign book, but much more fleshed out peeks into tiny corners of WHF lore. On a different scale, I would prevent a full-scale rebrand of Mordheim but do a few small things related to it: 1) Reprint the old Mordheim rulebook exactly as it is 2) Reprint the Town Cryers in a single combined volume (and maybe the Empire in Flames or a combined Lustria Cities of Gold book) 3) Like they have done with the Old World box, rerun the old Mordheim warbands for folks to buy, or remake them as new ones. That Mordheim plan is heavy on the nostalgia of course. Speaking of nostalgia... forget everything I have already written. If I was in charge of GW for a day I would have them re-release the Long Drong Slayer Pirates box at a reasonable price and then buy it.