What you're describing is basicly just tzeentch in AoS from a gameplay perspective though, loads of shooty chaff alongside some heavy artillery, with most units weak in melee, bar a few exceptions, and the ability to summon back their losses (partially). Visually & thematicly it also would still be super similar to LoN, just hordes of mindless undead lead by a vampire or necromancer, just with pirate hats. And that's kind of the issue. To stand out visually & thematicly from the other undead you need to play up the nautical theme, which involves either sea-monsters, which clashes with the idoneth, or boats, which clashes with the KO. To stand out mechanicly from the other undead you could focus on making a more shooty army with their blackpowder weapons, but that would quickly clashes with KO, Tzeentch and certain CoS & ogor lists. A big part of the issue though is simply that we are starting to have too many factions, with 23 factions (24 with the new upcoming giants) its hard to be even vaguely unique. And this seems especially the case for pirates. The romanticized idea of pirates with a focus on freedom & adventure could work well as the basis for a faction (though this would clash with an undead faction seeing as mindless zombies aren't exactly free), but gameplay & model wise nearly everything I can think of as a unit or as a template for their army already exists in one the other armies. KO already have boats + guns. Blackpowder units are already taken by CoS + Ogors. Nautical creatures are the domain of Idoneth. There's already several different shooty armies. There's several factions that largely (or entirely) consist of raiders/bandits. There isn't a whole lot else that fits with the classical idea of pirates that isn't already taken by others.
@ILKAIN: Existing fluff suggests he will be some kind of buff character for demon engines. Should be around 25-35 points less than a Demon Prince, which is nice. Some basic counterpunch potential with the power fist (probably four attacks base +1 for Hateful Assault), and able to deal some chip damage with the double plague spewer (I wonder if DG flamethrower-type weapons will go to 14", given the change to the regular versions to 12").
Just leave hordes at home. Minimum units of Termas to sit on objectives and/or perform actions. 30 Horms to lock your opponent in his deployment zone T1 is the only horde unit that still makes some sense (with the double move stratagem, no need to bring Swarmy).
Lower part looks like wood, so not Genestealer Cult. Weapon is really primitive, so not Dark Eldar (even Wracks get proper weapons). Thin arm = sickly/low-tier human (Chaos cultist or equivalent), or Undead. Maaaaybe a Goblin. Something along those lines, and probably for a specialist system.
Yeah, i hear ya and mostly agree. im in the process of switching over to a Hive guard heavy army. problem is they have been out of stock recently, and aren't cheap. 9th was not a good friend to my army lol. oh well Cèst la vie
This is getting offtopic, but there's not much going on anyways, sooo... No need to go Hive Guard heavy, one max unit is enough. Gotta stock up on those Exocrines, though Kronos Patrol Neurotrophe (with Symbiostorm) 2x 10 Termagants (token anti-DS/screening and/or holding backfield objectives/performing actions) 1x 6 Hive Guard 2x Exocrine Rerolling 1s for Kronos pays the 2CP cost for an additional detachment in like one round of shooting. Symbiostorm is love, Symbiostorm is life. +50% damage output on Exocrines vs all other Hive Fleets is just ridiculous (additional autohits on 5s). Also very good on the Hive Guard unit (only regular proc on 6s, but 24 shots instead of 12 when shooting twice, so roughly the same number of additional autohits). If you local meta is very power armor heavy, you can think about going Spearhead with HG + three Exos.
To get it a bit back on topic then, anyone seen the post about the idea of "core units" in 40K? Do you think that might be an interesting addition for AoS as well?
If they made the buffs basic auras that effected all relevant units within range (and not wholly within), totally. If they still keep everything as targeted and wholly within, then i'm less thrilled with that idea.
Personally, I don't like the idea. Buffs in AoS are situational enough as it is. Having them restricted even more will only unbalance the game even further. You know that some factions will end up with "core" units that are much more powerful than what other factions have. And losing buffs on non-core units will definitely hurt some factions more than others.
we don't have any auras that specificly target battleline though do we? We just have most stuff keyworded, which avoids some problematic stacking but not all. meh, the main reason I'd personally like it is because it can be used to prevent certain overpowered stacking nonsense. E.g. Prevent the already big and scary behemoth from being buffed to obscene amounts, preferably with buffs the big scary behemoth himself brings. Especially as AoS does seem to have a tendency to supercharge heroes into unstoppable juggernauts. Admittadly, that doesn't stop people from buffing a horde to be a deathstar, but at least those can be chipped down and rely on external buffs. Which does make those slightly less problematic. Obviously it all would need to be balanced, but in principle it seems like a reasonable idea. Honestly, buffs should just work on an individual model basis instead of targetting units as a whole. This way you can't congaline to artifically extend the range, but you'd also avoid the problems of the whole "wholly within" nonsense as now you don't need to worry about getting all 40 guys of your horde inside, just the relevant 10 that are actually going to be in combat.