GW News: BIG N' SMALL WAAAGH! COMIN'

Tzeentch has already been updated for this edition, so it would just be Khorne and Slaanesh left for Grand Alliance Chaos.

Eh, probably wouldn't be far off. I'd kind of hope that CoS get updated sooner given the teasers they gave earlier this year, but who knows.

With that said, I'm expecting the 3rd Edition Seraphon battletome to be drastically toned down compared to its 2nd Ed version, albeit preferably with a unit expansion (I honestly don't care if it's just duplication with the original Starborn/Coalesced rules baked in to the respective warscrolls) such that the cost, stats, and abilities of Starborn units don't impact how Coalesced use their own version of the same units.

 

Maybe Seraphon are in line for a fall/winter 2022 release? I think our book would be the only one left after the revealed roadmap. I hope Seraphon aren't too toned down. I can't win any games with our current book, ha ha!

 

I personally doubt it. Based on how 3rd Edition has been rolling out with each faction so far, Seraphon will most likely be saying good bye to any and all subfaction-specific warlord traits and artefacts, and each subfaction will be limited to one special rule each. If you want to see a good example of this, take a look at Orruk Warclans sometime.

The biggest issue with Seraphon right now is that, apart from being a relic of 2nd Edition, its unit roster is trying to do too many things at once across all subfactions and not accomplishing any of them well. Summoning shenanigans in just one subfaction for instance utterly dominates the material concerns of at least two others, leaving many players with little option but to keep taking units that continuously get jacked up in points cost specifically because they're the only ones worth taking in your starting army.

 

What he said

Nah, I don't think Cities of Skubmar will get an update until they release the new kits for them, and given teases for them have been as glacial as those for TOW, I wouldn't be surprised if they release the CoS book when TOW arrives, so that they can immediately port over all the remaining Empire, Dwarf and Elf kits over to the TOW page. I'd definitely say it'll be Kharadron and Lizardmen that are getting the two Order books in this schedule.

The Third Edition Lizardmen book should have more of a focus on giving all units a good use in the army, rather than GW's continuing dumb obsession with Skinks.

 

So a 50% increase in the number of armies AND a shorter release/edition cycle (a new AoS edition every three years as opposed to four or five for WFB). Those two things compound. More army books to be released in a shorter period of time.

That said, it isn't necessarily a bad thing, some people might enjoy the frequent release schedule. As a personal preference though, it just isn't my cup of tea. It's definitely something that would instantly turn me away from TOW.

What other releases? Are they merely optional supplements or core additions to the game?

Nothing new there. Heck, it was probably much worse under WFB (Brettonia anyone?)

 

It also means that you need to own just about every model in an army in order to maintain competitive viability.

How much AoS do you play? Do you find the release rate to be a blessing or a curse? Or something in-between? Would you want TOW to follow a different schedule of release?

 

To be honest I think we should just keep an eye on what's going on with the Horus Heresy, as boring as the models for that game are, because as a 'legacy' game TOW will likely follow in its footsteps in terms of how much attention GW are intending to give it. The releases for this game have been a steady trickle so far, not nearly as much as AoS and 40K but arguably more than Middle-Earth and definitely more than specialist games like Aeronautica Imperialis, which sounds promising for TOW.

Certainly there hasn't been any sign of any pointless 'compulsory' yearly scenario books yet either, though to be sure we'll have to look out for what GW does with this game next year.

 

As promised, here's a list of expected retailer prices so you can save a few more pennies. I'll try to keep it updated, but no promises because I'm a nightmare!

 

What worries me in this regards as the adding of new armies. The more armies that make up TOW, the more releases need to be crammed in for any given edition cycle. WFB already had 16 armies and we know that Kislev and Cathay are likely to join this tally. Throw in a few more armies and we are left with one of the following:

• a frantic release schedule
• a release schedule where some armies are largely forgotten/ignored
• a really long edition cycle

It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. Games like Warhammer Underworlds (with their constant "edition" releases) are also pretty hectic when it comes to releases. You might be right though that the Horus Heresy might be the best analog for TOW, which would work out nicely for the new game.

That is a promising outlook.

 

Honestly, the simplest fix would be to release more at once instead of this constant barrage over a prolonged time.
So instead of releasing 1 book every two months, release all of them at the start of the year.
Or better yet, have all the updated tomes ready and release them all at once when you update versions once every 4-5 years or so.

Sure it'd be a lot at once, but at least it'd give you some time to actually process the new releases.

However, this isn't going to chance. This constant barrage of releases gives a nice constant flow of income. It's a very basic sales tactic, and one that's become super popular over the past decade or so with everyone basically trying to copy the SaaS model into every single industry they can.

 

There's fads that come and go even in business management, previously everyone was fawning over lean production and Six Sigma (Just In Time). No one was allowed to keep any inventory. That might be a well and true way to increase effectiveness for some sectors (even GW) but for others they spell disaster. Next step is you'll have to subscribe to be able to use your minis like the BMW seat-heat, Tesla range extender, the new Care by Volvo. Joke aside though, it would be preferable if they kept a little more focus on one game system every other year but that wouldn't generate as much sales I guess.

 

Surely not even GW could be this stupid? That would turn away swathes of customers from playing at their stores. GW Hobby Centres are not theme parks for goodness sake, you shouldn't need to pay an admission just to play in a a shop-run event. There would be a mass exodus of players from their GW stores to their nearest LGSs and wargames clubs (though it would be great for the LGSs and clubs mind).

It's bad enough seeing these evil streaming services rise to power through this scummy Ferengi tactic, we cannot allow this to poison other aspects of life as well, or else we'll eventually get to a point where you can do virtually nothing without paying a subscription fee. It'll be just like Ferenginar where you have to pay just to sit in a waiting room.

This stops now.

 

I mean, there's people trying to push the subscription model into everything, from software to cars. And not enough people seem to mind.
So I wouldn't be surprised if they tried

On the bright side; wargaming is easy enough to organize yourself that people might actually walk away from the predatory pricing models for once

 

I've noticed a critical issue and now I'm sad.

The new chameleon skinks from sundered fate don't have poisonous frog buddies attached to them.

 

Yea, we get a miniature of the month.... a single skink...

https://www.warhammer-community.com...goff-rocker-with-two-retail-coins-this-month/

Grrr, !mrahil

 

Surely it couldn't have been asking much for them to give us a Saurus instead?

Proof that Skinks are GW's favourite.