General's Handbook sort-of teaser.

[Mr Mystery]

From the AoS Facebook feed....


So, what's a Battleline unit?

We're glad you asked!

This is something from the upcoming General's Handbook.

Our gamers are building a force they can use in any style of game, and when playing the more competitive Matched Play format, your army must include a minimum number of Battleline units, depending on the size of the game. (We'll have more on how this works, and the other types of units soon...)

The Crypt Flayers and Brutes are actually not Battleline units, unless the whole force has the Flesh-Eater Courts and Ironjawz keywords respectively, but this is what both generals plan to do. This is one of the advantages in Matched Play in sticking within a single themed force

So definitely channeling the more traditional setup we're used to. Definitely intrigued, and yes, I would like to know more!

[grimmas]

It quite an interest. Idea it seems like if you take a faction specific force you get tastier battleline units which is an interesting variation of the old core units.

I did notice that the first "Matched Play" event at Warhammer World is 10&11th sept so the Genarals Handbook is going to be out before then.

[Auticus]

As it was explaind to me, battleline simply means they adhere to the same keywords.

Which means you can still min/max all elites.

[Mr Mystery]

Depends if there's a minimum percentage as well.

[grimmas]

It does say keywords but it seem to be the faction keyword though, as a solo faction seems necessary to unlock some units as battlelines. Not that I mind people taking elite mono faction builds. It does seem likely that if you take more than one faction you're going to have to take more of the more basic units. Of course we know that this is going to combined with a points system. I remain hopeful and it won't be too long till the book is in our hands.

[Erik Setzer]

It likely also makes for a "fluffier" army, so I don't see a real issue there.

[grimmas]

Of course this is only one of the ways of playing the game the Generals Handbook is going to have more in it than just Matched play. The concept of narrative and open play has been introduced to a lot of people now I doubt it's going to vanish they will just switch from mode to mode when they fancy a different experience.

[Mr Mystery]

And it's up for pre-order (https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Age-of-Sigmar-Generals-Compendium-ENG)

And a mere £15 it is - much cheaper than I was expecting.

[Kirsten]

fantastic, handbook and sylvaneth tome this week, with alarielle and a box of hunters. lovely.

[Mr Mystery]

Yup. Three new books for me next weekend!

Reckon I'll procure them around 2:00 pm, get a spot of lunch, then go camp out in the pub to give them a damned good read. Spesh Allgates.

[Kirsten]

I haven't bothered with any of the realmgate books, too expensive and came out too quickly to catch up :p. but the battletome and handbook, definitely.

[Mr Mystery]

I'm loving the background books.

Only complaint is that some of the early novels were pretty much the same as the Realmgate ones.

[Kirsten]

I would really like to read the background, but with so many books out already I have no idea which ones are actually useful for that

[Mr Mystery]

Drop by the 'Background Roundup' thread. It's not quite up to date, but the majority are on there.

[Kirsten]

I would rather read a book than a thread though

[Mr Mystery]

Ppfffffrrrrt.

Background thread just lists the books, no spoilers.

[Kirsten]

oh, well you should have said so :p

[Mr Mystery]

Should've read the thread, innit :p

Really need to get cracking and get it up to date again. Need the second audio series, Pestilens and the forthcoming Sylvaneth book.

[Kirsten]

really looking forward to this book and the Sylvaneth now, with new spells, magic items, and points costs, they have basically given me everything I wanted Age of Sigmar to do. really looking forward to trying the game out at long last

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

really looking forward to this book and the Sylvaneth now, with new spells, magic items, and points costs, they have basically given me everything I wanted Age of Sigmar to do. really looking forward to trying the game out at long last

I think the Sylvaneth really shows what AoS is capable of. This army feels very new and fresh for Warhammer and thats what I want to see more of personally- the first four proper armies (Stormcast, Bloodbound, Fyreslayers and Ironjawz) while cool still felt a bit standard-fantasy for me but this is something more unique. Makes me excited for the future as there is such a bloody massive list of factions now that could have great new models.

[Kirsten]

yeah, I am not a huge fan of the Stormcast. Bloodbound, Iron Jawz, and Fyreslayers are cool, but largely more of what we already have, even with shiny new units. Sylvaneth really nail it for me though, lovely models, a cool faction, and coming along with the new rules, perfect really. I was watching the GW video and it says that a force all taken from the same faction gets benefits like a command trait. I wonder if there will be allies of any kind. will I suffer for combining Sylvaneth and Wanderer aelves? would be a shame to miss out on the bonuses.

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

yeah, I am not a huge fan of the Stormcast. Bloodbound, Iron Jawz, and Fyreslayers are cool, but largely more of what we already have, even with shiny new units. Sylvaneth really nail it for me though, lovely models, a cool faction, and coming along with the new rules, perfect really. I was watching the GW video and it says that a force all taken from the same faction gets benefits like a command trait. I wonder if there will be allies of any kind. will I suffer for combining Sylvaneth and Wanderer aelves? would be a shame to miss out on the bonuses.

Yeah, it was super humans, orcs, dwarves and chaos, very standard but they probably wanted the more basic stuff to come out first. This feels like the first "true" taste of the settings potential to me. I guess the last "standard race" left are the aelves, I wonder what they will do with them? I'd hope for a focus on the daughters of khaine myself but I think they might just invent more of a whole new faction like they did with ironjaws and fyreslayers. I wonder what they will do with factions like Ironweld and Thunderscorn. Lots of potential now.

[Kirsten]

I could see the aelves and humans both being quite different now, we shall see before too much longer I hope.

[Mr Mystery]

What I'm liking is that, so far, the non-Stormcast stuff feels like a logical progression of the races from The-World-That-Was.

I can't wait for Steamhead Duardin, and the Ironweld Arsenal. Mainly because I want to see if GW can make steampunk palatable to mine eyes

[Kirsten]

the war machines and engineering stuff is what I really want to see too

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

yeah, they could have some weird and interesting war engines, plus potential for mixed dwarf/human squads. They will be a very interesting release. Also look forward to the Arcanites after the silver tower birdmen...

[Mr Mystery]

True that - and I've just been building the Heroes for Silver Tower. Gorgeous models!

Will crack on with the gribblies tomorrow.

[Erik Setzer]

I haven't bothered with any of the realmgate books, too expensive and came out too quickly to catch up :p. but the battletome and handbook, definitely.

They're pretty large... I'm behind on buying them because it's been work to get through the two I have so far. Not a criticism of the books themselves, I just have bursts of being able to read and not, and with work picking up and dealing with things like my sister dying in February and my mom being pretty poor health, that makes it a bit hard to get through 300 page books of any kind. I've pretty much only been able to read comics lately.

But at least they're pretty to look through.

Definitely not on the cheap side, though... That's kind of another issue. It's either book or models, and models usually win out for me.

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I think the Sylvaneth really shows what AoS is capable of. This army feels very new and fresh for Warhammer and thats what I want to see more of personally- the first four proper armies (Stormcast, Bloodbound, Fyreslayers and Ironjawz) while cool still felt a bit standard-fantasy for me but this is something more unique. Makes me excited for the future as there is such a bloody massive list of factions now that could have great new models.

Sylvaneth are Dryads, Treemen, and Treekin expanded. Somewhat merged with elves with the Revenants, but otherwise, they're still a fantasy trope army.

That's not a condemnation of them or anything, but I still don't understand how people think making something bigger and maybe adding a bunch of spikes or unnecessary "detail" (that sometimes makes the model look goofy) changes the fact GW's still doing standard fantasy tropes. They might try to fool you with the goofy name changes (Sylvaneth is one of the few that isn't goofy), but this stuff is just fantasy standard stuck on Outland with Dark Portals connecting everything. Don't see much issue with owning that you're still just doing basic fantasy, though... Game of Thrones is like historical fiction with standard fantasy elements thrown in, and people love it.

[Erik Setzer]

The Handbook sounds nice from some of the previews coming out. Summoning is still going to take getting used to, but I definitely have to give props on charging for battalions, and putting a slight premium on missile units (which admittedly might make it necessary for me to alter my Dwarf army a bit). Still have to wait another week for it, but I'll be happy to grab it and give it a run with my Dwarfs, Undead, and Pestilens/Nurgle (and Orcs, which are kind of a mix right now, given that I have a load of "Ironjawz 'Ardboyz" and a mix of Savage Orcs to go with regular Orcs and Night Goblins). Might even convince a friend to give it a try finally.