Release schedule rumors

Anyone who wants to know what there is in V9 has to imagine that this is the V8 ; it will be 90% right.
Rule changes have been made to stabilize and streamline some points, particularly at the formation units and their interaction with the characters, from what I was told.
About the armies that follow (“factions” J ) : they won’t be "bundling" of existing armies, but almost all new prospects. These are all new units with an aesthetic different from what we knew and new historic lines, new characters, we could almost consider some of them as new “races”. Nevertheless, each new release will be integrated into one or more pre-existent conventional armies. Some new units, for example, will just belong to “Forces of Order” or “Forces of Destruction”. No stress. You can keep your old collection (all your collection), and enjoy with it.
V9 will not be just one book, but a box with other things such as a volume focused on two types of battles : clashes "lord of battles "in standard format creating links between games, and smaller battles with “pre-organised” armies (that's what you took for a skirmish game I think).
About this “skirmish” game: I’m not completely sure about that : this has taken many different forms over the settings but it seems to be one of the most tested aspects in recent years by GW teams. It is not intended to be the main way to play Battle. Currently, forces will be selected from a list of predefined choices, more restrained that the currents army books, without worrying percentage points, points themselves will not so important anymore: it will be destabilizing for the old players, but the number of miniatures contained in a unit or its point value could be no longer as important as before in this system. Players would have the choice to comply or not the points. A book will summarize the possible choices for all existing armies. It was thought just for fun, and almost all special rules of existing models could be ignored because of it.
About round bases : there would be a misunderstanding at this level too. Some Warhammer miniatures will indeed now sold on round bases, but it’s the consequence of some simplified rules and not a transition to a new system, or 40k-like, or I don’t know what. No link with the new “skirmish game”. The elements attached to units will be on round base (as skaven regimental weapons or dark elves cauldron of blood for example, but also characters according to pictures I’ve seen), are no longer joined the unit but move next to, and may have a round or oval base. But if your old version is not on a round base, you can still play with, no problem.
About “waiting” armies : for the bretonnians, there is a book that will follow this year, but perhaps we can’t call this “army book” because it will be very different from what you had until then. It will be closer from the End Times books recently issued. There will be in it new units, which could join the Forces of Order, and very close from a Bretonnian army, but not only. For the Skavens, the amount of new stuff approaching is just unprecedented (although I have no visibility on dates). It won’t be really “skavens” as we knew them, but a sort of evolution type very nice and inspired. No merger with Chaos for them (anyway, no merger for anyone!). About Beastmen, they don’t have directly the same processing, to the best of my knowledge, but no doubt they will benefit from a wealth of new opportunities for chaos. I had no evidence that it’s matter of squatting them, nor nobody else.
The quantity of new stuff for Battle will be just incredible, if all that is planed comes out. New releases will be essentially new entries, unique monsters, characters, and elite units of 2 to 5 figures. This will change progressively the overall appearance of the armies, with fewer miniatures (but larger). There will always be a place for large infantry units; however I don’t have a precise view of the new rules, that's why I can’t say if it will always be interesting to play big infantry units, or not.

Οκ αν και η συζήτηση είναι πάνω σε rumors, δεν μπορώ να μην σταθώ σε μερικές αναφερόμενες αλλαγές που θα γίνουν στην 9th σε σχέση με την υπάρχουσα edition οι οποίες κατά την άποψή μου όχι απλά είναι κακές αποφάσεις αλλά και υπολείπονται πάσης λογικής.

Παράθεση :

Currently, forces will be selected from a list of predefined choices, more restrained that the currents army books, without worrying percentage points, points themselves will not so important anymore: it will be destabilizing for the old players, but the number of miniatures contained in a unit or its point value could be no longer as important as before in this system.

Δηλαδή ο στρατός που θα κατεβάζω δεν θα μπορεί να γίνει καθόλου customized και θα πρέπει όλοι οι παίχτες να διαλέγουν ένα από τα π.χ 3, 5, 10 κ.τ.λ configurations που έχει στο army book? Πώς θα καταφέρουν με αυτό να κρατήσουν το ενδιαφέρων των παιχτών που σε βάθος 3 μηνών εικάζω το πολύ θα έχουν παίξει και βαρεθεί όλες τις διαθέσιμες τακτικές? Σε τουρνουά πως θα καταφέρουν να αποφευχθεί η "τακτική του λογιστή", δηλαδή δεν πολυσκέφτομαι την ώρα του παιχνιδιού επειδή έχω κάνει την στατιστική μελέτη μου (ή την έχω απομνημονεύσει από το site που την διάβασα) γνωρίζω ακριβώς που να επιτεθώ και πώς να στηθώ για να νικήσω ανεξαρτήτως σεναρίου? Αυτό σε περίπτωση που απορεί κανείς πως θα το καταφέρει κάνεις, άνθρωποι σε rts games σε υπολογιστές που (αν και είναι εντελώς διαφορετικά) έχει πολύ μεγαλύτερη σημασία η ευστροφία και η προσαρμοστικότητα του παίχτη το κάνουν άνετα χωρίς να βλέπουν πως ο υπολογιστής υπολογίζει τα "random elements" (δηλ. δεν βλέπουν τα αποτελέσματα της prng που τρέχει απο πίσω ώστε να μπορούν να υπολογίσουν) , πόσο μάλλον σε ένα slow-paced tabletop game που δεν έχεις την πίεση του χρονομέτρου και βλέπεις (προφανώς) τα αποτελέσματα των ζαριών.

Παράθεση :

No more Lizardmen, but still playable.

Το πρώτο με το δεύτερο σκέλος της ανωτέρω πρότασης είναι πρακτικά εκ διαμέτρου αντίθετο άρα και ασύμβατο. Ποιος έχων απλά κοινή λογική θα παίξει ένα στρατό ο οποίος δεν θα έχει ποτέ πια support στο μέλλον ακόμα και να του φαίνεται ενδιαφέρων? Είτε είναι playable είτε όχι είναι άνευ σημασίας. Ας μη ξεχνάμε/κοροϊδευόμαστε τα Wood Elves καθώς και οι Brettonians playable είναι τώρα, πλήρως συμβατοί, επίσημα και τυπικά υποστηριζόμενοι, έχοντες army book και με μοντέλα διαθέσιμα απο την GW. Ποιος παίζει αυτούς τους στρατούς? Ειδικά τον δεύτερο...

In the previous post έγραψε:

each new release will be integrated into one or more pre-existent conventional armies. Some new units, for example, will just belong to “Forces of Order” or “Forces of Destruction”. No stress. You can keep your old collection (all your collection), and enjoy with it.

In a post before the previous έγραψε:

List of current model kits that will be officially included in Warhammer 9th.

Εντελώς ασύμβατα μεταξύ τους. Εφόσον θα μπορώ "να κρατήσω την συλλογή μου" δεν έχει λόγο ύπαρξης μία λίστα με "συμπεριλαμβανόμενα μοντέλα στην 9th". Λίστα συμβατότητας εξ ορισμού σημαίνει κρατάω x μοντέλα και πετάω όλα τα υπόλοιπα. Κοινή λογική...

Νομίζω ότι πάνε να κάνουν αυτό που ετοιμάζουμε εμείς. Shieldwolf το βαφτίζουμε mercenary army choices, εκείνοι το λένε Armies of Order & Destruction.

Δε νομίζω ότι σε 3 μήνες θα τα έχουν δοκιμάσει όλα, αντιθέτως νομίζω η λογική στην οποία βασίζονται ειναι ίδια με τη δική μας (δηλαδή ο παίχτης έχει ένα pool από επιλογές με τις οποίες μπορεί η κάθε λίστα του να αλλάζει σχεδόν ολοκληρωτικά). Θα πάρει δεκαετίες μέχρι να τα δοκιμάσεις όλα, και εν τω μεταξύ θα βγαίνουν ολοένα και περισσότερες επιλογές...

Bolls take it with salt


Here’s the latest WFB 9th’s starter box contents will include? Come take a look at one very untraditional set of minis.


WFB 9th Box Content

– WFB 9th Starterbox follows the “Stormclaw/Exterminatus”, with almost all existing minis and a unique boxed-set only hero model.

Chaos:

2 Warriors of Chaos units

1 Daemon unit

1 Chaos Warmachine

2 Lords (1 unique)

Forces of Light:

2 Empire infantry units

1 Empire cavalry unit

1 Elf unit

1 Warmachine (Dwarf possible)

2 Lords (1 mounted, 1 foot)

Non-Minis:

2 Rulebooks

Painting guide book

Army lists book



And let’s compare that to the last set of info:

The results of the End Times will be directly reflected in the armies included in 9th Edition

Boxed Set:

Will include good guys (the Forces of Light) versus Chaos – in a loose fashion.

The Boxed Set is set in a former city of the Empire (save your breathe, it’s NOT Mordheim), but luckily the End Times offers up plenty of new choices.

Boxed Set includes a campaign at a skirmish level and is firmly designed to introduce new players into the game at this smaller model-count level.

Look for an increased focus on “Heroes & Characters”, even at the skirmish level of the game.

WFB 9th will kick off a new set of products that cover not only the new surviving factions, but new modular terrain pieces that support the game at all size levels and reflect the new “Post End-Times” world.



So it looks like a boxed set right inline with the 40K Campaign sets, and presents a “sampler platter” of different army models in one box. Perfect for giving new gamers a little taste of a bunch of different faction’s aesthetic, and to spark interesting starting new forces. The real question is are we looking at very small 5-10 man units in these boxes emphasizing skirmish, or larger unit sizes with a bunch more models.

Δε μου αρέσουν τα πεζικά που βλέπω, αλλά το μοντέλο του Bloodthirster είναι ωραίο...

:-)

η αληθεια ειναι οτι ουτε εμενα με ξετρελαινουν.Ισως με διαφορετικο βαψιμο...δεν ξερω..
Τον Bloodthirster τον παρηγγειλα στον Σωτηρη!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/246804312067089/794424697305045/?notif_t=like


and the possible beginning...

from Dakka

I have on, Excellent authority, new info.

4 army books which I am assuming will be costly

Skirmish game for sure no news of a new system with blocks of infantry. no idea about how this game will function beyond it being skirmish

old fluff returns via gods like sigmar recreating the old world anew. GREAT NEWS. New kits, New characters, if the old character died in the end times he won't be coming back so pretty much everyone.

this is all I have but it's great stuff since it means new game, New story, New minis, all done WITHOUT invalidating the minis you already own. books will be more generalized so no more individual books but that doesn't stop anyone from playing just one faction.

THE MINIS WE OWN WILL NOT GO TO WASTE.

knowing where this is from I'm starting to work on my fantasy again.

Also round or square bases make no difference. Keep them square or switch won't change anything

I am taking this one to the bank. knowing the source I am 99.9% the only reason it's not 100% is because it's not in front of me right now

warseer


Hello everyone .

I don't know if the following information as been revealed yet because I just don't read the 26 pages of posts , sorry !

Just coming back from my local store following some strange message on facebook and inviting us to pass by .

9th edition will be released on saturday the 13th of june .

My local store is organising on friday the 12th a warhammer tournament beginning at 8.00pm for thoses who will have reserved their 9th edition rule book ( If I correctly understand there will be 2 weeks of preorder )

At 0.00 , He will give to players their books .

Il will be a 8th edition tournament but the local manager will release a summary of the changes if they are not to numerous in order to play in 9th edition . If it changes too much , he says that it will be a 8th edition one ^^

Considering the policy of games workshop , I don't think that will be some local initiative , so other people might have the same level of information to confirm

from the tournament fluff


[ The sun goes down, teintant the sky of rubis and blood...

The elected will get together in the heart of the sanctuary, bringing with them the hopes of their people...

They will fight for the glory, for the honor, at the edge of the abyss...

Will the lowest in the abyss while the strongest will be brought to the naked...

Then they will fall in turn, victims of their pride until it is more than a glorified, glory, lying in the blood of his own nation, deaf to the supplications dying while he will recover this rightful Right, Sacred Eternal Champion in the heart of the Night, Supreme Lord in the land Devastated, King Nocturne acclaimed by the ghosts of his enemies... Until dawn...

That the forges revolve nights and days, that the prophets look through the future, that your armies are amassing around your banner. Prepare yourself mortals!

Because I am khorne! The Lord of the blood! The archi-commander! The forge-war!

You are my guests... Enter in my arena. The rules have changed, prepare yourself!!

Information directly in store!! You do not want to miss this, believe me on floor ]

also this

Yes ! still hope the local manager of Lille is not bluffing but if other people have a confirmation that something is coming at that date it can be cool !

And considering the potential realse schedule :
may the 9th - Imperial knights | preorders of first wave of adeptus mechanicus
may the 16th - first wave of adeptus mechanicus | preorders of second waves of adeptus mechanicus
may the 23th - second waves of adeptus mechanicus | preorders of dark angels
may the 30th - dark angels | preorder of the 9th edition rule book ????????

I think it can be just right !

Rumour from TWF. Take with the amount of salt from the Pacific Ocean.

This is not my rumour so I take no credit etc for posting it!


I am posting this in my non-main account because, should this turn out to be fabricated, I do not wish to be roasted =) That being said, I know a guy who knows a guy who stumbled on this completely by accident so add salt to taste.

- the 9th edition rules aren't going to be the big jump that moving from 7th edition to 8th was.
- there are going to be 3 versions of Warhammer. The Age of Sigmar - recommended for point totals 500 to 1,500 and will be a skirmish style game. The Age of Steel - Warhammer as we all played it over the last 5 years. The End Times - magic heavy and 50% lords & heroes (and Lore of Undeath).
- power dice are now a base of 2D6 (4D6 for End Times) up to 2,000 points, add another power dice for every 1,000 points after that so fielding a 4,000 point army would roll 4D6 Winds of Magic or 6D6 in the End Times.
- lots of new spells though the #6 spells all allow Ward Saves
- new magic items. Some went away, some new ones arrived.
- 8th edition measuring still exists
- Regeneration now works like a War Hydra, dead models come back with a single wound on a 4+ (I think Plaguebearers just won Warhammer)
- Lances do impact his on the charge
- Spears are +1ST if they hold against "mounted units"
- ASF has changed. Units that charge get ASF vs the unit they charge.
- Fear as now but tests are at -1 leadership, Terror at -2 (BSBs are still OP)
- Killing Blow does D3 wounds
- Heroic Killing Blow still kills everything
- characters riding monsters have a merged profile (which I presume is why cannons are still going shout '10 from the back!'...)
- Steadfast can be lost with a single rank of 5 in the flank. Units cannot be Steadfast against anything that can Thunderstomp them
- 2D6 Scenarios and a much broader terrain chart
- models lose half their charge roll distance if they clip terrain (think of it as toned down 7th edition terrain rules) though dangerous terrain is still in effect (1s to wound for models that take dangerous terrain tests)
- new building rules though they still look bad
- combat resolution - outnumbering is back
- holding table quarters is back too

Βλέπωντας ότι είναι rumors, και φυσικά κατανοώντας ότι είναι απλά rumors, αλλά δυστηχώς ώς γνωστόν, αδυνατόντας να αντισταθώ στον πειρασμό να σχολιάσω ακόμα και... rumors, έχουμε και λέμε:

Ragnar έγραψε:

-the 9th edition rules aren't going to be the big jump that moving from 7th edition to 8th was.
The Age of Steel - Warhammer as we all played it over the last 5 years.

Yay!!

Ragnar έγραψε:

- power dice are now a base of 2D6 (4D6 for End Times) up to 2,000 points, add another power dice for every 1,000 points after that so fielding a 4,000 point army would roll 4D6 Winds of Magic or 6D6 in the End Times.

Οκ καλό είναι αυτό, αλλά ας ελπίσουμε ότι επιτέλους θα κάνουν καμία extra βελτίωση για να λύσουν μερικά προβληματάκια. Επειδή το έχω συζητήσει το θέμα άπειρες φορές και δεν έχω όρεξη να επεκταθώ άλλη μία, για να είμαι ειλικρινής απλά ας κάνουν copy&paste το σύστημα του 40k που πλέον δυστηχώς όπως το καταστρέψαν/καταντήσαν είναι σχεδόν ίδιο με το Fantasy και όλα είναι καλά. Για να μήν πάω ένα βήμα παραπέρα και κάνω την πρόβλεψη ότι ώς σχέδιο έχουν το 40K και Fantasy να έχουν κοινό το 80% των κανόνων γενικότερα, γεγονός που μπορεί να φανεί απο διάφορες σχετικά καινούργιες ηλιθιότητες στο 40k όπως Look out Sir και Challenge, αλλά ας μην ξεφύγω απο το θέμα.

Ragnar έγραψε:

- lots of new spells though the #6 spells all allow Ward Saves

Yay!! Πάλι καλά ξυπνήσαν και το κατάλαβαν.  
Magic (super) heavy στρατούς πάντα έπαιζα, παίζω και θα παίζω, αλλά να έχω no-save-mass-destruction-spells (ex Dwellers Bellow, Purple Sun etc) ήταν παραδεχωμένος ηλίθιο.

Ragnar έγραψε:

- Regeneration now works like a War Hydra, dead models come back with a single wound on a 4+ (I think Plaguebearers just won Warhammer)

Μου θυμίζει τον Will Be Back rule των Necrons απο 4th edition 40Κ. Αν έχω δίκιο, όσοι έχουν παίξει 40k καταλαβαίνουν τον πόνο...
Btw Με μία γρήγορη σκέψη, οι plaguebearers θα είναι περισσότερο θέμα ή οι Vampire Counts με regen army i.e. Ghouls, Terrorgheist, Mortis Engine etc...  

Ragnar έγραψε:

- Lances do impact his on the charge
- Spears are +1ST if they hold against "mounted units"

Yay!!!!  (Αν είναι balanced)

Ragnar έγραψε:

- characters riding monsters have a merged profile (which I presume is why cannons are still going shout '10 from the back!'...)
- Steadfast can be lost with a single rank of 5 in the flank. Units cannot be Steadfast against anything that can Thunderstomp them

Monster buffs! Yay!!!!!  

Ragnar έγραψε:

- new building rules though they still look bad

Erm προσωπική άποψη αλλά Building Rules = Αδιάφορο στο Fantasy?

warseer


I have more stuff about factions. Usual disclaimer, this is second hand stuff take with a grain of salt etc.

1. Empire Remmanents: Mainly humans, with some dwarfs, ogres, and vampires. Humans units tend towards elite holy warriors (focus on priests, Knights, and witch hunters). The dwarves are mainly steampunk flavored, some of which bleeds into the rest of the faction. Vampires tend towards the human aesthetic, ogres have elements of both.

2. Chaos: all three chaos armies mixed together.

The warriors/humans have the same general design as now, except more obvious demonic gifts. Winged units of warriors was mentioned as an example.

Beastmen will come in more flavors, for example reptilian and avian variations. Also a variety of more animalistic units.

3. Orks/Goblins: More or less the same. They get ogres as per end times.

Also, possible mention of dwarf slaves either as units or as justifcation for some steampunk elements in the army. So possibly a bit more 40kification of the army overall, including more squigs.

4. Skaven: two major changes. First, more warptech, notably more apparent in modeling if not in rules.

Second, lizardmen slaves apparently bound using magic/warptech and mutated.

5. Undead: End times undead. More feral in feel. Beyond that, nothing.

6. Elves: End times elves, slightly more unified in appearence, takes cues from all 3 armies. Nothing much else known.

The last two are possibly due to ignorance rather than an actual lack of changes.

I don't know if any of this is really new besides a couple orc and skaven bits, some of it I read in the round up already but I just put it all down.

From a comment on a BOLS post, copied out from Dakka:

I had the chance to spend about 20 minutes with the upcoming book Age of Sigmar by A. Lanning (a novel, not the game) that deals with the aftermath of the end times. The prologue makes it very clear that Sigmar survives and the whole plot takes place after the end times. Nothing that I have read suggests that there is any time travel involved. It is just a continuation of the story on a much broader scale. I think it is safe to say that the game of the same name follows the story of book and doesn't establish a totally different setting.

In the prologue Sigmar survives and pulls the winds of magics through the gap into the warp. In the process the pure untouched currents of the warp are tainted with the personifications of the winds - the Incarnates. This is the birth of eight new minor gods. But most of the book is not about sigmar or the incarnate gods directly, only three chapters as far as I could see were written from their perspective. The rest of the book is an ordinary fantasy adventure story. The book follows Martellus Mann, a reikguard quartermaster who was slain in the end times, but is reborn in Sigmarshall, the domain of Sigmar. I then skipped some hundred pages forward so I don't know what happened in the aftermath, but in the middle of the book, he has gathered a large party of heroes from many realms and realities in a quest for something called the spirit mill or soul mill or something like this. I know for sure that there are several worlds and that the protagonist can travel from one to the other but I didn't read a chapter where this was described in person and I don't know if this is part of the game world. In the middle of the books there is a huge betrayal, sigmarshall is under siege by the armies of the chaos gods. incarnate fights against incarnate and all are cast out from the warp. Mann starts a search for sigmar in the believe that he was reborn somewhere. The second half of the book is set on a world called Regalia. And here it gets interesting: Regalia is the only area/realm/world that has a map in the book. Regalia looks like the old world or earth and has very familiar regions and city names, etc. But there are some huge alterations: there is no Ulthuan, but a huge landbridge that connects Canada with Scandinavia. There are no elven or dwarven sounding cities or lands but strange sounding names in the Americas and Africa that don't fit any race of the old setting. There is no empire, but lots of different states in Europe and Asia - Nuln, Middenheim, etc are there, but Altdorf is not. There are more things you can deduce from the map if you assume that it represents the setting of the game, which I strongly think it does. Mann finally arrives in the city Heldenheim that is build in the Worlds Edge Mountains just in time to visit the crowning of emperor Karl Franz where he announces his plan to conquer the whole world. Mann thinks that he has found Sigmar and the book jumps to the epilog. Sigmar is chained somewhere and starts to dwindle, but then he smiles and proclaims that his great work to eliminate the chaos once and for all has only started. He vows to conquer the warp.

I had the chance to look thoroughly through the proper Age of Sigmar rulebook (the one that consists of three books) yesterday evening. Spent my time with the three books and ignored the novel in favour of the real interesting things. So I cannot fill in the blanks there. But maybe I have the opportunity to look at the rulebook and novel again and hopefully the age of sigmar box, too. But now I have a way clearer picture what’s coming and I’d like to share with you because I am very (!!!) excited, but I cannot provide any photos for obvious reasons. So if you don’t believe me, I don’t blame you. But please don’t attack me personally.

- Title of the rulebook is: Age of Sigmar: a Warhammer strategy game
- first the basics (most of which are already known):
- full fledged rule system; no skirmish game - meaning not restricted to low miniature count: 50 models on average, way lower possible, in general you use units but you can field an army consisting of only single models
- everything is on round or oval bases (there paragraph that explicitly allows legacy and diorama bases, though);
- 2 books: the rules (rules and scenarios) and compendium (pictures, unit cards and fluff)
- there are unit cards for every (as far as I can see) old unit in the second book, including warhammer forge models and most or all special characters. Some units get the full treatment with a small fluff text, pictures of the actual miniatures and rules, some units get only rules with nothing more.
- all new rules with complete new mechanics: think not of 40k 2nd -> 3rd but Warhammer 8th -> Bloodbowl, very compact and fast paced, huge emphasis on individual champions, magic and gods (don’t know how powerful, but these have the most rule pages)
- no photos (and no artworks except some very generic drawings) of new miniatures except a couple chaos and human miniatures that are very likely from the Age of Sigmar box.
- all the races are in, but some are clearly favored. There are few pictures of beastmen and lizardmen for example and some units like steamtanks, gunpowder units (Skaven and new-dwarfs use them still), etc. can only be fielded as mercenaries from a different world or summoned units (in case of most special characters, there is even a picture of a Teclis painted in ghost colors)
- the tech level is between and ancient roman empire and early medieval times, lots of nomadic barbarian tribes, etc. But judging by to the age of sigmar miniatures the armour design draws only a little bit from history and is has a very stylized high-fantasy design instead
- there are lots of different people, races, gods and lots of different alliances. The world is a lot more open minded than the old one, Empire-Orc Alliance would be unthinkable, but a human-waaghkin force is nothing unusual in this setting

Army building
- you pick one or more gods that determine the theurgic or magic schools (don’t know what the difference is, sorry) you can use and how your champions get power-ups during the game. You can take several gods, but they have to be from the same pantheon - so no nurgle-sigmar armies, but Nagash-Morr is possible.Then you choose whichever unit you want - from every race. There is no limit as far as I can tell.
- The only mechanic that I have spotted that limits the useful choices somehow is that most spells and special rules only affect units with certain traits, the powers of Grimgor (magic and gods are always connected, each lore has a patron god that grants the power) affects only mortals or enemy units in the proximity of mortals.
- There are only rules for one pantheon in the rule book, all the other gods and pantheons are only mentioned in the fluff
- Guardians of Regalia, a conglomerate native spirits and gods and lately some new gods, the incarnates Grimgor, Gelt and Nagash, there are thousand of gods and their relevance changes over time and in different regions, but there are seven big gods that have seven schools of magic associated with them and have rules in the book
- Geshemet or Gesheket or something like this (male and female, fertility, natural disaster) is the head of the pantheon, the other six gods are dual pair of good and evil:
two death gods: Nagahs and Morr
two smith and labour gods: Hashut and Gelt
two war gods: Grimgor and Myrmidia
- five other pantheon get a page of fluff each, and additional minor pantheons/deities are mentioned in the fluff. The big five are Chaos, Sigmar, Cuth’adai (elven gods), Exoatl (old ones) and the triumvi-rats (Horned Rat + 2 more)
- all characters can earn favor of their gods and get promoted just like the chaos champions until they reach apotheosis, this is also a huge mechanic in the game + you can field gods or at least their avatars, but only three incarnates have rules in the book

Rules
- there is only one ruleset (don’t know what is in the AoS box, but in the book there is no distinction between skirmish mode and battle mode or something like this)
- rules have nothing to do with the old warhammer rules,
- profile is: Melee, Range, Might, Armour, Initiative, Resolve, Wounds, values from 1-6, lower is better
- simple turn sequence: initiative -> player 1 unit 1 moves, shoots, casts -> p1 unit 2 moves, shoots, casts -> ... -> player 2 moves, shoots, casts -> melee
- players roll always against each other, for example Melee vs Initiative and Range vs Initiative, Might vs Armour
- units regenerate all lost wounds at the end of the phase
- both sides in a melee fight simultaneously, winner can roll to fight instantaneously another round until one side is extinct or one side chooses to break from the combat
- there is no moral system or combat resolution whatsoever, but unit can be bounced back
- units use a 1” 40k formation without any facing
- magic spells are all one-use only, when you use it, you have to discard the card
- you can collect ascension points throughout the game and spend the point to buff your champions, mechanic depends on your god(s)
- unit costs points as before, you are not allowed to field multiple units of the same kind unless the former unit have full strength - there are all kinds of unit sizes from 1-3 to 3-15 (that’s the highest I have seen), but you can field lots of different 1-man units
- you don’t buy champions, a set number of models are automatically upgraded to champions, but you cannot exceed the limit
- there are rules for different weapons, magic items, war engines, monsters, special rules, etc and a large section for scenarios and terrain, larger than the actual rules


Setting
game is set on world Regalia that is connected with other young realms through portals of the old ones. Young realms are realms that were populated by the old creators and were guided on similar historical paths. They were untouched by chaos but this has changed since the arrival of sigmar (as a new faith) and archaon (as an actual emissary in flesh and blood)

there is no explanation (or just a brief one so that I have missed it) how this all came to be, just a description of the history of Regalia (and to a lesser extent some neighbouring realms)

On Regalia is dominated by hundreds of human kingdoms. Fast travel is possible through a number of stone circles that allows mages to open portal from one to another and a system of streams and seas under the earth that can be navigated by ship. There were a long period of peace curated by the Exoatl (Old Ones) that watched over the world from the North and Southpole. But then suddenly new faiths arrived, lots of human tribes started to pray to Sigmar and to conquer their neighbouring kingdoms. These lands are each independent, but are united in their faith to Sigmar. The history ends with the conquering of the Worlds Edge mountains and the crowning of the first emperor. At the same time, the first agents of Chaos arrived and began to corrupt the native people. A part of the Waaghkins rebelled against the old ones in favour of new gods, the Skaven arrived the first time, and in the south and east a death cult began to spread. The world is in turmoil. There are lots of unfinished story hooks so I think the story will be continued, but that might be wishful thinking.

humans are the majority in this world and they have kingdom and tribes everywhere, most of the known earth-inspired regions like cathay are there, but they are not described as fully flegded feudal nations but constantly changing petty empires and nomadic people ruled by warlords and champions of the gods. there are two factions of humans, the worshippers of sigmar and the polytheistic rest, both are not monocultural, but have different skin colors and cultures. Women fight beside men!

The dominion of sigmar is special, because they are the only ones that are reluctant to allow any other race than humans. They have only one god and their goal is to destroy all other gods and conquer their domains - for the greater good of the world of course. This has nothing in common with the Empire of the old world, except the heraldry, griffons are still en vogue. All tribes and city states and kingdoms are independent, the only common ground is their faith, the emperor is only a warlord with the purpose to expands the dominion towards the east. There a still knightly orders, zealots, witchhunters - so they retain some of their medieval flair but there are no state troops. There is no gunpowder, except from some dwarven imports, but they are known for using large warwaggons on their trek to the east. Kislec, Estalia, Araby, city states of Bretonnia, Norse and tribes of the Reiklands are part of the dominion. There are also some enclaves scattered across the world that are connected with magic portals

The Skaven arrived on their own on Regalia and are basically the same. Haven’t spent much time on them. They have now three gods called the triumvi-rat …..

Dawikorr (dwarfs) and Inneadim (elfs) have their own realms that are connected with Regalia. The Inneadim have outposts in America.

Dawikorr are only a legend on Regalia and nobody has seen them, but there are legends that they aid whorshippers of Sigmar in peril. They deliver the dominions of Sigmar with artifacts. They live underneath the world Karak Korr and guard the Soul Mill. Dawikorr have rules, so they can be fielded.

The Soul Mill is a huge machinery that allows minor deities to feed on the power of dead spirits or let them reincarnate or serve them as guardian hosts. It was built by the surviving dwarves of the old world on command of the Incarnates on a older machinery of the old ones. The dwarfs guard the soul mill and are aligned with Sigmar after the shattering of the Incarnates, but are under siege of the skaven that have found their way on this world and managed to steal two mighty souls that formed their new gods.

Inneadim whorship the dreamers, gods that have dreamt themselves, basically the elven gods. They live on their own world and protect the dreamchild. Under Araloth they founded enclaves on Regalia in search for the archelves, lost gods of their pantheon. They are a darker take on the elves, nightmare are as much part of their culture then dreams. They use necromancy and the death god Ynnead is at the centre of their pantheon. But they still live in symbiosis with the nature. The artwork shows an elf on a feathered mount, not like a chocobo, but more like a feathered raptor. the artbook shows pictures (and rules) from all existing elf armies.

Skaven and Dawikorr are the only races that use blackpowder, the rest of Regalia is on stuck on an ancient/medieval tech level. The Exoatl use magic techno gear. There is a certain level of anachronistic gear but it is not steampunk but powered by ancient magic. The only steampunk elements are in the Skaven and to a lesser extent the neo-dwarven fluff.

Chaos has no foothold in the north but is anywhere and consists of corrupted tribes and companies from every region of the world. The barbarian theme of the nomadic tribes is more associated with khorne than with chaos as a whole. Beastmen and demons are likely part of their faction because they are described in the same chapter (both in the fluff and unit cards), but demons can be summoned by everyone, so I don’t know for sure. And beastmen have very few pictures, so that’s a bad omen.

Waaghkins: orcs, goblins and are the servants of the old gods and live in a strict caste system, orcs are the manual laborers. There is a new race called nigmos: a tall and slender priest caste. Waaghkins travel the undersea, a system of flooded caverns that connects the whole world, on longboats and do the dirty work for the Exoatl. There is an artwork of the three different kinds of greenskins (no squigs and snotlings mentioned): an ork in very strange armour, very front heavy, textured like a symmetric turtle shell, he wields is an axe with multiple disc shape blades, goblin looked like a viking but has a futuristic looking handgun, the third was taller than a ork, female, slender - probably a nigmo. But in the photos of actual miniatures only show the old orc style. There is a subfaction of waaghkins that changed allegiance from the old gods to grimgor incarnate and are much more ferocious than their cousins.

undeads, deamons and spirits, and guardian hosts are used by every faction of the game, necromancy but not summoning is common in the dominion of Sigmar. The Inneadim are famous for their use of animated constructs. These things are not a big taboo in Regalia. However the most fearsome necromancers are (obviously) employed by the Empire of Nehekhara (which is not a desolate wasteland and has no egyptian vibe but is a rich and green country and feels more babylonian to me) and their death gods. But there is no Undead faction per se anymore. Vampires are called Necrarchs now.

Guardians hosts are troops that were granted by a god from another realm or the realm of the dead. They are living beings and have free will, but were brought to Regalia on the command of a deity.


- Lizardmen are not gone. There is a race called Servants of the Exoatl that guard the pole portals on flying pyramids, but no drawings and no fluff page (other races and tribess get at least half a page). They get unit cards for their old units (which confirms that they are simply lizardmen with a new name), but instead of beautiful pages with pictures like the rest of the bunch they get a simple list in the appendix of the compendium book.

Beastmen get the same lowkey treatment, but ogres get pictures and all, but I cannot say with which pantheon/faction they align. They are mortal, so you can use them in any the guardians of regalia army, but I don’t know if this is a stop gap solution or not.


Age of Sigmar box content:
Extrapolated from the pictures, they are the only new models. If you think you get 3-5 UNITS for each side, you are wrong. you get 10-15 (haven’t counted) CHARACTERS per side. Each model is really individual and it is in no way possible to field the majority of them as a visual coherent unit. It is late and this summary is long as it is, so I make this brief, but I will come back later and add some info on the miniatures. Chaos looks very similar to the old style except the berserkers, the Sigmarite Force is completely different.

Missionary Force:
3 Knights of the Order of Sigmars Blood, Roman looking armour but more bulky, leather Bands, swords and teardrop-shaped shields, champion is a woman
a pair of vigilantes: Male and female, leathercloaked, tricorn, 2 hand-crossbows
a hand full of heavy armoured warrior with different weapons and cloaks, almost knightly in appearance but completely over the top bulky, some have eagleshaped helmets
One hooded, chainmail wearing, hammer wielding girl
a bulldog
standard bearer: naked, chains that are hooked into the flesh, very archaic looking
one arabic looking guy with a two-handed scimitar and full armour
one guy in rags that wields a chain that burns at both ends, very impractical looking

Chaos Cult:
two outriders, basically chaos barbarians as we know them, but female
~5 berserkers: african looking, no armour, barefeet, clad in cloth stripes, two axes, bald and gaunt looking, not overly muscular, bone chain, both male and female
three pristesses: flowing robes, sacrifical ziggzagged daggers, skullmasks
two armoured harpies with spears and shields, crooked looking, feathered wings
at least five chaos warriors similar in appearance to the old chaos warriors, very dynamic fur cloaks and poses, one of them bigger on a larger base, all male as far as I could see
one large bloodletter, almost twice the size of a human
the leader has armour that looks like a chaos dwarfish, very babylonic, rides a demonwolf, a juggernaut, but with flesh and fur and spikes
some more viking-like infantry but with more chainmail
That’s only a broad description. Every model is highly individual.

Sorry for the chaotic nature of the info, I spent the evening writing this in a very fast manner. This is only the tip of the iceberg and I will come back with a little bit more soon - hopefully in a more ordered fashion. If you have a questions or need specifics and a topic, feel free to ask, maybe I remember something of use.