Thursday, August 29, 2019

NOVA Reveals First Thoughts


Last night had the big reveals at Nova for pretty much every game system that Games Workshop produces, and wow, these are some pretty cool and exciting reveals. Let's take a quick look at them as well as some of my thoughts on the preview.



We have to start with the big news of the night, the Ossiarch Bonereapers! To say I'm excited for this release is a bit of an understatement. I love the look of these models and how AoS they are. While Nighthaunt were the first real AoS specific Death army, their design cues were still taken from models made for the Old World. I love the Nighthaunt and I think the range is fantastic, obviously. I have about 3,000 points of them painted, so it'd be a bit odd if I wasn't a fan. The Ossiarch Bonereapers are wholly unique to the Mortal Realms though.


The Bonereapers are taking some design cues from Nagash, the Mortarchs, and the Morghasts, especially with their armor, which were released during the End Times. I would argue that those models were already being designed with AoS in mind though, so I stand by my statement of the Bonereapers being the first wholly AoS Death army.


They're pretty much everything I could have hoped for with an army taking cues from the Deathlords faction. Though they're not Tomb Kings, they're obviously taking some design and aesthetic cues from them as well. There are still cartouches and hieroglyphic-esque symbols on them.


The Tomb Kings were Egyptians with some Asian influence on them while these guys look to be Asian with some Egyptian influence. So it's really just a rebalancing of the design scales. Imagine an army of these guys really leaning into the Asian aesthetic with its paint scheme. Some cherry blossom leaves or something on their bases could look sweet.


This Catapult is insanely awesome. I love how large it is and the crew working all over it. It's pretty much a centipede catapult made of bone. In the video you can see it from the other side too and it looks like there is a hamster wheel type thing with a Bonereaper inside of it, presumably to move the firing arm into position. It has so much detail on it. I would say this is on the same level as the Kharadron ships. It feels real in a sense that you can see how it works with all of the crew.


We obviously can't talk about the Bonereapers without talking about the big man himself, Katakros! What can I say about this model that the model itself doesn't already say. It's basically a mini-diorama as a unit! I saw someone say that this will be the Slayer Sword winning model for the next few Golden Demons, and I'm sure we'll be seeing some amazing paint jobs on him. He is definitely my favorite AoS mini at the moment.


The next exciting reveal that's AoS related is the first expansion for Warcry, Monster and Mercenaries. I'm definitely excited to see some Darkoath in the game and I'm very interested to see what other heroes get included. On the Nighthaunt side I'd love to see a Knight of Shrouds or something like that. 


I guess we all know why there was a Gargantuan runemark in the main rulebook now. I like the idea of monster hunting. I think it could lead to some really fun scenarios. I wonder if there will be co-op scenarios where you have to work together to take down a big monster. I think this will be especially cool for the Untamed Beasts and Bonesplitterz, since this whole thing is their jam.


In some of the last big news for AoS, we some exciting revelations for Warhammer Legends. Anything moving into Legends will be getting Matched Play points! They won't be updated regularly and are not recommended for tournament play, but it's still really cool. Seeing as how the armies that have gotten the Legends treatment already, Dark Elves, Beastmen, Orcs and Goblins, etc, have all had their warscrolls updated and cleaned up a bit I'm excited to see what future books get. While this won't have a huge impact on the main AoS scene, it will let people continue to play with their existing collections, including Brettonians and Tomb Kings who obviously both got chopped completely. As long as the person you're playing with is cool with you using them then you can create a balanced game. This could lead to some cool events too. I'd love to see a Warhammer Legends event where you can only use armies made from those books. It can be a whole thing set in the Old World. Imagine an End Times event? That could be awesome.


The Sisters of Battle have been a long time coming and I think they really nailed the look of these models. They retain all of the classic aesthetics, but look like modern miniatures, and all plastic too!


Like seriously, so cool!



One of the most exciting things about their release to me is that they're getting an Army Box with the Codex included. I used to love these back in the day. Whenever a new army came out the first release was a massive army box with a smattering of the new units, the book, usually a limited edition model, and access to some units before they're released generally. It was a great way to start an army. I really hope we see more of this going forward.


I've been tempted by the Middle Earth game since it was re-released and now I may finally have to take the dive. I love the Uruk-hai, and presumably there will be quite a bit of them in this book.

The first model previewed is this fantastic looking Saruman, but I'm hoping for some Uruk love as well. I know technically Lurtz didn't get to fight in Rohan, but I'd love to see an updated model of him. I'm assuming we'll probably get a new plastic Eomer as well.


There were even more preview for 40k, including this plastic Aspect Warrior and a new Shrike, so be sure to head over to the Warhammer Community site and check them all out. There's a ton more info over there as well, so it's well worth the read.

What are you most excited about from the preview?

Until next time,

Tyler M.

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