Thursday, July 8, 2021

Mortarch Mengel's AoS3 Death Wishlist


Sometimes I just sit around and think about what models I would love to see for AoS in the future, I'm sure we all do it from time to time. Well, I figured why not put together a short article on what Death models I would most like to see made.

First off, a quick disclaimer. Yes, I do a bit of stuff with GW for the Warhammer Community site, but I don't get to see anything ahead of time or anything like that. Also, as some of you may or may not have known, I was on the AoS play testing team, but I left it awhile ago and have no knowledge of what's coming in the future anymore. This is all genuine speculation and wish listing on my part. With that out of the way, let's get the show on the road!

1. Mortarchs


I warned you that there was going to be a lot of Death stuff on this list. When I say Mortarchs I mean the big three; Mannfred, Arkhan, and Neferata. I know their models are fairly new, and the sculpts are still great looking, but I would really love to see models more unique to each character. Why are they all riding Dread Abyssals but none of the other Mortarchs are?


I would love to see Mannfred riding either a Nightmare (think horse, but deader) or something like a Terrogheist. Maybe a brand new creature? Basically I think it should be fleshier and more in line with his vampire knight, bat loving self.


Neferata I think would look great on foot. All of these models with long, elegant dresses that force them to be on a calvary base. That's perfect for her. Alternatively, I think it could be cool to see her in some kind of lavish Coven Throne type model, with a bunch of courtiers hanging around.


Lastly we have Arkhan. Out of all of them he's the one I could see staying on his Dread Abyssal the most. It fits the Bonereaper aesthetic, which he's already a part of. If we have to replace it though I would either put him on foot and make him truly a mini Nagash, or maybe his old flying chariot again? With his fate unknown after the events of Broken Realms: Teclis, whenever he's reintroduced to the story would be the perfect time for a new model for him, and also when the other two could get redone. I think the design on the characters themselves is pretty awesome and wouldn't really need much work. Just more unique mounts and poses. 

2. More Mortarchs!



Well, back in the Old World Nagash had nine, and so far we only have five, so we still have four more to go. I'm sure we'll get some more completely new Death factions at some point in the future, which is the perfect time for a new Mortarch, but there's already a faction that's missing one. Not only that, but he's been hinted at in the lore recently, and is one of Nagash's OG commanders. I'm talking about Ushoran of course, the father of the Flesh Eater-Courts. Just picture it, Ushoran, the Mortarch of Madness (made up title) returned to truly bring the Flesh Eater-Courts under Nagash's rule. It could be a truly awesome model. I can't even begin to speculate on what they could do with him. I'm 100% sure the members of the design studio are way more creative than me when it comes to stuff like this. One idea I do have for him though is he could be riding a redone...

3. Terrorgheist!



It's time to cut the dual kit cord and give the Terrorgheist it's own model. Really push the whole zombie bat thing, OR drop the zombie part all together. Just make it an awesome looking giant bat! There's a really cool conversion in the new Core Book that uses Vermin Lord parts to kitbash a sweet Terrorgheist that's way more bat like. Like I said above, you could include Ushoran in this as one of the riders, but at the very least it would give them a chance to redo the Ghoul King. I love the idea of the Terrorgheist, but the current model leaves me wanting a bit more. Which leads me to...

4. Zombie Dragon!



Well, if you're redoing the Terrorgheist then it's time to redo the Zombie Dragon too. When I saw the cover of the new Soulblight Gravelords book I was really hoping that the dragon on the cover was a hint at a new model. I think this thing needs to be a lot fleshier, and much more zombie like. I really liked the old Zombie Dragon from 6th ed Fantasy. It's a bit goofy by today's standards, but back then it was amazing! This would also be a great time to give Prince Vhordrai his own unique model. Again, not a huge fan of the current Zombie Dragon and I think they could really do something fantastic now with the sculpting technology they have.

5. New Bonereaper Units



I'm going to put a few ideas in this section. I think it's pretty likely that we're going to get another wave of Bonereaper stuff at some point, and there are a few obvious gaps for them to fill. First off, I think they should definitely get an archer unit. We've already seen an archer Mortek in the Underworlds box. Just do that same design but across a whole unit. Following in the Tomb Kings steps they're already walking, I would really love to see some Bonereaper chariots! They seem more fond of chariots lately, with Stormcast now getting one, so why not undead chariots? I would imagine these would be more heavily armored than the light chariots the TK had, but it would still look awesome. Lastly, I think they need a foot combat hero. Like the Liege-Kavalos, but on foot to lead the Mortek Guard. A Liege-Mortek.

6. Plastic Mourngul



Whenever the Nighthaunt get a new book in AoS3 I can't imagine them getting many new models. They already got so many new units in AoS2 and I don't now what else they could really need. They just got a new hero too, and they already have so many of them as well. In this age of the Monster in AoS3 though I could really see a plastic Mourngul as a possibility. I think this would get pretty heavily redesigned to more closely fit the Nighthaunt aesthetic. It might not even be called a Mourngul, but some kind of giant ghost monster please.

7. New Ghouls



The Crypt Horrors and Flayers are pretty good sculpts, and I don't think they need anything new, but the basic ghoul is starting to show its age. The new ghouls we got in Underworlds are fantastic sculpts and really show off what they could do in that design space. I also think they could benefit from a few new hero units and definitely a redone Varghulf more inline with the Vargskyr from Cursed City. I could see them coming up with some brand new monster units for them as well. Some type of even bigger ghoul. I would really like them to play into the whole corrupted nobility, insane madness thing the Flesh-eaters have going on. Some more armor and weapons scattered around the models.

8. More Deathmages



Lastly, I would really love to see some more Deathmage stuff. Some type of mounted Necromancer, maybe on some kind of giant frankenstein zombie monster, would be awesome. A named Deathmage would be cool as well. 

That's it for my Death wishlist for AoS3. I didn't even want to speculate on any entirely new armies, so I'm sure there's tons of things I didn't even think of. What do you think about this list? What would you be most excited to see? What did I leave off that you would include?

Let me know in the comments below.

Until next time,

Tyler M.

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