With all the info that we got on all the big name previews that Games Workshop showed off, I thought I'd just give my own personal thoughts on it. These are my own thoughts and will most likely differ from the thoughts of others, but it's an interesting insight into what I like out of the Warhammer hobby. If you haven't seen any of what was shown off, check out the Warhammer Community site for articles showing off these announcements.
Warhammer 40K 10th Edition:
Straight off the bat, I feel sorry for anyone who bought the 9th edition rulebook or any Codex. The idea that you paid for something that has now been rendered useless in 10th has got to hurt. At least they plan to give out free rules for each faction to use to start 10th (until they can bring out new Codex's to sell), which is at least something. I mean, if you followed rumours over the last year or so the announcement of 10th edition won't be much of a surprise, but it still has some things that are worth looking into.
Bringing back The Lion for the Dark Angles will hopefully have more of a shake up Lore wise, which might actually add more to the story of Cypher and the Fallen, which has sort of gone slightly stale given the appearance in the Chaos Space Marines Codex. Given that we have had now three Chaos Primarchs, it only makes sense to start adding to the Imperials a few more of their own Primarchs. I imagine ones like Leman Russ and Fulgrim will most likely be next, with Perturabo most likely not showing up until they find a way to bring back Rogal Dorn and Corax will probably show up once Lorgar makes his return. As for the others, they would be linked directly to storylines associated with their Chapters (such as the return of Vulkan for the Salamanders once all his relics have been recovered story).
Rules wise I am curious about. It's clear that a number of rules have been altered to make the game more easier to play and for games to move quicker thanks to a lot of them now being universal. I have also seen some that have been inspired by rules used in Age of Sigmar, though I am wondering what else they have taken from it. For instance, If we look at some of the more recent Codex's, the stratagem for giving a second model a Warlord trait is missing in some of them. This falls in line with how Age of Sigmar's Warlord traits work, with only the Warlord getting it and no more being able to be used (though I imagine that Special Characters will still get access to their own). I wonder if things like Damage will follow the same route, as currently in 40K if you do two attacks with damage 2, if both fail save then only a max of 2 models can die if they have one wound, where in Age of Sigmar if two attacks with damage 2 have both fail saves then four models with one wound can die as the damage in AoS roll over. Will 40K take this also as a change? If so, what other changes will alter the game? Guess we wait and see.
Also, unlike most, I felt the animated trailer felt a little too silly (well, some of the Tyranid designs were for sure).
Kill-Team:
Votann needed a Kill-Team to bring them more align with other factions Kill-Teams, but what surprised me was the Beastmen one. Given that Chaos already had two box Kill-Teams, there wasn't really a need for a non-daemon one, or any more Chaos ones as it was. Don't get me wrong, I do love the fact that we got some 40K Beastmen as an actual squad, but I feel that people were hoping for a Kill-Team based on a faction that hadn't had a box release. Have to wait and see how people react to them.
Horus Heresy:
I'll be honest, this game isn't for me so I won't waste anyone's time by giving a half-arse try and it. I recommend finding people who are invested in the game to give their opinion on it (and there are a few of them, so you'll have no trouble finding them).
Age of Sigmar:
Don't know why, but I'm unsure how to react to this one. On one hand, I assume that Nagash would have his minions united under him in some big twist for his return. On the other hand, having the various Death factions turn on each other (if that what the release is eluding too) is something I highly approve of. I feel like unlike the other three factions who have various Gods and Heroes that lead to internal conflicts on a large scale, Death had always seen as all serve under Nagash and to refuse is to be obliterated. Outside of Mannfred, no one really stands out as a to oppose such rule. With the bone boys wanting more bones and now it seems they are targeting the Soulblight's minions for them, such conflict could really work to separate such unity.
Or I'm wrong, so there's that.
That said, they have a new Vampire who loves Bats, so am going to have to add that to my force (which I have only just completed, so hopefully I'll have photos of them up soon).
The Seraphon look amazing. While I am going to choose the Skinks over the Saurus, that doesn't change how the newer designs have really added to the cold-blooded killers feel. An excellent example is the new Kroxigors. They have a much stronger feel to them compared to their previous designs and look much more dangerous as a result. Might need to add a unit to my list, but this is one faction to certainly worth waiting for.
Finally, there was a show off of the new Cities of Sigmar human troops and.....yeah, didn't feel too excited by their new designs. Much like the changes to the Soulblight's Skeleton Warriors (which I hated), these don't give me the kind of design evolution that they should have. They seem to lack a sort of devotion to Sigmar that the older models had. What I mean is, they should feel like they have more trinkets and heraldry with devotion to Sigmar, given that this is the era where they are intent on reclaiming the realms for Sigmar, so they should really show that faith in their duty to it. Will wait and see what else gets shown off in the future before truly deciding where I stand on these new designs.
Underworlds:
Now this is what I'm talking about. Yes some of the Stormcast look a little generic, but their leader looks great. However, that's not where my focus was on. The Ephilim’s Pandaemonium is what I truly have been waiting for as a fan of Tzeentch. The idea of someone cataloging the various daemons is great and all, but then showing off some of them is what makes this truly stand out for me. Are they a little plain? Well yes, but for a small scale game that is perfectly fine. I just really want more variety of Daemons when it comes to Tzeentch, because it suites him in every way to have such are large variety of Daemons what are altered versions of ones that we already have. He is a God of Change, so the variety of them would be endless. Either way, this one is something I have taken an actual interest in.
Overall, I feel that as far as previews go, this was one of their better ones. Lots of cool stuff (even if you ignore the 10th edition announcement) and certainly giving many players something good to look forward too.
