I’ve been having a think about the impending AOS Chaos Dwarfs. As you know, I think AOS is a very hit-or-miss product line, with as many misses as hits. I took a look at the list of factions and broke them down into three categories.
Genuinely New Factions which are fundamentally new design work and concepts
Nighthaunt (Death)
Ossiarch Bonereapers (Death)
Sons of Behemat (Destruction)
Kruleboyz (Destruction)
Idoneth Deepkin (Order)
Kharadron Overlords (Order)
Lumineth Realm-lords (Order)
Stormcast Eternals (Order)
Derivative Factions which take design cues and concepts directly from pre-existing WHFB work
Monogod Mortals (Chaos)
Flesh-Eater Courts (Death)
Gloomspite Gitz (Destruction)
Daughters of Khaine (Order)
Fyreslayers (Order)
Cities of Sigmar humans (Order)
Lift-n-shift Factions whose designs and concepts are almost wholly unchanged from WHFB
Skaven (Chaos)
Slaves to Darkness (Chaos)
Monogod Daemons (Chaos)
Soulblight Gravelords (Death)
Ogor Mawtribes (Destruction)
Seraphon (Order)
Sylvaneth (Order)
Cities of Sigmar Dark Elves (Order)
I will be interested to see where the new Chaos Dwarfs fit in. I expect they’ll appear in Genuinely New, which is no guarantee of quality, but I am hopeful.
Interesting. So, I’m certainly hoping for Category 1, just because a High Fantasy setting would give an industrialized evil faction so much breathing room. I do remember at this point the blurb from the Hobgrots that they’re armed and armoured by evil duardin (or what was it), so that’s in a way of course derivative. Still, it’s not like they can build upon decades of established Chaos Dwarf goodness, so why not take the chance and reinvent the line for AoS.
I think the skaven did really well with their completely faithful/unoriginal remaster, but I also think the design cues from the hobgrots and Horns of Hashut suggest they will break new ground. That could go well, but it could go badly.
Oh absolutely, new does not equal good here! I’d just like them to take a chance. From the genuinely new category I like about half of the factions. But basically all of the ones which would excite me to play AoS are in there.
I’m not sure what would be better. On the one hand, I think a total redesign would be good as it would seperate AoS Chorfs from WFB and not cement the classic idea of Chaos Dwarfs as an Age of Sigmar thing (a universe I personally detest in lore and gameplay).
On the other hand, if they are basically just an updated combination of classic and forgeworld models it will be great just to have some new models to convert to Old World.
I think a total redesign is my preference, as I vainly hope they will do Old World chorfs eventually. I also very much dread a grimdark future where Chorfs become an icon of AoS and find myself taking my army to a store and someone saying “aren’t those an age of sigmar faction?”
I think the aesthics we have seen, and the art coming through the new edition book, suggests they will look very different. I will miss curly beards if they’re absent. Six-eyed helms seem weirdly to be a motif, along with the big bull helms. We will see if the hobgrot armour texture shows through.
I don’t really agree the Sylvaneth are ported over directly. Sure they have the treemen and dryads, but not a Wood Elf in sight unless they are a fused spirit of a dead elf with a tree.
If they go the release line, I think we will see something along the lines of the Armator from the Warcry range Iron Golem’s together with of course the Hobgrots from the Orruk’s, and (sadly) not the new Blood Bowl look though.
Hmm I wouldn’t label Sigmarines as genuinely new. They are a copy of their ScFi brothers but more inclusive and an amalgam of every aspect that was unique to the specific Warhammer armies: they have swords, hammers, axes, boltguns, bows, crossbows, spears, halberds, war machines, chariots, griffins, griffin dogs, falcons, dragons, terminators, horses, bigger dragons, dragon gods, something like a pegasus/unicorn with ram-like horns, magic, magic infantry, magic cavalry, dragon cavalry, dragon horse cavalry, storm troopers, winged troops with spears, winged troops that shoot and teleport and god knows what else… they are boring and new but not genuinely new
Whilst I understand the spirit of this thread and the contentious debates behind the closed doors of DMs…
Putting that to rest, all the official leaks have Walhut front and center. Walhut’s blubbery emergence has been read by the tusk readers for some time now so I can understand it is easy to forget that we once worshipped a bull god, in years predating the great nurgle’s gift of 2020.
That said, we can be excited for something genuinely new as long as GW doesn’t stray too far off the beaten flipper.
