AoS Age Of Sigmar - Lizards namedropped

[Qupakoco]

But if AoS is not 9th edition then I wonder why they took down all the army books from the store shelves

Yeah, it doesn't really make sense to mass produce a product and NOT sell it at some point. Totally a waste of money and a very bad business model.

 

[little-myth]

I just hope army books come out very soon after AoS, I've been hearing little murmurs of AoS comes out then later on in the year, full rule book and army books. Can't remember where I got this.
And it's a bit weird really, having no books for months will defiantly ruin the fantasy side. So I hope they make up the weeks they can doing fantasy, the amount of weeks 40k got XD

 

[Iskander]

Random useless note, since people have said stuff like it a bunch already:

I talked to my local game store guy today. Local, like a 25 min drive away, and "game store" in the sense that he used to sell Warhammer stuff but gave up b/c people don't buy more stuff once they've built their first army (and I'm the only person he every sold a WFB model to! lolz. sigh.). Anyway, he still sells paints, so I went for paints today, since I have a few things left to finish. He said GW was trying to get him to re-start selling their stuff for Age of Sigmar, and that they insisted that it was a "completely new system." I got the sense they didn't say much beyond that.

Make of that what you will.

 

[pendrake]

I talked to my local game store guy today...

"game store" in the sense that he used to sell Warhammer stuff...

He said GW was trying to get him to re-start selling their stuff for Age of Sigmar...

Obviously not a GW branded store. What does this one mostly sell? Warmachine?

 

[Iskander]

Obviously not a GW branded store. What does this one mostly sell? Warmachine?

Right. Actually the store's like 95 comics, with a few boardgames. The GW stuff was the only minis-wargaming stuff that he sold.

 

[Qupakoco]

Meandering the internet, eating all this salt...

Age of Sigmar will be not the first part of a Three-Part Ruleset in the 9.Edition, it will be the Name of the first Starter Set. The Set includes Simplyfied Fantasy Rules, based on the new Edition with Skimisher Rules. Age of Sigmar will be an easy and "cheap" introduction for new People and the first Release of the new Edition. Soon after the Set GW will release the Full Rulebook with full skimisher and standard Rules. Later in this Year, there will be a classic Starter Set like the previous with two Armies and a Full Mini-Rulebook.

Also found an opinion piece that makes some decent sense. Sounds hopeful. I like hopeful. Age of Sigmar... so what's in a name?


EDIT

moar stuffz

Good afternoon,
Games Workshop is launching the Age of Sigmar - a completely new system – on July 11th. You can start promoting the Age of Sigmar in your store today!
What is the Age of Sigmar?
· The Age of Sigmar is a brand new system that continues the End Times story
· This system is a great way for new customers to start collecting fantasy miniatures
· Existing customers will be able to use their current miniature collections and add to them with the Age of Sigmar
It is a continuation of the story line, but not going back to the old world. 100% of the models available now will continue to be supported. The audience for this launch is not the dwindling number of Fantasy players, but for EVERYONE including the veterans but with the idea that this isn't "just" 9th edition which will just loose them more players but a whole new mechanic to draw people in.
They are actually doing trade shows and cons this year to drive interest in the game.
This is a continuation of the story of End Times but NOT the old world. If a model is currently for sale by GW it will be usable in some way.
I don't have confirmation of the horrible "reality bubbles" rumor, but he (HIS GW REP) is going to ask about it.

I'll be getting significantly more info the week of the 29th, with the idea of doing a build up event the week of the 4th.

I think my breathing is back to normal now.

 

[Pinktaco]

From Warseer


So, one of my spies returned, wounded unto death and managed to give me a bit of info on the Great Enemies battleplan.
He was delerious and really wanted a cookie before he died, so take this with a grain of salt.

-The new system will have both Skirmish and large battle with ranked troops versions.

-Skirmish can use round or square. Large version is square.

-The round 32mm bases in the space marine boxes were originally made for WH:AoS, but the 40k studio guys liked the look and they fit space marines better.

-AOS box will have both round and square bases in the box.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

Thanks for the update @Pinktaco . That is such a strange system they have decided to employ... squares and rounds?!!? At least it is better than if it was just rounds.

 

[pendrake]

Rounds and Squares together in an Army!!

That is such a strange system they have decided to employ... squares and rounds?!!? At least it is better than if it was just rounds.

Goodness, what a concept! plummeting out of the blue like a rogue comet...?

Perhaps if we tune the wayback machine to May 19th of this year, a different question comes to mind:

...where has this been heard before?

• Models on squares can do ranks and have rank bonuses.

• Models on rounds (or Cav on ovals) have no flank, or rear, and can see, shoot, turn and face at will, or charge 360°.

• Almost every kind of model can be fielded on traditional rectangles or rounds.

• Choosing the type of base the model is assembled with decides whether it is trained to be a rank and file model or a skirmisher.

 

[borkbork]

Also found an opinion piece that makes some decent sense. Sounds hopeful. I like hopeful. Age of Sigmar... so what's in a name?

To me this actually does not make too much sense.

He may be right that it is a step back to the roots, I also picked up an "oldhammer" vibe left and right.

However, i totally do not understand how GW can protect it IP by turning wood elfs, high Elves and Dark Elves ..........into Elves.
First of Russian/Chinese recasters dont give a .-beeb- about IP now and they wont give a -beep- when AoS will be out.
Companies like Avatar of War etc, will still make viable fantasy miniatures that you can choose to use. So unless they make old models totally obsolete this will also not make a difference.

Then he is also talking about production costs and things like storage and that fantasay as we know it has become financially unviable. But with my limited business experience I can just totally not imagine storage costs being an issue for GW (unless they are doing something totally wrong). The biggest problem i see financially for GW is their huge sale channel. The issue is that GW stores have to be paid for!! And by reducing the amount of models the overhead has to be paid for by a lesser amount of models, and thus the costs per model will go up, and I doubt that will be compensated the reduction of storage and production costs.

 

[pendrake]

To me this actually does not make too much sense.

This bit does:

• The game had itself grown in size and scale; the start up costs to the customer are high and intimidating, thus new players were not getting into the hobby.

Is Thrawn a GW Pawn ? A voice on the internet in their pay? An alter-ego of Nigel-Whatisname? Perhaps. I have been expecting voices like that to crop up as the day gets closer. (edit: but for all I know Thrawn has been writing for BOLS for years) It is what marketing is like these days.


But this notion of a skirmish game that also integrates into a bigger game.


They have tried this before. More than once. There was Lunchammer. Remember? published in White Dwarf, it used little 500 point armies. There was Mordheim. Paint just a few models from your favorite army, they make a warband, skirmish with them in this ruined city. There was Warhammer: Warbands also published in White Dwarf. It was an updated, expanded version of Lunchhammer. There was Path to Glory: chaos warbands battling away out in the chaos wastes --- only a few models needed, but convert, kitbash, use old weird models. And there was Warhammer: Skirmish. It was supported with in-store events, White Dwarf articles, a booklet, and web content with lots of scenarios. They built every store a terrain board with a troll bridge for that one.


They have attempted:

• buy-just-a-few-models-from-us-and-you-can-play-the-game

BEFORE.

ReaperMinis created a skirmish game of this sort. No one has ever heard of it (but it has a lizardmen, snakemen, & dragonmen faction...) And then Privateer Press created just such a game and it succeeded.


Privateer Press has proved it can work. It took Privateer Press to prove it can work.

Maybe GW will finally get it to work.
(edit: 6th? time is the charm?)

 

[borkbork]

This bit does:

Yes, indeed that bit does

However, i just wish GW would finally realize they really have to manage their "costs" better, instead of slavishly looking at sales numbers.

To me (based on limited information) it sounds like they are driving with the brakes on, and then try slapping another engine on the car to go faster.

 

[Qupakoco]

Is Thrawn a GW Pawn ? A voice on the internet in their pay? An alter-ego of Nigel-Whatisname? Perhaps. I have been expecting voices like that to crop up as the day gets closer. It is what marketing is like these days.

He might be. His other posts seem to plug something in each article, though not always GW related.

I agree with @pendrake. If GW is going to make a true Skrimish version of the game that they are fully supporting, they should probably sell skirmish versions of armies. No one that wants to play a small game with a couple Saurus is going to buy the box of 16 without perceived benefit. I wouldn't at least. Unless 16 is a magic number, but then your skirmish army is all the same model.

I dunno. Guess I'll go lick the salt block some more.

 

[pendrake]

...they should probably sell skirmish versions of armies...

They could sell mixed sprue boxes. 2x Skink sprues; 2x Saurus sprues; a Cold One Sprue; a Command Sprue. They could do something like that with sprues that already exist.

 

[Tecuani]

This bit does:



Is Thrawn a GW Pawn ? A voice on the internet in their pay? An alter-ego of Nigel-Whatisname? Perhaps. I have been expecting voices like that to crop up as the day gets closer. (edit: but for all I know Thrawn has been writing for BOLS for years) It is what marketing is like these days.


But this notion of a skirmish game that also integrates into a bigger game.


They have tried this before. More than once. There was Lunchammer. Remember? published in White Dwarf, it used little 500 point armies. There was Mordheim. Paint just a few models from your favorite army, they make a warband, skirmish with them in this ruined city. There was Warhammer: Warbands also published in White Dwarf. It was an updated, expanded version of Lunchhammer. There was Path to Glory: chaos warbands battling away out in the chaos wastes --- only a few models needed, but convert, kitbash, use old weird models. And there was Warhammer: Skirmish. It was supported with in-store events, White Dwarf articles, a booklet, and web content with lots of scenarios. They built every store a terrain board with a troll bridge for that one.


They have attempted:

• buy-just-a-few-models-from-us-and-you-can-play-the-game

BEFORE.

ReaperMinis created a skirmish game of this sort. No one has ever heard of it (but it has a lizardmen, snakemen, & dragonmen faction...) And then Privateer Press created just such a game and it succeeded.


Privateer Press has proved it can work. It took Privateer Press to prove it can work.

Maybe GW will finally get it to work.
(edit: 6th? time is the charm?)

The important distinction here is that Privateer press made a skirmish game, and put effort into developing it as a skirmish game, rather than simply scaling down a mass battle rules set to skirmish level. Skirmish games depend on different, and in many cases conflicting, mechanics to larger scale games, and a lot of warhammer's(and 40K's) many problems are already caused by trying to mix the two types of rules.
That isn't to say it's not possible to write a good skirmish game in a warhammer setting, but it would have to be a seperate game to work.

 

[Mr Phat]

http://www.lustria-online.com/threads/age-of-sigmar-rumours-mk-ii-our-new-name.16382/

News!

 

[pendrake]

Good point @Tecuani

That isn't to say it's not possible to write a good skirmish game in a warhammer setting, but it would have to be a seperate game to work.

Maybe they have chosen a different dice mechanic for the pure skirmish game. D8s! -or- Every roll is 2D6.

Edit: The newsleak/rumour Phat found doesn't support anything but D6s. They worship the D6.