Current State of AoS rumors, as summarized on reddit here
Standard disclaimer: these are just rumors, & while many come from relatively reliable rumor mongers any or all of them could be total BS.
With the 4e releases for Soulblight, Flesh Eaters, and Nighthaunt behind us, the only undead-specific rumors in the mill are regarding OBR, and these come from a post by Boole iirc buried somewhere in the unwieldy rumor mega-thread on TGA. I can't find the specific post, but there's a screencap here.
Boole is semi-reliable, but likes to be somewhat coy and opaque. In general though, these rumors imply a relatively significant OBR wave for 4th edition, including
1. "Ossiarch Ruststalkers" as an offensive, possibly character hunting type unit. Ruststalkers are a 40k mechanicus unit that look like this:
They're a 5 model per box medium-large infantry unit on 40mm bases, mostly on account of their extended digitigrade legs, You could pretty easily imagine an OBR version as a sort of lesser-necropolis-stalker, half way between mortek guard and the existing stalkers, taking on some of the speedy-movement-over-terrain skirmishy flanky role that necropolis stalkers used to be but that their 4e rules largely abandoned.
2. Ossiarchstrike Chariot - some sort of chariot-like war machine similar to the Stormcast Stormstrike Chariot:
This might be an actual chariot, or perhaps just some chariot-sized bonemold mostrosity serving a similar roll. The rumor also seems to imply a more ornate variant, possibly a dual kit character version. OBR already have some soild (arguably too solid) options for fast moving hammers in morghasts, but it would be nice to have something in that vein that would specifically fit the theme and aesthetic of the Stalliarch Lords.
3. Some sort of 3-eyed answer to enemy ranged units. People are interpreting this as an OBR ranged infantry unit, possibly a dual kit with the previously mentioned ruststalkers. I'm personally hoping for mortek archers - more static, more weight of fire, the kind of thing you'd see firing from castle walls rather than the sort of faster skirmishy harassing unit you'd expect from a ranged unit on ruststalker bodies. Nothing in Boole's hint actually says this unit would itself be ranged, just that it would be an answer to enemy ranged units, so it could just as easily be a unit with extra defenses agaisnt shooting.
4. Blacktoof's return. This almost certainly referrs to Arkhan. A new Arkhan model would fit with GW's recent moves to phase out cross-faction dual kits, and many, including myself, assumed that GW intended to phase out the current Triple Mortarch kit after the Broken Realms campaign at the end of second edition killed off not just Arkhan himself, but all three of that kit's Dread Abyssal mounts. Subsequent releases have somewhat gone back on that, but regardless a new separate Arkhan model has been expected. In Old World times Arkhan specifically rode a chariot, so a new Arkhan could even be the 'golden chariot' fancier/hero dual kit variant of the chariot implied above, but the 'how distant lies that future' bit could also imply that while a new model for Arkhan is coming, it's possible that he won't be part of the 4e OBR release wave, maybe instead getting held back for an end-of-4e narrative campaign release, or possibly a 5th ed OBR release.
speaking of, though...
.....
That's it for actual OBR rumors. Somewhat more discouraging is that the end-of-edition campaign rumors revolve around cogforts for cities and a demon prince Khorgos Khul for chaos and absolutely no mention of undead what so ever, so it seems unlikely that well be seeing the vermindoom put down by the return of nagash and newly ascendant undead as some have expected. I'm some, I expected that.
The most recent 5e starter box faction rumors are also for Cities of Sigmar and Clan Eshin, rather than undead of any kind, breaking the chaos-death-destruction antagonist "cycle" that people imagined but that I was always skeptical of.
Then again, that's the rumor that I'm personally find to be the most dubious. Partially for the lack of stormcast in the box - which would be good for the game imo, but I just don't thing GW's yet willing to give up on the idea that stormcast might replicate the success of 40k's space marines in another game setting. Mostly because starter box eshin would mean skaven as the launch box antagonists two editions in a row, which just feels incredibly unlikely, and would mean extending the vermindoom into another edition, which would represent some painful stagnation of the AoS metanarrative, when an advancing narrative was a big selling point of the game up until covid threw everything off the rails.
.....
Anyway, that's the current state of AoS rumors, & Death rumors in particular. I've got my fingers crossed for the OBR release to be cool and help breath some new unlife into a faction that made a strong splash in the setting on release, but that has faded into the background for two editions now.
Standard disclaimer: these are just rumors, & while many come from relatively reliable rumor mongers any or all of them could be total BS.
With the 4e releases for Soulblight, Flesh Eaters, and Nighthaunt behind us, the only undead-specific rumors in the mill are regarding OBR, and these come from a post by Boole iirc buried somewhere in the unwieldy rumor mega-thread on TGA. I can't find the specific post, but there's a screencap here.
Boole is semi-reliable, but likes to be somewhat coy and opaque. In general though, these rumors imply a relatively significant OBR wave for 4th edition, including
1. "Ossiarch Ruststalkers" as an offensive, possibly character hunting type unit. Ruststalkers are a 40k mechanicus unit that look like this:
They're a 5 model per box medium-large infantry unit on 40mm bases, mostly on account of their extended digitigrade legs, You could pretty easily imagine an OBR version as a sort of lesser-necropolis-stalker, half way between mortek guard and the existing stalkers, taking on some of the speedy-movement-over-terrain skirmishy flanky role that necropolis stalkers used to be but that their 4e rules largely abandoned.
2. Ossiarchstrike Chariot - some sort of chariot-like war machine similar to the Stormcast Stormstrike Chariot:
This might be an actual chariot, or perhaps just some chariot-sized bonemold mostrosity serving a similar roll. The rumor also seems to imply a more ornate variant, possibly a dual kit character version. OBR already have some soild (arguably too solid) options for fast moving hammers in morghasts, but it would be nice to have something in that vein that would specifically fit the theme and aesthetic of the Stalliarch Lords.
3. Some sort of 3-eyed answer to enemy ranged units. People are interpreting this as an OBR ranged infantry unit, possibly a dual kit with the previously mentioned ruststalkers. I'm personally hoping for mortek archers - more static, more weight of fire, the kind of thing you'd see firing from castle walls rather than the sort of faster skirmishy harassing unit you'd expect from a ranged unit on ruststalker bodies. Nothing in Boole's hint actually says this unit would itself be ranged, just that it would be an answer to enemy ranged units, so it could just as easily be a unit with extra defenses agaisnt shooting.
4. Blacktoof's return. This almost certainly referrs to Arkhan. A new Arkhan model would fit with GW's recent moves to phase out cross-faction dual kits, and many, including myself, assumed that GW intended to phase out the current Triple Mortarch kit after the Broken Realms campaign at the end of second edition killed off not just Arkhan himself, but all three of that kit's Dread Abyssal mounts. Subsequent releases have somewhat gone back on that, but regardless a new separate Arkhan model has been expected. In Old World times Arkhan specifically rode a chariot, so a new Arkhan could even be the 'golden chariot' fancier/hero dual kit variant of the chariot implied above, but the 'how distant lies that future' bit could also imply that while a new model for Arkhan is coming, it's possible that he won't be part of the 4e OBR release wave, maybe instead getting held back for an end-of-4e narrative campaign release, or possibly a 5th ed OBR release.
speaking of, though...
.....
That's it for actual OBR rumors. Somewhat more discouraging is that the end-of-edition campaign rumors revolve around cogforts for cities and a demon prince Khorgos Khul for chaos and absolutely no mention of undead what so ever, so it seems unlikely that well be seeing the vermindoom put down by the return of nagash and newly ascendant undead as some have expected. I'm some, I expected that.
The most recent 5e starter box faction rumors are also for Cities of Sigmar and Clan Eshin, rather than undead of any kind, breaking the chaos-death-destruction antagonist "cycle" that people imagined but that I was always skeptical of.
Then again, that's the rumor that I'm personally find to be the most dubious. Partially for the lack of stormcast in the box - which would be good for the game imo, but I just don't thing GW's yet willing to give up on the idea that stormcast might replicate the success of 40k's space marines in another game setting. Mostly because starter box eshin would mean skaven as the launch box antagonists two editions in a row, which just feels incredibly unlikely, and would mean extending the vermindoom into another edition, which would represent some painful stagnation of the AoS metanarrative, when an advancing narrative was a big selling point of the game up until covid threw everything off the rails.
.....
Anyway, that's the current state of AoS rumors, & Death rumors in particular. I've got my fingers crossed for the OBR release to be cool and help breath some new unlife into a faction that made a strong splash in the setting on release, but that has faded into the background for two editions now.
