So, there's a lot I want to get off my chest about GW and the Age of Sigmar, the main thing being that it's ... just ... not enough. It doesn't represent the same value artistically, stylistically, in terms of an actual game as WHFB.
Imagine how cool and fresh and amazing it could have been with just a little more design effort and mature thinking... Imagine the scope of a world like that. Imagine the complexity.
I heard it compared to Dark Souls, in that Sigmar was akin to Gwyn, on an eternal crusade with his cadres of not-dead-not-alive, inhuman, unearthly knights traversing through shifting realms and fighting desperately to keep the world from falling apart- not for any noble reason but because he is hungry, he is ravenous for the power of the realms- and will make untold sacrifice in order to do so. It could be dark, sprawling, intricate, interesting. It could be staggering in its style and its creativity.
Instead there is this... thing. Sigmarines. The models are clunky, graceless, unattractive, expensive, inflexible, unimaginative, and the artwork on top of all that is un-creative, juvenile, lazy, garish... It's all just the models but digitally painted, and badly. It's too pristine, too confined. There's no personality to any of it.
And don't even get me started on the gameplay...
It's all so horrid and I can't stand it.
I read an article/interview from Rick Priestly the other day about how the GW design office used to be creatively free. With giants like him, John Blanche, Jes Goodwin, IAN MILLER for crying out loud, all contributing such an iconic style, the atmosphere around the hobby was cool, interesting, encouraging. It was about stories and worlds, myth and legend.
I'm sorry if I rub anyone who thinks it's alright up the wrong way but it's so much not my cup of tea. I'm aware that AoS right now is in its first edition and the WHFB had 30 years or more to get to where it was, on top of building upon existing high-fantasy ideas, so I'm willing to give it time... but not without trying something first.
Of course, there's the definite possibility I'm blinded by nostalgia here. I was a big fan of the warhammer fantasy range ever since I was a kid. But when it comes down to it, I look at the stormcast eternals and their shiny stuff and I see all the huge, impressive new models and the revamp attempt and it's all just ... lacking. There's no substance to it that I can feel. The style of previous incarnations of warhammer was absolutely iconic. Gritty and macabre and sardonic, but there's no hint of any of that any more. It's all polished and digital and boring. It's just boring. It's all boring.
The best stuff these days is being done on blogs like Ex Profundis and Convertorium and places like this, Carpe Noctem itself, where I see so much cool creative work being done. Not at GW. It was a sad day when they axed Blanchitsu at White Dwarf. As far as I'm aware/concerned they just don't do it half as well as they used to. It's not artistic any more. It's advertising. Advertising for toys. Okay so they are toys, but by painting them, by converting them, by writing about them you put yourself into them. You turn them into an artistic project- painting, sculpture, literature, seriously. There is merit in it. Lots of merit. And also it's freaking cool.
And even after having said all that, I don't completely detest all the new models. There are a few quite cool ones out there. But as a matter of principle, I want to do it differently.
That's why I want to try a project... Stormcast but ... better.
Just look at the concept work John Blanche did for them before it launched- and by the looks of it, GW almost entirely ignored the spirit of the drawings.
They're so cool! It's like warhammer but more of the weird, more of the abstract. A style reminiscent of the new Kingdom Death game. Baroque, inhuman, monstrous. Full of grace and dread.
Of course, I have no models to post yet. I'm still in the google-trawling, research stage, but I'm going to post ideas and concept images... I'm imagining a style similar to gothic slash baroque renaissance slash classical greece, but with hammers and lions. Lions with men's faces. Hmm... Here are some pictures anywhoo. The colour scheme from Ex Profundis is almost spot-on perfect. Maybe I'll use a bit of my tried and trusted weathered bronze too, though. And purple. Can't get enough purple. And orange. Eh, I dunno. Whatever.
Also the realmgates should look like this. Because it's cool...
Also why oh why didn't GW get someone like Wayne Barlowe on board?
By the way, none of these pictures or photos are my own. I just found them and thought they were cool.
So, if anyone manages to get to the end of this rant, or maybe skip the majority of it, I hope it sounds interesting to you guys. I have no idea where to even start looking for models to use, but I'll continue looking around until lightning strikes. Any suggestions or pointers would be immensely welcome. Lemme know what you all think.
Imagine how cool and fresh and amazing it could have been with just a little more design effort and mature thinking... Imagine the scope of a world like that. Imagine the complexity.
I heard it compared to Dark Souls, in that Sigmar was akin to Gwyn, on an eternal crusade with his cadres of not-dead-not-alive, inhuman, unearthly knights traversing through shifting realms and fighting desperately to keep the world from falling apart- not for any noble reason but because he is hungry, he is ravenous for the power of the realms- and will make untold sacrifice in order to do so. It could be dark, sprawling, intricate, interesting. It could be staggering in its style and its creativity.
Instead there is this... thing. Sigmarines. The models are clunky, graceless, unattractive, expensive, inflexible, unimaginative, and the artwork on top of all that is un-creative, juvenile, lazy, garish... It's all just the models but digitally painted, and badly. It's too pristine, too confined. There's no personality to any of it.
And don't even get me started on the gameplay...
It's all so horrid and I can't stand it.
I read an article/interview from Rick Priestly the other day about how the GW design office used to be creatively free. With giants like him, John Blanche, Jes Goodwin, IAN MILLER for crying out loud, all contributing such an iconic style, the atmosphere around the hobby was cool, interesting, encouraging. It was about stories and worlds, myth and legend.
I'm sorry if I rub anyone who thinks it's alright up the wrong way but it's so much not my cup of tea. I'm aware that AoS right now is in its first edition and the WHFB had 30 years or more to get to where it was, on top of building upon existing high-fantasy ideas, so I'm willing to give it time... but not without trying something first.
Of course, there's the definite possibility I'm blinded by nostalgia here. I was a big fan of the warhammer fantasy range ever since I was a kid. But when it comes down to it, I look at the stormcast eternals and their shiny stuff and I see all the huge, impressive new models and the revamp attempt and it's all just ... lacking. There's no substance to it that I can feel. The style of previous incarnations of warhammer was absolutely iconic. Gritty and macabre and sardonic, but there's no hint of any of that any more. It's all polished and digital and boring. It's just boring. It's all boring.
The best stuff these days is being done on blogs like Ex Profundis and Convertorium and places like this, Carpe Noctem itself, where I see so much cool creative work being done. Not at GW. It was a sad day when they axed Blanchitsu at White Dwarf. As far as I'm aware/concerned they just don't do it half as well as they used to. It's not artistic any more. It's advertising. Advertising for toys. Okay so they are toys, but by painting them, by converting them, by writing about them you put yourself into them. You turn them into an artistic project- painting, sculpture, literature, seriously. There is merit in it. Lots of merit. And also it's freaking cool.
And even after having said all that, I don't completely detest all the new models. There are a few quite cool ones out there. But as a matter of principle, I want to do it differently.
That's why I want to try a project... Stormcast but ... better.
Just look at the concept work John Blanche did for them before it launched- and by the looks of it, GW almost entirely ignored the spirit of the drawings.
They're so cool! It's like warhammer but more of the weird, more of the abstract. A style reminiscent of the new Kingdom Death game. Baroque, inhuman, monstrous. Full of grace and dread.
Of course, I have no models to post yet. I'm still in the google-trawling, research stage, but I'm going to post ideas and concept images... I'm imagining a style similar to gothic slash baroque renaissance slash classical greece, but with hammers and lions. Lions with men's faces. Hmm... Here are some pictures anywhoo. The colour scheme from Ex Profundis is almost spot-on perfect. Maybe I'll use a bit of my tried and trusted weathered bronze too, though. And purple. Can't get enough purple. And orange. Eh, I dunno. Whatever.
Also the realmgates should look like this. Because it's cool...
Also why oh why didn't GW get someone like Wayne Barlowe on board?
By the way, none of these pictures or photos are my own. I just found them and thought they were cool.
So, if anyone manages to get to the end of this rant, or maybe skip the majority of it, I hope it sounds interesting to you guys. I have no idea where to even start looking for models to use, but I'll continue looking around until lightning strikes. Any suggestions or pointers would be immensely welcome. Lemme know what you all think.
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Worse part is getting parts for conversions, sculpting everything would be really time-consuming... And beyond Kingdom Death, I don't know where you could find such aesthetics. I've seen recently minis from Dark Souls game - that could also work - but maybe it's just an unrealized project... Greek-looking heroes and monsters would be much easier to find - I am sure I've seen them somewhere, I'll write it when I'll find it. Good luck searching inspirations for this cool project 
Oh, and the boars are really bad, with those serrated knife teeth... The fat wyvern is quite Orcish and cool, one problem is that it's as expensive as frickin' Nagash!
