Unlikely Death Rumors

[Sception]

With the (imo quite impressive) Soulblight faction book and release wave fading from the spotlight, we seem to be entering a fallow period for Death in Age of Sigmar. Nighthaunts are due for a faction book overhaul, and FEC have long been in need of some serious expansions & revisions to their model range, but there's been no sign of immenant release for either. OBR seem too recent to be likely for update any time soon - though Lumineth proved that anything can happen.

In the absence of actual news to discuss, there are some rumors to consider. The source of these rumors is super dubious, I don't honestly believe these to be legitimate inside information, but they are maybe interesting to consider in a time light on actual undead news. The rumors in question:

Relevant bits for the dead:

• "OBR End of January (Mortek Archers, Liege on a Monster)"
  
  
• "Nighthaunt October"
  
  
• "Narratively, Nagash is going to be playing it very conservatively for awhile; OBR are holding the line while he builds his strength, Olynder is making some moves, and he's coming back in a big way with the Silent People, who view him as a twisted sort of Messianic figure".

My thoughts, taken in order:

January sounds too soon for OBR, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong. Mortek Archers are extremely credible - many take them as a given whenever OBR do update after the archer in the Kainan's Reaper box. Liege on a Monster is also very believable, as 'big monster centerpiece' is a pretty ubiquitous part of AoS faction ranges and is notably missing in the current OBR apart from special characters. These two items feature prominantly in my own OBR wish list - especially if the Monster has an alternate, non-hero-mounted build and the hero itself can be separately fielded on foot, similar to the Fyreslayer Magmadroth or the oldhammer tomb kings Warsphinx kit.

If this proves true, I hope that the monster - like the Magmadroth or the old Warsphinx - is slow, tough, and ponderous to match the overall personality of the OBR faction. While it would likely make for an effective unit, I don't want to see a fast, flying bone dragon.

...

October sounds pretty credible for Nighthaunt. I wouldn't be suprised to see that by mere coincidence even if these rumors turn out to be based on nothing at all. These rumors don't go into what to expect, but I doubt we'll see many changes to the Nighthaunt line. It feels frankly a bit overcrowded already. Likely a new hero at least. If I have one hope for nighthaunts it's that they get access to Nagash like Spite Gourts and OBR, but that's just wishful thinking right now.

...

The most interesting bit to me is the narrative stuff at the end, which doesn't correspond to any releases in 2022 but if these rumors are more than idle speculation and clickbait then they could make for really interesting developments in 2023 or 2024. For those who, like me, weren't terribly familiar with the 'Silent People', they're a background lore element from the Beastrgrave season of Warhammer Underworlds, the same season that brought us the Kainan's Reapers OBR warband. That season was set in the 'Beastgrave' mountain range, one of many semi-living mountain ranges in ghur, and not the only one burrowed through by an extensive system of complex tunnels containing both great treasures and the strange artwork and artefacts of a lost or perhaps merely hidden civilization called the Silent People.

There was a suggestion in the Lore of Kainan's Reapers that they were at Beastgrave specifically to search for the Silent People themselves, rather than seeking out their treasures as most of the other warbands that season were. Why that would be - whether the OBR were hunting the Silent People as a potential enemy or source of raw materials, or whether they were seeking them as potential allies, was never elaborated on to my knowledge.

From Lexicanum:

The Silent People are a race of migratory, insectoid people who have formed a strange symbiosis with the Beastgrave and other sentient mountains of the Realm of Ghur. During the hibernation periods that the Realm goes through they gather up their most prized possessions and retreat to cells hidden deep beneath the earth, where they can safely pupate and restore their forms.[1a]

Those that chose to hibernate within the safety of the amber deep within the Direchasm of the Beastgrave have been awoken prematurely, along with them mountain. The premature awakening has left them in a half-formed, larval stage and they must hide even as those that have invaded the Beastgrave steal their treasures.[1a]

......

A few bits from Beastgrave:

This artwork implies a mix of skeletal and insect-like features. Which in turn calls indie darling Hollow Knight to mind:

Spoiler

Could we be seeing a major expansion to the OBR range, or even a new faction entirely, built on a similar aesthetic coming to AoS some time in the not-too-distant future, tied to a big narrative return to prominence for Nagash?

Well, probably not, I really don't see this as at all likely and find the source extremely dubious. But if it were to happen? You can bet I'd be all over that.

 

[The Sun King]

Very interesting! I think the Nighthaunt and FEC ranges needs some updating. They both sorely lack variation in their model ranges.

 

[Unas the slayer]

That would be welcome.
IMO NIghthaunts need 4 things:
1 - a heavy hitter (be it a new hero or a new unit. ATM they are stuck with the Black Coach, which is not super deadly, and a viable melee hero would be a nice introduction)
2 - something with the "monster" keyword (actually only mourngul).
3 - bonuses to charge. I don't see them gaining shooting units, so at least that would be needed to rely on deep strtikes.
4 - more subfactions than the actual 2

1 and 2 require an increase of the models' range, and they even could be merged into a single new model...
3 could be tied to a hero, maybe with a specific command ability. Or a more general rule

 

[Sception]

IMO the main thing nighthaunts need is some new rules. Their model range is already pretty large & looks good apart from the holdover hexwraiths which are unlikely to see updates since black knights are still using that kit. Yeah, NH need a heavy hitter, but that could be the coach, or any of their semi-elite melee units could be elevated to actually-elite. Maybe the banshee unit could be given the one thing banshees are known for - a scream attack.

A monster would be nice, but I don't feel it's strictly necessary - the faction has large centerpieces, and not every faction needs to have monsters, just like not every faction needs to have cavalry, or war machines. If they don't get a monster, then they need rules to account for that. Units with immunity to monstrous rampage, heroes with ghostly wails that work like roars, etc. Lacking a monster sucks in this years matched play rules, but unless NH are updated soon there will be a new matched play season out before their 3e tome and monsters might not matter so much then.