Warhammer World Championships Preview

[Sception]

At time of posting, World Championships event coverage is already live over on twitch

The Preview show starts in about 3 hours 5 minutes! Undead expectations are high:

Age of Sigmar: this is pretty much the last possible preview show before the new FEC battletome and range are due for release, and we've already seen a couple cool new FEC heroes on Warhammer community. A full new FEC release reveal is almost guaranteed. FEC have been desperate for a proper model range expansion since they were first split off from Vamp Counts / Soulblight. Additionally, chances are high that we'll see the first proper Mortarch reveal since Katakros back in 2nd edition, so this is a big deal for Death in the Mortal realms in terms of both models and lore. While fec is the primary undead news expected for AoS, we could also see the next Dawnbringers book reveal. It's likely that book would also focus on the new FEC refresh, but new releases for other death factions aren't entirely out of the question. Unlikely, but still possible.

The Old World: TOW is supposed to get some time in the preview, and we've already seen what is supposed to be the full supported release range for the new Brettonians, which makes it likely that we could finally see some real focus on Tomb Kings - what models will be returning, what we might see new. A Tomb Kings preview isn't as certain as FEC - we might just see some sort of FOMO release box for brettonians for instance, like a 'you've seen the new brett models, now check out the new box you'll be able to buy them in' sort of deal. But still though, going in I'd say the odds are with us here.

40k: the big 40k preview is supposed to be Dark Angels, so big shrug in terms of undead, BUT the new Necron Codex is on the way. We've already seen previews for Imotekh and a new Overlord, and we're not expecting a big range refresh this time around, so that might be it. However, it's entirely possible that there might still be some new Necron stuff yet to show tonight.

Side Games: It's side games, who knows, there's always a chance of something. I've heard some potential FEC underworlds buzz, but it might be just noise.

 

[Sception]

Necrons!

New plastic model for their named time wizard

Necron-focused narrative campaitn. nice.

 

[Sception]

FFFEEEECCCCCC

Holy cow they're amazing

More coming

 

[Sception]

He's HUGE

...

It does look like the current plastic range for FEC all remains in place - the new ghouls are a new semi-elite mordant unit, not a replacement for crypt ghouls, and the horrors, flayers, terrorgheist, etc all seem to remain as they are. I was kind of hoping some of the older plastics would get retired and replaced, but the current range is anemic enough that I might not complain...

except for basic courtiers. If ghoul, horror, and flayer courtiers are still key hero units but lacking in models I'll be a bit annoyed at that.

New Varghulf, though! It does look to be on a new base size (frustrating to those with existing varghulfs they'll have to rebase). It also seems to have lost its wings, which will be unfortunate for converted varghulfs that took pains to emphasize the wings.

 

[Sception]

TOMB KINGS

New skeleton warriors de-confirmed

New big bone dragon. I'm honestly not sure what I think of it.

 

[Sception]

AND... that's the show.

Big reveal is obviously the Flesh Eater Courts. I love them, including Ushoran. He's not what I wanted him to be - I wanted a Katakros-style diorama with courtiers gathered around in like a mock procession, not One Big Guy, but for One Big Guy I do actually quite like him I think.

In case anyone is curious, I looked closely at the tattered skeletal wings with bits of flesh on the Morbheg knights, and they do NOT match the recent rumour engine that we've been thinking might be something for OBR:

....

I might change my mind when I see it in person, but I'm not overly impressed with the Tomb King bone dragon. The posing seems weird, it looks awkwardly top heavy with the big howda on skinny bones, and I'm not convinced the anatomy works (ever the problem with six-winged dragon designs, and why I tend to prefer four-limbed versions). IMO the old Royal Warsphinx looks a lot better. Again, though, the opinion may change in person.

I didn't look closely at the whole video, but the one pic I took does confirm returning old models for Tomb Guard (yay) and Skeleton Warriors (boo). I'm glad I have a bunch of the old vamp count skeletons, as they're generic enough to use as tomb kings if you swap out the shields, official gw models so I can play them at the store, and just look a lot better than the old old tomb king skittles.

 

[McDougall Designs]

Whelp, my plans to pump out an emerald legion for ToW with 3rd party skeletons remains intact if boxer hands are coming back into production.

 

[Sception]

I'm warming to the bone dragon. IMO it looks much better from thd side than from the front, which makes me think I'l like it more in person as a 3d object than in most of the still pictures from the preview.

 

[El Syf]

All the reveals are great, just still so unsure how I feel about the old world. I didn’t mind the end times and AoS being 9th edition pretty much so is just a bit weird for me that they bring old world back.

 

[McDougall Designs]

I just like to register that I'm still highly concerned that they have not released a basing size chart for the old world yet

 

[Sception]

they've already confirmed that the smallest infantry base size will be 25mm square. That was long ago enough now that things might have changed, but I think it's safe to say you'll need to rebase your oldhammer army (or look into alternative solutions like adapter rims or spaced movement trays) regardless of whether you've already done so for AoS.

Like, that should just be the assumption going in and you should make peace with it in your heart now.

Would still be nice to get the official base sizes now, so people could get ready in advance, but... *shrug*

 

[McDougall Designs]

they've already confirmed that the smallest infantry base size will be 25mm square. That was long ago enough now that things might have changed, but I think it's safe to say you'll need to rebase your oldhammer army (or look into alternative solutions like adapter rims or spaced movement trays) regardless of whether you've already done so for AoS.

Like, that should just be the assumption going in and tou should make peave with it in your heart now.

Would still be nice to get the official base sizes now, so people could get ready in advance, but... *shrug*

I wouldn't rebase. Except maybe characters. I'm just trying to plan building a new Army for it or new section of my undead Army I should say. But of course they don't have things out so we can get ready like you said.

 

[Sception]

I'm hoping to used adapters or spaced movement trays to make as much as possible usable in both TOW and AoS, but while that should be easy for 25 mm round infantry, I'm not sure how well that will work for characters, chariots, cavalry, & monsters.

It helps that I've given up even trying to maintain backwards compatibility with actual oldhammer.