I’m very excited for the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:new Skaven coming with A✤ge of Sigmar𝓰 4th Edition. I’m working on my force already, conv♔erting my own hyper-religious sect ready to unleash the Vermintide on the mortal realms in the name of the🌳 Horned Rat, now ascended to his rightful place in the Chaos pantheon.
In addition to my 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Ushoran conversion, I’m working on some rat riders (spoilers for a future article) and sketching out some ideas for a mobile prayer totem to use as a Screaming Bell. It’ll be like a fanta𓂃sy Popemobile, complete with a gargantuan rodent effigy and possibly some stained glass. I was thinking of using the Beastmen Herdstone as the basis of the conversion, but that idea will have to be r✃ethought. More on that later.
One thing I haven’t thought about is Clanrats🉐. With a new starter box on the way, inevitably including the Stormcast and Skaven shown in the cinematic trailer last month, Clanrats are a shoe-in for updated models. The poor, snivelling vermin form the backbone of most Skaven armies, and the existing kit is showin🍃g its age.
Yesterday, . They’re great. The rats are more visually interesting, more streamlined, and more detailed. The sculpts have been updated to modern stands, but they also ooze personality now, unlike the previous iteration. Clanrats keep their iconic hunch, still seem like a ragtag bunch of rodent militia, but look better than ever while they spread plague and sow dissent. As exciting as new Skaven are, however, they can’t take away from the other news that 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Games Workshop dropped last week.
No fewer than 82 boxes of miniatures are leaving the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Age of Sigmar range ahead of 4th Edition. Two entire factions are being sunsetted, namely♉ the Beas🔯ts of Chaos and Bonesplitterz, and numerous others are being gutted.
Removing an entire army from a range is known colloquially in the hobby as “squatting,” named after the Squats that were unceremoniously removed from 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Warhammer 40K in 1998. The Squats have since returned i💟n the for🌜m of Leagues of Votann, but the wording stuck.
The most egregious removals are the units from the Stormcast Eternals range. The oldest of these units are just nine years old. Some are even newer. Some were included in repackaged box sets as recently𝔍 as last year. Players have had whole armies devastated byꦡ the removal of 23 units from the Stormcast range. This is an apocalyptic move on the same level as releasing Primaris Space Marines or destroying the Old World. Worst of all, it was done quietly in a secretive published on a random Thursday.
Of the armies affected, the Skaven probably fare the best. A lot of models are being removed, but some of these kits are nearly as old as I am, and others (see: Clanrats) will be refreshed with brand new kits in the new edition. If you’re a Skaven player, maybe g♋rab anಞy models that you have a particular affinity for, but you’ll survive the cull.
Bonesplitterz, formerly known as Savage Orcs, have long been on the chopping block. This is not the direction that modern Games Workshop has wanted to take its Orruks in, and I’m surprised these kits lasted as long as they did. That’s not to say Orruk players wi♌ll♊ feel any better about this, and I’m particularly gutted about the Wurrgog Prophet. Maybe I’ll have to buy another one for my collection before the endtimes.
The Slaves to Darkness are in a similar position, usurped by the Darkoath range always intended to replace them. However, the most upsetting news here is that nume🌱rous Warcry and Underworlds warbands units are being pulled. These units are full of character, interesting cultists each in their own right. The Corvus Cabal are inspired by ravens, Splintered Fang have snake vibes, and The Unmade are just terrifying Silent Hill-esque creations.
These units make for perfect Warcry units, but never really felt like a part of the larger Chaos armies of Age of Sigmar. They should have never been added to the larger game, since it felt like a way to sell more boxes rather than a natural fit. Still, it’s sad to see these incredibly unique sculpts ♒cease production altogether.
Many of these units are being given Legends warscrolls for the time being, meanin🔜g you can use them in friendly matches for a year or two. But ask any Firstborn Space Marine player how that will fare going forwards.
The Beasts of Chaos (Beastmen) range is being completely removed. In fact, they've already been completely expunged from the webstore. However, the silver lining is that Games Workshop intends on adding them to The Old World before too long, hopefully with a rerelease of these kits. Let’s just hope the Beastmen don’t go the way of Cathay and Kislev, which have been quietly abandoned by the company despite numerous articles about their redesigns for the rank and flank wargame.
Warhammer players are mad, and rightfully so. This isn’t just a company pulling its old models, this is rendering entire armies useless. Armies that cost hundreds of dollars to build, and that people have poured dozens of hours into building and painting. Sure, you can always go back and play Age of Sigmar 3rd Edition, but who does that? Good luck finding a competitive game f♛or your redundant army.
Games Workshop can’t keep making the same kits forever. The Skaven Gutter Runners are ancient now, and deserve to have their life support machines turned off. They’ve had a good run. But they also deserve to be replaced with models as nice as the new Clanrats. As do the🔥 Stormcast units. Players don&rs💮quo;t deserve to have entire armies devastated on a whim.
