These are the top Age of Sigmar predictions and resolutions of 2019 and 2020 as the holidays signal end of another hobby year. Merry Sigmaras!
It is that time of year again boys and girls, the jolly old man in red (or goblin, Tyranid, bloodletter, etc. I guess there are a lot of things that can be in red) is due to make an appearance while the little space marines lie snug in their beds. I find that Christmas this time of year is a great year to reflect on the past year and look forward to the coming year.
Let’s look at what Age of Sigmar has done over the past year:
- January: Gloomspite Gitz Battletome
- February: Skaven Battletome, Flesh Eater Courts Battletome, Carrion Empire Set
- March: Blades of Khorne Battletome
- April: Fyreslayers Battletome, Slaanesh Battletome
- May: Forbidden Power Release, Looncurse Starter Set
- June: Generals Handbook 2019, Contrast Paints
- July: Warcry Release, Sylvaneth Battletome
- August: Warcry Warbands
- September: Warhammer Underworlds Beastgrave, Monsters and Mercenaries Warcry Expansion, Gotrek Model comes out
- October: Cities of Sigmar Battletome, Orruk Warclans Battletome, New Season of Warhammer Underworlds Starts, Feast of Bones Starter Set
- November: Ossiarch Bonereapers Battletome, Ogor Mawtribes Battletome (Warhammer Fantasy Teased)
- December: Slaves to Darkness Battletome
Wow, what a year, and that doesn’t include all the individual underworlds, warcry, and single models that they released over the year as well. Lets very briefly go over this.
Pros:
- 12 Battletomes is awesome and is really updating Age of Sigmar from what it was when it first came out. Also, they are really showing their creativity (love it or hate it) with the new models and factions they are coming out with.
- Contrast Paints are awesome… I should do a write up on those
- Warcry is fun and the models for it are amazing.
- Gortek is back, not even the end of the world can stop him
Cons:
- Not balanced battletomes. Because Flesh Eater Courts was one of the early adopters of the strike first in combat there was very little to counter them and they ran the tables. They are still a very strong army but that is starting to slow down.
- The big one here is Forbidden Power was a pretty big letdown. It moved along the narrative and the lore was interesting but the money for value was not great. Also, the miniatures just seemed thrown into the box and the rules for they are less than ideal. (you can see my review here)
My Personal Favorites:
I love the Gloomspite Gitz release the Troggoth models, even though they aren’t super competitive. Personally, I think some of those models are the coolest ones that GW has released. From a game standpoint, Warcry is scratching that itch for fast games when we are all super busy (see having a second kid) and it came with a ton of scenery. Finally, I love the Gortek model and that it is a quarter of your points in an order army (great start for new players).
This is just a brief highlight of all the awesomeness that GW has done with Age of Sigmar over the past year. I can only imagine that they have big plans for the game in 2020 which is a great lead into Predictions!
2019 Predictions & Beyond
First, let’s see how I did last year:
- Kill Team for Age of Sigmar: Correct (Warcry)
- More combined armies: Correct (Orruks, Cities of Sigmar, Skaven, etc.)
- Battles focused in Realm of Light and Shadow: Incorrect (We are still hanging out in Shyish)
- Combining armies in GHB 2019: Incorrect (This was done in the battletomes)
- New Aelf Factions: Incorrect (where are you!!)
- Warcry is a huge success: Correct (lots of models, scenery, and expansions are getting released)
- New Death Faction is Vampire Based: Incorrect (I was so wrong, see Bonereapers)
- Reworked Battletomes: Sorta Right (Still missing Disciples of Tzeentch, Seraphon, and Kharadron Overlords
Not bad I would say I was right on 60-70% of my guesses, maybe I should have played the lotto more. However, I did swing and miss on a lot of the bigger predictions like the new alefs and moving the realm focus from Shyish. Continuing with my yearly trend (3rd time now, man time flys) let’s give out 5 predictions for 2020.
- GW will release 6 new battletomes, included will be the last of the updated battletomes: Kharadron Overlords, Disciples of Tzeentch, Seraphon, and then 3 new armies. Those armies will be Light and Shadow Aelfs and a new Destruction army based around giants.
- We will get 3 more starter sets with the matchups being as follows: Kharadron Overlords vs Disciples of Tzeentch, Seraphon vs New Destruction, and Light Aelfs vs Shadow Aelfs.
- Two-part guess: There will be a GHB 2020 that will do away with horde discounts. The next expansion will focus on the new Aelf factions and their war and move the setting from Shyish. (I am going to be right about this one day)
- Warcry will get two more expansions this year (not counting the tome of champions) that brings it into a more Mordenhiem like game (if you want).
- Stormcast Eternals will NOT open another chamber this year (that is for 2021).
Resolutions & Goals
Finally, I want to end with a personal reflection, goals, etc. and see if I made my goals from the end of 2018. First off, I want to thank everyone for reading my articles (particularly for getting through this long-winded one) I love writing about Age of Sigmar and I wouldn’t be able to do it if you guys are not reading and commenting.
Second, this past year has been a year of change (that means Tzeentch is close right?). My 2-year-old became a 3-year-old (bye diapers hello sass), my wife and I welcomed another daughter into our lives (so much coffee), my dog of 11 years passed away unexpectedly which hit our whole family hard, we moved into a larger house, my wife got a new job, and so much more. One thing though that was consistent was painting and playing Sigmar which has been wonderful.
For example, the days after we lost our dog the house felt empty and alone, but a friend showed up with a six-pack that Friday night and some models and we just painted for hours. It helped me want to do something outside of making sure our daughter was ok or just going through the motions and kind of busted me out of a funk. That made me appreciate not only the friends that I have, but also what something as simple as picking up a paintbrush and focusing on a task can do for a person. With that being said let’s look at our past resolutions and look at the next years.
- Play two games a month: Nailed it I have been going to our gamming club usually 2-3 times a month to get in games. (keeping this resolution for next year)
- Build a 2000 point Nighthaunt army and paint it: Done (see my articles on newb with an airbrush)
- Use an Airbrush as much as possible: Nailed it! I used my airbrush a ton on my 2000 point Nighthaunt army. It might get replaces a little bit with some contrast paints, but still a very useful tool.
- Paint more models than you buy: Fail… My unpainted shelf of shame continues to grow and right now I am doing some commission work in exchange for more unpainted models.
- Play more Underworlds and get through Silver Tower: Fail. I took a hard look at my time this summer before moving houses and seeing that I will have another child this year and decided I need to consolidate my time better. I sold my Underworlds cards and my Silver Tower stuff and had to begrudgingly move on from the games.
Not too shabby on hitting 3 out of 5 resolutions, also we are almost to the end of the article hurray! Now time for 2020 resolutions
- Play at least 2 games a month.
- Paint something Age of Sigmar related every month. This could be a unit of 20, some single characters, scenery, etc. Just every month start and finish painting something. The result should be that I am below 150 models that are unpainted at the end of the year
- Build a 2000 Point Slaves to Darkness Army with Display Board, and play in the Michigan GT
- Have a table worth of painted terrain for my home table
- Get up to date on the black library lore through audiobooks and reading.
While I didn’t get as much done as I wanted to with the move and the new baby, I think I still accomplished most of my goals. 2020 is shaping up to be a more of a relaxing year with how busy 2019 was, which hopefully allows for more hobby time and I think I can really start to get grooving on some projects. Also, I might need to purge some older models that I am never going to use… We shall see.
Thank you for all those who read this entire post, or even the ones that skipped to the bottom who decided to read this. You all are great! *Raises Beer* So here is to you, may you sling much paint, roll many 6’s (except on battleshock), and most importantly have a happy and healthy 2020.
Cheers and Happy New Year,
Trav
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