With the Shadowstalkers of Warcry getting revealed a couple of days ago, the next AoS army may have been accidently revealed by GW…
It all started when they did a preview of Shadow, Iron, and Broken Realms and revealed this shadowy artwork. It reminded us of Malerion taking a new form. Some of you may have heard of the name “Malerion” aka Malekith aka the Witch King before from the world that was…
But if you haven’t, in short, he’s one of the Aelven gods and actually had a model wayyyyy back in the Warhammer Fantasy era:
Oooohhhh yeah. He aged well…
Well, Warhammer Community also touched on Malerion earlier this year in an Aelven pantheon article (which may have been a subtle teaser for what’s to come). This is what they had to say on the mysterious Malerion.
Malerion remains a being of profound mystery – as befits the lord of Ulgu, a realm of lies, deception, and hidden half-truths. We know that Malerion was instrumental in capturing Slaanesh, and that he has built some kind of empire in the Realm of Shadow. However, relationships between Malerion and his kin seem strained, with Battletome: Lumineth Realm-lords telling of strange shadow daemons in the employ of this god falling upon emissaries to his realm…
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But What Does Malerion Have to do With it?
What does Malerion have to do with the new army? Well, a lot actually. If you do a quick search on the Age of Sigmar Fandom page, you’ll find a lot about this guy including:
When the Shadow King deigns to show himself to others, he often appears as an Aelf of dread aspect, encased in black iron and coiling tendrils of shadow…
Very interesting…Now let’s look at the way GW treated another Aelven god in the past…Morathi for DoK.
Morathi had an old model back in the day and was mounted on a winged horse. Well, we saw her new model and now she’s just a chick who transforms into a giant medusa-looking monstrosity.
While Malerion’s old (and technically current) model shows him mounted, with recent artwork showing himself as a winged black dragon cone-head type thing, we could also see him get two models (one of which he transforms into).
RUMORS: GW Accidently Reveals Next AoS Army (Aelves!)
There have been so many hints and rumor engines in the past couple of months pointing at something very Dark Aelven. Some of them were for the Shadowstalker Warband, but something interesting was spotted on the Warhammer Community Warband post.
An observant fan on Reddit, FarCryFanCaesar, noticed they said: … the Khainite Shadowstalkers will find a natural home among their aelven kin, the Umbraneth. Then when it was pointed out, GW later took the name out of the post and changed it to The Daughters of Khaine instead of Umbraneth.
Could the Umbraneth be the new army we’ve been seeing all the teasers for? It lines up perfectly with all the little hints and rumors they’ve been dropping. But instead of just guessing at it, let’s take a look at all the hints we’ve seen so far. Starting with the Shadow, Iron, and Broken Realms preview they did a few weeks back.
Are Any of These Rumor Engines Pointing to Dark Aelves/Umbraneth?
If Malerion gets the same treatment as Morathi, he could lose the mount and have one of his models be him as a normal dude on-foot. We think these boots have enough flair to be considered Dark Aelven.
Now, look at that mounted Dark Aelf’s staff. That model is old and went into MTO and finally disappeared, but there are some shocking resemblances to this rumor engine here. 
Also, note that a new season of Warhammer Underworlds is on the way for December and that mystery bit from above could also be an Ossiarch Bonereapers Warband. We could honestly make solid cases for both possibilities here. It also was not an exact match for any of the minis in the Warcry revel.
While we’re on the topic of that, here’s another weapon that’s got a Bonereaper vibe but we could also see it being what the Dark Aelves threw together. It also has a similar look to some of the Scions of Flame axes, but no exact match.
Final Thoughts on a New AoS Army Reveal Hidden in Plain Sight
There are quite a few pointers leading us down the path of Malerion and his faction, possibly the Umbraneth, making a splash in AoS. Especially now that he’s the only Aelven god left out of the AoS scene entirely. And the fact they gave us a name for the possible army.
What do you think about the name being revealed and taken down? When do you expect them to drop?
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
