During last week’s Warhammer Fest, we all got to see loads cool and interesting reveals for Games Workshops many games. However, the biggest news was arguably the reveal of Warhammer; Age of Sigmar 3rd Edition. Hitting shelves later this year with new miniatures (and what appears to be a whole new army) we were also promised new lore and tales of grand battles in the Mortal Realms. However, aside from some new (and incredibly sweet looking) Stormcast Eternals, we didn’t really get any other concrete info on what 3rd Edition has instore for us.
Of course, that hasn’t stopped the community from fanning the flames of wild conspiracies, and there has already been much speculated on what we can look forward to in the next couple of years. Now, if you know me, you know I love to speculate and theorise, so this is a great time for me to put on my tinfoil hat and go wild. So today, I will be sharing with you some theories on what we can possibly expect for the latest instalment of Age of Sigmar. Some theories will be mine. Others will be ones I have seen on other forums. But all I feel have at least a chance of coming true. So, let’s not waste any time and get to it.
The New Big Bad
Let’s start with the one question that is on a lot of players lips. “Who will the Stormcast Eternals be fighting in the new Boxset?” We already know that the new ‘starter’ set will feature the new Stormcasts clad in thunderstrike armour, and that they will be facing an as of yet unidentified force. We have also been told that this new force will be swamp based, and that they are ‘a new breed of evil’. But aside from that we don’t have a lot to go on.
Now the old school fan in me really wants this race to be the Fimir, who while not exactly new, do fit right into the aesthetic GW seems to be hinting at. Sadly, this is very much a pipe dream of mine and I think we will just have to wait a bit longer for them to make their triumphed return to the tabletop. The other main theory making the rounds is that this could be a new breed of greenskin, possibly a redesigned Hobgoblin for the Mortal Realms.
This theory is support by banner that apparently, was accidentally put up on the Games Workshop site. However, since I can’t seem to find any primary sources on this one, I have to take it with a health pinch of salt. Not saying it’s not real, but we have all been hoodwinked by clever imitations before. The final theory I have come across (which I do like quite a lot) is that this will be a brand new, never seen before race of bugmen. As far as I can tell, this theory is nothing more but wishful thinking, but I would love to see what GW’s creative team could do if given the design remit of ‘bugman’ and told to go wild.
Whatever the new race will be, many agree that it will probably belong to the Destruction Grand Alliance, since they appear to be on the up with the release of Kragnos. Either way, I expect I’ll be getting some when I inevitably pre-order the new boxset.
Battletome Duardin
Another theory I have seen making the rounds is that the two Duardin factions (the Fyreslayers and Kharadron Overlords) will be paired together in a single Battletome. Again, as with most theories this appears to be based on little more than wild speculations. But when you stop and really think about it, it starts to make a lot of sense.
*Minor Spoilers for Broken Realms: Be’lakor*
In the lore we already know that Grungni has returned to the Mortal Realms, featuring in Broken Realms: Be’lakor. He also seems to be the one that helped Sigmar design the thunderstrike armour. But it’s unlikely that’s all he intends to do in the setting. As the father of his race, it would not be beyond the realms of possibility that he would seek to unite his people together under a common cause, bring the Fyreslayers, Kharadron Overlords, and even the Dispossessed under one unified banner.
This doesn’t mean that they would lose their individual identity. Much like Battletome: Orruk Warclans, it would just give players the option of running a Fyreslayers, Kharadron Overlords, or united Duardin army, all neatly compiled together in a single tome. They could even have the 1 in 4 rule for Dispossessed, similar to Cities of Sigmar and the Stormcasts Eternals, to provide some more variety. Again, this might be a bit of a reach, but I think it would make for an interesting army.
Path to Glory, featuring Anvil of Apotheosis
Much like 9th edition Warhammer 40,000 brought us Crusade rules for narrative play, Age of Sigmar 3rd Edition will be seeing mayor upgrades to Path to Glory. New battletomes will have expanded rules for building up your armies, showing them progress as they become even more battle hardened. This has been all but confirmed by GW on Warhammer Community, but I think we have even more to look forward too.
As we all know, Games Workshop like to test out new rules in their month magazine, White Dwarf. Whether it be the Bolter Discipline rule or specific army compositions, we can often see what they are working towards long before it sees print in a battletome or codex. When you bare that in mind, I think that the Anvil of Apotheosis (the rules for creating customs heroes) will be featured as part of the new and improved Path to Glory rules.
My Nurgle Lord, made using the Anvil of Apotheosis.
We have seen these rules heavily expanded for specific Flashpoint articles, and I think this is to see what works best for the different factions of the game. It also makes a lot of sense for a narrative gaming system, as it allows everyone to customs their leader and see them grow as you play games. We could even incorporate the current rewards into the system but make them more permanent. Maybe your Lord-Celestant will end up been reforged one to many times and becoming more aggressive, giving them a stat boost but with the drawback of been forces to charge whenever possible.
We will of course have to wait and see where this truly comes to anything. But for many players like myself, who enjoy the narrative elements of the game more than the competitive ones, this is an exciting time to be a general in the Mortal Realms.
All in all, the future looks bright for the latest edition of Age of Sigmar, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the new rules and mini’s. But what do you think? What are you looking forward to with the onset of 3rd Edition? Let us now in the comments below, and while you are down there, why not like and subscribe to us here at Master of Magics to keep up to date with all our written content.
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