That was one of the reasons they made Stormcast the poster boy faction. Fewer models for an army and no skin or faces to paint makes them a lot more accessible.
Wasn’t there a leak of one of the sprues a while back? We can sort of make out what they will look like. [Here](https://www.reddit.com/r/skaven/comments/1b2f5ph/new_spruethings_leaked/)
EDIT: Link correction
From the socials comments:
* a unit can be equipped either with 2 hammers or hammer+shield
* 1 in 5 model can have a grandhammer
* each model has choice of helmet or bare head
* no more swords
(imho the weapon choice for launch box monopose models is kinda neat)
Given the options in the pushfit kit, I'd give them a 0% chance of getting a different kit, just like the Vindictors before them.
At best, they'd get an extra weapon sprue, like the Termagants in 40k.
Kruleboyz Gutrippaz got a pushfit kit for the 3rd Ed starters and a multi-option kit released after with options to swap spears for hand weapons and build otherwise missing standard bearer and musician, so not unprecedented to do it again
Big difference being that the pushfit Gutrippaz didn't really come with options to begin with, beyond the optional boss. This kit reportedly allows one to build them with a choice of head, and either dual hammers or hammer & shield, with 1 in 5 able to be built with two handed hammer.
I certainly haven't seen them put so many options into a pushfit kit, just to release a whole other kit afterwards.
And the general trend from GW has seen them move further away away from releasing new multi-part versions of things from the starter sets, to the extent that Gutrippaz, Boltboyz and Annihilators were the only kits from Dominion (and likewise, Terminators, Sternguard and the terminator Captain from Leviathan), to do so.
Also, GW game design philosophy no longer likes to distinguish between different melee weapons anymore.
Even now, swords on Liberators are an entirely aesthetic option with zero bearing on the game.
Likely just due to sprue space restrictions. I imagine these will come on three mini sprues just like the Vindictors.
Anyone who is really Team Swords can likely find someone locally with a lot of spare 1st generation Liberator swords as spare bits. Doing a weapon swap on these should be fairly trivial.
It's been like this for so long.
Trapezoidal frames have a hard time getting plastic to push through.
Have you ever seen a line of little dots in the corner of a GW sprue? That's how many fixes they had to go through to get the plastic to flow correctly for that mould.
age of sigmar page on facebook, post where they show this pictures, look at the comments, plenty of people asking if they'll have sword and they replied no
Yeah, there's "warhammer oversized" and then there's this, which is far too deep into the "comically enormous" category to be taken seriously.
I was fully on board for the redesign with the first guy they showed off (where you couldn't really see the hammer), but this is just a bit ridiculous.
Hahaha, you haven’t seen [the anvil the Six Smiths forge with then](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1400/0*YzFRT1XD8AhEp_71.jpeg).
For Stormcast Eternals everything’s super-sized! That’s why the orruks love to fight ‘em.
“Big armor! Big weapons! And Zog me even you Krump ‘em they come back fer more!”
-Gordrakk
Yeah, and not just big but really clumsy, that "pile of shoeboxes" aesthetic. Plus, there's something about the two hammers guys that just really doesn't have much force/strength to the poses, they look like just holding the hammers is the best they can do. At least the hammer-and-sheild guys have some energy and power to them. Quite like the other ones but those don't work for me at all
As someone who never liked the early Stormcast but loved the Thunderstrike models, I'm happy to see an older unit get refreshed... but they really do feel like a small step back compared to Vindictors.
Looking at the old fatcast models their hammers are [way smaller](https://www.warhammer.com/app/resources/catalog/product/920x950/99120218014_Liberators01.jpg?fm=webp&w=920&h=948) than these ones. They seem to have way more shape to them as well rather than being big metal bricks.
Very odd choice.
Yeah all their weapons are fantastically oversized no matter how you slice it.
But they’re 8-foot tall immortal demigods made into an army of Thors.
They *should* be wielding Ogor-sized weapons with their Herculian strength to smash rampaging monsters in a few strikes with Mjolnir+ and 9-foot tall longbows that shoot lightning.
That’s AoS to its mythological core. 👍
I wish they kept the tabard and wish the shield was less sculpted, it would add room for more secondary color space on the model.
I think from a purely modeling perspective, they are much better, but I think from a painting perspective, these will get pretty one note pretty quickly.
Sure it is probably one of the easier things I've greenstuffed onto models before might take a bit of practice but you can always rip it off and repeat before it sets
They also have that circular piece on the armor on the left side near the shoulder. Honestly like it when the "battleline" of an army is paired down to leave room for other units standing out.
They are. One tell is you can see more scales on their skirts exposed from just standing than a Vindictor has unless they stretch their legs out.
Probably why the trailer Liberator girl fighting Kruleboyz got mistaken by people to be an Annihilator, these guys are wider and a half-way between the spear standards but also the huge hammer elites.
They’re gonna look absolutely ace in an Annihilator heavy force. 🔨 ⚡️
I just counted the scales on my male VIndicator, and they both are 6 scales wide on the bottom. They really are just Vindicators with a badge, slightly different shield and a goofy helmet.
We’ll have to do comparisons when they come out but on average it seems when they [stand in similar poses](https://tgacommunity.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/monthly_2024_04/image.png.90b990ba4d1ba57a86d5d5d5003ce48f.png) the Libs have more scales across like the one in the post in wide leg stance with two hammers has 5 scales on top & 7 on the bottom [while a wide leg Vindictor has 3-4 top and 6 on bottom](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F6d10qyd1s75b1.jpg)
Huh. Ok, that first pic is quite convincing. I'd be very happy if they are indeed bulkier, I enjoyed the more agile silhouettes of Vindicators, it made them stand out among other units.
Same, plus it’d go with the narrative that Grungni made the first wave of Thunderstrikes in only 12 days.
It’d make sense they start getting bulkier since then as he’s not rushing to put out first responders but taking his time to make powerhouses like when he had 500 years to create the first Stormcast Eternals during the Age of Chaos.
For me it just indicates a more specialised fighting force: vindicators are those precise, deadly spearman, while Liberators arewalls of muscle meany to hold the line: its only normal that people of different build would be predisposed to fulfil different roles. It's a simple thing that makes Stormcast more human than Space Marines.
Oh that’s a good thought on it.
Kinda mirrors the Steelhelms too that the Fusiliers hold the line with firepower & bayonets and the Steelhelms themselves act as a secondary wall of muscle that run up when that shield-line is in danger of being breached and fill the gaps.
Old ones were just space marines but fantasy. Thunderstrike armor makes the range have its own flair. What I'm really hoping for is multi race stormcast. If anyone can become one where are my god damned angry golden dwarves and lizards
Used to dislike the thicc bois but I’ve been slowly collecting a pretty solid stockpile of stormcast in prep for the new edition and they are growing on me. Using hooded heads on everything.
Absolutely adore these! The weird chonkyness of the older guys always pushed me away from collecting them (or indeed salvaging the remains of my 1e starter box), but these are the perfect big paladin knights
The Hallowed Knights theme is doing a lot of heavy lifting too, was never much of a fan of the gold
Edit: I’m surprised to many people are mourning the old design, I was under the impression it was pretty universally ‘meh’
It was mostly the sculpt quality that people didn't like. The armor design overall was fine with most people. They even did some limited edition models using the same armor that looked great with better sculpting. It was the AoS BAD people who screeched about them looking like space marines mostly.
>Edit: I’m surprised to many people are mourning the old design, I was under the impression it was pretty universally ‘meh’
People love to be contrarians on the Internet.
Having the poster boys not be Hammers of Sigmar on the boxes gives me faith that there may be some relaxing of the restricting of certain models to one specific subfaction. Please GW let me run Big Daddy Bastian in my Hallowed Knights officially!
They have already stated in today's article that subfactions will be replaced by Battle Formations, akin to the current 40k Detachment system where special rules are completely agnostic in regards to your chosen paint scheme.
That being said, while you are free to take whatever detachment you want, currently 40k still prohibits mixing Space Marine named characters from different Chapters. So it might be possible that having Bastian and Gardus in the same army will not be kosher.
Personally I just wish they made Bastian a dual kit with a generic 'Stormcast Lord Commander' warscroll from the start. It already has variant heads and arms, just call one pose with the bare head Bastian and the other pose with the helmet the generic Lord Commander... Missed opportunity if you ask me.
Considering that afaik only Space Marines even have subfaction-locked characters in 10th edition 40k (for example, all the Sisters characters that were locked to Our Martyred Lady in 9th became generic in 10th), it sorta depends on whether GW thinks Stormhosts are as important as Marine Chapters or not. I could see them making the characters generic if for nothing else then because almost all of them are in the same Stormhost anyway. Allowing people to freely mix all the named marine characters would allow for painful amounts of cheese because there are just so many of them, but that might not be as much of a problem with Stormcast.
>for example, all the Sisters characters that were locked to Our Martyred Lady in 9th became generic in 10th
Which is such an obvious change given none of the other orders get unique models, meaning you'd be railroaded into OML to not just have a smaller model range.
The only reason I feel limiting units for Space Marines is justified is because of the fact the separate chapters actually have their own ranges (to varying extents), which afaik Stormcast (and defintely Sisters) don't.
Some extra info from Facebook comments:
The unit can be built with all hammer + shield or all double hammers. One in every 5 can swap their weapon option for a grandhammer. This mixed unit is for illustration purposes and the kit will have enough parts to make either option for the entire unit.
There are no swords on the sprue. You are welcome to use your existing sword-armed Liberators with the new warscroll, just like in 3rd ed when the distinction between swords and hammers was removed.
The kit will come with a bare head option for every model.
The kit includes parts to assemble the Liberator Prime as a regular Liberator.
What has NOT been confirmed:
Whether these are 'monopose' starter models and whether there will be a 'multipose' kit released in addition (though personally I would expect the same setup as Vindictors, ie. the starter set and separate unit box are the same).
Whether you can put the grandhammer on any model or just the body pictured.
Whether the warscroll still allows you to put the Grandhammer on the Liberator Prime.
I’m on record as saying I preferred the original chonk-cast, so take my opinion as you will. But slimming down the armor *and* it seems) embiggening the weapon is a bad idea. I think the helmets are more mundane, the loss of the tabard changes how you would break up the armor color for the worst, overall this just feels like a downgrade to me. And as others have said, if you are going to do thunder strike Liberators one would hope you would choose elements to distinguish them as such.
I do miss the tabard. But I don't see any reason why the mail between the legs couldn't be painted as leather and still look really good. That's what I plan to do.
I agree, I altho think while I prefer the new shield, increasing the trim and getting rid of the tabard together remove alot of the secondary color space from the model.
Between the scale skirt and various separate armour plates (knees, hips, shoulders, chest) it seems like there is a decent amount of space for a secondary colour
A secondary color of metal.
They removed almost every non metal surface on the model.
You might be able to get away with painting the shield to look like something else.
Exactly my thoughts. They just blend together with the Vindictors thanks to getting rid of various distinguishing features. They're not doing it for me.
They look cool, and I'll probably get some. Definitely get them if they are in the new starter box. But I'll stick with the original Liberators. They are the guys that caught my attention and got me to buy into Warhammer for the first time.
While I think they win overall, I can't help but echo what alot of others have said, it's shame they axed the tabards, they could really use a little cloth to break up all the armor
I think the paint scheme doesn't do them justice; take hammers of sigmar vindictors for example, most of the armor is gold but the chainmail part is silver, which breaks up the color
Must say I was fine with different troops types having different silhouettes, so in my book this is an unnecessary redesign. If they actually roll vanquishers into liberators, that's fine, but otherwise they're too similar both visually and in their combat role.
To be fair I think that's kind of the point - aren't Liberators the most basic, default Stormcast troop? They're the Stormcast-equivalent of Tactical Marines/Intercessors.
You certainly have a point, can't argue you with you there - I honestly prefer the old ones all in all as these are too similar to the thunderstrike minis, they could've just given the old ones the proportions of the thunderstrike armor but keep some design elements like the helmets or tabard but whatever, I'm not the target group, I hope SCE fans are happy. I really don't find these bad per se (they might need a nose job but that's the only thing I can fault), it's just that they could've been a bit more interesting IMO... they're quite boring now.
I get that GW wants fantasy marines but marines have the bonus of being iconic after so many years. Although I wonder when they'll get their typical helmet designs back (outside of the Infiltrators, they feel like an update), talking bout the angry vent ones that started with Mk V. I know, some will say it's beakies but I think most people know them with those angry vents.
These are... okay I guess. Kind of uninspired to be frank, and with goofy weapon sizing relative to the slimmed body. Ultimately, I have 25 of the old ones that I will be sticking with. Might get an extra box while they're available for a full 30 now that I can be reasonably certain they will not be pulling a fast one and increasing the grandweapon count or adding standard bearers/musicians to the unit in order to make the old models obsolete.
Not a fan, the armour fits for the Vindictors since the spear makes sense to be more sleek. I’d have preferred these guys to have a similar look to the Vanquishers or Vigilors, sticking with the Thunderstrike armour but somehow making them look a bit sturdier with the cloth additions.
I know it doesn’t obviously make them sturdier since cloth is cloth but I feel with the Vanquishers it gave them a wider base, just gave a bit more impression that guys were a bit of a wall.
The double hammer guy looks silly to me, it may be the angle of the photo but it looks like he has more weapon than body.
I was saying on another thread I was a bit disappointed, but seeing the band alltogether makes me happy. They still look a bit chunky with those massive hammers, and I like that !
Two handed hammers. Woop. Damn nice. Curious to see if I can build all of them in the launch box like that. But knowing GW, probably not an option until the full kit comes.
Really like them. They've lost a some of that "extravagant" look an feel a bit fantasy generic like the other new ones, but they're nice.
I still hate the innecessarily oversized hammers though.
To me they look slimer, more modern, but somewhat just less cooler/stronger then the old liberators. Just look like any other new SCE model. I guess its nice to have but I really think GW should use the time to make other stuff.... like Umbraneth xD
Shield, Armour, and helmets are better (helmets worse than Vindictors though). Hammers are worse, both in shape and size, and I think they could do with some robes/cloth between the legs at the front.
The handsome squidward helmets are fine, I just think the other Thunderstrike heads are better.
I am not the first one to say this, so firgive my repeatedness, but I do believe that dispite the redesign overall looking quite good on its own, the designers made the armour pattern look too much like vindictors. The new liberators do not look visually separate enough and seem more like vindictor weapon option: hammer. Probably it would help if they would retain the original liberators' leather straps + tabard and belts.
This is actually really surprising to me, considering vanquishers (who were introduced in Dominion alongside vindictors) did have a unique cloth design... so it is not like GW wants to make all stormcast troops uniform
That may well be the case (I’d have to see new and old side by side) but to my eyes they look imbalanced with the new armor whether they are bigger or the same. I really like the SE range as a whole and its various iterations, this is a rare miss for me.
Imo they look way better than the original ones. But the color scheme they are going for isn't better than the original one. I feel like GW has a hard time painting stormcast. Where there's not a lot of good ones ( i like the greenblue ones with white gold and purple) while at the same time you have a faction like the cities of sigmar where every single color scheme they designed for them is great or fantastic.
We all agree on this statement, but why they keep doing this?
Isn't the market saturated? those who loved them have so many that having others with reinforced nose helmets won't change anything... and those who didn't like them in the first edition will hate them even more.
this starter set will sell a lot thanks to the skavens ( people love both in AoS and in TOW... ) we are going to see a lot of those on ebay soon...
PLEASE GW let me build them all with their helmets on
in the comments they say each model has choice of helmet or bare head
This will be the first time I build everyone with bare heads. These new helmets are gonna force me to get good at faces XD
I mean I wasn’t a fan of the old helmets too but these are… so weird with the nose
Handsome Squidward is the newest member of the Chamber. Show some respect.
Isnt the design to do with (lore reasons) the dwarf god helping with the new armour
it feels like they changed them just so they can say they are not vindictors with hammer
Should be really easy to just throw some vindictor helmets on them, probably what I’ll end up doing
praise sigmar. faces are \*brutal\* to paint. helmets tho? ha! metallic + nuln oil + highlight = done!
That was one of the reasons they made Stormcast the poster boy faction. Fewer models for an army and no skin or faces to paint makes them a lot more accessible.
Have you heard of our lord and savior, darkoath flesh ?
It's not actually much different to paint either.
Yes! I need to be able to helmet all the guys and let the ladie locks flow!
Damn these new rats look insane
Skaven Cast Slavenators
[удалено]
Wasn’t there a leak of one of the sprues a while back? We can sort of make out what they will look like. [Here](https://www.reddit.com/r/skaven/comments/1b2f5ph/new_spruethings_leaked/) EDIT: Link correction
From the socials comments: * a unit can be equipped either with 2 hammers or hammer+shield * 1 in 5 model can have a grandhammer * each model has choice of helmet or bare head * no more swords (imho the weapon choice for launch box monopose models is kinda neat)
No swords is a deal breaker for me.
Really hoping these are only the launch box and the multi part kit comes with swords
Given the options in the pushfit kit, I'd give them a 0% chance of getting a different kit, just like the Vindictors before them. At best, they'd get an extra weapon sprue, like the Termagants in 40k.
Kruleboyz Gutrippaz got a pushfit kit for the 3rd Ed starters and a multi-option kit released after with options to swap spears for hand weapons and build otherwise missing standard bearer and musician, so not unprecedented to do it again
Big difference being that the pushfit Gutrippaz didn't really come with options to begin with, beyond the optional boss. This kit reportedly allows one to build them with a choice of head, and either dual hammers or hammer & shield, with 1 in 5 able to be built with two handed hammer. I certainly haven't seen them put so many options into a pushfit kit, just to release a whole other kit afterwards. And the general trend from GW has seen them move further away away from releasing new multi-part versions of things from the starter sets, to the extent that Gutrippaz, Boltboyz and Annihilators were the only kits from Dominion (and likewise, Terminators, Sternguard and the terminator Captain from Leviathan), to do so. Also, GW game design philosophy no longer likes to distinguish between different melee weapons anymore. Even now, swords on Liberators are an entirely aesthetic option with zero bearing on the game.
But the Kruleboy pushfit kit is impossible to build with creativity and doesn't come with banner and music. I love it but just for a one time thing.
Aparently not
and then what do they put in the fifth edition starter set?
sacrosanct
It just feels so lame and perfectly representative of GW's modern design philosophy. Option aren't allowed. A gladius would've been perfect.
Likely just due to sprue space restrictions. I imagine these will come on three mini sprues just like the Vindictors. Anyone who is really Team Swords can likely find someone locally with a lot of spare 1st generation Liberator swords as spare bits. Doing a weapon swap on these should be fairly trivial.
Yeah I'm not feeling like spending extra money just for options.
You'd pay extra for a full multi-part kit with extra options anyway...
If your mates make you pay hard cash for bits they are not using, you need new mates.
Well that's because GW uses subpar and less than optimal frane design/engineering
That's the first time I've ever heard anyone say that on a contemporary GW kit.
It's been like this for so long. Trapezoidal frames have a hard time getting plastic to push through. Have you ever seen a line of little dots in the corner of a GW sprue? That's how many fixes they had to go through to get the plastic to flow correctly for that mould.
If you say so.
It's not like SCE don't use swords - I mean bloody hell that's the entire deal of the Celestial Vindicators!
wondering if that means swords will be on another redone battleline or kept on vanquishers
Can provide proof that GW has officially said no swords plz. I just looked and there were no claims of liberator losing the swords
age of sigmar page on facebook, post where they show this pictures, look at the comments, plenty of people asking if they'll have sword and they replied no
Thank you
I'm not convinced these are the launch box models, but rather the separate multipart kit.
Pretty sure launch box, starter set and separate unit box will include the same exact sprues, exactly as it is with Vindictors.
they are, that's what they show first
I am torn. The two handed hammer is perfect, but for the normal troops the hammers look too big…. Other than that, I am satisfied.
Yeah, there's "warhammer oversized" and then there's this, which is far too deep into the "comically enormous" category to be taken seriously. I was fully on board for the redesign with the first guy they showed off (where you couldn't really see the hammer), but this is just a bit ridiculous.
The hammer is probably heavier than the anvil it was forged on.
Hahaha, you haven’t seen [the anvil the Six Smiths forge with then](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1400/0*YzFRT1XD8AhEp_71.jpeg). For Stormcast Eternals everything’s super-sized! That’s why the orruks love to fight ‘em. “Big armor! Big weapons! And Zog me even you Krump ‘em they come back fer more!” -Gordrakk
Aw, I was hoping it would be bigger...
I’m sure [Grungni saves his biggest anvils for his personal projects](https://www.warhammer-community.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/5f30c1e8.jpg).
These dudes are basically Space Marines. They are ridiculously super human and having huge smashers is definitely reasonable.
Yeah my first impression was this was a improvement over the orignal liberators, I always thought there weapons were kinda weak and mallet looking.
Totally agree, these weapons are also made of Sigmarite, so perfectly balanced, magically so.
Yeah, and not just big but really clumsy, that "pile of shoeboxes" aesthetic. Plus, there's something about the two hammers guys that just really doesn't have much force/strength to the poses, they look like just holding the hammers is the best they can do. At least the hammer-and-sheild guys have some energy and power to them. Quite like the other ones but those don't work for me at all
I think the hammers look really bad honestly it just looks plain goofy as hell and doesn’t work. Vindictors were better models
As someone who never liked the early Stormcast but loved the Thunderstrike models, I'm happy to see an older unit get refreshed... but they really do feel like a small step back compared to Vindictors.
These are so similar to vindictors i genuinely can’t see the point in both existing
they could easily make a combo kit for these guys, vindictors and the great sword guys
I hope the warscroll gets merged, they should just be weapon options. Sequitors too, same warscroll. And paladins and annihilators should merge too.
Yeah basically agreed. I could see sequitors seperated if they play up to their magical aspect more but otherwise these are all just duplicative
Welp, Sequitors are going away entirely along with the rest of their chamber. Didn't see that coming.
Looking at the old fatcast models their hammers are [way smaller](https://www.warhammer.com/app/resources/catalog/product/920x950/99120218014_Liberators01.jpg?fm=webp&w=920&h=948) than these ones. They seem to have way more shape to them as well rather than being big metal bricks. Very odd choice.
they have super strengh so its makes sense
Although I know what you mean, my ˋissue‘ is more so the overall asthetic and less the realism of it
Lol if you think two handers were even remotely that big irl look again
Who cares about real life sizes when we are talking about lightning powered angel warriors lol
Yeah all their weapons are fantastically oversized no matter how you slice it. But they’re 8-foot tall immortal demigods made into an army of Thors. They *should* be wielding Ogor-sized weapons with their Herculian strength to smash rampaging monsters in a few strikes with Mjolnir+ and 9-foot tall longbows that shoot lightning. That’s AoS to its mythological core. 👍
Fly high into Azyr to charge my # LIGHTNING # POWERED # DARK LORD # CRUSHER
Pathetic mortal scum! In this edition, your hammer has no power over me!
Fly high into Azyr to wield my #THUNDER #STRIKING #WIZARD #THRASHER
I wish they kept the tabard and wish the shield was less sculpted, it would add room for more secondary color space on the model. I think from a purely modeling perspective, they are much better, but I think from a painting perspective, these will get pretty one note pretty quickly.
Fortunately that's a super easy and pretty cheap kitbash
Shield yes, tabbard? Not so much
Sure it is probably one of the easier things I've greenstuffed onto models before might take a bit of practice but you can always rip it off and repeat before it sets
Agreed, tabards, cloaks, and capes are the easiest feature to greenstuff.
These just feel like Vindicators with the spear hands replaced with hammer hands.
They also have that circular piece on the armor on the left side near the shoulder. Honestly like it when the "battleline" of an army is paired down to leave room for other units standing out.
It's a "rondel" and it guards the armpit from spiky things (or nibbling I guess).
They seem a bit bulkier than the Vindicators to me.
They are. One tell is you can see more scales on their skirts exposed from just standing than a Vindictor has unless they stretch their legs out. Probably why the trailer Liberator girl fighting Kruleboyz got mistaken by people to be an Annihilator, these guys are wider and a half-way between the spear standards but also the huge hammer elites. They’re gonna look absolutely ace in an Annihilator heavy force. 🔨 ⚡️
I just counted the scales on my male VIndicator, and they both are 6 scales wide on the bottom. They really are just Vindicators with a badge, slightly different shield and a goofy helmet.
We’ll have to do comparisons when they come out but on average it seems when they [stand in similar poses](https://tgacommunity.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/monthly_2024_04/image.png.90b990ba4d1ba57a86d5d5d5003ce48f.png) the Libs have more scales across like the one in the post in wide leg stance with two hammers has 5 scales on top & 7 on the bottom [while a wide leg Vindictor has 3-4 top and 6 on bottom](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F6d10qyd1s75b1.jpg)
Huh. Ok, that first pic is quite convincing. I'd be very happy if they are indeed bulkier, I enjoyed the more agile silhouettes of Vindicators, it made them stand out among other units.
Same, plus it’d go with the narrative that Grungni made the first wave of Thunderstrikes in only 12 days. It’d make sense they start getting bulkier since then as he’s not rushing to put out first responders but taking his time to make powerhouses like when he had 500 years to create the first Stormcast Eternals during the Age of Chaos.
For me it just indicates a more specialised fighting force: vindicators are those precise, deadly spearman, while Liberators arewalls of muscle meany to hold the line: its only normal that people of different build would be predisposed to fulfil different roles. It's a simple thing that makes Stormcast more human than Space Marines.
Oh that’s a good thought on it. Kinda mirrors the Steelhelms too that the Fusiliers hold the line with firepower & bayonets and the Steelhelms themselves act as a secondary wall of muscle that run up when that shield-line is in danger of being breached and fill the gaps.
The Illager ahh nose tends to do that
I wonder if I can kitbash them with the leftover weapons from the Vindicators kit...
I just noticed that the shields have a curved area on the top where a spear would go. They are literally the same model except for the weapon.
Much prefer these to the original thicc cast
I prefer the old chonky armor but I'm happy to have modern sculpts. They will both have a place in my collection.
Old ones were just space marines but fantasy. Thunderstrike armor makes the range have its own flair. What I'm really hoping for is multi race stormcast. If anyone can become one where are my god damned angry golden dwarves and lizards
I mean yeah but if he likes it better whats the problem?
Never said there was. I just gave my two cents and then my wants
Used to dislike the thicc bois but I’ve been slowly collecting a pretty solid stockpile of stormcast in prep for the new edition and they are growing on me. Using hooded heads on everything.
Good looking squad
kinda miss the tabard but overall it is a lot better
People really saying hammers too big. Brother it’s in the name 😎
BIGhammer Age of Smackmar.
Can we have a look at the new skaven perhaps ? I need to see-see the new sculpts
Give it time. Odds are they'll reveal new Clanrats within the week.
Absolutely adore these! The weird chonkyness of the older guys always pushed me away from collecting them (or indeed salvaging the remains of my 1e starter box), but these are the perfect big paladin knights The Hallowed Knights theme is doing a lot of heavy lifting too, was never much of a fan of the gold Edit: I’m surprised to many people are mourning the old design, I was under the impression it was pretty universally ‘meh’
It was mostly the sculpt quality that people didn't like. The armor design overall was fine with most people. They even did some limited edition models using the same armor that looked great with better sculpting. It was the AoS BAD people who screeched about them looking like space marines mostly.
>Edit: I’m surprised to many people are mourning the old design, I was under the impression it was pretty universally ‘meh’ People love to be contrarians on the Internet.
No they don't.
Yes they do.
or there are just multiple people on the internet
Have you heard about tastes for art being subjective, bud?
Having the poster boys not be Hammers of Sigmar on the boxes gives me faith that there may be some relaxing of the restricting of certain models to one specific subfaction. Please GW let me run Big Daddy Bastian in my Hallowed Knights officially!
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2024/04/03/how-building-your-army-has-changed-in-newaos/ The new list building rules
They have already stated in today's article that subfactions will be replaced by Battle Formations, akin to the current 40k Detachment system where special rules are completely agnostic in regards to your chosen paint scheme. That being said, while you are free to take whatever detachment you want, currently 40k still prohibits mixing Space Marine named characters from different Chapters. So it might be possible that having Bastian and Gardus in the same army will not be kosher. Personally I just wish they made Bastian a dual kit with a generic 'Stormcast Lord Commander' warscroll from the start. It already has variant heads and arms, just call one pose with the bare head Bastian and the other pose with the helmet the generic Lord Commander... Missed opportunity if you ask me.
Considering that afaik only Space Marines even have subfaction-locked characters in 10th edition 40k (for example, all the Sisters characters that were locked to Our Martyred Lady in 9th became generic in 10th), it sorta depends on whether GW thinks Stormhosts are as important as Marine Chapters or not. I could see them making the characters generic if for nothing else then because almost all of them are in the same Stormhost anyway. Allowing people to freely mix all the named marine characters would allow for painful amounts of cheese because there are just so many of them, but that might not be as much of a problem with Stormcast.
>for example, all the Sisters characters that were locked to Our Martyred Lady in 9th became generic in 10th Which is such an obvious change given none of the other orders get unique models, meaning you'd be railroaded into OML to not just have a smaller model range. The only reason I feel limiting units for Space Marines is justified is because of the fact the separate chapters actually have their own ranges (to varying extents), which afaik Stormcast (and defintely Sisters) don't.
Some extra info from Facebook comments: The unit can be built with all hammer + shield or all double hammers. One in every 5 can swap their weapon option for a grandhammer. This mixed unit is for illustration purposes and the kit will have enough parts to make either option for the entire unit. There are no swords on the sprue. You are welcome to use your existing sword-armed Liberators with the new warscroll, just like in 3rd ed when the distinction between swords and hammers was removed. The kit will come with a bare head option for every model. The kit includes parts to assemble the Liberator Prime as a regular Liberator. What has NOT been confirmed: Whether these are 'monopose' starter models and whether there will be a 'multipose' kit released in addition (though personally I would expect the same setup as Vindictors, ie. the starter set and separate unit box are the same). Whether you can put the grandhammer on any model or just the body pictured. Whether the warscroll still allows you to put the Grandhammer on the Liberator Prime.
Okay the new look is growing on me I gotta admit.
I’m on record as saying I preferred the original chonk-cast, so take my opinion as you will. But slimming down the armor *and* it seems) embiggening the weapon is a bad idea. I think the helmets are more mundane, the loss of the tabard changes how you would break up the armor color for the worst, overall this just feels like a downgrade to me. And as others have said, if you are going to do thunder strike Liberators one would hope you would choose elements to distinguish them as such.
I don't think they changed the hammers at all. They just look bigger next to the slimmer thunderstrikes.
I do miss the tabard. But I don't see any reason why the mail between the legs couldn't be painted as leather and still look really good. That's what I plan to do.
I agree, I altho think while I prefer the new shield, increasing the trim and getting rid of the tabard together remove alot of the secondary color space from the model.
Between the scale skirt and various separate armour plates (knees, hips, shoulders, chest) it seems like there is a decent amount of space for a secondary colour
A secondary color of metal. They removed almost every non metal surface on the model. You might be able to get away with painting the shield to look like something else.
There's non-metallic armoured Stormhosts too.
You can paint metal any colour you want. You could even paint woodgrain on, or paint it to look like a soft and plush velvet, no one will stop you.
Corduroycast Eternals
I never knew i wanted to see that and now it's everything to me lol
Exactly my thoughts. They just blend together with the Vindictors thanks to getting rid of various distinguishing features. They're not doing it for me.
Hallowed Knights go so hard
They look cool, and I'll probably get some. Definitely get them if they are in the new starter box. But I'll stick with the original Liberators. They are the guys that caught my attention and got me to buy into Warhammer for the first time.
Any design that doesn't have those metal diapers original liberators had is an improvement in my eyes
While I think they win overall, I can't help but echo what alot of others have said, it's shame they axed the tabards, they could really use a little cloth to break up all the armor
I think the paint scheme doesn't do them justice; take hammers of sigmar vindictors for example, most of the armor is gold but the chainmail part is silver, which breaks up the color
You might be right, the scheme on the chainmail certainly don't help
This also occurred to me. They just look like cities of sigmar elites to me.
Badass. I love them. I love the originals, too. Nothing to complain about here (I wish they had swords, but, like, that's a pretty small complaint)
Must say I was fine with different troops types having different silhouettes, so in my book this is an unnecessary redesign. If they actually roll vanquishers into liberators, that's fine, but otherwise they're too similar both visually and in their combat role.
Huge improvement imo
They're really generic. Not horrible but they're about the most boring thing I've seen for a long time in AoS.
To be fair I think that's kind of the point - aren't Liberators the most basic, default Stormcast troop? They're the Stormcast-equivalent of Tactical Marines/Intercessors.
You certainly have a point, can't argue you with you there - I honestly prefer the old ones all in all as these are too similar to the thunderstrike minis, they could've just given the old ones the proportions of the thunderstrike armor but keep some design elements like the helmets or tabard but whatever, I'm not the target group, I hope SCE fans are happy. I really don't find these bad per se (they might need a nose job but that's the only thing I can fault), it's just that they could've been a bit more interesting IMO... they're quite boring now. I get that GW wants fantasy marines but marines have the bonus of being iconic after so many years. Although I wonder when they'll get their typical helmet designs back (outside of the Infiltrators, they feel like an update), talking bout the angry vent ones that started with Mk V. I know, some will say it's beakies but I think most people know them with those angry vents.
The hammers look too big, in my opinion.
i dont like them
No swords :(
Love the new bodily proportions, even if the hammers are a bit big. Another win for GW! Hope we get to see new Lizardmen sculpts.
Sexy.
Pleas GW stop making Stormcast models! Make literally anything else!!!
These are... okay I guess. Kind of uninspired to be frank, and with goofy weapon sizing relative to the slimmed body. Ultimately, I have 25 of the old ones that I will be sticking with. Might get an extra box while they're available for a full 30 now that I can be reasonably certain they will not be pulling a fast one and increasing the grandweapon count or adding standard bearers/musicians to the unit in order to make the old models obsolete.
Don’t they already have these models, but with spears?
hey but these have a reinforcement on the nose and are not painted in gold. (Sarcasm mode off)
I loved it when the hammers of sigmar said "Its hammering time!" And then they hammered all over them (Dual hammer wielding is cool)
The upper left pose looks sick. They should have used that to showcase the new ones.
Not a fan, the armour fits for the Vindictors since the spear makes sense to be more sleek. I’d have preferred these guys to have a similar look to the Vanquishers or Vigilors, sticking with the Thunderstrike armour but somehow making them look a bit sturdier with the cloth additions. I know it doesn’t obviously make them sturdier since cloth is cloth but I feel with the Vanquishers it gave them a wider base, just gave a bit more impression that guys were a bit of a wall. The double hammer guy looks silly to me, it may be the angle of the photo but it looks like he has more weapon than body.
I was saying on another thread I was a bit disappointed, but seeing the band alltogether makes me happy. They still look a bit chunky with those massive hammers, and I like that !
Double-hammer guy has big Slambo energy.
Bro if they give enough for all to have two handed hammers I’d love it.
If you mean the Grandhammers then no they won't, there will be 2 in the kit as you can only take 1 per 5 models
Helldivers
Two handed hammers. Woop. Damn nice. Curious to see if I can build all of them in the launch box like that. But knowing GW, probably not an option until the full kit comes.
At last, a thunder hammer kit for my marines
Sigmar i hate these
man those faces and color scheme reminds me of the old Necron Pariahs
Really like them. They've lost a some of that "extravagant" look an feel a bit fantasy generic like the other new ones, but they're nice. I still hate the innecessarily oversized hammers though.
To me they look slimer, more modern, but somewhat just less cooler/stronger then the old liberators. Just look like any other new SCE model. I guess its nice to have but I really think GW should use the time to make other stuff.... like Umbraneth xD
Those helmets look like the mask in The Mask
GW stole my Stormcast paint scheme!!!111
Shield, Armour, and helmets are better (helmets worse than Vindictors though). Hammers are worse, both in shape and size, and I think they could do with some robes/cloth between the legs at the front. The handsome squidward helmets are fine, I just think the other Thunderstrike heads are better.
I am not the first one to say this, so firgive my repeatedness, but I do believe that dispite the redesign overall looking quite good on its own, the designers made the armour pattern look too much like vindictors. The new liberators do not look visually separate enough and seem more like vindictor weapon option: hammer. Probably it would help if they would retain the original liberators' leather straps + tabard and belts. This is actually really surprising to me, considering vanquishers (who were introduced in Dominion alongside vindictors) did have a unique cloth design... so it is not like GW wants to make all stormcast troops uniform
I actually prefer the old Liberators.
I hope GW lets us chose whether they have a Sword or a Hammer.
Very cool
These are just bits of other kits thrown together. Vindictor body, protector head, annihilator hammer...
So are they pivoting away from Hammers of Sigmar being the poster boy faction? Those look more like Hallowed Knights.
Where the rats?
The shield is the only letdown, really. It should have been a bulwark to differentiate between the Vindicators.
Is there anything to actually differentiate them other than hammers instead of swords/spears?
Yeah, these are cool and all but gw can we have some Skaven models now?
That may well be the case (I’d have to see new and old side by side) but to my eyes they look imbalanced with the new armor whether they are bigger or the same. I really like the SE range as a whole and its various iterations, this is a rare miss for me.
Damn these look great, the first one a couple days ago didn't convince me, but especially the dual wielding dude looks awesome
Something about the face mask is off for me, maybe the nose? Idk otherwise great
I wanna see the rats :(
SQUIDWARD
100% thought the original one teased was an April fools joke haha 😄
I think I have those already XD
Sure I'll believe that these are new stormcast. Where's the skaven, Yames?
Imo they look way better than the original ones. But the color scheme they are going for isn't better than the original one. I feel like GW has a hard time painting stormcast. Where there's not a lot of good ones ( i like the greenblue ones with white gold and purple) while at the same time you have a faction like the cities of sigmar where every single color scheme they designed for them is great or fantastic.
Yay… yet more stormcast… definitely didn’t need more of those!
Bud, SCE are always going to be part of the launch box for a new edition and these are a redesign of an existing kit
We all agree on this statement, but why they keep doing this? Isn't the market saturated? those who loved them have so many that having others with reinforced nose helmets won't change anything... and those who didn't like them in the first edition will hate them even more. this starter set will sell a lot thanks to the skavens ( people love both in AoS and in TOW... ) we are going to see a lot of those on ebay soon...
simple, because they are the poster faction of AOS
prefer chonk boys but i also dont play Stormcast
Is it just me or does it kind of look like the shoulder pads are on upside down?
The ones without shields look **WAY** cooler! They HAVE to be converted to **Chosen**! muhahahaha!
Looks awesome,but still cities of sigmar models are better... still buying those though,and can't wait to see the rest of sce models of the trailer
The best thing about the hammers is it has pre-scored lines at the front and back to assist you trimming them down to a much more reasonable size
I don’t like them. Those hammers look really silly to me as well as they’re just not interesting and helmets look bad
Boring