What is Veeky Forums's current opinion on Stormcast Eternals?

What is Veeky Forums's current opinion on Stormcast Eternals?

They are pretty cool, a bit forced though with all the models they get compared to others.

more Space Marines?

Fit the new setting well enough, don't make any sense outside of it. I'm still waiting for an Empire Start Collecting box which looks like an uncertainty the more time goes on. Chaos Warriors got one despite the new Khorne Blood Mangling Blood Ragers got one just for the new shit.

They're Space Marines.

They've said that they'll update empire when they decide the direction they wanna take them in

>Khorne Blood Mangling Blood Ragers
Do you mean the Blood Mangling Blood Rager Skullgrinders or Blood Mangling Blood Rager Wrathreavers?

Eh. Don't know much about 'em if I'm being honest. Nothing I've heard has made me want to investigate more, either.
They make fine Space Marines, for honor guards and characters and such like. For fantasy? Well, it's pretty clear that they wanted "Space Marines, but Fantasy", and that seems to be what they are. The masks aren't a great design choice, they look kind of creepy and inhuman, and from what I can tell Stormcast are supposed to be heroic figures.
Space Marines are supposed to be a bit ambiguous, a lot of the fluff emphasizes their monstrous aspects, drinking blood, scaring the shit out of their allies, stealing children sometimes, all that. Hence why their helmets look like they're snarling, and they have so much death's head iconography. In another setting, they'd just as easily be the antagonists rather than the default heroes.
Stormcast, on the other hand, kind of look like a weird halfway between goodies and baddies. The armor, the color scheme, the lightning bolts and lions are all fairly standard good guy symbolism, but those masks look more like something the Evil Wealthy Empire's ruler would have his dudes wearing. Not quite skull masks, but a bit Michael Myers.

Well from what I recall stromcast ethernals are not even human, aren't they form of ghost or well...legion of the damned type deal, daemons of order?

Not a bad idea, just one they (GW) botched handling. They're basically to Space Marines what Chaos Space Marines are to Chaos Warriors; the archetype in a fantasy setting.

But the main difference between the two are Space Marines are suppose to be faceless enforcers of the Imperium, who when they die collect gene-seed to create more, who pass on their armor, and basically are just links in a chain, heroes but faceless, they do their duty, die and are replaced with new warriors, unless entombed in a Dreadnought.

A Stormcast is supposed to be an immortal hero, who chose to give up a peaceful afterlife to return and defend the living and their form life/homes, who are eternal, doomed to constant hardship to protect the people they love...

So GW created them as faceless guys wearing identical, stormtrooper gold armor, who most fans didn't even realize they were human until later kits fixed that... totally conveys the idea there, GW.

>They are pretty cool,
Because they kill all the bad guys and don't afraid of anything?

AKA Once they've worked out how to make them less generic so that they can be effectively copyright protected.

Imperial Guard (read: jobbers), but in Fantasy

I think it's pretty shitty that they killed a good setting so they could have more banalshitboring space marines, but Veeky Forums is practically a GW fansite so I'm sure the majority here love them.

They're aight. I don't like the helmets though. If AoS keeps on living for a few more years, they might start to be actually interesting, when context and fluff will be a bit more settled.

I haven't read any of their stories but from what I've heard, they remove their helmets and act quite humanly very often.

Nope. Behave like "heroes" although they do lose some humanity each time they die and are revived.

...

They are really cool as an individual character but lame as an entire faction.

Fantasy was really boring at that point, AoS is just fantasy with extra stuff (And fantasy ork tech is on thing I do like), even if I do dislike choice to chage Gork and Mork

Fantasy was super fucking cool and always was.

Based End Times toddler

When they're given actual characterisation they're quite good.

‘They always retreat,’ one of the Stormcast said. Her voice thrummed through him like the echo of fading thunder, familiar and welcome, though her accent was strange. Her name was Sora. He’d got to know her somewhat in the weeks since the skavens’ arrival. ‘It is their primary strategy.’

Volker laughed. ‘And a masterful one it is. Let’s hope they stick to it.’

She looked down at him. ‘If they run too far, we will not be able to kill them.’

Makkelsson piped up. ‘They won’t be able to kill us, either. That’s the important bit.’ Murmurs of agreement rose from down the line. The Stormcast looked around, as if puzzled.
‘I would not let them hurt you,’ she said. She removed her helmet, and inhaled deeply. With her close-cropped silver hair and bright blue eyes, she put Volker in mind of some hill-country matriarch. Which, like as not, she had been, before Sigmar had chosen her to fight in his name. He couldn’t help but wonder who she had been, before the blessed lightning had carried her to Sigmar’s side so long ago.

Volker smiled. ‘Good to hear, Sora.’ Sometimes, he wondered how she felt about being referred to as a ‘son’. Then, given what he knew of her, he doubted she thought about it much at all. Sora was a pragmatic soul.

She stared at him for a moment, and then chuckled. She rubbed his head, nearly knocking him from his feet. ‘Sometimes you remind me of my grandson, Owain.’

‘Oh?’

‘Then I remember that he’s dead, and I am sad again.’ Sora was the friendliest of the Iron-sides, though that wasn’t saying much. She shook herself, as if to banish the old hurts, and said, ‘They will return.’

Yeah I recall at some point they become just energy beings.

It's cool and AoS has all the same stuff and some of the characters from what I recall...So yeah all we need now is just to get some decent fluff for it (or just to bring back all the cool bastards that survived the end times)

Didn't Ogres also get massively gutted? And Slannesh get squatted? And now skaven are wanted silly since they plot deviced their god to the Big Kids table? Honestly, the whole thing sounds like a fucking mess. Especially with the way the whole thing takes place in the warp so now everything is some sorta ultra-themed place instead of just a normal field or mountain being allowed to exist

I am glad that Kirby isn't CEO anymore.

They're not always portrayed as pure good guys.

A shout from the outer trenches drew Volker’s attention. He turned, lifting his rifle. ‘Another attack?’

‘Refugees,’ Makkelsson said, peering through a telescope. ‘Looks like they’re trying to run the gauntlet.’ He frowned as he said it. ‘Poor fools. The freeguild won’t let them through.’

Volker cursed. There were more than a few people left out there, in the slums the skaven had claimed. Sometimes, after an attack, they made a run for it. They rarely made it. ‘Are they turning them back? That’s tantamount to murder!’ He whirled, glaring up at Greel. ‘Tell your warriors to help them.’

‘I will not.’

‘They’ll die.’

Greel nodded. ‘Perhaps.’

Volker stared at him. ‘The skaven will kill them. Or worse.’

‘Your concern does you credit, though it is foolish.’ The Lord-Celestant of the Iron-sides loomed over him, his expression mild.

‘Better a fool than heartless,’ Volker retorted.

Greel stared at him for a moment, before turning away. ‘Perhaps you are right,’ he said, simply. ‘But it is a discussion for another time.’ Shouts from the forwards trenches filtered back. Volker heard the crash of guns. Greel pulled his helmet back on. ‘Eyes front, Iron-sides. The enemy is upon us.’

By the way, this and are from Spear of Shadows, I heartily recommend it for a good look at AoS.

The only Ogors that god gutted was the Beastclaw raiders

To me, they feel like an OP element, that undermines the scariness of chaos. Their models are even bigger than the big scary chaos warriors models.

I thought ogres as a whole now worship Gorkamork instead of the Maw and are no longer mercenaries for the highest bidder.

And don't get me started on how fixing Gork and Mork alone utterly ruins orks.

Oh boohoo, y'all faggots already killed off an entire setting in the most boring of ways, take your lumps for a change.

They are your dudes, if you want to say that your Ogors hire themselves out as mercenaries then go for it!

>fixing Gork and Mork
Fusing, even. It's late

Didn’t Sigmar split them up again or am I mistaken?

Not really. GW made an effort to hardcode everything so that even though the works grew bigger, it feels so much more restrictive.
Maybe, I haven't been keeping too close an eye on AoS lore because it's all depressing. If so, then why even fucking bother? And the act still ruins the implication that Gork and Mork used to embody, which is that even if there's only two orks left in the universe (and even if said two orks are technically one ork), they'll still find something to fight each other about

Im not a chaos fanboy. Im just saying that i prefer a setting where the badguys are intimidating.

This. What's the point of fighting villains that aren't scary as fuck.

Like, yeah, last I checked in 40k Spess kicks the shit out of CSM, but holy fuck CSM look way more horrifying.

Yeah, but SCE are more intimidating when they end up murdering the people they protect.

Literally just a space marine. Bravo GW

So whilst chaos warriors of order seem like they might be interesting

YOU KILLED MY WORLD

Blame Mannfred, Skaven and Chaos lmao

Gork and Mork in the Aos setting split and merge continuosly. It's supposed to embody the fact that the Orcs can often unite for a good fight only to go back at fighting among themselves .

A lot of them are still mercenaries. We have a Beastriders warband in the battletome that is employed so much by Chaos they acquired chaotic traits.

I like them as a whole, I just wish GW stopped pushing them quite as hard. I hope MP will see the shift to death and maggotkin for the main plot.

I don't hate them, though I do think they'd have looked better with more cloth and less pure metal. The new architect character they get looks pretty cool.

>Fantasy was really boring at that point

>Ogors

well the problem too with current AoS is that gods are so OP that any kind of incursion into territory is nill because the gods can just do whatever the fuck they want in their realms which makes it incredibly stale. incidently the reason why the GW blew up fantasy was because not much could be done with it anymore story wise, then they make an even more stagnant setting. then total war warhammer showed us that shit can be done in fantasy.
in short: GW are faggots

>gods are so OP that any kind of incursion into territory is nill because the gods can just do whatever the fuck they want

Gardus and his relictor dude proven you can hurt Nurgle. Glottkin almost managed to capture and off/deliver Alarielle to Papa Nurgle, all on their own. Archaon is probably a match for Sigmar, or very close to. Gods are powerful, but they can be harmed. Fuck, Nagash got owned by Chaos and had to respawn for centuries.

same as it was when they launched

they're shit, SHIT!

>AoS is Fantasy with extra stuff

Why don't you just admit you have no fucking clue what you're talking about?

AoS has nothing that made Fantasy cool

Stormcast eternals were cooler when I thought they were lightning ghosts possessing suits of armor, bittersweet for their lost humanity

It keeps most of the old factions (Save for three which thruth, one was useless, one was a sad loss and one I forgot already)
But some only gained fluff while others remained unchanged

They're space marines, only space marines were space marines first, their setting is worse than 40k's, and whfb died for them. So not a fan

Oh based on the all complainers here fantasy was crap because it's fans hatted most of it.

I don't really have any issue with them from a conceptual standpoint, but I don't really care for the way that they've been used. I would have preferred them be order/good's answer to Daemons and integrated into other Imperial lists rather than an independant faction.

This too. At least the armor be and burial mask looking helmet made sense then

>It keeps most of the old factions
And perverts them to no end

boring fantasy space marine

...

>no bretonnia
>no tomb kings
>half of wood elves stuff was cut
>50% or more of named from each faction was ditched

Fantasy space marines.

I strongly dislike them. They're a hugely transparent attempt at making the "new" Space Marines, which warp the entire setting of 40k around themselves and devalue it in doing so, and applying it to what remains of Fantasy. It's cynical, creatively bankrupt, and straight up boring.

>no bretonnia
You fuckers had it coming
>no tomb kings
Will be rehashed into Nagash's bitch boys later this year
>half of wood elven stuff was cut
Kys, elf fucker
>50% or more of named from each faction was ditched
Kys again for being an End Times fag and giving a fuck about any of them

Eternal Soycasts for eternal soyboys

Oh boy! I can't wait for Chaos to get Chaos Eternals so we can have another setting completely revolving around good and bad space marines with added spice

>who chose to give up a peaceful afterlife
Stormcast don't choose to become Stormcast. Sigmar plucks them from the realms (usually when they're in the middle of combat) and reforges them into slaves.

Knights Excelsior did nothing wrong.

Beastclaw Raiders, Bonesplitterz, Sylvaneth, Ironjawz, and Flesheater Courts are all way cooler than their WHFB counterparts.

I also like that they expanded the skaven clans into their own factions, but I really hate that they haven't done any clans except Pestilens.

they look like medieval space marines

Like the Star Wars sequels, there was a lot of potential to be had.

And much like the Star Wars sequels, that potential was frittered away on some of the dumbest, most generic by-the-numbers shit I've seen put to paper.

Of all the factions of Age of Sigmar, they are the most boring.

>Ironjawz... are all way cooler than their WHFB counterparts.
Whatever you're smoking, I want none of it.

They can always refuse the gift, they just die then. Considering that they tend to be plucked from their last stands, it's better fate than being eaten by the demons still.

Not really, no.

Can you cite one example where a potential stormcast was able to turn it down? My understanding is that they are reforged by Sigmars choice, and then immediately thrown in the Gladitorium to train for war.

ive been looking for a book that can highlight aos. thank you

They are meh and uninspiring

They're cool. I've got 0 issue with them. I like the paladin/angel thing and I also like the bit where each time they die they lose a bit of their humanity.

Tell ya what though, I'd like them 10x more if they had more knightly-looking helmets instead of the silly serious face mask.

FUCK what book is this?

Nevermind, Spear of Shadows. Got it.

yep, my thoughts exactly. just boggles me that it managed to go all the way through to actual production and main USP for the entire AOS-thing (which, in itself is more of the same).

Seems to me that GW has a big problem with od loyalties, that's the only explanation. GW owed the dude who came up with this crap big time or maybe it's the CEOs baby.

Could also be electronic arts style rape and pillage while you can stuff.

Either way, they've completely dropped the ball on their own product.

If they're found wanting, they're destroyed/not reforged. It's part of the process. If you don't want to be a stormcast, you're not qualified to be one and just don't complete the reforging.
>They are reforged anew – an
agonising process that can
last anywhere between a few
heartbeats to long centuries.
Even time turns molten in the
Forge Eternal. Not all survive
this process.
Seven times seven are the
Cairns of Tempering, where
body and soul are blended with
the Gifts of Gods. Those that
endure these ordeals awaken for
the final test.

So yes, while it does not mention specifically you can choose not to be reforged, it's pretty obvious such a desire would qualify as weakness.

So sigmar picks anyone he wants at any time, then puts them through the reforging, and you either die or became a slave

Sigmars kind of an asshole

Still trash. Still salty. Probably will be as long as I live.

I only take comfort in the fact that GW will never make a AoS game as satisfying as their WFB ones

they're fine in terms of the lore (just like space marines), but unsurprisingly just like space marines they are focused on way too much and get a hugely unfair amount of releases and options compared to everyone else

Their helmets are supposed to have an passive patronizing look that acts as a form of psychological warfare against their enemies.

At least they don’t have a fucking hundred army books like SM.

Yet. Just wait until the Stormus Heresy happens

Why? Their enemies give zero fucks, actually they probably laugh at how stupid they.

You know they are considering they have always meant to be fantasy SM

I played WHFB in multiple editions. It was never particularly satisfying.

WFRP 2e on the otherhand...

The mask still looks fucking stupid.

Why is this a bad thing in a heroic fantasy setting? Please don't tell me you're one of these
>muh moral ambiguity
autists.

>But some only gained fluff while others remained unchanged
That's not even remotely true, you lying piece of shit.

Gork and mork fuse and split all the goddamn time in AoS

No, because end times and AoS killed off or ruined everything that was cool about fantasy and replaced it with edgelord cartoonish goodies and baddies, and fluff a 12 yr old would be embarrassed to own up to.

I meant the recent vidya. I just don't see AoS being able to compete with Warcraft. Though it is kinda disgusting the way GW is basically profiting on stringing up Fantasy's corpse and dancing it about in a macabre puppet show

how do you know they never will then?? i don't find it likely since the games get a lot of value from their aesthetic but it seems like you're cheering something that's very possible if they push the IP hard enough

>something that's very possible
Hardly. It doesn't have the decades of brand recognition or somewhat niche setting you get with Fantasy or 40K

Not that user, but agreed with you here.

If AoS were to have a videogame, then it must have enough fluff and crunch for it to be adapted into one. Considering how much stuff came into Fantasy through those decades, then game devs have a massive and rich goldmine of fluff on it.

AoS doesn't have enough of it to even warrant a mobile game. Yet alone try to attract the WarCraft audience.