This week's AOS preorder is the Arena of Shades box, pitting Daughters of Khaine against Nighthaunt with the customary two new HERO models:
On the Daughters of Khaine side is the new High Gladiatrix:
Since being conquered by Morathi, Anvilgard- now known as Har Kuron- has become known for hosting bloody gladiatorial arenas where warriors and beasts will fight to the death in front of baying crowds. The elegant and deadly High Gladiatrix is responsible for overseeing these fighting pits – and she’s armed to the teeth.
The High Gladiatrix carries out the will of Khaine daily with her sacred butchery. Her whip is edged with razors, which she’s also tied into her hair for some extra cutting power. She is a true champion for the Sisters of Slaughter and embodies the pinnacle of their values. This highly capable killer is constantly on the lookout for her next victim in the Arena, where she executes her deadly balletic routines for the roaring delight of her bloodthirsty audience.
The box also gives us a new Nighthaunt character in the form of the Scriptor Mortis, and a new unit in the Craventhorne Guard, aka ghosts with crossbows. Nighthaunt have very little range at the moment, so I can see why they were added + they honestly look really cool.
Also coming soon with the new Nighthaunt Battletome is a new named special character, Awlrach the Drowner.
In life, Awlrach the Drowner was a wicked ferryman who killed those he was supposed to be transporting (we’re sure you can guess his preferred method from his name). Nagash liked his style, so in death he is tasked with ferrying the spirits of the deceased to wherever the Lord of Death needs them.
This fella is curiously similar to Lauchon the Soulseeker endless spell from 2019's Forbidden Power supplement, enough so to make me think they thought Lauchon was a cool idea and decided to expand on it. For context, Lauchon is a remnant/fragment of a pre-Nagash god of death who brought the dead to Shyish from the other realms.
A new supplement, Season of War: Thondia, was also recently previewed:
Season of War: Thondia, the first new campaign book for Warhammer Age of Sigmar, explains how it all shook out in a hefty lore section that sees the Warhammer Age of Sigmar story take a bestial stride forward. Alongside these new narrative sections, you’ll find rules for fielding the Incarnate in your games, as well as battlepacks covering Open Play, Path to Glory, and Matched Play, and a campaign that lets you play out the book’s epic narrative in a series of connected games. Season of War: Thondia includes Realm Rules for setting your games in Thondia, and mechanics for creating your own hero from the Realm of Beasts – a grot priest on a dragon, anyone? Would-be explorers who crack open this book will also find details of the fantastical flora and fauna to be found across Ghur.
SoW: Thondia also appears to be reviving/revisiting the End Times' plot device of Incarnates, although they're no longer ascended named characters but rather:
Scholars of the Mortal Realms believe that the realms themselves are alive – and the incarnates are proof positive. Manifestations of the thaumaturgical energies that suffuse each realm, incarnates came into being after a surge of life energy washed over them in the wake of Alarielle’s Rite of Life.
As the realms are battered by cosmic energies and scarred by war, incarnates emerge, binding themselves to the local realmstone. This acts as the core of a roaring vortex of energy and matter – in the case of the incarnates of Ghur, this means a hurricane of bestial bones. These sentient whirlwinds of ethereal power roam the lands, growing fat by feasting on endless spells.* Some remarkable individuals are even able to bind and command them, albeit only temporarily.
Each realm has its own form of incarnate. While no two are the same, they draw their titles from the place they were first encountered. For example, the primal spirits of Ghur that manifest near titanic boneyards and slaughter grounds were first encountered in the Krondspine Range on the continent of Thondia.
In these treacherous mountains, Yndrasta and her host of Stormcast Eternals battled through a valley, beset from all sides by a feral horde of beastmen and orruks seeking answers to what mysterious power had been whipping the combatants into such a fearful frenzy. The source of these primal Ghurish energies was a bestial graveyard that birthed the first Krondspine Incarnate.
The battle was unusually fierce, and both sides became more savage as they fought on – even growing curved fangs and scaly skin. Only Yndrasta managed to resist the energies of the Krondspine Incarnate as they clashed in a brutal brawl that left the winged hero broken.
Worryingly, this epic battle was against a single incarnate – and these primordial spirits are now popping up throughout Ghur, gobbling up endless spells and arcane power, turning noble warriors into beasts and beasts into insensate fiends.
The Incarnate is dropping as part of a new terrain box. I'm hoping this is a limited time thing and the individual parts will be sold separately later, but it's just as likely they'll produce this and drop it all together, as much of GW's own scenery has rotated out of production in recent years... and I absolutely do want that floating aquifier for my scenery collection.
