Storm of Chaos: The Poll to end all polls

[Craze_b0i]

Does Azhag predate the 4th edition O&G army book? As far as I'm aware that was his first mention (he didn't have a miniature till quite a bit later), and in that book his "final defeat" is mentioned and that the Crown of Sorcery was taken by the Grand Theogonist. His death is not outright stated but implied, and the whole character background is written in the past tense.

The battle report may not mean much. Several special characters were unofficially killed in battle reports back in the day and that wasn't carried over. Morglum Necksnapper was killed twice; Ungrim Ironfist was turned into a Chaos spawn; Gorfang Rotgut and Astragoth were both "killed" in the WD narrative campaign, as was Marius Leitdorf, and none of those stuck. That was during the period when the WD editors at least tried to pretend that the battle reports weren't fixed.

There was a WD battle report designed to demo the new battle-magic set. For this reason Jervis gave his orc warboss 'The Crown of Sorcery'. Thus the character of Azhag was created. Obviously they liked the character enough that they decided to add him as a SC in the armybook.

But your main argument is correct. Azhag was never "killed off" because regardless whether you start from the battle-report or the armybook his death is something that always happened.

[Eternus]

So, when it comes back to the Storm of Chaos, the next question is this. Do we forever remain stuck in the year 2522, like some wierd fantasy groundhog day, with Bill Murray locked in a never ending magical duel with Tzeentch (what with all the time un-re-ravelling that's gone on, Tzeentch must be involved somewhere, this is bread and butter) or, do we eventually get to 2523 and...nothing, or, do we get to 2523 and the storm kicks off all over again! Again, I say sourcebook, or even build 9th Edition around it...

[Truthiness]

What's really weird for me is that while most of the story appears to have been rolled back to before the Storm of Chaos, not all of the army books have done so. For example, the Vampire Counts book very clearly has a post-Storm of Chaos Mannfred story in it. GW seems torn on whether or not Storm of Chaos happened or not. I think what they need to do is consider the Storm of Chaos as a whole as cannon, but tweak some of the end storylines. For example, the above mentioned post-Storm of Chaos Mannfred story makes no mention of his wussing out at Middenheim, but still notes his reservations of taking on the combined forces of the Empire, High Elves and the Dwarfs. It gets rid of his rather unnecessary appearance while keeping main the lesson Mannfred learned from the event. I agree with Eternus; a sourcebook would be a cool idea. If they treat it as an historic campaign, they can re-introduce the story arc while simultaneously tweaking it.

[Eternus]

If they treat it as an historic campaign, they can re-introduce the story arc while simultaneously tweaking it.

I can't see why it couldn't be done as a 'future' rather than 'historic' sourcebook, a sort of 'this is what could happen next'. In the timeline it hasn't come around yet anyway, but lots of the fluff in the various army books and the 8th rule book imply that it's on the way. Doing it as a future book wouldn't upset the current state of affairs, but allow those who wish to to play in that setting. Also, done as a sourcebook with the writers having complete control over what happens would allow an amount of tweakage.

If I were to write the sourcebook, I'd have a campaign written out ready to play that goes right up to the seige of Middenheim itself, provide rules for playing the seige, but leave the fluff there, so the final end result of the campaign isn't set in stone, it depends on which side wins when you play it.

Depending on the success of such a sourcebook, it could then be incorprated into the fluff in time for 9th edition, with a better ending.

[Craze_b0i]

If I were to write the sourcebook, I'd have a campaign written out ready to play that goes right up to the seige of Middenheim itself, provide rules for playing the seige, but leave the fluff there, so the final end result of the campaign isn't set in stone, it depends on which side wins when you play it.

Isn't that what the existing sourebook already does?

What's really weird for me is that while most of the story appears to have been rolled back to before the Storm of Chaos, not all of the army books have done so. For example, the Vampire Counts book very clearly has a post-Storm of Chaos Mannfred story in it.

The Vamp fluff is inconsistent in several ways. Seems as though the author was not properly supervised or his work not adequately proof-read.

[Craze_b0i]

arg. double-post

[Eternus]

Isn't that what the existing sourebook already does?

No, the book we have doesn't include any of the fluff from the battles that were fought as part of the campaign. I would include everything from the Loremasters Journal right up to the last battle at Middenheim.