I write this as GW is getting absolutely rag-dolled for their half-arsed NOVA Reveals show. With my Destro hat on it was good to see the next Orruk Warclans Spearhead announced (presumably Ironjawz), the new wave of Gloomspite was a pleasant surprise and I actually really like the Stormcast War Pigeon. But I do get the core point that it was sold as a Roadmap, and a Roadmap it was not.

Anyway. Welcome to our monthly catch-up on what we’ve been publishing recently here on Plastic Craic, along with a look ahead to what’s coming up in September. Let’s learn a lesson from GW’s mistakes and swerve a public shit-canning by calling it “A check-in on what’s happening in the Craichead community” rather than a Roadmap. And if the guys behind GW’s reveals do happen to read this, remember that however much of a kicking you take on Twitter, I personally cop far worse from Pat on a daily basis.

Let’s get into it.

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Indexhammer: August 24

We published 9 Age of Sigmar articles in August, plus a further 8 on our Patreon site.

4th Edition

Pete kicked the month off with an article on writing lists in 4th Edition. This was a request from one of our Patrons (Brodie P) who has returned to AOS after a long sojourn shooting aliens with spacemen, and the article is pitched at absolute beginners to the edition. So feel free to share with any newer or returning players.

At the other end of the spectrum, GTs are being run and won, and we caught up with Mitch Bugg to go through his 5-0 Ogors list and approach to winning games (and trophies) in 4th. Meanwhile our guy Pat has been getting busy, sharing his learning points from Border Wars and Sigmar at the Arena on the main site and Patreon, respectively. The latter in particular cracked me up.

And while we’re talking learning points, Pete published Patreon articles covering the power of run and charge in 4th Ed, and one specific tip that will help you win more games.

Faction Coverage

You voted for Kruleboyz as our next Faction to review, and Pete went to town on them with this detailed review. The train kept rolling on with a detailed look at the Killaboss and our collaboration with Woehammer where we wrote up a list together that we’ll both independently play games with and report back on.

And in the Patreon space, Pete wrote up a competitive KB list centred around a Merc Mega Gargant. It feels like this one might have some chops and we’ll report back after it’s hit the table.

Hobby

BAM! We were rapt to showcase Nic Wright’s spectacular Ironjawz army. Nic, who is a Coach on Team Australia AOS, deservedly picked up Best Army at AOS Worlds with this high-contrast red and green scheme featuring some great NMM. Check it out if you haven’t already.

In the Spearhead Hobby Challenge, an extension was asked for and given: a lot of people are retooling their 2000 point armies for tourney play and as such, we’ve extended the timeline by one month to the end of September. So check out the most recent update and remember that there’s still time to get involved if you’re keen, and you feel like you can bash out a few units this month. Prizes are on offer!

Spearhead

Pete’s been playing a fair bit of Spearhead, and loving every minute:

We’ve been playing with and without the official gear, so if you’re interested in the format (but don’t have a set) there’s a Patreon article here on getting started with makeshift cards and boards.

On the PC Community side, we’re working on Spearhead supplements for armies that didn’t get theirs. First cab off the rank is Ironjawz which I’ve been working on together with legendary Megaboss TropicHammerz. The angle we’ve taken is based around the classic MegaFist White Dwarf rules, and we’re going all-in on the Fan Service angle. As Pat once said, how did the term Fan Service ever become a slight? I’m a fan, service me!

The aim of this themed approach is that our work will complement (rather than clash with) the eventual official Spearhead for IJ. There’s already loads of factions with multiple Spearheads, and that means there’s plenty of room for us to build out our own themed Spearheads around a specific aspect of any given Faction. We’ve got our eye on BOC and Bonesplitterz too, and we’ll share the finished products on TC Repo. So if you want to get involved in shaping these Spearheads and what’s included, jump into the Spearhead Working Party channel in our Patrons’ Discord.

Craicheads

We’re rapt to welcome our new Patrons since the last update:

Thank you so much to everyone for getting involved.

We’re committed to giving our members good value by publishing an average of 2+ AOS articles every week on the main site, in addition to the Patron-only posts on that platform too. The Discord is members and writers only (No Dickheads Policy) so if you want to join us, you know what to do.

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What’s Next

Our Patrons voted for Tzeentch as our next Faction Review, and Calvin has been working hard on delivering that. Keep an eye out for it in early September, because Tzeentch are a powerhouse of early AOS4 that are somehow flying under the radar.

The Faction Reviews will wrap up with Pete tackling Brodd’s Stomp (also voted for by our Patrons), while Pat’s currently diving into Khorne. Skullreapers are off the charts but I’m sure he’ll find something to moan about. We’ll be getting into Battletomes soon after that so we’ll probably draw a line under the Faction Packs there, unless a pet army <cough> Bonesplitterz <cough> demands our attention.

Sean will bring you the latest updates on our Spearhead Challenge, we’ll start delivering the Kruleboyz batreps (focusing on lessons learned) and there’s a sweet Gloomspite army from the UK that I can’t wait to showcase. Loads to look forward, to across all aspects of the hobby.

And on that theme, let’s close out the article with a shoutout to our guy Joel McGrath who picked up the PC Writing Team’s first Trophy of AOS4:

Joel picked up this Plushy as a sports award at Sigmar at the Arena, and he’s painting up a unit of Gryph Hounds to match. Well done Joel! Winning games, the right way.

Wishing you all a safe and successful September – and thanks again for all your support, it’s what keeps us going.

If you’d like to help us continue our work, we’d love to have your support. All Patreon Tiers include Discord access, exclusive articles and regular contests. Our Tiers are priced to be within everyone’s reach, so please click here to join us today!