Why folks hate the Stormcast Eternals...

[Ray Rivers]

As you all can tell by my post count, I am very new to this forum. The reason being is that I am for the most part a historical gamer and 40K and Warhammer are just not my thing.

That all changed with the release of Age of Sigmar and the reason is because I love the new Stormcast Eternals.

Now I know most folks must think I'm totally out of my mind. I've read all kinds of stuff about how OTT these minis are, how they are actually fantasy space marines, etc. etc., and none of that makes any sense to me.

I have been in this hobby for nearly 40 years and have never bought a single Warhammer miniature. So I have been pondering why do I like the Stormcast and everybody else apparently hate them? I think I understand why now.

When GW released the Age of Sigmar I was looking for a new project. I looked very hard at the miniatures first because I want quality, not crap. I also really liked their look so I voted with my wallet.

Now lets take a fresh look at the Stormcast Eternals. I can certainly do so because I am not influenced by either 40K or Fantasy/Warhammer.

Here is what I saw: A miniature with some very prominent features which are: a muscled cuirass with leather skirting, large greaves and a large roman-ish shield.

Hell... that isn't a fantasy space marine... it's a Greek hoplite with a roman shield!



Now I started understanding why folks hate this look. It is not based on a medieval aesthetic that, I believe, underlies pretty much ALL fantasy miniatures.

In fact the Stormcast Eternals is based on a Greco-Roman aesthetic and if you don't believe that, all you have to do is look at the Prosecutors with Javelins. The Prosecutors are the "cavalry" of the Stormcast and they like their ancient predecessors carry a javelin and small round shield.

So there we have it. GW has turned fantasy on it's head. They introduced a new faction and instead of using the age old (and rather boring to me) medieval basis which pretty much EVERY fantasy game uses, replaced it with a Greco-Roman one.

And that is why folks can't handle the situation. They are sooo verrrry caught up with the Fantasy = Medieval look, they just can't handle anything different.

I personally love it, which is pretty normal for me as I love ancient Greeks and Romans and I think folks who are on the fence need to try to take another look at these minis and see them for what they are.

Open your minds folks...

[Mr Mystery]

Love the models.

Love the background.

Kind of scared of their battlefield prowess, but yet to meet a decent sized force (new army syndrome).

However, I am keeping up with [url=http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?57610-Age-of-Sigmar-background-round-up]the background, having read all there is so far. And indeed listened[/url]

As a result, I'm a little burnt out on them at the moment. As with anything, too much in a short space of time, and you tire of the flavour.

I'm hoping we have some other races covered in the books soon - a change is as good as a rest overall.

[Ray Rivers]

Kind of scared of their battlefield prowess, but yet to meet a decent sized force (new army syndrome).

Which is pretty fitting, I should think.

Rome was a great empire and not much stood in it's way.

When I am painting my Stormcast I think about the Khorne "barbarians" that will come soon there after...

[nsc]

People got really mad at me when I compared them to a Greek Hoplite :P they seemed to think they were centurion, which is balderdash


I think a lot of the anti-stormcast is a hold over from people who are mad at the way GW handled the switch to age of sigmar and also those who are mad that their "balanced" square based armies don't just roll over un-optimized armies.

The sigmarines are the face of AoS, which means anyone who hates AoS will try and sling mud at the face. Coke talks about Coke in their ads, Pepsi talks about Coke in their ads, it's good to be Coke :P

[Mr Mystery]

Also for the Roman-Greco thing - they're described as forming shield walls etc. No such mention for the hordes of Khorne, who just sort of come at you en-masse.

At least so far.

But to make it clear - I've got nothing against the Stormcast Eternals. I'm just a bit burned out on reading about them (this is what happens when you agree to offer a loose guide to every story, necessitating that you read every story!)

[Ray Rivers]

People got really mad at me when I compared them to a Greek Hoplite :P they seemed to think they were centurion, which is balderdash


I think a lot of the anti-stormcast is a hold over from people who are mad at the way GW handled the switch to age of sigmar and also those who are mad that their "balanced" square based armies don't just roll over un-optimized armies.

The sigmarines are the face of AoS, which means anyone who hates AoS will try and sling mud at the face. Coke talks about Coke in their ads, Pepsi talks about Coke in their ads, it's good to be Coke :P

To be quite honest, I don't really care if folks are mad at GW... GW has had folks mad at them for ions... same old, same old.

What matters to me is that they have made a major break in their gaming philosophy away from mass battles and an obvious long term commitment (the plastic models are a big giveaway) to a fantasy skirmish game with a difference. It's obvious that there are lots of folks who are invested in "medieval" fantasy, but geez... isn't that getting a bit old?

- - - Updated - - -

Also for the Roman-Greco thing - they're described as forming shield walls etc. No such mention for the hordes of Khorne, who just sort of come at you en-masse.

Exactly.

The Stormcast are the Romans and Khorne are the barbarians.

Fantastic!

[Morgrim]

I'm not liking them because they're monotonous. I liked the aesthetic of the Stormcast at first, but now time has gone on and with very few exceptions it all seems to be the exact same man in the exact same armour in different poses. Which is kind of boring. Where is the cool stuff like that demidragon the starter started with? Why do they all have the same head? To be they feel dull because it feels like they've spent several months showing me a single unit, stretched out to cover the space.

(I'm not fond of space marines for similar reasons, but at least with them I can tell the models apart.)

[Kirsten]

yeah I kind of agree on that front, it does feel like the same thing being released all the time. I am far more interested to see what happens with the old races personally, particularly the humans.

[YorkNecromancer]

So there we have it. GW has turned fantasy on it's head. They introduced a new faction and instead of using the age old (and rather boring to me) medieval basis which pretty much EVERY fantasy game uses, replaced it with a Greco-Roman one.

The fact that there is a Standard Fantasy Setting is one of the most despicable things about geek/nerd culture to me. Like, the whole point of fantasy is that anything is functionally possible.

It's why, for example, something like 'Perdido Street Station' will always be more interesting to me than anything with Standard Fantasy tropes in. I'd much rather have stories about men falling in love with women who have cockroaches for a head than anything to do with how all Dwarves are basically hardy Yorkshiremen who like axes, beer and mining.

I like the Stormcast look; it's really strong, and really different to what's out there at the moment. Say what you like about GW (and everyone does) but at least their stuff is never generic; there's always a really strong, clear aesthetic to everything they do.

I'd just like to see some female Stormcast is all, because, hey, it's me and that's pretty much all I want from every army it makes sense for.

[Ray Rivers]

I'm okay with that... armies tend to wear the same gear.

But yea, some different cool minis would be welcomed, but I think we have just been exposed to the core troops and heros, and stuff like that will come later... with luck.