I've noticed few if any take rank and file anymore

[Erik Setzer]

The Dwarf Gunline of Mundane Inevitability still works. It's only toned down a little because of the shorter range.

The only reason you can't come up with a "sure thing" army in AoS is because there's no army selection rules. It's the Wild West of gaming. If your opponent has a right 'ard army, you spend a few hundred dollars and slap down a load of elites that can outclass his army. The moment they add structure to building an army, it'll be no "better" than WFB, and it's debatable that "if I spend enough money I can have a counter for everything" is really "better." It's better for the company's bottom line, but not for people who find that the new guy only bought the 'ard units because R&F aren't worth the amount of money it'd take to make them a reasonably solid unit.

And funny you mention Battleshock, because it's a great way to whittle down a unit. That Dwarf gunline? Hit that big ol' block of Empire with a couple cannons, you do silly number of wounds, and battleshock rips a few more models out of the unit. Suddenly, they've lost a good chunk of their bonuses. (Also funny to note that Nagash makes Death models ignore Battleshock. But yeah, seriously, Nagash is OP... but he should be. And it still wasn't my call to field him.)

[grimmas]

Another plus point for Bloodreavers (other than in a Dark Feast formation with a Bloodsecrator they can get 4 attacks each and ignore Battleshock ) is that the models are freaking sweet I don't think I've had more fun painting a unit, well defined and just the right detail they're just so rewarding.

[Path Walker]

The Age of Sigmar models so far have all been ace in my opinion, they're not cheap but you're paying for some really fun models that go together really nicely (hardly any join lines so no gap filling!) and are a blast to paint.

[grimmas]

Yeah they've done a really good job on hiding the mould lines. I've only had monopose ones so far so that might have helped with that.