AoS: Warhammer Underworlds Is The Herald Of Things To Come In 2022
What’s the future hold for Warhammer: Age of Sigmar? Warhammer Underworlds has been showing us the way.
Alright AoS fans, it’s time to talk about an interesting theory. I was chatting with a friend this week and we sort of stumbled on to something regarding Games Workshop’s plans for AoS in 2022. I can’t prove this stuff yet, but let me present some evidence and you can make the call for yourselves. I’m got some predictions based on that evidence so I’m staking my claim right now. We’ll see how this all pans out.
So what’s this crazy theory? It’s that Games Workshop has pretty much told us exactly what’s coming in 2022 for AoS already by way of Warhammer Underworlds.
In The Beginning There Was Death
When Warhammer Underworlds first launched the game setting was in the cursed city of Shadespire. That made way to Nightvault.
Both of these boxed sets were set in the realm of Shyish, aka, the realm of death. Story-wise, this made a lot of sense. Nagash was moving and shaking and things were happening. There was also the Dreadfane box but that’s besides the point.
Don’t forget about me!
This turn of events in the lore eventually lead to the reveal and release of a new army: The Ossiarch Bone Reapers. Warhammer Underworlds was set in Shyish, the realm of death, and we got a new death army…
Then The Beast Awoke
Following that up, due to magic shenanigans in the lore the great mountain in Ghur became the next stop. Beastgrave opened it’s uh…doors(?) and warbands came seeking loot but found so much more. That was followed up with Direchasm, too.
There were a LOT of events happening in the lore. The Lumineth Realm-lords showed up for one. Telics brought his preferred Aelves to fight and laid the royal smackdown on Nagash. The was also the escape and rebirth of Slaanesh. Oh hey, who’s on the cover of Direchasm? That’s probably just convenient coincidence to illustrate my point. It’s not like either of those two armies are related to Ghur, the realm of beasts, anyhow right?! It’s not like anything major happened to the Destruction factions that call Ghur home either…
…Oh, right. I guess there WERE quite a few things that happened in Ghur that also just happened to be the setting of the Warhammer Underworlds seasons. And it wasn’t just related to models, either.
Where do all the missions take place in the 2021 GHB? Ghur? And there are specific matched play missions, focus on Monsters, and even special rules to use? Hmm…
So what’s next?
And The Shadows Rolled In
The next chapter of Warhammer Underworlds in taking place in Ulgu, the realm of Shadow. Which is neat and also odd as this season seems to have more of a nautical theme going on. Stormcast and Kruleboyz are on the cover and we’re seeing a bunch of new Stormcast stuff and the Kruleboyz just got released, too. But we also know what else is planned for this upcoming season, too:
Does this mean we’re getting some Pirates? What about some Idoneth Deepkin? That’s all possible. But who’s the “God” of the realm of shadow?
Predictions For 2022
Here’s what I think we’re going to see based on the clues from Warhammer Underworlds because the setting for the season is in Ulgu, the realm of shadow.
- General’s Handbook 2022 will be set in Ulgu with new thematic missions, rules, a new focus on a different unit type
- New Umbraneth Army Reveal
- Idoneth Deepkin Update
I’m not saying this is going to be the only stuff we see in AoS for 2022. I just think there’s a high chance of all this stuff happening.
Why the GHB change? Because GW has moved to this seasonal model and having it set in a specific realm. This year was Ghur and since Underworlds is moving to Ulgu, it makes sense to me. As for the Umbraneth (aka Shadow Aelves) release, GW put out the warband in Warcry, “accidentally” leaked the name, and has been teasing that Malerion is active in the lore.
A new Shadow Aelves Army that looked this cool would be a VERY tempting to play.
As for the Idoneth Deepkin, the battle in Ulgu is taking place in a very strange area that has nautical elements. There’s very clearly an underwater themed army in the game and it could use a new book, too.
And don’t forget they kind of have an alliance going on with Morathi…who’s the mother of Malerion…who’s the god of shadows…it all kind of lines up.
“But Nurgle is up next! Where are they at?” That’s a very good point. And as I said above, these predictions aren’t the ONLY things that are coming. Plus with the whole world wide shipping issues who knows how this is going to pan out. But I do find it more than convenient that Ghur was the focus for Underworlds for a couple of seasons and we got a TON of new stuff related to Ghur, specifically the GHB. And we know that GW is interested in that type of “seasonal” model. So… why not Ulgu?
What do you think? Will 2022 be the year of shadows for Warhammer: Age of Sigmar?
