I bought my first AoD yesterday, yes I know I'm behind and noticed something that doesn't sit well. I pulled a Steiner Zibler, pretty cool I thought, a new faction. Upon closer inspection of the mini, I noticed it has a Stormhammer faction symbol decal and a Stormhammer regiment symbol decal on it.

What gives? Are Davion and Steiner not going to get new regiments when they are fully introduced?

Being a staunch supporter of Steiner and Davion I am utterly disappointed!

This has got to be a mistake.

No mistake. Seems like all the Steiner and Davion units have SH/SSw decals and markings.

Man o Man that blows!

Ok here on the realms we were given avatars of the 3 regiments supposedly introduced for Steiner and Davion (one is displayed to the left) but in actuality we get the same old drizzle on the mini's.

I hope this was just an oversite on WK part (i.e. couldn't be handled in the 8-9 MONHTHS of prep for AoD) and will corrected with Firepower.

If it is not then I have a really good question when it comes time for the Origins or GenCon Envoy Appreciation night during the Q and A session.

Draddog addressed this recently in his Q&A Thread. The House Steiner and House Davion units in AoD are currently using Stormhammer and Swordsworn unit decals and paint schemes, as these are units that have been temporarily assigned to the splinter factions to help (think of the Steiner forces under Jasek Kelswa-Steiner's command in Blood of the Isle). When they are fully introduced (most likely in Firepower), they will get their own regiment decals and paint schemes.

I guess I'm sorry I missed that but I think thats a good cover explanation for a production oversite.

Call'em like I see'em.

Actually its not a production oversight. The simple fact is They were not originally planning on introducing them to the game any time soon. They rushed plans forward to eliminate the splinter factions, before they had the House Davion and House Steiner ready for painting or decaling. It is unlikely that we will see them in thier new colors (Not the original Regimental schemes, because WK feels the need to change them) until at least the set after Firepower. I personally hope I am wrong, but I kinda doubt it.

Yeah, after all, it is completely inconceivable that WizKids will follow the fiction from the books, so therefore, we can't <i>possibly</i> give them credit for actually being clever, and issuing the units in teh splinter faction colors to show how these first units are coming into the Republic covertly. Nope, they <i>must</i> be covering up some sort of production error.

Give me a break. That fails Occam's Razor. How would three different units have all managed to end up with with the splinter faction's colors and decals unless it was deliberate?

As for them rusing forward the parent factions - explain the House Kurita Crimson Hawk. It's in full House Kurita regalia, including paint scheme and decals. If they could do it for that unit, surely they could have been just as ready for the <i>three</i> units in AoD from Houses Steiner and Davion. This also fails the Occam's Razor test.

Thank you for playing, come again please.

Well, you're half right. :) We've been told (and this was quite a while ago) that units in the House Alliances will have some switched units/bases before the junior faction is completely absorbed by the parent. So expenct some DF units on HK bases in Firepower, a few HL units on Republic bases. The reverse will likely also be true. I won't be at all surprised to see some Steiner units on Stormhammer bases in Firepower.

Freetop or maybe they had been planning on introducing House: Kurita into the game while they had no plans for Introducing House: Davion or House: Steiner. until later on.

Because House Kurita is finished does not mean House Davion or House: Steiner are finished. We already know that sets are finished and finalized before the set that is next to be released is released to the public. What is highly probable is something like this.

They had already done the paintmasters for the units and had a survey which indicating eliminating the Splinter Factions and bringing in the Parent factions was a great idea. They had already finished all of the Units for AoD so they went hmm we need to put in HD and HS how much will it cost for us to remaster and change the production of the units. They sent it to a bean counter and got back the bad news it would cost them too much money. However changing the Faction symbol on a few bases would be cheap. Voila instant House: Davion and House: Steiner units with SS and SH paint jobs/Decals.

This is why we will be seeing Highlander units with Republic Bases shortly. They were already Paintmastered as Highlander units, before the merger with ROTS was finalized.

So now we have the gradual phasing out of Highlander and the gradual phasing in of HS and HD.

This still fails Occam's Razor by a long shot. Especially since it doesn't explain how they were able to change the symbols on the bases and the symbols on the cards (such as the Merc Contracts and faction-specific pilots). If they could do that, surely they could at least change the decals on the units? For what gain?

On the other hand, having it fit the fiction _does_ pass the Occam's Razor test, and is quite nifty, to boot.

Interesting.

So that means, Firepower will have both HL and RotS units both all them would come in HL regimental paint schemes? This is one WK foul-up that I like. :grin:

HHmmm, a RotS Helllion, Loki, and Nova Cat with Highlander colors doesn't sound that bad. :grin:

Why persist in calling this a foul-up? It has been clearly stated for quite some time now that, in an effort to introduce the Great Houses gradually, they would be including SS units on Davion bases, SH units on Steiner bases, as well as Davion units on SS bases and Steiner units on SH bases. There is no logical reason for WK to attempt to cover up a production error through some convoluted and expensive scheme of adding correct regimental decals to supposedly mispainted units, or modifying bases and/or cards to include the Steiner and Davion Great Houses.

99 out of 100 times, the simplest solution is the correct one. Here, the simple solution is that Wizkids is merely following through on the plan that they formulated back when AoD was still in the pre-production phases (ie right around when Kelly took over), intending to introduce the Great Houses gradually and with a fun and interesting reflection of the 'fluff' with covert aid going to the splinter factions, gradually building up to full-fledged open military intervention.

I would like to debate you on the points that you mentioned, but that would like be beating a dead horse.

Let other people call it a foul-up if they think it is. Same thing as why I don't persist that you should call it a foul-up.

To each his own. You say that for you it's not a foul-up, then good for you. No need to get your feathers all furled up, after all we are in an open forum or "a peanut gallery" if you may, where everyone can freely discuss and point out their opinion.

:p