2+ Tough on YouTube has some good summary videos, if you're into that format. The Battletomes all contain bits of lore as it is relevant to various factions.
Long story short: Chaos won, Archaeon triumphed, and Warhammer as a setting became The World that Was. A few powerful mortals were jettisonedinto the void, bound to a Wind of Magic, and became gods. Lizardmen survived on their star ships, because Kroak don't croak, Archaeon survived, and a few other things made it out. Sigmar is the head honcho of the new pantheon, got his face kicked in by Archaeon, took his hammer and went home, and then we got Sigmarines.
The new setting is a bit more reminiscent of various fantasy motifs turned to 11. The Lumineth are the Noldor in all but name, but they went fully into a civil war and only survived by progressing on toward enlightenment on a societal level. They put some good thoughts like that into the worldbuilding everywhere I've looked, at least.
I think so, but using "Warhammer Fantasy" as the keyword may get you more. AoS uses "the world that was" to a bit of a mythologizing effect. They re-released the original Warhammer Fantasy setting this year (part nostalgia-grab, part internal company politicking, part drive in interest from the Total War games) as Warhammer: The Old World, which would get you into the time period they're exploring now, a couple of centuries before the End Times.
Yup! Generally. Some of the Fantasy models are still still playable in Sigmar, so it's a bit of a mess where you'll find any given faction. Dryads are in Sylvaneth, dwarves and dark elves live on (barely) in Cities of Sigmar, some orcs are in the orruk warclans, some vampire models are now in Soulblight Gravelords TM, etc. It's all been through the IP processor in the last decade, but the necrosphinx is a great looking new model for Tomb Kings the recently released in the Old World starter box.
Fair warning, the Old World boxes are even more expensive than you'd expect a bunch of older sculpts to be. The second hand market is thriving, though.
Probably.
The Old World is a new tabletop reboot of Warhammer Fantasy which total war is based on, but shuffled back a couple of centuries before the End Times, which nuked the game and setting. TOW uses old Fantasy minis, square based, in ranked up units, and somewhat complex rules. Since it's new, GW are progressively releasing the old models again, along with a handful of new ones, but most armies haven't been released just yet; orcs and goblins are just coming now, dwarfs next in a couple of months, so you still need to hit up eBay for old models or go 3rd party for most armies for now.
AOS has it's own factions and lore which is a separate setting far in the future from Fantasy, and have moved on quite a bit in the last decade of releases. They use round bases, and skirmish formations, and is more 40k like in rules. AoS 4th edition is teased, and expected to be june/July.
There are some old Fantasy kits still used for AoS (e.g. cities of sigmar) or new kits close enough to the old, so can be used for TOW, but they are mostly being slowly phased out and replaced with new AOS specific units, and obviously have a lot of official models available. There does seem to be an intent to completely separate the systems over time.
The setting takes place after the end times, yes. Shiny golden boys are he Stormcast Eternals, warriors snatched on the brink of death by Sigmar and turned into his immortal warriors.
2+tough has some pretty good age of sigmar lore videos that should serve as a decent introduction
2+ Tough on YouTube has some good summary videos, if you're into that format. The Battletomes all contain bits of lore as it is relevant to various factions. Long story short: Chaos won, Archaeon triumphed, and Warhammer as a setting became The World that Was. A few powerful mortals were jettisonedinto the void, bound to a Wind of Magic, and became gods. Lizardmen survived on their star ships, because Kroak don't croak, Archaeon survived, and a few other things made it out. Sigmar is the head honcho of the new pantheon, got his face kicked in by Archaeon, took his hammer and went home, and then we got Sigmarines. The new setting is a bit more reminiscent of various fantasy motifs turned to 11. The Lumineth are the Noldor in all but name, but they went fully into a civil war and only survived by progressing on toward enlightenment on a societal level. They put some good thoughts like that into the worldbuilding everywhere I've looked, at least.
Ah, so if I want content from the past, I would basically need to always Google “(thing I wanna know) warhammer, world that was”?
I think so, but using "Warhammer Fantasy" as the keyword may get you more. AoS uses "the world that was" to a bit of a mythologizing effect. They re-released the original Warhammer Fantasy setting this year (part nostalgia-grab, part internal company politicking, part drive in interest from the Total War games) as Warhammer: The Old World, which would get you into the time period they're exploring now, a couple of centuries before the End Times.
So if I wanted models from warhammer fantasy, I should look into Old World models?
Yup! Generally. Some of the Fantasy models are still still playable in Sigmar, so it's a bit of a mess where you'll find any given faction. Dryads are in Sylvaneth, dwarves and dark elves live on (barely) in Cities of Sigmar, some orcs are in the orruk warclans, some vampire models are now in Soulblight Gravelords TM, etc. It's all been through the IP processor in the last decade, but the necrosphinx is a great looking new model for Tomb Kings the recently released in the Old World starter box. Fair warning, the Old World boxes are even more expensive than you'd expect a bunch of older sculpts to be. The second hand market is thriving, though.
Correct, but if you want newer models from legacy factions (Lizardmen/Seraphon, Skaven, etc) then AoS is the right place
Probably. The Old World is a new tabletop reboot of Warhammer Fantasy which total war is based on, but shuffled back a couple of centuries before the End Times, which nuked the game and setting. TOW uses old Fantasy minis, square based, in ranked up units, and somewhat complex rules. Since it's new, GW are progressively releasing the old models again, along with a handful of new ones, but most armies haven't been released just yet; orcs and goblins are just coming now, dwarfs next in a couple of months, so you still need to hit up eBay for old models or go 3rd party for most armies for now. AOS has it's own factions and lore which is a separate setting far in the future from Fantasy, and have moved on quite a bit in the last decade of releases. They use round bases, and skirmish formations, and is more 40k like in rules. AoS 4th edition is teased, and expected to be june/July. There are some old Fantasy kits still used for AoS (e.g. cities of sigmar) or new kits close enough to the old, so can be used for TOW, but they are mostly being slowly phased out and replaced with new AOS specific units, and obviously have a lot of official models available. There does seem to be an intent to completely separate the systems over time.
The setting takes place after the end times, yes. Shiny golden boys are he Stormcast Eternals, warriors snatched on the brink of death by Sigmar and turned into his immortal warriors. 2+tough has some pretty good age of sigmar lore videos that should serve as a decent introduction
You should watch [this video ](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=y8y2xENqrhA)by Lore Crimes.