Happy Holidays readers. Like 40k last week, Age of Sigmar received its year end quarterly update. The game's current status is...controversial. There is a general agreement that the core structure is fine but the fire seems to be missing to get people to sign up for GTs. It's going to require some fundamental changes to get the game back to its former popularity but in the mean time Battlescrolls can help nudge the scale toward something more engaging.
Core Rules
The only change is that of the Obscuring rule, which no longer covers Warmachine units. This is mostly important for Glutos, who despite his large base was obscured as long as he kept his pinky toe within 1” of an obscured Objective/Terrain Feature. It’s also just nice for consistency, as Guarded Hero didn’t apply to Warmachines so it didn’t make much sense that one obscuring rule protected them and another didn’t.
Order
Cities of Sigmar
Points
- Alchemite Warforger: +10
- Callis and Toll: +20
- Fusil-Major on Ogor Warhulk: +10
- Freeguild Command Corps: +10
- Ironweld Great Cannon: +10
- Wildercorps Hunter: +10
Rules Changes
None.
Impact
Slight Loser
Thoughts
A few 10 points hikes to the most popular units here and there will add up, but the army is wide enough there are other units to fill the gaps. A lot of top players have moved away from gunlines and instead focus on Cavaliers and Executioners to have more of a melee presence, so the army will likely pull itself together in the end.
The biggest knock on effect is the +20 to Callis and Toll which will have an effect on just about every Order army, since most have included them some time or another. Now they’re going to either need to make some room or go on without them.
Daughters of Khaine
Points
- Hag Queen -10
- Krethusa the Croneseer +20
- Melusai Ironscale -10
Rules Changes
None.
Impact
Slight Winner
Thoughts
It’s fine? The +20 to the not Ghyran Krethusa almost seems like they accidentally marked the wrong one, since everyone is running the SoG one. The -10 to the Hag Queen and Ironscale is nice but probably won’t move the needle too much.
Fyreslayers
Points
- Auric Runefather -10
- Auric Runefather on Magmadroth +10
- Auric Runemaster +10
- Auric Runesmiter on Magmadroth +20
- Aurin Runeson +10
- Grimwrath Berzerker -10
- Scourge of Ghyran Auric Runeson on Magmadroth +20
- Vulkyn Flameseekers +10
- Scales of Vultrix +10
Rules Changes
None.
Impact
Loser
Thoughts
Games Workshop still thinks you’re using too many Magmadroths so they all went up, and their battle formation. Players have already started trying to pad their lists out a bit more with infantry so likely the play will be to drop one of those, or swap it for something cheaper. Flameseekers went up so those might go away.
It’s a tough position to be in because Magmadroths have been the thing keeping the army going, and no matter how much the points go up players are just likely to cut other things first to keep as many on the table as they can.
Idoneth Deepkin
Points
- Isharann Soulscryer: -10
- Lotann, Warden of the Soul Ledgers: -10
- Akhelian Ishlaen Guard: -10
- Scourge of Ghyran Namarti Thralls: -10
Rules Changes
- Abyssal Tendrils do add 1 to an opponent’s banishment roll for each Tendril that is out.
Impact
Slight Winner
Thoughts
How many Thralls does it take to get to the center of Ghyran? It’s going to get better down where it’s wetter, since now you can have 90 Thralls and then 1100 points of whatever you want, swimming around the battlefield. The Soulscryer and Lotann also welcome the points decrease, as these two homies provide a lot of great utility and were already seeing play. Thick Eels are also getting some love, possibly making builds other than Sharknado more appealing.
I much prefer to see changes to books like these, which have the potential to create more options rather than remove ways to play.
Kharadron Overlords
Points
- Codewright: +10
- Scourge Codewright: -10
- Grundstock Thunderers: +10
- Vongrim Harpoon Crew: +10
- Pioneers and Scavengers (Battle Formation): +10
- Endrineers Guild Expeditionary Force (Battle Formation): +10
- Shrewd Opportunist (Heroic Trait): +10
- Celetium Burst Grenade (Artefact): +10
Rules Changes
- Vongrim units’ abilities move to being Once Per Turn (Army) so you can’t give bonuses via multiple Scavenger units or jet around combats with multiple Harpooner units; this feels very unnecessary on the latter unit especially.
- Skywardens’ Timed Charges also moves to Once Per Turn (Army). The Flagship rule has changed so that it cannot give a second enhancement to a ship that already had one.
- The Magnate’s Crew Army of Renown has two standout changes, if you take an Ironclad as your Warlord it cannot be included in a regiment but gains the ability to take any Magnate’s Crew units in its regiment and the Cutting Edge Endrinpacks now lets two infantry units charge even if they used a Run ability.
Impact
Significant Loser
Thoughts
Skywarden's Timed Charges seemed a bit too good, maybe, that you could have a ship with two but given all of the other nerfs this doesn’t really seem a necessity.
As for the Magnate Crew, the change to Ironclads as warlord and is fine, the change to Endrinpacks is a massive downgrade however. The original rule seemed like it replaced/considered that you aren’t able to transport units since Armies of Renown don’t get their core army’s Battle Traits and that’s how you transport units with ships in this book; instead of moving at double speed you get to add a D6 to your move on two units making them far less effective. This takes the Army of Renown from being interesting to, like most armies of renown, simply worse than playing normal Kharadron Overlords. I really think that Armies of Renown should simply get to use the base army rule of their faction given the other restrictions they have to comply with, would at least make them interesting choices.
Overall this is just insane. Your base Kharadron Army is basically now starting out at 60 points just with terrain and enhancements. Absurd. Combined with all of the very heavy handed nerfs in rules that the army has already seen, and continues to see, my enthusiasm for Kharadron which was high at Battletome release has moved strongly to “meh” at best. Kharadrons historically are either too-good or flat plain bad and it’s disappointing to see this cycle continue with unnecessary points increases and rules changes.
Realistically these sorts of nerfs and issues arise from the few and far between times that lists will just spam one unit; Warhammer 40k solves this with the Rule of 3 which at this point I think is sorely needed in AoS. These sort of increases and nerfs will render that single competitive list not-good but worse is invalidating the many casual players lists that only had one or two units in anyways and it’s a shame they each get hit by the same hammer.
Lumineth Realm-Lords
Points
- Ellania and Ellathor, Eclipsian Warsages: +10
- Lyrior Uthralle, Warden of Ymetrica -10
- Scinari Calligrave: -10
- Scinari Loreseeker: -10
- Vanari Lord Regent: -10
- Scourge of Ghyran The Light of Eltharion: +10
Rules Changes
- Slight rewording of Sanctum of Amyntok to say the tips must touch (tee hee).
Impact
Slight Loser
Thoughts
The hikes to Ellania and Ellathor and the SoG Light of Eltharion are definitely a hit, and likely the army will work around it by cutting a cheap wizard or the Riverblades. It depends on what the army was doing, as there were a few options as to what could be taken once you got past those two. The army will likely continue on abreast how it was going anyway.
Seraphon
Points
- Saurus Oldblood on Carnosaur: -20
- Saurus Scar-Veteran on Aggradon -10
- Saurus Sacr-Veteran on Carnosaur: -20
- Skin Oracle on Troglodon: -10
- Bastiladon with Solar Engine: -20
- Raptadon Chargers: +10
- Spawn of Chotec: -10
Rules Changes
- Sunblood Pack is now Once Per Turn (Army) instead of Once Per Turn. An odd choice given people weren't running a ton of these but alright.
- More importantly, Slann Starmaster’s recursion now costs a CP but they removed the 4+.
Impact
Winner
Thoughts
Overall the point changes are eh. It’s mostly minor drops on stuff nobody was taking, the +10 to chargers will hurt some lists, but it’s very manageable. The really big thing is that the Slann Starmaster’s Recursion is a command ability but its guaranteed, which I think is way better. You have to keep a CP in reserve but knowing for sure it’s going to go off is just overall much better for the army. The unit already sees play as a staple so it’ll really only benefit the army even further.
Stormcast Eternals
Points
- Krondys, Son of Dracothion: -20
- Lord-Commander Bastian Carthalos: -10
- Lord-Vigilant on Morrgrpyh: -20
- Dracothian Guard Desolators (Both kinds): -10
- Praetors: -10
- Vanguard-Palladors with Starstrike Javelins: +10
- Vindictors: -10
Rules Changes
None.
Impact
Slight Winner
Thoughts
Stormcast have a huge roster that doesn't quite jive with the softly softly approach to points changes this battlescroll. The race to the bottom between the basic infantry continues, with Vindictors dropping to catch up with Liberators at 90. Liberators are still fundamentally better, but at least Vindictors aren't
more expensive than them now. It will be interesting to see if either breaks the lower than 90 point barrier this edition, honestly it would be nice if we could get an option to take Libs and Vindictors as base unit size 10 to give Stormcast an option for a blob unit á la Chaos Warriors and Saurus.
Krondys and his obligatory bodyguard going down is nice, he sort of dropped off the face of the earth once Obscuring made using his busted warscroll spell a lot more difficult. Bastian Carthalos is a fan favorite so a slight cut is also nice, but this GHB season has really hurt the utility of his free All-out Attack, so probably still not worth it. At 200 the Morrgryph is inching to where it needs to be, but realistically also needs the Iridan treatment of someone coming along and totally rewriting it's terrible abilities.
The only real hit here is to javelin Vanguard-Palladors, this really just brings them into line with the axe-wielding version and Stormcast have no shortage of really good hammers to drop down and charge with if they need the help. Overall it will likely keep the army where it’s at.
Sylvaneth
Points
- Arch-Revenant: -10
- Drycha Hamadrth: -20
- The Lady of Vines: 10
- Kurnoth Hunters with Kurnoth Greatswords: -10
- Revenant Seekers: -20
- Spellsinger (Heroic Trait): -20
- Seed of Rebirth (Artefact): -20
Rules Changes
None.
Impact
Winner
Thoughts
A few point drops to less used units is nice, but the important change here is making Spellsinger and Seed of Rebirth free again. This will free up 40 points which could possibly make Greatsword or Greatbow Kurnoths more viable. It is at worst ineffective, but the army is in a pretty good spot right now so the changes are acceptable.
Chaos
Blades of Khorne
Points
- Bloodsecrator: -10
- Mighty Lord of Khorne: -10
- Realmgore Ritualist: -10
- Skarbrand: -20
- Scourge of Ghyran Mighty Lord of Khorne: -10
- Blood Warriors: -10
- Bloodcrushers: -10
- Bloodletters: -10
- Mighty Skullcrushers: -10
Rules Changes
- A fair amount actually. Blood-drenched required half of the models on the field to be destroyed and wasn’t powerful enough to be worth that kind of set up. Now you can use it every time you unlock a Blood Tithe ability.
- The way the Bloodmaster’s +1 to hit wasn’t clearly designed, and the way it was written effectively meant the Bloodmaster would not benefit from the effect. Since you’d need to choose the Bloodletter unit to get the effect, which would mean the Bloodmaster’s combat was done. Now the effect kicks in immediately, which is likely what was intended.
- The Baleful Lord’s Born of Murder got an upgrade. Previously, you rolled dice equal to the number of units destroyed so far and if you got 8 or more 4+s then you could bring back a Bloodthirster. Its been adjusted to add the battle round to the number of dice, and its on eight 3+s instead of 4s.
Impact
Winner
Thoughts
Overall, Khorne wins pretty well here. There’s point cuts across the board to all archetypes except for Baleful Lords all Bloodthirster lists, but even Skarbrand got a cut so he might see play there now. It’s definitely helpful for Chaos armies who were allying him in, as well.
The rules changes making their army abilities more effective and consistent is the big standout here, a lot of rules that previously just basically did nothing now have a chance to shine and I think we’ll see a huge uptick in the win rate here. Blood-drenched might get to actually kick in before the game ends, and Born of Murder massively boosts the odds of getting a Bloodthirster back. Under the old system you’d need 15 dice to hit 50% odds which isn’t…great. Here it drops to around 11 or 12 dice, which is easier when adding the battle round. It’s still not a given, but a hell of a lot more likely.
Disciples of Tzeentch
Points
- Curseling, Eye of Tzeentch: -10
- Gaunt Summoner: -10
- Scourge of Ghyran Ogroid Thaumaturge: +10
- Tzaangors: +10
- Nine-eyed Tome (Artefact): -10
Rules Changes
None.
Impact
Slight Loser to Tzaangor lovers
Thoughts
No rules changes, some points hikes to models nobody uses, and shockingly most stuff left alone. The SoG Ogroid Thaumaturge hit is gonna be felt in some lists that need to make some room, but the Nine Eyed Tome also went down by 10 points so it evens out.
Tzaangor spam lists are gonna feel it and likely will need to cut one or swap in some Kairic Acolytes or Jade Cultists to make up the difference, but still probably won’t move their needle all that much.
Hedonites of Slaanesh
Points
- Lord of Hubris: -10
- Syll’Esske, The Vengeful Allegiance: -20
- The Masque: -10
- Scourge of Ghyran Syll’Esske, The Vengeful Allegiance: -20
- Fiends: +10
- Invaders (Battle Formation): +10
- Pendant of Slaanesh (Artefact): -10
Rules Changes
- Like the Slann in Seraphon, the Keeper of Secrets recursion ability is now a command point cost, but isn’t a 4+ anymore.
- Mesmerizing Mirror now also requires it be set up visible to the caster, which is just a consistency thing.
Impact
Winner (Glutos: Loser)
Thoughts
Slaanesh is probably the most infamous example affected by the change to obscuring to not affect Warmachines. Turns out the guy who buffs your entire army is pretty frustrating when he cannot be meaningfully interacted with when he has a single toe within an inch of a forest or obscured objective. That said he’s still good, and isn’t a mandatory run anyway.
The hit to Fiends and Invaders is a rough one but can be managed and probably won’t change people running those. The cuts aren’t big, but the Lord of Hubris showed it can be done at World Championships of Warhammer this year so perhaps it’ll see more play. The most important change is probably the KoS recursion being guaranteed as a cost now and will definitely see more play as a result.
Helsmiths of Hashut
Points
- Daemonsmith on Infernal Taurus: -30
- Anointed Sentinels: -10
- Dominator Engine with Bane Maces: -10
Rules Changes
None.
Impact
Slight Winner
Thoughts
I don’t think anyone was expecting much of a shift on this army’s points with them just getting their book. That said they can definitely use a bit more help than this. The army is only really seeing success right now with infantry spam lists and even then that success is limited. The Daemonsmith drop is probably the most impactful thing here but it may be worth tossing the Dominator Engine another look as a utility piece you can plant on the table.
Maggotkin of Nurgle
Points
None
Rules Changes
- Lord of Afflictions’ Vectors of Foulest Contagion ability moves to once per turn.
Impact
Neutral
Thoughts
Minimal changes on the stinky guys, but with their reveal happening over WCW it's almost certainly because their book is around the corner. The change to the LoA is due to some degen lists floating around out there where folks were running 12 of these guys and winning off the charge mortals. It's fine to see this gone.
Skaven
Points
- Deathmaster: +10
- Plague Priest on Plague Furnace: +20
- Thanquol on Boneripper: -20
- Vizzik Skour, Prophet of the Horned Rat: -20
- Plaguepack: -10
- Ratling Warpblaster: -20
- Stormfiends: -10
- Stormvermin: -10
- Warpfire Throwers -10
Rules Changes
None.
Impact
Slight Winner
Thoughts
The rat-folk will always accept a decrease in points, no matter what unit it is. Seeing the Deathmaster and Furnace go up makes sense – as ‘oops all Master Splinter’ was an extremely viable way to play, and the Furnace was in a lot of lists due to it’s insane utility of -1 to enemy ward rolls and giving your Plague Monks a 6+ ward. I guess you could say the points increase on the Furnace stinks, but I don’t think it will be collecting dust on people’s shelves either.
Everyone’s favorite large adult sons Thanquol and Vizzik get a decrease, which is nice to see. I’m hoping to see more of these guys popping up, as having the ‘best’ wizard and priest in the book become more easily available should give them some more table time.
The rest of the points reductions are also not going to be unnoticed, as Stormvermin are even MORE appetizing now at 110 for 10. I think at least 1 to 2 reinforced units of these half-bozos in a list are a fantastic choice, whether it’s as a screen that can hit back, a target to stack a bunch of buffs on and throw at the opponent, or something in between! Warpfire Throwers, Plaguepack, and the Stormfiends were already seeing play, so now this gives more room for other tools in those types of lists.
Lastly, the Ratling Warpblaster is getting the Gnashtoof treatment. I imagine a world where Monsters and Warmachines are terrorizing the meta, and then 14 Ratling Warpblasters come and save the day, but a man can only dream.
Slaves to Darkness
Points
- Abraxia, Spear of the Everchosen: -20
- Be’lakor, the Dark Master: -10
- Chaos Lord on Karkadrak: -10
- Daemon Prince: -10
- Darkoath Chieftain on Warsteed: -10
- Scourge of Ghyran Abraxia, Spear of the Everchosen: -20
- Chaos Warriors: -10
- Legion of the First Prince Beasts of Nurgle: -30
- Legion of the First Prince Bloodcrushers: -10
- Legion of the First Prince Bloodletters: -30
- Legion of the First Prince Fiends: -10
- Legion of the First Prince Hellflayer: -30
- Ogroid Theridons: -10
- Varanguard: -10
Rules Changes
None.
Impact
Significant Winner
Thoughts
This is wild. Cuts to Be’lakor, Theridons and Warriors is pretty big. Varanguard have dropped off in popularity but sure, why not give them cuts too? Abraxia has started to see some play so another -20 to her is not going to go unnoticed. The number is inflated a bit because of the Legion of the First Prince padding things out, but if that’s a list you were interest in, -30 to Bloodletters is a crazy good deal and you should get in on that now.
The army wasn’t even doing particularly bad even if it wasn’t doing great. This is just Ws across the board here.
Death
Flesh-Eater Courts
Points
- Abhorrant Archregent: -10
- Abhorrant Ghoul King: -10
- Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Zombie Dragon: +10
- Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Terrorgheist: +10
- Scourge of Ghyran Abhorrant Ghoul King: -10
- Scourge of Ghyran Abhorrant Gorewarden: -10
- Varghulf Courtier: -10
Rules Changes
- The SoG Ghoul King now works even though he died. That was always the intent but it's nice to have that cleaned up.
- The Charnel Throne’s Ruler of All They Survey ability no longer lets you move while in combat.
Impact
Neutral
Thoughts
This is mainly a nerf to the all Terrorgheist and Zombie dragon lists but folks splashing in the Ghoul King on Terrorgheist will also feel this one. The buffs are mostly to units that don’t particularly matter outside the Abhorrant Archregent and maybe the SoG Gorewarden but the default Gorewarden is difficult to not take.
Nighthaunt
Points
- Awlrach the Drowner: -20
- Guardian of Souls: -10
- Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed: -10
- Krulghast Cruciator: +10
- Kurdross Valentian, the Craven King: -10
- Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief: +20
- Reikenor the Grimhailer: -20
- Scourge of Ghyran Kurdross Valentian, the Craven King: -10
- Chainrasps: +10
- Craventhrone Guard: +10
- Glaivewraith Stalkers: +10
- Hexwraiths: -20
- Mymourn Banshees: +10
- Pyregheists: +20
- Scourge of Ghyran Black Coach: +10
Rules Changes
- Pyregheists Light a Pyre is now a Once Per Turn (Army) ability.
- Shyish Reaper now requires it be visible to be set up, which is just for consistency’s sake.
- Dark Resurrection from the Casket of Resurrection's Regiment of Renown was changed to Once Per Turn (Army) which I don’t quite understand the goal here since being a RoR you’d only ever have one.
Impact
Loser
Thoughts
The Pyregheist hit hurts real bad, especially for spam lists, which are one of the most viable ways to run the army right now. I would have changed the ability to not be a “bad” d3 if it were only usable once but this is the cross we bear.
The point changes on top are even worse. This is basically hiking up every unit that people use, with some token drops to heroes that people aren’t. While the Pyregheist change isn’t unwarranted, all the points hikes on top just feels cruel since the army wasn’t exactly setting the charts on fire outside of spam lists.
Hexwraiths going down 20 feels like some consolation. I feel like the unit is good, it just has to compete with other hammers in the army like Harridans and Bladegheists.
Ossiarch Bone-Reapers
Points
- Mortisan Boneshaper: -10
- Vokmortian, Master of the Bone Tithe: -10
- Morghast Harbringers: -10
- Mortek Crawlers: -10
Rules Changes
None.
Impact
Slight Winner
Thoughts
Mortek Crawlers and Harbingers going down is nice but those are both massively expensive units so it doesn’t move the needle a ton. That said it might be what you need to squeeze in an extra Mortek Guard unit which is always nice I guess.
Soulblight Gravelords
Points
- Coven Throne: -20
- Lauka Vai, Mother of Nightmares: -20
- Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead: -10
- Sekhar, Fang of Nulahmia: -10
- Wight Lord on Skeletal Steed: -10
- Scourge of Ghyran Sekhar, Fang of Nulahmia: -10
- Revenant Draconith: -10
Rules Changes
None.
Impact
Slight Winner
Thoughts
It’s fine. Points cuts across the board on stuff seeing less use. A few of these units do have some viable use cases though which actually gives these some merit. Lauka Vai has been overlooked from her generic counterpart, but she’s quite viable particularly in more Monster heavy lists. Wight Lord on Steed has seen a lot of play in Deathrattle lists, though that’s sort of gone out of favor for Vhordrai and his blood sucking friends. The Draconith is good but costs a bit too much for such a delicate model, which may incentivize other death armies to take it as an ally. Good stuff, overall.
Destruction
Gloomspite Gitz
Points
- Rabble-Rowza: -10
- Boingrot Bounderz: +10
- Dankhold Troggoth: -10
- Doom Diver Catapult: +10
- Snarlpack Cavalry: +10
- Sunsteala Wheelas: +10
- Scourge of Ghyran Sporesplatta Fanatics: +10
Rules Changes
- Sunsteala Wheelas had their Careening Destruction ability changed again. Now the first sentence is changed to require the unit to be in combat to use its ability.
Impact
Slight Loser
Thoughts
The change to the Sunstealas still usable in both players turns, but it changes it from free mortals at (what is effectively) 9” range to a get out of jail card. The problem is Sunstealas are pretty delicate and if they were in combat they probably are pretty boned. That said, mortals from outside combat in your opponent’s turn probably shouldn’t have happened to begin with.
The point changes a bit all over the place. Sunsteala Wheelas going up isn't as much of an issue now that they're not a guaranteed take. Boingrot Bounderz going up is a problem for Squiggs and Troggs lists, while Snarlpack Cav is bad for Snarlpack lists as both armies will run a lot of those.
Overall it’s mostly just kinda fine. The bit of tech from Sunstealas probably shouldn’t have existed in the first place, and there's still a lot of viable units in the book.
Ironjawz
Points
- Megaboss: -10
- Megaboss on Maw-Krusha: +10
- Tuskboss on Maw-Grunta: +10
- Brute Ragerz: -10
- Maw-grunta Gougers: +10
- Weirdbrute Wrekkaz: +10
- Scourge of Ghyran Gore-gruntas: -10
Rules Changes
- Zoggrok Anvilsmasha’s Ward-Smashed ability clarifies that Wards are still disabled even if he’s dead. Which is a good clarification, since abilities usually don’t apply off the battlefield unless stated otherwise.
- For Zoggrok’s Army of Renown, the prayer Get ‘Em Gork! was changed from a “bad d3” to a “good d3” (does damage on a 1). Good change, since the nature of the prayer made avoiding it easy enough in most cases, it shouldn’t just not work a third of the time it does go off.
Impact
Slight Loser
Thoughts
This is gonna ding the best units in Ironjawz, notably the big pigs. Thankfully these are large models so putting a few up 10 points probably wont be a huge deal. This probably has a bigger impact on Sons of Behemat, who thread a needle trying to fit in Da Hurtlin’ Hogz into their lists and going up another 20 points is gonna hurt, when they can’t so easily cut stuff.
Kruleboyz
Killaboss on Gnashtoof. That Gobbo
Points
Gobsprakk, the Mouth of Mork: -20
Swampboss Skumdrekk: -20
Scourge of Ghyran Swampboss Skumdrekk: -20
Rules Changes
None.
Impact
Slight Winner
Thoughts
It’s technically a win? After getting beat down a few times after Swamphorde Bullies blasted the army into relevance, GW has decided to stay their hand this time, drop two heroes only a few people were using and move on. It basically means the army will stay the same and they’re in an OK place right now.
Ogor Mawtribes
Points
- Frostlord on Thundertusk: -20
- Huskard on Thundertusk: -20
- Gnoblar Scraplauncher: -10
- Ironblaster: -10
- Ironguts: -10
- Mournfang Pack: -10
- Ogor Gluttons: -10
- Thundertusk Beastriders: -10
- Scourge of Ghyran Gnoblar Scraplauncher: -10
Rules Changes
- Butcher, Firebelly and Slaughtermaster can now include 1 Gnoblar Scraplauncher in their regiments.
Impact
Winner
Thoughts
Wins all around, some slight cuts for both monster truck players and foot ogor players so both sides get to be happy. Probably the more interesting inclusion was the change to make Gnoblar Scraplaunchers easier to use. They’re not bad, but they were often difficult to include if you weren’t using a Frostlord or Kragnos. Expanding them to go into the Wizard’s regiments, and at a reduced cost, does make running them feel so much more viable than before. The basic version inflicts -1 to hit on an enemy unit while the SoG version halves movement (and potentially disrupts charges). Lots of fun tech there to explore.
Sons of Behemat
Points
- Scourge of Ghyran Kraken-eater Mega-Gargant: -20
- Mancrusher Gargant: -10
Rules Changes
None.
Impact
Neutral
Thoughts
Not the earth shattering change SoB players were looking for but that’s kind of a theme across most of this pack. The drop on the Mancrushers is nice as it makes it easier to squeeze these in during list building. While its not a SoB unit Braggit’s Bottle-Snatchas makes a common appearance in their lists and also goes down 10 which is nice I guess.
Final Thoughts
It's hard to feel super hyped here. There's nothing egregiously wrong, but it does feel like there's a lot of missed opportunities. The biggest problem is that you can't really implement changes on the necessary scale that doesn't involve a new Battletome or General's Handbook.
We do know we have a slew of Battletomes coming in Q1 next year, so for those armies it should hopefully be the shot in the arm that they need. Otherwise the game is continuing apace, mostly in a solid place.
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