HaggisMacbeth Posted July 15, 2017 Share Posted July 15, 2017 Hey guys, I'm a new AoS player. Have been playing Warhammer since 5th edition and with the drop of AoS I moved onto Bolt Action and Kings of War, both of which are great games. But with points in AoS I'm keen to give it a spin and start a new army rather than recycling one of my old WHFB ones. So I thought I'd start a Soulblight army for a couple of reasons: - low model count - I'm keen on having to not do too much painting as I'm learning the game and seeing if I like it. Although I've not played yet I get the sense that it can be tough to play to time when you have huge model counts in this game. - I've never done undead before, so it's good to try something new - I had Empire and Bretonnians in WHFB. In KoW I went for something non-human and did a monstrous Nightstalker army and it was good fun. If GW were to release some nice human faction minis I'm pretty sure my wallet would scream out in horror, but for now I'll do another non-human army before I inevitably swing back in the future. I am a bit apprehensive about starting this army because its not an 'updated' faction. It worries me that a new book and minis may drop that would change how I approach it, but I guess that is the risk you take if you don't want to do one of the few new/updated factions. I'm going to try and keep the army pure-Soulblight; except for sometimes maybe summoning some Dire Wolves when I have odd points left over when putting a list together. The units Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon - He'll be low down on the painting schedule but I'll do one eventually. He looks like a total wrecking ball when you pop red Fury on him. Been rolling some dice in theoretical combats (hope I'm not the only one who does this :-) ) and he looks capable of putting Greater Daemons down in a single round of combat. I'm sure he would be a shooting magnet so that could make him tricky to use. Vampire Lord on Abyssal Terror - I'll have to find an alternative mini to use for him as he is now out of production and I'd not be keen on picking up the original off eBay as it looks pretty pants (anyone have any ideas on a good alternative?). His spell looks completely ridiculous so I definitely want one soon :-) Vampire Lord - Looks like a nice, solid and relatively cheap character. His spell is good so is hard to see a list without one in it. I imagine he will always be on a steed or will have wings and carrying a chalice. With not having to pay for these upgrades I don't see why anyone would use one on foot. Am I missing something? Coven Throne - Is an interesting one. Fantastic model, good damage output against low defence units and really fast. Its spell would make it great on a flank I think to get in some one on one engagements and grind down the enemy behind the safety of Beguile. I think its command ability is great and could swing games in your favour at the right time, but when running it as the general I don't think I'd want it on the flank or in an isolated part of the board, so that sits at odds with its combat utility I think. I'll paint one up at some point to give it a run to put theory into practice. Count Mannfred - Looks very useful and a good upgrade on a regular mounted Vampire Lord. If there were spare points floating around I think making that upgrade would make sense. Vlad , Isabella and Konrad - In a super fast army, the slowest thing is 10", I don't really see a place for these guys. Bat Swarms - I think I'll be trying to get in at least one unit of these in every list due to their nice ability to disrupt shooting, which seems to be so strong in AoS. Fell Bats - Same points costs as the Bat Swarms but with a better damage output. I could see the point of these guys if it weren't for the Vargheists. Where I have the option of taking 3 Vargheists or 6 Fell Bats for the same points, it seems like a no-brainer as the damage output of the Vargs is much better. I could see a place for the Fell Bats as chaff and blockers. I've converted some models for these so I'll probably run them in non-competitive lists. Vargheists - I'm keen to paint 6 of these I think with the intent of running them sometimes in units of 3. I see them as good light-character hunters and clearing out light units. They look very vulnerable so I'd think that I would have to be careful about when to commit them to combat as I think I'd be wanting to prioritise their combat over others before they get smacked down. Blood Knights - I'm super exited about these guys and they look like a hard as nails Battleline unit. Never mind being battleine, they'll put down the enemy elite without breaking their stride. They look like they will excel at demolishing nil-Rend units as they have a 3+ save, which I could boost to 2+, getting wounds back, reviving slain models and ripping through the enemy on the charge. Overall I think the army is going to require careful use of charges and selection of which combats to fight first. I think that the best option sometimes will not be to throw everything into combat in a single turn, but to stage the charges over multiple turns, particularly if more than one Rending enemy unit needs to be fought in the same turn. Painting So to get started I've painted up four Bat Swarms and 12 converted Fell Bats. I think this will be all the bats I'll ever need. Currently on the painting table is a couple of Vampire Lords mounted on steeds. I'm aiming to finish these this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thanatos Ares Posted July 15, 2017 Share Posted July 15, 2017 Welcome to the dark side my friend!!!Soulblight as a pure faction is awesome. BloodKnights well rip thru targets fairly comfortably IF you've chosen the right one lolPersonally I would take the Vamp on Zombie Drag as general as his command ability to reroll hits can be game changing. I'd give him ruler of the Night instead of red fury to give your BloodKnights a 5+ deathless minions roll. Gives them more staying power as they have a massive shoot me first sign above them already!!Your minis look awesome aswell!!Let us know how you find the game/army!!Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaggisMacbeth Posted July 15, 2017 Author Share Posted July 15, 2017 2 hours ago, Thanatos Ares said: Welcome to the dark side my friend!!! Soulblight as a pure faction is awesome. BloodKnights well rip thru targets fairly comfortably IF you've chosen the right one lol Personally I would take the Vamp on Zombie Drag as general as his command ability to reroll hits can be game changing. I'd give him ruler of the Night instead of red fury to give your BloodKnights a 5+ deathless minions roll. Gives them more staying power as they have a massive shoot me first sign above them already!! Your minis look awesome aswell!! Let us know how you find the game/army!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Thanks mate! I imagine the Blood Knights will struggle with the heavily armoured (3+ or more) targets. Is that what you've found? I'll definitely be putting up my thoughts and comments as I play games. I don't like to use unpainted minis, so once these two vamp lords are done its onto 25 Blood Knights and I'll start getting in games then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thanatos Ares Posted July 15, 2017 Share Posted July 15, 2017 Yeah BloodKnights can struggle against 3+ saves especially if they've not charged. Vargheists and the Dragon will definitely help there. Be wary of units that are immune to battleshock as they will bog down your Knights fairly easilySent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thanatos Ares Posted July 15, 2017 Share Posted July 15, 2017 25 BloodKnights!!?? Please tell me they're conversions and not all the finecast minis????Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaggisMacbeth Posted July 15, 2017 Author Share Posted July 15, 2017 3 hours ago, Thanatos Ares said: 25 BloodKnights!!?? Please tell me they're conversions and not all the finecast minis???? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk haha yeah it's High Elf dragon blades. I went into GW to get some paints (red) and the store manager asked me what I was painting. I told him and he said I should consider the actual blood knights as they're cool sculpts. I told him I was doing 25 and that would be more than $800. He was just like 'yeah but that's not that much and they're nice minis' ffs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koalaninja Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 I own some fine cast bk's. Their bendy lances make me sad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaggisMacbeth Posted July 18, 2017 Author Share Posted July 18, 2017 Ok so I've finished off a pair of mounted Vampire Lords. I do plan on adding more characters in later but next will be the Blood Knights so I'll have my battleline done and I can start having some games Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundercake Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 Those fell bats are awesome. What are the bodies from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaggisMacbeth Posted July 18, 2017 Author Share Posted July 18, 2017 33 minutes ago, Thundercake said: Those fell bats are awesome. What are the bodies from? Thanks mate. The bodies for the Fell Bats are just ghouls. Easy as Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goddin Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 Very cool. I run a soulblight list and love it. Keep in mind that with lots of casters, summoning is a real strength. This can let you bring in non-soulblight units without breaking your allegiance. At 2k points I run 15 blood knights, a vampire lord on horse, and a vampire lord on zombie dragon. Then I can summon a morngul, and usually a pair of morghast archai. Sometimes I switch the morghasts for 6 spirit hosts. When I'm playing 3 places of power, and need more than 2 heroes, summoning 3 banshees and a morngul all still fits at 2k points. I converted a chaos sorcerer on manticore to be my vampire on abyssal terror. I think it fits quite nicely, especially as my blood knights are heavily converted chaos knights with lances. PS Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon is one of the few truly terrifying units in the game. Especially with a morngul next to him! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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