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Death Compendium Changes Analysis

swarmofseals

By swarmofseals
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swarmofseals Lord Celestant

swarmofseals

Posted
Posted

There are a bunch of changes to the Death Grand Alliance in the new compendiums. Here's my take:

 

Mourngul - no longer gives -2 to hit to low bravery enemies, special save is down to 5+ vs mortal wounds but now also applies to regular wounds, bonus from 6+ to hit has been changed, and it's now rend 1 instead of rend 2. 

  • Under the old rules, Mourngul damage was already bad relative to its point cost (WDR of .0346, which is terrible). It's now even worse, clocking in at a WDR of .0266, which is truly atrocious.
  • Defensively, however, it has improved a great deal except against mortal wounds. Its PPEW (points per effective wound) is now 7.41/4.96 against stuff that is inside/outside its hit debuff bubble. Against mortal wounds its 22.22/14.81. Against rend 0, PPEW of 7.41 is mediocre but not completely terrible, while 4.96 is decent. Against rend 1+, those numbers look a lot better. Against rend 2, a PPEW of 4.96 is really great. And of course, if it heals any wounds these numbers improve further. Before, the Mourngul would need to heal a bunch before it became defensively efficient. Now it starts off OK and can potentially get really good. It is vulnerable to Mortal Wounds though, so we must watch out for that.
  • CONCLUSIONS - While many will see these changes as a nerf to the Mourngul, I don't think that is the case. It definitely took a hit offensively, but its offense was never its strength. If you were taking a Mourngul to be a hammer, you weren't really going to get very far. Now with its defensive improvements it's a very legitimate flying tarpit. Granted, 400 points is a lot for a tarpit -- but it definitely has tactical uses. If your opponent is bringing a big block of expensive, rendy attackers then a Mourngul could be just the remedy.

Vampire Lord on Abyssal Terror - up to 300 points, no longer has Soulblight Keyword

  • Clearly nerfed, but the spell is intact and still potentially incredible for a mixed Death army. 

Kemmler and the Von Carsteins - gone, now generic.

Tomb Kings - named characters replaced with new, generic warscrolls that are largely the same. New keywords for the faction make it entirely self contained. Points nerfs to many units

  • Overall these guys have been nerfed pretty hard, especially Necropolis Knights. That said, other similar units were also nerfed for other factions in the GHB, so the relative nerf isn't so bad.
  • Settra got a big points increase as well, but there is one major advantage now: he can take a command trait and an artefact. That's potentially huge. While we won't see over the top Settra Bufftrain lists anymore, his abilities are still incredibly powerful. While the generic Death command traits and artefacts are not quite as powerful, adding one is still a pretty big deal for Settra.
  • One warscroll which did NOT get a points nerf is Ushabti, which is very noteworthy. Ushabti are VERY defensively efficient, especially against rend 0 damage. They also have very good offensive efficiency. They now also benefit from +1 to hit from the new Settra, which they did not get before IIRC. With the rise of Massive Regiments, I suspect we will be seeing some good TK lists with a lot of Ushabti. I also think they are good enough to merit inclusion in GA: Death lists.

 

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Bradifer Dracothian Guard

Bradifer

Posted
Posted

Thanks for the information.

I'm glad the Mourngul was changed, should be more fun for opponents to deal with now.

Unforunately this just another unit on our list of proportionately overcosted tarpit units with low offensive output. But we'll call this faction "death" for short.

I suppose you are almost certainly going to see a lot more death lists running horde style lists, and they're just really slow, although our hordes hit hard and tarpit well.

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HiveFleetCerberus Judicator

HiveFleetCerberus

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Also, the Sacred War Statue rule on Warsphinxes, Royal Warsphinxes, and Necrosphinxes has been changed. Instead of halving all damage taken (rounding up) it now halves the damage characteristic of weapons attacking this model (rounding up) and the number of mortal wounds taken as a result of spells or abilities. This seems to make them much less resilient and weak against hordes of damage one attacks.

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inunn Retributor

inunn

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Posted
53 minutes ago, HiveFleetCerberus said:

Also, the Sacred War Statue rule on Warsphinxes, Royal Warsphinxes, and Necrosphinxes has been changed. Instead of halving all damage taken (rounding up) it now halves the damage characteristic of weapons attacking this model (rounding up) and the number of mortal wounds taken as a result of spells or abilities. This seems to make them much less resilient and weak against hordes of damage one attacks.

I think it’s interesting that the wight King with black axe hasn’t had this rewrite on his barrow armour rule, while both the necrosphinx and the stone horn have had this change.

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Iskander Liberator

Iskander

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Posted

I'm "liking" posts here because I'm grateful for people pointing out particular changes.  Do not take the "like" as an endorsement of the changes to my warscrolls. xD

Another difficult change:  Tomb Kings Skeleton Warriors are now "Skeleton Legionnaires", meaning they cannot be used in the Legion of Death battalion from the Grand Alliance: Death book.  Soooooo my collection can no longer use the *only* not-FEC battalion.  I know most people would probably have pity on me and let the "Legionnaires" count as "Warriors," but I now feel the need to do some emergency kitbashing.... to fifty infantry models.  Oh dear.

Also, the old Tomb Kings Compendium battalions are gone entirely - there's no mention of them in the new PDF, and no points listed.  I didn't use them, but still, yikes.

Edit:  A word or three.

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deynon Lord Castellant

deynon

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Posted
5 minutes ago, inunn said:

I think it’s interesting that the wight King with black axe hasn’t had this rewrite on his barrow armour rule, while both the necrosphinx and the stone horn have had this change.

they shoul have faqed the GA:D cause it's there and not on a compendium

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inunn Retributor

inunn

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Posted

Yes, that’s where I expected to see it but doesn’t seem to be there. Kind of strange that he has still has the more powerful version (not that I’m complaining!)

Maybe he’ll get an errata soon to bring him in line with the other changes

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deynon Lord Castellant

deynon

Posted
Posted
20 minutes ago, inunn said:

Yes, that’s where I expected to see it but doesn’t seem to be there. Kind of strange that he has still has the more powerful version (not that I’m complaining!)

Maybe he’ll get an errata soon to bring him in line with the other changes

let us keep some routes...

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Rob Hawkins Decimator

Rob Hawkins

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, inunn said:

I think it’s interesting that the wight King with black axe hasn’t had this rewrite on his barrow armour rule, while both the necrosphinx and the stone horn have had this change.

They probably didn't bother with it because it will get addressed in a Deathrattle Battletome.  He's only got 5 wounds anyway, and they just significantly cut down the number of things he can buff.  Go easy on the guy.  :D

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