RuneBrush Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 OK, first preview is up, so thought it made sense to have a proper thread about it: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/01/30/legions-nagash-grand-host-nagash-new-summoninggw-homepage-post-2/ Quote Nagash is one of Warhammer Age of Sigmar’s most iconic characters – a figure whose power and drive threatens even the gods of Chaos. With Nagash and his machinations taking centre stage during the Malign Portents, it was only fitting that his armies had a battletome that truly represented the horror of battling the God of Death. Legions of Nagash is more than just a battletome – it’s a reboot for Death as a whole, designed to bring them in line with modern Warhammer Age of Sigmar. The core of the army still plays as it should – endless, regenerating hordes of low-level infantry, reinforced by powerful elite units – but they have been bolstered with a range of synergies, new artefacts and abilities that open up a vast array of effective armies. We’ll be previewing the Legions of Nagash in depth every day this week, starting with the changes to summoning and the Grand Host of Nagash – a relentless allegiance that’s particularly cool for players who love Deathrattle skeletons. Summoning Firstly, summoning for Death units has been fundamentally changed in the new battletome, regardless of how you build your army. Rather than being summoned through magical means, several Death units now possess the Summonable keyword. This keyword unlocks all sorts of synergies and combos with the rest of your army, the simplest being that most Death heroes now possess an ability called Deathly Invocation. This ability heals a number of Summonable units every turn or restores lost models to the unit. Its effectiveness depends on the strength of the given Death character – Nagash, for example, affects five units, while a humble Wight King will heal two. This ability stacks, so by taking several Death Heroes, you’ll be able to render your favourite units nigh unstoppable – as if trying to chew through a horde of Grave Guard wasn’t already tricky enough! Dedicate your army to one of the Legions of Nagash, and you’ll be able to make Summonable units even more powerful with gravesites – areas of the battlefield that represent sealed tombs, long-lost barrows or just mass graves from ages past. Every Legions of Nagash army gets to place four gravesites on the table – two in their territory and two in the enemy’s. Summonable units can be set up to emerge from these gravesites later in the game, and they have a similar effect to Deathly Invocation, healing nearby units. As such, Death armies can control territory on the board more effectively than ever before – after all, the leisurely pace of a 60-strong unit of Zombies doesn’t hurt so much when you bring them onto the board 9″ away from the enemy… The Grand Host of Nagash While the other Legions use cunning, strategy or magic to win their battles, Nagash prefers to batter his foes down with raw attrition and terrifying demonstrations of power, sending wave after wave of the undead to grind his foes into submission. On the tabletop, this is represented by Legions Innumerable: Combined with gravesites and Deathly Invocation, you could see your units restored by 3D3 models every turn, if not more, making your units even more difficult for your enemies to chew through. Indeed, they’ll be forced to chase down and annihilate weakened squads, lest they be restored in later turns. If you love Deathrattle units, then you’ll find the Grand Host of Nagash the perfect allegiance. For one, you’ll be able to take Grave Guard as Battleline in the army, and for another, there are a couple of Command Traits and artefacts that specifically aid these most relentless servants of Death. Lord of Nagashizzar, for example, allows you to maximise the attacks of a nearby unit. Combine it with a nearby Wight King and a Necromancer casting Vanhel’s Danse Macabre, and you could quite easily get 162 (yes, one hundred and sixty-two) attacks out of a unit of 20 Grave Guard. A note to my erstwhile editors – my calculations here are based on a unit of 20 all getting their attacks – not implausible thanks to their small base size! The unit has 2 attacks base, plus one for the champion. This is then increased by 2 by the Wight King and the Lord of Nagashizzar ability. This brings the unit up to 81 attacks – which, attacking again with Vanhels would give you 162 attacks. WOW. The Ossific Diadem, on the other hand, provides additional durability to your Deathrattle units, stacking well with Deathless Minions to make them very hard to kill indeed. (edit: image updated) Of course, if you’re looking for some more elite units to support your horde of Skeletons, then you’ll want to pick up some Morghasts – deathly angels personally created by Nagash to persecute his will. In the Grand Host of Nagash, Morghasts gain a +1 bonus to Attacks, making them particularly effective when equipped with spirit halberds. Finally, if you’re looking for an elite way to theme your Death army, the First Cohort formation is ideal. Representing Nagash’s elite, you’ll be able to make the God of Death even more durable by allocating wounds he suffers to nearby units of Morghasts – because trying to bring down Nagash wasn’t daunting enough without help… Nagash himself will also be able to take full advantage of two new magical lores – but that is a tale for tomorrow. Come back then when we’ll be looking at the masters of Death Magic – Arkhan the Black’s Legion of Sacrament. In the meantime, Nagash is available right now – order him here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smucreo Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 As I said in the other thread, it seems they went hard on regen. I was afraid they wouldn't, which would basically mean that it would prove marginally useful and would leave us really weak to character sniping. but with all of this it looks like you can basically guarantee your tarpits stay on the battlefield for the whole game. We'll have to see how the summoning from the graves goes though, since it could still prove too slow to be useful (like it happened with Nurgle). Regardless, for now it looks like a decent buff but I still need more. Oh and I don't think the +1 attack to angels compensates for them not being summonable anymore, but we'll see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuneBrush Posted January 30, 2018 Author Share Posted January 30, 2018 A few hints on how summoning is going to work - I'm very curious as to how we represent Gravesites on the table - I'm guessing bits of the Garden of Morr? It does seem to indicate that we're not going to be able to bring summoned units onto the table from turn one - the wording also suggests that those units are placed in the gravesite during set up - effectively eliminating our summoning pool mechanic. Deathless Minions still exists, though in what form we don't yet know. We're getting two spell lores - hopefully both having 6 spells in (we should find that out tomorrow) It is worth noting that this everything on the community site is written by the community team - so might not be 100% accurate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turragor Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 I think death is gonna be fine dare I say hard as nails Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chord Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 Watching two death armies battle sounds interesting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sception Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 These allegiance abilities are good beyond anything I dared dream. I take back all my previous griping, and sincerely apologize for being such a grump for the last few days. The age of hope isn't dead. It's undead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stickybluetoffee Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 The grave sites alleviates the reliance on heroes that can be sniped a little bit, which was a big concern. This sounds good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyalDachshund Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 It's nice but still... it's just a "free" heal on 5+ and still weak heroes that can get sniped (so far). So far it's going Death is steering into "Nurgle on plaguebearers" type of "take and sit" without non-hero related damage output. But still, it is better then I've thought (which was not that hard since I've expected almost nothing) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sception Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 And legion allegiances dont require their respective chatacters to lead them, and we have new formations, and not one but two spell lores. The 5+ autohealing, which even then is restricted just to nagash's legion, isnt as big an alleviation of the hero vulnerability as four presumably unkillable static terrain pieces getting deathly invocation. That's the bit that saves the system in my eyes, especially when it comes with deployment shenanigans. And Nagash, whi didn't really need sniping protections, getting to schuffle wounds off to +1 attack archai is amazing. Between that formation and two spell lores to take advantage of with his casting bonuses, the big guy should have a field day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuneBrush Posted January 30, 2018 Author Share Posted January 30, 2018 I think gravesites are the bit that's going to really change how our armies work, allowing us a quick way into the enemy deployment zones - careful placing needed though as a cunning opponent could circle them to prevent deployment. Nagash passing wounds on appears to be part of a Battalion/formation so it's going to be one heck of a chunk of points for matched play - though if you're running Nagash why not! Should make people really worried when they see you bring him out of the carry bag! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teuchter Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 your right about the potential to be zoned out of gravesites, however in an objective based game you are making your opponent make decisions. the more decisions they have to make, the more chance they make mistakes. I would almost go as far to say that death is now able to stick 4 objectives (minor objectives) on the battlefield. I really like it. four as well! I am amazed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stickybluetoffee Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 Biggest question is how units arrive from them. If they have to be in your opponent’s territory it might not be that hard to put their units in such a way that they can’t actually be used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreas Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 Just now, stickybluetoffee said: Biggest question is how units arrive from them. If they have to be in your opponent’s territory it might not be that hard to put their units in such a way that they can’t actually be used. The opponent will spend units doing so that might not be contributing to the battle in a way that they would have liked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teuchter Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 2 minutes ago, stickybluetoffee said: Biggest question is how units arrive from them. If they have to be in your opponent’s territory it might not be that hard to put their units in such a way that they can’t actually be used. Quoting the article: " Every Legions of Nagash army gets to place four gravesites on the table – two in their territory and two in the enemy’s." I hope these grave sites are a theme across the four legions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Undeadly Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 Hm. I'll certainly say that this shows promise, and that the addition of Grave sites can certainly tip the tide in our favor, depending how they deepstrike. If they have DI, than thats even better, because thats even more wounds restored along with those returned by our Heros and the LI. Morghasts and Graveguard getting some buffs should see them becoming more favorable, especially GG since they can now be taken as BL. Infact, with the way that GG interact with DI, I think my prior theory of them becoming more common in lists might be plausible, especially in Nagash's own legions, and considering the nerfs Spirit Hosts got. 3+ save with their shield+mystic shield, 5+ Deathless minions, 4 Attacks with their swords, and than as many DI as you can cram on them, and than they attack again with VDM. 30 of them may be a hefty investment point wise, but thats a unit that will be incredibly hard to kill for good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swarmofseals Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 32 minutes ago, Sception said: These allegiance abilities are good beyond anything I dared dream. I take back all my previous griping, and sincerely apologize for being such a grump for the last few days. The age of hope isn't dead. It's undead. I really appreciate this! And yeah, this preview looks great. I still think the new healing system is a little bit of a mixed bag but on the whole it has the potential to be MUCH more powerful than the old system and it really breaths new life into Grave Guard in particular. The confirmed two new spell lores is fantastic. The power of the Lord of Nagashizzar command trait is incredible. I still think the response should be measured though as we don't have the whole picture. The rest of the book could be garbage, or it could all be this good or somewhere in between. All I can say is that I'm very excited to see what other new toys we get even if some turn out to be duds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuneBrush Posted January 30, 2018 Author Share Posted January 30, 2018 9 minutes ago, Teuchter said: Quoting the article: " Every Legions of Nagash army gets to place four gravesites on the table – two in their territory and two in the enemy’s." I hope these grave sites are a theme across the four legions Providing the article has used consistent naming (no guarantee), Legions of Nagash is the book and Grant Host of Nagash is an allegiance, so I think all 6 allegiances should get it. However without reading the actual book it's more informed speculation than anything else! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightbox Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 And just when I'd decided to focus on getting my daughter of khaine painted for the tale of ??? warlords GW go and decide to give me death hype again The fact deathly invocations from heroes is supplementing other mechanics and isn't the only mechanic on its own is really nice actually. Should help with things. I can totally see a big block of skellies or zombies arriving in the opponents deployment zone with a necromancer causing some scary shenanigans for an opponent to have to try and turn back to remove them. It will play havoc with my usual khorne opponent who likes to charge forward And be rather fun in objective games. I'm looking forward to seeing how the other legions differentiate though. And especially seeing how Soulblight are done to reflect the likely lack of summonable units. As heroes will be awkward for them if they're costed to include deathly invoc as they won't receive help from it D: so hopefully they'll have something else to make up for that. Also considering the first preview has had enough necromantic powers to revive @Sception's hype I cannot wait to see what the others bring!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teuchter Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 I think your right on that, but what I failed to eloquently put across is that I hope that the other legions get as many grave sites. I am typing too excited. Fingers are quicker than the mind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teuchter Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 I just kind of committed to finishing off my Sylvaneth. However I more or less have 2k points there. Painting it may have to wait. I have a battleforce: Blades of the blood queen box begging to be assembled! Unless there is a way to summon Morghasts in this book I think that Archai seem like the way to go now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tittliewinks22 Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 Deathless Minion still a thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamopower Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 So I guess that the grave sites will be marker sized as they would need to release a terrain piece for it and the Garden of Morr is bit too big to have four of them on the table.. I luckily have some nice resin gravestones in my bitzbox that get to a good use now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stickybluetoffee Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 So the grave sites are fairly small, judging by the 4 coffin-shaped markers you’ll get with the Warscroll cards (just got WD). It might be 4 on one bit of card from the set but even that won’t be big. Easy to make some real terrain pieces out of Zombie and Spirit Host gravestones I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sception Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 Im expecting grave sites to be tokens, yeah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skrekkugle Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 Looks pretty cool so far! Now I just hope I can use my ghosts with my skellies without losing out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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