AoS 2 - Slaves to Darkness / Darkoath Discussion

[TheVenerableBede]

Those points 😯 

How can Chaos Lord on Daemonic mount cost 180?

No max unit discounts anywhere? 

Methinks it's maybe to put a barrier up for people thinking of taking them for their god allegiance armies.

[Oceanic_Eyes]

Soul Grinders at 210 and still the same warscroll wise? Actually really tempting.

[Thalassic Monstrosity]

4 hours ago, Maier666 said:

Can anyone make out the Path to Glory tables? I cant read them proper from the GMG review and want to know what I have to paint first

I'm also curious to know.

[Infernalslayer]

So Spire Tyrants are basically close to what the old marauder warscroll was, but unmarkable out of Slaves to Darkness and in minimum units sizes of 9.

From the GMG review if i read the blurry text of the warscroll correctly:

Spire Tyrants - 9 models for 70 points

1 Wound  / 6" Move/ 5+ Save / 5 Bravery

Weapons:  1" Range / 1 Attack/  4+ to Hit / 4+ to Wound / No Rend / 1 Damage

Pit Champion is one in 9 models and gets +2 attacks

Headclaimer is 1 in 9 models and gets +1 Damage

Bestigor Desroyer is 1 in 9 models and gets +2 Attacks

 

Abilities: You can add 1 to hit rolls for attacks if the unit charged in the same turn.

 

No reason to take these over Marauders i think, and i loved the sculpts

Edited December 7, 2019 by Infernalslayer

[The Cranky Dwarf]

Hey can someone give me a quick clarification. Is the mark of chaos khorne mark different from the khorne keyword that bloodbound have? Aka will my bloodsecrators work on my chaos warriors?

[mmimzie]

Ruinbringer warband battalion looking like a pretty good core for any slaves army. 

with 4 min squads of maurder horsemen squads and your lord. Thats ~5 d3 mortal wound on the charge, on top of javalin damage. All happening before any combats are selected.  Also that extra CP (which we will be struggling to get, atleast what i've seen of cabalites, ravagers and despoilers) and artifact won't be too bad. 

[Skavelynn]

2 hours ago, TheHarrower said:

I compiled the points. Some of this was hard to read. I know varangard can be battleline, but I'm not sure what the stipulations are. Daemon Prince is great, but at 210 points he is asking for a lot.

Yeesh, those are a lot of points. 😅 The warscrolls are not really a huge improvement over the old ones, so I'm surprised everything was increased this much.

Overall the army seems to have a lot of tanky options and good buff/debuff spells and command abilities, but not really any damage. For example, there's a lot of abilities that let us reroll failed hit and wound rolls, but it becomes a lot less glamorous when you realize most of our models only have 1-3 attacks without rend or multiple damage.

I feel like these units might be better off in another chaos god allegiance rather than slaves to darkness (I know Archaon will be seeing a lot of play in Slaanesh), or with allies that can provide some killing power. Teleporting auto-charge marauders sounds fun though 😄

[Kramer]

With the cards I ordered the gaunt summoner on foot. Because it came back in stock yesterday. Am I correct in understanding I now have to find a disc somewhere 😂

[Charleston]

Thoose point costs are...wow. Actually a lot of thoose units needed some additional decreases beside of the buffs from my experience. Warriors should have stayed, althrough the comparsion with liberators makes it somehow justified. Knights beeing upped 20 for 5 is really ouch. Also the Sorcerer on Manticore is not worth this 60pts increase in any scenario so far.

Yet, the hidden gems are the legions. I already love the despoilers and actually they explain the DP price quite a lot. 5+ aftersave, Regen of D3 on a 4+, ability to hide within terrain, bigger auras and also some nice utility spells to teleport them around.

Cabalist also have potential for a really sick list. Gaunt summoner for 10 Horrors to set them up further away and then to spam some endless spells (especially as any included in an upcoming tzeentch tome could be cast that way, too), Splintered Fang for the Bindings as they get some models back and some neat Endless Spells to move around.

Edited December 7, 2019 by Charleston

[ArcaneLore74]

Any news on the chaos war mammoth?

[Sinfullyvannila]

1 hour ago, Kramer said:

With the cards I ordered the gaunt summoner on foot. Because it came back in stock yesterday. Am I correct in understanding I now have to find a disc somewhere 😂

There are two distinct models but perhaps you can find some Tzaangor Enlightened/Skyfire bits or 1k Sons Sorcerer bits.

[smartazjb0y]

3 hours ago, The Cranky Dwarf said:

Hey can someone give me a quick clarification. Is the mark of chaos khorne mark different from the khorne keyword that bloodbound have? Aka will my bloodsecrators work on my chaos warriors?

Yep when you Mark, those units act as if they have the Khorne keyword so things like the Bloodsecrator abilities will work on them 

[Charleston]

21 minutes ago, ArcaneLore74 said:

Any news on the chaos war mammoth?

What news do you want to hear?
It is an Forgeworld Model that is removed from the Forgeworld Range since a longer time.

As it is a Forge World Model, it is not included in the Battletome. The only source of rules I know of is the Monstrous Arcanum  (page 7) and the AoS App. The odds are on GW dropping that Warscroll from the App one day. So far we have no sign of FW doing anything in the future with AoS beside slowly removing models from the range(see: Fimir mourn thread).

[Kramer]

52 minutes ago, Sinfullyvannila said:

There are two distinct models but perhaps you can find some Tzaangor Enlightened/Skyfire bits or 1k Sons Sorcerer bits.

Yeah I know. Mainly ordered him for the silver tower game I got model less. Bit being dismissed as an option for my std feels harsh 😂

[JackStreicher]

1 hour ago, Charleston said:

What news do you want to hear?
It is an Forgeworld Model that is removed from the Forgeworld Range since a longer time.

As it is a Forge World Model, it is not included in the Battletome. The only source of rules I know of is the Monstrous Arcanum  (page 7) and the AoS App. The odds are on GW dropping that Warscroll from the App one day. So far we have no sign of FW doing anything in the future with AoS beside slowly removing models from the range(see: Fimir mourn thread).

Yup, at least it is legal to play it for now ^^

[HollowHills]

1 hour ago, Charleston said:

Sorcerer on Manticore

Probably has the best horde killing spell in aos at the moment. 

[Charleston]

Just now, HollowHills said:

Probably has the best horde killing spell in aos at the moment. 

Yeah, you are right! I didn´t take his signature spell into account. Thanks for pointing out!

[Asamu]

9 hours ago, mmimzie said:

We are gonna have a tough time getting CP i feel. Didn't see anything to let us farm up CP, harder on ravagers as likely you'll only be using that ability more toward the end of the game. 

After toying around with list building some, it's really not that bad actually. There's not a lot of pressure to dump a ton of command points outside of niche lists, since most of the important abilities are from other things like spells or warshrine prayers.

You can get a battalion, spend 50 points on an extra CP, and run Hysh for the 5+ CP generation if you feel like you need it. For Ravagers, that might be worth doing, but one of the heroes in a ravagers list can take a trait to use one of the 3 basic command abilities each turn (turn, not round, so he could inspiring presence every battleshock phase), which should make managing points quite a bit easier. Unless you're doing something like the teleporting marauder list below and spamming that nurgle DP command ability, you don't need that many.

Despoilers have it easier with the +d3 command point artefact if you really want more CP.

 

A couple of potential lists:

Cabalists from Hysh:

Daemon Prince - Nurgle, Aetherquartz Brooch

Sorcerer Lord x3 - all nurgle, 1 general w/ mighty ritualist trait and 1 w/ black Athame to guarantee first ritual. Spells are Mask of Darkness, Binding Damnation, and Whispers of Chaos.

Lord of Blights - for the command ability (Likely better to drop for extra endless spells or to drop alongside a sorc lord for a Gaunt Summoner or Sorc lord on manticore)

Warshrine (nurgle)

40 Chaos Marauders x2 - Nurgle ~25/15 Axes/flails for each unit

20 Chaos Marauders - Nurgle, all axes?

5 Marauder Horsemen - Nurgle - to go for objectives and fill the last spot in the Plaguetouched warband

Plaguetouched Warband

Extra command point

80 points of endless spells - probably Soulscream bridge for more Teleporting.

Comes out to 2000 points.

111 models, 152 wounds, 3 drops.

Marauders put out ~45 wounds at rend -1 on average with re-rolls to hit and wound if all 40 are attacking (reason for the ~15 flails, since it's hard to get all 40 within 1" of something), which is respectable, and enemy units suffer potentially multiple d3 mortal wounds for every 6 to hit them (1d3 for each use of the nurgle DP command ability), and an additional mortal wound for every 6 to wound them.

Reasonably high odds of 40 marauders being successfully teleported 9" away from the enemy and successfully charging (97.22" chance to make the charge - anything but snake eyes does it), to pin them in and force them to take damage on it. Potential -1 to be hit/-2 to be hit from shooting  (-3 if wholly in 12" of the general for the aura), and re-rollable 4+ saves on that unit of 40 marauders.

 

Khorne Attack stacking list:

Ravagers from Hysh:

Chaos Lord, Unquestioned resolve; Artefact: Mark of the high favored

Chaos Lord, master of deception, Artefact: Aetherquartz Brooch? - May not be needed

2 Darkoath Chieftains, Eternal Vendetta/Flames of Spite

Sorc Lord - General, Bolstered by hate Spell: Binding damnation (general because the general changes every turn, and the first turn is when you care the least about the bonus)

Bloodsecrator

Warshrine x2? - not 100% on 2 warshrines here, but re-rolls to hit and wound is an extremely powerful buff.

2x 40 marauders

1x 20 marauders

Eightfold Doom-Sigil

Extra Command Point

Bloodmarked Warband - everything that can be marked khorne is so it can go in the battalion

Potential +3 attacks on units from a combination of the bloodsecrator, eightfold doom sigil, and the battalion bonus, with units often being able to either fight twice, or strike even if slain first (could go to +4 with wrathmongers...). 40 Marauders with the full set of buffs + Full re-rolls to hit and wound put out ~150 damage in a round if all 40 are attacking. If only 30 are swinging, and 10 of those have flails (10 contact+2 ranks behind due to 2" reach on flails), that's still up to ~114 damage at -1 rend. Of course, this is more fragile than the nurgle list to shooting and isn't as mobile.

Might be worth running 5x20 marauders instead of 40/40/20, or maybe slotting something else into the list, but I'm finding it hard to top marauders mathematically in the army with the practically guaranteed 9" charges and decent-good hitting power for the price point with probably the most benefit from buffs. Cabalists are neat for back line objective holding, but not being able to put marks on them takes away a lot of potential buffs.

3 drops, 108 modes, 162 wounds. + more marauders and/or some marauder cav each turn throughout the game. Putting up to another 50 bodies on the table mucking up your opponent's plans and taking objective is pretty nice.

[sal4m4nd3r]

Bloated blessings is to strong to be allowed to make it through the faq. Just make it 1 mortal wound on unmodified 6 to hit back to the unit. Still great! And so much synergy with the battalion which does the same thing on the wound roll..(blowback 1 mortal wound)

[dirkdragonslayer]

9 hours ago, Infernalslayer said:

So Spire Tyrants are basically close to what the old marauder warscroll was, but unmarkable out of Slaves to Darkness and in minimum units sizes of 9.

From the GMG review if i read the blurry text of the warscroll correctly:

Spire Tyrants - 9 models for 70 points

1 Wound  / 6" Move/ 5+ Save / 5 Bravery

Weapons:  1" Range / 1 Attack/  4+ to Hit / 4+ to Wound / No Rend / 1 Damage

Pit Champion is one in 9 models and gets +2 attacks

Headclaimer is 1 in 9 models and gets +1 Damage

Bestigor Desroyer is 1 in 9 models and gets +2 Attacks

 

Abilities: You can add 1 to hit rolls for attacks if the unit charged in the same turn.

 

No reason to take these over Marauders i think, and i loved the sculpts

Combined with the Darkoath Warqueen giving them +3 to Charge sound good. Almost guaranteed to get that +1 to hit. I like that marauders and the Warcry cultists are more than just meat shields. Makes me want to see an army of cultists and giant monsters.

I like the Exalted Hero of Chaos models (stupid sexy Wulfrik) but stat-wise they seem... Unreliable? D6 attacks with 1 damage seems easy to whiff and fail to kill a little goblin Loonboss, and the army has so many duelists already. Maybe with a charge to get the double attack and some good rolls on the D6 attacks he will be good. I just feel like I am missing something. Both the Warqueen and Darkoath Chieftain have a better capacity to deal damage and support marauders.

Maybe Wulfrik was secretly a Warqueen all along.

[dirkdragonslayer]

18 hours ago, GeneralZero said:

Well, for marauders, I think that the best fits are:

- bloodreavers with marauder-like shields

- Kairic Acolytes  (but change shields or heads)

Bloodreavers with marauder shields is the best bet I feel. Kairics look too tzeentch-y, unless you are doing a Tzeentch marked army. Bloodreavers are just nicer looking marauders with a passion for skulls. Cut off any khorne pendants, maybe sculpt over some Khorne armor emblems with greenstuff to make neutral-looking armor plates, etc. Spare shields can be found on Ebay, sourced from Skeletons, Marauders, Marauder Horsemen, and Ungors. You could also make your own shields, but that is hard.

[Thalassic Monstrosity]

38 minutes ago, dirkdragonslayer said:

Combined with the Darkoath Warqueen giving them +3 to Charge sound good. Almost guaranteed to get that +1 to hit. I like that marauders and the Warcry cultists are more than just meat shields. Makes me want to see an army of cultists and giant monsters.

I like the Exalted Hero of Chaos models (stupid sexy Wulfrik) but stat-wise they seem... Unreliable? D6 attacks with 1 damage seems easy to whiff and fail to kill a little goblin Loonboss, and the army has so many duelists already. Maybe with a charge to get the double attack and some good rolls on the D6 attacks he will be good. I just feel like I am missing something. Both the Warqueen and Darkoath Chieftain have a better capacity to deal damage and support marauders.

Maybe Wulfrik was secretly a Warqueen all along.

I plan on doing an all-Marauder, Cultist, and monster list. Don't plan on using any models in chaos armor. Pray for me.

The Warqueen buff is interesting and it certainly makes me more pleased than I was for Spire Tyrants. I was pretty uninspired at first.

I support Wulfrik's transition. You go, queen. Warqueen.

[dirkdragonslayer]

3 minutes ago, Thalassic Monstrosity said:

I plan on doing an all-Marauder, Cultist, and monster list. Don't plan on using any models in chaos armor. Pray for me.

The Warqueen buff is interesting and it certainly makes me more pleased than I was for Spire Tyrants. I was pretty uninspired at first.

I support Wulfrik's transition. You go, queen. Warqueen.

You go, queen.

I have enough projects on my table (Orks, Gloomspite, Thousand Sons, etc) to start Slaves to Darkness, but if I was going to do it, I would also go marauder heavy. All the Darkoath and Warcry models look fantastic, and I like the idea of the tide of marauders supported by the mutated beasts of Chaos. Iron Golems look especially good with that 4+ save, high bravery (for their role), full save rerolls if standing still, and cheaper than marauders for the same wounds. I am not good at this game, but I feel they would be difficult to move off an objective for their price.

[mmimzie]

2 hours ago, Asamu said:

After toying around with list building some, it's really not that bad actually. There's not a lot of pressure to dump a ton of command points outside of niche lists, since most of the important abilities are from other things like spells or warshrine prayers.

You can get a battalion, spend 50 points on an extra CP, and run Hysh for the 5+ CP generation if you feel like you need it. For Ravagers, that might be worth doing, but one of the heroes in a ravagers list can take a trait to use one of the 3 basic command abilities each turn (turn, not round, so he could inspiring presence every battleshock phase), which should make managing points quite a bit easier. Unless you're doing something like the teleporting marauder list below and spamming that nurgle DP command ability, you don't need that many.

Despoilers have it easier with the +d3 command point artefact if you really want more CP.

i guess i'm mostly looking at ravagers as they seem quite CP hungry.  You wanna drop that CA every turn. Then ravagers have some really strong CAs as well like the darkoath chieftan lets stuff like splintered fang take a charge and swing back with every model in the unit, potentially rerolling everything fishing for 6s with sorc help. Or the chaos lords ability letting units swing twice, and again when combined with a spell lets you swing 2 times before your enemy swings one time. 

Though as you say for ravagers i'm thing battalion, buy cp, and the hysh artifact is definitly the way to go. 

45 minutes ago, Thalassic Monstrosity said:

I plan on doing an all-Marauder, Cultist, and monster list. Don't plan on using any models in chaos armor. Pray for me

i'm going for same. 

Darkoath Warqueen
Darkoath Chieftain
Chaos Lord
Gaunt Summoner
Sorcerer Lord (mark of nurgle general)
Chaos Lord on Daemonic Mount (Mark of slannesh)

5 Marauder Horsemen (mark of slannesh)
5 Marauder Horsemen (mark of slannesh)
5 Marauder Horsemen (mark of slannesh)
5 Marauder Horsemen (mark of slannesh)

40 Splintered Fang
38 Unmade

Eightfold Star

Ruinbringer Warband

Bonus CP

Total: 1980

I think the rinbringer warband is great with a spam on marauders as you can charge all 5 units in for a bunch of free mortal wounds, if you toe touch one unit.  A argument can be made for the lizard to make for a more smashy hero as he'll have 2d3 mortal wound charges. 

Splintered fang work great as a big screen that can attack back really hard when supported with a Darkoath Chieftain. Even more so if they get buffed by the start, they'll kill most things that kill them, and worse with sorcerer buff. 

Unmade are blendy with chaos lord support and sorcerer lord support. 

Only downside is mabye i want a 2nd unmade or splintered fang unit. 
 

[The Cranky Dwarf]

 Quick question lads, since you cant mark darkoath heros, they dont have the aura correct? meaning the aura would be why you'd take the hero of chaos. or am i reading that wrong?