Stormcast Battletome Revamp Project

[SleeperAgent]

6 hours ago, PJetski said:

3rd update! https://imgur.com/a/zdDQQ8J

Major changes since the last update:

• Shock and Awe updated
• Knight-Vexillor updated
• Lord-Relictor now has the TOTEM keyword
• Prayers updated
• Treasured Standards updated
• Mystic Lights updated
• Celestial Staves updated
• More mount trait updates
• Lord-Veritant can now dispel, and has +3 to dispel an endless spell near a gryph hound
• Lord of the Host is now a command ability known by every Lord-Celestant
  • "Once per turn, if this model is your general, you can use this command ability at the start of the hero phase. Until the start of your next hero phase, add 1 to save rolls for friendly STORMCAST ETERNAL units while they are wholly within 18" of this model."
• Lord-Celestant on Dracoths command ability has been changed to Shield Wall
  • "You can use this command ability at the start of the movement phase. If you do, pick any number of friendly STORMCAST ETERNAL units wholly within 18" of this model. Until the start of your next movement phase, the picked units cannot run or declare a charge, but they can re-roll save rolls of 1. If a unit already has an ability or effect that allows them to re-roll save rolls of 1, they can instead re-roll all save rolls."
• Lord-Celestant on Dracoth has a new ability:
  • If this model is your general and on the battlefield at the start of your hero phase, gain 1 additional command point.
• New named character: Lord Victrian Cyrocco, Lord-Celestant of the Royal Victrian Chamber of the Tempest Lords
• Small point tweaks (Judicators, Gryph-Hounds, Dracolines, Castigators, Lord Celestant on Dracoth)

Let me know what you think!

I think keeping Shock and Awe as it is would be the better road. Then give SCE a few more way to setup units. They should have a spell that teleports, since everyone else seems to have one now.

I love the mount trait for Stardrakes that makes it always be 0 for the table. Maybe they should also be able to redeploy at will. I mean 500 is a lot of points for what it currently does. Giving it the every turn Shock and Awe is fitting and competitive.

[Juicy]

I feel retributors with rend -2 and mortal wounds. Are to good compared to decimators and protectors. The rend -2 makes to other paladins to bad even when being cheaper. Not sure how to improve the other 2. Mayb give protecters an extra wound and Decimators an easier to wound roll or something like that

[OkayestDM]

A thought concerning the Lord-Castellant. It would be a break from the normal AoS game conventions, but what if his lantern caused unmodified saves of 6 to count as 2 successful saves instead of 1?

[Lucur]

On 1/6/2020 at 1:13 AM, OkayestDM said:

A thought concerning the Lord-Castellant. It would be a break from the normal AoS game conventions, but what if his lantern caused unmodified saves of 6 to count as 2 successful saves instead of 1?

Quick headmaths says that would statistically be equal to +1 save against large numbers of wounds, even better against 2-5 wounds and only be worse against single wounds suffered. It also seems like a really clunky mechanic to me (no offense intended).

[OkayestDM]

1 minute ago, Lucur said:

Quick headmaths says that would statistically be equal to +1 save against large numbers of wounds, even better against 2-5 wounds and only be worse against single wounds suffered. It also seems like a really clunky mechanic to me (no offense intended).

None taken!  I figured it was similar to unmodified hits of 6 becoming 2 hits.

I didn't do the math myself, but the fact that it would do significantly better against lots of attacks was part of the idea, making the Stormcast smaller elite units more resilient against hordes, and also mitigating high rend attacks against the buffed unit.

Still, a flat +1 to save is definitely easier and more straightforward to manage.

[PJetski]

March 2020 Update: https://imgur.com/a/tCyMsVJ

My two main goals with this update are:

1. Inject more flavour into each of the Stormhosts. I'm trying to think of answers to questions like "How does each Stormhost approach a battle? What are their favoured units? Who are their leaders?"

Please look over the Stormhosts with fresh eyes and let me know what you think!

• Hammers of Sigmar
  • They take a general approach to war since they don't favour any one aspect, instead focused on defense and rapid reinforcement. 
  • They are the only Stormhost to add more units to the table.
  • The God-forged Blade is a very powerful offensive artefact, and it creates a story where a chosen champion gets the killing blow while his army holds back the tide of enemies.
• The Hallowed Knights
  • Their faith gives them purity against foul sorceries. This is reflected in their battle trait that allows them to ignore spells.
  • The Hallowed Knights are the holy crusade of Sigmar, boisterous and inspiring, heralding the end of Chaos and a return to Order. This stormhost should utilize many Priests and prayers.
  • Sacrifice empowers their allies, and this is reflected in the Command Ability. Martyr's Strength creates a story where a unit is slain, but before they are sent back to Azyr a portion of their power is captured by a nearby PRIEST and transferred to another unit.
• Celestial Vindicators 
  • Controlled rage unleashed at the right moment. Celestial Vindicators are the de-facto melee stormhost, and their current rules reflect it well.
  • This stormhost wants to use units with multiple weapon profiles, powerful weapons with low attack values, fast units that can get the charge off, and strong melee heroes
  • I have only made minor improvements to this Stormhost, since I think they already have a good niche carved out for themselves.
• Anvils of the Heldenhammer
  • Anvils are ancient, ordered, and grim stormhost. They focus on morale effects and improve the power of larger units. 
  • This is the only stormhost that can shoot twice, and although they can fight in the hero phase it's not as useful as being able to fight twice in the combat phase after moving and charging into the position you want
  • The previous version of Deathly Aura forcing enemies to take battleshock tests was an unintuitive mechanic, so instead it reduces enemy bravery by 2
• Knights Excelsior
  • Relentless, merciless, uncompromising
  • This stormhost favours overwhelming force that leaves nothing to chance. This is reflected in their Storm of Annihilation battle trait and their No Mercy command ability.
  • Their leaders are are jailers and executioners, reflected in Divine Executioner command trait and Chains of Celestial Lightning, an artefact that prevents all nearby enemies from retreating.
  • This is the only stormhost that can fight twice in the combat phase
• Celestial Warbringers
  • Celestial Warbringers should really want to use a lot of Wizards and Priests, as they are more attuned to the spiritual visions they receive, and the visions should define their gameplay. 
  • Fearless Foresight now works in every phase rather than every turn, but it can only be used by a WIZARD or PRIEST unit
  • Portents and Omens has been made more powerful, but also has a higher casting value
    • "Portents and Omens has a casting value of 8. If successfully cast, subtract 1 from attacks that target friendly CELESTIAL WARBRINGERS units wholly within 18" of the caster."
  • Tome of Augury also teaches the bearer every spell from both Lores
• Tempest Lords
  • The Tempest Lords are masters of combined combat, never dedicated to any single engagement, always able to slip away and reinforce another part of the battlefield. This is reflected in their immensely powerful Grand Strategists battle trait that allows them to shoot and charge even if they ran or retreated. 
  • The Tempest Lords should favour units that can both shoot and fight, like Dracoths and Prosecutors. They want to shoot from the edge of combat and then dive in for the kill. This is reflected in Rousing Oratory, providing a boost to shooting hit rolls and combat wound rolls.
  • Their leaders are heavenly nobles and master tacticians. The Patricians Helm allows the use of a command ability for free every phase, while the command trait provides a significant accuracy boost for a mounted hero but only while they stay near their allies.
• Astral Templars
  • Battle Trait now better reflects the survival and tracking skills of the Astral Templars as a Stormhost from Ghur, and pushes the idea that they will utilize many mounted units (Dracoths, Palladors, Dracolines, etc.)
  • Their leaders are experienced hunters, slayers of the most dangerous beasts in the realm (or a just regular beast in Ghur)
  • +1 hit against MONSTER was either too powerful or completely useless. I have changed it to activate against any unit with 8 or more wounds. To limit its power I have changed from a passive ability into a Command Trait aura

2. Make Lord of the Host (+1 save to army) accessible to all Stormcast generals rather than just Lord-Celestant generals. Is it overpowered to give Stormcast +1 to save? I don't know. For the number of wounds and their point costs, it seems like Stormcast units need to be more durable than a 4+ save.

Other changes since the last update:

• All Lords with 5 wounds now have 6 wounds
• All mounted Lords with 7 wounds now have 8 wounds (Vandus has 9)
• Lord-Celestant on Dracoth - Shield Wall command ability now allows you to re-roll all saves but those units cannot retreat, run, or charge.
• Stardrake Great Claws now deal 3 damage instead of D3. 6 attacks at 3 damage... yup!
• Lord-Relictor's Relic Hammer does D3 damage instead of 1
• Lord-Veritant's Judgement Blade does 3 damage instead of 2
• Knight-Azyros' Starblade does D3 damage instead of 1
• Strife-Ender now adds 2 attacks, or 3 vs CHAOS
• Obsidian Blade improved Rend by 2 instead of 1
• Spellshield reworded: "Once per turn the bearer can attempt to unbind and dispel one spell in the same manner as a WIZARD. Add 2 to an unbinding roll or dispel roll made in this way."

[jhamslam]

On 3/19/2020 at 10:25 AM, PJetski said:

March 2020 Update: https://imgur.com/a/tCyMsVJ

My two main goals with this update are:

1. Inject more flavour into each of the Stormhosts. I'm trying to think of answers to questions like "How does each Stormhost approach a battle? What are their favoured units? Who are their leaders?"

Please look over the Stormhosts with fresh eyes and let me know what you think!

• Hammers of Sigmar
  • They take a general approach to war since they don't favour any one aspect, instead focused on defense and rapid reinforcement. 
  • They are the only Stormhost to add more units to the table.
  • The God-forged Blade is a very powerful offensive artefact, and it creates a story where a chosen champion gets the killing blow while his army holds back the tide of enemies.
• The Hallowed Knights
  • Their faith gives them purity against foul sorceries. This is reflected in their battle trait that allows them to ignore spells.
  • The Hallowed Knights are the holy crusade of Sigmar, boisterous and inspiring, heralding the end of Chaos and a return to Order. This stormhost should utilize many Priests and prayers.
  • Sacrifice empowers their allies, and this is reflected in the Command Ability. Martyr's Strength creates a story where a unit is slain, but before they are sent back to Azyr a portion of their power is captured by a nearby PRIEST and transferred to another unit.
• Celestial Vindicators 
  • Controlled rage unleashed at the right moment. Celestial Vindicators are the de-facto melee stormhost, and their current rules reflect it well.
  • This stormhost wants to use units with multiple weapon profiles, powerful weapons with low attack values, fast units that can get the charge off, and strong melee heroes
  • I have only made minor improvements to this Stormhost, since I think they already have a good niche carved out for themselves.
• Anvils of the Heldenhammer
  • Anvils are ancient, ordered, and grim stormhost. They focus on morale effects and improve the power of larger units. 
  • This is the only stormhost that can shoot twice, and although they can fight in the hero phase it's not as useful as being able to fight twice in the combat phase after moving and charging into the position you want
  • The previous version of Deathly Aura forcing enemies to take battleshock tests was an unintuitive mechanic, so instead it reduces enemy bravery by 2
• Knights Excelsior
  • Relentless, merciless, uncompromising
  • This stormhost favours overwhelming force that leaves nothing to chance. This is reflected in their Storm of Annihilation battle trait and their No Mercy command ability.
  • Their leaders are are jailers and executioners, reflected in Divine Executioner command trait and Chains of Celestial Lightning, an artefact that prevents all nearby enemies from retreating.
  • This is the only stormhost that can fight twice in the combat phase
• Celestial Warbringers
  • Celestial Warbringers should really want to use a lot of Wizards and Priests, as they are more attuned to the spiritual visions they receive, and the visions should define their gameplay. 
  • Fearless Foresight now works in every phase rather than every turn, but it can only be used by a WIZARD or PRIEST unit
  • Portents and Omens has been made more powerful, but also has a higher casting value
    • "Portents and Omens has a casting value of 8. If successfully cast, subtract 1 from attacks that target friendly CELESTIAL WARBRINGERS units wholly within 18" of the caster."
  • Tome of Augury also teaches the bearer every spell from both Lores
• Tempest Lords
  • The Tempest Lords are masters of combined combat, never dedicated to any single engagement, always able to slip away and reinforce another part of the battlefield. This is reflected in their immensely powerful Grand Strategists battle trait that allows them to shoot and charge even if they ran or retreated. 
  • The Tempest Lords should favour units that can both shoot and fight, like Dracoths and Prosecutors. They want to shoot from the edge of combat and then dive in for the kill. This is reflected in Rousing Oratory, providing a boost to shooting hit rolls and combat wound rolls.
  • Their leaders are heavenly nobles and master tacticians. The Patricians Helm allows the use of a command ability for free every phase, while the command trait provides a significant accuracy boost for a mounted hero but only while they stay near their allies.
• Astral Templars
  • Battle Trait now better reflects the survival and tracking skills of the Astral Templars as a Stormhost from Ghur, and pushes the idea that they will utilize many mounted units (Dracoths, Palladors, Dracolines, etc.)
  • Their leaders are experienced hunters, slayers of the most dangerous beasts in the realm (or a just regular beast in Ghur)
  • +1 hit against MONSTER was either too powerful or completely useless. I have changed it to activate against any unit with 8 or more wounds. To limit its power I have changed from a passive ability into a Command Trait aura

2. Make Lord of the Host (+1 save to army) accessible to all Stormcast generals rather than just Lord-Celestant generals. Is it overpowered to give Stormcast +1 to save? I don't know. For the number of wounds and their point costs, it seems like Stormcast units need to be more durable than a 4+ save.

Other changes since the last update:

• All Lords with 5 wounds now have 6 wounds
• All mounted Lords with 7 wounds now have 8 wounds (Vandus has 9)
• Lord-Celestant on Dracoth - Shield Wall command ability now allows you to re-roll all saves but those units cannot retreat, run, or charge.
• Stardrake Great Claws now deal 3 damage instead of D3. 6 attacks at 3 damage... yup!
• Lord-Relictor's Relic Hammer does D3 damage instead of 1
• Lord-Veritant's Judgement Blade does 3 damage instead of 2
• Knight-Azyros' Starblade does D3 damage instead of 1
• Strife-Ender now adds 2 attacks, or 3 vs CHAOS
• Obsidian Blade improved Rend by 2 instead of 1
• Spellshield reworded: "Once per turn the bearer can attempt to unbind and dispel one spell in the same manner as a WIZARD. Add 2 to an unbinding roll or dispel roll made in this way."

Are you sending these to the aosfaq email or whatever, this might actually catch their eye if enough of us do

[PJetski]

On 3/23/2020 at 7:08 PM, jhamslam said:

Are you sending these to the aosfaq email or whatever, this might actually catch their eye if enough of us do

I wouldn't even know where to send it, or if they would even bother reading it? 

[jhamslam]

28 minutes ago, PJetski said:

I wouldn't even know where to send it, or if they would even bother reading it? 

So ive heard this from GW people, judges at LVO, even local GW store owners. They do read that stuff.

Like it has to be in volume enough though, its how they "see" what to nerf or buff.

Go look at every faq, they do tell you where to post feedback or errata questions and the like, i dont remember the exact one, but ill be sending this to them tomorrow morning, ill edit this post to add the email link for them

Edited March 26, 2020 by jhamslam

[azdimy]

Interresting changes. I personnally would like to see subfactions within a stormhost similar to the seraphon battletome. Maybe chamber specific allegiance abilities although I m worried that our force get split into 3 or more but it s not like gw has not done that before 

Edited March 28, 2020 by azdimy

[CommissarRotke]

On 3/26/2020 at 12:43 AM, jhamslam said:

So ive heard this from GW people, judges at LVO, even local GW store owners. They do read that stuff.

Like it has to be in volume enough though, its how they "see" what to nerf or buff.

Go look at every faq, they do tell you where to post feedback or errata questions and the like, i dont remember the exact one, but ill be sending this to them tomorrow morning, ill edit this post to add the email link for them

so what's this email then? can we organize a Stormcast board email zap 😅

[Juicy]

Loving this project but i think the paladins do need a bit more work. Atm retributers are better then both protectors and Decimators by a lot. Even in there role. Giving retributors -2 rend makes that gab even bigger. It would be nice to see protectors do some more damage since they should carve trough frontlines and decimators get a damage of 2 aswell.  I would love a passive staunch defender on libs. Rest looks fine

[jhamslam]

6 hours ago, CommissarRotke said:

so what's this email then? can we organize a Stormcast board email zap 😅

This is it. 

aosfaq@gwplc.com

[PJetski]

18 hours ago, Juicy said:

Loving this project but i think the paladins do need a bit more work. Atm retributers are better then both protectors and Decimators by a lot. Even in there role. Giving retributors -2 rend makes that gab even bigger. It would be nice to see protectors do some more damage since they should carve trough frontlines and decimators get a damage of 2 aswell.  I would love a passive staunch defender on libs. Rest looks fine

Protectors give nearby units cover and deal bonus damage to MONSTERs. Decimators are horde killers and also increase battleshock results (this is really good in Anvils).

All Retributors do is swing their hammers so if they did equal damage to the other two kinds of Paladins then you would never use a Retributor. 

[Juicy]

yeah but the cover is only good with heroes with them atm. And the extra damage vs monsters is worse then the amount of damage a retributor does. Cause d6 damage on a 6 with rend -1 does nothing with the monsters we facing these days. As for decimaters they play decent but still have a low damage output again vs most units retributors doing more damage. I play all 3 a lot and its just what it is. 

[feraxil]

I would really like to see a quality of life improvement to my favorite good bois, Gryph-Chargers. 

Aetheric strike, when triggered, deals a mortal wound and ends the attack sequence. I believe this should be in addition to regular damage instead. 

I also believe they should have auto 6 to run rolls. 

[Khadral]

On 3/27/2020 at 1:48 PM, azdimy said:

Interresting changes. I personnally would like to see subfactions within a stormhost similar to the seraphon battletome. Maybe chamber specific allegiance abilities although I m worried that our force get split into 3 or more but it s not like gw has not done that before 

It could just be some minor improvement on shock and awe if your army is chamber specific, thematically related to the main flavor of the chamber. 

Maybe something like sacrosant can cast a spell like it is the hero phase if they did not already cast , vanguard can be set up 6" instead of 9", warrior get an invulnerability save of 6+, extremis can reroll wound rolls (roughly, i do not pretend these are balanced effect, it's just to give an idea of what i mean for "thematically related". and probably extremis need something different)

[OkayestDM]

Out of curiosity, has anybody had the opportunity to playtest these rules? I know Covid hasn't exactly created an ideal environment, but I'd love to hear how this plays.

[Andrethegreat]

Why no up dates for Hunters?

 

[PJetski]

On 1/19/2021 at 4:59 PM, Andrethegreat said:

Why no up dates for Hunters?

They were made indirectly stronger:

1. They are very good in Tempest Lords since they can both shoot and fight

2. They fill a Vanguard Angelos Conclave battalion (which now has a much stronger ability than it did before)

3. They fill a Soulstrike Brotherhood (which is much stronger with the changes to Castigators)

4. They are only 100p for 5 

I don't see Hunters as anything more than a skirmishing/scouting unit that can sometimes fill battleline requirements. What kind of changes would you like to see?

[Mattrulesok]

I'd love to see an update for Prosecutors, they look to me like they should be the most elite of units, instead they're basically scouting/screening units. I'd like to see them become something like this. 

Around 270 points for 3.

[Evantas]

5 hours ago, PJetski said:

They were made indirectly stronger:

1. They are very good in Tempest Lords since they can both shoot and fight

2. They fill a Vanguard Angelos Conclave battalion (which now has a much stronger ability than it did before)

3. They fill a Soulstrike Brotherhood (which is much stronger with the changes to Castigators)

4. They are only 100p for 5 

I don't see Hunters as anything more than a skirmishing/scouting unit that can sometimes fill battleline requirements. What kind of changes would you like to see?

Not sure points 1&3 are exactly sufficient justification as those options were not optimal in the first place.  I'll be willing to eat my words if someone does decently with a Soulstrike Brotherhood battalion. 

My only wish is that they have shooting range of 10' - 12' instead of 9', so that they can be a more decent deepstrike unit. 

[PJetski]

5 hours ago, Evantas said:

Not sure points 1&3 are exactly sufficient justification as those options were not optimal in the first place.  I'll be willing to eat my words if someone does decently with a Soulstrike Brotherhood battalion. 

My only wish is that they have shooting range of 10' - 12' instead of 9', so that they can be a more decent deepstrike unit. 

Are you aware of the Astral Compass ability that allows you to set up >7" instead of >9" (along a table edge)?

[Andrethegreat]

13 hours ago, PJetski said:

They were made indirectly stronger:

1. They are very good in Tempest Lords since they can both shoot and fight

2. They fill a Vanguard Angelos Conclave battalion (which now has a much stronger ability than it did before)

3. They fill a Soulstrike Brotherhood (which is much stronger with the changes to Castigators)

4. They are only 100p for 5 

I don't see Hunters as anything more than a skirmishing/scouting unit that can sometimes fill battleline requirements. What kind of changes would you like to see?

I would like to see them get something like run and charge and keep the run and shoot, and when will this book be coming out? Also, there Boltstorm pistols I feel should wound on 3+, They are Hunters, kill shots should come easy to them.   

Edited January 21, 2021 by Andrethegreat

[PJetski]

3 hours ago, Andrethegreat said:

and when will this book be coming out? 

It's just a fan project, so never