AoS 2 - Slaves to Darkness 2 Discussion

[Overread]

Let it be known that upon this very day the world over, GW did release unto the wilds the Slaves to Darkness Battletome for the 2.0 rules edition. Marking the first new Battletome for Slaves to Darkness in a very long while!

Within this thread you can come and chat about all things to do with the great Chaos Force of the Slaves to Darkness. 

 

 

If you create or find any important references that you feel are worth reading for all, drop me or one of the other mods a name mention or private message and a link for consideration and we can put them into this first post for reference 

 

Note I'm linking below the two previous threads for reference: The former is from the early days, the latter is from the start of AoS 2.0 until just before the launch of the new Battletome. 

 

[JackStreicher]

First!

alright, did anyone have any success with the Mammoth yet?

[jackmcmahon]

Anyone know how the fomoroid crushers will be sold? Are they individual model for sale or part of some subgame?

[cplhicks]

I finally got myself  Sayl the Faithless and his bestest of hellspawn boi.  Is there any use for him now that the faction has a teleport spell built in? 

[Overread]

Just now, jackmcmahon said:

Anyone know how the fomoroid crushers will be sold? Are they individual model for sale or part of some subgame?

The Crushers, the new hypnocat/llama and one or two other new beasties are all going to be like the Chimera. That  means likely a Warcry box with cards and then a separate box a tiny bit cheaper without cards. GW might release them at the same time or might stagger them like they've done with the warcry warbands. However it goes I'm pretty sure they will all be sold on their own. 

[JackStreicher]

4 minutes ago, cplhicks said:

I finally got myself  Sayl the Faithless and his bestest of hellspawn boi.  Is there any use for him now that the faction has a teleport spell built in? 

Chaos sorcerer and Chaos Brute. =}

[Overread]

2 minutes ago, cplhicks said:

I finally got myself  Sayl the Faithless and his bestest of hellspawn boi.  Is there any use for him now that the faction has a teleport spell built in? 

Grab a copy of the rules from this and download it

https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-GB/Monstrous-Arcanum-2018

Sadly Sayl is one of a selection of models recently removed from FW (the page is even gone now - along with the Basilisk, the Warpfire dragon and a few others). So make sure you've got the last edition of the rules before GW might update that document to remove them. Which likely leaves him in legacy games.

 

Though Chaos is full of generic hero characters so you can always use the sculpt for your regular lord and the spawn for a regular spawned chaos thingy even if your opponent doesn't want to use "legacy" model rules in a game. 

[cplhicks]

I've already emotionally prepared myself for the loss of match play rules for him lol😂  I figured I'd ride out his last year in style if I could. 

Fortunately, Chaos sorcerers are really good now so having a extra one isn't too bad  

[Charleston]

@mmimzie to pick up the topic of the last thread:

You are actually 100% right. The whole "Khorne hates magic" thing is something for Blades of Khorne. Meanwhile mixing and matching Gods, or using a Sorcerer in StD with Mark of Khorne, is totaly fine. Got a bit mixed up on this!

[JonnyTheKing]

Which weapon option do people think is the best for Varanguard?

[Gibs]

1 hour ago, JonnyTheKing said:

Which weapon option do people think is the best for Varanguard?

It’s hard to look passed ensorcelled weapons with the 6 attacks, 3s to hit/wound and -1 rend. Simply because the unit while powerful will eventually get bogged down making Fellspears a potential trap. An army with Varanguard has so few units they need to be good at more than one task. If you model them with swords you can also test the Daemonblades. 

That said, if you are crazy enough to run a unit of 6 then Fellspears will quite literally wipe anything off the board with all the buffs going around. The fact they have a 2” range makes it feel like this was their intended purpose.

I am not disappointed with the Varanguard in this edition. With double circles they must be worth the 100 points. That said I am not up to  play with the competitive  meta so not really qualified to pass final judgement. The army still has the same problem though at 300 points and unit and the requirement to run the big man for 800 points the list builds itself and it’s hard to hold objectives. 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2019 by Gibs

[Rivener]

58 minutes ago, JonnyTheKing said:

Which weapon option do people think is the best for Varanguard?

Daemonblades. With such easy access to full rerolls going crit fishing is statistically smart.

[tamthethird]

1 hour ago, JonnyTheKing said:

Which weapon option do people think is the best for Varanguard?

I’ve gone for a mix, two ensorcelled weapons (which I think are just over all the most reliable and generalist option) plus a single fellspear so I can put a cool banner on it 😎

Edited December 14, 2019 by tamthethird

[Charleston]

Okay guys, I am about to face the first game with the new book today. I am torn between two conceptd. Either going full despoilers or make a rather "Classical" list with quite a bunch of warriors and things.

Spoiler

Despoilers

Daemon Prince - Mark of Khorne - General - Trait: Radiance of Dark Glory

Daemon Prince - Mark of Khorne

Chaos Lord on Manticore - Mark of Khorne - Diabolic Mantle (D3 CP´s)

Chaos Lord - Mark of Khorne

Chaos Knights - Lances - Mark of Khorne

Chaos Chariot - Greatblade - Mark of Khorne

Slaughterbrute - Mark of Khorne

Soul Grinder - Mark of Khorne

This list is actually just big guys and 12 models on 1500pts. All marked Khorne because I actually belive it provides some stability to my rolls. Also, matching different MArks is something I am a little bit afraid of right now. I am really not sure about the artifact as the Helm of Many eyes seems quite nice, allowing to dominate the Combat step after a charge quite well. Also the Rune looks nice as it would allow to utilize the Terrain rules without punishing my other units. Knights and Chariots are currently a cheap battleline and seem to provide more value on their own than the Chaos Warriors.

The second list is the "classical" one:

Spoiler

Cabalists

Chaos Sorcerer Lord on Manticore - Mark of Nurgle

Chaos Sorcerer Lord - Mark of Nurgle

Chaos Lord - Mark of Nurgle - Infernal Puppet

Daemon Prince - Mark of Nurgle - General - Bolstered by Hate

2x5 Chaos Chosen - Mark of Nurgle

3x5 Chaos Warriors - Two Handweapons - Mark of Nurgle

1x20 Marauders - Shields, Mark of Nurgle

Balewind Vortex

Burning Head

More Units, some spells and sheningans to play around. I like the core of 15 Warriors and 10 Chosen as it looks nice on the battlefield. Marauders would be proxied as a first test. Althrough their glorious task is to be a screen and fodder for the rituals.

Well, building thoose lists I really had the feeling that the choices are quite limited due to the high cost. I think this is normal: We have a book full of new toys and would like to use it all together at once, so building 1500pts is quite a challange in my case.

[tamthethird]

I’m interested in this theory that dual hand weapons are now the best option for Chaos Warriors given they now have a reroll saves.

I would have thought it’s kind of muddying their role and that keeping the mortal wound save would be preferable. Thoughts?

[Gibs]

33 minutes ago, tamthethird said:

I’m interested in this theory that dual hand weapons are now the best option for Chaos Warriors given they now have a reroll saves.

I would have thought it’s kind of muddying their role and that keeping the mortal wound save would be preferable. Thoughts?

To me the one saving grace of Warriors in this book is that you can mix and match weapons, or at least that is what it sounds like! 

”A unit of Chaos Warriors has any number of models, each armed with one of the following options.....”

Not sure what the best combination is yet but having a few with shields seems logical. Likewise in a big unit having a few halberds would make sense so you can get every model into combat. there is no question two hand weapons pits out the most damage though. 
 

Edited December 14, 2019 by Gibs

[tamthethird]

Ah cool! I totally missed that they can be mixed.

That’s a surprise honestly, after they cleaned up the Ardboys warscroll.

[Gibs]

Having now read through the book almost twice now. The one build that is striking me as potentially competitive is:

Despoilers + Daemon Prince + Plaugetouched Warband 

Despoilers because it makes your Deamon Princes and units with the Monster key work more durable. 
 

Plaugetouched bacuase anyone hitting your units with melee weapons is taking 1 mortal wound for each attack roll of 6. Plus each hero phase you can inflict D3 mortal wounds to one unit within 1” of one of yours.

Daemon Prince gives you the first part of Plaugetouched on a u it but inflicts D3 damage. The Cheesy part is that it does not say this cannot be stacked! (Probably get an FAQ if it’s too cheesy).

 

Thinking.......durable units you can get into melee range combined with Nurgle Daemon Princes. The list isn’t very effective against heavily ranged armies as all the triggers are melee weapons so it’s not universally powerful. 

 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2019 by Gibs

[Charleston]

@Gibs

Sounds "fun" to me But I am not sure if GW won´t faq the Command Ability of the DP to be triggered only once per Turn as the current wording seems a bit odd to me

[Gibs]

4 minutes ago, Charleston said:

@Gibs

Sounds "fun" to me But I am not sure if GW won´t faq the Command Ability of the DP to be triggered only once per Turn as the current wording seems a bit odd to me

Honestly, I think it will depend on how powerful the list becomes. The fact it’s limited to melee weapons only makes it not universally amazing.

If it’s over the top broken then I think they will make it so the ability won’t stack or make it for your combat phase only. 

However, changes are not necessary on Day 2 and the book as a whole right now just looks ‘fair’ so a little cheese isn’t a bad thing of it means the army can compete at tournaments. 

Edited December 14, 2019 by Gibs

[Malakithe]

Enough of this nurgle chat! Khorne list ideas! Go!

[Gibs]

33 minutes ago, Malakithe said:

Enough of this nurgle chat! Khorne list ideas! Go!

Ruinbringer Warband with Chaos Lord on Karkadrak and Chaos knights (lances) with a bunch of buffs could delete units if you can get the charges you want. 

Chariots feel a little pricey and the Knights just fair so there isn’t much cheese but it would be an impressive army on the table. 
 

[Gibs]

Thinking of testing this list:

Despoilers

Plaugetouched battalion + friends

Be’lakor

Chaos Sorcerer 

Daemon Prince

Daemon Prince

Chaos Warriors x3

Soul Grinder x2

Haven quite nailed it down any suggestions? 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2019 by Gibs

[ccconner777]

3 hours ago, JonnyTheKing said:

Which weapon option do people think is the best for Varanguard?

Ensorceled weapons are best if going the +1 damage circle (6th i think) of varanguard in the everchosen subfaction or if you're using the nurgle aura which gives +1 damage on wound rolls of 6 since bonus damage scales better on single damage weapon profiles. But if youre not using those, the daemon blades have the same average regular damage output as ensorceled weapons plus additional mortals on 6's to hit so they come out on top. Fellspears dont seem great to me, even on the charge they still have less damage output than the daemonblades once you account for the mortal wounds on the swords. But if youre gonna run larger than units of 3 maybe the extra range is worth it.

Edited December 14, 2019 by ccconner777

[CJPT]

Earlier today I posted a comparison of the old and new chaos warrior sculpts in the previous thread. I've since painted both of those models and I figured people might be curious to see how the two sculpts look next to each other. The main change I made, as I wrote previously, was to use one of the new spare heads on the old model - the old helmets are much bigger than the new ones, which makes the proportions look pretty inconsistent. Otherwise, they're about the same size.