Soulblight Gravelords News, Rumours and Speculation

[Sception]

preorders up in the US.

...

Got everything I wanted this time around:

• battletome - regular
• warscroll cards
• venga lord
• 1x skittles (+ 10 CC skittles I already have for a single max unit)
• 1x zombies (+ 20 CC zombies I already have for a single max unit)
• 1x blood knights
• 1x fell bats (abysmal value in dollars for points, but they look cool)
• WD 464 for SG anvil of apotheosis rules, plus grabbed 461 for the FEC and OBR anvil of apotheosis rules

Pretty damn pricey in all honesty, but not as bad as it could have been, & I've been saving up for this.

I will say that GW decreasing the unit caps on skeletons and zombies got me to buy more than I otherwise would have.  If the caps were still 40 and 60, I wouldn't have been able to justify the extra boxes to get full units, in which case I would have stuck to my current models and put off upgrading altogether.

Wait, shoot, I forgot to order cav bases to rebase my black knights... oh, well.  Too late now.  Will tack that onto the wight king order whenever that goes up.

Edited May 15, 2021 by Sception

[Aren73]

Yeah...I talked about previously that in their lore, Avengorii are meant to be monster hunters. 

From their rules, they are chaff hunters that get hunted by monsters. 

I don't know, maybe this is intentional from GW to make them seem delusional?

I do wish they were a bit better, for sure. 

[Televiper11]

The SBGL novel was gone in 60 sec, same with the ltd ed art print set. I really hate their pre-order system that requires lightning reflex perfection.

[Sception]

Yeah, there's some definite disconnect between the Avengorii lore and rules.  More so than with the other subfactions, it seems.  It's too bad, but so long as the lore is strong and captures the imagination, there's always the opportunity for a future book to make good on it.  I've said a few times that I think getting the lore and the thematic rebranding from Legions of Nagash to new age retro Vampire Counts is a more important task than getting the rules right with this faction release.

[RocketPropelledGrenade]

19 minutes ago, Beliman said:

Maybe that's what GW want to go with 3.0? Better saves in turn for less lethality and more controled mw? I can't wait for 3.0!!!!

 

I have also been theorizing that 3.0 is aiming for less lethality and models staying on tables longer, and that Soulblight could be the first book hewing to the new standards. Just a guess at the moment, admittedly.

 

On a different note, how dramatic do people think the differences between sword and lance will be for the generic VLoZD? I like the sword a lot better for modeling purposes, and will probably go for it. I'm just worried I'm shooting myself in the foot if so. The deathlance is only marginally worse (1 attack, basically same profile) off the charge, and seems dramatically better on the charge. But it's sometimes hard for me to get a sense for how things will actually play out on the table just by looking at probabilities, especially as I haven't actually played any big flying monsters in AoS yet. Are VLoZD players finding they charge more combat phases than not, or is the sword going to make back some work when the model gets bogged down?

[Sception]

Blood knights are now out of stock, too.  Less than 5 minutes.

Not entirely surprised.  Out of all the new models, that's the kit people have been waiting on the longest, and the only one people are likely to want like 3 to 6 of for a single army.

Edited May 15, 2021 by Sception

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

24 minutes ago, Aren73 said:

Could well be - make the game less about wiping away large units in a single blow and also reducing maximum unit size because you no longer need so many bodies (that's why zombies are 40 and not 60)

I said this before somewhere else, but I expect max unit size to go down (30 for hordes, 20 for elites) and horde bonuses to disappear across the board in AoS 3. Possibly points to go up, too. All our stuff definitely got more expensive relative to before.

[Aren73]

1 minute ago, Sception said:

Blood knights are now out of stock, too.  Less than 5 minutes.

OoOoft

I guess you guys aren't in the UK? We have everything including the ltd. ed book still for sale

No wonder tbh, I can't think of why anyone would want the ltd. ed. book for this faction. Like yes the lovely models, but I just can't justify spending so much on a book I don't think is that fun or well written (I will not get over the fact that vampire lords have so little customisation, it's my hill to die on). 

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

17 minutes ago, Sception said:

preorders up in the US.

...

Got everything I wanted this time around:

• battletome - regular
• warscroll cards
• venga lord
• 1x skittles (+ 10 CC skittles I already have for a single max unit)
• 1x zombies (+ 20 CC zombies I already have for a single max unit)
• 1x blood knights
• 1x fell bats (abysmal value in dollars for points, but they look cool)
• WD 464 for SG anvil of apotheosis rules, plus grabbed 461 for the FEC and OBR anvil of apotheosis rules

Pretty damn pricey in all honesty, but not as bad as it could have been, & I've been saving up for this.

I will say that GW decreasing the unit caps on skeletons and zombies got me to buy more than I otherwise would have.  If the caps were still 40 and 60, I wouldn't have been able to justify the extra boxes to get full units, in which case I would have stuck to my current models and put off upgrading altogether.

Wait, shoot, I forgot to order cav bases to rebase my black knights... oh, well.  Too late now.  Will tack that onto the wight king order whenever that goes up.

I'm happy for you! Personally, I decided to only pick up the Battletome for now and finish working on my Tomb Kings guys I already have and the Cursed City models.

I'll probably go all in when Vyrkos roll around, though.

[Nightseer2012]

2 minutes ago, Neil Arthur Hotep said:

I said this before somewhere else, but I expect max unit size to go down (30 for hordes, 20 for elites) and horde bonuses to disappear across the board in AoS 3. Possibly points to go up, too. All our stuff definitely got more expensive relative to before.

It is possible, it just definitely hurts to be the transitional battletome.

[Sception]

1 minute ago, Aren73 said:

OoOoft

I guess you guys aren't in the UK? We have everything including the ltd. ed book still for sale

click on it - the preorder page shows normal, but when you click on it and go to the item page it shows its gone.

One of the youtuber's I watch, Thete, was complaining earlier that even mashing refresh and putting it in his cart the moment it went up, by the time he got to checkout the limited battletome was out of stock and he had to go back and replace it with a normal one.  Which will leave it forever as a mark of shame sticking out on his shelf of otherwise limited edition books.

I had been considering switching to the fancier limited edition battletomes for 3e, and I could have snagged the SG one today, but knowing that I might be sniped out for another book down the line and end up with an unmatched set was enough to put me off of it.

[Sception]

4 minutes ago, Neil Arthur Hotep said:

I'm happy for you! Personally, I decided to only pick up the Battletome for now and finish working on my Tomb Kings guys I already have and the Cursed City models.

Probably would have been the smarter thing to do for me as well.  Not like I don't have my own tomb kings, FEC, OBR, and plenty of leftover LoNagash stuff I could be painting instead, to say nothing of underworlds and cursed city.

But nah, I'm all in.  Rules complaints aside, I love this faction, and love these new kits.  gonna jump while the jumping's good, and ride the hype train to hobby motivation station.

[Aren73]

2 minutes ago, Sception said:

click on it - the preorder page shows normal, but when you click on it and go to the item page it shows its gone.

Ahh so GW has created false scarcity by making people think it's sold out and desirable, when in truth it isn't!! 

[Nightseer2012]

Finally can look at Neferata's warscroll.  Her dagger can assassinate heroes sometimes, could be really good for big monster heroes with low saves, since it is only rend -1.  At least she is a 2 cast, 3+ save wizard with a good spell and CA.  Feels like a strong duelist escort to whatever your general is, handing out -1 to hits, ethereal+, and debuffs from the Deathmages lore.

[Sception]

4 minutes ago, Aren73 said:

Ahh so GW has created false scarcity by making people think it's sold out and desirable, when in truth it isn't!! 

The opposite.  GW is making people think it's still there to buy, but they can't.

[Aren73]

1 minute ago, Sception said:

The opposite.  GW is making people think it's still there to buy, but they can't.

See! It's all GW's fault as always!!

Nah, jokes aside, as much as I expected people to not get the ltd. ed. on principle due to the lack of creativity in the book I should have known people would buy it anyway, just means it went to different people. 

But eh the book isn't as dire as it seemed on day 1 of leaks. All the battleline units are interesting. I never thought that I would ever be interested in the battleline units in a Vampire Counts book but here we are - they're fun!

I do wish that the same effort went into making Vampire Lords interesting but hey, perhaps the Anvil of Death in the White Dwarf will fix it  

Have I made my character arc from salt man to positivity man? Who knows, I should probably ask @warhammernerd

[Sete]

I got the dice which was my main thing. 

Gonna start slow, want the book first to choose the next kits. 

I think a zombie dragon will be my next buy tbh.

Edited May 15, 2021 by Sete
Words

[Sception]

1 minute ago, Aren73 said:

See! It's all GW's fault as always!!

Nah, jokes aside, as much as I expected people to not get the ltd. ed. on principle due to the lack of creativity in the book I should have known people would buy it anyway, just means it went to different people. 

But eh the book isn't as dire as it seemed on day 1 of leaks. All the battleline units are interesting. I never thought that I would ever be interested in the battleline units in a Vampire Counts book but here we are - they're fun!

I do wish that the same effort went into making Vampire Lords interesting but hey, perhaps the Anvil of Death in the White Dwarf will fix it  

Have I made my character arc from salt man to positivity man? Who knows, I should probably ask @warhammernerd

Not everyone in the hobby is plugged into the online forums & discussion scene.  Hard as it is to believe from our perspective, most LoN/SG players aren't going to know what's in this book until its in their hands.

I agree the book isn't as bad as it seems day one.  Lack of creativity is a fairly valid complaint, but more on the faction rules than the warscrolls.  They weren't all for the better, weren't all fully baked or well implemented, but there's a lot more interesting and significant changes to actual war scrolls than I had expected going in.  Honestly, I had expected sort of the opposite situation, scrolls largely unchanged and faction rules entirely different.

but anyway, yeah, maybe not great, maybe not an improvement on the existing kind of sub par faction overall, but not as bad as it first looked, and definitely some interesting ideas.  I honestly don't hate it.

[Mandzak-Miniatures]

I had some great plans. But without things like cavalry mounted vampire lord, the sad state of wight kings, and zero spook it took away even considering character conversion.

maybe when the 2.0 book inevitably drops later this year they will add in some more options.

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

5 minutes ago, Aren73 said:

But eh the book isn't as dire as it seemed on day 1 of leaks. All the battleline units are interesting. I never thought that I would ever be interested in the battleline units in a Vampire Counts book but here we are - they're fun!

I do wish that the same effort went into making Vampire Lords interesting but hey, perhaps the Anvil of Death in the White Dwarf will fix it  

Have I made my character arc from salt man to positivity man? Who knows, I should probably ask @warhammernerd

Yeah, I feel kind of similar. I am noticing more and more changes I like in the new book. I like how Gravesite deepstrikes work now. Not needing to bring a hero along and getting Deathless Minions from Gravesites is pretty cool! It means you are free to just spread your graves around near a bunch of different objectives and deepstrike/resurrect your guys there as needed. I think the threat of a bunch of zombies, skeletons or even grave guard suddenly contesting an objective in the opponent's back field turn 3 or 4 is kinda fun.

I still don't love how badly the list building in this book flows, though. At the moment, all my lists feel like collections of units that only sorta go together. Maybe that is because the generic battalions of AoS 3 have not yet arrived, though. And there is also always that uncertainty about what buffs will stack in a months or two in the background.

Anyway, it looks like playing all of my old models in this book is decent (even if it's a slow, plodding, high-drops list). I still have to figure out a list I am excited about for the new models, though. I don't think I have it in me to paint more than 5 Blood Knights after my Black Knights were just invalidated (RIP in peace, sweet Nehekaran princes).

[Aren73]

3 minutes ago, Sception said:

Not everyone in the hobby is plugged into the online forums & discussion scene.  Hard as it is to believe from our perspective, most LoN/SG players aren't going to know what's in this book until its in their hands.

I agree the book isn't as bad as it seems day one.  Lack of creativity is a fairly valid complaint, but more on the faction rules than the warscrolls.  They weren't all for the better, weren't all fully baked or well implemented, but there's a lot more interesting and significant changes to actual war scrolls than I had expected going in.  Honestly, I had expected sort of the opposite situation, scrolls largely unchanged and faction rules entirely different.

but anyway, yeah, maybe not great, maybe not an improvement on the existing kind of sub par faction overall, but not as bad as it first looked, and definitely some interesting ideas.  I honestly don't hate it.

Eh there's lack of creativity in the warscrolls too. Specifically the vampire lord one. 

I can say positive things about like 70-80% of the book but I will not live this one bit down. We are the Vampire Lords faction, it's in the name. Yet, Vampire Lords in it are hella boring. Even if the rules in the White Dwarf are all sorts of fun and amazing, I still will be disappointed that they aren't in the book itself. 

Let me tell you though this release has been an emotional 🌟 journey🌟 

Hype at seeing the vampire lord kit leak, even more hype at seeing Cursed City leaks and reveal, hype slowing down as more and more revealed kits are resculpts, hype up when the vampire centaur was revealed, hype down when all the rest are resculpts and characters, hype building for new awesome rules nonetheless, hype and hope maintaining when WC starts running lore and rules articles, massive hype crash as (when randomly I got up in the middle of the night) I saw all the leaked rules, general despair as I take in all the new rules and see just how bland things are. 
And now...now I'm at a point where I'm noticing more and more hidden gems and fun interactions and it's lifting my spirits (hah). 

Boy...I'm exhausted. 

 

[Sception]

Yeah, Vamp Lords are a big and very valid point of contention.  Not trash tier like wight kings, but for a unit that should be the poster child for the entire faction they're super disappointing, and somehow more bland and boring than they were in LoNagash.

Edited May 15, 2021 by Sception

[Aren73]

Yeah, I mean I really don't care how strong they are unless they are utterly unusable. 

I just wanted them to be fun and flavourful which I don't think anyone, not even the most positive starry eyed folks, can say about the vamp lord warscroll. 

[Nightseer2012]

10 minutes ago, Aren73 said:

Let me tell you though this release has been an emotional 🌟 journey🌟
 

Right?  I am settling at "will try to just grit my teeth through it and hope that 3.0 balances a little of the jank out".  Ordered the book, dice, Lauka Vai, and the White Dwarf.  I will probably give it a few weeks of people playing with the book before I fill in anymore, because my undead armies are "ok" as is.  The only things I may get in the future are Belladama (I love her model, even if I don't use it), and some Blood Knights whenever they restock, because again, just beautiful models.

[Clan's Cynic]

1 hour ago, Televiper11 said:

The SBGL novel was gone in 60 sec, same with the ltd ed art print set. I really hate their pre-order system that requires lightning reflex perfection.

Here's a tip for the future. They seem to always sneak pre-orders up five minutes ahead of the hour. I had my dice/LE before the clock struck 9:57. This seems to be how stuff like Siege of Terra sells out within literal seconds of the clock striking 10.

Hardbacks usually aren't difficult to get in person or order from other shops though.

Edited May 15, 2021 by Clan's Cynic