Soulblight Gravelords News, Rumours and Speculation

[BaylorCorvette]

16 minutes ago, Aren73 said:

Ooft that's a bummer, I was keeping my hopes up today for it. 

I think it'd be in GW's best interests to do a WC article on it really. They must've seen some of the feedback by now, I'm sure they use the internet, they can't be oblivious. "Vampire Lord feels boring/uninspired" is a sentiment which has been shared many times (not just by me haha). It would go a long way to reconciling with the detractors of the book if they came out and said "hey, here is an awesome customisation system coming up in the new White Dwarf, here's a preview of some of it!". 

Plus, increasing awareness of the cool stuff in the WD would help them sell more copies. 

Agreed. Shame it cannot be used in Matched Play. Although I do understand some Anvil characters can get super broken. However, the difference between normal Anvil and Anvil of Blood is that the normal Anvil is used across all armies. Since Anvil of Blood is specific of Gravelords ONLY, then GW could have tailored it for matched play in mind. This would solve the problem that Vampires on foot are really boring AND it would allow for custom Vampires. Maybe make it a points premium to allow this but still options.

[JackStreicher]

2 minutes ago, Ratling said:

What do you guys think about using a soulscream bridge in the army? 

Most of the chaff units are pretty slow to move, could the spell make it not that bad perhaps? Getting +1 from corpsecart and +2 for a legion of night artefact grants us a pretty reliable cast chance.

It‘s a valid tactic and I like it

[Aren73]

5 minutes ago, BaylorCorvette said:

Agreed. Shame it cannot be used in Matched Play. Although I do understand some Anvil characters can get super broken. However, the difference between normal Anvil and Anvil of Blood is that the normal Anvil is used across all armies. Since Anvil of Blood is specific of Gravelords ONLY, then GW could have tailored it for matched play in mind. This would solve the problem that Vampires on foot are really boring AND it would allow for custom Vampires. Maybe make it a points premium to allow this but still options.

As far as I was aware some tournaments do allow anvil characters. 

For me it feels like a Narrative Play device which GW tries to balance as well as they can to make it close to Matched Play. Sort of like the Crusade rules for 40k. 

Personally I see no issue in playing these balanced Narrative Play rules, Matched Play should be reserved for mostly tournaments IMO. The game isn't 100% balanced anyway - plenty of stronger and weaker books. Who really cares if in their casual game a character is like 10% cheaper than he should be for his abilities? 

The game needs balance and the clearly broken or abusable abilities should be bonked by GW. I just don't see this strong need to make everything Matched Play. 

Then again, maybe you guys have a lot more casual games than I do. My society plays almost exclusively Matched Play, has a very strong meta and a chunk of WAAC players (the ones that would abuse rule interactions that while TECHNICALLY correct nonetheless are a bit scummy in a casual game). I don't particularly want to make all my lists super competitive cheese but I feel I need to, to have a chance at winning or even a game that isn't over by end of turn 1/2. 

 

[Liquidsteel]

Do you think Bridge is worth it when we have Gravesites?

[Sception]

anvil of apotheosis in general has problems on the extremes.  You can stack up super monster lords to ridiculous levels, or spam hecka cheap heroes that do far more than you'd generally expect for their points.

I wouldn't expect necros, wight kings, or vampires to be at risk of the latter.  their core profiles and abilities will likely be priced high enough to take them out of cheap spam range.  As long as you avoid putting them on big monsters will fully stacked combat abilities, they should be reasonable for regular play.  Though still understandably not matched play legal.

I'm just glad most of my games are pretty casual & narrative in nature.

Will definitely be aiming to make some more varied vampires & wight kings, and maybe a lord level necro variant for Kemmler.

[BrotherTalarian]

So, unfortunately they state in Anvil of Blood that it's strictly a house rule model, and you need the permission of your opponent. Same points, 1DP = 10 pts, 20-40 DP.

 

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

I am not super into the Bridge in this faction. Mostly because we have like four ways to deepstrike already that don't rely on getting a spell off.

[BrotherTalarian]

I have a friend who has gotten his paws on the WD and gave me a bit of into. There doesn't seem to any forum rules limiting what can be said, as long as I don't share picture. Let me know what you'd be interested in knowing until you get access yourself. 

 

Some cool things he mentioned:

Can turn into a Fellbat/DireWolf once per game, if it dies, change bat/wolf model with your lord again.
There's a wicked combo you seem to be able to do that allows your hero + 2 other units fights first in the combat phase!  

Some pretty awesome spells, 2+ ward save at the cost of a wound, lasts until next hero phase.

 

Standard AoA stuff, +1 save, wound, movement etc. Ethereal is not restricted to models that ahave a 4+ save, so no 2/3+ unrendable.

 

You can have a CA that summons a unit 3" away from an enemy, so cool.

-----

 

If I missread the rules, please remove and let me know, but my understanding is no pictures. 

For those that have other questions while you get your hands on your own copy, let me know and I'll ask my friend

[Ghoooouls]

9 minutes ago, BrotherTalarian said:

I have a friend who has gotten his paws on the WD and gave me a bit of into. There doesn't seem to any forum rules limiting what can be said, as long as I don't share picture. Let me know what you'd be interested in knowing until you get access yourself. 

 

Some cool things he mentioned:

Can turn into a Fellbat/DireWolf once per game, if it dies, change bat/wolf model with your lord again.
There's a wicked combo you seem to be able to do that allows your hero + 2 other units fights first in the combat phase!  

Some pretty awesome spells, 2+ ward save at the cost of a wound, lasts until next hero phase.

 

Standard AoA stuff, +1 save, wound, movement etc. Ethereal is not restricted to models that ahave a 4+ save, so no 2/3+ unrendable.

 

You can have a CA that summons a unit 3" away from an enemy, so cool.

-----

 

If I missread the rules, please remove and let me know, but my understanding is no pictures. 

For those that have other questions while you get your hands on your own copy, let me know and I'll ask my friend

Could you ask for pics and send them via DM on here? Understand if that's too much effort haha

[BaylorCorvette]

11 minutes ago, BrotherTalarian said:

I have a friend who has gotten his paws on the WD and gave me a bit of into. There doesn't seem to any forum rules limiting what can be said, as long as I don't share picture. Let me know what you'd be interested in knowing until you get access yourself. 

 

Some cool things he mentioned:

Can turn into a Fellbat/DireWolf once per game, if it dies, change bat/wolf model with your lord again.
There's a wicked combo you seem to be able to do that allows your hero + 2 other units fights first in the combat phase!  

Some pretty awesome spells, 2+ ward save at the cost of a wound, lasts until next hero phase.

 

Standard AoA stuff, +1 save, wound, movement etc. Ethereal is not restricted to models that ahave a 4+ save, so no 2/3+ unrendable.

 

You can have a CA that summons a unit 3" away from an enemy, so cool.

-----

 

If I missread the rules, please remove and let me know, but my understanding is no pictures. 

For those that have other questions while you get your hands on your own copy, let me know and I'll ask my friend

Wow sounds like a dream that should be in the actual Gravelords book lol.... What is the spell lore? Is it that 2+ ward save you were saying?

40 minutes ago, Liquidsteel said:

Do you think Bridge is worth it when we have Gravesites?

 

33 minutes ago, Neil Arthur Hotep said:

I am not super into the Bridge in this faction. Mostly because we have like four ways to deepstrike already that don't rely on getting a spell off.

I agree with Neil, I'm not a fan of the Bridge since we have so many ways to deep strike and/or outflank. I am more thinking about using COGs. So you can outflank or Gravesite summon units and hopefully get the 7" charge. With Hero support to re-roll (with a CP or free charge re-rolls in Vyrkos with Command Trait) it should be a decent success rate. Charging in a blob of 20 (or 30) Grave Guard would murder things.

Edited May 18, 2021 by BaylorCorvette

[Aren73]

11 minutes ago, BrotherTalarian said:

I have a friend who has gotten his paws on the WD and gave me a bit of into. There doesn't seem to any forum rules limiting what can be said, as long as I don't share picture. Let me know what you'd be interested in knowing until you get access yourself. 

 

Some cool things he mentioned:

Can turn into a Fellbat/DireWolf once per game, if it dies, change bat/wolf model with your lord again.
There's a wicked combo you seem to be able to do that allows your hero + 2 other units fights first in the combat phase!  

Some pretty awesome spells, 2+ ward save at the cost of a wound, lasts until next hero phase.

 

Standard AoA stuff, +1 save, wound, movement etc. Ethereal is not restricted to models that ahave a 4+ save, so no 2/3+ unrendable.

 

You can have a CA that summons a unit 3" away from an enemy, so cool.

-----

 

If I missread the rules, please remove and let me know, but my understanding is no pictures. 

For those that have other questions while you get your hands on your own copy, let me know and I'll ask my friend

Awesome! I love the idea of the vampire turning into animals! Fight first in the combat phase is SUCH a vampiric ability!

Um...I'm not sure what to ask really...all of the vampire stuff? 😘 

While I know you can't post pictures here, you can host them on imgur (which is what had been done with the main book leaks) and we could share the link through message? Don't worry if not, I get that it's a lot of work. 

[BrotherTalarian]

6 minutes ago, Ghoooouls said:

Could you ask for pics and send them via DM on here? Understand if that's too much effort haha

I'll see  Both working atm as well so might be a while.

 

5 minutes ago, BaylorCorvette said:

Wow sounds like a dream that should be in the actual Gravelords book lol.... What is the spell lore? Is it that 2+ ward save you were saying?

If you're the acrane vamp you can select one spell of three, that's one of the options.

Another interesting one is that you increase(decrease) the armour save number by D3.

E.g. 4+ save, roll D3, (roll a 4) AS is now a 6+

Third I'm not sure, related to beasts and wounding

 

There are also 16 "unique"? abilities we can choose from. Which sound awesome.

 

Bat/Wolf transformation

+1 casting/unbinding rolls

Command trait in addition to one being given to your general

Making a unit fight directly after your lord/hero after they have fought 

Pass off wounds on a 3+ to BK/BK/GG 

6 = 2 hits

 

Can have a spirirt host as more attacks? 

 

That's all teh exciting stuff, I think, rest is similar to AoA, mount/generic modifiers etc.

Edited May 18, 2021 by BrotherTalarian

[BaylorCorvette]

Just now, BrotherTalarian said:

I'll see  Both working atm as well so might be a while.

 

If you're the acrane vamp you can select one spell of three, that's one of the options.

Another interesting one is that you increase(decrease) the armour save number by D3.

E.g. 4+ save, roll D3, (roll a 4) AS is now a 6+

Third I'm not sure, related to beasts and wounding

All of this sounds so amazing and pisses me off that it wasn't in our book for matched play with the appropriate points allocated to the units.

[Aren73]

1 minute ago, BaylorCorvette said:

All of this sounds so amazing and pisses me off that it wasn't in our book for matched play with the appropriate points allocated to the units.

I imagine all of it in the book might have been a bit too much to balance, but definitely some of it. 

[BrotherTalarian]

I edited my previous posts with updates *** 

Seems like most of the exciting new things.

 

Shame that it's really a house rule, thing. Wonder if it would be accepted by TO. 

I imagine it should be OK at my LGS, and among friends, but who knows if "randoms" will be cool with it. 

[BaylorCorvette]

2 minutes ago, Aren73 said:

I imagine all of it in the book might have been a bit too much to balance, but definitely some of it. 

Oh for sure. The Anvil rules can be abused / are sometimes better than what can actually be used. However some of it sounds like it could be implemented. Honestly I feel like VAMPIRE units should have something similar to LRL that when you select one VAMPIRE unit to fight you can immediately select another VAMPIRE unit to fight. Or make that part of a bloodline. But there is definitely some cool thematic elements that could have been brought over into the book.

[Aren73]

8 minutes ago, BrotherTalarian said:

There are also 16 "unique"? abilities we can choose from. Which sound awesome.

Oh. So it turns it GW CAN write vampire powers eh? How interesting. 

Eh...I'm still super excited for these, even if I won't be able to use them every game. 

[Erdemo86]

A shame that it is only a narrative add on and not for matched play... narrative things don’t interest anyone of our play group..

[BaylorCorvette]

1 minute ago, Erdemo86 said:

A shame that it is only a narrative add on and not for matched play... narrative things don’t interest anyone of our play group..

I'm kind of in the same boat. Aside from one huge narrative event this summer (where we can use Anvil characters), all of my area is heavy Tournament (matched play) events.

[Aren73]

2 minutes ago, BaylorCorvette said:

I'm kind of in the same boat. Aside from one huge narrative event this summer (where we can use Anvil characters), all of my area is heavy Tournament (matched play) events.

Me three. Matched Play is the standard and expectation. I think players will naturally gravitate towards whichever system is best balanced (and not towards the one that is most fun, sadly). 

[BrotherTalarian]

Could y'all ask your LGS/members if they'd allow these types of characters? Or are they rather strict?

You seem to be able to use the rules in matched play, as AoA, but with permission

[BaylorCorvette]

2 minutes ago, BrotherTalarian said:

Could y'all ask your LGS/members if they'd allow these types of characters? Or are they rather strict?

You seem to be able to use the rules in matched play, as AoA, but with permission

Cannot speak for others. I'm down here in Houston, TX. We have this thing called "The Texas Masters" where the "Big Cities" (Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio) have local 1 day tournaments (3 games) throughout the year and then each city hosts a Major Tournament (2 day, 5 games) and you're ranked state wide. end of the year, Top 20 in the state get "invited" to play in the Masters which happens in January. Everything is based 100% of matched play.

Now that isn't to say there aren't several of us that will get together to play an informal game here and there and I'm sure several would be OK using these rules. However, for me personally I usually try and do 1 tournament a month for my "warhammer time" and thus it is Matched Play.

[BrotherTalarian]

2 minutes ago, BaylorCorvette said:

Cannot speak for others. I'm down here in Houston, TX. We have this thing called "The Texas Masters" where the "Big Cities" (Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio) have local 1 day tournaments (3 games) throughout the year and then each city hosts a Major Tournament (2 day, 5 games) and you're ranked state wide. end of the year, Top 20 in the state get "invited" to play in the Masters which happens in January. Everything is based 100% of matched play.

Now that isn't to say there aren't several of us that will get together to play an informal game here and there and I'm sure several would be OK using these rules. However, for me personally I usually try and do 1 tournament a month for my "warhammer time" and thus it is Matched Play.

Oh damn, that’s cool. 

Yeah, my LGS is full of friends where we play with matched play rules, but also run narrative campaigns etc. 

With friends I’m not concerned, but from that competitive/tournament aspect...yeah, might be harder to convince the whole state haha 

[pixieproxy]

Hopefully the new Path of Glory rules in 3.0 will open up more things for stuff like the Anvil of A/B. IMO Crusade is one of the best ways to play 40k, so having similar rules in AoS can only be a win in my book

[Doko]

These rules are soooo cool,powerfull,fun and news as the transform in wolf\bat.....all these are the oposite that we get in our tome lol plain,weak,boring skills for our non named heroes