Soulblight Gravelords News, Rumours and Speculation

[Raptor_Jesues]

1 hour ago, warhammernerd said:

Can’t see it happening, and tbh, I’m not into Soulblight getting archers. It’s not really incumbent with their lore IMO. It makes sense for OBR who are a well oiled, military war engine. But with SGL, it’s egotistical maniacal Vamps pushing forwards tides of worthless reanimated corpses. Bows and arrows doesn’t play into the armies attrition based strengths. Ranged combat would due to archers actual skill, be ****** poor at best. They are after all mindless automatons, whereas OBR troops are essentially individual sentient beings with more than a modicum of individual skill.
In terms of the armies need for ranged attacks in game to project power or take out small heroes, this is something we already excel at thanks to our lightning fast vamps, flying gribblies, summonable units and table edge ambushers. The way the army has always historically played, is bog down ****** with your tar pit units whilst the small hard hitting elite units overwhelm and pick off what’s left. Just sorta feel that archers, if we had them... would be ineffective and not in keeping theme or lore wise. Currently Gdub is trying to focus factions into playing in a particular manner in keeping with how it should feel. Don’t really see archers pushing that. Instead, they need to place more focus on the dead not dying and vamps being the card carrying mother truckers we all know them to be. 

unless we get vampire or grave guards archers. Those would pack quite some punch

Edited April 19, 2021 by Raptor_Jesues

[Harioch]

I would left skeletons archers to Ossiarchs just for the sake of identity and theme (but I wouldn't discard Deathrattle archers if they come anyway). But I can see a vampire or human archer or rifleman unit....There was a unit of human Shyish riflemen in a Malign Potent novel that had purplish energy coming from the gun if I remember ?
A unit of magical vampire riflemen sounds cool to me.

But more in the theme of Gravelord/Old Vampire Counts, I would prefer a unit of mage-vampire instead of basic shooting. Ossiarch are the military force with troops, war machines, archers and all. Gravelord should be mystics, spies and other shenanigans, leaders of hordes of mindless undead, just to be a different kind of playstyle.

[Raptor_Jesues]

1 hour ago, Harioch said:

I would left skeletons archers to Ossiarchs just for the sake of identity and theme (but I wouldn't discard Deathrattle archers if they come anyway). But I can see a vampire or human archer or rifleman unit....There was a unit of human Shyish riflemen in a Malign Potent novel that had purplish energy coming from the gun if I remember ?
A unit of magical vampire riflemen sounds cool to me.

But more in the theme of Gravelord/Old Vampire Counts, I would prefer a unit of mage-vampire instead of basic shooting. Ossiarch are the military force with troops, war machines, archers and all. Gravelord should be mystics, spies and other shenanigans, leaders of hordes of mindless undead, just to be a different kind of playstyle.

that would be pretty cool as well, i sure would not mind a nechrarch warlocks unit

[Sception]

12 hours ago, Joseph Mackay said:

Mostly because of the Start Collecting Malignants box. Would be perfect for Nighthaunt, if only the Mortis Engine had the Nighthaunt keyword..

Honestly that model looks like it belongs in the Nighthaunt faction, the whole thing is made up of ghostly looking things except for the Necromancer on top 

Except the ghostly things don't actually look like the rest of the nighthaunt range, apart from the couple other hold overs like hexwraiths and tomb banshees.  Nighthaunts in general have a pretty distinct look and style with their shrouds, and their whispy but not cloudy or billowing smoke effects.  The mortis engine really doesn't fit the nighthaunt look.

As for the malignants box, even if the mortis engine was nighthaunt, it would still be a pretty poor box for starting or building up a nighthaunt collection.  The units you'd most want in such a box, chainrasps especially, no character, mortis engine isn't something you'd want to field in multiples, if at all, even if it was a nighthaunt unit, etc.  It's not a good start collecting box and never was.  Even if it were fully playable in nighthaunt, it would still pretty desperately need to be retired and replaced.

[Raptor_Jesues]

welp, guess we aint getting any vampires related things this week. 

[Sception]

We aren't getting any anythings for a couple weeks, but I'm hopeful for some new Warcom articles.  Hopefully something with model or rule reveals, rather than just updated fluff like the wight king article.  Though, to be fair, I actually liked that article and thought it did a good job placing Wight Kings and deathrattle units in general within the Gravelords faction, so I'm not complaining about it.

Todays reveals, while not Gravelord related, were pretty cool and impressive, so it's not like there's a lack of news, just a lack of new stuff to buy.

Considering my crimson court preorder not only hasn't arrived, but hasn't /even been shipped/ yet, I'd personally prefer GW to clear out the jams in their pipeline before shoving more new stuff into it anyway.

[Raptor_Jesues]

Just now, Sception said:

We aren't getting any anythings for a couple weeks, but I'm hopeful for some new Warcom articles.  Hopefully something with model or rule reveals, rather than just updated fluff like the wight king article.  Though, to be fair, I actually liked that article and thought it did a good job placing Wight Kings and deathrattle units in general within the Gravelords faction, so I'm not complaining about it.

Todays reveals, while not Gravelord related, were pretty cool and impressive, so it's not like there's a lack of news, just a lack of new stuff to buy.

Considering my crimson court preorder not only hasn't arrived, but hasn't /even been shipped/ yet, I'd personally prefer GW to clear out the jams in their pipeline before shoving more new stuff into it anyway.

i meant that it is quite likely that this week is going to be very BR Kragnos focussed wich would translate into a no vampire updates

[Aturox]

My guess i that they want to reveal entire range in one go. Monday model reveals always only had single model reveals. Since i am still hoping for new dire wolves and a few other reveals its more than likely to get a preview in the upcoming weekends.🤞🙇‍♂️

[Joseph Mackay]

3 hours ago, Sception said:

Except the ghostly things don't actually look like the rest of the nighthaunt range, apart from the couple other hold overs like hexwraiths and tomb banshees.  Nighthaunts in general have a pretty distinct look and style with their shrouds, and their whispy but not cloudy or billowing smoke effects.  The mortis engine really doesn't fit the nighthaunt look.

As for the malignants box, even if the mortis engine was nighthaunt, it would still be a pretty poor box for starting or building up a nighthaunt collection.  The units you'd most want in such a box, chainrasps especially, no character, mortis engine isn't something you'd want to field in multiples, if at all, even if it was a nighthaunt unit, etc.  It's not a good start collecting box and never was.  Even if it were fully playable in nighthaunt, it would still pretty desperately need to be retired and replaced.

Start Collecting boxes aren’t actually meant for you to be able to build an army out of multiples. Additionally, competitive/tournaments aren’t the only way people play AoS so your assessment of how good or bad a Mortis Engine is, is completely irrelevant to weather it’s a good box or not. None of those boxes are designed around what’s good competitively anyway.

The thing is, make the Mortis Engine Nighthaunt and that box at least has a purpose - as a start collecting box for Nighthaunt. But currently, that box isn’t very attractive to anyone, Legions Of Nagash would tend to focus on skeletons/zombies rather than ‘elite’ ghosts

[Lich King]

New warcom articles on the actual rules or updated warscrolls for existing units would be better than revealing the rest of the range. I have a lot on my plate and would like to know which direction to paint right now : )

[BaylorCorvette]

I said this in the Rumor Thread but I think warrants a post here.

With the Witch Hunters confirmed it Kragnos, I wonder if Gravelords will have a tie in to BR Kragnos too, being released in parallel or shortly there after? I have to believe there is no way that the Witch Hunters do NOT have anything to do with Gravelords..

Also, to those saying that Skeletons are just mindless pawns, that really isn't true in AoS. If you read some of the novels, specifically Neferata: The Dominion of Bones, the Skeletons retain a lot of their memories and personality from life. Now Zombies on the other hand, yeah they're more your traditional mindless undead thrall/servant.

[Causalis]

21 minutes ago, BaylorCorvette said:

Also, to those saying that Skeletons are just mindless pawns, that really isn't true in AoS. If you read some of the novels, specifically Neferata: The Dominion of Bones, the Skeletons retain a lot of their memories and personality from life. Now Zombies on the other hand, yeah they're more your traditional mindless undead thrall/servant.

This! In Nagash: Undying King there is a whole tribe of people who raise their dead relatives. The heroine has the skeleton of her brother by her side and they commune via telepathy. He's still capable of thought etc. but his character is very... muted.

[Aturox]

14 minutes ago, BaylorCorvette said:

Also, to those saying that Skeletons are just mindless pawns, that really isn't true in AoS. If you read some of the novels, specifically Neferata: The Dominion of Bones, the Skeletons retain a lot of their memories and personality from life. Now Zombies on the other hand, yeah they're more your traditional mindless undead thrall/servant.

If you look at the current Warhammer Community article about the Wight Kings its  pointing into this direction even more! I am really looking forward to the new rules for the skeletal legions 😁 Already painted some black knights as bretonnian knights and my skellies have the color scheme of my upcoming King aka Wight King. All my vamps will be grail knights. I am really looking forward to the upcoming reveals 😁 

[BaylorCorvette]

1 minute ago, Causalis said:

This! In Nagash: Undying King there is a whole tribe of people who raise their dead relatives. The heroine has the skeleton of her brother by her side and they commune via telepathy. He's still capable of thought etc. but his character is very... muted.

Yeah yeah specific character / set of characters is a great example of it as well. To be honest, I really like that take on Skeletons as opposed to them just being mindless reanimated bones.

[Causalis]

I think the difference between Skeletons and Zombies is that Skeletons are raised by actually calling the spirit of the dead person and plopping it into his calcium mech-suit, whilst a Zombie is just the body being reanimated by black magic with no soul in there.

Wight Kings and other "higher undead" have their whole personality restored, whilst the common lowly skeleton may only be a shadow of their former selves.

[Mark Williams]

2 hours ago, Joseph Mackay said:

Start Collecting boxes aren’t actually meant for you to be able to build an army out of multiples. Additionally, competitive/tournaments aren’t the only way people play AoS so your assessment of how good or bad a Mortis Engine is, is completely irrelevant to weather it’s a good box or not. None of those boxes are designed around what’s good competitively anyway.

The thing is, make the Mortis Engine Nighthaunt and that box at least has a purpose - as a start collecting box for Nighthaunt. But currently, that box isn’t very attractive to anyone, Legions Of Nagash would tend to focus on skeletons/zombies rather than ‘elite’ ghosts

Can't the mortis engine be made as a Coven Throne or a Bloodseeker Palanquin? And the Hexwraiths can be made as Black Knights instead of Hexwraiths. In such a case, that box makes a decent start collecting box for a Soulblight army. Yes, it wouldn't cover everything, but they are all units that are useful in those armies.

[Joseph Mackay]

3 minutes ago, Mark Williams said:

Can't the mortis engine be made as a Coven Throne or a Bloodseeker Palanquin? And the Hexwraiths can be made as Black Knights instead of Hexwraiths. In such a case, that box makes a decent start collecting box for a Soulblight army. Yes, it wouldn't cover everything, but they are all units that are useful in those armies.

Legions Of Nagash yes, Soulblight Gravelords to be confirmed. I wouldn’t be surprised if anything in the Nighthaunt or Bonereapers book is taken out, but possibly allowed in via a 1 in 4 units rule (like Cities Of Sigmar)

[HanShot First]

On 4/17/2021 at 4:52 AM, Gotz said:

Graveguard are on Soulbound bestiary, but also skeleton archers... so I'm betting for new graveguard models.

btw full list on the bestiary is:  necromancer, deadwalker zombie, dire wolfs, fell bats, grave guard, deathrattle skeleton, wight king, vampire lord

Any art for the skeleton archers by any chance?

[Sception]

8 hours ago, Raptor_Jesues said:

i meant that it is quite likely that this week is going to be very BR Kragnos focussed wich would translate into a no vampire updates

If so then so be it, but I think we'll get at least ~something~ soulblight related in the next two weeks.  Maybe a necromancer fluff article similar to the wight king one if nothing else, though I honestly do personally expect something a bit more substantial than that.  GW saw how fast their pre-orders sold out for Cursed City & the Crimson Court.  They saw their traffic numbers on faith & damnation.  They know people are hungry for the gravelords.

[Clan's Cynic]

Considering they usually have four/five 'blocks' of reveals in their previews and at least twelve days to fill I don't think it's out of the question we'll see the Soulblight range shown off in the next two weeks or so. The lack of an actual Preview event despite happening at roughly the same time every month since Christmas suggests what we'll be seeing now is what would've been at said Preview.

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

16 hours ago, Sception said:

The units you'd most want in such a box, chainrasps especially, no character, mortis engine isn't something you'd want to field in multiples, if at all, even if it was a nighthaunt unit, etc.

I see you are not familiar with the powerhouse build that is the FOURtis Engine. Bravery nukes all day, every day 😎

As for Soulblight news: Personally, I am somewhat hopeful. GW didn't have to do the recent Wight King fluff article, and we have not seen Soulblight articles on Warcom before. To me, that indicates that we might be entering the Soulblight hype cycle.

[Uvatha]

17 hours ago, Sception said:

Except the ghostly things don't actually look like the rest of the nighthaunt range, apart from the couple other hold overs like hexwraiths and tomb banshees.  Nighthaunts in general have a pretty distinct look and style with their shrouds, and their whispy but not cloudy or billowing smoke effects.  The mortis engine really doesn't fit the nighthaunt look.

As for the malignants box, even if the mortis engine was nighthaunt, it would still be a pretty poor box for starting or building up a nighthaunt collection.  The units you'd most want in such a box, chainrasps especially, no character, mortis engine isn't something you'd want to field in multiples, if at all, even if it was a nighthaunt unit, etc.  It's not a good start collecting box and never was.  Even if it were fully playable in nighthaunt, it would still pretty desperately need to be retired and replaced.

I believe that the kind of Hexwraiths tide carrying the entire engine helps a lot for blending the model into a Nighthaunt army, at least it contributes a lot to the confusion.

Somebody (forgot who, probably there) wrote that one "lore" aspect to consider when judging whether or not Mortis Engine is part of NH range is: Driving the model, there is a Necromancer (actually a Corpsemaster/disciple + the relics of what could be the Corpsmaster's Necromancer Master?) trying to control those wraiths flying around the engine. This guy is by nature a Death Mage, not a Nighthaunt (e.g. not a Guardian of Soul). And those NH floating around might have plenty of reasons of hating him because he basically tries to bind them to his will with magic, and to use them. Now, if used in a Legion of Grief army with blessing (!) from the Lady, I guess there is no issue

[Clewzy]

3 hours ago, Neil Arthur Hotep said:

I see you are not familiar with the powerhouse build that is the FOURtis Engine. Bravery nukes all day, every day 😎

As for Soulblight news: Personally, I am somewhat hopeful. GW didn't have to do the recent Wight King fluff article, and we have not seen Soulblight articles on Warcom before. To me, that indicates that we might be entering the Soulblight hype cycle.

I think you may be right https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/04/20/they-may-be-vampires-but-blood-knights-are-notoriously-picky-eaters/?fbclid=IwAR3r2ItJZBXshKCGNOTgHj5ox7OStTfzY5TYMq2u62J12YCwVDMz8WzZxtg

[Raptor_Jesues]

12 minutes ago, Clewzy said:

I think you may be right https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/04/20/they-may-be-vampires-but-blood-knights-are-notoriously-picky-eaters/?fbclid=IwAR3r2ItJZBXshKCGNOTgHj5ox7OStTfzY5TYMq2u62J12YCwVDMz8WzZxtg

i take it all back, that atwork is AMAZING. Also bloodknights can apparently swap weapons wich if translated in game rule could be quite the game changer indeed. Love it

Edited April 20, 2021 by Raptor_Jesues

[Boar]

18 minutes ago, Raptor_Jesues said:

Also bloodknights can apparently swap weapons wich if translated in game rule could be quite the game changer indeed.

Huh? Often one option is significantly better in those cases, how's that game changer? That they have weapon options, I am missing something?