Soulblight Gravelords News, Rumours and Speculation

[idn0971]

3 hours ago, Sception said:

As or whether this is all baseless doomsaying, I mean, yeah.  That's absolutely what this is.  But we've got a week to kill anyway, and doom saying fills the time as well as anything else.

I have to disagree. I think that doomsaying without any real proof is a negative and not really why I at least come to this forum. I've loved all the speculation and rumors that have been proposed in this forum and there is lots of postive speculation that we can still do in this week before a preview that at least belive will very likely reveal the rest of the range. Saying that the entire army and book will be delayed and split apart is extremely pessimistic and not at all supported by any of the previews that have put out. For example much of the new imagery for this upcoming preview is heavily soulblight related and I would very much doubt that they would do that if they intended to not preview anything.

[Sception]

Bah, maybe you're right.

I guess I'm just super disheartened at the premature death of cursed city.  I didn't even get a chance to play a game of it yet!  I was looking forward to an entire season of the new undead-themed warhammer quest line, with new expansions and developments all along like Blackstone fortress got.  Stuff that I could play in the board game with my non-warhammer playing room mate and friends, and then incorporate as additions to my soulblight army as a steady stream of super thematic and characterful new model releases.  I was hype for Cursed City.  Weren't you?

GW themselves even went out of their way to tie excitement for the two things together.  Kritza, spawn of Radukar, but shown in the video with the other new soulblight releases!  Ever present references to Ulfenkarn in every Soulblight Gravelords preview and teaser article!  The Cursed City was central to the entire gravelords pitch, defining the look, feel and tone of the entire faction.  In all the build up to the Gravelords, they keep coming back to Ulfenkarn as the defining example of everything the faction is about.  Not Nagashizzar, not Nulamiah, not even Sternieste.  Ulfenkarn.  Ulfenkarn's nobles get highlighted.  Ulfenkarn's regiments get named.  What about Neferata?  Where is Mannfred?  Vhordrai?  Never heard of him!  It's all about the Vyrkos Dynasty!

Maybe I conflated these two product lines too much in my head, but GW absolutely wanted me to do so.  Now half of that connection has gone up in smoke, and as someone who was more than happy to set aside the oldhammer vampire personalities and invest myself emotionally in the new Cursed City crew, I can't pretend like the entire Cursed City game, product line, and road map vanishing into the aether doesn't affect how I feel about the Gravelords, or what I expect from the faction.

[Raptor_Jesues]

7 hours ago, Sception said:

Bah, maybe you're right.

I guess I'm just super disheartened at the premature death of cursed city.  I didn't even get a chance to play a game of it yet!  I was looking forward to an entire season of the new undead-themed warhammer quest line, with new expansions and developments all along like Blackstone fortress got.  Stuff that I could play in the board game with my non-warhammer playing room mate and friends, and then incorporate as additions to my soulblight army as a steady stream of super thematic and characterful new model releases.  I was hype for Cursed City.  Weren't you?

GW themselves even went out of their way to tie excitement for the two things together.  Kritza, spawn of Radukar, but shown in the video with the other new soulblight releases!  Ever present references to Ulfenkarn in every Soulblight Gravelords preview and teaser article!  The Cursed City was central to the entire gravelords pitch, defining the look, feel and tone of the entire faction.  In all the build up to the Gravelords, they keep coming back to Ulfenkarn as the defining example of everything the faction is about.  Not Nagashizzar, not Nulamiah, not even Sternieste.  Ulfenkarn.  Ulfenkarn's nobles get highlighted.  Ulfenkarn's regiments get named.  What about Neferata?  Where is Mannfred?  Vhordrai?  Never heard of him!  It's all about the Vyrkos Dynasty!

Maybe I conflated these two product lines too much in my head, but GW absolutely wanted me to do so.  Now half of that connection has gone up in smoke, and as someone who was more than happy to set aside the oldhammer vampire personalities and invest myself emotionally in the new Cursed City crew, I can't pretend like the entire Cursed City game, product line, and road map vanishing into the aether doesn't affect how I feel about the Gravelords, or what I expect from the faction.

we dont always see eye to eye but i must agree on this, the relevance CS got as far as named characters and lore insights went really got on my nerves since i felt like a very secondary bloodline was being fleshed out this much for MARKETING REASONS. When they basically squatted CS i felt incredibly betrayed by all the useless hype they created so i can relate

[Honk]

10 hours ago, idn0971 said:

Saying that the entire army and book will be delayed and split apart is extremely pessimistic and not at all supported by any of the previews

The situation is suboptimal, a bit back&forth and then some sales management hype followed by a hard counter reality check...

the nurgle world tour has left all the supply lines and international networks in tatters. And with that, small cogs can ruin the day (week) halfway round the globe, without somebody ever thinking of such a minor detail doing the butterfly effect. Example transport and their standard containers, they kinda got left/stuck in the west, so there is a shortage in the east. Same goes for all steps in the process of making things... building wood just doubled in price, throw away lab articles (plastics) are scarce and productions not reliable.

same goes for the warband that is sold out and uncertain when it will be available again. that is not negative and pessimistic, it is just the reality.

 

my Hope is that GDubs , fortified by the brave consumer who bought out the whole stock day one, keeps its cool, lets the designers and tester have their time and doesn’t do anything rash.

the interest in CC was huge, so, plan a Second Print, when things are planned again. SB book is probably written but some factory decided to go medical plastic instead of minis, just wait a while. tease some rules, with pieces that you can deliver, if the fear of IP damage is too great and communicate openly how what and hopefully when.

 

and if SB comes as SB and a new deadwalker book... 🍷🧛🏻‍♂️🎊🧟‍♀️🥃

[Feii]

@Honk

[warhammernerd]

11 hours ago, Sception said:

Bah, maybe you're right.

I guess I'm just super disheartened at the premature death of cursed city.  I didn't even get a chance to play a game of it yet!  I was looking forward to an entire season of the new undead-themed warhammer quest line, with new expansions and developments all along like Blackstone fortress got.  Stuff that I could play in the board game with my non-warhammer playing room mate and friends, and then incorporate as additions to my soulblight army as a steady stream of super thematic and characterful new model releases.  I was hype for Cursed City.  Weren't you?

GW themselves even went out of their way to tie excitement for the two things together.  Kritza, spawn of Radukar, but shown in the video with the other new soulblight releases!  Ever present references to Ulfenkarn in every Soulblight Gravelords preview and teaser article!  The Cursed City was central to the entire gravelords pitch, defining the look, feel and tone of the entire faction.  In all the build up to the Gravelords, they keep coming back to Ulfenkarn as the defining example of everything the faction is about.  Not Nagashizzar, not Nulamiah, not even Sternieste.  Ulfenkarn.  Ulfenkarn's nobles get highlighted.  Ulfenkarn's regiments get named.  What about Neferata?  Where is Mannfred?  Vhordrai?  Never heard of him!  It's all about the Vyrkos Dynasty!

Maybe I conflated these two product lines too much in my head, but GW absolutely wanted me to do so.  Now half of that connection has gone up in smoke, and as someone who was more than happy to set aside the oldhammer vampire personalities and invest myself emotionally in the new Cursed City crew, I can't pretend like the entire Cursed City game, product line, and road map vanishing into the aether doesn't affect how I feel about the Gravelords, or what I expect from the faction.

Chill your boots.

Games workshop haven’t officially stated on their community site or white dwarf that the game will be unsupported going forwards. This is all speculation based off some comments by Gdub on social media. Even if Cursed City was a limited run, it doesn’t mean there won’t be subsequent additions to the game. That is just further speculation.

I absolutely hear your saddness not to have picked up a copy, really it sucks.

I have two copies, one still in shrink wrap with a key. Far be it from me to be an opportunistic scalper 🥸 but if your so very desperate, make me an offer.

AoS however is a much bigger product line. It’s their flagship product, and nothing their board game does regardless of connections thematically or narratively will have any impact on the AoS product.

All will be well we will get our Vamps, our new heroes, our centrepiece models, new endless spells, battle line and elite units. Special dice, cards, tokens and ltd edition books. 

The only serious issue going forwards, will be availability. If you don’t manage to be there on pre-order day, at 10am ready to buy expect to be disappointed. It’s always this way to a certain extent, but right now even more so. BUT, as it’s a flagship product it will always be in stock and for years to come. It’s just if you're like the rest of us frothy mouthed consumers who are so easily manipulated and wound up by GW into thinking that the world is ending if we don’t get our toys the minute they are out.

Final thought, Covid is a c u n t. It has effected everyone in the world. And I don’t know about you, but I’ve always played hammer (for 32 years now) as a form of escapism and a sanctuary from the crud. It’s a world and place I love to explore, a game I’m obsessed with wedded to a community I dig. If anything gets in the way of that, ie covid, it really really bites. Right now, for me at least, I need this escapism more than ever. And for it be taken out of reach, by the very same company we look too for our fix, without good communication or clarity, sucks. 

Thank 🦆 we have this space to offload and support each other.

Much love. 

Edited April 28, 2021 by warhammernerd
dyslexia innit

[Clan's Cynic]

Part of me does wonder if the Ulfenkarn characters that've been previewed for Gravelords weren't originally meant to be Cursed City expansions that were then reshuffled around as Gravelords releases/special characters instead. I don't think I was the only one a little surprised at how much the new kits were revolving around one (relatively) recent taken over City as the posterboys, rather than "The Bestist, Most Powerful Soulblight Kingdom Ever, Painted By 'Eavy Metal" which is what GW usually do with Battletomes.

[Honk]

1 hour ago, Clan's Cynic said:

previewed for Gravelords weren't originally meant to be Cursed City expansions

CC was probably planned for autumn of '20, then got tumbled around through real life... all their rules are just too much LoN, for the now tight releases

I hope not too much got lost in confusion, but SBGL was planned long ago, all models and their molds ordered and payed for... 

second printing is the only sensible option, all will be fine.

[Sception]

On 4/27/2021 at 12:55 PM, warhammernerd said:

This [FEC getting rolled into SGL] is baseless wish listing. Unless I’ve been living under a rock, there has been absolutely nothing evidencing this even being a possibility.

Well, there was this bit from the AoS facebook that was linked a couple pages back by Baylor:

"Humans, Ghouls, Zombies, and Vampires".  The specific inclusion of ghouls in that line, as opposed to Skeletons which we already know will be in SGL, could be a reference to SGL absorbing FEC.  Which, while no we don't have specific confirmation that it's happening in this case yet, isn't without precedent.  Again, BCR rolled back into Mawtribes, Pestilens rolled back into Skaven.

The humans bit likewise could mean nothing, or could refer to humans of Shyish serving in the soulblight armies for protection from chaos and ossiarchs alike.  More likely imo it refers to the witch hunters being added to Cities of Sigmar as a thematic anti-vampire unit, but we'll see.

[Honk]

12 minutes ago, Sception said:

The humans bit likewise could mean nothing, or could refer to humans of Shyish serving in the soulblight armies

Either FEC stays independent like they should) or I demand mortals of Shyish as recompense. Well, I’ll demand them anyway, but plz GDubs, don’t ruin my brave and chivalrous Knights of the morning Star 😓

soulblight hates them like the highly contagious madmen they are...

[Sception]

Do not be sad, Honk.  It still seems very unlikely to happen, but even if it does it wouldn't need to be a bad thing.  Getting rolled into Mawtribes wasn't really bad for BCR (the book in general being kind of weak was sort of bad for them, but they didn't specifically suffer for the inclusion), and Pestilens didn't suffer for rejoining the Skaven faction.  You can still run fluffy and effective pure BCR or Pestilens armies, or you can mix stuff up some.  If FEC were rolled in, I'm confident that they'll still have their own allegiance for people who want to run pure FEC.  And for those who don't, well, there are plenty of stories of ghoul kings working with other undead factions - vampires, necromancers, wights.  Rolling them into the same army would allow that.  And you can't tell me that Necromancers, Dire Wolves, corpse carts, & those cool new fell bat models wouldn't look right at home in a FEC army, while also adding some model variety to the FEC range that GW never seemed willing to give them on their own.  I could even see a wight king and a loyal retinue of grave guard being a nice aesthetic fit as allies & bodyguards for an archregent.  Plus, if vampires get cool new vampyric powers, then ghoul kings would too if they get rolled into the same book.  That'd be nice to see, right?  Might even give you a reason to run regular old ghoul kings.

Obviously staying their own faction while getting a big expansion to their model range would be way, way better.  But GW's had two chances to expand that range, and they really haven't.  IMO rolling back into vampire counts wouldn't be the best thing, but wouldn't be a bad thing either.

[Evil Bob]

1 hour ago, Sception said:

Getting rolled into Mawtribes wasn't really bad for BCR (the book in general being kind of weak was sort of bad for them, but they didn't specifically suffer for the inclusion), and Pestilens didn't suffer for rejoining the Skaven faction.  You can still run fluffy and effective pure BCR or Pestilens armies, or you can mix stuff up some.  If FEC were rolled in, I'm confident that they'll still have their own allegiance for people who want to run pure FEC.  And for those who don't, well, there are plenty of stories of ghoul kings working with other undead factions - vampires, necromancers, wights.  Rolling them into the same army would allow that.  And you can't tell me that Necromancers, Dire Wolves, corpse carts, & those cool new fell bat models wouldn't look right at home in a FEC army, while also adding some model variety to the FEC

Normally I’m not a big fan of speculation mainly because it often turns into rampant rumor mongering and that ends up shooting weird stress everywhere.  Like an über broken chocolate fountain filled with dog pee.

As a BCR fan and feeling relatively good about them in Ogre Mawtribes this could work.  I’d be concerned at what GW might cut to make room and what might be left out on the full Soulblight side.  But I’d take that hit if the condensed rules in both camps met with the current meta standards.

Just to be clear I don’t think FEC is being jammed into SGL.  There’s just no reason to since the FEC isn’t dead in the water like BCR and Ogres were.  The only way I could see it is if the Devs put an “F” grade effort into Soulblight Vampires and were desperately trying to fill it in with copy and paste.  Can anyone imagine them trying to release a worse book than Nighthaunt?  Inconceivable.  We are due for a win.

[Sception]

10 hours ago, Evil Bob said:

We are due for a win.

In order of releases, I think we're actually due for a bin book, whether in terms of AoS in general based on the new lumineth or death specifically, since both FEC and OBR were pretty strong when initially released.  So I'm not putting too much hope into this battle tome being strong in a competitive sense.  The best I can personally bring myself to hope for is a fluffy book with a distinct tone, inspiring art, and engaging narrative hooks, giving a strong place for the non-ghosty, non-necromonger undead within the AoS setting, and introducing some new units with cool models that might one day become good in some future battle tome, and even those hopes are on shaky ground given the Cursed City developments.

Edited April 29, 2021 by Sception

[Honk]

6 hours ago, Evil Bob said:

I’d be concerned at what GW might cut to make room and what might be left out on the full Soulblight side

True...

it is a bit much for one book, especially since it boils down to GA Death (-OBR) if FEC gets rolled in. 
that would seriously cut down the options in the armies, if you think about every other faction.

usually you have your factions and about four sub-factions, if you now think about the rough edges of the new Soulblight book, there are vampires in there, and deathrattle, of course necromancers&zombies too... with fec that would make three. That would really restrain the flavor option in the three faction.

Could be done and would leave the players with HUGE options in list building. I always loved LoN for the sheer number of Battlelines, units and heroes.

Think about a fat middle group of necro, wight, walkers, wolves, then one side the aristocracy of vampires, maybe only two or three varieties/dynasties (melee/buff/magic) and on the other side the demented lunatics of the carrion king with monsters...

each faction could be played exclusively or could mix and match from the fat middle up to 50%. Up to 25% they KEEP their own faction rules, up to 50% and they fall under the Walker/Rattle rules. Mixing of vamps and court only in the walker /rattle faction, because they are allergic to each other (well, vamps are)

(Of course I‘m all for doing that with vamps - necros - wights, too, but then they would need (i like) to expand the range with undead constructs and stuff 🤔)

we‘ll see... hopefully awesome fluff

5 hours ago, Sception said:

The best I can personally bring myself to hope for is a fluffy book with a distinct tone

[warhammernerd]

5 hours ago, Sception said:

In order of releases, I think we're actually due for a bin book, whether in terms of AoS in general based on the new lumineth in general or death specifically, since both FEC and OBR were pretty strong when initially released.  So I'm not putting too much hope into this battle tome being strong in a competitive sense.  The best I can personally bring myself to hope for is a fluffy book with a distinct tone, inspiring art, and engaging narrative hooks, giving a strong place for the non-ghosty, non-necromonger undead within the AoS setting, and introducing some new units with cool models that might one day become good in some future battle tome, and even those hopes are on shaky ground given the Cursed City developments.

 

[El Syf]

Just remember whatever happens (bar the apocalypse), we ARE getting plastic Blood Knights!

[Raptor_Jesues]

GENTLEMEN PLEASE, can we turn down the negativity just a little bit? It is 10am here and i dont feel like killing myself yet. I personally believe that the book is going to be a banger

Edited April 29, 2021 by Raptor_Jesues

[El Syf]

3 minutes ago, Raptor_Jesues said:

GENTLEMEN PLEASE, can we turn up the negativity a bit? It is 10am here and i dont feel like killing myself yet

I'm trying to maintain the hype! Although I do have to be slightly negative about the assembly of Prince Duvalle from crimson court, one of the worst push fit models I've out together! Much rather go wild with glue than push fit although that may just be me...

[Raptor_Jesues]

5 minutes ago, El Syf said:

I'm trying to maintain the hype! Although I do have to be slightly negative about the assembly of Prince Duvalle from crimson court, one of the worst push fit models I've out together! Much rather go wild with glue than push fit although that may just be me...

think about the blood dragon actually getting a model and the hype will come back with fully erected lances, my bretheren

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

Since the reveal day is just around the corner on monday, what do we think will be in the new book?

Personally, other than the obvious stuff like Dire Wolves, I think we will see a unit of flying vampires like the one in the Crimson Court warband. Fast, flying elites just seem like a niche that needs filling in Soulblight. They can pair up with the bat swarms and fell bats we already know are coming, too. I think we will see Vampire foot troops, too.

I also think we will see a new Zombie Dragon centerpiece. It seems unlikely with the Zombie Dragon dual kit situation, but they have to resolve that at some point. Might as well do it now.

I don't think we will see Flesh Eater Courts re-absorbed or Shyish mortal auxilliaries introduced. But I think there is a chance for updated sculpts to the remaining Deathrattle units.

[Raptor_Jesues]

12 minutes ago, Neil Arthur Hotep said:

Since the reveal day is just around the corner on monday, what do we think will be in the new book?

Personally, other than the obvious stuff like Dire Wolves, I think we will see a unit of flying vampires like the one in the Crimson Court warband. Fast, flying elites just seem like a niche that needs filling in Soulblight. They can pair up with the bat swarms and fell bats we already know are coming, too. I think we will see Vampire foot troops, too.

I also think we will see a new Zombie Dragon centerpiece. It seems unlikely with the Zombie Dragon dual kit situation, but they have to resolve that at some point. Might as well do it now.

I don't think we will see Flesh Eater Courts re-absorbed or Shyish mortal auxilliaries introduced. But I think there is a chance for updated sculpts to the remaining Deathrattle units.

imma say: 
big centre piece (i literally dreamed an Abhorash release, let us see if the gods granted me a vision of the future)
obviously wolves
most likely grave guards or foot vampires
mounted vampire lord perhaps? And a named version too
three endless spells

Edited April 29, 2021 by Raptor_Jesues

[Aturox]

I am hoping for new direwolves for sure and one big centerpiece model as mentioned.. Everything else is literally a bonus.. The new bloodknights and some wolves were already all i wished for tbh.

And if you can customize your vampires further with different clans instead of the vampire lords weve got right now its a win. Maybe a little bit juiced up in magic/combat/utility department at your choosing

And the FEC getting integrated isnt a bad thing either since we had strigoi in the past and mannfred already included them..

Edited April 29, 2021 by Aturox

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

1 minute ago, Aturox said:

And if you can customize your vampires further with different clans instead of the vampire lords weve got right now its a win. Maybe a little bit juiced up in magic/combat/utility department at your choosing

I am still really excited for the weirdo vampires like Kritza and Annika. If there is a viable Ulfenkarn build that runs those two plus Radukar I might build that list.

[Raptor_Jesues]

1 minute ago, Neil Arthur Hotep said:

I am still really excited for the weirdo vampires like Kritza and Annika. If there is a viable Ulfenkarn build that runs those two plus Radukar I might build that list.

i would not know about that, CS got discontinued pretty hard, even squatted maybe

[El Syf]

14 minutes ago, Neil Arthur Hotep said:

Since the reveal day is just around the corner on monday, what do we think will be in the new book?

Personally, other than the obvious stuff like Dire Wolves, I think we will see a unit of flying vampires like the one in the Crimson Court warband. Fast, flying elites just seem like a niche that needs filling in Soulblight. They can pair up with the bat swarms and fell bats we already know are coming, too. I think we will see Vampire foot troops, too.

I also think we will see a new Zombie Dragon centerpiece. It seems unlikely with the Zombie Dragon dual kit situation, but they have to resolve that at some point. Might as well do it now.

I don't think we will see Flesh Eater Courts re-absorbed or Shyish mortal auxilliaries introduced. But I think there is a chance for updated sculpts to the remaining Deathrattle units.

Agree, dire wolves and the differing types of bats, mounted vampire lord seems like a no brainer but stranger things have happened.

Endless spells and a terrain piece are a given you would have thought.

Flying vampires I'm not so sure on as we do still have Vargheists, so I'm a little less optimistic on that front and whether or not the naked vampires from cursed city port over could also hurt the chances.

Big new centerpiece model be it Vhordrai or Abhorash (or something else entirely) you have to believe we're getting one.

It does seem like all nighhaunt (Went all in and have a sizeable nighthaunt army but just don't find them enjoyable to play.), stuff will be removed which would suck a bit as I hate playing nighhaunt but like spirit hosts and hexwraiths.

Hopefully the book is fluffy, fun and makes various builds viable but nothing op. I don't want SBG to be on par with Lumineth, I just want it to not be an absolute train wreck.