Soulblight Gravelords News, Rumours and Speculation

[Raptor_Jesues]

13 minutes ago, El Syf said:

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.

right, i forgot the bats swarms. But what if they are an endless spell?

[pixieproxy]

15 minutes ago, El Syf said:

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.

******' amen mate. Something that is fluffy and full of choices like DoK and isn't all overcosted mortal-wounds-on-sixes like Hedonites would be great

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

1 minute ago, Raptor_Jesues said:

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

Yeah, I know that of course. But personally, I always had the impression that Ulfenkarn was supposed to be a new lore location in AoS, too, not just a bubble location where Cursed City happens that does not interact with the main game. If you go back to the Kritza and Annika reveals, they never mentioned Cursed City or Warhammer Quest in the first place. That was all people's inference. Plus, Kritza was officially placed within Gravelords in that one Soulblight teaser video.

One more thing remains to be seen. Cursed City spoilers below:

Spoiler

After defeating Radukar in Cursed City, he takes on a monstrous form and escapes. Then, a few days later, Hysh stops rising over Ulfenkarn, plunging the city into eternal night.

Currently we don't know if that was just a setup for further Cursed City expansions or tied in with the wider lore of AoS. It's totally possible that Shyish will become a realm of perpetual darkness due to the events of BR: Kragnos or something that happens in the Soulblight battletome.

If we look at Lumineth or Hedonites as recent examples, or even further back to Nighthaunt, GW does not seem to have a problem just throwing a bunch of small heroes on foot out there. So I could imagine Annika and Kritza just being specialty vampire lords.

5 minutes ago, El Syf said:

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.

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.

The thing is, Vargheists will never just be gone. They will either get an updated sculpt (which they kinda already did with the Vargskyr) or they will have to share niches with a flying vampire unit if one gets introduced. As far as I can tell, GW rarely outright removes units from one tome to the next. Usually they just make units they don't want to sell anymore bad, and their new alternatives good, so that people naturally gravitate to the new stuff.

I feel for people like you who run a bunch of Nighthaunt troops. Or, even worse, people with really integrated Legion of Grief lists. I think the separation of the two armies is good overall, though, and probably inevitable in the long term. Personally, I would actually not mind it if Spirit Hosts stayed in Gravelords, because they are not really like the rest of the Nighthaunt. But they have probably been placed too firmly into the Nighthaunt camp for that to happen at this point.

I also hope for a nice, varied book. I already have a Deathrattle LoN list which I hope will stay somewhat viable in Gravelord. And I am looking to start a new list with little overlap with that one. Currently, I would most like to go with a list of lots of weirdo vampires and creatures of the night (bats and rats). We will see if that becomes an option.

I don't think we have to worry that Gravelords will be the new Lumineth. Lumineth seem to have been designed a specific way, as a "control" army. While LoN has traditionally had some control elements, they have been more of an army with a limited selection of strong tools and some glaring weaknesses, not a toolbox army like Lumineth. So I expect that trend to continue.

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

5 minutes ago, Raptor_Jesues said:

right, i forgot the bats swarms. But what if they are an endless spell?

I'd love that. I think that would be the perfect way to do a bat swarm justice. The little bat swarms from Cursed City are great, but three bats on a 25mm base is not really a swarm. I want those bats to blot out the sun. Or at least the moon.

[ShyishBarry]

29 minutes ago, Neil Arthur Hotep said:

I'd love that. I think that would be the perfect way to do a bat swarm justice. The little bat swarms from Cursed City are great, but three bats on a 25mm base is not really a swarm. I want those bats to blot out the sun. Or at least the moon.

Agreed, actually having bat swarms as like... units that are part of the army always felt kinda goofy to me. Like Dracula having three squadrons of regular bats following him around. Now, a cloud of bats gathering on the battlefield suddenly, that feels appropriate.

[JackStreicher]

It's REALLY weird, that no one leaked the contents of Soulblight  I mean we already got solid rumours for AoS 3.0, but nothing for SBGL

[Raptor_Jesues]

36 minutes ago, JackStreicher said:

It's REALLY weird, that no one leaked the contents of Soulblight  I mean we already got solid rumours for AoS 3.0, but nothing for SBGL

why, because those rumors are hella fake of course

Edited April 29, 2021 by Raptor_Jesues

[Honk]

1 hour ago, Raptor_Jesues said:

It is 10am here and i dont feel like killing myself yet.

NAGASH FINDS YOUR LACK OF FAITH DISTURBING!!! 

The things we saw, especially with some CC content looks like a pretty solid vampire based book...

The new Knights, the crazy new Lords and new batswarms... The Wightking with his new skellis, the funky Zombies

then some hopefull additions, like the Vargskyr moster or the crazy vampire thralls, if new plastic arrives at the factory 😻

some concerns are valid, risks and red flags are there, but such are the dealings with GDubs and the times we live in

[Honk]

2 hours ago, JackStreicher said:

mean we already got solid rumours for AoS 3.0, but nothing for SBGL

Paper rules are one thing, global production of plastic something else.
 

My prediction: next week we‘ll see an announcement of AoS 3.0, SB will be pushed into summer, if things are fully crash&burn autumn 

I‘m neither sad (maybe a bit) or mad, but the production of our big centerpiece and Abhorash as a Sigvald type blender will take time and the release of CC and the Underworld Warband shows, that resources are scarce and maybe lacking for a full blown SBGL escalation 

🍷🧛🏻‍♂️👍

Nagash protects

[Sception]

In terms of what they would drop from LoN to make room for rolling FEC in, there are a grand total of 11 units in FEC that aren't already in LoN, and, if you count the units added by the Soul Wars, there are currently 14 Nighthaunt units in LoN that most folks are already expecting to go.  Plus Nagash, Arkhan, Morghast Arkhai, and Morghast Harbingers which live in the OBR book now.

Add them together, and if the new book rolls in Fec but removes nighthaunts and OBR units then they could still add 7 entirely new warscrolls without having more than we currently have.

 

AoS Battletomes for holdover oldhammer factions (and Soulblight Gravelords is very much AoS Vampire Counts) often have way more units than original AoS factions.  As an example, the Skaven Battletome currently has, if I'm not counting wrong, 37 units in it.  Legions of Nagash, if you don't count Nighthaunt and OBR stuff, currently has, I believe, 23 units, and that includes the two units we already share with FEC.  You could add the rest of the FEC range and still have room to add 3 new warscrolls without surpassing Skaven.

And that's if there is no loss of units or consolidation anywhere else.  I'm not sure wight king with black axe will stay as a separate unit, for instance.  Though admittedly 'wight king on skeletal steed' might become one.  As might 'Vampire Lord on Barded Nightmare'.  And I'm not sure 'archregent' and 'ghoul king on foot' need to be separate units.  There's been some speculation that grave guard might no longer be a distinct unit from skeleton warriors given that the new unit for the latter is more armored up than the current unit of the former.

Again, I still don't really expect the two to be combined, but if they wanted to do so 'room in the book' isn't a reason that they couldn't.

[Sception]

2 hours ago, JackStreicher said:

It's REALLY weird, that no one leaked the contents of Soulblight  I mean we already got solid rumours for AoS 3.0, but nothing for SBGL

Battletome/new model Leaks generally aren't that common or accurate these days.  People were surprised when the soulblight leak happened because it's so unusual by modern standards.  So the lack of more detailed soulblight leaks aren't surprising to me.

And while I also think the AoS 3.0 leaks are likely fake, even if they weren't that wouldn't be all that surprising.  Rules for a new edition are likely to involve a wider playtest group than rules for a single faction, which hardly seem to get playtested at all these days.  Thus there'd be more eyes on the in development ruleset connected to more lips that might start flapping about it.

....

As for predictions for next week, I agree with the several voices out there saying Soulblight preview on Monday (along with Kragnos, and other stuff), AoS 3.0 announcement on Saturday.  But that's just previews and announcements, as for when we'll be able to buy the stuff... that's anybody's guess.  Especially since the scalpers will snap up the entire first printing in minutes, leaving many us to wait for GW's covid/brexit addled production pipeline to get around to a second printing before we can hope to get our hands on any of it.

[El Syf]

Get This Exclusive Ghal Maraz Coin From Your Local Warhammer Store in May - Warhammer Community (warhammer-community.com)

Ultimate weirdness giving a Ghal Maraz coin with a Grave Guard model! Again Blood Knights are referred to as elite, hopefully a good sign.

Edited April 29, 2021 by El Syf

[Sception]

So the 'miniature of the month' isn't a unique thing, just a one dude from a kit of multiple dudes that the store runner takes off the shelves and assembles themselves?  Weird.

Also, it sounds like if the gravelords are coming in may, it won't be until later in the month, because the article makes it clear that they won't be out before this coin/mini promotion.

That said, it also doesn't sound like it'll be that much longer of a wait either.  Certainly not as long as my prior prediction of Halloween times.

[Gotz]

yeah, kind of weird... maybe they'll release a soulblight coin with the army release. 

I hope they're giving away grave guard models because they want to make room for renewed ones!

As for the centerpiece model... I don't think there is space for a new big centerpiece. Zombie Dragon, Palanquin and Mortarchs are fairly new kits that are shared with other armies.

Despite that, I could see a medium sized model, similar to Sigvald or Guilliman.

Regarding CC I still have faith that when 3rd ed is out and the global situation is more stable they could produce a 2nd run. A halloween release could be nice for that.

 

[Sception]

While I don't think the faction /needs/ a new big centerpiece, there's always /room/ for one.  I mean, look how the hedonites are getting two new named greater daemons, despite already having another named greater daemon, a generic greater daemon, glutos, and two daemon chariots haphazardly mashed together.  Not to mention access to slaaneshi marked monster riding heroes from other chaos books up to and including Archaon himself.

If there were no big new centerpiece models for Soulblight, I personally would not be disappointed.  We do have several already, and I really like the ones we already have.  But while I wouldn't be disappointed, I would be kind of surprised.

Edited April 29, 2021 by Sception

[Sception]

double post...

Edited April 29, 2021 by Sception

[warhammernerd]

And there you have it, confirmation SGL will still include Graveguard and by the looks of it, still using the old kit. 

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/04/29/get-this-exclusive-ghal-maraz-coin-from-your-local-warhammer-store-in-may/

[Sception]

8 minutes ago, warhammernerd said:

And there you have it, confirmation SGL will still include Graveguard and by the looks of it, still using the old kit. 

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/04/29/get-this-exclusive-ghal-maraz-coin-from-your-local-warhammer-store-in-may/

I would not take it as such.  It's just a cheap in store promotion using models that are already in the store and presumably aren't selling anyway.  If anything, this may be meant to clear out some stock that isn't going to carry forward.

The article doesn't present this as a head start on your new soulblight gravelord army as much as a chance to practice painting bone while you wait for all the new skeleton models to come out.

Edited April 29, 2021 by Sception

[warhammernerd]

11 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.

Well it does imply Grave Guard will be in new book. 

[BaylorCorvette]

38 minutes ago, El Syf said:

Get This Exclusive Ghal Maraz Coin From Your Local Warhammer Store in May - Warhammer Community (warhammer-community.com)

Ultimate weirdness giving a Ghal Maraz coin with a Grave Guard model! Again Blood Knights are referred to as elite, hopefully a good sign.

Based on this, I think the coin could be a nod at 3.0 coming soon, but it could also just be for Warhammer Fest. The Graveguard miniature and the fact that the article says the Gravelords release is "nearly upon us" makes be believe that we will have Gravelords release some time in May, or at the very least a full preview of the models in the line up. But I'll put my money on May release. I do like that the article once again references Blood Knight as "elite cavalry" I just hope their rules reflect that.

Also did anyone else catch in the article that when they mentioned Skeletal Warriors they say "which you'll no doubt be summoning a few units of" I wonder if Gravelords will have a summoning mechanic more similar to the Chaos factions?

As far as speculation of models, I think we all collectively agree that there will be Dire Wolves and more than likely the Nighthaunt stuff will not be in our book. I also do not think that  FEC are going to be put into our book either.

As for what I want to see in the book, but not necessarily what I think will be in the book:
-A large new (named?) Vampire Lord on Abyssal / Zombie Dragon, however this is a stand alone one and the current VLoZD is still produced in parallel with this one.

-Bat Swarm reworked to absorb damage (could just be from missile weapon attacks OR all damage except melee OR just all damage), idea would be to pass wounds off on a dice roll. Alternative could be to make Graveguard live up to their name and allow the General (or nearby Hero) to pass wounds off to them.

-My hope is that the Crimson Court is representative of some new units, such as: 1) elite foot Vampire units 2) lightly armored fast flying Vampires, perhaps they can deepstrike or retreat and still charge or have some other niche roll/rule.

-Cool new faction terrain, could act as a healing/respawn area

-Cool new faction endless spells

[Sception]

22 minutes ago, warhammernerd said:

Well it does imply Grave Guard will be in new book. 

I wouldn't go so far as to call it confirmation, but it would be an odd choice if there ~aren't~ grave guard in the new book, yeah.

[Raptor_Jesues]

1 hour ago, El Syf said:

Get This Exclusive Ghal Maraz Coin From Your Local Warhammer Store in May - Warhammer Community (warhammer-community.com)

Ultimate weirdness giving a Ghal Maraz coin with a Grave Guard model! Again Blood Knights are referred to as elite, hopefully a good sign.

aight, this is extreamly SUS, not gonna lie. 

[Honk]

They said: „they’re available strictly while stocks last...“ sooo who knows what will happen to the old guard 🧐

Well, only one week to find out a bit more, at least the direction if/not FEC, some new player... thrilled 😁 

[Raptor_Jesues]

2 minutes ago, Honk said:

They said: „they’re available strictly while stocks last...“ sooo who knows what will happen to the old guard 🧐

Well, only one week to find out a bit more, at least the direction if/not FEC, some new player... thrilled 😁 

isn't telling everyone "ehi buy this kit" ust before it gets a new one extreamly scummy?

[RedMax]

38 minutes ago, Sception said:

but it would be an odd choice if there ~aren't~ grave guard in the new book

We could also imagine the grave guards sculpt to remain but being "downgraded" as skeleton warriors.

Today, looking side by side Cursed city skeletons warriors, grave guards and currently sold individually plastic skeletons warriors, those who blend the best together are CC skeletons warriors with Grave Guards.

I admit it would be odd to have 3 sculpt for same warscroll (and that current skeleton warriors are still OK), but as they all have same base size and blend well together, this technically remain possible.