Soulblight Gravelords News, Rumours and Speculation

[Harioch]

I wonder where our future Vampire-armored-Echidna ends on the ladder of Death hierarchy if she is our new big centerpiece..

Above Mortarch (unlikely but not impossible)? As powerful ? Same strenght than Vordhrai or Radukar ?

Edited May 1, 2021 by Harioch

[Honk]

11 hours ago, Harioch said:

I wonder ...ends on the ladder of Death hierarchy... Mortarch...Vordhrai or Radukar 

Somewhere in between that 😂

With Neffi, manni as 350+ buff pieces, vordhrai and VloZd as 450+ melee, the throne is 250-300 buff, a 200-300 melee piece would be nice, the palanquin is a bit lackluster.

like the Chaos lord on Karkadrak something fierce...

Edited May 2, 2021 by Honk

[Raptor_Jesues]

19 minutes ago, Honk said:

Somewhere in between that 😂

With Neffi, manni as 350+ buff pieces, vordhrai and VloZd as 450+ melee, the throne is 250-300 buff, a 200-300 melee piece would be nice, the palanquin is a bit lackluster.

like the Chaos lord on Karkadrak something fierce...

YES, we need an horse (or horse+) lord

[PraetorDragoon]

I think there is a reasonable chance that Soulblight will have the Mounted Hero/named Hero box that various factions have now.

[warhammernerd]

14 hours ago, Harioch said:

I wonder where our future Vampire-armored-Echidna ends on the ladder of Death hierarchy if she is our new big centerpiece..

Above Mortarch (unlikely but not impossible)? As powerful ? Same strenght than Vordhrai or Radukar ?

Given how our current Mortarchs (discounting Vhodrai) are weak as p i s s rules wise, it shouldn’t be hard to top them. That is, unless the seriously beef up their rules (please please please).

I’ve never quite wrapped my around how Manfred and Neffy are supposedly these baller vampires, yet fall over to a stiff breeze. How exactly was it they survived the utter destruction of the old world? 

[warhammernerd]

3 hours ago, Raptor_Jesues said:

YES, we need an horse (or horse+) lord

Let’s call a ♠️ a ♠️ the Palanquin is utterly turgid bum gravy. The amount of time, money and effort it would take to paint that is so completely out of whack with its in game utility. It’s also a super lame build of the kit compared to the other two, and if I’m brutally honest it always felt like a weak sauce cash grab. If the rules were half decent, I’d get behind it. Currently the meh is strong with that one. That said, I’ve never been especially wowed with the Throne either. The Mortis engine has always felt like a far better utility piece. Cheaper, with a great casting buff, it has an aura heal, screams and blows up.

Edited May 2, 2021 by warhammernerd

[Raptor_Jesues]

Just now, warhammernerd said:

Let’s call a ♠️ a ♠️ the Palanquin is utterly turgid bum gravy. The amount of time, money and effort it would take to paint that is so completely out of whack with its in game utility. It’s also a super lame build of the kit compared to the other two, and if I’m brutally honest it always felt a bit like a cash grab. If the rules were half decent, it’s a cash grab I could get behind. Currently the meh is strong with that one.

amen, i want an abyssal terror now

[Sception]

On time today.  I set an alarm.

[Raptor_Jesues]

The hype is utterly unreal

[Aren73]

Incredibly excited too. I hope they'll reveal more vampiric units and I really, really hope we get to have the Black Coach in the book just as in Vampire Counts. 


Worst case scenario right now for me would be GW stripping LoN of all ghosts, mainly just redoing sculpts for units, adding very few new units in and the only new vampires we're getting would be named characters, that's it. 

 

It's difficult not to have high expectations having been waiting for a successor to Vampire Counts since the start of AoS. LoN tickled that itch a little bit but it felt a lot more like "Undead - the army" as opposed to "Vampire Counts". 

[PraetorDragoon]

6 minutes ago, Aren73 said:

Incredibly excited too. I hope they'll reveal more vampiric units and I really, really hope we get to have the Black Coach in the book just as in Vampire Counts. 


Worst case scenario right now for me would be GW stripping LoN of all ghosts, mainly just redoing sculpts for units, adding very few new units in and the only new vampires we're getting would be named characters, that's it. 

 

It's difficult not to have high expectations having been waiting for a successor to Vampire Counts since the start of AoS. LoN tickled that itch a little bit but it felt a lot more like "Undead - the army" as opposed to "Vampire Counts". 

I think its safe to prepare for no ghosts in Gravelords, including the Black Coach. At best there is going to be a Bloodline with 1/4 Nighthaunt units, but that will be it.

[Aren73]

I agree on no spooks - but I'm hoping they'll make an exception for the coach. It traditionally has a reviving vampire in it and all. Plus it's an iconic Vampire Counts unit, almost as iconic as blood knights. 

[Sception]

If anything, the black coach is more iconic than blood knights, as it predates them.  But even so, I still think it will just be a nighthaunt unit now, though it should be accessible via allies if nothing else.

If I had to pick something to speculate about, I'd have to wonder if we're going to get a dedicated spellcaster vampire hero.  I don't think we've seen any signs of such, but the new anvil of blood rules run with two separate vampire archetypes, one being more fighty and one being more casty.  Vamp players wanting to recapture the feel of the old Necrarch bloodline and Legion of Sacrament players looking to maintain the feel and play style of their existing army even as Arkhan's long dead legion fades from history to myth in the lore, would both appreciate such a unit.  Speaking as someone who /is/ both, I'd love to see it at least.

[PraetorDragoon]

17 minutes ago, Aren73 said:

I agree on no spooks - but I'm hoping they'll make an exception for the coach. It traditionally has a reviving vampire in it and all. Plus it's an iconic Vampire Counts unit, almost as iconic as blood knights. 

I'll trade it for the Mortis Engine.

More likely it will remain anchored in the Nighthaunt though.

[Aren73]

12 minutes ago, Sception said:

If anything, the black coach is more iconic than blood knights, as it predates them.  But even so, I still think it will just be a nighthaunt unit now, though it should be accessible via allies if nothing else.

If I had to pick something to speculate about, I'd have to wonder if we're going to get a dedicated spellcaster vampire hero.  I don't think we've seen any signs of such, but the new anvil of blood rules run with two separate vampire archetypes, one being more fighty and one being more casty.  Vamp players wanting to recapture the feel of the old Necrarch bloodline and Legion of Sacrament players looking to maintain the feel and play style of their existing army even as Arkhan's long dead legion fades from history to myth in the lore, would both appreciate such a unit.  Speaking as someone who /is/ both, I'd love to see it at least.

On that note I hope we'll see a return of vampiric powers, in general being able to customise our generic vampire lords as much as possible. The fact that Idoneth have received mount traits makes me hopeful. 

But yes, you should be able to make a very powerful blender lord, or an equally powerful spellcaster, something other than just "Vampire Lords are reasonably strong in combat and can also cast a spell". I do miss the days of 8th where you could make a freakishly strong vampire lord. I would happily pay more points to be able to make vampire lords truly scary at either combat or magic.

 

Fingers crossed for a mounted Vampire Lord to go alongside that gorgeous new plastic footslogging one.

[Sception]

I'd love to see a new mounted vamp hero dual kit named & generic, but the new centaur abomination being dual kit named & generic has me thinking that's our version of the concept for this release wave.

Then again, the existing mounted vampire lord, the one that was originally Mannfred Von Carstein on an undead steed, is gone from the website.  Not just 'out of stock' or even 'no longer available', but no longer listed at all in the LoN section.  Looking at my own, I might have half guessed it would stick around as one of the last remaining resin holdovers, since the skeletal horse head with fleshy steed body aesthetic of the mount matches that of the new blood knights.  Still, it's gone now, and being gone has me thinking a new mounted vamp lord may be on he way after all.

Speaking of things gone from the store, all the vampires are gone except for the Lord on Zombie Dragon.  The 'Legion Black Coach' is also gone.

Weirdly enough, so are both the Coven Throne and the Blood Palanquin, but NOT the Mortis Engine.  That's weird, and I have no idea what to think about it.  The throne and palanquin are both still available on the web store, but they're not listed in the LoN section, just the generic 'all death armies' section.  Mistake, maybe?

Hex Wraiths are also no longer listed, which is weird because tomb banshees and cairne wraiths /are/.  If they removed the hex wraiths from the LoN store page because they won't be in the new gravelords, why didn't they remove the heroes too?

Items that are 'no longer available' include:

• Dire Wolves
• Skeleton Warriors: we know these are getting replaced with new models
• Deadwalker Zombies: we know these are getting replaced with new models
• Fell Bats: we know these are getting replaced with new models
• Blood Knights: we know these are getting replaced with new models
• Start Collecting: Malignants
• Start Collecting: Skeleton Horde
• Battletome: Legions of Nagash

New Dire wolves seem exceedingly likely then.  We may or may not see a new start collecting, but the current ones are def on their way out.

The more notable things bits imo are the kits that are still available, since that strongly implies the models/units will stick around, albeit maybe not in this faction.  Notable items include:

• Grave Guard: this implies they are neither going away nor getting new models.  Which is an odd choice to me since imo they don't look good next to the new skeletons, and it would not have been difficult to make the new skeletons a dual kit, but whatever.
• Black Knights: seem to be sticking around, more or less ass expected.
• Terrorgheist / Zombie Dragon / Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon: pretty much puts the nail in a replacement here.  Is this an indication that we'll keep unridden dragons and TGs, though?  Hard to say.
• Morghasts / Arkhan: I don't think anybody expects these OBR units to be in the Gravelords, but then again hexwraiths were removed from the page and these weren't...
• Neferata / Mannfred: some folks had speculated about arkhan's [spoiler for BR: Teclis redacted] to be an excuse to retire the triple mortarch kit and put out new individual models for these two.  But they're still up on the store when every other model that we know is getting replaced has been pulled, so it looks like the current versions of these models are sticking around.  Hopefully their rules at least get a rework.
• Corpse Cart / Mortis Engine: there was some speculation that these might go away or get updated, but that doesn't seem to be the case.  Weird that the coven throne and blood palanquin aren't listed, though.  They're still on the web store, but not listed in the LoN section, at least not on the US page.

 

 

[JustAsPlanned]

If I had to guess, tomorrow we’ll see:

-New caster Vampire lord

-New Dire Wolves

-New Necromancer maybe?

-Some new Zombie related unit we haven’t seen yet - maybe non-Kosargi Nightguard?

-Whatever the units in the background of the Wight King reveal are

[Fellman]

18 minutes ago, Sception said:

I'd love to see a new mounted vamp hero dual kit named & generic, but the new centaur abomination being dual kit named & generic has me thinking that's our version of the concept for this release wave.

Then again, the existing mounted vampire lord, the one that was originally Mannfred Von Carstein on an undead steed, is gone from the website.  Not just 'out of stock' or even 'no longer available', but no longer listed at all in the LoN section.  Looking at my own, I might have half guessed it would stick around as one of the last remaining resin holdovers, since the skeletal horse head with fleshy steed body aesthetic of the mount matches that of the new blood knights.  Still, it's gone now, and being gone has me thinking a new mounted vamp lord may be on he way after all.

Speaking of things gone from the store, all the vampires are gone except for the Lord on Zombie Dragon.  The 'Legion Black Coach' is also gone.

Weirdly enough, so are both the Coven Throne and the Blood Palanquin, but NOT the Mortis Engine.  That's weird, and I have no idea what to think about it.  The throne and palanquin are both still available on the web store, but they're not listed in the LoN section, just the generic 'all death armies' section.  Mistake, maybe?

Hex Wraiths are also no longer listed, which is weird because tomb banshees and cairne wraiths /are/.  If they removed the hex wraiths from the LoN store page because they won't be in the new gravelords, why didn't they remove the heroes too?

Items that are 'no longer available' include:

• Dire Wolves
• Skeleton Warriors: we know these are getting replaced with new models
• Deadwalker Zombies: we know these are getting replaced with new models
• Fell Bats: we know these are getting replaced with new models
• Blood Knights: we know these are getting replaced with new models
• Start Collecting: Malignants
• Start Collecting: Skeleton Horde
• Battletome: Legions of Nagash

New Dire wolves seem exceedingly likely then.  We may or may not see a new start collecting, but the current ones are def on their way out.

The more notable things bits imo are the kits that are still available, since that strongly implies the models/units will stick around, albeit maybe not in this faction.  Notable items include:

• Grave Guard: this implies they are neither going away nor getting new models.  Which is an odd choice to me since imo they don't look good next to the new skeletons, and it would not have been difficult to make the new skeletons a dual kit, but whatever.
• Black Knights: seem to be sticking around, more or less ass expected.
• Terrorgheist / Zombie Dragon / Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon: pretty much puts the nail in a replacement here.  Is this an indication that we'll keep unridden dragons and TGs, though?  Hard to say.
• Morghasts / Arkhan: I don't think anybody expects these OBR units to be in the Gravelords, but then again hexwraiths were removed from the page and these weren't...
• Neferata / Mannfred: some folks had speculated about arkhan's [spoiler for BR: Teclis redacted] to be an excuse to retire the triple mortarch kit and put out new individual models for these two.  But they're still up on the store when every other model that we know is getting replaced has been pulled, so it looks like the current versions of these models are sticking around.  Hopefully their rules at least get a rework.
• Corpse Cart / Mortis Engine: there was some speculation that these might go away or get updated, but that doesn't seem to be the case.  Weird that the coven throne and blood palanquin aren't listed, though.  They're still on the web store, but not listed in the LoN section, at least not on the US page.

 

 

Renaming and new warscrols for coventhrone and blood palanquin is my guess

[Aren73]

17 minutes ago, Sception said:

I'd love to see a new mounted vamp hero dual kit named & generic, but the new centaur abomination being dual kit named & generic has me thinking that's our version of the concept for this release wave.

Then again, the existing mounted vampire lord, the one that was originally Mannfred Von Carstein on an undead steed, is gone from the website.  Not just 'out of stock' or even 'no longer available', but no longer listed at all in the LoN section.  Looking at my own, I might have half guessed it would stick around as one of the last remaining resin holdovers, since the skeletal horse head with fleshy steed body aesthetic of the mount matches that of the new blood knights.  Still, it's gone now, and being gone has me thinking a new mounted vamp lord may be on he way after all.

Speaking of things gone from the store, all the vampires are gone except for the Lord on Zombie Dragon.  The 'Legion Black Coach' is also gone.

Weirdly enough, so are both the Coven Throne and the Blood Palanquin, but NOT the Mortis Engine.  That's weird, and I have no idea what to think about it.  The throne and palanquin are both still available on the web store, but they're not listed in the LoN section, just the generic 'all death armies' section.  Mistake, maybe?

Hex Wraiths are also no longer listed, which is weird because tomb banshees and cairne wraiths /are/.  If they removed the hex wraiths from the LoN store page because they won't be in the new gravelords, why didn't they remove the heroes too?

Items that are 'no longer available' include:

• Dire Wolves
• Skeleton Warriors: we know these are getting replaced with new models
• Deadwalker Zombies: we know these are getting replaced with new models
• Fell Bats: we know these are getting replaced with new models
• Blood Knights: we know these are getting replaced with new models
• Start Collecting: Malignants
• Start Collecting: Skeleton Horde
• Battletome: Legions of Nagash

New Dire wolves seem exceedingly likely then.  We may or may not see a new start collecting, but the current ones are def on their way out.

The more notable things bits imo are the kits that are still available, since that strongly implies the models/units will stick around, albeit maybe not in this faction.  Notable items include:

• Grave Guard: this implies they are neither going away nor getting new models.  Which is an odd choice to me since imo they don't look good next to the new skeletons, and it would not have been difficult to make the new skeletons a dual kit, but whatever.
• Black Knights: seem to be sticking around, more or less ass expected.
• Terrorgheist / Zombie Dragon / Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon: pretty much puts the nail in a replacement here.  Is this an indication that we'll keep unridden dragons and TGs, though?  Hard to say.
• Morghasts / Arkhan: I don't think anybody expects these OBR units to be in the Gravelords, but then again hexwraiths were removed from the page and these weren't...
• Neferata / Mannfred: some folks had speculated about arkhan's [spoiler for BR: Teclis redacted] to be an excuse to retire the triple mortarch kit and put out new individual models for these two.  But they're still up on the store when every other model that we know is getting replaced has been pulled, so it looks like the current versions of these models are sticking around.  Hopefully their rules at least get a rework.
• Corpse Cart / Mortis Engine: there was some speculation that these might go away or get updated, but that doesn't seem to be the case.  Weird that the coven throne and blood palanquin aren't listed, though.  They're still on the web store, but not listed in the LoN section, at least not on the US page.

 

 

Nice summary! Agree with a lot of things on there. 

It seems a lot of what we are getting are re-sculpts. Skeletons, Zombies, Fell bats, Vampire Lord, Blood Knights, Direwolves (rumored, speculated and all but confirmed), Mounted Wight King. 

I wonder how much space that leaves for new things, I'm a tad worried that not a lot. 

Don't get me wrong, it's ace that we're getting new gorgeous models for well loved units. However compared to how inventive and awesome recent releases have been for new armies (looking at you OBR and Lumineth) it would be a shame if we didn't get a decent chunk of new vampire related kits. 

I suppose there is the argument that we seem to be getting quite a few named characters...which is great and all. Though, not sure about you guys but I'm not a big fan of playing named characters, I prefer to take the generic characters and make them my own. I really hope that GW isn't going down the route of "You wanted vampires? Here you go, here are 5-7 new named characters, enjoy!".

[El Syf]

Abhorash will walk amongst us!!!!

Its time to turbo charge the hype train!!!

[Nagash42]

I think a new Krell would have been cool. I love the old model. 

[Ghoooouls]

Oh lord we close

[JackStreicher]

5 hours ago, Nagash42 said:

I think a new Krell would have been cool. I love the old model. 

The old Krell is very cool. I especially love the mix of ancient Greek/Roman, medieval and gothic elements!

Edited May 3, 2021 by JackStreicher

[Aren73]

The day has arrived! 

Expectations? Speculation? Bets?

For me I think we'll see:

• Direwolves (basically confirmed)
• Lauka Val
• 1 or 2 new units we haven't seen before

I'm hopeful that we'll see some of the rules but I doubt it

Hopefully we'll get a release date too, that'd be awesome.  

[ShyishBarry]

I hope that we get more vampires and vampiric creatures. Lauka Val and dire wolves are a given. I think we'll get a little bit of rules. On the other hand, I fear that we'll end up with an undead chaff-heavy Gravelords because while I get the Vampire Counts appeal, personally if I wanted to play a skeleton army, I'd just play Ossiarchs.