Soulblight Gravelords News, Rumours and Speculation

[Aren73]

9 hours ago, NicholasFlamelGames said:

Ive been thinking of ways to spruce up the Vampire Lord on Zombie dragon kit if the warscroll is solid. I was thinking to have a crypt on the base for the dragon to be standing on and then have Prince Duvalle on the base representing the Vampire Lord. I am thinking about buying the Mausoleum kit from GW or maybe just 3D Printing one but I am going to wait on the warscroll ☺️. I am really hoping Radukar is an absolute SAVAGE in combat and I can use him as a hammer and his Babushka is also solid.

 

Any ideas for what we may see to help combat the Super Caster and Shooting Meta? I am hoping Fell Bats can almost act as Aetherwings but for shooting or have some sort of "Forgotten Nightmares" Deepkin rule where if they are closer to the enemy unit they must be shot first. I am not a rules writer but something to help against the powerful shooting running around. Also, a way to avoid all the crazy dispelling :).

I'm 3D printing tiles and rubble for all my bases for the whole army now. It's just so easy to make the army look like it's in a castle courtyard. Three years ago I was trying to do the same with milliput sculpting and it was taking forever and required a lot of focus. I'll also be putting some gothic ruins on the base of the Terrorgheist. 

 

As for dealing with shooting, I doubt we'll have anything like deepkin but I can imagine the bats having a lot of movement. Them plus Dire Wolves and perhaps some flanking rules or funky deployment? 

[Lich King]

Can we please just get a release date already ...

[NicholasFlamelGames]

6 hours ago, Aren73 said:

I'm 3D printing tiles and rubble for all my bases for the whole army now. It's just so easy to make the army look like it's in a castle courtyard. Three years ago I was trying to do the same with milliput sculpting and it was taking forever and required a lot of focus. I'll also be putting some gothic ruins on the base of the Terrorgheist. 

 

As for dealing with shooting, I doubt we'll have anything like deepkin but I can imagine the bats having a lot of movement. Them plus Dire Wolves and perhaps some flanking rules or funky deployment? 

I think it would be a fantastic idea if we had a compiled list of free 3D print files for bits/terrain for the SBGL. Tombstones, skellies, crypts etc. I was looking at gothic ruins as well. The terrorgheist is soooo much better than the zombie dragon so maybe I will just use him instead. 

 

If a unit of fell bats is within 3 inches of any unit that is being shot at, that unit is -1 to hit 😈.

[El Syf]

Might hold off buying anything now, 3rd edition sounds like it a completely different game and we get the last 2nd ed book?!?

[pixieproxy]

4 minutes ago, El Syf said:

Might hold off buying anything now, 3rd edition sounds like it a completely different game and we get the last 2nd ed book?!?

If it is, EVERYONE will be getting a FAQ till their book. 

[Aren73]

Hold your horses, it seems that with Broken Realms they've been bringing all the books up to speed for 3rd. I'd be very surprised if our book isn't 3rd ed proof. 

[Sception]

Last 2e book will be built for 3e, much as Legions of Nagash was built for 2e.  The amount of time for a book to start feeling outdated tends to be about the same regardless of edition transitions, unless they're major enough to invalidate previous faction books, like 3e 40k, 8e 40k, or 6e fantasy.  Legions of nagash doesn't feel any more outdated today than Nighthaunt did on the opposite side of the AoS 2e transition.  If anything, less so*. 

Announcement of 3e doesn't change my own purchase plans when it comes to the gravelords.  Then again, I had assumed we were getting the 3e announcement to begin with.  I mean, this could have been a new edition of horus heresy, or a big old world reveal, but I personally thought both of those were long shots compared to AoS 3e anyway.

Maybe with 3e's announcement I can get push some interest in AoS at the new local store, which isn't any more local than the local GW, but has much more table space.

.....

* Granted, LoN doesn't handle subfactions the way the most recent 2e battletomes do, including Nighthaunt as of the broken realms additions.  But honestly I think LoN giving subfactions their own allegiances entirely, that share overlapping faction defining rules with the other subfactions, is significantly better than the current style, even if it means a fair bit of space in the book is taken up reprinting the same deathless warrior, gravesite, and endless legions rules four times over.  IMO that's still better than subfactions eating your command trait and artefact, burning what are otherwise some of the only options the game offers for customizing your characters.  The current way of handling subfactions is imo bad and frustrating design, and I expect it to be abandoned for something better part way through 3e anyway.

Sadly probably not in time to save the Gravelords from having to deal with it.

Edited May 8, 2021 by Sception

[NicholasFlamelGames]

I have been playing Deepkin for a long time now and despite having an older book I have always done well in Matched Play or semi-competitive games. The book will have winners and losers for sure but I think we will be ok as long as the guy who did the LRL did our book and not the Sylvaneth dude 😅.

[Honk]

Finally the stormcast get 2+ armor 🙄 

Very interested how that will turn out 🥳

[El Syf]

9 minutes ago, Honk said:

Finally the stormcast get 2+ armor 🙄 

Very interested how that will turn out 🥳

Something not even our lord and master is allowed!

[Honk]

5 minutes ago, El Syf said:

Something not even our lord and master is allowed!

He was too brittle for 2up 🤣

 

where and when is this suppose to end? Elves auto-hit auto-cast and stormcast have a 2+... and how well that was received, Petrifex can write a book about.

I‘m still hyped and can’t wait to see our rules! Pleeeaaase funky and cool, no bland powercreep 

[Causalis]

2 minutes ago, Honk said:

where and when is this suppose to end? Elves auto-hit auto-cast and stormcast have a 2+

Oh come on. Why is it that people here start getting the pitchforks every time we see the teaser for a new and powerful unit? It's ONE unit and the Stormcasts are pretty mediocre right now so I'm all for them getting some love. And I don't even play SCE!

This was a problem with OBRs because Petrifex gave the whole army such a good save. Let's wait and see until their Battle Tome is out before we start condeming them. 

[Erdemo86]

I would really like If the underworld warband would get really nice and competitive warscrolls for aos. But I think it’s only daydreaming.

[El Syf]

7 minutes ago, Erdemo86 said:

I would really like If the underworld warband would get really nice and competitive warscrolls for aos. But I think it’s only daydreaming.

We can live in hope, they didn’t want us to know their warscrolls before release of the battletome, so I find that encouraging.

[Aren73]

2 hours ago, Causalis said:

Oh come on. Why is it that people here start getting the pitchforks every time we see the teaser for a new and powerful unit? It's ONE unit and the Stormcasts are pretty mediocre right now so I'm all for them getting some love. And I don't even play SCE!

This was a problem with OBRs because Petrifex gave the whole army such a good save. Let's wait and see until their Battle Tome is out before we start condeming them. 

At the same time, can we please have vampires that hit like a vampire is supposed to?

How does a vampire LORD hit on a 3+ with a sword? C'mon now...a freeguild general does the same with a zweihander. 

I am all up for stormcast having amazing armour and for elves to hit and cast well. But then can we have our own flavour too? 

Vampire lords are indeed a bit ridiculous. They hit well, they hit strong, they are tough and they cast spells. GW currently seems to have gone down the road of compromising on all of them while not making vampires bad at any of them and keeping the points cost reasonable. 

I'd be up for increasing the vampire lord's points cost but making them feel closer to how they're represented in the lore. 

[Honk]

2 hours ago, Causalis said:

start getting the pitchforks every time we see

Oh come on, torches and pitchforks is vhat vhe do around here 🧛🏻‍♂️🧟‍♀️

[swarmofseals]

Might be worth noting that for those of you who are Abhorash/Blood Dragon fans, Radukar the Beast seems like our first legitimately good candidate to be replaced by an Abhorash/Blood Dragon Lord counts-as.

Stick your Abhorash/Blood Dragon Lord counts as and two Blood Dragon retainers on foot on a nice scenic base and you've got something that visually matches Radukar.

I'll almost certainly be doing this, as although I like the new sculpt it doesn't fit that well with my army.

Edited May 8, 2021 by swarmofseals

[Sception]

The downside of using Radukar as an Abhorash stand in is that the Vyrkos will probably not be the best subfaction for a blood dragonesque army.

re:vampire lords, I don't mind their base stats & abilities right now - they're reasonably tough, they can fight ok, cast alright, they have good healing for both themselves and nearby units, a strong command ability buff, and multiple stong movement options between flight & steed, all for a fair points cost.  Dragon riding option's not terribly bad either for those who want a monster riding version.

I would like GW to push them a bit further, but more than that I want customization options.  Something more than than command trait, spells, & artefacts to distinguish one vamp from another and motivate you to run more than one in your army.  I've got my fingers crossed for a 'bloodline abilities' system similar to mount traits, with maybe a limit of no duplicates so you're not tempted to just spam whichever one you think is best.

I'd also like the Vamp CA and Wight King CA to do something different from each other.  Right now it's hard to justify the wight king when a vamp lord is just the same but better.

we'll see though.  If nothing else, there's the anvil of blood for casual & narrative games.

Edited May 9, 2021 by Sception

[Lich King]

Definitely would like to see mount traits and Monster traits for Dragon and Terrorgheists. Not sure if Vengarian Lords would have access...probably wouldn’t need..

[Sception]

I figure mount/monster traits is more a fec thing.  Give us traits for the vamp on top (which vengo lords would of course also get) & I'll be good.  Both would of course also be cool, but might be asking a bit much / stepping on the FEC's toes.

[Malakithe]

1 hour ago, Sception said:

 but might be asking a bit much / stepping on the FEC's toes.

Not really. Every other faction it seems has mount traits so why would they single out one specific faction not to?

[Sception]

Every other faction isn't death, & there's already a lot of similarities between FEC & SG.  Vamp bosses, hoardy troops, recursion, shared monster units, flayers~vargheists.  LoN/SG have a ton more units & model kits, though, even after losing morghasts & nighthaunts.  FEC just have rules to distinguish them.  Rules like mount traits.

[Lich King]

Most factions in the game have mount traits - has nothing to do with FEC. We will surely get 

[Malakithe]

1 hour ago, Lich King said:

Most factions in the game have mount traits - has nothing to do with FEC. We will surely get 

Yeah even if it is just for the dragon. Fyreslayers only have one mount and they have mount traits. Hell maybe GW will get rid of all mount traits in 3.0 just like faction battalions

[flamingwalnut]

Whew, read through all the pages. Feels wild.

I am stoked for this army but a lot of the final "what do I WANT from this army" will rely on the rules and army composition. I love the 1 in 4 that they did with Cities and would to see that here in some subfactions or what have you. The breaking the Grand Alliance barrier by including Cities of Sigmar as a 1 in 4 or something would make for some GREAT conversion options.

It's funny, though. My first actual "purchased for AoS" and not a Fantasy carry over was Legions of Nagash. Bought Dragon Princes for Blood Knights and used Spiders from Spiderfang for my Dire Wolves. It was wild!

It was also my first major step into Narrative gaming for real. My Vampire Queen was from the Realm of Beasts and was eager to take back her kingdom from Chaos. Lots of Dragon themes and bestial magic. Was so much fun. It also makes me happy that I can lean into this theme even more with the Vykros!

I hope the Coven Throne is buffed and good. It is by far my favorite piece and almost had me starting Vampire Counts when it came out. So beautiful and would love to return to it and clean up the paintjob and maybe convert it some more!

What kind of narrative ideas and themes have you all made for your vampires before? Or are you starting fresh after tasting the new lore when the book drops?