Soulblight Gravelords News, Rumours and Speculation

[Beliman]

2 hours ago, BrotherTalarian said:

For Riders of Ruin, do you think the ability only triggers if the BKs move out of combat and trample models? 
 

Or does it also trigger if you make a normal move, not retreat, and simply move over models that have fewer than 3 wounds and no mount.

The article seems to imply the latter, and it makes sense to be able to always trample smaller models during a normal movement. 
 

Thoughts?

Yes to the second answer. The rule says " After the unit has made a normal moves...", so, any normal moves. The main problem is to trigger this ability: " roll a dice for each enemy unit that has any models passed across by any models in this unit".

The bold part has some issue because you can't "pass across" enemy models unless you use that  special "normal move" from the same ability... or give them some wings (Fly) to throw mortal wounds even to monsters and units with more than 3 wounds.

Edited May 12, 2021 by Beliman

[Lich King]

Mannfred’s old command ability was really amazing. I’m glad that this is very powerful if that one is going away, it was my favorite classic ability hands down. If he has both ...😏

[warhammernerd]

These seem likely changes. Nothing major, just slight perks in line with Blood Knights.

[Sception]

I don't know.  With how much this rule protects him, I'm not sure improvement to his save or anything else are likely.  Blood knights have a better save, but blood knights are more armored and carry shields.

Edited May 12, 2021 by Sception

[NicholasFlamelGames]

Neferata is definitely my Mortarch of choice and I was hoping for some strong rules for her and a bit of a fools hope for Blood Knight battleline (I knew it wasn't happening). I have to say after getting into some recent lore and listening to her recent audiobook Neferata: The Dominion of Bones, she ends up resurrecting a loyal servant to be a Black Knight and it was really cool to see the character develop for this skelly boi. After listening to the audiobook I can definitely see Black Knights being batteline in her force. 

[Sception]

Just now, NicholasFlamelGames said:

Neferata is definitely my Mortarch of choice and I was hoping for some strong rules for her and a bit of a fools hope for Blood Knight battleline (I knew it wasn't happening). I have to say after getting into some recent lore and listening to her recent audiobook Neferata: The Dominion of Bones, she ends up resurrecting a loyal servant to be a Black Knight and it was really cool to see the character develop for this skelly boi. After listening to the audiobook I can definitely see Black Knights being batteline in her force. 

Fair enough.  I haven't gotten around to that one yet.  Really need to.

As for Nef in game... Mannfred's looking fun and trolly on a rule that Nef probably won't get.  And Manny's new rule to me implies that his defensive stats aren't improving, which means nef's probably aren't improving either, which has me worried about how viable she'll be.  Hopefully we see something similarly cool for her tomorrow.

[BaylorCorvette]

6 minutes ago, NicholasFlamelGames said:

Neferata is definitely my Mortarch of choice and I was hoping for some strong rules for her and a bit of a fools hope for Blood Knight battleline (I knew it wasn't happening). I have to say after getting into some recent lore and listening to her recent audiobook Neferata: The Dominion of Bones, she ends up resurrecting a loyal servant to be a Black Knight and it was really cool to see the character develop for this skelly boi. After listening to the audiobook I can definitely see Black Knights being batteline in her force. 

Loved that book! If you read it, then having Black Knights as Battleline isn't too weird for her. 

[NicholasFlamelGames]

8 minutes ago, Sception said:

Fair enough.  I haven't gotten around to that one yet.  Really need to.

As for Nef in game... Mannfred's looking fun and trolly on a rule that Nef probably won't get.  And Manny's new rule to me implies that his defensive stats aren't improving, which means nef's probably aren't improving either, which has me worried about how viable she'll be.  Hopefully we see something similarly cool for her tomorrow.

I was really surprised how much I enjoyed it. I loved it so much I was really tempted to buy a LON army right then and there but I had a feeling new models were coming. One of the fantastic things about the book without spoilers is one of the main characters is a Black Knight and the skeletons get a ton of character. I enjoyed it much more than Ulfenkarn.

I tend to not get worried or put too much thought into things until I see the entire tome and warscrolls etc but I understand that when you put a ton of money and time into your minis you want them to have strong rules. I have really liked what I have seen so far. 

Edited May 12, 2021 by NicholasFlamelGames

[Sception]

2 minutes ago, NicholasFlamelGames said:

I tend to not get worried or put too much thought into things until I see the entire tome and warscrolls etc but I understand that when you put a ton of money and time into your minis you want them to have strong rules. I have really liked what I have seen so far. 

I've also liked what I've seen so far, at least on balance.  I'm fairly confident there will be at least something cool for neferata.  I've gone and built her myself - at this point I've got the full special character set from the current LoN at least built, though only Arkhan is painted.  I'll be pre-ordering Lauka this weekend, if I'm lucky, though whether I assemble her as Lauka or as a generic will depend on the rules.  That should let me go with any of the main subfactions apart from Vyrkos, if my hopes for the Nagashii faction fall through.

...

Of those four, I'm least likely to land on the Avengorii, since I don't have enough zombie dragons & terrorgheists to properly monster mash, and I'm not planning on picking up and painting a bunch more of them any time soon, but I like what I've seen of Lauka so far and the other rules of her faction could yet win me over.  Kastelai is similarly unlikely as I don't have any blood knights currently and I'll only be picking up a single box out of the gate.

Legion of Blood is in the lead for character & lore - I like skeletons, I like Neferata, and I love that new mounted wight king, so I'll definitely want to run him and some black knights to go with him.  But it'll depend on the particulars of the rules, and on that front trollmaster Mannfred and his outflanking circus have made a strong play for my allegiance today.  That just sounds like a fun list to play, if admittedly not a fun list to play /against/.

[Aren73]

9 minutes ago, NicholasFlamelGames said:

I was really surprised how much I enjoyed it. I loved it so much I was really tempted to buy a LON army right then and there but I had a feeling new models were coming. One of the fantastic things about the book without spoilers is one of the main characters is a Black Knight and the skeletons get a ton of character. I enjoyed it much more than Ulfenkarn.

I tend to not get worried or put too much thought into things until I see the entire tome and warscrolls etc but I understand that when you put a ton of money and time into your minis you want them to have strong rules. I have really liked what I have seen so far. 

Usually when approaching things like this, my biggest interest is in units performing similarly to how they would in the lore. 

I'm mainly concerned with things not being a flavour fail, for strong units to be strong, fast ones to be fast etc. 

Which is why, for example, I get worried when it's looking like Blood Knights may not be our go-to tough unit/hero/monster hunters. 

To me, the writers have failed even if the rules don't line up with the lore, even if the book ends up being strong. 

That said, I usually have a lot of leeway and can happily ignore things not being perfect. But I guess that's where the emphasis is for me. 

[Liquidsteel]

I'm hoping for a VLoZD to be a viable choice in any list, had quite high hopes for running one or Vhordrai alongside something like Lauka or one of the Mortarchs. 

[BaylorCorvette]

Would love to see Prince Vhordai's command ability to change from picking a Hero to fight in the Hero Phase to picking a Kastelai Vampire unit to fight in the Hero phase. Gives more options and further strengthens Blood Knights in a Kastelai army.

[Elmir]

Tbh, the thing I'm mostly worried about, is the humble vampire lord. 

With there not being any plastic mounted lords and the new plastic miniature not having any wings, I just wonder how they changed the warscroll card for him. Losing winged nightmare or a steed without a points adjustment would make vampire lords even more of a "meh" choice than they already are. 

[NicholasFlamelGames]

16 minutes ago, Aren73 said:

Usually when approaching things like this, my biggest interest is in units performing similarly to how they would in the lore. 

I'm mainly concerned with things not being a flavour fail, for strong units to be strong, fast ones to be fast etc. 

Which is why, for example, I get worried when it's looking like Blood Knights may not be our go-to tough unit/hero/monster hunters. 

To me, the writers have failed even if the rules don't line up with the lore, even if the book ends up being strong. 

That said, I usually have a lot of leeway and can happily ignore things not being perfect. But I guess that's where the emphasis is for me. 

I understand your thought process here and can definitely respect that. I am of the belief that the lore can never really effect the game in a perfectly realistic way. Otherwise, Teclis/Nagash would be able to wipe out small armies themselves. Or for example, one space Marine could defeat 500 guardsmen etc. The lore influences the rules and then the writers try to balance (which is never perfect). If we wanted to play a perfectly balanced game we would play Chess. So far I have personally really liked everything revealed but I respect others do not. 

To be fair, I played Harlequins and Deepkin for years and when 9th edition came out in 40k the Harlequins facebook group was screaming doom and gloom and I had a strong feeling they would be super competitive (which they did) and then when the Broken Realms update came out for Deepkin there were many complaining. When new updates come out I find it tends to bring out polarizing opinions aka a lot of doom and gloom. Which I get sometimes. Imagine being a Sylvaneth or Slaanesh player 😅. Enjoying more competitive play I tend to still want fluffy rules that feel lore driven that are also balanced internally. There was a 60 player tournament in Australia recently where there were 10 differect factions in the top 10 which shows the game is in a pretty decent place so I have strong hopes for the tome and rules. 

Edited May 12, 2021 by NicholasFlamelGames

[Sception]

I'm thinking maybe something like this for Legion of Night, obviously making adjustments for points changes:

Spoiler

Allegiance: Legion of Night
Mortal Realm: Shyish
Mannfred Mortarch of Night (340)
- General
Necromancer (130)
Wight King with Baleful Tomb Blade (120)
- Mount: Steed
40 x Skeleton Warriors (280)
- Ancient Blades
60 x Zombies (320)
1 x Corpse Cart (80)
10 x Black Knights (240)
3 x Vargheists (150)
Terrorgheist (300)
Balewind Vortex (40)

Total: 2000 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 0
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 173
 

Deploy Manny, necro, cart, skittles, & zombies.  Outflank wight king, black knights, vargheists, and terrorgheist.

Has trolly mannfred, and that outflanking terrorgheist I like in LoNight, plus a handful of skeletons & zombies - about the minimum needed to appease my hoardy undead instincts - supported by a necro and corpse cart, which Mannfred can deploy next to in order to benefit from the casting bonus turn one, assuming that's still a thing.  Probably could get better use out of the subfaction abilities running something more offensively stacked than the WK and black knights, but I like the new wight king model too much not to use it.  Battleline vargheists actually matters, as that's the only way I'm able to fit vargheists into this list at all, though honestly I'd feel better about it if I could get more in there.

But yeah, overall that looks like a list I'd enjoy running.  though of course points changes could make or break it.  I personally expect manny to get more expensive, though I half expect a max zombie hoard to get cheaper, so... *shrug*.

[El Syf]

2 minutes ago, Elmir said:

Tbh, the thing I'm mostly worried about, is the humble vampire lord. 

With there not being any plastic mounted lords and the new plastic miniature not having any wings, I just wonder how they changed the warscroll card for him. Losing winged nightmare or a steed without a points adjustment would make vampire lords even more of a "meh" choice than they already are. 

Crimson Court!

[Elmir]

Just now, El Syf said:

Crimson Court!

Those are going to have their own unique warscroll cards...

 

[warhammernerd]

2 minutes ago, Elmir said:

Those are going to have their own unique warscroll cards...

 

They’ve already show Count Duval or whatever he’s called, he’s a bit meh but that’s fine cos the model is sick af

[El Syf]

2 minutes ago, Elmir said:

Those are going to have their own unique warscroll cards...

 

Whoops I forgot about that! 😅

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

1 hour ago, lare2 said:

Cool - thanks. Aye, I get the impression Deathrattle are very much going to fall into the support role. Just hoping it's feasible to run a heavy Deathrattle force. 

My current list is basically all Deathrattle so I am excited for the Legion of Blood reveal tomorrow. But even if that ends up doing nothing for skeletons, I would already feel comfortable running them in Legion of Night after today. +1 to saves turn 1 army wide is already good. And since my guys are all converted Tomb Kings anyway, I get to pretend that the ambushing stuff is Entombed Beneath the Sands.

Still I hope that Legion of Blood becomes the new home for Deathrattle heavy lists with some additional synergies. Would give me a good excuse to convert up a Khalida model on a chariot or snake for a Neferata proxy.

[JackStreicher]

51 minutes ago, Sception said:

I don't know.  With how much this rule protects him, I'm not sure improvement to his save or anything else are likely.  Blood knights have a better save, but blood knights are more armored and carry shields.

Some fun magic shenanigans would be awesome. Mannfred should be a REALLY good caster. Yet he‘s just like any other wizard ^^

[El Syf]

Just now, JackStreicher said:

Some fun magic shenanigans would be awesome. Mannfred should be a REALLY good caster. Yet he‘s just like any other wizard ^^

This! In oldhammer didn't he have Loremaster? Never been my favorite but feels somewhat underpowered magic wise. 

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

6 minutes ago, Sception said:

Battleline vargheists actually matters, as that's the only way I'm able to fit vargheists into this list at all, though honestly I'd feel better about it if I could get more in there.

You have hit on the reason I like all the extra battleline choices individual dynasties get. I think competitive lists will easily fill two battleline slots with two big blocks of Zombies and Skeletons, but would need to include a "tax" unit of 10 skeletons if they did not get access to that extra battleline choice. That only checks out if Dire Wolves are no longer unconditional battleline, though.

[Scruf]

44 minutes ago, BaylorCorvette said:

Loved that book! If you read it, then having Black Knights as Battleline isn't too weird for her. 

I'm a bit bummed that it sounds like we won't see Blood Knights as Battleline in LoB (after all, they used to be Battleline in Soulblight and Neferata was Soulblight), but I can make it make sense narratively with all the freakin vampire rebellions Neferata has to put down.

What I am upset about is not getting some sort of handmaiden/spies models for Neferata's narrative. Maybe we'll get some cool rules for LoB though.

[Sception]

1 minute ago, JackStreicher said:

Some fun magic shenanigans would be awesome. Mannfred should be a REALLY good caster. Yet he‘s just like any other wizard ^^

Who knows what his new scroll will be, but currently he /is/ a double caster and he /does/ gain a bonus to cast or dispel after causing wounds with his sword, so as a wizard he's better then bad.  If he's in range of a corpse cart and/or mortis engine I wouldn't even call him mediocre.

That said, based on his lore he could certainly stand to be kicked up a bit in the magic department.  He's usually portrayed as being about on par with Arkhan in a strait up wizard's duel.