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AoS3 - Soulblight Gravelord Discussion


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Played a 1 day tournament this past weekend and went 1-2. My two losses were extremely close and went into the 5th battle round, had a few rolls gone a different way it could have easily been a 3-0 weekend. My list is at the end of this post.

Game 1 against Stormcast on Power Struggle, my opponent conceded end of Battle Round 2.

Game 2 against Sons of Behemat running four Megas, two Gatebreakers and two Warstompers. One of the Gatebreakers had the 5+ ward save generic artefact. This was on Feral Foray. I gave him the first turn and kept one unit of Blood Knights in outflank and a unit of zombies in the graves. This forced him to basically have 3 Megas sit back while one warstomper cautiously advanced.  My turn 1 I moved into position on the warstomper but did not attempt long bomb charges. I won the roll off and took the double turn. I had a unit of Blood Knights and my Vengorian Lord charge the Warstomper supported by Belladammas spell to have 6s cause two hits. The Vengorian Lord popped rousing commander. Even with all out defense I brought the warstomper from full health down to 7 wounds remaining. HOWEVER I totally forgot I had casted Clotted Deluge on the Warstomper. So all my attacks should have been +1 To Wound, I likely would have killed the Warstomper in one go. In my opponents turn I used a sneaky redeploy to have 10 Skeletons block his ability to retreat the Warstomper allowing me to kill it in his combat phase. It took two and a half battle rounds to take out his General with the 5+ ward save. Had the battle gone one more battle round I'm pretty sure I would have won, it just took so much time to chew through his general. Four Megas is definatley going to be a solid list for competitive play. Great damage, super tanky (especially 5+ ward save general) and counts as 20 models. Plus all the battle tactics reward resilient killy monsters.

Game 3 against Seraphon on Savage Gains. This game was VERY close and went to the last turn on Battle Round 5. The roll off from BR 1 to BR 2 I rolled a six and my opponent rolled a six as well but since he went first he broke ties and took the top of the turn. The roll of for BR 3 was once again a tie (we both rolled a 4) and against my opponent took the turn. Had I got the double turn either time I think it would have been very likely I won. Aside from the lack of double turn my opponent rolled super hot on dealing mortal wounds to my army and I had a unit of Blood Knights only kill 3 Saraus Warriors in one combat phase, I rolled comically bad.

My take away from my first tournament in 3.0. I overall enjoy 3.0 much more than 2.0. So much more interaction in your opponents turn. Battle Tactics are HUGE and really if you can consistently score yours and prevent your opponent from scoring theirs, then you can afford to not score some objectives in favor of really killing their army. Our ability to bring things from the graves and/or outflank is very strong as it forces our opponent to guard or zone out areas, allowing us to take out a unit or two for a battle round or more. A cheap 85 point skeleton unit of 115 point zombie unit to keep in the graves for a couple of turns is very strong. I still think Vyrkos is probably one of the stronger Bloodlines but I just love Blood Knights too much to not play Kastelai  right now. However a Vengorian Lord with Rousing Commander and Fragment of the Keep is such a good support piece for two units of Blood Knights. With Rousing Commander and your Blood Knights on the charge dealing 3 damage per swing is nuts, heck I almost brought a full health Warstromper down in one combat phase. Also the debuff from the Vengorian Lord with the Fragment of the Keep is super strong. Reduce rend by 1 from his warscroll and -1 To Wound 6" aura from Fragment of the Keep meant that the Warstomper did a total of like 3 damage. Belladamma is a bargain for 200 points. Exploding 6s To Hit on Blood Knights with Rousing Commander is terrifying. Finally, Riders of Ruin of the Blood Knights is sooooo good. Having a tanky and reasonably killy unit that is fast that cannot be tied down really puts stress on the opponent.

 

The list is a double Battle Regiment, making it a 2 drop list.

LEADERS
Vengorian Lord (280) in Battle Regiment
- General
- Command Trait: Rousing Commander
- Artefact: Fragment of the Keep
- Lore of the Vampires: Amethystine Pinions
Prince Vhordrai (455) in Battle Regiment
- Lore of the Vampires: Amethystine Pinions
Belladamma Volga, First of the Vyrkos (200) in Battle Regiment
- Lore of the Vampires: Amaranthine Orb
UNITS
5 x Blood Knights (195) in Battle Regiment
5 x Blood Knights (195) in Battle Regiment
5 x Blood Knights (195) in Battle Regiment
10 x Dire Wolves (135) in Battle Regiment
10 x Dire Wolves (135) in Battle Regiment
20 x Deadwalker Zombies (115) in Battle Regiment
10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (85) in Battle Regiment
TOTAL: 1990/2000 WOUNDS: 148
LEADERS: 3/6 BATTLELINES: 7 (3+) BEHEMOTHS: 1/4 ARTILLERY: 0/4
ARTEFACTS: 1/1 ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS: 0/3 ALLIES: 0/400
REINFORCED UNITS: 0/4
CORE BATTALIONS

Edited by BaylorCorvette
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Nice write up, how did you feel about Bella without Spellportal? Would having it have helped at all e.g. vs Seraphon?

I haven't tried her myself yet (still on the painting list) but seems people are using this combo as a good way to pop Lycancurse on a unit, to stop Redeploy and Unleash Hell.

If you did take it, I think you could drop a unit of Wolves (-135) and replace them Spell Portal + Fell Bats (+145) which falls in at 2k on the nose.

Thoughts?

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Just now, Liquidsteel said:

Nice write up, how did you feel about Bella without Spellportal? Would having it have helped at all e.g. vs Seraphon?

I haven't tried her myself yet (still on the painting list) but seems people are using this combo as a good way to pop Lycancurse on a unit, to stop Redeploy and Unleash Hell.

If you did take it, I think you could drop a unit of Wolves (-135) and replace them Spell Portal + Fell Bats (+145) which falls in at 2k on the nose.

Thoughts?

I do not think it is necessary. I actually only attempted to cast Lycancurse once in the tournament. Against Sons of Behemat it really isn't useful other than trying to do a MW or two. Against Stormcast I just walked through that army. Against Seraphon I doubt it would have helped much. His shooting units were big monsters. Belladamma is primarily there to provide Under a Killing Moon to further buff the Blood Knights (meaning she will be up the field anyways), a level 2 spell caster with a native +1 to cast for more reliable spells and unbind and allow Dire Wolves to activate and Pile in 6" if necessary. Lycancurse is just an added situational bonus in this list. My opinion may change as I get more tournaments in. I plan to be attending local 1 day tournaments about once per month and then there is a two day tournament in September and I'll be going to the GW tournament in Austin, TX in November. I need more practice with this list because there is a lot of wholly within 12" that is somewhat difficult. However I still think this can be a very strong list.

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On 7/13/2021 at 10:21 AM, BaylorCorvette said:

Played a 1 day tournament this past weekend and went 1-2. My two losses were extremely close and went into the 5th battle round, had a few rolls gone a different way it could have easily been a 3-0 weekend. My list is at the end of this post.

Game 1 against Stormcast on Power Struggle, my opponent conceded end of Battle Round 2.

Game 2 against Sons of Behemat running four Megas, two Gatebreakers and two Warstompers. One of the Gatebreakers had the 5+ ward save generic artefact. This was on Feral Foray. I gave him the first turn and kept one unit of Blood Knights in outflank and a unit of zombies in the graves. This forced him to basically have 3 Megas sit back while one warstomper cautiously advanced.  My turn 1 I moved into position on the warstomper but did not attempt long bomb charges. I won the roll off and took the double turn. I had a unit of Blood Knights and my Vengorian Lord charge the Warstomper supported by Belladammas spell to have 6s cause two hits. The Vengorian Lord popped rousing commander. Even with all out defense I brought the warstomper from full health down to 7 wounds remaining. HOWEVER I totally forgot I had casted Clotted Deluge on the Warstomper. So all my attacks should have been +1 To Wound, I likely would have killed the Warstomper in one go. In my opponents turn I used a sneaky redeploy to have 10 Skeletons block his ability to retreat the Warstomper allowing me to kill it in his combat phase. It took two and a half battle rounds to take out his General with the 5+ ward save. Had the battle gone one more battle round I'm pretty sure I would have won, it just took so much time to chew through his general. Four Megas is definatley going to be a solid list for competitive play. Great damage, super tanky (especially 5+ ward save general) and counts as 20 models. Plus all the battle tactics reward resilient killy monsters.

Game 3 against Seraphon on Savage Gains. This game was VERY close and went to the last turn on Battle Round 5. The roll off from BR 1 to BR 2 I rolled a six and my opponent rolled a six as well but since he went first he broke ties and took the top of the turn. The roll of for BR 3 was once again a tie (we both rolled a 4) and against my opponent took the turn. Had I got the double turn either time I think it would have been very likely I won. Aside from the lack of double turn my opponent rolled super hot on dealing mortal wounds to my army and I had a unit of Blood Knights only kill 3 Saraus Warriors in one combat phase, I rolled comically bad.

My take away from my first tournament in 3.0. I overall enjoy 3.0 much more than 2.0. So much more interaction in your opponents turn. Battle Tactics are HUGE and really if you can consistently score yours and prevent your opponent from scoring theirs, then you can afford to not score some objectives in favor of really killing their army. Our ability to bring things from the graves and/or outflank is very strong as it forces our opponent to guard or zone out areas, allowing us to take out a unit or two for a battle round or more. A cheap 85 point skeleton unit of 115 point zombie unit to keep in the graves for a couple of turns is very strong. I still think Vyrkos is probably one of the stronger Bloodlines but I just love Blood Knights too much to not play Kastelai  right now. However a Vengorian Lord with Rousing Commander and Fragment of the Keep is such a good support piece for two units of Blood Knights. With Rousing Commander and your Blood Knights on the charge dealing 3 damage per swing is nuts, heck I almost brought a full health Warstromper down in one combat phase. Also the debuff from the Vengorian Lord with the Fragment of the Keep is super strong. Reduce rend by 1 from his warscroll and -1 To Wound 6" aura from Fragment of the Keep meant that the Warstomper did a total of like 3 damage. Belladamma is a bargain for 200 points. Exploding 6s To Hit on Blood Knights with Rousing Commander is terrifying. Finally, Riders of Ruin of the Blood Knights is sooooo good. Having a tanky and reasonably killy unit that is fast that cannot be tied down really puts stress on the opponent.

 

The list is a double Battle Regiment, making it a 2 drop list.

LEADERS
Vengorian Lord (280) in Battle Regiment
- General
- Command Trait: Rousing Commander
- Artefact: Fragment of the Keep
- Lore of the Vampires: Amethystine Pinions
Prince Vhordrai (455) in Battle Regiment
- Lore of the Vampires: Amethystine Pinions
Belladamma Volga, First of the Vyrkos (200) in Battle Regiment
- Lore of the Vampires: Amaranthine Orb
UNITS
5 x Blood Knights (195) in Battle Regiment
5 x Blood Knights (195) in Battle Regiment
5 x Blood Knights (195) in Battle Regiment
10 x Dire Wolves (135) in Battle Regiment
10 x Dire Wolves (135) in Battle Regiment
20 x Deadwalker Zombies (115) in Battle Regiment
10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (85) in Battle Regiment
TOTAL: 1990/2000 WOUNDS: 148
LEADERS: 3/6 BATTLELINES: 7 (3+) BEHEMOTHS: 1/4 ARTILLERY: 0/4
ARTEFACTS: 1/1 ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS: 0/3 ALLIES: 0/400
REINFORCED UNITS: 0/4
CORE BATTALIONS

Have you considered Mani for that list? 15 Bloodknights would benefit so much from +1 hit and wound. I feel like it might be testing Mani and VLOZD vs Prince V and Ven Lord. Mani us such a force multipler.

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Haha. I know. I'm kind of just buying things that are good at the moment.

I suspect I'm going to be heading down the Vyrkos path as I really like the theme.. plus Belldama and Radakar are great/cool characters.

Just don't know how dudespammy I need to go.

I think the core of my list is going to be Belldama, Radakar, VLOZD and Gorslav which comes to like half my army.

Bats and Spell Mirrors to help with shooting/objectives. 

80-120 Zombies.

Maybe some Blood Knights. Not sure I like them in Vyrkos, though.

...

I don't think I like Skeletons as a unit. Tarpit/MW spam with Zombies.. or swing two-handed with Grave Guard, instead?

I don't know if I'll actually pay points for Wolves when I already need like 1.5 boxes for summoning.

 

 

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, Obeisance said:

I suspect I'm going to be heading down the Vyrkos path .

Just don't know how dudespammy I need to go.

I think the core of my list is going to be

Not sure I like them in Vyrkos, though.

I don't think I like ... or …, instead?

I don't know if I'll actually pay points for…

QfT 😹

I‘m juggling and thinking and scrapping too, sadly not playing - fuNurgle

but hopefully things start to get normal again and we can try out what we are scribbling down. Really interested for the first 3.0 cutthroat events, to see where the meta went and how people tried to counter 🤔 

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We're pretty lucky. Aside from a few snap lockdowns and mask mandates, I've been living in a virtually Covid free wonderland. We've had a few tournaments cancelled/rescheduled.. but we haven't stopped gaming.

I got a team tournament in a couple months. I'm expecting like 6-8 teams of 6. I'm not bringing Soulblight, but my only other army is OBR- so I'm borrowing Skaven. 

 

 

 

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I call this "Hammers...hammers everywhere". As much as I think that Zombies are probably overall better then skellies im a bigger skelly fan and like the models better. Not sure about battalions and all that other stuff. Im still confused by how all that works.

Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords
- Lineage: Vyrkos Dynasty
- Grand Strategy:
- Triumphs:

Leaders
Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon (435) - Sledgehammer 
- General
- Deathlance
- Command Trait: Pack Alpha
- Artefact: Amulet of Destiny (Universal Artefact)
- Lore of the Vampires: Amethystine Pinions
Radukar the Beast (315) - small but fierce Hammer
Belladamma Volga, First of the Vyrkos (200)

Battleline
20 x Deathrattle Skeletons (170)
- Reinforced x 1
20 x Deathrattle Skeletons (170)
- Reinforced x 1
20 x Deathrattle Skeletons (170)
- Reinforced x 1

Units
5 x Blood Knights (195) - reliable missile Hammer
1 x Vargskyr (115) - mini Hammer? 
1 x Vargskyr (115) - ball-peen Hammer? 
1 x Vargskyr (115) - maybe Multitool

Total: 2000 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 3 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 134
 

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I think Skellies really benefit from being in 30s, and you should have a Necromancer around to allow them to double dip from their combat rez through van hels.

You can make 1 x 30 and then 2 x 10 Skellies, drop a Varg and get yourself a Necromancer.

Though with Bella you might want an initial 10 of Wolves on the board to protect her from turn 1 shooting or something.

Here's a quick draft, not saying it's the best, but gets you to 5 drop with Warlord and Battle Regiment Battalions, so you can take an additional enhancement if you wish e.g. Extra spell for all wizard or an extra artefact for the Necromancer to hold.

1975 should give you the Triumph also.

Spoiler

Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords
- Lineage: Vyrkos Dynasty
- Grand Strategy:
- Triumphs:

Leaders
Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon (435) in Battle Regiment
- General
- Deathlance
Radukar the Beast (315) in Warlord
Belladamma Volga, First of the Vyrkos (200) in Warlord
Necromancer (125) in Warlord

Battleline
30 x Deathrattle Skeletons (255) in Warlord
- Reinforced x 2
10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (85) in Battle Regiment
10 x Dire Wolves (135) in Battle Regiment

Units
5 x Blood Knights (195) in Battle Regiment
1 x Vargskyr (115) in Battle Regiment
1 x Vargskyr (115) in Battle Regiment

Core Battalions
Battle Regiment

Total: 1975 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 131

 

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35 minutes ago, Greybeard86 said:

Is there a reason to take Vargskyr  over Blood Knights ?

Aside from the thematic aspect.

 

They are very different from each other so its hard to compare. I just really like Vargskyr.

2 hours ago, Liquidsteel said:

I think Skellies really benefit from being in 30s, and you should have a Necromancer around to allow them to double dip from their combat rez through van hels.

You can make 1 x 30 and then 2 x 10 Skellies, drop a Varg and get yourself a Necromancer.

Though with Bella you might want an initial 10 of Wolves on the board to protect her from turn 1 shooting or something.

Here's a quick draft, not saying it's the best, but gets you to 5 drop with Warlord and Battle Regiment Battalions, so you can take an additional enhancement if you wish e.g. Extra spell for all wizard or an extra artefact for the Necromancer to hold.

1975 should give you the Triumph also.

  Reveal hidden contents

Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords
- Lineage: Vyrkos Dynasty
- Grand Strategy:
- Triumphs:

Leaders
Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon (435) in Battle Regiment
- General
- Deathlance
Radukar the Beast (315) in Warlord
Belladamma Volga, First of the Vyrkos (200) in Warlord
Necromancer (125) in Warlord

Battleline
30 x Deathrattle Skeletons (255) in Warlord
- Reinforced x 2
10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (85) in Battle Regiment
10 x Dire Wolves (135) in Battle Regiment

Units
5 x Blood Knights (195) in Battle Regiment
1 x Vargskyr (115) in Battle Regiment
1 x Vargskyr (115) in Battle Regiment

Core Battalions
Battle Regiment

Total: 1975 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 131

 

That looks good. I was considering flooding the board with just wolves too

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What is everyone thinking about the different Grand Strategies for Soulblight? Just as a reminder, these are the options:

  • Sever the Head (kill all enemy heroes)
  • Vendetta (kill the enemy general while yours remains alive)
  • Hold the Line (at least one battleline survives)
  • Dominating Presence (have more units from your starting army alive at the end than your opponent)
  • Beast Master (have a monster alive at the end of the battle)
  • Prized Sorcery (have a wizard alive at the end of the battle)
  • Pillars of Belief (have a priest alive at the end of the battle)
  • Predator’s Domain (control more terrain at the end of the battle than your opponent)

I am personally leaning towards Prized Sorcery for a lot of my lists. I feel fairly comfortable with my ability to keep at least one wizard alive between the obligatory big monster hero (Vengorian/VLoZD/Mortarch), a support Necromancer or Vampire Lord and probably Belladamma with her wolf-bodyguards.

Hold the Line seems pretty good in Kastelai Blood Knight lists, but in lists that make use of a lot of SUMMONABLE battleline it might be a trap, since replacement units from Endless Legions don't get the battleline role. Same for Dominating Presence, resummoned units don't count or it would be much easier to accomplish.

I suppose Predator's Domain is a fairly good fall back strategy if your list can't do any other Grand Strategy particularly easily. You can always just make a mad dash for as many terrain features as possible in the last turn to score it.

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7 minutes ago, Neil Arthur Hotep said:
  • Sever the Head (kill all enemy heroes)
    We have no shooting so this is very hard to do
  • Vendetta (kill the enemy general while yours remains alive)
    We could, yet we lack to rend to actually pull it off in this edition
  • Hold the Line (at least one battleline survives)
    This should work well with some skellies/wolves at the back
  • Dominating Presence (have more units from your starting army alive at the end than your opponent)
    Managable since we can heal (we die too fast though)
  • Beast Master (have a monster alive at the end of the battle)
    Rather hard to pull of unless that monster is also a hero 
  • Prized Sorcery (have a wizard alive at the end of the battle)
    Should work most of the time
  • Pillars of Belief (have a priest alive at the end of the battle)
    Impossible, we don't have a single priest
  • Predator’s Domain (control more terrain at the end of the battle than your opponent)
    Likely due to grave sites and re-summoning

 

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Hello there!

 

Some tips and tricks against shooting would be greatly needed here. Was a bit surprise search tools didnt come up with it (or then it was me)  but how are you going to play against armies with a lot of shooting. 

 

It seems all my friends play armies/towns with a ton of shooting and I find it a bit stressful.

For example imagine all the warscrolls we have; what kind of build you would get against Cities of Sigmar on 1,5k game.

Just finished a 1,3k match against a friend of mine and lost it stricktly to shooting. More likely how superior shooting seems to be.

Army I faced had

-2 units of musketeers (total 20)

-1 unit of pistoliers (total 5)

-2 units of Demigryph Knights (total 6)

-2 sorceresses with deadly spells

-20 spearmen

-Celestial Hurricanum with that insane missile weapon+spells

4/8 of drops are projectile.

Especially those musketeers with stand & shoot and Unleash Hell are murderous. Bringing back D3 skeletons wont do much after these swipe out whole units when its not even their own turn.

 

So playing Legion of Night or Legion of Blood. How do you build your army against these 40k armies when playing random scenarios?

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