Soulblight Gravelords Holiday Battleforce

[Sception]

Warhammer Community Link

The usual limited release holiday battleforces are on their way, and this time there are two for the forces of Death, one for Soulblight Gravelords and one for Ossiarch Bonereapers.

The Gravelords definitely look to be getting the better of the two, arguably the best of all the battleforces this year, with a Vengorian, 20 skeletons, 40 zombies, and 5 blood knights.  All of these are staple units that new players will benefit from grabbing early in their collection.  Those who jumped on the Soublight bandwagon probably already have all they need of these units, but for new players this set gives you probably the most widely useful hero option in the book, a unit of our best heavy hitters, and a solid base of battleline infantry.  This is almost exactly the units I would recommend to anyone asking where to start with SBGL, so any discount at all will make this box a solid deal.  I mean, if it were up to me I'd maybe maybe trade half the zombies for a corpse cart or a necromancer and a box of dire wolves, but whatever, it's great as it is, and all of it will see regular use - again regardless of Dynasty choice.

Existing players probably picked up a lot of this when the book released, so it may be a bit more questionable there.  Almost every Soulblight player will benefit from having the option to run a vengo, 5 blood knights, 20 skittles, & 40 zombies, but relatively few will need more of any of that other than maybe the blood knights.  But that's always the case for these big boxes.

Regardless, very nice to see.

Edited November 18, 2021 by Sception

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

I agree, this is a very good box. If the value is good, I definitely think I'd recommend it to new players. My only criticism would be that it's a bit light on points (800-something) and that it might be a bit daunting to paint those 60 infantry models. But then again, big infantry blocks come with the territory for Gravelords and you can easily just pick up another hero to get to 1000.

I'd say the next step for people buying this box should be to pick up another 10 skeletons and a necromancer from somewhere so that those boney boys start pulling their weight. After that, list building can honestly go in any direction.

[Doko]

I gonna get it for sure as i hadnt zombies neither vengorian lord(neither eskelys)

I wont use neither build skeletons because as i said many times i see them useless and i never gonna play them and moreover they are ugly(in my tastes of course) with the goofy pose and arabian helmets and shields.

But even if i wont use the skelys i gonna save money and who knows if i gonna can sell the skelys in second hand

[vlad3theimpaler]

I have everything in the gravelords box except for the vengorian lord ( and my flgs has one on order for me already) but I'm sorely tempted by the OBR box, since it has 1000+ points in it.  And since I already have Nagash, it looks like it would be pretty easy to make that into a 2000 point list with one more box of mortek guard.

[Liquidsteel]

1 hour ago, vlad3theimpaler said:

I have everything in the gravelords box except for the vengorian lord ( and my flgs has one on order for me already) but I'm sorely tempted by the OBR box, since it has 1000+ points in it.  And since I already have Nagash, it looks like it would be pretty easy to make that into a 2000 point list with one more box of mortek guard.

I was considering some OBR models as I already have Nagash and Arkhan, turns out 2 boxes of Mortek will have me a 2k list!

[Aeryenn]

Can somebody post a list or two where to go from this box? I'm probably getting it. Defenitely would like a zombie and skeletons focused army. Is it worth buying two of these boxes?

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

55 minutes ago, Aeryenn said:

Can somebody post a list or two where to go from this box? I'm probably getting it. Defenitely would like a zombie and skeletons focused army. Is it worth buying two of these boxes?

The Soulblight box is really nice because it contains a power pair in the Vengorian Lord and Blood Knights, and two staple battleline units that can go in any list in Zombies and Skeletons. You can build out this box into a lot of directions.

The first decision point is whether you want to keep or drop the skeletons. They are a good unit, but if you want them to do work you need to commit to a block of 30, probably. You might also want to add in a Necromancer to support them: Skeletons are your defensive infantry, and they regenerate when they activate to in the combat phase. The Necromancer makes them activate twice. That's why they are best friends. Lots of list don't run skeletons, however, because there are a lot of other good options.

But after that, your options are wide open. Nearly all units in the Soulblight book have a use, with Black Knights as the only exception, so it's quite hard to build a really bad list. Here's an example of a Soulblight good stuff list that just contains a bunch of good warscrolls and a large variety of models:

Spoiler

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

Leaders
Vengorian Lord (280)
Necromancer (125)
Belladamma Volga, First of the Vyrkos (200)

Battleline
30 x Deathrattle Skeletons (255)
- Reinforced x 2
40 x Deadwalker Zombies (230)
- Reinforced x 1
10 x Dire Wolves (135)

Units
5 x Blood Knights (195)
20 x Grave Guard (280)
- Great Wight Blades
- Reinforced x 1

Total: 1700 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 149
Drops: 8

Basically just a lot of staple units you will not regret picking up with 300 points left over for some personal touches. Maybe you will have to throw something out if you want a Zombie Dragon or Mortarch in there.

You could also always do this:

Spoiler

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

Leaders
Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead (970)
Vengorian Lord (280)
- General
- Command Trait: Rousing Commander
- Artefact: Fragment of the Keep

Battleline
5 x Blood Knights (195)
20 x Deathrattle Skeletons (170)
- Reinforced x 1
40 x Deadwalker Zombies (230)
- Reinforced x 1

Endless Spells & Invocations
Umbral Spellportal (70)
Purple Sun of Shyish (70)

Total: 1985 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 2 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 101
Drops: 5

Not even a bad list, to be honest.
 

[Skreech Verminking]

Well It really isn’t a bad deal, yet I personally just don’t like the look of the vengorian lord, and am even less interested in having the skeletons in my army.

I’ll probably just go for the flesh eater and gravelord start collections and add 40 zombies in addition

[Sception]

16 minutes ago, Aeryenn said:

Can somebody post a list or two where to go from this box? I'm probably getting it. Defenitely would like a zombie and skeletons focused army. Is it worth buying two of these boxes?

I probably wouldn't get two of these.  Another box of blood knights would be great, but the rest?  One vengo can find a use anywhere, two seems questionable outside of avengorii where you might want both the special character and the generic version, but avengorii probably don't want 40 skeletons and 80 zombies.  You could maybe find a use for that much infantry in certain Vyrkos or Legion of Blood lists, but even then it's kind of questionable, and you wouldn't want two vengorian lords in that case, and I doubt this box will be so discounted that the venga is free.

So, while I think this box is an excellent way to start a SBGL army, no, I don't think I'd recommend two of it.

...

As for what I would recommend to expand on this, the first thing I'd recommend is the Battletome.  I mean, obviously, because you need it to play the faction, but also because it's full of flavor and lore about the faction which might inform the direction you want to take it.  SBGL has a couple dud units (black knights in particular come to mind - when are GW's rules writers going to remember that they're supposed to be mounted wights, not mounted skeleton warriors?), but most of our units are decent at something, and even black knights aren't completely useless.  So if after looking at the art and reading the lore in the battletome you end up falling in love with a particular subfaction, character, unit, or theme, then that can help direct your decisions.

If you're just trying to stick to broadly useful units that can find a home in any faction, I'd recommend:

1) Necromancer.  They're just a solid utility caster, and quite durable with their ability to shrug wounds to nearby summonables

2) 10 Dire Wolves.  Fast, cheap, expendable, summonable, battleline, the new models look good.  Use them to grab objectives early, gum up enemy movement, screen for your blood knights, or throw them into combat with a ranged unit to eat their stand and shoot command.  Since they're fast, they can be in the the enemy's way from turn one, and yeah this probably means they'll die early, but they'll do good work while dying and give you a summonable unit to revive via endless legions.

3) Corpse Cart.  Assembly's a bit of a hassle, so take your time.  Also look up guides on how to magnetize bits, and see about magnetizing the bell & brazier so you can swap out the type, since both are useful in different lists.  The bell can give necromancers the precious casting bonus that they otherwise lack to push through their strong signature and lore spells.  The balefire's debuff aura is arguably even more useful.  Deploy it next to your most valuable units to help protect them from alpha rushes and surprise deep strike threats on turn one.

4) Belladamma Volga.  Yes, she's a special character, but you can run her in any SBGL army, she just misses out on subfaction bonuses outside of her native Vyrkos.  But even without those extra bonuses, she's still a strong and relatively inexpensive caster who works especially well with dire wolves and blood knights, two units you'll also want to own and run pretty much regardless of subfaction.  Keep in mind that you'll need some extra dire wolves for one of her spells.

5) Blood Knights.  They really are the star of the book right now.  There are successful SBGL armies that run four or even 5 units of these, but even if you aren't going all out on them, you could probably make use of two.  The only reason to hold off is if you're afraid they'll get nerfed into the ground in the next points update, but you can't get too worked up about that.

6) 10 more skeleton warriors.  They come in a box of 20, so you'd probably be looking to split a box with someone else.  20 skeletons, or 2x10, have their uses, but their revival mechanic works best with a max sized unit of 30, particularly with a necromancer nearby.

7) Vampire Lord.  You won't always run one, but multiple bloodlines like having them available, and their command ability is very nice with the zombies you already have.  Sadly pretty low on the priority list, it's a real shame we didn't get a proper bloodline powers ability set to help them shine, but imo it's still worth having one.

....

That's about as far as I'd personally go with recommendations without knowing a specific subfaction or army concept you wanted to build towards.  Like, grave guard have great offense and maybe could be on this list, but they're fragile and difficult to deliver and the models don't really hold up next to all the newer stuff, so I can't recommend them as a default purchase unless you know you want to make deathrattle a key theme in your army, in which case I guess get the battleforce because you'd also probably want a wight king.  Fell Bats are a great cheap little unit for throwing at shooty squads to prevent the charge reaction against your real threats, but dire wolves can kind of do that already and they're battleline, so you probably don't need the bats unless your army already has battleline covered and is soreley pressed for points (ie you're playing kastelai blood knight spam).  All of the big faction leader special characters have their uses but outside of volga I'm not sure how inclined I'd be to run them outside of their home factions or fairly specific builds.

 

[Aeryenn]

@Neil Arthur Hotep@Sception

Wow, thank you Guys for these comprehensive tutorials. I really appreciate that.

I'm still on the fence wether to buy two boxes or just one. New Soulblight models are really tempting. I might sell one Vengorian lord. But do I really need ONE HUNDRED TWENTY small models to paint? I probably wouldn't paint it until year 2030. And that doesn't take into account other models. I will take something from both advices while building my list. Thanks!

Edited November 20, 2021 by Aeryenn

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

10 hours ago, Aeryenn said:

@Neil Arthur Hotep@Sception

Wow, thank you Guys for these comprehensive tutorials. I really appreciate that.

I'm still on the fence wether to buy two boxes or just one. New Soulblight models are really tempting. I might sell one Vengorian lord. But do I really need ONE HUNDRED TWENTY small models to paint? I probably wouldn't paint it until year 2030. And that doesn't take into account other models. I will take something from both advices while building my list. Thanks!

You definitely don't need to paint 120 guys. Honestly, I would advise against it for a casual list. I think that a mix of all three basic battleline units is actually quite good: 30 skeletons to hold objectives, 40 zombies to take objectives and 10 direwolves as fast chaff. You can also make Blood Knights, Vargheists and Grave Guard battleline and all of those are honestly pretty good options, too.

I would definitely figure out a speed painting scheme for skeletons and zombies though. For skeletons, I think making use of copious amounts of drybrushing and contrast paint is honestly a great idea. Vallejo Metal Colour Steel is a great dark metallic that covers in one pass even over white, so if you use that the armour is sorted, too. For zombies, Vince Venturella has a video with great, simple speed painting scheme.

[Aeryenn]

Definitely checking Vince's video.

To be honest what drags me most into Soulblight are the zombies because of their variation between models.

I have some experience in painting skeletons since I have like 3000 points of Ossiarch Bonereapers painted. 😉

What are the best heroes to pair them with Zombie and Skeleton centered army?

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

49 minutes ago, Aeryenn said:

Definitely checking Vince's video.

To be honest what drags me most into Soulblight are the zombies because of their variation between models.

I have some experience in painting skeletons since I have like 3000 points of Ossiarch Bonereapers painted. 😉

What are the best heroes to pair them with Zombie and Skeleton centered army?

Gorslav from Cursed City can bring back a unit of DEADWALKER SUMMONABLE (Zombies or Wolves) at half strength for a command point.

The Necromancer has a spell that lets SUMMONABLE units pile in and attack twice.

The Vampire Lord has +1 attack for SUMMONABLE units for a command point once per turn until your next hero phase. That means up to +3 if you use it in your opponent's turn, too. This might get FAQ'd, however.

The Corpse Cart is not a hero, but looks like a dedicated DEADWALKER support piece at first glance. This is only somewhat true: The Corpse Cart version that gives +1 to saves for Zombies is actually the worse one since they start at a save of '-'. The Corpse Cart that gives -1 to wound to enemies is the one you want.

Zombies cannot self-buff since they don't have a champion. You will probably want to keep a support hero nearby for bigger squads.

[Liquidsteel]

21 minutes ago, Neil Arthur Hotep said:

The Corpse Cart is not a hero, but looks like a dedicated DEADWALKER support piece at first glance. This is only somewhat true: The Corpse Cart version that gives +1 to saves for Zombies is actually the worse one since they start at a save of '-'. The Corpse Cart that gives -1 to wound to enemies is the one you want.

Just to avoid all doubt, the save of "-" means it's technically a 7+.

You would still get a 6+ save against no rend or vs -1 if you applied All out Defence (rare that you would, but still).

The Brazier is still much better with its -1 to Wound aura of course, but just wanted to make sure that was clear. 

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

32 minutes ago, Liquidsteel said:

Just to avoid all doubt, the save of "-" means it's technically a 7+.

You would still get a 6+ save against no rend or vs -1 if you applied All out Defence (rare that you would, but still).

The Brazier is still much better with its -1 to Wound aura of course, but just wanted to make sure that was clear. 

Yeah, thanks for that. I definitely don't want people to think that the +1 saves cart does nothing. It's just that the bonus is a lot less impactful than it looks at first glance. I think we are all primed by this edition to look at +1 to saves and think that's a super strong buff, but going from '-' to 6+ is actually pretty weak.

[Sception]

Note that the corpse cart with the bell can still be useful for the +1 bonus to casting rolls.  Necromancers have a lot of good spell options, but lack the casting bonuses to reliably get them through.  An 80 point +1 to cast bubble can be well worth considering if you're running more than one necromancer.  Granted, multiple necromancers is a bit of a niche choice, while the balefire's debuff aura is good for pretty much any list that can fit it.  But there's enough utility to the lodestone bell that IMO it's worth the effort to magnetize it.

[mad_leprechaun]

Personally I would have liked to have seen 10 direwolves instead of 20 zombies in the box for more variety and balance the box out more, it would mean you would have every non-conditional battleline in one box for SBGL then which would be a great starting point for an army. It'd be tempting to buy two boxes also then if you got twenty wolves instead of 40 more zombies (who in my opinion arent amazing sculpts - especially with the duplicate poses where as the wolves look great and 20 would be pretty much mandatory if you were making a vyrkos list).

I guess really in the end it doesnt matter too much since you can either sell some of the zeds and buy the wolves if you really want them. I think aesthetically these collectable boxes look better with a larger variety of units rather than doubling down on certain ones though.

Edited November 26, 2021 by mad_leprechaun

[Doko]

Or just add the wolfs and dont replace any,because have around 100€ less than the lumineth box and the slanesh. Heck even add a unit of wolfs and radukar or belladama and then it would have the same money value than the other 2 battleforces