Wordy9th

I have a game coming up in august and haven't played AoS for some time. 1) Can Graveguard with shields benefit from mystic shield? 2) Can a hero with soulbound garments benefit from mystic shield? 3) Does mannfred/radukar's bubble count as the units receiving a command ability? 4) Can I use the flaming weapon spell on a Vlozd's claw attacks? 5) How does Radukar the wolf compare to a standard Vampire Lord? 6) If I pass a wound to Kosargi, can they use their ward save? 7) What's the main use of the 6 inch pile in? To move within 6 inches of an enemy and bypass the need to charge? I assume you can't simply charge and add the 6 inch pile in to the roll. Thanks!

I'm going for a legion of blood vibe trying to get as much use out of skeletal units as possible (I loved the idea of the black knights and wight king bravery bombing on the side while filling out the battle line) with a strong vampiric core of Neffy and her pet dragon lord and some blood knights. I've got a Coven throne, Mannfred and Belladonna spare, the latter two might make it a little more competitive but I'm looking for that perfect mix of using units I like (skeletons and big dragon) while still having it competitive. Also wondering what weapons to take on the grave guard, though I'm leaning towards great weapons, Any thoughts?

It feels like it'd be harder to argue that it's the small, dumpy old models which are grave guard and not the towering new skeletons when it comes to WYSIWYG xD. After buying the Start Collecting: Soulblight Grave lords box I'm going to have fairly mixed feelings if they bring out the sickest new Grave Guard sculpts in the coming year. (Please do this GW).

What makes sense to me is the taking into consideration the degree of establishment in the universe and the prevalence of some factions schemes and options regarding subfactions than others. For example, Space Wolves and Blood Angels are decades old schemes which have had separate books and models for many years. In Soulblight Gravelords, I can take Belladama Volga, Matriarch of the Vrykos in my Legion of Night Army. Neither faction has an established colour scheme, and skeletons are skeletons (though in the legion of Blood section it does detail that Neferata loves to paint her skeletons with tatoos and dress them in fine reds and the like so I'm waiting on a TO to tell me my skeletons aren't pretty enough to be considered LOB xD). I think once the universe is far more established then colour schemes can play a bigger and more official role in WYSIWYG, until then the comparison with 40k and AoS (the former having much more establishment across time, books and models) makes a case that while I can see the argument for colour schemes in 40k, in AoS GW needs to 'earn' their proxy colour scheme rules by developing and establishing the game for a longer period of time.