Wraith

OK, that's good. I have thought of another question. The Corvus Cabal can be declared in reserve during deployment. Does that count as a 'drop'for deployment purposes? A more general question I would like to ask, is how much chaff do people include in their lists? 10% of points total, maybe? Is 25% too much?

OK, so they can be charged and hit in combat without being visible. But not shot at. I am used to rules that require visibility for charges. But I guess it is best to keep the rules simple. It looks like they might have issues with spells and prayers from friendly sources that require the recipient being visible. Is that correct? Not a big deal though. The core value of these guys is the deep strike, cheap cost and also their screening value, Anything is is just a bonus.

After having viewed the Youtube reviews of the new battletome, I have reached the conclusion that the most interesting war scroll is the Corvus Cabal. They work like Parachutists, dropping in to threaten unguarded objectives. Having them in reserve forces an opponent to keep stuff back to prevent them taking objectives. That makes them worth their 80 points cost. Even one unit of them in a list will help shape what your opponent can do. Also, if they are in cover, they can't be seen. So they can't be charged or shot at, right? These guys are 'sick'. So sick that I just ordered a box of them. Definitely suit the Be'lakor theme, also. A very shady bunch of fellows.

I am expecting to see a significant rework of the rules. We need to be positive and see it as a chance to explore new possibilities. Have to wait and see what they have done. Yes, it seems the narrative of rivalry between Be'lakor and Archaon is going t be played up. That will be fun. I wonder if the Darkoath keyword will be given some rules? I have noticed that those Darkoath Savages have been selling out. Could be they get some attention from the designers in the new battletome?

Overall I am very excited about the upcoming releases. My greatest disappointment being that the Horns of Hashut are not actually Chaos Dwarves. Missed opportunity there, GW. My greatest worry about the releases is the impact this is going to have on my bank account. How will the Legion of the First Prince work now that it has mortals? No more bringing in daemon all sorts? Enternus can get extra command points. Legionaries can prevent orders. Centurion can (occasionally) cause opponent to fight last. Furies give Enternus benefits, suggesting furies play a big part in the LotFP. So are we looking at a control focused sub-faction? Thoughts anyone?

Sorry, that is my fault. GW will only release new marauder models the moment I have finished painting mine. I have 40 marauders which I need to finish painting but I keep getting distracted with other stuff. I will try to focus on getting them done so that new sculpts will get released.

Does Radiance of Dark Glory bring back single wound models to a unit?

Does it really count as a bug? I though a 'bug' was an insect. Whip scorpions are arachnids, though not true spiders. The arachnid covered in a recent GW community article was also an arachnid which the biologist doing the species description, named after Abaddon. , though not a true spider. In fact, it was of an even more primitive group, possibly not too dissimilar to the first terrestrial animals. The common name is 'harvester'. https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/03/06/meet-the-australian-arachnid-named-after-the-warmaster-of-chaos/ More info on this group of ancient arachnids for the true nerds among us: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opiliones I will note though, that insects and arachnids are both arthropods. But so are crabs, shrimp and such like. Surely the term 'bug' being synonymous with 'arthropod' is too broad a net?

This is unexpected. My 40k army is Space Orks. This looks like a new clan, so not sure if I could fit these minis in. They really look like they should be in AoS. On a different subject, so I guessed correctly that the new zombies would have Cursed City style graves on their backs when most other people were saying that wasn’t so. At least some of them have graves, anyway. Does that mean I get a free zombie from GW?

Ok, so that'll be one family sized sea food basket to go. Why write a letter when you could simply commission a scale 3D sculpt of the offending GW official and add it to your new Be'lakor model in leu of the Primius Space marine or Chaos Warrior.

I can still see what could be remains of tombstones and coffins on their backs. They look a lot like the Cursed City zombie. Has anyone yet mentioned that Dire wolves are counterpointed on the Australian GW shop website? Bats, fell bats and the wight king on horse are still there ('cause who would buy those???). Might have to wait until someone accidentally drops them on the floor at the warehouse before we are finally rid of them.

To put a positive spin on it, collectors of those factions have received an abundance of nothing. So they have plenty when you think about it that way.

You bet! We will find out that a lot of things that have happened were Be’lakor all along. Ah, good point. I forgot about them. But maybe the NH guy will come out in the LRL set for BR: Teclis? BR: Morathi had a main set of KoS versus Slaanesh. That was the main theme, right? Teclis versus Nagash, pivoting around Teclis deciding to punish Nagash for the Soul Wars is the grand theme in book 2. So what do you think? Is a LRL versus NH set a possibility? Not sure if the SCE guy fits in with a Teclis or in the Be’lakor book.

Maybe not STD. They had a new Damned Legion in BR: Morathi. The Idolators. DoK, ID, STD, CoS (dark elf), SCE all got covered in BR: Morathi. Nurgle, LRL, FEC, OBR, and CoS (again) are to get battalions in BR: Teclis. Presumably a lot of the extra rules will be LRL related, as it is to cover all the new stuff not in the original battletome. For BR: Be’lakor, I would expect new rules and battalion for Chaos Ascendent. Given the promotional video has SCE in it, we might expect more SCE rules and battalion. There should be three others. There isn’t enough information yet to know what factions will be featured. Maybe Skaven will be one (assuming anyone at GW remembers there are Skaven in AoS).

The problem with the idea that list design is part of the tournament skillet, is that effective lists are typically devised by a few and copied by many. Is chasing the meta a skill too? We need to think about maximising enjoyment, right? What could be more amusing, and thus enjoyable, that watched no some meta chasing smart Alec getting hammered by his own Death Star? Certainly the audience will love it. Designing rules bending lists and the resulting stampede to copy those lists is what causes the sort of damage that competitive professional sports have suffered, as described in an earlier post. GW attempts to correct for this by employing the nerf bat. If GW is nerfing it, then it isn’t skill we are talking about. It is finding an unfair advantage to avoid being tested against to other guy’s skill. So, in theory at least, switching armies does allow test of skill at playing the game. The real issue with the idea is in practicality. Who wants some stranger handling their carefully painted miniatures? Maybe the top world competition needs GW supplied armies to determine the world’s best player?

Yes, that is interesting. So it is the tournament system that needs balance rather that the rule system. Each pair must play each other twice, swapping armies for the second round. Also, each table should be supplied with a common set of dice. This would ensure that relative player skill is most accurately evaluated. I mean, that is what tournaments are for, right? Evaluating the relative skills of players and generating a ranking record. Or are they? Maybe they are really just excuses to get together with fellow hobbyists and show off? Or catch up with friends? I guess if enough money is involved (as with professional sport) then it becomes more serious.

There is a well balanced game for tournaments. It's called chess. But it seems many people find a fantasy miniatures game more appealing than chess. So what is this 'player enjoyment' element? Is it really in how the game plays out or is it sharing a common interest with a group of people? What is it that makes the game fun? I find AoS interesting for a number of reasons, one of which is the hobby community aspect. As regards rules, they are not perfect, but they are innovative. I think it was worth it to abandon the old WHFB rules to open the way for new ideas. I've looked at other games, like KoW, but the mechanics are a bit old fashion. There needs to be fresh approaches to wargame rules. GW has potential here as they base their concepts on individual models, rather than the abstract unit, as became the fashion in the '80s and '90s. KoW is very '90s in it's conception. AoS might build more complex unit rules from ideas like the LRL rules for blocks and shoving. Maybe a file replacement system for combat might be experimented with? ID rules for restricting shooting target options, etc. All these experiments might lead to a new idea of how to simulate the known emergent properties of soldiers fighting as a unit better than the previously tried ideas in other rule stems. This matters for future computer game designers, as their basic algorithm concepts typically come from board or miniature game rules. So AoS is interesting as a sandpit. Competitive gaming does have a negative impact on any rule system. But I think GW games tend to change so frequently (deliberately) which helps to mitigate this. I should point out any worthwhile attempt at historical battle simulation is not going to be balanced. Mongols were better than most opponents. That is a historical fact and the rules would be a poor simulation not to reflect it. So historical gaming is not really that suitable for competitions. But that is what people want. If they complain too much about lack of balance, there is chess.

I like the CoS battletome concept: a battletome series that any orphan models or models that lose a specific battletome, can be gathered into. We see this to a lessor extent with the combined Orge battletome. I would like to see one catch all battletome series for each grand alliance, so any single faction losing an independent battletome can be regrouped in the general battletome for the alliance. So for Death, the successor the LoN would be a catch all, as would StD for Chaos. Anyway, back to rumours. We know from a January Warhammer Community article that the BR: Teclis book will have battalions for LRL, Nurgle, FEC, OBR, and CoS. One would expect box set releases to go with these as per BR: Morathi. Has anyone seen anything about what battalions will come with BR: Be'lakor?

Sigmar and his peers all started as mortals. So they are like daemon princes. Sigmar really should have a model. Shall we call them lesser gods? As regards greater gods (ruinous powers, Gorkamorka), I can’t see why they can’t be modelled also. After all, they do have a discrete form in lore. However, fielding them in AoS would be like fielding a Titan in 40k. That did happen when Adeptus Titanicus first came out. People built their own enormous titan models just ‘cause they could. AoS players who feel so included could do the same and make greater god models for narrative play. Those models might be over two feet tall, though.

Be’lakor doesn’t look that hard to paint. The problem is that one really needs Kairos to accompany him ( the Mortal Realm’s ultimate trolling duo). And doing all that blending of colours on the feathers is quite tricky.

@HMB the Ogroid Myrmidon grew wings. Is he a daemon prince now?

It is not without precedent. Legions of Nagash got to keep the old warscroll and mini for the Black Coach after the new Nighthaunt version came out. No doubt the old ‘Legion’ Black Coach will disappear when the LoN battletome is replaced (one of the last AoS v1.0 battletomes left). Not saying that there will be an old STD Be’lakor and a new Chaos Ascendent Be’lakor. Just saying such a thing is not without precedent.

Why choose the ‘Call to Glory’ spell?

Seraphon players must love Lumineth. The later is so flamboyant (snorting a line of Aetherquartz and then walking down the street wearing a flower pot for a hat, now that’s flamboyant) that they draw all the criticism and animosity and then everyone forgets how broken Seraphon are.

I got the old cast of Be’lakor just before the new one was announced. I have no regrets as the old model is nice and will now be OOP. I intend to use it for Dark Apotheosis results on the Eye of the Gods table. Umm, assuming I remember to make the role, that is.