Elazar The Glorified

I wonder if there is a bit more scope in Pretenders now actually... The reroll 1s to hit is something that has some more use now that the command ability is adding 1 rather than doing the same. I also think Battle-Lust and Skilled Leader on a Pretenders General with the Amulet of Destiny whilst not a necessarily world-beating combo does a few useful things we can't do out of the book with Pretenders. Gets a few extra CP over the course of a battle and a CP or two saved for getting the charge-reroll and the Amulet of Destiny feels like the new go-to for Keepers!

Have we seen any confirmation yet that the Core Battalions are free in Matched Play?

Played a game of 3rd (well more like 2.9) as still some bits not sure on so left out against Maggotkin. We used the Frontal Assault battle plan but skipped the battle tactics as didn't have them to hand. My list - Lurid Haze Invaders Keeper of Secrets - Shining Aegis, Slothful Stupor, Oil or Exultation and Feverish Anticipation (General) Glutos - Judgement of Excess Sigvald Dexcessa 5 Hellstriders with Claw-spears 5 Hellstriders with Claw-spears 10 Blissbarbs The Dread Pageant Wheels of Excruciation Mesmerising Mirror Didn’t use the new battalions as we're still not 100% if they have a points cost attached (If they don't I'm a little baffled as to why they have optional slots unless you're looking for the one-drop one) My opponent had (roughly) Great Unclean One - Bileblade, Doomsday Bell, Sumptuous Pestilence, Grandfather's Blessing (General) Festus - Not sure what spell he picked as he only tried for Curse of the Leper off his warscroll Lord of Afflictions - Rustfang Gutrot Spume 10 Blightkings 5 Blightkings 30 Plaguebearers 10 Plaguebearers 6 Plague Drones My opponent won the roll-off and picked deployment zones etc. There was a shattered temple in the very centre of the right flank, some ruins in the centre of his deployment zone and another group of ruins in the left of mine and a mausoleum on the left of centre. My fane went in the middle of my territory, as close to centre as I could go whilst leaving the necessary distance to the centre objective. His tree ended up pretty much midway between the left and centre objectives. He deployed Gutrot Spume and the smaller Blightking unit in ambush. His 30 Plague bearers did the 3rd edition conga line and deployed in two ranks as wide as they could go across the centre. Festus sat behind them on the left and the Great Unclean one behind them on the right roughly in line with the righthand objective. The Drones, Lord of Affliction were directly across from the left objective and the smaller unit of Plague Bearers went out wide on the left flank. I deployed the Keeper and Dexcessa out on my right flank to counter his Great Unclean One. A unit of Hellstriders sat with then and the other Hellstriders sat in the centre next to the Fane with Sigvald. On the left Glutos, the Blissbarbs and The Dread Pageant lined up ready to claim the lefthand objective. I could set up 2 units in ambush so Sigvald and The Dread Pageant disappeared into the mists. My opponent opted to go second so I started out Battle Round 1. The Nurgle clock thing started at +1 to wound which was key Battle Round 1 My heroic action was for the Keeper to generate an extra CP. Spell casting didn't work out. Tried to get both Endles Spells off, but both were unbound and I failed to cast Mystic Shield on the Keeper. The two Hellstrider units went to sit on the Centre and Right objectives. The Keeper and Dexcessa moved up for Dexcessa to go into the flank of Plague Bearers and the Keeper to go into the front to force some irritation for piling in with the new coherency. Glutos and the Blissbarbs moved up to camp on the Left objective. Sigvald came on behind enemy lines on my left and the Dread Pageant snuck up behind the Great Unclean One on the right. For shooting Blissbarbs put some wounds on the big blob of Blightkings and Hadzu put a wound onto the massive block of Plaguebearers. The Keeper charged the Plaguebearers (needing a reroll), Dexcessa did the same. The Dread Pageant failed their charge and Sigvald had a rush of blood and went into the Plague Drones, putting All Out Defence up on himself in anticipation of the avalanche coming his way in retaliation. He did well swatting a couple of Drones with his 8 attacks but with all the attacks back from the remainder, my opponent managed to squeeze through just enough wounds to finish Sigvald off. The Plaguebearers were frustrated as they could only shuffle along to get a few extra models in with the Keeper and Dexcessa only had to fend off two of them. They got a few wounds through on the Keeper. Dexcessa first killed enough that she ended up out of combat and then the Keeper killed quite a few too but my opponent used a Command Point to stop them losing any more to battleshock. The Drones rolled a 1 and got one back. At the end of the turn I clocked up 3VP and about 5 Depravity Points. I can't remember what I did for the Monsters, 1 roared to stop the Plaguebearers getting any support and I assume the other Stomped but it was clearly not memorable! For my heroic action in my opponent's turn I managed to heal 1 or 2 wounds on the Keeper and he popped Finest Hour on his Great Unclean One. Magic fizzled mostly but he did manage to get an Arcane Bolt charged up for the Great Unclean One. His movement was shenanigans to get the Blightkings blob, Lord of Affliction and the Drones running into range of his tree so they could charge onto the Centre and Left objectives. Gutrot and the smaller Blightkings unit came on in my bottom right lining up to go for my Hellstriders on the Right objective. Shooting saw a couple of Blissbarbs die to Death's Heads from the Drones. Drones and the Lord of Afflictions charged into the Blissbarbs. The blob of Blightkings went into the Hellstriders on the Centre and the Blightkings on the right failed their charge even with a reroll so Gutrot held off and waited for support next turn. The Great Unclean One went into the Keeper of Secrets but couldn't do so without bringing Dexcessa into things with so many large unwieldy bases involved and the remaining Plaguebearers blocking any other avenue. Ironically in the excitement of all the big monsters fighting each other we both forgot the monster rules this turn which would have been pivotal and definitely helped me out because he'd have surely roared at Dexcessa and stopped the inevitable Excess of Violence that they benefited from. I can't remember the details but I know the Keeper took the absolute brunt of the Great Unclean one with impact hits, an Arcane Bolt to the face and some awful rolling on their armour save (but some godly rolling on its Shining Aegis). The Plaguebearers continued nipping away at the Keeper too but they were ignored. The Keeper was down to about 3 wounds left (including the extra from the Oil). Dexcessa chipped away at the Great Unclean One and then did so again, taking a couple of wounds as stuff bounced back at it (which was nice for extra Depravity!) Over on the left, the Drones and Lord of Afflictions obliterated the Blissbarbs but in their eagerness dragged Glutos into things and his lackeys battered the Lord of Affliction down to a single wound I think it was and removed an already wounded Drone. In the Centre, the Blightkings found it difficult to get into the Hellstriders and maintain coherency so against all odds those Hellstriders only lost 5 wounds and kept the Blightkings tied up. In the battleshock phase everything passed and the Drones continued a run of rolling a 1 every time. Was up to about 14 Depravity at this point. My opponent outnumbered me on 2 of the objectives so brought it to 3-3 on VP Roll off for Battle Round two went to me. Battle Round 2 For Heroic Action my Keeper healed a little again. Mesmerising Mirror failed to go off but crucially Wheels of Excruciation did to begin the regular event of grinding back and forth over the Drones. Glutos got off Mystic Shield for +1 save and got his 5+ Ward too. The Keeper charged up an Arcane Bolt which was blasted into the face of the Great Unclean One with little delay. For movement I toyed with pulling Dexcessa out to go and tackle the Blightkings in the centre but decided I'd put my faith in Slaanesh to deliver there and summoned in 30 Daemonettes. The Dread Pageant positioned themselves for an easy charge on the Plaguebearers and to in a position where they could also get the Great Unclean One if I wanted to. The Hellstriders on the Right objective knew their days were numbered when Gutrot and his Blightkings finally reached them but for now they positioned themselves on the objective as to be as irritating as possible with the scenery etc around them for charging and actually getting minis in to attack them when the time inevitably came. Hadzu continued his great form taking another Plaguebearer off with his shooting. Dread Pageant charged in clipping Great Unclean One and the Plaguebearers and crucially the Daemonettes made a long enough charge to get plenty of bodies into the combat with the Blightkings and Hellstriders to re-secure that objective Lots of Roaring happened with the Keeper and Great Unclean one cancelling each other out and Dexcessa went for Titanic Duel to help whittle down the Great Unclean One. That combat saw a lot of slapping. The Keeper and the Great Unclean one both ending up very nearly dead but not quite actually dead. Glutos tanked a lot of attacks from the Drones and Lord of Afflictions. He was being whittled down but Mystic Shield cancelled out the Rustfang and he weathered the storm. I was torn on splitting his attacks back but wanted the Lord of Afflictions out of the way and had visions of him sneaking out alive and my opponent rolled a disgusting amount of his ward saves so that I genuinely thought despite throwing everything at him he might somehow survive Painbringer Kayzu managed to get us over the line so it was just Glutos and the Drones (but the objective remained The Daemonettes struggled to get enough numbers in to deal with the Blightkings, on the right, as well as I'd have liked. 30 into an existing awkward combat is tricky with the coherency change. They went with All Out Attack to try and make the most of their attack. The retaliation from the Blightkings took out about half a dozen Daemonettes and removed the last of the Hellstriders on the Centre objective. Battleshock killed a few more Daemonettes but the numbers on there for me ensured I took back control to clock up another 3VP to go 6-3 ahead. In my opponent's hero phase the healing Heroic Action was used for the Keeper to heal itself again. I think my opponent rolled for an extra Command Point but can't remember for sure. Magic fizzled again with nothing much happening but the Wheels rolled the other way back over the Drones. Also, I assume it was at this point but can't fully remember, the clock was pushed back to +1 to wound for Nurgle units which continued to hurt! In the movement phase, Gutrot and his Blightkings moved up ready to charge the Hellstriders on the objective. The Plaguebearers on the left moved round to support the Drones and add numbers near the objective there. Two 5 man Plaguebearers were summoned in but with placement such as it was across the board they struggled to get anywhere they'd make much impact this turn without some very fortunate charge rolls but in theory they were supporting the Nurgle grab on the central objective even though I think in the end only 2 models made a difference to numbers around the objective. Charges were failed by Plaguebearers on the left and by the two summoned units in the middle and a reroll was wasted on trying to get them in. By the time my opponent charged the Hellstriders on the right with his Blightkings, I think he was so relieved for something to make the charge that he got his positioning slightly off and didn't have enough room and/or Gutrot didn't roll high enough to get round so he watched on from nearby. The titanic clash between Keeper, Great Unclean One and Dexcessa reached its bitter conclusion with the Great Unclean One finally dying under the weight of attacks and The Dread Pageant finished off the last of the horde of Plaguebearers that the Keeper didn't. The Blightkings killed off all but the Icon Bearer and Champion in the Hellstriders unit before Battleshock removed the Champion too. Glutos vs Plague Drones continued on. So many wounds, so many save rolls and so much tankiness on both sides. Glutos was down to only a few wounds now. Not sure who had control of the central objective but the left and right definitely belonged to my opponent so we went to 6-6 on VP I won the priority roll for the next turn. Battleround 3 Glutos took his Heroic Action to heal 1 wound and Gutrot Spume chose the one that let him have a dispel. The Wheels went over the Plaguebearers that had pushed up on the left as well as grinding the Drones some more. Still didn't manage to get the mirror off from the Keeper but it did ready an Arcane Bolt for its next charge. Glutos cast Mystic Shield on himself again and then threw Judgement of Excess at the Plaguebearers nearby to keep chipping away at them. Movement phase saw the Keeper and The Dread Pageant went into Festus and one of the summoned units of 5 Plaguebearers near the central objective. The remaining Hellstrider (the Icon Bearer) retreated from the doomed combat to add an extra number to the central objective, leaving room for Dexcessa to head across and hopefully see to the Blightkings on the right. Summoning saw another Keeper of Secrets arrive looking to support Glutos who had been holding the left flank all by his lonesome. Shooting Hadzu chipped a wound off Festus. Charges, Dexcessa went in to the Blightkings. The Keeper (General) and The Dread Pageant into Festus and the Plaguebearers. The summoned Keeper failed their charge even with a reroll so Glutos was left to continue his endless duel with the Drones. Dexcessa made short enough work of the 5 Blightkings. Festus was killed by the Dread Pageant and the Keeper finished off the Plaguebearers. Glutos and the Drones continued to batter the hell out of each other to a stalemate. Finally, the Daemonettes, through battleshock and an absolute mountain of 6s on Blighted Weapons were brought down to 5 minis. Enough to give me the numerical advantage alongside The Dread Pageant, Keeper, and remaining Hellstrider to wrestle back the central objective and take the score to 9-6 in my favour. Nurgle Hero phase was quiet. Only Gutrot was left I don't remember what he picked though. Possibly Finest Hour… Glutos healed again and then the wheels ground up some more wounds on Drones and Plaguebearers. For movement the Plaguebearers on the left decided to play the numbers game and just had their weight to the objective and keep clear of the endless scuffle between Glutos and the Drones. Gutrot moved to make sure he shouldn't fail his charge on Dexcessa and the remaining 5 man unit of Plaguebearers pushed up to add their numbers to the central objective but again kept themselves away from the swirling melee there. Two new units of 5 Plaguebearers arrived, another in my opponent's territory close to the Dread Pageant and the Centre objective. The other nearby to Dexcessa to support in holding that objective (I got confused and forgot Dexcessa counted for 5 models for Objectives - somewhere I decided as not a behemoth they didn't get that rule - whoops) Newly summoned Plaguebearers went into The Dread Pageant, which suited me as they were close enough to the General Keeper for it to now activate also but I held off on that one. Gutrot had also made his charge, and his Clutching Pseudopods removed Dexcessa's Scourge. Gutrot caused some damage and by this point in the game Dexcessa much like Glutos and my General Keeper was also fighting on with just a couple of wounds remaining. When the time came Dexcessa fought back with just their claws and the bonus attacks, rolling 3 sixes to hit they made very short work of Gutrot. The Blightkings in the centre finished off the Daemonettes but in doing so had fallen into my trap so the General Keeper activated, piled-in around The Dread Pageant towards the Plaguebearers but couldn't do so without hitting the Blightkings so the Keeper managed to put a few more wounds into them to leave them at 2 or 3 strong and so unable to hold the middle objective even with the Plaguebearers supporting. The Dread Pageant were brutally efficient as ever and got rid of the 5 Plaguebearers that had charged them after Vasillac tanked all of the attacks they threw at him. Glutos survived against the Drones and that at this point was his only job. Be there to make sure when the Keeper got in next turn the numbers went to me but for this turn the Left objective belonged to Nurgle and with my mistake in the rules so did the Right taking us to 9-9. My priority roll hot streak continued as we went into... Battle Round 4 My Hero Phase, the Keeper (General) healed. The summoned Keeper healed Glutos with Born of Damnation. The Wheels ran over Plaguebearers and Drones again. Judgement of Excess and Arcane Bolt from Glutos caused the final wounds on the Plaguebearers on the Left Objective to remove them. The General Keeper finally succeeded with Mesmerising Mirror and positioned it so that the remaining Blightkings ans two 5 strong units of Plaguebearers would take damage if they looked to move towards the objectives. I tried for Cacophony but failed to cast, had just wanted something to put a couple more wounds out into the dregs left around the Centre objective. In the movement phase Glutos retreated from the Drones to give the summoned Keeper space to move in ready for the kill. The General Keeper decided that it didn't want to risk a flurry of 6s from the Blightkings so retreated and joined The Dread Pageant and the remaining Hellstrider on the objective to claim if but not get into any combats that could see other units get pulled further into the orbit of the Centre objective. Dexcessa moved as close as possible to the 5 Plaguebearers there to kill them and claim the Right objective that was actually still mine if I'd played the rules right! I summoned some more Daemonettes but they didn't manage to get into anything or near enough to any objective to be useful so I forgot they were even summoned until writing this down. In shooting Hadzu took out another Plaguebearer - marksman extraordinaire! Charges were made by the summoned Keeper into the Drone and Dexcessa into the Plaguebearers. Both combats were short with the alpha-daemons removing their lesser cousins with contemptuous ease. All 3 objectives were mine. 12-9 My opponent started their turn. There was some Plaguebearer (I think) summoning but after wounds taken from the Mesmerising Mirror for moving stuff up and then charges failing we called the game. Victory for the Hedonites We never got a double-turn which meant the game stayed really tight throughout. I love these tense games where you can pinpoint the couple of decisions and dice rolls that end up deciding it. Granted if we had full access to the Matched Play rules we'd have had more VP on offer. Made afew mistakes but considering we'd had the rules for 2 hours prior I'll take it! Updated Mystic Shield and Arcane Bolt are both really good and as ever I found myself a little disappointed with the Slaanesh spells outside of the Endless Spells. I think everyone has seen the benefit to us of the changes to Endless Spells. These moving to the Hero Phase is massive and keeping them under my control meant they were aways grinding away where I needed them to and generating Depravity. Nurgle are probably a good match for Depravity purposes. Lots of wounds and lots of Ward Saves mean you can put loads of damage in without often just deleting units. This meant I always had something in my summoning toolbox to apply to a key point on the battlefield. I misused Sigvald. It was a tad rash. I kept rewriting my list in preparation to the game and had no idea what army I'd be up against. Most versions of my list didn't have Sigvald and had included a unit of Fiends instead and Daemonettes instead of Hellstriders. I spent tje rest of the game lamenting the absence of Fiends over with Glutos. Glutos is an absolute tanking boss. The extra heals and regular availability of +1 save through Mystic Shield and/or Command Abilities really helped him stay in the game well past when he probably ought to have which was pivotal because if the Drones or Lord of Afflictions could have left that flank there's no way I was holding regaining the Centre objective. Shining Aegis on the Keeper - I absolutely loved it today. I totally appreciate it's completely anecdotal and the statistics don't necessarily support it but without it I don't win that game because the Keeper failed so many armour saves. I think going forwards I'd take Progeny just to get some extra healing for the Keeper that way. Roaring does the heavy lifting that I was hoping for from Slothful Stupor and whilst in other games maybe I'd get more from shutting down the charges I think it will have more utility overall. I love The Dread Pageant. They have a little bit of everything so contribute more than a 4 mini infantry unit ought to and as long as you're not trying to solo things with them they can fly under the radar. The Hellstriders might be in an interesting place by the time everyone else gets their points changes and their position becomes a bit clearer. They're not setting the world on fire but fairly durable, superfast Battleline will always have a use I think. Lurid Haze is good but I'm not convinced I'd not go regular Invaders next time. Lurid Haze has the ambush which is nice but ultimately it is trading in cool artefacts and command traits for a 3rd option for +1 save and not really necessary. There's also the generic enhancements to explore further which will be easier without the lock-in from Lurid Haze We look to be in a good place for 3rd edition I think!

November was Daughters of Khaine and they got a Broken Realms book and not a battletome. Slaanesh was certainly planned for January but we're still only assuming it's their army book Ninja'd by Clan's Cynic

To be fair the Christmas reveal could show the remaining Slaanesh AND whatever is hinted at by the Advent Rumour Engine that will get a battletome. Or it could be a Slaanesh battletome and the Undead looking stuffs are new minis for older units getting covered off in a Broken Realms book to come soon. Or none of the above. We only have to wait until Friday at least. If there is a Slaanesh battletome I want dice this time. Slaanesh got none last time, got no special dice for their Underworlds warband and just seem to be pariahs of the dice gods. It makes me very sad!

It feels very Slaaneshi to have a sort of tantric approach to combats! Keeping them on the brink for as long as possible, extending their suffering and rewarding you with the additional resources to win the game when you do so

The big thing is changing how Depravity is generated because it creates a situation currently where it doesn't pay to have variety in your army and instead just to go heavy on efficient killy characters (who have been quite severely nerfed so now also struggle to serve their purpose) Off the top of my head I wonder if depravity could be set up as being generated for ongoing combats or something instead. So you get 1 Depravity point for a combat where you caused wounds and the enemy unit has survived with the promise of future pain and 2 Depravity points dor combats where you caused wounds and received wounds with the promise of even more future pain. It would set up a nice balance you have to manage where our units want to go in and cause carnage but not too much or they won't have the chance to savour the pain but not take too much back that they die and can't gain any depravity. That way the summoning supports you when you're not steamrolling units rather than how it seemed to go, particularly initially where you could build up an unstoppable momentum and your opponent becomes a passenger in the game. It means all of our combat units could contribute in various ways to that wider goal and even our new missile units have a job in softening up the units that would hurt too much to engage straight away or dealing with the ones not worth the risk or that won't survive the combat anyway. Maybe even Fiends could get some use then!

We've still not seen the Warshrine, Mega Chariot thing seen in the background of the reveal video so there's still more to see for AoS if not for Warcry

Well the photos show a left-hand page and a right-hand page but they're potentially not next to eachother so don't know if there's anything that's missing in between...

The Slaangor Slakehorn has a very Bullgor face. Can't wait for the proper reveals for these!

They're over on War of Sigmar now if you can't access the Facebook group

Age of Sigmar: Hedonites of Slaanesh group has them on

Pictures have been posted up on Facebook Slaangor Fiendblood, Blissbarb Archers, Slickblade Seekers and Blissbarb Seekers Will let people seek out the pictures themselves just in case

If it is Boobworm / Boobsnakes then I hope they give us a character option in the kit also like the Nurgle flying cavalry that I can't remember the name of. Otherwise, I wondered if they would perhaps be on horses but decorated to look reminiscent of Steeds of Slaanesh. They're perhaps the aspiring Hellstriders. Was thinking something like the awesome ways Scythians used to ceremonially dress their horses But as others have pointed out, more wounds implies heavily armoured or perhaps monstrous cavalry

Looks like Slaangor there which is good from a Beasts perspective as would expect those to fit here too. It's the other picture linked in the background that shows something bulkier that could be some kind of Slaanbull perhaps but really hard to tell

The shoulder pad looks Drukhari but the owner of the shoulder pad looks quite chunky for an Eldar but could just be the angle etc

Daemonettes are the same beyond the points change. No change with the Hellflayer

In your example you'd receive 2 Depravity points. It takes 2 wounds that don't kill it generating 2 Depravity points. Because the 3rd wound kills the model it doesn't generate a depravity point. If you had caused 3 separate wounds with a 1 Damage weapon you'd generate the same 2 depravity points from this model for the same reasoning as above. It's about how many non-fatal wounds a model takes and doesn't matter how many attacks it takes to dish them out as long as they're coming from a Hero or inflicted on one of our Heroes.

Knowing what we do about the Newborn and that the Hedonites have flocked to it I wonder if we'll get an update to Allegiance abilities in the Slaanesh Broken Realms book. If they're flocking there they're not Godseeking or Pretending anymore (or perhaps they are but with renewed vigour because the Newborn threatens their hold on their power) so at least it means a new Host but if they're all together it would be a great opportunity to address how depravity works. I would imagine in the presence of something like the Newborn it could easily be the case that even the rank and file become conduits for Depravity...

Daemonettes got their 300pt horde cost back apparently though so at least a slight step in the right direction

Hellstriders no longer Battleline according to the matched play profiles in the box I'm seeing on Facebook.

Lol, was being positive, new editions are times of excitement to me and I enjoy all of the big fluff build-up, sorry if that was misrepresented!

Ah so is Broken Realms our countdown to a new edition ala End Times, Malign Portents and Psychic Awakening etc?

For one, the outfit that everyone was wearing in autumn/winter 2019, the Thermal Rider Cloak

I played a Better Part of Valour game against a Khorne army yesterday. I won the game comfortably by playing the mission better. Through Depravity Points I summoned two Keepers over the course of the game. Interestingly my opponent found that quite hard to stomach. However, when he called it he had enough Blood Tithe to summon his second Bloodthirster. He played MSU around a big block of Skullcrushers (who completely nullify our edge if allowed to charge) and dropped one Keeper in a single round of magic (not magic though). I think the next game will be much tougher against this opponent as he knows the tricks now and won't be as passive engaging with the scenario. But clearly, if built to maximise to both sets of summoning are very productive. It will be interesting to see in a few weeks id sentiment is the same or it is just the newness and the way that building to our strengths also builds nicely to our theme