Charlo

People say Arkhan wasn't spectacular before so I do wonder if he is worth it now. Is the battalion worth it at all? The extra survivability and spells seem rather nice to max out your heroes. It's not like there aren't cheap battleline choices to weigh it out either.

Oh if points allow Gotrek would deffo be in the force too. Any other ideas? Tempest Eye seems the best for mix of factions and SOLID anti alpha-strike. That 2" move on the Dwarves is excellent.

Below is the start... GBWT - 170 Warden King - 100 Unforged - 80 Runelord - 80 Longbeards - 100 Longbeards - 100 Longbeards - 100 Thunderers - 120 Hammerers - 140 Hammerers - 140 Irondrakes - 180 Quick bit of listhammer with the new points puts me at a base of 1310 pts. All units are minimum sized but I think this is the way to do it, bodies through combined arms. You could save 30 by using Warriors to fill the Battleline, but for 10pts a unit for extra bravery and the additional ability is nice. With three units of Longbeards you get all three abilities every turn. In terms of allegiance this is ORDER, so you re-roll battleshock and autopass on a 1/2/3... Combine that with an Oathstone for Brv8 on the units and your opponent needs to kill 3 models in a unit to even start forcing checks and even then you have a 75% chance to autopass. Any who do run stick around on a 5+ thanks to the Longbeards. All DISPOSSESED units are rerolling 1s to hit from the Battalion and 1s to wound thanks to the Longbeards (keeping everyone within 8" should be simple enough). Runelord and Runic Icons mean magic is mostly dealt with. To go further you could layer on a Free City to this (as I understand you keep the re-roll battleshock and then gain the FC ability on top?) and Living City seems quite good, forsaking Wildwoods you can just outflank some units to an edge, great for slower DORF units and especially nice to get the Irondrakes or Unforged a juicy target (though then they'd most likely be outside of the buff castle of DORFS so maybe not the best idea?) plus it limits the allies a fair amount with just Stormcast, Free People, Sylvaneth & Wanderers available... Any other thoughts on potential Free City? 690pts to play with next. I think a second Runelord is a must for the unbind and buffs so that leaves 590... Not to mention two artefact's to play with! Any suggestions? I get that this is a bit MSU and I could bulk out some of the units but i'm unsure if it's worth it. I have the whole of Order available so it's fairly wide open! A small part of me is thinking an Assassin with the -3 Rend blade, just to hide among the battleline and make a big dent in any nasty heroes that show up, he hits hard for 80pts and fights immediately so can maybe do SOMETHING of note. Another silly idea is a Celestant-Prime - modelled as a Dwarven War god of course, to swoop in and add a big nasty threat to deal with as well as some mortal wounds. Otherwise though i'm drawing a blank!

Common misconception, those books aren't new "grand alliance" books. They just battletomes for each alliance. So for example a new Order faction, a new Death faction, a new Chaos and Destruction factions. Currently I don't think these have been revealed (unless Fyreslayers count for order)

Yup that's the one. You only have Grand Alliance Order battleline in free cities.

So what about the battalion in a post GHB world? Personally I'd be taking it in an Order force so that the abilities aren't wasted (plus passing battleshock on 1/2/3 with a reroll is nice). With the points drops what would you include and how many other points would you be looking at left over for the rest of the force? Update: can you use the battalion in mixed order?

Vargheists can fly which is unique and are 2" faster and 50pts cheaper. Room for all!

So using both I don't agree. They are very similar but not entirely the same. Vargheists fly, have guaranteed 2 damage and a good shot at blending hordes with the extra attacks and will be the same in the second round of combat. Blood Knights hit harder on the charge (more attacks, D3 damage) but don't want to be stuck in. Different uses - plus BK have some synergy in legion of blood.

I only own 3 but they're very quick and fun to paint with my method so I'll certainly be getting at least 3 more! Will need to do something about the limited posing though... I think the points drops and new battleline hasn't necessarily meant we get MORE units but it means we are a lot more flexible and can ensure our numbers are enough to cover us, being akin to an AoS 1.5 style ruleset with limited unit selection, spells etc. I *really* wish we had a Battalion for the extra CP and relic (other than Nulmias Court or Red Keep, which are doubtful at best) as they're really expensive and very gimmicky... Though I'd be lying if I didn't say I don't want to try out Red Keep sometime with Swift Death 🤤

Yup! As someone who finished his 15 BK the week before the book.... 😩 BUT I'll certainly be grabbing three more Vargheists and potentially moving my battleline to: 3 Vargheists 3 Vargheists 10 Blood Knights (OH YES) I'm unsure how good 10 Blood Knights will be, but they seem like an excellent hammer unit used offensively. Thirty One 3+/3+/-3/D3 (not forgetting Ten 4+/4+/-/1 too!) is sure to dent anything, plus if you Blood Feast them then thats 41 attacks...! They cost 400pts but that gives you 30 wounds with a 3+ against no rend and a 5+ against rend -1. They cannot fail charges of 6" or less and the -1 Bravery (-2 if you run Necromantic like meeee!) means these guys can take it and really dish it out. If you compare to the golden boy of offensive hammer units: Grimghast Reapers who were 360, now 420, Blood Knights seem like an excellent deal. While yes they lack SUMMONABLE and could do with more healing, there isn't much cavalry in the game that hits as hard as them. Also Bravey 10 and 3 wounds each means they probably won't ever run...! Hell, I'm intrigued to give a unit of 15 a go... Though getting them all within 1" is difficult enough with 5...

Cogs are insanely powerful though and were undercosted and overused so that's not a surprise. Purple Sun however was absent from the meta because you could pay 100pts only to backfire. 50pts is a lot more tempting!

GW say this coming and swung the nerf bat as a preventative measure!

Better (most likely cheaper) options from 3rd parties for AoS.

The rules for the NH units aren't in the Legions of Nagash book, so it just makes sense for the points to be with the NH stuff.

Swifthawk Agents are allies and have the Reavers you could use for the rules horseback archers, very mobile!

Could just go for two more units of wolves? Or wolves and a cart? (I forget the points...) would add to the speed of the list. What Artefact you thinking of? The Orb of Enchantment could be hilarious on the Zombie Dragon Lord, stopping your opponents counter unit from dealing any damage.

S'all good dude! I am new to the game myself (read lots for months beforehand) only played about 5 games... I'm not quite sure yet but my current list just dropped 130pts (and I was filling it with endless spells...!) and with Vargheists being battleline, the "Tax" of soulblight is a LOT cheaper now, with us getting essentially the equivalent of flying Ogors as a battline option. I'll probably add another Vampire lord or two (more spells) and take a large units of blood knights for 400pts.

Most Spellcasters have been raised across the armies, seems GW want to tone down magic a touch. A shame though...

Cheaper cannons also means fitting two and an engineer into the Merc company 😁

Because Warriors are Battleline in GA:Order and one of the best ones in that format. My guess is this change is influenced by that.

Just need some gnarly endless spells and a spawning pool/ sacrificial altar scenery and they're golden

The ability to swap out spells potentially very useful if you anticipate what you need. Also teleports are guaranteed, no more rolling (unless that was previously FAQd)

If (like me) you're a mad lad who likes Necromantic bloodline, then Vargheists offer cheaper, flying movement and are arguably better against horses with the potential extra attacks and flat 2 damage and an extra wound before you lose a model. My biggest gripe with Blood Knights at the moment is the vulnerability to rend 1, going from 3+ to 5+ HURTS, albeit not as much with the point reduction

Also new command abilities apparently. Re-roll 1s to hit for shooting or combat I believe for 1CP

The most bizzaire changes I've seen are: Neferata down to 380 (-20) Bloodseeker Palanquin 300 (-20) Court of Nulmia (+40) .....so literally no discounts for the battalion then hahaha! Was it THAT good? Is +4" movement and reroll hits for Nef against heroes worth that? Admittedly there is combo potential with the Palanquin's +1A to Soulblight Aura if a hero dies but.... Eh.