Magnus The Blue

Mostly I'm looking forward to Roaring at Flesheaters Terrorgeists to stop all that fight twice then fight when I die nonsense dead in it's tracks. To be honest I'd be very surprised in inspiring presence doesn't at least change. With more command points and champions issuing command abilities it would render bravery almost completely pointless.

Announced in one of the GW community videos, so as official as anything else.

Oh, also predatory endless spells move in every hero phase.

Other changes that have been announced and need adding to the original post: No battletomb battalions in match play, but there will be generic ones. Charge reactions (Flee, Hold ground, stand and shoot) Change table size to (minimum?) 44*60"

I must say I'm a bit worried about what 3.0 will mean for my Bonesplitters. An abundance of +1Sv (charge reactions and their finest hour) which we will struggle to get through without rend. Also looks like no more stacking save bonuses which given how our shields work make our extra save buffs basically useless. Losing battalions doesn't help either.

Some armies can, such as any destruction army with Kragnos (he gets to be a general in addition to your regular one) or Invaders Host Slannesh (they get upto 3 generals).

Worth saying I wouldn't run more than one, they aren't cheap and very much diminishing returns as there is usually only 1-2 good places for them to charge in and clip multiple units. Personally I'd build 10 and 10 Twinsouls/Painbringers, so potentially 2 units of 5 Pain Bringers and one unit of 10 Twin souls which can fill up battleline nicely. If the rumours for 3rd ed are true Painbringers will get better as the +1Sv charge reaction is great on them.

Yes, they are really good and also a solid summoning choice. If you can charge into 3 units at the same time your doing 12+ mortals before combat even begins and they have +6/9 attacks. Great for murdering groups of heroes.

You're not wrong the Archers and Bladebringer are the units I'm least sure about. Archers are there to fill up that battleline and give a third ranged thread which I feel is the sweet spot for maximising depravity without over investing in mediocre shooting. Similarly the Bladebringer isn't great value but does give a lot of utility: healing, retreat and charge general (amazing with godseekers), extra dispel and locking units down with no-retreat. Sigvalds main advantages for me are Lurid Haze charge (not an issue in this list) and being very survivable for a mid-level hero (again not an issue as I have 2 very easy to keep alive heros in Masque and Glutos). But all that said I'm very open to swapping them out depending on how play testing goes.

The more games I play and more reports I see, the more I think that the Keeper is a trap now. So many points for ok damage output on a weak body. Yes the command ability is good really doesn't suit our play style. I think we actually have a very competitive, if not quite top tier book with probably the best late game of anyone. The trick is to survive the first few turns reasonably intact and having not fell too far behind in the objectives game. If you can do that and get a solid turn 2 summon off (I'm thinking 9+ depravity for Bladebringer on exalted chariot, 3 seeker chariots, 30 Daemonettes or a Keeper) you're laughing. We always had the best summoning in the game, but now with Glutos and summoning off the locus it nearly impossible to shut down (if your not crazy aggressive turn 1). Shooting armies won't be easy, but once you start dumping 30 warm bodies a turn into their back lines you're more than able to compete. With this sort of game plan in mind Keepers are just a bad choice, they aren't survivable enough to sit back and force you to go for a more aggressive turn1-2 than is advisable, as well as pushing you towards over investing in heros (or avoiding the bastion of summoning that is Glutos). Also if you can pull it off a Keeper is often the best choice for a turn 2 summon as they can have an impact even if you fail the charge (command ability) and give you a fast summoning point for future turns. Sure, point for point are units aren't the best value but those allegiance abilities more than make up for it. With all this in mind, I'm thinking of a list something like this: Godseekers Host Bladebringer on Exaulted Chariot: General, Speed-chaser, Enraturing Circlet, Borne of Damnation Glutos: Battle Rapture The Masque 11 Blissbarb Archers 2*5 Chaos Warriors with double hand weapons 2 * 5 Slickblade Seekers 2 * 5 Blissbarb Archers Geninids of Uhl-Gysh Command point Total: 1990, 10 Drops Thoughts?

After getting a few games under our belts, hard are people feeling about host choice? For me the two best options are Lurid Laze or Godseekers. Lurid haze feels like the obvious choice for a less summoning focused list as you get a range of great bonuses: ambush, bonus generals, bonus CPs (especially if you go for a battalion and get the Rod of Misrule) and a nice defensive command ability. Godseekers, for me, is all about summoning. The charge bonus means those extra units are useful earlier and Maniacal hunters is a massive buff to depravity if you can keep your general alive and charging. Getting a first turn charge off with your general can make a huge difference to turn 2 summoning, pushing you up from a small/medium summon to medium/large. Unfortunately this is very mission dependant as even a Keeper or The Masque wont reliably pull off 24" charging. Forcing your opponent to go first would help with this, but personally I find it really hard to get our drops down given the battalion we have. I suppose having enough first turn threat will help but again this is hard in 24" apart missions.

Thanks for the battle reports, my thoughts and list building going in the same direction. Glutos is good because he's always useful, against melee armies the aura is great and against shooting having a tough hero (that weirdly gets look out sir) is so important for summoning.

The more I think of it the more I think Glutos is seriously under costed. He's point for point probably the hardest to kill caster in the game (18w, 3+, -1 to hit, 5++ and healing), 2 cast with +1 to cast, massive radius debuff, decent if situational command ability and solid spell. He's even reasonable fast with re-roll charges and run and charge (from turn 2). His combat damage is rock solid too, although it does bracket badly. Also provides a solid summoning base which is definitely going to be a big part of our late game. Add in the situational bravery help and late game cast bonuses and he's a utility powerhouse. Biggest disadvantage is probably the large base which without flying is going to be a pain but since he's mostly a support model, not a massive deal.

Wondering is Glutos, Syll'Essk + Deprived Drove would make for a solid competitive list. Three drops, Glutos is very hard to remove so gives a great summoning bases. Lots of fast/ranged SMU units to ramp up summoning from turn one. Syll mainly their for the command trait to stop everything running after a few causalities. Should be comfortably summoning big stuff turn 2 Will play with some points.

Anyone able to give me a list of all the optional/automatic battle lines we have in the new book? All the leaks I have seen skirt around it.

Rules wise I just hope they change Depravity, not from a balance perspective just because it forces a very specific play style. I'd love to seem hordes of deprived mortals throwing themselves into the enemy lives followed by Daemons flowing in from the realms of chaos.

Anyone tried a pure Moonclan Grots list? I'm thinking something like this: Loonboss with Giant Squig, General with Clammy Hand 2 * Loonboss Fungoid Cave-Shaman 60 Stabbas 40 Stabbas 20 Stabbas 20 Shootas 2 * 6 Sneaky Snufflers 2* 5 Sporesplat Fanantics 5 Loonsmash Fanatics Skulkmob Horde Moonclan Skrap All fits into the mega battalion, so one drop with plenty of bodies and Skulkmob/Clammy Hand for masses of unit recycling. Hopefully combination of snufflers and Sporesplat will buff the Grots to a decent level of damage for clearing out objectives, but never played grots so open to thoughts and suggestions.

Personally I almost always go for as close the the centre of the board as possible so that by turn 3-4 your aura is covering most of the board. Hiding the headstone and a GBS just to protect our indifferent summoning feels like a waste of resources.

Try building them from lollipop sticks? They have a bit of texture and being a bit crude would be fine.

Go for it. My blue skinned Greenskins have only ever got a positive reaction.

There's a few ways to play dispoilers, the Nurgle list you mentioned was jut using one Daemon Prince if I recall, so just using despoilers for the 18" general range on the marks, minor ranged protection and for access to the great artefacts. If you want to go heavily into Daemon Princes, I think it's got to be Khorne with an allied Blood Secretor or they just aren't killy enough to base an army around. You could also do a non-hero monster heavy list with Soul Grinders, Ogrinoids, Slaughterbrutes etc.. Would look cool but the healing isn't great and neither are the units.

Katakos, his silly command trait gives +1 save to all Bone reapers in 36".

I don't think BW would be a good call, as you miss out on the great Big Rukk battalion ability, which is really needed to stop your army being too fragile after spending so many points on battalions. Similarly I'd worry about investing points is fragile big stabbas.

Love the idea of a 'Ghor-Thirster' or should that be Gore-Thirster. Would need a big set of wings to get that giant cow in the air, maybe Chimera ones?

Yup, as others have eluded too, just don't play his game. Feed Skarbrand trash while you win on objectives or just shoot him to death. Underguts with plenty of Iron-blasters and the trophy rack is almost an auto-win against this army as you just shoot Skarbrand off the board from a safe distance. Four of them shout comfortably do it in one turn, if they don't impact hits should do the job (although your shooting from 24" so their shouldn't be much danger of a charge anyway). For Death, just use an allegiance that lets you resummon units and let him murder away while you resummon and win the objective game.