Mutton

Suggestions: 1) Battalions are too impactful. 1b) Drops affecting who gets to choose the first turn isn't fun or thought-provoking---it's a test to see which factions have the better battalions. I think the entire "# of drops" mechanic needs to be...well, dropped. 2) Price non-hero monsters appropriately. That is, big, single model units with fewer attacks need to be sub-200 points, unless their warscrolls are really efficient or have some other nuance that makes up for their inherent downsides. Because objectives mostly rely on number of models, and because number of models = more attacks = better statistical average to do something, monsters are always immediately at a disadvantage. Monsters also tend to have damage charts, so they get worse over the course of the game (shorter move, less reliable attacks, worse abilities, etc.). The latest change to Ghorgons and Cygors was the right direction to steer. 3) More serious analysis of statistics when designing weapon profiles. Aka, why a single attack that does d6 damage is usually terrible. Nothing more to add, except why on earth are recent unit champions getting worse weapons than their underlings? 4) More serious analysis when designing sub-factions. These sub-factions tend to be the make or break factor for an army. This is where we see the game-shattering combos unfurl, and it's also where we see entire swathes of a book languish in their sub-optimal graves. Petrifex, Hagg Narr, Gristlegor...we know how seriously they affect the entire scene. 5) More crazy off-the-wall stuff. You've made a fun, popular wargame---now think of ways to break the rules. Stuff like Drakfoot, Spell in a Bottle, or Morathi's Iron Heart are all really interesting abilities that change the way we look at the game. Sure, rerolling hits is fine, but it's not interesting. Not everything has to break the mold, but it's something to keep in mind.

The current iteration of drunkenness is too crippling. It's the #1 reason no one brings gargants. We're talking about a rule that makes your unit sit there and be useless about 16% of the time; and it also makes 12" charges impossible---it's not a fun rule. Most abilities in the game enhance a unit's effectiveness, and I think a gargant's drunkenness should likewise work in favor of its destructive power, not against it. There are so many other ways they could go about it that would naturally include the gargants' allegiance abilities.

Who says it can't be? Looks like the perfect Solar (raygun) Engine Bastiladon to me.

Oh no...an army of giants? Giants are just bigger Ogors...*powerful sweating*

Best: Orruk Warclans - A huge range of depth in its options and unit choices, seamlessly merges two entire factions into one cohesive force, and lifts the orruks into the top echelons of the competitive scene without being massively busted (some might say a little too strong, but that can be easily fixed). I don't play orruks, but every time I look at the variety of tribes and list-building opportunities, it gets me excited. Worst: Beasts of Chaos - Somehow this book kept me from playing beastmen, despite loving them since the early days of Fantasy AND already having a sizable army. Even when it came out, most units underperformed from lackluster abilities and warscrolls. Despite being the "chaos monster" faction, had some of the worst monsters in the game. On top of all of that, the lore constantly reminds you how despicable it is for beasts to align themselves with any one god, but then forces you into taking marked armies because they're simply superior. To this day it's still languishing near the bottom, and even die-hard beast lords rarely bring out their toys. I honestly don't know what they could do to even fix them at this point, which is part of why they dive beyond even the legendarily miserable experience of Hedonites. Good: Fyreslayers, Cities, Sylvaneth, Slaves, Khorne Okay, but problematic: DoK, Idoneth, Nighthaunt, Legions, Skaven, Ossiarch, FEC Poor: Hedonites - Shouldn't have left anyone's desk with how completely broken the base mechanics of this faction were, and the fact that players were shelving their armies in protest goes a long way to illuminate how poorly thought out this thing was. At least it can theoretically be fixed in FAQ (and maybe already has). Most Disappointing: Mawtribes - Though I won't deny the power boost the Ogors received as a result of this book, there were simply too many missed opportunities exhibited at every turn of the page. Cool rules addendum'd to be useless. Unnecessary restrictions on just about every trait or artifact. Only 2/6 tribes are playable (maybe 3 if you have a zillion ironblasters lying around). About half of the warscrolls felt like they weren't even looked at and copy/pasted over from 1st edition and will never see the table in any significant number. Nerfs to things that didn't need them. You're mostly pigeonholed into a handful of list types, with little way to experiment beyond that. I love the Ogors, and Mawtribes are in a decent place power-wise, all things considered, but when you look at how much of the book you're really ignoring to get that power, it can't be anything but disappointing. The book I'd give the "most squandered potential" award to. Favorite: Gloomspite Gitz - A smorgasbord of units, battalions, and army compositions that essentially combine 3 small factions into one. There are so many ways to build this army, and it feels like you could spend years expanding and trying new things. Its only downsides are its lack of competitiveness in certain areas (namely anything that isn't hordes of grots), overpriced units, hyper-specific battalions, and some lackluster random mechanics. But even with these foibles, the spirit of the faction shines through and can make for some brilliant games of AoS (so long as you aren't going full 120 greenies).

Disappointed they went the laziest route possible in 'fixing' the Nurgle Daemon Prince. It should have been changed to 1 MW per 6 to hit. But now it's just a useless ability that no one in their right mind would ever use.

I'll never stop laughing if Teclis spent all this time and effort trying to create "perfect" elves and they just turn out to be plain-old High Elves.

Any thoughts on using a mostly Slaves force in the Tzeentch allegiance? It would mean having access to almost all of the same stuff, but then also Destiny dice, agendas, and better casters.

There a reason the Tzeentch/KO warscrolls still aren't up on the site?

Who wants to bet that following Wrath of the Everchosen we get another narrative book "Battle for Azyr" or some such for Destruction/Order, featuring Gordrak and his siege upon the walls of Heaven.

Yessss, finally the Ogor warband!

Breaking: New book preview intended to sell product looks [powerful/weak] out of context with the rest of the rules. More news at eleven!

I'm really happy about it. Avatars at 180, that can't even activate without a die roll, was awful. Now I can feel a lot better about running one! I'm glad the Stalkers came down too---I've constantly railed on them for being statistically dreadful...which is still true, but if you're going for the big snake battalion then your tax has gone down drastically.

Awesome. I anticipate spending a lot of time with this thing.

In another month it'll equal or surpass the Gloomspite with Warcry releases. But yes, CURRENTLY not the most.

Slaves have the most new model kits for their line than any other army released. -Resculpted Warrriors -Resculpted Knights -Brand new lord on mount -Every Chaos Warcry warband released (6 boxes, soon to be 8 ) -Every Chaos Warcry monster released (ogroid, cyclops, sphiranx, chickens, furies)

I'm going to predict that Nurgle is the real winner of this book. Good auras, combos, and buffs all around.

Marauders seem quite good now. Also, some of those Daemon Prince marks are incredible. I might be running one of those Daemon Council armies.

Mournfang got the wrong end of the stick. They're not a particularly good anvil or hammer, and they're too expensive to fit anywhere. I don't know what rotten entrails they were smoking when they thought Gargant Hackers needed only 2 attacks hitting on 4's (2 Mournfang with Hackers have an 80% chance to do 0-3 wounds against most units). I'd maybe consider them (with clubs of course) if they were a 120 pt. BCR fast-cavalry option.

We gonna talk about how incredible Dark Prophecy is? I might be so bold to say it's the single most potent ability in AoS.

I think if you're going with two Frostlords then you should consider Boulderhead. That way one can have Ethereal Amulet and the other can have the Svard Brand (which mixed with clatterhorn is amazing). Plus they'll each get +1 wound and the other benefits. When half of your army are these two dudes, you want them to have every advantage. Bloodgullet would work better if you had a second 12x Glutton unit.

Personally, I've always been in favor of alternating phases, rather than full player turns; but I realize that would require drastic rules rewrites.

I only said the Tyrant and Butcher were 20 points overpriced (other factions get lv 2 casters for 140, why is our 1-cast wizard so expensive?). The behemoths need to come down by at least 50 points or more, especially the Thundertusks, which could drop by 100 and might be playable.

I think most of us can agree the Beastriders, Huskards, and all Thundertusks are pretty heftily overcosted. And after quite a few games I still say the Tyrant and regular Butcher are 20 points too expensive as well.

I played WHFB zealously when I was younger and it holds a special place in my heart, especially the setting. Even so, this announcement baffles me. It seemed we had gotten over the hurdle of leaving the Old World behind so we could move on to new realms. I completely admit WHFB was an awful, burdensome, finnicky game, and I have no interest in returning to it. My only assumption is that Forge World will be handling all of this, so as not to disrupt AoS content. If that's the case, fine. If there are people that really feel Fantasy Battles was better than the current AoS, well now they have something to look forward to. I guess we'll see how it turns out in a few years. So despite being an old veteran Fantasy player, this holds no interest for me at the moment. I'm happy with the direction of AoS.