Liquidsteel

Nice write up, thanks for the effort and will definitely give it another read to fully digest. I'd like to ask if you can include Nagash in your calculations - offering his command ability plus the god model status, you can still bring 4 units of blood knights along side him plus a rousing commander carrying foot vampire. Similarly how does Vhordrai compare to two units of Blood Knights, rather than just the vanilla VLoZD? Extra attack, extra rend, extra healing, great self buffing spell, mortals for his breath attack.

It's definitely intended and I think it's okay to an extent. A big tanky monster should definitely find a horde of ghouls or goblins to be nothing more than a nuisance, as opposed to a legitimate threat as it was in 2.0. However there's a disparity between how damage can be dealt now. GW is pushing out Mortal Wound dealing units left, right and centre, with nothing seemingly done to address the lack of rend. It's not okay for elite units to have zero rend or only rend -1 attacks now, even if their job is as horde clearers. I'd like to see rend -2 and -3 a lot more common on top tier units/heroes to bridge the gap.

It's a bit more complicated because you also need to factor in The Hunger, that is the D3 heal if models were slain. To answer you initial question, Rousing Commander lasts until the end of the combat phase. Unless the unit destroyed a 3+ wounds characteristic unit earlier in that phase, the model dies, as it still has 3 wounds allocated to it when it reverts back to 3. However, if the unit of Blood Knights managed to slay any models, you would be eligible to heal for D3 before the effects of Rousing Commander drop (both happen End of Combat phase, and you get to sequence the order as they are both your rules). Meaning that you could heal 1 and be left with 2 wounds allocated, thus surviving.

Yeah if you can go second turn 1, potentially double turn 2, you risk less going in to turn 3 as on most battle plans, if they take the double you get to remove an objective, then potentially double them again in to turn 4.

The Sword is only 1 extra attack vs the lance. Before the new tome the Sword was a much closer option, however with the changes to saves and how much better the lance is now both on the charge and not, I think it's a no brainer. Plus the Sword of the Red Seneschals only triggers in the combat phase, so kills in the Hero phase won't proc it.

Yeah the original artefact was, but the new tome was written with 3.0 in mind (e.g. Blood Knights retreat and charge, points staying the same). I don't disagree that's gamey, and you can choose to use it or not to use it depending on how serious a game you are having, but it's certainly a trick worth remembering if you want to.

Yes, I believe it's in one of the FAQ's or perhaps in the core rules itself.

No because it's a new, replacement unit, not the same one. And you can't heal/resurrect past starting size. Zombies can grow larger using their ability to add new models, however, as that is different.

40k seems to do it quite well, secondaries make up 50% of the scoring and require certain things e.g. perform actions over 3 turns, keep a kill tally, control the board, break through enemy lines, kill the warlord, as well as having mission-specifics. Furthermore, factions get their own as well which can be thematic. KO could have something to do with map control/investigating Aethergold, Deepkin could have something related to capturing prisoners possibly tied to destroying battleline units/units with 10+ models.

I'm hoping that this first edition of Grand Strategies and Battle Tactics is purposefully simple, to ease us in to the flow of it. Next GHB will hopefully open up some more wacky options, perhaps with different levels of reward. For example the "hold an objective with X unit type" equivalent tactic might only be worth 1 point, but a "slay an enemy hero with your hero" might net you 3. With some in the middle such as "Pincer - Charge two units in to the same enemy unit".

Also I don't think it's worth Ambushing Nagash unless you're really scared of something e.g. 30 Sentinels plus quadruple foxes shooting him off the board turn 1, where you win the battle of the 1 drops and put the opponent in first, banking on a double turn 1-2 to mess up his plans etc.

I've mentioned it before, and it's obviously not intended, however as it stands you can make a RUN after using Morbheg's Claw. Will it get FAQ'd, probably not, unless someone goes and wins an event and it get's talked about. But it can help to keep Nagash in range of the 12" at least for an extra turn perhaps.

I was gonna say the same, second regiment has Radukar plus two units of Blood Knights and this is the one you drop first. Put both (or just 1) off the board so you can fish for a little bit more info from your opponent with the extra drop, then deploy the rest. No need to go full 50/50.

Yeah agreed, the other version is to drop one unit of Blood Knights for a unit of Dire Wolves and Fell Bats. I'm still working on my Blood Knights, so this will probably be what I get games with first, after my initial attempts in Legion of Night. The Avengorii list does sound much more appealing now you've pointed out getting -1 to wound, and also the ability to fight at full bracket could be key later in the game. I'm torn on Grave Sand Shard vs Fragment of the Keep. Fragment is nice for the constant -1 to Wound, but I'm mainly worried about Mortals/Shooting on the Blood Knights and the Vamp Lord. A once per battle 5+ Ward does sound quite juicy turn 2 for example. Would need to see how it goes. Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords- Lineage: Kastelai Dynasty- Grand Strategy: Prized Sorcery- Triumphs: InspiredLeadersNagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead (970) in Battle RegimentVampire Lord (140) in Battle Regiment- General- Command Trait: Rousing Commander- Artefact: Grave-sand Shard- Lore of the Vampires: Amethystine PinionsBattleline5 x Blood Knights (195) in Battle Regiment5 x Blood Knights (195) in Battle Regiment5 x Blood Knights (195) in Battle Regiment10 x Dire Wolves (135) in Battle RegimentUnits3 x Fell Bats (75) in Battle RegimentEndless Spells & InvocationsUmbral Spellportal (70)Core BattalionsBattle RegimentTotal: 1975 / 2000Reinforced Units: 0 / 4Allies: 0 / 400Wounds: 95

Small correction, Rousing Commander is wholly within 12" not board wide. But you can put Pinions on the foot vamp or just run him and he can keep up with the Blood Knights. Nagash Vamp Lord 4 x 5 Blood Knights Spell Portal

Sure, though I didn't mean everywhere. Limited to elite units and heroes.

Nice win today as Vyrkos vs Slaanesh. The Vice is a really great mission. I maintain my stance that save stacking on 3+ save monster heroes is bad. My opponent threw two rounds of shooting, spellcasting and combat with a unit of fiends (monster hunters) and my VLoZD just tanked it all then healed back up. If your army doesn't do mortals or lacks access to consistent -2 rend you really can't deal with them. Elite units and heroes need to be seeing -2/-3 rend on their profiles for sure. It would help bridge the gap between them and armies that get to do outrage amounts of mortals.

Yeah maybe. Though the lists are one drop so you have the option to go first and set up, ready to probably receive a double. Necro hopefully starts outside 30". The list has lifeswarm also to maximise recursion. Grave guard go in the grave usually for me, popping out 2.1" behind zombies that also pop out. It is all theoretical, I'm probably going to end up gravitating to Kastelai once I get my blood knight count up to at least 15.

I like the sound of that, I've has two games of Vyrkos now and Bella has been great. Lycancurse is so good for messing with people's plans. I don't think I would like to run a 20 of wolves, plus 30 skellies can also be 4+ rerolling 1s. Azyr says they have a 6+ save but it's wrong. Plus the recursion on skellies seems great. I say seems because still not tried them out. Grave Guard for me are just amazing, but I agree my version is slow and this could be very annoying. 5 blood knights did a great job for me today, but they were supported by both Radukars attack buff and bellas exploding 6s.

Yeah. Not sure I could handle that level of horde to be honest though from a personal playstyle perspective. Currently working on Nagash, hope to get him on the table sometime in the next few weeks after I give my Vyrkos list a few more outings. Will he Nagash, Necro, 30 Skellies, 20 Grave Guard, 2 x 20 Zombies and some endless spells.

Most things fall to concentrated MW output, to be fair. I've had him killed turn 1 by Lumineth one game then tank 30 sisters of slaughter another. The game has skewed, regular damage is way less effective and consistent now due to the save stacking. Mortals are even better because of it. I'm not a fan of this direction but here we are.

Yep my Zombie Dragon rider was pushed in to place about 2 months ago, hasn't fallen out once, has been played in 5 or 6 games since then so far.

Yes of course, though depending how much shooting you have, the list is 1 drop so unless you go first, your shooting gets shot off turn 1. I didn't say it's unbeatable, it's just going to be the worst experience you ever had if you don't have the tools OR if you can't go first and lose your tools turn 1.

I had a decent game yesterday, my Vyrkos with all my new toys vs a Slaves to Darkness Tzeentch list. My opponent has been very much out of practice, with this being his first full game of AoS 3.0, so I had the knowledge advantage massively, plus he played too cautiously. In any case... We played the new mission, Veins of Ghur, like old Starstrike. Bella did great - I found Lycancurse to be amazing (in this match up), as well as her command ability to allow wolves to pile in from 6. It allowed me to pin my opponent for 2 full turns whilst he dealt with them, as if you can tag a unit with weakish offence (Untamed Beasts and Chaos Warriors, respectively) they can struggle to take down a handful of wolves. Also being able to run wolves then pile in was great, though it does mean you lose out on the +1/+1 from charging. Spirit Gale was also great in this combination, because you can engineer the -2 bravery debuff quite easily. Overall not a lot happened, as we ran out of time after his turn 3 before mine, but I had managed to take the lead on battle tactics and objectives by that point already. My opponent was also new to AoS 3.0, and I made two 6s on my re-deploys which really messed with his plans. I still haven't managed to test the offensive capabilities of Blood Knights and the VLoZD, so hopefully figure that out next game.

On the subject of Lumineth, the triple/quadruple fox with Sevireth, Wind Mage plus 30 sentinels is quickly gaining popularity within my circle and people are furiously building them. If people hated playing regular Lumineth, wait til you start facing off against this, foxes box you in turn 1 so you can't move whilst shooting off your key untits, then move away in your shooting phase so you can't charge. The Sentinels shoot your shooting/ranged (if you have any) and that's the game, unless you can teleport out and/or have reserves/summoning in order to escape.