CeleFAZE

I was referring to the article writer who described black knights as "elite" and "hard-hitting" which they are demonstrably anything but. I wasn't referring to the player they interviewed, whose input was not really objectionable in any way.

These faction articles have largely been hit or miss, especially the SBGL article which gave no new information and seemed to have been written by someone who likely doesn't play the faction. However our article at least answers the question of whether or not we can summon larger units to bypass the reinforcement point system. The mentioning of symbaresh and myrmadesh was interesting, though I think the more telling omission is slaangors. You'd think they'd have said something about their 2" reach, but it seems they are aware of the sorry state of the unit internally at least.

Hearing the reinforcement point rumor, it finally makes sense to me how the new edition could be a buff for us where it wouldn't also elevate the strength of existing powerhouse armies. Most of our units are optimized for running at either minimum size, or one increment up in the case of fiends. The only exception to this is daemonettes, which I imagine would bypass the restrictions by being summoned. This gives us a huge edge in objective play compared to other armies, and the larger number of enemy units being fielded give us ample opportunities for depravity generation. It also forces really difficult list building decisions for currently strong shooting armies, as they tend to rely on force multipliers applied to large units of shooters, which are now going to be either smaller, or a single deathstar. By contrast our shooting has no such limitation, and our buffs are largely debuffs that target an enemy unit with something that acts as a force multiplier for us, effectively allowing us to utilize multiple units as though they were one, where other armies don't have the same capability. Combined with the changes to endless spells, wheels of excruciation is going to be an incredibly strong tool for us to generate depravity and in general cause damage across the board. As we're immune to the damage it does we can simply cascade it across the battle, and with artifacts like the enrapturing circlet on something like an exalted bladebringer we can keep the opponent locked into a meatgrinder dealing constant mortal wounds, with the bladebringer potentially healing every hero phase between heroic actions and born of damnation. The mesmerizing mirror could be added on top of this, punishing the enemy with more mortal wounds for retreating, and otherwise having more opportunities to snipe out heroes. Granted this is all dependent on our ability to cast and maintain the endless spells, but we have decent tools for that with glutos and the epitome. I immediately retract my doom and gloom regarding 3rd ed. This looks like it could be great for us.

As the voice of Slaanesh, she is effectively a direct conduit for the corrupting influence on mortals. Effectively preaching the dark prince to the masses, and her weapon seems more like a symbol of office, like you'd see in the clergy. Honestly Glutos probably has a better argument for the keyword, though I feel that perhaps the enrapturess might also qualify.

I'm rather surprised that Synessa isn't a priest. I wonder if we'll see that keyword added to some units at the start of the edition.

I've been finding recently that when it comes down to a choice between a mortal unit or a daemon unit for the same role I'm of the mindset that I'll take the mortal unit in the list and summon the daemon equivalent if I need something to fill that role mid-game. At the last tourney I had 3 fiends in my summoning case specifically in the event I needed a functional replacement for slickblades on the fly.

Thank you for the writeups! I was already considering running a similar list for my next tournament at the end of June, though I'll probably swap out two of the seeker chariots for blissbarb seekers, and run just two units of clawstriders for the remainder of my battleline. Did you find the whips worth the extra points? I largely found myself regretting not using clawstriders during my last tournament, as with the cavalcade I was charging nearly as often as I was using the cheeky 6" pile-in, and the extra rend may have made a difference at times. I had some good mileage from paths of the dark prince for a flying keeper, but did you feel that slothful stupor is a better spell? In retrospect I got lucky with my casts, and my plans would have turned a bit sideways if the cast failed or got unbound, so I've been considering a change. Slothful Stupor just seems like it might be more worthwhile to instead knock the strategic legs out from under my opponent, as you used it against the fyreslayers. Also, did the enrapturing circlet do much for you? I was thinking about using the girdle instead on my bladebringer, as with the big base and relying so much on the charge the flight feels like it could provide some amount of utility.

We're okay when it comes to CP generation, but only for one of our hosts, and not nearly to the extent of Seraphon, who are already a top dog in the meta. The twins will help for sure, but we still have the problem of being locked into very specific builds to play on the same level as armies with far more freedom. I'll try to withhold judgment until we have a better idea of what's in the pipeline, but I feel rather burnt out on hoping for a silver bullet for our shortcomings as a faction.

What we were really missing I think was some kind of army mechanic for our mortals. Some kind of combat drugs rule would've been great, would make sense with all the flasks they carry, and give us something strategic to work with, like risking mortal wounds for an added effect, like additional attacks, bonuses to hit or wound, or a bravery bonus. Also bravery being a weakness for us is the polar opposite to what the mark of Slaanesh did in old-school WHFB, where it gave what was effectively for that system battleshock immunity. It's just odd that they leaned so hard into summoning as a core army identity for us. I kind of miss the days before the introduction of depravity points where our core mechanics just exploding 6's, penalties to be hit, and double-attack command abilities. While we've begun to slowly creep back in those directions it feels like they all take a back seat to summoning, which just doesn't feel Slaaneshi to me. You'd think the party would be better and more exclusive with Slaanesh, rather than just making it bigger and bigger.

My only issue with the idea that the new 3.0 rules will make our stuff better is that the other armies get the benefit of those rules too. A rising tide lifts all ships as it were, and we'll still be dealing with more subpar baseline rules with our book, while enjoying the same benefits. On the note of fiction for our faction, as an artist and partners with a writer, I may take it upon myself to create a webcomic series following a hedonite host when my schedule frees up a bit after the next few months. If GW won't make content I'll do it myself until the inevitable C&D order.

Hopefully the rumors about fyreslayers and kharadron being souped together aren't true, as I'd love to see the ranges expanded with stuff like this.

I personally would've liked to see something with Shalaxi like a 3d6 charge within 18" of a hero, but it's considered a failed charge if you're unable to end within .5" of an enemy hero. Also Soulpiercer really needs more than a single attack. If Durthu can get away with multiple attacks that deal nearly as much damage unconditionally, we can stand to have a few attacks with the spear.

I apologize for the lack of clarity, what I mean is that they potentially didn't spend much design time on our current point costs, as they were meant to be very temporary, and the more properly balanced point costs may have been held back in light of a revised approach to summoning in the new edition (to presumably be released in a game-wide point revision for the new edition, like we saw with 40k).

Going to put my tinfoil hat on for a moment, bear with me: One thing I've been hearing through the rumor grapevine is the possibility that points will have to be spent on a "summoning pool" again in 3rd edition. Considering that summoning has been rather balanced in its implementation across armies I'm not terribly convinced that this is the case, HOWEVER if it is then that could possibly be why he couldn't comment on why the points are as high as they are. It very well could be that our points were overcompensated for as they were always intended to be a placeholder until summoning was updated in this way and we could go back to a more reasonable level with the release of the new edition. It's still an odd choice, but at the very least it's an odd choice with some level of justification.

A grimdark megatherium would be amazing.

Double attacks would help, but they still are in terrible need of something more. They'd still be outclassed by fewer points of daemonettes.

It's a shame that their warscroll wasn't more in line with their lore. They should've had something like -2 rend, 2 damage on their claws with the gilded weapon being 3 damage (they're supposed to be wicked strong), a +1 bravery aura for mortal hedonites (they're lavished with attention and seen as a living embodiment of Slaanesh by mortals), and run and charge with either a 6 inch pile-in or a pile in and attack on death (to represent their reckless tendency to throw themselves into the carnage). Instead we got a paper-thin unit that hits like less than its points in daemonettes, does mortals IF they survive the combat (why? Seriously why?), and get a bonus attack if they charge (this one is fine. Not good, not great, just.. fine).

The owl rumor engine is not what it seems.

I've been doing the same thing. It would be nice to have something solid rather than vague platitudes about what they do thematically, as that frequently doesn't translate to the actual rules.

Well, we've had Grotbag Scuttlers name-dropped as a faction more than a couple times, so I'd be willing to bet they'll see a release eventually, and there'd be no better time than this edition for that to happen.

Death saw two new factions and one major rework in their time as the poster-antagonist, so I wouldn't doubt we'll be seeing a fair amount for Destruction this edition.

So, took my Slaanesh to a local GT with some amazing local players and had a blast, going 2.5/5 (one tie). Here are some observations from my games: Hellstriders are pretty useful. Having resilience and the movement to be where you need to go is great, though I'm not sold on the scourges. With the cavalcade I'm not really charging with them, and to not get use out of their ability feels like I'm leaving points on the table by not taking the cheaper option of clawspears. Keepers are still pretty good, though they're much better as support pieces to amp up slickblades. My keeper saved me in both games I won, and I'm not sure I'd want to leave home without one. Slickblades are easily our best unit, but are way squishier than their wounds suggest. Definitely not a unit that can Rambo through and carry the game on their own. Blissbarb seekers are good, but swingy. They can also do okay in melee in a pinch, and my last game was actually won off the back of a desperate gambit of using the keeper double-attack on two units of blissbarb seekers to grind a unit of bullgors to death before they could push the center objective. Blissbarb archers are fine. They died quick, but worked great to thin out chaff and open up charge lanes in combination with the bb seekers. The epitome didn't actually do much, and I'm actually inclined to fit in a second keeper instead, due to the recent lack of unbinding rerolls. The Scarlet Cavalcade bonus helped like, twice, but the radius is too small to be a reliable answer to our bravery issues, especially with the opportunity cost of what we give up to use it. I don't know where we'll be if book battalions are lost. Our 6" pile-in is too clutch to what allows us to be competitive, and between hellstriders and exalted seekers of both varieties being able to use their pile-in to acrobatically reposition to sneak into radius on objectives and slap into choicer targets we lose a LOT if book battalions go. Moving forward for the next event I'm considering experimenting with twinsouls, possibly in lieu of hellstriders. Hopefully I can get in some test games to try them out soon. Maybe also Glutos if I can swing that.

Early game it will be ideally hellstriders or blissbarb seekers, depending on the objective placement. Once I get the depravity ball rolling they'll be swapped for daemonette blobs while the rest of the army applies pressure. Of course plans will have to adapt depending on my enemy, but that's the general play I have in mind.

Took the feedback on board and locked in my list for the tournament in a couple weeks: Allegiance: Slaanesh - Host: Scarlet Cavalcade Godseekers Host (Host of Chaos) LEADERS Keeper of Secrets (340) - General - Command Trait: Embodiment of Haste - Sinistrous Hand - Artefact: Helm of the Last Rider - Spell: Paths of the Dark Prince The Contorted Epitome (210) - Artefact: Enrapturing Circlet - Lore of Slaanesh: Born of Damnation BATTLELINE 11 x Blissbarb Archers (160) 5 x Hellstriders with Hellscourges (150) 5 x Hellstriders with Hellscourges (150) UNITS 5 x Blissbarb Seekers (180) 5 x Blissbarb Seekers (180) 5 x Slickblade Seekers (200) 5 x Slickblade Seekers (200) BATTALIONS Seeker Cavalcade (140) ENDLESS SPELLS Mesmerising Mirror (60) TOTAL: 1970/2000

There's little that comes to mind outside of those points. My only immediate thought would be to allow the shardspeaker's twisted mirror ability to affect shooting as well, but that may simply fall under the umbrella of synergies.