Landohammer

I have seen some excitement for the Incarnate, but keep it mind we currently have access to the best Mega in the game and it hasn't done much to lift our army out of effectively last place. And honestly I currently recommend the Gatebreaker over the incarnate as its a lot harder to deal with, isn't reliant on a easily sniped hero, and won't turn on you. I am personally a sucker for GW's boxes (I recently split Eldritch Omens and Arena of Shades) but even I am passing on this one.

You have to be careful with D3 models fleeing. That becomes insanely too powerful on units of monstrous infantry/cavalry like Kurnoth Hunters, Eels, or Bullgors. I would rather not have anything tied to leadership, as its extremely swingy based on matchup. Wave of terror should be kept the same but subject to modifiers, and scarier and/or larger units should get bonuses. For example reinforced units, Harridans, and the Coach should get bonuses. Regardless we should get some kind of control over it bc as it stands its too random for competitively play. The most recent example was the Thousand Son Infernal Master. The Hexfire box came out around August 2021 but the model just came out this month . So You are looking at about a 7-8 month delay. My logic, is that the Scriptor and Crossboos purchased separately will be within ~$5 of the entire NH half of the Arena box. I also have no need of the extra models, but free models are free models. (The DOK side can be easily flipped on ebay for cost).

The easy answer is already on several other death faction warscrolls: It should be "ignore the first point of rend". This would give them ethereal most of the time, while still encouraging interaction with terrain and access to save buffs. And before anyone complaints that "All out defense" would be too powerful with that ability, I just played two tournaments where I had to fight 4-5 dragons who pretty much ALWAYS had a 2+/5++. So they clearly don't mind handing out access to conditional 2+ saves.

Agreed. For the most part, AOS has had a good track record of relatively balanced battletomes lately. Stormcast and Slaanesh being the outliers of course. I am optimistic. I mean, we can't really get any worse right? Right?....

My store manager said his pre order email listed Arena of Shades at $195 USD

So its hard not to be discouraged at the current leaks. And we know from the Deepking/Fyreslayer release that warscrolls essentially remain unchanged between the box and the battletome release. But, the deepkin gained a lot of their strength in their sub faction abilities. Like a thrall is pretty meh based on its warscroll alone, but when combined with tides, rituals, sub factions and character support they become pretty strong. I'm hoping thats the case for us. We currently don't know our primary allegiance abilities, and if its anything like Deepkin or other recent books, they are a pretty big freaking deal. But if I put on my rose-tinted glasses, It does seem like the buffs are easier to keep up. The spirit torment heal is more reliable/easy to pull off. And the +1 to hit (RIP rerolls) can just straight up come from Chainghasts as long as the spirit torment is alive, and both are 25% faster. How many times have we charged our blocks of troops out of range of the rerolls bc heroes were so slow?

Yea, from what I understand he is believed to be a true GW insider. But he doesn't ever straight up say anything. He just drops hints and likes on certain posts. In this case he was flat out asked what is the next two books and he posted a picture of a mouse eating a leaf... However this lines up with the "Mischief and Vigilance" hint words GW provided on the next tomes, along with rumours of Dryads getting reboxed. So its not technically confirmed, but we have 3 separate sources pointing in that direction. With the extreme exception of Stormcast and Slaanesh, the latest tome releases have been pretty decently balanced. So I am optimistic for Sylvaneth. I just hope GW gets away from the whole wyldwood dependence thing. Terrain should supplement the army, not be its sole allegiance trait.

Yea given the way the most recent four codexes were released, we can at least count on a battlebox with a new character. I wish they would diversify our infantry a bit. Maybe making Spites elite multi-wound infantry (which my opponents always seem to assume given their base side/model anyway) rather that just another throwaway screen that wastes reinforcement points. I also wish they would spruce up our allies/coalition options. Wanderers should be coalition, or allies at the very least. Make Ironbark appealing. Maybe even bring back the "Wood and Sea" army option from two books back. I am also looking forward to being able to choose artefacts/command traits again. Newer books don't always lock them in to subs anymore.

Sorry to spam guys (man this thread is dead) but in case you haven't been following the Rumor thread, Whitefang pretty much confirmed the two summer codexes are going to be Skaven and Sylvaneth. We just have to tough it out for 3 more months and then we will have a functional book. I hope....

The Scriptor mechanic is cool. But as usual it will come down to cost and whether he has other abilities (ie wizard, aura, etc). Like if that is all he does and he is 100+ points then hard pass. NH character slots are suuuuuper crowded at the moment. However its hard to review him knowing a codex is incoming. I will say, after playing vs the new Deepkin book last night, they did a great job of making each of their heroes both useful and unique. I am hoping NH get the same treatment.

Here is my second tourney. (and a continuation of my earlier post) This list was more Kurnoth Hunter Spam but I dropped the bow hunters and Treelord Ancient for Alarielle. Game 1 vs Soulblight (Graveguard, wolves and character spam) This was an interesting game. My opponent had no shooting or significant magic damage. So Alarielle was able to pick and choose her combats. His wolves ran onto objectives early but were no match for Hunters or Alarielle. He had Radukar the beast and a Vengorian Lord. I found those two characters to be pretty scary, but individually they couldn't take Alarielle and my opponent was too hesitant to commit them and risk losing them. I was able to bully them away from objectives while picking off wounds with magic and her spear. His Graveguard arrived in deepstrike and did a lot of damage, but they arrived on the same table side giving me absolute control over the other half of the table. My opponent was a bit slow so we got called early, but I was up a few points and I got the win. Game 2 vs SCE (crazy fun list) This was the TO/Ringer and he brought a crazy SCE list consisting of a Star Drake, Yndrasta, Knight Draconis, Tauralon, and Frost Phoenix and like 9 prosecutors. He took first turn and ran at me hard, making multiple turn 1 charges. The Stardrake absolutely whiffed on attacks and got beat down in return. The Phoenix and Yndrasta charged 6 Hunters in a forest and so struggled to get past my saves. I popped kernel to delete both of them. On my turn I charged and killed the units that failed their charge. The rest was just catching/cleaning up Prosecutors. The phoenix actually got back up but I just killed it again lol. Big win. Game 3 vs SCE (5 dragons and the 5+ ward dude) Here is where things got frustrating. He takes first turn and double moves and charges me with all the dragons. He shoots off my screens and kills a lot of Hunters and brackets alarielle a bit. Luckily he fails his Evocator deepstrike charge on the right flank of the table. On my turn I wipe his right flank evocators with 6 hunters, but now only have Alarielle, her summoned Hunters, and like 3 more hunters to deal with 5 dragons on the left flank. Elsewhere 10 vindictors are camping an objective and a Celestant Prime is waiting in the clouds... I do the best I can but I just can't get through squads of dragons with All out Defense and 5+ Ward, and alarielle is taking more damage than she heals. (i didn't realize how badly she brackets, she is usless at 10+ wounds). To make a long story short, the dragons eat everything, and the celestant prime kills alarielle. I'm tabled for a MASSIVE lost I end the day 2-1 but place pretty low bc of relatively low scoring games 1 and 3. I had fun. Hunter spam can do ok as long as you make good run rolls (and zero mistakes lol) and can keep your Treelord Ancient alive (and remember to pop Heed the spirit song). Alarielle did better than expected, but only in very specific matchups. The first hard matchup she faced she was useless.

Played two tourneys with Sylvaneth. Went 4-2 overall. First tourney was basically max hunters in Winterleaf with a Treelord Ancient. Main strategy was just to pop heed the spirit song to buff essentially the entire army and sit on objectives with 2+ saves. Here is a quick summary. (sorry I forgot the scores) Game 1 vs Living city (4 fulminators, doralia, hurricanum, 3 demigrphs, griffon, crossbow spam) He took first turn and managed to get around my screens to nuke 3 hunters with fulminators and get into my lines with General on Griffin. However I counter charged with 6 Scythe Hunters, popped kernel, and deleted his fulminators. I also survived his Griffon, and managed to kill it next turn. He failed the 2+ rez lol However his shooting, magic, and generally higher speed let him pick me off at a distance and I just couldn't get my slow hunters onto objectives. He pulled out the win by just a few points. Game 2 vs Fyreslayers (including Gotrek) Not much to say here. This was an absolutely new player just learning the game. I coached him as best I could but gave zero quarter. Killed everything but Gotrek by turn 3 and maxed points. Big win. Game 3 vs Lumineth (50 sentinels, 30 wardens, Teclis) LRL are usually a boogey man for me, but the latest LRL point hikes really hurt them. The player is very experienced but made the decision to take first turn despite out-dropping me. A decision he came to regret. He started off doing Tecnado and sentinel spam, but got super unlucky when I managed to use my single Unbind to stop his 20 sentinel block from getting off Power of Hysh. However he still managed to kill a Treelord and do about 20 mortals to various units. I knew I had one play. I ran every single unit in the army, leaving only 3 Kurnoth bow hunters in my deployment zone. I then scored the double and was right in his face. I charged 6 Scythe hunters into both Teclis and Sentinels. I popped the kernel, killed Teclis and killed about 15 of the 20 sentinels. Elsewhere I killed 10 sentinels. Leaving him with only wardens left. I ended up tabling him turn 3 for another big in. Ended up placing 2nd overall!

I sent this very question to the FAQ team when GHB 21 landed. I honestly think it was a typo.

I am strongly considering it. I wish I had bought a second breakaboss instead of Dobby. I feel like we have enough support units and lack boots-on-the-ground-combat units. The breakabosses are just an all around solid warscroll and, unlike the rest of our army, they function absolutely fine on their own without support. Its refreshing to have a unit that can just walk onto an objective without an entourage. The vulcha boss is the same situation.

@whispersofblood How many games have you played with KB and vs what? Give me some context of your meta. I strongly disagree with your list my friend. No shaman? Gobsprakk, and 30 hob grots? It just doesn't seem like the kind of list I would lead off with when trying to put forth a competitive and contrarion analysis. Gobsprakk has some pretty interesting anti-magic properties, but the factions that dominate with magic (tzeentch, seraphon, and LRL) will just sail right over his dispels. And the faction most vulnerable to the mandrake (LRL) got FAQ'd so that their unit champions don't take the mortals. Gobsprakk just doesn't hold up even in the most ideal circumstances i'm afraid Gutrippaz have the damage output, there is no doubt. But practical application is difficult. Consider when they charge outside of the Sludgerakers aura, or more often, when they can't maximize on a pile in due to the same Sludgerakers positioning. Or even worse, when you charge too far away from the Swamp calla so on your next turn he is too far away to buff them again. So what ends up happening is you have a 360pt unit that is functionally a 780pt blob. Yes bolt boyz are a trap because they are fragile. But Gutrippaz are also a trap because they take high skill and ideal circumstances to field to their maximum potential. Bolt boyz are point and click. Sadly, IMHO, the most competitive way to field Kruleboys is to capitalize on the ability to take the most powerful model from the most powerful book in the game. (gatebreaker mega gargant). And to build the rest of the list around that model. And in that circumstance its bolt boyz spam, sludgeraker, shaman, and then salt to taste.

He castled pretty hard in a long deployment scenario, so he wasn't able to cap primaries every turn. He knew that if he got within 27" of bolt boyz then his units were toast. So he played the long game, and maxed out his battle tactics while picking up multiple monster kills. Like I said, the game was close on paper but we both knew who was going to win as soon as his emerald swarm spell went off. Hence my multiple attempts at hail mary tactics lol. At one point i declared a charge vs teclis with 3 bolt boyz lmao. I'm going to have to disagree. I did the exact alpha strike tactic you mentioned, but the sentinels were just too resilient when they needed to be. And he had the tools to bring them back. I think a lot of us underestimate gutrippaz and troggoth allies, and that is a good point for sure. But the sentinels aren't the only critical issue for us in LRL. Total Eclipse and Voice of the mountain are ALSO huge issues. For example, I had 4 units camped on two objectives, properly screened. He casted total eclipse, voice of the mountain, and tecnado. He then shot my troggoths with sentinels (who actually rolled quite poorly). So now nearly every unit in my army had to take a battle shock test. Most of them were at least -4 after casualties, and inspiring presence was debuffed to cost 2CP. I lost the entire troggoth unit to battleshock and barely had enough CP to do Inspiring Presence on the gutrippaz. The "just camp on objectives" strategy doesn't work if you are bleeding hordes of points every turn. I respect that there are some really good Kruleboyz players out there who can take down LRL, but if you are implying that its a favorable matchup for Kruleboyz then we are just on different planets. And I think meta data and popular opinion are firmly on my planet lol.

I appreciate the response. Thats an interesting idea. But i'm afraid the hob grots wouldn't be able to do much, if any, damage to sentinels. Mostly because of shining company. And the unleash hell would likely kill a chunk of them. And then you would need to burn a CP to keep them from running away. Thats one of the reasons I prefer to teleport the breakaboss, because he can pop finest hour and walk into unleash ****** with a 3+, and just flat out doesn't have to worry about battleshock. So best case scenario, a handful of hob grots would survive to die in my opponents magic phase. Also keep in mind this is predicated on the player not actually screening the sentinels. The only reason my opponent didn't was because he had never played vs Kruleboyz before and I don't think he understood the double move or teleport. HOWEVER you do have me wandering if teleporting 20 Gutrippaz would have been smarter. They have a bit more staying power than hob grotz, and may have been able to stick around long enough to deny multiple shooting phases. Total Eclipse remains a problem though, as the gutrippaz are going to bleed to battleshock tests and inspiring presence would cost 2 CP when its up.

Quick update. Have played 11 games with Kruleboyz so far. Current record is 9-2. I honestly think the bolt boyz covered in mud carry the army. I usually bring a Mega as an ally but have experimented with a unit of 6 Fellwater Troggoths with some success. (check them out, they are solid). The Sludgeraker, Swampa calla, and at least 12 bolt boyz are an auto include IMHO. Big yellers are also the only subfaction I would ever consider. I did want to share a pretty rough game I had recently, as it does highlight some of our weaknesses in the meta. Happy for thoughts and feedback. The Vice. Kruleboyz vs LRL This was a long form deployment. He had Teclis and 30 sentinels, Scinari and some wardens, and I knew I was in trouble. He deployed his Sentinels literally on the short board edge behind a large rock. He gives me first turn, I supa sneaky a Breakaboss and "Fast'un" double move a Vulcha boss and both make it into this Sentinels. This was a hail mary to try and do as much damage as I could to them. But between his -1 to hit, atherquartz, and all out defense from his Scinari, I only managed to kill about half the squad. Both of my models die next turn to shooting/magic and he casts Emerald Lifeswarm, and proceeds to roll nothing but 5+ and brings al the sentinels back in 2 turns. So basically my 420pt sacrifice meant nothing The rest of the game is me trying to move up the board while getting massacred by Sentinels and Tecnado. I never make it close enough to matter, and only kill Teclis because he double moves onto my objective to get conquer. LRL win 25-21 The score was a bit misleading because this game never felt close or winnable. Sentinels being able to deploy 42 inches away (behind a giant rock) and delete units (with +6" range spell, power of hysh, and sometimes Lambent light casted through a spellportal) was really demoralizing. Also total eclipse was usually up meaning I didn't have the CP to keep inspiring presence up. His spells rarely failed, and when they did he rerolled with his terrain piece or aetherquartz. I think the scenario combined with terrain had a lot to do with it. Sentinels getting a long form deployment and a giant rock to hide behind is the perfect storm. Anyone have any thoughts on how to counter LRL? I keep circling back to a Mega, since they are able to weather the shots and move fast enough to reach them. But they just feel like a crutch.

Ebay, but the prices are pretty outrageous now. They went from $6 a model to $15 model as soon as the book hit.

I think its fine. I think any list with a Sludgeraker, shaman, killbow and a solid unit of bolt boyz is off to a good start. I absolutely love the model, but Gobbsprakk just seems too expensive for what he does, and the lack of access to a mount trait is pretty brutal, since the mount traits in this army are very good. The magic heavy armies he is meant to counter will sail right over his unbinds since he doesn't get any bonuses. Leaving his once per game mandrake as his only true value. I always bring a Vulcha, but I just prefer the Killaboss with an amulet of destiny and I give him the Fast'un trait. A potential 28" move plus a charge is quite solid, and 240pts for that much threat seems like a steal.

Yea pre Codex i paid $37 for 6 but now they are double that. But strangely the dominion half prices havent changed. They are still hovering around $65-70 USD. If you do the conversion i posted above, this creates the weird situation where you can get 4 bolt boyz and a dominion half for $5 more than just straight up buying 4 kruleboyz. And im sure the Murknob could also easily be converted into a bolt boy too if you are desperate enough!

Hey guys, if any of you are struggling to find Bolt Boyz at decent prices, i have found the Killaboss on foot to be a decent base for conversion. Bolt boyz are going for $44+ USD per 3 while killa bosses on foot are much cheaper and i know many of us have extras/unused. Just a small ballista from my 3d printer and some spare gutrippa spears and boom: Discount bolt boy champion.

Would you (or your mate) care to go into detail on what they saw at that operation? Recasters are growing in popularity, and I think a lot of "fence sitters" would find a write up on that topic interesting.

Wow fantastic article. Really makes me re-assess Gutrippaz. His comments regarding his approach to high level competitive play are a bit off-putting, but i can't help but admire his credentials. I always preach to my newbies that top table level play will burn you out, and him leaving the game for a while seems to support that theory.

I'm not a fan but one was in the in Orruk Warclan lists that took top 10 in New Orleans this past weekend. So they clearly have legs. My main issue is that a Mega Gargant is like 65-95pts more and offers a lot more survivability and damage output. The Mega mercenaries are so good actually that I am having a hard time NOT bringing them in several of my factions.