Landohammer

So I 100% understand your logic, and I actually pled the same case a few month's ago. But like many other players, I get my rules from websites online rather than buying the codexes. And when you read that sentence out of context, it absolutely implies that the spell is available to any Sylvaneth Wizard. However, within the book, the rule clearly resides under "allegiance abilities". So the intent is quite clear. And even if you go the RAW route, you are going to have a hard time getting someone to ignore that heading. Also no other faction can draw on abilities outside of their warscroll when fielded as allies. So the precedent is also clear. Is it ambiguous? Absolutely. Can you get away with it in pickup games? Probably. But if you bring a Branchwraith ally to a tournament and start throwing forests on the table, you really need an air-tight ruling. Because I guarantee its going to be questioned, and the typical avenues of discrepancy resolution (RAW, RAI, and precedent) are not in your favor.

This got sorted out a while ago in this thread. I will summarize: The paragraph granting verdant blessing to "all Sylvaneth Wizards" is actually in a subsection of the codex under "allegiance rules". So while it doesn't explicitly clarify that it IS an allegiance rule, the intention is pretty clear when taken in context. Personally I also look to the fact that no other faction's warscrolls gets any kind of "implied" bonuses from their codex when fielded as allies. And notice that even blatantly obvious spells such as Arcane Bolt and Mystic shield are specifically written on each and every wizard's warscroll. So there really is no reason to think that Sylvaneth allies would be special in this regard.

The drakespawn chariots aren't effective enough (or durable enough) in combat. The mortal wounds on the charge are nice but after that they don't really do anything, and will die to pretty much any combat unit's return attacks. The scourgerunner puts out quality shooting for its cost and can drive around the board peppering units without any real concern for retaliation. Also the cost difference becomes increasingly apparent when you take units of 3.

If its on a manifest that means it has been at least been ordered for printing. So I can guarantee that there will be a GHB 20. Now we could get that book in December 2020 for all I know, but we will get it at some point! Personally I think it will be shortly after Lumineth launch or perhaps even during. A $35 paperback isn't really going to infringe upon new army or 9th edition sales. Its actually better for them to release it sooner rather than later because unlike the other releases it has a very specific (and short) lifespan of 1 year.

Oops sorry! I can NEVER get those names right. It has confused me since they were introduced. Then we totally agree. I like some of the characters on Dracolines (but that is more so the character than the mount) but other than that Dracoths just seem better overall. (in a stormcast or LC army honestly)

I disagree. So their warscroll is admittedly just "ok". Its solid vs low rend armies and can fill a lot of roles. Fast, tough, shooty, and can hit pretty hard. I actually mostly like them because they fill a good points gap. Many typical cities units weigh in around 150, 300, or 450pts. However, what pushes them to A tier is the living city command ability + deepstrike. There are only so many competent melee units with shooting attacks. The free heal per turn is also helpful. If you have 2-4 Concussors or Fulminators that can show up on any board edge, shoot, and then move 10 inches, its going to cause problems for any list regardless of opponent's skill level. The main issue with concussors and fuliminators is their limited melee weapon range. It can become a problem getting everyone into combat. Also, Concussors generally want to minimize their pile-in since they are usually hoping to tag a corner and exploit their Lightning Hammers. Futhermore the Living City deepstrike becomes increasingly difficult to use on larger units. That being said, I think 2-4 are the perfect sizes. I would maybe run 6 if I was wanting to be silly. Beyond 4 models is a pretty sizeable investment of points and I don't think they are necessarily THAT good. Remember Dracothian guard aren't meant to wipe a unit of the table. They are meant to be a jack-of-all trades unit that can either destroy vulnerable units or cripple/delay scary stuff while grabbing objectives and provding some decen't mortal wound shooting.

There are soooo many units in Cities that this is a hard question to answer. Most folks tend to focus on a specific subfaction for the purposes of theme, but also because there is usually synergy built within each subfaction. Most notably the battleline unlocks but also the command abilities of each character. So if you like Wanderers then I would strongly suggest you get a Nomad Prince and Sisters of the Watch. The prince has a fantastic command ability and he also unlocks several Wanderer units as battleline. The Sisters of the Watch are probably the hardest hitting shooting unit in the entire book and may be the Wanderers best unit. After that, you just need some melee units. Wildwood Rangers are ok offensively and Eternal Guard are great defensively and both would fit your theme. The only mandatory unit in a Cities Army is the Celestial Hurricanum. Its just simply too good to exclude. Hope this helps! Of course there is no reason why you couldn't take other units from other factions. Here are some more of my favorite Cities units regardless of subfaction: Frost Phoenix, Gyrocopters, Hammerers, Black Guard, Phoenix Guard, Sisters of the Thorn, Sorceress, Irondrakes, Greatswords, Darkshards, Concussors, Evocators and of course Kurnoth Hunters.

There was an article recently on Twitter that announced Sylvaneth as the weakest codex of all updated armies. While I don't necessarily agree with that, the book does struggle to have a place in modern competitive play. Its almost entirely a melee army but it gets out-performed by all other melee armies in combat. The mobility we are supposed to have just isn't there anymore with the harsh restrictions on faction terrain and our mobility glade (Dreadwood) relying on characters (and CP) to function. The one exception is the Kurnoth Hunters. So I have been eeking out 3-2 and 2-1 records at GTs by just spamming Kurnoth Hunters and keeping my drops low. Living City is just on a different level altogether. You can essentially cherry-pick the Sylvaneth units you need (which lets be honest are Hunters) and combine them with amazing shooting, amazing battleline options, and unstoppable deepstrikes. TLDR: If you have a bunch of Sylvaneth units, they are probably better in a Sylvaneth army. But if you have a lot of Wanderer models and want to be competitive, then you should 100% play Living City.

Dryads are fine but there are a lot better options in Cities battleline for spamming objectives with bodies. The primary appeal of dryads is the -1 to hit generated by Wyldwoods. Without that I would just prefer any of the common batteline options such as Darkspears or Halberdiers. You seem to really like Sylvaneth options in your Living City Army. I love Sylvaneth and they will always be my main army. But the book is C tier at best while much of the Cities book is A and B tier. Sylvaneth units rely heavily on Glades and (multiple) Wildwoods to be effective for their points, with Hunters being the only exception. So long story short: If you want a fluffy/fun LC army, feel free to bring any Sylvaneth unit you want. But if you want to try and make your Sylvaneth units work competitively, then their best shot is in a Sylvaneth Army.

I think Fulminators and Concussors are really solid in Living City. I'm not a huge fan of Desolators since I don't plan on taking units larger than 2-4. Fulminators may have the superior warscroll but I actually prefer the Concussors because they can become insanely hard to deal with if they roll a 6 on their Lightning Hammers. Imagine clipping a horde of Witch Aelves and denying them a pile in. They become useless. The Arch Revenant makes Kurnoth Hunters even more fantastic than they already are (which is saying something!). My only issue is that most LC lists only have room for 2 Sylvaneth units. So the Arch Rev fills up your second slot but just ends up being just an extension of the hunters unit since he can't buff anything else. Compare that to say a General, Sorceress, Runelord, or Nomad Prince which can usually buff their entire army. If I am going to heavily invest in Hunters in a LC list, I would rather just take a second unit of Hunters.

We had Malign Sorcery which was pretty cool. But then we got Forbidden power which might as well be called the "Soulcream Bridge" expansion. GW seems to confuse "additional content" with "hey lets just sell MOAR ENDLESS SPELLSSS!!11" I really like what the Psychic Awakening books bring to the table. They function as a kind of mini codex update for some of the more neglected factions. But I think they are getting out of hand. Do we really need two more expansions right around when 9th edition hits? Imagine trying to teach a new player to play something like Black Templars right now. "See ok you need the Space Marine Codex, and this random book called Faith and Fury, but you also need the most recent Chapter Approved as well as this older book called Vigilus. Oh and you may want the Imperial fist supplement as well" Meanwhile many AOS players don't even bother buying their codex anymore. (I know I don't)

A ranger unit is perfectly fine for deepstriking. I would just make sure I had a character nearby to provide charge rerolls. And I would make sure the Ranger unit is large enough to kill whatever its charging. Looks like a solid list to me! I wouldn't expect the Wildriders to do much though. I would almost just prefer more Sisters of the Watch!

Ok I must be misunderstanding you on several levels. Because you specifically quoted me and said that "a 2000pt game gives you 12 CP period". 🤨 Because even if your game ends by turn 3 then you would have had 15 CP. And that is just about double what I am use to having. So my point still stands: Getting the troop tax removed (about 10% of my entire army) is worth a few CPs. Though again, we don't know what all of the detachments cost. For all we know a Spearhead or Outrider could be -6CP with no refund. And if that is the case I would absolutely stick to the Battalion.

You do know that you get +1 CP every command phase as well right? So over 6 turns you can expect at least 18 CP. (though 6 turns hasn't been confirmed AFAIK) Also, only Brigade, Battallion, and Patrol have been confirmed as giving the CP refund for having your Warlord. Also we don't know for sure what the cost of Outriders/Spearheads/Vanguards are. Admittedly I am assuming between 1 and 3 but it could be higher. (actually it should be higher than a Battallion right?) So personally I plan on taking a single Spearhead detachment. Even if it costs me -3 CP I will still be functioning on 15CP and can leave my troops at home.

So I just found an old Thorgrim Grudgebearer Model and I want to use it in my All-Dwarf Living City army. What should I use it as? -Hurricanum is the obvious choice, but he is a bit small for that base and it lacks the fighting capability that Thorgrim should have -Lord Celestant mounted? He lacks any buffs for dwarf units. I know I could give him the Druid command trait so he has a spell that could buff dwarfs but then I wouldn't have an actual Dwarf general to unlock my battleline. -Steam Tank? No gun though -Hydra/Kharibdyss? Seems like a stretch

The problem is that if every major competitive outlet uses the smaller table sizes, then that is what everyone will want to play in pickup games. Most guys I know who play 40k generally see their pickup/casual games as practice for an eventual tournament.

This is a hugely dividing issue on other forums. Here are some quick tidbits i have picked up -Rule "suggestions" in 40k are almost always officially adopted. So the word "minimum" isnt as relevant here as we think. For example the "rule of 3" was also technically a suggestion but was widely implemented. The ITC guys will be implementing the new smaller table sizes which further confirms this. -The difference is pretty noticeable. You actually lose 6 square feet of gaming area. -AOS plays at a smaller scale than 40k, so table reduction for us is definitely in the realm of possibility if they are already changing 40k. Personally i think its ultimately on the shop-owners to decide what they make available to players but my pickup games of 40k will continue to be 6x4 as i always use realm of battle boards or Frontline mats and I am not going to tape them off.

Yea I did the math and apparently 10 Rangers can kill a Ghorgon plus 1 wound. So thats not actually bad. But to be fair the Ghorgon could also wipe the unit out if it activated first. I mean a unit of 10 could conceivably have a role as a "monster crippling" unit, since they average 12 wounds vs a 4+ save and 9 wounds vs a 3+ save. Thats pretty significant since many monsters degrade quickly. But to be honest I would rather just go ahead and take 20 and virtually guarantee I kill any behemoth I reach. If I am going to pay for the battleline unlock with a Nomad prince and burn one of my deepstrike slots, I want the unit to be good at its job.

I was referring to their actual monetary cost. I think they are priced appropriately in points. Note that Irondrakes are extremely popular for a similar cost, but don't do mortal wounds or get a Stand and Shoot.

I would never field 10 man ranger units unless I was just trying to be silly and bring the LC battalion. Rangers are meant to be monster killers and 10 Rangers aren't going to kill any monsters that I am aware of. There are a lot better options for cheap (ish) battleline in Cities. The "dart" idea worked back in 8th because pile-ins didn't exist. Having 3 guys in front was a cheeky method of mitigating return attacks on a unit that was Stubborn (not likely to break). It MIGHT have some value on super tanky units like Ironbreakers or Longbeards with shields that tag the corner of a large horde. But Rangers would not be a good candidate IMHO.

See above in red!

Couple of quick points. -I like any list with 30 Sisters of the Watch. They are really good with a Nomad Prince. So that is a good start for sure. -I think you are over-invested in characters. You have ~1000pts in characters and 7 casts. I don't think that is necessary in Living City. If you are going to bring Alarielle then you should probably limit yourself to just 1 other character (nomad prince). You have Sisters of the Thorn for backup wizards. -You dont' have enough blocks to hold objectives. The summoned Hunters and 20 Eternal Guard are decent units, but they aren't enough to take/defend multiple objectives. Any army with two large blocks of troops is going to be able to easily counter your army. -If you are going to field wyldwood rangers they need to be in a block of 30. Their primary strength is their 2" weapons so they can attack in 3 ranks. -Shadow Warriors aren't terribly appealing in a Living City army since half your army already deepstrikes. Here is a rough list Alarielle Nomad Prince 30 Sisters of the Watch 30 Wildwood Rangers 5 Sisters of the Thorn 3 Kurnoth Hunters (Swords) Emerald Lifeswarm

I am the only Sylvaneth player in my region. I think the biggest turnoff for potential players is just the cost of entry. We have the most expensive army to play in the game. Most notably with Spites, Wyldwoods, and Hunters. 30 Spites (my preferred battleline) is $240. That is simply outrageous for infantry. Oh and they just had a price increase 🤦‍♂️ Competitively we suffer from the same issues as Idoneth and Fyreslayers: Low unit options, too many characters, and reliance on a single unit to carry the army. (Hunters, Eels, Hearthguard) If GW would just give each of these armies a new non-character dual kit it would alleviate 75% of the issues. But instead we got Endless spells, a more expensive forest, and ANOTHER character. But the Glades were nice. Not sure they were worth a new codex though...

Note that some armies are really top heavy with Characters. Its not uncommon for many armies with decent unit numbers to have 70% of those unit options be characters. The better decision in terms of game balance is to expand the existing armies, no doubt. But one cant help but wonder if new armies are not in fact more profitable than expansions. I mean we have OBR, Lumineth, and Sons of Behemat all coming out within a relatively short amount of time. (with several more factions rumored like Shadoneth and Kurnothi). This would have been laughably unheard-of just 3 years ago. Compare that to 40K which hasn't really seen an entirely new faction in quite a while. (nor are there any rumors of any)