readercolin

I mean, if you built it the way the construction book recommends, you don't even have to magnetize it (because that orrey thing is just a peg in a slot so you can let it continue to rotate). That being said, the other big difference between the two is that the wizard on top is over the front on the hurricanum, but hanging over the rear on the luminark - but magnetizing for that is an absolute pain. Also, for some reason they decided that some of those little planets that are used for the orrey are also components of the laser, so you will need to find some alternatives for that (whyyyyyyy). I might be slightly irritated from building my Xinti War Mages box...

If they fit on 25mm bases, I would agree with you. I have a sneaking suspicion that they are going to be on 32's and kinda go over the edges/not fit well on 25's though.

See, for me I rarely have issue running my phoenix guard. The annointed on frostheart is already good enough that I have no issue tossing him into just about any list, and making him the general is usually not a huge downside - it definitely doesn't feel like a tax. And then in addition to having arguably the best hero in the cities, now you get one of the best infantry units unlocked as battleline. That being said, I might be slightly biased due to having 90 phoenix guard, and I usually start my list off with a frostheart and at least 2 squads of phoenix guard before I add anything else.

For 1k games, I like running the following: Hammers of Sigmar: Lord-Arcanum on Dracoline 2x Fulminators 2x Fulminators 3x Evocators on Dracolines At 1k, you don't really have to worry about someone coming in with Kroak, or any of the big gods, which means you can actually play the magic game. Additionally, few people have hammers big enough to just delete you, which gives you a chance to let a small squad of units shine. If you want to lower the power of this list by a little bit, swap the Fulminators for Concussors or Tempestors. Going heavy on shooting at this level tends to leave me feeling a little thin, and the fewer units and more space means that stormcast infantry suffer from not being able to really get into combat. Additionally, this army still maintains the "Elite" feel of stormcast, without any one unit feeling particularly overwhelming. Finally, it doesn't leave me getting models for an army that I don't really want to play in higher point games (I still run dracolines... just not when I'm going all out competitively).

Its tough, but I have 3 "choices" for worst units in the army. First is Drakespawn Knights. Now, they have gotten a bit better, but I tried running drakespawn initially when they were 170 points for the unit, and they were DEFINITELY not worth it. Even at 125 points, they aren't really worth it. I still run them occasionally, but only when I am deliberately playing a lower powered list. Second, Dreadlords on Black Dragons. Now, before we dive too much into how bad these guys are, let me be clear - I have 4 of these guys (3 of them magentized to be able to run as sorceresses instead). But they are lacking in damage, in rend, have low bravery so are tough to heal, and are a 4+ base save (with a +1 if you have a shield). However, most people don't recognize just how bad the dragons are, and fixate on them, which allows the rest of the army to actually win the game. They are also fast enough that I can get them into position pretty easily. And I have now run out of good things to say. They are TERRIBLE at taking damage - 14 wounds with no ward, a base 4+, and little ability to heal means that they tend to go down fast against most enemies. Third, the Sorceress on Black Dragon. First off, who is really going to spend 295 points on a 5+ save monster? I mean, if I'm paying that much, that unit had best be a sledgehammer, or maybe a multi-caster. What is the sorceress? A 1 cast wizard who also doesn't do good melee damage. Also, 7 bravery, so you definitely ain't healing her back up with heroic recovery. WHY? What purpose does this unit serve? Like, at all? I'm pretty sure that for every single sorceress on dragon you put in your army, your winrate drops by at least 5%. Overall, a lot of the hero's in the Cities are terrible. I have played with all of the above units (repeatedly). But even though I love fielding dragons, if I am looking at things objectively, I always struggle to come up with a good reason to run any of the above units.

A test army that I recently tried and found some success with: Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals- Stormhost: Hammers of Sigmar (Stormkeep)- Grand Strategy: Prized Sorcery- Triumphs: InspiredLeadersAnointed on Frostheart Phoenix (315)*- Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)- Universal Spell Lore: Flaming WeaponKnight-Incantor (125)*- Spell: Lightning BlastLord-Arcanum on Gryph-Charger (195)*- General- Command Trait: Master of Magic- Mount Trait: Celestial Instincts- Spell: Celestial BladesBattleline4 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (460)*- Reinforced x 15 x Vindictors (130)*5 x Sequitors (145)*- Stormsmite Mauls and Soulshields- 3x Stormsmite Greatmaces5 x Sequitors (145)*- Stormsmite Mauls and Soulshields- 3x Stormsmite GreatmacesUnits6 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (480)*- Reinforced x 1Core Battalions*Battle RegimentAdditional EnhancementsHoly Command: Thunderbolt VolleyTotal: 1995 / 2000Reinforced Units: 2 / 4Allies: 0 / 400Wounds: 91Drops: 1 I built this army primarily as a way to try out a stormkeep list. This keeps the core build arounds of Fulminators and Longstrikes which work well and aren't restricted to only being good if they can scions in (like annihilators are). I decided to go for a 1 drop so that I can dictate the terms of the game with my longstrikes, but you could just as easily build the army to get an extra enhancement with a warlord battalion and Hunters of the Heartlands. Additionally, I decided to go with Hammers because I like my fulminators counting as battleline in case I end up playing "Power in Numbers" (or whatever that battleplan is that gives priority to battleline units). For unit choices, I started the list building with the decision to take a frostheart. I already have a frostheart that I regularly run for my Cities armies, and I can state without question that it is a very hard target for many opponents to remove. It isn't the greatest at killing, but it also helps protect other offensive threats - in this case, the fulminators. Next up, the battleline units. I could save 75 points by going with 3 squads of liberators. However, I decided to go with the sequitors specifically because they can deal with opposing chaff units. A lot of armies are running around with some weak chaff as objective holders, screens, or just fast moving objective harassers. A few examples are Skeletons, Gutrippaz, Screemers, and freeguild guard. None of these units are particularly well known for their ability to push opposing units off of objectives, but with a 5+ or 6+ save, a squad of liberators or vindictors is also going to struggle to remove them. In other armies, this would require that I point one of my hammer units at that chaff to clear it off to help me secure the objective. But, I can expect a squad of Sequitors that empower their hammers to clear off ~10 wounds of these chaff units without needing any outside buffs. This means that by bringing sequitors, I am bringing a unit that is more independent, and can let my hammers deal with actual threats from opponents. Overall, this army dealt with a standard morathi and the bow snakes list without too much trouble. It also thoroughly trounced some non-competitive lists that aren't worth bringing up, which is leading me to think I need to start bringing 2 lists to my local meetups so that I can have a competitive one for people who want some competitive practice, and a casual option so that I'm not pubstomping people with some somehwat busted units.

Mount traits are called out as an enhancement type, and the rule states that you can take 1 enhancement of each type for your army. This is what would limit you from being able to take both a leviadon and deepmare trait without taking an enhancement. the rule in question:

27.3.1: Enhancements cannot be given to Unique units (see 25.6.1) or allied units, unless noted otherwise.

And precisely where have they stated that official rules are now from the app first? Everything that I have seen anywhere else says that the rules are official when they are: Published in a book, with later publications overwriting previous publications (aka, The now current stormcast book overwrites the previous stormcast book, or the Warscrolls for the Idoneth turtle that were printing in Broken Realms: Morathi overwriting the warscroll printed in the Idoneth Deepkin battletome). Updated in an Errata, again, with the latest publication overwriting previous publications. (aka, use the most recent errata, do not refer to previous errata's). Nowhere in here does it say that the app will overwrite an official publication. Additionally, considering the number of mistakes that have been found in the app already, it doesn't engender confidence that the app is actually correct. Heck, they were getting incorrect warscrolls in the app for THE BRAND NEW STORMCAST BATTLETOME, with for example, the Lord-Arcanum on Taurelion having 12 wounds listed for him in the book and 10 wounds listed in the app (which was his pre-3.0 battletome wound count), despite having the rest of the warscroll correctly updated. There is also still a bunch of confusion in Sylvaneth because sylvaneth wizards are now being listed with the spell to summon wyldwoods on their warscroll in the app, but it is a separate spell lore in the book, meaning that people are now wondering if they can summon wyldwoods when they bring allied/coalition sylvaneth. If I go hunting around, I can probably find even more examples of incorrect warscrolls, or warscroll confusion that is entirely caused by random changes in the app that aren't backed up by any official printing of warscrolls. Basically, I'm not seeing any convincing reason why we should be trusting the new AoS app when their current track record is already so poor, and I'm not seeing anywhere that states that the app overwrites printed rules.

Played against someone running eels today, and ran into a bit of confusion. The new GW app has their Fanged Maw at -1 rend, while the old Azyr app has them at no rend. There is nothing in the errata that would change their rend to -1, and I don't see any updated warscrolls anywhere that modified that to be -1. So is the new app just being dumb and doing dumb app things (like it is with half the other armies out there...)? Or was their warscroll actually updated somewhere (and if so, in which book so I can reference it?)

Hey now, I can totally math... I swear... ::whistles innocently:: That being said, Contest of Generals does have that rule of units must be less than 50% of the cost. Basically this means that if you reinforce those irondrakes, you can't reinforce them twice until you get to 1k points. Additionally, you can't bring a stardrake until you get to 1k points, or the new stormcast dragons till you get to 1200, or alarielle until you get to 1500. Everything else is going to be open game.

Ish. The only problem with your list is something that you need to run past your organizer. If you are following the rules for Narrative Play (path to glory) or using the Matched Play battlepack out of the core rulebook, there is a rule that says a single unit in your army cannot exceed 50% of the points for your army. Note here that this rule doesn't exist for matched play out of the generals handbook. But with Drycha coming in at 330 points, that exceeds the 325 points for the 50% of the army. It is likely that your organizer will go "yeah, that's not a problem", especially as drycha is literally 5 points over that limit. However, it is probably something that you want to run past your group organizer just to make sure that there are no complaints.

1/4 units can be stormcast coalition. In some cities, 1/4 units can be another coalition. How does this work in practice? If you have 3 units, all 3 must be from the cities. Once you get to 4 units, things change. Now you can have 1/4 units be stormcast coalition. If you are say, tempest eye, then 1/4 units can be Kharadron Overlords. And 1/4 units can be allies. This means that if we were to ignore battleline requirements, we could have an army that consists of 1 Cities unit, 1 Stormcast unit, 1 KO unit, and 1 Idoneth Deepkin unit (ally). The allies are restricted by point value, but the coalition units aren't. Note here that this means that if you want to run Krondy's AND Karazi in your army, you can - as long as you have at least 8 units total, even though those 2 models are 1200 points of your army. Now, lets say we go to 5 units. We still have the 1/4 requirements, so the 5th unit has to be a cities unit. Same for the 6th unit and the 7th unit. However, once we get to 8 units, once again we get extra coalition space, so now we only have to have 2 cities units, and can have 2 Stormcast, 2 KO, and 2 allied. Once again, allies are restricted in point value, but the coalition units aren't. Basically, you can break it down to the following: 0-3 units: no coalition allowed 4-7 units: 0-1 Stormcast Coalition allowed 0-1 "other" coalition allowed (city dependent) 0-1 allies (points capped) 8-11 units: 0-2 Stormcast Coalition allowed 0-2 "other" coalition allowed (city dependent) 0-2 allies (points capped) 12-15 units: 0-3 Stormcast Coalition allowed 0-3 "other" coalition allowed (city dependent) 0-3 allies (points capped) Now, for some final things about coalition. Your general cannot be coalition. This means that you can never take a Stormcast hero as your general (except for the Explicit exception of Aventus Firestrike in Hammerhall...). Your coalition hero's CAN take artefacts, spells, and prayers from the cities. Allied hero's cannot take artefacts, and do not gain benefits from spell lore's or prayers. Coalition units cannot be battleline. This means that if you take a squad of Vindictors, they do not count as battleline for your city. HOWEVER - they do maintain the battleline keyword, which means that you can still reinforce them twice. So if you wanted to, you can take a block of 15 vindictors in your army, but you still need 3 other battleline units at 2k points. What does this all boil down to? At 1k points, you are required to take a Cities hero and 2 cities battleline units. At 2k points, you are required to take a cities hero and 3 cities battleline units. After all of that, you can consider bringing additional cities units, or you can bring coalition units, as long as you follow the requirements listed above.

With what has been said about Dawnbringer Crusades so far, I expect one of 2 things to occur. Option1: New "Cities of Sigmar" book, possibly re-named to the "Dawnbringer Crusades". If this occurs, I would expect a straight upgrade from a 2.0 book to a 3.0 book, with updated warscrolls, but I wouldn't expect much in the way of new models. Option 2: The "Dawnbringer Crusades" as a series of events, similar to the broken realms series. Here we aren't getting a new book specifically for the cities, but we get rules for new cities, or crusade rules, or something along those lines. Maybe after that series we get a new cities of sigmar book. Going from the lore that has been already stated (here: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/06/09/fancy-a-new-life-bringing-order-to-the-mortal-realms-join-a-dawnbringer-crusade-today/), "Setting out from the established Cities of Sigmar, Dawnbringer Crusades are military expeditions of would-be pioneers", and "The battles fought to defend the town are constant and hard-won, and few survive to see their work completed, but all hope that their settlement will become the next true City of Sigmar." Basically, we can see that they aren't looking to get rid of the Cities of Sigmar. They are however looking at ways that you can go out and "build your own city", and expand that narrative. But I highly doubt that they are going to squat the remaining cities anytime soon.

Amusingly enough, someone already went 5-0 in a tournament at Warhammer Worlds with a dracothian guard list. (Ben Johnson - you can find the list originally posted on page 63 of the Stormcast Eternals 3.0 thread) Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals- Stormhost: Hammers of Sigmar- Mortal Realm: Aqshy- Grand Strategy: Hold the Line- Triumphs: BloodthirstyLeadersLord-Celestant on Dracoth (215)*- General- Tempestos Hammer & Thundershield- Command Trait: Skilled Leader- Artefact: Luckstone- Mount Trait: Aetheric SwiftnessBattleline2 x Dracothian Guard Concussors (220)**2 x Dracothian Guard Concussors (220)**2 x Dracothian Guard Desolators (220)**2 x Dracothian Guard Desolators (220)**2 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (230)*2 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (230)*4 x Dracothian Guard Tempestors (440)*- Reinforced x 1Core Battalions*Battle Regiment**Redemption BrotherhoodAdditional EnhancementsHoly Command: Steadfast MarchTotal: 1995 / 2000Reinforced Units: 1 / 4Allies: 0 / 400Wounds: 103Drops: 2 Note here that this appears to be a "narrative" list that the pilot was good enough to be able to run through a tournament to an excellent finish. However, I will say that this is not the only way that you can run an all cavalry style list, though this one at least does have the advantage of being proven. If you haven't done it already though, do be aware that Dracothian Guard can be a bit... involved... to paint, and you may regret deciding you want to paint 17 of them. Moving away from being quite so heavy in Dracothian Guard, personally I've been building around them as well, and am waiting for them to get back in stock so I can get some more. Here is the list I am working on building towards: Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals- Stormhost: Hammers of Sigmar- Mortal Realm: Aqshy- Grand Strategy: Hold the Line- Triumphs: InspiredLeadersLord-Celestant on Stardrake (500)*- General- Celestine Hammer- Command Trait: Master of the Celestial Menagerie- Artefact: Amulet of Destiny (Universal Artefact)- Mount Trait: Light of the Young StarsBattleline4 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (460)*- Reinforced x 12 x Dracothian Guard Tempestors (220)*2 x Dracothian Guard Tempestors (220)*4 x Stormdrake Guard (570)*- Drakerider's Lance- Reinforced x 1Core Battalions*Battle RegimentAdditional EnhancementsHoly Command: Steadfast MarchTotal: 1970 / 2000Reinforced Units: 2 / 4Allies: 0 / 400Wounds: 102Drops: 1 This list was me deciding that I wanted to build around dragons (whenever they come out), and still field my stardrake. That being said, if you don't care to run a stardrake (understandable... they are both expensive and not particularly great), another list that builds around fast cav that I plan to test out once I can get tempestors is this: Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals- Stormhost: Hammers of Sigmar- Mortal Realm: Aqshy- Grand Strategy: Hold the Line- Triumphs: InspiredLeadersLord-Arcanum on Celestial Dracoline (200)*- Spell: Celestial BladesLord-Arcanum on Tauralon (285)*- General- Command Trait: Master of Magic- Artefact: Amulet of Destiny (Universal Artefact)- Mount Trait: Scintillating Trail- Spell: Azyrite HaloBattleline4 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (460)*- Reinforced x 12 x Dracothian Guard Tempestors (220)*2 x Dracothian Guard Tempestors (220)*Units3 x Evocators on Dracolines (280)*3 x Evocators on Dracolines (280)*Core Battalions*Battle RegimentAdditional EnhancementsHoly Command: Steadfast MarchTotal: 1945 / 2000Reinforced Units: 1 / 4Allies: 0 / 400Wounds: 98Drops: 1 This drops the stormdrake guard for 2 units of evokitties, and brings a total of 4 wizards to the battle. This has upsides in that it gives you 4 unbinds for your opponents, but has downsides in that it kind of wants to get its spells off, and running into lumineth or tzeentch with a list like this is going to feel kind of bad. A last option to consider is to move away from the Dracothian Guard and focus more on the Vanguard-Pallidors. These guys are battleline in Astral Templars, and depending on your local meta, making your whole army immune to Monstrous Rampages without needing Hunters of the Heartlands could be worth it. If this interests you, this is somewhere you can start with that list (note, you still probably need dracothian guard for your hammer). Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals- Stormhost: Astral Templars- Mortal Realm: Aqshy- Grand Strategy: Hold the Line- Triumphs: InspiredLeadersLord-Arcanum on Gryph-Charger (195)*- General- Command Trait: Master of Magic- Mount Trait: Scintillating Trail- Spell: Celestial BladesLord-Aquilor (200)*- Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)- Spell: Azyrite HaloBattleline3 x Vanguard-Palladors (215)*- Boltstorm Pistols and Shock Handaxes3 x Vanguard-Palladors (215)*- Boltstorm Pistols and Shock Handaxes3 x Vanguard-Palladors (215)*- Boltstorm Pistols and Shock HandaxesUnits4 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (460)*- Reinforced x 14 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (460)*- Reinforced x 1Core Battalions*Battle RegimentAdditional EnhancementsHoly Command: Steadfast MarchTotal: 1960 / 2000Reinforced Units: 2 / 4Allies: 0 / 400Wounds: 108Drops: 1 Note here that I haven't done any work at all in figuring out the best loadout for the Vanguard-Pallidors. Additionally, there is the question of Fulminators, Concussors, or Tempestors, as arguments can be made for all 3. This list is by FAR the most mobile, because both the Lord-Aquilor and Lord-Arcanum are mounted on Gryph Chargers, as well as all the Vanguard-Pallidors, meaning that basically half the army (points wise, 3/4 unit wise) can teleport around the field as they feel like. This is definitely not an optimal build, but now that I've thrown it together I am debating about getting some Vanguard-Pallidors just to try it out, because it seems hilarious from a more casual perspective.

There are 3 ways this can go. Way 1, you only have 1 opponent, but you can't play particularly frequently. Lets be honest here, if you got to play once a quarter, it isn't going to really matter that you are playing the exact same armies against each other, unless the power imbalance between the two lists is rather extreme (ex. top tier Lumineth list vs stormcast starter sets). In this case, you can play for years and it still feels fresh, or one or both of you can get a new unit to add to your army and change how it works fairly significantly. On top of that, you can expect a new book to change things up every 3-5 years. Way 2, you can only get out occasionally to play, and almost always against the same opponent. But said opponent can play against other people (ex. I can get to the store at 7pm once a month, and Dave is always up for a game with me). Here it is more similar to way 1, where each time you play isn't getting particularly stale, but one or both of you can spice things up by choosing a different subfaction, or changing out a unit or two. Additionally, if you are playing from the GHB, you can make a point of trying each mission out, and even if you play once a week, you are still looking at playing each mission a grand total of 4 times before the next years GHB drops. Way 3, you have a regular opponent and you are playing 1-3 games a week with them (ex. a partner or roommate that you can play with). Here is where things can get pretty stale, especially if you have smaller armies. If I have exactly 2k points of Stormcast, and you have exactly 2k points of Orruks, games are going to start feeling pretty samey, and you can't really change much (especially since changing your stormhost has SUCH a BIG impact 🙄). Here, I would recommend looking at a variety of ways to change things up. Do a Path to Glory adventure, with some sort of start and end point. Take and build an Anvil of Apotheosis character with a "slow grow" framework. Try out siege battles, or do some sort of narrative thing. Get the old Open War battleplan cards (or make new ones with the new Open War rules) to randomize things. Try playing with some handicaps. Or if games are consistently onesided, start at 1500 points, and then for each win the next game the winner has to play an additional 50 points down while the loser gets to play 50 points up. Eventually you will settle at a "balanced" game for your respective armies. All this being said, the BIGGEST way to keep it fresh is to get more models, or after a point, more armies. Going from 2k points to 2500 points is enough that you can swap 500 points out of your list each time and end up with 3-4 slightly different lists. Going back to the stormcast example, if I have say, an Imperitant, 15 liberators/vindictors/sequitors for battleline, and then I have Fulminators, Longstrikes, an Ordinator + 3-4 ballista's, and 6 annihilators, I can basically choose 3 of the 4 packages, with the army operating a bit differently depending upon which package I choose to run. This isn't forcing a huge purchase out of me to be able to field the different packages, but can still produce some variety when they hit the table. That being said, while the above is fairly easy to do with Stormcast... it isn't going to help you too much if you chose Sons of Behemat as your army choice (if you chose that army though... you did it to yourself). However, with enough play, even some variety in a single list can lead to staleness, which is where additional armies come in. Here you can make a drastic change - ex. having stormcast and Tzeentch, where it is a completely different playstyle and you can keep things fresh with something brand new. Or, you can look to make smaller changes - ex. having stormcast and building Cities of Sigmar. Here Stormcast can have 1/4 cities units be part of their army in a Stormkeep, and Cities can have 1/4 of their units be Stormcast. So if for example I decide that I want some Irondrakes, I can bring a squad of 20 of them in a stormkeep to test things out, and then as I expand my cities army instead have my stalwart dwarves get some backup in the form of a block of Fulminators to act as heavy cavalry.

Rolled this army out for some testing, and even with my dice betraying me still managed to take down a Morathi/Gotrek list. Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals- Stormhost: Hammers of Sigmar- Grand Strategy: Hold the Line- Triumphs: InspiredLord-Arcanum on Tauralon (285)*- Spell: StarfallLord-Celestant on Stardrake (500)**- General- Celestine Hammer- Command Trait: Master of the Celestial Menagerie- Artefact: Amulet of Destiny (Universal Artefact)- Mount Trait: Light of the Young Stars4 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (460)**- Reinforced x 15 x Vindictors (130)*5 x Vindictors (130)**6 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (480)*- Reinforced x 1*Battle Regiment**Battle RegimentHoly Command: Thunderbolt VolleyTotal: 1985 / 2000Reinforced Units: 2 / 4Allies: 0 / 400Wounds: 86Drops: 2 My opponents army (as best I know): Allegiance: Daughters of Khaine- Temple: Khelt Nar- Grand Strategy: Hold the Line- Triumphs:Morathi-Khaine (330)*- Lore of Shadows: MindrazorThe Shadow Queen (330)*Bloodwrack Medusa (120)*- General- Command Trait: The Circling Flock- Artefact: Gaisa's Falx- Lore of Shadows: Mirror DanceGotrek Gurnisson (435)*- Allies15 x Blood Stalkers (510)*- Reinforced x 25 x Blood Sisters (140)*10 x Witch Aelves (120)*- Sacrificial Knives and Blade Bucklers*Battle RegimentTotal: 1985 / 2000Reinforced Units: 2 / 4Allies: 435 / 400Wounds: 82Drops: 1 Battleplan was Veins of Ghur. My opponent had a 1 drop and got to deploy first, so I started the Fulminators, Longstrikes, and a squad of vindictors in the sky, and the Taurelion, Stardrake, and a squad of Vindictors sitting in a corner out of range of my opponent. They went first and moved up, and managed to take some potshots at the vindictors with the 2 blood stalkers that got in range. My turn I moved up, and dropped the Fulminators in their back line, and the Longstrikes next to my Taurelion. I then proceeded to roll 7 1's between hits and wounds from the longstrikes, and 3 1's from the stardrake, and the fulminators failed to charge, making my turn 1 an almost complete flop. Turn 2, my opponent went first, and decided to focus on the Fulminators, respecting them more than the longstrikes. With all out defense, the Fulminators then proceeded to fail 15/25 3+ saves, took 3 mortal wounds as well, and then got charged by the Blood Sisters, leaving 1 alive with 1 wound left. The Shadow Queen charged my Vindictor screen to get on the objective, but decided to throw damage at the stardrake so he could do broken ranks the following turn - dealing 13 damage total to the stardrake between shooting and melee. Yes, there were a LOT of 1's involved in saves. On my turn, the Stardrake decided it had enough and retreated, but I was able to put both the stardrake and Taurelion on the objective, taking it from the Shadow Queen, and keeping the Vanguard Raptors within 3" to get +1 to hit. This time between hero phase shooting and shooting phase, I managed to miss 15/24 shots with the raptors, and those dice got banished to dice jail. Battle tactic was savage spearhead with the last fulminator hiding from my opponents snakes and the last squad of vindictors hopping down on the far side of the board (where they then proved to be mostly irrelevant for the rest of the game). Turn 3 my opponent went first again, killed my fulminator with his blood stalkers, and tried to take down the stardrake with the shadow queen and the blood stalkers. This time though he got lucky and survived on 15 wounds, but so he wasn't able to take the objective from me, though he took the 2 new ones. On my turn, the stardrake retreated again, taking one of the objectives from my opponent, and the vanguard raptors were able to reduce the blood stalkers down to 4 models (my opponent rallied a total of 7 back during the game). Finally turn 4 I got the double, and morathi was at 10 wounds. I was able to kill her in the shooting phase, as well as finish off the blood stalkers, and then the stardrake charged and ate the Bloodwrack Medusa, leaving me controlling 2 objectives, and with the stardrake sitting on 13 wounds taken. Also, that last squad of vindictors charged his witch aelves in a totally necessary show of force and a lot of nothing proceeded to happen. I also managed to shoot off his summoned Khinerai from the last objective, but didn't get any bodies near it to take it. On his turn, he charged the stardrake with his Blood sisters and proceeded to get them eaten. Turn 5, I took all 3 objectives and then stared down Gotrek, who still hadn't managed to get into combat this game, while healing the stardrake back up to 11 wounds taken. On his turn, I gave the stardrake finest hour, and gotrek finally got to charge something. With his two activations, he then managed to take the stardrake to 17 wounds, leaving it alive (barely). End score was 44 to 19. -------------------- Overall, my opponent and I both though the game was his after turn 2, strictly because my dice rolled so far below average. Average dice rolls would have lead to his blood stalkers being eliminated by the bottom of turn 2, and my fulminators both surviving with more models remaining, and actually having hit his blood sisters at least once in melee (which... didn't happen... at all... they managed to do 3 mortal wounds with breath attacks and then exactly nothing in melee). However, my opponent made a mistake in trying to take down the stardrake and ignoring the Longstrikes, though the focus fire on the Fulminators was probably a good call on target prioritization. I also got lucky in that the objectives all ended up coming down on the side of the board that I had deployed on. As for my army, aside from the +1 to hit bubble, the Taurelion got off Mystic Shield on turn 1 and did nothing else but sit on the edge of an objective for the entire game. Replacing it with... basically anything else would have probably had a bigger impact, and would have also meant that I could have fit my army into a single 1 drop battalion. Everything else I felt had a big enough impact on the game, though rolling better would have made the game look a LOT different on turns 1 and 2. As it is, I like my list for competitive games (mostly because I want an excuse to play with a stardrake), though it does seem to potentially be a bit oppressive for more casual matches. However, if I wanted to change things up and try to go for something in a big event, I would probably look to run something like the following: Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals- Stormhost: Knights Excelsior- Grand Strategy: Hold the Line- Triumphs: InspiredLord-Imperatant (175)*Lord-Relictor (145)*- General- Command Trait: High Priest- Artefact: Mirrorshield- Prayer: Translocation6 x Annihilators with Meteoric Grandhammers (480)*- Reinforced x 15 x Vindictors (130)*5 x Vindictors (130)*4 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (460)*- Reinforced x 16 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (480)*- Reinforced x 1*Battle RegimentHoly Command: Thunderbolt VolleyTotal: 2000 / 2000Reinforced Units: 3 / 4Allies: 0 / 400Wounds: 87Drops: 1 This list would let me get the thunderbolt volley off turn 1, even if I needed to be hiding in a corner away from my opponents one drop list, as translocate would let me get them into position. Annihilators coming from the sky would also give me another solid hammer unit, and the Imperatant could protect himself by staying in the sky as well. The Taurelion isn't needed for the +1 to hit, as that can be replicated just fine with all out attack, as I'm not needing him to babysit multiple shooting units. This list can run as either Knights-Excelsior or Hammers of Sigmar (annihilators or fulminators as battleline), but a +1 to hit for the Annihilators seems better than a 6+ ward near objectives.

Yes, if your opponent goes before you, you can eat one of his brutes and break coherency, and he won't get a chance to return to coherency. However, if you eat his brute in such a way that he would be out of coherency, and then throw some more damage at the unit, it should be pretty clear to him where he needs to allocate wounds. Keep in mind some of the limitations on cavernous jaws though. First of all, you need to choose 3 models, and you roll 1 die per model. You don't get to allocate all 3 rolls to a single model to try to "guarantee" its removal.

Want a fun enough casual army to play? Stomcast are good, and you can play just about anything in the book. The "beatstick" hero's aren't worth their points, but just about everything else in the book can work well enough casually. Want a competitive army? Ehhh... you might want to look elsewhere. There are a few standout units that you can build around, but because you are basically building around stat-bricks, changes to points is going to drastically change your competitiveness. Right now you have 3 things worth building around: Shooting in the form of Judicators or Vanguard Raptors. Here specifically, you are looking to make use of the Thunderbolt Volley command to clear off support hero's or snipe beatsticks. Melee from the sky in the form of Annihilators (with grandhammers) and a Lord-Imperitant. Melee on the charge in the form of Fulminators. Finally, Dragons may be worth building around if they ever get released (supposedly December... but that is assuming that GW doesn't have any more delays...) If you build your army to include at least one of the above, you can probably get a list that can go 3-2 in a tournament. Played well, and combining some of the above can take you to 4-1. Alternatively, you can throw out something that no one is expecting and take everyone by surprise (see the 5-0 list that ran 5 Knight-Judicators as an example).

Hmm... This seems highly relevant: Page 107 – Command Traits, Master of the Celestial Menagerie Change the rule to: ‘If this general has the Behemoth battlefield role and is on the battlefield, subtract 1 from wound rolls for attacks made with melee weapons that target friendly Stormcast Eternals units that have the Behemoth battlefield role.’ Previously, it said: ‘If this general is a Monster and is on the battlefield, subtract 1 from wound rolls for attacks made with melee weapons that target friendly Stormcast Eternals Monsters.’ Prior to this, stormcast had the following monsters: Stardrakes, the new Named Dragons, Taurelions, the Knight-Draconis, and Stormdrake Guard. This meant that the old wording gave all of those -1 to wound in melee. However, the only Behemoths that Stormcast have are Stardrakes and the new named dragons. Which means that if you run a stardrake, you can run this command ability to give him -1 to wound in melee... and that is about it. This takes it from situationally good to "why bother?" Yes, it was questionably OP to have it affect Stormdrake Guard (of course, without them being released yet it is hard to say for certain that it would have really been OP). However, they could have very easily changed it to "affects Monster Hero's" if stormdrake guard were the problem.

Gardus is an option that you can run. You would probably want to take that third list and drop the celestant prime for him, and that also opens up some room for other units as well, as you would have 215 points to spare. What you put in is really up to you, as it is definitely a flex spot. Again, for the lists that I posted, you have a core of Imperitant, Relictor, Annihilators, and either judicators or vanguard raptors. The rest of the list is flex spots, but you need to make sure that you achieve your 3 battleline units. If you want to run Gardus, you can do that. If you want to run Yndrasta + some battleline, you can do that. If you want to run 2 squads of 6 annihilators, you can do that (in Knights-Excelsior only). But the core of your army is going to be the Imperitant to give you the 7" landing zone, and some sort of shooting to blow away any screens (preferably with the double-tap capability) or take out key support units. But until the annihilators are released and people start playing with them and competing, those flex slots are going to remain flex slots and individuals will need to determine what they want to play with in those slots.

None tournament proven (surprise surprise, since they aren't really out yet). However, the core that most people have been looking at is the following: Relictor Imperitant 6 grandhammers either 6 Longstrikes or 10-15 Judicators rest of the army to taste. Notable picks are going for Hammers of Sigmar and bringing a squad of 4 Fulminators, or going Knights Excelsior and having your annihilators count as battleline. Some example lists: Hammers: Lord-Imperatant (175)Lord-Relictor (145)5 x Liberators (115)5 x Liberators (115)6 x Annihilators with Meteoric Grandhammers (480)6 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (480)4 x Dracothian Guard Fulminators (460)Total: 1970 / 2000 Knights Excelsior: Lord-Imperatant (175)Lord-Relictor (145)Knight-Incantor (125)6 x Annihilators with Meteoric Grandhammers (480)10 x Protectors (450)15 x Judicators with Skybolt Bows (600)Total: 1975 / 2000 Other Stormhost: Lord-Imperatant (175)Lord-Relictor (145)Celestant-Prime (325)5 x Liberators (115)5 x Liberators (115)5 x Liberators (115)6 x Annihilators with Meteoric Grandhammers (480)6 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (480)Total: 1950 / 2000 Any of the above lists is probably a decent place to start from, but you will quickly notice that if you bring annihilators, you want to bring the Imperitant, and if you bring longstrikes/judicators, you probably want to bring a relictor. Additionally, the Relictor probably wants to be your general for high priest + translocation. After that, it is really up to you how you want to fill out the rest of your list, but the stormhost you choose is really going to depend on what you want your battleline to be. Finally, note that all of the above lists can fit into a battle regiment, so you need to make a choice on going 1 drop or running something like Warlord + hunters for an extra enhancement.

I'm not sure it does a great job. The biggest standout piece of the Lord-Relictor is the fact that he is carrying a big banner in one of his hands. Your kitbash gives him a hammer, and the "skull mask" that the relictor has, but having the severed head rather than a banner means that it doesn't stand out in the same manner as the normal model. I would say that the best way to "fix" the model to look closer to the relictor is to find a banner from something and attach it to his back. Bonus points if the banner looks vaguely stormcasty, and has lightning and stuff around it. Ex. Get a banner from a Knight-Vexilor and stick it on top of a flag going up his back.

My primary concern is the potential output of the Sentinals, and the fact that they don't get any particular synergies from the stormcast side of things. For reference, if the sentinals can't get their spell off, they are only putting out ~6 damage before saves with their lofted shots, and ~8 with their aimed. If they get their spell off, then that goes to ~8 damage with their lofted shots and ~9.5 with their aimed. However, they have no bonuses to cast, and they are literally the only spellcaster in your list, so getting the spell off is going to be somewhat questionable. The big comparisons here would be a unit of judicators or a unit of vanguard raptors. Judicators with bows will do ~5.5 damage before saves, while vanguard raptors will do 7, and all 3 of these units will deal some extra mortal wounds. However, the Judicators and Raptors can benefit from the once-per-game shoot in the hero phase command ability, or just get a free command ability from the Lord-Imperitant who is probably just going to be standing next to them for most of the game. This also frees up 60-100 points, which you could use to upgrade the annihilators to have the grandhammers instead of shields, and noticeably increase their damage output at the same time. Personally, if you were going a list like this, I would rather cut the sentinals and 1 of the units of annihilators for a reinforced unit of judicators or raptors. Alternatively, lean more into the Annihilators and bring a unit of 6 with grandhammers, as that will actually be able to do some work (I have not been impressed with annihilators with shields). Lastly, I would look to consolidate one of the units of stormdrake guard in to a unit of 4, so that way they can act as a better hammer (all going at once in melee), and better benefit from the Knight-Draconis's once-per-game ability. This would require you to either run the stormhost that makes paladins battleline, or bring a squad of judicators though.

So I agree that starsouls are better against high-save targets. However, one of the things that I did have trouble with when running them in a big block was maneuvering. The glaves have a 3" reach, which meant it wasn't a big deal that the attacking units hit from both sides. The maces however have only 1" reach, and with the massive footprint that 15 of these guys have, it is relatively easy for an opponent to attack against a side and have it take a while to get the maces in place via pile ins. But, as long as you stagger your lines, glaves can fight 3 ranks deep meaning it isn't as big of a deal when people are maneuvering around you. Note here, I am not 100% convinced one way or another. I think I need to try them out a few more times before making a decision on how to build them, and also if I even want to build around them. Forgot that you can take it as an enhancement. That being said, I'm not sure that you can actually viably take both of them in a list. This is mostly because I'm not sure you can count on Thunderbolt Volley unless you can guarantee you can shoot first, which would require taking the one-drop battalion. Maybe if you are bringing 15 Judicators in a unit, but definitely not if you are bringing 6 vanguard-raptors. Now I'm wondering what that force would look like... first pass would be something like this: Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals- Stormhost: Knights Excelsior- Grand Strategy: Hold the Line- Triumphs:LeadersYndrasta, The Celestial Spear (320)*Lord-Relictor (145)*- Prayer: Divine LightLord-Relictor (145)*- General- Command Trait: High Priest- Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)- Spell: Celestial Blades- Prayer: TranslocationBattleline15 x Protectors (675)**- Reinforced x 215 x Judicators with Skybolt Bows (600)**- Reinforced x 25 x Liberators (115)*- Heavens-wrought Weapon and ShieldCore Battalions*Warlord**Hunters of the HeartlandsAdditional EnhancementsHoly Command: Thunderbolt VolleyHoly Command: Unleash Thy HatredTotal: 2000 / 2000Reinforced Units: 4 / 4Allies: 0 / 400Wounds: 105Drops: 6 The problem that I have with divine light/bless weapons is that they are yet more prayers. Since we are already being forced to take Translocation, we now need to either take an enhancement for additional prayers, or we are bringing 3 priests with our army, which is quite the usage of points. Not saying that they aren't good, especially when you can also go ahead and add Celestial Blades from a wizard/arcane tome. But I don't think you can afford to take 435 points of priests to buff 675 points of paladins.