Dankboss

I'm expecting the mega-gargants to have 22-24 wounds and a 4+ save that increases to 3+ against attacks without rend. I feel like regular swords will do nothing to them, so I reckon that's a good way to represent added durability. Although I feel like this still isn't enough to make them a stand alone army. DPR saves don't seem fitting for what are essentially big humans. I'm also hoping that one of them has the ability to literally inhale an endless spell to dispell it. On another note, despite the Bonegrinder being taller, the Mega-gargant is way more muscular, and their presence is far more immense. I'm not sure how the Bonegrinder will coexist with the megas. If it does, it'll obviously get buffed. Edit: I also want to see them cause massive morale damage as a secondary ability. Ever since the Dreadsaurian got buffed, Bravery attacks are showing more potential purely through the threat of it and forcing the enemy to spend resources they might not otherwise have. It basically translates as: this ability reduces your opponents CP by 1.

If I were to rewrite the Drunken Stagger rule it would go like this: If the unmodified charge roll for this model is a double, this model must charge up to 8". In addition, after this model has moved, select 1 unit within 1" of this model; it suffers d6 mortal wounds. This model can then not attack in the following combat phase. Now I'd just remove any negative to its charge personally, but if it had to stay I'd like to see something like this where it still retains utility; that being, you can guarantee that it can be used to pin a target, and then also do MWs in exchange for it not attacking. In some circumstance this would actually be preferred. Basically, it starts running and loses its footing, barreling into the enemy and falling over, instead of just dropping on the spot.

I did a little eye-balling to see how it compares. Not properly measured, but this seems roughly correct.

I don't play 40k anymore so I don't know the reference. I doubt these giants will bring something to most armies that they can't already do themselves.

They're allies so I doubt they'll be a problem. They won't have any synergies with the army.

Thank you, I was intent on doing a classic list of big blocks, but found it didn't work very well. It lost pretty hard to his StoD list before, but this one won by a decent margin, and I don't think his list has an answer to such a saturated battlefield. Also, getting big blocks of infantry to fight twice is really hard, as a lot of the time the fight is at the dead-center; 10 greatswords can do it so much easier. I need at least one big hammer unit as I don't have a gryphon, and I believe Demigryphs operate best as 6s outside of Lancers. You can also use a regular Lord-Arcanum on Tauralon and give him the Twinstone, but I need the 2 unbinds Aventis brings; plus he has extra rules that help, since the regular Arcanum has half his rules only work with Stormcast and a bad CA. Aventis is also better in combat thanks to an extra attack and due to the huge CP potential, you can use his +1 to wound on himself.

Hammerhal can only generate CP from an adjutant otherwise. I think it's vital to the army to be able to generate so many, because this build has so many units that you want running 6 or fighting twice. This is what allowed me to overwhelm my enemy. I don't think another army with less CP could do it as effectively. I used All Out Defense a lot on the Demigryphs and Aventis; most armies would probably scoff at the idea of spending CP on such a minor ability, but this list is about a lot of a little, and it paid off.

I would get a few regular Goblins and a Fungoid Shaman as well. My Troll list still has 40 Grots, a Fungoid and 5 Hoppers.

Hammerhal Advanced Target Saturation VS Cabalists Endless Spells Focal Points I tested out my new Hammerhal Freeguild list against StoD Cabalists yesterday. The tactic behind my list is to have so many minimum sized units, that my opponent cannot focus them down, while generating the CP required to pull this tactic off. I played for the objectives, and this worked well as I was able to funnel his 20 chaos warriors to the central objective (which is a large open piece of ruins terrain where it is easy to claim cover) and keep them there, while the rest of my army pushed for his flank objectives. The over-saturation of small units working together (you can tell how they were positioned by how they appear in the list) split his attention too thinly, and he didn't have the resources to tackle everything. We traded the central and his left objectives twice, as his warriors were forced to handle the 6 Demigryphs and Aventis in his territory. Aventis protected them with Cindercloud and they controlled his big pieces such as Be'lakor long enough for me to claim the rest of the board. The knights eventually fell, but not before they slew Be'lakor, and Aventis flew off to secure the center, where he would next march on with his juggernaut of warriors. Fortunately, I had men to spare. The game had to end at the top of turn 4, and was 18-14 to Hammerhal. I still controlled my left side objectives and my right objective, so he could not catch up. I maintained the turn order the entire game, so there were no double turns. Thoughts: Aventis Firestrike did more then my Gryphon ever could, despite not being as powerful in melee. His double unbinds were important here, and he is a good caster for Cindercloud due to his large base. He can still use Righteous Purpose and All out Attack, so he did plenty to help the Demigryphs. I also cast Pha's protection on him, letting him weather anything that attacked with -2 to hit. His melee is OK, but making him fight twice is what makes him viable as a fighter here. I know many choose the Celestant Prime, but Aventis can do more before he gets stuck in and play in the backfield early. He did solo a Manticore lord, so he definitely earned his keep. Ironically, this list was more susceptible to endless spells due to lots of small units, and my center regiment was hit by the Darkfire Daemonrift immediately, which killed at least 15-18 men alone. Again, I had soldiers to spare. That spell ate a lot of wounds. The CP generation this army naturally generates is the requirement for it to work (2-3 a turn from banners). If I could fight twice, my units were, as on turn 2 I had 8 command points. It's also important for movement, as the way I align my 'regiments' require them to move together. They were arranged with 10 Guard in front, 10 Greatswords just behind them but far enough that any attackers that hit the Guard could not reach them, allowing them to pile in, and then 10 Gunners behind them to provide Stand and Shoot to any attackers. Suffice to say, he didn't try to charge my regiments, of which I had 3. I usually take Blood of the Twelve on my Freeguild General, but because my units were spreading out over the board, I opted to take Acadamae Prodigy to keep an emergency CP. The extra attack actually came in use when he dealt 8 wounds to the other manticore. I never even used Hold the Line! past the 1st turn. I did get extremely lucky in that my Demigryphs completely ignored Be'lakor's meddling. Lists:

Make him 37 wounds, -1 damage and fly in Coalesced. His utility is his board control and presence, something Gotrek cannot do outside of just killing targets. The primary difference between them is that the Dread Saurian can wall off entire sections of the table in exchange for his significantly lower damage. If you're up against a lot of 2+ damage then the Dread can be a nightmare to remove. There's also the threat of his Roar which will force command points to be spent, or if timed correctly decimate a hoard when they run out. He absolutely has some utility and is certainly a viable choice in the right list, although perhaps not to a highly competitive degree. I think that a top tier player can make a Dread do more for them than Gotrek will. It depends on the player. I wouldn't just slap them in any old list though; I think a skink-centric list will allow for more breathing room, his points cost considered.

I think 3+ is the max due to keyword restriction. Personally, the only direct buffs he needs is the +1 save and fly spell.

I think a good pilot will be clever with how they use his Roar of Ruin to take out hoards, as he only needs to get a few attacks through to wipe out scores more. And by clever I mean waiting for the right opportunity, where their opponent has no CPs for IP. That or using him to bait CPs out. I think the Dread will be a really grindy fight, which is why his damage is modest. His presence is massive, and easily usable in the right build, He doesn't even need to be the focus of the army if it's a skink based force as there's still 1500 points of other things.

Make it fly

Well, it's so big that it can just deny enemies from taking the objective outright.

I can't wait to see some awful conversions. On another note, I think the one big thing that will make the Dread Saurian a genuine take now is the ability to make it fly. That's the biggest deal here. 37 wounds at -1 damage and a spell for +1 save, combined with a solid profile will make this a viable choice. Compare it to say 12 ogre gluttons for 400/ 48 wounds at 5+ and the durability is easily similar if not higher if you're fighting lots of 2+ damage. At 510 I think it's one of the very few massive monsters that has the durability to be worth it. I don't think there's ever been a unit that's had its wounds doubled+ like that before. The spell immunity is also quite a big deal, as combined with the Seraphon's grip over magic, it will be a ****** to take out at range, too. I want to see people powerslide that base into the entire enemy army.

https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Dread-Saurian.pdf Me: I hope the Dread Saurian will go to 20 wounds since it's so big. GW: Yes.

I think Sons of Behemat will be set apart from Aleguzzlers. The old lore will no doubt be changed and rewritten. While Aleguzzlers are the classic giant, and are mostly found independently depending on the army they've joined, Sons of Behemat I hope have a more refined appearance and theme, more akin to ogres, than wandering idiots, and hold the legacy of their age of myth ancestors. The gargant king appears intelligent and not overly belligerent, so some semblance of order would be nice. Aleguzzlers imo work thematically best alone. I don't like the idea of an army of non-cohesive drunk idiots who fall over all the time. And I play Troggoths.

I will say that you ought to build yourself a standard list that can tackle most situations to a competent degree, based on what you've learned from previous games. In my group, specific list tailoring to your opponent's is massively frowned upon. I like building semi-competitive lists that can handle most problems. If you change your list so much and your opponent notices exactly what's going on, they may not be happy; if they're a regular player that is. This is because you're only going to be flipping over who has the bad play experience if you build to counter them.

They're fundamentally the same as command points.

None of those are really new rules though. They are variations of current rules. A simple new rule would be the Ogre's hunger mechanic, but even that is based in the base rules since it affects stats. Ossiarchs, as far as I know, haven't invented a new rule like Strikes First.

Mine was a passing comment on how it's not an unbeatable terror; there was no indication of general experience to be had, so I can assume enough game knowledge since they seemed familiar with its previous incarnation. If I wanted to detail how to beat one using advanced methods, I would have done so. You're coming on a bit strong here. However, now we're here, we might as well outline the best strategy using what the player has at their disposal. @Cid can you tell us more about your situation and lists?

I doubt we will see rules like that. GW learned their lesson about strikes first, or extreme summoning etc. The big bads have mostly been rectified. Petrifex will have their time.

AoS has been in a period of rapid expansion due to being a relatively new IP. AoS 2.0 sped this up, but we're nearly at the end of the 2.0 cycle. Things will slow down. AoS doesn't nearly have the same problem of rules bloat as say 6th/7th edition 40k did or could, as the way rules are presented is fundamentally different. Furthermore, it would be an issue if every new army had the rules of the previous army plus one, but they don't. For example, Ossiarchs don't have Strike First/ Last (as far as I know). In fact, Ossiarchs don't really introduce any rules not already in the game, and they're a big new IP release. AoS is just a lot more resilient against bloat than previous systems, and power creep is usually kept in line with regular FAQs. It's also much less rock paper scissors than in previous systems, as it's quite possible to win with anything. I beat Slaanesh using a Troggherd, even with powerful safety nets like 2+ locus that require almost zero thought to use and profit from. This is probably the healthiest rules system GW have created.

A Mawkrusha is a big ball of high stats that is hurled at you and not much else. That makes it one of the easiest models/ strategies to play against, if you have a well balanced army. Deny him his targets and he suddenly isn't worth his points.

I've played Freeguild since the start of 2018 and have been playing Hammerhal recently (and only) as that's the city where Freeguild are meant to be. Freeguild general: A- Absolute necessity. Can't really say more than that. 100% take. General on griffon: B+ - Has a singular focus but high stats. Critical to a lancers battalion and packs a massive punch with Saint's Blade on Runesword, but lacks general utility. He wants to be on an objective with his knights. Hurricanum: - Luminark: B- another necessity due to lack of magic protection. 6+ can often feel really good or really disappointing, but it's variable between games. Laser is actually quite impactful. Battlemage: A- not something I bank on, but is certainly important. Wings of Fire is a must. 100% take. Battlemage on griffon: - Freeguild guard: A - but only in 'allegiance' for obvious reasons. Holds the Line, and that's about it. 100% take. Greatswords: B+ utterly devastating when in combat, but getting there or getting hit is an issue. 100% take as a 10 in general lists for spike damage, or 100% as 30 in an infantry build. Freeguild handgunners: A+ nothing stops a full frontal charge like Handgunners. Short range means they are best used as charge deterrents. Even in Hammerhal where min-maxing is ideal, I would run as a 30 for a massive charge deterrent. Be clever and weave one or two guys into your melee infantry blob to make charging the line hard and dangerous. Freeguild crossbowmen: - Demigryph knights: A+ the workhorse of your army. In Lancers, hit like Rockgut Troggoths with greater mobility and good melee protection. Their ability to fight off the charge makes them superior to most cavalry in the game. If you didn't know, Rockgut Troggoths hit obscenely hard. Outriders: ? Can be used as a flex pick for the early game as a stand in for Handgunners and then transition to objective takers later. Only experience is from before CoS book. Pistoliers: - Flagellants: Not actually a Freeguild unit so no experience. My only gripe about Freeguild is, aside from Handgunners and Allegiance, we have no real abilities and rely purely on stats and/ or buffing stats. We lost and gained a number of abilities, but a lot of flavor went with CoS.