OkayestDM

They are effectively the same thing. A Liberator model has a Wounds characteristic of 2. A unit of 5 Liberators also has a wounds characteristic of 2 (because both the model and the unit utilize the same warscroll.)

Interestingly, I think the value of Vigilors might go up a bit in lower-point games. Units that can cover multiple roles are more worthwhile when you have to be conservative with points, and the fact that they could shoot a unit and then charge in and benefit from their own +1 bonus in the combat phase dies have some value. They're still not an "optimal" unit, but not completely without value either.

I would agree, with the caveat that people's mileage will vary. Against a 10-man-unit meta, you will absolutely get great value out of them. If all your friends play Beastclaw Raiders or Mega Gargants on the other hand . . . I guess they'll make a nice speed bump? In the end, that's their biggest drawback. In the strictly competitive sense, you're gambling with points that might shine, but could just as easily be a waste of space in a fairly elite army. Most competitive players can't afford that kind of relative unreliability in a unit. On the casual scene, they're fine. Even excellent, depending on whether or not you have an idea of what you're opponent will be fielding.

I honestly wish that they had swapped the Mortal Wounds and Rally abilities. With 2" range, you're well served to have 10 Vindictors anyway, so getting a bonus to rally a unit that will likely be used to cap objectives would be nice. Similarly, Vanquishers with MW on 6s would become a much more efficient and useful hammer, and would still pose an appreciable threat against elite or single model units.

They aren't strictly terrible. Their real problem is that they're very weak on the low end. Facing a monster, hero, or 2-3 elite unit, they will flounder. Same with a 4-man unit of Ogors. At that level, they suffer both offensively and defensively, whereas other units don't. That said, they truly will shine against factions with lots of 5-10 man units. I think ultimately the problem is that you're paying precious points for a unit that can be hard-countered by a bad matchup or clever opponent, and there are other options that are simply more reliable no matter what they're facing. Finally, their built-in synergies don't work well together. If you take a unit of 10+, you get a banner that allows you to successfully Rally models back on a 5+. A great ability, but Vanquishers only have 1" reach, meaning that those 5+ extra models you paid points for can't actually do anything. Now with all that said, I fully intend to buy a bunch of them and try them out. The models are fantastic, they'll still be good in certain metas, and FAQs, points reductions, and rules changes are a possibility.

It does not.

Vigilors sit in a weird spot because they're a mixed combat unit that have abilities which make you want to leave them out of melee. Technically, they're only operating at full combat effectiveness if you can shoot a unit (or units) and then charge them into melee. The problem with that is that - for Stormcast - they're rather fragile and moving them into melee means you risk loosing out on their best ability, which is generating +1 to hit against enemy units that they damage in shooting. Vanquishers are just a disappointingly designed unit that doesn't really synergize well with it's own abilities. You can only take the musician in a unit of 10, which sounds fine until you realize that they only have 1" range on their swords, meaning half of the unit is dead weight, and being able to rally models on a 5+ does you no favors. Also, while their bonus attacks aren't terrible - you're going to run into plenty of 5-10 model units, even a minimum sizes - there's a whole lot of units out there with less than 5 models in their ranks. If you run Vanquishers into a 4-man ogor unit, the Vanquishers just become inferior Vindictors - 2 attacks each but without mortal wound potential and a worse save characteristic. If they had a base of 3 attacks instead of 2 they'd be more interesting, because even at they're worst they'd offer a decent number of attacks for less, but without a 2" range on their weapons I can't see a compelling reason to ever run them above 5.

Chaos Dwarves are the new Vampirates. When we finally do get them, I have every confidence that this fine community will find some other far-fetched faction to obsess over (though Chaos Dwarves are actually looking quite probable at the moment.) Wheeling back into the rumor lane . . . The spider motif is an interesting one for Warcry. I think the most obvious connection are Spiderfang Goblins, but if not that, what else in AoS has strong ties to spiders?

I'm not sure if Bless Weapons works on ranged attacks anyway. If it does though, it's really good on Judicators and Vanguard-Raptors with crossbows, where every hit counts as 2 hits instead of 1.

The Lord Relictor can only chant one prayer. He gets a +1 bonus to his prayer roll, making his prayers more reliable. You could give him the Translocate prayer as an enhancement, meaning that he would have 3 different prayers to choose from, though still could only chant one.

My initial reaction to the Battletomes was that I was a little disappointed by how bland/simplistic they seemed at a glance, but on reflection, I actually think that's good design. Not necessarily exciting design, but good. If most armies are drawing their power and intricacies from the same source (core rules), then the game will be far easier to balance over all, with point values becoming the main make-or-break element. I was overall more impressed with the design elements on display in the Orruk Warclans BT than the Stormcast, but to be honest, the raw stats present in the Stormcast are much better. I love the way they redesigned the Mawkrusha's destructive bulk to work as an add-on to the Stomp action, and the new ability added to Brutes for controlling objectives is sublime. The rules are a lot less populated than they used to be, which feels a lot less flavorful, but should ultimately be for the better.

I'll be very surprised if that model is Stormcast. The scabbard doesn't match anything used by the stormy boiz, and the handle and pommel of the blade are too normal by half. No braided look on the handle, and the pommel is neither a spike nor done comet/starburst design. The design leans much more into the classic/gothic motifs used for soulblight. Others have already compared the design on the scabbard to batwings, and if that hair doesn't scream GW's new design principles for vampires, U don't know what does. The only other thing I can think of would be a certain dark elf faction, but honestly the design seems a little too down-to-earth for what I would expect (which is such a strange thing to say in AOS.)

Starting to think they should have been called the Decimators . . .

I am genuinely, but pleasantly surprised that the books are going on preorder next week! The limited number of models being released alongside it is a little surprising (I thought there'd be at least a few more) but I'm ok with that. We knew the releases were going to be spread out anyway, and as others have said, seeing the stats will aid greatly in informing model purchases.

Great catch! Well, that clears 2 rumor engines! The vulture and the spear head! Obviously, there's still a little left or the Kruel Boyz, though just how much remains to be seen. Looks like there's still hope for that "wolf" cavalry! My money's on this lad being a support hero. Perhaps a priest? Hopefully, he appears in the battletome and is released alongside or after the books come out.

I think the thing to watch for will be if we have a week of increased articles on the two principle factions (3 articles at least). That'll be a pretty clear sign that they're hyping up again, which will probably be our best indicator. Anything less probably means we should defer our hopes for later.

Knowing that Griff-chargers can be made into battleline under the right circumstances, we could legitimately build a list that is all gryph-critters (chargers, hounds, chariot, Lord-Aquilor, Lord-Arcanum.) It might not be any good, but it'll sure be fun! (I've got an entirely unreasonable number of gryph-hounds on standby, just waiting for an excuse to flood the game-board!)

I always try to be patient and gracious when things don't turn out the way I want. Things happen, stuff gets delayed, these are only plastic toys. It costs me nothing to be a good sport about it. But that does still come with a certain degree of expectation. Communication being the key. I don't need details, I don't need GW to unpack the intricacies of the struggles they're facing, I just need them to have the stones to tell me up front that things have changed. Sure, they're going to catch heat over the delays no matter what. That's what happens when you create expectations and then have to alter course, even if your reasons are legitimate. But dragging out our expectations to the breaking point and then stealth editing their articles from behind to make it look like they never created those expectations is definitely the worst way to approach something like this, especially when we all know and can easily prove that they're doing it. It literally adds insult to injury, making something that many would be able to come to terms with if GW had just been frank with us utterly intolerable now.

I'd much rather the shields just boost a unit's save by 1, but they might go the -1 rend rout because it's easier to make that work with save bonuses, and to balance it with paired weapon options and such. I'd be very happy if drakes got the -1 Damage bonus. It wouldn't be a huge buff, there's plenty of units or models that only deal 1 damage, but it would still give them a respectable boost, especially against heroes or other monsters.

Personally, I'm not really buying this part of the rumor. A scale encrusted Strardrake toting sigmarite armor has got to be a 3+ save minimum. I don't know if GW would go all the way to a 2+ save, but I can't imagine them dropping it to 4+.

My wishlist for OBR would be the archers most of us assume are in the works, a 5-man unit of heavy hitters that bridge the gap between Mortek Guard and Stalkers/Morghast, one hero akin to the big guy from Underworlds, and one or two proper big monsters (the specifics of which I'm not too worried about.) I've a hunch that the lore bit from BR: Teclis where the OBR collected the Lumineth bones may tie in to the archers. But we'll just have to wait and see.

But may we call you "V?"

I kept saying to myself that I should just go ahead and start up the Strormcast 3.0 thread, but kept putting it off because I knew somebody else would probably do a better job of it (I never would have come up with such a good title ). In answer to @Sleepa's question, I suspect that Liberator and Sequitur weapon profiles will be merged together, just like Vanguard-Hunters. I imagine Evocators will keep the two separate profiles, but I suspect the profiles will have some changes That said, I also wouldn't be shocked if Evo-kitties got simplified to a single profile for both weapons. Images of the new Dracothian Guard booklets indicate that they're keeping their unique profiles while also getting some boosts, so I'm confident that our Paladins will follow suit. It's still too early for me to speculate on anything else, but what they've shown so far has really stoked my confidence that we're going to like what we see with the rest of the units.

I'm just over here living for the release of the Stormcast and Warclans Battletomes (and models, though I imagine they'll be spread out.) While I assume warscroll cards will be released alongside the Battletomes, I don't think anything has actually been said one way or the other with regards to that. Also, what are the odds Warclans actually get some endless spells, and both factions get a terrain piece? There's a lot of stuff still yet to be confirmed or denied about what's coming.

Coffee stains for me. It's funny, I was actually feeling this way until yesterday's article on some of the new options available for Stormcast. It touched on some things I've been wanting to be able to do with them for ages and pulled me back out of the lethargy caused by waiting so long for the release (at least for the moment.) Warclans are supposed to get a similar article today, which I'm looking forward to as well. Regardless, the long wait would definitely strain the enthusiasm of even the most patient fan, and I'm sure we're all feeling it. The only good thing to come of it is I've now saved up a bunch of money to spend on the new models. They just, you know, need to actually be released first . . .