RocketPropelledGrenade

You'd be looking at an awful lot of points for extremely limited objective capture and extreme vulnerability to getting focused down by hammers. 24 wounds in a unit is nice, but a 4+ save and no penalty on shooting hits makes them vulnerable to big spike damage. Give just those 18 models are going to be nearly half your army, you'll have a lot less in the way of screens, and the threat range on the troggoths is not enough to serious threaten a shooting castle. Throw in the other stuff you mention and I think it gets worse, not better, just because of lack of points for needed chaff and power projection.

This is a great answer in terms of mechanics. It might also be worth mentioning that from a more narrative/simulationist point of view, Battleline troops are generally be those core to a faction's tactics and forces. Generally either the troops they are most easily able to field, or the ones they are least able to do without. At least, that's the concept.

I think Soulblight will be returning to my painting table soon, but I need to decide which units to focus on. I have two lists I'm debating between that have a lot of overlap, but also some mutually exclusive models. The one that is closer to completion just needs me to finish 9 Deathrattle Skeletons, but if I drop the Deathrattle bois and my already-painted Blood Knights, I can fit in a second unit of Wolves, a Wight King on foot, and another 10 Grave Guard. None of those units are painted, although I've got a little bit of a start on the Grave Guard from a while back.

Between seeing the Petrifex resilience in action (I did a battle report lite in the previous thread) and the possibly-not-an-error option to run Gothizzar in units of two (they don't have Single on the Pitched Battle Profile!) I am torn between selling the Harvester from the Mortisan Tithe-Echelon I've been holding onto, or keeping it and buying a second one. I feel like 10 wounds feels a little too fragile for the points*, even in Petrifex, but a reinforced unit would be hilarious. *I'm not entirely consistent here, as I am okay with Morghasts, but I like their models better!

Played my first game against new OBR today (first game as them will be later down the road), and man, they are resilient. Hit them with a really rough pile of charges and double fights from S2D, even got the double, but couldn't kill the reinforced Immortis block or the second stalker unit, and ended up losing pretty badly as a result. Arkhan + Katakros + Boneshaper is just a gross amount of healing on models that resilient!

Grats! I read it this morning before heading to the FLGS, was a great read.

Looks like an interesting list, @Lord Krungharr! I haven't tried Chariots at all this time around, hope they do well for you. I just finished painting up my big Chosen block, which puts my army at a little over half done, model wise. Not sure if I'm going to keep going with it as my main painting project or return to Soulblight with their new battletome. Depends on what I want to take to NOVA, I think. I've got ~10-20 models to go either way, just need to decide which ones are higher priority.

Seems like it could do work, especially with the aura to reduce rend on your Blood Knights. Would be cheaper than running a second VLoZD for general if going with Vhordrai as well.

Yeah, I hadn't done the math on it, but I'd been looking at them earlier and thinking "these guys could easily do more in the way of damage that sticks than they take against a lot of units." If you can block retreats, they could grind a lot of enemies down over time, and certainly do it to stuff that tries to steal objectives from them without being a big time hammer to clear them all in one go.

Harridans are mostly useful if you go with the subfaction that makes them battleline, but Hexwraiths have utility everywhere--I'd definitely go with Hexwraiths.

Something that could maybe happen (unlikely but maybe) is Old World coming out 2024 and AoS/40k switching to 4 year cycles. There's been a lot of grumbling in the respective communities about edition turnover being too fast and not getting enough chances to play with a mature edition, but GW is kind of locked in by their shareholders to making a big sales event every year to make numbers go up. Edition changes are that, but with more lines they might be able to space things out more.

Ugh, realized late last night that in my new-book brain fatigue, I forgot two enhancements (a spell lore enhancement in a 4 wizard list, plus my Aspect of the Champion) and the entirety of Riders of Ruin when I could have probably wiped out a unit with it a turn or two early. That could have definitely tipped things. Still, just reinforces that the new book is pretty strong.

I took 20. I feel like anything that can lift 20 will probably lift 30 as well with their save (and if not, they could easily lose the rest from battleshock), but anything that can't will be stuck there forever. As a side note, I also some some suggestions about running Askurgan Trueblades in Kastelai. Not for me, since I've been a Legion of Blood fanboy ever since I first saw Neferata's model, but it seems both really thematic and potentially pretty good?

Gave the new book a run at the local game night. Only got one match in, but it was a really fun close one. Prize of Gallet, 19-24. Couldn't pin Durthu down and so he eventually took me apart, but it was a great match and it would have been 22-24 if I'd tried for Empire of Corpses as my grand strat over Lust for Domination. New Skeletons were MVP, in comedy value if not otherwise (actual MVP was probably Neferata). The other guy was running Ravenak's Gnashing Jaws and ran these 4" movement models over like four turns in a row without wiping out the unit. Unfortunately for him, there were no other good targets nearby for any of those turns. It was hilarious watching them just die and come back and die and come back.

That could be difficult. You still need to get the target within 3" of the general, it isn't a battlefield wide trait. And unless you are taking something like a Wight King on Skeletal Steed, you're unlikely to have a general mobile enough and with a small enough base for draconic cruise missiles. Maybe a Vengorian, but then you're still committing two monsters into a relatively small space.

One possible way to emphasize the traps/kunnin' tricks more would be to make them like Lumineth Aether-quartz. Give each unit a Trap token at the start of the game, and they can spend it on an effect such as the ones Woolf describes--hidden trapdoor or tunnel, deadly snares, armor-dissolving slime, etc.

I've seen Karazai + Praetors do pretty well as the basis for a list lately, both locally and in a few tournament reports. I think between the massive bench to test new ideas and lists with and the occasional points update to shake things up, Stormcast aren't in a terrible place? They could be doing better, of course, but at least some of the book can do work. Internal balance is awful, but even with half the warscrolls competitively unusable, that's more than some entire factions left to experiment with.

Sylvaneth was actually one of the other armies I was thinking of as an example, but didn't cite. Arch-Revenants have very little to do with Tree- or Spite- Revenants mechanically, but match them in silhouette, and would look super weird attached to the units of Kurnoth they are actually associated with. I guess the lone operatives thing they mention could cover examples like these, but I feel like it wouldn't always be the right thematic fit. Ultimately, where I'm at it "this is a great mechanic for 40k, but the way AoS does it works just fine for AoS. Change for the sake of change or for making two different games unnecessarily similar is bad."

I think the leader thing is cool, and works great for 40k. However, in AoS it might not work as well. First off, there are heroes that don't "match" units but are closely associated with them--would a Vampire Lord join a unit of Grave Guard? That would be weird to me. I know it happened in WFB, but I like the freedom to have the Vampire Lord be more independent from its disposable minions. Second, as noted, the power of support heroes means some degree of vulnerability should be the case for them. Unless we get a full battletome reset like 40k (and I pray that we do not), this wouldn't work out well.

I think this is a big part of it for sure. GW has been known to design in response to the reception of previous books or units, and I don't think I saw a single netlist without at least two of Mannfred, Belladama, Neferata and Vhordrai for ages.

Oh right, I forgot! The one downside is that the Liege can't issue it to multiple units, but that might be a little too good at that point.

I could see a conditional way to get +1 save, as long as they can't get to 3+ with All Out Defense. That would be silly for swamp-dwelling commando Orruks in terms of heavy armor. Outnumbering would be an option, or maybe they can receive a free All Out Defense if the enemy All Out Attacks or something like that.

@TechnoVampire No need to apologize or feel bad for not liking something in a game. Your tastes are valid, and any pushback I've given has been an attempt to find a silver lining you would appreciate, not to suggest you are wrong! I hope you can get some joy out of it by putting it on the table and trying it out, and if not, I hope you find an alternative that works for you.

I'm against increasing the Gutrippa save because it costs them differentiation from Ironjawz then. -1 to hit and/or -1 to wound is distinct. Give them a 4+ save and they're just Ard Boyz with poison (which would mean they'd need to be substantially more expensive than Ard Boyz to be balanced, on top of the thematic issues).

The Liege's command ability is also a huge offensive boost in some engagements. Sure, Bludgeon is great as well, but if you don't need the extra rend or have high damage stuff like stalkers or halberd-equipped Morghasts, then Endless Duty is just straight money.