Falkman

Keep in mind that it is likely to get FAQed though, I cannot see that being the intent behind the rule (even though as written it definitely works that way).

They are still changed compared to the battletome though. They can’t assume everyone buys the GHB every year so putting stars for everything that is different than the battletome makes sense.

On the other hand, why would it look different if nothing has changed?

Change in min or max unit size maybe?

I'd also like to chime on on the starting box, and I agree with most other posters here that it is not a very good product at all. It seems to be designed as a catch-all product that instead fails to be interesting to anyone but the most hardcore fans. You only get a few models (470 points) so you cannot play any meaningful games with it. On top of that we know that there are no more models coming for a while so these are what you are stuck with for a while. And finally you get a lot of pretty interesting extras but they cost a fair amount. The price is not too expensive if you want absolutely everything in the box (but most people probably don't) but it is also not a very good saving even if you do. However if you don't want every single thing in the box it becomes very expensive very fast. So you end up with a pricy product that seems to be about 50% flashy extras and only a small selection of models while at the same time you know the rest of the models are months off. Compare this to the Sisters box which had a similar staggered release, but instead contained a much better (and bigger) selection of models so you could start playing meaningful games with them right away.

Not really seeing what you are getting at to be honest. Paint your models whatever colour you like the most, if you want them to be green then paint them green. You can use the rules for any nation regardless of how you have painted your models so that is not an issue.

No, but he is correct in that Order Draconis (or whatever the old High Elf stuff was called) was scrapped.

That list is 520 points.

I think they look like they will do really well at lower point levels. Since all the Vanari units are wizards on top of your hero wizards you will have access to a lot of spells and casts so you can get a lot of buffs or offensive spells going that other armies at that level will struggle to deal with. On top of this everything has really solid stats so they can hold their own in a battle. I am planning on skipping Teclis completely even at 2000 points so the fact that the army seems to work really well even without him is a big relief.

Many of the command abilities in the game are not used by heroes, they simply require a hero to be on the field/close to the unit using them. The three in the AoS core book are not used by heroes for example, but by the units themselves. the Iliatha ability is no different. Seems to be a common misconception though.

The cows are really interesting in my opinion, since usually the named model "upgrade" is just better but in this case they are different. I am planning on running the regular one because of the better rend and damage output, but Avalenor's buffs are MUCH better. Avalenor's -1 to hit-aura affects every enemy model in range whereas the normal cow's aura only affects a single enemy unit. Avalenor's attack buff also improves more than one unit, but that's only relevant if you are playing multiple Stoneguard units. Finally Avalenor's "free CP"-buff has a bigger range than the regular cow's so is easier to use. Basically I would say that if you want better melee output from the cow you take the regular one, but if you want better buffs you take Avalenor.

Yes, the baseline benefits is starting the game with an extra CP and getting to pick an extra artefact of power. If you have an army that can take mount traits or similar then you can usually also take an extra of those when you take a battalion.

Solar flare seems to be a very difficult spell to use right though, since you can only cast it 10" away and it will then make spell casting and unbinding more difficult for all your wizards within 12" of that spot. So it seems like you can only really put it to good use if you cast it with a unit that has moved ahead of the rest of your army.

All right, so update since we know all the traits and artefacts now. Great nation of Iliatha Eltharion - 220 pts Alarith Stonemage - 130 pts - Simulacra amulet, Voice of the mountains Scinari Cathallar - 140 pts - General, Warmaster, Silver wand, Total eclipse 20 Wardens - 240 pts - Protection of Hysh 20 Wardens - 240 pts - Ethereal blessing 10 Sentinels - 140 pts - Speed of Hysh 10 Sentinels - 140 pts - Speed of Hysh 5 Dawnriders - 130 pts - Lambent light 5 Dawnriders - 130 pts - Lambent light Spirit of the Mountain - 340 pts Auralan Legion - 120 pts Hyshian Twinstones - 30 pts 2000 pts total I'm surprisingly happy with both the command traits and artefacts, in a lot of the books most of these feel like afterthoughts and with one very clear winner, but I think most of our options look good and interesting.

You get 2 mortal wounds. Damage is only used when you roll to wound and an enemy fails a save, and since you stop at the hit roll in this case Damage never comes into play.

Lumineth are no more special than any other factions in this regard. We will probably get a new battletome somewhere in the future just like everyone else, and when that happens we will likely see more releases. But the faction is not released "incomplete", the things that are in the current battletome are the models planned for this release, there is nothing extra coming in the near future if that is what you expect.

Lumineth are not part of the allies available for Deepkin, so is this a theoretical discussion if an errata changes that?

Yeah, several of the translated summaries are pretty iffy. Here's the actual sentence in the book run through google translate. Also note that even without translating you can see the keywords used, the weapon adds 1 "schaden" which you can compare to the warscrolls to see that schaden = weapon damage, not attacks.

The artifact does not add any attacks, so you will have 1-3 attacks. What it does is add one damage to one attack per turn.

I'm kind of okay with that, the army is apparently very wizard-focused so that's a thematic choice GW made. But then still having melee traits and items that you have to take for certain nations is very weird.

I think this is going to be my initial goal list to build towards. I really like the look of the Stoenguard but rules-wise the seem pretty weak compared to the rest of the stuff in the army so they will not make the cut initially. For nation I think Iliatha or Zaitrec are the most interesting (and they don't have any dumb melee traits or artefacts that I have to take for my wizard heroes…) Eltharion - 220 pts Alarith Stonemage - 130 pts Scinari Cathallar - 140 pts 20 Wardens - 240 pts 20 Wardens - 240 pts 10 Sentinels - 140 pts 10 Sentinels - 140 pts 5 Dawnriders - 130 pts 5 Dawnriders - 130 pts Spirit of the Mountain - 340 pts Auralan Legion - 120 pts Hyshian Twinstones - 30 pts 2000 pts total

It's not Teclis' spell, it's a standard lore spell that most wizards in the army can take.

The bonus is okay but not the strongest (neither is the cavalry battalion bonus). I think a lot of it will depend on which artefacts we can take, if there are multiple useful artefacts the battalions become more interesting. What I really like about all of them is how easy they are to achieve though, you are basically taking the components of at least one of the battalions in your list anyway, so no jumping through hoops just to get them.

They didn’t actually say that everyone was a wizard, they made it very clear who was. The article said ”And everyone is a wizard” as a header but then clarified ”Oh, and one more thing – your baseline units are Wizards. You see, as students of Teclis, the warriors of the Lumineth Realm-lords are keenly attuned to magic, so all Vanari units – in case you’ve not been keeping up, that’s the pikemen, horsemen and bowmen – can cast magic.” right away, so I don’t know why everyone seem so upset about that.

You lose the extra save. It doesn’t matter what order you apply them in because Ethereal still states that you ignore all modifiers. So it’s not that the spell is on them or not that matters, they just always ignore the modifiers no matter how or when they are applied. Same as if you walk into cover before becoming ethereal. You’re still Ethereal when you make the save, so you ignore the modifier.