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Neil Arthur Hotep

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Everything posted by Neil Arthur Hotep

  1. I have mentioned this before somewhere, but it is really tricky to envision a path foreward for Cities as an army of elves, dwarves and humans that is both satisfying and realistic. I think the commitment needed to actually update the models (basically two more big waves of releases for both dwarves and elves) just seems too high. Especially if they actually have a second wave of human designs already mostly completed. I don't know how Cities will develop going foreward. I think GW recognizes that people responded well to the idea of the Cities of Sigmar being a melting pot. And it is definitely still part of the lore in the newest tome, as well. So I wonder where they plan to go with it. Here's one thing I believe, though: The old dwarf and dark elf kits are not leaving cities to go into another faction (Grungni dwarves/Malerion elves). They either stay in cities and eventually get replaced with new sculpts or they are cut from the game. Let's hope it's the former, somehow.
  2. I was initially not sure about it, because in my opinion having a unit that comes with a collection of a bunch of odd rules is not usually super good because it tends to not advance any particular game plan. But the Command Corps just does so much stuff that is good in basically every list. 3d3 healing at a good distance +1 to run and charge and the chance to score a battle tactic and d3" move buff board-wide command denial can score a battle tactic Plus a few other things that are situationally useful. It really is a steal at 170 points. Just compare all that to what a cannon or Fusil-Major can do at 150.
  3. There would be no problem with the next Cities wave coming late 4th or even 5th edition. The range feels reasonably complete already. But the way that the designers talked about all the important concepts the wanted to include "but didn't have room for in this wave" makes me think we will see it sooner rather than later. We already know they wanted to put in more religious units, but there is definitely also room for new steam tech stuff and a few new takes on old units that got cut without replacement like Greatswords.
  4. There are few interesting points in that article, thank you for sharing. Most intersting from my perspective are the ambiguity on Tahlia Vedra's rally ability (I had read it as "4+ rally, for humans also into combat" but it is not clear from the wording) and the fact that the Command Crops medic can heal the same unit three times. The latter is actually super welcome, because I was looking for a good way to heal Steam Tanks (even considering the Flask of Lethisian Gamer-Girl Bathwater, even though it's a dumb once-per-battle d6 heal) and will be taking the Command Corps anyway. Also, lol:
  5. All I can say is, a dragon seems kind of out of place for an army with an egyptian aesthetic. Unless... 🤔
  6. I agree, and having some experience with the TK kits in particular, if they are really bringing back the old skeleton archer kit as it was at the time, I will be very disappointed. Those skeletons and the infantry skeleton kit they are based on (it is an upgrade sprue) are now two generations of models out of date. And let's not speak about the awful skeleton horses from the mounted skeleton and chariot kits. Tomb Kings deserve better.
  7. I find that weird as well. A dragon seems really random as a mount. They couldn't pull a Liche Priest on Bone Scarab or whatever out of their hat?
  8. Weird that the boxes supposedly do not include all the new models we have already seen, like the new foot knight and tomb prince. Also, those are some huge boxes if true. 70+ and 90+ models is a lot. In AoS terms, that is a full army each. What are the prices going to be like, 400€?
  9. It certainly seems that AoS had about a year of very little content right after the switch to 3rd edition. Right now, it feels like cool stuff is coming out every week. I wish they would strike a better balance with this kind of thing, but their rolling battletome updates and three year edition cycle makes it hard, I think.
  10. I kind of wonder if "you get one half-size unit resurrection per hero in your list, max one per turn and you can only bring back the same unit once" would be a way to do it. Or maybe just VAMPIRE and NECROMANCER heroes. And maybe they have to be on the battlefield to do it? Because then resurrection comes with a tax, and running 6 heroes will probably prevent you from running enough SUMMONABLE to fully take advantage of it. It would make the whole thing more predictable, and maybe that would make it easier to balance overall? I don't know, but it definitely seems like resurrection is a mechanic that GW struggles with and that probably needs a redesign from the ground up in the next tome.
  11. I am definitely feeling the points squeeze after the battlescroll. Fitting in a VLoZD and Mortis Engine into the same list while also filling battleline effectively is basically not possible. Too bad, seems like I will need to cut the Engine from my fun list. For the future, I hope that we eventually get rules nerfs and point drops instead. It seems like the combination of unit resurrection, hero regeneration and other healing abilities is just too strong overall. I personally don't know what should be changed, exactly. Maybe the Hunger? I personally like the idea of the army being composed of low-quality troops that are hard to kill as long as heroes are around, but I know a lot of people really want the vampires to feel super tough and powerful, so it's hard to say. For what it's worth, Legions of Nagash had the same problem that SBGL has now, that being that their resurrection and healing was just too strong for a while (remember Nagash+80 Skeletons or later Grimghast Reapers?). I like unit resurrection as a thing that SBGL can do, but it just seems to have proven to be very hard to properly balance throughout the history of the game.
  12. Here's a little conversion idea for those of you looking for an alternative Cavalry-Marshall: Using extra parts from the Cavalier and foot Marshall kits you can make a pretty cool conversion using the Lord Solar kit as a base. Chamonite cog-horse is 100% lore friendly.
  13. It's Steelhelm time. They are surprisingly less fiddly than I thought.
  14. I have not looked into the specifics for a bit, but in general for named characters you only get what's on the warscroll. They don't get artefacts or command traits to uplift them and are frequently subfaction locked. Sometimes, that just means they should be cheaper than the generic version, even if their warscroll is stronger in a vacuum. And for generics, you basically always have to point for the best use case if you want to balance for competitive play, so even if the VLoZD is not that good in most subfactions, the fact that it is really scary in Legion of Blood means it needs to be pointed for that role, sadly.
  15. Even with all that, I am still rating the Dreadlord fairly highly in this book. Best user of the wound reflection command trait. Flying, so can counter charge over screens. Fast enough to support all the good Dark elf cavalry units with strikes first/retreat out of combat.I Even if he's not great by the standards of other monster heroes, I think he has uses in this army.
  16. Big oof. Poor dwarfs. I guess you can still Unleash at full strength if you are between 3" and 6" away from the charging unit, but it certainly does not make the unit easier to use.
  17. Calculating the efficiency of Gotrek vs. a unit of Hammerers with support might be an interesting exercise. He can't score you battle tactics, but he's definitely a very hard to kill hammer unit. He's definitely got the painting efficiency metrics on lock: Having to paint one guy instead of 20 is hard to beat.
  18. Very much agreed on the role of elves and dwarves as supporting units in this book. I think a human core with elf/dwarf auxiliaries should work very well. Both have a lot to offer that humans can't easily replicate on their own, but struggle to field a full list without humans. I would also add the Sorceress and Blackguard to the category of good units. Pairing these two units makes them self-sufficient: They both get that 4+ ward and the Sorceress can cast Tenebrael Blades to give the Black Guard some good punch. Just sacrificing a Black Guard for the cast bonus if you need it seems better to me than dragging around another extra 90 points of Dreadspears or whatever. Maybe a hot take, but I don't super love the Scourge Privateers in the Tenebrael Blades combo. They get a lot of attacks, of course, but the combo seems really easy to disrupt if they are your main buff recipient unit. It's not possible to easily snipe heroes anymore, but it seems to me like most lists should be able to snipe a 5+ save unit. Also, the combo gets very complex if you go all the way with it: Privateers, Fleetmaster, Sorceress, Darkling Covens unit to sacrifice... That's a lot of easily disruptible moving parts.
  19. Personally, I think every option for a second shooting unit in Cities is currently kinda bad. Which is also why I don't think Greywater is actually as good as it appears at first glance. The second block of Fusiliers is not so good becuase it either makes you really immobile by having to keep both blocks near the same Alchemite or it misses out on a lot of the buffs that make the first Fusilier block good (+1 to wound from command trait, mortals from the spell). You can't have two Fusilier blocks operating independently to good effect. Irondrakes, I already talked about above. Overall, I think they are too expensive right now for what they can theoretically do. The same applies to the Fusil-Major and Cannons. Having a Steam Tank or two is genuinely a defensible option, but not for their ranged damage output alone. They shoot OK, though. Same for the Scourgerunner and possibly the Gyrocopters. Everything else seems like incidental shooting, not real damage dealers. You can slap a unit of Darkshards in a list as a ranged screen that does, like, 3 damage per round. Or you can run a unit of Wildercorps Hunters just to push them onto terrain near an objective so that the opponent has to come down there to remove them. But none of the units not mentioned above have the potential to deal serious ranged damage. In my opinion: Be happy with the good shooting you can get out of that first Fusilier unit, build the rest of the army as melee.
  20. I'd love that, but I expect they will put out another wave of Freeguild designs first. Because realistically, there is probably a stockpile of new designs that are already done but just didn't make the cut for this wave of models. I hope they figure out a good way to deal with elves and dwarves. They need to get a re-imagining in the same vein as the Freeguild if they are to stay part of the book long-term. But how would that even work from a release perspective without giving Cities three battletomes next edition? I don't think we can realistically wait around another 6 years until they finally update Dispossessed. I don't really know what will happen. Maybe we will actually see new Grungni and Malerion factions in the near future. That could at least be an excuse to replace the old WHFB models with a smaller contingent of dedicated Cities elves and dwarves (maybe more integrated into the Freeguild?).
  21. Absolutely agreed and I have been tooting the same horn in this thread multiple times. I am working under the assumption that this is a mistake and will be errata'd. Otherwise, you are right, this is a significant downside.
  22. I like a unit of Ironbreakers with a supporting hero. 3+, 4+ save is a proper anvil. Hammerers are good, too, especially since the Warden King can pull them out of strikes last from shield wall into regular combat by activation chaining.
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