Neil Arthur Hotep

This guy 100% wants to be on the board turn 1 to get as many pulls on his slot machine as possible. His ability already coms into effect quite late on average, with it cumulatively being more likely to trigger than not only by turn 4. If you are playing the odds, that's a hard sell because you definitely want to remove the support heroes that are his most likely targets earlier than that if possible.

Comparisons to mortal wound shooting are definitely misplaced, in my opinion. This ability has no alpha strike potential and is doubly random (random activation and random damage). That alone will make the Scriptor not show up in competitive games unless he also does other stuff. The effect is strong when it goes off, but it's way too unreliable to include in serious lists.

Imagine if they revealed this at Adepticon. "You know how you thought you could only get kit refreshes with new battletomes? You know how you thought we would not make highly customizable kits with a lot of extra bitz anymore? Not anymore! Now anything is possible again!"

Oh, nice. So Arena of Shades is on the horizon. Maybe preorders next week? In any case, literally giving the Scriptor Mortis a Death Note certainly works. The effect is a fun, putting a timer on whatever hero you name. Over the course of a 5 round game, it's probably pretty likely to trigger at least once, and if I read this right then it can potentially trigger mutliple times. I don't love that it doesn't work on DEATH heroes. That will make this guy a bit of a dead weight in Death mirror matches if he doesn't get any other abilties (like being a wizard or priest). So far, depending on points, my hot take is that this guy will probably be a playable casual choice, but not competitve, at least if this is his only ability. Could change if the new Nighthaunt books has extra payoffs for bringing him.

Personally, since this statement comes from WarCom, I would treat it as being run through a PR filter: Without accusing anyone of straight-up lying, it might not accurately represent the actual reasons the designers had. Much like the time we didn't get an FAQ and point adjustments when 3rd edition was about to drop, and the reason they gave was "not enough data". There probably really was less data than usual due to COVID, but the real reason was that the work would be wasted since 3rd edition was about to drop a few months later. In this case, I think the following is true: They didn't adjust points because of upcoming books (GHB) and they didn't implement a straight-up ban list because it sucks to have models from your collection become unusable. But I think the statement that they didn't do warscroll or rules updates because they don't want to invalidate battletomes is kind of misleading. Their concern with not invalidating battletomes might be real, but I don't think it stems from a concern of delivering the best game to the players. I truly believe most players would have preferred warscroll updates of the problem units they identified in the battlescroll to what we actually got, and I think it would have been the better way to go both from a casual and competitive gaming perspective. Rather, I believe their concern for the integrity of the battletome stems from pressures put on the designers by their managers: Don't change warscrolls too much, especially don't nerf them, because that will make it harder to justify us selling our rules as physical books every three years or so. I don't believe the designers don't want to touch warscrolls because they actually think it's the best way to design rules. I think they are just told they are not allowed to rewrite them too much by their bosses. On the last episode of Warhammer Weekly, Vince Venturella made a point that the handicap system from the battlescroll is really not a good solution to the balance problem, because it incurs tech debt and is not scalable. This means that they have to keep updating it as the state of the game changes (it needs to be updated along with battletomes and points now), and that this solution is not repeatable (they can't keep layering more handicap systems on top if this one does not work out; eventually the rules bloat becomes too much). With all this in addition to the other problems already discussed in this thread, I just have a very hard time believing that a group of designers competent enough to identify all the problem units and struggling factions would implement this system as their go-to balance fix without any outside pressures that prevent them from exploring other avenues.

I think this is worth talking about. While it seems hard to deny that there is something not quite right about the state of AoS at the moment for a lot of people, I don't think it is primarily a balance problem, much less a competitive play balance problem. Depending on your frame of reference, AoS is not even especially unbalanced by the standard of competitive games. A good 2/3s of factions has a real shot at winning a tournament, with probably about 1/2 being in real contention at any time. I have certainly seen much more dire looking states of affairs in other competitive games. What people currently don't like about AoS is probably not fixed by pushing competitive results closer to the 50% mark for all armies. Let's imagine for a moment that the new battlescroll succeeds and some Kragnos Bonesplittaz or Gitz list suddenly becomes a tournament staple. People would justifiedly say that this does not constitute Bonesplittaz and Gitz being fixed. That army would still have real struggles running any other list archetype. Having one tournament viable list does not change that. Conversely, if Longstrikes or Stormdrake Guard are no longer tournament staples because of their new VP tax, they don't become non-problematic units. They still do entirely too much, too easily. You can see people trying to make sense of this in the State of the Game thread, where some are currently arguing the somewhat paradoxical position that Beasts of Chaos are only good because they are underpointed, but would be bad if pointed correctly. On the face of it, that makes little sense: How could a different point level be correct if it would make the army bad? But I think we can intuitively understand the position: Winning with Beasts currently still kinda feels like you are winning with a janky army that doesn't really play right, but you are getting away with it because you get to buy raw stats (models, wounds, damage output...) cheaper than anyone else. The problem with the game as I experience it is that the 3rd edition update made a lot of 2nd edition tomes play pretty badly by invalidating things they could previously do, but not giving them the means to take advantage of the tools that the new edition offers. This hit bottom tiers more strongly than anyone else. All the tomes that are currently suffering are the same ones that were already not in a good place before the switch to 3rd, with the addition of OBR. At the same time, good armies with deep benches were not only able to adapt to the new state of the game, but could even exploit the new mechanics to excell. What's more, it feels like the current bottom tier is deteriorating as more battletomes come out. The gulf between, for example, Skaven and other armies becomes wider as more updates come out, not narrower. People like to frame their complaints in terms of balance, and that is understandable, because if your army does not play well against others that will probably also result in more lost games for you. So the army's janky design and inability to satisfyingly play the game result in imbalance as well. But the imbalance is not the root of the problem, and fixes aimed at competitive win percentage will only improve the game for a tiny minority of players.

Given that a Kragnos+Squigs build is kinda decent, Gitz might already be relevant after becoming a Prime Hunters faction.

For me, I just think the newest battlescroll is a step in the wrong direction, and it and the Khorne white dwarf update have once again brought all the stuff with GW's publishing model that I am less than thrilled about to the forefront of my mind. But I overall still like the new core design of 3rd edition. I also think that every battletome so far has overall been a hit and that the first battlescroll was actually quite a nice update. I am still enjoying the actual game a lot right now.

The Free City of Schwarzerden is located in the realm of Chamon in the Spiral Crux. After its original founding for the purpose of the exploitation of nearby natural ressources and magical places of power, the Schwarzerden quickly became home to one of the Mortal Realms most influential universities outside of the major Cities of Sigmar. The College of Schwarzerden is most know for its advancements in the realms of engineering, magic and above all alchemy. This alchemical know-how has also contributed massively to the wealth of the city, which is know to produce refined metals, optical lenses, porcellain, medicine and immitation gold of exceedingly high quality. The biggest success of the College of Schwarzerden in the application of the principles of alchemy is what is know as Celestial Steel, the method of creation of which is also the city's biggest trade secret. Through the alchemical purification of what is known as Goblin Ores, raw metals that are usually regarded as mining waste and which release toxic gasses when smelted by the usual methods, the alchemists of Schwarzerden are able to obtain a crystaline substance know as lapis mirabilis (the Wonderous Stone). By introducing lapis mirabilis to steel during production in accordance with alchemical principles, an exaltation of the base steel is achieved. The resulting product is Celestial Steel, which is lighter and more heat resistant than ordinary steel without a loss of protective ability. Recognizable by its characteristic blue sheen, Celestial Steel is what allows the Ironweld of Schwarzerden to construct the superior Steam Tanks and Gyrocopters that make up the back bone of the Schwarzerden army. Lapis mirabilis also finds application as part of the propellant of the Comet's Tail rockets fired by Schwarzerden's Helstorm Rocket Batteries and in the manufacturing of the high-quality optical lenses that make the celestial mages of Schwarzerden some of the most respected outside of Azyr. Schwarzerden is a small city-state with a population of only about 60000, predominantly humans and dwarves. Due to this, Schwarzerden is only able to maintain a single Freeguild, which is however remarkably integrated with the resident Ironweld and Collegiate Arcane. This Freeguild, the Sun's Splendor, is recognizable by its white and orange heraldry and structures itself in accordance with the same alchemical principles that govern most of life in Schwarzerden. It organizes itself into smaller battle groups in which a Steam Tank serves as the central focal point, which is then supported by a unit of Handgunners and a Gyrocopter, the function of which is to protect it against ambushes and aerial threats. After an inital artillery strike from the city's rocket batteries, several such groups are supposed to engage enemy troops in a coordinated attack, preferably on open ground, bringin to bear the huge destructive power of the Steam Tank. They are further supported with strategic intelligence and magical support by a Celestial Hurricanum and the battlemage commanding it. Supposedly, this "admixing" of different elements of warfare is an instance of alchemical "exaltation" in the martial realm, in which separate elements are combined into a more powerful whole and "transmuted" in order to gain abilities not found in the component elements alone. The city of Schwarzerden supports a staggering amount of tanks for a city of it's size, at almost two dozen, although it lacks the manpower to field them all at the same time. While the high quality of its troops has occasionally allowed Schwarzerden to successfully engage foes much mightier than itself, the large amount of expertise and drilling necessary to implement its military doctrine makes it very hard for the city to quickly replace its troops should any of them be lost in battle. The operation of a unit of Rocket Batteries, for example, requires no less than three full-fledged engineers for every four batteries as well as several more skilled artillery men, and this is after the adoption of a "rolling fire" system which reduces the amount of crew necessary. These crews are usually drawn directly from the engineering department of the College of Schwarzerden, and the loss of even a single man might take months to replace.

I guess Cities of Sigmar is also always a strong contender when Stormcast are involved. Probably the easiest way to run a bunch of miniatures from different factions in one army. They even have some dragons of their own!

Best I can do is an Arkanaut hero model and all your command abilities get removed.

Fun lore! Is this supposed to be a Cathay/China homebrew faction?

I have to be honest with you: If battletomes were only lore and hobby reference books, I probably would not buy them. Not that I buy a lot of battletomes as things currently stand, but I would probably buy even fewer. That said, if battletomes expanded to include more narrative gaming content, such as faction-specific battleplans and rules to make custom characters, I probably would keep buying them even if they dropped the match play rules. I would also sign up to a subscription service that guarantees you digital access to all faction rules, both current and future. This would be extra money in GW's pocket since I am definitely not buying every battletome just to look at all faction rules, but I will pay, like, 10 dollarydoos per month for it.

I was considering that, but my reasoning is that they might have done the made-to-order run even though a full rerelease is planned for later so that they can start pushing out the explansions earlier. You know, pre-empt "You can't even buy the game but there are already expansions out" types of comments.

Limiting myself to models here, but I am going to guess: Underworlds zombie warband First Cursed City expansion Something out of left field for main-line AoS? I don't know what AoS proper could get, to be honest. We know the contents of the DoK vs. Nighthaunt box already. It is possible that there are more new Nighthaunt and DoK models coming though. In the case of Nighthaunt we have a bunch of rumour engines that could be pointing that way, and in the case of DoK it would help justify their new book a bit more.

Judicators definitely seem poised to take the place of Longstrikes at a moment's notice, so we will see how that plays out. They fill close to exactly the same role.

I do have bunch of leftover Helstorm rockets lying around right now that could work as a spear tip. Gyrobomber bombs, as well, actually. I think I might have to give this some serious consideration, it would fit right into my homebrew city.

I'm a big proponent of more awareness of the social contract of the game for people's private play groups and clubs. More communication about what you want out of the game can only make for a better experience. There is no reason you can't play all the units that are usually too bad to field if the people you play with are on board with it. That said, the fact that you can house rule or soft ban stuff in your own play group does not absolve the people of GW from their responsibility of making a more or less balanced product. Anyone can always ignore any rules of any game they play. That does not make a game having bad rules not a problem, however. In particular, the "canon" rules are important because they serve as a starting point for set, unspoken expectations between people. They are the base line rules of the game that people will expect you to follow unless otherwise discussed. The designers of AoS should have an ambition to make these rules as good as they can. After all, GW insists on selling us both the models and the rules. And we as players should also expect excellence in rules design from GW. They are the biggest tabletop gaming company, as well as one of the oldest and one of the most expensive. They should definitely be able to deliver a quality product. Now, for your personal enjoyment of the game, it is probably best to not just get angry at GW and wait for them to fix everything. The company GW is setting themself up for failure on that front with their rolling battletome release model, three year edition cycle and insistence on printing rules updates mostly in physical form. For individual players, it is probably best to find a way of playing the game that they enjoy and having at it. But that doesn't mean GW gets to be immune to criticism.

Strongly considering a Demigryph Knight conversion of grenade-lance knights on AdMech mechanical horses right now.

I personally genuinely don't think laziness is the issue here. At least on the part of the rules guys. I'm sure they would be happy to do more if they could. In fact, I would be willing to bet the decision to publish battlescrolls in the first place didn't originate from management or marketing or whatever. Obviously I don't have any inside info, but it really feels like the kind of thing that someone on the rules team probably lobbied for. Rather, I think it's highly probable that the rules guys would want to just do warscroll rewrites or points adjustments if they could, but have their hands tied because the GHB is already at the printers. And the responsibility for that lies with the corporate entity of GW as a whole because of the business model they chose for their game books. But even that is not laziness. I can agree to this being a "lazy update" in so far as it doesn't adress the core problems of the game, though. But even then, I am sure the motivation is there. The corporate entity GW just makes it impossible for themselves to do in a timely manner.

There is even somewhat of a historical basis for the concept of a grenade-lance. It's called a lunge mine and is a WWII era anti-tank weapon. They didn't catch on because they were basically suicide weapons, though.

In all fairness, the arbitrary limits on stuff like behemoths and artillery are another piece of AoS design that I find unfortunate, haha. Much like with the new battlescroll, I think having to arbitrarily limiting the number of artillery is a minor design failure, because ideally artillery spam being bad should be an emergent property of the core mechanics. However, I can recognize that there can be merit to the decision of having certain rules just for the sake of gameplay even if they don't mesh well with the narrative. But I also feel like having these kinds of rules be related to the list building stage of the game, where the fiction is not "alive" for lack of a better term, is less bad than having them come up when the game is in the process of being played. Because that part of the game at least to some degree simulates the epic battles the lore tells us about. I am more invested in that than whatever the list building stage represents. The reason I brought up the narrative/fiction of the game in the first place is because this update really is a tripple whammy of unpleasant design for me. Mechanically, I think it aims at the wrong problem. Narratively, it doesn't work well with the fiction of the game for me. And from a user experience perspective, it is inelegant to have to look up non-rule governed stuff in a table.

GW thinking outside the box is a lot less impressive when they stuck are inside the box of their own volition because being in the box is more profitable. GW makes all the rules. Both the game rules and the rules about what can and cannot be changed outside of a printed book. Tackling problems of their own making in a creative new way is really not something that will make me cheer for them when they could easily change their business model for the sake of making the game better. Also, I am unconvinced that Stormdrake Guard won't go up in points and/or get a warscroll rewrite in the GHB.

I wouldn't dislike this approach nearly as much if the extra VP were integrated more strongly with the actual game rules. Besides the fact that this new system really does not tackle the game play problems that lead to imbalance, the new rules are just completely detached from the rest of the game. Mechanically, there is nothing in the rules that allows you to figure out for yourself which units are prime targets and which factions are prime hunters. It does not flow from anything related to the core gameplay system. These units and factions produce extra VP only because they were declared to do so, not because of any unifying characteristic of those units in game play terms. It's not a case of "all WARMASTERS give up extra VP when killed". Prime targets are prime targets exactly because they are on the table of prime targets. Having to look up information like this, which you could never figure out for yourself no matter how good your understanding of the system is, from a table is just an awful player experience. Peak exception based design. Narratively, these rules are a miss, as well. VP are a really abstract resource. They work fine as a representation of what is supposedly happening on the battlefield in a game of AoS, where two armies are trying to each take control of the territory. But suddenly an eclectic list of units is also worth extra VP. What do those VP represent? Why do you get them for killing Vanguard Hunters with Longstrike Crossbows, but not Vanguard Hunters with Hurricane Crossbows? Why do Nighthaunt get more VP for doing so? It's just completely detached from the fiction.

It is absolutely right that GW themselves are at fault for not being able to use their existing avenues of balancing the game (warscrolls and points) because of how they cling to their book sales. And we should absolutely be clear that the strategy of putting out these kinds of updates in the GHB is not for the benefit of the game or the players. It is purely so that they have an easy annual book to sell. They could remove points from the GHB entirely if they wanted to and do them as a digital supplement. They could do warscroll updates whenver they want. They choose not to because these things drive book sales. I think the new battlescroll is not a case of incompetence. I think it is the rules designers working within the bounds of corporate mandates. You can tell that the rules people know what they are doing because they more or less correctly identified all the over- and underperformers. But there is no world in which the handicap system they introduced is the first choice to adress the existing imbalances. I very much feel like this update is aimed at competitive players with a laser focus. Because those kinds of players are the ones that will actually feel an impact from it in a way they care about. As someone who does not play in tournaments, the update is really immaterial to me. If my Nighthaunt army previously felt bad to play against Sons of Behemat, this does nothing to adress that.