Sorrow

I played a few games with the most recent rule update, I have to say that I am honestly speechless at this point. Hedonites just keep getting worse and worse. Every tournament player in my local meta who played them, jumped ship to other factions. Simply not worth the hassle. Generally, the online HoS communities all seem to agree that GW is completely destroying us. I will continue playing them sometimes, but Soulblight are going to be my primary faction from now.

@AngryPanda It never made sense lore wise for Slaaneshi to be Summoning Faction Number 1. After years of reading GW fiction, Tzeentch and Nurgle are far more "Summoning gods" then Slaanesh or Khorne. Which does not mean that Slaaneshi and Khornate daemons do not march alongside mortals, of course they do, but it means that followers of Tzeentch are more likely to summon daemons and followers of Nurgle will spread diseases turning people into daemons. @MothmanDraws A excellent post, that is precisely how I think the Four Chaos gods should play. Anyway, I have been tinkering with some lists in preparation for a local tournament, I will be blunt and say that I weep now for our second wave points. A lot of my games involved usage of Slickblades and now they are simply far too expensive plus Hellstriders are now competing with them and are in some aspects better.

Sadly, I am afraid "no one likes Slaanesh" will be GW conclusion.

Great post all around but I wanted to comment on this particular part. Games Workshop will continue to produce beautiful miniatures which will have good rules plus very interesting lore. Soulblight being the most recent example and I have no doubt other factions will get similar treatment.

We already had our big release and time in the spotlight. I think that our most recent new points will be final for a long time. There are numerous other factions in AoS that are in dire need of massive model updates and large additions. In Grand Alliance Chaos, Skaven and even Maggotkin need great attention.

I spoke with a owner of two game shops, he said the same thing, that they sold very poorly and immediately blamed the rules. He is in regular contact with a few other shops across Europe and they really do not paint a pretty picture of Hedonite sales according to him. Of course, it could be that these shops just have no Slaaneshi players in the area, as you already said. Covid is hollow excuse, take a look at Soulblight and Lumineth.

The tragedy is that this beautiful Slaaneshi release could have brought in a lot of new players to the fold. In the long run, it would mean everything, from the possible new Hedonite releases to Emperor Children codex in WH40K. A lot of people who wanted to jump in our faction when the second release came were scared of by rules and now this points increase is a final nail in the coffin. Many of those potential new Slaanesh players are going to other factions, Soulblight and Lumineth are a popular choices it appears. So if GW decides that this Hedonite release was not worth it financially, that is going to have very negative consequences for entire Slaaneshi range across entire GW franchise in the future.

And lack of playtesting data does not explain our systematic disastrous points increases, see Soulblight and Lumineth.

@Yoid User @Cambyses made a excellent post on nature of playing Hedonites, which I will repost. "Really comprehensive post & I do agree on most accounts, however I do feel the need to discuss this last point a bit. Having a difficult or high skill floor faction is fine, and in fact should be expected from something like Slaanesh, but the faction should also have a high skill ceiling payoff to match, which I don't think is quite there when compared to other factions with similar levels of skill expression. I have a buddy who plays Blades of Khorne who is probably the best player in our groups has expressed similar frustrations before, where he would have to work much harder and be more meticulous with positional plays just to get the same pay-off as a easier or better faction, and while I don't think Hedonites are nearly as bad as BoK, I do get somewhat similar vibes. "

I had a small suspicion that we were written for AoS 2 and that our points would increase in AoS 3. But that Slaanesh would get the highest price increase of all factions is absolutely tragicomic.

Thus far, things are looking very promising for us. Huge thank you to @Enoby for his detailed analysis. I just hope our rules were written for AoS 3. It would be funny if we found out that our rules were actually written for AoS 2 and we get a point increase across some units that are already priced too high, looking at Slaangors/Painbringers/Twinsouls.

I am not going to get on hype train just yet, but I think we would be a real powerhouse in AoS 3 by what we have seen thus far.

I think this is new, I do not see it here: https://www.warhammer-community.com/broken-realms/ Anyway, Sigvald and Glutos went against each other, that is why no Hedonites reached the city. Story: https://www.warhammer-community.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GoOdPej7qcXOKbTT.pdf

I really doubt that they will touch faction specific Endless Spells and looking at the new rules, thus far, I am quite happy with them. Let us hope GW stays on this course.

The only politics I endorse are traditional conservative Slaaneshi values.

I can only say thank you for writing this. Nothing more can I add. Also, your models are beautiful, Glutos and Slickblades especially! Welcome!

My thanks! Lauka Vai?

@Neil Arthur Hotep@swarmofseals@Honk My sincere thanks! Final question, thoughts on Lauka Vai and Radukar the Beast? I ask because I am planning a order, so I am gauging which way to go.

Those rules do suggest that AoS 3. rules could lean our way, let us hope we stay on that course.

Question from a new Soulblight player! What are your thoughts on rules of Kritza and Lady Annika?

The initial changes do suggest that AoS 3. rules could favor us, but until we have seen them in full, I will remain cautiously optimistic. Also, I suspect that AoS 3. will see a lot of new heroes and monsters for existing and new factions, as such we will need to gauge where we are truly.

@Enoby Let us wait and see where AOS 3 will take us. Both in rules and lore.

Anyone who played more than 10 games of Age of Sigmar should with a 1 minute glance over Slaangor warscroll see that it is absolute garbage. Which is a great shame since the models are beautiful and the lore describes them as mighty indeed. That a Games Workshop rules team, who write this for living, could say "It is okay" when taking a final glance at Slaangor warscroll speaks more of either utter incompetence or as many rumors already imply, a deliberate desire on part of some writers to see Hedonite faction as weak as possible. Lack of play-testing data does not explain our rules, for Daughters of Khaine, Lumineth and Soulblight prove that rules could be written properly in a Covid-19 era.

Gordrakk stands up to Kragnos, but gets defeated in a fight. Kragnos spares him and they all march towards the Excelsis. Destruction side does not really factor in Slaaneshi side of story that much.

Our models are beautiful. But our lore is simply a disaster. Even famous online reviewers who covered our new battletome already said it made little sense, now with Broken Realms ending, it makes even less sense. The Twins get wasted by a family of witch/vampire hunters in a completely tragicomic way. The only thing that the Twins should have said "We will get you next time!" and magic of Saturday morning cartoon villains would be complete. Also, despite the fact that we got two BR short stories where it appears Hedonites armies are moving towards Excelsis, literally nobody shows up. Nobody. Where are Sigvald and Glutos?