Dogmantra

If you mean diameter of the model itself, it's a little tricky to get an exact measurement but it seems to be somewhere around 80mm.

Correct on all counts. The instant death affects any unit without a rule specifically forbidding it (Gargants and Gotrek off the top of my head). The key is to screen so that there is not enough space for the purple sun to end within 3" of your high point cost single model units for as long as possible. The instant death effect is pretty garbage vs high model count (1 in 6 to kill a single clan rat whoopee), but on the other hand you can take out Nagash on a single roll of 1

There is to the best of my knowledge no core rule limiting reserves to one half of your army in 3rd Edition. Reserves are restricted on a case-by-case basis. As you noted, SCE specifies one in reserve per one on the board. The restriction for Nighthaunt is 3 units.

It could do with clarification for sure. I think, since it tells you to determine range from the chosen model that does apply at all times, and so yes, the single chosen model is the source of auras, since you measure whether a unit is in range of the effect. It's weird because I can't tell what the intent is, multi-model auras are already a thing, it doesn't seem too powerful, and it would only affect the range of auras anyway since for instant effects you'll obviously just pick whichever model is in range. I don't like that as an rule at all, and honestly for the sake of bookkeeping I would as a TO be happy to rule that the whole unit is the source of the aura, but I think if you go by a full rules-as-written approach (which I feel I must here because I have zero idea what GW intends!) then it is the single model chosen that is the source.

19.4 clears this up. You pick a single model and measure range and visibility from that model. "19.4 Units of Wizards WIZARDS are usually units consisting of a single model. If a unit with the WIZARD keyword has more than 1 model, it counts as a single WIZARD for rules purposes and you must pick 1 model in the unit with which to cast or unbind a spell before you attempt to cast or unbind it. Determine the range and visibility for the attempt using that model."

Correct! The push fit is in an actually sensible place on the chariot which I like, unlike some other kits, so you each rider comes away totally separately and the weapon is attached specifically to one arm and one hand, so you can quite easily remove it. The chariot is one of the best models in the whole stormcast range imo, apart from the fact that the spear looks so goofy, and it commits the (minor) sin of there being a rock moulded onto one of the wheels.

Yes it's worth painting the riders separately. Personally the push fit is good enough that I just left them push fit only so I can easily pull the spear holding one out and switch it from spear (silly looking but better rules) to bow (what chariots should be).

Feels a bit odd that there was no points adjustment to address the lopsided nature of wizards in faction. Knight Incantor remains the cheapest wizard and also weirdly probably the best. You could argue that the (foot) Lords Arcanum and Exorcist benefit from increased range on spells, and also their special abilities will probably be increased in utility with this season (generic endless spells getting a big buff & horde meta with rally respectively). But I really can't see why the Knight Arcanum is supposed to be better than the Incantor? Even in a specific situation where the KA's ability of predatory spells not ending near it is going to be useful, not only because it's quite a small area of effect, but also because the Incantor's ability to auto-unbind achieves the same thing (stopping the big bad purple sun) but with far far more utility (such as anything other than stopping the purple sun). And then the KI has a better attack profile and a better warscroll spell. Very odd.

To summarise the kinda confusing rules: All battleline units with 4 or fewer wounds and no mount gain a new keyword: Galletian Veterans. All Galletian Veterans count as in range of melee if they're within 1/2" of a model in their unit within 1/2" of an enemy model (two rank fighting) and gain access to a new Command Ability. 2 or 3 Galletian Veterans units can go into a battallion called Expert Conquerers. This makes them count as 3 models on objectives. 2 or 3 Troops (core rules: not a Leader, Artillery, or Behemoth) units can go into a batallion called Bounty Hunters. They gain +1 damage to attacks in melee against all Galletian Veterans (not just the Expert Conquerers battalllion). The only way to avoid having units that take +1 damage from the Bounty Hunters battallion is to have no Galletian Veterans at all. Many armies cannot do this because their only battleline are sub 5-wound infantry units. One way to do it in Nighthaunt is to take exclusively Hexwraiths as Battleline, because they are mounted and so are not Galletian Veterans. The only upside to bringing the Expert Conquerers (counts as 3) battallion is that the units inside it count as 3. Everything else keys off the Galletian Veterans keyword instead. The only downside to taking the Expert Conquerers battallion is the opportunity cost of bringing that battallion instead of another (for example, if you put 3 units into Expert Conquerers you will at minimum be 4 drops). It's very much like Hunters of the Heartland in that respect.

Looking at a 1/6 to kill a single model, yes it feels swingy. But remember you're rolling for everything within 3" on a fairly large base. If you can get it into the middle of a few enemy units, you have a good chance of killing something. It's not uncommon for 2 or 3 support heroes to sit next to each other, especially early in the game. You only need to roll for 4 units to have a >50% chance of killing something, which is eminently doable, especially since it hits every hero phase and not just on your own turns. I agree it's absolutely not something to plan around especially for killing a specific thing but it absolutely puts your opponent on the back foot as something they have to deal with. Combine with the pressure of a few MWs from Emerald Host onto key support heroes and I imagine that a lot of armies will be spending all of their heroic actions trying to both dispel the purple sun and heroic recovery to mitigate a slow MW death. And every dispel attempt they use trying to get rid of the purple sun is another spell from the fantastic NH lore that they're not unbinding that turn. I'm willing to be proven wrong of course but I think it's looking to be a good pick. Although the new Ravenak's Gnashing Jaws and Quicksilver Swords also both seem very nice for picking off support heroes too. Overall the new endless spell rules are making me very excited to take the ghosties for another spin!

Yes the new purple sun seems good. The main downside of it looks to be the high casting value making it tricky to actually get onto the board, so Nighthaunt seem perfectly positioned with an artefact that just auto-summons it, or just Reikenor's +3 if you don't want to use that. Set up wholly within 8" and move 8" gives it a threat range of 19" which is bonkers, especially given there are battleplans where you start only 22" away. Yes it's only a 1 in 6 chance, but can your opponent afford to risk losing an expensive hero or monster by advancing them even slightly? Being CV8 is also an upside once it's on the board, making it hard to dispel. The fact that NH are then immune to the -1 save aura is just the icing on the cake.

Oh, also thinking on the impact to Vindictors - I think they still have a lot of use and benefit from being 2" reach even with these new rules. Again, assuming the bounty hunter batallion is +1 damage, Vindictors allow you to spread the risk of an attack. Drop a line of 5 other battleline in front and then 5 Vindictors behind. All of the models still get to attack, but either they can't/don't want to hit your vindictors in the back, maxing losses out at 5 rather than 10 models, or they have to split attacks which makes it more likely they will fail to wipe either unit (and then someone like Yndrasta gets to double tap the model return if you want to double down on it). What I think will be extra nice (if as people are suspecting will happen that your galletian veterans will be a huge liability), is using cheap units like Prosecutors (in non-Tempest Lords) and Gryph Hounds to screen, since they will not be a liability for any extra damage, and Vindictors can still fight over the top of them. Prosecutors can screen a comparable area with just 3 models in the unit as a 5 man unit can thanks to their 3" coherency. With javelins, they have a base 3+ save. They are also nice and versatile in that if you want, you can go Tempest Lords and benefit from all of those Galletian Veterans bonuses (12" flying unit with ok shooting and a 3+ save that counts as 9 models on an objective for just 115 points? yes please)

Don't worry, if the Bounty Hunter batallion is indeed +1 melee damage vs galletian veterans as rumoured in the same sources that accurately leaked these rules, they will benefit massively since they have such a large number of attacks. Gryph Hounds too, interestingly, being a lot of 1 damage attacks for very few points. Low rend will be a bit of a problem against some armies but plenty of armies have 5+ or even 6+ save battleline infantry which won't enjoy the double damage doggies at all. Other kneejerk reactions to today's reveal: - Stormkeep will still be useful but niche, pretty much as is. It'll be easier to get one-drops in Stormkeep now, given you won't have to worry about filling Expert Conquerers. - Annihilators will be interesting in Knights Excelsior. Able to count as 3 (which counteracts a huge weakness of theirs), their proficiency at dropping from the heavens will be nice with the proving ground decision, and the fact we're likely to see larger units again makes the KE subfaction ability trigger more often. The thing I don't like is that new command ability which could stop units of 3 in their tracks fairly easily. But 6 or even 9 shield annihilators sounds like a fun thing to try. Maybe I need to hit up ebay for even more of them. - Vanquishers finally make sense. - I think between the prime hunters rules and this, we may see more people switch over from 6 Longstrikes to 15 Judicators with Bows for their thunderbolt volley needs. Being able to count as 45 on a home objective and have slightly less weedy melee if connected with will be nice.

Oh I totally missed that part when I was looking at the rules. Been a while since I played that battleplan. I guess that means you can't do the shenanigan

Re: Dreadblade Harrows and objective shenanigans, there is one battleplan where it may come into play. Apex Predators changes the objective capture rules to be if a Leader ends a move in 3" of an objective with no enemy leader in range, or kills an enemy leader in range. So theoretically you could capture an uncontested objective then teleport elsewhere to perhaps threaten another, or be a source of command abilities. I'm not sure it will be too extremely useful given it's a 3-objective scenario with no prime objectives (and may well be removed in the next GHB).

Midnight Tome has also caught my eye due to the potential for Shenanigans. A guaranteed endless spell seems like there should be endless possibilities. My immediate thought on first reading the book was that it would combo nicely in a Nagash list to ensure you get Umbral Spellportal out. That doesn't feel like huge value though, since you're already bringing Nagash with his +silly to cast, and do you really need another wizard if you have Nagash, and if you do need another wizard, do you want to be giving up your one spell cast for it just for the niche case of facing e.g. a Knight Incantor who can Just Say No to a 15 casting roll if they really want to? Geminids does seem like a fun idea. Turning off Unleash Hell seems pretty high value against shooting armies. Purple Sun is a good idea if you can get close enough to drop it on the enemy so you don't have to worry too much about it going wild. I'd also like to try Soulsnare Shackles since shutting down enemy charges on their turn would really bypass a major weakness of Nighthaunt which is just not being very impressive on the opponent's turn, but it would require some good positioning and does run the risk of just getting dispelled before it does anything. Overall although there are chances for a lot of Shenanigans I feel like probably one of the best uses for this artefact will just be to autocast Emerald Lifeswarm. 2d3 bladegheists or harridans back guaranteed, or even just 2d3 healing on your big heroes seems really valuable.

No, not really. It's the 2nd edition design philosophy where they wanted an upside and a downside to subfactions. You got an extra ability or two but you had more restrictive decisions with artefacts and command traits. When Blades of Khorne get a 3rd edition battletome it's very likely they won't have mandatory artefacts for subfactions, but you'll have to wait til then. (In theory it's possible to bypass it if you gave your artefact to a hero without the Flayed keyword [since only the first flayed hero must receive the slaughterhelm, it doesn't say that the first artefact must go to a flayed hero]. However, the only models in your army that don't gain that keyword are models that already have a different subfaction and as far as I'm aware they're all named characters and therefore can't have an artefact at all.)

Had my chance to play my first game today with the new Nighthaunt. Went vs Soulblight Gravelords. Main take away was wow! The ghosties really don't like it when they get double turned, which happened twice! I was forced to go first, then got doubled into turn 2, lost priority and went second on turn 3, doubled my opponent into turn 4, and then got doubled into turn 5. Very back and forth! Block of 30 Chainrasps with a Spirit Torment and 5+ ward CA meant my opponent went for a conquer on turn 1 expecting to clear them or at least thin the horde enough, ended up killing 6 guys with a mega gargant, and Mannfred did 0 damage. Put me in the lead but unfortunately I just got attritioned a bit too hard and ended up losing. My list was: - Kurdoss - Reikenor - KoS on horsie (general, soulfire ring, spiteful spirit) - 2x Spirit Torments (one with the arcane tome) - Guardian of Souls (beacon of nagashizzar) - 6x Spirit Hosts - 3x Spirit Hosts - 30x Chainrasps - 2x Chainghasts - 10x Harridans - 4x Banshees I went with two warlord batallions to overload on artefacts and JUST NOW realise that I totally forgot my two extra command points from Magnificent. Oh well it wouldn't have made much of a difference! I'd honestly be ok playing this same list again, I was pretty happy with it. One thing is it is lacking a bit in bodies, but I do also really not want to play a big hordey army. Might see if I can shuffle some stuff around to get an Executioner in there, maybe instead of one spirit torment? Kurdoss is definitely my favourite model in this list, hits like a Celestant Prime for 100 points less, what's not to love?

The thing that pushes the Scriptor Mortis to a really hard sell for me is that his attack is significantly worse than any other hero attack. I feel like the way the faction is set up, and the fact I am quite drawn to Spirit Hosts makes 6 heroes all getting stuck in quite appealing, but the Scriptor Mortis has fewer attacks, worse to hit, worse rend, and worse damage than basically all the other heroes. If only he could get stuck in and threaten that MW bomb, I'd be much much more inclined to search one out and pick one up.

Attempting to summon an invocation requires you to chant a prayer, meaning that it's your priest's prayer for that turn: "An invocation is a divine entity that is summoned to the battlefield by chanting the prayer on its invocation warscroll" - 20.3 Invocations The text in the next section says "In your hero phase, you can attempt to summon 1 invocation with each friendly PRIEST" - 20.3.1 Summoning Invocations. At first this might look like it's allowing you to do so in addition to a prayer, but that's not the case. We already know that you need to chant a prayer to summon an invocation, so what this rule does is put an additional restriction that each friendly priest can only attempt to summon one invocation. At the moment I don't think this actually does anything because as far as I'm aware no priest in the game can chant more than one prayer per hero phase anyway, so they would only be able to attempt to summon one invocation because they can only chant one prayer. If we compare the Invocation wording to the wording for Endless Spells, you can see it is almost identical: "An endless spell is a magical entity that is summoned to the battlefield by casting the spell on its endless spell warscroll", and "In your hero phase, you can attempt to summon 1 endless spell with each friendly WIZARD". In this case because there are wizards with multiple casts, you can see both of these rules working together. It takes a spell attempt to summon an endless spell, but even if you have multiple spell casts, you can only ever summon one per wizard per hero phase. I assume the wording for Invocations is the same for this reason, and to standardise it. To summarise, if you try to summon an invocation with a priest, that's their prayer for the turn. No other prayers unless they have a rule saying they can pray multiple times.

I call this list "World's Silliest Alpha Strike" Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals - Stormhost: Knights Excelsior (Scions of the Storm) - Grand Strategy: Hold the Line - Triumphs: Bloodthirsty If you don't win immediately, you don't win.

Worth remembering that this is because they moved the time limit into the core rules. But even so, you're almost certainly going to find a use for your ambush models before the start of round 4. Rest of the post seems like really solid advice too

Having just run the numbers, it doesn't make a huge amount of difference. The Skybolt is better against strong saves, the Shockbolt against weak saves, and they balance out in terms of average damage around a 3+ save pre-rend, but even in the absolute biggest swing in favour of either bow (an effective 1+ for the MW bow, and no save for the d6 bow), the better bow only does more damage less than half the time. The difference in average damage is about 100% more for the Skybolt (MW) bow at its best, and about 50% more for the Shockbolt (d6) bow at its best, which works out to between 0.3 and 0.5 more damage in total. These same differences hold up for if a regular Judicator carries one (which 1 in 5 can do, and you don't have to put the first on the prime if you don't want to), although the exact numbers vary a little bit. The other main difference is that the Prime with a Shockbolt can potentially do more than 3 damage, which the Skybolt can't. At best (i.e. a unit with no save), this works out to 4+ damage about 13% of the time, so maybe once a game or so if you're shooting every round at something with no save, the Shockbolt will "spike" and do more damage than the Skybolt could have. Also worth mentioning that +1 to hit slightly favours the Shockbolt and -1 to hit slightly favours the Skybolt (because more of the damage on the Skybolt is based on fishing for 6s to hit). I actually started writing this post and messing with the numbers expecting to say yeah, just go Skybolt all the way, and I think for a couple of reasons I'm still leaning towards not taking any special weapon options, but I think there's an argument for taking Shockbolt bows, depending on the role you want the Judicators to fill. My thoughts are if you're taking the Judicators specifically to snipe high-value strong targets, Skybolts all the way. They'll have good saves and you may be at -1 thanks to Look Out, Sir. But I think you can justify bringing Shockbolt bows, sacrificing a little performance against strong saves for more performance against weak saves, and the potential for higher damage, meaning you'll have a slightly better average performance regardless of target. This might be good if you want a generalist unit, if the Judicators aren't going to be your core damage dealer and more for clearing screens for your real big hitters. But I think overall the main argument in favour of uniform Skybolt bows across the unit is that it cuts down on the number of separate rolls you have to make. SCE already have a few rules where you roll handfuls of dice for not very much to happen, and I don't think I would willingly inflict that on myself with more units.

So there have been some leaks recently. Combined with a few recent releases, it seems that more and more factions are getting a lot of access to returning slain models. Obviously everyone has access to Rally, but some ability to rally on a 4+ seems to be a somewhat common theme in newer books. Then you have the Nighthaunt book coming soon which means they're going to go up in popularity, and they have a bajillion ways to return slain models. Add that to the other slain-model-returning abilities that seem to be growing in number, and I am now in a position where I'm reconsidering the Lord Exorcist. On the book's release, I think it's fair to say that we all scoffed at 170 points for the Lord Exorcist. The warscroll is a little uninspiring. 170 points for a standard Lord profile, a generic Wizard with an adequate warscroll spell, and then the Redemptor Casket. Which honestly in a meta in which most armies have returning models seems pretty bonkers. You just can't bring models back to units that are within 9". No rolls, not "you can't rally", no catches, literally just no models come back while this model is near them. As far as I'm aware, no other faction has access to a comparable ability, any similar ones all have catches like only applying to the rally command. In the next GHB I personally expect a small points drop for the Lord Exorcist because he still seems a bit overcosted, and has he seen any play since the book came out? Nothing huge, just going down by ~10 points. I'd also expect a small points rise for the Knight Incantor being pretty much the best wizard in faction and inexplicably also the cheapest. The Lord combat stats, and being a wizard make up a chunk of the points cost for sure, and those are nice to have, but realistically if you want just want a wizard for Mystic Shield or Celestial Blades, you're bringing a cheap wizard (let's be real, you're bringing a Knight Incantor). If you specifically want AoE MWs, there are also better options, although the Exorcist's warscroll spell isn't terrible like it was in the previous tome, or like some other wizards in faction (looking at you Knight Arcanum) In short, I feel like the Redemptor Casket is gaining in power slowly because of the following changes: Everyone has access to Rally, and as people get more comfortable with the new edition, people are likely to use it more often and more effectively. More factions are gaining additional return-slain-models abilities, which the Lord Exorcist shuts off completely Nighthaunt in particular are coming very soon with lots of returning models The new GHB will be focused more on battleline -- the potential is there that scoring will favour larger blobs, for whom rallying is more likely (Prediction) Some SCE wizards will receive a small points drop because currently there is very little incentive to take anything other than a Knight Incantor or slap an Arcane Tome on your favourite hero So yeah that was a lot of talk and a fair bit speculative. But my question for discussion then really is: how much will the meta need to shift to returning models before the Lord Exorcist really becomes worth it to play without knowledge of your opponent's army? To clarify, I'm not so much asking if the Lord Exorcist will be the new Lord Relictor and seen in every list under the sun, more like if you all feel there will come a point where you'd be okay including one in a list and being confident that on average it will be worth the points.

The thing that bugs me with Sequitors is how utterly lopsided the choice between a 5+ ward and exploding 6s is. I take the ward 90% of the time. If I was in charge I'd probably swap the effect on 6s between Vindictors and Sequitors, so Sequitors can choose a ward or MWs on 6s, and then Vindictors get two hits on 6s to represent the wall of spears. I really like the idea of the sacrosanct chamber having these optional buffs where you pick which is best, but I feel like it's so often a non-choice.