Requizen

There's a post in another thread detailing why a rotation should happen and the proper way to do it. I personally think there will be one for a few reasons and will be more than happy when it does.

Hm, the token is still being removed from the fighter card, though, so I would argue it would inspire, even if the wording doesn't use the phrase "remove". Either way, it's a bad spell.

44% isn't too bad, especially if you can get Ylthari upgraded with Well of Power, Blessing of Vytrix, or Tome of Incantations. There's enough good neutral Gambits to make taking maybe 2 of those fairly reasonable. Including just 3 is a pretty low chance to get them Inspired early. As you say, Gallaghann probably isn't a big deal if he never gets hit, but the other three you'll want at least one buffed up before too long. At the very least Vital Surge is another shot at early Inspiration. Gonna fiddle with some decks and see how it fits either way. I'm not sure how to play these guys - they don't really seem to play into any particular archetype. Not very killy (requiring Inspiration/Upgrades to get more punchy), they don't want to play Supremacy/OOWO/Keys (especially with Leech Power), and while they can play the passive game, they're not really better at it than any other warband. It feels like you'll end up playing a lot of flex objectives and play more denying your opponents their objectives than taking a bunch of your own.

Quick list of the cards that can Inspire via healing and usefulness. Gambits first: Healing Amorpha: Solid, but limited. Basically Inspiration Strikes+ for Gallaghann or adjacent, but stops if he dies. Leech Power: Good for Ylthari, but again limited due to positioning. Fairly easy to pull off, and also works with Scorched Earth as discussed. Healing Potion: Best card. If/when Shadespire rotates, this will be well missed. Tainted Vitality/Lifesurge: Difficult to setup but probably worth including just for the potential swing. Even if you only heal/inspire one fighter with it, it's better here than on any other warband. Could potential bring Shardgale as well. Hidden Reserves: It's Leech Power but without the positioning requirement, but also without the removal effect. Emboldened: No Empathic Exchange: Difficult to get off, only transfers wounds instead of straight up ignoring them. Bad. Healing Pulse: Potentially multiple heals, potentially none. Bad. Soul Drain: Actually not bad. You could end up running XYZ and getting both an Inspire and an Objective, but there are easier ways to buff Ylthari. Vital Surge: Excellent. Hard to get off, but if you do, it's one of the top ways to inspire a Fighter and heal. Blessing of Vytrix, if you go Gambit Spell heavy, perhaps? Sphere of Ghyran: It's literally a worse Vital Surge in every way. And Upgrades: Blessed Armor: Not a great use of an Upgrade slot (as it'll often do nothing), but you do have 3 fighters with 2 Defense dice, so it's not terrible? Pretty good on Gallaghan since he has the most wounds, but underwhelming. Regeneration/Regenerative Charm: These are pretty much only good if you get them in round 1 and equip them to Inspire for Turn 2. It's... bad. Vampiric Weapon: The Guardians aren't particularly killy, put slapping this on Gallaghan or Skathael is fine. There are better ways to inspire, though. Tome of Healing: Action: Inspire a fighter. If it didn't take a whole action it'd be worth considering, but in the end it's not quite worthwhile. So other than Ylthari's on-card reaction, that gives 17 cards that can Inspire fighters. Of those, I'd say ~7 are playable. How many is too many to have in a deck? You don't necessarily want to have more than 4, but that means you have to draw all of them (again, discounting Ylthari's reaction) to Inspire everyone. On the other hand, Healing effects are fine... except the Warband is very light on Wounds overall, so healing can be iffy. It's already an iffy effect for Warbands with 4+ Wounds, and now we're talking a Warband with mostly 3 Wound Fighters. Then the other question is, how many need to be inspired? You want Skathael and Ylthari inspired, probably, but the latter can inspire herself potentially. Gallaghann only gets marginally better when inspired, but he also is the best target for healing since he's hopefully going to be tanking everything. Ahnslaine might not need to be inspired to poke, but the range and defense dice are solid boosts. Healing Potion, Healing Amorpha, Leech Power, and probably Vital Surge are all worth running. Tainted Vitality/Lifesurge are interesting but unreliable. Hidden Reserves is nice but has some anti-synergy with Leech Power and Ylthari's Reaction, so maybe not. So 4 cards that will probably go in, meaning you're likely to get at least one in your opening hand, especially if you Mulligan. Is that enough, or is it worth running ones that are less good? I don't think this is going to be the end-all part of Ylthari deck building, but it is heavily worth considering since an inspired Skathael goes from "fine" to "very strong", and relying on the Reaction for Ylthari is just asking for trouble.

Now that we have the cards, it's much easier to form an opinion. Fighter cards tell the first story. Reliable Ranged damage + Drakkskewer paints a picture of a warband that wants to zone, poke, and then go in for the kill with Balloonbro. Two fighters with 3 Hex, 2 Smash, 2 Damage (when Inspired) attacks is pretty bonkers compared to what current ranged warbands have. Wizards can get to a similar profile when inspired, though they don't benefit from certain boosts (Support, Attack Dice buffs, etc), and is usually only one model that gets to such a profile. The Inspire mechanic really wants you to have Score Immediately cards - as if they aren't already good enough. And there are plenty that score quite easily for this warband - having ranged fighters with natural Cleave and Knockback, What Armor? and Get Thee Hence are probably easy additions to every deck. With the fact that you're more chip damage and spacing than turbo-murder, Martyred is quite nice, though you have only one model that you're ok losing. The main downside being that most Score Immediately cards are generally 1 Glory (or at least, all the ones worth taking are), and they don't seem to be super good at Objectives that give multiple Glory. They could include things like Supremacy/OOWO/Search The City or Keep Chopping, since they can position and still attack, but those have some anti-synergy with most Immediate cards (and potentially with each other). There's plenty of argument to be made for playing these guys control-focused. Not necessarily passive like old Stormcast, but focusing heavily on position, denying charges/objectives, and specific enemy focus. Cards like Toxic Gases and Seek the Skyvessel allow you to control positioning and create good damage setups. There is of course the danger that these guys become a very passive, unfun faction to play against, but I think with their low move and relative squishiness any player that focuses on that will die super hard to fast aggro. In fact, fast aggro is pretty much going to wreck this warband unless you're particularly careful in positioning and Ploy setup. I want to run them a couple times, but I feel like Ploys that give extra mobility, limit enemy mobility, and create space will be the keys for these guys to succeed.

I don't think Dracoline Evocators will get a point increase, if anything I think they might go down as GW will want to shift those boxes. I think they're quite reasonable for the points - they do less damage than an equivalent amount of foot Evocators, but are faster and more durability to certain attack types. Foot Evos can be just as fast with things like Heraldor with CP for 6" run or Gavriel Sureheart, but Dracolines are self-sufficient and still deal enough damage to be a threat to most things in the game. Foot Evos will probably take a hit. They're in a high majority of competitive lists as a central unit, and can be quite unforgiving to play against unless you have your own turbo-murder unit like a Gristlegore AGKoTG. I do love his army, I imagine the Anvils ability is occasionally useful but more of a plus than anything. While the Dracoline Arcanum gives extra fighting power to Evocators, the inclusion of the Gryph Charger makes them more durable with his Healing spell and adds a lot of late-game mobility. I think there's still a lot of list-design space that hasn't been explored yet.

Skinks aren't necessary but are nice bodies to have. Substitute them with whatever feels best imo. CV is pretty straightforward, you run LA on Dracoline with a unit of 6 Dracoline Evocators, make her the general for 20 Sequitor Battleline, take a Castellant and Heraldor, then everything else to taste. 20 Sequitors with Castellant hold up the midfield while Dracoline Ball runs around the flank punching everything else in the face. You could fill the rest of the points with Judicators and other shooting, or any other Hero type units (actually a second LAoD is not terrible in this situation).

If you want netlists - there's some but not many. The Stardrake list we talked about a page or two ago uses 2x2 Fulminators alongside a stardrake, and there's some popular Celestial Vindicators lists that use 6 Dracolines + a Lord Arcanum on Dracoline. That's all that I've seen for the most part, though I've tried some theorycrafting with multiple Dracoth units, nothing solid yet. I think it highly unlikely we get a new book this year. The "1 SCE Book Per Year" trend is probably done now that they're focusing on getting everything caught up for AoS2.

They're kinda not. The lists are strong and versatile but they're rarely hitting podiums for a while now. That has less to do with FEC and more to do with armies that have very strong screening abilities like Daughters, Legions of Nagash, Seraphon, Skaven, now Fyreslayers, and to an extent Tzeentch and Nurgle*. Now, Gav lists can deal with bubble wrap by utilizing two-phase charges and playing more Sequitor heavy, but it still somewhat neuters the list, and I don't think Alpha Strike lists in general are particularly strong in the current meta, including Deepkin Eel Alpha. *I say to an extent because no one is bringing what I would run with Nurgle, which is 90-120 Plaguebearers that just cover the whole board and make everyone sad. Does it take top spot? Maybe not, but it messes up a whole slew of meta lists that can't deal with that many 5+++ bodies, a lot like early 2018 Fyreslayers. But that's a different discussion.

I mean, of course you're entitled to your opinion, but I'm also allowed to feel insulted and defensive when someone tells me I'm a cheesy player when I'm doing absolutely nothing wrong. Feel free to have your opinion but I'm not just going to allow a stab at my character without comment.

There's nothing unethical about playing the game the way it's written, especially when it's intentional. I'm pretty sure there was even a tactica article on Warhammer-Community about this exact thing, so it's something they're aware of and are ok with. The fact that the FAQ directly addresses it and discusses it makes it extra legitimate. Piling in is by far the most finnicky part of the game, and the part of the game that people understand the least. Understanding the rules and using doesn't make you a cheap player. There's no rules lawyering or crazy interpretation of the word "charge", it's laid out quite plainly.

I've been charged by a Terrorgheist who fought twice, it's the same thing on the opponent's turn. Especially nasty with Feast Day, where they can Feeding Frenzy for free once per turn. It does of course completely obliterate whatever it touches. While as I said, you can pile-in trick your way to fighting it before it fights, but jhamslam is correct in that shooting is the proper way to deal with them. Especially if you either drop 3-4 Ballistas or Anvil some Longstrikes. Shooting Stormcast is pretty much the future at this point, unless the meta shifts horribly.

Not yet. I've fought other FEC lists - Ghoul Patrol, Blisterskin, and Feast Day, but not Gristlegore. I should have a good practice day vs them in the coming weeks. Gav doesn't need to be the General to use his Command Ability, so keep the Arcanum as-is. You shouldn't need to drop anything if you change the unit sizes as suggested. This is my current Phalanx list. Arcanum on Foot (General, Azyrite Halo) Castellant (Gryph-Feather Charm) Incantor (Stormcaller) Gavriel Sureheart Knight Vexillor (God-forged Blade) 20x Sequitors 5x Sequitors 5x Sequitors 10x Evocators 5x Evocators Cleansing Phalanx 2000/2000 You could drop the Vexillor to beef the unit of Sequitors up to 10, but you kinda want the extra charge distance. If you were insistent on keeping the Arcanum on mount, then you would simply not take the Vexillor and stay 60 points under for an extra Command Point.

Well remember that the Phalanx is a hard cap of 2 units of each, so bringing more Sequitors past 2 units isn't really that valuable. You probably only need one big unit of Evocators, I think overall a unit of 20 Sequitors/5 Sequitors/10 Evos (or 6 mounted)/5 Evos is probably the best bang for your buck, though of course it's quite limited. You may want to invest in Gavriel Sureheart - you're already taking all the things that want to charge early, anyways.

Lord Celestant on Stardrake Castellant Heraldor Incantor Relictor Is a pretty normal core for a Stardrake list. If you're not counting Stardrake as a traditional "Hero", then not many do. My Anvils list runs 4, though the focus isn't on them at all. Stormcast heroes are mostly support pieces, the Stardrake being the main exception (and neither variant is really a uber-monster like Terrorgheists, Zombie Dragons, or Stonehorns). Normally you want to spend a minimal amount on Heroes to get the effects you want. Castellant for large-sized bricks of units, Relictors for buffing/debuffing/teporting, Azyros for attacking reliability, Arcanum to make Sequitors Battleline, etc. We really only have one Hero that's worth spamming (Heraldor) and two that are just a solid take even if you're not building around it (Incantor and Relictor). The rest are pretty specialized.

Rules are rules. Using pile in distance to engage otherwise unengaged models isn't a loophole, it's written in to the core of the game. And if you don't want to die to a Terrorgheist Maw attack hitting you with 12 MWs, then you would do well to use every rule to your advantage. Warhammer's seen actual loopholes, where interactions that weren't supposed to exist end up happening due to bad writing. This isn't unintentional. Yes, it'll attack back, but the hope is that if you hit it hard enough it'll either be dead or crippled enough that you'll at least survive the counterblow. Not much can save you if you completely whiff and deal no significant damage, though.

Yeah the fighter cards are great, I meant the Ploys/Upgrades that they showed off in the previews. Other than Leech Power they're all pretty bad.

Depends on the setup. If the Terrorgheist is next to another unit, say some Horrors, you can charge the Horrors and only tag them with 1 Evocators, and then string the rest of the Evos in a line 3.1" away from the Terrorgheist. Now the TG is not eligible to pile in and attack (so skips the "start of combat phase" modifier for Gristlegore), and you pile in and attack with the Evos. Even though you aren't within 3" of the TG, he's still the closest model, so you pile in towards him and attack. Then you hit him with the MW jazz hands. Alternatively, if you want to play a bit more risky, you can charge one unit and string just one Evocator to be 3.1" away from the TG, and then only pile in .2" and hit him with the jazz hands only while attacking the other unit, though this has the downside of potentially whiffing on the MW roll.

The point of Anvilstrike is to take the Anvils of the Heldenhammer Stormhost and use the specific CA that the Stormhost grants them, which allows a unit to shoot or fight an extra time in your Hero Phase. This can happen 9" away from a Hero, or 18" away from the General. 18" is a big bubble, so you can often Translocate your Longstrikes aggressively and then use the aura from your Incantor to give them the ability to shoot.

Mine is just an Incantor. You're not running any heavy fighty Heroes, so my thought is that the most important thing for generalship is to get that extra range for the CA, and the Incantor is least likely to be hugging a unit that you want to activate extra times, so could use the extra 9" radius. Plus, since I often throw her into hordes to use her Vials, the -1 Bravery is sometimes useful.

Well if they're Gristlegore, they need a Battalion to get Ethereal Amulet, which limits their build quite a bit. Event then, you should pop them in a turn with the Evos if you get into combat, assuming you can pull off a charge that doesn't let them attack first. It's a very position heavy matchup, and like I said the mission will affect it quite a bit.

KO look fantastic. Much like Sylvaneth, lower on the damage scale (most things 1, 2 damage when inspired, only one fighter gets to 3D naturally), but the inspiration effect and reliable ranged output make them super interesting. JPjr is correct, these are the last Nightvault warbands (other than the supposed warband rules for the easy-build Banshees and Castigator kits), so I assume we'll hear about the next expansion sometime during the summer.

The matchups are interesting if nothing else. The list has the capability to drop a big monster per turn, but that's mitigated somewhat if they bring Ethereal Amulet on a big dude. Also, against Nagash LoN, killing Nagash is.... not easy, even with double tapping Longstrikes. But, you have a better shot at it than most armies in the game, which is a pretty solid ask. Just hope you don't face them in Duality of Death or Relocation Orb... which I always do.

Yeah saw that about TV shortly after. Still potentially a good addition for the warband. Mesmerizing Gaze would be great if it wasn't adjacent. Sure, you can run up and shut down a charge... but then the target can just attack you. And none of these guys are really throwaway (I'll often throw away a Chainrasp to Transfixing Stare Mollog or Gurzag). Gallanghan can go up and lock down a unit with his solid defense... but that's still pretty iffy play imo. Yeah I had similar thoughts. I don't think you stack healing to try and max out Inspiration, but ~3 is probably the right number. A nice combo is Healing Pulse - relatively easy cast (75% chance for Ylthari), and if she gets a crit she Inspires as well from her reaction. Could be an easy 2 for 1.

Yeah, there were a couple games where I put the Big Boss CA on them with Brutal Beast Spirits and just busted out a bunch of dice. So far, I've got: Savage Big Boss Maniak Wierdnob Maniak Wierdnob Wurrgog Prophet 30x Boyz with Spears 10x Boyz with Chompas 30x Arrerboyz 10x Maniak Boarboyz 5x Boyz 5x Boyz 4x Big Stabbaz I really hate how hard it is to get legit Big Stabbas