Requizen

I don't think anyone cares if you use Solbright or Firestrike as generic versions of the Heroes, though. Ok, bye? Lots of stuff gets passed over.

Is the easy-build box the only way to get Castigators outside of Soul Wars? So you have monopose and have to convert every Prime into a regular Castigator?

Both are reasonable choices nowadays. Prime is very strong but a glass cannon - he wants to drop and murder some baddies before getting smashed back. Tauralon is more of a tanky support - fairly good in combat, but mostly going to be dropping spells and buffing/debuffing while not dying. They fill different roles.

Plus Staunch Defender, plus Steel Pinons for the 6+ Ward Save, plus all the other Synergies that Stormcast have (Castellant Lantern, healing sources, defensive Artifacts, Protectors, etc). Two of the four examples don't even have aBattletome or spell lists (Sorc on Manticore can get them in DoT/MoN/BoK but not in Slaves).

Not a bad idea, but keep in mind the 50/50 Scions rule, so you would not be able to drop all the Ballistas and Castigators (and potential Ordinator) and maybe Azyros at the same time.

Why are you using Vanguards in units of 5? They come by 3s? And you won't one turn a buffed Nagash with that. Basically nothing one turns a buffed Nagash.

Exactly, I think this release had something for everyone. It's proper business sense on their part.

Well, I would wager it's not a mistake that at least one unit in most releases is very strong. For Vanguard that was arguably Longstrikes. Recently, Nighthaunt have a lot of very strong models (Chainrasps and Banshees stand out). DoK have the Blood Sisters, who are quite powerful. Deepkin Eels. Et cetera. I won't accuse GW of purposefully imbalancing the game for profit, but it also wouldn't make sense to release a bunch of stuff that people only buy for looks, it behooves them to release at least one or two units in a release that are a competitive choice. If I was in charge, each release would have a couple cool Hero units that have strong Narrative ties, a couple units/monsters that are great for hobbyists (and perhaps a conversion fodder unit), and a couple units that competitive players will buy a few boxes of to stay on top of the meta. Something for everyone means profits on everything.

Strike Chamber units may find a use in Skyborne Slayers, since it's still viable. But that's about it.

Though, to be fair, the one Paladin unit I'm currently considering is 10 Decimators. There are going to be a loooot of hordes at top tables coming up - Death will have lots of Chainrasps/Skeletons/Zombies, Bonesplittaz are still a thing, Daughters of Khaine may run lots of Wytches, Deepkin with lots of Thralls will be real (although not as popular as Eels), Plaguebearer blobs are there (though even mass Decimator attacks won't do too much to them). Evocators are likely the better choice, of course, since you need 5 models near each Decimator to outdamage them, and that's before comparing Jazz Hands vs Starsouls, and also Evos are better against most things. So... yeah forget I said anything ?

I get what you're saying, but I'm not so much asking for Evos and Seqs to be bad, so much as not just better options. How boring is that? "Well Libs and Paladins aren't good, should we make them better?" "Nah, just nerf the Battalions they're in and add new models that are better versions." You know when would have been a great time to fix the issues with Liberators and Paladins? When a new Battletome came out.

I understand that for sure. But look at, for instance, Libs vs Judis before this new Battletome. There were reasons to take both, and reasons not to take both. I'm unhappy that they designed Sequitors to just be Liberators, but better. Not a different option - it's not like, for instance, Darkling Covens, where you can have cheaper Battleline with Shields vs Executioners who are far more expensive but have much better attacks. That feels like a choice. This just... doesn't. It's not a "defensive vs offensive" or even a "more bodies vs better bodies" question, the only thing differentiating Sequitors vs Libs is having to take an Arcanum. Which... you'll probably want to anyway, since they're good, and Wizards are almost necessary. Same for Evocators vs Paladins. If, for example, Evocators were worse in melee but could cast other spells, you'd have to make a choice - take the melee punch or take the trickiness of Wizards. But instead, they're just Paladins but better. I like the new models and will continue playing, but the design just seems lazy to me. Ballistas are a good design - compare to Judicators. Ballistas need support, are not Battleline, and can be quite swingy in both directions. But, because they are very efficient in half range and can punch through easier with Rend -2, it's a bit more of a decision if you want a shooting unit and only have so many points to work with. Judis fill out the Battleline, but Ballistas with Scions will generally do more damage, but Judicators can hold objectives better, but Ballistas have longer range for something like Knife to the Heart... you make a choice. To some people, that choice seems obvious, to others, the opposite. Sequitors and Evocators are just replacements and it bugs me. /rant

Very. If you roll hot, you generally remove a unit. You won't pop hard targets like big heroes (Nagash, Stardrake, etc) or hordes, but you will generally remove regular sized units - I popped 10 Reivers and then 10 Thralls in subsequent playing against Idoneth, each just needed one hot volley. 2+ Ballistas with an Ordinator dropping in is actually quite scary. They threaten to kill almost anything and if they drop in cover, they're quite hard to remove. 4 will table many armies without trying, with exceptions (Nurgle has lots of -hits for shooting, for instance, and Nighthaunt laugh at Rend -2). I feel like you can't go wrong with 2-3 standing behind a blob of Sequitors and/or Evocators. Speaking of which, does it really bother anyone else that Libs (other than min Battleline options) and Paladins are basically shelved? I like the new stuff as much as the next guy... but man, I really don't like that they invalidate a bunch of my models.

I think it is the best Endless Spell in the game, but I don't think you'll see it that often because it requires you to build around it and there are lots of stronger SCE builds. In general, I have a list that has Sequitors and Evocators to hoof it forward and 3+ Wizards behind to drop the Comet.

I've been thinking about it quite a bit. I like it to an extent, but I don't think it adds a lot of value. The best use for it is to get your Wizard quickly onto an objective and keep them safe on a 2+. As a 40 point upgrade, that's not bad, but the Arcanum can just take his mount for a 60 point difference between foot/mounted. The Exorcist is still not really worth taking. And the Incantor doesn't really want to be that far forward by herself. It's fairly useful on Duality of Death/Places of Arcane Power/Relocation Orb/Three Places of Power - but there's also the serious downside of getting surrounded and dying to a dispel. For the same price, I think the Geminids are better.

I don't have the model myself, but looking at the sprue on the website, it shouldn't be too difficult to clip the hair close and then carefully cut/file it smooth. Dunno if a helmet would fit in the space easily, though, would need it on hand.

Hammers of Sigmar and Anvils of the Heldenhammer are imo the two best. Hammers because the Warlord Trait is fairly good and you get access to all the (frankly quite powerful) characters, Anvils because the Command Ability is really, really strong. The rest have tricks but I don't think good enough to justify the opportunity cost.

I think you'll see lists with two, especially once the Tauralon is out. A Tauralon + smaller version (personally a fan of the Gryph-Charger for the heal, speed, and CA) feels quite strong with the right list.

Nah, tough characters (Stardrake, Celestant on Dracoth, Fulminators) often die exactly due to their great saves. Stopping 1 wound is fantastic. On multi-wound units like Paladins/Evocators, stopping a wound can be the difference between losing 2 models and 3 models. It's quite noteworthy, imo, but doesn't break the game.

RAW? Yes, you are 100% correct. But if your opponent wants to reach across and slap you for doing so I wouldn't object

It still turns off Skyfires and Kunnin Rukk, to be fair, though I don't know if those are still reasonably priced options or not.

Phew buddy, that's 1450 once you have all that, quite the tight list, not even counting min Battleline. I guess you're at +3 to cast the Comet, but dang.

I'm leaning towards Staunch + Ignax, personally. Mirrorshield shuts down shooting armies, but generally so does a 1+rr (healing) save with a 4+++ MW save. If you think you need Lens and you have a Battalion, you can go Lens on a foot dude, and then Mirrored Cuirass on the Stardrake. 5+++ isn't as good as 4+++, but you get both effects.

I painted Anvils because they're relatively easy (I'm not the greatest painter) and wanted a more muted color tone. Then I read Lord of Undeath and really liked the Anvils characters in there, and now the new lore for them and the Soul Wars novel has me really happy with my decision. I also like the tactical flexibility of the Stormhost rules, so it's a win/win for me by luck. This. Unless you're playing in a fully narrative event, there's no reason that playing green painted Stormcast as Knights Excelsior should be a problem (and even then as long as your narrative works I wouldn't' worry about it).

Doubtful, there are more Wound sources than pure MW sources, and the 6+ is fairly minor in either case. It's nice to have, and definitely of the Stormhosts one of the least bad Traits, but it's not quite Staunch. I would be curious. By the time you take Cleansing, Arcanum on Mount, 2x10 Sequitors, 10 Foot Evocators, 3 Dracoline Evocators, and a Liberator unit, that's already north of 1600 points, more if the Mount is Tauralon. And I would consider bumping at least one of the Sequitor units to 20.