bonzai

From what I can infer, they are planning on putting expansion packs out. Hopefully they will include victory conditions and Flesh it out more. I have run map based dawn of war style campaigns for 40k before. I have learned a lot from them, and was working towards converting it over to AoS. However if PtG was a workable system then I would use that instead. However I have the issues stated above with it. So I was looking to see what other people's solutions were.

Borrow away

So I really like the 3.0 Path 2 Glory campaign as a foundation. However I think it has some serious issues when it comes to a competitive and interactive campaign between a set number of players. Here are what I see as issues. 1. There is no victory condition. This is an issues as in my experience players have limited attention span. These things need to have a set duration, otherwise players will get loose interest and it will fall apart. Having an over arching goal that you are working towards also helps people stay motivated. 2. There are little to no stakes. The only setbacks a player risks are casualties rolls. He can then go play some random games and be back stronger than before when he plays some one else participating in the campaign. No real risk or setbacks or consequences for defeat. 3. It is too self contained. It is everyone doing their own self contained narrative and not an interactive one in any meaningful way. A big part of the fun in games like this is the shared group narrative. So how do we improve upon it? The go to win condition in past editions was Glory points. This could be an option, but how many would be enough? It could present some interesting strategies. I also wouldn't mind some sort of Meta quest to achieve either. Regarding the rest, the first thing would be to only count games against other participants, and possibly cap the number of games per week that count towards progress. I also would like to ad a new quest called Raid. First you target one of your opponents territories. If you get a minor victory, you steal 10 Glory points from your opponent, with a major victory you remove any upgrades that it has. With these changes I think it ads sufficient stakes, and allows players to try and prevent a player from running away with it. Thoughts?

I would keep the arrowboys while you have the army. The rules change and you never know how things will pan out. We get access to a priest again and they will be worth considering in Drakkfoot. As far as big stabbas... kind of a similar deal. If reinforcement rules change again, and we go back to being able to field squads of 6, then I would keep them. For now, 14 is more than fine. Every box I get, figure that I am getting 15 infantry, 2 big stabbas, and 1 extra boy to play with/convert. 2 boxes nets me a full squad of 30. I am at the point now where I may start converting big stabbas now too. Been wanting to make a Savage ork ballista with one for a while now.

Lol, ironically as a Bonesplitterz and FEC player, I am really hoping they wait a good while before we get a new FEC book. The reason being is that I don't see them getting a big release any time soon. Given the choice between getting the stripped down Bonesplitterz treatment or nothing, I would rather keep our variety and options, and wait a while until they want to give us proper attention. Nighthaunts are in a different place though. They have a decent range and will hopefully get something closer to a Stormcast release with some cool new stuff and rewritten profiles so units become more niche and different from each other. Also... you guys are warming me to the idea of ghost pirates. Lol

I would like to see one more named character that a 3rd Subfaction could be based off of. They have mentioned a Cairnking Angrimm as being on par with Reikenor and leading his own armies. Nighthaunts seem to be 3 thematic factions already. The militant Emerald host units, the condemned, and the Banshee. So I wouldn't mind seeing the Cairnking leading his harem of Banshee. A monster would also be great. Stretch goals would be to change all instances of "wholly within" to "within" due to the coherency changes. Greater separation and uniqueness between reapers, revenants, and stalkers. Give the revenants rend 2, make stalkers able to run and charge, retreat next turn, and charge again. Stuff like that. Tweak the black coach a bit. Wishful thinking? Give us the Mortis engine since many of us have them from the malignant box. Yeah you can ally them, but they lose their death save. Heck I would settle for just adding the nighthaunt key word and leaving it as a soulblight.

To be honest I am glad to at least have the option. I will be happy to use him in large scale games for fun.

So at the start of 2nd edition I bought my wife a Night Haunt army. She played a little, but lost interest. Now she is looking to start up again with the new edition. I am kind of at a loss as to where to start. So I threw something together in the AP. Battle Regiment Guardian of Souls (General): Ruler of the Spirit Hosts, Beacon of Nagashizzar, Lifestealer Points 135 pts Nagash 970 pts Lady Olynder: Shadmist 215 pts 20 Chainrasp Horde 190 pts 3 Spirit Hosts 125 pts 3 Spirit Hosts 125 pts 10 Dreadscythe Harridans 160 pts Nagash 970 pts Lady Olynder: Shadmist 215 pts Endless Spells/Invocations Emerald Lifeswarm 60 pts Total Points: 1980 pts My problem with making Night Haunt lists is that I feel like there is never enough room to fit everything you seem to want in a list. It feels like it wants to be a horde army, but doesn't seem to ever play that way. You also want lots of support heroes to baby sit your units, but never seems like you can fit enough to cover everything. So some general design guidance would be appreciated. But at least this is a starting point.

I am still playing around with it, but it has it's issues. Is it achievable? Very much so. However there is an opportunity cost to it. You have to plan for it, and it can be tricky to do in a timed game where you are not making it through all 5 rounds. While many of the others are passive merely require a surviving unit, this one requires you to have an extra unit survive in enemy territory, most likely off of an objective. You go for it too early, and you are probably going to miss scoring some points, and taking a valuable unit out of the fight in the process. We aren't able to flood the board with cheap wounds like we used to, so there are no guarantees that you will have that much left at the end either. Then again, I have been playing double Idol up to this point, so that could also be a part of it. I am going to try it again with this new list, but otherwise will be looking at Prized Sorcery as my go to, as I tend to go wizard heavy.

So with the balance FAQ, and what I learned from my last tournament, I think will give this list a try. Army Faction: Orruk Warclans Army Type: Bonesplitterz Subfaction: Drakkfoot Grand Strategy: Get Dem Bones! Triumph: Bloodthirsty Units 4 Savage Big Stabbas 160 pts Battle Regiment Savage Big Boss (General): Great Hunter 65 pts Wurrgog Prophet: Glowin’ Tattooz, Gorkamorka’s War Cry 150 pts Wardokk: Power of the Were-boar 80 pts 10 Savage Orruk Morboys 155 pts 10 Savage Orruk Morboys 155 pts 10 Savage Orruk Morboys 155 pts 10 Savage Boarboy Maniaks 290 pts 10 Savage Boarboy Maniaks 290 pts Rogue Idol 430 pts Endless Spells/Invocations Emerald Lifeswarm 60 pts Total Points: 1990 pts Dropped the the second Idol, wurrgog, and Wardokk. Added a 2nd Maniacs unit and Reinforced both of them. Added a Big boss and a reinforced unit of Big Stabbas. Hopefully the increased mobility and larger unit sizes will help.

So we have access to Nagash now... Thoughts? My initial instinct that he is too big of a commitment, but we will see. I am excited to see how it impacts my Wife's Nighthaunts though.

I appreciate it. Yeah, I was able to keep the KO from coming behind me the first round, but after I charged them it created some room. They had no problems destroying my units from the front though. Lol. Icebone is the best choice hands down. I am just being stubborn and trying to stick with my Drakkfoot.

Played in a small local tournament today with the list I previously posted. Round 1 was against KO. He went first and managed to take down an Idol and bring two of my moreboy units down to under half strength. My turn my casting got into combat with my maniacs and the remains of a moreboy squad. Unleash hell did a number on the boars, but I did kill some endrinriggers, and wound his ironclad some. Other than my last Idol killing an admiral in round 3, that was the last time I caught up with them. Every round he was able to move around and delete several units. Game was called for time at the end of round 4. I just had the Idol left at that point. Overall this was an uphill battle. Aside from pregame moves, my list was too slow to corner them, and I didn't have enough units to zone them out. Taking down slow plodding infantry with minimal armor saves is KO's bread and butter, and he had 6 dispells to impede my casting. The one time I got a fist of gork through, I rolled 20 dice and ended up doing no damage. Overall this was a rough one. Game 2 was against soulblight gravelords. Turn 1 he had several blood knights and black knights in my deployment zone, and I was pinned in place. I remained pinned for the rest of the game, though I was whittling through though his units, enough returned to keep me tied up. Had bad dice when I tried to use the mask, and failed an endless swarm on the first round. These failures along with my opponent rolling lots of 5+ saves kept me from keeping my moreboy strength up and they were whittled down. Game was called at the end of 3 for time. I was down to a Wurrgog, Wardokk, and both Idols. This game was a lot closer, but I still failed to throw my opponent off his game plan. I was hoping to be able to punch through, but I was never able to thanks to the returning units. Being Drakkfoot was a big help this game, and I can't imagine how much more of a slog it would have been if he had gotten his full ward save. Round 3 was called off due to the KO player being the only undeated player and being way ahead on points. Comparing the performance of this list to the one I played last tournament before our book came out, I definitely notice less damage output. This list had better force projection than the way my old list played, however I still felt that I needed either more units or bigger ones. I may drop an Idol in the future and try having more units, but at the same time they are the only survivable thing in the army. There is lots to think about.

That would certainly go a long way towards fixing him. Comparing his current version to a mega Gargant, and it was arguable that you got more out them for less. He seemed closer to Gordrak than Nagash as he is. Those changes would make reconsider taking him.... but not in my Drakkfoot. He may actually be a fun addition to a Bonegrinz list, as he can be the kind of distraction they need.

I agree! They look down right nasty at first glance. What are you guys hoping for in the balancing FAQ? I don't expect much for us, though I can dream. If I had my way, these would be my changes... 1. Add Coalition rules like Nurgle is getting. Essentially letting us ally Ironjawz and Kruelboyz units without sacrificing our allegiance abilities or being forced to take big waaagh. (I would totally convert a beast-skewer killbow out of some big Stabbas). 2. Reduce Kragnos down to some where around 580 points, or give him a 5+ ward save and put him around 650. 3. Drakkfoot: Change the wording of their ability to "An opponent's unit cannot make wards saves against wounds and mortal wounds caused by friendly Drakkfoot units". (Right now it only works for attacks. Spells and other abilities get ward saves as normal. This makes it no ward saves period). 4. Add the following to the Bonegrinz allegiance ability: "The spirit of gorkamorka rule also applies to shooting attacks made by friendly Bonegrinz units". (This fits with their fill the sky with Arrows theme, and would make them more viable). 5. Wardokks have their wizard keyword replaced by the Priest keyword. (We have plenty of casters, and the whole grand alliance is starved for priests. Having access to one would not only shake up our game, but all those who can ally with us too.) 6. Increase the range of squiggly Curse to 18. (3" vs heroes only? Utter hot garbage.) 7. Mork's Boney bits being returned to their previous version. (Current versions is useless in some match ups, and a consistent +1 with a lower ceiling is preferable to a situational bonus). 8. Reduce the cost of Savage Orruks to 150. (It doesn't seem right that they are the most expensive unit in our army). I think that these changes could put us back to tournament tier, and help add some list variety to the army. What would you guys like to see?

I have a 3 rounder coming up on the 18th. I was thinking of taking this list; Faction: Orruk Warclans Army Type: Bonesplitterz Subfaction: Drakkfoot Grand Strategy: Get Dem Bones! Triumph: Bloodthirsty Core Battalions: Alpha-Beast Pack Rogue Idol 430 pts Rogue Idol 430 pts Warlord Wurrgog Prophet (General): Master of Magic, Glowin’ Tattooz, Gorkamorka’s War Cry 150 pts Wurrgog Prophet: Amulet of Destiny, Power of the Were-boar 150 pts Wardokk: Squiggly Curse Points 80 pts Wardokk: Levitate Points Cost: 80 pts Savage Orruk Morboys: 155 pts Savage Orruk Morboys: 155 pts Hunters of the Heartlands Savage Orruk Morboys: 155 pts Savage Boarboy Maniaks: 145 pts Endless Spells/Invocations Emerald Lifeswarm: 60 pts Total Points: 1990 pts Thoughts? I am set on Drakkfoot. The general idea is that I will break up the army into two hammers. Idol up front, backed up by a wurrgog, Wardokk, and 10 Morboys. Each Idol can have a bonus to their save, and access to healing via the life swarm and Wardokk. In return the Idol provides its bravery buff and bonus to casting. Wurrgogs can get up to +2 to cast and have improved ward saves thanks to their artifacts. They will also have access to healing like the Idol, so hopefully it will keep them alive longer to stare things down. The units in the hunters battalion are mainly there to hold objectives. 6 units get pre- game moves, but it is still a bit slow in this edition. That is the plan for now anyways...

That is probably going to be one of the best ways to run them to be honest. They need a distraction to keep your opponent from focusing them down, and a Gargant makes a great one. I recommend an Emerald life swarm as well. It will keep the gargant topped off, and can help replenish your brick.

Yeah, I have it on my Wardokk so that I can at least attempt it, but the double move was almost as important as the fly at times.

I don't play them, so that isn't an option at this tíme. I only play Bonesplitterz. (though to be totally honest, I have been hearing a sirens call to pick up some Ironjawz from this book). I feel that Idols are important if you are playing Drakkfoot. You have no access to mortal wounds via attacks, so you have to look for rend 2 to get the most out of our ability. Idols, big stabbas, and boars with glowing green tusks are the options we have for that. Idols are survivable, and good on their own. We have tons of spells and abilities that enhance them further. Early 3rd edition I got to see just how much healing we could pull off. We lost the prayer, but between dances and the Endless Lifeswarm it is still a lot. Big Stabbas are cheaper, but over the last 2 editions I have come to prefer the Idols durability, as well as the other buffs and synergies they provide. Especially with the hits Big stabbas took. The losses of running and charging, flying over screens, monster hunters, and d6 damage vs monsters... they aren't what they used to be. @broche yeah, you are going to give up first turn often with this list, but it can really help to set up a charge, counter charge, or emergency screen. Lol, at this point I really hope that they come out with a named character with breath of gork as his spell. I would take him regardless of cost just to get that spell back. Only reason I hold out hope is that they did it with Hedrakka and the bone krusha spell. I miss my flying pigs and rock golem charges.

I am stubbornly sticking with Drakkfoot, even though I fully acknowledge it to be a sub par choice to Icebone. Here is what I will be trying out my next game. Army Faction: Orruk Warclans Army Type: Bonesplitterz Subfaction: Drakkfoot Battlepack: Pitched Battles Points Limit: 2000 pts General: Wurrgog Prophet Grand Strategy: Prized Sorcery Triumph: Bloodthirsty Core Battalions Alpha-Beast Pack Rogue Idol 430 pts Rogue Idol 430 pts Warlord Wurrgog Prophet (General) Traits: Master of Magic. Artefacts of Power: Glowin’ Tattooz Spells: Gorkamorka’s War Cry 150 pts Wurrgog Prophet: Artefacts of Power: Amulet of Destiny, Spells: Power of the Were-boar 150 pts Wardokk: Spells: Squiggly Curse 80 pts Wardokk: Spells: Levitate 80 pts 10 Savage Orruk Morboys 155 pts 10 Savage Orruk Morboys 155 pts Hunters of the Heartlands 10 Savage Orruk Morboys Battalion 155 pts 5 Savage Boarboy Maniaks Battalion 145 pts Other Endless Spells: Emerald Lifeswarm 60 pts Total Points: 1990 pts Game plan is to split the army into 2 main fists. Each will have an Idol, wurrgog, Wardokk, and 10 Moreboys. Lots of synergies to be had between the units. Idols can bé given a 3+ save, +1 to hit, and healing. Wurrgogs can bé given up to +2 to cast, and -1 to hit from the moreboys. Both of them have improved ward saves to survive their mask, and access to healing. Moreboys get Buffed bravery and can have models return via Emerald Lifeswarm. The extra Moreboys unit will grab a close objective, and the Maniacs will go after a longer range one. And that is about it. No where near as good as was before the battletome but should be ok'ish. I will let you guys know how it did once I get a chance to play it.

My mind has been running with the Royal Jester idea. What if he was Ushoran's royal jester? And the twist? He is lucid and delusion free. Of the entire blood line, he alone knows the truth of their condition. Which is not to say that he is sane... a millenia of watching his bloodline and himself devolve into insanity and cannibalism has left him unhinged. Try as he might, he can't get through to any of his brethren, their madness twisting his words into uproarious jokes, biting roasts, and satires that convey some deeper wisdom. As much as he despises his state and all of his degenerate kin, he is bound by blood and forced into loyalty to his liege. Now that the Carrion King is free once more, he is compelled to seek him out. So he travels from court to court, searching for word of his master, and clues to his whereabouts. His reputation proceeds him, and he is graciously welcomed as an honored guest by every Ghoul King and Archregent that he encounters. It doesn't matter how rude or insulting he gets, it is always heard as some great jest and his reputation continues to grow. This only serves to drive him into further depths of rage and frustration. Worse, he is no closer to finding his liege. He finds nothing but rumors and third hand accounts. Yet he has no choice but to keep on searching. Yeah... so much potential in this faction.

New Dreadfleet?

For some reason I had the impression from the early previews that we could take other Orruk factions as allies. I was disappointed to find out that this wasn't the case. It would have opened up a lot of possibilities without sacrificing our allegiance abilities.

Yep. That is my biggest complaint about the book.

For a mount trait? No. If you want a designated caster for glowing green tusks? Then they are your option.