DantePQ

@Overread thanks a lot it was a blast playing this event. @Aspirant Snaeper I played against Idoneth Deepkin, Stormcasts, Nighthaunt (with 80 Grimghast !) and then Gnarlroot Sylvaneth. I don't agree that DoK aren't flexible as they are you can include every unit in your competitive army (ok not Blood Stalkers), endless spells and items changed that even more. Keep in mind that we have very narrow selection of units and every army will have "cornerstone" units/heroes. Also HaggNarr is far from obvious choice, I used because I got more experience with that but Khailebron is very, very strong as well. Also Draichi Ganeth with Cauldron Guard and Chronomatic Cogs could be pretty powerful. @The Traitor yeah in next two days I will write tournament report. Considering Doomfires I wouldn't split them, sure you can one extra spell but ability to deal 6MW, then having +1 to cast on Mindrazor and potential to place them near Arcane for +2 to unbind is pretty good. Also your opponent can't just ignore them like 5. I think 5 Doomfires are much better as second spellcaster along Morathi then Medusa. @Lord Veshnakar I think a lot of people overreact about DoK, they were released almost 6 months ago and it's not like they dominate the meta, sure DoK armies are taking high places but it's far from domination. I think Hag Queens will go up in points to 80 or so, maybe Witches will be 300 for 30 but nothing dramatic (and it's still like 100 points extra for most armies - and thats a lot) maybe some other tweaks but I doubt Morathi will go up in points she isn't an auto include and many successful armies don't even use her. And yes they are very strong army and surely one of top armies in AoS but from my experience people don't really know how to play against, HaggNarr is good but kill the general and that's it or kill hag queens ( and even with 5++ they are basically 7W heroes ) if people charge in the middle of Witches and then are suprised that something doesn't work and then complain it - usually it's their fault. But sure some tweaks will be made I think, but it's not like DoK are Changehost bad, good player now exactly how to make DoK player sweat, but it's AoS so not every army has tools to do this. @Ered thanks mate ! Morathi approves such beautiful slaughter.

It all comes down to execution and with DoK you can make every army work as they only truly bad unit we have are Blood Stalkers. Doomfire Warlocks worked great, they have great mobility and opponent can't just ignore them. Place them near Arcane to have +2 to unbid to mess up enemy magic. Surprisingly playing them defensively with HaggNar works as well as more aggressive option to teleport them with Khailebron. HaggNar armies could be quite static to be in range to 5++ and if Doomfires you don't always need this so you can spread out a little. I had some trouble with using them well in first two battles as I ve only used them in Khailebron before but they made battles 3 and 4 - much much easier. Not having a CP at the start was a challenge for multi drop army but I managed to play around very wellI could take 2CPs instead of Heartrenders but Heartrenders are a must in HaggNarr as they can help to spread out and keep opponent units on objectives.

@JD222 We played with Realms rules so Morathi was great with her ability to cast three spells as there are always 2-3 good to great Realm spells. I usually kept her in small form until turn 3 then change her and counter charge. Without many long range threats and little mortal wounds threats that can hurt her I was pretty comfortable keeping her in the back. I think you really need to use both her forms to justify her cost but in some match ups you will transform her right away : A) because you got to B) because it will help your army more. She won't win a game single handly but the more I play with the more I like how she can be used. I think it's also because I got a lot of experience with her as she isn't easy to play.

That's funny as I was going to use Slaughter Troupe army list but minis didn't get to me in time (post office screwed this up badly as it took 6 days instead of 24h) so one day before tournament I had to scrap whole list. I took HaggNarr Temple Ghur Realm Slaughter Queen of Cauldron + Blessing of Khaine + Gryph-feather Charm Morathi with Mindrazor 2xHag Queen (Martyr's Sacrifice and Catechism of Murder) 30 Witches with Knives 30 Witches with Bucklers 10 Witches with Knives 5 Heartrenders 10 Doomfire Warlocks. It was risky to start without CP but I manged to play around it with deployment. Warlocks were really great and Gryph-feather Charm will be my go to item for sure - 1 to hit won be final battle against Sylaventh. With HaggNarr and Look out Sir it's amazing and extra inch of move for Cauldron is quite handy.

So I managed to win WarhammerFest Throne of Skulls Tournament with my Daughters of Khaine, I had all 4 major wins and most kill points plus enough points to from Sportsmanship and Painting. https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/08/18/18th-aug-warhammer-fest-europe-live-bloggw-homepage-post-1fw-homepage-post-1/

BTW list from Blackout are up and Les Martin list is very nice Dhom-Hain, Shyish Volturnos General Aspect of the Storm with Ethereal Amulet Tidecaster with Steed of Tides 2xSoulScryer 3x6 Morssar Guards And list that finished 7th Fuethan Tidecaster General Tidecaster 2xSoulScryer 3x10 Thralls 9 Morssar 9 Morssar 3 Ishalean

Ok as I prepare for Throne of Skulls Warhammer Fest tournament here is last part of my army (there will be only extra 20 Blood Sisters and Forgeworld Avatar on foot added in the future) and by the way I also decided to use Slaughter Troupe.

He is nowhere near Aspect of the Storm damage as Aspect of the Storm damage is quite reliable Aspect of the Sea isn't. Just look at the math. How so Aspect of the Sea has better survivability? They have same stats and both can heal every turn but Aspect of the Storm heals without giving up anything. Primary job of Aspect of the Sea is to cast spells and he is good at it but with two spells and ability to re roll one casting roll he is average at best for his point cost. In majority of cases two Tidecaster with for example Balewind will do the same but for 200 points less. As I said Aspect of the Storm role is quite unique, Aspect of the Sea not so much as you can take two Tidecaster and you won't miss almost anything.

I don't think so Storm would be broken with spellcasting ability, I've recently played some games with Aspect of the Storm and it performs a lot - you can give him ignroing rend cloak from reclis and he is quite reliable source of damage with his ability to retreat and charge with 12'' fly move and 4A and 3+ (with re-rolls of 1) and 2+ (with re-rolls of 1) and -2 rend Damage 3 + few other attacks. He is hard to master but I think along with Tides and his awesome ability he's worth his point. On the other hand Aspect of the Sea is quite useless, as 2-3 Tidecasters will get the job done with magic almost as well, and they are easier to hide, the only think that Aspect of the Sea does well is casting but I wouldn't pay 240 points for re-roll of 1 casting roll. In nutshell you can field units that will fill Asepct of the Sea role quite easily, Aspect of the Storm is quite unique - as sure you got Morssar but they can be locked up in combat and their damage output is gone, Aspect of the Storm thanks to his ability and not losing any damage output when wounded is different animal (especially with ingoring rend item.)

I doubt Morathi will drop in points That's a trick with her to maximize her flexibility, and with AoS 2.0 she is clearly better - extra -1 to hit in small form - double cast range which is amazing with powerful realm spells in play - items like for example Spellmirror which can help to keep her from harm.

I was thinking about cropping her but with Realm Rules and Spells I will give her a go at Throne of Skulls Europe. She's amazingly with Realm spells.

Some pics from game I won against Blightknights Spamm Nurgle list. It was tough battle but Hag Queen with Gryph-feather Charm was awesome and it will be my go to item for Throne of Skulls Europe for my Slaughter Queen on Cauldron

It's not that Thralls are bad it's more about Eeels being much better point-wise then Thralls or pretty much anything else. Aspect of the Strom is quite good after some playtesting but worse then 6 Morssar, Thralls as well. The only thing going for them is Tidecaster general as he can reverse Tides which is crazy powerful. Also I wouldn't call battalions useless if you take Akhelian King it pretty much makes for sense to take 3 Eels less to have extra artifact and CP + Royal Council ability could be used, sure there is tax - you won't use SoulScryer but it gives you more flexibility. I just scrapped my Eeels army and will play BriomdarThrall heavy list with Aspect of the Storm.

Ok so I decided to give this army a go as I prepare to take part in Warhammer Fest Europe Throne of Skulls tournament, it's an army I will be playtesting. HaggNar Temple Realm : Uglu Morathi + Mindrazor Slaughter Queen on Cauldron + Spellmirror + Blessing of Khaine - General 3xHag Queen (Catechism of Murder, Martyr's Sacrifice, Sacrament of Blood) 30 Witch Elves with bucklers 30 Witch Elves with double knives 30 Sisters of Slaughter with knives 5 Heartrenders Endless Spell : Chronomatic Cogs 30 points left so big chace to get a Triumph as well. Very mobile, hard to kill, also prayers are much better then spells now (that's why there is only one spellcaster), 2 sources of unbind. I was thinking about dropping Morathi but she's such big tactical toolbox in AoS 2.0 that it's hard to drop her (considering that you got to take Bloodwrack Shrine instead of her so you don't have that many spare points anyway). Also by having buckler Witches and Sisters of Slaughter nearby it's quite hard for opponent to play around it. Things to consider Realm Artifact - I must look throught the list again but Spellmirror looks awesome but not very reliable, Crown of Woe could be great as well as some other items: Endless Spell : Chronomatic Cogs looks like no brainer as you can use it to advance like crazy or play it safe with Morathi near Cauldron having 3+ re-rollable save, sure enemy can disepl it but it's not so easy and you can cast it from afar with Morathi (for movement bonus) as her spell range is even more precious in new edition. Using damage dealing endless spells is double-edged sword especially with new FAQ and Morathi. I played little doubles tournament yesterday which I won with my friend (2x1000 DoK + Sylvaneth) and 30 Witches with Blessing of Khaine and Bucklers with Cauldron behind were brutal and almost single-handly won all three games.

It depends sometimes games are decided by : - how quickly you are able to capture objectives - how long can you hold them Deepkin are great at it as they can do both as well as anybody. And Abyssal Darkness helps a lot a-difference between 3+ save and 4+ is huge. For those reason alone pure Eels list could be awesome.

What I like about 9 man strong unit is that it can tarpit almost anything and can't be easily singled out, you can even screen it out as they produce great number of attacks but it's something to consider how to run them for sure. There is Briomdar Thrall heavy list I am dying to playtest Briomdar Enclave/Shyish Realm Tidecaster general with Lord of Storm and Sea and Steed of Tides Tidecaster with - 1 to hit spell Soulscryer Aspect of the Storm with Ethereal Amulet 2x30 Thralls 10 Reavers 9 Ishalean Guard There is 20 points left for Triumph or some endless spell Idea is easy use Steed of Tides to move Aspect in front of enemy, advance Thralls or keep them with Soulscryer reverse Tides. Then enemy has a problem as Aspect is big threat behind his lines and he can't easily do anything with Thralls as they should eat hordes easily as well as Monsters or some units like Blightknights Also with Briomdar its easier to alpha striker if your opponent makes any set up mistakes. And Briomdar is crucial to advance with Thralls and to use Shipwrecks to great advantage. Many battles are decided by 2nd turn and this kind of army gives you huge headstart and then enough bodies and mechanics (Ishalean Guards, stacking - 1 to hit) to finish battle easily.

I still don't see a problem with Battalions, almost every battalion in a game has some kind of tax. Royal Council is fine as well as Namarti Corps. Surely everybody wants more artifacts and extra abilities. But compared to new Army Books written with AoS 2.0 all of them have such Battalions (Nurgle and everything else after). Also keep in mind that every Battalions comes with 1CP which is worth 50pts so for example. Reavers are good as I still think that balanced Deepkin army is a way to go as it ticks a lot of boxes but Eels list will be very strong as well. Aspects are overpriced but they got a lot of rules build into them. For example for his role Aspect of The Sea could easily work without offensives abilities to be 60 pts cheaper. Aspect of the Storm would be amazingly with ability to cast and unbid one spell. But even with 20-40 pts discounts on each there would be better ways to spend your pints because both Eels units are so point efficient. I like Reavers as they are good battleline units they just flat out lose to Eels. I would love unit like Reavers in DoK as battleline problem is you will include them only in an army with Tidecaster general to reverse Tides. It's crazy powerful but needs to haven't an army build around it. Eels are so awesome regarding point efficiency and possibility to have them as battleline that it makes Reavers and Aspects just not very appealing. Also I wouldn't be surprised to see Briomdar Thrall heavy army with Tidecaster general to completely dominate the board with Soulscryer and aggressive set up/movement as you such an army would dominate the board on 2nd turn (which is usually crucial) Army I will be playtesting next Volturnos Tidecaster with Spellmirror and Abyssal Darkness Tidecaster Soulscryer 30 Thralls 9 Ishalean Guard 6 Ishalean Guard 6 Morssar Guards

Again 1) Reavers are good, they're not broken but have uses, they are awesome at guarding objectives and doing a lot of little stuff 2) Most armies have useless battalions - what you're proposing is just giving powerful effects to units that you want to include and it doesn't work that way. Daughters of Khaine have bad battalions as well, Nurgle doesn't have much, Death isn't using many as well. I love how battalions are constructed in recent Battletomes. 3) so what ? There are many units overpriced or underpriced in AoS. Sure Aspect of the Sea maybe is too expensive but on the other hand you got unit of 12 W, that's got bunch of attacks, flies 14'' and igonres rend for 140 4) IDK are not shooting army 5) many other armies lack them as well (DoK?)and still you got access to generic CA and Akhelian King and Volturnos have amazing CAs.

I already did like few minutes ago

I don't understand why some of you think that faction has to have playable battalions ? I've been playing with DoK since they were released with great success and run battalion only few times and now no more. Deepkins aren't one trick army like KO, there is a lot of stuff and they can play objectives games really well. Also they do not have much bad match-ups. From my experience only DoK are terrible match-up for Deepkins but it's far from obvious.

@Scythian unfortunately it's not my work as I'm not much of an artist I only did test model and army was painted by my friend Artur. Considering army buidling I'm still torn between few options I'm going to play Warhammer Fest Europe Throne of Skulls event and still haven't decided which army to bring. My first reaction was something (Khailebron) to counter Kroak/Nagash lists but with new FAQ they aren't THAT overpowering. Khailebron Witch list is still a possibility as well as my regular Blood Sisters lists (Shrine, Cauldron,2xHag, 30 Witche, 20 Blood Sisters, 10 Witches, Morathi, 5 Heartrenders) and Hagg Narr Witch Heavy (90) list maybe but it's a big maybe Morathi-less 40 snakes list that I have came up with some time ago. Both list without Blood Sisters have Sisters of Slaughter in them. Also I didn't have much time to playtestall endless spells but from few games I did play I can't find anything that is auto include.

Some more pics of my army 30 Witches with Bucklers and Warlocks. Another unit of 20 Blood Sisters and two units of Sisters of Slaughter are next.

Melee Alpha Strike list doesn't do much, as against decent player you will be eating screen and being counter charged, sometimes it is ok to be counter charged but Morssar are horrible when counter charged.

Ok missed that part with King (but still that unit need to be 12'' from the Tidecaster and once Tidecaster general is dead whole ability is useless), but still Ishlaen were the best unit in the whole battletome, as not only their ability was great - it enabled many different tactical moves and really worked wonders with Tides and cover abilities/spells. But I could see why it was changed (if those changes are real) with Leviadon, Abyssal Darkness (along with Vortex for example), different mechanics with -1 to hit and new mystic shield it was very easy to have 3+ save with re-rolls of 1 on 24-36W unit that ignores rend. Changes to Reavers could be just a mistake as it's a number change, but abilites are well written and make a lot of sense considering AoS 2.0 mechanics.

not even close, both command abilities are general only (so in matched play only one particular Tidecaster could use it) and are pretty good (but they cost Command Points and Deepkin could be forced to use Inspiring Presence here and there) but Ishlaen nerf would make any battle much more difficult - also it would be hard to hide heavy Morssar builds from harm.