PJetski

Following up on discussions in my earlier thread about rewriting the Stormcast Battletome, and a discussion in the What's Next For Stormcast thread, I have taken another stab at rewriting the Stormcast rules. Many players have identified a big problem with the Stormcast Eternals - their rules do not match their lore or even their models! Stormcast are large models but still die pretty easily; they have swords the size of Freeguild but their attacks are mostly weak and inaccurate; they have Wizards that can fight better than melee heroes; the large expensive centerpiece models are not impactful enough for their relative stature; most stormhosts are never worth playing and the general traits & artifacts are weak; the special characters are mostly useless, and so on. My main goals with this revamp are the following: Rewrite the warscroll rules so they more accurately reflect the lore and models of the Stormcast Eternals Reduce the model count of the Stormcast army and make each unit feel more elite Revise the allegiance abilities to bring them in line with other 2.0 armies and better portray the way Stormcast go to war Replace the existing Stormhost rules with new identities and rules that fit better into narrative and matched play Increase the point costs of many underutilized units and make these units stronger (both offensively and defensively) In order to accomplish these goals I have some overreaching strategies: Almost every Stormcast model has +1 to their Wounds characteristic Basic Stormcast are 3 wounds and 4+ save Shields give a unit +1 save. If the unit already has a 3+ save, shields re-roll 1s instead. "Elite" units (Paladins, Evocators) are 4 wounds. Paladins have 3+ save. Mounted units are +2 wounds over their unmounted counterparts Knights are 5 wounds Lords are 6 wounds Lord-Celestants are +1 wound over other Lords Special characters usually +1 wound Rules for weapon options (including shields) have been examined in every unit to make each choice feel more compelling Prime models in every unit each have a special once per battle ability Prime Electrids also increases casting/unbinding/dispel rolls by 1 Add synergies to more unit combinations that make sense from a narrative or thematic perspective All Warrior Chamber units, some Vanguard units, some Extremis, and few Sacrosanct units have improved damage output With all that context in mind, see the spoilered text below for all the updated warscrolls. Named Characters: Warrior Chamber: Extremis Chamber: Vanguard Chamber: Sacrosanct Chamber: Pitched Battle Profiles (aka Point Costs): A full gallery of the warscrolls can be found here: https://imgur.com/a/9xhaNrF Update: Allegiance abilities, Stormhosts, and Battalions: https://imgur.com/a/1lVenGv This has not been playtested so it's obviously not balanced, but let me know what you think anyway! Stormcast Battletome Revamp (MSEA).pdf

Make Stormcast Elite Again I'm looking forward to showing you guys the whole thing

How many points would you pay for a squad of 3 Prosecutors if their warscroll looked like this? With paired celestial hammers you could have 5 attacks per model on the charge, (with 6 on the prime).

Hammer vs Sword can just be a cosmetic option. It's already mostly a cosmetic option now. You could still add some special rules that interact with specific weapons, like a specific chamber of the Celestial Vindicators gives swords +1 attack. I just did those 3 units as an example, I didn't intend to do the whole battletome - I already rewrote the battletome in this thread last year

My second thought was to give them all unique once per battle "edicts"

Another thing I really want to see with Stormcast is to make the Primes more impactful. They are a unique aspect of the Stormcast army and they are drastically underutilized, usually just a unit champion that gets +1 to hit or +1 attack. My first thought is that they should be allowed to use Command Abilities as if they were a HERO unit, similar to the Ossiarch Bonereapers.

My dream Liberators posted above have both 3 wounds and a 3+ save (with a shield)

I don't think Stormcast should become as relatively elite as the Custodes because there are scaling problems. If you make a Liberator as strong as a Custode then what about Paladins? What about Dracoth cavalry? Lord-Celstants? Would it be fun to have Stardrakes cost 800 points? How could you possibly make every unit useful if all our heroes cost 150+ points? The relative power balance in the 1.0 Warrior Chamber warscrolls is fine - ie. the difference between Liberator, Retributor, and Lord-Celestant - but the rest of the game has evolved while Stormcast remained with the same warscrolls from the starter box. My dream warscroll for Liberators looks something like this: 3 wounds, 4+ save, 3 attacks @ 3+/3+/-1/1 Shields give +1 save Paired weapons give +1 attack 2 in 5 get Grand weapons which are 3+/3+/-1/2 Prime gets +2 attacks or +1 with Grand weapon Max unit size 20 Working up from there the Retributors would look like this: 4 wounds, 3+ save, 3 attacks @ 3+/3+/-1/2 Prime gets +2 attacks Blast to Ashes 2 in 5 get Starsoul Maces Max unit size 10 Point costs would depend on the allegiance abilities, but probably something like 120-140 for Liberators and ~200 for Retributors.

Is that a good design for an elite faction? You said the warscrolls are in a good spot, but it seems you really meant "the warscrolls are in a good spot relative to their point cost". That's a different argument.

2 wounds with a 4+ save and 2 attacks at 3+/4+ with no rend is not "a good spot" for an ogor sized model wearing full plate and wielding a blade the size of an adult man. Stormcast need to be more elite and less numerous.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/03/19/destroy-direchasm-from-the-inside-out-with-the-starblood-stalkers/ My first impressions Pros: + Lots of fighters to hold objectives + Only 6 fighters so you don't need to fill every deployment hex + Relatively easy inspire condition for both skinks and saurus + Otapatl has both cleave and ensnare, and deals 2 damage when inspired + Skinks can push themselves with Skittish + Multiple weak fighters that really want Attack Action upgrades + Teleport around the board + Many great Objective cards + Many great Gambit cards + Klaq-Trok is a powerful fighter + Kixi-Taka has decent accuracy on ranged attacks and can deal 1 damage guaranteed to anyone near an objective + Lots of Hunters Cons: - Only one fighter with >3 wounds - 2 health fighters give away lots of glory and Primacy - Otapatl needs criticals to hit (can still get support though) - A playstyle formed around holding enemy objectives with 2 wound fighters is very risky - Hard to play properly, lots of mechanics - Inaccurate ranged attacks, could be difficult to push enemies off objectives - Weak to shooting warbands like Thundrik's Profiteers and Hrothgorn's Mantrappers Check out my full review (including card rankings) here: https://shiftingobjectives.blogspot.com/2021/03/warhammer-underworlds-starblood.html

This is one of the reasons I am experimenting with using 20x Judicator instead of 9x Raptor - 40 wounds instead of 18 and their shooting damage doesnt get halved by some armies.

Pretty much the same as before. I've been experiment with Dracolines instead of regular Evocators. The extra mobility helps against other shooting armies (tying them down sooner, better board control) but the lower damage compared to foot evocators is noticeable when I need to cut through blocks of wounds (witch aelves, ardboyz, skinks, etc.). Haven't had many opportunities to play games lately because of the coof, so Im not sure how it fares against the newest battletomes. Hardest matchups before were Seraphon and KO but both can be managed if you position properly outside their possible threat ranges. Sounds like your strategy is heavily dependent on getting double turns and shooting your opponent off the board. Ideally you should build a list that works even if you don't get a double turn because you are never guaranteed to get it. It's not a bad list by any means but relying on good matchups and coin flips is not a good way to 5-0 consistently

On another topic, GMG nails the problem with Stormcast

Why are you only considering the amount of shots you can put out? The problem with the Vanguard list is that you dont need that extra Longstrike shooting to win games where Longstrikes would win you the game anyway. You could instead bring a proper melee hammer unit (Evocators, Dracoths) to help you win against matchups where Longstrikes alone are not enough as well as different support heroes to improve your consistency. How does a vanguard list play objectives when it gets tied down by idoneth eel spam round 1? How do you handle Tzeentch and Seraphon teleporting shooting into range while swarming objectives with trash bodies? How do you deal with armies that have ways to mitigate your shooting damage? The Vanguard list is a fun gimmick but it's all-in on shooting and that is not a good way to reliably go 5-0 at a tournament. This is why I think Anvilstrike is still the best Stormcast list - it's more well-rounded and has virtually no bad matchups if you play it correctly. Regarding spellshield... I think a +0 unbind is pretty much worthless.

In general you want to nullify threats to your shooting early in the game to give you map control over objectives. Stormcast have one of the best ways to win ranged vs ranged fights because you can deploy units in reserve and teleport with super long range shooting. If you had a Knight-Incantor you could guarantee stopping the spell portal every time. This is why I prefer Anvilstrike over the vanguard battalion list; much better at stopping other ranged damage lists without being totally reliant on raptor shooting.

Keep the geminids, remove the comet. Kroaks cant cast the comet. Swap one Incantor for an Azyros. Longstrikes are underwhelming without double tap from Anvils - consider running some Ballistae to clear screens out of the way of your Dracolines

Without any buffs they do equal damage against 3+ saves. Grandstaves do more damage against any save worse than 3+. Grandstaves also do more damage when you add in any buffs to their accuracy (+hit, +wound, or rerolls) or to the number of attacks they can do. They also have 2" reach which is very important if you run them in more than minimum size squads. Since Evocators deal mortal wounds after attacking you get marginal value from specializing the unit with more Rend on their attacks. This could all change in the next battletome, but right now you should basically always use as many grandstaves as possible.

Natural 2+rr1 save against shooting is really good in a shooting meta

Liberators. Cheap screen and fills a battleline slot.

I would pick Astral Templars to snipe the mawkrusha with ballista drop or Celestial Vindicators to push more melee damage with the Dracolines. Consider removing the Comet and swapping Sequitors for Liberators to gain 190 points. You could use that on using judicators as battleline, or more useful spells such as cogs to reroll saves with evocators, or adding another unit to your army like a Knight-Incantor for a dispel scroll to guarantee stopping his teleport or Hurricane Raptors with a unit of Aetherwings to block charges.

Thank you If anyone wants to see more of my Stormcast I post them on my instagram account

Aw yeah I was right about Belakor

Trying to finish more of the Stormcast backlog before the 3.0 book drops... only 2000pt left to paint