PJetski

Nurgle summoning is really bad and needs to be revisited. I don't think it is "broken". It is the best summoning in the game when you do it properly, but it can also be heavily disrupted by your opponent. The Keeper that they spawn is usually not anywhere useful the turn they come back on the table, they don't have any bonuses you would normally give a big monster (artefact, battalion, command trait, etc.) and they don't get to cast spells since they enter the game in the movement phase. I am much more worried about an opponent dropping 30 wounds of Daemonettes with a +1 rerollable charge than adding another 14 wound Keeper to the table. I think with more time and experience playing against HOS you start to see the nuance of how their summoning can change the game, and how you can play around it. There are lots of mechanics that people thought were completely busted: LON respawning 30 grimghast reapers every turn Sylvaneth spawning woods all over the board and 2+ rerollable saves Immortal Stardrake Everblaze comet Stacking hit debuffs with Neferata 30x Hearthguard Berzerkers fighting first and fighting twice FEC summoning The community eventually adapted to each of these and now they are still strong but not "broken". Out of curiousity, which army/armies do you play? This conversation may require more context than just broad strokes - shooting is a big check to Slaanesh armies.

Is Slaanesh summoning too strong? I don't think so. I do think it has some issues, though. When Slaanesh fights against armies with multiwound troops (Stormcast and Fyreslayers come to mind) their summoning can spiral out of control very quickly. When Slaanesh fights armies with tons of 1-wound bodies that tarpit you forever (Gitz, LON) then it summons almost nothing all game long. When Slaanesh fights against shooting armies that can focus down their heroes or get Daemonettes below 20 on the first turn, they usually get one wave of summons and then struggle for the last 3 rounds of the game because they run out of heroes. Depravity summoning is very feast or famine - you either get a lot of points and snowball quickly, or get denied completely.The problem is that the HOS faction is trying to be balanced around both of these scenarios simultaneously because it has to account for all kinds of game modes and sizes beyond the "standard" 2000p pitched battle. My proposed solution would be to limit depravity summoning to 1 unit per turn, so you would still get a steady stream of reinforcements but you can't make massive swing turns where you drop 60+ Daemonettes or 3+ heroes into play.

They are "aelf-life creatures", and the lamentiri on the models seems to indicate that they are a type of Sylvaneth. It's right there in the sentence you misquoted.

We didn't get new clan rats, skeletons, or moonclan grots... I wouldn't hold my breath.

Good news: they're not aelves, they are sylvaneth.

It's not as good as you think. Strong, but definitely something that people can counter in many ways: It relies on a Castellant that has to be within a certain range in the hero phase, and can be sniped Staunch Defender is only 9", easy to force the unit to move out of range (or just kill the general) You don't get to reroll all saves against shooting You don't get to reroll all saves against units that fight first since they will attack on their turn before you can activate the ability Mortal wound spells that scale with units size really demolish this unit A large unit of 20 models 40mm bases and 1" attacks is unwieldly - easy to flank and tie down forever I've always found Sequitors to be too big of an investment. Why spend 560 points trying to tie down the enemy army for multiple turns when you can throw away 100 points of Liberators and tie them down for 1 turn, then counterattack with 440 points of Evocators.

I agree they are the top book but they're not unbeatable and they are not oppressively strong and meta-warping like FEC and Skaven a few months ago. Armies with good ranged damage, re/deployment abilities, and ways to abuse their poor movement can reliably beat them. This is why I place Stormcast and Seraphon in the same tier as FS, since they have the tools needed to reliably beat the "top army".

I was expecting Beasts of Chaos, but not Sylvaneth vs BOC starter box. I was certain they would put another Stormcast warband in there. New Saurus/Skinks/Slann designs are cool, I hope it's a sign of things to come.

Those were revealed a long time ago, it wouldn't make any sense to reveal them again.

It's okay we have become accustomed to constant crushing disappointment.

You should see a doctor about that passive aggressive attitude, it can't be good for you 🙄 I was #2 but I guess the ranking was updated since the last time I checked it. Either way, you seem to have missed my point entirely. The status of being "a tournament player" is meaningless because this discussion just people flinging their opinions at each other. Nobody is objectively right or wrong about this topic, and claiming an opinion is more meaningful because somebody plays at a tournament is silly.

I agree with all of your criticism about Stormcast. They have a terrible book full of downright garbage battalions, lackluster stormhosts, and awful artefacts. Despite all that, the power of Anvilstrike can't be denied. When it is built and played properly it is so oppressively strong that there seems to be no counter. I'm 32-0 with Anvilstrike so far this year at tournaments, and the meta has been packed full of the "top tier" armies like LON, DOK, HOS, Skaven, and FEC. My Anvilstrike has no trouble beating Skaven, even before the point cost increases and WLV errata. Longstrikes outrange WLC and they have the advantage over Jezzails because they can be left in reserve and Stormcast teleport is more versatile than Gnawholes. I can't see how Skaven can beat that list. This has not been my experience at all. With just a handful (5-10) of Auric Hearthguard to soak wounds and the standard save bonuses, Fyreslayer heroes are very resilient against being sniped. Lots of people are using Forge Brethren battalion with Ignax's Scales to make a Magmadroth virtually unkillable, which makes battleplans like Duality of Death a breeze. There is nothing in the game that can beat HGB in melee - 30 poleaxes with 2 attacks each doing mortal wounds on hit6, fighting first, and fighting twice is insane damage output. Mobility and endless spell spam is their weakness but people are already starting to put in allies like Skywardens and Knight-Incantors to shore up those weaknesses. FEC are still good but the change to Savage Strike is a huge blow to their defenses. I think people are going to adapt and either switch to Royal Mordant + Blisterskin for megamove flayers or Feast Day with +2 cast and ethereal/cogs combo. I'm #2 on ITC, does that make my opinion more relevant to you?

My $0.02 Skaven, LON, FEC, and DOK were knocked down significantly. Khorne is looking much better now with cheaper Skull Cannons and Bloodthirster, as well as the changes to meta-warping Gristlegore Savage Strike. Ironjawz, Tzeentch, and Seraphon were significantly improved. Everything else pretty much stayed the same. Stormcast deep strike builds (both melee + ballista drop) are much worse, but they still have double tap Longstrikes and Dracoths so they're relatively stronger than before. Slaanesh is a very strong army in the right meta but it gets bullied hard by shooting armies and armies that spam 1 wound models. Unfortunately the meta has lots of 1 wound models and armies that have multiwound models also tend to be the ones that shoot well. I think the current top tier armies are Stormcast (Anvilstrike), Fyreslayers (both Hermdar LOTL & Lofnir Forge Brethren), and Seraphon (Thunderquake), followed by Skaven, FEC, Slaanesh, and DOK. I'm still uncertain about Sylvaneth Feel free to disagree

Its about as good as Jezzails. I'm not too impressed yet.

The core rules say "Artefacts of power have no effect on attacks made by a hero's mount unless noted otherwise" which is pretty cut and dry.

You can't cast endless spells through Arcane Vassal. The model must be set up within the range of the caster, no modifications are possible (check the Malign Sorcery FAQ). If you want to dump endless spells into the enemy on turn 1 you should use Great Remember to teleport your Slann into range, cast the spell, then teleport back. There's no risk and lots of reward. Artefacts do not effect mounts unless stated otherwise, so Essence of Vulcatrix will have no effect on the Carnosaur claws and bite attack (and thus no synergy with the Starpriest ability). Claws of Glory is a truly awful spell. Just bring an Astrolith Bearer to reroll all hits instead, or set up the proper constellation with one of your Slann.

Sorry, typo. I meant the shooting phase.

Slaanesh Locus of Diversion (the main ability that makes you fight at the end of the combat phase) activates at the end of the Charge phase, not at the start of the Combat phase. Horrible Fascination (the ability from the Contorted Epitome) activates at the start of the combat phase.

Yes. It is an ability used in the hero shooting phase, not a missile weapon.

This is actually something I have been thinking about lately, and ultimately it depends what you are going to do with that hero and what the rest of your list looks like. Here's a bunch of random thoughts with no particular sequence: If you have no realm spells or endless spells then the Spellweaver isn't casting anything except Arcane Bolt and Mystic Shield, which is a poor use of 100pt. Keywords are also important here - only STORMCAST heroes can activate the command abilities from Stormhosts. Allied units can't take artefacts, can't be put in reserve with Scions, and can't benefit from most of our abilities Spirit Flasks is not worth 40 points on its own but it's a good ability - doing 3d3 mw can swing a combat in your favour. If you are going to die you may as well drop the flasks. 3+ save won't save you against any significant damage, but the 3+ save is handy when you have that hero holding an objective and there is light damage or shooting coming your way. Reliably killing a 3+ save hero requires more than just some chaff units. I think if If you already have 1 Incantor and plan on casting Geminids or a realm spell every turn then you can bring a Spellweaver. In a list like Anvilstrike you really need that STORMCAST keyword to activate the command ability.

With the free 6" move from Astral Templars you can get the t1 charge anyway. Heraldor lets you run and charge, but not run and shoot - one of the most important things about Dracoths is their breath attack.

Great list. Are you expecting a monster meta?

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/03/21/who-fights-first/ TL;DR: Hermdar CA cancels out the Locus

RAW yes this works. The ability says "Each time a model armed with a Lunar Blade attacks" and "Attacking" is defined as being picked to shoot or fight. Since the Lunar Blade has no profile it is not a melee or missile weapon, it is just an ability, so it will activate every time you fight and every time you shoot.

You have to resolve one ability before you use the next one.