feadair

Don’t worry, as someone who started with the 2nd edn, I have plenty of Sacrosanct too. That is why I said the warscroll ‘adds insult to injury’. Banning the most common weapons loadout used on old minis just seems petty and unnecessary. For me, it demonstrates a pattern of a lack of concern towards pre-existing customers, which in my case means that I will be hesitant to buy anything relating to AoS in the future.

Yep, buying and painting new thunderstrike models will solve the issue.

Not impossible, but pretty awkward and annoying. Most players will have a nice champion model with a plume, special pauldron, and a grandhammer, since that was optimal and legal in the past. Now that is illegal, so you always have to explain to the opponent that the dude who looks like the champion is actually not - instead it is one of the ordinary looking ones.

At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy nut, it makes sense if the aim is to make it hard for players to use their old minis. Since old Liberators were in practice always modelled with the Champion carrying the Grandhammer, banning it may encourage players to buy new kits.

Except here there will be one model that is very easily and clearly recognisable as a champion, but is not.

But it will presumably be quite important to know at a glance who is the unit champion. Anyone using old models will have a dude with a grandhammer and the plume, pauldron etc of the unit champion, but will then have to nominate one of the four ordinary looking guys as the ‘real’ champion. To me, this will surely confuse the opponent in practice.

You can do that. It is super awkward, though, since the dude carrying the grandhammer has the plumed helmet, the special pauldron etc., and clearly looks like the unit champion.

The Liberator warscroll really adds insult to injury for SCE players. In theory, you can use your old models. In practice, the warscroll makes it impossible. The warscroll specifically prohibits the unit champions from carrying Grandhammers. This was both legal and optimal in the previous editions, so every SCE player has modelled their Liberators in a way that is now illegal.

The Liberator warscroll really adds insult to injury for SCE players. In theory, you can use your old models. In practice, the warscroll makes it impossible. The warscroll specifically prohibits the unit champions from carrying Grandhammers. This was both legal and optimal in the previous editions, so every SCE player has modelled their Liberators in a way that is now illegal.

The coherency change makes Dracolines much better. Unfortunately, the new GHB battletactics are pretty hard to achieve, so Draconiths and Dracoths that benefit from tactics in our book still look more attractive.

Yes. Pretty much the entire Sacrosanct Chamber has been expunged from tournament results. There may have been an Incantor or two, but no Evocators, Sequitors etc.

I think it may still be too early to say anything about the effect of the October battlescroll. I am not sure we have enough data to judge, yet.

Stormcast: What has worked? I have been looking at tournament results since this July when the new GHB and the Stormdrake and Thunderbolt Volley nerfs took effect. I thought it would be fun to consider what has worked for us in practice. It has served to help me plan my painting queue, and I thought I should share it. The data are based on roughly 20 SCE podium placings in two-day tournaments. Only tournaments where lists have been easily available have been included. Scions lists have seen much more success than Stormkeeps. Stormhost: Hammers of Sigmar and Hallowed Knights have been by far the most popular stormhosts. Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak and Take What Is Theirs have been the top choices. Triumphs: Inspired has been by far the most popular triumph Leaders: Lord Relictor, Gardus and Knight-Draconis have proven the most successful of our leaders. Celestant Prime, Lord Castellant and Celestant on a Stardrake have also seen success. Command Traits: Master of Magic is the top choice, but High Priest sees some play too Artefacts: Arcane Tome is the top choice, but Mirrorshield sees some play too Spells: Thundershock and Celestial Blades is where it is at. Prayers: Translocation, to the surprise of no-one. Mount Traits: Thunderous Presence or Celestial Instincts. Holy Commands: Call for Aid or Thunderbolt Volley. Units: Liberators, Stormdrakes and Longstrikes have all been very popular; the latter two clearly were not nerfed into oblivion. Aetherwings, Fulminators, Tempestors, both varieties of Judicatiors, and Chariots have seen quite a bit of play too. For Endless Spells, Everblaze Comet and Horrorghast have been fairly popular. From outside of our battletome, Kronspine Incarnate, and Slann Starmaster have seen reasonable amount of use. Battalions: Battle Regiment and Bounty Hunters are chosen most often. We remain the most popular faction with roughly 10 per cent of the meta, and our win rate hovers around 50 per cent, so we are at a reasonable place.

Have there been any successful Stormcast lists since the nerfs? There have been at least a few two-day tournaments with a decent number of players (From the Ashes, Kingdom of Skrappa Spill, South Coast Series, Summer on the Coast), but no Stormcast success that I have been able to detect. But perhaps I am missing something?

I agree that all fat needs to be trimmed, but it still has not been easy to come up with a convincing list after the nerfs to the Stormdrakes and Thunderbolt Volley. This is where I am currently at; all comments would be very welcome: Stormcast Eternals, 1990 points - Stormhost: Knights Excelsior (Scions of the Storm) - Mortal Realm: Ghur - Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak - Triumphs: Inspired LEADERS Knight-Draconis (300)* - General - Command Trait: Master of Magic - Artefact: Arcane Tome - Mount Trait: Celestial Instincts - Spell: Celestial Blades Lord-Imperatant (175)* UNITS 6 x Annihilators with Meteoric Grandhammers (480)* 5 x Liberators (115)* - Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield - 1 x Grandweapons 4 x Stormdrake Guard (680)* - Drakerider's Warblade 3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)* CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment ADDITIONAL ENHANCEMENTS Holy Command: Thunderbolt Volley TOTAL: 1990/2000 The basic idea is an aggressive list with two melee hammers, supported by Longstrikes. Everything is in a Battle Regiment to allow the list to decide whether to go first or second. The Grandhammers and Imperatant start in the sky and drop to take advantage of the 7” rerollable charge, hopefully after the Longstrikes have punched a hole in a screen. The Grandhammers are slow, so they need to delete key units and preferably also capture an objective on the turn they drop. The Knight-Draconis and the Stormdrakes work together as a second, more mobile hammer. The Liberators screen for the Longstrikes and hopefully sit on an objective. The list is not as strong as what Stormcast were able to build before the nerfs, but I hope it can still do well with tight play and a bit of luck. Comments?