Azamar

There’s a tantalising bit of lore in the new fyreslayer battletome I think will be of interest here- basically a drunken runeson let slip about what Ur-gold really is, leading to support and unification talks throughout duardin populations of Azyr, and to the skyports as well (they call it Duardrazhal) There’s also a hint that Grungni is up to... something, having founded a new stronghold in Chamon and supposedly crafting something “wondrous that will reunify his scattered children” Maybe even a way to resurrect Valaya? We can but hope. I bet whatever it is will be the core of whatever dispossessed evolve into. It’s about time they reclaimed some strongholds and stopped being, well, dispossessed. Whatever the outcome, these hints and the lore in the Fyreslayer tome make it a good time to be a dwarf/duardin fan!

I was pleasantly surprised to have my book turn up today- I had assumed it would only be shipped today so that’s a bonus. Now I’ve got the full rules in front of me, anyone else finding it hard to pick a lodge? Most armies I’ve had before that have had chapter style extra rules have had one or two obvious choices, but I can see some appeal with all options here. Vostarg: seems to be the competitive choice (strong alpha strike) and as my models are painted in a classic slayer stye they fit best with this lodge. But I think I find it a bit less interesting than the others. Might be a good one to use with Fjul-Grimnir, as I do have him. Greyfyrd is really tempting, just to try out as many artefacts as possible. Good for narrative games as well, I suspect as it gives individual heroes a chance to shine (and as grimwrath berserkers and doom seekers aren’t leaders, you can have lots of those) Hermdar: I like the lore for this lodge as I always get drawn to the good guys- honourable berserkers appeals, and I think the army might feel more classically dwarvish than most- you might be last to the objectives, but you won’t be easy to shift once you get there. Lofnir: with only 2, I probably don’t have enough magmadroths to make the most of this lodge, except in smaller games. But it tempts me to get one or two more down the line... There’s actually a fair incentive to taking no lodge at all- most, if not of the base command traits look really good on paper- spirit of Grimnir has really been buffed as it works every turn now, although several of the tunes have been weakened somewhat. I suspect I might end up settling on Hermdar, which looks like it might be a popular choice all round, but plenty to try out here.

It’s possible to anyway, as you need to roll equal to or less than the number of models (the tail is less only). But it does give you a much better chance of hitting a single model. Also, I would also say ignore the app until proven otherwise- if there’s a change it would appear in an faq or GHB. Something similar happened with idoneth warscrolls last year (basically several warscrolls with different rules appeared on the app) and the official answer usually is, if it’s being changed they will do so in an FAQ first.

With that many heroes wouldn’t Greyfyrd be a good choice of lodge?

Sorry, yeah the berserkers- I wish they’d changed the names a bit as that’s still annoying. Auric hearthguard are much better now as well, now they don’t vanish off the table as soon as something looks at them, but the extra shooting feels a bit redundant in a KO army!

I’ve done my part! Anyone else notice that dispossessed and ironweld arsenal are grouped together when selecting factions...?

Off the top of my head, 10 hearthguard and a grimwrath berserker would be 340 points and a solid blocking unit. Alternatively changing the grimwrath for a battlesmith would make the unit more tanky at 380 points. Or just 20 Vulkites- they’re not quite as ridiculous anymore but with two wounds each they’ll still serve the same purpose, and you could split into 2 units if you preferred without compromising their survivability.

Less a grain of salt and more an entire quarry of the stuff, but I’d love this to be true. GHB armies (especially seraphon and ironjawz) probably deserve the priority at the moment though.

I haven’t tried them outside a deepkin force, but most akhelian units benefit so much from the tides that they might underwhelm in a mixed army- the king in particular can only use his command ability at high tide, and morrsarr (spear eels) need to be kept on the charge, so I told see them being less impressive or at least much harder to get the best out of them, in a mixed army. The shield eels would be ok I think- they also like to be on the charge but unlike many other idoneth they don’t differ as much if they’re caught out, or get stuck in a longer fight. The leviadon would get on much the same without the tides. I would have thought the eidolon of the storm would be better than the eidolon of the sea. I’m not sure about thralls- the tides obviously help with their fragility a great deal but a lot of their unique bonuses are either built in, or can come from cheap heroes (the soul render in particular) so the difference might be less obvious.

I’m glad a lower model count is how things seemed to have worked out. I started my fyreslayers about a year ago but got burnt out painting them- I didn’t hate painting them as such, but after doing 20 vulkites the idea that I’d probably have to do another 30-40 at least killed it for me. I actually toyed with the idea of a large unit of hearthguard back then, but decided not when I realised how expensive (in £) that was going to be. Then deepkin came out and I got distracted. I tried to get the army going again at the start of the year as I’d enjoyed small games with them, and was just starting to get burned out again when the news of the new book came out, which really gave me a boost. It means now, far from still having a seemingly endless hoard of Vulkites still to get through, I’ve actually got enough to field a 2000 points army, with enough spare to tinker with a few different builds. It’s really got me excited to get them out into the table, and I dare say I even enjoyed painting the last few vulkites I had as a result! I do feel sorry for anyone who did soldier on through 90 Vulkites, although that’s still perfectly usable (just not optimal anymore) but for you and anyone else thinking of jumping in, now feels like a good time. 2 start collecting kits is basically a 1000 point army, and you’re not shooting yourself in the foot by taking small berserker units anymore, so it’s far easier to get going now.

I pinned mine (and ironclad and a frigate)- Cut a short segment of a paper clip and glue that into the ball of the flight stand (deeper the better for stability) then drill a hole into the socket underneath the boat- you’ll need to mark or measure carefully to get the hole in the boat right. Although a little way off isn’t too bad, it’ll just look like the ship is banking. The added bonus of this is you can remove the stand for transport. Or you could do what @Lightbox and others have done and make a fancy scenic base attached directly to the ship, eliminating the need for the stand entirely.

So this is a nasty one. One of the command trait/artefacts I’ve dabbled with before on my runefather on magmadroth was iron of the guardian and the smouldering helm (aqshy artefact) as the new version of iron of the guardian is +1 save. this combined with a battlesmith would mean your runefather has a save of 2+, with a 4+ reflecting a mortal wound back at the target. And of course the few wounds that do get through have a 4+ chance to inflict a mortal wound back as well. To further lose friends and alienate people you could combine that with one of the magmadroth traits (either the reroll 1s to save or the one that reduces rend would be a best). I think this might be a teeny bit too much cheese for my local scene (plus I’m not buying a whole new book just to use the same setup I was already using), but if you frequently have skellies or ghouls with a gazillion attacks each thrown at you, just chuck that combo in to the mix and watch entire units wipe themselves out attacking you.

And then some! I was always wedging these guys in even in the 1000 point games I’ve been playing as they’re (IMO) the best models in the range. My loyalty is about to pay off! RAW, yes, but it feels obviously broken and I would not at all be surprised to see that FAQ’d at the first opportunity. Bear that in mind before you buy them on mass. Im really seriously surprised by the points though- hearthguard in particular look way too cheap. I guess time will tell. Any word on any magic defence abilities or artefacts?

I’ve been keeping an eye out for the new warscrolls- for those that don’t know they often appear on the New Zealand gw site early. And they’re up! First, to get the bad news out if the way, no unbinds (or endless spell dispels) that I can see anywhere. Bleh. Also runesmiters have to roll for their runic empowerment now, and the range is shorter and wholly within. magmadroths get an extra maw attack, and their volcanic blood works differently (but can’t hurt our own units anymore) but otherwise haven’t changed much- I’m fine with that personally but I suspect many were hoping for more of a buff. All throwing axes (and I do mean all) are 5+/5+. Most command abilities are different. Not sure if that’s good or bad yet. The good news? Many attacks have a better hit chance, including the runefather’s Axe, and all vulkite weapons! Hearthguard are insane now- as well as two wounds each they’ve kept the full invun (so 4+ if near a hero). Flamestrike poleaxes only get mortal wounds on an unmodified 6, but they do 2 mortals and it’s still in addition to normal damage. Ouch. The grimwraith has also kept his invulnerable save, albeit at best a 5+. His axe is now 2 damage -2 tend,and his abilties work differently- don’t know how he is mathematically but seeing as I always failed that 2+ to keep him until the end of the phase, him automatically piling in blood warrior style suits me fine. Aurics can now deflect wounds off non magmadroth heroes onto themselves. The battlesmith adds one to save rolls rather than rerolls, but is better in combat himself. The runemaster is decent, with the holy seeker is nice if it goes off, and more importantly doesn’t buff your opponents units! That’s the main points I noticed at a glance. How it’ll all pan out will depend on buffs and the battletome but there’s some nice boosts here and there, but a bit of a blow for the runesmiter and a great shame that there’s zero magic defence by default- better ally in those runelords still... edit: just spotted that magmadroths have 14 wounds now, so that’s a thing there. Chosen axes warscroll also has been boosted.

It’s pretty solid. I found it more useful in the early days of AOS, as the last few tunes I’ve used it I’ve had opponents take it down in one round. But if that happens, the speed it can regenerate makes it great as a one model tarpit. I find it’s damage output a little swingy though.

The latter probably refers to the forge brethren battalion. Unless that’s been dropped and the same rule implemented elsewhere.

Hah! Blob seems to be just what appears in the browser bar when you convert a warscroll builder list to pdf, but I might have to start calling my armies that! My aelves really are just a cluster of units I picked as I thought they’d look cool in the colour scheme, so I’m slight guilty of looking at the shelf and thinking “hey, haven’t used you in a while” rather than having a set plan for how a list worked. That particular list was for a game against beasts of chaos, with a player who (whilst not a newbie) was experimenting with a new army. I’d normally try and fit in a monster or two otherwise. As it was the list worked well enough in a knife to the heart battleplan. The wanderers units make a nice defensive force which left the rest of the army free to push forwards. Anything that wasn’t Phoenix guard died alarmingly quickly once they were in range of the herdstone mind you, but the guard did manage to tag the second objective and win through. I don’t have any other lists I’ve used saved, but I’ve put together one I might consider more typical for me. I tend to like several small units of Phoenix guard to spread their influence and try and control objectives across the board, but one could combine them into a single unit of 30 to free up points elsewhere.

The Infernoth looks to be the most underwhelming of the three on paper, which is a shame as it’s the best looking (and remains the main reason I’ll pick them up.) im surprised they’re all 3+ to cast as I’m sure the khorne ones are harder than that? Although I guess khorne have free access to rerolls from terrain to make up for that. Still would rather see anti magic rather than totally-not-spells but I’m still hoping the runemaster has learned some new tricks.

Definitely up my street! I actually haven’t used a mixed aelf army for some time as I’ve mostly been splitting them out into Darkling covens and Phoenix Temple, but I’ll attach the only list I still have saved on warscroll builder. I’ve generally gotten on pretty well with aelves in AOS 2, albeit not in a cutting edge competitive environment which does skew things somewhat. There’s a definite lack of punch, with not much tend available and mortal wounds being fairly thin on the ground. But there’s definitely a few heavy hitters around and all our units are decently quick. I don’t generally expect to outpunch battletome armies, but can generally still tackle them by focusing on the objectives and trying to bog down or outdistance the strongest enemy units. My main gripe is the lack of battleline choices- I’ve based my army around a fire theme and couldn’t think of a way to fit reavers into that, so didn’t take any, meaning I always have to take the same three units of darkling infantry regardless of what type of army I wanted to do. But otherwise, there’s a great selection of units to choose from to fit any battlefield role. Besides the obvious frostheart phoenix, there’s a fair few gems: Hands down the unit that has won me the most games are doomfire warlocks. They sometimes attract more attention than they can handle, but more frequently they’ll skulk around the back of the army half heartedly casting mystic shield, waiting for a double turn and the chance to jump a minimum 30” across the table and pinch an objective my opponent thought was safe. Even without a double turn, save a command point for them and you’re guaranteed a 20” move to put them somewhere inconvenient. Phoenix guard remain the best 1 wound infantry in the game for their points, and the best way for you to fend off the nasty stuff newer armies throw at you. I’ve also been really impressed with black guard since I started Darklings- great bravery, built in rerolls to hit and precious, precious rend make them much harder hitters than Phoenix guard, just make sure they get the first swing in. The loremaster is still amazing even with the heavy price tag. Paired up with a dragonlord in particular, but really any monster will work. the nomad prince is a surprisingly heavy hitter for an 80 point hero, and decently tough to boot. There’s also some great anti magic tools- the spellweaver’s once a game auto unbind springs to mind, but the archmage on a dragon is also pretty handy against armies that rely on magic. The archmage on foot is also theoretically very good, if you can roll more than a 5 on 2d6 with any regularity. I, however, cannot.

Obviously purely speculation at this point, but my guess would be 160-180 points per 10 vulkites and 120 -130 points per 5 hearthguard. vulkites will go up a fair old bit, I suspect- with 2 wounds they’re similar to tzaangors, who are 180 points for 10, so I’d be surprised if they’re much cheaper than that. Hearthguard are harder to predict- 100 points for 5x 1 wound and 1 attack models was heavily overpriced to start with, so I don’t think they’ll go up as much as vulkites. Auric hearthguard I suspect will be a similar cost. Edit- I’m assuming the hearthguard are keeping their extra save in this case.

Turns out you were bang on the money! Looking good so far- if magmadroth get mount traits I might have to think of more inspiring names for mine (currently “Mr Stompy” and “Pickles”) As others have pointed out, the wording for the vulkite special rule implies that this replaces their invun save. Kinda feels like a poor mans blood warrior rule, but, as I said before, I think 2 wounds might actually work out better than the invulnerable save anyway? Crucially it means you don’t need 30 vulkites to make the most of a unit anymore (I have 20 with each weapon type, so good news for me!) Hearthguard, if they have kept duty unto death, are now insanely good. Bit of a stealth buff with the weapon ranges as well, and the poleaxe now wounds on a 3+. I currently have 20 of these guys (IMO better models than the vulkites sp I had tried to wedge in as many as possible despite their rules) so this suits me very well! Who knows what this will do to points though. I’m expecting a hike in both, although seeing as hearthguard were significantly overpriced before, they might not go up by much. Throwing axes taking a hit isn’t surprising- seeing how we’re getting some significant buffs then something had to give. Rune of farsight takes them back to where they were, but was generally the one I’d use if I couldn’t think of anything better to do anyway.

The problem is he’s competing for a limited number of hero slots in a crowded field- with any luck they’ll change something to distinguish him from the grimwraith berserker, and give them both a niche to fill. It’ll be interesting to see what the forge does- I wonder if it’s going to link with the battle trait in some way, assuming that mechanic is kept- perhaps units within range always act as if the enhanced rune effect is in play?

Fyreslayers up for pre-order next week and we’ll be getting some previews in the meantime. Also looks like the doom seeker is returning!

Tom made the same comment on the last page as well. I’m not great at mathhammer, but wouldn’t 2 wounds each make units of 10-19 vulkites more durable overall compared to the invun save? It would be less favourable for units of 20+ I think, although if you roll like I do then the extra wound might be more reliable. Each to their own but I think I would prefer fyreslayers to stay on the tougher side rather than glass cannons. I like my dwarfs in the hard to kill variety.

Anyone’s guess at this point I think. Might be another 2 weeks of 40k chaos releases then fyreslayers around Easter, but maybe we’ll see some previews sooner