Clan's Cynic

I remember when there was an obvious typo for Neophyte Hybrids in 40k being something stupid like 120pts each and a lot of tournaments still insisted on them being run RAW. Don't hold your breath.

The 'dex has pretty much been entirely leaked as here's already physical copies out in the wild, presumably for influencers to go through so I'd be shocked if the Tau 'dex isn't going up to pre-order next Saturday.

So what's the expectation of Battletome reveals? Shown off during the week or at the LVO on the 28th?

All I can think is they didn't want to have to print out a separate card/page of Prayers and he'll get the keyword in the actual Battletome?

What makes it so frustrating is that in an army with literally 3 units, they still can't get the internal balance right and actually made it somehow worse. This isn't Codex: Space Marines with it's 464326432632 different units where you expect some slipup. It's not like Aurics, Vulkites and Berzerkers were all jockeying for first place. HGB were by far the most obvious option throughout 2.0 and the only real reason not to spam them was 1) Real-world cost and 2) Because you actually wanted a tiny bit of visual diversity. If HBG got nerfed into the dirt and everything else got slightly worse I could kind of see where they were aiming from. I mean I'd still be upset, but you kind of expect it. But whilst nerfed, HBG actually made it out of these Warscrolls better than everybody else. I mean what? "But they might change the Warscrolls, they might be different in the Battletome!" It feels like they've done too much work going over the cards to just be a copy/paste job. Too many little things have been tweaked. "But what about the allegiance abilities." That didn't stop Hedonites from being D-tier come the launch of their Battletome. Whilst I hope I'm wrong and this is more of a Soulblight situation, it's not as if there's much reason to be confident in GW's writing. Also we don't actually know if a Battletome is coming yet, or when. This isn't a Shadow Throne situation when both were announced at the same time despite delays. It seems highly likely of course, but the lack of any news is a bit odd. The only thing my gut tells me will be changed is the Flamekeeper lacking the <Priest> keyword in the boxset is because GW didn't want to have to print out a list of his Prayers to put in the box and he might have it in the actual Battletome, albeit at a higher price.

Clearly all of the old stuff is being made worse because they're going to release a giant wave of new stuff that will be brokenly OP. Right? Right...?

The whole thing definitely screams the writer overestimating the impact of the Throwing Axes buff. Flamekeeper at 80 might see him slide into some lists as a, "well I don't have anything else to take" option but him not being a Priest is really baffling just thematically. Aurics were undeniably nerfed and I genuinely don't know why. I could see the writer panicking that in a Monster-themed meta they didn't want a unit to very specifically benefit against Monsters or something? Maybe it'll become a Lofnir gimmick in the new Battletome. As for why they lost Sworn Protector... I got nothing because even in the fluff they're... well, sworn protectors. Still being 4+ to hit is also a pity. There's pretty much no reason to take them now unless you want a bit more visual diversity. Vulkites were obviously dominating the meta and clearly needed the Dual Handaxe nerf. Slingshields just giving a 4+ Save is obviously better than the convoluted "stay still and get +1 to melee attack Saves" but I don't think it was worth a 10pt increase.

Flamekeeper - 80pts Auric Hearthguard - 120pts (-5) Hearthguard Berzerkers - 135pts (+10) Dual Handaxe Vulkites - 160 Slingshield Vulkites - 170 (+10)

Namarti Reavers don't have Fire options anymore, 3+ Hit and Wound are just built in. +1 to hit when in within 9" of what you're shooting at but lost the Run re-roll. Allopexes have 3" coherency instead of 1". Thrallmaster - 110pts Allopexes - 165pts (+40) Thralls - 130pts (+10) Reavers - 170pts (+55) I don't play Idoneth so someone'll have to spot any other changes there.

Throwing Axes went to 4+ to hit and wound across the board. Aurics lost Sworn Protectors and +1 Damage against Monsters. +1 Bravery. Speed reduction is now just -1 instead of halved (lol). Hearthguard Berzerkers' lost their permanent 6++ and now just get a flat 4++ if a FS Hero is wholly within 9" of the unit. Vulkites are now two separate entries for Dual Handaxes/Slingshields which explains the 9th Warscroll. Dual Handaxes lost the reroll to hit, instead they get +1 to hit on the charge. Slingshields now just grant a flat 4+ Save. Flamekeeper is a Totem but not a Priest. Points Flamekeeper - 80pts Auric Hearthguard - 120pts (-5) Hearthguard Berzerkers - 135pts (+10) Dual Handaxe Vulkites - 160 Slingshield Vulkites - 170 (+10)

No Man Reads Book yet, but did nab pictures off BoLS. Changes Flamekeeper is a Totem but not a Priest. No other abilities but what we saw before. Throwing Axes went to 4+ to hit and wound. Aurics lost Sworn Protectors and no more +1 Damage against Monsters. Gained +1 Bravery. The movement debuff is now -1" instead of halved (lol). Hearthguard Berzerkers' lost their permanent 6++ and now just get a flat 4++ if a FS Hero is wholly within 9" of the unit. Vulkites are now two separate entries for Dual Handaxes/Slingshields which explains the 9th Warscroll. Dual Handaxes lost the reroll to hit, instead they get +1 to hit on the charge. Slingshields go to a 4+ save but are down to 1 Attack. Namarti Reavers don't have Fire options anymore, 3+ Hit and Wound are just built in. +1 to hit when in within 9" but lost the Run re-roll. Allopexes have 3" coherency instead of 1". I don't play Idoneth so someone'll have to spot any other changes there. Points Flamekeeper - 80pts Auric Hearthguard - 120pts (-5) Hearthguard Berzerkers - 135pts (+10) Dual Handaxe Vulkites - 160 Slingshield Vulkites - 170 (+10) Thrallmaster - 110pts Allopexes - 165pts (+40) Thralls - 130pts (+10) Reavers - 170pts (+55)

Problem is it's so situational. You need to lose x5 two-wound models and then have your HGB in a situation where they can benefit from the counter-charge. At that point, they've probably already taken the long way around or have already been charged themselves. The Flamekeeper is likely worse on Pizza Oven duty because his ability wants him to be in the thick of it to absorb the deaths.

If I take a huff of Copium(tm), it might be he has a personal Prayer in addition to his gimmick that makes him more viable. *Huffs again*

I only see him getting taken if Vulkite spam makes it's return from 1.0, since there might be enough bodies around to make his buff pop off enough. But he's probably just going to run into the same problem as the Runemaster. "Are his buff(s) better than Deep Strike and Reroll Wounds? No. Runesmiter it is. " Even if he's cheap, he's so tied to sitting among us units that he won't be manning the Pizza Oven either. At least he's generic enough looking you can proxy him as a Runesmiter/Runemaster I suppose?

Warhammer Community didn't even get his name right in the article title. That about sums things up I think. Edit: They changed it.

Fyreslayers shouldn't really be dying in droves, so getting to that 6 in the first place is probably an already bad sign for your plans. It doesn't really seem like you'd be getting those 6's all that often without being in a position where you don't have units with enough strength left to properly take advantage of things like the Charge. I only really see Grimnir's Vengeance being taken most of the time. The 'charge right away' is alright, but by the time you've got 6 points the combats are probably already joined anyway.

Flamekeeper article's up. Not sure about him if this is his only gimmick. Fyreslayers shouldn't really be dying in droves,

Flamekeeper's up. Do love the art.

I like the artwork. Very gritty.

Fyreslayers/Idoneth - Battlebox, Battletomes, nothing more except maybe Endless Spells for IDK. Nighthaunt - Hero model, Battletome with more sub-factions, that'll be it. Sylvaneth - A small wave of Wood Elf-esq Kurnothi and/or merged with the Wanderers with one new Hero model. The Cursed City Elf just looks too much like a normal Wood Elf for me to believe it's a coincidence. Lore will handwave this as there being enclaves who never fled to Azyr (like the Cursed City model's) and they were always there off-screen, or Alarielle welcoming them back into the fold. Blades of Khorne - Valkia will get a new model and of course a Battletome but that'll be it. Gloomspite Gitz - Same as above. Slaves to Darkness - The Chaos Sorcerer Warhammer+ tease makes me think we might see the multi-part Warriors/Knights finally and a good chunk of the older kits like Marauders given more sculpts.

I think some of the confusion comes from peoples differences between what's a narrative games vs Narrative Play and what the definitions are. The majority of people play AoS casually, or narratively (lower case) but still work within the Matched Play boundaries. At the end of the day, AoS is still a game where you're trying to beat your opponent - even if you don't necessarily care too much about the result - and for that reason people will want to steer around broken combos and totally weak armies, or else there isn't really much of a game there. Narrative Campaign Weekends at GW's own official 40k events only used Power Level for one event before swapping over to Matched Play. After 2.0 I don't think any of the AoS events ever used anything but Matched Play. Those are still narrative games. Look at Horus Heresy for another example. That's a system where the overwhelming majority of people are playing (lowercase) narrative games, but I'm willing to bet if GW were to introduce a Narrative and Match Play divide, almost all of them would still be using Matched Play (points), simply because most people still want to have an (in theory) balanced game to play, whilst still being fluffy. The majority of historical wargames are what would be considered narrative, but again, most of them use points to hash out games that aren't recreating specific battles.

My opinion is the opposite. The Finecrap models have, visually, aged very well. Maybe they're not on par with modern sculpts, but to say they're about sixteen years old they still hold up. The only real issue is that Finecrap is- well, you know. By comparison, the original infantry kits (Gluttons, Ironguts, Leadbelchers) suffer from being designed with rank-and-file in mind. The poses are terribly static and look odd with all their arms tucked into their sides, with every single non-Champion/Standard Bearer being in that identical stance. They looked great when marching in formation, but they're on round bases now and it just does not look good (again, imo). Leadbelchers kind of get away with it because there's not much you can really do with 'face cannon forward' but the Gluttons really need a new, dedicated AoS kit.

The Crab is AoS' equivalent of the Krieg shovels meme. It was cute at first. Now I just want people to stop regurgitating it every time new models or Idoneth are brought up. Yes, I'm fun at parties and all that.

Remember when GW themselves said they didn't expect people to spam Iron Hands Dreadnoughts, despite there being stories of playtesters warning them exactly that was going to happen? Either they're wilfully ignorant, do not care, or are woefully naïve when it comes to these situations.

Seems almost certain it will be Stormcast vs Orruk Warclans? Albeit with a bias towards the Thunderstrike/Kruelboyz models.