Lucentia

It's an interesting option, certainly, though strictly speaking I don't know if DoK can ally in CoS yet, at least until the allies table gets updated for the new battletomes? The damage output is perhaps a little better, though I'm rarely using Khinerai for their damage potential (aside from screen-clearing Lifetakers on occasion), and the smaller base size is probably an advantage over Khinerai. But you can't drop them in two locations like you could with 2x5 Khinerai, they don't have the huge flying movement, DoK buffs, or the coin flip extra flutter either. Though of course they are 20 points cheaper than 10 Heartrenders. I dunno, I think my pick is still the bat ladies.

They have match play points, yes, and the ones so far have also had new unique characters and stuff, but they seem more written with a narrative focus in mind for the most part.

As with many warhammer factions there are shades to it, some of the DoK temple-sects are popular and well-regarded elements of established cities, and others (like the Kraith) are little above any roaming band of bloodthirsty murderers. The caveat, of course, is that the entire order is under the control of Morathi and her machinations, so if she commands them to attack other order factions, even erstwhile allies, to further her own shadowy agenda they would have to obey.

Certainly makes me wish I had any Witches with bucklers! Buuut I don't much fancy painting any more witch aelves anytime soon. Can I ask how you found the SoS with Bucklers performed? I took 30 with knives to EGGS and had multiple instances where they just couldn't kill something that really needed to die where dagger witches would probably have been able to, and the 2 attacks with bucklers is obviously even less punchy. Were you mostly using that 30 block for board presence/another defensive piece, buffing in the late game when their damage is more reliable?

I have picked up a box of Wild Riders/Sisters of the Thorn with intent of turning them into centaur-style Hellstriders, though I have yet to get round to chopping them up to see how feasible that actually is... When I do so I'll try to remember to report back with the results.

Possibly personal bias, but this does share some design features with DoK elements, notably the diamond-shaped gemstone which is common to a lot of DoK weaponry (see Witch Aelf daggers and Blood Sister spears for examples), the socket where the shaft attaches to the main body here also has a similar shape to the Blood Sister spears, and the Bloodwrack Medusa model carries a spear featuring two coiled serpents, which could be what we're seeing here. The chain of beads is the only thing which doesn't really show up on any DoK models so far. But seen as it's almost certain that there is going to be a DoK warband for season 3 of Underworlds my called shot is that this is a new Bloodwrack Medusa hero to lead that warband, which would conveniently also fill a hole in the DoK range by letting people pick up a non-unique plastic hero model without forking out for the Cauldron of Blood kit.

I don't disagree necessarily, but I'm not sure this is a one to one comparison, Sylvaneth already had an AoS 1.0 battletome and new models specifically for AoS that came with it on their initial release. Whilst Ogors do have the BCR battletome (which was the next released battletome after Sylvaneth, if I recall) a lot of their range has never had a 'proper' AoS rules release outside of the very first sets of warscrolls, and all of their models predate AoS! Lower your expectations as appropriate, but I would not be surprised to see at least a little more than the basic spells and terrain 2.0 update for the large lads.

Yeah, no Soulscream Bridge for Gortrek by my read, he is specifically prevented from using any set-up abilities. I don't know if he's that valuable in a DoK list (and not just for the aesthetic crime you would be committing!) His damage is certainly good, but it's not exactly an army starving for damage output, and Morathi makes for a better tarpit most of the time if you're looking to spend 1/4 of your points on a single model.

I feel like Pretenders is mostly going to shine at lower points levels, where your opponent is going to find it harder to remove your super-Keeper from play, at the standard 2k, I dunno, it's hard to see much value in what Pretenders brings to the table over the other options. Potentially some sort of Depraved Drove list where you can use the Beasts of Chaos speed and threat to keep pressure off your general?

Could be waiting a fair while for that! But then again we're almost up to date on most armies having battletomes, so I guess it could be sooner than expected! It's interesting cos to me the easy faction terrain options are already represented in the army in the form of the Cauldron of Blood and Avatar of Khaine, like, you could just tweak the avatar warscroll a bit and have it function as an allegiance terrain piece. I'd suspect some sort of big, immobile avatar statue which can swing it nearby enemies for a few mortal wounds coupled with some sort of weak buff to friendly units nearby would be appropriate. For endless spells I would quite like to see models which can function as either spells of Khorne style judgements depending on whether a priest of wizard summons them into battle, with the spell versions being harder to cast but having stronger effects representing Morathi's magic underpinning the whole cult.

I played against quite a lot of shooting/magic heavy armies that were able to whittle down large horde units before they could necessarily get into combat, so often it wasn't a case of comparing 30 witches to 30 sisters, but rather 10-15, where the Witches will often come out on top. But of course if you are playing, like, Slaanesh or something then you're more likely to have mostly full squads hanging around when it comes to charge time! Also note I was playing without the Hagg Nar re-rolls, so my expectations on damage output were probably a little miscalibrated!

My money's on a ponytail from a Kurnothi model, looks kinda similar to the banded ponytail from the DoK Khinerai kit, but more wild and less ornate.

I ran a similar list at EGGS last weekend, but substituting one of the Sisters units for 20 Witches and 10 Lifetakers (Also I was using Khailebron so my cauldron took Crimson Rejuvenation over Blessing of Khaine). I gave Morathi Mindrazor too, both as a backup and because she often ends up operating independently. My theory was the same as yours, Sisters seem a solid counter to stuff like Slaanesh, Gristlegore, etc. Unfortunately I didn't get much opportunity to test that in practice cos I pretty much only played against Skaven lists! I only managed 2/5 wins, but my losses were all very close ones, so I think there is some merit to the list. Being able to dictate the combat order to a degree with the Sisters is very valuable, but I did find myself missing the damage output of Witches, in two separate games the Sisters failed to put out enough damage to kill of key units where I suspect the extra witch attacks might have sealed the deal.

I glued the hair to the back of the masks to denote unit champions for my Witch Aelves (cos the default hag head is basically identical to the regular witch heads). It fits well enough, but it comes out at a higher angle than the hair does on the witches, kinda more like a plume? I don't know that anyone who wasn't familiar with the kit would notice. But that said the hair/lack thereof is the main visual difference between the two units when viewed from a tabletop away, so make sure to keep things straight with your opponents! Do you lot reckon DoK will get a look-in in the Cities of Sigmar book? I'm assuming they'll be an allied option at the very least, but as far as I know the public facing side of the DoK are quite popular amongst the free cities, and of course they do fight alongside their armies in the fluff, so it wouldn't be against type if there were some sort of deeper integration...

Scions of the Flame is a good call, probably on the money. My first thought was that the bladed rim is quite similar to the various Slaanesh whirly blades on the chariots/endless spell, but it's not an exact match.

Yeah, I feel like he might actually be sitting in some kind of throne or similar, like the Nighthaunt king guy, hard to say from a single silhouette! Some sort of open casket/sarcophagus could be appropriate.

I don't know about 'common' necessarily, but it's certainly something you can do if you like, potentially combo with Chronomantic Cogs to make the charge more likely whilst boosting the speed of everything else on the table to boot. There is also some value in teleporting small Morathi around to a safe spot as a flanking element for next turn, or to use her long range spell power to try and snipe out an otherwise hidden hero. Also do note that due to the way Morathi's transformation is worded it is possible to deploy her in such a way that she is surrounded by your own models and the closest location she can be placed is in front of the deployment line, after which she can still move as normal (and potentially receive combat buffs to boost her swing-y damage before going in) which can be more reliable than the Mistress of Illusion teleport depending on where you need her most.

Don't underestimate that automatic unbind, the Incantor is almost worth the points on that alone, you only need to stop Warp Lightning Vortex once for it to be worthwhile...

Looks good to me, I would only be tempted to swap the artifact to either Iron Circlet for more reliable Blessing or Shadow Stone for more reliable Mindrazor, but I do rate the Gryph-Feather Charm quite highly as well, to be fair.

Versus Slaanesh I like Morathi on the board and Sisters of Slaughter as key pieces. Morathi can pin Keepers and other heroes in place and will only give up 3 depravity points in the process, and Sisters of Slaughter can dodge the Locus of Diversion if you're careful with placement. I think Slaanesh versus DoK is actually quite an interesting, generally close, match-up, but it takes some practice to come out on top! Versus FEC you're mostly going to want to be very careful with your screening to try and bait out their big monster/flayer/horror charges, Sisters of Slaughter can again be quite useful here, really. Try and unbind the spell that boosts their movement/adds run and charge if you can, that can really leave them in the lurch.

Looks like a fallen 40k Aquila to me, my money's on some basing element for one of the new Sisters of Battle sculpts, or perhaps another primaris-ed space marine hero.

Sisters and Witches are both viable unit choices, so you can't really go wrong with either for the most part. If you're running a large SoS block as your main unit then I would say you would be better off giving them knives instead of shields, 60 attacks for 300 points will only get you so far!