Age of Sigmar: Points and Handbooks

[Requizen]

Two more Warcry games this weekend.

Another with Cypher Lords vs Ironjawz. The big Orruks feel very mission dependent - they are extremely tough and hitty, but Move 3" is basically bonk. Especially when we drew the "stand on top of terrain" mission, so I spread out, outnumbered him, and only fought with a couple things to tie him up. Cypher Lords are so fast and roll a lot of dice that this mission is really good for them. Lots of ability to jump up on terrain, lots of ability to roll enough dice to force falling tests. Not to mention teleporting Mindbound up so they can double fight.

Tried out Corvus Cabal vs Iron Golems. Mission had each player place 3 objectives that you could burn at end of turn, and whoever burned 4 of them first, won. I burned three of mine, but my superior mobility let me contest one of his. We fought over it in turn 2, but the high Toughness of Golems really shone and I couldn't shift enough of them to outnumber. Game came down to second win condition, which in Warcry is "play until only one person has fighters on the board", and I managed to sneak it out thanks to hot crits on the spear Cabalists, with just two of my chumps alive a the end finishing off his one Drillmaster. Very close game.

Speed is a huge part of this game, if it wasn't clear from the beginning. Speed and mobility are always important in any game, but the positional game in Warcry in particular is quite noteworthy, as well as the ability to manipulate and traverse terrain. I'm going to do a full review of the current Warbands soon, and we'll see which warbands get lots of extra movement compared to others. Extra attacks are nice, but they don't mean anything if your opponent can dictate when and where the fights take place.

[PraetorDragoon]

I'm looking forward to the warband review.

[Cheesegear]

I'm think of picking up either the Stormcast or Shark Aelf WarCry cards. Any recommendations?

[9mm]

https://www.warhammer-community.com/...-ii-judgement/

I will not get excited.
I will not get excited.
I will not get excited.


... Dangit.

[Cheesegear]

I'm think of picking up either the Stormcast or Shark Aelf WarCry cards. Any recommendations?

Probably going to end up with a Stormcast Warband. Ideally, I'll be able to use the models when Cities of Sigmar comes out.

[PraetorDragoon]

I'm going to assume this tithe of bones thingy means new Deathrattle.

I'm think of picking up either the Stormcast or Shark Aelf WarCry cards. Any recommendations?

Which factions do you have? SCE are just vanguards, so the less amazing stormcasts. Shark elves offer more options in that regard.

[Requizen]

I'm think of picking up either the Stormcast or Shark Aelf WarCry cards. Any recommendations?

Sorry, been away for a bit. For power, general consensus is that Stormcast is a lot stronger. Idoneth have a lot more flexibility in options, ranging from chumps, to fast killy, to ok shooty, to fast tanky. But they don't have that many power units, and generally rely on finesse and abilities to do their things.

Stormcast options are quite strong. Bird chaff, fast damage dealers with Hounds, tanky elite with Hunters and Hurricanes. Longstrikes are a bit iffy with their huge deadzone and dice swings, but nothing says "lucker dog" like crits doing 10 damage.

My SCE band that I haven't brought out yet looks like:

Hunter Leader
Hunter
Hunter
Hurricane
Gryph Hound
Aetherwing
Aetherwing

975/1000

Overall feels pretty good, doesn't go too ham into shooting but still enough to worry most opponents.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/...-ii-judgement/

I will not get excited.
I will not get excited.
I will not get excited.


... Dangit.

Well that looks excellent. More variety in death is always good, I'm actually hoping for something a bit more on the elite side, rather than yet another horde swarm. FEC can be elite with the big monsters, but I'm talking something closer to what Soulblight should be. Though the image of a wall of soldiers doesn't really inspire that.

[Tome]

Well that looks excellent. More variety in death is always good, I'm actually hoping for something a bit more on the elite side, rather than yet another horde swarm. FEC can be elite with the big monsters, but I'm talking something closer to what Soulblight should be. Though the image of a wall of soldiers doesn't really inspire that.

It looks like it's a skeletons factions? Probably taking some notes from old Tomb Kings stuff?

[Requizen]

Warcry Guide

Warcry hasn’t even lost that new game smell, but here’s my first pass at a guide, after several games and analyzing all the info.

Spoiler: Overall Notes

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First notes about the game and this guide. Warcry gameplay focuses on 4 main aspects: Damage, Mobility, Activation Economy, and Durability. Of these four, Durability is by far the least impactful due to the way damage is applied, and in many of the Warbands that durability is severely overcosted.

Mobility and Action Economy are likely the two most important aspects in the game. Yes, technically the game is very much about killing your opponent’s dudes, but like in many games (wargames and video games), controlling the situation and being able to outposition the opponent is usually stronger.

There are of course, some exceptions, where raw stats can overcome low mobility and action (Ironjawz are an example of this), but that also depends heavily on missions, terrain, twists and your opponent.

Spoiler: Notes on Damage

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Because of the way damage is done and stats are arranged at large, damage characteristics on fighters can be lumped into two buckets: Good and Bad. While this seems like an oversimplification, in practice you will come to realize which fighters can deal damage and which ones have to pray for crits. There are some exceptions of fighters that do “moderate” damage that can be somewhat reliable while bringing other utility, but by and far they are the minority.

Bad Offense is anything that does 1 baseline. These are usually your chump attacks, they will do 1/3 or maybe 1/4 on things like spears. This profile is often paired with things like Strength 3 and/or low dice numbers.

Good Offense is usually something like Strength 4, 4 attacks, damage 2/4. There will be some variance, often one of those numbers up or down, but basically if a fighter’s damage is 2 baseline and they don’t have a serious downside to it, you can consider them a Good damage dealer.

Exceptions to this rule, as stated, would be something like the First Fang from Untamed Beasts, who has a Strength 4 Damage 2 attack, but is only 2 dice. This is mitigated by being ranged, and having a very strong Ability that lets you mess with your opponent’s mobility and positioning.

I find that this distinction makes discussing the fighters and warbands a lot more straightforward, as the amount of Good Offensive output in a warband will be indicative of their ability to participate in the combat portion of the game.

Spoiler: Notes on Durability

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Much like Damage, you can break down durability into a few buckets, though there’s a bit more variance since Toughness and Health, while related, are fairly distinct. Toughness will affect how much base damage you’ll take, but has no effect on crit damage. Health affects how much of both you can take, which is kind of like reducing the output of crits, but not really. Health is overall the more important of the two, but Toughness isn’t ignorable.

Like Damage, there are some Durability stats that don’t fit into these buckets, but by and large most fighters will fall into one of these four:

Bad Durability is mostly your chumps. This is something like 8-10 HP, Toughness 3. They’re expected to die fast.

Middling Durability is something like 12-15 HP, usually Toughness 4. These fighters can be expected to engage with a single fighter and not explode instantly, but it’s very dice dependent.

Good Durability is seen across all warbands, and is 20 HP Toughness 4. Usually on Leaders and the bigger fighters, they can be expected to tank a couple dudes unless crits go crazy.

There is another category I’ll call Insane Durability, which is anything better than the basic Good profile. This is Toughness 4 25+ wounds, or Toughness 5 20+ Wounds. In the Chaos Warbands, this is only seen on the Ogor Breacher, or on Good Durability fighters after applying Buffs and Twists. These you can expect your opponent to either ignore, or focus multiple fighters on at a time, and still not be guaranteed to drop.

Spoiler: Notes on Mobility

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Most fighters in the game vary between Move 3, 4, or 5. While this doesn’t seem like a lot of variance, you will very much notice the difference over the course of the game, and after a few games a M5 fighter will feel like a speed demon compared to M3, especially without any Move boosting Abilities being used.

Anything about 5 is just plain fast. A few Chaos warbands have Move 8, which is already a huge jump compared to the base move amounts, and then some of the AoS warbands have M10 or M12, which is just honestly insane, especially when they have other good stats alongside it.

Spoiler: Notes on Activation Economy

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Activation Economy is a bit nuanced, but for the most part refers to having more Actions than your opponent, generally by having more bodies (usually chumps) and the ability to use Wait actions by having fighters that don’t need two Actions in a turn. Forces with a lot of small dudes can often force their opponent to act or move when they don’t want to, or use “wasted” actions to set up counterattacks. That said, the more chumps you have, the less good fighters you have, and the more you feel the loss of each good one.

Action Economy can also refer to the prevalence of Bonus Actions. Some Warbands have bonus Move or Attack actions more readily available than others, which lets them have more quality actions in a turn, and is therefore one of the more powerful resources in the game.

Warband Breakdowns:

Spoiler: Iron Golems

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Abilities:
[Double] Throw Bolas: A ranged damage dice roll, more reliable than others in that you roll 2 dice, but lower chance to get the Ability Value damage. Like all ranged dice rolls, situationally varies between game-deciding and useless.

[Double] Spine-crushing Blow: Add Strength to next attack from Dominar or Prefector. Relatively useless on the Dominar, since he’s already S5, but the Prefector going to S5 has some use.

[Double] Lead with Strength: Leader can bonus move or fight after killing something. There’s a lot of power in bonus actions, and the Dominar can deal good damage. However, it’s a fair bit of situational, so it’s not something you can take advantage of with every Double you roll.

[Triple] Living Battering Ram: Ogor deals Ability Value damage after moving. Damage without rolling dice is good, and the big boy is going to be in the thick of it. Generally will be looking to push a good number of your Ability Dice into this, especially if you’re running 2 Ogors.

[Triple] Stand Defiant: +1 Toughness in a bubble around the Signifer. As I said previously, Durability probably is the least important aspect of the game in most situations, but you stack enough and it can really add up. Less of an always use than Battering Ram, but will come up enough.

[Quad] Whirlwind of Death: Ability Value damage around the Drillmaster. Damage without rolling dice is good, especially when it’s a radius, and on your fastest character. That said, it’s Ability Value, and quad 1 or 2 isn’t doing much, but then you have a Quad for Rampage.

Fighters:
Dominar: The boss has Good Durability, and while he has Good Damage, it’s somewhat limited by only 3 dice. As far as required Leaders go, he’s pretty average.

Ogor Breacher: Great Triple as noted, Insane Durability. His Damage can leave something to be desired, as only 2 dice is terrible, but once he gets locked in he’ll eventually whittle anything down. If you don’t have a Triple or a good Value on your Triple, Onslaught can make his damage a smidge more reliable.

Signifer: Relatively Good Damage and Middling Durability, but you bring him for the Triple more than anything.

Drillmaster: Good Damage and Mobility, Middling Durability, potentially insane Quad. An impressive fighter though one needs to be careful with her health pool.

Prefector: Good Damage (though also 3 dice is sad), Middling Durability. He’s a good mid-tier fighter overall, but the Drillmaster costs the same points and seems better overall. He’s really only good if you can take advantage of his Double for reliable 3+ hitting.

Armator: The Chaos Dwarf is kinda bad, sadly. Bad Damage, Middling Durability, Low Speed. He’s more of a slightly better Legionary than a good fighter, which sucks because it’s probably the best looking model of the bunch.

Iron Legionary: The chumps, only slightly better because they have T4 baseline, T5 on the Shield. This makes them slightly better at being thrown onto objectives, though they’re still not killing anything and still die to good fighters.
Of the three options, the Double Hammers feel the worst, as they have neither the range of the Bolas nor the increased toughness of the Shield.

Overall, they play as designed: a warband that focuses on durability more than anything. They play a lot better in missions that focus on combat than objectives, though durable chumps can make objective missions bearable as well. The lack of extra Mobility is their overall weakness, especially since they often want to clump up.

Out of the box, I think they are fine, but likely on the lower end of the power level. With more sets, I would end up dropping the Armator and some Legionaries for another Breacher and/or Drillmaster. The Signifer is an optional take in my opinion, they’re already on the good side of Durable and you don’t always want to move around in a 6” clump for the buff.

Spoiler: Untamed Beasts

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Abilities:
[Double] Savage Fury: Any fighter can get Rush and Onslaught on the same double, but only one of each Move/Attack. It’s therefore better than either for a Move/Attack turn, so is a very good all around Double.

[Double] All-out Attack: Leader can bonus Move or Attack after killing something. The Heart-Eater is a pretty good fighter, so this should come up occasionally, but is not something you always plan around.

[Double] Beastmaster: Beastspeaker picks a Prowler within 4” to attack. This is one of the best Doubles in the game in my estimation, as it’s a free Attack that is super hard to plan around. Gains a lot more utility when you add more Prowlers and/or Beastspeakers.

[Triple] Pounce: Prowler does Ability Value damage after a move. M8 fighter (which is also one of the best fighters in the warband) that does auto damage without dice is very, very strong.

[Triple] Harpoon Snag: First Fang makes a bonus Attack that drags the enemy Ability Value inches straight towards him. Bonus Actions are already amazing for a Triple, and being able to mess with positioning - and therefore combat locking, objective holding, and terrain utility - is top notch.

[Quad] Unleash the Beast: 1/2 Ability Value to Attacks and Strength for the rest of the Round (melee only). Is this better than Rampage? Usually not, unless it’s a 5 or 6, and then only if you’re already stuck in combat, and then only if it grants you more attacks/better hit rolls than just a Bonus Attack. However, as it lasts until the end of the Battle Round, you can use it early on a Prowler, and then Beastmaster that Prowler again so it continues having the bonus. Though, that is a lot of setup, and requires both a Quad and a Double. This is a great back pocket ability for that Quad 5+ when your Heart-eater, Prowler, or Sword Preytaker are locked in combat, though.

Heart-Eater: Basic Leader. Good Durability and Damage, ok Ability. Good for being required.

First Fang: Range has a lot of utility in a game where it’s quite rare, especially with good Damage and a relatively cheap point cost. Middling Durability is also not bad when you can somewhat avoid retaliation.

Beastspeaker: Bad Damage, Middling Durability, M5. Only worthwhile with Prowlers, otherwise very disappointing.

Rocktusk Prowler: Good Damage and Durability, fast, good Abilities. These are the best fighters in the warband and are pretty aggressively pointed.

Preytakers: Kind of a better chump, they have middling-low Durability and good but somewhat unreliable Damage. The Sword generally is better because it has more dice to fish for Crits, but the Axe is more reliable, especially with Onslaught or other extra attacks. Not sure if they’re worth double the price of Plains-runners, but they have their uses.

Plains-runners: Chumps and therefore Bad in all categories, though M5 and a low price are nice. Their main job on the board is to be Objective sneakers and Activation Economy currency.

Overall, Untamed Beasts are a relatively well-rounded warband that boasts good fighters, good speed, utility, and a variety of options.

Out of the box they hit a lot of good well rounded notes, but one really does want another Rocktusk Prowler at the very minimum. Two First Fangs also might not be amiss. Preytakers would be the first things to drop, in my estimation.

Spoiler: Cypher Lords

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Abilities:
[Double] Throwing Stars and Chakrams: A ranged damage dice roll, more reliable than others in that you roll 2 dice, but lower chance to get the Ability Value damage. Like all ranged dice rolls, situationally varies between game-deciding and useless.

[Double] Acrobatic Leap: Gain Fly for the Activation, but can’t move upwards more than 3” while doing so. Useless if the terrain is more than 3” tall, which at least the starter terrain is supposed to be. However, it also lets you bound over scatter terrain, lower walls, or other fighters, which can make a huge difference. It also means you can jump straight out from a ledge without taking fall damage.

[Double] Low Sweeping Blow: Double-bladed weapon Minions can roll dice for AoE damage. It’s not great, because a 2” bubble is not super large, and the output isn’t very reliable. Chakrams are more reliable unless you desperately need to deal that 1 damage to multiple targets.

[Triple] Shadowy Recall: Leader or Luminate picks a non-Luminate within 12” and sets them up Value-inches away. This is the flagship ability of this Warband, and teleporting around your Mirrorblades to get them out of dodge or set up a double attack from across the board is the main trick that your opponents have to plan around. If you can get two Doubles in a turn (or even 3 with good rolls and stocked Wild Dice), your opponent will be pulling out their hair.

[Triple] Shattered Gloom Globe: Leader puts out a 6” -1 attack dice bubble. While Shadowy Recall is the main knife in your toolkit, in a clumped up situation this will save your neck just as much. A Triple in the hands of Cypher Lords is very terrifying for having both of these available.

[Quad] Spinning Somersault Strike: Rampage, but with Acrobatic Leap tacked on. Basically always use it over Rampage, but sometimes they’re equivalent.

Fighters:
Thrallmaster: A better Leader than most. 5M, 5 attack Dice, and critting for 6 puts him on the higher end of Warcry Leaders, and that’s before taking the two Triples into account. That said, he’s a bit more expensive, but not by much.

Luminate: Very good Damage (especially with range 2), but middling Defense. The warband will always have at least 1 for Shadowy Recall and the Damage output.

Mirrorblades: Bad Defense, slightly better than Good Damage. Embodying the core concept of Cypher Lords, the main hitters are glass cannons that need positioning and good Abiltiy use, but will blend most things in the game if used right. Both weapon options are viable - Range 2 and higher crit has a lot of utility, but a good attack with 5 dice is no joke, especially if you can bait your opponent and teleport in range.

Mindbound: The chumps actually aren’t any less durable than the Mirrorblades, but have worse damage. Still, their damage is better than many chumps in the game, and they have Shadowy Recall shenanigans too. Same weapon notes as Mirrorblades, though the double-bladed weapon is often better for positional trickery since they don’t care about damage output as much.

Overall, Cypher Lords are the most “elf-like” of the factions, focusing on movement and tricks to deal damage, but dying to a stiff breeze for the most part. A well played Cypher Lords force is frustrating to fight if you can’t lock them down early, but they can struggle if they’re forced into positions via Objectives or being outplayed.

They’re quite good out of the box. Taking a second Luminate is a choice but not super important, though one might want to change all the Mindbound to have double-bladed weapons for optimization.

Spoiler: Corvus Cabal

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Abilities:
[Double] Raven Dart: A ranged damage dice roll, rolling only 1 dice but a higher chance to get Ability Value Damage. Like all ranged dice rolls, situationally varies between game-deciding and useless.

[Double] Swift Climb: Spire Stalkers ignore vertical distance while climbing. Ranges from useless to imbalanced depending on the height of the board. Using it to clamber up a Bell Tower in one move, for instance, can make purely insane setups.

[Double] Harrying Raven: Leader or Familiar Cabalist can turn off Disengages for one enemy for the turn. Extremely useful if you want to keep an opponent from getting on an objective, or keep them locked in with a Shrike Talon, etc. Turning off enemy mobility is sometimes as good as having mobility of your own, and sometimes even better.

[Triple] Swooping Attack: Shrike Talon makes a Bonus Move, and then if he falls more than 3”, makes a Bonus Attack. Bonus Move for a Triple when he has M8 is already a worthwhile Ability, and if you can pull off the Bonus Attack, it’s insane value. One of the better Abilities for the warband.

[Triple] Grisly Trophy: Leader puts out a 6” bubble of +1 attack dice. Not only is this AoE Onslaught, you can use Onslaught on another fighter (like a Spire Stalker or Shrike Talon) to stack them. Varies in usefulness based on positioning, but overall a very good ability.

[Quad] Death from Above: Rampage, but gain +1 Strength on the Bonus Attack if they fell more than 3”. Always use over Rampage, though the times where the Strength comes into play will depend heavily on the game and board.

Fighters:
Shadow Piercer: Pretty average Leader, though has M5, Grisly Trophy, and Harrying Raven for a bit of a boost. She’s a good central point for your army, having enough Durability to get stuck in but also nice utility.

Shrike Talon: The big hitter. Good Durability, Good Damage (extra dice!), and great Movement. Swooping Attack makes his threat range huge, plus occasionally getting an extra attack from it.

Spire Stalker: Good Damage, middling Durability, good movement makes these guys formidable fighters. Swift Climb and M5 will occasionally catch opponents out, and they’re enough of a threat to draw attention.

Cabalists: This warband gets a lot of chumps, but they’re actually quite good for chumps. Very Bad Durability, but their Damage and utility is slightly better to compensate. Spear Cabalists have Range 2 and enough dice to fish for those Damage 4 crits, Dagger Cabalists are cheap and can play Activation wars, and the Familiar Cabalist can use Harrying Raven to mess with enemy plans. Daggers seem to be the weakest choice of the three but aren’t necessarily terrible.

Overall, Corvus Cabal is focused a lot in using the Shrike Talon and Shadow Piercer to great effect while flanking with Stalkers and tying up/baiting with Cabalists. They have tricks, not as much as Cypher Lords but way more than straight combat warbands.

Out of the box these guys are very good, but there’s a thought to take a second Shrike Talon by dropping a Stalker and Cabalist, trading bodies/utility for more speed and damage. Or potentially dropping both Stalkers for a Shrike Talon and extra Cabalists, going more of a Swarm style with two big hitters. It feels as though there’s a good amount of variation available.

Spoiler: Splintered Fang

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Abilities:
[Double] Poisoned Weapon: Any fighter can auto-wound on a 3+ against any enemy. Whether that’s better than just an extra attack from Onslaught depends on a lot of things. Likely, going from a 5+ to a 3+ is better, but just going from a 4+ to a 3+ is probably not.

[Double] Ensnaring Net: Leader picks a fighter within 3”, and they can’t move or disengage for the turn. This is an insanely strong ability, especially since he has a Range 2 weapon. Turning off mobility, especially on a Range 1 enemy, means it does nothing for the turn.

[Double] Fanged Buckler: Anyone with a shield can roll a dice and deal either 1 or Ability Value damage to an adjacent enemy depending on roll. Sometimes you just need 1 damage, or need to hedge a bet on dealing more.

[Triple] Snake Charmer: Serpent Caller can make a Serpent base fight. This is not great, because Serpents are pretty trash, but they have enough attacks to fish for that last point of damage. Still, it makes your Serpents hard to ignore if they’re getting extra attacks, but it’s not the best use of a Triple.

[Triple] Relentless Killer: A Pureblood gets a Bonus Attack if they kill something. He’s an OK fighter, but this is not easy to set up and not reliable.

[Quad] Paralyzing Venom: Add Ability Value to Crits, and after each Attack Action on a 5+ the enemy fighter can’t move or disengage. Is this better than Rampage? Probably not from a damage standpoint unless it’s Value 6 and you’re rolling hot, but again, the possibility of turning off Movement is quite strong.

Fighters:
Trueblood: A good leader. Good Damage and Durability, boosted by having Range 2 and Ensnaring Net, one of the better abilities in the game. Can 1v1 many fighters just on his stats and finesse alone.

Serpent Caller: Middling Durability, Good Offense with Range 2, and M5. The ranged attack is basically nothing, but occasionally can pick off that fleeing fighter that needs to die. Stats are not as awesome as the model.

Pureblood: The supposed Good Fighter of the force, Middling/Low Durability and Good Damage. He’s likely not as good as he’s supposed to be, as he seems designed to be the main fighter but doesn’t really inspire too much fear.

Venomblood with Shield: The Human Venomblood (likely), Shield gives him surprising Durability for his stats, and a spear with good damage makes him a really reliable midrange fighter. The whip makes him cheaper and ranged, but the damage is absolutely terrible and not worth considering in my experience.

Venomblood with Sword: The Elf Venomblood gets an extra point of Move, but loses 2 Toughness, and has much worse damage output with either configuration. That said, he’s a lot cheaper. The Sword is obviously better, but the Whip gives this chump at least a bit of range utility.

Clearbloods: The chumps of the warband. Either Bad Damage and Middling/Bad Durability on the Shield, or Middling/Bad Damage and Bad Durability on double daggers. Unless you’re using the double daggers with Abilities to boost them, the Shield seems like the better option for objective snagging and Activation Wars.

Serpents: The other chump option, and in many ways just a straight increase from Double Dagger Clearbloods. While they’re somehow even worse durability wise, the increased speed to 6” and extra dice on attacks gives them positional utility and makes them better at using offensive Abilities. They’re still not good, but they can occasionally move 12” for surprises.

Overall, there’s a lot good and bad with Splintered Fang. There’s a good amount of Range 2 weaponry, and one really good, reliable way to turn off movement, which can be game breaking. However, their damage dealing and mobility is relatively middling out of the box.

This likely is the warband that could benefit most from extra boxes or conversions. More Venombloods with Spear/Shields makes for a relatively robust midrange, and the Purebloods and Sword Venombloods are pretty mediocre overall. Trading out the Double Dagger Clearbloods for more Shields or Snakes is likely the better change, as well, depending on points and preference.

Spoiler: The Unmade

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Abilities:
[Double] Nightmarish Visage: On a 3+, an enemy Ability Value-inches away from the fighter using it cannot move. This is a ranged movement shutoff that you can apply with any fighter, including Awakened Ones, and is therefore really, really good. Note that this will always roll a 1 or 2 when you desperately need it, however.

[Double] Barbed Strike: Any fighter can use this after dealing any amount of damage to an enemy. Reduce the enemy’s Toughness by 1 for the round. This can be a really good setup if you’re focusing down one fighter (say, Bloodmarked), but varies in usefulness depending on the situation.

[Double] Chain Garrote: An Ascended One can pick an enemy within 5” and deal 1 damage on a 3-4 or Value damage on a 5-6. Sometimes you need one point of damage .

[Triple] Flaying Frenzy: A Joyous one does the same thing as Chain Garrote, but to every enemy within a 3” radius. This varies from insane to mediocre depending on your ability to roll a 5+, but occasionally can finish off a swath of enemies or set them up for a kill.

[Triple] Vessel of Torment: When your Leader takes down a fighter, use Rampage. Rampage for a Triple is insane, and your Leader is one of the best base fighters in the game. Per usual, you can’t particularly plan around it, but it’s fairly common to get off.

[Quad] Gift of Agony: A bonus attack, +1 Strength and Attack Dice if they are damaged. If the fighter locked in and need three attacks to kill something, this is equivalent to Rampage, or better if that fighter is hurt. This has uses as a bonus attack, but lacks the pure utility of Rampage also getting movement.

Fighters:
Blissful One: The leader is also one of the best fighters in the game, and by far the best in the Warband. Huge crits on 6 with 5 dice alone is powerful, and then Move 8 for powerful positioning. Vessel of Torment can make or break games.

Joyous One: Middling Durability, Good Damage, M5 makes this guy a reasonable midrange fighter, but nothing overly special. While Flaying Frenzy can occasionally blend things in conjunction with a good Move/Attack, he can go down fast and doesn’t quite keep up with the Blissful One.

Ascended Ones: Same as the Joyous One, but with Middling/Bad Durability due to 10 Wounds. Still, Chain Garrote gives them occasional ranged utility and they can punch hard enough to draw attention away from the Blissful One.

Awakened Ones: These chumps are extra chumpy. The spears only have 2 dice per attack, and the flail only crits to a 2, so don’t rely on these guys to do any damage whatsoever. That said, the box comes with a lot of them, and their ability to Nightmarish Visage makes them an absolute terror from an Activation Economy perspective. Both weapon options are about equivalent.

Overall, The Unmade are a straight up combat force. They don’t have any extra mobility tricks other than sometimes Vessel of Torment, but Nightmarish Visage more than makes up for that, especially if you can tag multiple enemy fighters in the same turn. They want to tie down their opponents with bodies and Visage, and then have the Blissful One clean up flanked by Joyous and Awakened Ones.

Out of the box, these guys are pretty solid, though dropping one Ascended One for two more Awakened Ones really plays more towards the Activation Wars style of play. The points work out that you can straight upgrade an Ascended One to a Joyous One and remain at 1000 points, or drop two Awakened Ones for one more Ascended One. All are reasonable options, though time will tell whether more bodies or more Damage 2 midrange fighters are better support for the Blissful One.

[9mm]

https://www.warhammer-community.com/...-iii-mortarch/

Warning: Hype levels rising to dangerous levels.

[PraetorDragoon]

https://www.warhammer-community.com/...-iii-mortarch/

Warning: Hype levels rising to dangerous levels.

Where are the spartans when we need them!?

Not too shabby. I wonder if they will be their own thing or a Deathrattle expansion.

[PraetorDragoon]

Age of Sigmar Mortal Realms aka AoS conquest.

https://www.warhammermortalrealms.com/

The first issue will likely sell out in microseconds.

[Avaris]

Age of Sigmar Mortal Realms aka AoS conquest.

https://www.warhammermortalrealms.com/

The first issue will likely sell out in microseconds.

Any sign of the contents for the full collection?

[PraetorDragoon]

Any sign of the contents for the full collection?

Not that I know.

Personally I would guess a lot of the ETB stuff for sce and ghosts.

[PhoenixPhyre]

Age of Sigmar Mortal Realms aka AoS conquest.

https://www.warhammermortalrealms.com/

The first issue will likely sell out in microseconds.

I would have subscribed...but UK only

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I would have subscribed...but UK only

This would have been so nice

[Avaris]

This would have been so nice

I suspect that, like Conquest, it’ll roll out elsewhere in time! I’ve been expecting this for a while... need to see what you get in a full collection before deciding if it’s worth it though!

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Conquest's roll-out is still very slow, and not available in Canada. The website still specifies UK and Ireland only for new subscriptions, but I've heard people say they can get it in Spain and maybe Australia? So maybe I just can't find it.

[PraetorDragoon]

According to french people I know Conquest is availabe in France this week or so. I did hear its also available in Spain.

[9mm]

https://www.warhammer-community.com/...mepage-post-4/

Nova previews are up, love the boney bois. Also a free mini!

[LCP]

These are not risen warriors or malignant spirits – they are bespoke war-constructs forged from harvested bone and gifted the soul animus of great warriors and heroes.

GW has had one idea in the history of AoS and by gum they're going to stick to it.

[Cheesegear]

Hey, Tomb Kings are back! Using design elements from Tyranids and Necrons.

Uhh...I'm on board... I think?

[LCP]

Really?

I mean, to me it's not just that the models aren't good, though the models aren't good...



...it's that this is comically bad design. When coming up with this faction, someone in GW must have asked the question, "is a man-shaped jumble of bone scarier than an actual skeleton?", and somehow the answer they came to was "yes". The whole design concept here moves Nagash from being associated with death to just associated with calcium.

Reminds me of this comic.

Spoiler

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[PraetorDragoon]

I kinda like the mounted guys, but not super fond of the rest.

Thankfully, as now I can focus on my current factions.

I wonder if gw pulls a nighthaunt and includes a bunch of them into legions and makes the battletome irrelevant.

[Cheesegear]

I find it worrying that Cities of Sigmar and New!Orruks-That-I-Forget-The-Name-Of were announced ages ago, and we were given nothing, and GW is already trying to spruik a new Faction.

[PraetorDragoon]

Considering that Cities of Sigmar and Orruk warclans are books that can be released whenever GW finds space, not really. (maybe there is some terrain spells or something, but I think we would have been shown them already if they were around.)

[Destro_Yersul]

The Necropolis stalkers with the four swords look kinda cool. Except for the heads. But with a Head swap, they'd make fine Ushabti. Guy with the scythe is neat. The catapult is ok, I guess. Not a fan of the rest of them.

[LeSwordfish]

I find it worrying that Cities of Sigmar and New!Orruks-That-I-Forget-The-Name-Of were announced ages ago, and we were given nothing, and GW is already trying to spruik a new Faction.

Apparently the AOS releases were all thrown out of whack by the delays to Sylvaneth. Like other people have said, those releases are going to be book, warscroll, dice, and maybe terrain or endless spells. They're an easy release to throw in wherever like the other catch-up codices and they've announced the Ossiarchs (...jesus) won't be out until October, so there's still time. I've been keeping a list of the upcoming releases*, and I'm willing to bet CoS and Orruks will be with us before the end of september, along with Beastgrave and the rest of the previewed Marine kits, Ogors as a small release in October and Ossiarch Bonereapers (ugh) as the big october release, then sisters as the big november release. I don't know what's worrying about it: of course the hype is higher for the new faction than it is for another two quick update codices.

*In the spoiler:

Spoiler

Show

Beastgrave
--- Presumably to be followed by another six warbands.
Battletome: Cities of Sigmar
Battletome: Orruks
Battletome: Ossiarch Bonereapers
Ogor Tyrant (and presumably a full Ogor release)
War Cry Monsters and Mercenaries
Two new War Cry warbands - Spire lords and fire ones
Gotrek Gurnisson
Blood Bowl Lizardmen
RUMORED: Ogor vs Bonereapers Feast Of Bones box - this might be what Tithe Of Bones is?
RUMORED: Darkoath/Slaves To Darkness
RUMORED: Refreshes of all other old AOS ranges by the end of the year
--- Seraphon (Originally rumored for late summer but that seems unlikely now.)
--- Kharadron?
--- Whatever the Dark Elves are called now? Or are they in Cities of Sigmar
--- Tzeentch
RUMORED: New Blood Bowl
SPECULATION: Kurnothi as an army?
SPECULATION: Greco Roman Laser Elves

New Space Marine Models
6 More Space Marine mini-books
That cool Iron Hands Primaris Techmarine
Primaris Shrike
Adepta Sororitas
Horus Heresy Blood/Dark Angels stuff
Horus Heresy: Ruinstorm
Custodes/SoS stuff in 8th Ed
Adeptus Titanicus Knight upgrades
A few more Adeptus Titanicus resin weapons
Space Marine Heroes sets 2 and 3
That Psychic Awakening thing
- Update for every army
- Plastic Howling Banshees
- presumably the big overarching thing for the next year or so
RUMORED: Space Wolves with Primaris Bikes
--- Rumor credence: Yeah, right.

Necromunda Dark Uprising
Middle-Earth: Rohan, plus house, saruman, and grima.

[Cheesegear]

[Releases]

SPECULATION: Greco Roman Laser Elves

I genuinely have no idea what you're talking about. But I love it.

New Space Marine Models...

The new Marine Codex appears to have Iron Hands Primaris upgrade sprues on certain models. So, they exist.

[PraetorDragoon]

Thats a massive amount of stuff. We're not going to see all of that this year. (We have about 17 releases slots left, and that is more than 17 slots of releases, plus several releases will take multiple slots) And in December things usually slow down a little as we typically get the fancy battleforces for christmas.

So I don't think we get all the book updates for AoS this year. (even if we need only 5 or so. Tzeentch, Kharadrons, Seraphon, Everchosen and Beastclaws. Though Everchosen and Beastclaws will likely be mixed tomes in the future.

I haven't heard anything about Darkoath/Slaves to Darkness myself, unless you count wishlisting and comments that they have to be updated soon because they got a herald way back in Portents.