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Category: Strategy & Tactics Blog

A collection of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar articles on strategy and tactics from the AoS Shorts team and guest contributors.

XL: Stormcast Eternals in General’s Handbook 2017

Stormcast

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Hello and welcome to the first AoS Shorts XL – a slightly longer show allowing a more in-depth coverage of a particular topic.  Today, I’m joined by Shaun Bates, currently New Zealand’s #1 Age of Sigmar tournament gamer, to talk about Stormcast Eternals in General’s Handbook 2017.

Shaun has had great success running different Stormcast lists on our local scene.  In particular, he has gotten the most out of underutilised units to build synergistic mixed arms lists and win tournaments.

In this show, we cover Stormcast as an army in Age of Sigmar, their strengths and weaknesses, some ideas for builds around Palladors, and some general tips for improving your tournament success with Stormcast.

Later in the week, I’ll expand this blog post with a summary of this interview – so you have all the key points in one place.  You can find more information on the AoS Shorts General’s Handbook 2017 page.

You can find Shaun on Twitter at @AoSShaun89 and me at @antipodean7. Also check out the Mortally Wounded podcast and it’s great minisode on the Vanguard Wing. 

Let us know what you think of the new format, audio quality etc. as we experimented with some new equipment.

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General’s Handbook 2017 – Key points from the Age of Sigmar FAQs!

Age of Sigmar FAQs

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Games Workshop has released new and updated Age of Sigmar FAQs to accompany the release of General’s Handbook 2017.  This show will focus on those Age of Sigmar FAQs and what you need to know for matched play.

The Age of Sigmar FAQs not only clear up interpretation disputes, or provide extra clarity, but in some cases they completely rewrite or errata existing rules.  Therefore, it is important to read them.  As a result, I’m also not limiting this show to the changes introduced alongside the General’s Handbook 2017.  I’ll also try to cover the key points in the FAQs which may not be known to newer matched play players.

The key points that I’ll cover are:

  • how Games Workshop has addressed stacking abilities;
  • the changes to reinforcement points;
  • a brief comment on deployment, movement and measurements; and
  • the most significant army specific changes which will impact tournament play.

I’m also going to use separate shows to cover:

  • the order of activation between rerolls, modifiers, and multipliers; and
  • allegiances, factions, and allies – especially amongst the Chaos factions;

because both these topics seem to have caused much consternation online recently.

Now, before we get into the heart of the show, I’d like to draw your attention to a few handy resources available on the resources section of AoS Shorts.

  • I’ve compiled a text-searchable and indexed PDF that contains all the FAQs and Forgeworld and Compendium warscrolls – the site also has a single PDF of all the old FAQs if you need them for some reason.;
  • I have also created an allies matrix for each Grand Alliance, so you can easily see who allied with whom; and
  • finally, I started a thread on TGA to compile new questions that people have regarding the new rules.  So check it out and add your own question if something is not clear.

FAQs: Stacking abilities

The default position in Age of Sigmar is that spells and abilities are stackable unless stated otherwise.  By stackable, I mean that the same ability can be applied from multiple sources to the same target unit (for instance, to give several +1s to hit).  Unfortunately, this can lead to some perverse outcomes and incentives.

Now, the rules of one that apply to matched play mean that spells can’t be cast more than once per turn so they won’t be able to stack.  However, there is no such restriction on abilities (presumably, given the current variety in wording and sources of abilities).

Therefore, Games Workshop seems to have addressed some of these abilities by amending them through the FAQ so that they don’t stack.  Take for instance the Aether-Khemist ability which allowed them to select a weapon type in a nearby unit and give it +1 attack – now the FAQ has confirmed that “a single weapon cannot be augmented more than once per hero phase”.

Games Workshop have also clarified that if an ability says that it applies to units “within 6″ of any models with this ability” the ability will only apply once.  This approach has been used specifically for the:

  • Bloodsecrator, Portal of Skulls, Rage of Khorne – add 1 to the attacks characteristic for melee weapons used by friendly KHORNE units while they are within 18″ of any models with this ability…
  • Treelords’ Groundshaking Stomp – “at the start of the combat phase, roll a dice for each enemy unit within 3” of any models with this ability”

However, it is important to read warscrolls closely because some abilities still stack – for instance:

  • the Cauldron of Blood’s Bloodshield will stack (the “any” in the rule applies to the target unit rather than the unit with the ability and so is not caught by the recent FAQ);
  • abilities like the Bloodwrack Shrine’s Aura of Agony is effectively the equivalent of a shooting or magic attack and so will apply multiple times to the enemy units in range; and
  • the Harbinger of Decay’s Morbid Vigour rule also stacks as it applies to units “within 7″ of this model” (not “any” model etc).

While we are talking abilities, I note in passing that the latest General’s Handbook 2017 FAQ has fixed a typo and made it clear that command traits (rather than command abilities) and magical artefacts do not affect mounts (unless specifically stated).

FAQs: The changes to reinforcement points

With General’s Handbook 2017, we have seen a number of changes to reinforcement points which allow greater freedom in matched play.  Primarily with some of the Seraphon and Death artefacts, for instance the Ring of Immortality etc  which no longer require you to pay reinforcement points.

The FAQs have also confirmed three issues in relation to reinforcement points:

  • you need to pay reinforcement points every time you summon a Balewind Vortex (even if you only have one in your list);
  • If an ability, allows you to replace a model with a different model,  such as Alarielle’s ability to create Dryads from the enemy, the new models cost reinforcement points.
  • the splitting of horrors in Tzeentch armies is now clearer – you can use horror splitting to add models to an existing unit until the unit contains 10 models – but must keep the new horrors wholly within 6″ of the original unit (so can’t string them out in a line).

 

FAQs: Deployment, movement and measurements

The Age of Sigmar FAQs cover a number of points which I’ve loosely grouped into deployment, movement and measurements.

Deployment and battalions

Starting with deployment of battalions.  One of the key advantages of a battalion (and one of the reasons for the recent points increases) is that it allows you more control over deployment and the first turn.  This is because a battalion can be deployed in three ways: in one go, unit by unit, or a group of units with the remainder deployed unit by unit (what I like to refer to as 3,1,1).  See the warscroll battalions section of a battletome and check out my deployment episode for more on this topic.

Now, there had been some confusion about whether you can deploy battalions on a 3,1,1 basis because of answer in the previous FAQs to a question on the special deployment rules of a Wanderers battalion.  This answer had said that a battalion can only be deployed in one go or unit by unit.  However, this answer has now been removed, so there should be no doubt that a battalion can be deployed 3,1,1 (but you’ll just have to pay the higher points cost associated with battalions).

Deployment, moves and “set-ups”

“Set-up” is typically when a unit is placed on the table during deployment, but can also refer to a unit being deployed in a location other than on the battlefield or being put into play once the game has started (a unit using the Stormcast Eternal Warrior Chamber’s Lightning Strike, or the Treelord’s Spirit Paths ability, for example).  Models can be set up within 3″ of the enemy, even if they are set up in the movement phase, unless noted otherwise in the rules for the ability that allows them to be set up once the battle is under way.  Most abilities now however make it clear that you have to set-up 9″ away.

A common feature of some movement abilities is to allow a unit to move in the hero phase “as though it were the movement phase”.  What does this mean?  It means that you can move the distance based on your move characteristic, can’t move within 3″ of enemy model, it can run and retreat, and so on.  However, it will count as having retreated when it comes to later phases (for the purposes of shooting, charging etc).

Teleporting and special movement abilities

A number of models in the game have an ability to “teleport” from one part of the board to another – for example Sylvaneth through their Wyldwoods and now Seraphon with their new battle trait.  The issue was whether using that ability on a unit in combat counted as a retreat (meaning that the unit couldn’t shoot or otherwise act for the remainder of the turn).

The FAQ has now confirmed that “If an ability or spell allows a model to be set up elsewhere on the battlefield, and the model is originally within 3″ of an enemy,” the model is not counted as retreating unless the rule specifically states otherwise.  Note the difference with the abilities that allow a “move as though it were the movement phase”.

Pile-ins

A pile-in is a move in the combat phase.  Any unit that has charged or has models within 3″ of an enemy unit can attack with its melee weapons in the combat phase.  When you select a unit to attack, you may move each model in the unit up to 3″ towards the closest enemy model.  This is your pile-in move.

The new Age of Sigmar FAQs have confirmed that:

  • if a unit has charged, but all enemy models within 3″ are slain before the charging unit is activated, then the charging unit can still pile in, even if it can’t get within 3″ of another enemy unit.  This is a useful confirmation for combat armies wanting to get another 3″ move towards the enemy or an objective.  However, note that it only applies to units that have charged – if a unit has been charged, or it is an existing combat, and models are removed that mean it is outside 3″ it will not be able to pile-in.

Just a final note on pile-ins with units that have special pile-in rules.  It is important to check whether the unit can pile-in 6″ or be selected to pile-in even if it is outside 3″.  For example,

  • Units like tree-revenants can pile in 6″, but must have charged or been otherwise within 3″ of an enemy unit to pile-in, but once selected they can move 6″.
  • However, units like Yhetees can be chosen to pile in and attack if they are within 6″ of the enemy and then move 6″  – This is great for these units because they can sit safely outside combat, avoid being hit, and then pile in when needed.

Measurements – within / “wholly within”

The Age of Sigmar FAQs make it clear that if a rule requires a unit to be “within” a certain distance, you only need part of one model within that distance.  However, if the rule or ability requires the unit to be “wholly within” then you need to have every part of every model in that unit within the distance.  This rule is most common in relation to cover.

FAQs: the army specific changes

The last section is to note that there are a large number of army specific FAQs that are worth reading.

Order

  • As is probably well known by now, there are a number of changes to the Kharadron Overlords warscrolls;
  • Stormcast Eternals
    • Clarified Celestial Vindicators Warrior Chamber – Paladins can be set up within 12″ of the Prosecutors instead of 6″.
  • Sylvaneth
    • Silent Communion – “models” includes wyldwood
    • Confirmed that all of the Treelord Ancients, Branchwychs and Branchwraiths in the Gnarlroot battalion can cast and unbind one extra spell.
    • Drycha doesn’t hit herself or her own units when she uses her Flitterfuries attack

Destruction

  • The Stonehorn (and also the Tomb Kings equivalent) has had its Stone Skeleton rule changed.  Previously the rule halved all damage taken by the Stonehorn.  In a rather elegant change, now you have the damage characteristic (rounding up) of weapons that target the model.  What this means is that Stonehorns will take full damage from damage 1 units (such as infantry hordes) because 1 damage halved is still rounded back up to 1.  What makes it elegant is that these units will often have low rend, so the Stonehorn will still have a decent armour save.  High damage attacks (think Kurnoth Hunters with scythes) will still have their damage halved, but at least have the benefit of higher rend. The Stonehorn still halves the number of mortal wounds that it suffers.  That part of the rule is unchanged.
  • Staying with Destruction – Units of fanatics hidden in a unit must now all be released at the same time, and must all be placed within 1″ of the unit that is hiding them.

Death

  • With Death there isn’t much new, but the existing FAQs still provide for Zombie units to be able to merge to make really large units, and for you to be able to resurrect champions and hornblowers into skeleton units.

Chaos

  • Blood tithe in opponent’s phase
    • Change to the Blood for the Blood God battletrait – Blood tithe points can be expended at the start of either player’s hero phase, but only once per phase.
    • Blood Tithe points must be expended before your opponent uses any start-of-turn abilities in your own hero phase, or after your opponent has used any start of turn abilities in your opponent’s hero phase.
  • Tzeentch
    • Confirmed that Wizards gain one spell from one of two lores – the Lore of Fate or the Lore of Change – depending on whether they are a mortal sorcerer or one of Tzeentch’s daemons
    • Changehost – can only switch units in a pair once.
    • Changeling –
      • explains what enemy units treat it as part of their own army – they can move within 3″…
      • formless horror, can’t use weapons that have a star for the range, attacks, to hit, to wound, rend and damage – effectively excludes the large characters – no more losing Durthu to his own sword.
  • Balewind Vortex – no Changehost switching a Lord of Change up there.  You can’t put a Monster on a vortex by any means.  However, this change does not stop you putting a unit of horrors up there.  So you can still summon the balewind on an objective and watch the horrors claim the objective (in certain scenarios) from 5.5″ away on top of the vortex.

Final Thoughts

As should be clear by now, the Age of Sigmar FAQs are vital to understanding matched play.  While the core Age of Sigmar rules are four pages, we are increasingly reliant on a wider rule-set for matched play that includes the General’s Handbook 2017, battletomes, FAQs, Forgeworld and Compendium warscrolls.  It can be difficult stitching this material together unless you know the answers are out there.

So check out the resources section on AoS Shorts, get in touch, let me know what you thought of the show, and what outstanding questions you have.

Further Resources

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General’s Handbook 2017: Nico’s initial thoughts

General's Handbook 2017

Hey everyone, today is the first guest post on AoS Shorts, by Nico – a competitive matched play gamer from the UK.  You may know Nico from his contributions on TGA.Community, his blog, his appearance on Warhammer Weekly or on Twitter.  This article was originally written by Nico on his blog as his initial impressions on the General’s Handbook 2017 (with all the usual provisos about assessments at this early stage) and he has kindly shared it here.  If you are interested in contributing to AoS Shorts, get in touch.  But for now, I’ll hand it over to Nico.

So the dust is still up in the air, but I’m going to venture forth with some initial thoughts and reactions.

General’s Handbook 2017 – death of alpha strike?

One consistent theme is the reduction or elimination of many of the mobile burst damage combos in the game – Kharadron Overlords Khemist stacking, Tretch + Skaven Warlords stacking, Sayl + [insert alpha strike of your choice], even Cloak of Mists and Shadows on the Ghoul King on Terrorgheist.

There are only a handful of really strong alpha strikes/burst damage melee combos left that spring to mind: Murderhost, Shock Gauntlet Storm Fiends with Packmasters, very expensive Tomb Kings and Warherd, Executioners with the Hurricanum, Skyborne Slayers and Hammerstrike Force.

The question this raises is whether the move towards hordes and away from alpha strike means that the meta shifts back towards bunkers (and specifically Order shooting armies ).  I’m concerned about Freeguild getting even more stand and shoot with their units giving out +1 to hit buffs like candy (already a powerful mechanic).  A reduction in power of the Hurricanum is very necessary now.

Battalion changes and Hordes

Some good news for Death – almost all Battalions got jacked up in cost.  This really changes the calculations for listbuilding – now you really have to pay a lot for that second artefact, rather than getting 3 easily.  Single drop armies will be much rarer and there is a real trade off between models and battalions.  In some cases, the cost increases are offset by cheaper battleline and/or volume discounts on hordes – best example being Sylvaneth.

General’s Handbook 2017: The Big Losers

  1. Mixed Destruction – headshots to the Kunning Rukk and a multi-pronged attack on the Stonelord (points vs other big monsters, halving wounds worsened, Talisman reduced and possibly the Battlebrew not affecting the mount – this depends on how explicit the reference to the mount should be [ED: an issue which we hope to see picked up in the General’s Handbook 2017 FAQ]).
  2. Mixed Death – the removal of the 5++ is devastating to Death’s survivability.  Death still don’t have any credible way to reach out at range – indeed they have lost the Cloak teleport too (and Little Mannfred on a Balewind).  The only good news for mixed Death is their non-reliance on Battalions, while everyone else is paying significantly more for these.
  3. Brayherd – the only positive is cheap as chips Bestigor spam, but the command ability of the general (absent named characters) is dire. They might be able to spam bodies in your face, but not as well as other armies.
  4. Kharadron Overlords – death by a thousand cuts for one of the most overpowered armies – the Thunderers are now rifle spam units, who are still decent output for the amount of ship capacity they occupy.  Drill cannons have been nerfed by a third.  Khemists don’t stack and are 40 points more expensive. The Navigator lost his 3D6 unbind (which was a bizarre change).  No cost reductions at all is painful (Gunhauler and Frigate).
  5. Bow Hunters – just not worth the points. They can at least move out of combat using Navigate Realmroots and still shoot (not a retreat).
  6. Crypt Horrors – seem like a bad choice compared to their flying mortal wounding, rending Crypt Flayer cousins.
  7. Mannfred – cannot be an ally
  8. Skyfires – I still feel 220 would be right – 3 Flies are 220.

General’s Handbook 2017: The Big Winners

  1. Fyreslayers – the change from the truly dire Order Allegiance pack is immense. The Rune mechanic is exceptional – especially the across the board rend – I also like the extra throwing axe range, since this will buff the damage of 30 Vulkites and 30 Aurics popping up to say hi. Some of the cost reductions have been rolled back, but they are still cheap. The Vostarg Lodge is a win as it means that all your units will definitely be able to fight in melee for a battleround. The other battalion feels like a miss as it neglects the fact that the army can deepstrike with Runesmiters.
  2. Freeguild – what was already a decent army has moved from the terrible Order allegiance to a solid new Allegiance pack. The battle trait expands stand and shoot options, which is already an infuriating mechanic (small models that can fly can partially mitigate this). They have a carbon copy of the Stormcast’s incredibly strong Staunch Defender trait (called indomitable) as well as solid artefacts – Armour of Meteoric Iron is a straight +1 save and Writ of Dominion is a once per game area of effect wound buff). They also gained a cost reduction to their Griffon, which was already amazing for 300.
  3. Legion of Azgorth – lots of subtle buffs. Cost reduction for the Bull Centaur Renders is strong – 60 wounds worth for 640 points with -2 rend, 2 damage. Take a Sorceror Lord as an ally and buff with reroll 1s to hit wound and save.
  4. Slaanesh – so exciting – the triple general trait looks very tasty (e.g. take Archaon as one, but you still get a battle trait) or take two traits on your new shiny Exalted Greater Daemon of Slaanesh. The traits look strong too – especially the copy the Yhettee ability – you can stand out of combat at 4″ away until the end of the combat phase (rather than charging), then pile in 6″ and smash face. Supremely Vain is also a nice buff. Icon of Infinite Excess is a situational but amazing once per game area of effect buff +1 attacks to all models including enemies – or summoned Bloodletters! Breathtaker looks good as a quasi-Forest Dragon toy.
  5. Ironjawz – I would defer to @Chris Tomlin ‘s superior knowledge here and excellent write up here – They have a copy of the (nerfed) Destruction move (a good change as it’s much quicker than rolling for a Warmachine, rolling for its crew….),  two sweet Battalions, the ability to chain activations if they wipe out enemy units (which creates a good tension between MSU and big units for both you and your opponent). Lastly there are material cost reductions for the Cabbages and Pigs (how are they less than 10 points per model!)
  6. Seraphon – look very nasty – can teleport Kroak into the front of your army and then Balewind and aoe spam against them. Solid traits and artefacts.
  7. Stormcast – the nerf to all the overpowered mixed Chaos, Death and Destruction traits is a big plus for them. The availability of 2+ rerollable saves is a big advantage given the nerfs to burst damage discussed above. The Lord Celestant on Star Drake got a points reduction despite being a popular choice. They benefit the most from allies given their freedom to choose.
  8. Sylvaneth – As discussed, the nerfs to alpha strikes/burst damage melee combos mean that Sylvaneth’s traditional grind, chip away and heal modus operandi should be viable (notwithstanding the nerfs to Hunters).
  9. Wanderers – nice board edge mobility with their pew pew. Have a trait called Myst Walker which basically imports the 40K cannot shoot a character rule for your general. The Forget-me-knot allows you to incapacitate a charging Stonelord in the combat phase, which is hilarious. The Viridescent Shawl is decent for -1 to hit vs pew pew and a buff to nearby wizards.
  10. Tamurkhan’s Horde – have a battalion which isn’t pricey. Some units cheaper.
  11. Everchosen – source of cheap Battalions and Varanguard cost reduction. Archaon not any cheaper.
  12. Elite infantry in general – Stormvermin (and the costed the same White Lions!), Phoenix Guard, Bestigor, even Chosen.
  13. Jabberslythes – how can they be so cheap!
  14. The Rogue Idol – so good you can buy two in a box now. Obvious ally choice.
  15. Freeguild General on Griffon – so cheap!
  16. The humble Treelord – cheaper.
  17. Drycha – got a buff to her aoe ability, so it no longer affects friendly units or here. Also good option vs hordes. Seems like you can pick which weapon she has before the game (e.g. it’s not something you select on Scrollbuilder) – logically being a named character she does have the ability to do either and pick for each battle.
  18. Spite Revenants – might finally see the table now they are cheaper and battleline.
  19. Settra – now generic so trolling with the new Ring of Immortality – still a horrific amount of points.
  20. Neferata – now an ally choice. Cheaper.
  21. Arkhan – an immensely good wizard and troll.
  22. The Exalted Greater Daemons – with the nerf to pew pew and some subtle buffs to their scrolls, these are a real thing now.

I’m ambivalent about Pestilens and Skryre. I think they will find hard counters in the form of rerollable saves; and hordes respectively. The cost increase to Tunnelling Skryre is very welcome.

I’m not convinced by Nighthaunt or FEC. The deepstrike ability for Nighthaunt in too risky and not so helpful for non-pew pew units. To be fair the Lightshard is an amazing buff on Spirit Hosts – as they only hit on 5+

Defenders of the Realm Delusion is decent to mitigate pew pew. I think Dark Wizardry is the only decent command trait – as their all important buffs are spells.  The artefacts are pretty meh too – probably the gamble on the Chalice for healing D6 wounds. You can bring in a Necbromancer as an ally for Vanhels.

As for Soulblight – the fly is nice. Their spells aren’t good enough to warrant taking the buff to that (Blood Boil – sigh…). The Saccharine Goblet is a quasi battle brew – probably doesn’t buff the mount sadly. The traits aren’t great – retreat and charge might be the winner.

Further Resources

  • For all the comments, check out Nico’s blog.
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General’s Handbook 2017 – Impact on Tournament Play

General's Handbook 2017

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This episode sets out the key changes introduced by General’s Handbook 2017 to tournament matched play for Warhammer: Age of Sigmar.  As all the Games Workshop advertising has made clear, the game has changed again!  While the fundamental principles of the game remain the same, almost all of the key inputs relevant to Age of Sigmar as a tournament game have changed.  We have new battleplans, new points values, new allegiance abilities and the new allies mechanic allowing you to retain the benefits of a faction allegiance while supplementing your army with units from other factions.

We have been deluged with an unprecedented amount of information by Games Workshop in the week leading up to this release.  We have had daily Warhammer Community articles, Warhammer TV videos on Facebook, daily Twitch streams, and additional podcasts, blogs and forum threads from members of the external playtesting team.

Throughout the week I have tried to collate this information in one handy location, while also providing short bullet point summaries of all the key details from the Twitch stream – you can check them out on this site (First Blood, Order, Chaos, Destruction).

Now, given this information overload, I’ve thought how can we at AoS Shorts help? What can we add that has not already been covered or will be covered by the other Age of Sigmar podcasts and YouTube channels, is not purely speculative, and has value?

The answer, I hope, is this episode on what you need to know if you are preparing for a tournament in a month’s time using General’s Handbook 2017.  You may even have one this weekend, for instance if you are in the Mid-West, USA, or next weekend,  BLACKOUT in the UK.

I’ll start with a brief recap of all the major changes, comment on how they are likely to impact on list design and finish with some thoughts about how General’s Handbook 2017 will affect tournament play (this part may be little more than informed speculation, but I hope you’ll indulge me).  Please note, that this episode has been written and recorded without seeing the new FAQs, compendium points and Forgeworld changes that are promised on release day.  So with that proviso, on with the show.

Update: the FAQ and points are now up – you can find them in one handy text-searchable and indexed PDF in the resources section.

General’s Handbook 2017: the top 10 changes you need to know!

Everyone loves a good top 10 list and it seems appropriate for this show.

1. New Rules of One

The General’s Handbook 2017 amends the existing Rules of One and adds two more.

  • The roll for priority at the beginning of each battle round cannot be modified or re-rolled.  However, abilities such as Archaon’s which allow you to know who will have priority in advance, still work because they do not modify or re-roll the priority roll.  The Coven Throne is another unit unaffected by this change to the Rule of One.  For more information on the priority roll and how to manage it to the best effect in game, see my previous priority roll article but bear in mind that part of it is now invalidated by this rule change.
  • No artefact of power (or similarly named items) can be taken more than once in the same army.  However, prayers remain immune from the Rules of One and certain abilities can still stack (as always, read the wording of the abilities carefully).
  • Amendment: as well as a roll of 1 always failing to hit or wound, a roll of a 6 will now always succeed.  Games Workshop also took the opportunity here to reinforce the often mis-played core rule that re-rolls occur before modifiers apply.  Given how often this rule causes confusion, I’ll do a separate show on the topic in the future.

2. New Battleplans

There are six new Pitched Battles designed to test the tactical skills of players in a variety of situations: Knife to the Heart, TOTAL CONQUEST!, Duality of Death, Battle for the Pass, Starstrike, and Scorched Earth.  These battleplans are intended as additions to the existing six Pitched Battleplans in the General’s Handbook.  Some of the new battleplans:

  • are amended versions of the older missions;
  • favour new list builds (predominately units with 20+ models, but also behemoths); and
  • one (Scorched Earth) introduces a new mechanic where you can destroy objectives to take a chance at scoring more points.

3. Allies

You can now add Allies to your armies.  This mechanic allows you to select units from other factions in your army without foregoing the benefits of your faction allegiance abilities (such as spells, artefacts, command traits, battle traits etc.)  The General’s Handbook contains a table of how many allies you can take, depending on the size of your army (for instance, you can use 400 points of your 2000 points army on allies).

Each faction has its own allies table of factions it can ally with.  These choices have largely been made to fit with the lore of Age of Sigmar.  For instance, Sylvaneth can take Wanderers and Stormcast Eternals as their allies.

Allies will allow you to fill holes in your army list to cover your weaknesses or emphasise your strengths – add wizards, artillery, behemoths etc. as required.  However, note that allies can’t be your general or count towards your battleline requirements.  Allies do count for your maximum number of leaders, behemoths and artillery.

Finally allies don’t gain the keyword of your main faction allegiance, so can’t be given artefacts or command traits and in most cases won’t benefit from allegiance abilities as they don’t have the necessary keywords.  This is the same approach as with the mixed-faction battalions in previous battletomes.  There are some exceptions, for instance, in Slaves to Darkness there is an ability which affects a CHAOS HERO, which could be one of your allies.

4. New allegiance abilities

The General’s Handbook contains a whole host of new options for certain Age of Sigmar factions.   These options are intended to provide more variety to factions and tie these factions even closer to their lore and background.  The factions which benefit are Darkling Covens, Dispossessed, Free Peoples, Fyreslayers, Seraphon, Wanderers, Brayherd, Slaanesh, Slaves to Darkness, Pestilens, Skryre, Flesh-Eater Courts, Nighthaunt, Soulblight, and Ironjawz.  All of these additions add flavour – for example, herdstones for Brayherd, the Wanderers’ ability to retreat and shoot and the great plagues of Pestilens.

5.Changes to existing allegiance abilities

There have been significant changes to existing allegiance abilities and artefacts.  Popular choices for Chaos, Destruction and Death have all been altered.  We understand the intention behind the change to be to increase variety by removing obvious choices.

6. Mounts

The rules team has added a new rule regarding how abilities affect mounts.  Any command abilities or magical artefacts can only be used to affect attacks made by the hero, and have no effect on attacks made by their mount unless specifically stated otherwise.  I’ll be interested to see if there is an FAQ which explains whether an ability that refers to “the model” is considered as specifically including the mount or whether it has to say it applies to the hero and its mount.

7. Changes to battlefield roles

Games Workshop has reviewed the pitched battle profiles for every unit in Warhammer Age of Sigmar and changed many of them for General’s Handbook 2017.  There are now far more choices for your general and more units which will count as battleline, if your army is a particular allegiance (“battleline, if” units) – for instance, Daughters of Khaine can have Doomfire Warlocks and Sisters of Slaughter as battleline units.  All of these changes are indicated by the red star you see alongside the entries in the pitched battle profiles.

8. Massive Regiments

Massive Regiments is a new mechanic in which certain units become cheaper (per model) if you field the unit at maximum size.  For instance, Dryads are 100 points for 10, but only 270 points if you take 30 in the same unit.  The general rule is that every standard infantry unit in the game has access to the rule.  Infantry units with missile weapons don’t benefit from the Massive Regiments rule (except for a few limited exceptions, skinks, gutter and night runners).

As I get on to later, expect to see more large units on the tabletop.

9. Points changes

The points for a substantial number of units and battalions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar have been changed – either up (Skyfires, Kurnoth Hunters) or down (Nagash and Jabberslythes).

What has probably received the most attention this week is that there have been significant increases in the points costs for battalions.  In many cases increasing by a multiple of 2, 3 or more!  These increases have been to reflect the benefits to an army of receiving an extra artefact and the ability to have fewer drops (see the deployment show for how battalions provide substantial benefits to deployment and dictating the first turn).  To understand the thinking behind the change, I highly recommend watching the Jervis Johnson interview on Warhammer Live this week, or reading my summary.

10. New FAQ, Compendium and Forgeworld points

Finally, Games Workshop have confirmed that there will be an FAQ published on Warhammer Community on the release date, alongside a PDF of pitched battle profiles for compendium units and new Forgeworld points and warscrolls.

Preparing for your General’s Handbook 2017 tournament

So, what does all this mean for you if you are preparing for your first General’s Handbook 2017 tournament this month?  The principles of good list design are unchanged (I’ve covered them in a previous episode) – you need to consider reach, board control, resilience, damage output and risk – but your inputs to that assessment have changed.  So to can we expect a change to the global and local tournament meta (the likely lists that you will face at a tournament and need to account for).  So how do you solve this new puzzle?

At the outset the key drivers for the changes are the new battleplans and the Massive Regiments rule.  After those, the introduction of allies and the changes to the allegiance abilities are likely to have the greatest impact on your tournament meta.

In addition to the previous list design factors emphasised by the pitched battle battleplans, you now need to consider behemoths and large units.

Behemoths – either bring one, or learn how to deal with them

You need to consider behemoths for the Duality of Death scenario – either in adding them to your army, or being able to counter those brought by your opponent.  For example, behemoths can either be tied up by your mobile disposable units or have their effectiveness reduced by chipping off wounds at range.

Behemoths are not mandatory, as heroes can still score in the scenario, but we can expect to see more of them.

Large units – making the most of your units with 20+ models

You are also likely to need at least one large unit of 30+ models.  Two of the scenarios, Total Conquest and Battle for the Pass, have an additional rule that allows a unit of 20+ models to seize control of an objective, even if the opponent has more models around the objective (if they are from different units).  There are important things to note:

  • As Ben explained on Bad Dice Daily, you only need to have one model from that 20+ unit in range, to seize control of the objective.
  • You can only control one objective with a unit.  So you can’t string the unit to claim several objectives.  However, if the unit is resilient, you are still incentivised to extend the unit out to control board space and block your opponent from scoring the other objective.  Denial can be just as important as positively holding an objective.
  • Consider ways that you can support and reinforce that large unit – a large unit is a single target for buffs and is one combat activation – so make use of it.  Also prepare for ways that your opponent will try to take down that unit, by adding battleshock protection (whether through Inspiring Presence, or the Order and Free Peoples allegiance abilities for example)
  • It is an advantage if that large unit is relatively mobile (or can be moved by a spell or ability).  You need to get onto objectives quickly and force your opponent to try and dislodge you.

Dealing with large units

Consider how you will be able to remove or minimise your opponent’s resilient large units:

  • do you have Drycha, a Gaunt Summoner, Acolytes or Plagueclaw Catapults which have attacks aimed at large units or bonuses when targeting large units?
  • Remember, you don’t need to destroy the entire unit – it may be enough to simply reduce it below 20 models in order to remove the scenario benefits or the extra benefits on its warscroll (such as Grots which get benefits based on the size of the unit).
  • can you reduce their bravery and have them lose more models from battleshock?
  • can you snipe out their support characters – such as the Free Peoples general which is making all the units nearby immune to battleshock?
  • finally, can you block up the large unit with multiple small units of your own?  can you pin them in place by tagging them on the end of the line with a resilient and mobile unit such as Kurnoth Hunters?

Allies

As I’ve said earlier, use allies to fill gaps in your army – units that perform a role you previously did not have access to.  Need a large resilient block? need some cheap mobile and disposable units? need a ranged threat, for instance spear chukkas in an Ironjawz army? need a way to take out large hordes?

Also consider allies for reinforcing the key units in your main faction – for instance, with additional buff spells or abilities which may apply.  Just check the keywords to make sure the combination will work first!

Allies are the best way of achieving these ends.

Crystal ball time – the tournament meta

Now we reach the crystal ball part of the show.  As I’ve counselled earlier this week, it is important not to jump to conclusions based on leaks or information in isolation.  While we can make some informed comments about the likely future tournament meta, no one can accurately predict what will happen once a 1,000 tournament gamers get hold of the General’s Handbook 2017 and start trying to break the game apart.

However, I know many of you listeners are hanging out for some predictions.  So these comments are offered with a large heaping of salt:

Likely top armies

  • it seems to us that the following armies remain strong:
    • Blades of Khorne – cheaper Bloodletters, Reavers and Bloodthirsters;
    • Disciples of Tzeentch – cheaper Tzaangors, horrors, despite the changes to Skyfires and the Lord of War;
    • Kharadron Overlords – still able to field powerful lists despite the change to Thunderers and Khemists – expect lots of shots from Arkanaut Company;

Impact on mixed Grand Alliance forces

  • mixed Chaos, Destruction and Death have all been impacted by changes to their allegiance abilities which will require them to come up with more options.
    • Chaos has had changes to Lord of War and Crown of Command;
    • Destruction has had a major impact with the change to Rampaging Destroyers; and
    • Death has been affected by the reduced range of the Deathless Minions and the Ruler of the Night rules (presumably to balance the benefits from the Massive Regiments rule).
  • These have been off-set by allied options, more faction allegiance abilities and some tweaks to battlefield roles and points.  It is possible that many of these forces will instead move to single-faction armies with allied contingents.  Keep an eye out for the Nurgle Cycle of Life abilities with the Blightwar box.
  • By contrast, Order seems to be a significant winner with the introduction of new faction allegiance abilities and innate protection to battleshock for large units.  Seraphon look particularly interesting – and given their magical dominance (with Slaan able to unbind from anywhere on the table) make sure your plans don’t rely on getting that one crucial spell off!
  • Plus every Order faction has the ability to have Stormcast as allies – lots of options.

Other comments

  • Movement as always in Age of Sigmar is key – both Wanderers and Seraphon have benefited from new abilities allowing them to move units where they need to be, or out of a difficult situation.
  • While I haven’t worked through all the possibilities, there seems to be some interesting tweaks to reinforcement points – check out the Ring of Immortality, the Slaan artefacts, and Slaves to Darkness ability to give you a free daemon prince on a 12 🙂

With the new scenarios and the possibility of larger units on the table it is more important than ever to be prepared with your army and the rules at a tournament game.  You need to move efficiently in order to complete your games on time – I recorded a range of tips and suggestions for this in a previous show.  This is a fundamental matter of fairness given that some of the battleplans, for instance Starstrike, really need to be played for all 5 turns.

Concluding thought

As a final comment, enjoy the extra options and variety to create armies you enjoy. It’s easy to get caught up with what is “tournament viable” or will succeed at the bleeding edge competitive level.   However, the reality of most tournaments is that you will not be exposed to the bleeding edge of what is theoretically possible.  It costs time and money to build an army.  You will most likely face a range of armies from your existing cohort of local players.  Those players now have more options and it will be great to see more thematic tools for Slaanesh, Seraphon, Fyreslayers etc.  Ultimately the goal for the General’s Handbook 2017 is to allow you to put a wider variety of troops on the table.

As always, you can find me on Twitter, on Facebook, and on TGA.  Let me know what you think 🙂

Resources

 

General's Handbook 2017

 

General's Handbook 2017

General's Handbook 2017

 

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GHB2017 – Destruction Day on Warhammer Live

General's Handbook 2017 Destruction

Here you can find all the information on matched play in the General’s Handbook 2017 from the Destruction day streamed live on Twitch, including the game between Flesh-Eater Courts and Ironjawz.   The list is currently a work in progress but will be updated through the day.

If you are subscribed, then you can watch it all back on Warhammer TV.  If you don’t have the time check out my other Twitch summaries: First Blood / Order / Chaos.

You can find all the official information on the Warhammer Community page, Facebook and Twitch collated on my General’s Handbook 2017 page.

 

General’s Handbook 2017 – Interview with Jervis Johnson

  • Jervis Johnson explained his perspective on the development of General’s Handbook 2017 and some of Games Workshop’s motives and objectives.
  • Extensive discussion of open play, narrative play and sieges.  If you are interested in these aspects, watch the stream 🙂
  • The sections relevant to matched play are covered below.

Overall aim for rules development

  • The overall aim for matched play was to balance the freedom of creativity (including in competitive list writing) with removing aspects of unsatisfying play (things that don’t feel quite right or that there is an overwhelming consensus that it is beyond the pail).

Process for point changes

  • canvassed the wider community, consulted external playtesters (including weekend sessions reviewing every unit in the game) – Jervis considered there were not many surprises from feedback (but the biggest adjustments were to battalions).

Battalions

  • The Games Workshop team hadn’t really taken into account the universal rules for battalions when the battalions were originally given points (extra artefact and ability to set up as a single drop and impact first turn choice).  Now these universal rules have been taken into account.  For instance, larger battalions are more useful as a single drop so cost more points.

Allies

  • In developing the first General’s Handbook Games Workshop just wanted a light touch over the main rules.  Now for General’s Handbook 2017, Games Workshop wanted to push the envelope to change the meta and provide greater support for cooler-looking thematic armies (i.e. combining armies across factions according to theme).  However, the team wanted to do this in a restrained way that acknowledged how the armies operate in the Warhammer Age of Sigmar background.
  • The team tried out a range of different points levels for the allies contingent (20-40%) – tried to balance enough points for getting suitable allied options in, without overwhelming the main faction.

New Battleplans

  • While wanting to add new battleplans, the team took a cautious approach to ensure that they were suitable for matched play.  All the new battleplans were tested with the external playtesters across different armies.  The team wanted to introduce new challenges that would allow the 6 new battleplans to sit alongside the existing battleplans.  Games Workshop is intending to add a new 6 battleplans each year.

Allegiance abilities

  • Warhammer: Age of Sigmar has evolved over time with the addition of allegiance abilities.  These add theme.  The rules team reviewed the Grand Alliance books and the model ranges (is it large enough?) and picked the factions that Games Workshop would not be producing a battletome for soon, but that players would want to see.  Then the team considered the lore first to generate some rules that would be suitable for the faction.  What makes this faction unique?  The rules were designed with both the lore and game mechanics in mind (for instance, the name of the rule is intended to tie the rule into the context of the lore).  Further, the team updated the Grand Alliance abilities based on feedback in order to remove the obvious choices.
    • Darkling Covens ability allows units to take into account models from nearby units for receiving benefits from special rules (i.e. the units benefit and support each other when stationed fighting together).
    • Fyreslayers runes – can be activated to give a special ability.  The order of activation is significant.

Rules of One

  • Removed duplicate artefacts because doesn’t feel right to have repeated powerful artefacts.  Wanted to add variety.

Flesh-Eater Courts vs Ironjaws

[to come]

  • In the mean time, read Chris Tomlin’s excellent summary of Ironjawz in General’s Handbook 2017
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GHB2017 – Chaos Day on Warhammer Live

GHB2017 Chaos

Here you can find all the information on matched play in the General’s Handbook 2017 from the Chaos day streamed live on Twitch, including the game between Brayherds and Stormcast .   The list is currently a work in progress but will be updated through the day.  Thanks again to @Rhellion and @Moarhammer for live-tweets.

If you are subscribed, then you can watch it all back on Warhammer TV.

You can find all the official information on the Warhammer Community page, Facebook and Twitch collated on my General’s Handbook 2017 page.

General

  • Matched Play rules now incorporate all the FAQs.
  • Your General has to be a HERO.
  • New Rules of One
    • Can no longer re-roll or modify priority roll (Coven Throne and Archaon still works)
    • Can’t duplicate artefacts
  • Rule of One for spells and artefacts (including lanterns, daemonic gifts etc. i.e. artefacts with fancier names) does not apply to prayers.
  • Triumphs clarified to confirm how and when you can use them.  You have to decide to use your triumph before rolling the dice.
  • Allied heroes can’t be given artefacts (same as existing super-battalions which allow you to bring in outside heroes without breaking faction allegiance) or be general.
  • Abilities from the allegiance trait don’t apply to allies because they don’t gain the keyword.
  • FAQ will cover battalions with mixed factions – Order units in Gnarlroot count as Sylvaneth battalion & are not included in the allies points.  Of course, the order units aren’t Sylvaneth keyword though.
  • General’s Handbook 2017 contains suggestions for using the Open War cards in a matched play tournament (including additional bonuses for players in the bottom half of the standings).
  • Units can only claim one objective in a scenario.
  • Worked with min and max unit sizes in order to influence meta – Kunnin Rukk for instance.  Has increased in points, but has reduced max size from 40 to 30 models (significant for how easy it is to reduce its effectiveness and knock off the 3 attacks a model).
  • The red star in the matched play profiles table has shown that something has changed in the profile (points, sizes, battleline ifs).
    • Spite Revenants are now battleline for Sylvaneth.
    • Squigs are now battleline for Moonclan.
  • Allegiance abilities
    • all the grand alliance ones have been tweaked to try to provide more choice (no longer having a clear obvious choice – Battlebrew, Lord of the Night).
    • 14 new specific faction allegiance abilities (which means about 25 all up now).
    • Free Peoples will also have the supporting fire mechanics similar to the Darkling Covens
  • Nurgle details coming on Thursday (*wink**wink* battletome *nudge**nudge*)
  • Flesh Eater Courts pick a delusion for their general
    • Crusading army (re-roll 1s for entire army when running or charging)
  • Skryre has
    • strength in numbers
    • Warpstone sparks – risky bonuses that you can use
    • command traits – re-roll failed hit rolls for warmachines within 6″ of general (NOT Warp Lightning Cannons)
    • Brass Orb – once per battle, roll a dice, on a 6+ the closest enemy model is slain
  • Balewind Vortex unchanged (same scroll and points).
  • Lord Celestant on Stardrake is now 560 points (40 points cheaper).

Chaos

  • Slaves to Darkness getting additional benefits for marks of Chaos. Aura of Chaos Powers – Eye of the Gods ability (a range of abilities including when killing enemy hero or monster, your model can turn into a Daemon Prince or a Spawn… – you don’t pay reinforcement points)
  • Skaven allies with other Skaven factions but not really other Chaos factions (except Everchosen and Pestilens with Nurgle).
  • Nurgle daemons ally with a lot of other factions.
  • Massive Regiments
    • Plaguebearers 270 for 30
    • Clan Rats (now min 20) 200 for 40 (40 points cheaper)
    • Daemonettes 270 for 30
    • Gutter Runners and Night Runners get Massive Regiments (a rare exception to the rules that models with ranged attacks don’t get massive regiments).
    • Maruaders 200 for 40
    • Chaos Warriors
    • Marauder Horsemen
  • Allegiance abilities
    • Unpredictable destruction – ranges tweaked 12″ of general, or 3″ of another hero
    • Cunning deceiver – same
    • Dark avenger – tweaked
    • Lord of War – happens on a 3+ rather than automatically
  • Daemons of Slaanesh
    • three different types of Slaanesh followers (seekers, pretenders, invaders)
    • three new sets of abilities / command traits
      • invaders: you can have 3 generals and use 3 command traits even if it is the same!
      • pretenders: 1 general, but gets 2 command traits – useful for Keeper.
      • seekers: +1″ to movement, or +2″ to movement if unit is base movement of 10″, have to charge and complete charges they make.
    • Artefacts
      • Gift – pick a weapon that the enemy hero has – when the enemy hero uses it, they take a mortal wound.
      • breathtaker – on a 3+ you can choose a close enemy unit and that unit can’t be selected to attack until the end of the combat phase.  Great with a double-pile-in on the daemonettes.
    • Can make a HERO that enemy units are -3 to hit and can’t retreat from!
    • Slaves to Darkness Slaanesh is separate from Daemons of Slaanesh.
  • Pestilens:
    • Echoes of the Great Plagues – super strong prayers that can be cast once per game
      • Neverplague – +1 to prayer rolls
      • Crimson Curse – mortal wounds to enemy units each turn and can infect other units
      • Bubonic plague – D6 mortal wounds, then jumps to another unit D3 mortal wounds etc
      • Redmaw – an enemy hero attacks friendly models in 3″
    • Artefacts
      • book that turns other heroes into priests
      • a “sentient pustule” – re-roll hits of 1 and +2 to move, but jumps between your heros.
    • Command trait
      • master of rot and ruin – gets extra prayers
      • ways of getting extra wounds
    • For more on Pestilens, listen to Ben’s Bad Dice Daily episode. 
    • All the Clan Moulder matched play profiles have changes – giant rats as massive regiments. Hell pit (240 points).  Rat ogre battleline if.

    Brayherds

    • Warhammer Community article
    • Jabberslythes down to 120.
    • Herdstones!
      • you want to make sure your general is not an ambushing model (need general on table to set up herdstone in 6″ – usually a bray shaman)

    Stormcast

    • [to come]
    4

    GHB2017 – Warhammer Live Twitch Order Day

    General's Handbook 2017 Slaan Seraphon

    Here you can find all the information on General’s Handbook 2017 from the Order day streamed live on Twitch, including the game between Sylvaneth and Seraphon.   The list is currently incomplete but will be updated through the day.  Thanks again to @Rhellion, @Moarhammer and Domus for live-tweets.

    If you are subscribed, then you can watch it all back on Warhammer TV.

    You can find all the official information on the Warhammer Community page, Facebook and Twitch collated on my General’s Handbook 2017 page.

    General

    • New scenario “Starstrike” is a modified version of Gift from the Heavens with 3 meteors (at start of 2nd battle round – meteor will land on central line of battlefield – start of 3rd round – meteors land in your half of battlefield).  “More models within 3 inches” and “points for each objective held are based on turn number”.  Massive amounts of points available at the end of the game – can really swing the outcome as 15 points up for grabs in the last round.
    • Each of the battleplans will be covered on Warhammer Live this week (except for Duality of Death which has already been covered on the Warhammer Community site).
    • Compendium points out on release day.
    • No change to fundamental core rules of Age of Sigmar (rules changes will come in the future, but not through the General’s Handbook process).
    • A new FAQ will cover teleporting out of combat and whether it counts as a retreat.
    • In two of the scenarios, large units (20+ models) can override objective control and capture even if smaller units currently claim them.
    • Allies are not restricted to a single faction.
    • New Triumph Rules
    • Points/Battlefield Roles restrictions are designed to apply +/- 250 points around the usual 1,000, 2,000, 2,500 point restrictions.
    • Not Order but Battlebrew is a one-use only.
    • Missile units don’t get access to Massive Regiments (except for a few exceptions – Skinks, gutter runners, night runners)

    Order discussion with Russ Veal

    • Everyone in Order can ally with Stormcast and Stormcast can have any other Order faction as allies.
    • Darkling Coven – all units (Swords, spears, shards) get a benefit depending on numbers – Lethal Co-ordination – models from other units within 6″ count as in the same unit for working out the benefit of the buffs.  No battleshock taken if within 3″ of general.  Can kill your own models to pass battleshock tests. Merciless command trait – an additional D3 enemy models will run away if the unit fails a battleshock test in the presence of the Darkling Coven general.
    • Dispossessed – 300 points for 30 Longbeards (60 point reduction), strong line of Ironbreakers as a great ally unit for KO.
    • Allies don’t count for battleline for Battlefield role restrictions
    • Stormcast Liberators get Massive Regiments (520 for 30, saving 80 points) – super resilient hordehammer.
    • Generic Order battle trait – can re-roll all battleshock tests

    Seraphon

    • List – Slaan… [stream seemed to cut out here, the video is just 20 minutes long – anyone catch it?]
    • Command Traits for Slaan
      • Fast Intellect – access to the two skink priest spells (even if the skink priests are not in the army list – blame Dan Heelan 😉 for the suggestion – it effectively creates a Seraphon spell lore)
      • Incandescent – roll a dice when it loses last wound, on a 3+  place it back on the board within 12″ (and more than 3″ away from enemy) with D3 wounds, no summoning points needed as happens before removed from play.)
    • Different traits available depending on whether you have a Slaan, Saurus or Skink as General.
    • Seraphon allegiance abilities:
      • Masters of Order: Slann can unbind anywhere on the table.  If cast on a double, and spell goes off, adds 6″ to spell range.
      • Lords of Space and Time: once per turn in hero phase pick one Serpahon unit, and roll a dice:
        • on a 1 cant move or charge,
        • 2-5 it gets deployed anywhere on the table 9″ away from the enemy and counts as move for movement phase;
        • On a 6, they can also move.
    • Lord Kroak down from 540 to 450.
    • Saurus get Massive Regiments (360 for 40)
    • Saurus musician allows them to move double.
    • Several ways to buff charging – re-roll charges, +1 to charges, up a dice by 1 due to star seer

    Sylvaneth

    • List – TLA (Oaken Armour, Gnarled Warrior), Branchwych (Acorn, Verdant Blessing), Branchwraith (Treesong), 2 x 5 Tree Revenants, 30 Dryads, 6 Scythe Hunters, Treelord, Household Battalion, 2 units of Judicators as Allies.
    • Sylvaneth can only ally with Stormcast and Wanderers.
    • Dryads get Massive Regiments (270 for 30).
    • Hunters up (220 for 3)
    • Treelord down by 20 points.
    • Household (70 points)
    0

    GHB2017 – Keep calm, and wait for the full picture

    General's Handbook 2017

    By now you have probably seen a number of leaks relating to the General’s Handbook 2017 (GHB2017).  I just wanted to give some initial thoughts before my next show scheduled for release day.  In that show, I’ll cover the top things you need to know for preparing for your next matched play tournament.

    General’s Handbook 2017 – fundamental changes to the tournament meta

    Games Workshop have made significant changes to at least 4 of the dynamics that affect competitive matched play:

    • scenarios and victory conditions;
    • points (for both units and battalions);
    • army rules (warscrolls, allegiance abilities etc.); and
    • allies (adding units while keeping faction benefits).

    All the key principles of good list design, and the fundamental dynamics of the game are the same – but the inputs have changed.

    For all of the official information on General’s Handbook 2017 in one place, see my GHB2017 page.

    Don’t jump to conclusions in isolation

    So of course list building starts from the ground up.  There is no way to assess viability of any of these changes in isolation.  We haven’t seen all the new scenarios or new allegiance abilities etc.

    The game is being reset.

    In saying this, I’m not trying to invalidate or diminish the reactions of players who have invested significant time, effort and cost in their current armies.  For some, the scale of the changes will be unexpected and those reactions are real.  However, we are not in a position at the moment to assess the overall impact of the changes on the game.

    General’s Handbook 2017 – a more balanced and varied game?

    For me, I’m really interested to see the impact of battalion point increases on list-building & deployment.  Are the changes enough to incentivise taking units over battalions and forsaking choice of first turn?  Or will we just see fewer artefacts?  Will we see a balancing of battletome and non-battletome forces as a result with one-drop armies being more expensive?

    I would be interested to know the key rules design principles behind the changes.  How did the rules design team see the shape of the game they wanted to create?  What were the objectives they wanted to achieve.  I really hope we see some of this information on the Warhammer Community site and the Twitch stream over the coming week.

    Short point – keep calm, carry on, abandon the old knowledge and list builds and see what your army looks like in the wash.

    0

    GHB2017 – What we learnt from Twitch

    GHB2017

    Here you can find all the information on General’s Handbook 2017 from the first game streamed live on Twitch, between Blades of Khorne and Soulblight.   If you are subscribed to Warhammer TV then you can watch it back here.  The lists used in the game are below.

    Warhammer TV is streaming Monday to Thursday next week with a full preview of each Grand Alliance each day.  For links to all the official information on the Warhammer Community page, Facebook and Twitch see my page here.

    Thanks to @Rhellion, @Thonias83 and @NukeDoctor for the live-tweets – follow them for great hobby and gaming tweets.

    If you like this kind of content, check out my podcast AoS Shorts on iTunes and Podbean.  We’ve got lots planned for the GHB2017 release. 

    Scenario and overall gameplay

    • Scenario was Scorched Earth
      • there are 6 objectives (each in the centre of a 12″ x 12″ square)
      • you capture the objectives by having the most models within 3″
      • scoring every turn and have to stay on the objective to hold it
      • you can control the objectives in your opponent’s half of the board and score 1 point per turn, or immediately destroy them for D3 points
    • You can only capture one objective with a unit – so you can’t string the unit out to capture several (however, there is nothing stopping you stringing a unit out to block another objective and deny it to your opponent).
    • Allied units do not benefit from some allegiance abilities – for example, an allied unit of zombies will not get the Deathless Minions save.
    • Artefacts do not affect mounts unless it specifically says so!
    • Triumphs have been updated and there are more details to come next week. 

    Soulblight

    • Battle trait: Deathless Thralls – 6+ save, within 6″ of a hero or general.
    • Allies: Deathrattle,  Deathwalkers, Deathlords, Death mages, Nighthaunt. 
    • Command Traits are the Bloodlines [not sure if these are all command traits or another ability – all were referred to on the stream]:
      • Dread Knight: re-roll hit rolls of 1 for the general when they attack a hero
      • Dragon Warriors: re-roll 1s to hit
      • Mist Form: allows general to charge after a retreat (and counts as flying during the retreat).
      • Swift Death: Soulblight +2″ move and fly.
      • Necromantic: +1 to cast and -1 bravery for enemy in 6″
      • Lords of the Night: get Deathless Thralls even if outside 6″ of character 
    • Artefact: Saccarhine Goblet = +1 to Hit.
    • Winged Horror: Flying vampire infantry hero (useful for mobile Deathless Minions)
    • Vargheists are Soulblight battleline.
    • Soulblight units are the same points but have added viability through Bloodlines.

    GHB2017 - Death

    Blades of Khorne

    • Bloodletters benefit from the Massive Regiments rule – so 30 Bloodletters is discounted to 270 points.  A Murderhost battalion with 90 Bloodletters now has plenty more room to add models.
    • But, 10 Bloodletters have increased in points by 10 points per unit – less incentive to take multiple small units (“MSU”) for the Blood Tithe (but you were probably taking units other than Bloodletters is you were running MSU BoK anyway).
    • Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster is 30 points cheaper.
    • Skullcannons is 20 points cheaper.
    • Chimeras are 20 points cheaper.
    • The minimum unit size for Marauders has not increased – 3×10 Maruader core is still a thing.

    GHB2017

     

    I’ll update this through the day, if I’ve missed anything please get in touch through the website, on Facebook, or @antipodean7 on Twitter.

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    Age of Sigmar army list writing checklist

    Age of Sigmar army list writing checklist

    Here is the AoS Shorts Age of Sigmar army list writing checklist.

    10 steps to writing a valid Age of Sigmar Army List for matched play

    Follow these 10 steps and you’ll have a valid list:

    1. Decide your allegiance for unit selection – whether it is a faction (Sylvaneth) or a Grand Alliance (Order).  By picking a faction allegiance you may unlock particular unit options;
    2. Choose any warscroll battalions which you want to use and pay the points for:
      1. the battalion (and any smaller battalions included); and
      2. the units selected (units are paid for in multiples of the minimum unit size, rounding up below strength units);
    3. Check you meet the minimum Battleline and leader requirements set out in the current General’s Handbook;
    4. While there, check you do not exceed Behemoth and artillery limits;
    5. Allocate the amount of Reinforcement Points you want to have available to use during the games for summoning and other abilities;
    6. Double-check all units belong to the same Grand Alliance;
    7. Determine your Army Allegiance – you may choose a Grand Alliance Allegiance even if you have selected your army under a Faction Allegiance to unlock Battleline units;
    8. Choose your General;
    9. Depending on the tournament pack (which may require the following steps to be selected before the tournament, or before each game) pick the following based on your Army Allegiance:
      1. Note down your Battle Trait;
      2. Select your Command Trait;
      3. Select one Artefact (and one additional artefact per Warscroll Battalion in your army).  Assign up to one artefact to each hero.  From GHB2017, you cannot give the same artefact to more than one hero in your army;
    10. Note all details on your army list and submit!

    Further Resources

    For a handy (free) web-based army list writer, see Warscroll Builder, or use Azyr (paid) in the Warhammer: Age of Sigmar app for your mobile device.

    The points for units can be found in these applications, in the current General’s Handbook, and on the Games Workshop website  for some of the Silver Tower units and scenery (here).

    For tips on how to build a winning competitive army list, see my previous episode here.

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