Games Workshop - Age Of Sigmar:Battleforce - Soulbright Gravelords: Revenant Legion

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Looking at its box’s cover, the Maggotkin of Nurgle Vanguard set looks to contain ten Plaguebearers of Nurgle, five Putrid Blightkings, two Pusgoyle Blightlords, and a Spoilpox Scrivener. That’s a healthy range of elites and squishy batteline units. The preview also revealed new Deathrattle Skeletons. Infantry units that are intended to make up the core of a Soulblight army, they can be customised with swords or spears. And joining them on the frontlines are the new Deadwalker Zombies. The squishiest infantry of the Soulblight force, they’re a horde unit, intended to fill up your army’s ranks and overpower enemy units through the sheer weight of their shambling, decaying flesh. If you are more competitive, this army needs fine balancing to win matches. Hammers and anvils require proper screening and buffing to work fine so surgical piece removals, especially heroes may hinder your plans. Be careful of shooting and use your reserve and chaff units accordingly. Maintaining control of the objectives through an attrition war will be the key to win most games.

This box does not do the slightest thing for me, but, admittedly, I have never had an interest in Slaanesh. We’ll hear more about these sedulous soldiers of bone and their systematic approach to warfare soon – but now for something a little more rough and ready. Ivya Volga, The Outcast One of the newer armies to come out, the Lumineth set is a great way to expand a force. unfortunately however many of these models don;t have much in the way of customisation options.

Their Finest Hour: can be used only once by each hero to improve save and wound rolls by 1 for that turn. The Zombies are a great anvil unit. Not only there’s multiple way to add models to a unit, especially in Vyrkos themed lists, but they can also explode in the combat phase against elite units trying to take them over an objective. A unit of them can start with 60 models, hence 60 wounds at a cost lower than some leaders like Neferata or Manndred and they can almost do as much damage as Nagash that costs 3 times more. Not all vampires are direct descendants from the two Mortarchs. Legend says that Belladamma Volga bargained with the undead godbeast Hrunspuul receiving from him her powers (and curse) reflecting the most sacred of the animal-spirits she venerated: the wolf. It is so that the Vyrkos Dynasty was born and why they hold so dear the wolf as their symbol.

Finally the Standard of the Ulfenwatch lets you roll a dice whenever your opponent spends a CP, on a 4+ you gain a CP. Given the pressure on your heroic actions, this can get you a good command economy going. Add a little more finesse to your slaughter with the Sybarite Blade-Carnival, which collects a cavalcade of elite Slaanesh Mortals in one place. When these peerless warriors aren’t preening, they’re a surgical strike force comprising 30 miniatures – perfect for tearing reality in two and summoning gaggles of Daemonettes. Let’s see what 2024 brings us this time next year – maybe a Mega-Gargants box, a Daemons one, or if I were a betting man, a Cities of Sigmar one to compliment this year’s new releases.It’s worth pointing out here as much as anywhere that there are no core battalions in this book for whatever reason, not even reprints of the White Dwarf ones. They were terrible anyway. Monstrous Might is another case of battle traits teleported into command traits and gives your general a 12” aura of -1 to be wounded in melee for your monsters. I mean it’s a good ability, and you will take this, but c’mon. You could use this unit to extend the aura of Legion of Blood’s Immortal Majesty, making more models run when near a Vampire. Which is kinda odd, really, changing the dynasty and heritage of unique named characters, but rules as written they’re in any dynasty or legion you so choose. At 200 points though, I don’t think even the spell or dynastic flexibility makes the unit worth it. The 60 point ‘Warhammer Underworlds warband tax’ strikes again! Battleline For technical players who like to frustrate opponents by messing with their heads with teleports and counter-moves that can be difficult to anticipate. Battle Traits Expand the Grave-empires is extremely battleplan situational, and needs you to hold two or more objectives wholly outside of your territory and have them also be contested by summonable or vampire units. If the situation comes up this can be a gimme, but there will be games where it’s literally impossible.

A bit more versatile than it was, it’s another faction for people who want a more herohammer-y Vampire list, and naturally, Blood Knights. Battle TraitsVampire hero only, this has traditionally been the weakest lore in the book and… it still kinda is. The initial change to get over here is that both lores have been trimmed down to three spells and old reliable amathystine pinions is just gone with no replacement. Soulpike is probably the strongest spell in the lore and and is cast on a 6 with a healthy 24” range, this is great because when you put it on an enemy unit they will essentially ogor charge themselves – you roll a number of dice equal to their charge roll and each 4+ is a mortal wound. On a 9+, you can affect two enemy units with this. Overall I think the negative feelings are based around how much excitement there was for this book. There were people hoping to buy Cursed City to get a start on the army, and people who never wanted to play Age of Sigmar now wanting to get in on it. There was a lot of attention on this book and I wager it was never going to meet expectations. For newcomers coming in, hoping to play some vampires and skeletons, I think you’ll still have a good time. Other wizards in the army include: Mannfred, Neferata, Prince Vhordrai, Belladamma Volga, Lauka Vai, Radukar the Wolf, Torgillius, Prince Duvalle, Cado Ezechiar, Deintalos the Exile, Vampire Lord, Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon, Vengorian Lord, Coven Throne, Bloodseeker Palanquin and Necromancer. The subfactions work less like the current subfactions of the past few years and more in line with Legions of Nagash. Each Bloodline has two unique traits, and their own set of command traits and artefacts, 6 a piece. Honestly, one of my favorite parts of the book and I hope its a sign for how Battletomes will be constructed in 3rd edition. The “mandatory command trait/relic” seemed like something designed in a vacuum, where it was your cost for gaining the benefits of a subfaction instead of just running your own thing. In reality there was usually at least one subfaction that was too good to ignore, and it meant a whole lot of otherwise good artefacts and command traits went completely ignored. This may or may not become a rule; Cities of Sigmar had a similar design philosophy, but I think it would be an improvement on the game to accept people will take subfactions anyway and to give choice within those. Deintalos the Exile and the Exiled Dead are a group of zombies with a vampire at their head, a ward of 5+ and little more.