I'm going to open this particular article by expressing how monumentally huge the GHB17 is. The amount of content in the book is truly something to behold, and shakes up the game in the best way possible, just before it threatened to become a little tired. Because of this, I'm not going to do a page-by-page overview or we would be here until Christmas! I will instead be doing an overview, touching on all of the major changes as well as the winners and losers of the new Handbook.
Rules of One have had two join their number. You can't re-roll or modify the dice roll for who takes priority each turn, and you can no longer double up on Artefacts (or their equivalent). Both of these are reasonable and logical changes, and I don't think anyone will be too upset by this. It further guides the direction of the game.
We have six new Matched Play Scenarios as well, several of which will be very familiar! For example, Duality of Death is very reminiscent of Three Places of Power, except that there are only two objectives, they can be held by Heroes and Behemoths, and non-Behemoth Heroes heal the same number of wounds as the points they scored. Suddenly, that pesky Daemon Prince has become insanely hard to shift! Battle for the Pass is essentially Border War, but playing the table longways, making for of a choke point in the middle of the board. Scorched Earth is a scenario of note, that actually allows you to voluntarily destroy Objectives in your opponent's territory for D3 scenario points. Not only do you deny your opponent an easy objective, you can get some cheeky points as you pillage it!
I'll drop in a paragraph here regarding the inclusion of Siege Scenarios. Sieges are some of the most cinematic battles in the Fantasy genre, and now we can play them out! While it is far on the Narrative end of the spectrum, I think it's great that they're taking the time to facilitate players of all inclinations.
Now, what we've all been chomping at the bit to discover, the meat and potatoes of the book; points, allies and Allegiances!
Regarding points, as most of you have already heard, there are sweeping discounts across many factions on their units. Some have been tweaked by ten or twenty points, while others (Ironjaws, rejoice at the 100 point discount on Maw-Crushas!) got significant reductions, posing the compelling question as to whether you can justify leaving home without them. Others, such as (unsurprisingly) Skyfires, Kurnoth Hunters and Prosecutors with Javelins, got bumped up a touch in price to better reflect their efficiency and martial prowess. Of what I've seen (as I said, there is a ton of content in here. It's almost overwhelming!), most points changes on units have been appropriate and reasonable. There's also the Massive Regiment mechanic, which offers a tempting discount on a unit if you take a maximum-size unit. For example, Plaguebearers of Nurgle are 100 points for ten models, but if you take a full unit of 30 models, you're only going to pay 270 points! Bargains galore can be found, when already discounted units get cheaper again when taken in large numbers. As I shift from Blades of Khorne over to the numerous Skaven, this is obviously something to get excited about.
On the other side of the coin, the majority of Warscroll Battalions went up in cost significantly! Many of the Blades of Khorne Battalions increased in price by 80-100 points each, and other factions seem to be no different. At first, when I saw this, I was pretty gutted. Part of the drive to collect and paint was to complete the most advantageous Battalions to give myself the lowest drop/maximum artefact army I could engineer. But the more I think about it, the more I like the idea. Battalions will be a little more unique, one-drop armies will be few and far between, and players will have to think hard as to whether they can afford to take boots off the ground for the benefits of the formation. Interestingly, this ties in neatly with the Rule of One regarding Artefacts, as well as the Allegiance-specific Artefacts. You're only going to get a couple, and you're going to have to think hard as to which ones are going to be given to which privileged Heroes.
I think that the increase in cost of Battalions is going to translate to cultivating a smarter way of playing the game, particularly when it comes to settling on a list. No longer will every Sylvaneth army be a Gnarlroot Wargrove, as each player will have to weigh up if the cost of the Battalions involved is too expensive to also allow them to field a reasonably sized army.
I also want to touch on how great I think the Allies mechanic is. Not only does it allow for the inclusion of great strategic and theme elements that would otherwise break Allegiance (all of a sudden, the Gargant lurking in the Ironjawz army box makes a whole lot more sense), but it curbs the craziness of armies such as the Beastclaw/Kunnin' Rukk mixed Destruction list. Don't get me wrong, you can still create those mixed Grand Alliance armies, but at what cost? You'll be missing out on all of the great Allegiance Abilities, Artefacts and Command Traits. Another dilemma for every player to ponder…
Then we kick into probably the most fascinating part of the book. Allegiance Abilities have been gifted to a ton of factions in all four alliances. While the Grand Alliance abilities remain very similar to days gone by, the army specific ones have gotten many players worked into a frenzy! I thought I'd briefly touch on my favourite from each Grand Alliance and then explore more thoroughly the Allegiance which will be my primary focus.
First up, Destruction offers the goods for Ironjaws. While the other two main factions (Beastclaw Raiders and Bonesplittaz) have up-to-date Battletomes, Ironjawz were beginning to lag behind a bit. The Ironfist was brutal, and Brutes were something to be feared, but the more table time the army got, the more it began to show its limitations. It only had three units, four Heroes (not including Gordrakk), and suffered heavily at the hands of a bad match up. And while the fundamental foundations of the army have remained, Ironjaw players now have an extensive toolbox upon which to draw from. From piling in and punching on out of sequence, charging more reliably, and (most importantly) being able to draw from their allies to stopgap any weaknesses and shortcomings they might have, its beyond reasonable doubt that Ironjaws have received a new lease on life! As mentioned earlier, the Maw-Crusha got a pretty tasty discount too, making that key game piece an easier purchase.
Speaking of Maw-Crushas and Ironfists (because, lets be real here; they were already in just about every existing Ironjaw army…), Ironjaws have been blessed with two Warscroll Battalions, which both require the above as their compulsory elements! This makes Ironjaws a very realistic one-drop army with some incredibly cool special rules.
Next comes Death, a Grand Alliance with probably the most loyal and die-hard base of players. There's something about Death players, that they just refuse to play any other alliance, making do with the tools that they have. And while they have a lot of fantastic units and incredible combos, they suffer from having an alliance split into so many factions that their only two options are Grand Alliance armies or FEC. I mean, of course there was always the minor factions that dedicated players would do their utmost to make work, notably Nighthaunt and Soulblight (being two of the only ones able to meet Hero and Battleline requirements with any shred of competency), and wouldn't you know it… Guess which two got their own Allegiance Abilities! I'm not saying its the answer to all of their problems, but with AA and pretty flexible Ally factions, prospects have definitely opened up for those with vampiric tendencies. And while there are a lot of Nighthaunt fanboys out there, who indeed have much to rejoice about, I'm going to focus on one of my favourite factions in the whole of fantasy; the vampires of the Soulblight!
Vampires have long been a staple of the fantasy genre, and in the history of Warhammer in all of its renditions, they were the perfect, menacing, ever-present villain. The Von Carsteins were the quintessential arch-enemy of the Empire, and despite Manfred being the last one fighting the good fight, the vampire strain is keeping on strong. The part of Soulblight that makes me most excited is the return of Bloodlines, a throwback to the Old World when the different dynasties ruled and went to war in their own unique way. Well, now you have four distinct Bloodlines to pick from. Whether you like martial prowess, superior casting abilities or traversing the battlefield at breakneck speed, there's a dynasty for you. As well as that, there are some pretty amazing artefacts that perfectly reflect the haughty, self-obsessed nature of the vampiric Lords and Queens; my top pick would have to be the Sigil of the Sanguine Throne, as I think it offers the most mileage. But I'd love to know from all the Death players out there; how do you feel about what's on offer?
Order was a tough choice when deciding which I was most excited about. Wanderers and Seraphon received a great deal of love, and Free Peoples were definitely up there when it came to improvements overall, but I had to go with Fyreslayers for one reason alone. They have been at the bottom of the popularity ladder for a very, very long time for a variety of reasons. It's not to say that they were bad, but they had the immense misfortune (along with Pestilens) of having their moment in the sun pre-GHB, when AOS was in a lull. They were also a financially straining army to collect (until, of course, that incredible Start Collecting box!), and so it was rare to see a full army of them. But, boy oh boy, are they loving life now! From their Ur-gold Runes to their Ash-plume Sigils, the infantry-heavy army of naked Duardin mean business. Building upon the existing synergies in the army, I think that the clever use of Runes will be absolutely pivotal to claiming decisive wins against their foes!
And lastly, Chaos. A Grand Alliance near and dear to my heart, how could I deny a trip down memory lane by focusing on a beloved army of the past… Brayherds! Beastmen are back, they are back in greater numbers and they… are… pissed. While they suffered at the hands of the Compendium Cleanse (we're getting to that, don't fear), the loss of a few special characters was far outweighed by the benefits they have received. Not only is a Brayherd army significantly cheaper to field now (remember how we mentioned Massive Regiments?), but units may now be placed in Ambush to arrive turn one on any board edge at least 9" away from the enemy, many of the elements from the Old World named characters have become command traits or artefacts, and just when you think you couldn't take another blow to the back of the head with the Nostalgia Hammer…
The revered, the legendary, the truly magnificent Herdstone makes it's triumphant return! Not only does this automatically give your army a deployable piece of Damned/Deadly terrain, depending on if you're Brayherd or not, but it very concisely explains how big it can be. So adversaries of the goat people, you need not fear. There won't be some 12"-wide Line of Sight-blocking terrain with five wizards lurking behind it. Even in my local meta, there are already people leaping all aboard the Brayherd train, and it brings a proud tear to my eye. For a bit of context here, I played Beastmen through the majority of 8th Edition Fantasy, when they were truly one of the two worst armies in the game. So, it warms my heart to see them once more marching to war to the sound of out-of-tune horns and drunken bleating.
I've given each of these the briefest of insights for you, and could easily spend an entire article breaking down each and every Allegiance to a tactically minute level, but that's best saved for another day.
It's now time to talk about Grundstok Thunderers. For those of you who haven't heard yet, the Thunderers had their Warscroll just about re-written in the GHB17, to state that the whole unit is armed with Aethershot Rifles (stock equipment) and only one of each other weapon may be included in the unit. This came as quite a shock to Kharadron Overlords players, who had spent the last few months begging, borrowing and bartering to gather together enough of one weapon to kit out a unit with all the same guns; the two most popular culprits being the Aethercannon and the dreaded Grundstok Mortar. Now, I can understand why Games Workshop made these changes. I can also understand why KO players are upset by this, as KO is actually quite a recent release. What I can say is that I believe this update (and the price adjustment on Aether-Khemists) was a decisive move to shift Kharadron Overlord toward their intended play style, instead of one of the most horrific gun line armies in all of the realms. Could this issue have been foreseen? I think so; give players powerful 30" guns on an entire unit, and then offer them an option to make them belt-fed, and it's only going to go one way. It's easy for me to say, as I have no emotional or financial investment in KO, but if you're a KO player, where do you go from here? Does this change how you're building your army?
And one more point I want to hit before I bring this article in to land is the FAQ, Forge World war scroll updates and the Compendium Cleanse. I'm glad to see day one FAQ's, and from what I can see, they were very clear and concise. I was glad to see clarification of the sequence of Hero Phases in regards to the Blood Tithe, as well as finally putting to rest the whole "Do Bloodsecrator banners stack?" debate. Spoiler alert…
They don't.
The Forge World updates were great. The Mourngul got toned down a touch, points moved here and there, but one thing I was overjoyed with was the Skaven Warlord on Brood Horror. I approached Forge World on Facebook about a week ago, inquiring as to why the SWoBH didn't have the Hero keyword. Well, I don't know if other people had asked the same question too, but they went and gave that scroll the royal treatment. Not only did he gain the aforementioned Hero keyword, but the Brood Horror's attack profiles changed significantly, and it is terrifying. The model did go up 20 points, but I'll gladly pay that for my nefarious warlord to be elevated above the rank of Behemoth.
Probably the biggest change in the Forge World scrolls was everyones favourite Sorcerer to hate; Sayl the Faithless. At his hands were many armies reduced to a pile of corpses, ash and bruised pride thanks to a rather hasty assault by such terrifying units as Bloodletters or Warpfire Projector-armed Stormfiends. Well, thanks to one minor tweak, those strategies are a thing of the past. His spell, Traitor's Mist, will from henceforth be only able to affect units with the Slaves to Darkness keyword. This is not only a change for the better, but tones him down considerably, prevents him from being an auto-include in every mixed Chaos list ever, and conveniently facilitates his cheaper points cost (dropping 40 points!). I think everyone outside the Chaos Grand Alliance is gonna be pretty satisfied with this change.
Lastly, we have to talk about the Compendium Cleanse. Essentially, what has happened is every Warscroll that doesn't have a current model either got rolled into a generic war scroll of their parent faction (e.g. Tretch Craventail and Queek Headtaker are now considered alternative models for the Skaven Warlord scroll) or they were stripped of their unique titles and given a generic war scroll, that in most cases, was not all that useful for its points. There were also many units that were stripped of their Keywords (a lot of Bretonnians are no longer Free People).
I will say this, knowing that there are a fair number of people who were displeased by this move on the part of Games Workshop.
This was inevitable.
Games Workshop sells miniatures, and they're not going to support products that they no longer produce. By keeping these scrolls in mainstream gaming, and in many cases, incredibly powerful on the table, they would be actively encouraging people to go to places like eBay, Buy Swap Sell pages, etc, and spend their money there.
Their focus, and as a publicly owned company, rightly so, is to make their game accessible. They don't want a first-time hobbyist to realise that the character they need to take their army to the next level on the table top has been out of production for the last five years. Games Workshop is consolidating their product and putting all players, old or new, on an even playing field with the same options. This is as much about the balance of the game as it is about sales. A Skaven player joining the hobby today would have had a distinct disadvantage to someone who started playing Skaven five years ago, through no fault of either player, purely based on availability. By consolidating scrolls, this problem is minimised.
I know people are upset, and I don't want to sound like I'm uncaring, or that I'm happy about it either. All of my beloved Beastmen characters, Gorthor the Beastlord, Malagar, Morghur, the list goes on; they're all gone, dissolved into the oblivion of obsolete game data. This was a huge hit, but I understand why it had to happen for the health of the game. The priority for GW is to finish transitioning from WFB to AOS, and I believe that this ripping off of the band-aid is the last step in doing that. I'm gonna miss a lot of the heroes (and anti-heroes) from the Old World, but hopefully we will see more and more heroes and villains as the Realms unfold.
I'll say it now; I'm so excited for this new era of gaming. Age of Sigmar, despite it's birthing pains, has swiftly become my favourite table top game above all others. I'm excited that some less-loved factions have received their due attention. I love that the new factions joining the game are thematic and bursting with lore. I love the level of miniatures being produced. I love that we will inevitably see much more diversity between armies, even from within the same allegiances. What a time to be in the hobby! I've barely scratched the surface today, but I hope you're as excited as I am about this rendition of the game we all love.
Let me know in the comments what army you'll be focusing on post-GHB17! Do the new Allegiance Abilities sway you toward collecting a new army, or perhaps dragging an old one out of retirement?
Next week, I'll be breaking down my plans for Clan Pestilens, as well as their Allegiance Abilities, and the finer points of their infectious ways of war! Keep an eye out.
Until next week, thanks for reading,
Gabe
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