Because you hadn’t had enough competitive AoS content this last month, GW have also decided to drop a whole battlescroll in time for the new GHB. It’s time for us to have a look at what’s hot (Kairos) and what’s not (probably still Fyreslayers) for the new season. As always, thank you to Games Workshop for providing us with an advance copy of the rules to review.

Rules Updates

Regimented Forces

It wasn’t in the General’s Handbook but it’s here: if you have more regiments than your opponent you get to, once per game, re-roll your priority roll after seeing both players rolls but before a decision of who is going first is made. That’s amazing. It’s not a guarantee, by any means, but it’s very good. Having more regiments often means you’re going to be going first with your opponent wanting to keep that chance of taking the dreaded Double Turn on your and wipe you out; some armies even plan for this to happen and the people running those lists should feel bad about it. 

Having anything up your sleeve, other than just good positioning, to help prevent that happening to you is fantastic. Is it as good as taking a second Honour Guard? No clue. Honour Guard is dead. This is what you get now, Fyreslayer players, so enjoy it. 

Kairos Fateweaver

An expected change to his warscroll given the massive change to Battle Tactics and it’s very interesting and something that will give Tzeentch players a massive upper hand by having. Once per game you get to change a whole battle tactic card for another one. So you can build your list with two in mind and then adapt in every game you play swapping to a different one as needed for that Battleplan or for the opponent you’re playing against. This is stupidly strong and much better, in my mind, than the previous version. Being able to score the first step or so of one card and then changing out to a new one mid-game to start scoring is huge and will make it very easy for Tzeentch armies to score max on battle tactics every game. The fact he got this and didn’t go up in points is absurd. I might start painting a Tzeentch army now. 

On top of that he also now has a shooting attack that is, of course, Wyrdflame keyworded giving you another chance of putting Burning on a unit you want. It’s not even a bad shooting attack for it! 

Arkanaut Frigate

A minor update that should have come sooner. An extra clause is added on making it so that any units picked up by the boat when it makes a Charge also are not allowed to use another Core ability in the same phase. Technically, even though the “targets have charged” any unit being lifted and put back down by the Frigate was still allowed to use the core Charge ability themselves, as they had not used that ability or a Core ability that phase, and try to hunt down the heroes hiding behind screens while getting Strikes First. I can’t say I ever saw this come up, actually, but it’s good to have been made clearer because it was probably never intended to be allowed. Love when an edge-case gets an FAQ like this. Stay weird, Kharadron players.

Pitched Battle Profiles

Note that all of the units earmarked for legending have now moved there in the pitched battle profiles document. If nothing else, this now makes the Stormcast points much much easier to parse. It also means all of this stuff is by default no longer matched play legal, so you’ll have to run your Beasts of Chaos army past the TO. Same for you, Bonesplitterz player.

The other important thing to note is that things other than your units can have points now. This includes manifestations, enhancements, battle formations etc. These are mostly currently 0 points, but if your faction has a no-brainer choice that gets taken almost all of the time, expect it to have a nominal points cost now.

Finally, absolutely no units have had a points increase this time, so aside from the points additions for the bits mentioned above it’s drops or nothing.

Order

Cities of Sigmar

Good god, that’s a lot of changes. The Battlemage, Cogsmith, Warden King, Drakespawn Chariot, Flagellants, Freeguild Fusiliers, Freeguild Steelhelms, Ironweld Great Cannon, Scourgerunner Chariot, and Wildercorps Hunters all go down by 10 points. It’s 20 for the Celestial Hurricanum (both versions), Luminark of Hysh (both versions), Black Ark Fleetmaster, Callis and Toll, Cavalier-Marshal, Freeguild Marshal, Fusil-Major on Ogor Warhulk, Command Corps, Gyrobomber, Gyrocopter, Kharibdyss, and Steam Tank. Finally, the Steam Tank Commander and the Freeguild Marshal on Griffon drop by 30.

Honestly, this is so much change that it’s hard to derive meaning from it, but almost every Cities player will find something in their army getting cheaper here, regardless of any proclivity for mono-faction human/elf/dwarf/elf-but-sexy madness. You can fit one extra steam tank into the steam tank spam army, which might please some people. Perverts.

Daughters of Khaine

Wow, look, some green. The Hag Queen on Cauldron of Blood  goes down 20, and that’s your lot for heroes. The solo Avatar of Khaine goes down 20 points, and honestly 120 for a unit packing a decent number of rend 2 damage 3 attacks has to be worth looking at, even if it’s pretty squishy and the regiment options for it can be awkward. Sisters of Slaughter with Sacrificial Knives and Witch Aelves with Bladed Bucklers both drop by 10. This is just papering over warscroll issues, both of these infantry units struggle to have a reason to exist – Witches with bucklers are a strictly worse version of Sisters of Slaughter with bucklers, if the solution is to try to push them to a point of being overly efficient then I hope there are big changes when the battletome appears.

Fyreslayers

As with a lot of this, lots of green on heroes. The bad news is that Ash-beard and Ash-cloud Rune now cost 20 points each to take, the good news is that your list is probably down about 40 points anyways to keep taking them if you want to. The other good news is that this season is littered with Obscuring terrain and objectives; I do think the internet is overblowing just how huge that’s going to end up being but it’s enough that you can probably skip the Ash-cloud Rune now. Slayers lists are likely going to be rocking 2-3 Magmadroths anyways and the Droth-helm for more reliable attacks on them is going to be the better pick then, especially on a Runeson with all that extra damage. 

This is fine, overall, nothing to write home to Grimnir about and Vulkites could have probably stood to have seen a small reduction. The bigger worry is going to be the lack of Field Sergeant in a season that requires a lot of movement for scoring. I worry a bit for the army on that front. Runesmiters are going to be big now, so invest in those. Or don’t. Fyreslayer players aren’t typically the best at taking advice (I would know, I am one). 

Idoneth Deepkin

Ancient Pride and the Armour of the Cythai go up 20 because they’re the only enhancements Deepkin ever take. No other changes but we know there’s a battletome imminent. If you want to do any tea-leaf reading here, it’s that this maybe implies those enhancements are remaining as per the faction pack. But who knows really.

Kharadron Overlords

A LOT of green here and WAY more than most armies got. Everything that’s not a Gunhauler got cheaper in the unit section as did most heroes. This makes sense given the prevalence of Obscuring going into the new season. The good news about that is that the incredible mobility the army brings does really well to score battle tactics, so, it’s not all bad! I think. Yet to be seen. Arkanaut Company at 90 points are stupid cheap for 10 dudes with a reasonable save, ranged attacks, and OK in combat; they’re better than a lot of comparatively cheap units ok? Skywardens and Endrinriggers are finally about where they make sense at 120 and 110 points each considering their output and fragility. The only enhancement here to gain any points is the Cunning Fleetmaster which is, obviously, an auto-take in many lists and something you’ll still be able to take given the points drops. 

Lumineth Realm-Lords

Minor tweaks for Lumineth, with the biggest drop being 20 points on Archmage Teclis. 10 points off the Scinari Cathallar lands them into the fabled territory of being a sub-100 point wizard. Whilst their control abilities are naff, you are now looking at a hero that’s fully half the cost of an Enlightener, if you’re just looking for a spellcaster. Vanari Auralan Sentinels, Wardens and the Starshard Ballista all go down 10 points. This doesn’t add up to a lot really, but is a reminder that Sentinels are still pretty damn good – you do pay a premium compared to other Aelf archers, but the gap has closed now. Some pretty obvious points increases as well, given the rest of the battlescroll. Shrine Luminor and the Silver Wand both go up 20. The wand is just comically better than the other options, but there’s juuust enough points drops on units to probably still squeeze it in, as you’ll want it regardless.

Seraphon

-20 Ripperdactyl Chief! -20 Terradon Chief! -20 Spawn of Chotec! What does it mean? Probably nothing! The Spawn is just a sad, bad artillery piece and Terradons and Rippers just aren’t really worth buffing. That being said, Terradons themselves are looking a bit better this season as fast, cheap chaff despite not actually getting a points change.

The meaningful changes here are mostly negative, with Coatl Familiar, the Lore of Celestial Manipulation and the Realmshaper Engine all going up 20 points. This is a pretty meaningful series of increases, as the other options really don’t match their utility and so you’re almost certainly eating a 40-60 point cost just for showing up as Seraphon. 

Stormcast Eternals

Changes to a bunch of lesser-seen heroes here. Gardus, the Knight-Draconis, Knight-Judicator, Knight-Questor, Lord-Aquilor, Lord-Imperatant, Lord-Vigilant on Gryph-stalker, and Neave Blacktalon all get 10 points cheaper. There’s a 20 point saving on the Knight-Azyros, Lord-Celestant, Lord-Vigilant on Morrgryph, Tornus the Redeemed, and Vandus Hammerhand. The Lord-Celestant on Dracoth goes down to 160, a saving of 30 points. That’s a lot of heroes, and broadly seems to match what’s happening elsewhere: non-magic foot and cavalry heroes getting a bit cheaper. Of these, there are three standouts of note. The Celestant on Dracoth going down means less tax on bringing him along to use his One Weird Trick (fight first with the Quicksilver Draught and drag a block of Fulminators/Concussors with him). Tornus is a great support piece in a Ruination-focused army, and getting cheaper only makes it easier to include him. Finally the threshold has been crossed – three Knights-Judicators is now cheaper than a reinforced unit of Longstrikes, and we might start to see more of them

On the unit side, it’s simpler. Fulminators, Tempestors and Stormdrake Guard all go down by 10 points, which is nice as they all see use. So does the Stormstrike Chariot, which maybe just about starts to be an efficient objective piece with some of the new battle tactics (probably not).

Finally, just two things end up costing points in the enhancements. Envoy of the Heavens now costs 20 points, as does the Stormreach Portal. This might be a bit of a motivator in getting rid of the portal if your list doesn’t need it – it’s such a big charge target in the backfield. Envoy will keep going strong for the most part, unless people start taking the new Scourge of Ghyran trait for repeated Finest Hour on a Stardrake.

Overall, with the new season getting rid of the fairly ubiquitous Karazai + bodyguard Praetors combo, there’s a lot of space for some inventive listbuilding supported by these changes.

Sylvaneth

Really minimal unit changes here, just 10 points off of the Arch-Revenant, Twistweald and Tree-Revenants. Tree-revs look pretty nice into the new GHB so that’s welcome. The most meaningful change here is that Spellsinger now costs 20 points, which is effectively a tax on the Warsong Revenant. Seed of Rebirth also costs 20 points now, but the pool of artefacts for Sylvaneth is deep enough to not be too bothered. 

Chaos

Blades of Khorne

Aspiring Deathbringer, Bloodmaster, Herald of Khorne on Blood Throne, Skarr Bloodwrath, Skullmaster, Bloodreavers, and Khorgorath all go down 10 points. 20 off for the Skull Cannon, Exalted Deathbringer, Lord of Khorne on Juggernaut, Skullgrinder, and Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster. No enhancement or formation points. That sure is a lot of foot heroes. None of this feels particularly of note, to be honest, but there is a lot of it.

Disciples of Tzeentch

Perhaps surprisingly there are 20 point drops for both Kairos Fateweaver and the Lord of Change, however these come in combination with 20 points increases for Illusionist, Nine-eyed Tome and the Lord of Change – so that particular combo that was extremely popular is overall up 20 points. Still, I like this as a vehicle for balancing – the optimised combo is more expensive, but the base units come down to a level more appropriate for their warscroll. 

Otherwise there’s a 10 point trim off of the Magister on Disc, a unit that might see more play if people explore disc-based melee builds more with the Scourge of Ghyran update. Both forms of Burning Chariot have come down 20 and have previously seen a smidgen of competitive play, they also look to be pretty decent into this upcoming season as fast and cheap scoring units. 

There’s another 20 point discount for the Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch. 90 points is still too much for a unit that’s got a bit under half of the output of a regular unit of Flamers but still isn’t even half the cost. Given they don’t reinforce and make regiments tricky, these really could do with coming down another 20-30 points. Finally, Jade Obelisk are now a bargain basement 80 points. With Scourge of Ghyran there’s now quite a lot of competition for your efficient infantry choices, but don’t sleep on these as 80 points for a 4+ ethereal unit is seriously cheap. The only thing really holding these back is that you can’t reinforce them.

Hedonites of Slaanesh

Not a lot of green in the units here, just the lesser-seen Hellflayer down 30 points and Seeker Chariot down 10 points. It might be reasonable to think we could see some red in this section next time round, particularly for Slickblade/Blissbarb Seekers and Blissbarb Archers, but we’ll have to see how the obscuring terrain shakes out.

A lot more green in the hero table. The Infernal Enrapturess drops 10, Contorted Epitome, Dexcessa, Synessa, and the Lords of Hubris and Pain save 20 points each. The Bladebringer drops 30 to match its un-heroed variant, while Sigvald drops a mighty 40 points. The design team really want Sigvald to be a thing, but he still feels handicapped by the damage 2 and random attacks characteristic on the turns you want him to go big. 

The Pendant of Slaanesh now costs 20 points, so players might want to start looking at other artefacts if they’re running out of space.

Maggotkin of Nurgle

There’s lots of green here with most of the lesser used heroes going down. Gutrot Spume, Lord of Afflictions, Morbidex Twiceborn, Orghotts Daemonspew, and Poxbringer all get a 20 point discount. Of these the two Maggoth lords and the Poxbringer being your cheapest hero option now are probably the most impactful. Lord of Plagues, Sloppity Bilepiper, and Spoilpox Scrivener all go down 10. Lord of Plagues was seeing play before, but with Field Sergeant gone, we may see less of him. That said, the Plaguebearer support heroes definitely look more interesting now.

None of the non hero sheets go down, which means you’re not really gonna see the benefits of all these changes in one list. On top of that you’re seeing a 20 point increase to The Witherstave which may mean Rustfang gets taken a bit more, but realistically you’re just gonna start at 20 points up. Without a manifestation lore of their own, unless you’re taking Aetherwrought Machineries, you’re also probably taking another 20 point tax. This will likely undo any points drops you’re working into your lists, and that’s if you’re not taking the tried and true good stuff. There’s definitely some good to work with here, but it’s not all upside as the page of green may lead you to believe

Skaven

Skaven get some insane points drops. Two thirds of the army gets points drops, evenly split between heroes and your normal units. Both types of Clawlord come down with the foot one coming down 10 and the one on Gnaw Beast coming down 20. The former was a great list filler and now the former can be a premium option for that role. Speaking of list fillers, the Deathmaster comes down 20, giving you another option to fill out your lists. For our named heroes, Krittok comes down 20, Lord Skreech comes down 30, and Vizzik Skour comes down 20. All of these make these guys more interesting especially with Vizzik seeing some outside play. All the other Verminlords also come down, with the Deceiver and Warpseer going down 20 and the Corruptor and Warbringer coming down 10. The Deceiver is already a fantastic unit in this army and him being sub 400 points now makes him that much more interesting. Closing us out on the Hero section, Master Moulder comes down 10, the Warlock Bombardier comes down 20, the Plague Furnace comes down 30, and the Warlock Engineer comes down 10. I’m particularly excited by the Plague Furnace drop because its already a fantastic unit.

Your regular units see similar swaths of points drops. Skryre is eating well with Globadiers, Doomwheels, Stormfiends, Warp-Grinders, Warp Lightning Cannons, and Warpvolt Scourgers all going down 10 while Doom-Flayers see a 20 point drop. There’s some really interesting stuff here and anyone who was super excited by that new Pit Tinkerer trait will have plenty of points to play with in their wheel centric lists. Beyond that, Rat Ogres, Plague Monks, and Nightrunners go down 10 while Hell Pits and Plagueclaws come down 20. This puts Plagueclaws at 100 points, making them some of the cheapest artillery in the game. Is this enough to get them there? Probably not but it’ll be funny when someone brings a list spamming these.

On top of all that, none of your enhancements go up. All formations, Heroic Traits, Artefacts of Power and Lores are free. This means every single Skaven build will see fairly significant drops, allowing them to flex in another unit to their lists. Things are looking up for the rat men in Ghyran.

Slaves to Darkness

A LOT of green on heroes and only very little on units, of which you have probably never seen on a table and will go “oh huh that’s in this army?” as I continue this mini-review. Abraxia getting cheaper was my only surprise here for stuff that got cheaper. Varanguard staying at their cost is fine when so many armies got points decreases; whenever there’s an update with so much green like this it’s effectively a points increase on stuff that didn’t get cheaper. Kind of. I know a lot of people have been passing around Varanguard not being able to be reinforced and that’s just silly and not in here at all, of course they still can and they’re still going to be a popular pick, too.  Radiance of Dark Glory is your only enhancement that costs any points and that’s probably fine, none of the Heroic Traits or Artefacts are stupidly powerful, really, it’s not that kind of army. Darkoath Savagers are now under 100 points and that’s great, actually, along with the Wilderfiend getting a 10 point reduction you might start to see one pop up? Maybe? I doubt it. 

Darkoath could have easily seen some more decreases on units here, as a standalone sub-army they really struggle on the table, but in this season I think most S2D players are going to be grabbing some Fellriders to help with Battle Tactics, they’re great for it. 

Death

Flesh-eater Courts

Cruel Taskmaster and the Charnel Vestments both go up 20. The other options in these slots are so weak that 1. I’m annoyed that Scourge of Ghyran didn’t touch them and 2. There’s basically a 40 point tax on taking FEC heroes. Maybe if there’s no other way that your list works now, but still a bit of a frustrating situation for FEC.

Speaking of heroes, the Infernal Courtier, Royal Decapitator and Varghulf Courtier all come down 20. Tying into the Infernal dropping, Crypt Flayers come down 10 points to 140. I still don’t think the scream-combo is worth going for at all, and a small price cut doesn’t really affect that but if it’s a thing you were doing anyway it’s a bit cheaper. Cheaper Flayers might help with the new GHB missions as MSU objective players.

The obscuring changes in the GHB and these new points do mean that we might have actual options opening up for your Courtier. Previously it was all about the Marrowscroll Herald as the most survivable option, but you can use obscuring to hide all of the Courtiers now. This opens things up for the poor old Varghulf, which is now only 10 points more than a Marrowscroll and gives you a bit of melee punch in a pinch. That being said, it’s still super fragile if you throw the Varghulf into melee and if you’re going down this road why not save a bunch of points and take an 80 point Decapitator. For my money, that’s the interesting option here, as saving 50 points off of Marrowscroll pays for the increases to your enhancements outright.

Otherwise, both the Royal Terrorgheist and Royal Zombie Dragon have gone down 20 points each. With the mount traits on top that’s a decent improvement, but I suspect if you want one of these monsters you try to find the 100 extra points to put a Ghoul King on top.

Nighthaunt

-40 points for Nagash! Also -40 points to the Scriptor Mortis, taking them to 80 points. Is a 33% points drop the highest we’ve seen in a single step? Maybe. OIynder drops 10 to a round 300, the Krulghast Cruciator drops 10, and the Tomb Banshee and Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed both get 20 points cheaper. Chainrasps drop 10 points to 90, which is frankly a steal for how useful they can be in the right circumstances. Chainghasts drop to the same, but I can’t really imagine a situation where I want 2 Chainghasts more than 10 Chainrasps.

Commonly (almost universally) seen enhancements Ruler of the Spectral Hosts and Lightshard of the Harvest Moon both now cost 20 points, to try and encourage some more creative listbuilding.

Ossiarch Bonereapers

It’s a sea of green here, and most of it is well appreciated. If Ossiarchs have one crippling flaw it is that the army’s overall cost is simply too high and doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room.

On the character front the Liege-Kavalos took a steep 30 foot drop which was badly needed since Zandtos can be a subcommander as well, it was hard to justify the generics inclusion for the same price. On the foot wizards, Vokmortian, Soulreaper and the Soulmason also went down a little bit. Which is interesting since the Soulmason has been taken in just about every list since 4th debuted but the cut for the others is also a nice touch.

For units you have a ton of options. Both Morghasts went down 10 points despite arguably being the most popular unit in the entire army. Immortis Guard also got a 20 point drop despite their popularity.

All this may let you squeeze in some of the more niche stuff that’s gone unnoticed like the Harvester (20 points) and Stalkers (10 points). Overall these cuts are nice but may not cut enough out of the budget to actually fit in more stuff, but the fact none of your enhancements cost anything means its actually a cut and not just moving points around.

Soulblight Gravelords

Hey so you know when the battletome came out and in our review we said we thought the vampire AoR was probably pretty decent, and then the points came out and it turned out to be literally impossible to build an army that wasn’t either 30 points over or 200 under? Well Prince Vhordrai has come down 10 and the Vampire Lord on Nightmare Steed is down 20 which magically means that Vhordrai, the VLoNS and 30 Blood Knights is now a legal list and the AoR works. (apropos of nothing, I’m in the market for cheap Blood Knights – chimp)

That’s the most exciting thing here, but there’s also 20 point drops for the Blades of the Hollow King, Lady Annika and the Revenant Draconith. That’s nice and all, but I’m still not rendered particularly excited by any of these options. For points increases it’s just +20 on Lash of the Sire, which doesn’t strike me as a huge deal and Soulblight have a few OK options in this area that are free if needed.

Destruction

Gloomspite Gitz

More green here than I expected! I really think that Gitz continue to fly just under the radar and popularity for how good they are as a faction. Almost all the spider stuff sees points decreases which is very long overdue, I was hoping to see some stuff for them in the Ghyran update which didn’t happen. So, uh, I guess this is fine? It helps, at least. They’re reasonable decreases even, across a list you might get a whole extra unit of Spider Riders in if you’re one of the three insane people running Oops All Spiders. Some surprises here at drops are the Squigboss and Dankhold Troggoth, both of which are very good and did not need a decrease at all. Not a complaint, but I run both and don’t know why this has happened. Doomdiver down 20 is cute and we’ll see how this whole Obscuring debacle plays out if it really matters, there’s plenty of Monsters and Fly targets for it regardless so I think at 160 you easily take one. Droggz is the only unit here that remains feeling incredibly expensive. Given the All Out Attack change his ability isn’t quite as impactful, though while still good, and he still just dies so fast to any ranged attack; again the Obscuring stuff might help that a bit more now, but he’s very weak, if he gets hit he gets removed. For enhancement costs it’s only Loontouched and Clammy Cowl which, with the points decreases, you’re likely still fitting in without issue. No points on the Loonshrine was a little surprising given how powerful it is. 

Ironjawz

Mostly just hero changes here, other than the Maw-Grunta Gouger down 20 points. Gordrakk, the regular Megaboss on Maw-Krusha, Tuskboss on Maw-Grunta, and Megaboss all drop 20 points. Good news for people wanting to run the new Brutefist formation. The Weirdnob Shaman goes down by 10, which is nice as he appears in almost every list (other than Pig Mania, at least). Zoggrok drops 10 too, and is now the same price as a regular Megaboss. Ironjawz feel closer and closer to having the juice, but we’ll have to wait to see how they do in the new season before anything changes more drastically. 

Kruleboyz

It’s easier to list what hasn’t had a points decrease for the long suffering Kruleboyz so here they are: Kragnos, non-Ghyran Swampboss Skumdrekk, Gutrippaz. Everything else is down 10-30 points, and there are no increases on non-unit options. Kruleboyz have felt bad since the battletome dropped, but this is probably the most meaningful set of points changes for the battlescroll. The sheer quantity of drops means that even if you’re doing a Kranos’n’Hogz build, you’re probably going to be able to squeeze an extra unit in, not just upgrade something or move points around. If you’re mad enough to run pure Kruleboyz, you’re probably getting a decent sized extra unit it. For a battlescroll points change, that’s about as good as it ever gets.

Ogor Mawtribes

This and Scourge of Ghyran has me screaming at the monitor. This army isn’t good! It’s propped up by the Beastclaw build but even after Ghyran, Gutbusters really don’t feel like they have the sauce. For hero drops both of the Bloodpelt Hunter and Icebrow Hunter have come down 20, as has the Tyrant. The Tyrant is pure regiment option tax to open up Gnoblars or Frost Sabres for a Gutbusters army so that price drop is welcome but I’m not excited. Both hunters had a kind of use in the last GHB when they were caddies for the +2” move buff but simply don’t have a reason to exist anymore and -20 points doesn’t change that.

The non-Ghyran artillery has come down, but let’s be real you are using the Ghyran versions anyway. Otherwise the only price drop on offer is -20 on Leadbelchers. Leadbelchers just need a new warscroll, they can be as cheap as you like but the damage 1 shooting is pathetic. Over in heroic traits Touched by the Everwinter is now 20, which essentially just affects Beastclaw but I don’t think changes the metrics on how many monsters you end up with in a list.

Sons of Behemat

Nada, nothing, zip. No changes at all for gargants, just the introduction of the Scourge of Ghyran Kraken-eater. Note this also means no increases to any of the enhancements etc. 

Universal Manifestations

These starting to cost points is a welcome change, with the only real surprise that the lores that cost points being the same across the board. No premium for Morbid Conjuration or the Krondspine Incarnate? Really? 

We’re left with just Aetherwrought Machineries and Twilit Sorceries as the free universal options. Twilit Sorceries is a bit all over the place, but I can see Aetherwrought Machineries getting an uptick in play, it plugs into most armies that don’t have their own lore and don’t care enough about casting to want to throw points after manifestations. Cogs in particular is handy as a font of re-roll charges.

Every other universal lore gets a nominal 20 point price of entry. This keeps the ‘internal balance’ of the universal spell lores relatively intact, a surprising choice, so what was good before remains so. The question in this season will really be if your list has those 20 to spare, or if the lore is good enough that you still want it, what compromise you’re willing to make in the list. Taking your faction’s best artefact vs taking Morbid Conjuration is a new listbuilding decision people will have to make, albeit not the most exciting.

Wrapping Up

Overall a relatively tame points adjustment, with a clear goal of bringing down combat heroes, chariots and attempting to get more chaff on the table. With relatively few big changes and no units going up, we’ll going to see the new missions and battle tactics have the bigger impact on listbuilding than the battlescroll (bar the incentive to regimentmax if you’re not aiming for the same old low drop smash and grab). I can see the next battlescroll being heavier on the impactful changes once we’ve seen how the meta shakes out, but I can appreciate the designers being more cautious given all the other recent changes.

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