I got a laugh out of the article, its sounds like something I would write to my friend when I get some stupid army idea at 1 in morning. It was pretty much a given we would get a Behemoth Faction of some type, and Stegadons as Battleline would be the most logical choice. Hoping maybe we maybe get Carnosaur traits similar to what Flesh Eaters and Stormcast get for their Behemoths.
Pretty certain we're getting these for Carnos, trogs, & maybe even the new stegadon with skink chief (possibly the scar-vet on cold one too, but it is a smaller "horse" mount so maybe not).
I think they made most units better overall, but summoning is basically gone and teleporting is Starborne only and probably back to once per phase.
Ok, first impressions after the whole picture: 1) Both coalesced and starborne has their uses. It is not only their allegience, but battlaions and constellations we have to consider. Staborn are still about maneuver and coalesced want to hit hard; 2) Summoning is no more. It cannot be placed as a base of tactics, but more like a bonus. 2000 of seraphon is now more like 2200 vs 2500-2700 it used to be. I think, that GW went a bit too far, but we have what we have; 3) Only one teleport per turn. Bad, but manageble; 4) If you are not playing with magical terrain features, then some coalesced abilities are wasted; 5) Battalions are not killed. You generaly want to take them anyway just for CP, artefact and less deploys, but I doubt that more than 1 would be worth it; 6) Less rerolls but more straight up bonuses to hit. You generally want to hit on 2+/3+ and utilize reroll 1's to hit. We don't have any other kind of rerolls, unfortunately and sources of 1's rerolls are scarce; 7) We have a lot of CP. There are tons of abilities which give them; 8) We want a lot of CP. Our best abilities are the command abilities and we want them on more than 1 unit; 9) We can go magic-heavy and reach Nagash levels. Slann+Kroak+Astrolith are still very viable. 10) Saurus looks like MVP so far. Lots of bodies to score the objectives, lots of damage through synergies. Good survivability with saves up to 2+ rerollable, -1 dmg and 6+ FnP. I think about 2 overbuffed stacks; 11) Good internal balance of units, battalions and constellations. Awful internal balance of artefacts, traits and spells; 12) Looks like GW tried to tone down after OBR, Slaanesh and other OP stuff. Initial feelings is that we are Ogres and Kharadron level of power. But hard to say until we make some extensive theorycrafting and testing.
After seeing the warscrolls this time feels like a hard curbstomp. - rippers lost all their damage potential - Saurus guard lost their save 3+ AND 2" range (and are more like Saurus warriors but with 1 wound more - All ignore -1 rend is gone - Bastilladon looses invunrable save - Astrolith bearer gives a fnp instead of to hit bonus. - Skinks don't have their fallback ability anymore I'm gutted and Will be waiting before buying this tome. It feels like a huge nerf now.. I really don't onderstand what GW was thinking..
Saurus Guard, Veteran on Carnosaur, Sunblood, Skinks, Ripperdactyls all have the same save as before..
All the new Warscrolls are available on the GW site now. EotG now you are only going to ever want one on the field. It has had a strong need to it. The largest being only one engine a turn can roll for its table. So double engines is useless. Instead, you'll want to take Stegadons with a bow. It's quite good now.
Fair points. Most of that is models I didn't play or their save didnt really matter to begin with. I'll take the W for 4+ save warriors in my Saurus lists.
I know many skink players will be disappointed with the rules change and nerfs but I honestly love these changes. Then again, I am a saurus player and for the longest time saurus warriors and to a lesser extent saurus guard were not viable for tournament events. We would be fooling ourselves if we thought skink units would be keeping their old abilities. I still love the fact they kept the Seraphon's strength to synergize units too, I am thinking on how I can pump out all those delicious attacks.
I would say this battletome falls in the category of "Shockingly Terrible". We do nothing better than anyone else and what we used to do has been ruined. It's enough that I'm retiring. Goodbye everyone! We had a good run.
Would anyone be willing to explain to me what exactly "garrisoning" means for the realmshaper? Are the units placed on top of it? Are they off the board and counted as being inside it? Can they do anything while garrisoned? Also it seems the terrain piece just has the one rule? Is that right, or can other units do stuff with it like how Sylvaneth can spawn Citadel Woods and what not? I had a look at other terrain pieces and they all seem to have at minimum two rules on their warscroll.
just the one rule garasening you remove the unit from the board and they are inside the zigarat they get +1 save and-1 to be hit they can still cast attack and shoot using the building as their base
And here I was thinking my Sodium levels were high lol. Protip: Contrary to early leak phase impressions, we are dope AF now. Luckily the Plan of the Old Ones came to fruition.