Such furious geek-fu was unleashed on the universe with the simple act of uploading some pdfs that passers-by would have been forgiven for thinking some plot details of Episode 8 had leaked and we had all found out that someone was someone’s father.
Unlike Star Wars though, the Dark Conclave of the Faceless TM pending have not been shy about kicking down doors, spilling beer and flat out changing things up. For every coy lip-bite of a point tweak there is a brick of concentrated change – a suitable tool to build a wondrous palace of opportunity or shatter all your crystalline dreams, as ever it does all rather depend on your outlook on things.
The effort that has gone into all these updates is nothing if not impressive. Of course, it should be pointed out that genesis of any good zombie plague or genetically engineered killer shark is a lot of smart people putting a lot of work into something they think is a good idea – it doesn’t always work out that way.
The beauty of an immediate reaction to a release is that it is created in a pseudo vacuum – a sensory deprivation tank allowing you to float in the blissful unknown with only your own personal hopes, dreams and preconceived notions for company.
No one could possibly make certifiably accurate pronouncements on specifics within hours of 16 books being released. But it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try – if for no other reason than it gives us all an opportunity to look back at ourselves in the fullness of time and laugh at the foolishness of youth.
I was tempted by kicking things off with a look at the Saurian Ancients – but (spoiler) as expected, they feel generally solid and the sneak peek wails of despair from the cheap seats bored me. Instead, I would embrace my other great love and see if it was just as good as the summer of 1969...
Vampire Covenant
I seem to spend a lot of my time laughing in a suitably superior fashion at the wacky internet and its immediate “OMG THE WORLD IS ENDING!” attitude to, well, everything… I do this, like any proper hypocrite (or upstanding gentleman), in the full knowledge that what I do and what I preach are far from aligned. I blame some distant Scottish roots in my family try, but my default position to change can veer on the side of the stubbornly sour.
Yes, I am great fun at parties.
I have rather publically bemoaned in the past that my own personal view of what the Vampire Covenant army *should* be is rather different to the authors’ (it’s the problem of loving a trope – there are so many interpretations). That said, I kept using it and found things that I enjoyed using.
It will shock no one that, being the eternal optimist that I am, I was terrified of what would be changed.
That’s probably just about enough waffle to get going – let’s right in dive in:
Special Rules
- (From rulebook) Hold Your Ground. Now keeps bigger units alive longer against hyper damage-dealing opponents.
- Master of Undeath. No longer are our generals cowed by tradition and forced to take invocation (you can sub-contract out the creation of the army I suppose). This sounds like a buff, and in the context of the cost of magic levels for a Vampire Lord, it undoubtedly is. Personally though, it’s a big nerf as I liked the flexibility of the old lvl2 set up with a shadow spell and invocation.
- Wail of Woe (the new Banshee scream) got a *very* interesting change. Gone is the messing around with leadership (and the endless complaints from WDG players about that one time, seven years ago, when a Banshee’s scream actually did something to them). Now we have what amounts to a *very* short ranged magic missile. D6+2 S4 hits is decent chaff clearance – so I am inclined to like the change straight off. No longer being able to Wail into combat is a big hit, and we have lost another tool (however ineffective) for dealing with heavily armoured opponents. I wasn’t taking Banshees before, I *could* be tempted now (but probably not).
- Awaken is now limited to doubling the size of the original unit. This is a big change that completely changes how I have to look at building lists. There is probably a sound external balance argument here, but it’s an obvious (and very painful) nerf.
- Reaper got a whole lot more powerful as you only have to pass over an enemy unit with one model to allow your whole unit to attack.
Bloodlines:
These have been nicely clarified to make it clear when you can mix bloodlines, and points-tweaks aplenty are to be had all over the shop.
- Brotherhood of the Dragon remain the martial chaos warrior wannabes, with limited changes
- Von Karnstein keep their generalist role – the Ancient Blood Power giving the Lord a Bound Thunderbolt is a great addition – I have always been a fan of Storm Caller (in the right matchup Hard Target alone will be worth 65 points). The Swiftstride power is sensibly nerfed to stop other Vampires benefiting.
- Lamia have misplaced their throwing knives somewhere, which is a pity. That said, the new mechanic where their challenges have to be accepted is brilliant. Commandment remains at the heart of infantry star’s dreams and they can now use Mesmerizing Gaze to cast Lurid Delusions. Some powerful (if hard to pull off) combos can be had with the mysterious ladies of the night.
- Strigoi keep their role (in my mind) as the “obvious” choice, but now with the added bonus of being able to have Beastial Bulk and stop feeling inadequate next to Ghasts. This one has me all sorts of excited.
- Nosferatu pay slightly less for all the levels, and can finally give the Vampire Covenant Magic Flux dice altering mechanics (in a very dangerous way if overused of course). This is the one thing that may make me consider taking these least sexy of all the vampires (not that I find blood sucking dead things sexy or anything, but if you *had* to rank them…)
Magic items
- Eternal Ring is an interesting new (and expensive) addition to the ranks. A one off 2+ ward after the first failed armour save in the game, and immunity to lethal strike and multi wounds. In the exact right situation you will rejoice, but it is punitively expensive.
- Staff of Gerhard the Black is a cool touch supporting the invocation spam approach (which has been rather hurt by the Awaken rule, but still). Not entirely sure its worth 50 points and an arcane slot, but cool.
- Banner of the Barrow Kings drastically dropping in price is a Good Thing
- The Black Standard of Zagvozd is interesting. 35 points cheaper is great news. No longer protecting against magic… will have to see how the magic meta ends up to work out if I approve or not.
Magic Lore
Wont go into detail, but suffice to say I have to say a huge well done to the guys who have been working on tweaking this thing, it looks like a very good lore now.
Lords
Vampire Counts* stayed roughly the same, except that the Court of the Damned and Shrieking Horror options became more expensive. Because reasons.
Necromancer Lords got slightly cheaper (including the Cadaver Wagon option). We like cheaper.
Heroes
Vampire Courtier*, Necromancer, Barrow King** and Fell Wraith stay pretty much the same.
*to be fair, the changes here come in the bloodline section.
**Unliving Shield got a whole lot better though.
Core
Zombies slightly cheaper, but punished by Awaken.
Skeletons got rather interesting… double their starting size, but now with access to Halberds. There will be some potential here (even if the cautious part of my brain screams that shields are probably better). With the right magic and character support, these could be a thing. Its important to note: VC finally got Strength 4 in core!
Ghouls are interesting. Sure, increased initiative (which works well with certain support pieces), but a hike in points for additional models feels painful. Of course, my calculator tells me a full unit is only marginally more expensive than it used to be, so I can’t really complain too much.
Dire Wolves got cheaper if you want to be the guy with more than minimum sized units. The ladies like that.
Bat Swarm stayed the same
Special
Barrow Guard. You can’t accuse the Faceless ones of not working to make these chaps more attractive. Sure, they hiked up the great weapon costs, but a full blown unit with the Banner comes out at 25 points cheaper than it was before. Drop to Halberds and you save yourself a while necromancer’s worth. Tempting, though infantry blocks continue to worry me.
Barrow Knights have got a lot cheaper for the first 5. This does actually tempt me as far as pseudo disposable scoring units go…
Ghasts have got a bit cheaper, but I only expect to see them because of the cool new Strigoi.
Vampire Spawn, Phantom Hosts and Great Bats are basically the same (though the armour piercing on the ghosts is a nice touch)
Varkolak is basically what it was before. The internet was obsessed with these guys. For a shocking twist on proceedings, the internet was pretty wrong there. I didn’t like them before, and I definitely don’t like them any more now.
Cadaver Wagon is the source of Wake the Dead around these parts. I love the concept, I just find that the list runs out of points well before I get to add one of these in, and I am not seeing much sign of that changing.
Court of the Damned. Well this seems like an unmitigated and highly impressive waste of points if you are not running a Lamia list. If you are running such a list, it does seem to have potential, though the bubble effect is very small, and 235 points is asking a great deal…
Rare
Vampire Knights are one of those units that kill my trust for public playtesting. There were not all that good for their costs at all, but you kept hearing stories of the endless devastation they have caused (probably in lands where the humble shield has yet to be discovered). Imagine my shock to discover they have made the unit more expensive… It’s rare that I am speechless…
Wraiths. You know the bit near the beginning of John Wick where the bad people kill his dog and you know no amount of brutal revenge is going to get the cute little guy back? I feel the same about Wraiths. Wraiths with 2 wounds were a usable unit. Still highly fragile a lot of the time, but solid enough to take a couple of hits before going down (or to buy them enough time to hide wimpering in a corner in almost half the matchups). I appreciate they are cheaper, but 1 wound makes it very hard to justify it for me – that’s two magic missiles to potentially remove the whole unit. With the new sweeping attack rules there could be space for the mounted ones though.
Winged Reapers. These guys with paired weapons can open a case of whoop ass and hand out the refreshments. They are *super* expensive though.
Shrieking Horror. I guess these have become mathematically better to justify the cost increase? Given the mobility issues with the model I don’t like the threat profile will enough at all on this thing.
Altar of Undeath. I love these chaps, and have made my peace with having to choose regen or damage. Brilliant, well pointed, support unit for certain list types.
Coach. Have always has a soft spot for the coach. There is a reason I haven’t run it in 9th, but I do have a soft spot for it.
Mounts
Monstrous Revenants got some cool upgrades. I haven’t been a fan of the 9th Age breed of Large Target Monstrous Beasts mounts, but there could be some potential here.
So, there you have it, my initial gut reaction to the new book.
I may sounds negative on aspects of it, but that’s mostly because they hit some stuff I have enjoyed using, and I am selfish
It is immediately abundant that there are several builds that should work, and I look forward to testing a number of different things out. I enjoy the fundamental question I am having to deal with right now – what bloodline do I go with?! For me all (except the Brotherhood of the Dragon) look eminently usable.
I think I have an idea of what I will trying out at our England practice weekend coming up (Spoilers: I’m off to buy some steroids for my strigoi vampires), will report back on thoughts when, you know, I have even the beginnings of a clue as to what I am talking about!
Until next time.
Raf
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