I should be thankful, I suppose,
that I first encountered vampires well before they started sparkling like diamonds
on hilltops in Washington. Before, even, then caused rather boring girls to sit
in a chair for months at a time doing nothing, and *well* before children of
vampires were promised at birth to some shirtless werewolf twenty odd years her
senior.
Vampires, to me, will always be
the ultimate in badassery. Eternal life can elevate their concerns above the
petty schemes of mortals. Their sheer power, speed and brutality making them more
than a match for anything they may encounter. Their weaknesses, as with all
things vampiric are exaggerated, heightened, and ever so slightly sad. Their unabashed hubris forever their downfall.
Vampires are *the* alpha
predators, and as such their numbers are small. They rely on harnessing the
winds of death itself to animate shambling hordes of pathetic corpses to impose
their will on the living. This has, by and large, been quite well represented
on the field of (Warhammer) battle over the years.
The End Times are, to say the
least, a divisive topic on the internet these days. That said, the one clear
shining beacon throughout the death knell of the Old World was how flat out awesome
Vlad was, and how much of a nihilistic disaster Manfred was.
The ‘coolness’ of the books waxed
and waned over the years, of course. To many the highlight of Vampiric epicness
was the Bloodline Era. The rules strove (and often succeeded) to bring to life
these highly distinct vampire clans that have used the countless centuries to
become masters of their chosen field. Sure, there were gameplay issues, but
that was more the game’s fault than the army’s.
The last book was rather more
vanilla, though it still allowed you to bring to the table a Blade-esque combat
beast who had to do all the lifting for his army. The book was actually
annoying balanced for the times as well, making you make hard choices in the
list building phase.
Going into the 9th
Age, I was worried about what the dark powers would do to my beloved book. VC,
to a far greater extent than any other army out there, was highly
meta-dependent re its perceived power level. In some countries there were
endless wails into the darkness of the brokenness of the ‘Blender Lord’, the
Terrorgheist, hexwraiths and/or Crypt Horrors. In others there were no more or
less than perfectly average. In the UK, on the other hand, only two large two
day events were won by the last VC book in its entire life (your humble author in
London just before the ETC, and the tattooed Irish Yankee Chris Mince late last
year).
So it was with mounting
trepidation (akin perhaps to a child on Christmas morning fearing that his
parents didn’t like him quite as much as he thought they did) that I read up on
the rules for 9th Age, the various magic lores, and then, fatefully,
the VC book itself.
I’ll endeavour not to be too
melodramatic about this (you can just imagine the internet tears that were
shed, the visualisation of table flips I wish I had done, the vast quantity of
whiskey drunk in the vain hope of discovering some meaning in this life).
Suffice to say, I was brutally disappointed.
Compared to the Undying Dynasties
book, I must admit I found the VC book an unbearable shade of vanilla (supermarket
own brand, not the nice posh stuff). No cool slot swapping for us. Instead we
get some enforced customisation (at punitive cost), that open up some vaguely
theme-related further upgrades (at rather punitive costs).
The army had gone from a core of
useless troops dragged to victory by the battle prowess of their leader to an
army with useless core led by Vampire Lords that are not, in any real sense of
the word, very good in combat.
Interesting units like the Mortis
Engine were simplified into boredom (don’t even ask me what they did with the
coven throne). No cool thematic touches were added (no, Bat Swarms in core do
not count), no new units or characters made an appearance; just more things
were crammed into the Rare slot.
Fundamentally, it was not clear
from the army book how you would answer the question:
Why should I collect
Vampire Covenants?
And this is a bad bad thing.
Now, I live in the real world,
and not in the land of internet theory hammer. I know that being boring/weak
does not make the army unplayable. Heck, I admit that in certain situations the
army is not even weak. Anyone who was any good at playing Warhammer over the
past few decades learnt long ago that you can make almost anything work if you
design things well, use it well, and haven’t upset lady luck too much recently.
My deep sadness for this book
does not mean I have not enjoyed using them either – it’s far more a sadness
born of misspent potential than unusable misery.
Being rather British about the
whole thing, I stiffened that upper lip, lifted my chin and prepared to be stoically
disappointed about the sneak peek (the Brazilian half of me, being rather
rascally, got all fired up and excited).
So, what did we get?
1. In order to
improve the VC core units; there will be some minor changes. One, a new weapon
option will be available for skeletons so that there will be more than one type
of combat unit design in core. Also, ghouls will see an increase in Initiative,
which we felt would help them be more distinct from other units and fulfil a
distinctive role in the army.
More options in core is always a
great thing. I presume this is halberds for skeletons? Am not sure it would
actually see all that much use (unless very cheap, I struggle to see much
benefit over a parry enabled bunker (assuming parry rules don’t change too
much)). Extra initiative on Ghouls is cool (as long as we are not paying more
for it…).
2. The Court of
the Damned has rarely been used, so it is being moved into the Special section.
Also, it was designed to fill a new purpose in the army, which is to be another
buff wagon, but with completely new ability.
This I am excited for (I hope
they also clear up the innate defence/mounts protection issue for the ridden
version, but that’s another matter). I hope this new buff is effective, the old
one is awe-inspiring in its uselessness.
3. We didn't
like that the Varkolak was such an obvious choice (we are trying to avoid
auto-include units), so part of one of its abilities have been changed to an
upgrade. As a result, you will still be able to play the Varkolak as it is now,
but will pay slightly more and will not be able to take further upgrades.
I have been vocal about my belief
the Varkolak is highly overrated by the internet, in my experience they are
liabilities. I assume this means they are changing it to Monstrous Infantry and
making you pay for swiftstride? Am ambivalent either way.
4. Barrow
Knights were designed to be very cheap for the first 5, and more expensive for
additional models. We wanted to make them useful for something other than a
character delivery system, so Invocation was changed to increase their
survivability.
This could be interesting.
5. We felt that Ghasts were a little
overpriced and that they worked well only with the Altar of Undeath. So, they
are receiving a minor point decrease and will synergize better with one of the
bloodlines.
This is brilliant news, Ghasts
are frankly stupidly expensive at the moment. Be interesting to see what the
synergy with Strigoi is.
6. In the interest of the internal balance of
the army, Vampire Knights are receiving a slight point increase for basic
vampires and a reduction by the same amount for the bloodline option. Also, we
reduced its invocation rate. Also, the minimum size for this unit is being
reduced, which will provide a cheap and resilient scoring unit.
Very disappointing. They were not
*that* good for their cost at all. Not sure how much use a unit of 3 or 4 would
be, but may be worth playing around with.
7. The Shrieking Horror’s performance declined
sharply when wounded, which made it an unpopular choice. So, we have stabilized
its power by improving its scream when it has few remaining wounds. This
benefit comes with a slight price increase, as now the shriek is undoubtedly better.
Good news, though I was enjoying
not using one. Am not sure that, given its lack of ability to scream into
combat, it will actually be worth it.
8. The Black
Coach will have an option that, among other things, will allow it to be used on
a larger base (50x150). This change was requested by the community because for
players using the old GW model, there was a problem in that it would not fit on
a smaller base. Additionally, the Wraith is being streamlined with all other
wraiths in the army.
Ummm… I hope they are doing more
than this?!
9. Both foot and mounted Wraiths are being
compiled into one unit, with some characteristics from the previous mounted
ones, and some characteristics from the previous foot ones. This change is due
to simplicity and to balance both options.
Am in love with the foot ones,
and hate the mounted ones, so really depends what they do here J
10. Winged
Reapers will be cheaper and have improved combat skills, but will lose some
rules in return. The reason for this change is that they were an unpopular choice,
and we felt that they needed to be improved for better internal balance.
Good news, they are really not
worth it at the moment.
11. Many in the
community felt that the Banshee did not work very well. Therefore, its role has
been redefined to help deal with things that up to now we could handle only with
small magic missiles. Having more options in these situations will allow
greater flexibility in our magic phase.
Very intrigued by this… no idea
what it means.
12. There will be several changes in the
Bloodline system. Some powers are being removed; some are being added. There
will be no more flyingstrigoi, but this will be replaced with something that
has been highly requested by the community. One of the Lamia powers will be
replaced too, as well as the big Nosferatu power.
This is, in many ways, the
ballgame. What they do here has trickle-down effects across the whole book – am
nervously awaiting with baited breath to see what this actually means.
13. The BSB of the undead will become more
helpful to big units by giving bigger bonuses for units that have more ranks.
This change across both of the undead army books is intended to make the BSB a
more useful – and therefore more frequently taken – upgrade.
Fantastic news. Look forward to
seeing the details.
14. Since the reform of magic, VC armies
suffered excessively from a bad roll for the winds of magic in key turns.
Players will now be able to take a new magic item and a new nosferatu power
that will help them gain stability in the magic phase.
Interesting indeed!
15. The Monstrous Revenant will be receiving
new options to make it a more versatile mount.
Sounds good.
16. The Path of
Necromancy will be a more attractive choice with a new spell and the return of
an old acquaintance (for those players who used to play a now-dead fantasy
game).
Keen to see what they do here.
So, looks like a mixed bag for me:
The bad:
Varkolak
Vampire Knights
Wraiths (probably)
The good:
Court of the Damned
Black Knights
Ghasts
Winged Reapers
BSB
Magic
The curious:
Black Coach
Banshee
Bloodlines
The likely not to matter:
Core
Shrieking Horror
Monstrous Revenant
Of course, I am likely completely
wrong, that’s the beauty of writing about something with no actual information
out yet!
In all honesty though – I can’t
wait for the final book!
Until next time
Raf
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