Thoughts on Adepticon Spoilers

In the order they appear on the release notes (these are available in War Room, talking to Ed here, update your war room):

Una the Falconer

So pretty. The rules... I think she is playable. I don't think she is good. There are two decent Griffons now (we'll get to that later) and she gives them a point discount. Birds eye lets her use terrain to stay alive, requires that there be terrain in the middle of the table somewhere (some TOs don't do that). Decent boostable ranged attack, watcher is potentially interesting. I need more time with her, I may think of a list to put her in. Currently though I have none.

Rotterhorn Griffon

Here is the second griffon I think is good (after the Razorwing). Its animus is interesting, letting you do an special action at the end of your turn after you do a combat action (or another special action). It also has a shreik it can do (a special action) that does a POW 8 to all models within 2". I already have this guy in a list. Baldur2. I think he's an interesting piece to sit behind a woldwatcher and counterattack with. Its animus is interesting: things I have thought about with it - you can concentrated fire and then zephyr back with the Woldstalkers or Zephyr twice. You can use the devouring and then still use elemental protection, you can remove wurm tokens from Baldur after attacking, and it works well with the Moonhound. 

Argus Moonhound

The animus of this beast is as yet unknown and I still think it is a good light without one. It has a special action which gets rid of stealth and camoflauge and it has mark the target. Other than that it has two POW 11 initials, SPD 7 and pathfinder. With the Griffons animus it can charge 10" (must be a successful charge) and then get rid of stealth from within 5". It's 4 points which is a great points slot for a light (same as the Rotterhorn). DEF 15 is a good DEF, pathfinder is also welcome. A good animus will put this guy through the roof but all I really want is a decent utility one. I am seriously considering putting this guy into my Kromac list. Both Kruegars also seem like fine choices. 

Fyanna the Lash

She has all the rules. All of them and yet is still missing the ones I wanted her to have the most. Stealth and sprint. Instead of stealth we have prowl and instead of sprint evasive. She is not bad but I don't like her. I don't see a spot for her. She is a POW 12 without weaponmaster and chooses from Dismember, Pitch and Beat Back for her attacks (she has two). Uses I can see for her are getting to solos/uas through units with her 4" reach and pitching them back. She's still only a MAT 7 too. 3 points and worse than a mage hunter assassin. And a character so you can only take one. I don't know how much of me being down on her is just initial disappointment so get back to me on this one.

Tyrant Zaadesh
Tag team gives his warbeasts gang. Perdition burns all 4 of his fury making it a bit risky to cast. He also turns all his warbeasts into super shield guards for him (they can shield guard a spell or shot from him once per turn). Gang stacks with the flank the reptile hounds already have taking them to MAT 9 POW 10 weaponmasters, POW 12 with enrage and a free charge, you can xerxis feat them for extra damage and it very quickly gets pretty ridiculous. This guy unlike the other two lessers has no restriction on warbeasts. You can put Molik Karn with him (don't do that). You can also go Krea/Drake and turn the Krea into a MAT 8 POW 16 weaponmaster and give yourself another caster for paralytic aura. There are a lot of possibilities with this guy. I think he is an interesting piece.

Horgle Ironstrike
Here is another guy I really like. He gives a discount to the two elemental lights with damage buffs. He has hot shot so you can boost all the damage rolls on a Pyre AOE or double boost both Slag shots against a jack. He helps fury starved casters hand out more damage buffs. He's straight good. If you can find two more points in any list with a pyre or slag (i.e. most troll lists, the damage buffs are pretty important) then you can slot him in fairly easily, he gives you an extra animus and he turns on the shooting of that beast with hot shot.

Convergence Spoilers

I might put them all together at some point for now:

Circumpotence: Enemy models currently in Axis’ control area suffer minus 2 SPD and STR. and Friendly faction models currently in axis’ control area gain plus 2 SPD and STR. Circumpotence lasts for one round.

Feat for Axis the Harmonic Enforcer. Great feat, speed penalties are brutal, especially against infantry.

Grim's Feat

Feat: On My Mark

While in Grimʼs control area, friendly Faction models gain Mark Target and friendly Faction modelsʼ ranged weapons gain Snipe. On My Mark lasts for one turn. (Other friendly Faction models gain +2 to ranged attack rolls against enemy models within 5 ̋ of a model with Mark Target that are in its LOS.) (Ranged weapons with Snipe gain +4 RNG).

You might already be aware of this one. It was spoiled on the forums but not having an official source (and not being particularly exciting) I didn't put it up here. The feat has a little bit of skornegy, snipe gives you extra range but mark the target requires you to be close to your opponent. In general it's not going to be a problem, you take Burrowers or Fennblades and you have a unit that it going to be way ahead of the rest of your army anyway. The other issue is that trolls already pay a snipe tax, The Impaler, Swamp, Slag, Pyre and Bomber are all range 8. The troll ranged units generally kind of suck. The Scattergunners and Scouts are at least solid units and the Scattergunners might get the most out of this feat with clear and sprays the RAT 7 is pretty huge. The scouts too will be able to take advantage of this when assaulting and again ignore the target in melee penalty so they can shoot from behind a faster unit. It's a useful feat but not a particularly fantastic one which means that Grim will be carried by his spells and abilities. 

Morvahna's Feat

Feat: Blood Sacrifice - Morvahna immediately suffers 1 or more damage points. This damage cannot be transferred. For each damage point she suffers, return one destroyed non-character living friendly Faction warrior model to play completely within Morvahnaʼs control area. Units cannot exceed the number of models that they had at the start of the game as a result of Blood Sacrifice. Place returned trooper models in formation with their original units. Returned models forfeit their actions the turn they return to play.

This is from Bell of Lost Souls and they also have Grim's feat which I assume they will spoil tomorrow.  As for Morvhana if she still has Restoration she is going to be amazing with Skinwalkers and they are some particularly beautiful models. She has Sac Pawn [faction warrior] in her primal form and I see no reason to take that away in her epic form so you'll probably still see Wolves of Orboros with her (though now I'm getting pretty deep into speculation). 

I'm still excited about there being a light cav warlock. She is going to have a lot of movement, hopefully she has a few good offensive spells to really abuse that light cav move, or the ability to place clouds or forests. Getting a bit ahead of myself here, it's a bit sad how much more excited I am for this model than any of the warlocks from factions I actually play. 

Also this:

First thought was Gobber mechanic but that looks like a dodgy arcane turbine on his back (like the generators warcasters use to control warjacks). A gobber warcaster I think is too much to hope for (plus I think then he'd have someone else carry his wagon) but I think it might be a Gobber Journeyman. That would be incredible. Regardless there is a lot I like about this model.

Product Blurbs for New Stuff

Product blurbs are out for new stuff:

The Tactical Arcanist Corps always work in threes. They undergo training and drilling together until they can meet and even exceed the exacting standards imposed by the Brand of Odom for Rhul’s elite battle mages. They defend those they are contracted to protect with scorching salvos of arcane fire, incinerating those that challenge them.
The Tactical Arcanist Corps unit comes in a blister (PIP 41102). A player may field up to two Tactical Arcanists Corps units in a Cygnar, Khador, or Mercenary army.

It's funny because they sound awful. The searforge players went nuts when this unit was announced, and a magic unit with nothing but probably crappy AOE spells, particularly a slow dwarf unit with AOEs is really going to struggle to be good. So I'm just going to wallow in my own crapulence here for a minute. HAHAHAHA!

Ranging far ahead of a main body of attackers, Tharn blood packs move through the densest thickets with speed and agility surprising for such hulking warriors. With massive bows they loose arrows that could be mistaken for small javelins before closing with frightening speed to slaughter their prey.

Pathfinder, maybe tree walker like the ravagers.  Advance Deployment. Possibly thunderbolt. They could go either way. Assault or Assault and Battery? Before the Incendiary medium based shooting units were pretty bad but I don't think they are going to be as good as the Incendiary. In fairness Warspears are pretty good with their new UA too.

Mage hunter infiltrators specialize in hunting and killing enemy arcanists. At home in any environment, they take advantage of their surroundings to close on their target in silence, their blades slicing through arcane wards with practiced ease. From out of the darkness they strike, quickly and efficiently dispatching those whose very existence threatens Scyrah. 

 Arcane assassin was always a given. This one doesn't tell us anything except maybe pathfinder. Maybe stealth.

Such is the power of faith in an Exemplar bastion seneschal that his presence allows brother bastions to endure impossible punishment while firmly holding the line against the Creator’s enemies. Exemplar bastion seneschals are uniquely entrusted with the command of the Protectorate’s warjacks in support of their fellow Exemplar knights, joining the power of those machines to the bastions’ unbreakable wall.

The Exemplar Bastion Seneschal solo comes in a blister (PIP 32090). A player may field up to two Exemplar Bastion Seneschals for each warcaster in a Protectorate army.  

This one just from the blurb is off the hook amazing. Bastions were already fantastic anything he gives them (defensive line? holy crap defensive line would be amazing) is just gravy. What makes him bonkers though is that he is Menoth's first jack marshal. That's silly good. I doubt he'll have a drive (or he'll have a garbage one) but choir buffs, focus from reclaimers and Vassal shenanigans all work on marshalled jacks. So does the sancifiers soul gathering shenanigans. There is a reason Menoth have not got a jack marshal up until now.

New stuff

Top picture is on a huge base, Not sure if it's convergence looking enough to be from the Convergence of Cyriss (but they do have a colossal and a battle engine coming) and a dwarf colossal is also coming.

PIP 32090 Preorder only PRIVATEER PRESS Warmachine: Protectorate Exemplar Bastion Seneschal Solo (white metal)
Street Date: 05/30/2013

PIP 74075 Preorder only PRIVATEER PRESS Hordes: Skorne Reptile Hounds Lesser Warbeasts (2) (white metal)
05/30/2013

PIP 41102 Preorder only PRIVATEER PRESS Warmachine: Mercenary Tactical Arcanist Corps Rhulic Unit (3) (white metal)
05/30/2013

Lessers for Skorne, more dwarf stuff and Exemplar Bastion Seneschal, most interested in the last one. Lessers with skorne are going to be interesting, with their beast support they have the potential to be very good. Magic dwarves could be fun, something with push/pull will be awesome for Gorten. another Merc damage buff would also be spectacular. I expect something along the lines of hex bolt but not as good.
Also santa Lylyth has a name:

Lylyth, Reckoning of Everblight

Spoilers Greylord Cav

Since I haven't posted enough today I'm pointing you all to this from end game gaming:


Greylord Outriders: Khador Light Cavalry Unit
SPD 9
STR 5
MAT 5
RAT 4
DEF 13
ARM 15
CMD 9
FA:1
Point Cost: Leader & 2 Grunts: 6
Leader & 4 Grunts: 9
Base Size: Large
Damage: 5 each
Immunity: Cold
Pathfinder
Magic Ability [6]

• Frostbite (Star Attack) – Frostbite is a RNG SP 8 magic attack. Models hit suffer a POW 12 cold damage roll
• Winter’s Wind (Star Action) – RNG 5. Target friendly Faction model with Immunity: Cold. When an enemy model without Immunity: Cold ends its activation within 2” of the target model, the enemy model becomes stationary for one round. Winter’s Wind lasts for one round.

Snow-Wreathed – This model always has concealment.
Weapons
Rune Axe [1x] (None) POW: 5 P+S: 10
Magical Weapon
Mount [1x] (None) POW: 10

Thoughts - Holy crap they kept the sprays. Magic Ability 6 spray 8 and you can move 5" afterwards. And SPD 9 to get right alongside a unit for the best spray vector. I thought Winter's Wind looked really good too but then I checked and Beast 09 does not have immunity cold. Pretty sure the only models that do are Sorscha, the Greylord Cav and Zerkova. Ha, Zerkova (there's a bet going on at templecon today, If Flanzer can beat Michael "Chilly" Winters with Zerkova then he has to get some kind of Flanzer tattoo). So yeah DEF 15 against shooting, light cav move and magical RAT 6 sprays an it's 9 points. I was right, this unit is awesome with Strakhov, give them stealth and laugh at your puny opponents attempts to kill them. The Old witch can give them Weald Secrets, they always have concealment so they are always DEF 17 against shooting. Iron flesh takes them to DEF 18 against shooting 16 in melee. Signs and Portents and Hand of Fate will let them kill all the infantry as will Fortune. With Vlad3 you can give them hand of fate (additional dice to hit and damage drop the lowest dice) and Dash (+1 SPD to SPD 10) and on feat turn they get sprint (so they can charge, side step 2", then they move 10" from sprint and then 5" from the light Cav move). You can also use your light cav move to stay out of charge range (by killing guys or moving into back arcs) and put Winters Chill on the closest two cav so running to engage doesn't do anything since your guys become stationary.

You could also put Winter's Wind on Zerkova and charge her forward camping all her focus so when your opponent charges at her and fails to kill her you make as much stuff stationary as possible (Note: not trolling at all with that last bit of advice).

Edit - Just to be clear because I've already seen a couple of people get it wrong on the forums - The Vlad3 trick mentioned requires you to charge. In order to get sprint (and put your cav way round the back of your opponents army) you need to kill something with a melee attack. I've changed the word attack to charge above just to make sure I don't add to the confusion, should not assume everyone knows all the rules. Also I forgot that Vald's feat also grants side step so it's even worse than I originally thought.

Thoughts on the Convergence of Cyriss

So my brain is stuck here for the moment (if you don't know what I'm talking about look at the post I wrote this morning).

Warjacks using the MAT and RAT of the caster has some consequences. It's going to result in having a very specialised army, even more so than usual. For example if you are taking Axis the Harmonius Enforcer you are going to have RAT 2 warjacks which is going to sway you pretty heavily against ranged attacks but with MAT 7 all your melee warjacks will be awesome. As it stands now you often see for example ranged warjacks being taken with a melee warjack focussed caster (like Stryker2) because he can make them good in melee and they add ranged potential. That's not going to happen with Cyriss. 

Speaking of Stryker2 super-solos are also is not going to happen in Cyriss, because the caster's share their stats you are never going to get super solo casters like Caine2, the Butcher, even Ashlynn. Having all your warjacks MAT or RAT 9 is too broken. They won't go above MAT 8 RAT 7 and expect them to pay for that with their other stat. Though that fits the theme of the army, they are meant to be a clockwork faction, everything effects everything else, synergy over individual power. 

Passing focus between jacks is awesome, it takes a warcaster like the Iron Mother who is already Focus 8 and makes her closer to focus 10 or 11. Especially with ranged jacks who generally only need two focus (boost hit and damage) and are going to be the focus of her battlegroup anyway as she is MAT 5 (RAT 5 too but it's a lot easier to boost all your guns then to buy and boost melee attacks when you charge) and makes all her jacks arc nodes (you can't arc when engaged). 

What does the Servipod Mortar on the Cipher do? It has no POW. I want to know. I doubt it would be fire, that doesn't fit the theme of the army. Maybe it allows you to take control of jacks that it hits? An auto point of corrosion damage? Blind (holy crap that would be broken)? I bet those piston spikes has sustained attack too. 

Here is Father Lucant as he appears in the Witchfire Trillogy:

He's massive and he shoots lightning bolts (in the RPG) as well as having standard clerical spells. 

Rask

Spoilers are also out on a new minion warlock. He looks really really good.

He's RAT 7 and has a really good gun, RNG 10 with 3 different ammo types enabling him to remove upkeeps and focus or steal focus/fury or drop whatever it hits to DEF 7.

He has 6 fury, his feat is similar to the witch covens except you don't need the enemy models in your control area (just your own models). You can't be charged or targeted by attacks from more than 5" away.

His spells are admonition (great spell), boundless charge (Gators really needed that SPD boost), fury (and they really really needed a damage buff) and inhospitable ground which I find is either never cast or game breaking. He also has call to sacrifice for Bog Trogs which lets him sacrifice a bog trog within 5" to heal a point.

His theme force was spoiled on Bell of Lost Souls.

It's really good too.

This is fantastic for minions and particularly for Gators which at the moment have Barnabas as really their only fully competitive warlock. Fury will bring the Gator Posse up to POW 16 which is silly and will bring the Wrastler to POW 20 making it actually good and you can combine it with Boundless charge as that is not an upkeep spell. Admonition will allow you to protect key beasts or Rask himself. I expect him also to have decent synergy with the bog trog zombies that will be coming out in the new book as well.

Definetely going to be adding this one to my gator force.

Draft 35 point tier 4 list (assuming 6 warbeast points, which I think is a pretty safe bet):


[00] Rask (0 / 6 WB)
[09]  >> Blackhide Wrastler
[09]  >> Blackhide Wrastler
[03]  >> Bull Snapper
[03] Totem Hunter
[02] Croak Hunter
[08] Bog Trog Ambushers (9 grunts)
[09] Gatorman Posse (4 grunts)

Archangel Spoilers

http://www.beastsofwar.com/groups/hordes-general-discussion/forum/topic/no-quarter-spoilers/

so the spoilers are out and while I won't say that my worst fears have been realised it's still not good news. It has less health and less ARM than the mountain king which was previously the most easily killed of the colossals and unlike the mountain king it doesn't have the benefit of the krielstone for an ARM buff or the trolls other defensive schtick. That said it is MAT 6 but RAT 5, the range on its gun is only 10 and most everblight movement shenanigans involve out of activation movement. Its animus is that any model that ends its activation within 2" is set on fire, that's OK but it doesn't protect the model, even from infantry. It's only fury 4 (expected).

So what to do about it? I'll admit I'm still trying to absorb what has happened (and that possibly the two best looking models in the game both work for factions I play and are both ... not good) but I'm not ready to give up on it yet and unlike the mountain king I can see some positives. The thing has strafe on a gun with good POW and an AOE, three melee attacks at good P+S, reach and good SPD (6) and ride by attacks so you can move forward, shoot and then move back.

The thing has high DEF for a colossal/gargantuan at DEF 11, I know that's still bad DEF but it can be boosted. If you put Forced Evolution on it and Tenacity then it gets to DEF 14 which is actually quite good (though reliant on upkeeps and animus so Eiryss or purification or any other type of upkeep removal drops it back down). Absylonia has that spell and has a feat that fully heals all your warbeasts. That also brings the Archangels P+S up to 19 for the claws and 21 for the bite (forced evo is +2 Strength, +2 DEF). So at 14/19 with a good damage output it actually looks like it could carry it's points with Abby. The problem is ofcourse that you are dropping forced evo of an Angelius to put it on the archangel and the angelius is DEF 17 under forced evo and tenacity and it also cannot be knocked down. It also doesn't solve the MAT problem of the beast. MAT 5 will miss most things most of the time, MAT 7 will hit most things most of the time, MAT 6 is in between, not good and not bad, a MATT buff would have been nice and much more useful than the strength buff.

What about other warlocks - The Thagroshs can play ARM stacking games with it, using death shroud and spiny growth or draconic blood and spiny growth. They can both get it to ARM 22. That's all Thags1 does though as his feat will be errated to not work on the archangel (PP have already confirmed that this is coming) Thags2 on the other hand also gives this thing Manifest Destiny which will make it hit very reliably and increase its damage output and scourge can allow both easier hits and the ability to shoot through enemy models (though the range then becomes a limiting factor).

I really think that's it. All the other warlocks have reasons to avoid it except maybe Lylyth1 who just does nothing with it and it nothing for her. It'll be interesting to see what the community makes of it. I'm not sure its worth taking with any caster at the moment but Abby and Thagrosh2 I think are strong possibilities. This is one that will require playtesting. At the very least I think it's playable in 75 point games with both those casters.

Lock and Load Panel spoilers

Spoilers

So Lock and Load is going on right now and there are boatloads of spoilers around.
Some pictures:
http://losthemisphere.com/blog/21690
http://losthemisphere.com/blog/21654

Video with all the spoilers:

Also spoiled - There is going to be a new Eiryss (though not in this book)

More spoilers

PP have released the names of the hordes colossals. Circle are probably the most interesting, there was a lot of speculation as to whether they were going to get a construct or a living colossal. It's called the Worldwrath so I think we can safely assume it's a construct (probably going to be really good with the new caster they released in Domination). Skorne get the Mammoth. Not what I suspected, there is a Giant in the skorne fluff so I assumed that would be their colossal. There is a Mammoth in the role playing game and they have been tamed by the skorne and carry a howdah. Not sure this one will be the same, the skorne already have a warwagon with a howdah. Legion get the Archangel - I am excited about that. I think the only thing we can take from that is that it will probably fly. Trolls get the Mountain King, we already know the troll one is going to be a giant troll so nothing new there.
Pictures from the role playing game:

EDIT: Doug Seacat - "I have been told by Professor Pendrake that he would like to apologize for an apparent misidentification of what he thought was a creature called a "Mammoth." Apparently his notes got a bit muddled. This is quite understandable given his recent exposure to the skorne language and not being entirely versed in the particulars. There is a skorne word meaning "tremendous sized beast" which is very similar to that applied to a specific creature that you have yet to see.

In other words, I would not base your preconceptions on what a Mammoth might be based on either the Monsternomicon II or the Witchfire Trilogy. And in general, as I have said repeatedly, looking at the old RPG stats for a given creature are not generally guaranteed to tell you much about how that creature will be interpreted in HORDES. Good examples of why this isn't a particularly great idea include both the Warpwolf and the Gorax but extend to many other creatures." (The monsternomicon - the book these things appear in for the role playing game is supposed to be the collected writings of professor Victor Pendrake)