Continuing along with our coverage of this month's Battlescroll, this article (as you probably guessed and likely the reason you clicked on it) covers all of the Order factions, what they now have, or lost, and how they're looking into the fresh new meta. 

Tahlia Vedra. Credit - Soggy

Cities of Sigmar

Key Changes

• Tahlia and Ogor Warhulk ability changes give you an offensive playstyle.
• Lots of points drops.
• Executions, Ironbreakers, and Hammerers instead went up 10 points.
• Steam Tank Commanders and Freeguild Marshal (with Relic Envoy and mounted on horse) become Freeguild Veterans.

More in-regiment hero options is great for the new Field Sergeant on a Marshal with Relic Envoy and ease of taking Tank Commanders without adding an entire new regiment to your list. As for the points changes there’s lot here so check out the Warhammer Community PDF for all of them. The biggest here is Galen and Doralia Ven Denst down 40 points, already a pair that was seeing lot of play for the sake of more orders on units, Zenestra also sees a 40 point reduction which maybe wasn’t necessary but here we are. Steam Tanks of both variety are down 30 each making them slightly easier to fit in with the field artillery Great Cannon down 20 points as well. More shooting to go round! 

The Ogor Warhulk hasn’t changed cost but his buff ability for +1 to hit now lasts until the end of the turn and works on all attacks not just shooting helping out your melee focused units. Tahlia’s Lead From the Front has been changed entirely to now give three units (still not herself) +1 to wound and a 5+ ward until the end of the turn; she needs to be in combat to use it still but that’s probably where she wants to be, and is fitting for the lore of the ability. Combine both of these buffs together and you can get multiple units (if you have multiple Warhulks) on a +1 to hit and +1 to wound to put the hurt on while having a 5+ ward to shrug off a third of all incoming damage. Suddenly Cities lists can build into more aggressive play styles and be rewarded for it. 

These changes are all great to see and I’m hoping it’s enough to see more variety from Cities lists.

Krethusa the Croneseer by Craig "MasterSlowPoke" Sniffen

Daughters of Khaine

Key Changes

• Khinerai and Avatar points drops. 
• Lots of non-Morathi Hero points drops.
• Melusai Ironscale becomes a Coven Matriarch.

The easiest one to look at here is the Ironscale becoming a Coven Matriarch; she’s already taken regularly in lists and now being able to be a Field Sergeant to give your snakes +2” move is going to be massive for the army. Daughters of Khaine live and die by picking fights and making the charges that suit them best, trading up when they get to hit first but falling apart as soon as a stiff breeze wonders across the table and that extra movement will allow you to do just that. Now when I saw the Prized Beast Honour Guard one of my first thoughts that lasted all about 3 seconds was “oh shit Morathi can have that” but no, she can’t, because she’s unique. Thank god. That does mean you’ll likely just take the extra movement if it suits your list. 

The lesser seen heroes and shrines have come down in cost, maybe enough to see use…? But I don’t think so, the list is still going to be Morathi and snakes for those wanting a competitive game. For anyone running a Krethusa themed list instead these drops are definitely welcomed. One of the core rules changes affecting the army is no longer being able to Redeploy and use Covering Fire with the same unit making bow snakes decide between the two when enemies start to close in. 

Khinerai dropping 10 points each is nice and making Lifetakers very cheap at 80 points, maybe something to consider slotting in if you’ve gained enough extra points in your list to help with battle tactics at nearly half the cost of Doomfire Warlocks.

Overall it’s pretty neutral for the faction, especially if you’re running the Daughters list since what you actually place on the table hasn’t changed. This is probably fine though you might find some matchups to be a little tougher as other armies start slotting in extra stuff. 

Credit: Bair

Fyreslayers

Key Changes

• HOLY POINTS DROPS, GRIMNIR!
• More Magmadroths in-regiments.
• Battlesmiths and Grimhold Exiles gain Grimnir’s Chosen.

My own no-Magmadroth list has dropped a whole 120 points from where it was. With the headroom it already had I can add an extra 150 points worth of models to my army now (it’s going to be a second unit of Flameseekers). Between this and the new Honour Guard rules Fyreslayers are looking extra hot right now. These drops are probably enough where you take two units of reinforced Auric Hearthguard with Runesmiters and still have enough ground-cover with your other units. 

If you’re a fan of Magmadroths: they are still too expensive for what they do considering they also gained almost nothing else from this update. What they can do at least is take a Runeson or Runefather on Magmadroth inside of a Runefather on Magmadroth’s regiment allowing it to be an Honour Guard target; namely the new Prized Beast which will give its weapons +1 to hit at all times and ignore Battle Damaged. Is that enough to take minimum two magmadroths considering they only came down 20 points each? No, probably not. They are still a fun option, but not a very good or competitive option. You could now take two Runefathers, four Runesons, and have 140 points leftover for a unit of your choice (not Flameseekers) which is probably going to be some shield vulkites to just sit tight on a home objective warding off enemy deepstrikers or something. 

Seriously, this update is great. As a Fyreslayer player not building towards any weird skew (some people will say this isn’t possible with the range) you’re already going towards 4-5 regiments with a hero in at least one of those. For that you’ve been rewarded with a whole second Honour Guard ability and one that makes all of your infantry move 33% faster than before! Combined with the Run+Charge rune these little guys will really cross the board.

Idoneth Deepkin

Key Changes

• Soulscryer and Soulrender gain Isharann Emmisary.
• Limited points changes, Akhelian King and Soulrender down.

Up front the biggest change here is to the Isharann Soulscryer, a unit you often want in your army due to their being a wizard and bringing a couple of solid abilities, but with a terrible regiment. Being able to join another heroes’ more permissive regiment opens up your ability to stay low-drop whilst utilising them, and the 10 point cut doesn’t hurt either.

Likewise the Soulrender going down 30 points to a lean 90 and being able to hop into another regiment helps them out, but the Soulrender is more limited by how unplayable Namarti Thralls are as anything other than chaff. As chaff, Thralls are now 10 points cheaper which is nice, but you’re still taking Reavers every single time. 

Finally, the Akhelian King has come down to 160 points and is approaching playability. As a hero whose sole ability is to pull a unit in when it fights (ie a terrible ability) it lives or dies by how good a beatstick it is. In this sense, the King has an advantage over the legions of terrible melee heroes this edition is laden with in that it can actually hit pretty hard. In terms of output, a King puts out a little bit less than a unit of 3 Morrsarr Guard, which costs 170 points and also brings more wounds and control to the party. I don’t think we’re quite there yet with the Akhelian King, but keep your eye on it. If it ever gets to join another regiment and comes down to the 140 mark, it’ll be a really solid pick.

Kharadron Overlords

Key Changes

• A few conservative points drops.
• That’s it; maybe not quite enough.

Biggest change for the army is that Skyvessels now proved a -1 to hit for your units nearby against all attacks, not just shooting! This is huge for an army of glass hammers. No changes for your regiments, but the majority of your heroes are cheaper along with Gunhaulers and Skywardens. Endrinriggers are still 10 points cheaper than Skywardens per three models and simply more effective; both of these still seem incredibly expensive for what they are and the restrictions on units from Flying Transport on boats. Overall this doesn’t really change what you’re putting down on the table, maybe you squeeze in a cheap hero or some arkanauts now at most depending on what you were already taking. 

Gunhaulers still seem expensive for their lack of firepower but are solid little battle-tactics-doers at least. The two balloon units still seem far too expensive for what amounts to six health on a 4+ save across three models. 

At the end of the day, Kharadron are a very high skill cap army to play and do well with. These points drops will help minimally and neither of the new Honour Guard abilities really affects how the army plays either. Is this going to mean Kharadron start appearing in tournament podiums? Probably not. I still think this is the most fun this army has ever been to play with and is just about there; they still mostly struggle with things like Manifestations and a couple of small changes to the Navigator would be a big help with that. Bring back Spell in a Bottle! 

Avalenor, the Stoneheart King. Credit: Rich Nutter

Lumineth Realm-lords

Key Changes

• Gentle points increases for Teclis, Wardens, Sentinels, and the Windmage.
• Points drops for Alarith units, Lyrior Uthralle, and a few other units.
• FAQ clarification on Ellania and Ellathor’s Total Eclipse ability.

This is a gentle-touch change for Lumineth, with no rules wording changed. To be fair, the fairly significant change earlier in the year to restrict Shining Company/Power of Hysh was really the main change that was needed, so it’s not too surprising to see them left alone for now.

Archmage Teclis, Vanari Auralan Sentinels, and Vanari Auralan Windmages all go up by 10 points, adding a bit of squeeze to the Vanari-heavy list archetypes. It doesn’t feel like a lot, but when you’re putting down multiple reinforced blocks of Sentinels and Wardens that 10 points does start to add up. Dawnriders escaped the points rise, so at this point the rules team is obviously confident that their earlier updates have knocked enough wind out of the horses’ sails. The Windmage rounds out the points increases with a 10 point bump. In the other direction, the Alarith Stonemage dropped by a whopping 30 points to the low low price of 120 points. It’s not surprising that the model wasn’t seeing the table much at 150 points as all of its warscroll abilities are dice dependent, making it unreliable when compared to some of the other options. The Alarith Spirit of the Mountain came down by 10 points, as did the Stoneguard. The Spirit might be a pretty big winner from this battlescroll, as it’s a great target for the Prized Beast buff - although the erudite cow would no doubt be offended by being referred to as such. The Scinari Loreseeker went down by 10 points, and the Light of Eltharion dropped 20. More significantly, the Light of Eltharion can now be taken in-regiment by Teclis, Lyrior or the Lord Regent, which may see him popping up a bit more. Windchargers and Bladelords round out the points drops at 10 points each - a bit surprising given that both have been present in some pretty high-performing lists, but the team seem to be taking quite a light-touch approach to Lumineth in general and these small tweaks can sometimes have fairly big effects.

On the FAQ side of things, just a quick wording clarification for Ellania and Ellathor, confirming that their Total Eclipse ability affects the first command used by any unit (for a total of one command), rather than affecting the first command of every unit in their bubble. Expected, but good to get clarification.

Seraphon

Key Changes

• 10 point increase for the Skink Starseer and Hunters of Huanchi with Bolas.
• Points drops for a lot of other units.
• Ripperdactyl and Terradon Riders gain 2” coherency.
• Lord Kroak gets +1 to unbinds and banishment rolls, and a spell upgrade.

Not much went up for everybody’s favourite lizard gang, with just a couple of Skink units getting a minor increase. Points discounts were rather more severe - Carnosaur, Troglodon and Stegadon heroes all got 40(!!) points cheaper. The Astrolith Bearer and Skink Starpriest got 20 and 10 point drops respectively, to encourage a bit of hero-in-regiment action. All three Bastilodon variants also got 30 points cheaper, as did the Spawn of Chotec. Regular Kroxigor, Saurus, Skinks and Terradon Riders all got a 10 point discount, with the latter also able to take advantage of their shiny new 2” coherency from Dispersed Formation. Finally, Terrawings went down 20 points to a total of 70, which seems like an OK price to pay for a 12” move and a chance at turning off enemy commands.

Lord Kroak is the real winner from this Battlescroll. Alongside his +2 to casting, he now gets +1 to unbinding and banishment rolls, helping to reinforce his position as the master of magic we all know him to be. Further reinforcing this reputation, his Celestial Deliverance warscroll spell has had a tasty buff, with a range increase to 18” and an effect that no longer requires rolling a 2+ on a D3. Each target now takes D3 mortal damage, no questions asked. Given that Kroak can cast this spell three times in the Seraphon player’s hero phase, needing a 4+ on the casting roll thanks to Kroak’s +2 and the Asterism’s +1, that’s quite the boost.

Stormcast Eternals Liberators. Credit: SRM

Stormcast Eternals

Key Changes

• Ionus Cryptborn gets the Ruination Chamber keyword.
• Gryph-hounds, Vanguard Palladors and Longstrikes went up.
• A whole bunch of the new stuff went down.

Being given the Ruination keyword is a bit more than a cute nod to getting the lore right for Ionus, as it opens up the possibility of a 5+ ward for the model via Sentinels of the Bleak Citadels. That’s actually useful, as Ionus sits in the category of hero where they’re expensive enough to be annoying if they’re outright killed but not scary enough to be worth investing Praetors into. Note that whilst Ionus gets the keyword, there’s no mention of him picking up the ability to shrug non-core abilities that true Ruination units get. Ultimately, Ionus is still just too expensive for a model that doesn’t hit quite hard enough and being a priest just doesn't provide nearly as much utility as being a wizard, so this probably isn’t going to propel him into competitive play. If you want to take the model though, it’s worth considering Sentinels just for the ward on Ionus alone.

To the nerfs: Gryph-hounds up 10 to 90 seems fair enough, they’re fast and still the cheapest meaningful screen Stormcast have, but the gap to the points of ‘proper’ Stormcast is now low enough that these feel like less of a no-brainer. Longstrikes pick up another points bump and are now a pretty staggering 200, meaning the standard reinforced unit in every army is a lumpen 400 point tax. That’s a lot of points for a unit that already wasn’t particularly efficient, but did a job nothing else could do. It’s the latter fact that’s the issue here - Hurricanes are half the points but don’t offer anything near the flexibility of Longstrikes. If the points are getting too much, it could be worth considering bow Judicators filling in the slot, but only for the next six months as they are due a legending. Stormcast need some shooting to function on a level playing field, so chances are you’ll still be seeing Longstrikes and this is just a nerf to the army. 

Both varieties of Vanguard Pallador have gone up 20 points, 250 for axes and 240 for javelins. These are still an exceptional cavalry unit with good defences, incredible speed and utility, plus shooting and control effects. There will still be a place for Vanguard Palladors, but the points gap between them and the other Stormcast cavalry is now opening up quite seriously, and that’s a good thing for internal balance.

Before points drops it’s worth noting that the Knight-Azyros, Knight-Judicator, Lord-Imperatant and Lord-Terminos can now join another hero’s regiment. The Imperatant just doesn’t work on a foundational design level so he’s out anyway but if you squint there’s potential space for the first two. The most exciting change here is the Terminos, who is a genuinely good hero for holding a Quicksilver Potion and being a little fights first ball of danger with a unit of Reclusians. Being able to join another regiment means you could take something like a Lord-Relictor to provide prayers but still keep the Terminos combo at the same number of drops. 

There’s a lot of green here for Stormcast in their points, and not all of it is super relevant. In the land of things that were already playable, Stormdrake Guard and their hero got 10 points cheaper, as did Yndrasta and the Knight-Vexillor. These cuts to units you might see anyway don’t totally counter the big hikes to Longstrikes, but ease the listbuilding around them. In the race to the bottom of Stormcast screens, Liberators are down 10 and therefore the same price as Vindictors again and therefore better than Vindictors again. If you’ve got the points you will still want to upgrade your screen to Vigilors, but maybe the points are tight enough now that Liberators will return to the battlefield.

The Stormcast battletome saw a whole slew of terrible new warscrolls that were radically overcosted and they’ve seen points changes here. The analysis on this sort of unit is ‘did it get cheap enough to overcome flawed design by pure efficiency?’ and frankly, none of them did. The Knight-Azyros is down 30, and at 150 is still overcosted for a unit whose sole job is to have two different abilities that require a 3+ to use, but with not taking up a drop anymore and Prosecutors looking good at the moment I can see the Azyros getting a bit of table time. Iridan and the generic Vigilant on Morrgryph both dropped 40 points - Iridan is still nearly 300 points for the worst priest in Stormcast so that remains a hard pass. The generic Morrgryph is approaching being interesting. It’s a medium-beatstick hero and as such inherently of low value. It does about the damage of most un-reinforced Stormcast cavalry and is now priced similarly - the issue being that it’s a drop and that nobody runs un-reinforced cavalry! Potentially one to watch, I can see this model hitting 200 points or less as we get deeper into the edition and it’s playable then. Tornus is still too expensive for how bad his regiment is. 

Finally, there’s a whole bunch of other points drops that are pretty meaningful. The Lord-Aquilor at 160 is going to be the cheapest way to bring Vanguard units once the Knight-Zephyros passes into legend and will see play for that alone, so another one to watch for the future. Annihilators got a minor points cut but curiously the wildly overcosted grandhammer variant did not and these are both still units without a delivery system. All varieties of Dracothian Guard have gone down, and Fulminators are looking a lot better with a 20-30 point gap between them and Vanguard Palladors. They’re still surprisingly squishy but the damage is undeniable, as is access to the battle formation that can hand out strikes last. Last but by no means least, Stormstrike Palladors got a healthy cut to 190. They’re still nowhere near as good as Vanguard Palladors, but they don’t require a hero tax to fit into an army and a reinforced unit is 380 vs the 480-500 for Vanguard Palladors, and they’re good enough. I think these are really playable now.

As for the update to the seasonal rules, losing out on full-bullshit bodyguard is a blow but one that is more than made up for by how buck wild a permanent +1 to hit is on a unit of reinforced Stormdrake Guard.

Belthanos. Credit: chimp

Sylvaneth

Key Changes

• Minor wording update to Endless Growth battle trait.
• Some chunky points drops, especially for heroes.
• No points increases.

Sylvaneth haven’t been having a great time of it this edition. They can be scary when piloted by a skilled player, and their capability for board control can be quite intimidating, but ultimately they often seem to struggle to keep up. It’s not surprising then to see a bunch of points drops here, almost universally on the units we haven’t been seeing on the table so far.

The humble Branchwych and Dryads each drop by 10 points, while the Arch-Revenant and the Twistweald get a 20 point discount. 100 point Dryads is a blessing if for no other reason than finally providing a unit that can slot into those 100 point gaps that can appear in Sylvaneth lists. The Lady of Vines and Spite-Revenants go down by 30, while the Treelord and Treelord Ancient each knock 40 off, putting quite a bit of distance between them and the Spirit of Durthu at 330 points. Drycha goes down a whopping 50 points! Finally, the Arch-Revenant gains the same Forest Sentinel designation as the Treelord, letting them join a regiment led by Alarielle, Durthu, or the Ancient.

Ultimately though, it’s hard to see these changes being particularly impactful. Even at 100ish points clear of the other Treelord variants the Spirit of Durthu is miles better, and he in turn is competing against Alarielle and Belthanos for utility, especially with the Lords of the Clan battle formation being such a good choice for them with its maxed out healing. The Arch-Revenant is situationally useful, but given the likelihood that your big block of Kurnoth Hunters is your Honour Guard and already getting +1 to wound against the things that really matter, it’s probably not going to see the table. Spite-Revenants get some real distance from Tree-Revenants in points terms, but in an edition where there is no requirement to take battleline units it’s largely irrelevant, 30 points for the Tree-Revs' teleport ability is worth it every time. Really, what I’d hope to see for the army is the kind of points drop that lets you get an extra three Kurnothi into a list for some extra control and damage output, and we haven’t got that this time.

The rules update is a very minor one, changing the Endless Growth wording from “wholly within 6” of a friendly Awakened Wildwood” to “wholly within 6” of any friendly Awakened Wyldwoods”. This is just a minor change to clarify that any units on the table that are near Wyldwoods can heal - you don’t have to choose one specific Wyldwood and only heal units near that.

More Updates

This isn't all of it! There's further updates for just about every faction which we're splitting up down the nearly-gone Grand Alliance matrix. Check out the rest of our coverage here.

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