They look different enough from Orruks and Gobbos that they have a place. Good on them for going with the more 'middle earth' look for Hobgobs. On reflection of Kroak's rule, I still dont like it. But I think I'll try to be more aggressive with him. Slap a unit of 10-15 Sauras Guard to escort him around and be ablative wounds as well as buffer for any melee threats, and send him off with the Astrolith to do some work somewhere. Ideal? Probably not, but I'm going to try it at least a few times to see if him being more mobile is any good.
I mean, the reactive command abilities, monster abilities, core-formation-thingies need to come from somewhere. Either that's going to be super generic or we're going to need 4 books to play again until we finally get an updated tome (which is valid for approximatly half a real life game before the next edition arrives ) Yeah, they kinda look like whatever ideas they had for the lotr game that was too over the top for their aesthetics. Not sure if I like that or not. It makes them look like they're a bit stuck between the two games. And then what? Stand around and cast magic slightly closer to the enemy line? Honestly I doubt he'l be used all that differently. Guard aren't good enough for it. Kroak doesn't really need to get closer, even if he can survive now. And there's no particular offensive synergy going on here either. Edit: one possiblity. Guard get a core-battalion-thing that makes them actually good, this could be a good enough combo to result in something interesting.
Kroak is the same as he was before, just a little better and a little more expensive. I dont understand why everyone seems to be down on it. You got your hopes up for some broken stuff didnt you? lol
I agree, he's probably better in a lot of situations given that he's at a native +2 to casting now, and can easily get to +4 with Astrolith and Sage's Staff. The Astrolith will still give him a 6+ ward save, and Guard still make it difficult to get any chip damage through to him anyway. The problem that a lot of people have, and that I also agree with, is that the wounds rule is pure randomness, and while that may add tension it rarely adds fun. There are definitely going to be quite a few games where Kroak takes like 4-5 wound and then dies, and that just makes you feel like a single random dice roll loses you the game. That's never fun. It also hurts him competitively, as you need consistency with competitive lists and while he's still good, the fact that you might randomly lose him after he takes 2 damage is always going to be in the back of your mind, even if it's statistically very unlikely. On the flip side, you're also going to have a lot of games where your opponent manages to deal like 12-14 wounds to him through heavy focus fire, and not only does he not die, he heals all that damage immediately. That's going to have a lot of people whining even more about Kroak than they do now, I think. Because everyone naturally thinks about Murphy's Law in these types of situations. So Seraphon players are going to be fearing the random death, and our opponents are going to be fearing the random survival. Just a weird rule for that reason. All that said, the statistics are still in Kroak's favor, because you're still going to be running Saurus Guard with him in most situations, and they'll take most of the damage for him. If you bring an Astrolith Bearer, that's a ward save on top of that. So he's still really survivable in most situations. Yes, the threat of a random roll killing him will always be there, but I do think he'll still be fun to use and probably still seen in a lot of competitive lists. On the topic of the AoS 3e confirmations, I'm still going to be playing on the larger board size, as I don't do tournaments and the bigger area to move in is a lot more fun. The thing about monsters dealing "monstrous damage" sounds cool, but I have a feeling that they'll still be easily shot off the table. And how much do you want to bet that the "totally awesome" charge abilities they're hinting at will be for everybody but Seraphon, because apparently our monsters just don't deserve to be as good as everyone else's... Apparently we're not only getting charge reactions, but *everything* reactions. So CP generating heroes like ours will be even better, it would seem. And I hope that the Endless Spells going off in each Hero Phase also applies to our Bound versions. Being able to smack hordes with Purple Sun or debuff with Geminids on both turns sounds really awesome. This sounds like it really opens up a lot of new play options. For example, you could turn the Cogs speed effect off in your opponent's turn, but switch it back in yours. You could hit an enemy hero twice with Quicksilver Swords, etc. I'm guessing this rule has to do with the way they've been playing up how "difficult" it's supposed to be to pick who goes first and second, because it will also affect how you get to move Endless Spells. I have a feeling that this will just make everyone but Seraphon less likely to take them, due to more randomness, but Seraphon more likely to take them, because MOAR MAGIC!! As long as Bound spells get to use this rule, that's at least one new rule that benefits Seraphon instead of nerfing us. I really don't know why they seem to think that going first was such an advantage. But I was a bit worried with the smaller board sizes meaning it's even easier to get bombarded with shooting or charged by your opponent's entire army turn 1. At least they seem to be trying to balance that with the extra CP and reactive command abilities for those who go second. But really, going second was rarely a huge disadvantage. You were always hoping for the double-turn anyway. I wonder how much these reactive CA's are going to balance out the double-turn. It sounds like if you go second, you get more CP to defend with. Then if you get the double, your opponent gets more CP to defend with. Hopefully that balances out. All in all, I'm hopeful for 3e, although I'm sure the hype about the "water-tight" rules being the "bestest ruleset evaarr!" will disappoint in some areas. As a Tau fan, I was really disappointed by how 40k 9e absolutely gutted ranged factions like Tau and IG, and I was worried that AoS 3e would do the same for us. But now I'm much less worried about how Seraphon will fare in the new edition, although I'm sure we'll have to wait till near the end of 3e to get our new battletome again, lol!
I'm disappointed not because I wanted something broken, but because I wanted a 700 point god scroll just as a cool big flashy thing. I've been jealous of models like Nagash, Morathi, Allarielle, more recently Teclis, etc and it's not even about how good they are, it's just cool to have that option for fun games. So I was hoping that with an incredible new model we'd get something along those lines, so the scroll is disappointing in that regard. Side note, I'm I'm in no way saying the scroll isn't powerful, it certainly is and will certainly still see play. It's also nice that now it opens up the debate to take a normal slann due to it being significantly cheaper and not having to worry about the DFIA rule. But I was just hoping for something more epic I guess. I still pre-ordered it because the model is awesome, but also because I'm a big proponent of the "vote with your dollar" mentality, and I want it to sell well to show gw that people want more new seraphon stuff. Give me a plastic salamander/razordon dual kit already! And some plastic krox please
Regardless of how likely or unlikely it is to happen, I still tend to think that having a rule where your expensive named character can get killed by 2 points of random damage in any phase is not that enjoyable. Honestly, a built-in rule where the character can die without taking his full Wounds characteristic feels a bit frustrating and confusing. I know both Khorne and Seraphon have an artifact/character who can instantly kill a model, but at least you have to get into melee combat.
Yes actually. Now that he's not bound by the balewind, he can be moved more consistently, and with his support pieces. It makes your line/casting structure more fluid and able to react to the enemy. And with Skinks, that's a good thing, since we're already throwing them across the board. Moving up to support our teleported elements is much easier now that we don't have to castle around a near immovable Kroak. Now, if you want to play the old castle, don't change anything.
Like I said earlier, if GW is hellbent on making centerpiece models of characters that are OP in the fluff, they need to step up their game big time in regards to the rules. Anything below 800 (and the rules to warrant that price tag) is just a slap in the face.
I mean, I'm quite glad that Kroak isn't some 800 point monstrosity. I hate putting that many points into any single model and it makes it so running that gorgeous model takes over the rest of the list. As you have to guarantee you get value out of the model or you just wasted those points. I'm quite happy with the new Kroak as it works well with my casual Thunderlizard list which I was worried about not being a thing if they raised his price a ton. Having that +3 to cast with no support is bonkers, especially now that he can move more freely and is statistically more durable. It really encourages the way I wanted to play Kroak. Where I keep him ~12" back from the frontline and just cast everything through the Skink casters that are already with my units for buffs anyways. Make it so the Starseer and the Starpriest are both just 10" bombs. Then just spend 140 more points and it gets even better.
I mean sure, but how different is that truly from what you're already doing now? Standing 7" closer isn't exactly a new playstyle. The fact that he can move doesn't really change what he actually does. He'll still sit in the backline throwing the exact same spells and avoiding combat. Sure, it makes things a bit easier. But not really all that different. Honestly 800 point models are rarely fun outside of the novelty. They're either garbage cuz they die to quickly or impossibly powerfull because they focus far too much strength into 1 single entity. Resulting in them basicly always annoying one player... I just wish they'd done something more interesting with the update. New spells. A command ability that's actually different from the regular slann (and not just the same but better). The combat potential to actually take advantage of his survivability. Anything other than just "here have basicly the exact same warscroll but with a fancy new model"
All monsters are getting some form of monstrous damage allowing them to trample others. E.g. rules like a stegadon's unstoppable stampede.
Yeah, having faction leaders in the game in the first place is another discussion. But with this weaksauce incarnation of him it's just a giant disconnect between what he is, and what he should be. Granted that was true for his old version as well, but with the new epic model... bah. And the reliance on Skink casters is super annoying. You want them in one spot as an anchor for Kroak's spells, and in a second to buff your units, and in a third to hide from getting sniped. (I mean Seraphon can handle pretty much any melee army easy enough, it gets dicey against lists with strong ranged components.)
Your dismissiveness of the change is not surprising considering previous things you've said. But that's fine if the change means less to you and more to me.
The Mangler Squigs do. https://www.games-workshop.com/en-NL/Gloomspite-Gitz-Mangler-Squigs-2019 Grrr, Imrahil
So I had a thought, what if when they say they are adding things to make it so the choice to go first is automatic they mean they think it is not automatic you'd chose to go first each round, and not just at the beginning of the game?
you already chose each round. the roll off isn't to see who goes first it's to see who choses who goes first