The Warriors of the Wastes (Warriors of Chaos) seem pretty damn solid (except the hellcannon, they botched that!). Overall there seems to be A LOT of really great things in there.
Without any games played so far I really think that the new lizard book is really well rounded and atleast internally balanced. I haven't yet really put any real thought into it as I've been more concentrating on the new beast herds book (got a tournament coming up this weekend with beasts). Got to be honest, I don't really care about the new character choices. I know the new fluff is coming and all but still the high skink priest doesn't thematically fit into the army in my opinion. Also it is basically about the same cost as the slann anyway when counting in extra magic level and 4+ ward save and not even adding in all the extra stuff that slann will bring. Ofcourse you can beef up the slann to be way more costly. And as said the crox hero just doesn't have any real use. Without adding any more units into the book, it still has quite few choices overall. However I see this as a really good thing atleast in this point. As of now the ABC has done a really good job balancing out all the choices internally and I could see myself running almost any of the units depending on the way that I would want my army to work. I'm really looking forward to bring out the mixed unit and saurus warriors again. In my point of view however I see the croxies the only "weaker" choice overall at the moment. I think they'll work great in the mixed unit but on their own I think the cavalry and guardians are much more solid picks. Master of the winds discipline feels a bit too powerful in my opinion at this stage and almost auto-include in any list that includes a slann. I expect this to be nerfed a bit or even get removed? Overall the disciplines look great at the moment but maybe there are again couple too many as I can see two or three of them picked almost always before the others. Anyway, enough rambling for now. Hopefully I get some games soon with the new shiny ruleset and get to test these hypotheses in practice. BR Agrem
Thanks a lot for your feedback =] Master of winds are 85pts and on average result in +1 PD so I think it's fair. At the price you've payed roughly 100pts more than your average wizard just to generate a few more dice in your own magic phase. The Skink high priest will likely be allowed in second rank of saurus warriors with the palanquin. It'll do good for internal balance since it'll make templeguards less of an auto include. The fluff issue is unfortunate, but that's how it currently is. Overall I think the fluff have been preserved even though the committee are mostly concerned about balance
He is definitely good value. I think a lot of things in the WoC army got better... which I didn't quite expect to see. I was a little worried that they would be nerfed to hell and back. I think the new chosen can be quite the force to be reckoned with. Lots of good new (new as in previously unplayed) choices. I agree. I'd prefer not to have him in the army for the same reason. At this point he is just a waste of space. Hopefully they will improve him or just remove him altogether. I agree that it is nicely balanced. To be honest it doesn't even make it into my top 3. I'm very satisfied with the disciplines. I wish the Slann palanquin could get the "Plaque of the Snake God" upgrade. That thing looks awesome.
Do you have any contact with the people responsible for the WoC army book? Can you put in a good word for my beloved hellcannon? Nerfing both it's shooting and close combat (via movement) is too much. Even with the points reduction it is horrible. It was never all that overpowered to begin with... Skullcrushers are far more potent and they are still powerhouses in the new book.
Isn't the expectancy of "cold blooded" roll a 9? Therefore that should average out +2PD per turn, +12PD per game and roughly 7 points per PD. To me that sounds rather great addition. Also I was under the impression that the RT wanted all the extra power dice generated to be removed? Anyway, more about the book itself as the more I think about all the possible builds that we are able to make the more I feel exited about this release. Many of the new paths seem to fit really nicely into almost any playstyle of the lizard army and since there is no need for one to take a certain lore of uber-killy-spells and I feel that this edition is more about the augments and buffs than damage output in the magic phase.
my first pick would be funnel, cognitive r, and protcted soul, i think that gives you a nice all round magic power house, master of the winds is very nice but pricey, play testing to ensue...
It'll be in beta for some time now until they feel all books have hit a good internal and external balance. Besides all the fluff and artwork is still a long way from finished. I heard yesterday that they're only just finishing up the Tomb King book, but I hope they're this slow because they're focusing on the fluff and art to be put onto the BRB I'm no math wizard, but both the RT and committee agrees on the average 1 extra dice. Remember that this 1 extra dice is a 1 extra dice advantage. Our opponent always gets the highest roll so while we might make an average higher roll that also benefit our opponent. I think the biggest strength of the discipline is the reduced risk of rolling stuff like 2+1 or 3+1. Getting a 2+2 is actually quite a good roll because your opponent only have half the amount of dice so you will get off spells. And yes the goal was to remove added power dice special rules, however the Saurian Ancients were considered one of the magic armies and given permission anyway. I believe The Empire lost theirs from the buff wagon. Instead it would appear many armies now have stuff like getting an extra spell or +X to cast -.- And yes I agree on the paths although I'm a little bummed with the change in Path of beast/wilderness attribute. It's now no longer a favorite
Thanks for the repply man!.... There is going to be artwork and fluff for this? Wow they are really going to town with this! Good job!
Yes you're right, it is also an added bonus to opponent but in most cases it shouldn't really matter. But with that kind of thinking the difference can easily be closer to only one extra dice. Won't argue over that as it's not relevant and I can't math it out either. I don't really fancy the new wilderness lore either. Wildform is still good but otherwise the lore feels still a bit meh. Also as an added bonus I really liked the original rework of the wild lore for beasts only. So my view on the wilderness is a bit more biased on that side also... In my opinion light might be the winner of the lot at the moment. I can see plenty of potential in heavens also but the casting values on it are a bit higher than with light. The all signatures option is aswell a really good choice, a sort of a swiss army knife, as it used to be. It just might be a bit better now with the rework of the signatures and absence of the most horrible #6 spells of doom. I'm currently toying my army idea around the mixed skink+crox units, double slann(light&sigs), guardians and maceosaurus. However I'm coming to the conclusion that light and maceosaurus are not so great combo as both of them are boosting up the WS so the other is a bit useless.
No problem And yes fluff and artwork will be added and you'll be able to buy the books on the future (likely not before a year from now).
At least we got the new Spinosaurus to get the two best wilderness spells and I'm not sure if it benefits from aided casting as well. Gotta read up on the wizard conclave rule. You could go light + 1 spell from shadow with one slann (alternate ways of,thinking discipline) and white magic + 1 extra spell Arcane item on another and be the ultimative weapon skill manipulater
Thank you my fellow Lizardy friend! Very much appreciated. Your hard work with 9th Age has been truly exemplary.