I feel so smug now (played Rippers only once, I am a Terradon fan). The other thing I noticed is that we suddenly can use all those command points we have. Many of our heroes previously had either a crap commsnd ability or none at all. So far I see several play styles possible, we are definitely no one trick pony. Saurus, Skinks, Monsters, magic. I already have a number of lists in mind that I can try with the stuff I have. Probably not like those @LizardWizard will come up with, but sounds like we can actually hit things now in different ways. Things I am sad about: - summoning reduced to (relatively weak it seems so far) utility. - Basti not as tanky anymore - Skinks: wary fighters gone and Boltspitters+Shields doesn't exist anymore. But let's not forget: - Skink chiefs are back! - we did not lose models!
Boltspitters and shields DO still exist. It's just they are considered to use a knife in close combat (not shown on models)
Finally found the summon rules. I'm fine with summon spam being dead, was boring as sin to play and completely warped our spell casting.
Well, first impressions after having 80% of the rules. Priest, Starpriest and Starseer seem to be the auto-includes. Every list will start with them. They are extreme force multipliers. Run+charge on 3d6 is nothign to sneeze at and Venom is universal and powerful. You can play any setup to a certain extant. Saurus blocks seems to be the best to far, but you can build around cavalry, carnos, skinks and monsters or hunting packs. Almost every unit has its place in the codex now. Heck, you can easily make 1+ save flying dread saruian that run and charge on 3d6. The internal balance of codex is simply great. After looking through all the warscrolls I cant point at any and say "this one is def trash. I'll never ever take it". Chama skinks are the loser, tbh. They don't do anything special, but still very benifical for coalesced since they don't have LoSaT. I already can see saurus-heavy lists, flyer-heavy lists, cavalry lists, thunderstomp lists, hunting pack spam, magic, heavy, etc. etc. The only problem is the loss of rerolls. I miss them a lot. We'll find out about last pieces tomorrow, but I am already assured that we've become way more competitive.
You're right about the placement of Rippers, but if you take 1 unit of 12 and perhaps 1 or 2 of 3, then it shouldn't be all that difficult, 18 inches is quite a lot so they definitely don't need to all attack the same unit to stay in range
Except the situation when they have to, of course! If you want to use them as semi assassins as they used to be, I'd go for chief. He is a hero and brings some additional utility. The problem is taking leader slot. We are really tight on leader slots now, tbh. If you are going fore a horde or a large frontline beast, I agree, you won't need a chief.
It's an alright tome, but I'm not too thrilled. Kinda just feels more of the same so far. Dont see too hyped in buying Saurus so I'll stick with my Skinks. Wary Fighters is gone, you can throw a lot of buffs at them by the looks, and it could get better. Club Skinks also look like a possibility. The only thing is having them survive a round of combat, oh and the fact EoTG cant summon skinks is disgusting.
Summoning being essentially gone will be difficult to adjust to, although I did say multiple times that I wished that there was a way to summon without our Slann being a glorified terrain piece, so I guess this was the only way they felt they could do it. The problem is that it will be literally impossible to summon most stronger units in most games, so maybe they'll drop the point costs for summons in the 2020 GHB. Who knows? I have a lot of different units, but not enough to truly spam any of them. So it's nice that a mixed list is finally looking viable. I will finally get a use for my Troglodons, lol! I do still wish that we were better at magic, but the bound endless spells thing is nice. It will open up the possibility of endless spell spam, I guess.
Yeah but what was wrong with letting the Slann forgo a spell for 1d3 points, a slight nerf still but not...this. I'm pretty bummed out about it
I have a couple list ideas now that we have some points and all the warscrolls. Sunclaw 40 warriors 20 warriors 20 warriors Sunblood Scar vet on carno AB Slann Starpriest Purple sun, aethervoid pendulum, emerald lifeswarm, malevolent maelstrom Or and this is what I'm currently leaning towards 10 knights 40 warriors 10 Guard Sunblood Scar vet on carno AB Slann Troglodon Starpriest Geminids, purple sun, malevolent maelstrom Should probably get myself a Starseer
There will have to be some additional teleportation and increased summoning capability for starborne. Lets see tomorrow when the YoutTube previewers release their videos
To help those who possess superior theory crafting, here are the points changes. Please delete if not allowed! Engine of the gods- up to 260 from 240 Saurus warriors- still 90 for 10, now 320 for 40 (down from 330) Bastiladon- down to 220 from 280 Stegadon- up to 240 from 200 Lord Kroak- down to 320 from 430 Ripperdactyl Chief- 80 (didn’t exist before) Saurus astrolith Bearer- down to 140 from 160 Saurus Eternity Warden- down to 110 from 140 Saurus Oldblood- down to 110 from 120 Scar-vet on cold one- up to 110 from 100 Saurus Sunblood- up to 130 from 120 Skink priest- down to 70 from 80 Skink starpriest- up to 120 from 80 Skink Starseer- down to 140 from 160 Slann starmaster- still 260 Terradon chief- 70 (didn’t exist before) Oldblood on carnosaur- up to 250 from 240 Scar-vet on carnosaur- down to 210 from 240 Skink oracle on troglodon- up to 260 from 140 (originally just troglodon) Stegadon skink chief- 270 (didn’t exist before) Chameleon skinks- down to 90 from 110 Kroxigor- down to 140 from 150 Razordon- up to 80 from 50 Ripperdactyls- down to 80 from 140 Salamanders- up to 80 from 50 Saurus guard- up to 100 from 80 Saurus Knights- up to 100 from 80 Skinks- down to 60 from 70 Terradons- down to 90 from 120 Credit to alexblackcomedy on reddit who created this list for everyone to use.
IIRC, Page 354 has some the Coalesced battalions and one of the Starborne ones. they're in Spanish though...lol