Here are some realm specific spells, short version. Now we can talk about the spells at least. Ulgu: 1. Labyrinth of Sorrows, Cast 5+, Half movement of 1 enemy unit within 12" 2. Crown of Asphyxiation, Cast 6+, A 4+ chance to cause one mortal wound to all enemy units within x" (unreadable, single digit. Maybe 8) 3. The Enfeebling, Cast 6+, everyone rerolls all wound rolls against one enemy unit within 12" 4. Phantasmal Guardian, Cast 6+, caster gets 5+ ward save against all wounds. 5. Bridge of Shadows, Cast 6+, teleport a friendly unit within 12" to somewhere within 24", usual restrictions apply. 6. Aetheric Tendrils, Cast 6+, d3 damage to one enemy unit within 12". If it is a hero or monster you can make it walk 4"
Hysh: 1. Exorcising Beam, Cast 6+, one unit within 12" suffers d3 wounds, d6 if it is demons or death 2. Light of Battle, Cast 5+, no battleshock for one unit within 18" 3. Vengeful Illumination, Cast 7+, +1 to all ranged hit rolls against one enemy unit within 18" 4. Aetheric Net, Cast 6+, pick point within 18", roll for friends and enemies within 3". On a 4+ do 1 wound, and half their move 5. Healing Glow, Cast 7+, heal d3 on a friendly within 6" 6. Banishment, Cast 8+, force teleport an enemy unit within 12" to somewhere within 24". Usual restrictions apply.
Aqshy: 1. Stoke Rage, Cast 6+, one friendly unit within 12" gets +1 on wound and charge rolls 2. Inferno Blades, Cast 6+, one friendly unit within 12" gets +1 on damage of all melee weapons 3. Fiery Blast, Cast 7+, pick point within 18", roll for friends and enemies within 3". On a 4+ do d3 wounds 4. Glare of Vulcatrix, Cast 8+, pick one enemy unit within 9", roll higher than wounds characteristic to slay one model 5. Parch, Cast 6+, pick one enemy within 18", halve their move, also roll a dice whenever they charge, on a 5+ they get d3 wounds 6. Incandescent Form, Cast 6+, -1 to hit against the caster.
Shyish: 1. Word of Ending, Cast 6+, pick hero within 12", roll higher than the number of wounds it already suffered, on success do d3 wounds 2. Night's Touch, Cast 8+, pick friendly within 6", that makes it ignore all armor modifiers 3. Soulshard, Cast 6+, pick a friendly within 12", that one becomes spell immune 4. Unnatural Darkness, Cast 6+ or maybe 8+ (unreadable), pick friendly within 12", -1 to hit for everyone attacking it. 5. Soulflay, Cast 7+, pick enemy hero within 12", d3 wounds, if the d3 says 3, substract 2 from bravery as well 6. Ehereal Guide, Cast 6+, and then add 1 to hit rolls for the caster
Chamon: 1. Rain of Lead, Cast 6+, pick enemy within 18", d3 wounds, -1 to move 2. Curse of Rust, Cast 7+. pick enemy within 12", -1 to hit and save for that unit 3. Molten Gaze, Cast 6+, pick point within 12", draw line from there to caster, every unit there suffers 1 wound 4. Rule of Burning Iron, Cast 8+, pick enemy within 12", roll a dice for every model in the unit, every 6+ does 1 wound 5. Glittering Robe, Cast 6+, re-roll saves of 1 for the caster. 6. Transmutation, Cast 7+, pick enemy unit within 18", roll 3 dice, each roll higher than wounds characteristic kills one model.
Ghur: 1. The Amber Spear, Cast 6+, pick point within 12", draw line from there to the caster, every unit there suffers 1 wound. 2. Bestial Spirit, Cast 6+ pick enemy within 18", it suffers d3 wounds. If the d3 is a 3, then also -1 to bravery 3. Flock of Doom, Cast 6+, pick enemy within 18", roll 12 dice, every 6+ does 1 wound 4. Impenetrable Hide, Cast 6+, re-roll all saves for the caster 5. Cower, Cast 6+, pick monster within 12", roll 2d6, if you beat its bravery it cannot charge 6. Primal Hunter, Cast 8+, pick friendly hero within 12", re-roll charge and hit rolls
Ghyran: 1. Whipvines, Cast 5+, pick point within 18", roll dice for enemy units within 3", on 4+ do 1 wound 2. Mirrorpool, Cast 6+, teleport caster 18", usual restrictions apply. 3. Realmblood, Cast 7+, Caster heals d3 wounds 4. Briarstorm, Cast 6+, pick point within 18". all units that end a move within 3" of there suffer d3 wounds 5. Flesh to Stone, Cast 7+, force re-roll on successful wound rolls against the caster 6. Sicklewind, Cast 7+, pick point within 12", draw line from there to the caster, every unit there suffers d3 wounds.
That's where I got them from. But the quality sucks and I wanted to have them shorter. Overall I think they could have been more creative with the spells. I like some of them just because they are different from the two spells we previously had, but IMO they should have included a few more weird ones.
I feel that we should be able to pick a spell lore from a realm without having to fight on the realm. But overall I feel like a lot of them only affect the caster themself
I don't know yet. I'll have to read through the list a few times more. If they are halfway balanced I would say choosing one at random is OK. It adds a non-plannable element to the game, which is something I like. I dislike that the metagame is often more important than reacting to what is actually on the table. watching battle reports from tournament it seems there are a few lists out there that almost don't require skill nor knowlwdge from the player, just the list. Just because they are optimized so much already. It is more or less "use ability X on the biggest unit the enemy has, if it works do XYZ and you win" A bit of a random element you have to react to is a good thing IMO.
Are they used in matched play? I have not found any restrictions in GHB, but I don't see how they could be applied to tournaments.
Why not? Just pick a random realm and that's it. Or let each player pick a realm and he gets those spells. Or let each layer pick one but they have to roll off which one it is. But no, no official word on that yet. I hope for one of the above options because it would be a shame if we were were denied a few more spells. Every realm has at least one or two good ones.
Inferno blades in the realm of fire is absurd for horde armies. Adding 1 to the damage value of every melee weapon in a unit will double the output of many already high damage units. Saurus can be teleported forward and given a guaranteed charge even without rolling the 5/6 result on the teleport. (You can get to 6" away with +4 to the charge roll using the foot Oldblood command ability after teleporting, the hunter's steed Slann active constellation for +1, Curse of fates for +1 to charge, and Chronomatic Cogs for +2 to charge). Saurus in a bloodclaw or sunclaw will swing with 4 2 damage attacks apiece will put out a ridiculous number of wounds if you stack a few buffs on them - ~5.67 damage apiece before saves if you use a scar vet on carnosaur command ability and give them re-rolls to hit with an astrolith. Banishment and Bridge of Shadows could also be a problematic, but the rest of the spells seem fine. There's nothing stopping them being used in casual matched play, but they probably add too much flexibility to wizards (and power in the case of the 3 spells above) for them to be used in most tournaments. The artefacts might be allowed in tournaments though, as they are mostly in line with what is currently available, and are picked alongside the army. It's the first one. For any battle in that realm using the malign sorcery rules, all wizards on the table know all of the spells for the realm they are fighting in, including the one from the main rulebook, so every wizard gets 7 more spells to choose from each turn. Artefacts are selected when you make your army and dedicate it to a particular realm.
Yeah Inferno Blades was the one that leapt out at me too. That on a big unit of Saurus Warriors is just insane. Imagine it on buffed up Skeleton Warriors.
Thanks to Arcane Vassal Slann can target any point on the battlefield with spells. Expandable skink priest with cloak of feathers will be a great spell deliverer and can even be resummoned in 1-2 turns. Troglodon looks more interesting to, because he is more resilent and will pose a real threat as a Vassal. A bonus deny attempt from him got better too now. Just imagine thorwing a vassal into the enemy territory, casting Banishment on, say, enemy nercromancer\lord-castellant\bloodsecrator\any annoyng enemy hero and teleporting it right before your own ranks to be smashed in one turn. As long as Malign Sorcery and Realm rules are used, Slann may be on of the best units of the edition with 3 cast\3 deny all over the table. There are more means of defending it too - cover, look out, new mystic shield, summon starlight, new realm spells. Arcane Might became also more viable. As even single cast\deny reroll can change spells. From the other hand, using Masters of Space and Time without Curse of Fates became more risky. Everything seems just too good for me so far. Can't wait to try it!
Yeah it all does sound kinda awesome. Btw I thought about the Starseer lately and I think he also might be interesting to look at for AoS2 lists despite his high point cost. That's because with all the spell slinging going on the rerolls can really come in handy, forcing your opponent to reroll his dispells for example.
I think it might be legit to teleport the aforementioned Skink Priest somewhere behind enemy lines using LoSaT, then use him to cast something like Ravenak's Jaws or Purple Sun into their army. The downside of the predatory endless spells is that they can come and get you... but if you cast them absolutely miles away then you can safely go for the double turn.
The only real use I see is against massive hordes, such as a group of 40 Skeletons or 30 Bonesplitterz archers. I think I would use another spell, and here is why: That teleported unit will probably not make it. So you just killed 80 points. The purple sun has a casting value of 9. That's not easy. And if you are back there behind the enemy lines they will be in range to unbind the spell attempt. It may do great damage, that's true, but only on a 6+ The purple sun is 100 points that you cannot use for anything else. It isn't too easily dispelled, that's at least something, but it might actually not do much, because when you cast it you have to be 9" away from the enemy and cast it wholly within 6" of yourself. So it will need 3" of its move to get toward the enemy and then it only has 6" left to fly somewhere and hit more than one or two units. If the enemy is not spread around much there might not be enough room to place it between enemy units, which limits its damage potential even more.
Related question: If you use the skink as an arcane vessel for your slann it's technically the slann casting right? So they can't unbind if your slann is more than 30" away.