Revised 05/18/24: updated a mistake where I incorrectly used the old point cost for the Annihilator (thank you Redditor not_meetch).
What a month for Warcry. I can’t think of many other months that were equal parts tears and cheers, depending on which Warband you run.
If you’ve been following the community news, you’re probably aware of some big changes that were recently released affecting most of the warbands out there.
So, with the new rules and errata already a week behind us, I might be a little late to the party when it comes to discussing it.
However, as I noticed a sudden influx of people on the site reading the tournament lists we posted a while back.
The sad fact is that most of the tournament lists we posted here would need to be revised – and we’ll try to get another post up soon with what they might look like in the new landscape.
But in any event, here are some of the big takeaways I gathered from the recent rules errata and point changes (and at least one paragraph later about the Cypher Lords for good measure).
Under-costed chaff are now better costed.
A lot of folks in the community have been pointed out for months (if not longer) that many of the lowest cost chaff units for various warbands were effective too good for their point cost.
Indeed, it was pretty clear in the meta before that the strongest warband choices tended to have both very cheap chaff and great value for those pieces.
Teams such as Kharadron Overlords, Soulblight Gravelords, and Nurgle Daemons historically benefitted from this more than the others by virtue of their somewhat insane “S-Tier” chaff units.
Some of the notable highlights of the chaff points rebalancing / nerf include:
Arkanaut Company Privateers going up to 55 points (+5).
Plaguebearers going up to 60 points (+10).
Mortek Guards (all varieties) up to 60 points (+5 to +10).
Deadwalker Zombies up to 50 points (+10)
Skeletons (all varieties) up to 50 points (+10).
As you can see, not all the chaff increases were equal at first glance.
The increase for the Arkanaut Company Privateer was pretty minimal, and likely not going to due a ton to prevent people from stuffing their lists with these guys (but when taken with other KO changes below, it becomes a bigger deal).
Soulblight Gravelords chaff units, however, had major increases on their previously 40 point units – who have gone up a whopping 25% in point cost.
Of course, Skeletons and Zombies were arguably too competitively priced previously, being by and large the cheapest units you could effectively fill out a list with.
Takeaways of the chaff points rebalance
So what do these chaff changes represent overall?
- Many of the S-tier chaff, if you want to call them that, have been better balanced. It’s not perfect, but in my opinion better off than where we were before.
- Most warbands who used these pieces heavily will likely need lose 1-2 pieces each. That will even out some of their previous numerical superiority.
- Losing some of the numerical superiority that chaff used to give could take listbuilding in other directions. Maybe a reason to bring in more mid-tier pieces who are now not so much more expensive than they were before?
Kharadron Overlord combos have been nerfed.
The glory days of the Kharadron Overlords combos being indisputably overpowered might be finally behind us.
It’s not that every Kharadron list was nigh unstoppable (unless you made mistakes), but that it was really hard to even try to make a shitty list with these boys.
In particular, the combo with the Company Captain buffing the Aethercannons so they had more blasts per attack was utterly brutal.
I’ve lost a leader in one attack because of that, and saw it deal about 30 damage to a Fomoroid Crusher once too.
Like I said, brutal damage for what was then just a 110 point dude.
Now, the Company Captain’s “Fight for Profit” ability only gives the boost to melee attacks by default – unless a treasure token is involved.
Aethercannons also got a massive point cost increase (+ 20 points) making them more competitively costed based on their utility.
Overall, This is a major balancing of an ability that a lot of people (myself included) felt was broken or clearly missing a qualifier (hence, the current melee only default).
Takeaways of the Kharadron combo nerf
Does it make the combo void or the ability useless? Far from it.
- The combo can still be pulled off, it only requires treasure now. In other words, you gotta work for it.
- People will be less inclined to make cheese lists of Company Captains and too many Aethercannons. Good for everyone involved.
- The changes may also encourage people to experiment more with KO and allies, using that ability to buff their melee fights that they might have never previously considered.
- It will, however, make the value of a Company Captain as a go-to ally a little different. So much for a quick combo with the Knight-Judicator.
Hunters of Huanchi got a points reduction. Still hard to play.
Our little lizard friends were probably the greatest beneficiary of this points reallignment. Almost all their units received a 5 to 10 point reduction in cost, bring most around the 60-65 point range now.
This is good news for anyone running them and not just loading up on as many Huanchi’s Claws as they can convert.
However, even if you manage to bring in a few more Skinks with Dartpipes, they’re still a tricky band to play.
I honestly don’t know if this will make a difference to anyone except those running the basic box without converting them.
Nevertheless, getting more units on the table for them is easier than ever before and always a good thing for weaker lists strength-wise. Most lists can field and additional unit without issue now, or load up on some Divine Blessings.
In other words, probably a good time to experiment and see if you can more easily fit in a strong ally too to give your little lizard guys a boost.
SCE Thunderstrike has fewer options for 7-unit warbands.
One of the beautiful things about Stormcast Eternals Thunderstrike Chamber was how easily you could field 7 great units in your warband. The latest update partially closed this door.
You can still go all out and rock 7x Vindictors like before, but popping Annihilators into the mix got trickier owing to their point increase.
Previously at 130 to 145 points, it made listbuilding for the SCE Thunderstrike something of a marvel.
You can still do 7 unit lists with 1-2 annihilators, but not if you like the Grandhammer variety.
Now, these dudes are much more fairly priced, but also priced in a way that there’s fewer wiggle room in who you can field if you want to hit that magic 7.
For instance:
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Warband Roster
1,000pts | 7 fighters
- Vindictor-Prime (170pts, Hero)
- Annihilator with Grandhammer (155pts)
- Vindictor (135pts)
- Vindictor (135pts)
- Vindictor (135pts)
- Vindictor (135pts)
- Vindictor (135pts)
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Generated on Warcrier.netStill not a bad list by any metric. But the old “Tin Cans” SCE list I faced a few times this year is now no longer street legal.
Takeaways from the SCE Thunderstrike points nerf
Overall, SCE Thunderstrike took a hit, but not as bad as some of the others.
- They’re still great, but just lost some flexibility in listbuilding.
- Worst-case, everyone can still fall back on a one-box wonder of all Vindictors.
- People may want to reconsider whether they want to buy a box of Annihilators when listbuilding too. Again, they’re still great, and you can still get a few in at 140 points, but not the 155 point variety anymore.
Bottom-tier Warbands got a points reduction too, but they still suck. Only it costs slightly fewer points to suck now.
I’m the proud owner of what are arguably two of the worst warbands out there: Cypher Lords and Khainite Shadowstalkers.
Don’t get me wrong – I love the models, and I play with them regularly in casual games with friends – but they suck against any well-thought out list.
Why?
Well, neither list has any cheap chaff and most units are toughness 3 with 8-10 HP. Sure, they can move fast and deal some damage if you roll some crits, but all it takes is a strong gust of wind to knock them over.
So, it’s nice to see both had some 5 to 10 point reductions on a lot of units, making them better priced, but it doesn’t get them to a place where we can really fill in the lists with cheap units the way other warbands can.
Maybe the one bright side here is the lowered cost for Darkflame Warlock with Repeater Crossbows.
Anyone who has played Shadowstalkers in a competitive setting, whether in Tabletop Simulator, or manically buying boxes of these guys, knows the only “good” list for them is to load up as many crossbows as you can.
Now, it’s more affordable points-wise to do so. But will it be a game-changer? Eh…
Takeaways from my two favourite worst warbands getting marginally less worse?
- They still kinda suck. But can now suck for fewer points.
- Maybe, just maybe, it frees up enough points to now combo in bigger, better allies. But that will require me to spend time listbuilding with them. Maybe it’s worth it for the memes.
- No. I will still not buy 4 more boxes to make 7 glorious Darkflame Warlocks with Repeater Crossbows. Thanks for trying, Games Workshop.
- I swear, I will finally run a list with the Shittershade. Maybe I’ll even try to get a kill with her. Maybe it will work.
Okay, so I couldn’t write anything sensible about these guys, but the gesture is nice at least.
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