Updated April 13, 2024 – included a photo of all the skills.
Another day, another issue of White Dwarf, and more updates for Warcry.
In the latest edition, it looks like we got 6 more groups of Bladeborn fighters heading on over to join us from their Warhammer Underworlds homes.
There’s a lot to digest in the update, but my eyes inevitably turned towards the fact that one of my favourite factions is getting something new (yay for fellow Slaanesh fans).
So let’s take a look at these latest Warcry fighters who make up the Thricefold Discord.
The Thricefold Discord
Despite only getting some rules for Warcry now, these dudes (unless I’m mistaken) were released back in 2023 for Underworlds.
They’re a 3 unit team of elites who clock in at a smooth 400 points total.
Overall, two of the models are pretty much in line with what we’d expect from Slaanesh while one, the leader who we’ll look at first, is something of a surprise.
Vexmor
Vexmor is the leader of the gang, and looks as big as they come for Slaanesh.
At first glance, Vexmor simply seems delightfully beefy for the faction. 6 toughness and 25 health is WAY above the average for Slaanesh survivability – especially among the demons.
But then your eyes turn to that weapon profile. 5/10 damage, very nice, not a lot of units get numbers like that, but then…
This guy has… wait what? 10 strength? TEN STRENGTH? Not 6? Not 7? But 10?
Why not just put a star and make it infinite?
Okay, now that I’ve calmed down, I think Games Workshop might have either went a little overkill here or put a placeholder in (and forgot) because not only is that by and large the highest strength of ANY unit in Warcry, it’s also entirely unnecessary.
For comparison, our big boy Chaos Gargant – a 400+ point monster – has 5 strength.
Half the strength of Vexmor.
Going one step further, the highest toughness unit I am aware of is the SCE Thunderstrike unit Annihilator with Meteoric Hammer at 7.
To put it lightly, looks like Vexmore shouldn’t have any problem dealing damage against literally anyone (provided you’re not cursed to roll 1-2 all evening).
Of course, like a lot of other interesting models with massive damage (like our friend the Knight-Judicator), they’ve also got only a single attack per activation by default.
This means they’ll benefit immensely from using their doubles for Onslaught, or working alongside allies who can grant additional attacks to friendly units (such as the Blazing Lord from Scions of the Flame or the Darkoath Warqueen from Slaves to Darkness).
Honestly, having 2 attacks at 10 strength (10 STRENGTH!) and 5/10 damage is pretty wild all the same, and especially for a measly 150 point unit who can also double as a fairly excellent tank.
I suspect Vexmor could become something of a must have among Chaos allies.
Unsurprisingly, the warband also has an ability that can help boost his attacks too.
This ability is basically tailor-made for Vexmore, as it provides +2 attack on the next melee attack – which is wonderful for folks like this with only 1 die.
Curiously, if Vexmor went full out, they could get 4 dice in this way, rather than 3 for a regular Quad. However, it’s not better than simply standing there and using a double for Onslaught if you’re able to attack twice (also get a total of 4 attacks).
The only real benefit would be if Vexmor was to move and then only get off one attack, this would be a means to getting more dice than the Onslaught (albeit, for a price).
Still, the more attacks with this fellow, the merrier for you (and certainly not your opponent).
Lascivyr
Next up is Lascivyr, the Bladed Blessing.
As their name suggests, this friend is all about slashing people up. They come with a pretty typical sort of Slaanesh profile – low strength, lots of attacks, low toughness, lots of movement. In many ways they are the opposite of Vexmor it seems.
They also have access to an interest debuff ability:
I don’t usually use the triple debuffs out there, but this one can really drain the opposition – and make that 3 strength for our friend less of an issue, even against a 6 base toughness Stormcast unit.
Depending on what other uses you have for your triples, this could be a good way to deal some serious damage to an enemy tank or better guarantee that you’ll finish off an elite who has somewhere between 6-8 HP left.
However, it makes for a pointless combo with Vexmor who will be rolling 3+ on everything, no matter what, anyways.
Vashtiss
And lastly, our third friend is Vashtiss the Coiled.
Vashtiss is pretty much a standard spellcaster, profile-wise, albeit a little on the cheaper side for points (for instance, the Slaanesh Sybarite Shardspeaker clocks in at 120) with almost the same profile.
In any event, your basic mage blast, as far as I’m concerned, is a cursed attack.
It looks appealing on paper, that 3-6 damage if you roll a 5-6 on your opponents, but let me tell you the number of games I’ve gone where my spellcaster attacked every turn and did 3 or less damage the entire game… seriously, these dudes are cursed.
Fortunately, Vashtiss has an ability, but it’s debatable how useful it will be:
It’s a combo net-AOE ability, which I can’t think of anything quite like it. It can theoretically be used to crash Vashtiss into a melee where the opponent is either losing or needs to escape to steal an objective, only to trap them there and give them a small burst of damage.
However, unlike other nets which are usually tossed by expendable units, Vashtiss is a little pricey (and squishy) to send to try and tie up stronger enemy fighters. Even with 16 HP, with 3 toughness there’s a good chance of them getting wiped on a double activation from a lot of mid-tier units and above.
Thricefold Discord Reaction
The warband also comes with its own unique reaction for these fighters:
Basically, a fighter can make the reaction after a friendly Thricefold Discord unit gets taken out without using an activation (even if they have none). They immediately make a bonus move or attack action.
Immediately, I’m reminded of Swift Retribution from the Questor Soulsworn, only that the one here it isn’t the dying fighter making the reaction but the surviving ones.
Fortunately, a maximum of two Thricefold Discord fighters can take advantage of it at any time (one can only imagine a full team getting a free attack each time a fighter dies).
That in mind, maybe it’s not so bad if Vashtiss gets wiped while holding the line. All the more attacks for our friend Vexmor, and Vexmor loves to attack.
Overall Thoughts on the Thricefold Discord
On the whole, the Thricefold Discord is a pretty welcome addition to bolstering the unit choices we have from Slaanesh.
Lascivyr and Vashtiss are pretty much better than average Slaanesh mid-tier units – not essential, but not going to dump your list in the dump if you take them either.
Vexmor, on the other hand, is the real star. This dude can bring much needed tankiness to the Slaanesh Daemons, as well as being a heavy-hitter for the Sybarites of which there are few.
The main issue with all this new stuff is also, well, Vexmor.
It’s an amazing model to have as an ally in almost any chaos warband. Maybe too amazing.
The dude is almost as tanky as a Fomoroid Crusher and, honestly, at 150 points I would be tempted to take them just for the 6 toughness and 25 HP without the other insanity.
However, having an attack profile of 1 attack at 5/10 with ludicrous strength is where the problems can start.
Units like this, such as the Aethercannon from Kharadron Overlords, are inevitably where the meta and listbuilding get wonky.
When a single cheapo unit can deal that much damage from a single attack, it almost inevitably becomes the model around which you build a good chunk of your list and focus all your abilities. After all, simply getting one more attack on a profile like that can be better than another mid-tier or stronger unit’s entire activation.
In situations like this, which Off Meta Musings recently mused about, it puts an emphasis on people bringing in other units to buff them an suddenly what could have been fairly balanced gets pretty lopsided.
Chaos, at least, has fewer easy means of buffing attacks like this – compared to Order and Destruction, in any case – but I can still see chaff heavy lists where you pair Vexmor with a Darkoath Warqueen and the two of them walk around terrifying everything that might come near them.
The main dampener on the Vexmore parade is likely going to be how hard this model is to come by.
I haven’t seen them sold as a standalone Underworlds set, unless it was out last year and I missed it. The only other options for these folks are as singles off some eBay sellers, or shelling out for the Deathgorge Underworlds starter set.
For those that requested it, here are photos of all the skills for these folks:
