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eatU4myT

Skeleton
Feb 8, 2022
76
Hi all,
To put it simply if I choose to be one of the factions in SBGL (e.g. Legion of Blood), do I have to select my first artefact and my command trait from the Legion of Blood list? I thought I did, but I am playing in a doubles tournament soon and my partner suggested taking one from the common list in the GHB21.
If so, are SBGL unusual in this regard? After he suggested it, I noticed that most other people I play against are just using arcane tomes most of the time...!
Thanks
 

El Syf

Vargheist
Dec 4, 2011
648
Eastbourne
As far as I can remember nowhere in the battletome does it state the first artefact has to be from your chosen faction unlike in OBR.
However this may be overuled in the core book but I don't think it is.
 

eatU4myT

Skeleton
Feb 8, 2022
76
As far as I can remember nowhere in the battletome does it state the first artefact has to be from your chosen faction unlike in OBR.
However this may be overuled in the core book but I don't think it is.
Yes, that is the conclusion that I am coming to. Interesting! I think that the Arcane Tome suggestion that I have been given is a terrible one, so I won't be doing that, but for a Necromancer general the Master of Magic command trait is appealing!
Thanks
 

Unas the slayer

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 1, 2017
1,863
Northern Italy
There are some cases where you are forced to pick certain faction artefacts.
For example, when Seraphon's players choose their own subfaction, the first artefact assigned to a certain kind of hero must be the one of the faction.

With Soulblight there is no such a restriction: to have a specific subfaction just lets you choose also within those specific artefacts, but you can take as well the generic ones and ignore the others
 

The Sun King

Moderator
Staff member
True Blood
Aug 22, 2012
4,989
Copenhagen
This is not correct I'm afraid. From the core rules:

27.3.2 COMMAND TRAITS Each time you take a command trait enhancement, you can pick 1 command trait and give it to your general. You can never pick more than 1 command trait for your army, and command traits can only be given to a general that is a HERO.

27.4 SUBFACTION ALLEGIANCE ABILITIES Sometimes the rules for a subfaction will give you access to a further set of allegiance abilities. If the allegiance abilities for a subfaction include a command trait and the general of your army has the keyword for that subfaction, then that command trait must be the one you give to your general. If the allegiance abilities for a subfaction include an artefact of power and any HEROES in your army have the keyword for that subfaction, then that artefact of power must be the first artefact of power given to one of those HEROES.

This combined with the fact that the Soulblight Gravelords Battletome states that we MUST choose a subfaction makes it so that we can never access the universal command traits and the first artefact we pick must be subfaction specific.
 

eatU4myT

Skeleton
Feb 8, 2022
76
Ok. So the only people who can use the universal command traits are those whose battletome either a) doesn't include subfactions, or b) doesn't *require* you to choose one of the subfactions, or c) doesn't include any subfaction specific command traits? And likewise for the universal artefacts, with the caveat that second artefacts chosen due to inclusion of a "Magnificent" battalion can always be universal?
Thanks
 

The Sun King

Moderator
Staff member
True Blood
Aug 22, 2012
4,989
Copenhagen
eatU4myT that is correct. As far as I know the way they are doing it in the new 3rd edition battletomes is that the subfactions dont include any specific items and traits, which means that you are not bound to any. At least that is how it works in the new Maggotkin book.
 

eatU4myT

Skeleton
Feb 8, 2022
76
eatU4myT that is correct.
Well, that's how I've been playing it until now, so hoorah for me! Shame about Master of Magic for a necromancer though, most of the command traits seem geared towards being closer to/in combat, not where I want the necromancer to be!
Thanks
 

The Sun King

Moderator
Staff member
True Blood
Aug 22, 2012
4,989
Copenhagen
Why would you make the Necromancer your general? But you actually have a decent choice in legion of Blood for a Necromancer: aristocracy of blood. With that your Necromancer can help the units with charging. Other than that you have the option of Aura of Dark Majesty which is great for keeping the Necromancer alive in combat.
 
Last edited:

Unas the slayer

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 1, 2017
1,863
Northern Italy
This is not correct I'm afraid. From the core rules:

27.3.2 COMMAND TRAITS Each time you take a command trait enhancement, you can pick 1 command trait and give it to your general. You can never pick more than 1 command trait for your army, and command traits can only be given to a general that is a HERO.

27.4 SUBFACTION ALLEGIANCE ABILITIES Sometimes the rules for a subfaction will give you access to a further set of allegiance abilities. If the allegiance abilities for a subfaction include a command trait and the general of your army has the keyword for that subfaction, then that command trait must be the one you give to your general. If the allegiance abilities for a subfaction include an artefact of power and any HEROES in your army have the keyword for that subfaction, then that artefact of power must be the first artefact of power given to one of those HEROES.

This combined with the fact that the Soulblight Gravelords Battletome states that we MUST choose a subfaction makes it so that we can never access the universal command traits and the first artefact we pick must be subfaction specific.

That makes sense.
In Seraphon tome it was specified in it, in the soulblight it was not and i missed the core rule.

The general trait is forced.
The artefact can be sometime bypassed.
 

eatU4myT

Skeleton
Feb 8, 2022
76
Why would you make the Necromancer your general? But you actually have a decent choice in legion of Blood for a Necromancer: aristocracy of blood. With that your Necromancer can help the units with charging. Other than that you have the option of Aura of Dark Majesty which is Grey for keeping the Necromancer alive in combat.
At 1000pts, I think the necromancer is more survivable than the vampire in the current meta of ranged mortal wounds, so I always make him my general. At 2000pts, I imagine I will have a VLoZD as my general, which will change things.
Aristocracy of Blood looks good on paper, but my list is essentially a zombie horde, so I am usually auto running 6" and piling in 6" rather than moving and charging. And Aura of Dark Majesty only works in melee - if my necromancer general ends up in melee I usually assume I've already lost the game...! Having said that, I usually pick it anyway, in the absence of anything more compelling.
Thanks

Edit:

For what it's worth, my 1000pts list I have been running is:

Necromancer General with Decrepify, Arcane Tome, Aura of Dark Majesty
Vampire Lord with Arcane Expertise, Vile Transference and Soulbound Garments
Vampire Lord with Arcane Expertise and Soulpike
40 Zombies (Hunters of the Heartlands)
40 Zombies (Hunters of the Heartlands)
3 Fell Bats (Warlord)
Emerald Lifeswarm

Any suggestions/improvements?

Essentially revolves around the fact that at 1000pts, there are almost no alpha strike lists that can wipe 40 zombies (only one I have found is a Mawkrusha list, which succeeded 1 out of 2 games. Haven't faced a full on dragon list yet, but I guess they might). You then swamp them with the other 40, Crimson Feast and Danse Macabre is usually enough to take out whatever the alpha strike unit was. And then Invigorating Aura, Emerald Lifeswarm and Deathly Invocation is usually enough to out grind the other army for the rest of the game!
 
Last edited:

Unas the slayer

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 1, 2017
1,863
Northern Italy
At 1000pts, I think the necromancer is more survivable than the vampire in the current meta of ranged mortal wounds, so I always make him my general. At 2000pts, I imagine I will have a VLoZD as my general, which will change things.
Aristocracy of Blood looks good on paper, but my list is essentially a zombie horde, so I am usually auto running 6" and piling in 6" rather than moving and charging. And Aura of Dark Majesty only works in melee - if my necromancer general ends up in melee I usually assume I've already lost the game...! Having said that, I usually pick it anyway, in the absence of anything more compelling.
Thanks

Edit:

For what it's worth, my 1000pts list I have been running is:

Necromancer General with Decrepify, Arcane Tome, Aura of Dark Majesty
Vampire Lord with Arcane Expertise, Vile Transference and Soulbound Garments
Vampire Lord with Arcane Expertise and Soulpike
40 Zombies (Hunters of the Heartlands)
40 Zombies (Hunters of the Heartlands)
3 Fell Bats (Warlord)
Emerald Lifeswarm

Any suggestions/improvements?

Essentially revolves around the fact that at 1000pts, there are almost no alpha strike lists that can wipe 40 zombies (only one I have found is a Mawkrusha list, which succeeded 1 out of 2 games. Haven't faced a full on dragon list yet, but I guess they might). You then swamp them with the other 40, Crimson Feast and Danse Macabre is usually enough to take out whatever the alpha strike unit was. And then Invigorating Aura, Emerald Lifeswarm and Deathly Invocation is usually enough to out grind the other army for the rest of the game!

80 zombies at 1000 pts are a massive threat.
on the other side, i'm not sure the investment in Lifeswarm is worth it.
 

The Sun King

Moderator
Staff member
True Blood
Aug 22, 2012
4,989
Copenhagen
That is a strong list. I like it. And yes I agree with only vampires on foot and Necromancer to choose from the necro is definitely the most survivable so keep him as general. If it wasn't for the fact that you have so good unbinds already I would have suggested Oubliette Arcana.
 

eatU4myT

Skeleton
Feb 8, 2022
76
not sure the investment in Lifeswarm is worh it
No, I tend to agree, but the list comes to 1000pts - what you you use the 60pts for instead? I have run it without the Lifeswarm, and taking and extra triumph with my Magnificent bonus, as at 940pts it's a pretty sure bet you are going to have the least. It is really useful to have the "ignore a battleshock test" trick as a guaranteed action, rather than needing a command point and a character in range!

I think the vampire with Soulbound Garments and Vile Transference is worth more than Oubliette Arcana, partly as you say because at 1000pts having three unbinds, two of which have +2 and the other one of which can be rerolled really means that if you let a spell though, you can only blame the dice (!). He's in there for a pretty niche reason, and it's becoming less relevant as people get over the mega gargant obsession, but his role in the list is that with a 0+ save from Soulbound Garments plus any two of Finest Hour, Mystic Shield or All Out Defence, he can tank a mega gargant for a turn, and then cast Vile Transference at +2 to cast to dish ot some hurt to the big dude and to heal back to full health. Rinse and repeat, he has held a mega gargant up for a whole game in the past, and at 1000pts their army is only 2 mega gargants! It's niche, but still has some value against things with 12+ wounds, after that the spell lets you down a bit. More useful than extra *extra* extra unbindings though :)

Everyone online seems to absolutely slate "Failbats", but I've found them really solid in this list. I mostly like that they are not battleline, but are summonable. They benefit from loads of Soulblight's rules, but don't give away battle tactics! Conversely, Dire Wolves seems to get loads of praise, but I find them really bad. If they were half the price and only 5 models they would of course be excellent, but as it is I can't find a use for them?

Thanks
 

The Sun King

Moderator
Staff member
True Blood
Aug 22, 2012
4,989
Copenhagen
Don't listen to people online 🙃. People slate a lot of things but most of them don't have much if any play experience. Fell Bats are good. So is Vile Transference when you go up against gargants. Keep doing what you are doing 💪😎.
 

Unas the slayer

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 1, 2017
1,863
Northern Italy
No, I tend to agree, but the list comes to 1000pts - what you you use the 60pts for instead? I have run it without the Lifeswarm, and taking and extra triumph with my Magnificent bonus, as at 940pts it's a pretty sure bet you are going to have the least. It is really useful to have the "ignore a battleshock test" trick as a guaranteed action, rather than needing a command point and a character in range!

mmm... if you want to bring an endless spell, i'd rather take the Burning Head.
20 pts is a very cheap way to deal a couple of d3 MWs, and if it happens you play against something as Kharadron, with units embarked on a ship, then it will be VERY good.

and at 960 you still have a good chance to take also the triumph
 
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