Homebrew Legion of Sacrament update

[Sception]

Alternate Lineage for Soulblight Gravelords: the Legion of Sacrament, Version 0.5

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The Legion of Sacrament - A Legacy of Death

Spoiler

The Legion of Sacrament was the personal undead legion of Arkhan the Black, tasked by Nagash with his most sensitive and critical missions. The Legion of Sacrament was instrumental in building, protecting, and maintaining the secrecy of the great hidden tomb complexes within which the Ossiarch Legions were painstakingly assembled over the course of millennia. During the Age of Chaos they were charged with defending Stygxx, Nagash's final refuge, while the Great Necromancer recovered from his defeat at the Everchosen's hands. The Legion of Sacrament was responsible for bringing a mountain of Shyishian realmstone to Nagashizzar one grain at a time, and using this raw material to construct the great inverted Black Pyramid with which Nagash unleashed the Necroquake upon the Realms. Before the Bonereapers marched to war, no other undead legion was as accomplished or as feared as the Legion of Sacrament.

It is a morbid testament to Arkhan the Black's callousness and single minded devotion to his master that he consigned his entire legion to the grim fate of the Ossiarch Tithe the moment their ages-long work was complete. Necromancers who had raised entire armies of undead and Vampires who had laid civilizations of the living to waste, Arkhan's favored pupils and trusted disciples who had studied and labored and fought at his side for thousands of years - all were dragged away screaming at the Mortarch of Sacrament's command, to be harvested alongside common skeletons and zombies. Their bones were added to the ranks of the Null Myriad's mortek guard, their arcane talents were stripped from their souls to contribute to the Myriad's mortisans. Their betrayed trust was left behind, deemed to be without value by the one they had called their master, and their friend.

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Unofficial Legion of Sacrament Rules

Spoiler

This supplement can be used in conjunction with the Soulblight Gravelords battletome to allow you to play a Legion of Sacrament army in Age of Sigmar 3rd edition. These rules are intended primarily for use in narrative games representing historical battles that Arkhan's legion took part in or hypothetical 'what if' battles representing what might have happened had the Legion of Sacrament not been destroyed. Perhaps you wish to play a campaign set during the Realmgate Wars, when the Bonereaper Legions were yet to be completed and the Legion of Sacrament was still active in the realms. Or perhaps you wish to see how Arkhan's invasion into Hysh during the events of Broken Realms: Teclis might have gone differently had he been leading the Legion of Sacrament instead of the Null Myriad.

These rules can also be used to represent Soulblight Gravelord armies which focus on necromancy and death magic rather than the soulblight blood magic and more martial vampire units and heroes that are common in other dynasties. Perhaps your army are among the rare survivors of the Legion of Sacrament, and hope that by proving themselves against Nagash's enemies they might somehow rekindle Arkhan's favor. Alternatively, your army might represents the personal forces of a powerful independent necromancer or liche-lord attempting to carve out their own empire rather than seeking the protection of vampiric patrons, or a reclusive clan of vampire arcanists who have spent their immortal lives studying necromancy rather than the warrior arts.

Disclaimer: The rules presented here are not official Age of Sigmar rules. While these rules draw heavily from the official rules for the Legion of Sacrament in the now retired Legions of Nagash battletome, they are not sanctioned by Games Workshop in any way. You may not use these rules in official events, and may only use these rules in home games with the advance permission of your opponent.

Changes

• cleaned up some wording

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Playing a Legion of Sacrament Army

Spoiler

When you select a Soulblight Gravelords army, you must give it a lineage keyword as described on page 72 of the Soulblight Gravelords battletome. When you do so, you may choose to give your army the Legion of Sacrament lineage keyword instead of choosing one of the lineages listed in the battletome. A Legion of Sacrament army has the following additional options and restrictions:

1. You may field Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament, from the Ossiarch Bonereapers battletome. If you do so, he gains the Soulblight Gravelords and Legion of Sacrament keywords. However, Arkhan the Black does not count as a Soulblight Gravelords Hero for the purposes of the 'Deathly Invocation' battle trait. Additionally, a unit may not benefit from both Deathly Invocation and Arkhan's 'Mortarch of Sacrament' ability in the same turn. Arkhan the Black counts as a general in addition to the general chosen for your army. Arkhan the Black knows all the spells from the Lore of the Deathmages, in addition to the spells listed on his warscroll, and may not be given any spells from the Lore of Vampires.
   
   
2. Your army may not include any mercenary units. The Legion of Sacrament's missions are too sensitive to risk mortal involvement.

Changes:

• removed the option to field morghasts. Yeah, they should be here, but they should be in the LoBlood and LoNight subfactions too, and they aren't there either, and as much as possible I want this homebrew lineage to conform to the design of the official lineages.

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Battle Traits - The Master's Teachings

Spoiler

1. Black Disciples: The necromancers of the Legion of Sacrament were without peer, for they learned their dark art at the feet of Arkhan the Black himself.
   
   Legion of Sacrament Deathmage Wizards gain a +1 bonus to casting rolls.
   
   
2. The Corpse Geometries: Arkhan taught his most trusted students how to manipulate the hidden leylines of Death Magic which flow through the Realms. This forbidden knowledge enabled the commanders of the Legion of Sacrament to raise vast armies of undead soldiers and laborers.
   
   You may re-roll rolls of 1 for the Endless Legions battle trait as long as one or more friendly Legion of Sacrament generals are on the battlefield.

Changes:

• Black Disciples casting bonus changed from 'Necromancers' to 'Deathmages', in order to apply to new homebrew deathmage units added below.
  
  
• Corpse geometries changed from a flat +1 on the Endless Legions roll to re-roll 1's on the same roll after official SBGL errata changed Endless Legions to happen at the end of every battleshock phase instead of just your battleshock phase, making the previous version of the battle trait twice as effective as I had intended it to be.

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Command Traits - Necromantic Savants

Spoiler

1. Emissary of the Master: While most of the Legion of Sacrament's work was done in secret, sometimes a show of force was required. At such times this dread champion could always be found leading the charge at the vanguard of Arkhan's forces.
   
   You can re-roll failed charge rolls for friendly Legion of Sacrament units that are wholly within 9" of this general.
   
   
2. Mark of the Favored: This general earned the rare favor of Nagash himself. Foes who sought to harm them would suffer the Great Necromancer's wrath.
   
   Whenever an opponent rolls a natural 1 on the hit roll for an attack that targets this general, the attacking unit suffers a Mortal Wound.
   
   
3. Dark Acolyte: This arcane prodigy impressed even the Mortarch of Sacrament with their talent, and was always eager to test new spells and curses on Arkhan's enemies.
   
   The general is a Wizard who knows the Arcane Bolt and Mystic Shield spells, as well as one spell chosen from the Lore of the Deathmages. If the general is already a Wizard, they instead know one additional spell chosen from the Lore of the Deathmages.
   
   
4. Mastery of Death: Perhaps this relentless taskmaster would not have driven their minions so hard had they known the reward that was waiting for them when the work was complete.
   
   At the start of your Hero Phase, friendly Legion of Sacrament Summonable units that are wholly within 9" of this general and more than 3" from any enemy units may make a normal move up up to 3" (they cannot run).
   
   
5. Peerless Commander: This champion of undeath could project their indomitable will across an entire battlefield.
   
   Friendly Legion of Sacrament units may roll for the Deathless Minions battle trait while they are wholly within 18" of this general, instead of the usual 12".
   
   
6. Bound to the Master: This general bound their soul to Arkhan the Black, allowing the mortarch to see through their eyes and channel a measure of his power through their bodies.
   
   This general may use Arkhan the Black's "First of the Mortarchs" command ability.

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Artefacts - Sacramental Implements

Spoiler

1. Spiritcage: This baleful lantern pulsed with a hungry darkness rather than light. It captured the souls of Nagash's enemies and channeled their spiritual energy to invigorate the undead.
   
   The Spiritcage activates the first time an enemy hero is slain while within 6" of the bearer. For the rest of the game, add 1 to wound rolls for attacks made by friendly Legion of Sacrament units that are wholly within 9" of the bearer.
   
   
2. Liche-Lord's Staff: These staves were created based on the design of Khenash-An, Arkhan the Black's Staff of Spirits, and gifted to his most prized pupils.
   
   Deathmage Wizard Only. The bearer may attempt to cast an additional spell in your hero phase, and may attmept to unbind an additional spell in the enemy hero phase. Additionally, the bearer may attempt to cast Arcane Bolt any number of times, even if another wizard has already attempted to cast the spell that phase.
   
   
3. Asylumaticae: This casket contained the spirits of aspiring necromancers who were driven insane by the complexity of Arkhan's lectures. By opening the casket a necromancer could put the spirits' wasted talents to better use, but risked being overcome by their madness.
   
   Deathmage Wizard only. Once per Battle, at the end of your hero phase, you may roll a die. On a 1, the bearer suffers a Mortal Wound. On a 2+, the bearer may attempt to cast any one spell chosen from the Lore of the Deathmages, even if the bearer doesn't know the spell, and even if a wizard has already attempted to cast the same spell that phase.
   
   
4. Wristbands of Black Gold: These ornately crafted wrist guards acted as negative lodestones, deflecting incoming arrows, bullets, and even cannonballs.
   
   The bearer gains a 4+ Ward against ranged attacks.
   
   
5. Sacramental Standard. This banner was sewn together from the skin of Sigmarite battle wizards, and painted in the blood of chaos sorcerers.
   
   Wight King only. Subtract 1 from wound rolls for attacks made by enemy units within 6" of the bearer. In addition, re-roll successful casting rolls for enemy Wizards within 6" of the bearer.
   
   
6. The Black Gem: When this obsidian crystal was shattered, it released a tiny mote of pure entropy capable of snuffing out the soul of the first creature it touched.
   
   Once per battle in your Hero Phase you may declare that the bearer will shatter the Black Gem. Choose an enemy model within 6" of the bearer and roll a die. On a 1 nothing happens. On a 2-5, the chosen model suffers D3 mortal wounds. On a 6, the chosen model is slain.

Changes:

• Asylumaticae restricted to 'Deathmages' instead of 'Necromancers' to account for new Deathmage units added below, & it's effects changed (end of hero phase, once per battle), to make it a little clearer, reduce it's power slightly, and distinguish it from other similar items (arcane tome and the new liche-lord's staff).
  
  
• Shroud of Darkness removed entirely, as I was having difficulty writing a version that was consistent with other 3e design, meaningfully distinct from the Wristbands of Black Gold, and not overpowered. In it's place I added 'Liche-Lord's Staff', which lets the bearer cast an extra spell and multi-cast arcane bolt, in imitation of Arkhan's staff. This also helps lean the artefacts more towards the faction's spellcasting theme.

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Unique Units: Lords of Sacrament
NOTE: This is a completely new section

The following two new units may be included in any Soulblight Gravelords army, provided you have advance permission from your opponent to use this unofficial rules supplement. These units are not restricted to Legion of Sacrament armies, but they do have the Legion of Sacrament keyword on their warscrolls and thus do not benefit from subfaction battle traits when included in Soulblight Gravelords armies of other dynasties.


Sacramental Liche-Lord

The Legion of Sacrament had access to blasphemous rituals that could preserve a Master Necromancer beyond the destruction of their physical body, provided their mind survived the glimpse beyond the precipace of true death. When such a Liche-Lord was interred within a Mortis Engine, their spirit would kill and possess the body of their attendant Corpsemaster, and puppeteer their corpse to cast spells far beyond the abilities lesser necromancers.

Spoiler

Stats

Move	Wounds	Bravery	Save
*	12	10	4+

Missile Weapons

Weapon	Range	Attacks	To Hit	To Wound	Rend	Damage
Wail of the Damned	*	See Below	See Below	See Below	See Below	See Below

Melee Weapons

Weapon	Range	Attacks	To Hit	To Wound	Rend	Damage
Mortis Staff	1"	2	4+	3+	-	D3
Spectral Claws and Blades	1"	*	5+	4+	-	1

Damage Table

Wounds Suffered	Move	Wail of the Damned	Spectral Claws and Blades	Call of the Void
0-2	14"	12"	12	12
3-4	12"	10"	10	10
5-7	10"	8"	8	9
8-9	8"	6"	6	8
10+	6"	4"	4	7

Description

• A Sacramental Liche-Lord is a single model driven by a Possessed Corpsemaster armed with a Mortis Staff.
  
  
• Mount: This model's Spectral Host attacks with their Wail of the Damned and Spectral Claws and Blades.
  
  
• Fly: This Model Can Fly.

Abilities

• Frightful Touch: The malign spiirts that surround a Sacramental Liche-Lord can freeze an opponent's blood with a single touch.
  
  If the unmodified hit roll for an attack made with this model's Spectral Claws and Blades is 6, that attack inflicts 1 mortal wound on the target and the attack sequence ends (do not make a wound or save roll).
  
  
• Wail of the Damned: Unnerving howls follow this carriage wherever it roams. Should an enemy get close enough, the spectral host unleashes a defening wail that tears the soul apart.
  
  Do not use the attack sequence for an attack made with a Wail of the Damned. Instead, roll a die for each enemy unit within range of this model's Wail of the Damned. On a 4+, that unit suffers D3 mortal wounds.
  
  
• Bound Necromancer: Like typical Mortis Engines, the slain master Necromancer at the heart of a Sacramental Liche-Lord is a locus of forbidden power for undead wizards to draw upon. Unlike a typical Mortis Engine, a Sacramental Liche-Lord is able to draw upon this power itself.
  
  Add 1 to casting rolls for friendly Soulblight Gravelords Wizards wholly within 12" of any friendly models with this ability.

Magic

• A Sacramental Liche-Lord is a Wizard. It can attempt to cast 2 spells in your hero phase and attempt to unbind 2 spells in the opponent's hero phase. It knows the Arcane Bolt, Mystic Shield, and Call of the Void spells.
  
  
• Call of the Void: With this spell the Sacramental Liche-Lord draws on the magic of the void to unleash a wave of entropic energy, tearing away the souls of the living.
  
  Call of the Void has a casting value of *. If successfully cast, roll a die for each unit within 12" of this model. On a 2+, that unit suffers D3 mortal wounds. Death units are not affected by this spell.

Keywords: Death, Soulblight Gravelords, Legion of Sacrament, Malignant, Deathmage, Hero, Wizard, Sacramental Liche-Lord

This is my first draft take on the long desired 'Necromancer on Mortis Engine" hero. It's basically a mortis engine that is also a double-cast wizard, with the Reliquary as a spell instead of a 1/battle ability. The Reliquary spell starts off difficult to cast since it is emulating a powerful, 1/game ability on an existing unit, but gets easier to cast as the unit takes damage similar to how older versions of the reliquary rule got stronger in later turns of the game.

This is just a first draft and I would greatly appreciate suggestions and feedback here. For example, is the signature spell too strong? Too weak? Should it be something else entirely? Should this unit have some other rule in place of the 'Bound Necromancer' ability, so that LoS armies have a reason to run both this unit and a regular mortis engine at the same time? Should its stats or abilities be more distinct from a regular mortis engine in general?


Soulblight Arcanovore

The Vampires of the Legion of Sacrament learned to feed on pure arcane energy rather than blood. This made them physically weaker than other vampires, and more unstable mentally. However, it also freed them from the distraction of hunting mortal prey, allowing them to spend their immortal years perfecting their necromantic studies.

Spoiler

Stats

Move	Wounds	Bravery	Save
6	5	1	4+

Melee Weapons

Weapon	Range	Attacks	To Hit	To Wound	Rend	Damage
Soulbound Staff	2"	2	3+	3+	-	D3

Description

• A Soulblight Arcanovore is a single model armed with a Soulbound Staff.
  
  
• Fly: This model can fly.

Abilities

• Arcane Hunger: Soublight Arcanovores have learned to drink magic instead of blood.
  
  At the end of the hero phase, if any enemy Wizard's spells were unbound by this model, or if any Endless Spells were dispelled by this model, you can heal up to D3 wounds that have been allocated to this model.

Magic

• This model is a Wizard. It can attempt to cast 2 spells in your hero phases and can attempt to unbind 2 spells in your opponent's hero phase. It knows the Arcane Bolt, Mystic Shield, and Spell Siphon spells
  
  
• Spell Siphon: The wizard creates a vortex of entropic energy that drains the magic and life energy of enemy wizards.
  
  Spell Siphon has a casting value of 6. If succssfully cast, the caster gains a +1 bonus to unbinding rolls until the start of your next hero phase. In addition, each time the caster successfully unbinds an enemy wizard's spell before the start of your next hero phase, that enemy wizard suffers D3 Mortal Wounds.

Keywords: Death, Soublight Gravelords, Legion of Sacrament, Vampire, Deathmage, Hero, Wizard, Soublight Arcanovore

designers commentary: Since the Soulblight Arcanovore has both the Vampire and the Deathmage keywords, when selecting additional spells known for this unit you may choose from either the Lore of the Vampires or the Lore of the Deathmages.

The Arcanovore is an option for a more LoSacramenty, death-magicky, Necrarch-style vampire lord. Regular Vampire Lord stats, but lower save, weaker weapon, no command ability in exchange for double-cast/unbind and the Deathmage keyword. For thematic reasons, I replaced the normal 'hunger' ability with the 'arcane hunger' variant, and gave the unit a signature spell that complements the magic-eating theme. The hero also provides a midpoint caster hero inbetween regular necromancers and the big behemoth casters like Arkhan or the Sacramental Liche-Lord above. Having an anti-magic themed unit should also help the Legion of Sacrament hold their own when confronted with rival magic armies.

I feel much more solid about where the Arcanovore currently is than the Liche-Lord, but it's still an untested first draft and I'm absolutely open to suggestions.

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Pitched Battle Profiles: Remember that is rules supplement is unofficial, and these rules cannot be used at official events or without your opponent's advance consent.

Warscroll	Unit Size	Points	Battlefield Role	Notes
Sacramental Liche-Lord	1	360	leader, behemoth	single
Soulbight Arcanovore	1	160	leader	single

These are initial guesses, not based on any more thought than 'the arcanovore is more or less a vampire lord', then bumped the points cost up an extra 20 on the theory that it's safer to start high and cut down if needed - plus a double caster wizard for only 15 points more than the single caster necromancer might be problematic - though the necromancer's signature spell is much better than the arcanovores, and the necro's bodyguard ability is better than the arcano's healing, so maybe 140 would be fine. The liche-lord is a mortis engine with a double-caster on top, so I figured it should cost about as much as a mortis engine and an arcanovore put together. As initial shots in the dark, these feel maybe about 20 points high to me, but the units themselves are nowhere near set in stone. Regardless, I'm absolutely open to feedback and suggestions.

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Warscroll Battalion

The following Warscroll Battalion can be used by a Legion of Sacrament army, in addition to those presented in the Soulblight Gravelords battletome

Necroresonant Choir

Spoiler

While the necromancers of the Legion of Sacrament were powerful spellcasters in their own right, their greatest necromantic rituals required multiple deathmages working together in concert. At the direction of a Mortis Engine's corpsemaster, a coven of necromancers could weave their spells their into a symphony of dark magic far beyond their individual abilities.

Organization

• 1 Arkhan the Black or Sacramental Liche-Lord
• 1 Mortis Engine
• 2-4 units chosen from the following list:
  Necromancer
  Soulbight Arcanovore

Abilities:

• Necroresonance: A choir of screaming spirits and chanting necromancers join their voices into a deafening arcane cacophony.
  
  Wizards in this battalion can attempt to cast an additional spell in your Hero Phase as long as they are wholly within 12" of the Mortis Engine in this battalion. In Addition, the Mortis Engine in this battalion gains a 4+ ward as long as it is wholly within 12" of this battalion's Arkhan the Black or Sacramental Liche-Lord.

Changes:

• re-written to incorporate the new homebrew unit options above

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

Just got around to reading this. Admittedly I have limited experience of AoS so far, so others like @The Sun King might be better placed to give constructive advice.

One of the main things for me is around the Necromancers themselves. I know it would be a new unit / scroll, but it would be good to see some kind of stronger Necromancer perhaps. I'm thinking where I would like a potent Necromancer/Liche as my general in an army that doesn't include Arkhan, and be assured he has some staying power.

I like Command Traits, as well as nod to the Wristbands of Black Gold Are you expecting that you can still take vampires as normal in this legion?

 

[Sception]

For this project, I'm specifically aiming for something that will layer easily over the current battletome, so I'm trying to avoid entirely novel units, apart from the couple pulled in from OBR. That said, necromancers are already quite strong between their great signature spell, great spell lore, and ability to use cheap summonables as bodyguards. If you get a chance to try these rules, I think you'll find that even a little bit of extra help on top of all that will go a long way.

That said, I'm certainly open to the idea of adding a new unit or two as a later stand alone homebrew project. Kind of tangential to the necromancer discussion, but I've been thinking about what death priests could be like, and I'm thinking such would be a good mechanical implementation for the cursed city gravekeeper, if for nothing else than how absolutely metal "Bury the Living" and "Exhume the Dead" would be as spell names.

 

[Sception]

Eh, in retrospect I've been convinced, and will begin work on drafting a 'deathmage on mortis engine' unit to this project. Also, could you move the thread over to the new homebrew project section?

 

[The Sun King]

Looks good. However, I do think that Corpse Geometries is to good. Allegiance abilities are normally more circumstantial.

Shrouded in Darkness also seems like a no-brainer.

 

[Sception]

Keep in mind that a number of things have to line up for corpse geometries to trigger. First, endless legions can only happen if one of your summonable units has already been destroyed, so it's not something that's likely to even be possible in the first turn of the game, possibly not even the first two depending on how priority works out. Second, it does require you to have a general on the table, so your opponent has counter play options which they can conceivably put into effect before you've even had a chance to use the ability. Endless legions itself has further counterplay options since you can be zoned out of gravesites. You also make, at most, one endless legions roll per battle round, with only a 1/6 chance that this ability will influence the result of that roll. Between games that are over or effectively over in less than six battle rounds and the likelyhood that you won't even have the option of rolling for this in the first battle round, we're talking about an ability that will /maybe/ matter once every other game, and even then that's only if your opponent isn't able to prevent it outright by assassinating your general.

When it does make a difference, it's pretty good, getting half a slain summonable unit back, but given the limitations on its use I really wouldn't call it any less circumstantial than the subfaction bonuses afforded to the other lineages. I really don't see how these lineage battle traits are out of step.

In an earlier draft of these rules, the corpse geometries ability required a friendly legion of sacrament general to be within 9" of one of your gravesites, not just on the table. I received feedback that the ability was too minor to make that kind of finicky positioning requirement worth the extra mental space, and in retrospect I kind of agreed with that feedback.


...

The shroud of darkness, though, you may be right, and I've been struggling with that item in particular. The previous version of the shroud only worked for ranged attacks, but imposed a -2 penalty on attacks made from more than 8" away. -2 penalties are contrary to basic design in 3e, so I made the -1 apply to melee as well, figuring that would be a neutral trade off, especially as there are other sources of -1 to hit penalty available to the faction that would not stack with this. I also wanted to avoid the previous situation where wristbands of black gold and shroud of darkness imo overlapped too much, as both were artefacts providing extra defense specifically against ranged attacks. That comparison would be an even bigger problem if the shroud of darkness only worked on ranged attacks and was limited to a -1 penalty, making it basically just an objectively worse version of the wristbands, at which point it's not worth the text to print it.

It's been a bit of a hassle, and the version here is the result of multiple revisions already. I'm starting to wonder whether I should just drop one of the two entirely and replace the other with something else, maybe something taken from the old Grand Host list. I'm certainly open to suggestions on this topic.

 

[The Sun King]

You might be right on the Geometries. Would have to playtest it to see how often it comes up. Have you played with it yet?

Regarding shroud of darkness I think you are in the right track thinking of exchanging it for something different.

 

[Sception]

You might be right on the Geometries. Would have to playtest it to see how often it comes up. Have you played with it yet?

Only against myself, and I don't have the competitive background for that to mean anything. I'm hoping to start going to game stores again later this summer, but haven't had the chance yet

 

[The Sun King]

How did the mechanics play out?

 

[Sception]

1k blood & glory, 2e rules, roughly 4x4 table

LoS:

Necro: overwhelming dread, general, bound to the master, shroud (earlier version same as LoN, ie -1 to hit in the shooting phase, -2 from more than 8 inches
Necro: fading vigour
20 skeletons
corpse cart w/ lodestone
20 zombies
5 blood knights - I assumed riders of ruin would effectively allow retreat & charge
2 harbingers w/ halberds


OBR - Null Myriad

Liege - general w/ myriad's trait and artefact
Mason
20 Morteks
5 deathriders
crawler
nexus


Was a smashing victory for the legion of sacrament, but subfaction rules didn't play too much part. Nexus in the middle divided the battle into two halves - general, zombies, cart, blood knights vs. mason & morteks; necro, skeletons, & harbingers vs. riders & liege, with the crawler in the middle of the board to benefit from both liege and mason in the first turn. OBR finish deploying first, opt to go first in the hope of causing some damage with the crawler before LoS have a command point to inspire with. buffs on crawler, units advance slightly while staying in range to cap his objectives, crawlers deals 13 wounds to the zombies after saves & wards, they suffer 5 more from battleshock, dropping them to 2.

LoS turn no spells are successfully cast thanks to nexus/bad rolls/lucky unbind. general & cart start running to join the skeletons, leaving the now 3 zombies to cap their objective, while the hammer units move up. Harbingers roll stupid high charge on 3d6 but are still out of range of the heroes & crawler, so opt to hop over the nexus to tag the morteks rather than engage the deathriders. The blood knights charge the morteks from the other side, splitting them in a pinsir so they couldn't pile in effectively. Morteks take significant damage even through shield wall.

LoS gets double turn. danse on skittles, dread fails - don't remember if it was onbound or bounced by null myriad trait. Blood Knights RoR over morteks and charge the crawler. Harbingers kill more morteks, lose one of their own in return, blood knights smash the crawler outright

Liege and Riders charge the skellies, do a fair bit of damage, but the skellies hold thanks to their revival mechanic, danse, & inspiring presence. blood knights charge them in the back, killing the liege, the last of the morteks finish off the harbinger, but there's not enough left of them to do anything, at this point its clear the blood knights will finish everhting up.

Pretty solid win for LoS, but less due to LoS specifically being good and more down to luck on priority rolls, obr not working terribly well at this points value, me not playing the obr well, and blood knights being beastly. I never lost a summonable unit - the last three zombies sat on their objective for the rest of the game - so legions/geometries never had a chance to come into play. My casting rolls were mostly too bad for +1 to cast to make that much difference, I never had spare command points for 'first of the mortarcs (in my head it would have let the necromancers support each others' side with debuffs, but I needed CP to inspire and the blood knights didn't need debuffs to win combats anyway).

...

also none of it mattered because a few days later the 3e leaks started landing and it became clear the game was going to change too much for 2e testing to really mean anything anyway.

I'll need 3e games, and against real people, but that won't be possible for me personally until later this summer - end of july, into august maybe. And that's assuming I can find players willing to try games against homebrew rules that otherwise stick to matched play and don't cloud results with other homebrew/anvil/narrative rules/etc.

 

[The Sun King]

Very insightful and interesting read, thank you! How do you feel about priority rolls in general? Do you think they are too swingy/impactful?

 

[Sception]

I was one of those who was hoping GW would do away with the double turn in 3e, yeah. Instead they doubled down on it as one of AoS's unique defining features. Which it is, but it's possible for a feature to be uniquely bad.

But whatever, I still thought 2e was good despite the double turn, & 3e has done some stuff to mitigate it.

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

Moved to our new Home-brew section

 

[Sception]

Changes

• cleaned up some wording
  
  
• removed the option to field morghasts. Yeah, they kind of should be there, but they kind of should be in the LoBlood and LoNight subfactions too, and they aren't there either, and as much as possible I want this optional lineage to conform to the design of the official lineages.
  
  
• Black Disciples casting bonus changed from 'Necromancers' to 'Deathmages', in order to apply to new homebrew deathmage units.
  
  
• Corpse geometries changed from a flat +1 on the Endless Legions roll to re-roll 1's on the same roll after official SBGL errata changed Endless Legions to happen at the end of every battleshock phase instead of just your battleshock phase, making the previous version of the battle trait twice as effective as I had intended it to be.
  
  
• Asylumaticae restricted to 'Deathmages' instead of 'Necromancers' to account for new homebres Deathmage units, & it's effects changed (end of hero phase, once per battle), to make it a little clearer, reduce it's power slightly, and distinguish it from other similar items.
  
  
• Shroud of Darkness removed entirely, as I was having difficulty writing a version that was consistent with other 3e design, meaningfully distinct from the Wristbands of Black Gold, and not overpowered. In it's place I added 'Liche-Lord's Staff', which lets the bearer cast an extra spell and multi-cast arcane bolt, in imitation of Arkhan's staff. This also helps lean the artefacts more towards the faction's spellcasting theme.
  
  
• Warscroll Battalion changed to incorporate the new homebrew units, and to avoid awkward wording trying allow LoSacrament armies to include Arkhan in the formation while preventing other SBGL subfactions from using the battalion to backdoor arkhan into non LoSacrament armies. This does break from SBGL design precedent in that the other subfactions don't have unique battalions of their own, but warscroll Battalions in general are narrative-only now, so I'm not too bothered about it.
  
  
• Added two new homebrew hero units:
  
  The 'Sacramental Liche-Lord' is my first draft take on the long desired 'Necromancer on Mortis Engine" hero, meant to fill the roll of centerpiece general for SBGL armies that prefer deathmages over vampires. It's basically a mortis engine that is also a double-cast wizard, with the Reliquary as a spell instead of a 1/battle ability. The Reliquary spell starts off difficult to cast since it is emulating a powerful, 1/game ability on an existing unit, but gets easier to cast as the unit takes damage similar to how older versions of the reliquary rule got stronger in later turns of the game.
  
  The 'Soulblight Arcanovore' is an option for a more LoSacramenty, death-magicky, Necrarch-style vampire lord. Regular Vampire Lord stats, but lower save, weaker weapon, no command ability in exchange for double-cast/unbind and the Deathmage keyword. For thematic reasons, I replaced the normal 'hunger' ability with the 'arcane hunger' variant, and gave the unit a signature spell that complements the magic-eating theme. The hero is meant to provide a midpoint caster hero inbetween regular necromancers and the big centerpiece models like Arkhan or the Sacramental Liche-Lord above.
  
  These units are both at the first draft stage, and I would greatly appreciate suggestions and feedback on any aspect of them - concepts, stats, abilities, signature spells, point costs, and whatever other notes you might have. In particular, do these units successfully fill the gaps of "large centerpiece general for necromancer-theme armies that don't want to run named characters" and "spellcaster specialist vampire infantry hero"? If not, what changes do you think they need to fit those gaps? Would you be tempted to run them in a LoSacrament army using these rules? If these rules were official, would you be tempted to run them in other bloodlines, even though they wouldn't benefit from subfaction rules? Do you think they step on the toes of any units that already exist in the book?

Apart from the homebrew units and warscroll battalion, which are still in an early and entirely untested point in their design, the rest is getting pretty close to finished. Once the rules are at a finalized state I'll move on to start putting together a proper PDF supplement, including putting out a call for anyone with old Necrarch & Legion of Sacrament armies who might want to contribute pictures of their models.

 

[Sception]

Been a busy few months. Still, the white dwarf update for Soulblight Gravelords has inspired some new tinkering with this project. In particular, I've replaced the existing warscroll battalion with this new battalion in the style of 3e core battalions:

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Core Battalion

The following Core Battalion can be used by a Legion of Sacrament army, provided you have your opponent's permission to use rules from this unoffical supplement.

Necromantic Choir: While necromancers are potent spell casters in their own right, multiple deathmages can combine their efforts into a symphony of dark magic far beyond their individual abilities.

Organization:

1 unit chosen from the following list:
Sacramental Liche-Lord
Mortis Engine
2-3 units chosen from the following list:
Necromancer
Soulbight Arcanovore

Abilities:

Magnificent Necromancy: When you pick enhancements for your army, you may choose one additional Spell Lore enhancement.

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I like this more. It's weaker than before, but conveys a similar concept in a simpler format.

 

[Sception]

Hey, remember this project from way back when? Well, it's been fully sidetracked by the tomb kings project, but it i can get that thing back up & running with a working warscroll template then some of that work might then be transferrable to restart this one.

One of the things this project would need to revive itself is reference model pictures for the new units, so here's my take at a 'soulblight arcanovore' - though in retrospect I'm not a huge fan of the name & may change it. The model is based on the warband leader from the Exiled Dead kit for Underworlds, with a head swap from the blood knights kit and the staff device traded out for a banner top & carrion bird from the kavalos deathriders.