Well, that's the full warscrolls.
Initial thoughts:
Battle traits: I don't like how they force you to bunch up around your heroes, that doesn't feel very fluffy for bonereapers, but I really can't complain because these abilities look super good and flexible.
Heroic abilities: two very good ones - one 12" aura of -2 to charge rolls for enemies within, one 12" aura of -1 to wound rolls for shooting attacks against friendly units wholly within. one less good 'cannot be hit on natural rolls of 1-3'. Many of the strongest attacks already need 4+ top hit, and none of our generic heroes have enough wounds that this is likely to make a huge difference to their survivability. Maybe if we get a big monster riding generic hero centerpiece in the future.
Artefacts: meh. I agree with rob that the best is probably a 12" aura debuffing enemy control scores. The 5+ ward is probably also decent, especially with how immortis work now. So not a terrible selection, just not really anything to write home about.
Spells: good overall. somewhat limited range, which had me thinking 'ooh, Arkhan's going to be really useful then' but arkhan lost his signature ability to increase spell ranges. Still good lore though. drain vitality is a brutal debuff, enhance nadirite is a fantastic unlimited buff spell. Shard storm's a so-so horde breaker, a bit situational but you will probably still try to cast it when facing down units of 40 clanrats, zombies, or gits. Two fantastic spells, including one unlimited one, plus an ok but situational third spell is a very solid lore imo.
Manifestations: look solid overall to me. nightmare predator's just a throw away bit of extra damage that maybe comes back on its own when it dies. Bird is a huge debuff to nearby enemy infantry control scores, a bit situational but even outside of that situation its an extra body with a few more attacks. Shrieker debuffs nearby enemy ward saves - again a bit situational but a big effect when it applies, and when it doesn't it still puts out some shooty attacks. I haven't looked at all the generic manifestations too closely, but they'd have to be pretty darn good for me to take them over these. Given the faction's good wizard options and good but short range spell lore, I'm pretty sure I'll be casting or at least trying to cast most of these first turn, especially if I'm forced to go first that round.
Battle Formations: Pretty good selection. With good spell lore, good manifestations, and multiple good wizards to choose from, the +1 to cast for infantry wizards (everyone except nagash and arkhan) is probably the default best, even if it is a bit boring. Crawlers seem like they're going to be a faction defining unit again, so the one that buffs up to three of them (so long as they're in your territory and didn't move) is also probably real good. Kavalos Deathriders seem good, so the one that lets you scout move 3 cavalry units also a real option - if the opponent tries to give you the first turn they could find themselves bogged down in combat with a bunch of super resilient cavalry before they even get to go. Only the mortek guard one seems iffy - needing a mortek unit to die first, then needing to roll a 5+ on your turn to get half the unit back just doesn't seem like its going to happen every game, especially when they're so slow you probably won't get them into any fights turn one, and resiliant enough that they're probably not dying turn two, so maybe you might start rolling for this turn three? Maybe not even then? And mortek don't exactly look like the strongest unit to build around to begin with? Even if you do build around mortek guard, they benefit heavily from our spell lore, so you'd probably go for the casting bonus instead. Still 3/4 good formations isn't bad, and even the army build that would otherwise want to take the bad one has another option that's still good for them, so yeah, pretty good selection overall.
Terrain: that sure is a bone tithe nexus. Does what a nexus do. with the potential ability to half an enemy units movement, I think it's going to be a higher priority target than rob does, but I could be wrong. Huge base, so hard to defend, but tons of wounds and a decent save. If the opponent is burning damage on this, I'm probably happy.
Individual warscrolls - no points values yet, so these are just first impressions. Whether any of these units are actually good or not will depend heavily on points costs, whether the heroes are good will depend on what units they can take in their battalions, etc.
Nagash: he's huge, cast 9 (with a good, versatile, recastable spell to make that mean something), +2 to cast, immune to miscast (though it turns off his +2), brings back an entire slain unit 1/game, hand of dust, 5+ ward - 4+ if immortis nearby. This is a very solid Nagash scroll, absolutely does justice to the big guy, and since he gets the obr keyword he can use & benefit from relentless discipline. Whether he's good... well, points cost will certainly be an issue, as it feels like he'll be back up around a thousand again, and in OBR that really limits what else you can take with him due the the high cost of OBR units. Then again, that same high cost means his ability to revive a whole unit, and restore models to multiple units in the same turn, also goes farther. I think he'll be ~better~ in FEC, where he'll have an easy time racking up noble deed points to trigger feeding frenzy thanks to his nine casts, and a big base to spread the bonus around, and unlike ushoran has the speed to keep up with some of the faction's faster and deadlier units. But I could still see him seeing play in OBR... again, points cost allowing.
Katakros: significantly toned down from 2e/3e - many abilities gone, others reduced from 24" to 12", but still super good. Interacts powerfully with the new relentless discipline, can buff the save of 3 separate units until your next hero phase, which is worse than 2e/3e but still a big deal in an edition where save stacking in general is very much reduced, and in many cases rend has been reduced as well. I don't like that he loses his own attacks for being wounded, he should lose retinue attacks. They sacrifice their lives to protect him, not the other way around. So a bit of a flavor loss, but still looks very good. some anti-synergy with mortek guard, sadly, but the popular 3e 'Katakros + Immortis' builds should still work well in 4e. His ability to mess with enemy command abilities is super unreliable, but incredibly brutal when it happens. This is a real Mortarch/faction boss here, imo on par with Ushoran in terms of everything he does for the army and the way he interacts with and enhances the army's battle traits.
Arkhan: still a fast moving triple caster, only +1 to cast now but casting bonuses reduced in general. So he's still really good. But he lost his signature ability to increase spell ranges, and he no longer heals other units. instead he heals himself a single wound each time he casts a spell, and he has effectively a 4+ spell ignore aura - with no more subfaction rules I guess they chose to put the null myriad flavor on arkhan himself, displacing some of his own old rules. Still looks very good, but probably not as good as 2e/3e, in particular for the loss of healing, which was a major part of his kit.
Vokmortian: I love this guy now. Voice of nagash is a brutal debuff, albeit at very limited range, but then again you want to get within 12" for drain vitality anyway. Mortal contract is neat and techy, maybe not great but the longer range gives him something else to cast when outside of 12". Even if you never use it, he's still an infantry 2 caster with access to good spell and manifestation lores.
Zandtos: If he's in combat with an enemy unit then all non-hero obr units wholly within 12" get +1 attack. This is, afaict, the only + attacks buff in the army now, which makes zandtos very much worth considering. Otherwise fast, sort of tough for a small hero, trample over enemy infantry, potential scout move, good relentless discipline platform especially if running kavalos.
Liege: solid, fast moving, large base platform for hero traits, artefacts, and relentless discipline, trample over enemy infantry, cavalry for potential scout move, chain activation with kavalos and a solid enough melee profile that you even care. The question is whether all that is enough to compare to Zandtos's +1 attack buff. Not sure.
Soulmason: can cast 'strike first', but with an army this tanky I'm not sure you need it. Even if you don't, he's a double caster generic infantry wizard, so a solid alternative/partner to vokmortian and a strong option to carry your hero trait & artefact if going for the +1 to cast formation.
Boneshaper: he heals, and you don't get much of that in this army anymore, so you probably take one. If your general can take heroes as units in their battalion maybe you even take two. No signature spell, but the lore has a good unlimited spell so eh.
Ossifector: I don't see a use for this guy, unless you have to take him to access crawlers. Hopefully not, because imo he's bad.
Soulreaper: did they square the circle? I don't know. -1 to wound to melee attacks for enemy units in combat with him, but he's a fragile infantry wizard so I don't see how he's living very long if you try to use it. Chain attack activations with mortek guard, but his attack profile isn't respectable enough to care, as even with the big scythe and need to be in melee the devs still gave him an infantry wizard's attack profile. probably bad, but -1 to wound is a real debuff so maybe not.
Overall a solid selection of heroes - ossifector and soulreaper not withstanding.
Kavalos: love em. Fast (for obr), tough, trample over infantry, potential scout move, love the retreat & charge relentless discipline ability. no anti-synergies, just good, don't have to jump through a bunch of hoops to try to make them good like morteks.
Morteks: I'm skeptical - unimpressive combat statline, slow as dirt, anti-synergy with katakros. Maybe alright buffed up with spells & supported by heroes and/or harvesters? There's a lot of support options, so maybe you can push them hard enough to make them good, but I don't like how many hoops you have to jump through.
Warcry unit: don't hit hard at all, but with decent speed (for bonereapers) and deep strike they could have some utility if they're cheap enough.
Stalkers: with damage 1 I just don't think they hit hard enough, and loss of their old charge ability really hurts their mobility too. none of their stances really make up for this.
Immortis: I was expecting a bigger nerf than to stalkers... but no, these guys are still pretty good. 3 attacks rend 1 damage 2 is imo a better attack profile than stalkers, also better save, and they give +1 ward to nearby OBR heroes. Great synergy with katakros - the big man gives them 2+ save, they give him 5+ ward - 4+ in combat with impenetrable ranks, and they fight decently.
Archai: lost their ability to mess with commands, gained a better save, a 3+ ward vs. magic, and if they make any ward saves (this one or normal ones) - then they can hand a nearby OBR wizard +1 to cast for a turn. Potential synergy with arkhan/nagash, especially since they're also fast & flying to keep up with them? Also 2+ armor if targeted by Katakros, so something to consider. They look decent, a bit techy, harbingers probably better
Harbingers: again no command messing, but they get 3d6 charge and once per turn one unit of harvesters can benefit from relentless discipline even if they aren't in range of the hero, which is just a really cool way to interact with the battle traits for a unit that's thematically supposed to be ranging ahead. really good design there imo.
Crawler: we've seen it, it looks really good, unless the points are absurd I expect 2 to 3 crawler lists to very much be a thing again in 4e under this index ruleset.
Harvester: Wants to support mortek guard with some healing, some damage, and 5 control. Healing depends on enemy models within 3" dying, which is not super reliable. Mortek guard are kind of iffy to begin with, to the point that I'm not sure you take them, and if you don't then you aren't taking this either. I don't want to be too down on it, as the scroll looks pretty fluffy. Hopefully points costs pan out in favor mortek guard and harvesters, but I fear we're in for another year or two of OBR armies built on kavalos and/or immortis as the main backbone units.
Heroic abilities: two very good ones - one 12" aura of -2 to charge rolls for enemies within, one 12" aura of -1 to wound rolls for shooting attacks against friendly units wholly within. one less good 'cannot be hit on natural rolls of 1-3'. Many of the strongest attacks already need 4+ top hit, and none of our generic heroes have enough wounds that this is likely to make a huge difference to their survivability. Maybe if we get a big monster riding generic hero centerpiece in the future.
Artefacts: meh. I agree with rob that the best is probably a 12" aura debuffing enemy control scores. The 5+ ward is probably also decent, especially with how immortis work now. So not a terrible selection, just not really anything to write home about.
Spells: good overall. somewhat limited range, which had me thinking 'ooh, Arkhan's going to be really useful then' but arkhan lost his signature ability to increase spell ranges. Still good lore though. drain vitality is a brutal debuff, enhance nadirite is a fantastic unlimited buff spell. Shard storm's a so-so horde breaker, a bit situational but you will probably still try to cast it when facing down units of 40 clanrats, zombies, or gits. Two fantastic spells, including one unlimited one, plus an ok but situational third spell is a very solid lore imo.
Manifestations: look solid overall to me. nightmare predator's just a throw away bit of extra damage that maybe comes back on its own when it dies. Bird is a huge debuff to nearby enemy infantry control scores, a bit situational but even outside of that situation its an extra body with a few more attacks. Shrieker debuffs nearby enemy ward saves - again a bit situational but a big effect when it applies, and when it doesn't it still puts out some shooty attacks. I haven't looked at all the generic manifestations too closely, but they'd have to be pretty darn good for me to take them over these. Given the faction's good wizard options and good but short range spell lore, I'm pretty sure I'll be casting or at least trying to cast most of these first turn, especially if I'm forced to go first that round.
Battle Formations: Pretty good selection. With good spell lore, good manifestations, and multiple good wizards to choose from, the +1 to cast for infantry wizards (everyone except nagash and arkhan) is probably the default best, even if it is a bit boring. Crawlers seem like they're going to be a faction defining unit again, so the one that buffs up to three of them (so long as they're in your territory and didn't move) is also probably real good. Kavalos Deathriders seem good, so the one that lets you scout move 3 cavalry units also a real option - if the opponent tries to give you the first turn they could find themselves bogged down in combat with a bunch of super resilient cavalry before they even get to go. Only the mortek guard one seems iffy - needing a mortek unit to die first, then needing to roll a 5+ on your turn to get half the unit back just doesn't seem like its going to happen every game, especially when they're so slow you probably won't get them into any fights turn one, and resiliant enough that they're probably not dying turn two, so maybe you might start rolling for this turn three? Maybe not even then? And mortek don't exactly look like the strongest unit to build around to begin with? Even if you do build around mortek guard, they benefit heavily from our spell lore, so you'd probably go for the casting bonus instead. Still 3/4 good formations isn't bad, and even the army build that would otherwise want to take the bad one has another option that's still good for them, so yeah, pretty good selection overall.
Terrain: that sure is a bone tithe nexus. Does what a nexus do. with the potential ability to half an enemy units movement, I think it's going to be a higher priority target than rob does, but I could be wrong. Huge base, so hard to defend, but tons of wounds and a decent save. If the opponent is burning damage on this, I'm probably happy.
Individual warscrolls - no points values yet, so these are just first impressions. Whether any of these units are actually good or not will depend heavily on points costs, whether the heroes are good will depend on what units they can take in their battalions, etc.
Nagash: he's huge, cast 9 (with a good, versatile, recastable spell to make that mean something), +2 to cast, immune to miscast (though it turns off his +2), brings back an entire slain unit 1/game, hand of dust, 5+ ward - 4+ if immortis nearby. This is a very solid Nagash scroll, absolutely does justice to the big guy, and since he gets the obr keyword he can use & benefit from relentless discipline. Whether he's good... well, points cost will certainly be an issue, as it feels like he'll be back up around a thousand again, and in OBR that really limits what else you can take with him due the the high cost of OBR units. Then again, that same high cost means his ability to revive a whole unit, and restore models to multiple units in the same turn, also goes farther. I think he'll be ~better~ in FEC, where he'll have an easy time racking up noble deed points to trigger feeding frenzy thanks to his nine casts, and a big base to spread the bonus around, and unlike ushoran has the speed to keep up with some of the faction's faster and deadlier units. But I could still see him seeing play in OBR... again, points cost allowing.
Katakros: significantly toned down from 2e/3e - many abilities gone, others reduced from 24" to 12", but still super good. Interacts powerfully with the new relentless discipline, can buff the save of 3 separate units until your next hero phase, which is worse than 2e/3e but still a big deal in an edition where save stacking in general is very much reduced, and in many cases rend has been reduced as well. I don't like that he loses his own attacks for being wounded, he should lose retinue attacks. They sacrifice their lives to protect him, not the other way around. So a bit of a flavor loss, but still looks very good. some anti-synergy with mortek guard, sadly, but the popular 3e 'Katakros + Immortis' builds should still work well in 4e. His ability to mess with enemy command abilities is super unreliable, but incredibly brutal when it happens. This is a real Mortarch/faction boss here, imo on par with Ushoran in terms of everything he does for the army and the way he interacts with and enhances the army's battle traits.
Arkhan: still a fast moving triple caster, only +1 to cast now but casting bonuses reduced in general. So he's still really good. But he lost his signature ability to increase spell ranges, and he no longer heals other units. instead he heals himself a single wound each time he casts a spell, and he has effectively a 4+ spell ignore aura - with no more subfaction rules I guess they chose to put the null myriad flavor on arkhan himself, displacing some of his own old rules. Still looks very good, but probably not as good as 2e/3e, in particular for the loss of healing, which was a major part of his kit.
Vokmortian: I love this guy now. Voice of nagash is a brutal debuff, albeit at very limited range, but then again you want to get within 12" for drain vitality anyway. Mortal contract is neat and techy, maybe not great but the longer range gives him something else to cast when outside of 12". Even if you never use it, he's still an infantry 2 caster with access to good spell and manifestation lores.
Zandtos: If he's in combat with an enemy unit then all non-hero obr units wholly within 12" get +1 attack. This is, afaict, the only + attacks buff in the army now, which makes zandtos very much worth considering. Otherwise fast, sort of tough for a small hero, trample over enemy infantry, potential scout move, good relentless discipline platform especially if running kavalos.
Liege: solid, fast moving, large base platform for hero traits, artefacts, and relentless discipline, trample over enemy infantry, cavalry for potential scout move, chain activation with kavalos and a solid enough melee profile that you even care. The question is whether all that is enough to compare to Zandtos's +1 attack buff. Not sure.
Soulmason: can cast 'strike first', but with an army this tanky I'm not sure you need it. Even if you don't, he's a double caster generic infantry wizard, so a solid alternative/partner to vokmortian and a strong option to carry your hero trait & artefact if going for the +1 to cast formation.
Boneshaper: he heals, and you don't get much of that in this army anymore, so you probably take one. If your general can take heroes as units in their battalion maybe you even take two. No signature spell, but the lore has a good unlimited spell so eh.
Ossifector: I don't see a use for this guy, unless you have to take him to access crawlers. Hopefully not, because imo he's bad.
Soulreaper: did they square the circle? I don't know. -1 to wound to melee attacks for enemy units in combat with him, but he's a fragile infantry wizard so I don't see how he's living very long if you try to use it. Chain attack activations with mortek guard, but his attack profile isn't respectable enough to care, as even with the big scythe and need to be in melee the devs still gave him an infantry wizard's attack profile. probably bad, but -1 to wound is a real debuff so maybe not.
Overall a solid selection of heroes - ossifector and soulreaper not withstanding.
Kavalos: love em. Fast (for obr), tough, trample over infantry, potential scout move, love the retreat & charge relentless discipline ability. no anti-synergies, just good, don't have to jump through a bunch of hoops to try to make them good like morteks.
Morteks: I'm skeptical - unimpressive combat statline, slow as dirt, anti-synergy with katakros. Maybe alright buffed up with spells & supported by heroes and/or harvesters? There's a lot of support options, so maybe you can push them hard enough to make them good, but I don't like how many hoops you have to jump through.
Warcry unit: don't hit hard at all, but with decent speed (for bonereapers) and deep strike they could have some utility if they're cheap enough.
Stalkers: with damage 1 I just don't think they hit hard enough, and loss of their old charge ability really hurts their mobility too. none of their stances really make up for this.
Immortis: I was expecting a bigger nerf than to stalkers... but no, these guys are still pretty good. 3 attacks rend 1 damage 2 is imo a better attack profile than stalkers, also better save, and they give +1 ward to nearby OBR heroes. Great synergy with katakros - the big man gives them 2+ save, they give him 5+ ward - 4+ in combat with impenetrable ranks, and they fight decently.
Archai: lost their ability to mess with commands, gained a better save, a 3+ ward vs. magic, and if they make any ward saves (this one or normal ones) - then they can hand a nearby OBR wizard +1 to cast for a turn. Potential synergy with arkhan/nagash, especially since they're also fast & flying to keep up with them? Also 2+ armor if targeted by Katakros, so something to consider. They look decent, a bit techy, harbingers probably better
Harbingers: again no command messing, but they get 3d6 charge and once per turn one unit of harvesters can benefit from relentless discipline even if they aren't in range of the hero, which is just a really cool way to interact with the battle traits for a unit that's thematically supposed to be ranging ahead. really good design there imo.
Crawler: we've seen it, it looks really good, unless the points are absurd I expect 2 to 3 crawler lists to very much be a thing again in 4e under this index ruleset.
Harvester: Wants to support mortek guard with some healing, some damage, and 5 control. Healing depends on enemy models within 3" dying, which is not super reliable. Mortek guard are kind of iffy to begin with, to the point that I'm not sure you take them, and if you don't then you aren't taking this either. I don't want to be too down on it, as the scroll looks pretty fluffy. Hopefully points costs pan out in favor mortek guard and harvesters, but I fear we're in for another year or two of OBR armies built on kavalos and/or immortis as the main backbone units.
Notably, though not unexpectedly, the Underworlds Warband is not included, as they're getting kicked to legends. Unfortunate, as I think they're pretty cool.
All in all, I'm fairly happy with these. Obviously a lot comes down to points costs, and which heroes are allowed to take what units in their battalions, and we don't know that yet. But all in all some decent looking scrolls that mostly do what they should. I wish mortek guard looked a bit better, but I might just be underestimating them. And I do think stalkers really need damage 2, and imo the soulreaper needs a better combat profile - both offensively and defensively. So not all great, but mostly very solid all around.
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