AoS - 3rd Sunny's First List with the New Book 2023

[The Sun King]

Ello' fellow undead generals! Here's my first take on a list with the new book. The list is not meant to be super competitive - it is more about the theme and flavour of the army that I want to build. The idea is to have a Legion of Blood knightly army on a crusade. It is an unliving army in the realm of life, the Deathbloom Crusade.

I still have to figure out if I want to use the last 65pts for anything.

Feedback and ideas are welcome!

THE DEATHBLOOM CRUSADE
Soulblight Gravelords
Subfaction: Legion of Blood
Triumph: Inspired
Grand Strategy: Empire of Corpses

LEADERS
Vampire Lady on Zombie Dragon*
General, Trait: Doomed Minions, Artefact: Cloak of Mist and Shadow, Spell: Spirit Gale
440 pts

Vampire Lord*
Spell: Soul Pike
Aspect of the Champion: Tunnel Master
130 pts

Wight King on Skeletal Steed*
160 pts

BATTLELINE
10 Black Knights*
220 pts

10 Black Knights*
220 pts

40 Zombies*
230 pts

OTHER
3 Fell Bats*
85 pts

10 Blood Knights*
460 pts

* Battle Regiment
Total points: 1945
Drops: 1

Cheers,
Sunny

 

[Unas the slayer]

DUe to real life issues (luckily "only" related to work) i still have to take a look at the new battletome...

 

[The Sun King]

Cant wait to hear your thoughts my friend!

I have changed my triumph from Bloodthirsty to Inspired as I think I will have plenty of rerolls for charges through Forward to Victory and the Wight King's aura. Inspired looks really scary on 10 Bloodknights that charge and use All-Out Attack... that is 37 wounds on average against 4+ saves... 22 wounds against 2+ saves

 

[MTD]

Im loving this list. Very thematic with great mobile punch force.
I know your list is thematic, but Im going to a locale tournament this weekend with the same list, except I have added Nefi and a Corps Cart instead of your Felbats, -5 Blood knights and -5 Black knights I just couldnt ressist on the new spells we got. Spirit gale is justso strong at the first two rounds, and then you switch to Curse of Exanguination from the VLoZD

 

[The Sun King]

That's awesome MTD ! Let me know here how the tournament goes!

I like the inclusion of Neffy, but I didn't have the points as I was unwilling to cut in my cav. I like the Corpsecart but in this list I really wanted to have an easy way to get Callous Overlord and rack up those resummoned units to complete my Grand Strategy and to do that I need Fell Bats.

 

[Belladamma Voltaire]

What level of value does reinforcing the blood knights give if you don't mind my asking.

 

[The Sun King]

Thanks for asking! It adds very much in my opinion:

1. Keeps me at 1 drop.
2. Enhances the effect of the +1 to wound from my triumph.
3. Enhances the effect of All-Out Attack.
4. Makes them better recepients of the Rally command.

In the old book Bloodknights struggled a bit in big units because you couldn't get all of them into combat, but with the new 2" reach this risk is removed.

 

[Belladamma Voltaire]

Thanks for confirming.

 

[Unas the slayer]

Cant wait to hear your thoughts my friend!

I have changed my triumph from Bloodthirsty to Inspired as I think I will have plenty of rerolls for charges through Forward to Victory and the Wight King's aura. Inspired looks really scary on 10 Bloodknights that charge and use All-Out Attack... that is 37 wounds on average against 4+ saves... 22 wounds against 2+ saves

Just started reading it.

Man, it seems really good... and I'm already in love with Legion of Blood!

 

[The Sun King]

Just started reading it.

Man, it seems really good... and I'm already in love with Legion of Blood!

I know riiight? Legion of Blood is my favourite, but Legion of Night, Vyrkos and Kastelai also seem cool and strong. Sadly, it seems Avengorii got left by the wayside again.

 

[MTD]

That's awesome MTD ! Let me know here how the tournament goes!

I like the inclusion of Neffy, but I didn't have the points as I was unwilling to cut in my cav. I like the Corpsecart but in this list I really wanted to have an easy way to get Callous Overlord and rack up those resummoned units to complete my Grand Strategy and to do that I need Fell Bats.

Hey SunKing, sadly my tournament was suspended/postponed as there were too little participants. I was so hyped by the new book and new ways to play the army, I even prepared well with tactics... Ohh well, there will always be a next one I guess

 

[The Sun King]

What a shame MTD - well, it just means you have more time to plan and practice!

 

[Bestaltan]

I know riiight? Legion of Blood is my favourite, but Legion of Night, Vyrkos and Kastelai also seem cool and strong. Sadly, it seems Avengorii got left by the wayside again.

I have a gut feeling that Night is gonna end up being the standard tournament list, once people get the hang of it. Sooooo many tech and gotcha options. For me though, Blood is just more fun to play. I don't have to think as hard.

 

[The Sun King]

I think your gut feeling is right Bestaltan . Legion of Blood with Neffy does give some tactical things to think about though, but Manny is definitely the tech choice.

 

[Unas the slayer]

I know riiight? Legion of Blood is my favourite, but Legion of Night, Vyrkos and Kastelai also seem cool and strong. Sadly, it seems Avengorii got left by the wayside again.

Which is a huge pity.
I love big monsters.

 

[The Sun King]

Yeah I couldnt agree more. Especially now that the new warscrolls for Vengorian Lord and Lauka Vai are focused on buffing monsters... it is the classic issue of pushing shit uphill.

I can see a lone Zombie Dragon with its deepstrike ability as a decent tech choice, but it is so pitiful in combat that you would need to get the most out of it with its breath and monstrous rampages (the swallow ability from Avengorii is admittedly good).

 

[Unas the slayer]

Cant wait to hear your thoughts my friend!

trying to put together some idea...

 

[The Sun King]

I would really like to find room for Neffy, but then I end up being 2 drop :

- Army Faction: Soulblight Gravelords
- Army Type: Legion of Blood
- Grand Strategy: Lust for Domination
- Triumph: Inspired

LEADERS
Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon (440)
- General
- Command Traits: Doomed Minions
- Deathlance
- Artefacts of Power: Cloak of Mists and Shadows
- Spells: Spirit Gale

Neferata (390)*
- Spells: Waste Away

Wight King on Skeletal Steed (160)*

BATTLELINE
10x Black Knights (220)*
5x Black Knights (110)*
20x Deadwalker Zombies (115)*

OTHER
3x Fell Bats (85)*
10x Blood Knights (460)*

CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: 1980/2000

 

[MTD]

Wow, The Sun King, I was thinkering with the same list lately! I can feel your struggle. It is impossible to have Nefi and a VLoZD in the same list and be a 1 drop. This kinda defeats the purpose of Nefi's "Motrach of Blood" trait in my opinion. I still havnt found a propper way to get full use of it. I would love to hear others thoughts on that ReDeployment abilitie

 

[The Sun King]

Awesome you are thinking along the same lines! I will play this list tomorrow and I will let you know what I find.

Why do you feel the Mortarch of Blood ability is wasted if the list is a 2 drop? In my view it just helps you adapt if you face a list that outdrops you?

 

[MTD]

Great to hear that. I would love and update on your game.
I find that in my games, if my oponent whole army is a 1 drop, thre isnt much to redeply since his whole army is there and I have placed 0-1 units, so it doesnt matter. It could only help if im 2+ drops against an oponen witha also 2+ drops where we can have a deploy / counter deploy game.
And as i was writing this, I just remembered, that "Mortarch of Blood" actually allows you to redeploy in the 9inch noman's land zone on some Battle Plans and grab the objective before the first battle round or get an 100% Black Knights charge with their 12move + 6charge. So Im just defeating my whole point

 

[The Sun King]

Hahaha yeah I was about to point out exactly that . However not all missions allow that but in some that is really great.

 

[The Sun King]

So I ran the list against a friend who played Vyrkos with 120 zombies.

Spoiler: Vyrkos list

- Army Faction: Soulblight Gravelords
- Army Type: Vyrkos
- Grand Strategy: Lust for Domination
- Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS
Vampire Lord (130)**
- General
- Command Traits: Spoor Trackers
- Artefacts of Power: Ulfenkarni Phylactery
- Spells: Soulpike, Vile Transference
- Aspects of the Champion: Leadership of the Alpha
Vampire Lord (130)**
- Spells: Soulpike, Vile Transference
Belladamma Volga (170)**
- Spells: Soulpike, Vile Transference
Necromancer (90)***
- Spells: Fading Vigour, Prison of Grief
Torgillius the Chamberlain (125)***
- Spells: Prison of Grief, Waste Away
BATTLELINE
Deadwalker Zombies (230)*
Deadwalker Zombies (230)*
Deadwalker Zombies (230)*
OTHER
Blood Knights (460)**
- Standard Bearer
- Templar Lance
Corpse Cart (70)**
- Unholy Lodestone
- Corpse Goad
Corpse Cart (70)**
- Unholy Lodestone
- Corpse Goad
ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS
1 x Emerald Lifeswarm (60)
CORE BATTALIONS
*Galletian Veterans
**Battle Regiment
***Command Entourage
- Magnificent

TOTAL POINTS: 1995/2000

We played Battlelines Drawn and I think that was to my opponent’s advantage because he would have an easy time outbodying me on the table quarters. I outdropped him so I tool first turn. My reasoning for doing that was that I did not want him to get out on the board and start scoring, I wanted to pin him in his deployment... and so I did. Neffy, VLOZD and my Bloodknights turned 40 zombies, a Corpse Cart and 10 Bloodknights into a bloody pulp in the first battle round. Then I won the priority roll going into second and my opponent conceded.

Some unsorted take aways:

• Neffy's Mortarch of Blood ability is really strong when you play an offensive list. In Battlelines Drawn it meant that I could deploy my threats 9-10" from my opponent’s army.
• Doomed Minions are broken on a VLOZD... combine that with Premeditated Violence and units just melt away.
• The Hunger! Holy moly is it strong on units like Neffy and the VLoZD, healing 6 wounds a turn is massive.
• My opponent’s list really wanted to get out of Gravesites but I denied that with Fell Bats and my Black Knights. Really useful to have so fast units.

Cheers,
Sunny

 

[Bestaltan]

Doomed minions, is really, really good. That said, I'm starting to warm up to tailored downfall. Being able to make some of these super powerful heroes fight last is pretty potent as well.

 

[The Sun King]

Tailored Downfall is good. The issue, from an internal balance perspective, is that Doomed Minions is more reliable, hits more targets AND has a stronger effect. Tailored Downfall does have merit if you are list tailoring ( ) against something you often face and have issued dealing with. But from a competetive angle Doomed Minions just seems so much stronger.