The 9th Age The 9th Age version 1.0

[Kol Saresk]

I didn't think to ask this earlier, but it is merely a question of curiosity.

In 6th Edition, the Blood Dragons were allowed to cast spells as normal even though they were wearing armor and could go full-steam and get as mqny power levels as they wanted, but they were penalized a die for casting in order to represent that while they could do just as much necromancy as everyone else, they weren't as adept in controlling it.

Here, instead they are only allowed to buy one more power level than what they start out with. I'm just curious as to thinking behind it. Did it just feel more thematic of the warrior archetype to everyone involved?

 

[Mad 'At]

We did consider giving them a -1 modifier To Cast, which could have worked quite nicely balancewise. Would probably have made them a little more expensive though. The main reason we went for limiting them to only a single additional magic level instead was the hero vampire. As you yourself has pointed out, the army is quite heavily based on the 6th edition armybook. In there the hero vampires couldn't be wizards at all, except for Necrarch who could spend their entire magic point allowance on a power to make them a lvl1. We did want the hero to have the option of becoming a lvl2, but unlike 7th and 8th edition we also wanted it possible to field them without magic. We felt that a lvl2 Brotherhood of the Dragon or Strigoi hero was a bit odd and choose to limit them to lvl1.

 

[Quinten]

On the topic of Blood dragons I feel they are very reliant on red-fury; when I initially saw that you guys brought bloodlines back I was excited to run 3+ red-fury touting blood dragons at my opponent but this is simply not an option. If you were to take Blood Dragons as your bloodline I wouldn't see the point of more than one vampire.

This all being said the entire project is a big step up from eighth in a lot of ways so keep up the good work.

 

[Aranei]

On Sunday, I played a game of 9th age with my friend, who plays Skaven.
Observations:

1) I tried to give Skullsplitter to my Master Necromancer, but for 40 pt it feels like trash, compared to skaven weapon teams for 65 pts who are much more shootier.

2) Using ethereal units against skaven is hard, since most of their special weaponry (including globadier's globes and poisoned wind mortars) have magic attacks.

3) However, skaven have low Ld and are vulnerable to Fear and Terror. The Fear in 9th age currently gives an extra -1 Ld to units in btb contact, making skavens' already crappy Ld even lower. And the Terror can do wonders, I had a block of 20 zombies with a cairn wraith hero who just tried to charge anything within 16" (their max charge distance), forcing Panic tests. Now I am thinking of adding a wraith to every squad. BSB rerolls were the only thing that prevented skaven from running away from the table...

4) ...that's why having Lore of Death is very useful - you can snipe bsb!

5) But the Doomwheel is Immune to psychology, so you have to grind it down (or, more likely, it will grind you). My Blood Dragon vampire on Abyssal Terror was grinded that way, despite his 3+/4++.

6) Skeletons with halberds are a very solid Core choice. Apply some necromancy buffs, and they can kill most targets. Also take blocks of 40. They feel like cheaper, squishier grave guards, which is good. No more losing helplessly against chaos warriors and the like.

7) Skaven assassin is a powerhouse, for around 160 pts he deals a lot of Multiple Wounds (1d3) attacks at S 4, and he can take a potion of strength just in case he meets a dragon (so my Varghulf was instagibbed). He easily kills any multiple-wounds models in the game, be it a Bloodthirster or anything.

Overall, many units in all armies has changed significantly compared to 8th ed. It will take time to get used to it.

 

[Mad 'At]

@Aranei: Glad to hear you gave it a try, I hope you had a good time

Some comments on you observations:

1) The Skullsplitter is not awesome, and it is probably better in an army with a bit more ranged threat. I think it could be used quite nicely with Path of Fire, and use it to clean up chaff units that you failed to blast of with Fireballs and Raging Fire.

5) Much like 8th then Those Electric Discharges are nasty.

 

[Aranei]

@Aranei: Glad to hear you gave it a try, I hope you had a good time

Some comments on you observations:

1) The Skullsplitter is not awesome, and it is probably better in an army with a bit more ranged threat. I think it could be used quite nicely with Path of Fire, and use it to clean up chaff units that you failed to blast of with Fireballs and Raging Fire.

5) Much like 8th then Those Electric Discharges are nasty.

Thanks, it was surely fun.

How do you think - the terror spam is a viable tactic or not?

 

[Mad 'At]

@Aranei: Terror spam is probably a decent tactics, though it does suffer a bit of the same problem as 8th with a lot of units (and some armies) being immune to it. One notable change that makes it better though is that Fear don't make you immune to Terror (just to Fear). It is also easier to get a negative leadership modifier in on the target than in 8th, since all the Death spells do it and not just one.

 

[Aranei]

@Aranei: Terror spam is probably a decent tactics, though it does suffer a bit of the same problem as 8th with a lot of units (and some armies) being immune to it. One notable change that makes it better though is that Fear don't make you immune to Terror (just to Fear). It is also easier to get a negative leadership modifier in on the target than in 8th, since all the Death spells do it and not just one.

I played against Skaven again, and my perspective has changed.

1) Skaven have that ability that gives them +1 Ld for each extra rank, up to +3. Which, combined with Inspiring Prescence, means that you are looking at Ld 10 skaven boxes until you kill a lot of them, or kill the general, or both. Which means neither Terror nor Soul Steal are very effective in early game (and you will likely no need in them in the late game).

2) Since Doomwheel's most scary weapon - the lightning - deals multiple wonds (d3), monsters or charactes riding monsters are not very good at stopping it. However 1-wound infantry is ok. Now I am tinkering with a squad of 15 ghouls with a Cairn Wraith, they actually defeated the wheel last game.

3) Necrarch lord are definitely overprice, not going to take one into list until something changes.

 

[Quinten]

Have you tried taking blood magic?

 

[Aranei]

Have you tried taking blood magic?

No, I haven't. Is it worth it?

 

[Quinten]

Yes. The re-roll is sweet and with the wounds gain backed from the signature spell the disadvantage is meaningless. That and the vampire becomes very resistant to the negative effects of miscasts. I don't know about taking one without blood magic tho.