Surprise! That wasn’t all! In addition to the General’s Handbook, Battlescroll and Point Changes there were FAQs released yesterday for several armies. With the huge number of concerns about some of the newer books that have come out it was time for seeing some nerfs and, maybe, some buffs to weaker armies? Let’s dive in together. You can find the FAQs here.

Some of the rules from the Battlescroll are repeated here, which seems…odd? I assumed the Battlescroll was an attempt to test some rules before committing to them as full FAQs, since some stuff shows up in both, and some only show up in one. Anyway if you want to see our coverage of those changes you can follow the link here.

Core Rules

The Battlescroll changes all made their way in here, so there is that. The most important change is to Attack Sequence which addresses the headache that is the fight on death ability and especially when two fight on death units start killing each other.

The short version of this is that a unit fights normally, then the enemy unit has their models fight on death, and then the original unit may fight once with their dead models and then the chain ends. This does not bounce back and forth until there are no dead models. I don’t think this necessarily holds up by the Rules as Written but it’s a necessary sanity check to keep such engagements from bouncing back and forth forever.

Some other notable changes is that Garrisoning in a terrain piece counts as contesting it for control. This is actually really important for the Towers of the Tundra mission in the new handbook, which is likely how they finally noticed that is a problem.

The rest of the changes are more minor, including that line of sight also blocks spells and endless spells that target a point on the field and that contradicting abilities that modify attacks characteristics fall under the Simultaneous Effects rule where the player who’s turn it is is applied first, and then the opponent’s.

General’s Handbook 2023-24

Yeah, turns out there are a lot of errata for the General’s Handbook as well. A few bits here and there snuck through that needed clarity.

First the FAQs, due to the lack of clarity on the order that enhancements can be taken, one could argue you could take the Nullstone Adornments (which require you have no wizards) and then take an Arcane Tome. The ruling says no (And this includes the Spell in a Bottle, too) , and seems to generally agree with the idea that you have to do one final check after list building to make sure there are no contradictions in your list.

Some other odds and ends include that Primal Dice are modifiers, and can’t benefit certain abilities like Soulblight’s enhanced effects on a 9+. This actually brings up a contradiction, and the Primal Dice mechanic was rewritten to clarify that Primal Miscasts happen when 2 dice amongst the dice are 1s, rather than the unmodified roll. The same rule applies for rolling two 6s to get an auto success. In short they probably realized right after sending it to the printers that having 3 or more dice for an unmodified roll is bad idea for a lot of armies and would bust certain armies wide open. Making them a modifier is better.

The Core Battalion changes merely specify that companions don’t count as mounts for purposes of these Battalions, which is in line with the Galetian Champion decision made last season.

The Battle Tactic Endless Expropriation had the qualifiers that an Endless Spell is stolen or gone wild removed. For most armies this won’t change anything, but the previous form made it way too easy for Tzeentch and Seraphon. They didn’t need another free lunch. The Battle Tactic Magical Mayhem was also changed so that if a unit is destroyed from a spell, not just damage, so abilities like the Purple Sun can still do it if they destroyed a model.

Towers in the Tundra was loosened up to now only require you capture the wizard tower, you don’t need to garrison inside of it. It was quite possible to get into a situation where the terrain piece chosen to be a Wizard’s Tower was not garrisonable, which meant you could deny the enemy the chance to take yours.

Two clarifications to Endless Spells is that Flaming Skull didn’t clarify how exactly you’re meant to dispel it if the model is no longer on the field. The answer is you measure from the unit now. Lauchon the Soulseeker only allows a wizard to move in the following movement phase if it’s their turn, something that the spell previously could grant with rather generous wording.

Last point is pretty minor but bittersweet. Wrath of the Everchosen is no longer a valid book since every chaos army now has a new battletome and has been superseded by it in Matched Play. End of an era.

Order

Fyreslayers

Only one change for slayers here: the Flamekeeper’s ability has been changed increase it’s dice number by 1 for friendly slayers killed within 12” by attacks or abilities instead of just killed. The only difference here is that models lost to Battleshock won’t increase the dice. However, abilities that cause more models to run are being removed due to an ability so would increase it. Just means you can’t run a big blob of Vulkites into the fray, use the ability, lose a bunch to battleshock and get back up to a 6 easily for the next turn. 

Lumineth Realm-lords

Both Protection of Hysh and Protection of Teclis were changed slightly to clarify that the 5+ Ward only applies while they are within casting range of the wizard. The original wording could be interpreted to imply that a unit could move outside of range after the spell had been cast and keep the ward, which wasn’t intended.

Slight buff for Alarith units with Enduring As Rock, which reduces rend -1 to -. Now it is the unmodified Rend, so if attacked by say, a Beast of Chaos unit with -1 base and -1 from the herdstone, it does something.

Seraphon

Lot of changes, due to the fact it previously only had an FAQ and not an Eratta. The only new FAQ entry is that Jaw attacks happen before wounds are allocated, which means that an opponent can’t pull models to avoid getting nipped. Which actually does beg the question if similar abilities (e.g. Blood Sisters) abilities also work that way, which would change how they work in a pretty fundamental ways.

Onto the actual changes. Let’s get to the big one first. The Trog Bomb is dead! The most dreaded combo in Seraphon was teleporting a Skink Oracle on Trogladon outside of 9″ of the enemy army using Spatial Translocation and then using a Slann and Kroak with Arcane Vassal to channel Comet’s Call and Celestial Deliverance through it, multiple times (and likely would have used Overwhelming Blizzard once that was legal). Due to the ability to teleport for free anywhere and  the large base of the Trog, it let the spells hit a much larger area than they should, and was basically impossible to stop. Now each unit can only use Arcane Vassals once per turn, which hamstrings the ability a lot, and likely puts a trogg out in a dangerous position for not enough mortal wounds to be worth the risk.

Other Changes include that Drain Magic had a slight issue in that it didn’t work as intended, because Dispelling Endless Spells happens at the beginning of the Hero Phase, before casting would happen. So now they get a free chance to dispel an endless spell after casting it, making it notably better. That -1 to unbinding rolls is still pretty handy.

Telepathic Summons didn’t include a range limit on how far the unit could be from the enemy, and has been given the standard more than 9″ requirement. Sorry, can’t drop them right into combat now.

Finally some modern unit adjustments. Kroxigor Warspawned specificies the +1 to attacks lasts for the phase, rather than just a permanent buff. Finally Terrawings’ Never Shredding Shriek now applies at the start of the shooting phase rather than during it. I’m not sure the intent here, I assume to allow it to go off while avoiding any buffs that could occur during the shooting phase (particularly command abilities, which would nullify the intent).

Sylvaneth

Alarielle, the Warsong Revenant and Alarielle all catch a rider on their warscroll spells that you only use the unmodified casting roll to determine how many dice are rolled for mortal wounds. A fine change, and nips some of the sillier excesses of what was possible with those units in the bud. There’s a presumably unintentional nerf here to the Warsong, who now doesn’t get to include its native +1 to cast in that roll, which it previously did. I understand not wanting to make them wildly better, but to make them worse?

Chaos

Beasts of Chaos

Two common sense confirmations here. Bestial Cunning works from Ambush, allowing the thing to work like it should – you can select a unit to have a 7” ambush instead of 9” even though your hero with the ability is off the board. Great Bray Shamans can also use Rituals of Ruin from 18” even when off the board due to their Bestial Vigour ability. Most of us had been playing it that way anyway, but it’s good we got confirmation.

Blades of Khorne

The same change to Murderlust as from the battlescroll, now only affects 1 unit instead of D3.

Disciples of Tzeentch

Two things, first a clarification that the Lord of Change’s Master of Magic ability to change the lowest casting die to match the higher one is not a modifier, which is important going into the new season as it means they can use primal dice after rolling it, which is huge.

Similarly we get a rules note that Fate Dice count as unmodified but cannot be modified unless noted (which includes rend for saves and models lost for battleshock). This means if you use fate dice you can’t use primal dice. Best to nip that combo in the bud now.

Maggotkin of Nurgle

Just one, Blightkrieg doesn’t let a unit escape combat by charging another unit. It didn’t specify a unit outside of 3” of the enemy, but the intent was not to let you get out of combat or to try and deal more mortal wounds from charge abilities. 

Hedonites of Slaanesh

Temptation Dice have been updated to state you gain the D6 depravity for having a dice accepted after all attacks are resolved. This is key because if you pass the threshold for one of the Revel in Depravity bonuses it wasn’t clear if they kicked in before or after the attacks, now it is definitely after.

A direct nerf, Games Workshop has decided Phantasmagoria was maybe too good and now puts a 3+ on its effect. This does diminish its value a lot, since its no longer a guarantee, but it’s not likely to diminish its frequency as its still one of the best spells in the faction

Slaves to Darkness

I looked this over, there’s no magenta text and examination of the rules seems to suggest no changes, so I’m not sure why this was reposted.

Death

Nighthaunt

Much like Slaves to Darkness, I feel this may have been reprinted in error.

Ossiarch Bonereapers

The Dark Acolyte Command trait was changed to now only make the first spell unable to be unbound if it is part of the OBR spell lore instead of any spell. Last season this probably wasn’t a big deal, but with Hoarfrost and Merciless Blizzard incoming, best to change it to give opponents a shot.

Soul Release got a slight change to say the range can not be modified, this is largely because Arkhan can make the spell a no deep strike/summoning zone within 18 inches which is a bit much. Fair enough.

Finally Mir Kainan’s warscroll spell Dire Ultimatum had a change so that its effect of directing all attacks to him only works if he is within 3”, if he somehow managed to get out of combat. Previously it wasn’t clear what to do in that situation, and the assumption was that they just didnt fight.

Soulblight Gravelords

The changes from the battlescroll get reproduced, as well as one cheeky extra nerf. Lust for Domination was an incredibly easy Grand Strategy to score, asking you to hold more gravesites than your opponent. Previously, gravesites were controlled as per objectives, making it pretty trivial for the Soulblight player whose gameplan revolves around having units near them during the course of the game. This has now been changed so that control of gravesites is no longer ‘sticky’, you can’t just tag them and leave, you have to keep a unit there. In effect, this means you will have to physically have the units there controlling those gravesites at the end of the game like you would a terrain feature.

Destruction

Gloomspite Gitz

As per the Sylvaneth change, there’s a FAQ to put a stop to the promise of nuclear Skragrott, who just rolls a number of dice equal to the unmodified casting roll for his nuke. The lore spell Nikkit! Nikkit! Also catches the unmodified wording for its 10+ effect, which is in-line with the wording for similar style spells in the Soulblight book. A little odd that Flesh-eaters didn’t cop the same update here.

Lastly, another change that is effectively a nerf, the Squigboss with Gnasha-squig has had a change to Release Da Squigs whose range has gone from within 3” to wholly within 12”. Trailing back a few models in a unit in order to maximise the movement out of this ability was a very common Gloomspite tactic and exactly the kind of behaviour that the wholly within wording was brought in to stop so it’s honestly more surprising that the rule was printed as it was originally than it being changed. Still, this really does pile the nerfs on poor old Gitz in an unusually heavy way.

Orruk Warclans

Just the 2 new battle tactics already in the battlescroll. Moving on.

Sons of Behemat

Other than the Battlescroll changing the core battalions, a minor rules glitch was plugged by stating that King Brodd lets you pick any subfaction if he was your general. Since Sons of Behemat’s subfaction is decided by your general, nominating King Brodd previously meant you couldn’t get any subfaction. While this likely would never happen in practical gameplay (since he’s Unique, there’s little reason you would want to), it is technically something you could do.

Closing Thoughts

The changes here are pretty substantial. While I was a bit let down by the battlescroll it turned out there was more gas in the tank and a lot of the changes were aggressive toward some of the bigger concerns like Soulblight and Seraphon. I’m quite satisified with what happened, even if there are a few missteps with the points I might disagree with. Those can be changed in as little as 3 months, if need be.

Now that a new season is here it’s time to take all the knowledge we’re equipped with and head out there. It’s a brand new day for the mortal realms.