It’s been a huge week. Games Workshop finally dropped the first Battlescroll of fourth edition. While the core gameplay loop of the edition has been pretty solid, it hasn’t been perfect. Manifestations have been a huge problem for the community, now being just a bit too easy to summon and clog up the board, turning battles into Pokémon battles of sending your manifestations at each other. A handful of factions are also really dominating the charts, Trogg Gloomspite Gitz, Hurakan Lumineth and of course Nighthaunt are demolishing the game as they can adapt to almost anything that’s thrown at them (Except maybe each other).

On the other end of the spectrum, certain armies really haven’t taken well to the overall shift. Blades of Khorne, Flesh Eater Courts and Kruleboyz languish at the bottom of the pile as their rules just did not translate quite so well.

So, does this address that (and more)? Well let’s take a look. You can find the download yourself at Warhammer Community.

Core Rules

Manifestations

The biggest changes here revolve around Manifestations. A real thorn in the side of the game since fourth edition launched, the proliferation of free Manifestations, being able to cast in your opponent’s Hero phase and just the Morbid Conjuration lore being really good all combined into a storm of many games coming down to who could get their Purple Suns and Suffocating Gravetide out and keep them there.

Wizards now get a +1 to banish roles for each additional manifestation past the first. They don’t hand out Banishment bonuses liberally — fourth has been pretty ginger with being able to counter spells — so this is a big deal. Combined with no longer being able to summon a manifestation the turn it was removed will hopefully reduce the traffic jam of getting all four Morbid Conjuration spells out on turn 1.

Speaking of Morbid Conjuration, the Purple Sun now lost its Wild Form ability, so it can be Banished as easily as anything else (the Gnashing Jaws also lost this, but it’ll be a fair bit less of a concern to most). Malevolent Maelstrom must now be detonated at the end of the turn if it has 6 points, and can’t be used as a threat and saved for when the enemy gets closer (and you’ve left the blast radius), which makes it a bit more unpredictable. Finally, Suffocating Gravetide is now an 8 to cast instead of a 7. Probably should have been in the first place, as its rather large size has made it extremely powerful regardless of edition as it can block narrow pathways or prevent enemies from being able to charge in half an inch to a unit.

Honor Guard

Honor Guard got a slight tweak. Priority Target, which gives a +1 to hit and to wound against everything in the enemy General’s regiment now only affects the General and their Honor Guard, and only within 12”. A fair change; Priority Target had some unfortunate impacts on list design, where you would want to avoid putting too many units in your General’s regiment so they didn’t get run over by a massive buff against your list. This, in turn, meant your options for Honor Guard would be pretty restricted, the ideal being only a single unit. In its current form it exists as a silver bullet against your enemy general and if they decided to put their biggest hammer in there.

Miscellaneous Changes

Finally some smaller changes. First and rather amusing is that Terrain Features without movement characteristics cannot pile-in, even if they can fight. I don’t think this was actually a valid thing people were doing but the rules didn’t say you couldn’t pile in that Bone-tithe Nexus 3”.

A more important change is an interaction with All Out Defence and Covering Fire. The way Covering Fire is written sparked a debate about if you could use All Out Defence in response, since the target of Covering Fire is the unit firing, not the unit it is attacking. AOD requires a unit to be targeted by a fight or shoot ability, so one could argue it did not work and that was generally accepted to be correct. Now it does, simply adding a Developer’s note that says it is allowed. Good change for dealing with powerful shooting armies.

Order

Cities of Sigmar

The only rules change is to the Freeguild Fusilers who had a rules quirk that made them not quite work as intended. They have two firing modes, one of which is only usable if the unit has not moved. Previously you had to use this if you had them fortified, and it’s generally better, since it’s 2 shots instead of 1, and longer range but if you were charged they were generally stuck. The “worse” attack has Shoot in Combat while the better attack does not. You now get to actively choose which one to use; proper change and gives the impression of the unit firing recklessly as the enemy bashes against their shields.

As for the point changes, some pretty solid point drops here. Cities of Sigmar lists pretty static right now, largely relying on Aelf Executioners and Duardin Hammerers with the appropriate foot hero (and a few humies to taste) so the cuts here could afford us some versatility. The Monsters like the Sorceress on Black Dragon, Dreadlord on Black Dragon, War Hydra and Kharibdyss. The Sorceress in particular is pretty notable, as she can get a whopping +3 to cast and scrap alongside her Executioners, but it’s hard to say no to just how cheap the foot version still is. If it goes up in points it might be more of a conversation.

There’s also more to see with some of the fun pet units like Gyrocopters and Flagellants. The Cities book is quite massive even despite its pruning over the years; while we may not want to go back to steam tank meta, it’d be nice to see more variety.

Verdict: Winner

Daughters of Khaine

Shadowpaths is no longer a core ability. Great! This meant that if you failed that 3+ roll you were stuck standing out in the open, which for the delicate Daughters of Khaine was just asking way too much unless you had to get to the other side of the board or die. This makes the faction a fair bit more tempting, since you can see if you fail before you plan an alternate escape route. Scathcoven and Cauldron Guard will likely remain the default choice depending on your flavor of DOK but this is something.

Daughters actually has the benefit that most of the book is being used, though it’s a bit divided. Generally players either lean toward the horde Aelf infantry or the elite Melusai, but each of those lists are using a significant part of the book when viewed together. Khinerai Lifetakers went down 10 points which actually might make them better chaff if points start getting thin. Interestingly, Witch Aelves and Sisters of Slaughter both went down a bit but for different forms (Witch Aelves with Shields and Sisters of Slaughter with Knives). Flexing that they split the Warscroll perhaps?

The Bloodwrack Medusa on her altar is unlikely to draw heads; the Priestesses are just too important (especially when casters are far easier to come by in the army) and the Avatar even at at -30 points still kinda struggles to find a role in an army of super fast murder machines, but Krethusa could be good for Aelf Infantry spam lists.

Verdict: Winner

Fyreslayers

Hell yeah points drops! The only rules change here is clarifying that the Runeson on Magmadroth’s Vying for Glory definitely does stack if you manage to achieve it multiple times in a game. That’s still relatively unlikely anyways but nice to have. Like a lot of other armies here some of the foot heroes received points drops to help make them fieldable. The Battlesmith is still a bit too pricey at 100 points this edition given how little he does now and it’s strange that the only Magmadroth to come down in cost is the Runesmiter when they could each drop another 20-30 points each before being worth fielding. Surprising to see Doomseekers drop to 90 points but great to have a sub-100 point unit in the list now to play with. 

None of the units themselves have changed in cost and that’s probably fine, actually, although Poleaxe HGB don’t really seem to be worth their premium 40 extra points per 10 models over the Broadaxe variant. Overall these minor points changes aren’t going to make-or-break Fyreslayers on the tabletop. Magmadroths are still just a bit bad for their cost, units are largely fine, and depending on how many points under you were then maybe you get an extra hero or unit if you do some adjusting. It’s not that big and Fyreslayers are doing fine, actually, right now so they didn’t need much either. Just Magmadroths. 

Verdict: Winner-ish; what’s good is still good, what’s bad is still bad. 

Idoneth Deepkin

Just point cuts but there are a lot of them. The Akhelian King going down 20 points is big; it’s a pretty solid beat stick hero at a budget price, who pairs well with Akhelian Cav. Since Morrsarr Guard are the backbone of a lot of lists. The Leviadon going down 20 is also welcome, since most Idoneth players have one sitting around they probably want to put it back on the table, but the Void drum has a far too short a range now and that likely needs to get fixed before that is serious.

Nothing here is too crazy, and the faction could use more help, but it is all positives.

Verdict: Winner, but only a little.

Kharadron Overlords

Profits are slim, but a number of points decreases across the board could lead to gains for the canny admiral, with lists going down by 60-80 points on average. Given that they were already a cornerstone of Thunderer builds it’s a little surprising to see the Aether-Khemist drop 10 points. Less surprising is the Codewright dropping by 20 points to a bargain 90 – incredible model, but it’s doubtful whether this is significant enough to see them appearing competitively. 

Both named characters are doing well, with Brokk Grungsson and Drekki Flynt also dropping 20 points apiece. Brokk’s extremely promising warscroll (a whole battery of nasty shooting plus the ability to hand out +1 attacks to charging Skyfarers) was previously let down by being the same price as a reinforced unit of Thunderers and change. Now he’s, uh, 10 points cheaper than that, so hooray? He’s still one of the more vulnerable Warmasters out there and a very obvious target this GHB, so you’ll need to be extremely careful how and when you tee him up for the big turn. Drekki has potent (but extremely swingy) ranged damage potential and some fun anti-monster abilities, given his ability to buff an Arkanaut Frigate he might start to see some play in two-frigate lists. 

On the non-hero side, Arkanaut Companies, Endrinriggers and Skywardens all drop 10 points while Grundstok Gunhaulers drop 20. Arkies are secretly extremely good, cheap idiots with a 4+ save and +1 to hit on objectives: beyond their ludicrous amount of shooting they can actually look after themselves when in combat and will generally trade upwards. Poor old Skywardens certainly benefit both from the drop in points to themselves and Brokk, who they’re clearly meant to synergise with, but still struggle compared to Endrinriggers who are cheaper, rendier, and can fix your ships. Speaking of ships, it certainly felt like Gunhaulers were overpriced at the start of 4th ed and this is a welcome change. For 180 points you get 10 health behind a 3+ save, fast and shooty enough your opponent can’t afford to ignore them – very nice, and hopefully they’ll start to make appearances in lists. 

Looking at the wider rules landscape, it’s a mixed bag for everyone’s favourite diminutive capitalists. Seeing as, bafflingly, Navigators still can’t use banish abilities, you’ll need to stand next to a glowy rock (place of power) to benefit from the new bonus to banishment rolls. Similarly mixed are the changes to Priority Target in matched play. Now that the +1 to hit / wound is only for the general and honour guard, and only within 12”, you’ll get overall less benefit from the buffs and will need to push up much more aggressively. That said, most of the army’s damage output is within 12” anyway. 

Overall, these changes are broadly positive. It’s always felt like the faction has one or two fewer units on the table than it needs, especially when literally every other army in the game has access to ‘free’ models in the form of manifestations (RIP Spell in a Bottle, my beloved). The points drops should go some way towards mitigating that and being able to squeeze in an extra 10 Arkanauts gives KO a little more staying power. Really I think GW could have been more aggressive with points changes, especially with regards to Skywardens – none of the drops are significant enough that I expect to see any massive shake-ups in competitive list composition, perhaps we’ll see more players choosing Endrinrigger builds over Thunderers. If I had to ponder my orb, I’d suggest that Grundstok Gunhaulers will start to creep into lists. Overcosted at the start of the edition, now they’re much more feasible as sneaky utility pieces. 

Verdict: Winner…?

Lumineth Realm-Lords

Lumineth came into this update as one of the “problem armies” people were pointing the “nerf this” finger at, for the most part thanks to their Vanari Battlehost letting players use both the Power of Hysh and Shining Company every turn – in an all-Vanari list, this was effectively giving every unit -1 to be hit, and then letting the key unit each turn be powered up with 5+ critical hits.

The update takes an axe to that, with Shining Company now only coming into effect if a unit both hasn’t charged and hasn’t been targeted by Power of Hysh in the same battle round – No more reinforced blocks of Vanari Dawnriders charging out to deal a bunch of mortal damage then becoming an instant roadblock with -1 to hit and a 3+ save. To reinforce the message, Dawnriders copped a 20 point increase per 5, with Bladelords going up by 10 points. For now the other mainstay Vanari units, Sentinels and Wardens, remain untouched, as do the corresponding Vanari heroes.

Elsewhere we had some clarification on exactly when heroes get into and out of the Shrine Luminor, to align with other faction terrain, and Lyrior Uthralle’s Voice of Tyrion ability got tidied up to affect all Lumineth units rather than just Vanari, as a passive rather than a reaction ability, and a few of the lesser-used foot heroes got minor points reductions.

In the Warhammer Community article accompanying the update, the GW team acknowledged that Hurakan units were also over-performing and being monitored, with further adjustments likely in the future. For now the Spirit of the Wind has gone up by 10 points and Hurakan Windchargers by 20, enough to force some list reconfigurations but probably not enough to stop the list archetype from dominating. Ydrilan Riverblades also got hit with a 20 point increase to reflect their utility in assassination and objective grabbing.

Verdict: Loser if you invested in Vanari models, winner if you bought into Hurakan. For non-Lumineth players, a step in the right direction.

Seraphon

Much like Daughters of Khaine, the subfaction with a Teleport ability is no longer Core. So you can still hoof it if the ability fails to go off. Good change, and probably helps Seraphon more than it does DOK as Seraphon aren’t riding on any particular faction quite as hard. The other change is the wording on the Astrolith Bearer’s +3 to control score was worded a bit ambigiously, it could be read that the +3 benefit still applies even if the unit left the 12” aura, so the new wording makes it clear they need to stick together for that to work.

Points changes are actually a mixed bag here and really a bit all over the place. The Skink Starseer,  Aggradon Lancers (and the Scar-Veteran  who tends to lead them) all went up a small 10 points. Not substantial but making a statement about the Cavalier spam the army is on. Strangely the Raptadon Chargers did not go up, so the general strategy will likely still work out. Saurus Guard went up a measly 10 points as well but they’re so important for a Hero-centric army with soft bois that it’s unlikely this will deter anyone.

Otherwise there’s a lot of cuts on the less appreciated units. Kroak is the standout, being cut down by 30. He couldn’t quite justify his cost compared to his unnamed Cousin so this is welcome, and may mean we see him pop up again. A lot of the other cuts don’t really justify the units, as the units are just kinda…bad but both Bastiladons getting cut might matter, since many include one with some leftover points to have a tanky option on the board.

Verdict: Neutral

Stormcast Eternals

Like DOK and Seraphon, the “teleport faction” was changed to not be core so you can move if it doesn’t go off. Fine change, no complaints here. Repositioning Vanguard Raptors is a solid strategy. They’re going to need it too, since with the changes to Honor Guard they’re now going to need to get a lot closer to their targets. Praetors also got the ability to choose their hero they will protect while in Deep Strike, which is a positive change that will make them just more intuitive to use.

The point changes feel a bit superfluous with the new book on the Horizon, but in the short term there are some nice cuts here. Stormdrake Guard, once the terror of the meta, are seeing a nice cut, along with their frequent leader Ionus. So dragon lovers will be quite happy here. Otherwise it’s mostly some odds and ends. Nothing too exciting but we do have a new book to look forward to.

Verdict: Winner

Sylvaneth

Big changes here, oh boy. Sylvaneth really got taken out back and shot during the changes to Wyldwoods and players feeling that will be extremely happy. Sylvaneth rely on their terrain piece more than any other army in the game, it’s not just a nice bonus but their entire playstyle is morphed around it, which makes being able to destroy the woods with regular attacks a crippling problem. Wyldwoods now pack a 5+ Ward to shake off some chip damage and any ability that requires you be within 6” is now expanded by 3” for each additional piece (So if you have the max size of 3 pieces, it’s a big ol’ 12”). This is huge for spells like Wrathful Spirit which give +1 rend. Unfortunately the ones that start at 3” are unaffected so Durthu is going to be stuck glued to the woods still.

Setting up trees is easier too, Treesong is now 24” and has a limit of 1” from other terrain features and enemy units instead of 3”, which is huge for being able to fit them in. Vengeful Skullroot is also a mobile Wyldwood for some abilities which is huge, especially for Strike and Fade and Walk the Hidden Paths.

There are some minor downsides. Alarielle’s lifesong is now once per turn but at least Monsters only take 6 damage instead of 8. So it goes.

On the points side, it’s mostly good! That +20 to Belthanos is gonna hurt, but absolutely will not stop people from using him. Run and Charge board wide is simply too good. Some nice cuts include Drycha and the Treelord for big tree gameplay and the Arch-Revenant and Warsong Revenant to expand your Hero needs.

Verdict: Winner

Chaos

Beasts of Chaos

Just point drops, which is nice but not much that will turn heads. Mostly the less-loved units like the Dragon Ogors and their Dragon Ogor Shaggoth. The 20 point drop on the Chimera is nice though it still struggles to find a place in the faction as a fully companion unit.

Verdict: Neutral

Blades of Khorne

Wrath-Axe’s Hatred’s Edge now procs in the Charge phase instead of move, so you can wait until you make a charge with it before hitting targets, expanding your options. Fine change, since the 3” limitation meant it was very difficult to get all 3 targets with just 8” of movement. The changes to the Skull Altar are mostly downsides, you cannot Ascend the Altar if you’re in combat (so you can’t just dip out into cover) and you can’t step down if you stepped up this turn, which prevents jumping from one side to the other to squeeze a little extra movement out. That said it’s not massive and is mostly a neutral change.

The points changes are great though, just clearance sale across the board and Khorne needed it. Simply put, Khorne is the victim of too many damned heroes from the first edition of the game that it does not know how to reckon with, so Games Workshop decided to just cut the price on everything that wasn’t a Bloodthirster (Though Skarbrand gets a nice -20) or the more commonly used heroes like Slaughterpriest and Bloodmaster  and see what stuck. Some choice improvements are to the Realmgore Ritualist which makes it the cheapest priest by a mile, and the -20 to Skarr Bloodwrath for gimmicky gameplay of throwing him at stuff that will kill him for Blood Tithes.

The troops made out well too. Cuts to Wrathmongers and Skullcrushers may make these a bit more viable, though Skullcrushers suffer from just being not very good at being Cavalry they are extremely durable Cavalry.

Verdict: Winner

Disciples of Tzeentch

Wyrdflame can now not only affect manifestations and terrain, but much more importantly you’re no longer penalized for trying to use your battle trait, since it does a flat d3 mortal damage instead of potentially burning itself out on a 1. This is actually quite a big deal, and means that applying Wyrdflame is now part of Tzeentch’s damaging arsenal and not just a way to apply a -1 to wound debuff. Fire, burning people. Imagine that!

Shield of Fate didn’t specify Disciples of Tzeentch units, likely missed because allies aren’t really a thing anymore, but Regiments of Renown are so this caveat was needed. A sad day for fans of One-eyed Grunnock.

The Chaos Spawn of Tzeentch had a rules tidy-up to clarify that it can be set up on the battlefield normally during deployment and does not have to be deployed as a potential fate to be summoned with the Transform to Spawn spell.

The Burning Sigil had a rework of its Radiant Transmogrification effect. It now has to trigger in every Hero phase, and rolls 2 dice for each friendly and enemy unit within 9”. The Tzeentch player chooses one of the two rolls to trigger an effect from a table, with escalating buffs for Disciples of Tzeentch units and debuffs/mortal damage for enemies. This makes it MUCH easier to use, and has some compelling cases both for casting it with the Changeling in the middle of enemy lines or in the middle of your own Tzaangor horde.

Most characters saw a 10-20 point drop, with only the Lord of Change going up by 20. It’s slightly surprising to see Kairos survive unscathed, but otherwise this is all as expected. Both Horrors units go up by 10 and Kairic Acolytes go down by the same, again just some subtle rebalancing early in the edition. The designers seem keen not to do too much too soon.

Verdict: Mixed but overall positive

Hedonites of Slaanesh

So…the Hedonites Temptation Dice mechanic didn’t quite work out as hoped. Handing your opponent free 6s, even with a chance of mortals, turned out to not be the deal they had hoped. If you hand over two you just guarantee them a 12” charge which is not the situation the soft and delicate army wants. When the best thing you can say about the mechanic is “well you can not engage with it”, that’s less than ideal.

So the new rule is that if a player using the Temptation dice botches the roll and gets a 1 or a 2, the roll becomes that and they take the D3 mortals. I’m not sure if this goes far enough though, because statistically it’s about 1 in 9 they roll two ones or twos (or some combination thereof). In the other 8 out of 9, that’s still at least one of those dice with a 6, and both a little under half the time. It’s at least an actual feeling of risk but it can be mitigated. It’s more likely to fail on single rolls like hits or saves, but still probably worth the risk. This makes it much less reliable to use Temptation dice for 9” charges out of a teleport or reserves, or for those long countercharges. The risks are high, but the rewards are still… tempting.

As for points changes, Archers and Slickblade Seekers went up, as probably the most popular unit. I don’t think they should have gone up, as the army really is struggling, but they do try and bring the points down on a few other things. I’m not sure any of this really gets there though.

Verdict: It’s a mixed bag.

Maggotkin of Nurgle

Nurgle sees some massive points drops in the hero department. All of the Maggoth Lords (Bloab, Orgotts, and Morbidex for those not in the know) go down 20 points. This is huge since these were already very competitive and were seeing play in a lot of lists. Rotigus also went down 20 points, putting him at the same cost of a Great Unclean One. He was also seeing a lot of play so this is a big win for some lists. 

On the less popular side of things, we see significant drops to Gutrot Spume, Lord of Blights, Lord of Plagues, and The Glottkin at 20 points each. These are all really impactful and might end up with us seeing these pop up in a few more lists, particularly the Lord of Blights and Lord of Plagues since they are pretty great support pieces to the parts of the army that already work well. The Glottkin probably needed more than a 20 point drop, you still need to charge with him and spend 2CP to do anything useful and he’s vying for the same slot as Rotigus and the GUO. We also see a massive 30 point drop to the Harbinger of Decay, I’m still not running to throw him on the table however considering how competitive my Hero slots are, and a smaller 10 point drop on the Plaguebringer, which likely won’t result in him getting off the bench.

Over on the non-heroes side, things are far less dramatic.Nurglings go down 10 points to 100 putting them firmly at “Action Bozo” costing levels but also makes Morbidex that much more interesting. Blightkings also see a 10 point reduction. This is great since they were popping up in most competitive lists.

Nurgle also gets a rules change. In addition to their other plague mechanics, now if an enemy unit with the Diseased keyword dies, on a 3+ select something within 9” to gain the Diseased keyword. This is… fine? The issue with Nurgle is they don’t really kill a lot of stuff and Disease is too easy to get rid of. I’m certainly not mad to see this addition but would have liked something more substantial. Bloab also gets some clarification that his extra damage ignores wards. This was always the case because of when allocation happens but it’s nice to have clarified. All that said, those points drops are massive and hopefully we’ll see some shake ups in Nurgle performance.

Verdict: Winner

Skaven

Skaven got a new book so any rules errata is probably a week or two out. Some cuts on less used units which is odd this early but it’s too early to say what impact it makes.

Verdict: Wait and See

Slaves to Darkness

It’s fairly tame on the points side of things, too – Be’lakor got hit with a 30 point increase, which was probably to be expected, but Varanguard, Furies and Chosen got away with just a 10 point rise. We’ve seen a lot of these units in combination so far this edition, and these slight rises might push people back towards a more combined arms kind of list. Elsewhere, various beasts and heroes got a minor points drop, but it doesn’t look like anything that’s likely to drastically pull people away from Warriors, Knights, Chosen and Varanguard as the core of their forces.

Ogroid Theridons and their Myrmidon boss both came down 20 points, but while this helps them be no longer terrible it probably isn’t enough to make them star against the backdrop of the more armored units. Eternus dropping 20 points, however, is a surprising bonus, as he was not uncommon in high level lists and this helps compensate for the increases elsewhere.

Verdict: Neutral

Death

Flesh-eater Courts

FEC sees some points nudges, but nothing particularly earth shattering. The Ghoul King gets a 20 point drop, begging you to take notice of it compared to the Archregent. Goremayne and the Royal Decapitator also see some small drops which are nice but probably won’t shake things up too much. The Abhorrant Cardinal sees the faction’s only increase, going up 10 points. He is seeing play in a lot of lists and honestly even with this change he’ll be staying around.

For non-heroes, both monsters see a 20 point decrease. These were already fairly good warscrolls at their cost, and with a 20 point reduction we’ll hopefully start seeing more of them on the table.

Rules-wise we just get some clarification on how getting into and out of the chair works. 

Overall FEC will likely still see Ushoran focused builds with Morbheg support in the Lords of the Manor formation. None of these changes particularly impact that gameplan outside of losing 10 points from lists taking the cardinal. Hopefully we’ll be seeing more Zombie Dragons popping in to spice things up.

Verdict: Winner, but still needs help.

Nighthaunt

The Death Stalkers battle formation has been the standout choice for Nighthaunt lists so far this edition, with blocks of Hexwraiths running back and forth with merry abandon to keep up those Aura of Dread charge abilities. This There Is No Escape been pulled back to a one unit per turn choice in your Movement phase, a significant step down in power. A big block of Hexwraiths with this ability will still be a terror, but now it is at least an investment that the player has to choose to make, potentially leaving units locked in combat elsewhere.

It’s worth noting that for some reason, whether oversight or intentional, the designers chose not to give the updated There Is No Escape  a “once per turn (army)” tag, and we’ve already seen people arguing that this actually means that the ability is not limited in any way, as the rules don’t technically say that the player (who is the user for this ability) can’t use the same ability multiple times per turn, only that a unit can’t. Taking the rules as written this seems inarguably true, and like it might get an emergency errata (or an explanation in the next update) but seeing as the words from the rules team in the Warhammer Community post are literally “now only affects one enemy unit” it’s probably best to assume that their intent is clear there and play it that way.

Elsewhere in the pack, the Terrifying Entity heroic trait got a slight rework for ease of use, and Hexwraiths lost of point of Control score to reign them in a bit. Dreadblade Harrows had a sizeable change to their Phantasmal Discorporation ability – it now happens in your movement phase, bringing it into line with most other movement abilities and stopping them from being a unit that is almost impossible to interact with as the opposing player.

To round it out Reikonor, Bladegeist Revenants and Dreadscythe Harridans caught a 10 point increase, while Hexwraiths got hit with a 20 point bump. All of this stuff has been appearing in top lists so it isn’t surprising to see it go up a touch, although it seems unlikely that much will change with Nighthaunt listbuilding, at least until the retreat and charge ability is properly fixed.

Verdict: Got off lightly (for now)

Ossiarch Bonereapers

Honestly, no real changes. A few small 10 and 20 point drops on less frequently used units and none of them are too surprising. Necropolis Stalkers simply don’t punch as hard as a unit of Morghast or charging Kavalos Deathriders, and Mortek Guard, Gothizzar Harvester, and the Mortek Crawler don’t pull their weight in the claustrophobic list building that is OBR. It’s hard to say these will see more play, but since Mortek Guard and Harvesters need to basically be run part and parcel, dropping both is appreciated.

For Heroes, OBR simply has too many casters and they get outpaced by the Soulmason (who is a 2 cast wizard with a great Warscroll spell) and Arkhan (one of the best casters in the game) so the lesser used Wizards got some point drops too.

Overall, it’s fine; it’s technically a net gain with no nerfs and OBR are kind of in that goldilocks zone of win rates, so it’s not surprising.

Verdict: Winner 

Soulblight Gravelords

Mostly extremely minor changes for everybody’s favourite vampires. Kritza, The Rat Prince and Vyrkos Blood-Born both got a small tidy up of ability wording, while Torgillius the Chamberlain got toned down a bit. His Necrotising Bolts dropped to D6 attacks from 2D6, and Trusted Lieutenant received an extra restriction that it cannot affect units which have already been healed/had models returned by Deathly Invocations. No more double-healing units, and no more blasting fools with a machine gun while he does.

In the points document there’s a bevy of 10-20 point drops on a variety of units and characters. Kritza drops to 100 points, which is real gap-filler territory for a unit that probably wouldn’t otherwise get taken much. He seems like he could be a useful annoyance on a flank with his retreat ability, it’ll be interesting to see if the bargain basement price is enough to get him into a list. You’d probably still rather have a unit of Fell Bats.

Speaking of, they went up by 10 points, as did Grave Guard. Mannfred and Black Knights both went up by 20, again we’re seeing a targeting of the warscrolls that are over-represented and a gentle push for change, rather than immediate hits with huge rises.

Verdict: Neutral

Destruction

Worth noting for all Destruction armies, Kragnos’s End of Empires was changed to only function in your own charge phase. A 3D6 counter charge was brutal and definitely very difficult to manoeuvre around, so it requires playing more aggressive with him. That said he was rewarded with a sizeable 100 point drop which will make him a lot more appetising to Destruction armies with a heavy charge game plan like Sons of Behemat and Beastclaw Raiders Ogors.

Gloomspite Gitz

The only rules change is the Webspinner Shaman now has a control score of 2. The original score of 1 was likely chosen because the hero has a piddly 4 wounds and wounds were how third edition determined control. However, it’s still a Hero, so Control score of 2 just makes it more consistent.

The real changes are in the points, and none of this is a shocker. All of the stuff you tend to see in Troggs list? 10-20 point increase. Trugg and Rockgut Troggoths are both up 20, which in many lists tend to be spammed. They frankly were just too good a value for their durability. Stuff that usually got dabbled in, like Fellwater Troggoths, Dankhold Trogboss and Skragrott got off lighter with a smaller 10 point increase. 

Squiggs remain untouched, which is fine, and a few lesser used units got some drops. Overall sensible point adjustments but they are going to be impacted in just how many Troggs they’re bringing.

Bair: I just want to add in that I am shocked that squigs have flown (bounced?) under the radar here. Squig herd might be the most points efficient unit in the game and between very easy buffs and just weight of dice an all-squig list of herd, bounders, etcetera just hits like a truck. 

Verdict: Loser.

Ironjawz

Ironjawz get a few minor points decreases that might help with list flexibility a little. 20 points off of Gordrakk and his generic equivalent make including a Maw-Krusha in your list slightly less painful, and the foot Megaboss going down by 20 eases the sting of including him in a list just to buff some Brutes (no change to them, as expected).

Otherwise, it’s fairly as-expected from a points perspective. Brute Ragerz and Weirdbrute Wrekkaz got minor discounts but will still struggle to make the table as a key piece, and the Tuskboss and Gore-Gruntas got small decreases that probably isn’t enough to make the Grunta Stampede Army of Renown effective.

The real change here is an update to the Ironjawz Waaagh! ability,moving from a once-per-game trigger to a once-per-turn, with a limit on each character only being able to use it once. This definitely feels like a boost, as the extra attacks will come in handy and also perhaps allow a bit more flexibility on whether or not players invest in a Megaboss to buff their Brutes, but overall it feels like the faction might need a bit more tweaking to truly shine. 

Quite often the small unit count in an Ironjawz army means that you’re not realistically going to get four extra turns’ worth of Waaagh! out of this change due to the way units are spread across the board, and it’s going to become more of a decision on who to prioritise each turn. For Weirdfist lists that focus on a central castle of Brutes and Ardboyz backed up by Warchanters and Weirdnob Shamans though it’s definitely going to be an improvement, and it’s worth noting that those are the units whose points went untouched.

Verdict: Situational winner, more juice needed to really get the faction on a level playing field.

Kruleboyz

A few 20 point drops on units being used less. Notably Gobbsprakk which is a real boon to the fact, the other mounted heroes? Eh, less so. Kruleboyz are currently at the bottom of the pile and really need the help, but it’s likely more than a simple points adjustment can deal with,

Verdict: Winner, by technicality.

Ogor Mawtribes

In a major contrast to how the army has worked for most of its life, foot ogors are king and the Beastclaws have been struggling pretty badly. As a result, some key Gutbuster units were raised in price. Gluttons were, quite frankly, far too cheap for their price given the number of wounds they had and attacks they put out once properly buffed by a Slaughtermaster and Butcher, so they ate a pretty gnarly +30. The two foot casters similarly got a +10 bump.

There has been an attempt to bring down lesser used Gutbusters to encourage alternative options, and much of the Beastclaw line. It’s hard to say how much of an impact it will have but Beastclaw Players will likely take what they can get. The Bloodpelt Hunter may be able to secure its role as a pet unit that does some fun movement shenanigans.

Verdict: Loser, if only for the Glutton hike.

Sons of Behemat

Glowy Lantern was benefitting from an overlooked part of list building, which is that you may pick a manifestation lore even if you don’t have any Wizards. Glowy Lantern let you pick another lore at game setup, which meant SOB we’re effectively getting two drops. The change just lets you summon from the lore you picked which is pretty much how it was intended.

Keep Orf my Land! Was changed for clarity that missions that require you to check for the location in the deployment zone (Border War and Battle for the Pass) does not change where that mission counts for scoring. In short, you can’t punt your objective out of your deployment to deny your opponent their 4 points (and get an easy 4 points yourself).

Otherwise, no point changes, so a couple common sense fixes, even if they’re technically a nerf.

Verdict: Slight Loser

Closing Thoughts

This was actually quite a bit more than was expected. Games Workshop tends to take a soft hand with changes. It’s a lot easier to make gradual changes and then turn them up slowly over time, as it can be very difficult to tell how big a difference all of the errata will make once you throw it all in a pot and stir on the meta. So given that thought in mind, these are some pretty major changes to be making right out of the gate.

While maybe not all the changes necessary in the meta — Nighthaunt will likely still be very strong — it’s all a push in the right direction and none of it made me feel like I was scratching my head as to why, or that they made the completely wrong move.

The next adjustment should be in about three months, so we’ll see you then!

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