Age of Sigmar: Soulblight Gravelords Are Better Than You Think
All this Soulblight Gravelords complaining is becoming a real pain in the neck…at least, I hope that’s all it is.
Let me preface this by saying I fully understand the desire to complain about new Battletomes. Our hobby is expensive, and once you’ve shelled out for your favorite playstyle, it’s a little disheartening to start all over.
I myself have been burned plenty of times with some of my favorite armies, so I will always support people raising concerns. That being said…I don’t think that’s the case here. Sure, the vampires aren’t what they used to be, and you’ll need to rethink some strategies. However, it isn’t the apocalyptic army break the internet seems to believe. This is still easily one of the most robust books in the game, and I think we’ve just gotten too used to Dragoncast and Shootineth to see a good thing when we get it. Just because the book makes you focus on one thing doesn’t make it bad.
Blood Knights Are Still Incredible
One of the biggest complaints I’ve seen is that Blood Knights aren’t worth it since they lost their retreat move. While I understand that that was a big part of Kastelai’s strategy, I think that’s a bit of an overreaction. Blood Knights feel like they got a buff, not a nerf, thanks to their pumped-up Rend and all the fun shenanigans they get from their subfaction. I will concede that they might not be worth it outside that, but if you’re playing massed cavalry charge, you want to be in the faction that supports them. If you aren’t, you aren’t doing the deadly warriors justice.
Magic is Insane
The new magic lores Vampires and Deathmages have access to are pretty nuts. Even with access to fewer spells (the way it is for everyone now), the spells we DO have are excellent. With the built-in upcast for every spell, our vampiric magic is going to saturate the battlefield. To say nothing of Nagash, who will be upcasting almost everything he casts and will be casting a lot. While Teclis got the leg up on him in the lore, he wasn’t idle in his discorporation. He might even be able to give him a run for his money these days, and anything that can check Teclis with, is alright with me.
Zombies ARE Still Good (Just in a Different Way)
One of the main complaints that I’ve seen is that zombies are useless now without their 6″ pile-in. To be honest…I think people just didn’t read the leaks clearly enough (also, maybe don’t get your info from leaks, but that’s another story). Yes, the zombies lost some aggressive threat, but that was never meant to be their role. Zombies are a horde unit that overwhelms the enemy, raises them to their side, then shambles on. The new mortal wound ability they have is just that. The argument that you must take so many to take advantage of that is…the point. You need zombies in massive blocks, but you want that anyway. Take a bunch, stick a Corpse Cart behind them, and watch the fireworks. It isn’t as dire as it seems.
In Conclusion
Final Thoughts: Wait until an army is fully out before you dunk on it. Leaks can be misleading out of context, and even if you read the whole thing on a camera roll, you might not get the whole experience and understand all the nuances. Soulblight are fine, especially compared to some of the other releases and FAQs this year. Take a deep breath.
