So Privateer Press have released the new version of Mk4 Beta.
If your up to speed with the MK4 you can dive on it. I hope to do some more general Mk4 write ups over the next few days.
So in Mark 4, the Competitive game is based around Prime Armies. Prime armies include All new Mk4 Releases and some Subsets of the Legacy models (any model released before Mk4).
In Legion of Everblight we will have 2 Legacy armies. Something to do with Blight Nyss – to come in the next 12 months or so, and the nice sounding “Dragons Host”.
The Mk4 Beta includes rules for Dragons Host. This includes nearly all our Non-Nephlim warbeasts. Not the afflictor or the collosals but everything else. The huge bases will come later. It is based mainly around the models from the primal terrors theme force and the beasts. It also includes: Grotesques – which I like the sound of because I’ve always thought they seemed pretty primal, and some support peices. (Shepherd)
Mk4 Armies only include 3 Warlocks.
The 3 Warlocks that are in Dragons Host are:
Thagrosh2, Kallus2 and Anamag.
At first glance this is great. Thagrosh2 is a solid Beast Caster, Kallus2 is a great Combined Troup and Beast warcaster, and Anamag runs beasts fine, but needs lots of warriors for her feat and special features/spells.
This is the list of other things in the army.
Warbeasts:
Angelius
Carnivian
Golab
Harrier
Naga Nightlurker
Neraph
Raek
Ravagore
Scythean
Seraph
Shredder
Stinger
Teraph
Typhon
Solos:
Ammok the Truth Bearer
Blighted Nyss Shepherd
Forsaken
Groteque Assassin
Warmonger War Chief
Units:
Blighted Ogryn Warmongers + Gorag
Blighted Ogrun Warspears + Warspear Chieftan
Blighted Rotwings
Chosen of Everblight
Grotesque Banshees
Grotesque Raiders
Hellmouth
Faction Command Cards:
All the generic ones.
What’s missing:
Blightbringer – Large bases might come later.
Blight Archon – No Archons are in the mk4 game currently. Privateer Press has said nothing on this issue.
Thagorosh 0 – a recent release early Version of Thagrosh. Very powerful and nice. But he is out of time, so him being absent might be OK. Other version 0 Warlocks have made it to Prime though – so its a little strange.
So thats what we have. So first I’m going to look at the new versions of the warlocks.
Thagrosh The Messiah -Thagrosh 2
Thagrosh is a Beast Caster. He makes them Hyper Agressive, hard to Shoot/spell, is hard to shoot himself, makes his beasts hit Harder and more often+hyper mobile with his feat. When it comes down to it – he also hits like a heavy.
Notable changes:
GOOD: Gained Deceleration, Control wide +2 Arm vs Spells and Shooting. This is important. There are alot of strong shooting lists.
BAD: Scourge uses new AoE rules. This means it no longer auto hits when at close range. Also we no longer have access to spell Martyrs so this has to be cast by Thagrosh Himself as the point of origin. In Mk3 Scourge was very rarely used, but when you could knock things down for sure – it was OK sometimes. I think at cost 4, you now need to boost to hit. You can’t target your own models with attacks any longer. And at AoE2 it does hit a few things, but there is a Spell called Tempest on the Khador Winter Core Spell Rack, that is the same cost and AoE3, with simalar damage (better really) I think Scourge costing 3 would be much fairer.
He looks really fun. He might even take a unit or two since he does make them slightly harder to hurt in a couple of ways.
Anamag the Doom feaster
Anamag is an Infantry Caster. She makes her whole army accurate in melee, she protects a unit. She gets more magic when Ogryn kill something in melee. She makes warrior models hit harder, and harder again on her feat (with grevious wounds). She has utility in the form of Hex Blast (Remote upkeeps) and Gallows (Drag things towards you). Golab, her character beasts has a very useful bond that protects her.
Notable Changes
Annoying: Fury’s Strength now adds to Warrior model/unit melee attack damage rolls, because Str doesn’t exist any more. This means she doesn’t buff Warspears as well as she used to.
Minor Good: Gallows drags full distance though difficult terrain now.
Difffernt: Hex Blast is the new AoE style. Seem tidier.
She looks fun to play. She makes good use of the better units in the Army, and will want a good selection of them.
Kallus, The Devastation of Everblight
Kallus2, in mk3 was a Combined arms caster. He sets the opponents army on fire, makes his army immune to fire, and then makes things burn, and while they are burning his whole army goes extremly far. As well as the fire tricks, He supports warriors with Battle lust, making them hit extremely hard, and he supports beasts with overrun.
In mk4 this has changed.
Notable changes:
- VERY BAD He doesn’t support Warriors at all now. No fire immunity. No damage buff. No speed increase.
- OK. He always grants his beasts the abilty to charge/slam for free and further vs models that are on fire. They go 2″ not 3″
- OK. His feat makes everything in his control loose fire immunity and sets everything on fire.
- VERY POWERFUL His Warbeasts set things on Fire with their ranged attacks (in mk3 it was just the melee attacks)
- Sad, but needed? Overrun now can’t move yourself. (So you can’t use it to charge a thing, kill it then move to the next thing with the same model/Kallus) I guess this is needed because of the way free strikes don’t exist in Mk4, but its very sad. This makes Kallus 2 personally alot less threatening, and a lone beast needs the support of some other battle group model to move it. Its still very good. And may be better with the flying models, and the unstoppable card for when they activate.
In conclusion. Kallus2, looks like a much less fun caster than he used to be. Thagrosh 2 seems much more interesting. Though he remains very Firey.
Warbeast changes/rolls
Towards the end of Mk3, warbeasts got a massive rebalancing. It was very good, and the faction internal balance was very well addressed. Most models were playable, and the game was in a good state for Legion Beasts. For the first time in a long time, but they didn’t dominate the game for other people. Mk4 is balanced around a different power level. Most of the end of Mk3 changes have been reverted.
Angelius – OK but expensive.
it finally gets Armour piercing all the time on its tale. but its fixed as PS7. This is approximately the same as it being PS15-17 all the time so “OK” (Dice off 3 Vs Arm20, Dice off 1 vs Arm 16). I think this is a less interesting, and not an impactful change.
Its gone back to Overtake. Serpentine is gone, but it has the same rules really – its doesn’t have slam or trample power attacks, and it does have Steady as a rule.
The Bite is back to 1″ and PS12, which is fine.
The best rule change is it’s ranged attack picked up pistol, and the beast has dual attack. This means if it charges something and kills it – it can shoot what ever it wants. Which is high threat range. Is this beast worth 14 points? Its Mat6, worse than PS17, with 2 PS12 follow up attacks. The gun is OK. (Rat 5 boostable Handcannon with crit fire) But it will not manage to usefully kill a 10 point heavy, unless something else has done it alot of damage first. its Mat, makes it unlikely to kill a warcaster unless it gets some serious help.
Carnivian Expensive premium beast.
16 points. And may be actually worth it. Mat7 is a new change. Its lost 1 Def and Smash and Grab, its gun gained pistol. So its got 4 OK initials. If a Carnivoran can’t kill a thing it charges, that thing is very tough. Its lost assault (rule is removed I think) but Dual attack allows it to charge and make the spray in melee still. The reduced threat range seems a bit more reasonable. 15″ walk and spray is pretty good still.
Golab – Good.
Golab has a place with Anamag, for the bond. He also stops healing near him and is fast hits hard and has the sprint animus (Which Thagrosh loves and Kallus2 likes) he’s alot of fun. I expect to see him alot. Not as hard hitting or durable as a carnivan, but much better value than an angelius.
Harrier – auto include to allow us to play into guns.
mk3 Legion is allergic to guns. This was helped in mk3 with Hellion’s (may be in the Nyss army?) and farrow Valkyries, a merc choice that is no longer available. So Harriers remained the same, but gained Sheild Guard. Given all the great guns in the game, we are going to use these alot. Alot of us bought them to play with Beth2 (who might also be in the Nyss army), so its a nice upgrade.
Naga Nightlurker – worth its points.
Its gun is also range 12 now, so it might get to shoot and not die! Melee damage is up to 12. Has dual attack too – and Pistol on its shot. So, I think it’s not 8 points of support any more.
Neraph – value 10 point entry
All the factions have some value 9 or 10 point entries. This is the legion one.
Its a great beast. Its fast, its accurate (mat 7 and Coil) it has sprint and beat back. Its alot of fun to play. Its only PS15. Its easily worth 10 points. its not going to kill heavies though without serious help.
Raek – back up to 7 points and worse.
Defense changed to 14. Stealth might be slighlty better in the meta if less Eyeless sight.
Still as Death now grants “Retaliatory strike”. This is I think the worst animus a Raek could have. If it gets hit, it might loose an aspect. Then its Mat6 PS12. it did gain 2″ reach on its tail strike. The animus change is extremely disapointing.
Ravagore – OK
Went back to Def11. Is still Mat6 (phew?) Cost of 14 points, and keep Recoil (a weak animus, but not totally terrible) Lost the scather effect. But is a PS15/8, range 14 AOE3 gun. Which is “good”. With Kallus2 sets alot of things on fire. With Thagrosh is pretty good in melee if it needs to be, and hard to shoot. I can see an interesting build option.
Scythean – 15 points is alot – but its very killy
Gained Spd 6, went to Def 11, lost bite attack. gained Mat 7. I love this beast. If you can deliver it – and Thagrosh and Kallus2 can deliver it – then it will kill alot of things. At 15 points your not going to piece trade well unless you run away really well (which Thag and Kallus might be able to arrange)
Serpah – value support at 11 points.
“If the seraph is good I’ll eat my hat” were words I typed. I should eat my hat. At 11 points its not just support. its lost apparitaion. And Slipsteam is worse (you have to end within 2″ of the model you want to move) but it can 1) cast and run. 2) it has pistol rule and dual attack. So in melee it get 1+D3 initials. Kallus2 doesn’t have any hit buffs and it has flare. And its 11 points. Now its a gloried light still. PS13, Arm16, 27 boxes. Its not really tougher than a charger. Or more shooty/fighty- but it has slip steam and it only costs 3 points more.
Shredder – 4 point thing. Not compelling.
This guy is the same. Rubbish animus (Kallus has pathfinder, Thag2 flys. And Anamag tries not to charge) but Flank Frendly faction warbeast does make him bitey. 4 points seems like a lot. but if you have 4 points spare and have 4 harriers already might be OK. We only get Free charges with Kallus2. I don’t think they are very compelling to take.
Stinger – 4 point thing. Very uncompelling.
Animus is OK for your caster. But Rat4 spay with Power 10. Crit posion on a Mat5. Dual attack. No assault. Spray now a line, not a cone. with Kallus2 I guess it does cont fire on the spay, but its Rat4
Teraph
10 points. Alot of heavies cost 10 points. I don’t think any of them have guns like this guy. Or dig in. The seraph is 1 point more and much better. The Ravagore is 4 points more and better at ranged and melee both by quite alot. 15″ range is pretty safe. And the melee on a ravagore can kill alot of heavies, where as the melee on this thing can’t.
He only have 20 boxes (which I think might be an upgrade from 19?) his gun now just has Crit fire (but cont fire with Kallus2) Counter blast is still awful for it – but its now Mat 6, so might hit with a tale strike – and blast damage on a miss does a power 7 still. (I’ve never seen it hit a counter blast – and I’ve tried) .
I think if it had more boxes (24 say) it would still be expensive. Range 12 might be better than it was in mk3, but i found it never got to stay dugin – if it could shoot anything.
Typhon – 1 Spd higher than a carnivan for 2 points more.
18 points is the highest cost of a beast I’ve noticed.
3 Mat7 PS17 and 1 Rat5 spray is a good set of initials. spd6, 13/18, and excessive healing is great. reload on the spay is OK, its a great shame he’s only fury 4 not 5. When he could buy buy and boost 3 times. As it is he only gets to make 2 boosts if his gun is RoF3, and he’s not able to use his animus. In mk3, I would often walk him, excessive healing, spray 3 times and boost 3 damage/hit rolls spending 4 fury. In mk4 if he casts his animus and sprays 3 times he only gets 1 boost. Which is alot worse. But I can take him with Kallus2, which sounds “interesting”
I expect he’s too expensive and not good enough, but he’s not far off.
Units and solos
Solos:
Ammok the Truth Bearer – 4 points same as mk3
Blighted Nyss Shepherd – same but lost the power to force out of control with a shepherd – no cower. 1 point each.
Forsaken – 3 points – same as Mk3 – no bonus armour
Groteque Assassin – same as mk3 but 10″ leadership. 4 points.
Warmonger War Chief – 5 points – same as Mk3 but 10 boxes.
The Shepherd and Forsaken changes from the Mk3 reblance were extremely nice design, and its a shame to see them gone. The solos other wise are OK, 4 and 5 points seem expensive – but might be OK.
Units:
Blighted Ogryn Warmongers + Gorag 8 boxes each. No Vengance. 8 points
Blighted Ogrun Warspears + Warspear Chieftan 8 boxes each. Assault removed gained Dual attack. 8 points
Blighted Rotwings 6 points same but 1″ reach
Chosen of Everblight – 11 points. 2 intals both PS13 Unstoppable 10 boxes.
Grotesque Banshees – Back to 12/13 no force barrier but resistance blast. Have pistol on Spray. 6 points.
Grotesque Raiders – Back to 12/13 1″ reach and 7 points. Just worse than rotwings.
Hellmouth – Spd 3 – not buried any more – walks around like a normal unit. Same stats. 6 points.
The Warmongers and Warspears seem a bit weak, and only have synergy with Anamag. The chosen of everblight seem better than both units. Faster, harder hitting and tougher. I think 11 points for the Chosen is probalby about right though, the warmonger with Gorag might be OK, but warspears feel bad. They could do with being just 7 points I think. Cmd Cards might help. I’d love to see a custom Vengance CmD card for Ogryn in legion.
Rotwings might be pretty OK. FA2 is disappointing since it means half of them are not useable that I had before.
Banshees don’t really have a synergy with anything, but might be OK because they have blast resistance. Grot Raiders at 12/13 for 7 points is bad. The FA means that half of these are not usable either.
It might be good to make Grots 13/13 like in the Mark 3.5 rebalance. The points cost might be OK then, but I’m unsure. Stealth might be a good rule, but they have such bad synergy with Kallus and Thagrosh2 I’m not sure its worth doing anything with them.
Hellmouth is very strange seeming – but it might be fun, it doesn’t seem much better than before, in terms of threat range and getting in the way of it self, but it will be relevant each game I expect and still tricky to remove easily.
Final conclusion of these hot takes.
The Army name is cool. The range of beasts is impressive, but the internal balance is much worse than the End of Mark 3 update. Most of the beasts seem bad/not great to take.
Similarly, the units do not seem very compelling. I think rotwings and Chosen are the best picks. Its a real shame warspears are not better.
Easy fixes
Pull in some of the Mk3 end of update changes. Grotesques and Shepherd and Forsaken changes seeem like easy wins.
Beasts is harder. The Angelius is far too expensive. Its roughly a spd7, ps16 heavy with 2″ reach. I think it needs to be looked at again. Its very similar to a flying Freebooter with hand cannon instead smash and grab. And the Freebooter is 9 points. Say 12 points.
The Ravagore is probably ok at 14 points, I think the Scythean at 14, Carinvian at 15 and Typhon at 16 would be much better levels for the beasts.
The Teraph is too may points too. I think it would be better at AoE2, and 8 points.
The Raek needs a different animus. (Over take?)
Warspears should get to add bonuses to melee damage to their thrown attacks. And the points cost of warspears and warmongers should be 7.