Big new changes are here for Age of Sigmar. Travis is here with his hot takes for all the new points changes in AoS this FAQ.
The week before the holidays GW released updated rules and points for a lot of the armies in Age of Sigmar. While there were some big changes, (Slaanesh and Nurgle) it was pretty lackluster in terms of game balancing. That being said, here is a rundown of the updates and how they might affect you!
AoS Point & Rules Changes
Beasts of Chaos:
- Cygor down 40 points
- Ghorgon down 40 points
- Doombull down 20 points
- Bullgors down 20 points
I am not sure this is enough to bring the Beasts of Chaos into a more competitive army. They are one of the weakest in terms of standings, but it might entice people from allied factions to include a Cygor or two.
Blades of Khorne:
- Bloodcrushers down 20 Points.
- Mighty Skullcrushers down 20 points.
I want to like bloodcrushers and skullcrushers so bad, but they just don’t stack up to other elite calvary and it makes me sad. This is a start but another 20 point drop each and we can really start talking.
Cities of Sigmar:
- Rules Change: You cannot negate mortal wounds suffered in the Arcane Channeling ability and still get the casting bonus.
- Drakspawn Knights point increase by 30.
- Wildriders point increase by 30, but added as battleline.
A nice rule clarification to the Hallowheart ability which is still incredibly strong. The point increase to the knights and wildriders I don’t think is justified, but getting the wildriders as battleline is a nice addition for an old woof elf player.
Daughters of Khaine:
- Avatar of Khaine down 40 points.
- Blood Stalkers down 20 points.
Not huge changes to this army in terms of how they are going to be played moving forward. Most Daughters players use the large blocks of witch elves so I don’t see that changing anytime soon. I do like the Avatar of Khaine though as a unit for 140 points.
Flesh-Eater Courts:
- Crypt Horrors down 30 points.
Not much of a change and not really going to affect lists that are built around the terrorgheists. Maybe you might see some Flesh Eater players include an extra endless spell or something now with the point decrease if they run Horrors but is not going to do much.
Fyreslayers:
- Vulkite Berzerkers down 20 points.
- Hearthguard Berzerkers max unit size changed from 30 down to 20. Less of a horde discount.
Most Fyreslayer armies use the Hearthguard Bezerkers and a max unit was giving you a 120 point discount which was insane. This brings them in line with other horde discounts of 80 points discount to take max. You will still be seeing 1 or 2 full units of these on the battlefield when playing against them.
Gloomspite Gitz:
- Arachnarok with Flinger down 50 points.
- Arachnarok with Warparty down 30 points.
- Skitterstrand Arachnarok down 60 points.
It’s nice to see the very cool large spiders go down in points as they were a bit over priced for what they gave you. This might be a good enough boost to encourage some Gitz players to toy with the idea of running some of these behemoths with their large blocks of gobbos.
Hedonites of Slaanesh:
- Rules Change: Large increase to DP cost to summon daemons
This is a pretty decent nerf to the army that was going to show up sooner rather than later. Slaanesh has been taking over the matched play scene across the globe consistently and so they needed to tweak some things in order to make it more balanced. The increase in the summoning table is a solid start because before hand it was way to easy to summon more keeper of secrets.
Idoneth Deepkin:
- Akhelian Leviadon down 40 points.
- Eidolon are both down 40 points.
- Allopex down 20 points.
Interesting to decrease point costs for a very strong army, but they did it to models that are generally not fielding in the very competitive “eel” army. This is nice because the models they did drop in points are some of the coolest in the range so maybe we will begin to see a little more variety from the armies. Though if I had to guess I think we are still going to see all eels all the time from these guys.
Legions of Nagash:
- Arkhan the black increased by 20 points.
- Mannfred decreased by 20 points.
- Nagash increased by 30 points.
- Neferata decreased by 40 points.
- Morghast Archai and Harbingers increased by 10 points.
Kind of a mixed bag, Nagash seems to be slowly creeping up to where a demi-god belongs in terms of point costs. Arkhan and the Morghast went up slightly because of the new bonereapers battletome release (put in line with those values). Mannfred and Neferata decrease is a nice start for them, but in order to run them, they need to drop a bit more.
Maggotkin of Nurgle:
- Rules change: Unmodified hit rolls of 6 scores D6 hits rather than just 1.
- All battalions down 60 points
This rule change is a game changer for the Maggotkin of Nurgle, and it basically makes the Blightkings auto-include in armies as battlelines. The battalion point drops are a nice addition as well. This could bring the army back into top tier status if the general figures our how to get rend onto those blightkings weapons.
Nighthaunt:
- Kurdoss down 20 points.
- Lady Olynder down 20 points.
- Black Coach down 40 points.
This is a nice start of the nighthaunt but generally their units across the board are still suffering from a weak battletome and high point values. Kurdoss and Lady Olynder still need some tweaking in points while the black coach could use another 40 point reduction. At 220 it is still just an overpriced pillow fisted support unit.
Skaven:
- Rules Change: Plague Monk all must take single weapon instead of mixing and matching.
- Warlock Bombardier up 20 points.
- Grey Seer on Screaming Bell up 40 points.
- Verminlord Deceiver up 20 points.
- Verminlord Warpseer up 60 points.
- Stormfiends max unit size down to 6 from 9.
This is a minor nerf to Skaven, sure the point increases for the units hurts, but with how strong and undercosted the models where it is justified. Decreasing the max unit size limits the mortal wound output from the stromfiends so they are slightly worse as well.
Stormcast Eternals:
- Drakesworn Templar down 40 points.
- Lord Celestant on Stardrake down 60 points.
- Evocators on Dracolines down 40 points.
This is a decent start to bringing stormcast in line with other battle tomes but man they need to look at the older models and really bring them down in points. The original models from the release of Sigmar are way over costed and the Vanguard chamber is completely out of whack in terms of points. Hopefully the new GHB 2020 will help resolve this.
Sylvaneth:
- Alarielle down 60 points.
- Spirit of Durthu down 40 points.
- Treelord Ancient down 40 points
This is solid as the Sylvaneth were a bit over costed especially Alarielle (I still think that is too high). The tree lord ancients and Spirit of Durthu were must include in most Sylvaneth armies so this is will be beneficial to most players. Is it enough to bring them into top lists in tournaments, probably not, but more models on the board certainly helps.
There you have it, GW’s Christmas present to us (along with with the Tzeentch and Kharadron Overlords tease). Unfortunately for you Slaanesh and Skaven players might have felt more like getting a stocking full of coal that the goodie bags that the rest of armies received.
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