Monster Mash, thoughts on the new WOC book.

One of the first things that jumps out at me is making a monstrous horde list, Trolls have gotten so much cheaper and now have the possible addition of an extra hand weapon. Additionally, Demon Princes really have a lot to offer, and the Chimeraes. So, I'm thinking of going Monstrous in a big way at least initially.

Secondly Chariots, the move to Chariots as Core and the addition of the new Gorebeast Chariot are attractive, but since they increased the movement rate I see my chariots getting a lot more play in the near future.

The downside of course is the price hikes on weapon upgrades, I realize there were some changes needed but in the case of Marauders for instance it's a perfect storm for them. I just can't fathom fielding them as they stand.

Further, the addition of Halberds to Dragon Ogres really confuses me. They're Init 2, and the Halberd upgrade is the same cost as Great Weapons. So, why would you bother with Halberds? They'll be going last anyways 9 times out of 10.

As for the big beasties, I'm more interested in Mutilath than the Ragebeast for several reasons. I want to proxy them a bit before I decide for sure, but I think I'm going to try double Mutilath and see how it works out. I think my next WOC list is definitely going to look more like an Ogre list, very low model count with a lot of OOMPH!

I think the monster got a huge boost.

Marauders NEEDED to cost more. Period. They are actually in line with most empire units now. The base cost is better than an empire swordsman and they are still reasonable at 9pts with GW. Now we are paying a cost that reflects what the unit does on the table which was the biggest compliaint I heard against chaos. The stuff is too cheap. Last edition I toyed with a list that had 350 marauders in it which is just crazy from a balance perspective. We proxied it, you cannot stop it with anything shy of a sea of skaven slaves and even then...

I like the new chariots, Killing blow on the gorebeasts impact hits!? They are also as steal for how tough they are.

Did you see Chaos Hounds can now purchase Vanguard??

As for dragon ogres, lots of people have ASL so why not go first? But yes, I see GWs as the best option for a normal situation.

The mutalith suffers form 1 problem in my book. Its a bound spell, therefore it can be easliy dispelled. If the mutalith isnt getting the bound spell off then I dont see it accomplishing anything of sigificant value.

Target priority will make or break your games most days from the look of the new book.

You want to put 2 cannons into my daemon prince? That'll hurt but good odds my slaughterbeast/dragon ogres/skull crushers/etc. make it to your lines then.

Sad I lost some of the old toys and my old build is completely gone, but I love the new Warriors book. Solid A. Can't want to playtest it a bit.

Target saturation is the way I play, lots of movement and lots of targets. With the Mutilath, it's Spell Target saturation. Yeah, they may dispel one bound spell. Hell, someone may burn a Scroll on it. That's a Scroll that isn't being used on my Nurgle/Death magic from my Daemon Prince(s). If they really want to dispel the Mutilath and leave themselves open for something more dangerous.

I'm not convinced about the Mutilath yet, same with the Warshrine. But I'm intrigued, I'm definitely curious enough to give them a whirl. Meanwhile I've got a horde of Trolls I'll be working on. If the Mutilaths don't pan out I'll probably go Hellcannons or Shaggoths.

As for the rest, Marauders definitely needed to be toned down. My initial reaction though is that they may have been a little heavy handed with the points on our core in general. Marauder Hordes just aren't likely to happen now, but I see some possibilities for say Marauder Bunkers for Sorcerers for example. The biggest problem really is the PPM for Marks, 2 points each for most marks makes the prospect of a Horde formation daunting at best.

On units like Warriors though, it's not as big of a deal unless you typically run 20+ units. I ran some numbers last night and made a spreadsheet of some typical units I like to run to compare points VS old book and for example a 15 man unit of Warriors of Tzeentch with Halberds and Shields saw an increase of 25 points, that's almost a unit of Warhounds.

I'm not going to say it's criminally over priced or anything, but it does feel a little heavy handed. Our Core is just a bit more "elite" in terms of points cost, unfortunately we didn't really gain anything for that point raise.

It's going to be interesting to see how lists develop over the next few months, I'm definitely going to focus on a Monstrous Horde style list initially, but after that I think I'll revisit my MSU style list and see what it will look like now.

My biggest complaint with this release is the cost, seriously $80 for the new monsters? $60 for Throgg? $50 for 10 Forsaken! I'll end up in a support group at these prices, telling some story about how I did abominable things for little plastic men.