Battletome Soulblight Gravelords 2023 - Full Review

Welcome to #TheHonestWargamer.
Rob is here reviewing the 2023 Soulblight Gravelords Battletome. Bleeding it for every drop of knowledge, changes and potentially exciting army approaches.
0:42 Battle Traits
8:34 Legion of Blood
17:07 Legion of Night
24:30 Vyrkos
30:11 Kastelai Dynasty
37:25 Avengorii Dynasty
44:10 Spell Lores
===================
49:48 Nagash, The Supreme Lord of the Undead
58:09 Mannfred Von Carstein, Mortarch of Night
1:02:56 Neferata, Mortarch of Blood
1:08:24 Prince Vhordrai
1:12:56 Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon
1:17:38 Lauka Vai, Mother of Nightmares
1:20:27 Vengorian Lord
1:22:13 Radukar The Wolf
1:24:40 Radukar The Beast
1:27:22 Ivya Volga The Outcast
1:29:03 Belladamma Volga, First of The Vyrkos
1:31:55 Gorslav The Gravekeeper
1:32:58 Torgillius The Chamberlain
1:34:10 Vyrkos Blood-born
1:36:28 Watch Captain Halgrim
1:37:34 Vargskyr
1:38:02 Kosargi Nightguard
1:38:45 Lady Annika, The Thirsting Blade
1:39:42 Kritza, The Rat Prince
1:41:01 Cado Ezechiar, The Hollow King
1:43:36 Vampire Lord
1:45:04 Blood Knights
1:48:31 Vargheists
1:49:36 Askurgan Trueblades
1:51:35 Bloodseeker Palanquin
1:53:09 Mortis Engine
1:56:28 Coven Throne
1:59:05 Zombie Dragon
1:59:53 Terrorgheist
2:01:04 Wight King
2:02:02 Wight King on Skeletal Steed
2:02:53 Black Knights
2:05:43 Grave Guard
2:07:32 Necromancer
2:08:45 Deadwalker Zombies
2:09:40 Corpse Cart
2:12:13 Dire Wolves
2:13:57 Fell Bats
2:15:20 Deathrattle Skeletons
2:17:36 Prince Duvalle
2:18:22 The Crimson Court
===================
2:19:00 Grand Strategies
2:19:30 Battle Tactics
===================
2:21:05 Conclusion
============================================================================
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[@Malisteen]

i fully expected a low effort copy paste job. After all, as the last 2e book, the previous SBGL book was already designed with 3e core rules in mind. But the devs for this book rewrote everything - the faction rules, the subfaction rules, literally every single warscroll. And not always for the better! there are more than a few units & rules that I wish had been left alone. but while I might have some criticisms, I absolutely cannot accuse this books author of laziness. this was a high effort update.

[@Johndrakeg]

I agree I expected copy and paste as well I was excited to here they actually went through it and updated it.. Then I got the book and was severely disappointed at most of the warscrolls

[@Johndrakeg]

@Mr Jayboo yeah I have quite a few armies myself I was just disappointed they changed so much as the original poster stated this army was " setup for 3rd edition" mainly I didn't like a few warscroll changes but I think I'll live

[@Koalaninja90]

Incredible effort. Can hear your voice failing at the end. Thanks so much Rob!

[@thehonestwargamerstreams]

Happy to help and yeah. It fucked me

[@loralexander950]

The dedication to getting this out is super appreciated. Great analysis and insights as ever

[@lektavia]

"Ageless cunning" was a precarious moment 😅😂

[@thehonestwargamerstreams]

Everyday for a dyslexic is a minefield

[@nlg702]

Rob is the fuckin' man, keep it coming brother!

[@greylithwolf]

On Radukar the Beast, I just used him on Saturday, and he's pretty solid against troops. Maybe not the best duelist, but he successfully held up and subsequently destroyed over a third of my opponent's points value over the course of the game. By himself, he killed a unit of Ogroid Theridons (in one combat), a unit of Chaos Knights, and a Chaos Lord on Daemonic steed. The -1 to hit and wound in addition to the Hunger made Radukar impossible for my opponent to move. Radukar's minimum 2 dmg means he's healing 1/6 of his total wounds every time he does damage. The fact that he only needs to succeed on 1/4 of his overall attacks to heal his maximum value makes him *very* difficult to remove. For Belladama, she's just super fun. She just makes wolves. Use her spell to make wolves and combine it with the heroic ability to reinforce that unit gives her the ability to completely stop an enemy advance and leave them open to a charge. If you've got a unit with Spirit Gale (which you can just give to Belladama herself, which is great with her innate +1) you basically guarantee you're making wolves if you can get the spells off.

[@galvaro3090]

Yes! I've been waiting for this video ever since I saw the leaks. Love these videos keep it up!

[@josechitty339]

I watched like 12h of this on twitch and yes I'm watching this as well :)

[@Pershoreify]

My man has mad reviewing skills

[@PannkakaMedSylt]

Neferata has HIGHER dmg output then Mannfred in LoB! Have +1 attack to all 4 atk profiles, does around 10-15% more dmg against both 2+ save or 6+ save.

[@drewlehman2456]

I've been playing off and on since 2019 (Due to college) and was playing through a path to glory campaign with some friends in 2022. I was struggling hard with the 2019 version and was just getting destroyed by everyone's armies, this book already addresses so many of my issues with the base battle traits alone. easier to roll for certain triggers, better heals / revives on units, etc. Cant wait to graduate and jump into making a new soulblight army with the new book soon.

[@lukemorrison5781]

Great video - I found your insight on every aspect of this book and the potential combos very useful! Is there any way you can add sections to the video so if I want to come back to this at a later date for list building it’s easier to zip around?

[@er4din903]

It’s been a year and now I’m running a list in LoN, with mannfred vampire lord and a wight king general, accompanied by 80 grace guard with great wight blades. In devastated to find out that I missed my chance to play this list when they used to be 140 points

[@Jewus19]

25:20 the strength of the wolf is the pack: Amazing ability, charge in with *The Beast*, deal a bunch of damage while buffing the graveguard with +1 A and attack with those monsters right after. This will deal rude ammounts of damage. Especially with another buff from a regular vampire lord and Bellas Killing Moon. Standard of the Ulfenwatch will be hilarious against bonereapers.

[@silvercreekirving5115]

I always hurt myself when I try to pull off a double reverse ogor as well.

[@thehonestwargamerstreams]

I still can't walk right

[@ryandaigle9272]

I watched all nine hours of the recording process, and here I am to watch it again XD

[@speeddemonpainting7050]

I'm actually also liking Tailored downfall for Legion of blood as trait... But yeah, minions is probably more widely applicable. That being said, you'll probably also often find cloak of mists and shadows in those lists.... Especially in a list that can get some 2+ unrendable bloodknight unit through neferata too. Especially with the hunger being so much better now to really lean into that attrition playstyle.

[@thingmate7361]

I think its worth mentioning that the Vyrkos named characters can get their artefacts and command traits on them, unlike just about every other army in the game. So Radukar the Beast can be running and re-rolling charges, his Wolf form can carry his Phylactery to summon more Kosargi (or tokyo drift with corpse carts) and all manner of other shenanigans. Just something to contemplate as I'm suddenly given more reason to want to buy Cursed City :O

[@lukebell7463]

My favourite has gottta be gorslav with the phylactery giving his horde a ward annnd passing off wounds makes that such a good anvil

[@escapo6895]

My favorite application of the Black Knight bomb is in Legion of Night. Get that charge off in the enemy charge phase. With good positioning you can leave them with no good choices.

[@Fortunes.Fool.]

I got the holiday box set last year and a pair of Start Collecting boxes to assemble someday. I hope that’s a good core.

[@reflexdogtraining1337]

Baller status achieved, Rob.

[@Lodorn]

46:00 Soulpike doesn't even say unmodified charge roll. So something with +2 or +3 to their charge could see up to 13 or even 15 dice against them (or with 3D3 charge rolls over 20 dice)

[@NotBeardThePirate]

Vengolord feels genuinely interesting in Kastelai since it can get +1 attack and +1 damage pretty easily on all its profiles. Kinda fun.

[@thehonestwargamerstreams]

Yeah defo. I can see a hero monster mash list

[@olafolafsson2755]

Dude I was in the middle of the video, food, pillow, big TV, the relaxing pants, …. Then the frkn screen went completely black! Then watched Obr for a 2nd time to get my Honest Wargamer experience for the evening. (sidenote- watched last slaaneshtome video without any pants for obvious reasons)

[@KcBull]

Love the review. Have a fun idea for a super fighty monsterous hero build with kastellai and legion of blood look very strong! Maybe this is just me but I'm kinda disappointed in the battletome overall. Feels like they removed unique aspects of subfactions to make them all less unique. For instance, they removed the ambush capabilities of legion of night (my favourite part of that faction) and instead gave them a nee monstrous action despite there already being a faction that is meant to deal with monsters, then gave the elite subfaction kastellai the ability to ambush better? There are some strong points, but honestly, I feel like this book was a bit of a downgrade from the last one (with regards to the way subfactions are treated only)

[@Lodorn]

1:31:35 Heroic actions are done before spell casting (start of vs. during hero phase), so you can not first create a unit of wolves and then add to it with the heroic action.

[@CloudlessTen4]

Can you clarify where is says that endless legions works on a 3 up in your movement phase? I am new to this army so thought it was only 4 up.

[@SanguisMorthis]

I dont Think the vyrkos trait is trash tbh… if you Actually bother to place things right it Can be very strong. Also i love when you said radukar the beast wont be killing loads. I guess in terms of if he runs away and is janky ..but that dude absolutely slays. Ive managed to kille bellakor with him. Last time i played i killed 7 chaos knights I mean sure you can roll bad ..but the average rolling radukar i feel is going to have enough punch to make people sad. ;) Again just my experience and as you say compared to top top meta might not be so scary ..still good :) I liked the video a lot

[@chadrickvon9383]

Can we get a3 corpse cart plus cogs. Belladama castle storm build?

[@Lodorn]

1:16:25 wait, you have to pick all out attack when you pick a unit to fight, right? Not after figuring out their attack characteristic. The same as the defender hast to delcare all out defense when you pick them as a target but before rolling attacks? Did I miss a FAQ for this?

[@coopmeister3000]

He's talking about taking Legion of Blood's Doomed Minions Command Trait on the VLoZD

[@chadrickvon9383]

No way I saw this live yesterday

[@olejoergenmalm16]

I find it odd that the Vampire Lord on the cover of the book has white hair and red armour like the Blood Knights instead of red hair and black armour as shown on the miniature of him.

[@halffin64]

rolling to make your trait/artifact roll work delenda est

[@lestrike2707]

Does Prince Duvalle and the other Warband get a Legion keyword? (It seems like it)

[@davidwasilewski]

What do we think about blood knights now? Worth taking a couple of 5 man units?

[@thehonestwargamerstreams]

They are great definitely

[@elnixon616]

could doom minions make zombies just explode mortal wounds, if you have a stack of 30 with them hitting on twos you'll have what like 50 something hits not counting if you've stacked buffs, to then just crap out a ton of mortal wounds on 6's to wound from the corpse cart?

[@Lodorn]

1:18:30 Since she's Avengorii faction locked, doesn't A queen amongst monsters always apply to her, even if your army is a different legion?

[@Wymorn]

Yea she would be able to apply it to herself since she is an Avengorii Monster even in another subfaction

[@jeremiahj1108]

This nagash is better in nighthaunt now. Destroyed units coming back for them since soulblight already does. Yes please

[@OldManRogers]

This army suits my playstyle ... unfortunatly its in my attic :S

[@tizianomerello6530]

Can i use Deathly invocation for each hero in my army? Or I just have to pick 1 hero?

[@escapo6895]

The way I read it, you pick 3 units, and each one has to be within 12" of a hero. It doesn't seem like it has to be the same hero. But the ability caps at 3 because you are picking the units to restore, not the heroes.

[@violetmontgomery5627]

In Endless Legions who is "Critser" he mentions?

[@MrLunchDude]

So they changed the Neferata/BK combo by making her Spell only castable on Legion of Blood? I guess that's fine. But with Blood being one of the better Subfactions aren't they just indirectly forcing all Soulblight to play Legion of Blood now?

[@necroprince2098]

so mild hate on the Bloodseeker for obvious reasons I get that for the points but you have to consider its potential in legion of blood, and probably why its costed so high. Nuke the wards of anyone it touches making the concoction easier to proc, and when it does buff itself, Neff and so on with extra attacks and the bloodseeker can itself do both of bloods hero action and just become a blender. Granted response, but thats the reason its so costly.

[@collywwob]

I’m very very new and green to this game. But I’m just wondering. Is there a bunch of power creep occurring. This seems much better than the battle tome it’s replacing. And has loads of v cool abilities that weren’t there before. With few obvious nerfs. If so, when do we get a new stormcast book? Next year?

[@hapijoel7569]

There are some real big nerfs - zombies were brutal before and are now going to be harder to pilot. I don't think it's a power creep but definitely refining what the previous book did, while updating it to 3.0.

[@collywwob]

@@hapijoel7569 spoken like a lord of the graves of blighted souls. That’s interesting about the zombies. I was just hearing everything about the enhancements and the buffs to the sub factions - which seem better?

[@hapijoel7569]

@@collywwob bahaha, i'll take it! I will miss my running zombies...as I say, *my* opinion is the spells and artefacts have been reduced in number but what remains has been better focussed, but then I always took Soulpike and Vile Transference anyway. I think generally the power has been spread around a little more evenly across the army. Still a strong book, I think perhaps a little easier to pilot in general.

[@jakea3950]

Most people feel this book is a nerf. 40k power creep is 100x worse to favoured armies. Aos way more balanced. They stuff up, sure but overall it's not whack stat's for new books and if it is it's an error.

[@collywwob]

@@jakea3950 that’s reassuring to hear.

[@anderotaola7515]

I take it all the other underworlds warbands (velmorn, deintalos, and sepulchral guard) werent worth talking about then?

[@douglasevarts8715]

Where do you find the pdfs for these? I'm new to the game and find it hard to buy a battletome just to see what the units can do.

[@thehonestwargamerstreams]

All the rules are free in the app and on wahapedia

[@douglasevarts8715]

@@thehonestwargamerstreams What is the name of the app? Like i said very new.

[@RedHatRuss]

Cado gets interesting if he has flaming weapon as his spell, because the wording of his rule would make his mortal wounds fighting option doing 3 mortals per wounding attack. That's pretty solid.

[@joenugent9508]

Named wizards can not take universal spells

[@RedHatRuss]

@@joenugent9508 well, shit.

[@SynesthesiaBoy]

First

[@luke_smith262]

Nagash doesn’t gel with nighthaunt anymore then ?

[@enterthemancave6324]

Still sad for zombies....

[@mateuszkolodziejski5525]

What is the difference between this new battletome and previous one? I find it a bit confusing since both have the same cover art.

[@alanwesley598]

Pack alpha and korsagi nightguard

[@tomeknowik2050]

Avengori make me sad - Lauka Vai is the reason I collect this army

[@ChibsterofNurgy]

Dude, same. I know some people really hate the model, but I liked it since it was revealed. I even read her book which got me even more excited for Soulblight Monster-mash. This just feels like it wasn't meant to be.

[@josechitty339]

Yeah great book and great model

[@Flummoxed_Buffoon87]

@@ChibsterofNurgy Queen of Monsters was great. One of the few BL where the humans are the baddies. Shame the rules in game don't match the lore. Still great model and character in general though

[@alaunda-lorenzo3816]

I would guess that Doomed Minions cannot target units in reserve? Seems unclear.

[@Neliss44]

I see and hear people having great success with Avengorii. Are you still of the opinion to NEVER play Avengorii, which you mention a lot in the Video :D

[@chadrickvon9383]

Reupload?

[@ChibsterofNurgy]

The previous version was missing a couple of things.

[@chadrickvon9383]

@@ChibsterofNurgy ok. I had some wild dejavu...

[@skreechverminking2227]

Wow those battle tactic. We should really ban any battletome grand strats and secondary strats

[@skreechverminking2227]

From torunament and events

[@Goon94]

The Avengorii subfaction is such a letdown.

[@faust5894]

I don’t hate the idea of a legion of night magic castle with Mannfred and a couple foot vamp lords and necromancers with the claw artifact. Just spend the rest of your points on wounds to cover the objectives and protect your characters

[@faust5894]

Or just run Nagash with one other foot hero to hold the artifact and go to town.

[@TheMagicalPinata]

@@faust5894 Nagash doesn't have Legion of Night keyword

[@faust5894]

@@TheMagicalPinata good catch. Nvm Nagash will stay on my shelf

[@bigsmiles768]

vampires r kwl

[@hapijoel7569]

So bizarre they've made Avengorii a useless sub faction in two books now

[@thehonestwargamerstreams]

They have never understood monsters. They should be a problem. Probably never receive commands etc

[@OgreOnSprue]

That's clearly the old battletome, just look at the cover

[@hinogamigo]

Why does gw hate avengorii? Ist again the weakest Dynastie. And its the weakest Monster central subfaction of All armys that have one.

[@dafruk1]

2.5 hours, you're not even trying.

[@V081WLBlue]

I wish they would stop rewriting the rules for all their games with the only reason to be to sell the same old shit over and over and over, disgusting company!