Dear T9A players,

You have been heard!
Some 650 posts about Short Questions / Short Answers since the release of V1.0, more than 100 threads active since April 30th in the dedicated Rules Questions & Answers forum (well, not all of them were rules questions, but never mind). This proves that our members (you!) are invaluable to spot many situations that were left with some ambiguity, despite all the dedication demonstrated by our rule teams.

For your future games, we do not want you to spend you time searching for a clarification which might have been given already - your time is much better spent playing or painting! So here you are, most of the clarification you needed (and many you did not need but someone else did) is gathered in our FAQ.

Please download it here: FAQ
And keep informing us in case there is a need for more.

Thank you,
The Rules Team [Read More]

Dear T9A supporters!

As you already know from our latest announcements, the 1.0 version (which will be published on the 30th of April) is drawing near. The staff members have worked tirelessly since the Autumn of 2015, and without our crew, this release would not be possible. The Rules Team want to take the opportunity to thank all of the hundreds of Armybook Committee members, Playtesters, Balance Board and Review Team members and also our Army Support and Moderator staff - without you this project would only be an empty shell. You are the reason we are devoting countless of hours to this project, because the dedication of our staff shows us that this project has a great future ahead, and that it is worth it to invest time, energy, and a lot of missed sleep

In order to prepare the big 1.0 launch we published version 0.99.4 as a "soft opening". Players with a management or publishing background will know that even the best product will usually contain a few errors which are caused by minor oversights. Our intention to open the finished product for a wider audience to be collectively able to search for editing / spelling mistakes produced promising results. In nearly 1.000 pages of rules text only minor errors occurred which speaks for the professionalism of our staff. In the days leading up to the 0.99.4 release, the staff worked double shifts to get all the agreed changes implemented in the books. Unfortunately, even the best project team makes mistakes and 0.99.4 was meant to find and correct them. We wanted to take the time to point out the few editorial mistakes that occurred in the stressful hours before the release. Please note that the following corrections are not changes - they are mistakes caused by wrong editing / implementation of already agreed upon rules.

Paths of Magic
1. Wind Blast: Only other units within 6” get -1 BS.
Mistake when wording the spell, it wasn't considered that the target itself might be within 6".

2. Path of Necromancy, Cheating Death (attribute): Change "unit cannot be targeted more than twice" to "unit cannot recover more than 2 wounds".
Targeting is something you do when you cast the spell (even before rolling power dice). The current wording meant you could only attempt to heal a unit twice. If both these attempts were dispelled, no more tries, as the unit could not be targeted further that round. This was never the intention.

3. Path of the sand, attribute reworded
In order to work with increased range from arc of ages

Dread Elves
1. Divine Altar mounted version: Should cost 200 for Nabh, 215 for Yema
The cost for the mounted version didn't match the special choice. The reason for this is that the changes made to the Altar (including updates to its cost) was one of the last things we did before the 0.99.4 release and the implementation of the update for the mounted version was simply forgotten.

2. Divine Altar of Yema (both versions): Medusa should have 5 attacks.
The Medusa's number of attack doesn't match the special choice. The 5th attack for the special Medusa was also a very late change and unfortunately not streamlined with the altar crew.

Beast Herds
1. Pillager's Icon: Remove “the bearer”
This item was never supposed to work on the bearer itself. The addition of this is an editorial mistake.

2. Hunting Call: Units without pack tactics cannot ambush on turn 1.
Again, editorial mistake. The Beast Lord was designed to help units with pack tactics only - it was never intended to expand this effect to units without this special rule.

Vampire Covenant
1. Court of the Damned; replace mount's protection with innate defence.
Multiple version of this unit were discussed at the same time with the Armybook Committee, Balance Board and Rules Team. The version which was approved and the version which was implemented differ in a small (but important) detail. Innate defence cannot be used by the rider, therefore T5/5W/1+/4++ characters were not intended (the best protection intended was: 2+/5++ or 3+/4++).

2. Phantom hosts: invocation value
All ethereal units were supposed to have its invocation decreased. This was not properly communicated and only Wraiths got their invocation decreased.

3. Monstrous Revenant: Should be allowed 2 options only.This was mistakenly removed when the layout of the mount section was updated.

Infernal Dwarves
1. Chosen of Lugar: Models on foot only
When this was moved from a magical item to a hero upgrade, this was mistakenly removed.

2. Magus level 2 cost
Streamlined with all other hero upgrades from level1 to level2

Daemonic Legion
Lust Chariots: Barbed Claws should be (crew only)
Copy paste mistake from chariot with only Seekers and no special crew.

Kingdom of Equitaine
1. Sacred Reliquary: Re-Roll to wound should work for both shooting and close combat.
Editorial mistake

Saurian ancients
1. Stygiosaur skink rider, bs3
Same as other skinks

We wanted to communicate openly that even due to our best efforts some minor mistakes… [Read More]

Dear players,

as part of building our community on this forum we have been working over the past months to come up with a clear set of rules for our moderating team. Though you might have noticed some of these rules already in action now it is finally time to make them public so all of us can actively strive to avoid breaking them.

-----------

Trolling is classified as a post intended to offend and/or annoy another poster. Obviously, this is a fairly wide range, so it will be the Moderator dealing with the problem who makes the decision on whether or not a post can be classified as trolling.

Flaming is classified as insults of other members of the forum. You may critique an argument, naturally (after all, debates are one of the reasons that this forum exists), but restrain yourself from attacking the person behind that argument. Debates are fine, but they should not degenerate into personal attacks.

Small Reminder (poits 0) - these are actions performed by the Moderating team to give users a friendly nudge to stay on the right side of the "law"

Mild Infractions (points 1,2,3) - points accumulated from these infractions will be maintained in the system for a year before they are removed

Openly questioning moderator's decision on the forum - 1 (if the users have a problem with the way a Mod acts they should file a report to the Global Mods/Admin. They are, however, allowed to ask for what reason they received a point)
Use of swear words - 1
On topic spam - 1
Off topic spam - 2
Trolling - 2
Use of derogatory terms without the intention to insult - 2
Flaming - 3

Official Sanctions (points 4,5,6) - points accumulated from these infractions will be maintained in the system for half a year before they are removed
Being disrespectful to another member and personal attacks - 4
Serial Trolling - 5
Serial Flaming - 6

Permanent Sanctions (points 1,2,3) - these are given in addition to any category above they fall under and are given only by the Admin and Global Mods following a discussion, the amount of points given is agreed, on case by case basis. These points permanently remain in the system.
Insulting another member

Temporary Ban - given to individuals that have accumulated 7 points (a day), 8 points (a week), 9 points (a month) or have:
Created a socket puppet account

Permanent Ban - given to individuals that have accumulated 10 points or have performed a serious infraction of the code of conduct such as:
Threatening to injure or kill another member
Advertisement Spam
Creating a sock puppet account while on temporary ban
Individuals who have intentionally worked to undermine the 9th Age project.
A ban still allow you to view content on the forum, such as the rules

The Yellow Card - whenever a user accumulates 6 points a card will show on the profile indicating that the next infraction will result in some kind of a Ban

And here it is how this looks visually for the moderating team



Link to the Pillory: the-ninth-age.com/index.php?pi…Field=time&sortOrder=DESC
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May you all have a long, civil and prosperous stay on The 9th Age forum [Read More]

For this sneak peek we've interviewed the various Orcs and Goblins responsible for the update in order to explain the upcoming changes. Translations are below each quote, and if you want the sneak peek in an easy-to-read format, one can be found after all the quotes.

Orc Chief Amaz wrote:

"If ya ain't killin' 'em da first time ya smash 'em, save yer killyness lads 'cause it's gonna be a long fight."

-Born to Fight-
The old rule was switched off for the entire game if a round of close combat was not won, and in some situations this was too good. Born to Fightwas changed so that the bonus now applies to the first round of each combat.

Orc Chief Swaging wrote:

"We got da cave gits to ride da Gnasher Dashers right good. Deys goin' where we wants 'em to, an' we only had to krump 'em a bit to make 'em lern."

-Gnasher Dashers-
This unit was rarely seen on the battlefield. In addition, "bouncy" had some possible issues with movement rules which we wanted to remove. Due to these issues, the unit has been redesigned to have flying instead of Boing and random movement.

Cave Goblin Big Shaman Oolah da Finka wrote:

"All yer wierd git shamans can't 'ave da really glowy mushrooms anymore 'cause yer've been muckin' about, an' aint been doing da spells and fings proppa."

-Power 'Shrooms-
Have been reduced to a +1 to the casting result to put them more in line with the new casting values of spells. Furthermore, there have been some changes to the Paths of the Green Gods to make them more useful.

Orc Chief Amaz wrote:

"We used up too many of da 'erdin Gnashers and now deyz zoggin' hard to find."

-Gnasher Herd-
The Gnasher Herd was seen to be over performing for its cost, so the price per model has been increased and the max unit size decreased.

Forest Goblin Apita wrote:

"Boss, we has takin' da spider venom like ya shouted an' put it on our pointy bits an stuff, but some of da ladz mucked about, an' just put it on demselfs like paint."

-Forest Goblins and Mother's Gift-
Only getting poisoned attacks from the Mother's Gift magic banner was seen as too limiting, so the banner has been removed and forest goblins have been given the option to add poison attacks to their melee attacks (but might just give it to an enemy unit instead). You know, proper Gobbo style.

Iron Orc Akagtug wrote:

"Da ladz was complainin 'cause dey ain't got no bitz from those shiny gits on horses, 'cause of da Git Launchers killin' 'em all first. So we fixed da git launchers some."

-Git Launcher, Splatterer and Skewerer-
To be consistent with game-wide changes to war machines, the Git Launchers and Splatters have been moved to Special and combined into oneunit. Skewerers have been moved to Rare for this same reason. The Git Launcher has been seen to be overperforming, and has been reduced in effectiveness, but also in cost.

Orc Chief Swaygig wrote:

"Dem Stunties have gone an lernt how to run away from us faster. Faster 'an da boys could keep up. We put da boys ta running, an put da great stone idol after 'em so it'd krump dem stumpy gits. But da idol got so slippery wiv' da stunty bits da lads we 'ad wranglin da idol got krumped an' we 'ad to make da idol all over 'cause it brokeded. So we put gobbos ta work makin da idols, but da stupid gits built 'em all funny."

-Great Green Idol and Waaargh!-
When used together, the Green Idol and Waaaargh were proving to be an insurmountable force when used against any unit. Due to this the following changes have been implemented:

• Waargh has been changed so that Devastating Charge has been replaced with +1 movement.
  
• The Hatred aura from the Great Green Idol has been replaced with a Devastating Charge aura.
  

The Great Green Idol has had its defense lowered and upgrade redesigned as well, due to its survivability being too great against low strength units.

Iron Orc Akagtug wrote:

"Da boys was gettin' hungry smashin' humies, squishin' stunties an breakin' da poncy elf's faces an' all. So we was finkin' a spider-leg barbecue would 'it da spot. An' dey got so many legs, missin' a few won't matter, right?"

-Gargantulas-
To bring them in line with other similar mounts and eliminate excessive builds, Gargantula mounts have been limited to One of a Kind.

Orc Warlord Tukasatig wrote:

"Findin good 'elp is gettin hard. Ya gotta keep yer Iron Ladz close. Da lads keep all da puny fight off ya, so ya can get some real fightin' done."

-Iron Orcs-
Have… [Read More]

Greetings Noble Knights, the time has come for what you have all been patiently (some not so patiently) waiting for, the KoE sneak peek. We know a lot of you were a little put off that our 'review' was last, but we have to say we think it was the right call as we think we needed the extra time. There were a lot of suggestions, rejections, counter proposals, and, unfortunately, some things that were not able to be changed in time, but we have no doubt these will be addressed in the future. We hope that we have a more workable, balanced and viable book than we previously did. However we won't know either way until we have done extensive playtesting, which is where the feedback of the community becomes important. It's important to remember that both the ABC and RT have spent an enormous amount of their free time working on this book, so please respect the process.
We think first and foremost the intention was to scale the power of the Grailstar down as it has been made clear for a long time that death stars are not something the team wants to encourage, but also to hopefully bring some more variety and viable list options in competitive play. However before you get too crestfallen about this, we're excited to share what I think the biggest, and best change for us this release will bring:

1) The Blessing: Whether the Lady has realised how devout we really are, or our noble knights have just become a little more intelligent regarding warfare and have decided to pray the night before a battle- no longer must we give up first turn to receive benefits from the blessing. We do, however, gain no bonuses to the roll deciding who goes first.
We no longer have to suffer a massive disadvantage just so we can benefit from our AWSR. Until now, we were the only ones suffering from this. However, we do still have to decide something (in list-building, not at the start of matches).. Would you prefer to receive a stronger ward save against AP attacks, or high strength attacks?
After much discussion between the RT and ABC, where it was basically split on what the blessing should give, they came to the conclusion that each should (theoretically) be as balanced as the other- so why not give the player the choice? As for why we no longer have to give up first turn, we think that's quite obvious, we can now play the deployment game just like any other army. We think this change can be really interesting especially in team tournament scenarios.

2) One change we believe nobody really understood in .11
was giving our horses stomp, but only when we don't charge. It didn't really make any sense, and frankly was quite useless for the most part. It's gone. However, our horses have gainedthunderous charge to bring them back to S4 when charging.

3) Peasants: As we are certain you are all aware of, one of the main problems with running peasants in a cavalry army is keeping them in the battle. Our nobles have been beating and chastising the peasants for this very reason, and as a result, they're quite motivated to move a little quicker under the watchful eyes of their betters, and now receive +1M when marching while under the inspiring presence from knights.

4) Questing Knights no longer have The Blessing, as they have a different rule to fill a niche - they have a flat 5+ ward in close combat, and as a result, both the oath and questing knights have seen a price reduction. They have also received something many of you have been asking for in this army - the option to scout! (and vanguard). However, they no longer haveskirmish. As you all know one of the many difficulties in an army full of cavalry options is differentiating the units and giving them different roles, we hope that these changes can help questing knights find that role

5) In the interest of allowing a peasant or making mixed army more viable, peasants have also seen a price reduction, and the reliquary grants nice buffs, but has become a rare unit. It now grants an aura to insignificant units that grants The Blessing, FiER, and rerolling 1's to wound.

6) The price has been adjusted for many magical items, particularly in regards to taking them on hero level characters. While the Talisman of Roland has been changed to a max of 4+ as a result of item combinations/death star lists, and The Oriflamme is cheaper, but now only removes Hold Your Ground.

7) Characters themselves have been seen as over costed ("finally", we can almost hear you all say..), and as such have seen some reductions. While the Castellan has been hitting the gym and can now match the goblin chief in strength and toughness, for no change in points, this should help him survive a little better in combat. Previously he tended to be targeted and killed quite easily, this will also allow his unit buffs to be utilized a little longer. With thatchange he can also be a better redirector.

8 ) The option to create a 'Green Knight' lord is no longer there, however there is now a one of a kind rare unit to the… [Read More]

Hello my scaly friends!

In a weird twist of events the Saurian Ancients had teamed up with the Deamon Legions and together they reigned supreme in the land of OPness.
The Old Gods didn't approve of this unholy alliance and so their subordinates have been on patrol duty and mucked out the Taurosaur den.
Jealous kings and other persons of so called importance, from the cold lands far away from the steamy jungles, have been complaining about their own incapability of bringing down the sacred warriors of the jungle. Hah, we'll give them what they want and beat them all the same anyway! Because, obviously, my fellow genetically superior Warlords will show their worth. Right, guys?

Here's the sneak peek of what the Old Gods have done to the next breed of spawnlings:

1) Born Predator saw some changes affecting several units. Apparently creating a genetically superior killing machine also involves including various weaknesses. Being a born predator was a sneaky way to negate at least one weakness and since the Old Gods didn't want to pay their Warlords and Veterans anymore Itxy Grub than they already do, they decided one shouldn't be considered a born predator if using Great Weapons and magical Weapons. This change will balance Saurian Characters, Caimans (make Caiman halberds more attractive) and make Skrox units more reasonable. Both the Alpha Carnosaur and small Carnosaur also lost their BP special rule.

2) You wouldn't think it, but the Alpha Carnosaur suffered from an inferiority complex! The younger Carnosaurs must learn to restrain themselves and give a fighting chance to other monstrous beings. As such the younger Carnosaurs will refrain from using their set of ultra sharp claws in combat and no longer inflict Multiple Wounds (D3). For this they don't demand the same amount of Itxy Grub and so they got a slight reduction to their cost. To make things good with the younger Carnosaurs, the Warlords have decided to give them some attention and will from here on also ride to war on the younger Carnosaurs.

The Alpha Carnosaur received a slight nerf to its stats, and the Starfall Shard will only grant Fireborn and Hard Target. The Old Gods didn't appreciate the Alpha Carnosaur munching too much on humanoids - the Alpha Carnosaur should instead be focused on hunting its favorite prey: monsters.

3) Moving mountains shouldn't be used to crush puny humans and the High Borns were jealous. The favored of the Old Gods now have a more limited allowance for their disciplines and some of them have been changed. That'll teach them! They can still bring more than one disciplinethough, so no worries.

4) The Old Gods are millennia-old and for the longest time they have dreamed of crushing their opponents with huge units of genetically superior warriors. As one can understand they were severely disappointed when they realized their generals fooled around with guerrilla like warfare. The Skink Hunters have been banished from the core of the army (and can now be found in special), and to force the cowardly Brave ones into close combat they've had their poisonedjavelins exchanged with non-poisoned javelins. Luckily they now come with almost-free poison for close combat and smaller units may yet again be taken. The clever general will realize this opens up the opportunity for cheap scoring units.

For those who cannot shake the need for guerrilla like warfare, the Skink Braves can be made into Skink Hunter look-a-likes and move in a skirmishformation.

5) The Old Gods want their warriors to smash their enemies in the face, not shoot them from afar! When the Chiefs were given permission to shoot the big bolt thrower from the back of the Taurosaurs, they all flocked to Taurosaurs. WHAT?! - TAUROSAURS ARE MEANT TO SMASH FACE AND NOT HIDE IN THE BACK. The Chiefs may still shoot the bolt thrower if they wish, but a new breed of BS4 chiefs have been popped in the pools and the old ones are being sacrificed as we speak to the vengeful Snake Man. Also the Taurosaurs demanded more Itxy Grub payment for their efforts, otherwise they'd go to their union dino and complain.

6) Fairness was demanded from the jealous kings. Fairness will be given. Templeguards will be given more Itxy Grub payment, but only very little more than what the Veterans among us are used to. Being a Weapons Master have also been removed from the genes. Smash humanoid faces with halberds, don't dance around with shields and act all kinds of tanky.

7) MORE FAIRNESS they yelled. The remaining T5 caimans have all been promoted to Ancient Caimans, leaving the T4 guys as the only solution. Light Armour was given as an alternative. Meanwhile the Templeguards were still feeling the heat, and like the Alpha Carnosaur they were quickly developing an unhealthy inferiority complex. To make sure the scaly generals would utilize all the special warriors evenly, the Caimans will receive a bigger payment when used in big units. The bold general who uses these in… [Read More]

Daemon Legions was considered to be one of the top performing armies during both 0.10 and 0.11 so an overall readjustment was called for. Some combinations such as the Scourge with Mortal Blade and Mantle of Wrath was deemed to good and all its parts have been reworked, Crushers have also been seen as overperforming and more attractive than their counterparts in special/rare. Other than that, there were very few combos that were deemed to good, but the Daemon Legion Army Book was just to strong as a whole with a good internal balance. So a general lowering of strength through special rules and/or by adjusting point costs has been done across the board, while trying to keep the amount of models on the table roughly the same as before.

1. Monotheist armies seemed to be overperforming, especially Wrath and Change armies, so most bonuses for playing Monotheist have been removed. Left are the buyable options for special and rare units.

2. We have used your feedback to rework the Daemonic Item section. Some items were deemed too powerful, so they had to be reworked, some were rarely taken and have received a small discount. The goal was to give the army more options. The three biggest offenders when it comes to balance were the Mortal Blade, the Mantle of Wrath and the Soul Drinker and they've all been reworked.

3. The Firebolts for Horrors have been reduced to strength 3 only. The option to use strength 5 core shooting was deemed too strong and removed To avoid future abuses of the meta changes, the S4 part was removed as well.

4. The Mark of Pestilence has been changed, it now gives Poison and a 5+ Regeneration. All models with the Mark of Pestilence have received a point decrease in addition to this change. This makes Pestilence a bit less defensive and a bit more offensive, since they can now get more models on the table. The Mark of Change has changed for wizards. Wizards don’t get +1 to cast, but can now instead re-roll their spell generation at the start of the game.

5. The concept of "dual Greater Daemons" was considered problematic and as such warranted a higher minimum cost for the Greater Daemons from the ABC. They also wanted the ABC to implement larger bases for the Greater Daemons to make them more in line with other monsters such as dragons/chimeras/hydras, as it didn't make sense that other monsters and even monstrous cavalry had bigger bases than Greater Daemons. The solution is to give them larger bases (50*100mm). As part of a compensation, all Greater Daemons except the Scourge of Wrath now come with a 5+ Innate Defense (Scourge already has a 5+ AS from Heavy Armour). In addition to this the Weaver of Change now is a Lvl.4 and Lust starts at Lvl.2.

6. The biggest change in core is that Sirens lost Paired Weapons but come with 2A on their profile. This was done because big units, both with and without AHW, was seen as a bit over the top. Instead of just upping the cost, we removed the possibility for initiative 6 instead, which also makes them more well rounded.

7. Igniters is the unit that has been changed the most in its stats and damage output, as their survival rate vs damage output was too good when compared to its Elven skirmish shooting counterpart. Instead of doing a big points increase and losing models on the table we decided to halve their wounds and damage output so we could easier find a balance and keep more models on the table. It is now a 1W, T4 model with D3 multi-shots in units ranging from 5-8 models.

8. Pestilent Beasts have been changed in their profile to 3W, this in combination to the mark changes, should promote a more offensive role for them, rather than the wall of Pestilence style that has been attached to them.

9. Crushers being one of the most played units (and best performing) received quite a lot of attention. As such, the rider has lost one attack, and with the change to Aspects the mount does not benefit from it anymore. The upgrade to increase Innate Defense has been lowered to 5+ and is now combined with the Hellblade upgrade.

10. The Shrine of Temptation has become cheaper but most of its additional functions are now upgrades. A 8W chariot was seen as problematic and it has been streamlined vs similar bigger chariots and is changed from its T4, 8W profile to a T5, 5W profile. In addition to this, it now has more stable impact hits (D6+3) instead of 2D6+1, in order to reduce the random impact it can have in a fight.

11. To bring them in line with other armies, Blight Flies have lost Hard Target. Next to that, we decided to give them a new profile, with 2A on both Rider and Mount. This increases their supporting attacks and thus gives more ways to play this unit. To compensate for the slighlty lower damage output, and changes to the mark of pestilence, the rider now has WS4 just like his mount.

12. The Weapon upgrades for the Blood Chariot lost some effectiveness. The cannon version was seen as externally balanced when looking at othercannons and… [Read More]

With this review we looked at a number of nerfs and buffs targeted towards the internal balance of the army book. Overall, the power level of the army book was intended to remain the same, while making a MSU and cavalry list more viable. Below is a list of upcoming changes to the book, in no particular order. In the following descriptions when I say "we," I mean The Ninth Age. Technically, the book was analyzed and amended by members of the Rules Team, the Balance Board, and the Army Book Committee.

1) Cult Upgrade: Cult's model looses killer instinct.
In this way Cult units and non-Cult units are more balanced and promote the creation of non-Cult lists.

2) Yema: Change +1M and Strider. Yema characters (not Mages) may take a Horse with Free Reform.
+1 AP was a problem since it was too easy to stack with Divine Altar and Moraec’s Fury.

3) Cult High Priest: Unit Removed.
This character was not necessary. In return we added the Cult Upgrade to Dread Prince and Dread Captain.

4) If the general belongs to a cult, all core units gain the same cult rule as the army's general (at no additional cost) and all units, including character models, that can optionally be upgraded to the same Cult as the general must do so.

5) Beast Commander and Fleet Commander:
Both were unbalanced, so we removed Cold-Blooded from the Beast Commander and removed Swiftstride and Free Vanguard from the Fleet Commander. The cost of the upgrade was wrong, and moreover swiftstride was a problem due to internal balance between infantry and cavalry units, especially considering the possible combos with the new Yema.

6) Assassin now has two separate upgrades for Close Combat and Ranged. CC can get Ward Save and Distracting while Ranged can get Assassin TW.

7) Dread Legionnaires, Corsairs, Dancers of Yema, Executioners, and Tower Guard have had their starting prices adjusted. The initial models cost less than additional models in order to to promote MSU playstyle.

8 ) Blades of Nabh have been moved from Special to Core and had devastating charged exchanged with frenzy.
With the new structure of the book, their return to the troops section was essential in order to ensure a more variety, particularly in the possibility for a Nabh-themed list.

9 ) Harpies received Insigificant because they needed a buff, and this way we also avoid the ability to hide an Assassin in the unit.

10) Hunting Chariot was nerfed in that the BS was reduced from 5 to 4. With BS5 it was like a cannon and the model did not appear to be balanced. Also, the model was removed from the mounts section to avoid 6 characters on Hunting Chariots.

11) Kraken received Hard Target and Distracting since the model needed a buff. In this way the chances of hitting it are reduced, making it more resilient both CC and against shooting attacks.

12) Medusa was decreased from BS5 to 4 and we removed Skirmisher in favor of Free Reform. We wanted to make them more CC oriented, which the Yema cult also compliments.

13) Divine Altar. The rage of divine blessing was increased to 12 for both options ( mounted and not).
We changed the Third Blessing to avoid abusive situations. A debuff was added instead, which will help monster lists.
+1 in AP was a problem since it was too easily stackable with Yema, Moraec’s Fury and Crossbows.

14) Dread Fleet Standard
We decreased the range to 6, changed the effect to +1 to Wound in CC, and decreased price to 55.
In this way the potential of the core troops remains improved, but doesn't decrease the enemy Armor Save.
This also increases the likelihood to wound T6 units.

Review Snapshot:

DE_review_KultsAndKillerInstincts

[Read More]

This article is one of many in which the Rules Team Support group will be sharing some sneak peeks into the upcoming changes to the army books. Our intent is not just to let you know what to expect, but to also let you know the rationale and thought processes that went into those changes. So, without further ado, here's a sneak peek of some of the changes you can expect to see for the Highborn Elves.

Highborn Elves had been on a bit of a ride when it came to power level, and was considered to be above the targeted power level for the 0.12 release. Below is a list of upcoming changes to the book, in no particular order. In the following descriptions when I say "we," I mean The Ninth Age. Technically, the book was analyzed and amended by members of the Rules Team, the Balance Board, and the Army Book Committee.

Army Special Rules

• “Last of Their Kind” was added to reduce flying monster spam (a trend throughout the project). The rule limits the number of dragons and phoenixes available to the HBE player to max 2 in any combination.
  
• The Lion Fur Cloak was deemed problematic because it was under-costed (especially good with Master of Canreig Tower) but also because it breaks the theme of the army. The 6+/5+ innate defense gave HBE characters access to better armour than what armies that are considered to be the well-armoured have access to. Heavy armour + Lion Fur is in fact better armour than the plate armour of DH, EoS, and WDG. The Elven characters come with other great properties and are therefore not supposed to excel at defense.
  

Honours

• Master of Canreig Tower saw a price increase and One of a kind restriction to reduce the number of duplicate spells which could be spammed. This was demonstrated to be taken in preference of an Archmage was and often an auto-include.
  
• High Warden of the Flame: Bestowing Divine attacks to the unit he joins was considered a bit too good and overstepping existing item, so it got swapped for another weaker unit buff ability (magic attacks).
  
• Queen's Companion: Added poison darts & scout to make the unit unique.
  
• Royal Huntsman saw a swap in rules and will benefit from being the only character with access to Lion Fur (because he’s a Huntsman). Added immunity to fear and terror for him and the unit he joins. He'll no longer be able to do multiple wounds on chariots, but instead focus strictly on Monstrous/Monster hunting.
  
• Prince of Ryma: As the flying circus is a specific play style, it was important not to remove it as an option for players: therefore, theHonourwill counteract the default restriction on the Last of their Kind rule so someone wishing to focus on this style can still do so.
  
• Order of the Fiery Heart: Removal of Fire Phoenix from mounts as it overshadowed the dragon mounts by a long shot, removal of damage and missile keywords for casting into CC he is part of is a big thing, as it goes well with the warrior mage image as well as adding the option to purchase the Dragon Armour.
  

Units

• Some of the Core units were slightly tweaked in the points domain to encourage smaller units. Sea Guards lost Quick to Fire in exchange for a new rule, as it was observed of being the go to choice of core infantry. No big changes were done since the Citizen Spears and Citizen Archers were at the desired power level, so Sea Guard had to be tweaked to fit in.
  
• Swordmasters: A change to their Sword Sworn rule, as it was seen as problematic, but they still keep their role as anti-infantry shock troops. They now ignore Parry and Distracting rules, which gives them a steady damage output against their intended targets.
  
• The loss of skirmish for QG was implemented as they were too good in shooty avoidance lists, as well as a price increase for longbows so as not to be an no brainer auto include. Gained access to a 25 pts magic banner.
  
• The Sky Sloop was deemed too weak and uninteresting. It used to be a mobile shooting platform that did not bring anything of great value to the army, so its design got a little twist. The Sky Sloop will have Volley Gun option only, but it is increased in strength and reduced in number of shots - although its keeps AP(1) - so in terms of shooting power it is around the level of the RBT, with a preference for heavily armoured targets. Secondly, the chariot's base strength was raised so that it can work as an actual CC support unit. Thirdly, since it is not a well protected model(T4 W4 AS 5+), it got theHard Target special rule to be able to survive in hostile territory a bit and kept Quick to fire as to remain a solid shooting platform.
  

The greatest design change, however, was giving the Sky Sloop buyable options to become sort of a buff wagon:

• Storm Pennant is giving the model lightning attacks in CC (both impact hits and regular attacks), and the bound spell (Thunderbolt) at PL(5) for increased ranged damage potential.
  
• Aldan Warhorn is a passive aura effect that reduces WS of all enemy units within 6" of it, providing an edge for our CC units as both a defensive and offensive

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Ho there, gits!

Here is a sneak peak of some of the changes to the Dwarven Holds army book. The general direction of the
balancing has been twofold:

1. Towards making the Dwarf army more capable and willing to seek out combat by improving infantry through both tweaked rules and decreased costs.
2. Ensuring that war machines are handled in such a way that they can support infantry without being a hindrance to list building, but also not to become so overpowered that a gunline is the only viable build.

Keeping these goals in mind will help explain some of the changes, below.

Dwarven Special Rules

• Shieldwall has seen a redesign to make it more valuable against high strength attacks. It now provides a 6++ Ward instead of +1 Armor, which is increased to a 5++ on the turn a unit is charged.
  
• Hewn out of Mountains changes from a safety net effect to one that instead slightly increases the casting value of all enemy spells. A problem with the old rule was that it would not help an army that already contained Runic characters, and thus would do little to aid it unless characters had begun to die off/lost focus.
  
• Relentless has changed, in that Dwarves now take LD tests like all others but may triple march even if enemies are closeby. This change was made because it was too easy to hinder under the original rules, which resulted in a trend toward defensive gunlines again. The new rule will promote offensive lists by allowing them to not have to worry about some goblin wolfrider slowing the army.
  

Magic

• The battle runes have been adjusted so that Runic Smiths may take up to 2 Battle Runes, while Runic Masters may take up to 4 Battle Runes. While it's a nerf for the Smith, the Master becomes more capable of handling a magic phase on his own. Furthermore, it means more spells at a 6-12" range, and items such as the Rune of Brilliance have a greater effect.
  
• The Anvil of Power had too long a range and as such it complemented the defensive gunlines the most. Consequently, the range on all spells have been reduced to 36". Lorewise the Anvil shouldn't be a commonplace sight on the battlefield either, and thus it's been moved to rare. Additionally, the Anvil Runes of Shattering and Storms now have to be bought for a small cost.
  
• The same Battle Rune may not be taken more than twice in an army (either by Runic character or Anvil). This change was to reduce spell spam.
  

Runes

• Some Runes have had the limitation of One of a Kind added. These same Runes have had their costs tweaked to include a Hero version, as well. This change was made because there was a potential for skew builds featuring an abundance of double strength and multi-wounds. One of a Kind was chosen to prevent the spam, but still allow for the bigger effects to be used together.
  
• In a bid to increase the anti-magic of Dwarves, the rune of brilliance now give a bonus to dispelling (at no increase in cost), however it can't go above a +3.
  

Close Combat

• The Thane gets LD9 instead of LD10, but becomes cheaper. Additionally, it gains access to an upgrade (which can't be combined with BSB) that grants a unit of Clan Warriors the Thane has joined the special rule of Fight in extra Ranks. With the reduction in cost the Thane becomes a bit more viable for different purposes. With the new hero cost for certain Runes and a Non-BSB upgrade tied to Clan Warriors, we're hoping to make the Thane a presence on the battlefield in his (or her!) own right.
  
• The biggest focus of the reviews was to make sure Dwarven infantry is up to snuff, so almost all Dwarven melee units have had substantial price reductions. A low flat cost for the unit and a slightly higher PPM. Certain equipment options have a had a drop in price, as well. This means that small-to-medium sized units are favored since bigger units are less cost effective.
  
• Seekers were just about the only melee unit not to partake in the melee buffs, and as a result "Yer comin with me" has seen several important changes. Seekers were too strong for both internal and external balance, and have been toned down to become more geared towards hunting monsters. We'll have to see if the collective changes get them to a balanced level, but one thing is for sure: we wont let Seekers sink into obscurity. Some changes include:
  
  • YCMW no longer works on impact hits.
    
  
  
  • The unit needs to be 5 wide to make use of the YCMW attack (to prevent congas).
    
  
  
  • The max strength of the YCMW blow is 5.
    
  
  
  • Skirmishing and Vanguarding have increased in per-model cost, and Swiftstride no longer works against all targets
    

• As part of the bid to make aggressive armies more desirable and viable, Miners are moved to Special in order to make them a bit more accessible. While they do lose the useful 5+ unit size (increased minimum unit size), their cost reduction for unit and weapon options means they're cheaper now than before. This move also makes it easier to use more Rangers in conjunction with Miners.
  
• Rangers pay more for skirmish, but per model cost has been lowered along with

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