AoS: Bloody Good Time – Soulblight Gravelords in 4.0
Sigmar’s tax collectors might squeeze the citizens, but no one can drain a populace like the Soulblight Gravelords.
Welcome in, Generals of the Realms! The newest edition of Age of Sigmar is almost upon us, and Games Workshop is preparing us for war. Leading up to the new edition, they’ll be showing off how our favorite factions are going to change. 4.0 has been completely changed from the ground up, so every faction is going to fundamentally change how it plays.
The Soublight Gravelords are one of my favorite armies, though I did go a little cold on them at the beginning of AoS. I didn’t like that they lost the ability to customize themselves the way they could in Fantasy, and it put a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. However, when the Vyrkos premiered, I was ALL in. I loved the idea of more bestial vampires leading legions of wolves, and of course, Radukar is incredible. In 4.0, the Soulblight Gravelords are getting the same push and pull as the other factions. There are buffs, there are nerfs, and there are buffs that feel like nerfs. Frankly, I’m happy with how things look right now, but we’ll have to wait for the final release to know for sure.
The Perfect Legion
The coolest thing about the Soulblight was how powerful their heroes were. I love the idea of an ageless, impossibly powerful creature leading legions of much weaker but seemingly endless undead soldiers. The new battle traits are giving us all of that and more, with a new way to resurrect our warriors and a return of the “gravesite” mechanic.
The Hunger feels a bit like a nerf to me, especially one characters that have a ton of attacks like a Dragon Vampire, Avengorri, or Radukar. Having your wound healing capped at 3 unless you fully wipe out a unit and then having it capped at only 6 hurts for the bigger boys. I understand why it works this way, but it definitely brings the Vampires to the ground, which I’m not super happy about. I’m just hoping the Skeletons, Zombies, and Dire Wolves are a little stronger to compensate for the change.
Big Bad Wolf
Like I said earlier, the Vyrkos were the thing that brought me back to the Soulblight. Radukar specifically was a big draw for me, so I’m glad he was one of the first warscrolls we got to see. He was a monster in 3.0, and thankfully, he’s only gotten stronger.
Giving Radukar back some of his magic is awesome and will give him a much-needed edge against horde armies. He has lost a little bit of physical punch, but he’s still one of the nastiest things we can unleash. His Call of the Hunt ability is of special note and is going to make the hordes of Dire Wolves he’ll definitely be leading a terrible threat.
There are a lot more exciting things on the horizon for Age of Sigmar, so keep checking back for more faction spotlights!
