The Sundering returns: the review of "End Times: Khaine" begins!
Well... crap. Stuff happened. Couldn't write for quite some time now, for which I'm truly sorry. However it's time to push this thing forward and what better way to do this than to review the rules section of the third "End Times" installement? Even tough the event itself, along with the whole Warhammer world, has been concluded and not in a good way...
If you remember one of my first posts about "End Times", I was initially very sympathetic towards this campaign and the changes it would wrought. This, however, was before GW started fucking things up big time, just around the release of the third installment which was "Khaine". From there it all went downhill so fast that nowdays even the die-hard fans of this... thing, usually agree that it could have been handled better. Alas it wasn't and now we're in the shit. Deep shit with Squigs swiiming in it and they al have bombs strapped to them and I'm the guy who has to brave all that sewage and finish what I've started.
Oh joy.
Ok, now let's get to it. Aside from the complete lack of quality material, "Khaine" has a lot of rules. Like - much more than "Nagash" and "Glottkin". This means that I'll have to split the review in three parts. In first I'll write about the new magic system, Lodestones, Fulcrums and End Times spells. Then I'll talk about three new elven armies and finally it'll be time to review the new lord and hero choices that "Khaine" offers us. Sounds pretty easy right?
First of all we need to adress the "End Times" spells. Most lores now have uber-spells available to EVERY mage that is Level 3 or above. Oh and they cannot be dispelled. Like, at all.
Then there is the "Loremaster for everyone!" new rule which means that every magic user knows every, single spell from his lore. Jesus. Christ. It just keeps getting better and better. Those that have the "Loremaster" special rule can re-roll casting rolls. It keeps getting better and better...
"End Times" also dropped the limit for 12 power dice completely. Now there's no limit at all. Additionally players now roll 4D6 instead of 2D6, for their magic dice pool. One interesting thing is that every Wizard can only use a D6 dice for every single spell that he casts and no more. D6 is also rolled for his maximum dispell pool. This is actually quite nice as suddendly Teclis or Malekith can be left with measly two D6's to cast their magic with. Of course Wizards still add their mastery levels to thei dice rolls, so...
Now we're going to the truly fun (i.e. abysmall) part of the new magic system. You see with the "End Times" the limit of casting each spell only once per turn has been lifted. As long as you've sucessfully casted your chosen spell, you can do so again and again and... Well, you get the idea. The only excpetion to this are the End Times and 15+ spells, which can be casted only once per turn, but give how OP they are it is actually a bliss. Well, if you ignore the fact that these spells still exist of course.
Finally all Wizards are unable to break their concentration. Which in effect means that all-powerfull spell caster like Elves and Chaos Sorcerers have just been empowered even more, while low-magic armies have been fucked even more. Jolly good I say!
In generall these new rules made the game even MORE dependent on magic than before. In my humble opinion this is not a good thing. Since the 6th edition, rules for Warhammer Fantasy have been more and more geared towards spells and spellcasters. In effect this more than often turns the game into a "I cast first and fuck you up" kind of competition, where armies like High Elves, Lizardmen and Vampire Counts recieve incredible (and IMO unfair) advantage over armies like Empire, Bretonnia, Ogres or, Gods help you if you play them, Dwarfs. Certain factions have so many magical benefits, which, combined with these new "End Times" rules, mean that they are almost an auto-win options for their players. Of course there are still methods to get an advantage over such armies, but truthfully with "Khaine" they've been greatly reduced. This is not a good thing and I sincerely hope that GW will adress this magic problem in the upcoming 9th edition.
There, now you can write in the comments that I'm a sellout.
But that's not all. One of the new "End Times" spells is "Conjure Arcane Fulcrum" (which every Wizard of Level 3 or more knows by the way, despite the Lore he has at his disposal), which drops a piece of mystical architecture on the battlefield. What does it do exactly? Well...
- This building must be occupied by the Wizard that summoned it. He and only he can be placed on top of it, no matter how big his model is. Of course he still can't be allowed to fall of it!
- The Fulcrum cannot be destroyed, except when explicitly stated. Furthermore the Wizard that occupies it recieves a 3+ Ward save, gets Stubborn, Immune to Psychology special rules AND is immune to the Multiple Wounds special rule.
Oh and he also gets protection, conffered to him by occupying a building.
- When the Fulcrum is attacked in CQC only one attacker can fight the occupying Wizard, and said Wizard cannot be the target of Stomps and Thunderstomps.
- The Asshole in this Tower of Bullshit recieves 2 more dice to his channeling attempts, since Fulcrum is a Magical Lodestone. If he exits it (in case he's mentally handicapped or something) then the Fulcrum is immediately removed from play.
Oh and this spell needs only a 12+ roll to get through. Wow. Just wow.
This people, this is exactly what I meant when I've talked about "Khaine" being garbage. Can you imagine what a powerfull spell-casting character can do on top of a building like this? Not only is he practically immortal, being able to effortlesly shrug off warmachine fire, but he also gets buffs like you can't even imagine. Christ, this is a game breaker like no other. Again, certain armies benefit more greatly from this than the others, but since every Wizard knows the "Conjure..." spell now it's simply downright ridiculous.
Just a quick recap for all of you. Every single Wizard that is Level 3 or higher knows the "End Times" spells, which can only be casted once per turn and cannot be dispelled by any means. Sounds good, right? Now let's get to my personal choices.
- Withering Heat (The Lore of Fire). Casted on a 20+ this little hex targets ALL enemy units on the battlefield. The unit that is under this spell's duration rolls an extra dice when fleeing, charging or pursuing and discards the highest result. But wait, there's more! The units in question gets "Flammable" special rule and all Flaming Attakcs re-roll failed To Wound rolls against them. Spicy!
- Meteoric Ironlcad (The Lore of Metal). Casted on a 15+. This one's good, reaaaaaly good. It targets one unit, which, until next turn, gets a 2+ WARD SAVE. Un-fucking-belivable.
- Storm of Renewal (The Lore of Life). The ultiamte regeneration/restoration spell. Casted on a measly 15+ this one is a magical vortex that remains in play and travels in random direction each turn. Every unit that gets under the large round template immediately regains 2D6+1 Wounds' worth of models. This spell dosen't work on special characters and, for some weird reason, standard bearers, but otherwise can bring back champions, musicians and even multi-wound models. This one is great for horde armies which can stick together and make sure that the vortex will graze them every, single turn.
- Deadlock (The High Magic). The ultiamte fuck-you spell, Deadlock targets a single enemy Wizard. Until next turn this poor chap cannot channel, dispell and cast any spells of his own. I can already see this one being abused to hell by High Magic users everywhere, and with "Khaine" released, 4 armies have now access to this fucking thing, instead of only two. Wonderful. Oh and it's casted on a 20+ which for High Magic users in 8th edition isn't really a problem.
- Return of the Golden Age (The Lore of Nehekhara). Although highly specialized (it targets Tomb Kings units only) this one is incredibly potent. It grants ALL units in army buffs to Weapons Skill, Strength and Initiative. Holy shit. Suddendly these ordinary skellingtons became much more dangerous, eh? Casted on a 20+.
- Malediction of Nagash (The Lore of Undeath). With a range of 24'' and a casting value of 20+, this one is a hex that hales the strength of ALL enemy units within range. Ogres and Chaos Warriors cry so much right now.
- Ruiner of the Wrought (The Lore of the Wild). Let's face it: even with the coming of "End Times", the Beastmen are still a shitty, highly situational army. However this spell is simply overpowered. Altough casted on a 25+ it targets every single building and warmachine on the battlefield and makes them its bitches. Warmachines recieve a D3 S10 hits each and buildings are destroyed ona 4+. As for the units inside those building, well... Let's just say that their day will be much, much worse when this spell will go off.
- The Great Maw Awakenes (The Lore of the Great Maw). Ogres recieved a very juicy spell of their own. Casted on a 20+ this magical vortex will remove any enbemy unit it comes into contact with, unless the models touched by it manage to pass an Initiative test. Lizardmen, Empire and Dwarf players will weep when this one comes to play.
- Nikkit! Nikkit! (Spells of the Little WAAAGH!). Who would have thought that one of the more broken "End Times" spells will belong to Gobbos. It is a direct damage, 24'' missile casted on a 15+ that targets a single, enemy special character. The model in question recieves a D6 Strength minus his own Toughness, hit with no armour saves allowed. Additionally the caster steals one magic item of his choice from the target that he can then use. It's a perfect spell if you want to have an additional dispell scroll in your army, or if you want that tasty Runefang for your own use.
- Grandfather Nurgle's Circle of Life (The Lore of Nurgle). You know, at this point you'd thought that those spells cannot get any more dumb. Well surprise, surprise! They can! Big daddy Nurgle really got buffed during the "End Times" and this spell is a perfect example why. Altough casted on a 25+, it is a 36'' direct damage spell that 5D6 hits on a target and wounds it on a 4+. Seems simple? Well then check this out. If this spell causes 10 unsaved Wounds or more, then the caster can summon a friggin' Great Unclean One (if the caster is playing a Daemons army) or a Nurgle Daemon Prince (for Warriors of Chaos and Beastmen armies) within 12'' of the target. Both options can be worth 375 points max. This spell is almost guaranteed to work against armies like Skaven, O&G's and Empire. Do you like the idea of spawning Greater Daemons of Chaos almost every turn? I sure don't.
- Song of Seduction (The Lore of Slaanesh). Finally we come to the sick bastard himself (Or maybe herself? I dunno). This spell is a hex, casted on a 20+ that drops the enemy traget's Initiative by 2 and grants the caster control of said unit until next turn, where the targeted unit must test his modified I skill to break free. Otherwise it remains under the Chaos player control. Fun, right? Even Elves can get fucked (no pun intended) by this one, as it is really hard to withstand. Don't even get me started on armies like Dwarfs, Men or Lizards. They are buggered (hehehe) beyond belief when this spell gets through.
So this is it. As you can see, I've found quite a lot of spells to be of the "bullshit" category. Some might say that these new "End Times" spells are hard to cast with an average of 20+ or more needed, but I disagree. First of all the "End Times" made magic all the easier for almost every army to utilize, and for some, like High Elves and Chaos, it has become criminally easy to use. Secondly don't forget that these new spells cannot be dispelled. Like at all. As for the Level 3 wizards all I can say is that they were mandatory in any army, even before the "End Times" began. So with that I can safely say that magic phase has just became downright broken and it's a damn shame. In a game that relied on spells way too much (Purple Sun spam is a good example), the last thing we needed was this: the complete and utter relayance on uber-one shot spells. Good job GW. You've fucked it up. Again.
Next time I'll be reviewing the three new armies for Elves. Tune in next thrusday to read my completely biased opinion on tree huggers and why next edition should really have reworked Always Strikes First rule.
Until next time
Xathrodox86
Oh yeah, one more thing. Well, actually two more things. First of all Doc-Cthulhu from the excellent Daily Empire blog (check it out HERE) is working on a very cool supplement for WFRP called "Bitter Moors". Part of it consists of "Random Skaven Trappings", thinbgs that can be found in any vile ratman's pockets. If you're a Warhammer RPG enthusiast like me, then you should definetly visit his blog and follow the progress on the "Bitter Moors" supplement as well as download the "Random Skaven Trappings" PDF document. Bunch of guys from Strike-to-Stun forum (myself included) helped with the ideas for it, and it's really worth checking out.
Second thing is this.
By Sigmar. This is glorious. The main question of course is: how many factions will be availabe only through DLC's?
Just kidding. I'm hyped and I hope that this game will be awesome, just like any Warhammer product deserves to be.
Oh joy.
 |
| Now that's a troll face! |
1. Magic of the "End Times"
"End Times" have drastically changed the magic system of WFB's 8th edition. Now the emphasis on spells is much bigger and certain armies have been incredibly buffed. By "certain armies" I mean all three elven factions, Chaos and Undead. Which is quite a lot.
First of all we need to adress the "End Times" spells. Most lores now have uber-spells available to EVERY mage that is Level 3 or above. Oh and they cannot be dispelled. Like, at all.
Then there is the "Loremaster for everyone!" new rule which means that every magic user knows every, single spell from his lore. Jesus. Christ. It just keeps getting better and better. Those that have the "Loremaster" special rule can re-roll casting rolls. It keeps getting better and better...
"End Times" also dropped the limit for 12 power dice completely. Now there's no limit at all. Additionally players now roll 4D6 instead of 2D6, for their magic dice pool. One interesting thing is that every Wizard can only use a D6 dice for every single spell that he casts and no more. D6 is also rolled for his maximum dispell pool. This is actually quite nice as suddendly Teclis or Malekith can be left with measly two D6's to cast their magic with. Of course Wizards still add their mastery levels to thei dice rolls, so...
Now we're going to the truly fun (i.e. abysmall) part of the new magic system. You see with the "End Times" the limit of casting each spell only once per turn has been lifted. As long as you've sucessfully casted your chosen spell, you can do so again and again and... Well, you get the idea. The only excpetion to this are the End Times and 15+ spells, which can be casted only once per turn, but give how OP they are it is actually a bliss. Well, if you ignore the fact that these spells still exist of course.
Finally all Wizards are unable to break their concentration. Which in effect means that all-powerfull spell caster like Elves and Chaos Sorcerers have just been empowered even more, while low-magic armies have been fucked even more. Jolly good I say!
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| Thanks for the advice... |
2. Magical Lodestones and Arcane Fulcrums
With "Khaine" we've got ourselves even more mystical terrain. Every Arcane Architecture and Mystical Monument gets the "Magical Lodestone" special rule. In effect this means that every wizard within 3'' os such structure adds 2 dice to his channeling attempts. This rule is actually quite nice as it not only helps the weaker casters with their magic phase but also encourages players to place more stuff on their table, which IMO is always a good idea. Personally I love a good table and Games Workshops's magical style buildings are really good looking.
There, now you can write in the comments that I'm a sellout.
But that's not all. One of the new "End Times" spells is "Conjure Arcane Fulcrum" (which every Wizard of Level 3 or more knows by the way, despite the Lore he has at his disposal), which drops a piece of mystical architecture on the battlefield. What does it do exactly? Well...
- This building must be occupied by the Wizard that summoned it. He and only he can be placed on top of it, no matter how big his model is. Of course he still can't be allowed to fall of it!
- The Fulcrum cannot be destroyed, except when explicitly stated. Furthermore the Wizard that occupies it recieves a 3+ Ward save, gets Stubborn, Immune to Psychology special rules AND is immune to the Multiple Wounds special rule.
Oh and he also gets protection, conffered to him by occupying a building.
- When the Fulcrum is attacked in CQC only one attacker can fight the occupying Wizard, and said Wizard cannot be the target of Stomps and Thunderstomps.
- The Asshole in this Tower of Bullshit recieves 2 more dice to his channeling attempts, since Fulcrum is a Magical Lodestone. If he exits it (in case he's mentally handicapped or something) then the Fulcrum is immediately removed from play.
Oh and this spell needs only a 12+ roll to get through. Wow. Just wow.
 |
| Are you having fun yet? |
3. The "End Times" spells
Here it is ladies and gents. The shit-filling of this fine dish. The big one. The crap essence of "Khaine". The "End Times" spells have arrived and they are, if you haven't guessed already, goddamn atrocious. I'm not going to mention every, single one here, instead focusing on those that I've found to be most game-breakingly bad. Let's begin.
Just a quick recap for all of you. Every single Wizard that is Level 3 or higher knows the "End Times" spells, which can only be casted once per turn and cannot be dispelled by any means. Sounds good, right? Now let's get to my personal choices.
- Withering Heat (The Lore of Fire). Casted on a 20+ this little hex targets ALL enemy units on the battlefield. The unit that is under this spell's duration rolls an extra dice when fleeing, charging or pursuing and discards the highest result. But wait, there's more! The units in question gets "Flammable" special rule and all Flaming Attakcs re-roll failed To Wound rolls against them. Spicy!
- Meteoric Ironlcad (The Lore of Metal). Casted on a 15+. This one's good, reaaaaaly good. It targets one unit, which, until next turn, gets a 2+ WARD SAVE. Un-fucking-belivable.
- Storm of Renewal (The Lore of Life). The ultiamte regeneration/restoration spell. Casted on a measly 15+ this one is a magical vortex that remains in play and travels in random direction each turn. Every unit that gets under the large round template immediately regains 2D6+1 Wounds' worth of models. This spell dosen't work on special characters and, for some weird reason, standard bearers, but otherwise can bring back champions, musicians and even multi-wound models. This one is great for horde armies which can stick together and make sure that the vortex will graze them every, single turn.
- Deadlock (The High Magic). The ultiamte fuck-you spell, Deadlock targets a single enemy Wizard. Until next turn this poor chap cannot channel, dispell and cast any spells of his own. I can already see this one being abused to hell by High Magic users everywhere, and with "Khaine" released, 4 armies have now access to this fucking thing, instead of only two. Wonderful. Oh and it's casted on a 20+ which for High Magic users in 8th edition isn't really a problem.
- Return of the Golden Age (The Lore of Nehekhara). Although highly specialized (it targets Tomb Kings units only) this one is incredibly potent. It grants ALL units in army buffs to Weapons Skill, Strength and Initiative. Holy shit. Suddendly these ordinary skellingtons became much more dangerous, eh? Casted on a 20+.
- Malediction of Nagash (The Lore of Undeath). With a range of 24'' and a casting value of 20+, this one is a hex that hales the strength of ALL enemy units within range. Ogres and Chaos Warriors cry so much right now.
- Ruiner of the Wrought (The Lore of the Wild). Let's face it: even with the coming of "End Times", the Beastmen are still a shitty, highly situational army. However this spell is simply overpowered. Altough casted on a 25+ it targets every single building and warmachine on the battlefield and makes them its bitches. Warmachines recieve a D3 S10 hits each and buildings are destroyed ona 4+. As for the units inside those building, well... Let's just say that their day will be much, much worse when this spell will go off.
- The Great Maw Awakenes (The Lore of the Great Maw). Ogres recieved a very juicy spell of their own. Casted on a 20+ this magical vortex will remove any enbemy unit it comes into contact with, unless the models touched by it manage to pass an Initiative test. Lizardmen, Empire and Dwarf players will weep when this one comes to play.
- Nikkit! Nikkit! (Spells of the Little WAAAGH!). Who would have thought that one of the more broken "End Times" spells will belong to Gobbos. It is a direct damage, 24'' missile casted on a 15+ that targets a single, enemy special character. The model in question recieves a D6 Strength minus his own Toughness, hit with no armour saves allowed. Additionally the caster steals one magic item of his choice from the target that he can then use. It's a perfect spell if you want to have an additional dispell scroll in your army, or if you want that tasty Runefang for your own use.
- Grandfather Nurgle's Circle of Life (The Lore of Nurgle). You know, at this point you'd thought that those spells cannot get any more dumb. Well surprise, surprise! They can! Big daddy Nurgle really got buffed during the "End Times" and this spell is a perfect example why. Altough casted on a 25+, it is a 36'' direct damage spell that 5D6 hits on a target and wounds it on a 4+. Seems simple? Well then check this out. If this spell causes 10 unsaved Wounds or more, then the caster can summon a friggin' Great Unclean One (if the caster is playing a Daemons army) or a Nurgle Daemon Prince (for Warriors of Chaos and Beastmen armies) within 12'' of the target. Both options can be worth 375 points max. This spell is almost guaranteed to work against armies like Skaven, O&G's and Empire. Do you like the idea of spawning Greater Daemons of Chaos almost every turn? I sure don't.
- Song of Seduction (The Lore of Slaanesh). Finally we come to the sick bastard himself (Or maybe herself? I dunno). This spell is a hex, casted on a 20+ that drops the enemy traget's Initiative by 2 and grants the caster control of said unit until next turn, where the targeted unit must test his modified I skill to break free. Otherwise it remains under the Chaos player control. Fun, right? Even Elves can get fucked (no pun intended) by this one, as it is really hard to withstand. Don't even get me started on armies like Dwarfs, Men or Lizards. They are buggered (hehehe) beyond belief when this spell gets through.
So this is it. As you can see, I've found quite a lot of spells to be of the "bullshit" category. Some might say that these new "End Times" spells are hard to cast with an average of 20+ or more needed, but I disagree. First of all the "End Times" made magic all the easier for almost every army to utilize, and for some, like High Elves and Chaos, it has become criminally easy to use. Secondly don't forget that these new spells cannot be dispelled. Like at all. As for the Level 3 wizards all I can say is that they were mandatory in any army, even before the "End Times" began. So with that I can safely say that magic phase has just became downright broken and it's a damn shame. In a game that relied on spells way too much (Purple Sun spam is a good example), the last thing we needed was this: the complete and utter relayance on uber-one shot spells. Good job GW. You've fucked it up. Again.
 |
| "Calm down now. Maybe you'd like to buy one of our excellent Arcane Fulcrum models?" |
Until next time
Xathrodox86
Oh yeah, one more thing. Well, actually two more things. First of all Doc-Cthulhu from the excellent Daily Empire blog (check it out HERE) is working on a very cool supplement for WFRP called "Bitter Moors". Part of it consists of "Random Skaven Trappings", thinbgs that can be found in any vile ratman's pockets. If you're a Warhammer RPG enthusiast like me, then you should definetly visit his blog and follow the progress on the "Bitter Moors" supplement as well as download the "Random Skaven Trappings" PDF document. Bunch of guys from Strike-to-Stun forum (myself included) helped with the ideas for it, and it's really worth checking out.
Second thing is this.
By Sigmar. This is glorious. The main question of course is: how many factions will be availabe only through DLC's?
Just kidding. I'm hyped and I hope that this game will be awesome, just like any Warhammer product deserves to be.
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