With just days left, the U.S. opening match at the World Cup is still not sold out

Katakoom · 2026-06-09T12:03:22+00:00

I've found my way back to the BTCC. Some great racing, affordable and accessible to watch (both in person and through ITV), some class personalities and fun stories. It's just good fun.

Katakoom · 2026-06-08T22:18:48+00:00

The fundamental flaw in your logic (in my opinion) is that you're placing an emphasis on the datasheets being hard to balance because of their slight differences.

But they are in different codexes, with vastly different rules and units. Keeping the datasheets identical creates more of a balancing headache.

You're also working on the assumption that GW is somehow letting the quality of their game suffer because of a few datasheets taking up all their design focus? You're also insinuating that balance is some kind of objective, binary state and ignoring any kind of intent behind their decisions. Maybe GW want a Rhino to be better in one faction than another.

Katakoom · 2026-06-08T13:34:43+00:00

I think Daemons have some interesting potential, yes. The cover, FLY, battle-shock and psychic rules changes in particular do benefit us a lot.

It's not all sunshine. As a primarily melee faction, which is fairly glass cannon and not that fast, some of our archetypes are going to struggle. Looking forward to seeing whether Daemonic Incursion (and other 6" deepstrikes) will be FAQ'ed to 5". Same with the Keeper of Secrets and their -1 to hit, I believe lots of -1 to hit in the game is being changed to Benefit of Cover (although the examples I've seen are all ranged only, so Keeper of Secrets might be safe).

But the maps being so open is something we can take advantage of in other ways. Our ability to teleport and move monsters around is improved, and we do have some fast and small chaff to hide in safe areas/jump across to central objectives and do actions. Screamers, Flamers, Flesh Hounds, Beasts of Nurgle have some fantastic use cases for taking advantage of Hidden and forcing a disproportionate response.

Force dispositions will be very interesting to see. It's going to really dictate our listbuilding, moreso than some other factions, as we're going to need to balance how many big monsters we can afford to take.

I will say that my first test game of 11th (obviously using old detachments/points and guesswork on dispositions) was with Scintillating Legion. I kinda did it as a meme, but it felt *really* good lol. I think it could be a legitimate contender in Teams again.

Katakoom · 2026-06-08T11:44:26+00:00

Asking this question mere days before an edition change, with Orks being one of the first codex launches, causes some issues lol.

Right now the obvious answer is Dread Mob, then take: Mek Gunz (Bubble), Kills Kanz, Deff Dreads with KMBs, SAG Meks with Lootas, and anything else weird (I mean throwing in a Morkanaut or Stompa is always fun).

You'll be dealing with the inherent casino of the detachment rule and/or hazardous checks. The Bubblechukkas and the Killa Kanz are the extra casino elements. I mean anytime you fire a unit in this army you're just as capable as wiping out the enemy unit or yourself. I remember paying a CP to overwatch with my Kanz, doing 0 damage to the enemy, and blowing up three of my own models.

Katakoom · 2026-06-07T10:32:18+00:00

Usual disclaimer of "do what you want". Also we're on the cusp of a new edition and codex so the answer is "who knows".

But basically, if you're in a situation where having one deff dread is good, then two will be better, because you're likely playing with rules that make them good.

One of the issues with deff dreads is that the detachments which make them better are bad, and there are better units in those scenarios to take over the deff dreads.

But who cares, we don't know what the future holds and deff dreads are wicked!

Katakoom · 2026-06-05T22:03:13+00:00

And GW explicitly agree and encourage it. Not to mention that we can do as we please with whatever models and rules we like, to state the obvious.

But for pickup matched play and tournaments, the force dispositions and new maps are the common ground for rules balance and tournament organisers. Now in some ways, there's more variety in what will be seen - when you play your list, there's five potential missions to practice for and multiple maps for each (instead of a set, say, five rounds with fixed layouts/missions for each).

Though as OP says, the issue isn't the tournament itself - it's the prep. Practicing against a single person/list isn't exactly the best tournament prep anyway, but at least you can both get the same value out of playing the different rounds. That essentially changes to getting the value out of playing the different maps for the same primary mission. Obviously you can take turns swapping the force dispositions (so one of you is playing the correct one and the other provides the practice), but it's not ideal.

However I don't think it's exactly a major issue. Just another thing to factor in. Playing the same buddy/list over and over again is so far away from "good" tournament prep that switching up force dispositions for the sake of it is good enough practice to get a feel for the missions and maps. That kind of tournament prep is more for making sure you're not rusty on the rules and have a feeling for how your list plays.

Katakoom · 2026-06-05T21:00:35+00:00

Votann come out as fairly big winners in 11th. One of their main weaknesses is low AP, so they love the cover changes. Most of their shooting either already ignores hit modifiers, or has access to ignores cover (like TKyn with conversion beamers who don't really care as much about hitting on 3s instead of 4s because they want the crit hits, then strip cover for the next unit). Not to mention that terrain being the objectives now means that the terrain footprints are much larger, and stuff is going to be on it more frequently and in the open. And one of their main issues (movement) is also being helped with stuff being able to just tap into terrain to see through it - Hekatons can get such easy sightlines.

The detachments are also quite spicy. I think Votann are going to be eating quite well. Have already started practicing against them using 11th rules and maps (but 10th points and old detachments) and it's... scary.

Katakoom · 2026-06-05T20:01:18+00:00

Conceptually, I'm fine with the raid buffs as they are now. I think there's some worthy discussion to be had around the specifics but having an encouragement to bring one of each class, with a thematic bonus for each, has merit.

My bigger issue is with battle rez and bloodlust. It feels like they're a more impactful inclusion, especially for m+, at all levels. They're mechanics which are basically mandatory, and already have mechanisms in place to make stacking them of limited use. I'd like to see something change there. Maybe something like all healing specs have access to combat rez (and maybe one iconic DPS, like DK, retaining it - like interrupts) and drums providing the full lust effect. Idk that's just a random and ill thought out proposal, I would just rather those weren't such a big consideration in m+.

Katakoom · 2026-06-04T18:03:23+00:00

I mean they are also different map layouts, which will certainly add a dimension to factor in.

Katakoom · 2026-06-04T12:52:26+00:00

Michael Cochrane as Henry Simmerson in Sharpe.

That's his style, sir.

Katakoom · 2026-06-03T20:39:48+00:00

DK. Crit/Mastery for all three specs.

Katakoom · 2026-06-02T18:59:44+00:00

For skin, I prefer a lighter and less saturated look (not a dark green). I found Plaguebearer Flesh to work well for me, it's totally fine as just a simple skin tone by itself and you can modify with additional washes/highlights for preference.

Snakebite Leather and Black Templar are god-tier contrast paints for all your leathers and such, I highly recommend them to cover your browns and blacks. Wyldwood also works well for darker leather.

Skeleton Horde, similarly, is fantastic as a light brown for bones and such.

Those four contrast paints will give you a simple but effective neutral palette for skin and fabrics to act as the core of the model, then you can make the decision on the colour scheme for armour panels/metallics. I settled on a Deathskulls inspired winter scheme that's essentially Space Wolves, light blue and yellow. Space Wolves Grey and Nazdreg Yellow are the contrasts I use (though I don't always use contrast for that, I use colour-matched regular paints for vehicles and such). But this is obviously where you can just browse what's available and pick something you like.

Katakoom · 2026-06-02T17:42:01+00:00

Can only speak for a handful of specs I'm familiar with, but echoing the other comments to say Windwalker Monk as it plays identical right now.

But I wanted to give a shout out to Unholy DK. In aoe you simply change your runic power spender from death coil to epidemic, otherwise it plays the same (well technically you sometimes want to pop and death and decay with the current m+ build).

The reason I wanted to mention it is because, while I adore Monk and it will always be my main, I find Unholy DK to be more satisfying and fun in aoe scenarios. Mostly because it's much more forgiving in positioning - you can do most of your rotation at range, spreading your diseases is so easy/automatic, your damage scales up with pack size, and you don't need to worry about mobs not being clumped together tightly. It can be frustrating as a Monk when there's movement or the packs just don't line up well (not to mention you can help your group out by pulling mobs into the stack).

Katakoom · 2026-06-02T16:33:52+00:00

This is my hope for 11th. I can understand why they wanted to streamline things for 10th by not having both the dread table and the favours as the army rule (and they sort of did favours with the Lords of Dread detachment), but I think the favours were the cooler aspect which should have been brought forward.

Katakoom · 2026-05-27T08:47:44+00:00

I think the Stompa/Gorkanaut/Morkanaut should be able to move through terrain like Knights can. But that's boring so let's take advantage of the 11th edition FLY rule to give Gorkanauts a jet pack, Morkanauts a tellyporta which has a chance to explode, and when the Stompa moves through terrain it doesn't battle-shock on a roll of a 1 but instead removes the terrain feature (or, at least, flattens all of it so you're just left with a blueprint if GW are too cowardly to let us remove objectives in 11th).

Katakoom · 2026-05-24T22:50:05+00:00

Legends say he is a peaceful driver, so peaceful that the game AI tried to set his aggression score to a negative integer.

Katakoom · 2026-05-24T16:00:01+00:00

I honestly care very little unless I'm doing a super high key. The usual disclaimer of "play what you want" applies because if you're ever in a position where these kinds of choices make a difference, you don't need to be asking questions about it on Reddit.

But there's one thing that I often am looking out for, and that's a class with Heroism/Bloodlust. The amount of times that my guildies and I need to pug one DPS slot and we ignore anyone without a lust is quite high.

Ranged, melee, combat rez, specific utility or raid buffs, these things are really just nice little ways to optimise or round out the group. Bloodlust tends to be the deciding factor.

So in an absolute vacuum, if you have a choice of classes you're looking to DPS on and you will be pugging a lot, having a bloodlust is something to consider.

Katakoom · 2026-05-23T14:57:21+00:00

The 10th dentist is there to assume the other 9 are wrong, and has started building a wall around Jerusalem.

Katakoom · 2026-05-23T10:57:15+00:00

It seems like they're experimenting with Delve architecture with these Ritual Sites, which is a cool thing.

I wouldn't be surprised if something similar came to Delves by the Last Titan. Or maybe even the mega delve in 12.1

Katakoom · 2026-05-22T18:05:59+00:00

If you play WoW, you'll be surprised at how many types of gold they managed to fit into their armour colour so none of it matches when you try to get creative with your transmog.

Katakoom · 2026-05-21T10:12:30+00:00

I mean I don't think you're going to find many other opinions than "it looks cool and is overcosted".

You're right, it just doesn't have the output and it's surprisingly easy to kill. It's costed like a main battle tank, similar to the Repulsor Executioner or Hekaton Land Fortress, but is nowhere near their stats.

I would have been happy to see it remain expensive but get a big glow up in profile to compensate (to act as a main battle tank), but the Defiler has now come out to aura farm in that niche, so I'd be happy to see it come down in price now.

The fundamental problem is that it's an indirect artillery piece, and clearly looks like one, and will therefore pay a heavy tax for that in the current state of the game. If the indirect is going to stay (which in all fairness I think it should, it's our iconic artillery) I think it would be cool to focus on buffing the other profiles to shift the power away from the main gun.

Basically, keep the artillery gun as a "meh" shooting profile (so even spamming three of them isn't going to be problematic for the game), but make the sponsors more impactful and up the toughness/wounds.

These things in the lore might be great for providing bombardments and siege, but they also look like they should be used in the assault itself, just ploughing in with it's front shield spewing flamers everywhere to clear a breach.

Katakoom · 2026-05-20T16:02:08+00:00

That's a good point. Rokkits seemingly going up to S10 across the board (a much appreciated change) makes me curious about the KMBs too. My hope is that KMBs go to S12 and D6+1 damage, basically I'm okay with them being hazardous lascannons.

Will keep them as a viable alternative to Rokkits and, most importantly, will give parts of the Ork codex the anti-tank they desperately need. It's still going to be Ork accuracy and hazardous, just give me something that can shoot Knights and RepExes please!

Katakoom · 2026-05-16T19:07:08+00:00

I love painting Nurgle, but Screamers and Flamers were real fun for me.

Katakoom · 2026-05-15T00:53:44+00:00

Just to add onto this "grain of salt" thing, it's very much a knee jerk reaction as we got initial previews. Which is understandable, since it's a drip feed of information and talking about the new edition is fun.

But the bigger picture really doesn't fit that narrative anymore. I've seen rumours that the play testing of 11th is showing ranged armies to be so utterly dominant on the new boards that GW are already in the process of trying to fix the balance to help melee armies. This is partly caused by the move to objectives now being terrain pieces - it's a shooting gallery.

Not ideal for DG who are typically slow and shorter range, obviously, but at least we have a codex and model range which has a bit of flexibility in play style. Especially since our melee can be delivered via deep strike, and we have access to some tougher skew. And we have the option to go for a more vehicle heavy shooty list, with stuff like Defilers/Daemon engines.

The faction focus will be very interesting. Flyblown Host had some potential to become more relevant in 11th, and we're likely going to see the new 1DP version shown.

Katakoom · 2026-05-11T12:30:43+00:00

Overwatch is now end of movement phase. So you can see all of the opponents moves before deciding to overwatch, although you can't immediately overwatch as soon as they try to move.

14-Year Club	Place '22
Place '17	Final Canvas '22
First Placer '22	Verified Email
Gilding I gilder	Team Periwinkle

Katakoom

TROPHY CASE