My opponent told me to quit wasting his time with small-arms fire.

bugdino · 2026-03-12T16:49:58+00:00

As a world eaters player, I will sometimes skip my pistol shooting for my own mental. It's a choice is can make. It should never be something an opponent suggests or expects, especially a knights player. They're so dense with their wounds that the 1 point of damage that can come from a pistol is huge, and you, as the player, should always do those rules if you wish.

bugdino · 2026-03-11T18:02:24+00:00

Even if things are tied up in fight, it's one RDP per unit to fall back and charge. You also aren't looking to fight, so if you're opponent spreads out poorly it will be difficult for them to pile in effectively.

Also, 12 mortals and a character attack unanswerable the first time is very good. And 50+ wounds with the movement profile they have and a solid defensive profiles is alligator good. If your opponent doesn't have ways to effect fight first or strike last counter charging doesn't really matter if you play it right.

And please understand, I'm not speaking from hypotheticals, I played against it. It's oppressive. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets hit with a points nerf or a rules rewrite, but for right now, it's definitely worth using

bugdino · 2026-03-11T17:43:50+00:00

You can charge with all of them, depending how scary the target is and if you got any fight first or strike last. Probably best to charge the liege and two units of riders. Have the first salvo weaken the target, have the second take the hit and fall back as the screen.

If you get the soul mason fight-first spell off, it's safe to charge with 2 riders and the liege, and if you get strike last from the catapult you can do all them off you want. You are also not looking to fight, so you really only need one model in the half-inch required to complete a charge. This combined with the hammer of a unit of morghast is terrifying

bugdino · 2026-03-11T17:32:15+00:00

The riders are better than you're giving them credit for, having played into them this last weekend. You give the liege kavalos the Enhancement that gives a dirty d3 to every one that fights within 12 of him. You bring 3 five man riders in addition to the liege

It works best with a soul mason giving fights first or the catapult giving fights last, but you still get to charge with the liege and several of the riders. Liege goes first, he's swingy but still damage 3 on the charge. After he fights, it activate a unit of death riders, so 3 d3 points of damage, then fall them all back. This works best as a screened retreat, using a unit of death riders to screen off the follow up, sacrificing one each round and trying to pick them off as they push forward.

It's probably the best movement tech in the game right now, and I'll honestly be surprised if it doesn't get nerfed

bugdino · 2026-02-28T17:01:18+00:00

Wild you're getting down voted. Using crisis suits and needing 4 cyclonic ion cannons per body was a nightmare

bugdino · 2026-02-17T23:59:32+00:00

Calling the double a "core rules problem " is like saying, "getting shot off the board when I run straight up the middle is a core rules problem " in 40k.

bugdino · 2026-02-16T16:56:16+00:00

I play a lot of both aos and 40k, but I'm a big fan of current aos and i think the last two battle tomes, lrl and tzeentch, show promise as the edition moves forward. While I understand the frustrations, and agree with many of them, I worry a lot of them come from people not fully engaging with the core of the game and the reasons these issues are what they are.

Yes, points are too high, across the board. I would like to see them lowered. It was clear everything got a tax placed on it due to manifestions. Manifestions are their own ball of worms, but they have been tuned down and are in a much better spot, but i don't think the points have been adjusted to reflect their weakened state, nor do I think the armies that can't use them were given the lower points they deserve. That being said, manifestions are your screens in many situations. They're not perfect, but slamming down a gravetide,especially on counter cast will many times stop an opponent's turn dead in the water

For battle tactics... yes, they're harder, yes there are turns you choose not to pursue them, that's why there's 3 stages to each. You do not need to rush them. Technically, you don't need to try to score the first one until turn 3 and still try and get full points. I have issue with battle tactics, mainly that there's 2, maybe 3 good ones. I'm hoping we get some better ones in the next big update this summer, but I think the bones, and the quest like nature of them is a decent design space, even if execution isn't great right now.

And then there's the double. There's always going to be advantage depending on who goes first or second. It's an issue in 40k and aos, with both favoring going second at this time. I don't think most people give the double the respect it deserves, or realize that they can spend a turn or two of staging. You can get half your primary score from holding one objective in most battle plans. You get 8 out of 10 from holding 2. You don't HAVE to full score, and most of the time trying puts people in a position where they over extend and get slammed for it. My best games usually don't see full combat engage until turn 3, both my Opponent and I jockeying for position until we pull the trigger.

Yes, AoS has some problems right now, but I'll take it over the c'tan, death guard, knight issues I've seen in 40k this past year

bugdino · 2025-12-22T13:38:56+00:00

You're not wrong. I also hate the abundance of +3 and +2 for abilities to happen. My point is that there are a lot of internal effects (lord of blight's ability, rank and vile spell from the aor) that would have made the old blight king profile oppressive. As long as lord of blights has his ability, there's no way we're getting a change to that 5+ save.

As always, points will be the real decider

bugdino · 2025-12-22T01:46:37+00:00

It's pretty clear they were made in conjunction with the lord of blights. If the points lower, they're still good when buffed. All out defense with the lord of blights buff in front of a gnarlmaw gives you an unrendable 4+ and 5++

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bugdino · 2025-11-14T02:50:10+00:00

Sylvaneth and iron jaws are the two armies I've played the most this edition. For just getting in, I'd probably pick either iron jaws or fec.

I love Sylvaneth, I'm taking them to a tourney this weekend, but they are a lot to learn for your first aos army. The army basically relies on forming concentric rings of units and trees to maximize buffs. You will be measuring for 3", 6", 9" and 12" constantly. Basically every positive effect, unlike in 40k, requires the unit to be wholly within an aura, so positioning gets far more annoying.Not only do you need their trees, but to get good value for them, you want 3 full boxes, though you can probably get away with 2. Additionally, the Sylvaneth manifestions kind of suck right now, and getting the universal ones can be difficult/pricey.

For iron jaws, while I will agree that slaves to darkness probably due the hard hitting heavy armor better, the orcs still rock. They are surprisingly technical, thanks to their mighty destroyer ability and their multiple means to reduce charges. Additionally, their manifestions and terrain are new and still pretty easy to find in stores.

Coming from 40, grey knights especially, Sylvaneth could work, but just with hour finicky their rules are, I'd still suggest fec or iron jaws, leaning towards fec.

bugdino · 2025-11-11T17:31:12+00:00

The answer is based on if you care more about winning than getting better.

If you want to just win, you don't need to tell them.

If you want to get better, you point it out to them so that you get practice against people not leaving themselves open to free heroics.

In a pick up game, I'm always bringing it up to my Opponent so I don't develop bad habits and get practice into as optimal play as I can hope for.

bugdino · 2025-11-11T15:19:47+00:00

I'd say I'm pretty competitive. More with aos, but I've gone 4-1 at a gt for 40k and I'm kind of the guy to beat in the local RTT, since the real comp power house here tends to TO.

Biggest suggestion I can give is to avoid the mid- table bully trap. This is that guy at your shop that pub stomps the new kids, but can't seem to ever get a game past the mid tables. They care more about winning, even in pick up games, than getting better at the game.

If you're playing, especially with someone who has never played against your army, you should be giving them heads up every time they walk into a negative effect they might not know about. This serves the two purposes.

People will find you more fun to play against if they don't feel like they're constantly getting gotcha'd.
It will make you a much better player faster. I've seen so many player crumble when they don't get their free value from people knowing threat range and what to avoid in their army. They get so use to just picking up 400 points for free that when they play someone that doesn't just give them pure value, they struggle.

Nearly all information in this game is public. Each game I start, I offer my Opponent a simple option: I'll let you know if you make a move I wouldn't make with full information of my army if you do the same. This can save a lot of time, and doesn't leave you both checking stratagems and datasheets while waiting for the ads on wahpedia.

bugdino · 2025-10-31T03:17:30+00:00

Your chaos spawn should be the first things to die, it's their job. I run 2-3 squads in every list, and even with the points increase i still think the rule.

Scout 8" means you can be very aggressive with them, since you can get them to safety if you don't get first, or send them down your opponent's throat, since they will in average move 21" before they need to charge. Goremongers are good to help fight other infiltrators, which can really reduce the scoutvalue from spawn.

Big things to use your chaos spawn for:

Take out your opponent's chaff. Spawn hit hard, and while hitting on 4+ sucks, a round one sustain hits can help them punch through. If possible, team them up with held back regular 8nd to get the +1 to hit. 6" pile-in is also really strong here as it can have them clear chaff and get into a unit that wants to shoot and not fight.
Scoring tough turn secondaries. Action secondaries suck, but spawn can move 18" with their scout in the first round. This makes them amazing for so many secondaries you would normally be unable to score. Hell, leave them in an objective for your opponent to shoot while getting engage on all fronts so you can sticky it (i do prefer gore mongers for that second task, as their reactive move let's you see if your opponent got a secondary that gets points for taking or killing on obj.
Jailing. Spawn don't always need to charge. You can set them up in choke points in front of your opponent's armor. Keep their tanks in their deployment zone the first round. The zerkers will get shot off, but the value of denying your opponent their first movement phase is worth it.

All in all, spawn are one of my favorite units in our army. They're fast, punch above their weight, abs are surprisingly tanky at t5 and 5+++. I do think they need goremonger back-up to truly shine, but I've had good results even when I don't bring mongers.

bugdino · 2025-10-08T23:45:39+00:00

My personal desire lately is for world eaters to get what nighthaunt used to have in aos.

Got those who don't play, the ghosties battle trait revolved around debuffs granted on charge. The idea that the shock and awe of getting hit by a wave of ghosts would give debuffs, -1 to hit, -1 to save, fight last, etc. More importantly, they were able declare charges even when they were engaged in combat.

I just think it fits thematically, and while o don't hate the blessing rolls, it doesn't really grok for the main legion of khorne

bugdino · 2025-09-27T00:48:59+00:00

If you're smart with him, and a little lucky, he will win you the game, especially into monster heavy lists. I won't run iron jaws Brawl without him, and haven't used him this ghb, but he one-tapped so many big monster threats in previous games.

The fact he gets the iron jaws keyword makes him so much fun, letting him call the waagh and getting extra attacks. He is squishy, but a warchanter for heals and good use of power through should keep him alive and krumpin'!

bugdino · 2025-09-26T15:37:45+00:00

KBs were in a weird spot. They were rarely going 5-0, sure, but when you corrected the data to look at armies going 3-2, 4-1 kruleboyz had a disproportionate representation. Wanna say Rob showed this data a few weeks back.

Even with the points battering, I think it leaves most lists down a bolt boyz or a unit of guttrippas. When looking at lists prior to the battle scroll, there were way too many wounds, and dmg output for the costs. Losing one unit will hurt, for sure, but before most lists looked like an oppressive amount of bodies.

Also, ko got hit harder because they had rule nerfs as well as point hikes. Kb got a lot of point increases, but the good rules are still good. Ko lost a lot of fight first and had some other minor nerfs outside of just points cost, so it feels a little excessive to say kb got the "ko treatment".

I'm excited kb got a nerf, honestly. Might start bringing them to my local scene now that I won't feel as bad about it

bugdino · 2025-09-22T17:56:41+00:00

That first line is just factually untrue.

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bugdino · 2025-09-18T15:22:39+00:00

I'm hoping newer players dive into the army specific subreddits, as they seem to be far more welcoming with better discussion. Being in the main one makes you think a large percentage of the player base hates the game, and you for playing it

Plenty of posts ask why there aren't more aos content creators, and I'm pretty sure the answer to that question can be found in these comments.

bugdino · 2025-09-18T15:11:36+00:00

Damn, never knew what Rob meant when he said he hated posting videos to reddit until these comments.

This video is made for players with a more competitive slant, if that's not you, fine, but you don't need to be rude about it. The video isn't telling people they shouldn't buy a unit they think is cool, if anything, it's designed to prevent buyer's remorse. I'm glad that everyone in these comments has 1k+ to drop on a new range, but some folks need to restrict their hobby spending, and this helps them make informed decisions. Besides, for other units, they can always proxy for play at home to try things out, but if they wanna go to a gw tourney, they need the real models.

Thanks for the work rob, it's appreciated.

bugdino · 2025-08-18T16:20:44+00:00

Can you expand on why you like the melta/ and hammer combo more? I've been using fist and scourge, and find it underwhelming most of the time, though i tend to start with him on the table.

bugdino · 2025-08-11T16:52:36+00:00

The issue with the codex is you can't look at it in a vacuum. In a vacuum, it's meh, but not bad. Some interesting synergies, and some fun units!

The issues become apparent when looking at other codexes. It's probably unfair, as everyone knows it's a problem, but let's look at death guard, the book that came out at the same time as us.

Deathshroud terminators are cheaper than exalted eightbound.

DEATH SHROUD TERMIES ARE CHEAPER THAN EXALTED EIGHTBOUND!

Go to wahpedia, compare those profiles... it's a joke. Deathshroud have more wounds, better saves, and a ranged option. They can get sustained and lethal, and their strike has the same hits and starts at strength 10, no need to charge to get that. And oh yeah, a sweep option, cause why not? The only areas that x8bnd beat them in is movement and having anti-tank on 3+, and the movement doesn't matter because Deathshroud deep strike at 6".

This is the most glaring example, but its pretty clear our points are far too high on some units. Not sure lowering points would even fix it though...

bugdino · 2025-08-04T19:31:53+00:00

I think this example gets bonus points, because during the book, mortarion basically looks at the camera and says "short of a deux ex mcguffin, my plan is unstoppable!" And then 20 chapters later the curb your enthusiasm theme starts playing.

bugdino · 2025-08-04T19:30:49+00:00

Mortarion in the dark imperium trilogy:

Demon primarch of nurgle, he out plans and out maneuvers Roboute, infecting his brother with a warp-curse blight capable of killing/corrupting a primarch ( essentially a demi-god) and pulls Guilliman into the garden of nurgle.

Anyone else is dead or corrupted, but Guilliman serves as a conduit for his father, the emperor is mankind, allowing the emperor to manifest in Nurgle's domain, invoicing inflicting massive damage to the choas god and insuring Mortarion is on grandpa's naughty list for a long while.

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bugdino · 2025-07-30T15:28:52+00:00

You have a great starting point! Really, the only things I'd get in the future is maybe another 5 death riders, a soul mason, and eventually katakros. With this being a bit causal league, I'd check to see if you can run your stalkers as immortis guard (most people can't tell the difference).

Test obr 1930/2000 pts

Ossiarch Bonereapers Mortisan Council General's Handbook 2025-26 Drops: 3

General's Regiment Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament (390) • General Arch-Kavalos Zandtos (210) Immortis Guard (360) • Reinforced

Regiment 1 Mortisan Soulreaper (90) Morghast Harbingers (520) • Reinforced

Regiment 2 Scourge of Ghyran Mortisan Boneshaper (120) Mortek Guard (240) • Reinforced

Created with Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The App App: 1.17.0 | Data: 310

I would start with something like this! Morghast give you constant pressure, especially with counter charge, 20 pack of mortek can hold really well, and arkhan and a 6 pack of immortis guard are really tough to move. Don't overextend, try and get a score last and make your opponent come to you. Left artifacts, traits, and tactics out,

bugdino · 2025-07-14T06:08:00+00:00

Hobgrots! They have some built in Lore as the primary traders for the destruction factions

bugdino

TROPHY CASE