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Hey

I am new at AoS(3.0 and AOS itself) and caught an eye on Soulbrights. I was playing a bit with the new battle tomb to create a list made of mostly vampires.
Since I already some paintjobs:
Current models on my desk:

1 vampire lord
1 Prince Vhordai
1 Blood Knights (x5)


I like to continue the charm of the Kastelai dynasty.


Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords
- Lineage: Kastelai Dynasty - Mortal Realm: Ulgu
- Grand Strategy:
- Triumphs:
LEADERS
Mannfred von Carstein, Mortarch of Night (380)
- General
- Lore of the Deathmages: Overwhelming Dread
Prince Vhordrai (455)
- Lore of the Vampires: Amaranthine Orb
Prince Duvalle (200)
- Lore of the Vampires: Amaranthine Orb
Vampire Lord (140)
M S W B
16"* 3+ 12 10
14"* 3+ 14 10
6" 3+ 5 10
6" 3+ 5 10
UNITS MSWB
5 x Blood Knights (195)
5 x Blood Knights (195)
5 x Blood Knights (195)
10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (85) 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (85)
LEADERS: 4/6
ARTEFACTS: 0/1 ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS: 0/3 ALLIES: 0/400
REINFORCED UNITS: 0/4 DROPS: 9

I am still not sure about Manfred or Lauka as general.

Basic idea was to have 3 high mobile hammers using the blood knights, chaffing by death rattle skeletons with shields and ambos/Hammer of monster vamps and buffs by the vamp lord on foot.

Do you think a list without ghouls and more skeletons is working vs Stormcast, deamons or Uruk? Also fireslayers and kardon overlords are in my community.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Alternative would be Lauka and one more Skeleton unit

Allegiance: Soulblight Gravelords
- Lineage: Kastelai Dynasty - Mortal Realm: Ulgu
- Grand Strategy:
- Triumphs:
LEADERS
Lauka Vai, Mother of Nightmares (285)
- Lore of the Vampires: Amaranthine Orb
Prince Duvalle (200)
- Lore of the Vampires: Amaranthine Orb
Prince Vhordrai (455)
- General
- Lore of the Vampires: Amaranthine Orb
Vampire Lord (140)
- Universal Spell Lore: Levitate
M S W B
12" 3+ 11 10
6" 3+ 5 10
14"* 3+ 14 10
6" 3+ 5 10
UNITS MSWB
5 x Blood Knights (195)
5 x Blood Knights (195)
5 x Blood Knights (195)
10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (85) 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (85) 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (85)
LEADERS: 4/6
ARTEFACTS: 0/1 ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS: 0/3 ALLIES: 0/400
REINFORCED UNITS: 0/4 DROPS: 10


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Both lists still have 70 respectively 80 points left to 2k


Now the questions:
-Would you better drop the crimson Curt for another Blood Knights unit? I also ran a test and got Prince Vorghai with 3x Blood Knights(10) and some chaff units. I am really not sure in AOS if min model units are better. Since Blood Knights gain bonus for killing I thing 10 maybe better than 5 but problematic if I can’t get all 10 in touch so I loose attacks.
-Is it better to include more Models with less Wounds or less models with high wounds? I think at the moment my lists are low model count with less table control but the power of a good alpha strike.
-an according to the rules…if I put the reserves and let the knights flank from behind can they charge in this round? As far as understood not. But maybe I misunderstood this. Because if the my pop up they need to survive a round of shooting possibly.

As in addition I would go for the artifact

Fragment of the Keep
Really nice, it is a passive 6” bubble around the bearer, can help reduce damage to the bearer and nearby friendly units.
Not wholly within.
Something to de buff wounds is great because there are lots of debuffs for hits in the book already.

And those Command Traits:

Rousing Commander
Only once per battle use but when used at the right time can ensure a lot of damage is dealt along with providing more staying power (on Blood Knights specifically).
Best paired with an Alpha Strike strategy.
Or
Swift and Deadly
Free 12” bubble of re-roll charges – fantastic, especially in a Dynasty that wants to move fast and hit the opponent early. Helps ensure those charges go off more reliably.

In the test games I've played on TTS even getting five knights into combat was difficult. I think a group of 10 might be too difficult.

So you think the range of the attacks causes often less than 5 to be in range for using their attacks? Sounds valid. So I will give it a try.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

As a first impression. It is still WIP, but gives a hint how it will evolve.

I know I need to fix some spills and add more highlights and definition. But it is already ready for except the basing. I will do this after fixing.

Now the questions:
-Would you better drop the crimson Curt for another Blood Knights unit? I also ran a test and got Prince Vorghai with 3x Blood Knights(10) and some chaff units. I am really not sure in AOS if min model units are better.
Since Blood Knights gain bonus for killing I thing 10 maybe better than 5 but problematic if I can’t get all 10 in touch so I loose attacks.
I would drop the Crimson Court for another Blood Knights units. The Prince is a very, very good pick, but I think in this case min model units are better. You're right that larger units make better use of the buffs and various command abilities but it will be hard to use the extra models as anything but ablative wounds, lowering the value somewhat
-Is it better to include more Models with less Wounds or less models with high wounds? I think at the moment my lists are low model count with less table control but the power of a good alpha strike.
In general it is basically the same, since damage carries over anyways. One wound models don't "absorb" extra damage and it "cleaves through" to kill multiple models anyways.
-an according to the rules…if I put the reserves and let the knights flank from behind can they charge in this round? As far as understood not. But maybe I misunderstood this. Because if the my pop up they need to survive a round of shooting possibly.
Unless their rule specifically says that they cannot, they can charge the turn they pop up. They just need to make roll a 9 on 2d6, which is an above average result so slightly hard without buffs

As in addition I would go for the artifact

Fragment of the Keep
Really nice, it is a passive 6” bubble around the bearer, can help reduce damage to the bearer and nearby friendly units.
Not wholly within.
Something to de buff wounds is great because there are lots of debuffs for hits in the book already.

And those Command Traits:

Rousing Commander
Only once per battle use but when used at the right time can ensure a lot of damage is dealt along with providing more staying power (on Blood Knights specifically).
Best paired with an Alpha Strike strategy.
Or
Swift and Deadly
Free 12” bubble of re-roll charges – fantastic, especially in a Dynasty that wants to move fast and hit the opponent early. Helps ensure those charges go off more reliably.

Answers in red above, and for the Command trait I would pick Swift and Deadly myself. Saves you some CP/issued/received commands on re-rolling charges.

There's a lot of ways to build a SBGL army, if you're trying to choose a list to buy towards I'd say its good to get a clearer idea on the style you want to run
- Kastelai 'pure', so no other dynasty keywords or mixed
- Monster/hero centric or not, although always will be to a degree
- Blood knight centric or fringe.

An army with blood knights on the edges/fringe would probably have a core block of grave guard with some zombie tarpits, ~2x5 blood knight units. Include some heros to buff the wights with main damage dealer units being your dragon and wights block. Blood knights would operate more independently hitting units they'd have a good chance of wiping on the charge or lack rend/MW output.

Blood knight centric may have 15-20 knights supported with 2-3 units of dire wolves. Dire wolves would be the main screening units / charge redirects and objective holders.

Monster centric would be running double VLOZD or coven throne / vengorian lord.

For other dynasty keyworded characters, Manfred combos well with the wights and zombie block, being able to boost them significantly with extra attacks and hit wound benefits. Belladamma interacts well with the wights and dire wolves as well as being a strong +1 double casting wizard.

Coven throne and vengorian lord can interact strongly with your VLOZD or blood knights to make them pretty abusive and hard to hurt.

I dont think Lauka or skeletons would work that well in a Kastelai list, not a fan on Duvalle, havent been able to get good use out of him.

Maybe in the future vargheists would become more worthwhile. At present they lack durability for a relatively expensive unit.

Overall I'd say have a look at what sort of models and army style you'd like and then a workable list could probably be made from there.