The Thricefold Discord

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Thanks go to GW for providing a review copy to make this content possible.

Introduction

[D]AVY, [P]HIL, [B]RIAN, [S]KYLER & [Z]ACH

B: Previously a free download Warscroll with hard to find miniatures from 2023's Deathgorge boxset, Now they come neatly repackaged for newcomers. With their Embergard iteration, they quickly saw fame at the World Championship 2024 piloted by one of the Italian phenoms Goro. That iteration featured incredible fighter abilities for the Indolent Vexmor and Evasive Vashtiss and Lacivyr. Most spectacularly was the scalpel precise timing of Vile Temptation to remove an opponent's upgrade, which saw this warband cut down the Khornate horde at WCW. They were a hero to some, but haunted many with such great rules. Eager to see how Slaanesh's bickering daemons have transitioned.

 

WARSCROLl

D: Massive warscroll change here. The inspiration remains the same, but everything else is playing a very different game.

Z: Exactly the same. I've always found it odd to root for complete failure, but it's a really good silver lining for those situations.

D: Range unlimited ping with no restrictions (other than not vulnerable)? Wow. Yes please.

Z: Wow indeed. No real counter play on the other side, just one, non-lethal, damage when you want it.

 

D: Great for inspired Lascivyr and Vashtiss. Not bad for Vexmor either. With the pushes from Tempt, this gives the warband a lean towards some positional play.

Z: On demand guard will always have a use, even if it's just buffing defense of one of the two dodge fighters.

 

D: Another defensive buff. Situationally powerful, but definitely the most corner case ability. Still, lots of decks are packing ensnare/cleave upgrades. Bear in mind that sometimes reducing your defensive successes opens the door for an inspiration.

Z: I think this will be best to try to save a hurting, inspired Vexmor since cleave is twice as impactful as ensnare.

 

D: While six is a thematic number, it seems like an almost comically large number of dice to use *each* battle round. You can cover every action step attack with a few to spare on out of sequence attacks (volley, improvised attack) or the other three abilities. The timing is interesting here. You trigger the Tempt ability before any defense dice have been rolled. I see a few scenarios:
1- A large dice attack is clearly going to hit with just a couple extra misses.
2- A big pile of misses into a good defensive profile (Inspired fighters here, perhaps on guard) that is unlikely to hit even with the extra success
3- Edge cases, where the extra success is very likely to make a difference.

All three other abilities are quite powerful, so I think the real skill expression is going to come from reading the board and knowing when to Tempt and when not to. That gets more powerful if you set up lose/lose situations where a push or damage is meaningful.

Z: You can only use one per turn, so out of sequence attacks won't even matter unless they can do it on your turn. It's really only one for each opponent turn and then two left over to use on abilities. Completely agree that knowing when to not tempt is what will separate the great players.

 

FIGHTERS

Uninspired
D: As Wellner would say... "My boy! What did they do to my beautiful boy?!". Those stats are what they were, but tragically indolent just doesn't exist anymore. Taking a look at the inspired side may inform us as to what Vexxy's new role might be, because it doesn't seem to be beatstick.

Z: With Indolent gone it looks like hes mostly here to more easily inspire your other fighters. A truly noble task for a 3 bounty fighter.

Inspired
D: Without indolent, this is a *fine* attack profile, and a decent candidate for upgrades like Keen Eye and Great Strength. A bigger deal is that two block on defense. It can increase the number of times you can offer a temptation dice in a situation that might make for a difficult choice. If he wasn't sporting three bounty, he'd really feel like an early bait piece to get your other fighters inspired.

Z: The two block really saves an otherwise mediocre profile. Maybe he sits out front for an attack or two to get your other fighters inspired and then hangs back until he gets tooled up.

Uninspired
D: In the absence of the much-errata'd evasive ability, the extra point of health is very welcome. She still flies too, for whatever reason.

Z: With how evasive worked at the end, I think I'd rather have the extra point of health here.

Inspired
D: And now Vexmor is sporting a tragically reduced attack profile, Vashtiss is arguably the more useful fighter into the late game. Range four and speed four make for a spectacular threat range for booping people off tokens.

Z: The threat range is great, but the attacks are still just ok. I wouldn't expect to do a lot of damage, but you should be able to just sit and plink away.

Uninspired
D: Much less utility without the startlingly flexible slicing blades. Reduced speed will definitely be felt.

Z: Only semi-reliable 2 damage attack off the rip in the warband. Utility is gone, but I think this might be your early game threat if the others can't get an early inspire.

Inspired
D: There's a fair amount to like out of this inspire too. Very good accuracy boost and defensive boost. Crit grievous is more about the threat than the reliability. Scary when paired with warscroll's pings.

Z: Great inspire. Attack goes from average to quite accurate and gains a crit grievous threat. With the on demand guard, the defensive increase here is very impactful as well.

 

Summary

B: If you're familiar with Age of Sigmar's army rules and the Hedonites of Slaanesh faction, then this new Temptations of Slaanesh rule will feel very familiar. The narrative fun is very present, but we have our doubts that this will prove to be more powerful than their Embergard rendition. Giving the opponent the choice of outcome in you own rules rarely proves to be as effective a tool in top level competitive play, especially when compared to Vile Temptation's scalpel.

The Mortal RealmsComment