In this new blog, we’ll be previewing some of the new Path to Glory toys coming out in upcoming battletomes. While existing armies have received Path to Glory Rules in their White Dwarf updates, there’s always new toys to play with. Here, we’ll cover the defining mechanics for each faction as well as the new options for quests, territories, veteran abilities, and anything else featured in each book. We’ll be launching this series with the Ossiarch Bonereapers and the Soulblight Gravelords battletomes.

So, grab a seat by the fire as we kindle the flames for your future stories.

Join the Dynasty of Terror

Many of the Soulblighted vampires did not have a choice in the matter, but not you. You saw the power of the bloodkiss and accepted it willingly. In these Path to Glory rules, you’re given the tools to spread your dread influence and increase the size of your demesne. While some of the other recent battletomes repeat many of the rules from their White Dwarf updates, the Soulblight Gravelords get a lot of brand-new options.

A bloodkiss is not a contract, but it’s very nice.

Defining Mechanics: Summoning and Soulblighted Territories

Returning from their White Dwarf rules are the summoning rules. Because a large number of units in the Soulblight roster are Summonable, the Gravelords have special rules when it comes to building their Order of Battle. You do not add any summonable units to your order of battle and instead bring a number of them based on how many heroes and vampire heroes you bring with you to battle. The downside is that these units can never gain renown, as they are constantly replaced and replenished between your battles.

The brand new mechanic available to Soublight warlords is the ability to spread their influence to Soulblighted territories. These special territories are upgraded versions of traditional territories that give you greater benefits than before. Instead of rolling for a specific territory, anytime you roll between 61-66 on your d66 roll you can select any of the available territories. On top of this, you can complete a special quest and battleplan to influence your existing territories and make them Soulblighted.

New Quests

All of the quests available in this battletome are brand new and provide a lot of interesting ways to expand your army. One way lets you get around the lack of veteran abilities for your summonable units. Revenant Legion is a simple quest that you complete when you win a major victory. For the next battle, all of your Deathrattle Skeletons and Deadwalker Zombies gain a veteran ability! Narratively, you’ve battled the best and now get to command their remains and bring them to bear against your foes.

New Veteran Abilities

As far as veteran abilities go, several are repeats from the White Dwarf update. However, the new March of a Thousand Corpses veteran ability makes the most use out of the benefit from the Revenant Legion quest. With it, once per battle, a unit of Deadwalker Zombies can return any number of slain models to it. If you bring a large amount of zombies to battle, you can quickly replenish your army and drown your foes in your swarm of minions.

Territories

Though the Soulblighted territory system for Gravelords is new, the benefits from these territories are similar to what was available in the White Dwarf update. They act as upgraded versions of basic territories, but twisted by vampiric corruption. One example is the Bleak Expanse. This territory replaces an Old Keep and allows you to bring 3 additional summonable units to battle. It’s interesting that this is the trade they made, as the extra hero from an Old Keep would allow you to bring one to two summonable units anyways. But the option is in the player’s hands on which territories become Soulblighted. In the end, it’s an additional way to help shape your army.

Heroic Upgrades

While there aren’t many upgrades for the army, one standout is that if you complete the Champions of Undeath quest, you can reduce the Renown cost by 5. If they choose to become a Vengorian Lord, this can represent their fast descent into their soulblight curse.

Name Generator

An interesting addition to the new wave of battletomes is that of name generators. There are a few tables available for you to roll on and create your own Soulblight characters from. You can take these tables as they come, but you can branch off with new ideas sparked by the narrative tidbits they provide. The tables help give a first name, last name, and a quirk that can apply to your own dynasty. I decided to roll up a new character and came up with “Ulvaar Uhl-Karn: A powerful Wight King holds dominion over the local region; your dynasty is careful not to earn their ire.”

Narrative Battleplan

Because the Soulblight rely on the lifeblood of the living to survive, it only makes sense that eventually the mortals will rise up against them. When a Soulblight warlord goes on the Propagate the Curse quest, they can unlock the An Object Lesson battleplan. Where the Gravelords must use force to bring down those that resist them.

In order to win, the Soulblight Gravelords must destroy over half of the defender’s units. The Gravelords are able to bring in endless hordes of summonable units to tear down their mortal foes.

In order to stop this from happening, the defender’s are able to bring their faction terrain and do not need to roll battleshock tests. This is their last stand against the Gravelords and they’ll fight to the last if need be. The defender’s also gain a special ability for the battle. This ability resembles the action dice mechanic seen in Warcry. They roll 6 dice and any Doubles, Triples, or Quads can be spent to increase their attacks characteristic or to quickly kill off summonable models.

Even though this battleplan is for the Soulblight Gravelords, it shines a spotlight on the opposing force. It does a great job of showing off the heroic last stand of the mortals that dare stand against the undead.

When the battle is over, the Soulblight Gravelords player can spread their influence to two of their territories. However, if the defenders can hold off and survive, they are able to undermine one of the Soulblight player’s influenced territories.

Warscroll Battalions

The Soulblight Gravelords have the Legions of Shyish, which is a collection of warscroll battalions that represent different aspects of the undead forces. While you can bring a battalion focusing on vampire nobility, skeletons, fell beasts, or zombies, each gains the same benefit. The Horror Unending ability is an improvement on the Deathly Invocation battle trait for the army. The normal ability allows summonable units near a Vampire hero to heal 3 wounds or bring back a number of models whose wounds characteristic is 3 or less. Meanwhile, members of this battalion have that increased to 6, allowing for more models to be brought back to your undead army.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I really liked how this update came out. It adds a lot of things to the existing Path to Glory rules and goes beyond simply updating what came from the previous White Dwarf. The rules provided really help sell the idea that you are spreading your vampiric corruption across the realms.

If I were to run an army using these rules, I would really lean into the newer narrative thread about vampires taking over new Dawnbringer settlements. Everything in this Path to Glory section enhances that idea that the Soulblight are expanding their reach deeper into the mortal realms.

Thanks for sitting alongside the fire with us and we hope to see you along the path.

Kindling the Flames: Soulblight Gravelords Preview