So Death Knights and Heavy Crossbow men have been out for a bit now, how are they changing your lists? Are they replacing something you always took? With more options now will we still see lists utilizing both heroes?

I think the biggest change is that they preempt the usage of Kari and Maro's build ability. Since the borrowed units could only take neutral upgrades, I haven't seen much desire to bring in outside fraction units in either army.

Though part of that is the desire to play with the new toys.

I bought 2 boxes of death knights and played them for the first time last night. I ran a 2x2 block with Obcasium Gauntlet. Learned that it gets exhausted when used, but unfortunately didn't rally before sending them in to combat. They wiped out a 2x1 of Oathsworn in 1 turn, killed off a 2x1 of Crossbowmen in another 2 turns, then killed off Kari, then killed off 1 more oathsworn unit... that was a bad roll.

I also ran the Deathmist Banner on my large block of Reanimates... that did no damage. They were only ever in range of Lord Hawthorn or Oathsworn that chose to take the +1 defense each round. I'm not sold on that upgrade yet.

I wasn't able to field a Carrion Lancer, not even as a siege upgrade in my reanimate block. Ardus died in 2 rounds worth of attacks from crossbowmen, never got a chance to swing his ax(es).

I have to admit the Death knights did almost all of the wrecking in the game, but partially that was due to the objective. My big block of reanimates had to sit on the objective token. I'm not sure how my list is going to evolve from here, I surprisingly missed the Carrion Lancers, but they've never done close to as much damage as the death knights did.

For everyone worrying about Death's Grasp, it dealt 2 wounds the entire game. If I would have hit a hero first, it would have done the same damage. I don't think it's overpowered because a. it relies on the runes, b. it has to be readied to use a second time so if your opponent keeps closing in on the death knights you will have to sacrifice an attack to ready the card or c. the death knights need to rally their first turn in order to have a rally token to ready the card for a later attack.

Death Knights look like a must have in Waiqar. They are tough to kill and hit **** hard, worth the extra cost i.m.o. They are the hammer for the undead

I’m enjoying any kind of flexibility added to the undead. I unfortunately am having extraordinary frustration with Reanimates, so Death Knights in various forms are now a staple unit to me

On hold till after Christmas to buy them. But I'll be getting two boxes also.

That will add mobility to my army.

Like Sidrasco, I'll probably pick them up after Christmas. Most of my games so far have been in escalation leagues, so only a fraction of my games have been full 200 points. Reanimates are my favorite unit in the game, but that's more about theme than substance. I've done alright with them, but they are easily outplayed by some units when you have a savvy opponent.

@Xquer makes a good point about the new units preempting army-building abilities of the heroes, because you're now filling up your army with these valuable in-faction units that cover for weaknesses of your other units. However, I'm really enjoying Ankaur's ability to bring in a 2x2 of Spearmen with War Crier to support Carrion Lancers. That has been the most reliable method of stacking blight on targets to get the Carrion Lancer surge ability to trigger. I'm currently running a 3x2 of Reanimates in the army, but I think when I get Death Knights I'll switch it up to see how they do. I'll miss my skeleton horde, though.

Also, when people really like new powerful units, I like to see if I can win without them because I'm just like that. It's self-sabotaging, but I can't help it.

Being on the receiving side of the Death Knights, I can say they are a big change to Waiqar. It's like being slammed with some heavy tanks. Definitely sorely needed.

I've run a few games with 3x1 crossbows now, and I really like them. My favorite part is the 1-march white modifier. It's very satisfying to shoot+march1. If you weren't in range last round, you may be in range this round. It's a good threat. Then once you hit range 3, you can threaten heroes or heavy armor with some mortal strikes. I've also done some crazy reform + march1's to get them out of the way of charges as well. Just a really good unit.

Deathknights are brilliant

Personal favourite build right now is a simple 2x1 tray unit with reaping blade and ranked discipline, does a surprising high amount of damage and still tough for your opponent to take down

My new favorite is a 2x2 or 3x2 of death knights with duskblade and CI, running next to Ardus with the gauntlet and fury. The amount of damage that can be dealt to armored units is insane.

I've played a few games with a big 3x2 block of Heavy Crossbows, and I like them thus far. I think I had the most fun fielding a 3x2 of crossbows with Fire Rune, Artifact Bearer with Fortuna's Die, and Close Quarters Targeting supported by It-Hurts-to-Hit-Me Hawthorn, a little unit of spears with Rallying Cornicen, and a 3x2 of Othsworn with Wind Rune and MoI. I'd like to fit in a Greyhaven Channeler in there, but the idea is to double shoot with the crossbows, using Fortuna's Die on which ever attack will be best, preventing the Crossbow's flank with the spears and Hawthorn, and letting the Calvary run free and roll over stuff in the opponent's back field. Being able to shoot twice, move and shoot, shoot and move, reform and shoot, shift and shoot, and to always have Fortuna's available was great.

This replaced the big block of spears with Kari, Front line and agressive cornicen that I had been running almost non stop. I'm not sure if my opponent prefer the constant chip damage of the crossbows, or the intermittent massive chunks of damage from the spears.

Ran dual 3x1 rank discipline crossbows for two games tonight, they freaking shred. And the reform on 3 with white March 1 is great for shenanigans.

I've introduced Heavy Crossbows into my Daqan force at the cost of losing generally a unit of Cav and even pulling out Hawthorne to then afford a 3x2 block upgraded with fire rune etc.

Need to get some more games into determine if that's the right thing to do or not. Going against Elves that dueling arrow engagement seems to favor the elves.

With the Uth losing Hawthorne's inspiration candy abilities seems like a hard trade off in what I presume will be a panic fest.