Useful for quick reference during games, and a nice looking book with some strong artwork and a bit more AoS era Undead fluff. Sadly, the Tomb Kings are gone (possibly for good, possibly not), but the former Vampire Counts units that make up the Grand Alliance seem to work well and convey the nature of the faction rather well in the new rules.

I have only spotted a few changes from the stop gap Vampire Counts list so far on the new free warscrolls- stuff like Vampire Lords on foot and on Nightmares getting access to Chalices of Blood and the addition of a Back Axe weapon for Wight Kings, which is essentially a lot like Krell used to be – but given that you can get the Warscrolls for free anyway that isn’t why you buy this kind of product.

I have my copy ordered, and now I am waiting to see which sub faction the first Forces of Death Battletome will cover when it is ultimately released, and what kinds of additions and changes it will make.

I hope we will see Tomb Kings again too someday @ Poosh.

As for AoS being a skirmish game, a person can play that way if they like, but there is nothing in the rules actually stopping you from arranging your models in ranks and even putting them in a movement tray. You can also use square bases if you like since the round one’s aren’t essential, and have old school close ranks of the type that were ubiquitous in Old Hammer.

Indeed close, ranked up formations are often advantageous for certain types of unit, especially those with longer melee weapon ranges. Troops armed with things like spears with a two inch range (and especially the rare weapons like Stormcast Protector Glaives that have the coveted 3″ melee range) can easily mass a decent number of attacks in close formation, doubly so since massed infantry unit choices often have bonuses to their attacks or to hit or wound rolls for being deployed in larger numbers – just look at the AoS rules for Skeleton Warriors with spears to see how proper unit set up and synergy with nearby heroes can turn very average individual unit members into a very effective unit overall.

When one starts to pay close attention, it becomes clear that the AoS rules actually favour formations like shield walls and composite arrangements of different, mutually supporting troop types. The Stormcast in particular seem set up for this kind of game play option, with Liberators, Judicators and the various types of Paladins all able to play specific roles in such a style of tabletop generalship.

In larger games where enough models will be on the table to achieve it, I think we will see much more in the way of massed and ranked models as time goes on.