How I'm planning to go about this is by identifying the change here and then discussion it as I go through the document in order. If a change is covering something in multiple places, I probably will just reference that first change. Here is the document for reference: January 2016 Errata
Page 2 - Double-Hand Throw:
This was just a minor change to bring Colossals/Gargantuans in line with what heavies can do since it specified heavy in the original description. Honestly, I thought that this already had that wording, so not much new here if you ask me.
Page 7 - Bradigus Thorle the Runecarver Theme Force:
Now we're getting into a change. What this does is replace the tier 3 benefit of Sentry Stones beginning the game with three fury tokens, to the Bradigus player gaining a +1 to the starting roll.
I think that this is an acceptable change to a theme list which has sort of been "plaguing" the game for about a year now. I don't think that it makes it unplayable in the least, and might actually lead to some new innovation potentially, or at the very least it will be planned more for the matches that it really should be strong into while the matchups you'd expect to be bad will continue to be. Overall the theme is still a very viable way to play Bradigus, but I think this will curb his play quite a bit and breath some good changes into some lists.
Page 7 - Calandra Truthsayer, Oracle of the Thornwood Theme Force:
What this changes is that you now have to take a Mountain King if you want to get the discount on the light warbeasts, meaning that you aren't spamming the 11 light warbeasts like you were because the Mountain King is going to occupy 20 points of your army.
Again, I think this is a good and needed change for the game over all. Getting that many free points is certainly egregious and if Trollbloods players didn't see this errata coming then they weren't really paying attention. It does mark the first time that Privateer toed the line of making someone's purchases invalid, but since all of those models are technically FA:U they could still play them all again, probably just not at the same time.
As I consider this list, I do think its probably still solid if you drop 1 Slag Troll and 1 Storm/Winter/Pyre Troll from the list and going tier 3 still. The new tier 1 benefit is definitely not stellar, but could be something that comes up in corner cases like against Protectorate or Legion. That said, I don't expect to see anyone experimenting with this list really for a minimum of one year, and possibly never again.
Page 9 - Hand of Judgement. Immunity: Fire:
Clear cut case of house keeping, its obviously immune to fire. Lets continue moving on.
Page 10 - Man-O-War Bombardiers. Combined Ranged Attack:
The bombardiers get a straight-up buff in adding CRA to their card. They're an extremely underplayed unit, so any buff that they can get is obviously a net positive. That said, I'm not sure the addition of CRA (barring any unforeseen new models that might buff them) is really going to go enough of the distance to justify the 11 points it costs to field only 5 models. I expect some casual folks to investigate this briefly to say they tried and the Bombardiers to go back on the shelf. But hey, its a start.
Page 11 - Pistol Wraith. Chain Attack: Death Chill:
This ability is now called Chain Attack: Stationary for the sake of clarification since the last cycle of errata removed its old Death Chill ability while it remained the same for Lylyth3. Basically house keeping for clarity.
Page 12 - Dawnguard Destors. Quick Work:
Great change for this unit. They are one of the most flexible cavalry units in the game, and this definitely helps! They can sit back and take 2 shots if they can aim. They can do a Ride-by, get a melee kill and then a shot. They can charge, kill something, get a shot pretty deep into their backlines. This might be one of the few times that the lances only applying on the charge is helpful so that they're not engaging anything when they want to quick work. Definitely enough of a buff that I really hope that Retribution players give these guys a good look. I still don't think they'll be easy to play, because what they are is a very flexible unit. Flexible units tend to get a bad rep because people have a harder time knowing what, when and how to use them. I think its there for these if some folks give them the table time they'll need.
Page 12 - Forge Master Syntherion. Technological Superiority:
This basically just makes sure that Syntherion is affected by his own feat. Great change, not a huge deal other than to clarify it to work the way that it was pretty obviously intended.
Page 14 - Glacier King. Power Attack Card:
This is covered in a bunch of places later, so I may ignore them, but basically specifies that you need a L or R weapon system to make a sweep. Seems like mostly a change due to fluff needing to match that. Mostly a housekeeping item.
Page 14 - Hoarluk Doomshaper, Dire Prophet. Unit:
There's a lot of red text there, but basically it just cleans up the cards to have the rules that he should have so that the unit functions properly.
Page 15 - Trollkin Runeshaper. Tremor (* Attack):
This is one of the most interesting changes. What happens here is that the Runeshapers lose Tremor and gain Trembler. Trembler is a *Attack that centers a 3" AOE on the model, and everything in the AOE is knocked down. So, it loses a noticable amount of threat range since it can no longer be done on the charge and isn't 2" in front of the model. What it gains is the ability to automatically knock something down.
Someone when talking about this did comment and say that "no dice are the best dice" so we'll see if this is a big deal or not. I think the biggest thing with Runeshapers is Rockhammer anyway. What this change likely does is make this more of a corner case, but makes that case a much bigger swing when it does come up.
Page 15 - Trollkin Warders. Weapon Master:
Can't say that I saw this one coming, but these guys definitely did do a few too many things for a mere 8 points and were a big cause of the "armor skew meta". I think the change is probably fine, but it does seem like a lot of Trollbloods players might be headed back to the drawing board here. POW 10 on infantry models like that isn't likely enough, getting to POW 12 with Battle Driven is definitely better, but triggered by your opponent. I would have expected something more akin to a points increase, but Privateer doesn't seem too interested in going that route with their errata at this time.
My $0.02 on these is that you aren't really going to see them for a while and its hard to say if they're valuable enough at 8 points w/out weapon master or not.
Page 16 - Woldwarden. Wild Growth:
This one is not really a big deal, but it might be a meaningful enough change. Basically, the AOE is centered on the model at the time of casting now rather than being SELF. Means that the model can have another animi on them and it won't fall off when they drop the forest. Also means that something like Purification has to touch the AOE rather than the model that cast it. The Druid Wilder is able to cast it now since its not RNG = SELF, which has some interesting applications for sure. Also, you can do things like Grayle can sidestep twice and make about 8" of forest in front and then sprint away, or a Warden can have Lightning Strike, kill a guy, drop the forest, and run behind it.
Not sure if this is enough of a buff, especially since its more of a rules clean up, for the Woldwarden to see more play, but its one that's interesting enough to get my wheels turning to see if it might be enough.
Page 16 - Extoller Advocate. Fearless:
He gains fearless, not really a huge deal, but does alleviate a few awkward situations for a UA on a construct unit. Good change!
Page 16 - Molik Karn. Affinity [Makeda]:
Molik is now FURY 5 as long as he's in her battlegroup. Infinite Karn is fixed. There was much rejoicing and little shock.
Page 16 - Praetorian Karax. Set Defense:
One of the maligned units in Skorne getting a pretty significant buff is definitely nothing to sneeze at. Will they get taken as a result? I don't know. Makes them pretty decent at being a cheap tarpit type unit I would say. Might be an interesting inclusion in something like Zaal1/2 where you want something somewhat resilient, but also that will net you some souls. Defender's Ward definitely got more interesting on them as well.
Page 18 - Saeryn & Rhyas. Talons of Everblight. Unit:
Just some clarification on the make-up of this unit. Nothing big really in the grand scheme really.
Page 18 - Bog Trog Trawler. Minion:
Apparently there is a typo that's on the cards that release with this guy, looking forward to seeing his rules possibly by the time this gets posted!
Page 18 - Splatter Boar. Psychoactive Gas:
Changed the timing so that the timing of the frenzy is the next control phase. Works much like how Primal interacts with things. I think its overall a neutral change, but it definitely prevents some awkward rules situations from arising. Probably a decent enough change.
Final Thoughts
Looking at the errata as a whole I would say that its overall going to be much improved for the health of the game. If you're coming at this as a Trollbloods player who came over to that faction in the last 12 months or so then you're probably feeling like a lot of the things you bought and got into the faction playing aren't the same any more ... and they aren't. I do think all of these changes are going to be better for the game in the long run. As someone once said "Its more important to balance the game than any individual's Personal Sacred Cow", basically you need to step back and get past the mourning for the loss of the thing that you did and look at the effect on the entire game. This is overall a net positive.
I will say that I do hope that Privateer continues to evaluate things as this is a good move in a good direction, but I think there's a certain undead faction that needs some serious changes. I've talked to more than a few people who have some good ideas for things that should probably be toned down in Cryx, and I've talked with others who don't think its something that can be fixed with out a major version change. Personally, I don't see why it can't be both, but time will tell.
As far as how this effects me playing Circle, I'm not really sure. With this I sort of expect that there might be less Trollbloods players showing up to events, which might change how I want to build lists. I wasn't playing Bradigus, so the change to Wold War doesn't really impact anything I was planning to do at least in the near term. Kromac2 is quite good into Trolls and I don't really plan to stop bringing him either, I've had a lot of good success there as well. With less Trollbloods I probably need to watch to see if we get more Cygnar/Legion coming to the forefront than we were, as those factions tended to have a rough time with Trolls.
As I said, overall, a good change.
