#192: Wrath of the Everchosen Book Breakdown

Chaos, baby!

Anyone who's ever had a conversation with me remotely related to Warhammer will know what a Chaos fanboy I am. Aside from my Ironjawz, I've played Chaos almost exclusively for the duration of Age of Sigmar.

So, when a new supplement drops, jam packed with fresh new rules for all four gods and an undivided daemon force...

Yeah, I'm going to buy it.

Wrath of the Everchosen is a blanket expansion for Chaos. It has new sub-factions  for the big four gods and one for STD, as well as a specific army (battalions and all) just for Be'Lakor (everyone's favourite Daemon Prince). So I'm going to go through each allegiance, look at what's new, whats good and bad, and if this book is going to give you anything exciting. Let's start with Khorne.

KHORNE

  So, the trimmings were pretty light for Khorne in this book. There's one Mortal-focused and one Daemon-focused sub-faction.

The Flayed benefits (if we can call it that) mortals. The over-arching ability is that if a Flayed unit kills a hero or monster, they get +1 save for the rest of the battle. It's... ok. You get a command ability that hands out a +1 to Hit to a unit wholly within 12" in the combat phase that also must have charged that turn.The trait is a re-roll 1's aura for Priests attempting prayers, and the artefact you HAVE to take is +2 to charges. 

The artefact is nice, but the rest is disappointing. You're going to get a lot more mileage out of the benefits of Gore Pilgrims, which then frees up your sub faction for something useful.

The second sub-faction is The Baleful Lords, which is focused on one thing; running five Bloodthirsters. Rule of cool? Yes! Is it practical? Not really. Is it better than only running four Bloodthirsters in Reapers of Vengeance in a Tyrants battalion? 

No. 

TZEENTCH

Following the same pattern as Khorne, Tzeentch got a mortal and a daemon sub-faction. Neither are terrible, but both are overshadowed by the existing Battletome. The Unbound Flux is still trying to convince Tzeentch players that they should take combat artefacts in a shooting/magic army, but Maddening Cascade definitely builds into the right direction.

The Cult of a Thousand Eyes is focused on mortals, which are by far the weaker half of the Disciples of Tzeentch book, and while it has some perks, they're not nearly enough to convince me. 

Tzeentch sufferes the same problem as Khorne, where neither new sub-factions can compare to existing hosts like Eternal Conflag, Duplicitous Host, and so on. 

SLAANESH

When you think of Slaanesh, do you think to yourself, "They need more support?". No? Well, they're getting it anyway! 

There's a new sub-(sub?)-faction for each of the Hosts. From what I can gather, you pick one of the three Hosts (Invaders, Pretenders, Godseekers), then have the option to go another layer in, and get more rules while getting locked into certain traits and artefacts. So if you're fielding a Godseeker Host, you can choose to give them the 'Scarlet Cavalcade Godseeker Host' keyword as well to open up new abilities. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's how I'm reading it. 

Let's go through these, then. 

The LURID HAZE is an expansion on Invaders. And it's not bad at all. Invaders is definitely the least common of the three hosts, and it's been handed some useful tools. The Oil of Exultation is the compulsary artefact that hands the bearer an extra wound, which means extra depravity and a marginally longer lifespan. 

The command trait is a passive 12" (wholly within) aura that lets you re-roll run rolls for friendly units, which is useful! The command ability is fantastic as well. You can add 1 to save rolls for one friendly unit in the combat phase! There's a limit to once per turn, so you can't spam this ability, but with all the "You Strike Last" locuses floating around, you can maximise returns on this ability for the units that will potentially be hit hardest. 

The biggest thing for Lurid Haze, however, is the ability to pick up D3 units AFTER deployment, and put them in reserve to come on a board edge 6" on and 9" from enemies. This is incredibly good, because you don't have to put units in reserve, and only have to make that decision after deployment is all said and done. This forces your opponent to spread thin and zone out without knowing if he or she is wasting all that effort and resources against units that aren't ambushing. The Invader Host definitely has some tools to play an interesting angle! 

Next, we have the FAULTLESS BLADES for Pretenders. Faultless Blades got some spicy rules. The main ability gifts Pretenders units +1 to hit Heroes if they charged that turn. Slingshotting your Keeper into some poor wizard just got even more excessive! The compulsary trait gives units wholly within 12" a 6" pile-in instead of only 3" (keeping in mind, you still need to be in combat, but a flying keeper can comfortably leap screens now!). The artefact gives one weapon +1 to wound against enemy heroes. 

You can see the duellist theme coming through, nice and strong...

Lastly, is the command ability, Armour of Arrogance. You can put it on a unit in the combat phase, and the first two wounds allocated to that unit are negated. That is fantastic! Again, it's very specific that this command ability can only be used once per turn, but plonk it on your buffed up Pretender Keeper and send her into the biggest, baddest unit in the enemy force and you're golden!

Godseekers landed the SCARLET CAVALCADE. This one is a bit of a mixed bag. The compulsary command trait and artefact give you 12" auras of Re-Roll Battleshock tests and +1 Bravery respectively. This seems a little counter-intuitive, as everything is already ridiculously high bravery. The main ability lets you roll a single charge roll for two units with 10 or more models and within 6" of each other. This seems weird as well, as there's no bonuses or benefits from this ability. If you fail the charge roll, you've failed it for both... There are lot of conditions for an ability that's good if it pays off, but if it doesn't, its going to hit you hard.

Then there's the command ability. You can throw it down on a friendly unit, and every successful save of a 6 by that unit bounces a mortal wound back at their enemy. Especially in a glass cannon army like Slaanesh, I really don't like abilities that require me to take bulk damage to get any mileage out of. Perhaps on a sacrificial hero that's looking to farm as much depravity as possible on the way out, but I think it's safe to say Godseekers got the least impressive set of new rules. 

All in all, Slaanesh has done pretty well. The new sub-factions won't be for everyone and won't work for every list, but there's definitely some play in Lurid Haze and Faultless Blades if people build into them. I don't think the world is ending here, though. Slaanesh have been the 'big bad' for a long time, but I honestly don't think these make things worse. You're giving up some very good artefacts and command traits to unlock them, and it's a price to pay.  

NURGLE

Nurgle are the real winners of this book. As the only Battletome that's still lacking any form of sub-factions, they have everything to gain and nothing to lose. They got four new factions, and it's a testament to internal balance between the four that I'm struggling to pick my favourite. 

The artefacts are all good. From +1 to hit enemies, -1 to hit the bearer, an extra wound or re-roll saves, they're all solid and practical. There are also no keyword restrictions on the artefacts. Doesn't matter if you're daemon or mortal, you can slap it on whoever you please. And with the recent discounts to Nurgle battalions, a second artefact is far more accessible. 

The two Daemon faction abilities let Daemons ignore a point of rend in combat, while the two mortal factions allow Rotbringer models to explode upon death, reliably handing out mortal wounds with their last breath. The Drowned Men leans hard into Pusgoyle Blightlords, giving them more reliable charges and increased potential for Rend (something that Nurgle lacks greatly!), while the Droning Guard gives Plague Drones a better Disgustingly Resilient save and a pre-game move! 

The beauty of these sub-factions is that not only are you gaining far more than you're losing, but they're very flexible. You can mix and match mortals, daemons, or in the case of units like Pusgoyles and Lord of Affliction, both, and reap some pretty great benefits. 

As you can probably tell at this point, I'm VERY excited about Nurgle. As soon as I opened this book, I've been formulating different builds that capitalise on the new bonuses offered by this book! I think Nurgle is the real winner in this book, if only because they started out with less. 

SLAVES TO DARKNESS

Slaves to Darkness also got another faction to go alongside Despoilers, Cabalists etc. And it's designed specifically for those players who love Varanguard, but specifically don't also love Archaon. This army represents the garrison at the Varanguard, and allows you to take Varanguard as your general and heroes. Again, its a Rule of Cool allegiance. Running Varanguard, complete with Varanguard command traits and artefacts is definitely unique! 

LEGION OF CHAOS ASCENDANT

The Legion of Chaos Ascendant is a brand spanking new chaos allegiance that encompasses all Chaos Daemons. It harkens back to the old Fantasy days of mixing and matching different marked Daemons into one infernal collaboration of utter destruction. 

Naturally, with such flexibility, the army has opportunities to build some pretty interesting forces. The allegiance abilities give every Daemon a 6+ 'after-save', which is pretty decent. Then at the end of each of your movement phases, you roll 3D6 and if you roll ten or more, you can summon a free unit of infantry from the usual suspects (Horrors, Letters, Nettes and Bearers). It's a pretty reliable summon that your opponent can't really interact with, and if you take the obvious command trait, you only need a 9+ on the dice. 

You only get three artefacts and spells, but there are some gems in there. The Fourfold Blade is basically a Sword of Judgement Lite. Triggering in the same manner as the Sword, but on a 5+ and only doing D3 Mortal wounds, it's not too shabby at all. The spells are a bit unreliable. All three cast on a 7+, which is far less consistent than math would have you believe. And one spell is fantastic (re-roll hits and wounds), but only against DEATH models... Oh.

Again, much of this allegiance has to be read through narrative glasses. It fits perfectly into the story, but doesn't translate as flexibly onto the table. You have an immense amount of freedom when it comes to army construction, but that freedom comes at the price of the synergy that a god-specific army will offer.    

It wouldn't be an Undivided Daemon army without Be'Lakor. He gets his own faction, which is focused on the four infantry battleline choices of the gods. He can bounce damage onto nearby units, use his new command ability to resurrect slain models to those infantry units, and also unlocks a spell which is almost exactly the same as one of the generic Chaos Ascendant spells (pile in and attack when the model is slain), except that it can only affect Plaguebearers, Bloodletters, Pink Horrors and Daemonettes. 

The last piece to the Chaos Ascendant puzzle are the battalions. There is one for each god and encompasses a fair chunk of each army. For example, the Khorne battalion includes 2-3 Khorne Daemon Heroes and 8 BLOODLETTER (keyword) units (which includes Skull Cannons and Bloodcrushers). The other god ones follow suit, changing only their sacred number of troops. Nurgle needs 7 units of PLAGUEBEARER, for example. 

I'm torn on these battalions. They're actually not bad, but require a huge commitment of points, and deny you the variety offered by the army's broad roster of units. If they were available in the god-specific allegiances, they would offer some great one-drop builds, but the battalions require the Chaos Ascendant keywords, so they're limited to this specific allegiance. 

I'll be honest, though. I actually quite like the army. It opens up a huge collection of models under a single banner, and there is definitely some tech in there. 

So, in closing, what do I think of this book? 

I've got to say, I'm pleasantly surprised at the restraint in this book. Chaos Ascendant had the potential to be a bit ridiculous, and while I think there's a lot of strength in variety, I don't think it's as obscenely powerful as some were expecting. There is still plenty of incentive to play a god specific army, with the temptation to cherry pick units being offset by less synergy. 

Nurgle was definitely the winner in this book in my eyes. They've been spoilt, and have received a lot while sacrificing next to nothing. 

Slaanesh got some love, and it will be interesting to see whether players jump on the new sub-factions or would rather the freedom to choose artefacts and command traits. Things didn't get too stupid, and sacrifices need to be made to access the cool new stuff. 

Khorne and Tzeentch were on the lower end of the scale, receiving rules that are unlikely to see much table time in the face of other, more efficient alternatives. That's not to say that Khorne and Tzeentch (ESPECIALLY Tzeentch) are in a bad spot. They just didn't gain a lot from this particular release.

All in all, it seems like a solid, well rounded book with a little smattering for everyone. 

What I'm really looking forward to is diving into the absolute ton of lore that's the main focus of the book! The story is advancing, and with every book and novel that comes out, the Age of Sigmar universe (Multiverse? Realmiverse?) is being explored and fleshed out and I love it! The foundation of stories is being laid, upon which the future timeline will be built. I'm very excited! 

What do you think? Will you buy the book? If you already have, what do you think? Any standouts?

Thanks for reading,

Gabe

#135: Legion of Azgorh Compendium Review...

Evening, all.

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of the Chaos Grand Alliance. There's plenty of flexibility, there's a unit for almost every role and there are enough Battletomes to keep them current and competitive (for the most part... poor Skaven). But while most armies see the tabletop every now and then, regardless of how obscure, we're here to talk about the rarest army in the entire game.

The Legion of Azgorh.

That's right, in case you've been living under a rock, or perhaps just missed it in the onslaught of information and releases leading up to AOS2 and beyond, Choas Dwarves got an update. And what an update it was! 

In a pseudo-Battletome release, Forgeworld dropped a PDF (which can be found for free on the Forge World website) with updated scrolls, as well as brand spankin' new allegiance abilities, artefacts and warscroll battalions! And because Duardin aligned with Chaos are clearly the coolest Duardin in all the realms, I'm here to break this PDF down and talk about what's good, whats changed, and why they're a viable competitive army in the current meta. Yep, I said it. I think these guys are poised to kick some ass and take some names.

While I will refer to the older scrolls occasionally, this is not going to be a direct comparison back, as it's not really relevant what they used to do. We live in the now!

ALLEGIANCE ABILITIES:

We'll kick things off with the Allegiance Abilities, as that's the lens through which we'll inspect the rest of the army. The first rule is Blackshard Armour. This used to only affect the infantry and characters, and gave you a re-roll of 1's to saves against shooting; not bad, but hardly game-changing. Well, hold onto your pants, because this has all changed. Every unit in the army, every hero, every war machine has Blackshard Armour now, and here's what it does. A model with this armour can ignore the first wound they suffer in the shooting phase, as well as the first wound they suffer in the combat phase. This would be a solid artefact for any other army, and Chaos Dwarfs get it on every single unit. Wow! While it doesn't sound like much, that's a ton of damage mitigation. There's just a heap of wounds that will be inflicted, that make it past armour saves, that will be ignored. Yes please. 

The second battle trait is Burning Skies. This is a little more situational, as some armies will be largely unaffected, but it's a handy little board control ability. If an enemy unit with the Fly rule moves more than 6", there's a decent chance they'll be copping some volcanic mortal wounds to the face. This probably won't win you the game, but mortal wounds are mortal wounds, and flying units are usually pretty high-value targets. This will be particularly annoying for Nighthaunt, who's speed and army-wide Fly ability will make them second guess how aggressive they want to be. 

Every Legion of Azgorh wizard also knows the Fireball spell. In the light of Arcane Bolt's tone-down, this spell is brutal. If it's a single model, you're going to chip a mortal wound off it. However, the bigger the unit, the more poor fools get caught in the ensuing inferno. If the target has ten or more models (so, a lot of units...), it's eating D6 mortal wounds! Brutal. Oh, and it only casts on a 5, so there's now very little incentive to ever cast Mystic Bolt. 

The army gets three new command traits to pick from. Contemptuous is a nice little re-roll for wounding, but there are other, more efficient ways to include this in your army, so it's a hard pass from me. Relentless gives you the chance to pile in and attack twice on a Hero or Monster, and while it's a little situational and requires some luck, a Taur'Ruk could get some use out of it. But hands down the best of the bunch is Grotesque; a flat -1 to hit in combat makes your general far more survivable than he already was with Look Out, Sir and Blackshard Armour. 

Lastly, there are three new artefacts and they're all good! Considering the battalions we'll be covering later in the article, it's likely you'll be taking at least two of these, so I'm glad there aren't really any duds. 

The Black Hammer of Hashut gives one weapon on the bearer re-rolls to hit. The more you hit, the more you kill, and with some pretty intimidating weapons on several heroes, this isn't at all bad. 

Then we have the Armour of Bazherek the Cruel, for when you absolutely, positively do not want your character to die. This artefact gives the bearer a 5+ wound negation that stops wounds AND mortal wounds; essentially a Nurgle save. Combine this with Grotesque and Blackshard Armour, and all of a sudden, it becomes REALLY hard to make wounds stick. You have to get past the hit modifier, past his save, past his artefact save at least twice, because the first one is going to be ignored by the Battle Trait. 

Lastly, and in my mind, the artefact you will see in absolutely every list, we have the Chalice of Blood and Darkness. It's a one use item, but when you do use it, get ready to drink the tears of enemy wizards. Every enemy wizard within 30' must roll a dice. On a 4+, they reduce the number of spells they can cast by one. It doesn't say "to a minimum of 1", so you can effectively turn single cast wizards off for a hero phase, and severely cripple more powerful wizards. In an age of endless spells, Spell Portals and Wizard Councils, this is a must-take in every single list. Not only will it shut down a large amount of magic coming at you, but also makes your opponent's dilemma of turning off your endless spells an excruciating decision.  

HEROES:

Legion of Azgorh is spoilt for choice when it comes to heroes, so lets break them down. 

Drazhoath the Ashen is first and foremost. If you ever wanted and angry wizard on a burning bull, do I have the scroll for you! Weighing in at 320 points (so, in the same bracket as Arkhan the Black), you get a 13-wound 4+ save model with a 5+ after-save that bounces mortal wounds. He can cast twice, unbind twice, can actually fight his way out of a soggy paper bag, has a so-so shooting attack and can move 15" a turn! Now, he can't fly (don't let the model's MASSIVE WINGS fool you!), so there's something to be said about leaving him enough room to actually have an impact on the game, but his signature spell is pretty solid. It casts on an 8+ (ouch), but does D6 mortal wounds at 18". Keeping in mind that he can cast twice, and already knows Fireball, he's actually a potentially lethal caster. To top it off, he has a command ability that lets units from his army ignore Battleshock while wholly within 24" of him. I think he's definitely worth his points, considering what he brings to the army. The army as whole is pretty CP-rich, and doesn't need to expend a lot, so the Battleshock bubble is incredibly good! And considering the range of the aura and the speed of Drazhoath, you're not often going to find units too isolated. 

The only other wizard available is the Daemonsmith. These angry bros are essential to the army, as they not only provide magical support, and carry important artefacts (cough*chalice*cough), they fill the role of engineer, buffing all of your war machines. If they've been wounded, they're better at unbinding, and they also carry a hand grenade, that'll be a nasty surprise for anyone who wanders too close to them. Their signature spell is also ridiculously good! With a measly casting value of 6+, Ash Storm has a whopping 36" range, and not only stops the target from running, but slaps a -1 To Hit modifier on them as well, building upon the sheer tenacity of your army. Intimidating ranged units will be at -2 to hit most of your heroes! Splendid. 

Continuing on with the Duardin side of things, the Infernal Guard Castellan fills the role of infantry captain. He's fairly straight down the line with his Warscroll. Five wounds, a decent save and low movement are all to be expected. He's actually pretty solid in combat, being able to really dish out some pain against other heroes of equal stature, but his Command Ability is quite cool. He can select an enemy unit (or more, if you have the CP) within 12", and you add 1 to all wound rolls against that unit. This doesn't stack on the one unit, but means you're going to be wounding more, and therefore killing more. The glaring problem with this is that you have to get your Castellan within 12" of a viable target. Easier said than done, when you consider he has a 4" move...

The last Duardin hero is the Battle Standard Bearer. This guy is the reason that Contemptuous is a questionable command trait. He carries the Black Banner of Malice, whic gives +1 Bravery to all units wholly within 18", as well as allowing those same units to re-roll wounds of 1 in combat. He's also fortunate enough to be able to walk around. The banner doesn't need to be planted in the ground and him stand still for it to work. He can follow the main battleline around at will. 

Moving over to the Bull Centaur heroes, we first have Shar'Tor the Executioner. He's 220 points, can't carry an artefact or have a command trait, but he's an absolute beat-stick in combat! With five high-quality attacks (-2 rend, damage 3), he's going to hurt someone, and hurt them badly! His command ability is great, too! All centaur units (himself and Taur'Ruks included) can re-roll charge distances and re-roll hits of 1 on their hooves, which go from damage 1 to damage D3 the turn they charge. This can make for a devastating assault! 

The generic character for centaurs is the Taur'Ruk. This guy is the foundation warscroll for making your tanky hero. He has the same high-quality profile as Shar'Tor, but can take the artefact armour and Grotesque. He's got one less wound and a less powerful CA than Shar'Tor, but he's also 60 points cheaper. Considering how hard he is to bring down, I think he's worth his points, especially in a Bull Centaur-heavy army! 

UNITS:

Let's start with the basic infantry. Infernal Guard Ironsworn are really, really good. While they have the standard dwarf problem of 4" move, the musician gives them bonuses to run, and the banner increases their bravery. Where they get good is their 4+ save, -1 rend on all of their weapons, and shield that bounce mortal wounds. They're also only 90 points per ten, or 240 points for a unit of 30. That is incredibly cheap. The champion did lose his grenade from the last scroll, but it's a minor change that cleans up the new warscroll. 

Next are Fireglaives, the ranged infantry with their Pyrelock rifles. They're identical in almost every way to Ironsworn, except that they swap the mortal wound-bouncing shields for mortal wound-inflicting guns! 6's to hit will inflict a mortal wound in addition to the actual damage caused by the attack, which has streamlined the scroll nicely from iterations in the past. 

Both of these units are Battleline for the army. 

Bull Centaurs are your heavy shock cavalry (can you call them cavalry if the rider is also the mount? Maybe, they're just big, angry, fast guys...). They carry the same shields as the Ironsworn and sport Rend -1, damage 2 weapons. With five wounds each, they're tough to shift, but they're 180 points for three models, so it's an investment to take a decent unit of them; an investment you want to build around. 

The last unit is the K'Daai Fireborn. The models for these guys are unreal, and they give you some much-needed speed! Movement 8" and run & charge allow them to be where you need them to be. Their save can't be modified, which is nice, and their attacks have a 3" reach and D3 damage, so they can actually beat down on low save units. 

WAR MACHINES:

Let's be real, you don't take Chaos Dwarfs and leave all the war machines at home. These are some of the most lethal war machines in the game, and have had the fortune of not only combining the profile of the crew and machine into one, but sitting under that 8-wound threshold that allows them to benefit from cover. 

We'll start with the Magma Cannon, because this model should be in every army. With a 2+ save in cover against shooting, and no deterioration chart, the Magma Cannon takes some effort to destroy. Its 18" range is increased to 24" if there's a Daemonsmith nearby, and it straight up murders things. It doesn't roll to hit, bypassing Look Out, Sir and any other negative modifiers. It doesn't roll to wound. You just pick a target, roll a dice, and on a 3+, it suffers that many mortal wounds. Boom. If the target has 10 or more models, you add 1 to the roll, meaning less chance of failure and the potential to do 7 mortal wounds per shot. In the current meta with -1 to hit modifiers being very much a common sight, this war machine is a must-include in my eyes. And I don't mean just one...

The Deathshrieker Rocket Launcher is similarly hard to kill, except that it has the luxury of a 36" range and ignoring line of sight. With bonuses for targeting units with 5 or more models, and an extra shot from a nearby Daemonsmith, its worth all 120 points! 

The last "Artillery" war machine is the Dreadquake Mortar, with a 40" range, ignoring LOS, and with 10 wounds (missing out on that cover bonus). This is the most expensive and least useful of all three war machines. It only hits on a 4+ (3+ with a Smith nearby), and has a single attack unless it wants to risk D3 mortal wounds for a second shot. IF you hit and wound, you do have Rend -2, which is nice, but D6 damage. If you've used a D6 damage profile before, you know full well how underwhelming that can be sometimes. For me, the Mortar just doesn't stack up to the far more reliable Magma Cannon or the far cheaper Deathshrieker.

The next two war machines are Behemoths, rather than artillery, which means they're not competing for slots with Magma Cannons. The Iron Daemon comes with a pretty nasty Rend -2 shooting attack, while the Skullcracker is built for one thing and one thing only; pulverising everything it touches! Both come with 11 wounds and a 3+ save, and start with a 10" move characteristic, giving you some valuable assault units, but they aren't just a blunt force tool. They can also tow artillery pieces behind them, giving the shorter-ranged Magma Cannon movement 10" rather that its pretty pathetic movement 3". There is no negative repercussions for moving with war machines, so it means you can quickly redeploy your Cannons and threatun heroes and monsters that your opponent perhaps thought were safe!

BATTALIONS:

In this most recent publication, there are three Warscroll Battalions available to the Legions of Azgorh, and depending on what you prefer, one of them will fit your list. There's one for Bull Centaurs, one for War Machines, and one for massed infantry.

The Blackshard Warhost is built on the back of Ironsworn and Fireglaives, and gives them a boost to their bravery. They also re-roll hit rolls of 1 if they haven't moved that turn. This formation is good, because it covers your Battleline requirements, cuts down your deployment drops, and gives you a Command Point and an Artefact. The actual bonuses from the battalion are fairly so-so. With such low movement to begin with, you don't really want to be standing still, particularly with Ironsworn. They need to be pushing up the board, and ensuring they have an impact on the flow of the game. The bravery bonus is also made significantly less important if you're including Drazhoath in the list, as he allows them to ignore Battleshock anyway. Worth taking for more of a practical list building perspective, but the battalion itself doesn't offer much in the way of rules.

Hashut's Wrath Artillery Train has me torn. It allows you to treat all units from the Battalion to act as if there is a Daemonsmith within 3" allowing them to act at full capacity without having to be babysat by the Daemonsmith. But you MUST take at least one Iron Daemon, and there's no option to take Skullcrackers. This, to me, is still a fantastic Battalion, as it allows you some flexibility with your Smith, and encompasses all the artillery pieces you were already going to include in the army (because let's be real, if you're not taking two Magma Cannons, what are you even doing...). This formation allows your Iron Daemons to tow Magma Cannons 10" and still shoot 24", as they no longer care about outrunning the Smith. It's also the cheapest of the three Battalions, weighing in at only 120 points. Great Value.

While the first two have had previous iterations, this last Battalion is brand new. The Execution Herd is all about Bull Centaurs. To run it, you need Shar'Tor, a Taur'Ruk and three units of Bull Centaur Renders. This covers all three of your Battleline if you make Shar'Tor your general (which is a no-brainer in this battalion). If you're going in on Centaurs, I'm of the mind that you might as well go all in. All the bonuses to them from heroes are Auras, so you might as well get the most out of it and jam as many centaurs into those auras as humanly possible. The battalion rules are also pretty great. You mark an enemy unit for death at the start of the game, and all units from the battalion re-roll hits against it. Once that unit's dead, you can pick a new unit and keep rampaging. Super solid!

THE DOWNSIDES:

There are three significant downsides to this army.

Firstly, and most glaringly obvious, is the model range. The army is purely Forge World, and its not what you'd call a budget army. The models are actually pretty cool, and if you're not opposed to working with resin, then you'll have no problems, but if it's out of the question, your only real choices are third party miniatures (of which I'm yet to see a suitable range), or convert, convert, convert! With more Duardin models available than we've ever had before, and with a kit for almost every possible bit, converting an army isn't a terrible idea, but can often end up costing you as much as the Forge World models anyway.

Secondly, Chaos Dwarfs have all the same drawbacks in gameplay that all the other dwarfs have. They're slow. And unlike Kharadron Overlords, Fyreslayers and Dispossessed, they have zero movement tricks up their sleeve. There are no avenues for unconventional deployment or reserves. If you want something on the other side of the table, you're going to have to march over there and get it. Or ride a steam engine of death... But there's no flying in the army, which means punching through every unit that is thrown in front of you. Artillery can compensate for that a little, taking out key elements from a distance, but bodies will need to hit the ground to win games.

And thirdly, emblazoned on the first page of the PDF is that big, dirty word... COMPENDIUM.

This is a brand new document, and it's important to keep in mind that these models are still 100% available. It should also be noted that Forge World seems to march to the beat of their own drum, so I'm honestly not expecting them to "Bretonniate" the Legion of Azgorh anytime soon. But, it's something to keep in mind.

SUMMARY:

This was a big boost for the Legion of Azgorh. Great allegiance abilities, artefacts and command traits, coupled with the new rules and endless spells, have made the army far more viable, despite a few adjustments to scrolls that could be seen as toning back. All in all, the document and the army are very streamlined with plenty of cool options and units. I don't think they're in that upper bracket of armies, but they're viable. They lack any kind of summoning or healing mechanic, but I think in the hands of a good player, they could be incredibly effective. And with the meta in the place that it's in, and knowing that obscure armies have been very successful in the past, they're so crazy that they might just work...

I, for one, would love to see the army on the table.

What do you think of the new rules? Are they good enough to entice people into the army that's been lurking in the shadows for years? Or do you think they're irrelevant and and should be going the way of Tomb Kings? Let me know your thoughts.

Thanks for reading,
Gabe

#132: Age of Sigmar Battle Report - BrisVegas Open Game Four - Skaven Pestilens Vs. Swifthawk Agents

Heading into Day Two, I honestly had no idea who I'd be facing. There were a lot of diverse armies on the middle and bottom tables, so it could have been anyone!

As it were, I found myself facing down the solitary Swifthawk Agents player! And I'll be completely frank; I had no idea what his army did. I've never seen Swifthawk on the table before, let alone played against it.So, I was well and truly ready for some nasty surprises!

Skywarden (General)
High Warden
Archmage
Branchwych (Allies)
Treelord Ancient (Allies)
30 Spireguard (Battleline)
5 Reavers (Battleline)
5 Reavers (Battleline)
30 Swordmasters
Gryph-Hound (Allies)
Guardians of the Dawnspire (Warscroll Battalion)

While the Guardians of the Dawnspire has no points value, and is not usable in matched play, the TO made the decision to allow it. The Battalion allows the Archmage and Swordmasters to gain the SWIFTHAWK AGENTS keyword, meaning that they don't come out of the Allies pool, and allows the High Warden to order a unit to move or shoot in the Hero Phase.

Going into this game, I knew that i was going to be up against it when it came to movement. The army is incredibly fast, even without the Battalion, so I needed a plan. The Scenario was Total Conquest, where you gain more objective points if you seize an objective off your opponent.

 I deployed pretty conservatively, as I wasn't too concerned if my opponent took either of the two diagonal objectives. I was confident that I could smash units off the objectives with buffed up rats, and so had no huge need to be too far forward. If he gave me first turn, they were all within reach turn one, so I could comfortably react. My catapult and priest were content to park on my back objective, while the forty man units were supported by either the Verminlord or the Furnace, and were preparing to push straight up the middle if I need to.

I ended up being given first turn, as my opponent really wanted the double turn, so I wasted no time in pushing. The Arch-Warlock didn't wast any time popping his vortex, and giving the unit next to him a push. The Verminlord lurked behind some Arcane Terrain, and shielded himself, while the Warlock munched on a chunk of warpstone and decided to start zapping things! The characters were high-priority targets, but he didn't manage to kill any; just bruise them up a little.

On the right side of the board, my Monks and Furnace wasted no time pushing up and asserting what little authority they had on the objective in the shadow of the ruined tower, while their ninja rat mates showed up and peppered the Reavers with throwing knives, broken bottles and a brick. They inflicted no damage. All things considered, I was happy with turn one. I'd put my army into a good position, and had set myself up for what would hopefully be a successful assault on the aelves. 

My opponent's turn was pretty gentle for the most part. The Archmage threw up his aura of protection, while the other characters shuffled around in the backline. The Reavers both raced over toward the centre, and the Spireguard stepped forward to get in range of the Monks with their bows. Casualties were relatively minimal. 

Being spoilt for choice with charges, I wasted zero time in hammering home on multiple fronts. The Monks and Verminlord sliced and diced their way into the shieldwall of the Spireguard, causing their fair share of damage...

...while on the other flank, the Gutter Runners took up objective camping duty, while the Monks barrelled into both units of Reavers and started punching on. I managed to wipe out one unit of horsemen, while reducing the other down to a single model. I was really happy with how the battle was going, but I was painfully aware of the enemy heroes and Swordmasters who were yet to enter the fray. 

My opponent's retribution was swift and brutal. A sloppy pile in with my monks into the Spireguard had unintentionally dragged the Swordmasters into combat by the tiniest of margins. However, the pile in and slaughter that followed was something to behold! The Swordmasters butchered their way through the unit, leaving the survivors to be victims of battleshock. This was a huge blow, as it not only left my Verminlord relatively unsupported and with no unit to pass wounds off onto, but also meant that the Swordmasters weren't locked in combat, and could use the blinding speed of the formation to hit me at my weakest point.

And, as if to prove herself truly fickle, Lady Luck turned her back on me and left me at the mercy of a double turn. Vowing revenge for the lives of the Reavers, the Swordmasters turned about face, and charged down their line into the other large unit of Monks. The monks were butchered once more, but Rabid Fever took a horrific toll on the Swordmasters. Mystic Shield saved many of them, but I felt I was close to breaking the back of the unit. While I was suffering crippling blows left, right and centre, I was still holding three of the objectives, and if there's one lesson I've learnt well, it's to never lose sight of the scenario. Everything is expendable in order to secure the win. I was having to expend a serious chunk of my resources, but I was slowly getting away from my opponent on the scoreboard. 

The High Warden had held back until now, when he decided to go supersonic across the table in an attempt to steal my rear objective. All I had guarding it was a Plagueclaw and a Priest, but I was determined to make it as difficult as possible for him to claim it. In a stroke of sheer bad luck for my opponent, he failed to kill the Priest by a single wound, meaning that I still had more models on the objective. This cost him dearly, as he really needed to get some points on the scoreboard. By all odds, he should have slain the Priest, but some sneaky dodges and rather ridiculous save rolls, he survived! 

In probably the most tactically sound move I'd made all tournament, I retreated with both models, and positioned them so that they were both holding the objective, but were too far apart for the High Warden to kill both of them in a single turn. He was going to charge and kill one of them, but the other would live and contest the objective, delaying his scoring opportunity for yet another turn! 

Elsewhere on the board, I'd secured my left flank. The large unit of monks had suffered heavy losses to the constant shooting of the Spireguard, but the Corruptor had finally silenced their bows, slashing the last remnants of the unit to pieces. My Warlock continued his arcane barrage, which finally downed the enemy general atop his Skycutter Chariot, as well as mopping up the Branchwych lurking on the far left objective. The Plagueclaws both targetted the Swordmasters, and the Furnace smalled into them, hoping to finish them off... But, once again, I completely under-estimated them, even at less than half strength, and the reduced the Furnace to timber, scrap metal and wheezing smoke. 

Realising that he was on the back foot, and seeing an opportunity, he seized the chance to charge my general. The Gryph-Hound, who I had largely forgotten about until now, tried to jump my Priest, while the Treelord Ancient launched out of the woods to engage the Verminlord Corruptor!  

With a combination of shooting and magic, I'd manage to finish off the Swordmaster unit AND the High Warden on my back objective, while still holding the top right objective with the Gutter Runners. Despite getting absolutely trashed, I had a convincing lead on the board. 

In the last lights of the game, I carefully moved Monks forward to absorb damage for the Corruptor! The Verminlord managed to survive the onslaught from the Treelord, and wasn't killed before the end of the game. 

This was a bloody game, and I was stoked to come out of it with a major victory. I think the fact that I'd managed to beat my opponent onto all the objectives made it very hard to push me off. If my opponent had been more aggressive with the Swordmasters from the start, using the double move to get right up in my grill early, I firmly believe he could have swung the game heavily in his favour. They killed the Furnace and 60 Monks, and took an absolute beating; I'm sure they could have killed more. Re-rolling saves against shooting really saved their bacon against the Catapults. I feel like if they'd moved with purpose and sliced their way toward an objective, I wouldn't have had much to stop them. As it was, I was able to throw units at the Swordmasters and keep them occupied in the mid-field, well away from the objectives. All in all, a hard-fought and brutal win, but a win nonetheless.

This win left me on two Major Wins and two Major Losses. 

Finding myself back in the middle tables, I found myself staring down a Maggotkin army. This was going to be rough...

Thanks for reading,

Gabe

#92: Viral Sensation...

Let's talk about Death Guard.

Mortarion's minions have long been a staple in the ranks of Chaos Marine players, and has garnered a die-hard following, and we're gonna look at why.

To truly understand the love that Chaos players have for Nurgle's favoured sons, we have to go all the way back to 3rd Edition 40k (an edition from an age before a lot of us got into the game at all). In that glorious age, chaos players were gifted with the Chaos Marine Codex against which all to follow would be compared to. It was revolutionary for its time, with rules and war gear specific to each of the original nine traitor legions. Iron Warriors had access to the then-incredibly brutal Basilisk, Khorne Daemon Princes were almost guaranteed Turn One charges, the list goes on. Sounds powerful, right?

It was! It was the vessel through which Chaos Marines ascended to complete domination of the game, so much so that it was partly responsible for the swift introduction of Fourth Edition, and a dial down of Chaos. From this massive high, Traitor Marines plummeted off the top tier, thanks to a combination of bland codexes and editions that favoured assault armies less and less. This left CSM players in a very tricky place, as they were naturally drawn toward "Min-Maxing" (the concept of taking the most points-efficient compulsory units to leave as many points left over to spend on "Best in Slot" powerhouse units.  In this time, Plague Marines naturally climbed to the top of the ladder when it came to boots on the ground; they were tough as nails, had good options, high toughness, Feel No Pain (in some iterations) as well as the option to double up on weapons such as Plasma Guns with next to no real risk.

That's not to say that other Legions didn't get a look in, but one reason that Death Guard claimed top spot was that not only were they great in game, they were dripping (literally… Gross!) with character. Where some legions were only denoted by the colour of their armour, when you saw a Death Guard army, you knew exactly where its allegiance lay. The iconic green with flashes of gore, pus and sores would always stand out. From the bloated infantry to the dilapidated, rusting vehicles and decaying monsters, they were distinct in their origin.

Slowly, they began to grow some traction within the community as well as the design team. The Typhus model is iconic, and the Nurgle Daemon Prince released in the first wave of the Medusa V campaign still stands tall amongst the greatest chaos models ever made.

They continued their domination (maybe not in the game overall, but certainly within Chaos) into the 6th/7th Edition Codex, where Plague Marines were oft overlooked for the more affordable Cultists, but Nurgle Bikers and Nurgle Spawn formed the foundation of some very scary and extremely difficult to kill Death Stars in the Age of Deathstardom.

This strength and durability was only compounded and intensified by the release of the short-lived glory that was Traitor Legions Supplement.

And that leads us to the present time, mere weeks after 8th Edition has dropped, launching the ever-present and stubborn Death Guard, an army that refused to be held down by the rules and the meta, once again into ascencion to the forefront of Chaos players' minds; and they are recruiting new followers every day!

This new wave of Death Guard models is out of control. For years and years (and I do not exaggerate at all!), people have been crying out for plastic Plague Marines to replace the ageing metal/plastic then fine cast/plastic Seven Man kit. And they have not been disappointed. We haven't even seen the multi-part kit yet, but the Easy to Build and Dark Imperium models are on a completely different level! The detail is absurd, from divets and rust spots on the armour, to slugs, tentacles and entrails bursting forth from the damaged Mk3 armour (a mark of armour iconic to the Death Guard).

And that's just the rank and file. The Lord of Contagion in his archaic suit of Cataphractii armour to the ominous, floating disease machine that is the Foetid Bloat-Drone, and the lumbering Noxious Blightbringer are all amazing models, not to mention the many maniacal sculpts of Poxwalkers.

One model that I disliked when I first saw it is the Malignant Plaguecaster. That was until I assembled and painted it, and now it is easily one of my favourites.

And this is all just from the starter kit. We've seen teases of the multi-part Plague Marines, a kit that makes massive corrupted Terminators (or their infected equivalent), one of the coolest looking artillery vehicles ever gifted upon Chaos, and of course, the big man himself.

The Daemon Primarch, Mortarion.

To say that I'm excited about Death Guard is an understatement of biblical proportions. For the longest time, I had packs of Death Guard upgrade kits from Forgeworld, just waiting for the right time to make a Death Guard army; and well… I don't think anyone can fault me for saying that now is the time. With my Grey Knights approaching the level where I can play any sized game with painted models, I've been diverting a small portion of my allocated painting time to the Sons of Mortarion.

And before anyone goes and accuses me of "Band-wagoning", I'd like to take the time to politely tell you that that would be 100% true. I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Nurgle armies (see Daemons of Nurgle and Clan Pestilens), as well as Chaos in general, so it didn't take much to convince myself to dive in head first.

But now that I've decided to go for it, I feel like the release will take an absolute eternity to arrive.

What do you think of the Death Guard? Will you be joining the ranks of Nurgle? If not, how are you planning on taking down the pestilent hordes of Pox Walkers shambling in your direction?

Thanks for reading, as always.

Gabriel

#90: 8th Edition 40k Battle Report 1000 Points - Grey Knights Vs. World Eaters

After getting my hands on the much-anticipated 8th Edition Starter Box (with its wealth of amazing miniatures and a hefty, hardcover rulebook), I was chomping at the bit to roll some dice and shoot some guns! A good mate of mine was quick to accept the challenge with his heavily converted World Eaters.

As I continue crushing my way through the painting, and a large amount of army construction was dictated by what I had (mostly) painted. Grand Master Voldus is a beast of a character, and was a perfect fit for my mandatory HQ slot. He's well and truly capable of putting the hurt on with his nifty hammer, while a 2+ 4+ and 6 wounds means he'll take some dedicated punishment before he goes down. 

I took two troop choices; five Strike Marines with Storm Bolters and Swords (mounted in an Assault Cannon Razorback) and six Terminators sporting Halberds, a Hammer and a Psycannon. These two units were backed up by a towering Dreadknight with a Heavy Psycannon and Gatling Psilencer. I only realised after uploading the above image that I realised that I am a good 80+ points under, but no matter.

My opponent brought the heat in his list, managing to fit in some pretty terrifying elements. Kharn the Betrayer was joined by five Khorne Berserkers in a Land Raider, while ten cultists lurked in the shadow of a converted Helbrute and probably the most impressive Maulerfiend conversion I've yet seen, resembling a hulking, oversized abomination of a Contemptor, drawing parts from the Lord of Skulls kit to great effect. If there was an army that could rival and overpower Grey Knights in combat, it was going to be Chaos!

We both agreed to play a simple Kill Point scenario, and my opponent chose deployment. My terminators and Voldus were held in reserve to strike any weak point that my opponent exposed. The Razorback and Dreadknight both set up behind the dilapidated redoubt in an attempt to gain a degree of protection from the four Lascannon barrels staring me down from across the battlefield.

Knowing perfectly well that the largest elements of my army were yet to arrive and reveal their hand, my opponent deployed his army in a compact formation (other than cultists, but let's be real… they're cultists and therefore a completely expendable resource thats essentially worth nothing to Kharn). This meant that if I was going to deep strike into a position that posed any threat, whatever I didn't kill with the alpha strike (and there are some tough-as-nails elements there) was going to counter charge and do horrible things to me. 

Taking first turn, I moved up with the Razorback, being sure to not only obscure myself from the horrific firepower on show from the heavy tank, as well as giving the Assault Cannon a juicy target in the Helbrute. The Dreadknight was too far away from the action to add any firepower himself, so advanced a few more inches across the board. I decided to hold my reverses back until I could properly support them. After spinning the barrels of the assault cannon, I managed to strip three wounds off the Helbrute.

Chaos were pretty reserved on their first turn, not willing to break formation just yet, and rightly so. I was outgunned in turn one and hadn't fully revealed my hand. But the Chaos shooting phase really set the tone for the entire game. Four Lascannons, a twin Heavy Bolter (from the Land Raider) and a Twin Autocannon (from the Helbrute) fired upon the Razorback in an attempt to strand the squad inside, and delay their advance. But with all those shots coming my way, somehow, the Razorback did not suffer a single wound. Not one. This luck and degree of disbelief would continue...

In turn two, the Strike squad piled out of their transport, the Dreadknight moved into range of the Land Raider, and my reserves dropped in with all the might of the Ordo Malleus. The Terminators successfully cast Hammerhand on themselves, while Voldus unleashed his psychic lethality on the Maulerfiend, the Daemon Engine suffering four mortal wounds from Smite and Purge Soul combined. All in all, my shooting was pretty ineffective, despite the huge volume of fire. The exception to this was the Heavy Psycannon punching several holes in the Land Raider, inflicting four wounds from a snake eyes pair of save rolls. But that was just the beginning. Things were about to get violent. 

Voldus failed miserably in his attempt to back up his psychic onslaught on the Maulerfiend, but there was no stopping the Terminators. They slammed into the Land Raider, imbued with psychos strength, and even though one of their brothers was disintegrated by a Lascannon in overwatch, they got their hands dirty and obliterated the Land Raider in a single round of combat. 

This was a significant blow to Chaos, but I was now isolated and surrounded by some of the scariest combat monsters in the enemy arsenal. I was already preparing myself to simply lose this unit in a matter of seconds.

I had played my hand, and rolled the dice. Voldus was horribly exposed, and my Terminators were in a vulnerable position. 

But Chaos is fickle, and luck was not with my opponent. While the Maulerfiend successfully killed Voldus with his Magma Cutters, three Berserkers were mowed down by the Psycannon in overwatch, Kharn choked his first round of attacks, but raged out and killed the nearby Helbrute where he stood. I then utilised my Command Points to attack before the remaining berserkers, killing all of them, and putting three wounds on Kharn himself. The Betrayer was understandably upset, and slaughtered his way through the rest of the unit, leaving the Justicar wounded but still standing. This was a crushing blow to my opponent!

In the dying moments of the game (in turn three!), my remaining forces converged on the Maulerfiend. A Smite from the Strike Squad and the intense firepower crippled the behemoth, leaving it on a single wound, almost dead but still defiant and deadly. 

The Justicar crumpled Kharn the Betrayer with a last swing of his Nemesis Hammer, while my opponent also used Command Points on his Maulerfiend to splat two of the Strikes, but to no avail. The remaining marines struck back, and thanks to the high rend and damage capability of the Nemesis Swords, they laid low the infernal machine. And with that loss, the game ended. 

I will lead by saying that luck was not forgiving to my opponent in this game. Literally every roll that would have a big impact on the outcome of the game, it went against him, to the point that it turned into a hilarious game by the end. We both had a great game, however, and at the end of the day, that's why we play. 

The more I play with the Knights, the more I'm beginning to find my feet and learn the army's capabilities and limitations. The one thing that I'm really enjoying about 40k at the moment is the general attitude of the local community; everyone I've seen so far is so relaxed and positive about the game, because we're all still in that learning phase. People aren't worried if they win or lose games. All people want is to throw dice, re-learn their armies and enjoy this "honeymoon period" of the edition, and its so incredibly refreshing. 

If you're in the greater Brisbane area, and you love throwing dice, get in touch with me through the Message function on the Facebook Page. I'm always happy to chat hobby and organise a game! 

Thanks for reading,

Gabe