#168: Cancon Game 6 Battle Report - Beasts of Chaos Vs Legion of Blood

After suffering three losses to only two wins, my goal going into the last game was to simply break even. If I could land a win in the last round, it would finish my weekend off on a high, and I was all about that. I arrived at my table to discover that my opponent was Evie, a familiar face around the Brisbane scene, though we had never actually played.

I knew she was an avid Death player, and I asked the dreaded question.

"How many Grimghast Reapers do you have?".

"None."

Well, alright then...

Eschewing the trends of most of the other death players at CanCon, Evie had built a Legion of Blood army based around Bravery bombing and debuffing, using her array of characters.

Allegiance: Legion of Blood
Mortal Realm: Aqshy

Leaders
Neferata Mortarch Of Blood (400) - General
Vampire Lord On Zombie Dragon (440) - Deathlance & Shield & Chalice - Artefact : Ignax's Scales Coven Throne (260)
Kurdoss Valentian, the Craven King (220) - Allies
Tomb Banshee (80) - Allies

Units
40 x Skeleton Warriors (280) - Ancient Blades
5 x Dire Wolves (60)
5 x Dire Wolves (60)

Endless Spells
Chronomantic Cogs (60)
Soulsnare Shackles (20)
Quicksilver Swords (20)

Total: 1900 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 2
Allies: 300 / 400

The scenario was Focal Points, which is hands down my favourite of the latest set, being a very dynamic and tactical challenge that most armies can compete in to some degree.

Despite how much the first turn rush had betrayed me (or was it my own foolishness...), i chose to take first turn, in order to get bodies on objectives as early as possible. The first order of business was moving up the Spawn and Ungor Raiders, as that would dictate where my main push was. While the Ungor casually strolled onto the central objective thanks to their pre-game move, the Spawn had clearly taken one too many energy drinks, as both of the blasted across the table at breakneck speed! 

Finding myself in a position to use the Gavespawn command ability to its fullest extent, I commited my army in its entirety, with devastating results for my opponent. Facing the full might of fifty Bestigor and the Enlightened, the Skeleton shield wall crumbled and the Dogs were slaughtered. Leaving her with a dozen or so skeletons, and barely any surviving dogs, I'd guaranteed myself a huge numbers advantage. I capped all five objectives in turn one, giving me a grand head start! 

The big unit of 30 Bestigor was the target of most of Evie's incoming damage. Keen to save her Skeletons from imminent death (again?), the Bestigor suffered some pretty horrific Bravery penalties before getting screamed at, and losing a decent number. Despite their casualties and the replenishment of the Skeleton unit, the Bestigor still held a numerical advantage on the objective, and denied my opponent the objective. The Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon slammed into the other unit of Bestigor, causing some real carnage, and taking a negligible amount of damage in return. However, despite her best efforts, Evie wasn't able to claim back any objectives! 

Having dealt with the bulk of Evie's army, with the Enlightened cleaning up the last of the dogs on the right flank, I was in a commanding position on the table, but was also now suffering some pretty serious debuffs. Neferata had made sure that my embattled Bestigor on the left objective had their hit roll dropped through the floor, but even then, they managed to put out some pretty serious damage. With some tough as nails characters left on the board (including a Coven Throne that spent the rest of the game Beguiling my Enlightened), I changed gears into the avoidance game, retreating out of combat wherever I could, and spreading out my units to make sure that objectives were safe. Above, despite the Ungors meeting a predictably bloody end at the hands of the Zombie Dragon, my Spawn and Shaggoth were both in range of the objective, meaning that Evie would have to kill both in order to claim it. Not an impossible task, but it was highly unlikely to only take a single turn, which would buy me some valuable scoring time. 

I was also pretty confident that, even if she did manage to kill my heroes, there was a good chance that I'd generate a spawn from their death, buying me an entire extra turn of objective denial.

At the end of turn two, I'd managed to forge a 16-1 lead, managing to cap all five objectives for two turns in a row. 

Having crippled the Enlightened with Beguile, the Coven Throne got some help from Neferata to butcher the enraptured birds, taking back the home objective. The Tzaangor Shaman also met a terrible end, and then rolled a 1 to generate a Spawn. It wasn't to be!

The Zombie Dragon had remained pretty much unchecked on his rampage across the table, and with the scoreboard running away from Neferata, Evie turned her attention to killing as much as she could. And kill, she did. The Zombie Dragon ignored the Shaggoth, and instead launched headlong into the Bray-Shaman and Ungor sitting on my deep objective, slaying all in her path and healing on the way. The Bray Shaman did what he was meant to and generated a Spawn, denying the Vampire Lord the objective once more, while the Spawn on the left of the photo above moved around to get within range of the objective in the following turn, stacking two bodies on it.

At this point, my opponent conceded, due to some factors outside the event. While I had suffered horrific losses, and hadn't managed to dent any of the big pieces, I had rampaged away on the scoreboard, creating a lead that could not be caught. Evie was great to play, and I'd happily play her again. 

So, there it was. The event was wrapped up, and after a disaster of a Saturday, I'd redeemed myself to a degree on the Sunday, finishing the event with three Major Wins and three Major Losses. I was stoked to have played six people that I'd never faced before, and over the course of the event, I got to meet a ton of really cool people from all over the country. It was great to meet (and play) people from different states and different gaming clubs (got to meet all the lads from Measured Gaming, as well as the legend that is Doom and Darkness). It was a great event for the community, and I feel like, certainly from my experience, that it was a really unifying event for the national community. 

Overall, I finished 88th out of 196 players, which I was alright with. Going into it, I had pretty high hopes of cracking the top fifty, but it's easy to forget that almost every top-tier player in the country was there too, crushing skulls and taking names. I did walk away with one of only Coolest Army Nominations for my Beasts of Chaos, which I equal parts thrilled with and stunned by. Anyone who was following my Road to CanCon knows what a scramble it was to finish that army, but I think that a striking colour scheme partnered with conversions throughout helped it to stand out from the crowd. 

Once again, thanks to all six of my opponents. You were all a delight to play. 

This was my first CanCon, and I'll definitely be going back next year! 

Until next time,

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

#128: Idoneth Deepkin Battletome Review - There's something in the water...

What an absolute roller coaster of a hype train this has been!

We haven't seen a "brand new" faction since Kharadron Overlords, and Idoneth Deepkin has had more build up and anticipation for its release than I think I've ever seen around an army. From the adoration of the models and the love for aelves burning brightly, to the people buying aquarium terrain and bragging about how all of their Thralls are going to carry banners, Deepkin seems to be everywhere I look. So, let's dive into this.

Before we look at Enclaves, Battalions and the likes, lets do a quick overview of the Warscrolls! I'm not going to list off every single detail on every single scroll, because by this point, the scrolls are all available on the AOS App. Instead, I just want to highlight some things that got me super excited. I'm going to split them into three parts, looking at each of the three distinct castes within Deepkin society. We'll start with the Isharann.

ISHARANN

The Isharann include all of your foot heroes, a high caste that are integral for the survival of the Idoneth. On the table, these characters fill the role of utility and combo pieces, accentuating the strengths of the units around them.

Tidecasters are your main source of cheap magic (with your only other source of wizards being Eidolon of Mathlann or allies), and they're a pretty well rounded option. While they have an ability that allows you to change the tides if they're your general, I don't think Tidecasters are going to be leading too many armies. They will fit certain builds, but for many, the ability will not outweigh other, more versatile options. Tidecasters also come with a pretty nifty little Guardian, that negates the first wound they suffer each turn. Their warscroll spell is pretty good, and I think they will see a lot of table time!

Next, you have Soulscryers. If you're going to see Tidecasters a lot, be prepared to see Soulscryers everywhere you look! Scryers are Priests, making them vital for the reliability of Rituals (a very cool mechanic that triggers table-wide effects. They can pop up on a table edge with two units and pose a threat from unexpected quarters, as well as giving charge buffs to nearby units. This allows you to jump on a table edge 9" away from enemies, and the accompanying combat units only need to make a 6" charge! They're a great utility piece that brings a lot to the table, and they are great value no matter how you build your army. This is actually a standout character for the army in my eyes. Scryers are to Deepkin what Gutrot Spume is to Maggotkin, only more versatile, cheaper, significantly less survivable and they can bring two units of whatever they want. Scryers don't HAVE to go into reserves either; you could save a Scryer and some units until late in deployment, forcing your opponent to commit to a deployment style before you make the decision.

If you're running a big unit of Thralls, it makes perfect sense to include a Soulrender (or three). This is probably the most combat-oriented of the Isharann, but even then, he's not going to be hunting down Bloodthirsters or anything. His main use is replenishing the ranks of nearby Namarti units at the end of the battleshock phase, returning lost brothers to the fray. Considering the fragility of Namarti, this is a wise investment to support those large units of Thralls that are looking to get into a punch-on, or who are unfortunate enough to find themselves screening the rest of the army. It's very thematic of them to do so, after all... It's also worth noting that the Soulrender is a total boss of a model. He just looks like he means business!

Then we have Lotann. He is one of only two named characters in the entire battletome, but he is probably one of the most iconic model from the range, with his giant octopus familiar. The writhing tentacles give him a 5+ wound negation roll which is pretty handy, but it falls into the same trap as Tidecaster's Guardians. Thanks to the allegiance ability, it's either very hard to even inflict damage upon them, making their protection rendered unused, or they are the closest unit and are eating so much damage, a 5+ is not going to save them. Now, that doesn't mean that the saves aren't worth bothering with, because magic and combat still uses the conventional methods of making Deepkin not alive anymore! But like all Isharann, Lotann needs to be protected!

His other ability is a bravery boost for friends wholly within 12", and re-roll 1's to hit for Namarti within the same bubble.This is pretty useful, but again, will only be required in certain builds. I can see this guy being included in army lists purely for the painting element, because it's such a standout model.

While we're on the topic, I did want to touch on the "Wholly Within" trend. This seems to be the way things are going, and I think it's great. Basically, the whole premise is that if a single model from a unit is outside the range of the aura, the unit is not "wholly within" and doesn't benefit. This has been introduced before, but is particularly crucial for Deepkin, who build entire armies off auras. I think it's good for the game, as it rids the game of stringing out units with little daisy chains to tag an aura, benefitting units on the other side of the board (Bloodletters and Bloodsecrator, this means you!). It means people have to play smarter, and think ahead, and that's only going to nurture stronger, smarter play. Now, I've heard some people say that "Wholly Within" is too restrictive, but especially with Deepkin, the army is fast and mobile enough for this not to be an issue.

NAMARTI

Namarti really are the bottom feeders of the army. Nudge nudge...

But seriously, as far as generic battleline units go, Namarti Thralls are off chops! They're fast, they have rend, and they can put some serious hurt on massed infantry and monsters alike. They're not cheap, weighing in at 140 points for 10, but you get what you pay for, and they're not too shabby. These fill an important role in the army, as its looking like a really elite, low model count army, so a big block of infantry will be invaluable for nabbing those objectives. It needs to be said that the Icon Bearer rule has been picked up and run with by a small minority of the community, who are claiming that all models can be Icon Bearers. This will no doubt be FAQ'd into the ground, but it's pretty clear what the intent was here. If every model was meant to be an Icon Bearer, there'd be 10 Icons in the box.

The Namarti Reavers are super dynamic models, and offer some massed shooting. They have no rend, but I think they have the rate of fire and the mobility to play a part in the army. I don't think they're a must take, but in some armies, they will fill an important role!

AKHELIAN

Oh... baby...

This is easily my favourite caste. This is the martial force with all the sick sea creatures, and contains some of the scariest units in the army! So, let's start off with style and go straight for the generals, Volturnos and the Akhelian Kings.

I think Volturnos is a really solid character. He comes with a 3+ save, 8 wounds, he doesn't lose any power when he's damaged, and he's FAST! His command ability is great, his bravery and attack auras are great, he does mortal wounds on the charge, he's no slouch in combat (can you say Rend -5?) and his shield can turn off spells that target him on a 3+!! All for 280 points. That's a bargain. I think the "named character tax" is a thing of the past, because the named characters we've seen in the last few books have been pointed very competitively with their generic counterparts (yes, Rotigus. I mean you.).

That's not to say the Akhelian King isn't also a great choice. He doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but he's 40 points cheaper, has a pretty nasty Bladed Polearm (easily my top pick of weapon options for him!), and most importantly, he can take an Artefact and a Command Trait. A really solid choice!

Then, let's talk about giant, flying death turtles! The Leviadon is not only a great centrepiece for any Idoneth army, but it's the linchpin to many armies. It emits a 12" Cover bubble (that the Leviadon itself as well as Allopexes can't benefit from, having the Monster keyword), it's tough as nails if you do decide to give your opponent the opportunity to shoot it, and it can bite the head off just about any hero unfortunate enough to be wandering around when it gets hungry. As a whole, for 380 points, it doesn't seem over the top (when you consider murder machines like Skarbrand are only 400), but it isn't so much there to mash the enemy as it is to stay alive and keep its friends alive.

The Allopex, in my mind, is probably the hardest unit to define. I feel like it falls into the weird place between elite multi-wound unit, tiny monster and gun platform. The shooting options are pretty cool, but a bit of a surprise. Neither have any rend, but I think the Net Launcher is probably the better of the two. Sure, you might pass your armour save, but if you don't it's a flat three damage. The combat profiles are also pretty nice, but the hard thing is finding a role for it. The Allopex comes across as a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. But then again, the Khorgorath was in that same boat, and now, Khorgorath packs are surprisingly scary. I could be wrong, and I hope so, because let's be real for a second...

I think all Age of Sigmar players can get behind the idea of sharks with harpoon launchers!!

Then come the eel cavalry. There are two varieties, and while they have their own unique titles (Morrsarr Guard and Ishlaen Guard, for those reading at home), they have since been dubbed Offence Eels and Defence Eels, for very good reason.

The Morrsarr guard fill the role of shock cavalry. They are built for one thing and one thing alone; cataclysmic charges. They get extra rend and extra damage on the charge, and once per game, can unleash the might of their electric eels upon their hapless foes. These are a really important unit in the army, because while Deepkin have a lot of tricks, they have very few hammer units that can smash through a big unit of Liberators, or an elite monster with relative ease. You can give them more attacks with certain command abilities, to get the most out of them on that ever-so-vital High Tide, and there are plenty of re-rolls to be had, if you have those auras up!

The last Akhelian unit, and in my eyes, the single most powerful unit in the book, is the Ishlaen Guard. This is for two very, very good reasons. The first being the Biovoltaic Barrier; this allows the unit to ignore the rend characteristic of attacks when making save rolls. Now, this isn't to be confused with Nighthaunt, who ignore positive and negative modifiers. You can boost these guys up to a 2+ save with very little effort, either with cover (natural or from the Leviadon), Mystic Shield or by the save bonus when you charge. The second reason is Forgotten Nightmares, the allegiance ability that forces your opponent to shoot the closest unit. By doing so, you're compelling shooting armies (Kharadron Overlords, Free Peoples, Wanderers, the list goes on...) to pump high-value, high-rend shots into a unit that doesn't care. A Barak Zilfin "Clown Car" can be blunted by a very small number of Ishlaen Guard. And while they don't stop mortal wounds, they're still four wounds each, so its going to take some work to put them down for good.

And their power is not limited to shooting. The unit has a massive footprint, and you can very easily close off an entire lane on the board by either using them as a defensive screen against high-rend combat troops, or to go on the offensive themselves and pin units in place with no real danger of taking significant damage. This unit is not powerful because of how much damage it causes, but because of the persistent impact it has on your opponent and how they are forced to play the game. I'm yet to draft a Deepkin list that doesn't have a unit of six Ishlaen Guard in it.

BIG WAVE

It wouldn't be a review without touching on the two Aspects! The model is phenomenal, and both aspects have rules to match! While the Aspect of the Storm is going to cause absolute mayhem in combat, I think the Apsect of the Sea is a standout. He's a powerful wizard, he has a great shooting attack, can heal himself with relative impunity, and emits a +3 Bravery aura! Reading his spell, Tsunami of Terror had me really concerned at first, but seeing his price tag, its appropriately powerful. Again, I've heard people getting excited by the fact that he's not a Monster, and can therefore go on a Balewind, but I honestly don't think Balewinds have a place in Idoneth Deepkin. I don't think the Aspect of the Sea NEEDS a Balewind. He can already re-roll to cast, he doesn't need the protection from shooting, it's easy enough to get him to a 2+ save, and if he somehow does find himself in a spot of bother, there's a nifty little Artefact called the Cloud of Midnight, that will give him a second chance to get away. Sure, the Balewind increases the range, but with the speed of the army and of the Aspect, does he really need it? In an army this elite and tight for points, I can think of far better uses for 100 points.

Besides, I'd put money on significant changes happening to the Balewind Vortex in GHB18...

ENCLAVES AND BATTALIONS

Something that came as a pleasant surprise to me, when making notes and reading through the book is that list-building is quite intuitive. You like Namarti? There are units, battalions and enclaves that focus on Namarti. Akhelians are spoilt for choice with their battalion, characters, so on and so forth. Whether you like magic, janky movement tricks, messing with the tide or just caving heads in, there's an Enclave for you. And no one Enclave stands out as the "best" one. There is no Barak Zilfin, Hagg Nar of Khailebron here. Each has a purpose, and all seem very well balanced among their peers.

There's the obligatory super battalion that will never see the table in anything but the most titanic of games, as well as an Idoneth/Sylvaneth Battalion that I think lacks the flexibility or direction to make it better value than just allying in your favourite Sylvaneth unit into the army.

But the Royal Council is great, as it contains three characters that will quite likely already be in your list, and gives a cheeky speed boost to nearby units. The Namarti Corps builds on the concept of huge blocks of infantry being replenished as they navigate the battle. And the Akhelian Corps encompasses all of the martial units in a neat little package that gives re-rolls when you need them most on those crucial roles, making already impressive units very reliable!

They're all pretty cheap too, with the highest costed Battalion coming in at only 140. Considering how much control Idoneth have over the pace of the game, and how good their artefacts are, decreasing your drops is made very easy!

OVERALL IMPRESSION

This is a really interesting book, and is somewhat reminiscent of older editions of the Eldar for 40k. Every unit has a task that they are fantastic at, and it's all about using those units in conjuction to get the most out of them. Leave a unit unsupported, and it will be overwhelmed. There's not really an "all comers" spam unit that just solves every problem, but I can see big 30-strong Thrall units and big units of Ishlaen Guard being a very common sight, and for good reason. Forgotten Nightmares functions as a hard counter to several of the shooting armies out there, but isn't necessarily going to save the army from missile fire. Sure, the opponent might not have a choice of what it shoots, but whatever it does shoot is going to have to deal with some serious heat! Not to mention, there are several shooting builds that are incredibly mobile, and will simply attack from an angle that lets them shoot their intended victims anyway.

I think the Tides of Death is a very powerful mechanic, but requires an immense amount of board and pace control from the Idoneth player, who must be able to manipulate, speed up and slow down the pace of the game to suit them. Thinking two turns ahead and making sure all the pieces are in the right places will be key, and when a player masters it, they will be very hard to beat!

On the other side of the coin, the challenge for players facing Idoneth Deepkin is to not let themselves play reactively. The minute you settle into a reactive mindset, waiting for your opponent to make moves and try and counter them, is the minute the Deepkin control the game. They are faster than almost any other army in the game (almost...), and they can dance circles around most armies. I believe you need to really make your own moves and play your own game. Put the Idoneth on the back foot, catch out units where you see an opportunity, and most importantly (and I say this for every player, no matter what army you use or face), the best way to force mistakes and errors from your opponent, is to play the scenario above everything else. If you're ahead on the scoreboard, suddenly Deepkin are reacting to you, trying to reverse the tide of battle before they end up being washed out (I'm sorry... I couldn't leave a good dad joke unsaid). If Deepkin are faster than you, let them be faster. You march at that objective. They can be as fast as they want, but if your flag is on the hill, it means nothing.

Easier said than done, though, right?

Deepkin are not a slaughter army like Daughters of Khaine or Blades of Khorne. I've heard a lot of people upset that they just don't have the killing power to put opponents down. But I genuinely don't think that's even close to what the army is designed to do.

It controls the board and it stays alive. And any Age of Sigmar player will tell you; that wins games.

All in all, I think Idoneth Deepkin are a super-cool, super-elite army that has a lot of cogs to make up one single, cohesive machine. They're going to give people some serious headaches, and I think you'll see them pop up on the competitive scene pretty quickly. They're not unbeatable, and they're not bulletproof. There's still that air of fragility to the army, despite it's many, many defensive tricks. There's a great deal of player skill involved to really squeeze the true potential out of the army and I can't wait to see players rise to the challenge.

I haven't really touched on Allies (of which there are plenty of candidates!) or Idoneth being allies for other Order armies, but that's a conversation for another day, and is an avenue rich for exploring by savvy players.

What do you think? Are you diving in headfirst? Or are you worried that Deepkin may come crashing down and put a lot of opponents... out of their depth?

That was the last one, I promise... ;)

Let me know in those comments, and thanks for reading

Gabe

#125: Daughter of Khaine Battletome Review

So, I find myself eating my words tonight.

Back in November, I wrote a whole article on why no one was playing Daughters of Khaine (#108 for those who are curious), and why other equally unsupported armies were getting more table time than the angriest ladies in all the realms. And I'd pretty much resigned myself to the fact that they were probably never going to get their own Battletome.

But, boy, did GW make me look the fool...

Not only did they get their fancy new book, but they got just a ton of releases! So, let's break this down. I'm going to try and avoid covering ground I've already covered, but a lot has changed. I'm going to review the Battletome in the same format as my Legions of Nagash review, so if you love or hate the current way I do it, let me know!

ALLEGIANCE ABILITIES:

Well, this is where it all kicks off. Daughters got some fantastic buffs with the two abilities they get from the Allegiance. The first is Fanatical Faith. This rule gives every DoK model in your army a 6+ wound negation mechanic on a 6+. Considering that most other armies have to take an artefact or a spell to gain a similar thing (Nurgle being a glaring exception to the status quo), this is pretty solid. Not broken, but solid.

The second ability is Blood Rites. Basically, as the game unfolds, the army gets an ever-increasing set of buffs and re-rolls. There's no dice or change required; the bonuses just come into effect, which is fantastic, and puts a lot of pressure on your opponent to make moves early in the game, and potentially make a mistake trying to press the advantage before the girls get too... ragey. There are, of course, ways to manipulate this table and escalate things before the allotted turn, but that's not an easy decision to make, as you'll soon see.

Next, there is the command traits (some more useful than others) and three (yes, three) tables of Artefacts; one generic set, one for priests (Slaughter Queens and Hag Queens) and one for wizards (Bloodwracks). There are just a ton of absolute kickers in here, but you can't have them all. In fact, its a really, really tough pick. The Blood Sigil and Iron Circlet are both standouts for the Queens, while it's hard to look past the Crystal Heart or Rune of Ulgu on your casters. There is a degree of risk with the Crystal Heart, but the reward is worth it!

The Queens got a fancy table of Prayers, all of which are fairly practical; naturally some will see more use than others, but I think that opinion will vary from player to player. What's really awesome to see is the Lore of Shadows make its triumphant return, complete with a few classics like Pit of Shades and Mindrazor! With limited options when it comes to Wizards, players are going to have to be resourceful and really think about their combos. Mindrazor has quickly become a fan favourite, but I don't think its going to make or break the army. It casts on a 7, so isn't always going to go off, and with few wizards, whoever has Mindrazor is quickly going to find themselves public enemy #1.

I think this section of the battletome contains the hardest decisions a player will have to make in army construction. There are so many great options and combos, but very limited availability.

TEMPLES:

For those of you who haven't yet read the book, Daughters armies can now be organised into Temples in the same manner as Kharadron Sky-Ports and the likes. While you don't HAVE to pick a Temple, or paint your army in a specific Temple's colour scheme, they can add a lot to the army. There are four in total, each giving you significant benefits to your army, but also forcing you to take either a Temple-specific artefact or command trait, whether you like it or not. Having talked to several new converts to the army, the two favourites seem to be Hagg Nar and Khailebron, and I'm inclined to agree that these seem the most versatile.

At first, Khailebron seemed like a no-brainer as the top pick. The army has a flat -1 to hit in the shooting phase... Cunning Deceiver, eat your heart out. Your General also has to take a command trait, "Mistress of Illusions" that allows you a cheeky teleport for a unit within 7" at the start of the Hero Phase. With this specifically happening at the start of the phase, this means it happens before spells and prayers, and with all of your prayers having a range of 14", it does limit just how ridiculous you can go with buffing a unit and slingshotting it across the board. There's still the 9" no-go zone around enemy units, but that's pretty standard these days. Nevertheless, this is a fantastic tool for board control and objective grabbing.

The temple also gives you the option to expand the size of your Temple Nest, making this a naturally favourable Temple for snake armies, as it allows you to fit all of your Battleline units into the Battalion. But more on that later...

But as I almost had my mind made up about the top of the Temple ladder, I started thinking more about Hagg Nar. The command trait gives your general a 7" bubble that lets units take their Fanatical Faith rolls on a 5+ instead of a 6+... considering there's a prayer that lets a unit re-roll failed Faith saves, there's a lot of practicality in this.

Units from Hagg Nar also get stronger Blood Rites, where the third tier of buffs gives them re-rolls to all missed hits (shooting and combat), instead of only re-rolling 1's. Again, you can modify the table so you don't have to wait until turn three to get this, and again, it's just a straight buff that your army gets. I genuinely believe that unless you're running a snake army, Hagg Nar may be better suited to an all-comers list. The increased Fanatical Faith and the army wide buff to hitting stuff is far more beneficial to the traditional Witch Aelf army; you can toe-tap the bubble on the general, and maximise that damage mitigation! Not all armies will try and shoot at you, but all armies will try and wound you...

And if you're hankering for some teleporting action without using Khailebron, there are Battalions in the book that let you do that, too!

BLOODSHIELD:

This rule has had a pretty significant change. Where it's old function has been pretty much replaced with Fanatical Faith, Cauldrons now emit a bubble that offers +1 to the saves of any unit wholly within range. This is a really important rule, because it's obviously a huge benefit for your army, but the range decreases the more damage it takes, and units must be wholly within. Daughters players need to make sure not to over-extend, as all it will take is one overzealous berserker lady to pile in too far to lose the bonus. That said, there's not really a downside to Bloodshield, as its basically a free Mystic Shield aura that you should make the most of, but is not mutually exclusive with actual Mystic Shields. Stack those save buffs!

TEMPLE NEST:

Now, it's not uncommon at all to see Cauldron Guard in many lists at the moment, because not only is it cheap, but it contains all the stuff you're probably going to have in your traditional Daughters list anyway.

As a side note, the most expensive warscroll battalion is 120 points; ridiculously cheap when compared to other recent Battletomes, such as Maggotkin. But I digress...

The new, shiny toys for Daughters include the Melusai, which come in two varieties. The Blood Stalkers offer a valuable source of high-quality shooting. Originally nicknamed "Slitherfires", I don't think they're even close to the obscene power of Skyfires. They are, however, going to be putting out consistent damage all game, even chipping a sneaky mortal wound off here and there.

Then there's the Blood Sisters. These reptilian ladies are a really, really solid unit. They have two wounds each, have very reliable mortal wound output, can fight in two ranks, have a ton of attacks and some cheeky rend to boot. Oh, and they're pretty fast! You can take a unit of twenty for under 500 points, which sounds like a heap, until you read what Temple Nest gives them. It essentially rolls your General and Battleline into a neat little package with some supporting fire from the Stalkers.

You only get one special rule from the Battalion, but it's a doozie. Every roll of a one for hits aimed at a unit from the battalion in the combat phase suffers a mortal wound after all it's attacks have been made. Let that sink in...

Your Blood Sisters charge in. They cause mortal wounds with their Crystal Touch attacks. They cause a bunch of wounds with their spears. Then they get hit back, and yeah, some of them will die (you're still playing Daughters of Khaine...), but the enemies will cause another batch of mortal wounds to themselves! This is all before you put any buffs or prayers on them (Catechism of Murder and Martyr's Sacrifice spring to mind). They're also Bravery 8, so there's a bit of mileage to be got out of Mindrazor. Rend -2 Damage 2 on their spears is nothing to sneeze at, and a 2" reach means they'll be fighting in two ranks, despite their base size. And to top it off, if they're the target of Mystic Shield and a Bloodshield, they're wandering around the board with a 3+ before even considering Fanatical Faith.

I think the Snake list has some serious legs to stand on (pun fully intended), and I think the primary reason we won't see it at every event is the prohibitive financial cost of said army. But I'm sure someone will drop bulk coin and do the army, and I hope they do well with it, because it's super duper cool!!

MORATHI OR NO MORATHI?

The question on every DoK player's mind... Do they take the super-snake-lady or not? If I'm honest, I don't think I would. Now, don't get me wrong... The model is mind blowing in both her forms, and she's pretty crazy on the table in both her forms, but there in lies the catch. I think it will take a very skillful player to get the full return on the investment. For her to be worth her very hefty price tag, she needs to be fully stretching her legs every phase, making use of every ability, and making sure she's where she needs to be. I have no doubt that some players will crack the code and find their groove using her, and those players will be terrifying. But I think that while she's a brutal commander and wizard in one form, and a one woman wrecking crew in the other, she can't be both at once. There's a tough decision on when to change forms. If Daughters go first and aren't careful, a double turn is going to see her taken off before she's had a significant impact, but I guess that's true of any super expensive model. I don't think she's remotely necessary for most Daughters lists in the same way that Alarielle is not in even half of the Sylvaneth lists you see at events. Not because she's bad, but because other units suit the player or the army far better.

While we're on the topic, I'd like to go on record by saying that I really, really don't like the Iron Heart of Khaine. This is for the same reason that I really, really don't like the Destiny Dice mechanic. In a game of luck, chance and probability, I feel like these are both outside the confines of the game's core foundations. There is great reward with no risk at all. You can throw the Shadow Queen into three Bloodthirsters, knowing full well that it will take four rounds of combat, at minimum, for her to be in any danger of dying. That, to me, is a bit obnoxious. There is no chance at all of her biting the dust before a certain point in the game. Now, no other unit in the game is guaranteed survival. None of the gods, goddesses, greater daemons or mighty heroes are immune to dying in a turn.  Even Kroak with his crazy wound-bravery-heal mechanic can be nuked off the board in a single turn. So, why Morathi? She's not a goddess yet; in fact, all of her power is leeched from a dead deity.

I love her story arc and her lore, I love the background behind her drawing power from the Iron Heart of Khaine from unwitting but devoted followers, and I love how she functions on the table with her two forms, but I have great reservations about that mechanic. Am I alone on this? What do you think?

THE BEST UNIT IN THE BOOK:

Ok, now that I've upset every Daughters player with my thoughts on Morathi, what's the standout for me? What's the must have unit in every Daughters of Khaine army? Easy...

Khinerai Heartrenders.

In my opinion, I think these bat-ladies are such good value for 80 points! They can be held in reserve, dropped in whenever you feel they will be of most use, throw some very high quality javelins and then have a decent chance of making a cheeky move either onto an objective, into cover or into a more favourable charging position. I can see this unit being the "fixer" assassin unit tasked with killing support characters or unprotected backfield units that are causing your Witches grief. They will die to a stiff breeze, but you don't play Daughters of Khaine for their health insurance policy. I was interested to see that they're on 40mm bases, which is larger than I was expecting, but having assembled some for a commission, it's entirely necessary to balance them on the table. Such dynamic models!

I think Hag Queens also deserve a special mention. For 60 points, and having prayers and Witchbrew, they're pretty much an auto tag along model for those big thirty strong blocks of infantry. They're such ridiculously good value, and add so much to your army!

SUMMARY:

I think Daughters of Khaine is a fantastic Battletome. There's so much variety and diversity in the model range, and the range is absolutely exquisite! I don't envy Daughters players having to write lists, as this whole army is full to the brim of very tough decisions. The book offers up a ton of options, and indeed, a plethora of play styles, but no matter what goes into your army, this force is built squarely on the shoulders of multiple combos. I don't think thirty Witches Aelves + Mindrazor is enough to win games once people are more familiar with this new foe. An army will need to have plenty of layers and tricks, and can't depend on any one unit on its own to win them the game. There are a lot of moving parts, and I love that it's another Battletome whose strength lies in player ability rather than just powerful rules.

I know that, in the Australian scene at least, there is plenty of hype around this very first Aelf Battletome, and there are a few players from around the country that will doubtless create stunning armies that will impress on and off the battlefield.

Are you excited for this release? Jumping on board? Let me know; i'm fascinated to hear other peoples thoughts on the matter.

Thanks for reading,
Gabe

#120: Legions of Nagash Review

Evening, everybody!

Well, if you hadn't already guessed, this is going to be a pretty lengthy one. There is plenty of meat on these bones (pun completely intended), and we've got a lot to get through, so pull up a chair, get your snacks and cold beverage ready and let's dive in!

Legions of Nagash has been a long time coming, and I can say with complete confidence that it was worth the wait! This battetome is the business. So, before we go too deep on the different legions and all the flavour elements, let's start at the base level and assess the updated war scrolls.

War Scrolls

There's been a lot of small changes to the War Scrolls, in many ways just making them more relevant, more versatile and more streamlined to the army. Easily the biggest and most notable change comes in the form of Deathly Invocations. This special rule is new, and has been bestowed upon every Death Hero in the Battletome. While it's range (between 6" and battlefield-wide) and number of targeted friendly units (between two and five) vary between each Hero depending on their influence and power within the army, it allows you to automatically heal wounded models, or replenish a number of wounds worth of models to a battle-damaged unit (rounding down to whole models; you cant bring a Black Knight back on a single wound, as it goes by Wound Characteristic, which never changes). This is an absolutely huge change, and follows in the same veins as Maggotkin of Nurgle, by turning off the beaten path and away from the traditional summoning methods we've been used to. All 'Summon X unit' sections have been stripped from the scrolls in place of Deathly Invocation.

While Deathly Invocation sounds very strong, it does have an asterisk or two. Firstly, it only affects units with the Summonable keyword. This keyword encompasses everything you might imagine; Zombies, Skeletons, Dire Wolves, Spirit Hosts, Black Knights, Hexwraiths, Fell Bats and Bat Swarms. This is a really important limitation, as it cannot affect Heroes, Morghasts, Corpse Carts, Zombie Dragons and so on. I'm in complete support of this, as it keeps the theme of the powerful beings holding together and reanimating a shambling horde, without unintentionally creating a system that allows you to heal elite sledgehammer units with limitless impunity. 

The second big (and I mean... BIG) change is that Standard Bearers no longer replenish their units. Instead, the Standard Bearers (the banner models themselves, not their unit) emit a 6" -1 Bravery Aura. What this means is, to keep your hordes sustained, you're going to need several heroes in range to keep that reanimation going! Blocks of Death infantry are still going to be raising as fast as your opponent can kill them, but it's no longer just a built in mechanic. You need to think about which units you need to sustain in order to control the battlefield.

Wight Kings gained Deathly Invocations, but lost the ability to carry a banner. He lost the wound prevention, but gained a cure, so to speak. The Wight King with a shield now just comes with a flat 3+ save (nothing to sniff at), while the Wight King with the Black Axe dons the Barrow Armour, offering him a handy little element of wound mitigation.

Something we all kind of knew was coming (thanks to news around the Knight of Shrouds) was the change to the Ethereal rule for Nighthaunt. Saves could never be made worse (through Rend, etc), but now they can't be made better either. It doesn't matter if your Spirit Hosts are hiding in terrain with a Mystic Shield; they will always have a 4+ save. Modifiers, both positive and negative, are irrelevant to them. While we're on the topic of Nighthaunt, it's worth noting that you can no longer summon Cairn Wraiths and Banshees for cheeky shenanigans.

The Coven Throne deserves a special mention, too! This is probably one of the least used Heroes that Death has ever had, but the slightest of tweaks has made it amazing. That tweak? The Coven Throne's command ability is no longer a tie-breaker for Priority rolls (situational at best, downright irrelevant at worst). Now (and hold onto your shorts), the Tactical Insight command ability lets you pick a friendly unit within 12". That unit can re-roll 1's for Hit, Wound and Save rolls until your next Hero Phase! Amazing!

There are a few more units that have a new lease on life (OK, OK, I'll stop...) but I don't to spoil ALL the surprises.

Cough*Corpse Carts with Unholy Lodestones*cough.

Ok, now I'm done.

Magic

Speaking of Corpse Carts with Unholy Lodestones (but seriously, 80 points!), Death gets two swanky new Lores of Magic with which to tighten their cold grip upon the realms. These are split into two tables; the Lore of Deathmages and the Lore of Vampires. Only Necromancers and Deathlord Wizards can use the Lore of Deathmages, which is lucky for everyone who's not a Death player, because that Lore is STRONG! The whole (well, almost whole...) lore is based around dishing out negative modifiers, stripping the damage profile on Hero's weapons, debilitating movement or flat out crippling the ability to charge. A 3" charge might sound easy, but on one dice, all of a sudden, it looks pretty sketchy. The only spell that veers away from the concept of crippling your opponent's dice is Soul Harvest, which allows you to dish out mortal wounds to enemies within 3" and heal yourself. I can't see this being of any use to Necromancers, as it's cast in the Hero Phase, which means you need to be in combat from the previous turn AND survive to even cast it. Seems very situational, and a little counter-intuitive for what is essentially a support caster. Even if it allowed you to dish out mortal wounds to nearby friendly units, it'd have it's use for keeping him alive, but with five other incredible spells, I don't see Necromancers using this one a whole lot.

Deathlords on the other hand, can (and predictably will) get a huge amount of mileage out of Soul Harvest. I can just see Mannfred launching into combat, going on a bloody rampage, then sucking the souls out of his foes before continuing on his path of slaughter. In the context of Deathlords, I see this as having huge potential.

The Lore of Vampires (also accessible for Deathlord wizards) is going to see a lot of use (with its far larger list of canditates for use), and is a little more utility/multi-purpose. Whether you want to materialise wings, siphon the life force out of enemies and into friends or just lob an Unholy Hand Grenade into battle, there's a spell here for you!

The Locus of Shyish is gifted to all wizards as well. You might have already heard about this one on Warhammer Community, but a natural (unmodified) casting roll of a nine or more (that isn't unbound) allows you to resolve the effects of the spell twice. It's nothing to depend on, and you can't do anything to increase your chances, but I don't look forward to being on the receiving end of ANY of these spells twice in a turn! It's important to remember, however, that the Locus of Shyish only affects spells from the Lores of Vampires and Deathmages, so spells found in the War Scrolls are not privy to its benefits.

Legions

The next natural step is looking at the four Legions. Each legion may include any of the units from the Battletome, with the exception of Nagash and the three Mortarchs. Nagash can lead a Grand Host of Nagash, must be the general and can have Mortarchs join him, but the three specific legions can't have Nagash, and can only include their specific Mortarch, who must then be the General. This is hardly a hindrance, and really opens up the Death Grand Alliance for time on the tabletop. Now, units that were previously trapped behind an allegiance barrier are sharing the table in all of their unrestricted, macabre glory!

All four allegiances return with old favourites like Deathless Minions, while also bringing new elements to the game in the form of Gravesites. You can place up to four points (not restricted to terrain pieces or anything like that), and units placed in the Graves before the game starts can be summoned from one of these four points by a nearby hero; no dice rolls, no casting attempts. It's very much in line with how Maggotkin summon units onto the board. Gravesites also emit a replenishing, healing aura in the same manner as Deathly Invocations, making their chosen locations of utmost importance when planning out your path to victory.   

The Legions also gain an additional command ability that let's them summon a unit that's been destroyed previously in the battle. As always, this costs points as it should, but it remains to be seen whether it's going to be of use or not. With much more limited conventional summoning, leaving points in reinforcements specifically for this ability may be a double edged sword, as you're depending on your units getting wiped out to even be able to bring new units on.

With the broader, universal bonuses covered, let's take a look at each legion, and pick out some highlights.

I can see the Grand Host of Nagash being really practical for running those skeleton horde armies. From the bonus attacks from the Lord of Nagashizzar trait, to the damage mitigation for Deathrattle units the Ossific Diadem and (you guessed it...) ANOTHER healing/replenishing mechanic from Legions Innumerable, it's no surprise that massive Deathrattle units can find the emotional support they need to march ever onward in the ranks of the Grand Host.

There's also a cheeky, and frankly pretty scary buff to Morghasts that makes them just a nightmare to get punched in the head by. I wouldn't say it has the most flavour, but vanilla is a flavour too, you know... It is by far the most flexible in regards to list building, as you can take your pick of Mortarchs, but it certainly favours those boots on the ground infantry lists that will surely pose huge problems to players who can't burn through large units fast.

Also, if you have the Battletome handy, have a look at the Grave-sand Timeglass... It's truly is a thing of beauty.

The Legion of Sacrament, war host of Arkhan the Black is all about that Magic! With +1 to cast on all of their wizards, traits to make people wizards or learn more spells, raising freshly slaughtered foes or simply summoning from the graves with an increased range, the Legion of Sacrament know what it's about. Between the bonuses to cast, the chance to double-tap spells with Locus of Shyish and the sheer number of magic users, you can fit into a list, the army is truly terrifying. It doesn't sugar coat or hide behind a thinly veiled guise. If you want to unleash a dark arsenal of magic, this is your legion!

They also get some pretty incredible defensive Artefacts in the form of Wristbands of Black Gold, Azyrbane Standard and Shroud of Darkness. The Black Gem is also a pretty terrifying prospect, having the potential to shatter and instakill multiple models with a single blow! If you face a Death General using the Black Gem, kill it, kill it with fire and do it from outside of eleven inches!

The Legion of Sacrament also gets a pretty nifty Warscroll Battalion based around Arkhan and a Mortis Engine, which further empowers the magical potency of your army! It's nice and cheap too, at only seventy points (a huge drop in what we've seen in recent battletomes), but it won't be for every Sacrament army. It will all come down to your specific build.

The Legion of Blood is definitely more focused on Vampires and Bravery bombing your opponent! Neferata's minions follow down the Soulblight path (without actually being Soulblight), with every vampire in your army getting an extra attack for each of their weapons as a static buff, as well as a -1 Bravery aura for every unit from the Legion of Blood (units with banners are walking around with -2!!). With traits like Soul Crushing Contempt, and units like Banshees and Terrorgheists, I could totally see some terrifying combos involving dropping bravery through the floor and then nuking a unit with screams and howls.

There are also some very handy artefacts for mitigating opposing magic in the form of the Amulet of Screams and the Oubliette Arcana, both capable of crippling opposing wizards, either with a flat out shutdown, or mind-wiping an opposing wizard of their knowledge of spells! The Orb of Enchantment is probably my pick, however. Once per game, you can reveal the Orb to an enemy hero within 3', and that hero will see visions of enrapturing possibilities. you can effectively turn the hero off for a turn. No piling in, no attacking and no abilities can be used. That is crazy! There are no dice involved, there is no chance or luck. It could be a Stardrake or even Archaon himself; it doesn't matter. If you can get the bearer of the Orb into combat with them, they're going to derp out and stand dumb-founded while the battle rages around them.

 The Command Traits also offer a tough choice, because there is a wealth of great traits to choose from, between the mobility bonus from Sanguine Blur to the defensive mechanic of the Aura of Dark Majesty. Walking Death is also an extremely, EXTREMELY scary ability that will make your opponent think twice about trying to slay your general in combat!

There's also a cheeky Battalion for the Legion of Blood, which contains Neferata and her coven of Vampires. Again, I don't think it well see much play in a competitive environment, as you're very much pushed toward a certain build that may not be optimal, but it's definitely nailed that 'Rule of Cool'.

Lastly, we have the Legion of Night; Mannfred's own host of undead minions, and this legion is focused on board control. Deathrattle units in your own territory (not always to be confused with your deployment zone) gain a flat +1 to their save as they form a bulwark upon which your opponent's army can shatter, which is incredibly cool, because this still allows terrain and Mystic shield to benefit them! With The Bait, unit placement and movement is very important, because the rules are very clear that your unit must be wholly within your territory to gain the bonus, so make sure there are no stragglers or overly ambitious skeletons making a dash out of the 'green zone'.

But you don't take the Legion of Night for The Bait, regardless of how practical it is. You're taking it for Ageless Cunning, which allows you to place up to three units in reserve to be set up on a table edge at the end of any of your movement phases, giving you another huge tactical tool in your arsenal. This is really useful, as there are no limitations on what units can or can't be put in reserves. It could be sixty Zombies to mob an unguarded objective, or a Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon to blend his (or her) way through anything close enough to poke holes in.

I think, in regards to Traits and Artefacts, there are some great options, but I just can't seem to look past Morbheg's Claw. This fantastic little talon lets the bearer scribble some stick men and sketches on the ground. If the bearer doesn't move, charge or attack in that turn, you can add 2 to casting rolls for all friendly wizards within 12" of the bearer! That's huge! Looking at other units in the army, the Mortis Engine and Corpse Cart with Unholy Lodestone (there it is again!) can layer another two auras for a whopping +4 to cast for your little council of Necromancers.

What? Legion of Sacrament is the magic heavy Legion? Mannfred would disagree.

Skeletons

Deathrattle plays a huge role in the new book, and appears to be the building blocks of the army in every way. They got their own Warscroll Battalion (actually, it's the third rendition of this Battalion with one on the app and one in the Death Grand Alliance book), and it's really solid. It gives you (say it with me now!) yet another way to bring back infantry and cavalry models back to the fold. You can automatically return a single model to every unit from the Battalion that's near the Wight King, but that's not all. The Wight King also gives nearby units a 4" move in the hero phase, giving them some much needed speed! This is your plug and play Skeletal Horde.

Summary

I think this is a really solid Batlletome. It feels like a dark, spooky twin brother to Nurgle. Life and Death jokes notwithstanding, while they have similarities in being able to interact heavily with the table itself and being pretty sturdy, they are both very different. Where Nurgle is a tough-as-nails, low model count army, Legions of Nagash is an implacable horde of infantry supported by lots of characters (but seriously... lots of characters) and ever-replenishing magics keeping the army sustained in its perpetual hunger.

I think that the Legions are very well balanced, as there's not one that's just blatantly better than the others. I'm leaning toward Legion of Night as my favourite, but each build will benefit from a different Legion.

Deathly Invocations is a great change, and I think it adds a great deal to the army. You have to think about it more than Banners required, but you can also stack a significant amount of healing on multiple units with Heroes that were gonna be in your army anyway.

And I think that, once again, the strength of the Battletome is going to be in its combos and it's players. A savvy and cunning Death general will be a truly ominous foe. It's less about 'auto-includes' and more aimed at designed a well oiled machine of war. In short, I love the Battletome. The artwork is beautiful, there's a great portion of the book dedicated to the other two ways to play, and all of the Warscrolls have had lots of time and attention lavished upon them. I would have loved to see a few new kits (Oh, for a Zombie Giant!), but at the same time, I think there is so much to explore in the army now that it probably doesn't NEED new kits to be beautiful and current.

Well... Zombies aside.

So there you have it. Hopefully, this was an enjoyable read for you. While I'm by no means a Death expert, I'd love to see what your plans are if you're planning on taking your shambling hordes to battle! Favourite Legion? Go-to general? Must have combo? I haven't scrupulously covered absolutely everything (every trait, artefact, spell and allegiance shenanigans) because, well, half the fun is reading through all the cool new stuff for your army. But I hope that this post has piqued your interest, and I can't wait to see your Legions in action; slow, shambling action, but action nonetheless.

It will be interesting to see each Death player's take on the book and watch certain combos rise to the top. I'd love to know your thoughts!

Cheers for reading,
Gabe







   

#106: Shadespire First Glance - Enter The Arena!

When Shadespire first was announced, my initial thought was similar to my thoughts when Betrayal at Calth was announced.

"New models for the mainstream game disguised in a box marketed as a board game."

I remember back to when the Calth box set was released, and without fail, every customer ripped open the box with enthusiasm, removed the sprues, and threw the rest of the box in the bin. Not one person played the board game inside, and barely anyone even glanced inside the board game rule book. The box pretty much sold itself on the models alone. And if i'm brutally honest, I was expecting nothing different from Shadespire.

But Shadespire has quickly forged a reputation of being a well-supported and brilliantly designed game within the Age of Sigmar universe. While the war bands are set (Stormcast will have the three models in every match), the real depth, diversity and tactics come from the deck-building element that blends Shadespire into a lovechild of Age of Sigmar, Magic the Gathering and Malifaux, while being reminiscent of Arena matches from World of Warcraft.

While I haven't had time to fit in anything more than a quick introductory game (life being what it is), I can see this quickly becoming a game that every Sigmar player will get into, and have a warband and pack of cards with them everywhere they take a full army for Age of Sigmar.

Let's talk quickly about the models. The Stormcast team caused quite the buzz, with the very first female Stormcast model being released. I actually think this model was very well done, looking distinctly female without slipping into the "video game armour" trap. Joining her is a staunch soldier carrying a massive grand hammer, and then there is Steelheart; the Liberator with probably the most majestic power stance ever! Facing them are five Bloodreavers in suitably fanatical poses, and they are exquisite!

Each model also comes with a fully moulded base, and everything is push fit, meaning it's a perfect product to rip open and get playing straight away. Of course, thats not to say that these models aren't incredibly sculpted. Already, some of the faster, more talented painters in the community are posting their finished models to social media, and there is no shortage of jaw-dropping paint jobs, from traditional gold to non-metallic-metal armour.

There is also an Ironskull's Boyz and a Sepulchral Guard war band in the near future, giving Destruction and Death some love. If the rulebook is anything to go off, we'll also be seeing a Fyreslayer, Skaven (yes!) Blood Warrior-based and Stormcast Hunter-based war band in the pipeline.

The more I think about Shadespire, the more impressive this product becomes. It's a great plug & play game, where Games Workshop could release a new war band or two periodically, and completely change the dynamic of the game. Not only that, but the war bands are all at that perfect size for us Hobby Butterflies to crush one out and finish it in its entirety before the next shiny piece of glass catches our undivided attention. They're all essentially character packs, allowing the creative team to stretch their legs and create a set of models based around a theme that could otherwise never support an entire Battletome in the main game.

And just when you think it couldn't top itself, the Warhammer Community website dropped Matched Play war scrolls and profiles for the war bands currently available, setting a really positive pretence for the rest of the war bands to come!

If this game turns out to be everything we're expecting it to be, I have the feeling that we may be on the brink of a brand new realm of competitive table top gaming. I'm about to assemble and prime my own set, and as soon as they are painted, I'll be posting a Arena Report (or three!).

Are you getting into Shadespire? What war band will be holding your banner aloft?

As always, thanks for reading.
Gabe

#99: Clan Pestilens Tactical Review - Catch My Disease

What's going on, everybody!

So, the handbook has well and truly hit the Age of Sigmar scene, and the gaming community that I'm luck enough to be a part of are in an absolute frenzy of indecisive enthusiasm! As each player settles upon their chosen faction, I decided that it was time to tackle an army that I'd dabbled in for a few months now. Clan Pestilens.

What originally drew me to Pestilens was the financial cost (being almost completely comprised of very affordable plastic kits), the fact that they had a battle tome (despite it being a little older than many) and finally, that no one else seemed to play them. Sure, a couple of savvy generals had given them a try, but I haven't seen anyone who plays them with determination.

At first glance, Pestilens looks pretty trash on paper. They have fragile infantry, fragile war machines, very little in the way of rend from their combat troops, and arguably the worst Verminlord of them all. But the more I look at this army, write lists and theorize with combos, the more I realise there is some real strength to this army. So let’s break it down step by step.

The Verminlord Corruptor is definitely the runt of the Verminlord litter. He’s not as versatile as the Warpseer, he’s not as mobile and precise as the Deceiver, and it’s a bit unfair to even compare his pitiful combat abilities to the Warbringer. His twin Plaguereapers look pretty intimidating with their re-rolls to hit, but with no rend and only doing one damage per successful wound, this towering rat-giant is not gonna be doing much of the heavy lifting when it comes to combat. So, why take him?

This comes down to the same reason that Ironjaws took Mawcrushas, and why many armies took overpriced, underperforming elements.

Because it’s the best available option; now, sure you could ally in another, better Verminlord in, but that then stops it from being a General and taking artefacts. The Corruptor is a natural choice for two reasons. For one, he is your only wizard within the Pestilens allegiance. He can only cast once, but Mystic Shield is not the vital piece it usually is, when you consider none of your infantry have saves. What he does have is an absolutely mental spell in the form of Plague, which (thanks to the newfound popularity of Massive Regiments) will now be insanely terrifying; a spell that can bounce through multiple units, rolling dice for each model in that unit (30-40 for example) and punching out mortal wounds on 6’s. Yes please!

Secondly, he is the only model in the allegiance with a command ability. Inspiring Presence will admittedly get a lot of use, but being able to give an extra attack to every one of the forty frenzied fanatics charging at the enemy has its uses. It also helps that he had his points reduced slightly, now only weighing in at 220 points. He’s best used in a supporting role, only entering combat when survival and victory is already assured, which is pretty much the most Skaven way to lead an army anyway, am I right?

Next up is the Plague Furnace. It was looking at this unit for the second or third time that I realised where the strength of this army lies. This army crushes all before it with a combination of “Death by a Thousand Cuts” and the sheer number of abilities that can chip a mortal wound or six off here and there. The Furnace will be a common sight in pretty much every Pestilens army for very good reason. It’s fairly resilient, it hands out powerful prayers unique to its scroll (either Re-roll to Wound for a unit that already re-rolls to hit, or pile in and attack with models from the blessed unit when they die), can be the recipient of some pretty powerful Artefacts which we will get to later, emits an ever-so-useful Bravery buff to nearby units, and most importantly, can generate a truly terrifying number of mortal wounds with it’s wrecking ball and its lingering aura of mustard gas and bad wind!

The Furnace is 200 points flat, which is a nice discount as well, but the reason that it’s likely to be a common sight is its inclusion in the Congregation of Filth Battalion, which we’ll touch on later, but no decent sized Pestilens army should be leaving home without one.

This leaves one more Hero to discuss; the humble Plague Priest. While technically, this hero has two separate scrolls, the difference is only their weapon and a secondary special rule. These fellas are only 80 points each, and are cheap enough to run in numbers; besides, there aren’t many other heroes to run…

These chaps are another great source of players, having one to cripple nearby enemies, and one to just straight up kill them with a burp that garlic and onion would be proud of. They fill a tricky role, as you need them right up in the hear of the action to be in range of all their abilities (most of which are only range 13” because… Skaven!), but they’re not designed as heavy hitters by any stretch. They do play a vital role in the army though, as the more prayers you cast, the better chance you have of accidentally unleashing some pretty potent diseases!

There are a couple of minor differences between the two variant scrolls for Priests. The Warp-tipped Staff Priest has a single attack (that Frenzied assault can increase) with the potential of D3 damage per hit. He also carries a Pestilence-filled Censor, which subtracts 1 from the casting attempts of any wizard within 6”. The Plague Censor Priest on the other hand has 2 attacks base (3 on the charge, as his counterpart has) with only one damage per hit, and he carries a Plague Tome. Once per game, he can essentially curse an enemy unit within 13”. You can then re-roll all failed wound rolls against that unit until your next hero phase. There is no trigger for this ability. It’s not a prayer in the sense that it cannot fail, and cannot hurt its caster. And most importantly, the effects are not limited to the combat phase, meaning that the truly horrifying damage potential of Plagueclaw Catapults is made even more reliable! For this reason, I can’t see myself ever taking the Warp-tipped Staff Priest. The 6” bubble against wizards is so situational and so easily avoided by a savvy opponent when compared to the Plague Tome, which will be used every game (if the priest lives long enough of course!). And with a growing number of armies who don’t even use Wizards, the Plague Censor Priest seems a lot more useful and reliable. For me, it’s an easy decision between the two.

Now come the Plague Monks. These are the building blocks of your entire army! Every ability in the army usually benefits them, every prayer is useful to them, all of the auras affect them. They are a platform upon which to heap the combos! At first glance, they are less than impressive. No save, a pathetic Bravery 5 and no rend on their weapons… Not a great start. They have two attacks each (three on the charge) with re-rolls to hit if they have paired Foetid Blades (my choice over the blade and staff). Alright, so they dish out a lot of attacks. The champion can carry either an exploding book (each non-Nurgle unit within 13” takes a mortal wound on a 4+) or a Plague Scroll (a weaker version of the Priest’s Plague Tome). That sounds pretty solid, right? Another source of mortal wounds getting chipped off here and there or another one-use buff. Then (and this has been addressed very clearly by Games Workshop that it is allowed) you have access to both unique banners and both unique musicians in every unit of Monks! The combination of these four items gives you a 12” debuff to enemy units that reduces their run or charge by 1, any wound rolls of 6 are Rend -1 and have the potential to pop another mortal wound on top, and every time one of your rats is killed in combat, on a 6 it explodes in a shower of virulent blood and inflicts another mortal wound.

So, you can see at first glance, they don’t look like anything special. But once you add in their command group, a prayer or two and a command ability, they become near-on impossible to deal with in combat! The sheer number of Mortal Wound triggers is crazy, and they’re all from different sources! These triggers and abilities can’t be crippled by killing a single character; they are woven into the fabric of the army! And just to top off, Monks got some love when it comes to Massive Regiments. A unit of forty of them is only 240 point! And thanks to the Strength in Numbers allegiance ability, a full strength unit is Bravery 13, largely mitigating their bravery problem.

These robed fanatics are still going to die in droves, but they’ve got the mechanics built into them to make their removal from the board as difficult as humanly possible. And when they’re as cheap as they are, there’s a lot to kill!

The other infantry unit available to the army are Plague Censor Bearers. As one of the few sources of Rending combat attacks, these smaller, more elite combat units benefit greatly from also being near units of Monks, gaining re-rolls to hit and to Battleshock tests. If they charge, they’re whipping in with three attacks each, and have the same aura effect as the Furnace, able to (you guessed it) inflict mortal wounds to nearby enemy units! Censor Bearers are definitely a handy unit to have in the pocket, and will excel at mugging characters!

Lastly, but certainly not least, we have the dreaded Plagueclaw Catapult! Giving some valuable range and brutal killing power to the army, these will be lurking behind the main battle, lobbing balls of gelatinous goo high overhead into the masses of enemies! Let’s talk about the bad first. They only have a movement of 3”, so deploying them correctly is important, because once they’re on the field, repositioning is realistically not going to happen in a hurry. They only have six wounds, and even with their save bonus against shooting, they wont be taking heat for any prolonged period! And unsurprisingly, the crew couldn’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag.

Now that we got the negatives out of the way, let’s talk about how good they are. They’re not monsters, so can benefit from cover. They can shoot targets they cannot see, so not only can you protect them further by hiding behind a building, their range of 6-31” and the ability to ignore pesky line of sight issues means that their threat range is bordering on the obscene. They have Rend -2, which we already know is huge, considering the noticeable lack of rend in the rest of the army. It’s profile is 3+ 3+ Damage D6, which is OK. Where it shines however is when it targets a unit of 10 or more models (really not hard to find… especially when they can’t hide from you), its profile is increased to 2+ 3+ Damage 2D6. And you remember the Plague Tome? Your Priests quickly turn into spotters for your catapults, making them truly terrifying against those high-armour units! Plagueclaws are just awesome! They are 180, which is pricey, and they do need protecting, but like the Verminlord Corruptor, they fill a vital battlefield role and they do it well. Any unit that you’re not confident tackling with your monks looks a whole lot less scary after most of the unit has been melted into a puddle by a shower of acidic vomit. 

While Pestilens may not have the variety of units that other factions do, they make up for it well and truly by doing what they do best, and peppering their opponents with mortal wounds and infected blades.

There is one Warscroll Battalion quickly worth mentioning. The Congregation of Filth is 140 points and consists of a Plague Furnace and two or more units of Plague Monks (emphasis on the “Or More” bit). This gives you an artefact, lets you deploy the majority of your army in a single hit, and gives you two very useful bonuses. Monks near the Furnace gain a 6+ “ignore wounds and mortal wounds”, which is an absolute blessing in this army. It also lets Monk units 20 models or larger re-roll their charges! In any game over 1000, I will be including this Battalion, because it’s actually still very affordable, and benefits the army greatly! A 6+ is far from reliable, but it’s better than nothing…

The Foulrain Congregation (based around Plagueclaws) was one that I think has priced itself out of use for me. At a flat cost of 820, it’s simply too expensive to be practical, even with the benefits. When you consider that the whole Battalion can be crippled by killing a single Priest who is forced to lurk at the back of the board, it’s just not worth it in my eyes.

Everything I’ve talked about so far has been pretty old news. These scrolls have been around since before the General’s Handbook first dropped. But GHB17 has heralded in a new day for Pestilens with Allegiance Abilities! The first of which introduces Strength in Numbers (for every ten models in your unit, increase the unit’s bravery by 2), and the second of which is Echoes of the Great Plagues!

Once per turn, on a successful Prayer roll of an unmodified 6, you can manifest of the Great Plagues. Each Plague can only be used once per game, but there are five in total and they all have their uses. I think the timing and order of these Great Plagues will swing victory into the hands of the Horned Rat, because these… are... POWERFUL! Let’s go through them!

The Neverplague adds 1 to all Prayer rolls for your Priests for the rest of the battle! This is big, because not only will you be getting more prayers off, it completely negates the possibility of saying the words wrong on a 1 and copping a mortal wound. Best used early game if no other Great Plagues are in range to get your true worth out of it.

The Redmaw Plague is one of my personal favourites! Pick an enemy Hero within 13” of the Priest that manifested the Redmaw Plague and he is then infected for the rest of the game. A high fever and blurred vision will send him around the bend, and for the rest of the game, in ANY combat phase in which he is within 3” of friends and not within 3” of enemies, he’s treated as part of your army and can pile in and attack his friends. In any combat phase! This puts your opponent in a particularly tricky situation, where the only real way to mitigate disruption is to either charge him into the enemy (probably not somewhere he really wants to be in some cases), or to isolate him from the rest of the army. He counts as a model from my army until the end of the combat phase, so can cause absolutely mayhem when you consider the effect that would have on pile-ins and such. Fantastic Plague!

The Crimsonweal Curse infects the nearest enemy unit to the manifesting Priest and inflicts a mortal wound upon it. In each of your following hero phases, the unit and all enemy units within 1” suffer another mortal wound, continuing the trend of chipping away with those mortals! This one seems a little underwhelming, but again, it forces your opponent to think about who is in close proximity for the rest of the game.

The Bubonic Blightplague is a nifty little mortal missile that if it kills a unit, can bounce to a nearby enemy, at try and kill that, and so on and so forth. It’s pretty situational to get the chain going from unit to unit, but that first hit is D6 mortal wounds, which on its own is pretty awesome for something that can’t be stopped.

Lastly is the Undulant Scourge. The closest enemy model’s unit suffers a mortal wound, with an additional mortal wound inflicted for every enemy model within 3” of the first target. Potentially devastating! If your opponent packs his units too densely, punish him for it.

So as you can see, all five are very strong. Remember that you don’t get to pick the target; it automatically affects the closest enemy unit (or in some cases, specifically enemy heroes.), but that’s not to say that no thought needs to be put into it. I think it’s important to get in the habit of casting prayers with the priests in the best position first. The last thing you want to do is roll that elusive ‘6’ with a Priest at the back, and having to make the decide whether to pop Neverplague and burn your opportunity for the others that turn, or pass and hope to get another ‘6’ with your limited remaining chances. That’s not to say that these are a sure thing every turn. It wouldn’t be any surprise to me if I only manage to get two or even one off in a five-turn game. And there’ll surely be situations where all my prayer casters just end up dead in the first turn. Sometimes the dice just don’t go your way.

It wouldn’t be an Allegiance update without Command Traits and Artefacts, so let’s quickly brush over my favourites. With the Corruptor being the natural General of the army, I’ve looked at the command traits through the lens of his Warscroll. The first standout is ‘Master of Rot & Ruin’ which either lets you re-roll prayers or, if you’re not a Priest (which the Corruptor is not), lets you cast prayers from the Plague Priest scroll. Not only does this add to his versatility, it increases my chance of popping off one of those Great Plagues. The second, and the one that I’ll be using until I’ve got my head around the army, is Verminous Valour; every time my Verminlord suffers a wound or mortal wound (which is inevitably going to happen a lot), he can pass the wound off to a friendly Pestilens unit on a 4+. This is a great ability, because I’d much rather pass on half my wounds to the cheap disposable infantry units than my crucial General!

Then we get to the Artefacts, and while there’s a couple in there that I don’t particularly see great things in, there are a few standouts. The Liber Bubonicus, a shout out to the legendary priest Lord Skrolk, allows the bearer to cast two prayers a turn! I see this as almost a must-have on a Plague Furnace, with it’s intensely strong stock prayers. Vexler’s Shroud makes the bearer -1 to hit in the shooting phase, which is great at preventing those pesky sniper units from banishing your Verminlord. There’s also an Artefact censor that dishes out very reliable mortal wounds here and there. All in all, it’s a very thematic and powerful set of traits, abilities and artefacts. Big thumbs from me!

So to christen my army, next Saturday, I’m playing in a 1600 point matched play event using the GHB17. This will be my first outing with Pestilens, and will definitely be a learning experience! I’m busy painting monks, making tokens and writing up a cheat sheet, so hopefully it’ll be… educational. I’m expecting to get rinsed, but hopefully I can begin to get a feel for the army. Here’s what I’m taking.

Verminlord Corruptor w/Verminous Valour & Vexler’s Shroud

Plague Furnace w/Liver Bubonicus

Plague Censor Priest

Plague Censor Priest

40 Monks

20 Monks

20 Monks

Plagueclaw Catapult

Plagueclaw Catapult

Congregation of Filth

This list gives me a taste of every unit except Plague Censor Bearers, but I'm hoping this will give me a lot of experience with the units.

I'll be posting Battle Reports next weekend of my games, so we'll see how that goes!

Thanks for reading,
Gabe