#140: Tale of Four Gamers - 1000 Point Mark

Well, it's been another frantic month of painting for myself and my three adversaries, with some stunning results! After last month's "First 500", two of the participants have changed armies completely, but not wasted any time in making up for the lost time. So without too much more waffling on, here are the four armies at the end of month two!

Gabriel:

I'll get mine out of the way first.

Now, the first thing you're probably noticing is that my army is not quite 1000 points yet... Far from it, in fact. I only managed to hit 700 points fully painted this month, with another twenty Ard Boys on the painting desk to fill out the unit to thirty. I did, however, add a Warchanter and three Gore-Gruntas to the army!

I actually really enjoyed painting the Gruntas. They're probably my favourite models from the range so far, mostly because they offer a little variety in textures and colours that the armour-clad infantry just don't have. They also have nice big armour panels to allow me to practice more freehand and get those tags and strips down to a fine art. The two "rank and file" piggies are also awaiting their shoulder pads, complete with weathering and freehand, but... well... it was a slow month on the Ironjawz front. What this means is, I've got a LOT to paint next month to keep the pace! 

Liam:

Having started the challenge optimistically with Brayherd, Liam quickly realised that a horde army may not have been the wisest choice considering the time constraints. And so he made the bold move to go back to the drawing board, and start a brand new army from scratch. 

While it's undeniably character-heavy at this stage, considering the timeframe, I don't think anyone is holding that against him! Packing in two units of Blight Kings, this mortal Nurgle force is playing no games. A Rotbringer Sorcerer, Lord of Plagues and Gutrot Spume make a formidable bodyguard for Kazyk the Befouled...

...and some muscle was added to the list with this trio of Plague Ogres! Leaning heavily into some of the less common elements of Nurgle, I can't wait to see what Liam comes up with next month! It's sure to be suitably revolting.

Alistair:

Having also jumped ship for calmer seas, Al left Stormcast in his wake to work on a hyper-aggressive Idoneth army. With the intricate model range matching Al's impressive skills with the brush, it's no wonder that these have turned out incredibly. There are more eels than you can poke a harpoon at, and the shipwrecks have come up a treat. 

But without question, the Eidolon of Mathlaan is the centrepiece of his entire army. 

He's absolutely done the model justice, and it's going to look amazing leading the charge from the depths to pillage and raid the land of the dry. 

Blake:

Leading the challenge without question, Blake has added yet another amazing conversion to his Death army in the form of a towering Scarab Beetle, adorned with skulls and burdened with a Casket of Souls. 

In game, he's using it as a Mortis Engine, and no one is complaining. The model itself is both morbid and majestic, and fits the style of his army perfectly. He's also added two Dreadblade Harrows, heavily converted to fit the aesthetic, as well as another ten skeletons to give him his minimum requirements for battleline. 

The army of Death is growing at an alarming rate, and now that the armies are getting to the size where they can take to the battlefield, I dare say more than a few skulls will be claimed for Nagash yet.

I hope you enjoyed a peek at the armies as they prepare for war. Which is your favourite, and what two forces do you want to see face off first? 

Thanks for reading,

Gabriel

#137: Toowoomba Remote League 1000pt Tournament - Game 1 - Maggotkin Vs Legion of Night

After making the pilgrimage up the range to Toowoomba, I was ready to play my first three games of AOS2! Going into it, I honestly had no idea what the player pool would look like, as the only Toowoomba players I had faced were members of the Failed Charge Podcast crew, who were the event organisers. I was going into the day blind a little bit, but after putting Clan Pestilens on the display shelf for a breather, this left me with a couple of options. I ended up settling on Maggotkin, as I had a few events later in the year that I was planning with them. Besides, it's a super strong book...a nice change from the less diverse armies that I had been playing; widely considered to be far from the top tier of armies.

Great Unclean One (General, Bell/Flail, Grandfather's Blessing, Endless Gift, Glorious Afflictions)
10 Plaguebearers (Battleline)
10 Plaguebearers (Battleline)
6 Plague Drones
Soulsnare Shackles (Endless Spell)

This sat me at 1000 points on the dot. I would have preferred to run 20-man Marauder units instead of the Plaguebearers, but I simply didn't have them painted and ready for the event. The GUO and Drones is a pretty staple combination in the army, allowing them to dish out a ton of hits with a huge threat range!

But the real utility in the army comes from the fusion of the Glorious Afflictions spell ( the target's move characteristic and run and charge rolls are halved, and the target unit cannot fly) with its 21" range, and Soulsnare Shackles, which cripples movement once again. The idea behind this was as an answer to such craziness as Stardrakes, Witch Aelf hordes and Bloodletter Bombs. These two spells would allow me to essentially shut a unit down, and put it in a position where it had little to no impact on the game until I was good and ready to deal with it. But you know what they say about the best laid plans.

But I digress...

After arriving in Toowoomba, consuming enough coffee to jumpstart my brain, and shaking a few hands, it was time for round one. I found myself facing off against a gentleman by the name of Gary, with his Legion of Night army.

Mannfred (General)
20 Skeleton Warriors
5 Dire Wolves
5 Dire Wolves
Terrorgheist

The scenario was Shifting Objectives, which meant we were both going to have to be on our toes to come out on top. My deployment was pretty standard, with my tree on the centre lane, and a unit directly opposite each objective. In hindsight, I think the tree was positioned poorly, and clogged up the Drone's lane, but what's done was done. We rolled to see which objective was the "big" one, and the right objective was the priority. I took first turn, and basically pushed my whole army onto the centreline. The Bell and good run rolls meant that I got where I needed to be, and scored maximum points as a result. I made the mistake of holding back with my Drones, instead of pitching into the Skeleton horde, and pinning my opponents numbers far from the objectives.

And my opponent made me pay for that mistake...

The skeletons poured into the Drones, managing to flood the objective with bodies, and claw away ownership. On the left, I was confident that the five Dire Wolves wouldn't be able to grind down the Plaguebearers, but on the right, where the objective was worth three points, Mannfred committed his considerable weight to the conflict and smashed the Plaguebearers into oblivion, firmly claiming the area for Death. His Terrorgheist also showed up on my backline, and screamed at the GUO, who had taken a wound from Manny's magical barrage. Fortunately, his high Bravery stopped the scream from having any impact, and the Terrorgheist failed the 9" charge. What my opponent HAD managed to do was catch me on the back foot, and completely shut down my Contagion Point generation. Uh-Oh...

The main objective shifted to the middle one (not the left as I had hoped), and my opponent got the double on me. The Terrorgheist attempted to make life difficult for the GUO, starting to put some serious hurt on him (which he was able to almost completely heal back at every possible chance). But the real problems were just beginning in the middle of the table. Mannfred, having dispatched the Plaguebearers, turned his attention to the Drones, cutting down three and crippling a fourth with the help of some furious Skeletons. All I could do was hope that the Drones would stay alive long enough to grind down the Skeletons. I threw the Shackles over near Mannfred, and while they failed to have any effect on Manny or the Skeletons, they did do two mortal wounds to the drones. Just perfect...

At this point, the game was getting tight! We were both just on the edge of our seats, knowing full well, that things were on a knifes edge. I had spent the first two turns on the ropes, getting pummelled, but momentum began to shift back toward Nurgle. The GUO managed to not only dispatch the Terrorgheist, but also send a Plague Wind through the Drones and into the Skeletons, healing and killing as it blew. The Plaguebearers on the left lost a single model to the dogs, rolled a 1 for Battleshock, and replenished their numbers to solidify their position on that objective. And the Drones, with added attacks from the GUO's Command Ability, finally ground down the last of the Skeletons. 

What really put the nail in my opponent's coffin (pun fully intended) was the main objective swinging back to it's original position on the right flank. With the Skeletons depleted, and Mannfred having taken a few wounds over the course of the battle, despite his armour and healing, I decided it was time to make my big play for victory. The last remaining Drone (they really took a beating) was unaffected by the shackles this turn, and retreated over the top of Manny and onto the objective, claiming it away from Death. The Plaguebearers on the left objective finally put their plagueswords to the last undead dog, and the GUO, who had healed back every single point of damage suffered earlier in the battle, took the fight to Mannfred, punching the Mortarch of Night until his army and vampiric healing could save him no longer! 

The game ended with a firm victory for the minions of Nurgle, but it was far from a sure thing until the dying moments of the game! The battle swung back and forth many times, with every dice roll being vital to winning or losing. Gary was a fantastic opponent, and he won my Best Sport vote! 

Having only lost 120 points in the Plaguebearers, and killing 940 points worth of my opponent's army (one pesky unit of dogs escaped my clutches!), I found myself sitting on the top tables, unsure of what new terrors I would face next... The kill points from this game in no way reflected just how ridiculously close this game was! 

Thanks for reading, and check back in soon for game two!

Gabe

#136: Who you gonna call? - Nighthaunt Battletome Overview

The over-arching theme of Nighthaunt is that it is a properly evil army. They're not misunderstood, or using horrific means to further a noble cause. They're straight up evil. And they are really drawing a crowd.

With the release of Soul Wars and AoS2, Nighthaunt have kicked Chaos to the curb and taken up the mantle of "the big bad", posing a worthy villain to the noble and slightly broken Stormcast Eternals. And they have done it in style. Where the last couple of battletomes have had well supported model releases (Legions of Nagash as one of the few exceptions..), Nighthaunt has been spoilt beyond belief. From named characters, generic characters, a huge diversity of units and one of the coolest centrepiece models around in the form of the new and greatly improved Black Coach, there's really not much to complain about in the model support department (some would say the abundance of Easy-To-Build, but it sacrifices neither quality or dynamic design, so I don't really see that as a bad thing). But today, I really wanted to dive into the book, and go through what has me excited for this latest addition to the Age of Sigmar universe.

THE TRIUMVIRATE OF SPOOK

Probably the most significant models to be released as part of the new range are the three named characters, Lady Olynder, Reikenor the Grimhailer and Kurdoss Valentian.

Olynder has probably made the biggest impact so far. While she was hyped up and hinted at in the media lead up, there was plenty of speculation who this new Mortarch actually was. The obvious guess was Isabella Von Carstein given new form as the Mortarch of Grief for obvious reasons, and Khalida's name was thrown around a bit, but I for one am stoked that it's an original character. Her model is absolutely exquisite, and while some players had some concerns about the structural integrity of the model, there's no question that it looks ominous and forboding on the table. As for rules, if there are two words to summarise her warscroll, it's "mortal wounds". And she generates a LOT of them! She's not the safest ethereal lady to be around, and is quite capable of nuking off pretty much any character she lays her eye-sockets on. With a great command ability, and a great spell, she looks to be worth every point of her price tag.

Kurdoss is less subtle in his methods. While his command point mechanic is hugely disruptive to the enemy, his real purpose is in his ability to smash his enemies to smithereens with his hefty sceptre. With a very respectable stat-line, he's not out of place on the front line crushin' skulls and takin' names.

The third is Reikenor. Of the three, I think Reikenor is not only the cheapest, but the most flexible of the three. He's got a great spell backed up by Corpse Candles, plenty of rules that make his combat prowess something to actually be concerned about, and most importantly, he's FAST! Speed and movement make or break armies, and having such a mobile character means that you can apply pressure wherever you want.

It's not all rainbows and lollipops, however. All three are no small investment of points, and all three have a measly seven wounds. The unmodified saves go a long way, but you can still fail saves, and the Deathless Spirits save is hardly something to rely on. If you can keep these characters alive (figuratively speaking, of course) for most of the game, they'll have a significant impact, but they will be target priority #1.

THE MOST UNDER-RATED HERO IN THE BATTLETOME (in my opinion...)

Well, here goes. There's one character that I keep coming back to that no one seems to rate. And that's the Dreadblade Harrow. While he doesn't look like much at first glance, with a so-so combat profile and fairly situational re-roll wound rule, his teleport is where he comes into his own. He can essentially shadowstep anywhere on the board as long as he's not in combat. Handy, right? But with the new-found freedom of command abilities, combined with named characters being unable to carry artefacts or be bestowed with Command Traits, this guy because prime candidate for your general. Nighthaunt get a command ability as part of their Allegiance called Spectral Summons, where a unit on the battlefield teleports to wholly within 12" of your general, and 9" away from enemies. With the other-worldly speed of the Harrow, your opponent has to be prepared for everything, as you can redeploy a scary combat character, blender unit, or tarpit into unexpected quarters. Keeping your opponent on the back foot and playing reactively is how to win with Nighthaunt, and this guy plays to that strength.

IF ONLY YOU WERE BETTER...

Glaivewraith Stalkers are probably the most underwhelming unit in the book. I love the models, and I love that they can retreat and charge... that's huge. But I just don't know where they fall. It's not that they're garbage. I mean, it's only 60 points for a unit of four. It's just that I think there are far better options for the points; namely Grimghast Reapers. Reapers have the same attack profile, but with a pip of rend, they get re-rolls to hit against units of 5 or more, rather than being dependant on charges, they're faster, and they're Battleline. The points per model also works out to be cheaper. I want Stalkers to be used and to have a purpose, but right now, I just can't see where they fit in the army as a whole. The only possible use for them that I can think of is to charge into something, survive combat, then use Fly to retreat over the top and charge a unit your opponent thought was safe. But, well, there's other units that can do that better too... If you've found a combo that works, I'd be fascinated to hear it.

THE STANDOUTS

There are two units that really shine in my eyes. The first, and unsurprisingly, is the Myrmourn Banshees. With such a heavy focus on magic in the current game, these anti-magic falsettos are guaranteed to be a practical inclusion in any army. Offering some much-needed magic defence, these ladies not only give you a great amount of utility to handle arcane threats, but when they do, they get reeeaaally angry! With Rend -2 and D3 damage, they're actually very scary once their attacks start piling up!

The second is the Bladegheist Revenants. They're perfect for smashing their way through tough opponents, with enough rend, attacks and re-rolls to make sure the jobs a good'un. In addition, they can retreat and charge, making the poor Glaivewraith Stalkers even less appealing. I'm expecting to see these spooky spectres a lot, as I think they're reliable and hugely threatening.

ARE SPIRIT HOSTS STILL RELEVANT?

Yes. Very.

SHOULD I PUT A BLACK COACH IN EVERY ONE OF MY LISTS?

Also, yes.

THE MORTALIS TERMINEXUS

In what looks to be the new trend, Nighthaunt has got three allegiance-specific Endless Spells, and while they're all focused on doing mortal wounds, the standout has to be the Terminexus in my eyes. Being 60 points, it's yet another thing you would purchase before dropping points on Stalkers (I genuinely feel bad for this unit, because it's an alright unit... it's just that the rest of the book is better and inadvertently makes it look bad). But the Terminexus is great because it yields reliable results and has a great amount of flexibility. If you're going second in the turn, you can potentially fling it into your opponent's army, hasten time and dish out some hurt, then rinse and repeat the following turn before your opponent can react. Worst case scenario, you manage to chip a few wounds off some units; best case scenario, you drop a couple of support characters into the underworld. There is, of course, the possibility that your opponent will gain control of it and slow down time to heal back those wounds, but we don't play dice games for guarantees (unless you play Tzeentch...).

Alternatively, you can summon it in your own lines, heal up some wounded units, then eat the Terminexus with your Myrmourn Banshees and buff them up in a chain of events that has next to no negative ramifications. Sure, the Banshees might take some mortal wounds, but you're still in the hero phase and there are several ways of replenishing the unit. Eating the Terminexus also prevents your opponent from turning your eldritch weapon against you. For only 60 points, it's another mechanic your opponent has to keep in the back of their mind.

PROS OF PLAYING NIGHTHAUNT:

There are plenty of reasons to collect and play Nighthaunt. Being supported by the new starter sets, along with plenty of Easy-To-Build sets, means that this is a financially cheap army to collect. There is not much outlay to get your army off the ground and on the table, with only a couple of big ticket units. Even Reikenor is ETB at no expense to the quality, which is reflected in his affordable price tag.

They're also famously easy to paint. If you wanted to invest in a single pot of Hexwraith Flame and paint the entire force in a single day, you can do that. Of course, there are more complex methods that painters are using to get astounding results, but it's an army that is as quick or slow to paint as you make it. 'Ghosting' an army used to be considered a bit of a dirty way to get painted models on the table quickly, but with Nighthaunt, it's how it should be.

You ignore rend entirely, which is nice!

Nighthaunt are spoilt for units, good artefacts and spells, allegiance abilities and combos. One of the hardest things when writing a list is deciding what NOT to take, because you simply will not be able to fit in everything that you want to. For such a compact army, there are layers and layers of combos that are just waiting to be unlocked and enacted upon the foes of Nagash. You do have to be pretty intentional about what you want in your list.

THINGS TO CONSIDER:

I don't really like using the term "cons", because every army has intentionally designed shortcomings, in whatever form they come in. But like any other army, it's not all decisive victories and crushing empires. Nighthaunt do have some limitations that need to be worked around in order to overcome. The first and most obvious thing is that, with the exception of a handful of heavier units, all of your infantry are single wound models. From the lowly Chainrasps and Stalkers to Harridans and Revenants, every point of damage you take is a model off the board. There are ways to replenish units, such as the Guardian of Souls, but that's using a single spell, which can be stopped.

Nighthaunt also have a distinct shortage of Wizards. The army has a solid spell lore, but only one generic wizard in the Guardian of Souls, and then Reikenor and Olynder. There's an artefact that makes the bearer a wizard, which I think will see a lot of play, but magic users (and defenders) must be factored in when writing lists. The Guardian is pretty much going to be in every list, because of his utility and his signature spell, but is he enough on his own? I don't think so.

The last and most important consideration to keep in mind is your movement phase. While the movement phase is vital for every competitive player, this is especially true with Nighthaunt. The army is built on aura's, areas of effect and being "wholly within". That sounds really obvious to say out loud, but mastering the movement phase, model placement and setting up for turns ahead is what is going to separate the good Nighthaunt players from the great Nighthaunt players. Put a single model too far away, over-extend by a little bit, and you can see your whole battleplan unravel. This Battletome is full to the brim of intimidating tools, but having access to them and using them with ruthless finesse are two very different things. A player who's not careful with his movement phase will find himself giving away the advantage, where I think a player who can keep track of what everything is doing and exactly where it should be will be infuriatingly tough to beat!

On the other side of the coin, the high movement levels and Fly army-wide will make this an incredibly tricky army to pin down!

In summary, I think we're about to see a metric ton of Nighthaunt armies hit the scene, and I can't wait. Usually, when a new army drops, it's a few months before fully painted armies start surfacing at events, but considering the speed with which the army can be built and painted, I'm anticipating a much faster turn around. It's definitely an army people will need to get their head around, even as opponents. Know your enemy.

I like this army, and I think it's a fantastic release. The model range is amazing, and I was lucky enough to put a brush to the Soul Wars models in the lead up to their release. Will I start my own Nighthaunt army? Perhaps. But not yet. I've got a few armies on the queue before I tackle the spooky bros!

What are your thoughts on the army? Are you diving in? And how do you plan on beating this new threat?

Let me know in the comments.
As always, 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







   

#119: Unlocking your true Portent-ial (WARNING: Puns ahead)

What is even happening?

We're a month into the year, and already, we are on the brink of a global narrative campaign, we're about to have Legions of Nagash unleashed upon the game, and Daughters of Khaine are coming in hot after that.

So yeah... its going to be a big year for Age of Sigmar, and we're only a month in. Looking back to last year, where Stormcast, Tzeentch, Khorne and Overlords got a Battletome update, it feels like this year is going to be dedicated to either new armies, or revamping (eh? re-VAMP-ing? get it!) older, neglected factions that didn't receive the love they deserved in the General's Handbook.

Legions of Nagash was a little bit of a surprise to me. I mean, we all knew there was going to be a Death Battletome eventually, but I was fully expecting it to be an expansion upon Deathrattle into a filled out faction with perhaps some new kits, or even giving Deadwalkers some love (because we all know Zombie Giants would be amazing!). But instead, GW has essentially released a Battletome for the entire Grand Alliance, with the exception of Flesh Eater Courts, who fill the Allies role for LoN.

Legions is almost the best case scenario (almost, but more on that later) for Death Players. Let's be real; the majority of Death Players were playing Grand Alliance Death anyway. There are, of course, plenty of FEC players, and new life was breathed into certain factions (these puns are coming thick and fast today, and I make no apologies) with the GHB17, but competitively, mixed Death seemed to be the strongest and most viable. I'm personally not a Death player, so correct me if I'm wrong in any of this. The combining of the armies means that so many models have launched back into the category of viable! I see this as being fantastic, and very themed, as you can now build one of several legions with all of the flexibility you desire.

The reason that I say 'almost the best case scenario' is because of one thing. The Knight of Shrouds.

"But, Gabe," I hear you say. "How is a new, awesome model with awesome rules a bad thing?".

That's exactly it. He's the only one. That character model is the first Death model to be released for the entire Grand Alliance since the birth of AOS, and while I know Death got lots of new models during the End Times, it's still disproportionate to literally every other Grand Alliance! Even the Ironjawz release had a heap of new models.

Don't get me wrong... the model is amazing! Not only is he a total bad ass model, but he fills the gaping General-shaped hole in a Nighthaunt army. No longer is your army led by a low-wound character with no command ability. He synergizes perfectly with the army, and I'm expecting to see him in every Nighthaunt army at every points level. That said, I'm interested to see where those minor GHB17 factions lie in regards to the Legions. Will they just become redundant in the shadow of the new Battletome, or will they have a niche spot? Time will tell.

Speaking of new models, the four new characters coming out look amazing! The Knight of Shrouds is stunning, and suitably creepy! His ominous helm and ancient longsword give him an air of terror that perfectly suits the Death aesthetic.

The Lord-Ordinator is a bit of an unusual one. I think a lot of people were hoping it would be an elf or a dwarf (even a human) instead of a Stormcast hero, this is probably the least Stormcast-y SCE model we've seen yet. Instead of the traditional head-to-toe plate armour, he's bare-armed and bareheaded, and his role as an engineer is clear just by looking at him. He wears robes and is adorned with tools and instruments of his trade. The duel-weilded hammers are also very reminiscent of Warrior Priests of the wold that was. I personally love this new direction, as well as his synergy and support role with war machines. I do think it's interesting to see a character dedicated to 'War Machines' specifically. We've not seen a model with the War Machine keyword released since the dawn of AOS, but I hope it's a unit type that we see return to the game with new models, no matter what race it's for. There's something awesome about crewed war machines raining death from afar!

The Darkaoth Warqueen is absolutely amazing as a model! Her beauty is perfectly balanced with the raw aggression present in the pose and the armament of the model. I can see this model being the foundation for perhaps a Valkia conversion, or simply as a stand alone character. I'm hoping that she and the Darkoath Cheiftain are glimpses of a more fleshed out faction in the future, that encompasses the Marauder aspect of the Chaos faction, steering away from the "viking" look and more toward  a barbarian aesthetic. A guy can dream, right?

Lastly, and by far the most exciting in my mind, is the Fungoid Cave Shaman. Moonclan Grots, while a much-beloved faction, have been scraping out a path to survival in the game since well before End Times. And while the range is fairly broad (when you include all of the Squigs and Forge World models), it was one of the surprise omissions from the GHB17. This came as quite a surprise to everyone, but hopefully this is a good thing. The Cave Shaman is very blatantly a Moonclan Grot, but the design is very different; hopefully a sign of things to come. While he's adorned in black robes, wields a sickle and has cresent moon icons like every other Shaman before him, there's no mistaking that he's decidedly higher-fantasy than his predecessors. from the weird brain-squig to the critter on his staff, the vials and pouches to the mushrooms growing on him, he looks far more "fantasy" than any other goblin released so far.

I'm hoping that these characters are heralds of future releases. I'd be totally OK with new Moonclan, Darkoath and Stormcast Engineers! Give me a Stormcast ballista... I'd be all over that!

And I haven't even mentioned the new Daughters of Khaine, yet! I did a full piece on looking at why no one was playing them in issue #108. And let's jsut say, judging by the hype, people are gonna be playing them left, right and centre! But that's a whole topic for another blog!

In summary, I can't wait to get my hands on the new books coming out on Saturday. Malign Portents is shaping up to be a huge story arc, and another big advancement in the Age of Sigmar. I think between this and Daughters, we're about to see a huge shake up of the game (again!), and I dunno about you but I can't wait. The game is always shifting and advancing, and it shows in everyone's face. We're all excited for every release, and Death has been coming a long way off! I hope it pleases the masses, as I think the book alone will give new life (you thought I was done with the puns, didn't you...) to an old, but beautiful range of models!

Are you jumping aboard the Death train or will you wait for the angriest ladies in all the realms?

Thanks for reading,
Gabe