The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
Please vote in the Forum Structure Poll. Polling will close at 2PM EST on January 21, 2025.
[Warhammer - Age of Sigmar] 4th Edition is here - New Rules for Everyone!
Halos Nach Tariff
Can you blame me?I'm too famous.Registered User regular
Can you blame me?I'm too famous.Registered User regular
Warhammer: Age of Sigmar is a fantasy tabletop miniature wargame from Games Workshop. Fantastic armies battle for supremacy across the magical Mortal Realms.
The game of fantasy battles That was then. This is now.
Current Events - THE HOUR OF RUIN
The Era of the Beast and the mad rampaging of the Earthquak God Kragnos has come to an end, but in its wake there is precious little time to even pick through the wreckage before the next great calamity can beset the ever-imperiled Mortal Realms. With an atonal clamouring of great brazen bells, a sickening plan laid in decades of devious scheming comes to fruition, the wretchedly ingenious engineers and cackling warlocks of the Skaven clans cracking hideous fissures across reality through which the blighted spires and pestilent warhosts of the rat-kin erupt in their million-throngs. An act of chaotic uprising so monumental that The Great Horned Rat himself is ascended to the ranks of a fully fledged chaos god, and the beseiged strongholds of order whisper that a second Age of Chaos has begun.
Game Info
Warhammer: Age of Sigmar is the fantasy counterpart to Warhammer 40,000, replacing the earlier incarnation of Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Mixing the grim gothic fantasy style of its predecessor, Age of Sigmar adds many outlandish high fantasy elements, as armies of mortals, demigods, daemons and monsters clash across the magical Mortal Realms.
Since its release, Age of Sigmar has grown to include many new original factions and expand the ever-growing lore and story of the Mortal Realms. It has also spawned additional games set in the Age of Sigmar, namely Warhammer Underworlds and Warcry.
Getting Started
The Core Rules for Age of Sigmar can be found here:
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2024/07/08/download-the-warhammer-age-of-sigmar-core-rules-battle-profiles-and-more-for-free
For all Age of Sigmar model ranges, check out Games Workshop's main site:
https://www.warhammer.com/en-GB/home
The Setting
In ages long past, so long ago that only the gods recall, the Old World was destroyed as the inevitable victory of the Dark Gods came to pass, with Chaos devouring the world and most of its mortal inhabitants. In the last days of the Old World, a desperate plan was set in motion to harness the Eight Winds of Magic to oppose the Dark Gods, but this ultimately failed and the world was lost. But it was not the end for everything...
The destruction of the World That Was released the Eight Winds into the universe, and each type of magic became the basis for an entire new realm of existence. Eight realms in all were born, the Mortal Realms, vast dimensions larger than any planet and filled with all manner of beings both mortal and divine, as well as fantastical kingdoms, lands, and even entire worlds.
A pantheon of Order, forged by Sigmar the God-King, rose to usher in an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity across the Mortal Realms, a golden age referred to as the Age of Myth. Man, duardian, aelf, even orruk, undead, and other monstrous races were united in relative harmony.
Inevtiably, the age could not last, and the gods and mortals fell to warring amongst one another. As the alliance forged by Sigmar began to fracture, the forces of Chaos discovered the Mortal Realms and the Dark Gods desired to add them to their tally of conquests. They sent both their mortal slaves and their daemon creations to attack the Mortal Realms, plunging them into an Age of Chaos.
Sigmar, unwilling to let the Dark Gods destroy yet another reality, gathered the souls of the mightiest heroes of mankind and forged them into a new army - the Stormcast Eternals, the God-King's ultimate weapon against Chaos. After centuries of preparation, the Stormcast Eternals strike the forces of the Dark Gods across the Mortal Realms with righteous fury, bringing an end to the Age of Chaos.
Whilst the coming of Sigmar's Storm has broken the stranglehold of Chaos upon the realms, ushering in a new Age of Sigmar, the war against Chaos is only just begun, and the dawning age has been marked already by strife and conflict on an impossible scale. Even as the ravenous forces of Chaos seek to reclaim what has been snatched from their jaws, other factions have made moves to secure their own enviable power. The Great Necromancer, Nagash, commits the untiring might of his undead armies in ceaseless effort to cleanse the realms of all life that is not enslaved to his sole will. And across every realm the destructive passions of the wild followers of the twin-headed beast diety, Gorkamorka, the orruks and the ogres and the grots, are more than eager to throw their weight against the already perilous settlements of the defenders of order.
The destruction of the World That Was released the Eight Winds into the universe, and each type of magic became the basis for an entire new realm of existence. Eight realms in all were born, the Mortal Realms, vast dimensions larger than any planet and filled with all manner of beings both mortal and divine, as well as fantastical kingdoms, lands, and even entire worlds.
A pantheon of Order, forged by Sigmar the God-King, rose to usher in an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity across the Mortal Realms, a golden age referred to as the Age of Myth. Man, duardian, aelf, even orruk, undead, and other monstrous races were united in relative harmony.
Inevtiably, the age could not last, and the gods and mortals fell to warring amongst one another. As the alliance forged by Sigmar began to fracture, the forces of Chaos discovered the Mortal Realms and the Dark Gods desired to add them to their tally of conquests. They sent both their mortal slaves and their daemon creations to attack the Mortal Realms, plunging them into an Age of Chaos.
Sigmar, unwilling to let the Dark Gods destroy yet another reality, gathered the souls of the mightiest heroes of mankind and forged them into a new army - the Stormcast Eternals, the God-King's ultimate weapon against Chaos. After centuries of preparation, the Stormcast Eternals strike the forces of the Dark Gods across the Mortal Realms with righteous fury, bringing an end to the Age of Chaos.
Whilst the coming of Sigmar's Storm has broken the stranglehold of Chaos upon the realms, ushering in a new Age of Sigmar, the war against Chaos is only just begun, and the dawning age has been marked already by strife and conflict on an impossible scale. Even as the ravenous forces of Chaos seek to reclaim what has been snatched from their jaws, other factions have made moves to secure their own enviable power. The Great Necromancer, Nagash, commits the untiring might of his undead armies in ceaseless effort to cleanse the realms of all life that is not enslaved to his sole will. And across every realm the destructive passions of the wild followers of the twin-headed beast diety, Gorkamorka, the orruks and the ogres and the grots, are more than eager to throw their weight against the already perilous settlements of the defenders of order.
What Are the Mortal Realms
The Mortal Realms - Simple, and Easy to Understand
The Mortal Realms are not ordinary worlds, but vast planar dimensions floating in the aetheric void. Each one is a fantastic realm filled with landscapes and regions that would not be possible on worlds bound entirely by natural law, for every Mortal Realm is almost a universe unto itself, born of pure magic. At the heart of a realm, magic has solidified into something akin to reality and the majority of mortal kingdoms are founded here, while closer to the perimeter of the realm magic grows wild and more elemental, and sights such as floating islands, walking mountains, living storms, and other fantastic and terrible wonders can be witnessed.
The Mortal Realms are joined by Realmgates, magical portals created by some ancient civilization lost to the ages. Realmgates provide magical travel over vast distances, and are the only reliable ways to travel between the eight realms. Control of the Realmgates is vital for any power seeking to conquer, and they are a major focus for many of the warring factions vying for dominion.
The Realm of Aqshy - This bit here...
...Is that liiittle bit there, you see it?
The eight realms are...
Azyr, Realm of the Celestial. The seat of the God-King Sigmar's power. Sigmar rules here unopposed.
Aqshy, Realm of Fire. A land of raging passions and volatile horizons. The duardin god Grimnir perished here, while Khorne's forces are in ascendance.
Ghyran, Realm of Life. Green and verdant, burgeoning with all forms of life. The aelven goddess of life Alarielle wars with Nurgle for mastery of these lands.
Shyish, Realm of Death. Composed of innumerable afterlives and underworlds. After the events of the Soul Wars, the magical polarity of the Realm of Death has been forever changed by the sorcery of Nagash, the Great Necormancer.
Chamon, Realm of Metal. A realm of transmutation, alchemy, and grand potential. The eye of Tzeentch is upon these protean lands, while the duardin deity Grungni is rumoured to be labouring in secret somewhere.
Ghur, Realm of Beast. Primeval realm of savage violence, where only the strong survive and the continents themselves hunt one another as predator and prey. The footfalls of mighty Gorkamorka echo like thunder in the distance.
Hysh, Realm of Light. A realm of dazzling enlightenment and unbound intellect. The twin aelven gods of Light, Tyrion and Teclis, reign hidden in this realm, their attentions on their imprisoned nemesis...
Ulgu, Realm of Shadows. Shrouded in darkness, a land of secrets and mystery. The aelven god of shadow, Malerion, slithers in the gloomy mists, his scheming hidden from all.
Despite the dawning of the Age of Sigmar, the realms are still horribly scarred by the forces of Chaos, and vast regions of each one are corrupt extensions of the dread Realm of Chaos itself.
The Grand Alliances
There are a great many factions vying for supremacy in the Mortal Realms, but they can all be categorized into one of four Grand Alliances. In earlier versions of the game, these Grand Alliances had a more direct mechanical function, but these days they are more of a narrative structure, grouping factions with similar goals or ideologies together, representing potential allies and comrades, or at the very least a willingness not to immediately jump to open warfare.
ORDER
It's more Hammer Time than it has ever been before.
Nominally united under the God-King Sigmar, these factions strive to drive the powers of Chaos from the Mortal Realms forever. Of course, many follow their own agendas...
-The Stormcast Eternals-
Superhuman warriors created by Sigmar from the souls of humanity's greatest heroes. These brave men and women are imbued with the God-King's own celestial might, granting them abilities beyond most mortals. Armored in gleaming sigmarite plate and wielding the fury of the storm, they are a nigh-unstoppable force. Even if a Stormcast dies in battle, their soul returns to the Realm of Azyr to be reforged and sent back into battle. However, each reforging costs them a fraction of their precious humanity, and as more and more Stormcast fall and return, these growing flaws in the reforging process may have dire consequences in the future...
On the table: The Stormcast Eternals play using units with typically powerful statlines, but fairly straightforward army rules, just what you want out of a starter faction. The main downside is that there are a lot (and I do mean a lot) of available Stormcast units, which can lead to both choice paralysis and a bunch of trap options in list building. They can do a little bit of everything, but your best bet is often to focus one or two specific avenues and work out the best units available for what you want to accomplish in those roles.
-Fyreslayers -
Duardin that worship the fallen Slayer-God Grimnir. They bear runes of ur-gold fused into their flesh, the enchanted metal believed to contain fragments of their dead god. Highly mercenary, they will fight for any who can pay them in the gold they desire, for any scrap of gold may contain a fragment of their god's divine might. For them, to fight for pay is the purest expression of their worship.
On the table: Fyreslayers are slow, foot-slogging, hard as nails Duardin, who want to take up a commanding position on the battlefield and just dare their foolish opponents to try and come take it from them. They have a limited selection of units available to them, but all of them serve a function. The most typical lists will see a bunker of angry, fire-runed Duardin buffed to the teeth by supporting priests and heroes, and boasting both a formidable offense and defense.
-Kharadron Overlords-
When their ancient strongholds were overrun during the Age of Chaos, some enterprising duardin took to the skies. Using advanced science, they have created fantastic airships and weaponry to defend their floating stronghold-cities. They value the magical airborne substance known as aether-gold, believed to be the divine breath of the Forge-God Grungni.
On the table: One of the more unusual factions in Age of Sigmar, the Kharadron Overlords can be played in a few different ways, but most lists will revolve around their troop-transporting skyships, carrying alchemical gun-toting Duardin into the perfect position to blast the core out of the opposing forces. They are a little tricky to play with in 4th edition so far, but have a number of movement shenanigans with their flying ships which can help them keep ahead of the pack.
-Sylvaneth-
Terrifying protectors of the Mortal Realms' natural splendor, the merciless Sylvaneth represent the fury of nature unbound. Spawned by the aelven goddess of life Alarielle, the Sylvaneth are creatures part spirit, part flesh, and part plant. Erupting from the forested regions of the Mortal Realms, they swarm unstoppably to eliminate any threat to the natural world. Even their erstwhile allies in the forces of Order are not safe from Sylvaneth on the warpath.
On the table: Skirmishy, bait-and-trap hunters, the Sylvaneth like to make sure no part of the battlefield is beyond their reach, able to ambush and fade away through their overgrown woodland glades, which can be sprouted mid-battle via their aboreal spellcasting. The downside of this is that they really need those trees to be on the board to make the most of their abilities, so you need to be playing a very careful game to get your pristine woodlands exactly when and where you need them to be.
-Idoneth Deepkin-
The aelven god of Light Teclis sought to restore his people after the fall of the World That Was, and used souls stolen from the gullet of the Chaos God Slaanesh to accomplish this. The first results of his efforts were the Idoneth Deepkin, a somber and soul-broken breed. Dwelling deep within the oceans of the Mortal Realms, where the crushing depths stifle the sensation that the Dark God Slaanesh craves, the Idoneth Deepkin use their magically conjured ether-sea and enchanted ocean monsters to attack settlements of other mortal races, for the Deepkin must devour the souls of others to feed their own.
On the table: Glass-cannons to a tee, the Idoneth Deepkin want to strike quickly into an enemy's weakspot and take it out before they take too much damage in return. Their main army ability, the Tides of Death, requires careful manipulation of the state of the battle before they can dash in for the killing strike.
-Daughters of Khaine-
The blood-hungry she-aelves are the servants of the fallen God of Murder, Khaela Mensha Khaine. Though Khaine was all but annihilated in the fall of the World That Was, the Daughters of Khaine seek to restore their fallen god to dark glory with their muderous acts of war and sacrifice. Forged by the aelven demi-goddess Morathi from souls stolen from Slaanesh, the Daughters show the mark of their corrupted souls through a variety of monstrous mutations.
On the table: Also glass-cannons, but without the high movement stats of the Idoneth, the Daughters of Khaine rely on shifting a variety of melee-empowering buffs onto the right units at the right time to slice apart enemy units with a dizzying amount close-combat damage. Their Blood Rites ability makes them more dangerous the longer the battle goes on, but the trick is finding a way to keep their units alive long enough for that to matter...
-The Seraphon-
The lizardmen known as the Seraphon are the servants of the Slaan, an ancient race that escaped annihilation during the fall of the World That Was. These Slaan Starmasters have transcended their former limits, and now conjure their Seraphon warriors from raw celestial magic. Monstrous reptilian legions older than human memory stride into battle, laying waste to the enemies of Order before vanishing in the aether as myseriously as they arrived. The Seraphon are represented by the Warhammer Fantasy Lizardmen range of models.
On the table: The Seraphon can pretty much do it all, dominating magic with the Slaan Starpriests, ferocious melee threat with monsters and dinosaur cavalry, grindy, defensive Saurus Warrior blocks, even some nifty shooting output from the right units. The hard part is fitting all of it into a single list! The Seraphon have a lot of unit options, and the majority of them are decent to good, so they are capable of putting together a variety of powerful and interesting armies.
-Lumineth Realm-Lords-
Striding out of the brilliance of the realm of Hysh, the Lumineth Realm-Lords are the creations of the aelven god of Light, Teclis. Drawing power from the elemental energies of the Mortal Realms, from skies and rivers and mountains, the Lumineth combine magical mastery with flawless martial strategy. To protect themselves from the temptations of the great enemy Slaanesh, they eschew emotions and personal ambition, fighting for the greater good. The Lumineth go so far as to use magic to remove emotional imbalance from their very being, a practice that serves to make them incorruptible, at the cost of their growing increasingly cold and merciless, beings devoid of emotion entirely.
On the table: Shining ranks of excellent infantry, great cavalry units, powerful shooting, and a suite of useful and interesting wizard heroes, the Lumineth can really do it all, making for an exemplary mixed-arms force. However, everything is pretty elite and expensive, so they can struggle to bring their superior stats to bear properly.
-Cities of Simgar-
The God-King of Azyr has masterminded the construction of bastions of civilization all across the Mortal Realms, the glorious and myriad Cities of Sigmar. Home to millions of mortals from the races of men, aelf, and duardin, the cities are defended by stalwart souls devoted to the God-King and the powers of Order. The Cities of Sigmar represent the normal folk of the Mortal Realms, but that only means so much in a world where you can't go two steps without tripping over a magic sword or cursed skull.
On the table: The Cities of Sigmar bring to bear diverse force of arms which can triumph in many aspects of the game, with units of battle-hardened humans, aelves, and duardin working together to secure victory for the common folk. They are a little bit like the poor-man's Lumineth, able to run a variety of competent mixed-arms lists to decent effect. (However, it is worth saying that some of the older Fantasy Battle kits may wind up vanishing into The Old World before long, so be careful with your purchases.)
CHAOS
I'm here to kill Warhammer Fantasy and rule the Mortal Realms. And I'm all out of Warhammer Fantasy.
Led by Archaon the Everchosen, arch-champion of the Dark Gods, the forces of Chaos nearly conquered the Mortal Realms entire. The powers unleashed by Sigmar have broken the grip of Chaos over the Mortal Realms, but the battle is far from over. Bearing a grudge against Sigmar from before the fall of the World That Was, Archaon will not rest until all who stand before him are destroyed.
-Blades of Khorne-
The forces of Khorne, Chaos God of bloodshed and war. Bloodthirsty mortal barbarians and slaughter-mad legions of Khornate daemons pay homage to the Blood God, and seek to take the skulls of their enemies to lay at Khorne's great throne.
On the table: The Blades of Khorne are a little bit more of a finesse army than their theming might suggest, but not so much so that they don't feel like Khorne! Brutal melee units that want to run across the table and get stuck into their opponent, but they have a lot of tools and tricks to make sure that they do so in the best possible terms. As units are slain, friend or foe, the Khorne army gains access to a suite of powerful abilities, and mastery of these is crucial to success.
-Disciples of Tzeentch-
The Architect of Fate, the Master of Fortune, the Changer of Ways - only some of the many names of Tzeentch, Chaos God of magic, transformation, and dark ambition. His mortal cultists plot and scheme throughout the kingdoms of Order, his Tzaangor beast-kin stand ready for war, and his Tzeentchian daemons prepare to unleash utter havoc.
On the table: Maximum magic, maximum annoyance, the Disciples of Tzeentch want to focus on funneling their opponents into mid-range kill boxes where they can unleash the full power of the magical damage. They have some shooting and movement trickery as well, including being able to set enemy units on fire or turn them into chaos spawn, but a lot of the gameplay is in making sure you have the right spells in the right place for the right targets, just as planned.
-Maggotkin of Nurgle-
No force in all the Mortal Realms is more revolting than the servants of Nurgle, Chaos God of disease and despair. The generous Nurgle lavishes the gift of plague upon the Mortal Realms, reaping a bounty of pustulent horror and virulent putrescence. His mortal warriors are bloated with disease and swollen with their loving god's strength, and the Nurglish daemon legions strive to spread the majesty of Father Nurgle's glory with the feverish energy of an epidemic.
On the table: Slow moving, tough as nails, attrition warfare, just as you'd expect, the armies of the Maggotkin excel at trudging up the board, bogging up the centerlines, and forcing their opponent to try and chip through solid armour and army-wide ward saves whilst they're also being whittled away be wasting disease and debilitating debuffs effects.
-Hedonites of Slaanesh-
For centuries, the Fourth Throne of the Dark Gods has sat empty. Slaanesh was lost, missing... captive. Ensnared by the aelven gods of Light and Shadow, Slaanesh languishes in their prison, but with every passing day his bindings grow irrevocably weaker. The call of Slaanesh rings out across the Mortal Realms, and their children are stirred to war. Be they mortal worshiper or Slaaneshi daemon, the Hedonites rampage across the realms in honor to absent Slaanesh. Some seek to find their missing god... while others dream that they might replace them.
On the table: High speed, low defence, spiky damage output, the Hedonites of Slaanesh have a lot of decent units to choose from, but the nature of their faction rules (which are really, really bad, like, almost you're better off not using them bad!) means that they are often relying on the strength of those units to secure victory. The top lists are probably just going to be taking a bunch of archers, but there are some other fun toys in the roster too, and if those battle traits ever get adjusted into something more useable they could be a real menace...
-The Skaven-
Lurking beneath the mortal kingdoms of the eight realms are the skaven, wicked ratmen that gnaw at the very fabric of reality itself. The skaven lurk in the shadows of the Mortal Realms, beneath the unwitting mortal civilizations above them. Specialist Greatclans provide the skaven with a vast array of forces to utilize in their campaign to bring the lesser races under their dominion. At the head of their dark race is the Great Horned Rat, once a minor Chaos deity, now bloated with might from the worship of his children and risen to match the other Dark Gods as a fifth major power, the Chaos God of blight and ruin.
On the table: Maniacal mixed-arms ratmen with a deep bench of viable units and list types. Mostly Skaven lists tend to focus around dangerous, if unpredictable, firepower, but there are also options to go monster heavy, or massed melee infantry (to a degree) with a host of tricks and gimmicks, depending on which of the Skaven clans are brought under your banner. Watch this space for the incoming 4th edition battletome to see what changes are wrought to the Skaven.
-Slaves to Darkness-
From the barbarian savages of the Darkoath tribes to the exalted champions of the Varanguard, the legions of the Dark Gods are a force seemingly without limit, casting their shadow across all the Mortal Realms. Whatever their reason for turning their backs on humanity, the Dark Gods laugh at their petty ambitions and vanities. In the end, from the lowliest marauder to Archaon himself, they are naught but Slaves to Darkness...
On the table: Rock solid armoured infantry and cavalry, a huge range of diverse options in terms of skirmishers, monsters, and heroes, their customisable Marks of Chaos would provide some interesting listbuilding choices, but realistically you're going to be taking Nurgle on basically everything. Though, that said, they are still a force to be reckoned with if you're a fan of winning the game through sheer strength of arms.
DEATH
Dead and would be loving it, if capable of love
Nagash, the Great Necromancer, is the self-proclaimed God of Shyish. Lording over the afterlives and underworlds of all the Mortal Realms, Nagash schemes to become the greatest power in all the cosmos, and bind all that exists under his indomitable will. Once a reluctant ally of Sigmar in the Age of Myth, Nagash loathes the God-King for taking the souls of mighty heroes to forge his Stormcast Eternals - souls that rightfully belong to the Lord of Death.
-Soulblight Gravelords-
The vampiric nobility of the Mortal Realms. Ancient and powerful beyond mortal reckoning, with bloodlines that can be traced back to the World-That-Was, the power-hungry aristocracy of the night obey the Great Necromancer, but only as long as it serves their own dark desires. Slaking their thirst with the blood of mortals, the Soublight Gravelords command innumerable legions of the undead.
On the table: Large blocks of regenerating, self-restoring undead minions, buffed up by supporting vampires and necromancers, with a few choice terrifying monsters thrown in for good measure. A lot of the power in this army is coming from its ability to replenish its units, even if they're removed from the battlefield there's a good chance they'll be able to return at half-strength before long, but their magic is also nothing to sneeze at, and some of their heroes can do some neat tricks too.
-Flesh-Eater Courts-
Afflicted by a morbid supernatural curse, the Flesh-Eater Courts are armies comprised of ghouls, vile carrion-creatures suffused with the magic of death. In their own twisted minds, the flesh-eaters halucinate that they are glorious and noble heraldic warriors of heroic bloodlines and chilvarous traditions. In their delusions they believe that they are brave warriors fighting against hideous monsters, when in reality they are the true monsters, slaughtering and feasting upon the innocent people of the Mortal Realms. Of all the forces of death, Nagash has the least amount of control over them.
On the table: The degenerate ghouls of the Flesh-Eater Courts favour a more defensive, counter-charge playstyle bouyed by their powerful unit regeneration abilities. An almost entirely melee faction, which makes up for generally poor attack values via sheer weight of dice and bodies, but they need to make sure their many powerful hero units are kept both alive and in the right position at the right time to secure victory.
-Nighthaunt-
Spectral phantasms that roam the darkest regions of the Mortal Realms, the terrifying Nighthaunts have been shaped by the magic of Nagash into hideous forms that reflect the Great Necromancer's twisted sense of justice. The ethereal Nighthaunts are driven by dark compulsion to inflict horror and death upon the living, spiriting their souls back to the Realm of Death for their dark master.
On the table: Almost certainly the most powerful army in the game currently, 4th edition Nighthaunt are priced like a horde army but with the stats and abilities of an elite force, expect a few nerfs to roll down the pipeline in future. But for the time being, they're powerfully mobile, hard-hitting, and almost impossible to meaningfully damage, though it still takes a skillful general to take advantage of all of their tricks and tools!
-Ossiarch Bonereapers-
Vanguards of a new order, the Ossiarch Bonereapers are a recently completed creation of Nagash, a legion centuries in the making. Their physical forms are molded from the bones of the dead, animated by necromantic magic and shackled spirits. They are not the mindless shambling undead of Nagash's other legions, but an elite fighting force of highly skilled and intelligent warriors, undying, relentless, and utterly without mercy.
On the table: Phalanx ranks of immortal, perfect warriors and towering, deadly bone constructs, the Bonereapers are the most obviously martial of the Death factions, and that's how they play on the tabletop too, with flawless commanders giving nearby units disciplined orders in each phase, there's always a tool or tactic available to give the immortal legions a leg up over their foes.
DESTRUCTION
I'm da biggest, so I'm da boss!!
The hordes of Destruction are united only by a love of unleashing absolute carnage. There is no subtlety, no strategy behind their rampage. They are driven only by the primal need for violence. They heed the call of the two-headed god of destruction, Gorkamorka.
-Orruk Warclans-
The biggest, meanest, and loudest of the greenskins, the orruks boast that they have the greatest favor of Gorkamorka. The brutal Ironjawz leave not a stone standing in their great destructive WAAAGHS!!! across the Mortal Realms, and the viciously cunning Kruleboyz skulk from the fens and marshlands of the realms, utterly sadistic in their methods of cruelty. The orruks honor Gorkamorka in their bellows for war and their thundering charges, and most of all in the utter destruction of anything that stands in their way.
On the table: For some reason the two Orruk Warclan armies still share a single index in 4th edition, despite there being no crossover between the two ranges. Regardless, the Ironjawz are a purely melee, slow but tough, brutal combat army, who play an honest game of Warhammer with few tricks or traps. Their boggy cousins, the Kruleboyz, however, are anything but honest, and are able to use a suite of despicable dirty tactics to utterly ruin any plans the enemy might think to make.
-Gloomspite Gitz-
Summoned by the rise of the dreaded Bad Moon as it drifts across the Mortal Realms, the Gloomspite Gitz swarm out of every dank and forgotten corner. Moonclan Grots, Spiderclan Grots, monstrous Troggoths breeds, and all manner of squiggly beasts and strange fungal creatures caper and cackle beneath the light of the Bad Moon.
On the table: The Gloomspite Gitz suffer a little bit from being almost four armies crammed into one mildewed tome, this does provide a lot of player customisation and list building options, but not all of them are made equal! Also their main battle trait is both quite random and not very impactful, kind of the worst of both worlds. Armies of massed infantry, bounding squig cavalry, venomous spider-riders, or tough, punchy troggoths are all available, but if you want to win you'll probably be taking the Troggs for the time being.
-Ogor Mawtribes-
Obsessed with eating and fighting, the Mawtribes of the ogor race roam the Mortal Realms in great nomadic armies. Everything in their path is smashed into oblivion as the ogors feast on the flesh and blood of their victims before moving on, leaving naught but ruin in their wake.
On the table: Large and in charge, the armies Ogor Mawtribes tend to be low model count, but those models can pack quite the punch, almost every unit has multi-damage weapons on solid statlines, the infantry portion of the book is pretty potent, whilst the monster cavalry units are, unfortunately, a little lackluster. They can play a lot of wounds on the table, but most of their units cannot really take a hit back, with a high wounds stat but low saves, and with such an elite force an Ogor player has to be very careful in how they're playing if they don't want to lose their models in droves.
-Sons of Behemat-
The colossal gargants are some of the largest creatures in the Mortal Realms, a single such beast capable of smashing an entire legion of human-sized troops. Gargants spawned from the god-beast Behemat are an especially large and dangerous breed, a mere handful capable of laying waste to an entire kingdom. When the earth quakes underfoot, it means the Sons of Behemat are on the march.
On the table: Largier and in chargier, the Sons of Behemat are the lowest model count army in Age of Sigmar, in a standard sized game it is extremely unlikely for them to field more than 10 models in a list, for most lists it's more like 4 models. An army entirely of giant monsters, they play unlike any other faction in the game. They do decent melee damage, but a lot of the time they're aiming to steal the winning objectives just be standing there and being intimidating. Plus they have a special rule which lets them suplex enemy monsters, I just thought that was important to note.
Halos Nach Tariff on
+5
Posts
Also, the mat is double sided, and between the snow and the gloss of the poster paper of the mat, the snowy side that all the Warcom previews show off is ridiculously bright and has horrid readability. It's a terrible box in and out.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
Oh well.
3DS: 1650-8480-6786
Switch: SW-0653-8208-4705
I play my variant called Warcry Hex, which is basically Warcry on 4 Underworlds boards, and instead of inches it’s number of hexes you can move, and I use regular Warcry stats, and it works pretty fine (except for disengage, you have to change it to “move 3 hexes away from enemies, and if you cannot end up up in a hex not adjacent to that enemy, cancel that disengage action and move).
OK, the Corvus Cabal don’t work well as you don’t have verticality in this rules setting, but hey, it works for almost everything else!
In fact, if you buy the new Shadespire Starter set, and use the free compendium and warcry rules you can download, with the suggestion above you can have a pretty great time with 500-600 point warbands (= Underworlds warbands) and you have absolute freedom to mix and match (get the try-to-paint-Stormcast-for-free in your local GW store to expand the Stromcast team at basically no cost).
It's a shame too, cos in theory a small-warband, small-board Warcry starter set with some limited terrain is a pretty good idea, but it'd need to be at a lower price point than they're offering for an on-ramp product. The big, full warband boxes are nice and all, but they're pricey and will take a while to get everything ready to play with, a little, cheap-ish 4 v 4 box of pushfit minis and single piece terrain segments that's always on the shelves sounds like a winner to me.
great as additional scatter but very anemic by itself
Shame about this Warcry box, I guess.
I wanna do something fun instead: write the timeline that was too big to add to the original OP!
Age of Sigmar Timeline
The Mortal Realms coalesce from the Eight Winds of Magic, the powers of the fallen World That Was. Gods and monsters come to reign over mortal kingdoms as the eight Mortal Realms take form.
Sigmar, reborn from the ashes of his lost homeworld as the God King, rises to forge a Pantheon of Order that brings peace to the Mortal Realms, with ancient allies such as Tyrion, Teclis, Allerielle, Grimnir, and Grungni.
Even malign deities such as Malerion, Nagash, and Gorkamorka were brought into the fold by the glory of Sigmar's vision. But inevitably, the order they forged began to fray.
Age of Chaos
The Ruinous Powers turned their gate upon the Mortal Realms, seeking a new reality to conquer. Turning both mortals and gods against one-another, the Ruinous Powers shattered Sigmar's Pantheon and descended upon the divided Mortal Realms.
Disgusted, Sigmar withdrew to his chosen realm of Azyr and closed all gateways there, leaving it inviolate, but the other realms swiftly fell to the Dark Gods and their legions.
Though the elven deities of Light and Shadow were able to imprison Slaanesh, the victory of Chaos was almost complete.
Age of Sigmar
For centuries Sigmar labored in secret in the sealed-off realm of Azyr, aided by the forge god Grungni.
The result of their efforts were the mighty Stormcast Eternals, superhuman warriors raised up from death and given the mightiest weapons and sorceries ever devised. After 500 years, Sigmar unleashes his Stormcast upon the Chaos-stricken Mortal Realms.
The first strikes break the stranglehold of the Dark Gods, and spark uprisings across the realms from all those who seek an end to Chaos' rule. The Age of Sigmar had begun.
The Realmgate Wars
The first major offensive of Sigmar's armies was to capture the Realmgates, magical portals that connect the Mortal Realms. The most vital of these were the Arcways, Realmgates that lead to the sub-dimensional realm known as the Eightpoints, the primary bastion of Chaos in the Mortal Realms.
Several of the vital Arcways were wrested from Chaos' grasp, the forces of Sigmar manage to awaken Alarielle, God of Life and mistress of Ghyran, securing her aid against Chaos, and the Stormcast recover the mythical warhammer Ghal Maraz, the lost hammer of Sigmar himself, restoring its power to the God King's armies.
In turn, the Dark Gods unleash their own mightiest champion, Archaon the Everchosen, who reaps a terrible toll upon Sigmar's armies.
Malign Portents
Nagash, God of Death, emerges from the underworld realm of Shyish to wrest his domain from the grip of Chaos. The many wars across the Mortal Realms swell his ranks with souls, but he bears enmity against Sigmar for stealing the souls of great heroes to forge into his Stormcast.
Nagash unleashes the magic of death across the Mortal Realms, harnessing its power in an effort to elevate himself above all other deities.
Schemes by the verminous Skaven spoil his ascension, resulting in Nagash's hoarded death magic unleashing a mystical disaster across the eight realms - the Necroquake.
The Soul Wars
The Necroquake fractures reality in the Mortal Realms, raising the dead across all eight realms and greatly amplifying the powers of magic, causing countless magical beasts and living spells to come into existence.
Ancient vaults containing lost treasures, magical weapons, and mighty entities are broken open, unleashing their contents upon the realms.
While the ranks of the undead swell Nagash's power, every god and power rushes to harness the might of the restless souls for their own designs.
From a shattered vault, Nagash raises the great general Katakros to lead a new army of the undead, using them to drive the forces of Chaos from Shyish and secure a foothold in the Eightpoints.
Broken Realms
The aleven sorceress Morathi, mother to Malerion, God of Shadows, orchestrates a plan to elevate herself to true godhood.
Morathi's scheming weakens the bindings on Slaanesh, who unleashes his twin children upon the Mortal Realms to rally his followers.
Nagash, seeking to spread the Necroquake further, duels with the aelven God of Light Teclis, who manages to banish the God of Death back to Shyish and end the Necroquake.
The forces of Sigmar are hampered when Be'lakor, the First Daemon Prince, unleashes a storm of magic across the Mortal Realms that prevents the Stormcast Eternals from returning to Azyr when they are slain, taking away the greatest advantage of the God King's armies - their immortality.
Era of the Beast
With the Necroquake receeding, a tide of life magic sweeps the Mortal Realms, leading to the resurrection of a powerful and ancient God of Destruction, Kragnos, who rallies the seemingly endless orruk hordes to his banner.
In response to growing threats from forces opposed to Order, Sigmar launches the Dawnbringer Crusades, grand expansions of millions of mortals carrying the flame of civilization to the wildest regions of the Mortal Realms.
Grungni aids the God King by outfitting the Stormcast with new, more powerful implements of war, including the means to defy Be'lakor's Storms of Chaos.
The Twin-Tailed Crusade
A two-pronged Dawnbringer Crusade is launched to the realms of Aqshy and Ghyran. One is foretold to attain greatness. The other, disaster...
That’s almost twice the miniatures, and they’re all new!
EDIT: Oh sweet! Plague Skaven Underworlds warband next week!
And more cards they will not explain
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2023/07/31/vanguard-seraphon-goes-for-the-throat-in-a-display-of-saurian-fury/
The Vanguard for the Seraphon
In other news my main AOS buddy plays Seraphon, and they are a very tough army to beat. I play Idoneth, and from what I understand that is a tough match to begin with; I get outmagicked pretty heavy even with an Aspect of the Sea, and Seraphon are tough enough and hit back hard enough that I have a hard time fishing for good fights on the tabletop.
So far my best success has been to run Mor'phann and bog him down in ever-regenerating blocks of Thralls while the eels do work. Reavers are on the way to back up the Thralls, and a King soon hopefully to get the much needed offensive power to crack the tough lizards.
I agree. Because of the table we play on [a beat up card table} with a plank across it so we can play larger games but we mostly play kill team and such. I would be interested in vanguard as that would be a quicker and friendlier way to play
Carnosaurs were in the old start collecting box; I’m pretty sure that box cost less or was equal to buying a Carnosaur in its own (so it was pointless to buy solo).
A good box; glad it’s different enough from the stuff you got from the army box.
I'd be shocked if it didn't. Good on them making Combat Patrol a thing again.
3DS: 1650-8480-6786
Switch: SW-0653-8208-4705
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2023/08/01/warhammer-underworlds-how-to-scramble-skabbiks-plaguepack-to-the-top/
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2023/08/04/cities-of-sigmar-the-entire-magnificent-range-revealed/
Not quite to my tastes for the most part, and it's a shame not to have even a single elf or duardin in the new models, but they are fine looking minis, for sure.
My money's on the old elf/dwarf minis just getting reboxed with maybe a model count doubling/price hike to encourage double dipping with Old World. Old World's bump to 25mm minimum for bases would work really well with minis already on 25mm round bases.
I mean that would be the smart move, to allow overlap between the games for most armies.
3DS: 1650-8480-6786
Switch: SW-0653-8208-4705
I do very much like the mini-character command squad though, very cool.
They're definitely going for a darkest dungeon look
I suspect they're doing the opposite of double dipping. Most high and wood elf units are already gone from AoS and a bunch more are getting cut from the Cities book. It's going to be mostly dark elves left in there. And Dark Elves are currently not planned for old world.
It's similar with 40k and Heresy. Almost all heresy vehicles are either for proxying or have been moved to legends.
GW doesn't want anyone to use one army for several systems. Gotta buy a new one for a new game.
i really want that cannon crew guy chugging a drink for my necromunda bar patrons project
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2023/08/09/the-blacktalons-strike-out-into-the-age-of-sigmar-with-precision-and-ferocity/
Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
Yup.
Sure would suck.
(It's me. I'm the Idoneth person. Yes I'm buying this.)
I have a feeling Blackthorn's group will have a dual purpose of being in warcry as well
I used to play 8th edition a decent amount (Beasts and Dwarfs), then our group transitioned to The 9th age for a bit. I moved around after that and was curious about getting back in. Is it possible to use my current armies (tweaked of course) to play Age of Sigmar or would I have to start over pretty much?
I have a passing understanding of Sigmar stuff, so this will probably need to be checked by someone more qualified:
Beasts made it over to Sigmar as Beasts of Chaos, but Dwarfs did not, at least not as their own faction. They are rolled into Cities of Sigmar, which is undergoing a lot of changes. There are Fyreslayers and Kharadron Overlords, but they're very different flavors of Dwarf. I can't speak to army composition, but at the very least you'll probably want to rebase to circle bases for Sigmar.
Also!
The Old World is rolling out soonish, so you may have a use for Dwarfs. I think GW posted a faction list for Old World, so you may be (kind of) in luck there.
But while The Old World will use square bases, they are differently sized than the old square bases, so...yeah.
They have not received many new models since AoS started (I think literally three small kits, plus a terrain piece and endless spells?) which I guess you could consider good news as it means most of your collection should still be pretty valid, and might just need moving onto round bases for full legality. On the plus side, even though they are still stuck with their old models for now, their current faction book is quite strong, if a little tricky to master, relying on setting up off-board ambushes, manipulating your opponent into positions of weakness whilst waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Ungor raiders are great, Bullgor and Gor are good and have some decent combo options with your heroes, decent spell lore and artefacts, they're a fragile but dangerous army, with some interesting play options.
They are one of the few remaining factions from WHFB which haven't had their range substantially updated with new kits for AoS yet (alongside the Skaven and Ogre Kingdoms) and I have a suspicion that they will find themselves with a reboot on the way during the next edition of the game, but that's purely speculative on my part.
Renzo is correct when it comes to the Dwarfs, it'd be tricky to pop them straight over into AoS. Most of the old Dwarf stuff basically become a subfaction of the Cities of Sigmar army, but a chunk of their units got removed in the process, and have been trimmed down further with the latest Cities book which is due out soon. You can still use Hammerers and Irondrakes, alongside the Runelord (which I think is a renamed Dwarf Lord?) and maybe Longbeards, but most everything else has been retired so you'd be stuck running with a limited roster unless you wanted to add in some human or elven reinforcements alongside them.
But, as said above, they are releasing some sort of Old World revival game, which they've said will be compatible with the old WHFB armies (though it sounds like support for some faction may be pretty limited), they haven't really said exactly what the game will be like in totality, but it's some sort or rank and flank system evocative of old school WHFB, so your Dwarfs should be playable in that game with minimal changes once it releases.