The fate of the Mortal Realms changes forever as Teclis faces off against Nagash in a battle of mages that will have far reaching consequences, and the Lumineth Realm-Lords forces are expanded with a host of new warscrolls and units as the Pointy Aelves get not one, but two new books up for pre order today!

Thanks to Games Workshop we have been lucky enough to get our hands on both Broken Realms Teclis and Battletome Lumineth Realm-Lords (2021), and we have been diving into these tomes of arcane lore in order to give you our full review and deep dive! We’ll be looking at the new warscrolls, what differences exist between

If you are ordering either of these books, or perhaps are wanting to order some of the new Lumineth kits also up for pre order today, then why not support the site and order though our affiliate Element Games and save yourself 20% too?

We have our full written review of the books further down, but if you would rather watch that read you can check out our full video on YouTube or just below!

Lumineth Realm Lords Battletome and Broken Realms Teclis

Back at the start of last year, there was a growing excitement for the Lumineth Realm-Lords, a brand new Aelf faction for Warhammer Age of Sigmar that was about to be released (presumably planned to drop around Easter last year) – however the last 12 months have been a strange one due to Covid and the release schedule was shifted, with the Lumineth launch box released in June with the full range later in September. While we had a fair range of models available, it always felt like something was missing for the Lumineth, like we could do with an additional wave of models to flesh out the range into what felt like a new army. Today we have new kits being released that pretty much doubles the number of units available to the Lumineth and a new Battletome containing the rules for all of these!

Let’s get the elephant in the room addressed first. Yes, this is a new Battletome less than a year after the previous one. And while Games Workshop have made a great move by making all the new content also available in Broken Realms Teclis, I do understand how early adaptors of the first book may feel a little stung here. There’s a balancing act to be made between content drops for armies, and while I never want to see an army go for years without an update as we saw in the twilight years of Warhammer Fantasy, I do think a new Battletome less than a year after the first one is also something that can lead to some justified grumbling here and I do hope this isn’t a sign of things to come for all armies.

Right, with that out of the way let’s crack on with the review!

The first thing we need to make clear is how the new Lumineth Realm-Lords Battletome and Broken Realms Teclis interact with each other and the old Battletome. The new Battletome is basically an expanded version of the new one. We get some new pages of lore regarding the 2 new Great Nations and the new units, a couple of new pages of photographs of the new models and then all the new rules content including traits, artefacts, spells and warscrolls along with the points for all the units. The rest of the book is exactly the same as the previous battletome. All the lore pages, warscrolls and painting guides that were in the old book are exactly replicated here. Essentially they have taken the previous book and added content to reflect all the new models also up for pre order today.

Each and every new page from the new Battletome is also included in Broken Realms Teclis at the end of the book. Each new page of lore, each new warscroll, every relevant rule and profile that is not showing in the old Battletome is present in Broken Realms Teclis. This means that if you already own the old Battletome then you only need to buy Broken Realms Teclis – you are missing zero content by not picking up the new Battletome, not even a single word of lore. This is fantastic and put us at ease regarding how this content was going to be distributed, across the old Battletome and Broken Realms Teclis you will have the complete experience you would otherwise have if you only picked up the new Battletome.

Broken Realms Teclis itself has a host of great new content though, from the developing narrative of the Broken Realms story, to an ace campaign and even some new Nurgle warscrolls there is still loads to get your teeth into even if you are not a Lumineth player – We’ll be digging into all this content later in the review!

Due to all the new Lumineth content also being in Broken Realms Teclis, we’ll first take a look at all the new stuff from Battletome Lumineth Realm-Lords first, before digging into what additional goodies you get in Broken Realms Teclis. So get comfy as we start to explore what new wonders await us in Hysh!

Battletome Lumineth Realm-Lords 2021 Review

As this is an update to the previous Battletome from last year, we’ll only really be coming the new bits – all the previous details from our review of the 2020 Battletome still stand as those sections of the book are exactly the same!

All of the new lore and artwork is slotted in seamlessly and is still to the same excellent standard that we have become used to from Games Workshop. At 136 pages this is a much chunkier tome and with that additional space we get full page lore spreads for all of the new units that have been added giving us background for these units and even blocks of narrative too! Art wise, there are some amazing additions that compliment the existing pieces in the book, my absolute favourite being a gorgeous picture of Sevireth elegantly guiding through the air unleashing arrows into the Khornate hordes around him.

Allegiance Abilities

The core allegiance abilities of the army have not changed with all the rules from the previous book (such as Aetherquartz and Absorb Despair) still in place, however we do see some expanded rules for Vanari and Scinari units, plus a whole sheet of rules added for the new Hurakan units.

For Vanari heros we get both a trio of Command Traits and Artefacts:

Grand Strategist is a Command Trait that gives you an extra Command Point at the start of the game. Not the greatest, but nice to have! Consummate Warrior let’s you re roll a hit, wound of save once per turn which could be handy for a crucial fight! Finally we have Astute Commander which gives you command point refunds on a roll of a 6, again can be handy to have.

For the Artefacts we get the Syari Pommel which gives the wielder an extra Aetherquartz, the Senlui Amulet that allows you to run and charge and the Sun Stone which allows them to unbind and dispel like a wizard (And if they are already a wizard you get +1). I feel the Amulet is the best here as gives an element of speed to the hero.

Scinari Wizards get a new battle trait in Deep Thinkers which allows them to forgo casting on a turn in order to automatically cast their first spell with a roll of 9 in their next turn. This is really great if you have an important spell to get off, giving the Lumineth even more reliable magic than they already have!

The Hurakan are a new faction of Lumineth based around the element of the wind, and oh boy are they quick! Their Battle Trait Move Live The Wind is fantastic, allowing them to not have to move towards the closest enemy when they pile in (letting them “lap round” a unit, or even pile out of combat completely!) and when they charge they can fly and pile in an extra 6 inches. So you could potentially charge into a unit, then leapfrog your chargers out of combat and onto an objective, or even vault them over a screening unit into the juicy targets behind!

Command Traits are also great here, Grand Windrider allows a Hurakan Windmage to make Windcharger units within 24″ movement 16 and gain the fly ability, Swift adds 3″ to their movement and Loremaster gives them an extra spell from the new Lore of Winds.

Artefacts are equally fun with Windblast Fan forcing an enemy unit within 3″ to retreat, Wind Stone is a one use Mortal Wound causing ability dealing a maximum of 6 Mortal Wounds and Buffering Aspiragillum grants a 5+ wound shrug.

Lore of the Winds

We get a new spell lore in the book, Lore of the Winds which Wind Mages and Teclis have access to, with some great abilities!

Freezing Squall shuts down an enemy unit from being able to run until your next hero phase.

Howling Gale is an amazing spell that stops an enemy unit from using or benefiting from any Command Abilities.

Guiding Flurries is an interesting spell that lets you pick one of two benefits to a unit’s ranged attacks. They can either add 6″ to their range, or +1 to hit rolls. Both of these are amazing on an archer heavy army with sentinels hitting on 2s a terrifying prospect.

Calming Zephyr is a nice low cast spell that not only heals D3 wounds, but also stops a unit from taking battleshock tests.

Burning Simoom is the horde killer, roll a dice for each model in the unit with each 6 causing a mortal wound, this improves to 5s on a cast of 10+

Finally we have Transporting Vortex which lets you teleport a unit anywhere on the board outside of 9″ of enemy units.

Shrine Luminor

The Lumineth also get their own faction scenery piece in the new book in the form of the Shrine Luminor. This is an interesting one that has an extra ability if there is a non-monster hero garrisoned in it. Each turn you can re-roll a casting, dispelling or unbinding roll for a friendly hero within 12″, and from the second battleround this range increases to 24″ when it is garrisoned. Finally it allows the garrisoned hero to use a command point for free each turn. Pretty good, and a really gorgeous model too!

Great Nation of Alumnia

In the new book we also get 2 new great nations, the first being Alumnia a nation of athletes and adventurers. This physical prowess is reflected in their abilities, before the first turn starts they can make a normal move with 3 Vanari or Scinari units. Their command ability allows a unit to charge after running and their artefact allows the bearer to teleport once per game outside of 3″ of an enemy unit. These really give the Lumineth some ace mobility leading to a super aggressive Nation. Their Command Trait is not as good however, simply dealing 1 Mortal Wound to a unit within 3″ on a 2+ at the start of the combat phase.

Great Nation of Helon

The Helonites are specialists in the Wind Temple, with a focus on ranged attacks and more manoeuvrability. Gale of Killing Shafts is a great ability that adds 1 to the attacks characteristic of Helon models ranged weapons within 3″ of an enemy unit. This is situational, but again makes Sentinels a nasty unit to get stuck in combat with. Their Command Ability allows a Lumineth unit to move at the end of the combat phase allowing you to get units out of dangerous situations. The Command Trait, allows a re roll of a run, a charge and a casting roll. Finally their artefact is a once per battle item that forces -1 from hit and wound rolls, which can really scupper the opponent’s plans.

Warscroll Battalions

In the new book we also get a trio of new Warscroll Battalions, each based on a different assortment of units that have been added in the Battletome.

Hurakan temple

This requires Sevireth or a Spirit of the Wind, a Windmage and 1-3 Windcharger units and gives units from the battalion within 12″ the ability to counting as charging even if they do not – amazingly this lets them use their Move Like the Wind 6″ pile in even when they are not in combat!

Starshard Battery

This requires a Calligrave and 3-5 Ballistas and gives them a 5+ wound shrug, adding some decent survivability.

Bladelord Host

This one requires a Vanari or Scinari Hero plus 2-3 units of Bladelords, This is a strange one as it allows charging units to re roll hits of 1, but one of the Bladelord abilities allows them to hit without making a hit roll anyway. Can be handy against hordes and fighting with Flurry of Blows though.

New Warscrolls

So now we get to the new units added in the book, with a total of 14 new warscrolls this massively expands the options available to Lumineth and gives them some variety to the number of armies that we will see.

Lyrior Uthralle

The first new character is part of Tyrion’s inner circle and is an absolute combat monster. Armed with Daemonbane a 2+/2+ weapon with high rend and a damage of 3 against Chaos and Daemon units! This is backed up with another 9 attacks across his other weapons and chance for Mortal Wounds with the Sunmetal rule. And speaking of Sunmetal he has an excellent spell that ups the Sunmetal Mortal Wounds to a 5+ for 3 units. Defensively also pretty nasty with a flat -1 to hit for attacks that target him and a 3+ save. At the start of his hero phase he also generates a command point on a 2+ as long as Teclis isnt part of the army.

Vanari Lord Regent

For a cheaper option of the above you can take the Lord Regent, he doesnt have Daemonbane or the command point ability, but he has everything else including the sunmetal buffing spell.

Vanari Bannerblade

In another nod to the world that was, the Bannerblade carries aloft the World Banner, this adds 1 to bravery of units within 18″ and 3 to the bravery if the Bannerblade itself is within 3″ of an enemy unit. It also has a once per battle ranged attack that can affect all units within 18″ causing mortal wounds and a -1 hit debuff if you can roll equal or under the turn number. Fairly cheap unit and potential to do quite a lot of disruption with this.

Vanari Starshard Ballistas

After being mentioned in Wrath of the Everchosen, we finally have models and rules for the Starshard Ballista! This thing is great, 3 shots if it has not moved at 30″ range and 3+/3+ -2 rend and D3 damage – if the ballista is within 24″ of a Lumineth hero it hits on 2s too! And if that’s not enough it has a 6+ wound shrug and can make an enemy unit -1 to hit. An absolute bargain at 100 points.

Vanari Bladelords

These are an interesting unit and I’m a little on the fence, when they fight they can choose to either make a single attack that autohits , wounds on 2s with a -2 rend and 1 damage, or can make a number of attacks equal to the number of enemy models within 3″, hit on 3s, wound on 3s no rend and 1 damage. One big flaw (Which is potentially just a rule missing from their profile) is the lack of the Sunmetal rule – without this I just can’t see them outperforming Wardens in damage output. They do have the ability to take wounds for friendly Scinari heroes on a 2+, so are suited to a bodyguard role, and they have a nice magic resist ability with a 4+ spell ignore. As gorgeous as the models are I just don’t think they hit as hard as massed Sunmetal can.

Scinari Calligrave

Another unit I have mixed thoughts on, they have an ace ability that can add a no-battleshock and +1 cast, unbind, dispell area 9″ away from a designated point anywhere on the battlefield. This ability persists for the rest of the game making it very strong, however they only get one chance per game to attempt it – when they do you roll a D6 and add the turn number, if you get a 5+ the spell goes off. Very good but a bit of a gamble until later turns. They also have a strange spell, Erasure. When you cast this spell you can choose to cause 1D3 mortal wounds or “mark” them, if you cast the spell in future on a marked target they instead take D6 mortal wounds. I’m struggling to think of a situation however where it wouldn’t just be better to cast D3 damage twice over two turns however, so I wonder if this is an ability that might make sense in the future if we get a new edition.

Scinari Loreseeker

This is a really cool hero with some massive game winning potential – instead of deploying normally they can instead be placed anywhere outside of your territory outside of 3″ of an enemy before determining who has the first turn. If they are within 6″ of an objective they control it, and the objective cannot be claimed by your opponent while the Loreseeker is within 6″. I can see this being amazingly powerful in some scenarios, and it’s here that the Bladeguard can be great as they will take any incoming damage from him on a 2+

Ellania and Ellathor

Another really cool warscroll, and can be taken in any order army as an ally! If they are within 3″ of the general you get a command point on a 4+, they are also a caster with a spell that gives them a 5+ wound shrug. Combat wise they are fantastic with their main weapon doing damage equal to the turn number giving them the the potential to do 28 damage in the 5th battle round! They have an interesting ability that kicks in at the end of any combat phase they fight in, you roll a D6 and if that is less than either the battle round number or the number of wounds they have suffered they immediately heal D6 wounds and teleport to anywhere on the battlefield outside of 12″ of enemy units. If they cannot set up again after doing this they are removed from the game but do not count as being destroyed. Can see some really great potential with these for causing a load of damage and then relocating onto an objective to take the game.

Hurakan Windmage

This is the new Hurakan hero, and his job is to make Windchargers even better! While he is within 6″ of them he gives them movement 16″ and the ability to fly. In addition to this he is a caster with a cheap way of causing D3 mortal wounds as the spell on his warscroll. With some great Wind Lore spells and synergy with the Wind Spirits I could see benefit for taking a couple of these.

Hurakan Windchargers

A super quick ranged unit, the Windchargers boast great shooting and manoeuvrability with the ability to pass through terrain features and pepper the enemy with accurate bow fire that ignores cover. The Hurakan keyword giving them the ability to pile out of combat makes these amazing units for objective grabbing , one of my favourite units in the book!

Hurakan Spirit of the Wind

The model has been a bit of a marmite one, however these things are amazing! Boasting not only a movement of 24″ they can also move another 12″ after shooting! Throw in the Speed of Hysh spell and the Helon Command Ability Gone Like The Wind you end up with a unit that can cover an insane 72″ in a single turn! In addition to this they also heal wounds when they are near a Windmage, have a 5+ wound shrug and can cause mortal wounds and a -1 hit debuff on a nearby unit . What makes them amazing however is their ability to reduce enemy pile in by 2″ – this essentially means that they cannot be hit by range 1 units in close combat! You simply pile away so you are 3 inches away using the Hurakan ability and they cannot be hit due to the opponent only piling in an inch and not being able to then reach him!

Sevireth Lord of the Seventh Wind

Take the Spirit of the Wind and dial it up to 11 and you get Sevireth! He gets all the abilities of the standard Spirit, but in addition can shut down an enemy scenery piece for the entire game on a 2+ and does Mortal Wounds to a unit he passes over on a 3+. 50 points more than a vanilla one, but shutting scenery down can be powerful against certain armies.

Broken Realms Teclis

Before I go into the new lore in Teclis, there are some other non-Lumineth things in this book that may interest players of other armies, particularly Maggotkin of Nurgle.

Firstly, in a similar way to Broken Realms Morathi, we get a stack of new gaming content for Narrative and Open Play games. The bulk of this content is the campaign that follows the events of the story. Across 6 linked battles you can re-enact the events and see if you can change fate yourself! These are all really cool missions, and I’m looking forward to being able to play games across the entire Broken Realms saga as soon as we are able to!

To expand on these missions we also get new Realms of Battle each with their own realm spells, features, artefact and command abilities. These can add some flavour to your games to set them in the realms that they took place with in the story, though please note these are not really designed for Matched Play games.

We also get Streets of Death rules that allow you to play games within the tight confines of a city or settlement, with ways of placing barricades, hiding you units within buildings ready for ambush and rules to represent the dangers of narrow streets – while this is all just a single page, this is a great source of ideas and something I would love to see fleshed out out in future!

Maggotkin of Nurgle

Just as Morathi updated warscolls for the Idoneth, Teclis updates the warscrolls for some Nugle units, and I have to say the new versions are brilliant!

Sloppity Bilepiper

He is possibly the best named unit in the game, but now also has some fantastic rules! At the start of the combat phase you can now pick one of 3 abilities to be active – 1) Add 1 to the attacks characteristic of all Nurgle units wholly within 14″, 2) make Nurgle units within 14″ cause a mortal wound on a hit roll of 6 in addition to any other damage, or 3) stop enemy units within 3″ of Nurgle units within 14″ from piling in any closer – All are great abilities and I shall be certainly adding one to my army!

Spoilpox Scrivener

Again, like the Bilepiper he now allows you to pick one of 3 buffs for a Plaguebearer unit within 14″. Add 1 to their attacks, add 1 to their save rolls or improve their rend by 1! Again a much needed buff for Plaguebearers and combined with the buff from the Bilepiper can make them quite scary!

Beasts of Nurgle

The Beasts have add a bit of an upgrade too, not only do they get an extra wound, they also get an extra 3 attacks, some rend and a more reliable 2 damage on their main attack. They also count as flying when they retreat, so can happily bound across a unit and escape via the other side! Finally on a 2+ each model causes D3 mortal wounds when they charge.

Sadly these upgrades are not free, as all these units have also increased in cost by around 50 points.

Settler’s Gain

For the Cities of Sigmar we get a new City in Hysh called Settler’s Gain – this is Age of Sigmar equivalent to Dalaran and has a focus on magic and learning. The rules reflect this with the army being able to have an extra artefact and an innate +1 for casting. Continuing a trend started with order Cities of Sigmar armies, 1 in 4 units in the army can be taken from the Lumineth Realm-Lords in addition to 1 in 4 being a Stormcast unit. This makes quite a diverse force with lots of tools available. As with the other Cities of Sigmar they get their own list of Command Traits, Artefacts and their own spell lore with some cool abilities that gel well with the wide range of units at your disposal such as making it harder for the enemy to unbind or marking a specific enemy unit to add 1 to your hit rolls when shooting it.

Finally we also get some Warscroll battalions for each of the boxed sets up for pre order alongside this book, one each for Nurgle, Settler’s Gain, Flesh Eater Courts and Ossiarch Bonereapers. These are nice ways of representing the forces from the book, and also have a use in Matched Play games – for example the Nurgle one allows you to summon a unit of 10 Plaguebearers when a unit from that battalion is destroyed.

The Narrative

So we’ve kept this to the end of the review in case anyone wants to go into this spoiler free! So fair warning – spoilers are beyond this point!

The book opens as the Hyshian City of Settler’s Gain comes under assault from the Nighthaunt.  The Free City should have been well prepared for such an attack, having been raised and reinforced under the tutelage of both the Lumineth and Sigmar but for a while it seemed the city would fall as the agents of Nagash and Nighthaunt hordes breached the runic defences and swarmed though the streets.  As all hope seems lost the Celennar and then later Teclis arrive and the forces of Death are finally repulsed.  With the Undead defeated, for now at least, a sense of hope is kindled in the spirits of the City’s mortal defenders.

As we’ll find out, hope is an important theme that runs throughout the entire book.  It is clear that Teclis believes it to be the greatest weapon against Nagash’s cruel schemes and most of his actions throughout this book have the ultimate purpose of nurturing a powerful feeling of hope in the minds and spirits of all the inhabitants of the Mortal Realms.  For too long have the people cowed beneath the effects of the Necroquake and lived in fear under the unrelenting march of the Ossiarch Bonereapers.  Teclis believes that if the people can be shown that Nagash is not infallible, that the legions of Katakros can be humbled then hope will be kindled and a new front can be opened to oppose the grand schemes of the Necromancer Lord.

We’re treated to an excellent scene where Teclis appears before Nagash in his throne room to trade warnings and threats (I loved the Terry Pratchett inspired ‘all capitals’ for Nagash’s lines).  Behind Nagash, we’re told, are five antique shadeglass mirrors, three of which contain the reflections of Nagash’s most trusted Mortarchs.  Two are empty, but what does this signify?  We know Katakros is occupied with the siege of the Varanspire which may account for one of the dark mirrors but what of the other?  Perhaps the forthcoming Soulblight Gravelords Battletome will yield the answers?

At the conclusion of the conversation we see Teclis banished from the Throne room and each God turn to their own schemes.  Nagash dispatches his three Mortarchs to Ghyran, Chamon and Hysh with the goal of collapsing the Shyish Realmgates allowing the pull of the Nadir to flood those realms.  Teclis however determines he needs to make a statement of intent, to this end he leads his Teclian Vanguard in what can only be described as a shock and awe campaign into the very heartlands of Shyish and the Ossiarch Empire.  His goal is not to conquer this realm but to kindle hope that Nagash can be defeated.

Act 1 then, covers this initial invasion of Shyish by the Lumineth forces.  They arrive in the most incredible manner, their armies arrayed on giant slabs of rock which, through the power of the Alarith Stonemages, are levitated over the Ossiarch Bonereaper forces and fortresses below.  Teclis seeks to tear down three great Ossiarch monuments known as the Tryptych in a grand gesture.  Not all goes to plan though as the statues themselves come to life and bring  the great floating slabs of mountain to the ground with swipes from their huge weapons..  At this point a great battle erupts between the opposing forces but ultimately the Lumineth are successful and the Tryptych are brought low thanks to the intervention of the great Mountain Spirits.  With this opening gambit successful the Lumineth begin to march on other fortresses in Shyish in an attempt to spread their message of hope far and wide.

At the end of the act there is a fantastic scene between Teclis and Allarielle.  At several points in the story Teclis retreats to the void between realms and communes with Allarielle and I found these conversations very interesting.  In the first, Allarielle warns Teclis that now is not the time to deal with Nagash, there are greater threats which require the attention of the Aelven Pantheon.  Does she mean the Newborn of Slaanesh or some other, more deadlier threat that we have yet to learn about (we know Kragnos is newly awakened for example)?   Allarielle states that events are underway which would see the resurgence of life throughout the realms and that her agents work already to direct its wrath.  Teclis warns Allarielle that she risks unleashing energies she cannot control.  What does he refer to here?  What is Allarielle up to?  Perhaps it relates in some way to the Kurnothi or Orion?  I wonder if we’ll learn more in Broken Realms Kragnos? In response Allarielle asks Teclis not to “goad the dragon”.  Is she referring to Blood Dragons perhaps (or maybe that zombie dragon we saw on the Soulblight Gravelords Battletome)?

In Act 2 we learn more of the Mortarchs own progress as they seek to collapse the gates and flood the realms with the pull of the Nadir.  The first part of this act describes the events that unfold in Ghyran, where Mannfred von Carstein seeks to sacrifice the lives of the mortal followers of Nurgle that inhabit this region in a great ritual to destroy the Bleeding Gate.  There are several battles against the daemonic followers of Rotigus and Horticulous but it is the unexpected arrival of Allarielle and her Sylvaneth that ultimately foil Mannfred’s plans.  There is a great scene where Allarielle battles against three undead dragons – I assume she must be getting an improvement to her Warscroll in the near future!

In Chamon we follow Neferata as she attempts her own ritual to collapse the realm gate here.  We’re introduced to a curious Kharadron Shipmistress who discovers Neferata mid ritual and then later returns to lead a force of Lumineth as they try to prevent the ritual’s completion.  There are more skirmishes between the Lumineth and Soulblight Vampires, culminating in a great scene where the Mountain Spirit itself manifests, disrupting the ritual and forcing Neferata to flee.  

Between the descriptions of the different battles and skirmishes in both Ghyran and Chamon there are some small sections which hint at an increased animosity between the different Soulblight Vampires.  Both Mannfred and Neferata secretly make plans to undermine the other,  marching their armies on their unguarded territories and even infiltrating the Azyr Order of Vampire Slayers with the aim of leading them against their preoccupied rival.  As we’ll see at the end of the book, it’s possible that this rivalry between the different Soulblight could be developed further in the upcoming Soulblight Gravelords Battletome.

Finally we get to perhaps the most impactful part of Act 2 wherein Arkhan the Black leads an army of Ossiarch Bonereapers into Ymetrica itself in an attempt to collapse the Blackpit Realmgate.  Arkhan marches at the head of an army of Null Myriad, it’s Legionaries made from the bonestuff of those same skeletons that built the Black Pyramid at the heart of Shyish.  Arkhan’s attempt at the gate fails and he is forced to move his forces via Shyish to another gate, one that exists at the very edge of the realm of Light in Haixiah.  

With both Teclis and Tyrion otherwise engaged (we learn that Tyrion is occupied with a foe more deadlier than Nagash himself!) it falls to Eltharion himself to lead the Lumineth army towards the dangerous perimeter of Hysh.  Battle is commenced and with the aid of a Windmage, Eltharion is able to confront his old nemesis in close combat.  Arkhan attempts to curse Eltharion again, in the manner of their final confrontation in the world that was, but Eltharion is now a spirit being of pure light and Arkhan’s clawed hand passes straight through him.  There is a brilliant passage describing this duel which ultimately ends in Arkhan being pushed from the edge of the realm itself, meeting his final end in a blinding explosion of light!  Finally Eltharion gets his revenge after his terrible defeat during the End Times!

And finally onto Act 3, which sees Nagash himself lead fresh forces into Hysh in an attempt to complete Arkhan’s failed ritual himself.  To this end he intends to sacrifice not mortals, but the very spirit of the great mountain Avalenor itself!  Nagash almost succeeds but for the timely intervention of both Teclis and the Celennar.  There is an incredible duel between the two Gods which sees both the Celennar and Teclis almost slain.  During the duel Nagash’s Nine Books are destroyed, much to the anger of Nagash who wails in protest.  Teclis himself is nearly corrupted by Death energy when Nagash stabs him with his blade, the killing strike deflected at the last by the Moon Staff of Lileath (guided by the will of Allarielle we later learn). Teclis’ great plan is revealed when an army from Settler’s Gain arrives with a convoy of modified Hyshian Luminarks.  The Luminark’s aetherquartz lenses direct the Celennar’s light to strike at Nagash.  At the same time, Teclis harnesses the power of all his force’s aetherquartz reserves to bind Nagash to the slopes of Avalenor in a ritual mirroring that used to bind Slaanesh itself!  Nagash is then set upon by the Lumineth and his form is completely destroyed (although we later spy a black cloud escape through the realmgate).  With Nagash finally defeated, Teclis places the aetherquartz used in the binding ritual into the cosmos to form a new constellation in the shape of the rune of Danathroir.  With this act the great Necroquake itself is undone entirely and harmony restored to the realms of Death. 

At the end of the act we’re treated to another fantastic conversation between Allarielle and Teclis. Despite the apparent success of Teclis in his war against Nagash it is clear that some shadow of death now lingers over him, a shadow that is only lifted whilst in proximity to the Goddess of Life herself.  It is clear from the conversation that the power of Life is now in the ascendant but still Allarielle is concerned.  “There will be a backlash of Life” she warns.  Both God and Goddess look towards a distant glimmer of Uhl-Gysh and Teclis proclaims that the war against the greater darkness is still to be won – a reference to the Slaanesh Newborn most likely, however Allarielle responds in a most curious way – “I have more ways to fight them than you realise”.  Very interesting indeed.  It certainly seems that Allarielle will have a larger part to play in the development of the ongoing narrative now that the forces of Death are in retreat.

I’m really excited to see what happens next in the Broken Realm’s series. Nagash has been such a prominent villain in the story for so long it’s quite exciting to find out what will happen next now that his influence has been severely diminished.  With his most trusted servant, Arkhan, destroyed along with his Nine Books I wonder who will fill the power vacuum in the realm of Death.  We know Battletome Soulblight Gravelords is on the way and I expect we’ll see a lot of rivalry between the different Soulblight factions.

A lot of the Lumineth focus has revolved around Teclis up until now but it feels with the ending of the Necroquake and the expansion of the Lumineth Realm-lords Battletome that his story arc is complete for the time being as well.  It’s possible the focus will now shift back to Slaanesh, the Newborn and perhaps Tyrion and Malerion going forward, certainly it is hinted that Tyrion is heavily involved in that story arc.

My favourite scenes in this book were those that featured Allarielle, the Goddess of Life.  With the power of Death now broken (for a time at least) it seems certain that the power of Life will wax across the Mortal Realms.  What does this mean for the Sylvaneth though?  Allarielle hints at battles to come, battles that she has apparently been preparing for.  We know a new God (Kragnos) is soon to awaken from under a mountain, will it be the forces of Life that now must stand and oppose this new threat perhaps?

Summary

So what do I think of the new books? Well, Broken Realms Teclis continues the awesome story started in Morathi, and I can’t wait to see how things play out now that the Necroquake storyline is complete. It really does feel that this book is setting up massive changes in the coming storyline and I’m very interested to see what transpires. Just like with Morathi the narrative campaign content is also great along with a host of much needed updates to old warscrolls. I do also approve of the fact that each and every new page from Battletome Lumineth Realm-Lords is reprinted here so that people with the existing battletome do not have to pick up the new one. This lessens the blow a little of a book coming so soon after the old one, as you can opt to just get Teclis and have the story and narrative content in addition to the new battletome conent.

As for the Lumineth themselves, we see the range fleshed out making them feel like a full army with an array of different options and play styles. While it is a shame that this isnt the book we got last year, it thankfully is now a complete tome with a full and varied model range. I do worry that this might be the start of a new trend in an army getting an annual update – however as I mentioned earlier I would still rather that than a book go for years without new models.

Some of the Lumineth units seem very powerful, and a couple have me scratching my head a little – I do wonder though, just as Teclis sets up the future of the Age of Sigmar story, are we perhaps seeing glimpses of the next edition of the game in this battletome?

Broken Realms Teclis and Battletome Lumineth Realm-Lords are both up for pre order today.

Games Workshop provided Sprues and Brews copies of these books for review purposes.

Published by Matt Crowther

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