Whats that coming over the hill…….. is it a Gargant……… is it a Troll……… is it a Squig ……… well yes its the brand new Gloomspite Gitz battletome for Warhammer Age of Sigmar.

The long awaited battletome for the Gloomspite Gitz is finally upon us after an age, the last time Gloomspite Gitz got a battletome it was towards the end of 1st edition needless to say it has been a while so when this book arrived I poured over it like a Loonboss with a new mushroom.

Thank you to Games Workshop for sending us a free copy of the battle tome as well as the Squigboss with Gnasha – Squig and Snarlfang Riders free to review which you can pre order from Element Games here.

You can see these new kits below.

Lets jump straight into the new battletome.

Allegiance Abilities

Battle Traits

This is a nice small section with the main focus on the bad moon !!! It’s now a lot simpler with the controlling player placing it on the board in the 1st battle round in one of the table quarters on their side of the board, starting from the 2nd battle round you roll a dice 1-3 does not move and on a 4+ it moves to the middle of the board and if it moves again it moves to the quarter diagonally opposite the starting quarter and then if it moves again it moves of the board.

Pretty simple.

Your units all gain bonuses depending on what keywords they have if they are in the quarter of the board where the bad moon is, when the moon is in the centre of the table all units are affected regardless of where they are.

Effects of the Bad Moon

• Moonclan = Moonclan units can rally on a 4+.
• Squig Units = Squigs can charge even if they run.
• Troggoth Units = add 1 to save rolls.
• Spiderfang Units = Their spider venom attacks do mortal wounds on an unmodified 5+ instead of a 6 to hit.

Heroic Actions

The Gitz get 2 unique heroic actions, the first is for Moonclan heroes and allows them to issue the rally command for free to 3 different units….. but only when affected by the bad moon which could be for multiple turns so very powerful. The second action is for a Dankhold Troggboss hero which allows them to make a 6″ move and then do D3 mortal wounds on a 2+ to units nearby but they have to be within 3″ of enemy units at the start of the hero phase and end the move within 3″ of enemy units.

Monstrous Rampages

Just like the heroic actions we also get 2 monstrous rampages for Arachnarok Spiders and Mangler squigs, the first being pretty bad (poor spiders) you can pick an enemy hero with 3″ of the spider that is not a monster and roll a dice, if you roll higher than the hero’s wound characteristic they cannot fight in the following combat phase; that has to be a top contender for worst monstrous rampage. The second monstrous rampage which is for Mangler squigs allows you to make a 3D6 move but you must finish within 3″ of an enemy unit, not forgetting the Mangler squig has the fly keyword this is pretty crazy how good this could be.

Enhancements

Command Traits

So whether your a tiny grot or a lumbering troll there is a command trait for you, straight of the bat the first thing I noticed about the command traits in this book was how similar they are to the Ogor Mawtribes ones in the sense that they are keyword locked so while there are 5 for Grot heroes if your hero is a Squig hero you only get access to 3 of them for example.

Grot Commands =

• Clammy Hand – your general can use the summoning mechanic twice in a hero phase if they are near the loon shrine to bring back 2 destroyed units rather than 1.
• Loon-touched = Wizard only, the wizard can cast another spell while affected by the light of the bad moon.
• Fight another day = Loonboss only. After the general fights it can move 2D6 and must end outside of 3″…. pretty good on a loon boss on mangler squig.
• Super nasty venom = Spiderfang hero only. Double the number of mortal wounds caused by the spiders venom ability (Unmodified 6’s to hit do mortal wounds)
• Squig Whisperer – Squig hero only. Add 1 to hit and wound rolls for the general mount.

Trogg Commands =

• Alpha Trogg – model gains +2 to it’s wounds characteristics and gains the monster keyword.
• Trogg smash – Once per game after this model fights it can unleash an attack that does D3 mortal wounds to enemy units within 3″ of the model ….. on a 2+ not the best trait.
• Loonskin – allows you to take one of the Gloomspite Gitz endless spells and allows your general to try and cast the chosen spell in the same manner as a wizard, pretty fun if you are going all trogg.

Artefacts of Power

Moonclan hero only =

• Leering Gitshield – hit rolls of a 1 that target the bearer cause a mortal wound to the attacking unit and any unit that kills this hero is -1 to hit rolls for the rest of the game…… actually a lot of potential in this artefact.
• Backstabbers Blade – Once per game does D6 mortal wounds to an enemy unit in combat that specifically cannot be negated.
• The Clammy Cowl – -1 to hit the bearer all the time which is just straight up good.
• Loonstone Teethcaps – squig hero only, improve the rend of the mounts mouth attacks.
• Moonface Mommet – Wizard only. Pick an enemy unit at the start of the combat phase and subtract 1 from save rolls for the chosen unit….. pretty good if you take a second artefact in your army.
• Staff of Sneaky Stealin – Wizard only, add 1 to casting rolls for the bearer and if it unbinds a spell add another +1 for the rest of the game which is cumulative.

Spiderfang Hero only =

• Headdress of many eyes – Skuttleboss only. The bearer can only be hit on a 5 or 6 in both shooting and combat which is just crazy good but on a model that I don’t think will make it into most peoples lists sadly.
• Nibbla’s Itty Ring – Wizard only. Once per game roll a dice and add that to the casting rolls of the bearer until the end of the phase.
• Totem of the Spider God – While spiderfang units are wholly within 12″ add 1 to the number of mortal wounds caused by the venom ability of the mounts, if you want a spider army this is a must take in my opinion.

Dankhold Troggoth only =

• Glowy Howzit – the bearer gains a 4+ ward save but if any wounds do go through and are allocated at the end of the phase the bearer must roll a dice and on a 1 loses the ward save for the rest of the game.
• Speaky Skull Fetish – Roll 3 dice in the hero phase and for each 6 you gain a command point, the bearer can also issue the same command ability twice in a phase instead on once but it still costs a command point each time you issue a command.
• Pet Gribbly – +1 to the wounds characteristic of the bearer in addition each time the bearer takes a wound roll a dice on a 1 the bearers pet is squished and the hero gets mad, add 1 to hit and wound rolls for the rest of the game. Love this one.

Spell Lores

Moonclan Wizard only =

• Itchy Nuisance – Enemy unit gets the strike last rule until the end of the turn.
• Nikkit – Nikkit – Pick an enemy model within 12″ and it takes D3 mortal wounds if the spell is cast on a 10+ and has an artefact of power that artefact is destroyed considering this is normally cast on an 8+ I just can’t see anyone ever taking this spell.
• Squig Lure – A squig unit can re-roll charges until the end of the turn.
• The Hand of Gork – You can teleport a friendly unit anywhere on the table more than 9″ from enemy units which is always good to have.

Spiderfang wizard only =

• Scuttling Terrors – Pick a friendly Spiderfang unit and it can immediately make a normal move.
• Sneaky Distraction – Cast on the bearer, enemy units within 12″ are -1 to hit rolls.
• Curse of the Spider God – Pick an enemy unit and any hit rolls or save rolls a 1 or 2 always fail for that unit, finally the Basiladon has something to fear.

Gittish Hordes

These Gittish Hordes are the Gitz version of tribes all of which encourage different units which makes list building really fun if you want to theme your army around just Squigs for example.

• Da Kings Gitz – Re roll the dice for seeing if the Loonshrine brings a unit back, not bad if you lean into the hordes of grots.
• Badsnatchers – Wizards can re roll a dice on a casting attempt if they are within 9″ of another friendly wizard.
• Jaws of Mork – Squig units get +1 attack when they charge.
• Glogg’s Megamob – After a trogg unit fights it regenerates wounds in the combat phase as well as the hero phase making your trogg units pretty tough.
• Grimscuttle – When a Skitterstrand Arachnarok spider comes in it can bring up to 2 additional spiderfang units with it.

Matched Play

Grand Strategies and Battle Tactics

So I really have had mixed feelings about battletome specific grand strategies for a while now and this section does continue to cause concern.

We get 1 grand strategy that is relatively easy to do called “Protect the shrine” which you complete if there are no enemy units within 12″ of the shrine at the end of the game which with some consideration to deployment could be easy to do. The rest of the grand strategies are a lot harder, one requires 2 of the Gllomspite endless spells to be on the table at the end of the game which if you play against any wizards might be hard to do.

The battle tactics are a lot easier to do but are a bit more conditional as to what units can complete them, we get one which is kill an enemy monster with a troggoth unit which is pretty easy to do but requires you to take some troggoths in your army, there is another called “Moonlight Raid“which requires you to capture an objective off your opponent and have every friendly unit on that objective affected by the light of the bad moon.

Overall the battle tactics are pretty solid in combination with the Generals Handbook battle tactics as there should aways be one that you can do or have a good chance at doing, the grand strategies however I feel there are better options in the Generals Handbook like “Defend whats ours” or “The day is ours“.

Core Battalion

One of the minor let downs of this new battletome is the lack of core battalions, we only get 1 battalion that requires a single Dankhold Troggboss and a single unit of Dankhold Troggoths which gives players an extra enhancement which is nice but I would have liked to of seen one for squigs or grots, but I suppose those units get access to all of the generic battalions. One good one is better than 3 bad ones I suppose still it would have been nice to see more trogg units included.

Warscrolls

In the new Gloomspite Gitz battletome we get quite a few updates to a lot of units that really have needed some love for a while and wow what an update we get.

Kragnos – It’s nice that even Gitz get Kragnos which for the collector in me is awesome as that one model is almost 50% of four different armies and Gitz are one of them, other than that no changes to Kragnos.

Skagrott – Skagrott has had some major changes and is a super good utility piece for your army, he’s a war master, can issue a command for free once per turn and makes units wholly within 12″ always count as being affected by the light of the bad moon. He also gives you the only way to influence the bad moon as he can once per game make the moon auto move or not, needless to say I think we will see Skagrott a lot.

Gobbapalooza – The Gobbapalooza has had some major reworks and is now very solid, they are now a single unit instead of being 5 separate units, they get a 4+ ward save in the first battle round which decreases as the game progresses but the big buff is the Know wotz which at the start of the hero phase give you an ability depending on who is alive in the unit. You pick 1 of 3 abilities which range from +1 to run and charges for a unit, +1 to hit and wound in melee for a Gloomspite Gitz hero and improving the rend by 1 for a friendly unit…… -2 rend squigs yes please.

Lets not forget that the Boggleye and Shrromancer are both wizards who get the same spell from the spell lore as they are the same unit now but they also have their own unique spells which can stop an enemy unit from issuing or receiving a command ability to a -1 to hit bubble within 12″ of the shroomancer, needless to say the Gobbapalooza is significantly better than it previously was.

Loonboss – His command ability still makes a Moonclan unit do a mortal wound on a wound roll of a 6 but only when he issues the All out Attack command ability now so the unit he picks gets both bonuses now which is really scary on a big unit of Stabba’s who will get a lot more hits now and therefore a lot more 6’s to wound hopefully.

Madcap Shamen – This little wizard can cast 2 spells once per game at the added risk of taking D3 mortal wounds if the casting roll on the second spell is a double but his spells makes units -1 to be hit with shooting if nearby which could be very good at keeping heroes alive or even the Gobbapalooza !!!

Squigboss with Gnasha Squig – The brand new hero for Gloomspite Gitz is essential for any Gitz army that focuses on squigs, he can pick a squig unit within 3″ at the start of the hero phase and buff that unit by picking 1 of 3 abilities. +3 to a units move is most likely reserved for himself to keep up with your squig units but the other abilities are scary, he can make a squig unit get + 1 attack which is awesome but he can also makes a squig unit do mortal wounds on hit rolls of a 6 in combat !!! I’d take 2 of these if I played squigs which seems likely now.

Loonboss with giant cave squig – A bit of a let down from such a cool model, he can add 3 to the bravery of a grot unit if he inflicts D3 mortal wounds it is however for each mortal wound inflicted so 3 mortal wounds would add 9 to the bravery…… but I’d rather just spend a command point which is a lot better.

Grinkrakk the Great and his noble Looncourt – Sort and sweet he can make a Moonclan unit fight when they die which is great on big units but wasted on anything else really.

Zarbag and his Gitz – Zarbag has a cool spell that forces an enemy unit to retreat which could be really powerful if you use the rally command on the unit the enemy just retreated from again on a big unit of Stabb’s that rally on a 4+ under the bad moon’s light is really good.

Sneaky Snufflers – If this unit doesn’t move it can bestow a 5+ ward save on a friendly Gllomspite Gitz unit with the potential to also give +1 attack but just for that ward save these guys will see play which is great to see.

Fungoid Cave Shamen – Still gives you an extra command point which is on a 4+ now but he has lost his ward save, he does however have a rule that makes him not visible to enemy units more than 12″ away making him hard to kill especially with shooting.

Loonsmasha Fanatics – The true heroes of any Gitz army and one unit I have found memories of…. well sort of. They now have a 3″ melee range which should have always been the case, they do not auto die if the unit they are in dies instead you set them up before the last model is removed which is a lot better but they only get to charge when they are set up in the charge phase if its your turn.

Sporesplatta Fanatics – If the loonsmasha fanatics job is to kill stuff then the sporesplattas job is to get in the way by blocking line of sight to units behind them….. of course your opponent can just shoot this unit then shoot the unit behind so these feel a bit of a waste compared to the loonsmasha’s.

Shoota’s – These grots make me think of shoots boyz from Bonespiltta’s, in short they get 2 shots with their bows if the unit has 10 or more models but other than that they are bad and to get any use you’d need to take a lot of models we’re talking 40 minimum and sadly fall a bit short compared to stabb’s.

Stabba’s – Buy Stabba’s omg this unit has become my favourite unit to build now and they are solid in this new book with some of the synergies mentioned above. Nets now do not need to be at the front of the unit to make enemy units -1 to hit now its just a rule if the unit contains 1 or more models with nets amazing, and the big draw with these grots is if the unit contains 20+ models they can contest an objective if they are within 9″ of an objective rather than 6″….. to really show how amazing that is this rule makes it easy for grots to outnumber Mega Gargants on objectives !!!

Rippa Snarlfang and the New Snarlfang Riders – At first these did not jump out at me to be honest but looking at them a bit closer I can see some uses for them, the cool thing is their wolves have 2 attacks at damage 2 which get +1 to hit and wound if the target is wounded and can pile in 6″ away. The grots on top have both spears and bows so regardless of how you build them they come with both and the grots feel like they are there to do a single wound so that when they pile in the wolves get the bonuses.

But the real trick is when they redeploy they can re-roll the dice and get to shoot after they do so meaning, they redeploy, shoot and hopefully do a wound then pile into the unit they redeployed from with all their bonuses; now this does require some set up but this unit could be very good and is worth using.

Loonboss on Mangler Squig and Mangler Squig – Both of these units now do impact hits which puts OGORS to shame, they roll a number of dice equal to the size of the enemy unit to a maximum of 10 and on a 4+ do a mortal wound and thats just the start, the movement of squig units has always been an issue being a bit too random but now both versions start on a move of D6 +10 and the lowest being D6 +5.The loon boss version gets a once per game ability to add +1 to wound rolls for squig units wholly within 18″ in the combat phase, if you take a large amount of squigs in your army take 2 of these guys.

Throw in the monstrous action and the command trait that allows your loon boss to move 2D6 after fighting will get sooo much out of your general, who by himself now has 5 damage 2 attacks which is a lot better than his previous version.

Squig Herd – So this unit cannot receive commands and does not have a champion either which is interesting, squigs now have 3 attacks as standard and with the Jaws of Mork sub faction could have 4 attacks a model !!! They do have one of the best rules ever which is at the start of the hero phase you can roll a dice for each herder in the unit, on a 2+ you add D3 slain squigs back to the unit but on a roll of a 1 a herder is eaten …… amazing rule. They still do mortal wounds to units nearby if they flee which encourages me to take a couple of reinforced units of these. They move D6 + 5″ now too.

Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig – This hero has had a slight damage buff now having 5 attacks that are damage 2 on his mooncutta with his spear potbelly being damage 3 on the charge and his movement is now D6 + 7″. His big buff is after he fights he can pick a friendly boingrot boundaz to fight immediately after making him amazing when combined with a big unit of boundaz.

Squig Hoppers – These are the fastest of the squig units with a move of D6 + 10″, they can fly and do mortal wounds on a 4+ when they move over enemy units. The squigs themselves have 3 attacks now so while this unit is fragile they have the potential to be scary and unlike the squig herd hoppers have a unit champion for that all important All – out Attack.

Boingrot Bounderz – The “heavy” cavalry of the Gloomspite Gitz the boingrots are simply the damage dealers they have the potential on the charge to do 7 damage per model with 2 of those attacks being -2 rend on the charge simply put these guys really want to charge.

Dankhold Troggboss – Fear the Trogg’s !!! The Dankhold Troggboss is now a very solid hero, in the hero phase he can heal D6 wounds and if you take Glogg’s Megamob sub faction you heal D6 wounds in the combat phase as well making him very hard to kill, if he issues the All-out Attack command to a trogg they also get +1 attack in addition. My slight criticism of the Troggboss is his damage is still D6 which makes it a bit swingy if the damage was D3 +2 i’d be a bit happier.

Mollog – Very simply put Mollog is just a Trogg hero and thats about it nothing really special about Mollog and I can only really see people taking him for a cheap hero in a Trogg army.

Dankhold Troggoth – The Dankhold Troggoth is basically the Troggboss without the command benefit and hero key word….. the damage however is D3+ 3 which makes him more reliable than the Troggboss which feels a bit strange to me.

Fellwater Troggoths – Fellwater Troggs haven’t majorly changed except for their noxious vomit attack which has 2 new benefits, any enemy units that suffer wounds from this attack are – 1 to their save rolls and cannot benefit from positive modifiers to their saves until your next hero phase, this change makes these trolls both a solid battline unit and a great support unit.

Rockgut Troggoth – The regeneration ability for all Troggs is now automatic and goes off at the start of both players hero phases something I probably should have mentioned before without needing to roll any dice, the rockgut’s ignore damage has been updated to be a 5+ ward save now but other than that they are the same.

Scuttleboss on Gigantic Spider – His damage on all his and his mounts attacks is now 2 which is solid and he now has a once per game ability that allows himself and a friendly unit of spider riders to retreat after fighting and like all of the spideerfang grots his spider has the venom ability that does a mortal wound on a 6 to hit.

Wepsipinner shamen – This little grot has a spell thats cast on a 4+ and has a range of 24″ which allows a friendly unit of spiderfang to run and shoot/charge, he’s fine for a cheap plastic hero in a spider army but other than that can’t see any reason to take him still.

Spider Riders – Spider riders for better or worse haven’t changed at all they still do mortal wounds with the spiders venom on a 6 to hit in combat which is good but that’s where all the damage output comes from so they are a bit swingy.

Arachnarok Spider with Spiderfnag Warparty – This big spider now counts as 10 models for contesting objectives (unique to this spider) which is pretty sweet has 16 wounds and a 4+ save now but it’s damage output is still really low sadly.

Webspinner Shamen on Arachnarok Spider – He can cast 2 spells and has a pretty powerful spell that adds 1 to the number of mortal wounds caused by a spiders venom ability for 1 friendly spiderfang unit, again if you are taking a full spider army then you will most likely take this hero just for the spell.

Arachnarok Spider with Flinger – If you want some okay shooting in a spiderfang army then the flinger is really your only choice it does a number of shots equal to the number of models in an enemy unit to a maximum of 20, it hits on 3’s and wounds on 3’s but has no rend, after that if it hits an enemy unit then on a 2+ they are entangled and halve their movement until your next hero phase.

Skitterstrand Arachnarok Spider – If you want a spider to ambush on the table for some reason than the skitterstrand spider is the spider for the job the cool thing about the Skiiterstrand spider is at the end of combat phase you can put it back into ambush.

Aleguzzler Gargant – Now this is the Sons of Behemet player in me coming out but just like the Mancrusher Gargants the Aleguzzler is bad really bad, he is basically a Mancrusher Gargant with an extra club attack but his movement changes depending on his wounds.

Bad Moon Loonshrine – One of the few scenery pieces that you do not want to leave at home, annoyingly also one of the biggest, the shrine now makes units wholly within 12″ count as being under the light of the bad moon which is very good and will make players think hard about where to place it. It still has the Moonclan Lairs ability that allows you to bring back half of a destroyed unit with some conditions, any Gitz army is going to want this scenery especially with one of the grand strategies being tied to it.

Morks Mighty Mushroom – This spell is a bit random as it is set up within 6D6 of the caster which makes it a little bit unreliable but the spell can potentially do a lot of mortal wounds to nearby units so throwing it onto an objective could be really good but thats a lot of coulds.

Scrapskuttle’s Arachnacauldron – A nice little endless spell that links to the caster which lets the caster know the entire spell lore (Moonclan), if it gave a bonus to cast I would consider taking this but as it stands no one in the army can really benefit from this as most can only cast 1 spell and will likely choose the spell they want to begin with.

Scuttletide – Pretty much the same as previous version with some minor tweaks, you can set it up within 1″ of any terrain feature that the caster can see and it does a mortal wound on a 5+ to units that are nearby or move close to it but the real strength in this spell is the fact that it can physically block your opponents movement pretty well which makes this spell worth taking.

Malevolent Moon – Now lives up to its name, this spell allows units to benefit from the light of the bad moon if they are within 12″ and does some mortal wounds to bout, combined with the Loonshrine and Skagrott you can have a large amount of your army under the bad moon for the majority of the game which makes this spell pretty solid.

Path to Glory

I don’t particularly like mushrooms….but you know who does ?

Thats right Gloomspite Gitz and their path to glory section is based around finding different types of fungus in game and then concocting different brews that your heroes can use in game to gain certain bonuses, now needless to say there is a kind of mini game when concocting a brew which is done in step 7 of the aftermath sequence which can unsurprisingly also end in failure potentially resulting in the death of the hero or even the hero gaining loads of renown.

Games Workshop have put in a shroom collection chart for you to keep track of the fungus your force has collected which is great, we also get all the usual stuff for path to glory such as unique quests that focus on collecting shrooms and finding the bad moon all the way to unique veteran abilities and territories. Overall a very well themed path to glory section.

Conclusion

If I were a Gitz player I would be over the moon …………….. get it ………… I thought it was funny, with this new battletome it not only updates the book to bring it in to line with the other 3rd edition books but it stays true to what the Gloomspite Gitz are, mushroom loving grots.

The bad moon has been made to feel more reliable for the army being on the table turn 1 which is great and having a couple of units like Skagrott who can also act as beacons for the bad moon will add to the power of this ability. The different factions in the book all bring something to the table and I think we will see both mixed armies and themed ones, I myself have quite a large amount of squigs to get painted up having bought the Christmas Gitz boxset.

Which brings me onto my next point the warscrolls have been majorly updated, the squigs for example all having set movement with some randomness added in rather than being purely random movement makes those units a lot better not to mention that they all get an extra attack over their previous versions is great, I think my favourite unit has to be the simple Stabba not only are they quick to build and look very easy to paint they work really well with a lot of the rules in this book. Having multiple ways to rally them back on a 4+ is very powerful and at the same time they have the power to take objectives unlike any unit in the game.

I really don’t have anything bad to say about this book it’s an army that I really look forward to collecting and I can’t wait to get a full army on the table.

Thanks again to Games Workshop for sending us a free copy to review.

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