Warhammer Age of Sigmar 4th Edition Faction Focus and Deep Dive
The Mortal Realms will never be the same again, as the 4th edition of Age of Sigmar is almost upon us with the awesome Skaventide Launch Box going up for pre order today!
Over the last week we’ve been checking out all the content from Skaventide 4th Edition with our Full unboxing and review of Skaventide, a full Deep Dive and Review of the 4th Edition Core Rules and lifted the lid on one of the most exciting things to happen to Age of Sigmar, Spearhead
Massive thanks to Games Workshop for sending us over a copy of Skaventide to check out on the site – If you would like to support the site then why not order your copy through our affiliate Element Games and save yourself some money too?
In this article however, we’ll be diving into all 23 faction packs that are available just before the release of the game as free downloads from Warhammer Community (These will also be able to pre order from next week as physical card packs)
We’ll be taking a look at all of the army rules, traits, artefacts, Spearheads and of course, the all important Warscrolls. It’s safe to say, whatever army or armies you have for Sigmar, your army has gone through significant changes, which added with the changes to the Core rules provides a really exciting time to play Age of Sigmar.
If you would rather listen to this article rather than read it, then make sure to check out Episode 233 of the Sprues & Brews podcast – This week we’re delving into these Faction Packs and sharing our initial thoughts and feelings on each of the factions and how they play in the new edition, alongside our usual hobby content! If you’ve never listed before just search for Sprues & Brews on your favourite Podcast platform, or listen to the embedded episode just below.
As well as the Faction pack discussion we also chat about the recent UK Games Expo, our Top 3 Warhammer song titles and all of our latest hobby updates. If you want to skip to us chatting about the faction close to your heart you can find handy timestamps right at the bottom of this very article:
If you are into Age of Sigmar then also make sure to check out all our Skaventide and AOS 4 review content over on YouTube or just below:
Grand Alliance: Chaos
Blades of Khorne
While many factions have had major changes, one of the things through with the majority of them is that they still feel like their previous incarnations. For Khorne the Blood Tithe system still exists, with players gaining points each time a unit is destroyed (friend or foe) – these points can then be spent on bonuses and abilities – though one thing we see here that we also see across all of the Age of Sigmar factions is the fact that summoning mechanics never create new units out of nothing, instead all summoned units are replacements of previously destroyed ones. This means that players do not need to bring extra models outside their army list, and also means that the game is more balanced around recycling units rather than having to worry about certain armies being able to flood the board with additional ones
From a top units point of view, the Bloodthirsters all jump to the top of my list with some frankly ridiculous damage output. Each Bloodthirster is a specialist against a different type of target, be it Monster, Infantry or Hero, which makes a fully Bloodthirster list a viable option now, especially as you can bring dead ones back for 8 Blood Tithe points!
Disciples of Tzeentch
With summoning new units gone Tzeentch does feel a little different, though there’s still ways of bringing things back using a Lord of Change – at the cost of discarding a destiny dice you can bring a non-hero unit back at half strength, but sadly there’s no way of bring back your greater daemons unlike with Khorne. Horrors also work quite differently now with split models now only being able to be added to a friendly unit that has already lost models – which is a shame as thematically it was great to see a unit of 10 pinks become a unit of 20 blues, through this did sometimes get messy from a rules pov.
Fateweaver has some cool abilities such as being able to pick a previously used battle tactic again, or choosing 2 and being able to count whichever you achieved as the one you selected.
The entire army runs off a “Wyrdflame” mechanic that has you essentially setting units on fire with them taking damage at the end of every turn until the fire goes out, which is really cool!
Hedonites of Slaanesh
Out of all the Chaos factions, it’s Slaanesh that have had the biggest departure from their 3rd edition rules. Instead of generating depravity points (Which interestingly they still do in Spearhead games) they instead are able to select up to 3 units each battle round to gain the Euphoric key word which gives them Crit (2 hits) and can run and charge/shoot – however for every one that you do your opponent gets a dice that can be used as a 6 in a save, ward, wound, run or charge roll. There’s a 1 in 3 chance they take D3 mortal damage for using it, so it’s a game of tempting fate for them. There are some units that the Eurphoric ability is very good on, especially as we have a spell that lets you upgrade it to crit mortals.
Dexcessa has often been a little used character despite having a brilliant model, but in 4th Edition she’s had a bit of a glow up! She starts with 7 attacks with a decent profile, and gains an attack every turn if she slays any enemy models, and also heals herself D3 wounds. In addition when she charges she allows D3 non hero units gain +1 attack each, turning her into somewhat of a blender.
Shalaxi Helbane is also the star of the show, being able to put out insane levels of damage, particually against heroes who she will be hitting at rend 3 and 3 damage a piece for her 6 attacks. She’s got a really cool ability where if anyone declares a charge within 9″ of her, she can interrupt the sequence and attempt to charge them first before they do, cancelling out the charge and flinging her into combat.
Maggotkin of Nurgle
Where Khorne and Slaanesh are hyper aggressive, Nurgle on the other hand is once again disgustingly resilient. Their main mechanic now revolves around spreading disease, with diseased units taking mortal damage and a lot of the spells and warscroll abilities also playing off this status.
Lots of wounds, lots of damage mitigation and 5+ army wide ward saves are the name of the day, with a nurgle army once again being very hard to put down. Using a great unclean one you are also able to return a slain unit to the battlefield at half strength once per turn
There’s some fun abilities here too – the Rotbringer reduces the ward save of anyone he casts a spell on by 1, and the Glotkin allows 2 friendly units to Countercharge the same turn they do.
Skaven
Dave – It would be rude to not start talking about Chaos changes with the Skaven, as the Great Horned Rat finally takes his deserved place in the pantheon. The big bad in the Skaventide box, it is safe to say we’ve seen some seismic changes to the Skaven, whilst also retaining the sort of rules you’d expect.
The first warscroll I wanted to delve in to was the Skaven special terrain, the Gnawholes. Whilst previously these were put down as part of the board setup, they now appear turn by turn 9″ away from enemy models and 3″ from objectives/other terrain. This feels so much more in-keeping with what a Gnawhole is. They also now offer a fantastic way to recycle units, allowing your to bring back a non-infantry Skaven Infantry unit to return to the game (albeit with a halved number of models).
GW promised that they’d reviewed what models feel like they should do, and ensure there rules reflect that. The Screaming Bell is now for certain a buffing piece, Thanqual packs a punch whilst almost supporting the rest of the ratmen, Stormvermin have Anti-Charge which reflects there more defensive utility. A special mention to the Endless Spells. Everyone’s old favourite, the Warp Lightning Vortex is pretty good and dishing out some mortal wounds, whilst the Vermintide offers some attacks but makes more of a distraction piece. The stand-out one for me though, whilst not having the ‘sexiest’ rules is the Bell of Doom, which gives an aura of -1 to wound to nearby Skaven.
Littered throughout the army are opportunities to buff your units, at the risk of losing wounds (if you haven’t yet, you should check out our battle report when we pitted the Skaven vs the Stormcast for a perfect example of this!). There is also a significant number of units in the army that provide 2 rend off the bat, which is great and balances the lack of armour and wounds.
All and all, I’m very VERY happy with the Skaven Faction Pack and cannot wait to field a full army of them in 4th Edition, yes-yes!
Slaves to Darkness
One of my favourite factions in Warhammer Age of Sigmar are the Slaves to Darkness, and they now get powered up by their gods much quicker! Eye of the Gods now triggers whenever a unit destroys an enemy unit, not just heroes are affected by this – it works on all non Beast and non-hero Monsters and no longer has any downsides! The days of worrying about being changed to a chaos spawn are over!
In addition to this, the effects can still be stacked – so in game where rend is lower than it used to be, the Slaves to Darkness have a very good chance of being able to stack the rend bonus from rolling a 5 on the Eye of the Gods chart to make some vary scary units.
Marks have also changed a little, with Undivided for example giving units +1 to wound when attacking heroes or monsters or Tzeentch getting 4+ ward saves against magic.
Speaking of magic, there’s some great spells in their lore such as being able to allow a target unit to roll one additional dice when making charge rolls, or the Eightfold Doom-Sigil now giving +1 attack to all units within 12″ if 2 or more units (friend or foe) are destroyed in a turn
New additions like the Darkoath still have the flavour they had in 3rd Edition, with them having various Oaths they are trying to complete in order to get bonuses, and Abraxia who was introduced in the final Dawnbringers book is suitably scary with some impressive damage and rend against heroes (And the potential for her to get even scarier with Eye of the Gods rolls
Grand Alliance: Death
Flesh Eater Courts
The Flesh Eaters retain the majority of their abilities from 3rd edition with Noble Deeds and their summoning mechanics returning, with Abhorants able to return units to the battlefield at half strength and the Courtiers being able to return slain units to models – it’s worth pointing out here that unlike in 3rd edition the two can’t combo a unit to return it to it’s original size.
But even with the returned units at half strengths there’s a lot of ways of bringing models back, with traits leaning into making Rally more effective and Battle Formations revolving around bringing more models back with your summoning mechanics.
Ushoran is still ace, with a decent combat profile, but a lot of his strength comes from his utility – he still has his extended range for Feeding Frenzy, and every turn he can gives Flesh Eaters one of 4 army wide bonuses while also making up to 3 units in combat with him strike last.
The Royal Decapitator sees some improvements too – he still gets to destroy a unit he wounds on a 5+ (though this only works on infantry heroes now sadly) but in addition when he fights he can pick a friendly unit to immediately fight.
Shoutout to Nagash too – Hand of Dust is no longer a spell, but instead happens at the end of the turn making it much easier to have it trigger!
Nighthaunt
Grim Grinning Ghosts come out to socialise with the Nighthaunt, and they too still capture the feel of their previous incarnations. What’s really cool now however is that the various debuffs they can apply to the enemy is not tied to how far they charge, but instead you get to choose which one you apply, and if you have multiple units charging in even apply all of those debuffs to an enemy unit.
They still ignore all save modifiers, and in addition they also get access to a new command that grants a unit a 5+ ward save, which is a great touch.
Their battle formations are pretty fun, I particularly like Procession of Death which grants ward saves to units that are nearby Black Coaches – which is really making me want to pick one up to add to the collection! And speaking of the Black Coach, it now has an interesting mechanic where if it destroys a unit it can bring a slain Nighthaunt Hero back to life at the end of each turn! It can also teleport around the battlefield as a core more action, which makes it really nippy!
The Scriptor Mortis has also got a little better, with him being able to stick multiple names in his book for a chance at mortal damage at the end of every turn.
Ossiarch Bonereapers
Do you prefer your Death armies to be that little more Elite? Skeletons? Pfftt, I prefer my bone boys to be animated constructs! Well that is where the Bonereapers come in, and they have gone through a few more changes than most.
This is mainly down to the changes to command points/Relentless Discipline. Bonereapers now get Command Points just like everyone else, whilst Relentless Discipline is now a selection of unique abilities that can be popped once per phase. There are six of them, and they all require a Hero to enact the order, which then grants a bonus to both the Hero you selected and any friendly Bonereaper units within 12″. Unstoppable Advance, for example, grants +2 Movement, whilst Bludgeon gives you +1 to your Wound rolls.
There are four detachments to choose from, and they all pick out a particular theme or keyword. One grants a bonus to your casters, another gives +1 to Hit to your Crawlers, a third gives you a bonus move to your Cavalry units and finally a 5+ potentially recycle a unit of Mortek Guard as reinforcements (halved rounding up).
A look at the Warscrolls, and so far from what I’ve read I’m really happy with the changes. Like the other packs each unit has a ‘thing’ and the characteristics really follow what type of unit they are. Katakros’s warscroll is so much easier to use now, and has a balance of being able to smash stuff up whilst buffing his fellow Bonereapers, Arkhan looks better than ever (and still has Curse of Years!) whilst Mortek Guard now have Anti-Charge (as they should, operating as a shield wall against your enemies!).
Soulblight Gravelords
Personally my favourite of the Death factions, and a great army if you want a traditional horde of zombies and classic skellies.
First and foremost, there are plenty of chances to heal and resurrect in this faction. Gravesites have sadly gone, but the rule remains. Instead of Gravesites you can now bring models out of the grave simply by bringing them to the battlefield next to a terrain feature. As I’m sure you are aware by now, you cannot summon new units, however the Soulblight do a a once per turn army ability to select a destroyed non-Unique Deathrattle or Deathwalkers unit and bring them back with half the number of models. This unit can follow the normal rules for ‘deep strike’ or, if you are resurrecting this unit in your movement phase, you can choose to summon outside of 3″ of enemy units (but you cannot charge).
Again, like the Bonereapers we have four detachments, each focusing on different types of the army. Horror Unending giving you an additional Deathly Invocation, Aristocracy of the Night giving your Vamps +1 to cast if out of combat, or +1 to wound instead if you are in combat, Deathstench Drove allows you to pile in and potentially dish out some mortal wounds via Deathwalker units and finally Tide of Bones and Blades for Deathrattle units (on the turn they charged AND if the enemy unit has fewer models).
Great spells, good changes to Warscrolls, equals a happy Dave. I still think Vampires are a little too under powered as a unit, but they have multiple other ways to reinforce units, giving them utility which balances this.
Grand Alliance: Destruction
Gloomspite Gitz
For a long time, I’ve been wanting to do an army of Gobbos for both Age of Sigmar and The Old World, and reading the rules for the Gitz has finally given me the kick to start an army of them!
Like with a lot of other factions, the core rules and feeling for them remains the same, with Squigs, Moonclan, Troggoths and Spiderfang getting various bonuses depending on if they are in the light of the bad moon – again this will drift diagonally across the battlefield with the being a 50/50 chance of it moving
As you’d expect, the battle formations lean into one of these 4 main groups of units, but its worth pointing out that 4th edition really does reward having varied forces that can achieve different things, so you’re not penalised for taking things outside of the flavour of unit that you pick. my initial armies will probably be squig heavy (+1 attack when they charge) or Troggoths who head D3 after they fight
The Loonboss on Mangler squig is a great choice to lead a Squig army, as once per battle he can give all quigs within 12″ +1 to wound for the rest of the turn, which comboes quite nicely with the extra attacks the squig build gets!
And sticking with the Squig theme, every hero phase Squig Herds have a 5 in 6 chance of getting D3 squigs back, but also a 1 in 6 chance to have them chomp down a handler!
Ogor Mawtribes
Another army I’ve had in my collection for a long time, and again a lot of their rules are very similar to how they played in 3rd Edition. If they have not feasted on flesh they get +2 to run rolls as they are eager to get into combat, and then If they have fought then they get to start chomping on the enemy, on a 2+ they get to heal up, and in addition they do mortal wounds to the unit they are engaged with.
Across the board units have got stronger and tougher. The Tyrant for example doesn’t hard a unit when he uses his Bully ability to increase their Control score, and Gluttons now have 4 attacks and only hit on 4s, but would on 2s and deal 2 damage, meaning waves of Ogors should be quite good and will have surprisingly high control combined with their own abilities and the Tyrant.
Ironguts have had a real glow up with them now having 3 attacks with rend 2 and 3 damage each, plus the abiity to fight twice in a turn like Varenguard! Combine this with a nearby Slaughtermaster and you can actually get them up to 4 attacks each
Finally the Mawpit returns as a scenery piece, and can be stationed by a Butcher in order to deal damage to 3 units within 18″ in each players hero phase
Orruk Warclans
WAAAGGH!
Who can’t resist the draw of an Orruk (or Ork!) battlecry?!
Out of the door with this one, I have to be swift in announcing that the Big WAAGGH is no more. Yep, I loved running it too, but it’s gone now. In it’s place we have a fleshed out Kruleboyz and Ironjawz 2-for-1 faction pack.
Orruks hit on 4s in this new age, but they do get plenty of attacks, and ways to further increase them, in particular for the Ironjawz. The Kruleboyz Dirty Tricks army rule is back, but improved (you can use more than one Dirty Trick too, you just have to roll a D6 which with every passing Trick gets harder to use. For example the first one goes off on a 2+, next one on a 3+ and so on) whilst the Ironjawz still have the ability to call a WAAGGH and have (an albeit not as fun as it once was) Mighty Destroyers.
Smashing and Bashing is still here, but now a detachment ability instead of everyone getting it. Also, instead of allowing you to immediate fight with a different unit, it instead gives the next unit +1 to Hit (which is a fair ability in 4th Edition). The other 3 detachments includes one that grants additional attacks, one that buffs your Orruks on pigs and finally the ability to obtain a 6+ Ward when in range of priests and wizards.
Warchanters no longer have the ability on the Warscroll to just give out extra damage. The ability is however is still in here, only now it is a 4+ prayer which can be given to one unit, or two units should you get the effect of on a 8+.
Sons of Behemat
The Sons of Behemat were a popular army when they came out, and who doesn’t want to command an army of giants?! They manage to keep the concept of Monstrous Rampages with a selection of 4 they can pick from when they charge such as dealing mortal wounds, shutting down commands or the chance of doing heavy damage to an infantry unit with Jump up and down.
King Brodd is top of the pack, boasting 40 health and a prayer that can either increase Behemat movement, increase rend or heal up all units. Combat can be swingy with attacks hitting on 4s (And this is true across all of the faction), but they wound on 2s with rend 2 base and weapons that specialise against specific targets, meaning a lot of the time the target will not get a save and also potentially be victim to some big spikes in damage!
Another thing to note here is that all of these can be taken as regiments of renown for other armies, meaning that you could for example take a Beast Smasher in a Gloomspite army, and take advantage of not just their combat output, but their decent control values (Which are now baked into the warscroll rather than being a faction bonus)
Grand Alliance: Order
Cities of Sigmar
The Cities of Sigmar retail their orders seen in the previous edition, however they are now not placed in secret, instead you get to choose to use them in the movement, shooting, charge or combat phase – you can still only have each hero issue 1 order a turn, but you’ve now got some flexibility if plans change. There are still orders that are more effective for Humans, Aelves and Duardin – and I hope this is a sign that in the second wave for them that we will get some non-human units to start to replace some of the older models.
Battle Formations revolve around moving faster, shooting further, taking less damage turn 1 or making it easier to cast spells, with plenty of room to fit these around whichever units you want to take.
The Pontifax is a great unit now, with her Vessel of Sigmar prayer giving her a choice of 3 abiltiies (2 if it goes off on a 10+) such as incrasng the movement of Cities of Sigamr by 2, giving units within 12″ a 5+ ward save, or the chance of doing D3 mortal wounds to every other enemy wizard and priest on the battlefield! If she rolls hot there’s a low chance she could eliminate most support casters in a single turn by using this in both her turn and as a reaction in the enemy hero phase.
I’m excited to dig these guys out and put them through their paces again!
Daughters of Khaine
The Daughters of Khaine retain much of the flavour they had in the previous edition, with Blood Rites remaining which gives them an additional buff each turn, making them stronger as the game goes on. They also get access to a unique command that allows infantry units to fight twice within a turn, which is cool!
Morathi and the Shadow Queen are still amazing, with all damage going on the Shadow Queen and a maximum of 3 damage able to be allocated a turn making her tricky to put down – the Shadow Queen herself has ridiculous combat output and the ability to increase the attacks of Khinerai and Melusai units, while Morathi herself is a potent wizard who can cast 3 spells.
The humble Avartar of Khaine has also got pretty good with recent damage and the chance to inflict mortals on the charge
Fyreslayers
Fyreslayers are another faction that retain the feel of a lot of old rules, with them being able to select a rune each turn to use in order to get a different ability. Previously they used to have an enhanced effect on a roll of 6, but now that rule is tied to the Runemaster who can trade in Magmic Power Tokens that they earn though prayers in order to add enhanced abilities to the Ur Gold Runes.
We also now see army wide ward saves across all units, with things such as the Hearthguard increasing this for both them and nearby heroes.
I still hope these guys get expanded out further in future, I’d love to see a young magmadroth cav unit for example!
Idoneth Deepkin
The Deepkin, at least from what I have read so far, haven’t changed that much.
The Tides mechanic is still here and I believe…it’s pretty much the same. Your enemies will be happy to hear that they can target your units in the same way as others now, no more of having to shoot the closest unit (although the Tidecaster has an ability where she can potentially make it impossible to shoot any of your units outside of 12″).
What Deepkin can now do is travel the ethersea. In short, in allows you to hold back units, and then drop them in to the fray later. One of the detachments (in fact, it’s my favourite one) allows you to pick a friendly unit by terrain, remove them from the battlefield and then follow the steps to ‘deep strike’ them in your next Movement phase.
Want more movement shenanigans? Steed of Tides is a spell that any of your casters can use, and allows you to teleport a unit with all the same limitations. It only requires a 6 to cast too.
The Aspect of the Storm, the Eidolan of Mathlann has a +1 to wound aura now, can retreat and still charge and is pretty nifty in a fight too, with him hitting on 3s, wounding on 2s, with 2 Rend and 2 damage (+1 damage on the charge too).
Lotann helps your units to secure objectives thanks to buffing their control score, the Soulscryer allows a unit arriving from the ethersea to deploy 7″ away from enemy units instead of 9″ whilst the Soulrender can pofentially one shot kill an enemy hero once per battle.
One last unit I wanted to focus on was the Namarti Thralls. They get 2 attacks each, hitting on 3s, wounding on 4s (as is most Elves) with Rend 1 and Damage 1. They also have the anti-Infantry ability, which grants them extra rend against infantry. They also have the sweeping blows special rule, which grants flat Damage 2 against Monsters, which is nice!
Kharadron Overlords
Whilst the Deepkin haven’t gone through a ton of changes, the skydwarfs of the Kharadron Overlords have had a refresh. The biggest change is the army rule surrounding how transporting units works, with Garrison and thing of the past. Now, when you move you boats, they can bring a unit stood next to them with them. I get why they’ve done this, but I’m not going to lie, I’m going to miss the boats being a proper transport.
Also, your boats can no longer ‘Fly High’ and redeploy somewhere else on the battlefield. Again, this has been done to balance the Overlords, as it was an amazing ability, but its another rule I’ll miss.
Whilst a unit is next to a airship however, they do get a -1 to hit bonus, which is basically the same as when they were properly embarked on it, so it isn’t all bad.
As for warscrolls, we have seen some positive changes here, Brokk Grungsson feels like a better take now (he grants extra attacks to Skyfarer units and allows Skyvessels to Run, Shoot and Charge. The Admiral feels like a proper General now, granting extra shooting attacks to a Skyvessel each turn, buffing the control score of Skyfarers and allowing you to make one of your ships his Flagship, granting said airship a free All out Attack once per battle.
Lumineth Realmlords
I’m pretty excited about the new Lumineth changes, my initial impresssion is that it’s now much easier to build a combined arms type force which includes units from the various ‘sub-factions’ within the Lumineth roster. Most of the defining features of the Lumineth have returned in the form of Facets of War Battle Traits. This is where we find the abilities associated with the Alarith, Hurakan, Scinari and Vanari. For the most part you’re limited to using only one of these abilities per turn however depending on the Battle Formation for your army you’re also able to make one additional use of the related Battle Trait – Enduring as Rock in addition to one other for the Alarith Battle Formation for example. This is fantastic as it allows you to sprinkle in units of Stone Guard or Windchargers amongst your Vanari units and still make the most effective use of all of them.
It’s good to see Lightning Reflexes return, a really iconic Lumineth ability although I am saddened to see Aetherquartz disapear (I think the Vanari Lord Regent may retain some limited Aetherquartz utility). I also think it’s good to see some of those abilities that tended to frustrate opponents toned down somewhat. Total Eclipse for example is now a spell on the Twin’s Warscrolll limiting it’s use in a game and allowing an opponent to shut it down completely if they can kill the unit itself (although the Warscroll for the Twins is pretty good as well). On the subject of Warscroll changes I have to say I like what I see! Each unit seems to play a distinct role with less crossover of abilities and utility than before. Take the Alarith monsters as an example, one can inflict Strike-Last on an opposing unit whereas the other can reduce the rend of a target unit’s weapon! This gives you a lot more options and variety when building lists.
Seraphon
Everyone’s favourite Dinosaur riding lizards are back for 4th Edition, and they are as fun as always.
First of all, they have a great army wide special rule, called The Great Plan. You basically choose one out of 4 abilities, which affects your army until the end of the battle. However, there is another rule which allows you, at the start of the third battle round, to potentially switch Grand Plans. You do however need to have completed the plan you currently have actives, almost like an objective.
For example, Itzl the Tamer is one of said Grand Plans, and grants your army Crit (2 Hits) on your Companion attacks. Should you wish to change this at the start of the third battle round you will have needed to have killed at least 3 enemy units by that point.
The Seraphon have access to some excellent spells, once again split between two lores as per previous books. Comets Call is still here, albeit having undergone some changes (roll a dice for each model in a selected enemy unit, and and any 5+ dishes out mortal wounds.
There are some great damage output units in the Seraphon as well as utility. Kroak is still an absoute beast. The Raptadons still have the ability to boost one and another, and the Aggradons feel like they are going to get more use (extra damage on the charge and extra rend vs Monsters).
Stormcast Eternals
We need to open with the pin-up army of Age of Sigmar, the Stormcast Eternals.
It was heart-wrenching when GW announced the mass culling of Stormcast minis, with the Sacrosanct Chamber practically being slam-closed. The reason for this was that design team wanted to give each unit in the army a clear role, which would have been impossible for the amount of units they had. It is clear going through the warscrolls that each unit does now feel like they have a role, including a number of units rarely seen such as the Vanquishers.
It’s sometimes hard to judge on paper, but it feels like the Stormcast are a much stronger force than the last edition. They certainly feel powerful and elite, with lots of unit synergies between some of the characters and units.
Sylvaneth
The Sylvaneth are perhaps the faction I’m most excited about, in 4th edition it feels to me that they have really captured the ‘life/renewal’ theme as befits a faction led by the Everqueen herself (who can now even bring herself back from death!). The Sylvaneth retain all of their mobility, with the Battle Traits “Strike and Fade” and “Walk the Hidden Paths” granting the player the ability to teleport units around the battlefield. The “Endless Growth” Battle Trait provides a powerful healing mechanism (improved even further in the “Lords of the Clan” Battle Formation.
The Sylvaneth themselves appear to have a much stronger bite now, with various options to improve Rend and benefit from other combat bonuses such as the Arch-Revanent’s +1 to wound ability or the Lady of Vines +1 to hit ability. This coupled with their overall high mobility and improved durability suggests to me that Sylvaneth will be a force to be reckoned with on the battlefields of 4th edition!
And with that, that is every faction covered!
I really like how they have hit the reboot button on Sigmar, and I’m really excited to get some games on the go ASAP.
If you want to listen to us chatting about your favourite faction on this weeks podcast then you can check out the timestamps below:
Blades of Khorne: 34
Disciples Tzeentch: 38m 19s
Hedonites of Slaanesh: 40m 16s
Maggotkin of Nurgle: 47m
Skaven: 50m 48s
Slaves to Darkness: 54m 38s
Flesh Eater Courts: 57m 13s
Nighthaunt: 59m 57s
Ossiarch Bonereapers: 1hr 2m 14s
Soulblight Gravelords: 1hr 4m 57s
Gloomspite Gitz: 1hr 7m
Ogor Mawtribes: 1hr 9m 27s
Orruk Warclans: 1hr 12m 40s
Sons of Behemat: 1hr 18m 34s
Cities of Sigmar: 1hr 23m 54s
Daughters of Khaine: 1hr 25m 13s
Fyreslayers: 1hr 26m 37s
Idoneth Deepkin: 1hr 28m 27s
Kharadron Overlords: 1hr 29m 36s
Lumienth Realmlords: 1hr 30m 58s
Seraphon: 1hr 37m 19s
Stormcast Eternals: 1hr 39m 24s
Sylvaneth: 1hr 41m 39s
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