(Where’s his rules, GW?!)

Well, Games Workshop in their infinite wisdom has seen fit to share with us a faction focus on Fyreslayers fairly early on. Now, this is just a snippet of the indexes placed into an environment where we don’t have the full picture on anything, so a lot of this will be supposition. An example of things we don’t know: what the hell does the battle formation that allows you to “reinforce your territory by shaping barricades of molten stone” even mean? Why did the cowards at GW not show us Grimwrath Berserkers?

TL;DR

This is a pretty pretty good looking faction focus; I’m sorry for the cowards comment, GW. Fyreslayers made out quite well, especially when compared to other factions: they retained a lot of the flavor and playstyle of the faction and at the same time retained some key pieces that keep the power in a good spot.

Battle Traits

Runes – What Changed?

A lot. The biggest and most obvious change is the runes no longer activate at the start of your hero phase and last until your next hero phase. Instead they are activated during a certain phase and last the entire battle round (Farsight being the exception).

Further, the runes themselves have changed. 

Searing heat no longer procs on the wound roll, but on the hit roll: the tradeoff being it lost working on ranged attacks. It also now is Crit(Mortal) which means instead of doing 1 additional mortal wound it does mortal damage equal to the weapon damage, that’s huge on units like a Runefather or Hearthguard Broadaxe.

Relentless Zeal no longer adds movement, but allows for faction wide run and charge which is just fantastic. The dream of run+charge Magmadroths has materialized.

With throwing axes apparently gone, Farsight is now an AoE d3 mortal damage rune. This one is interesting because if you have even one single Duardin hanging out somewhere then ALL the enemy units near them have a chance of taking mortal damage. 

Fiery Determination is no longer a 6+ ward, but instead a 5+ ward, that’s a big upgrade! This pairs nicely with all Fyreslayers now apparently having a 6+ ward.

Fury is no longer +1 to hit, but instead is army-wide Strike-First. Now that’s a spicy rune!

Awakened Steel is deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeead. Well, not really. We’ll get to it, but it’s now been rolled into searing heat in the form of the Runemaster awakening these runes.

Analysis

The overall power level of the runes is about the same, some weaker, some stronger, some gone. But like the 3e book, none of these runes can be viewed in a vacuum and their synergies with the other abilities have to be considered. 

But one thing that is less obvious this does accomplish is winning the information game. Previously if you used a rune it would be active until your next hero phase. In 3e when you use a rune your opponent knows precisely what rune you will have active if they take the top of round 2. If you used Searing Heat (6’s to wound do a MW), then if they take the top of two, you still have searing heat. 

No longer! If you take Relentless Zeal in round 1 that has no bearing on round 2 beyond opponents knowing you can’t take Relentless Zeal again. If they take the top of two they don’t know what rune you’ll use, in fact you could use no rune at all if you so choose. 

So while you won’t get to enhance awakened steel and then have it active for three turns, you will get to choose a new rune to fit a new situation. This is important because in the event your opponent chooses to take a double or you give them a double you can respond more appropriately to how the board changed previously. You’re not stuck with a rune that maybe isn’t going to be helpful now. You can also more easily bait opponents into traps you’ve set as they can’t know what play you’re aiming for in all instances.

Further, the Runemaster can enhance these runes even more taking them up a notch. Bless you, GW.

Battle Formations

Subfactions – What Changed?

I guess everything. This is the clear successor to 3e’s Vostarg. It loses the +1 to hit, but keeps the potent +1 to wound. Notably, it now is no longer keyword locked to Vulkites. I’ll call that a buff, possibly a large one. This now affects HEROES, Hearthguard Berserkers, even Auric Hearthguard. 

The others: “Other battle formations can make your MAGMADROTHS more resilient, enhance the objective-capturing prowess of your HEROES, or reinforce your territory by shaping barricades of molten stone.”

So Magmadroths probably get more wounds, that’s nice. Heroes likely have a control score of 5 instead of 2. Only God and GW no what in the hell the last one does. I’m going to make a wild guess that it gives defensive bonuses to units in your territory or contesting objectives you control. 

Analysis

Seems cool. Berserk Kindred seems cool. We didn’t get a peak at them, but we can assume Grimwarth Berserkers, Doomseekers, Grimholds, Runefathers, and Runesons will be quite excited to have +1 to wound on a charge.

It’s on the charge which is a slight limitation. But with the new counter charge command, that means you can make good use of this.

Incantations (wtf is an Arcana? Them’s fightin’ words)

Prayers – What Changed?

The prayer works functionally the same as it does now. However, it now has an added effect that if you save up Grimnir’s special boy points you can also give a unit the ability to reduce incoming rend. Yea, that’s good. 

Oh, it’s Unlimited now. So multiple priests can cast it multiple times.

Analysis

Considering how many units now wound on 4’s this is very strong. Debuffing wound rolls has always been potent, though, but never before could Fyreslayers get this prayer off multiple times. When rend is also getting mostly reduced across the board, then reducing rend seems pretty damn good as well. Overall, this one’s a banger. Here’s a quick example of how this affects incoming damage on a unit of 12 squigs (well, 10 + 2 herders).

Against a unit with a 5+ save, the fully enhanced Prayer of Ash is reducing the damage they do by 3.5 on average, from 8.63 to 5.15.. That’s nearly a 40% reduction in damage!

Unit Focus

Father Droth – What Changed

Tons. Though, notably the unit did keep the +1 attack once per game aura.

• Roaring Fyrestream is no longer based on model count, meaning it can actually do damage to single units.
• Movement has been reduced by 2”, though it no longer brackets.
• Claws and Horns went from 3+/3+ to 4+/2+ which is basically the same thing.
• Blazing Maw lost attacks but also is no longer d3 damage. 
• The Grandaxe has an additional rend flat without runes or artefacts.
• Raging Inferno is a fucking awesome monstrous action. It functionally is adding one rend to everything in your army that attacks the target. That’s crazy powerful. This ability alone would, in a vacuum, make any other changes to this unit worth it.
• Volcanic Blood, the iconic ability, has seen a big change. I would call this overall a nerf, but also more of a sidegrade. It no longer procs on each wound/damage applied but instead on each saving roll of 1.
• Built-in 6+ ward!
• Warmaster!

Analysis

Fantastic. The save remained the same. But when even Kragnos has been demoted to a 4+ save then staying at a 4+ save is amazing. The Raging Inferno rampage is fantastic. A+ work, no notes.

The big change to the unit people may grumble about is Volcanic Blood. The reason this is somewhat a sidegrade is due to the change in functionality meaning two things: this now causes mortal damage before ward saves and this punishes weight of dice far more than hard single hits. Someone throwing 50 rend 0 attacks with 1 damage at a magmadroth is gonna fear this far more than someone throwing 5 rend 3 attacks with 3 damage.

When paired with an enhanced Rune of Searing Heat (enhanced from Runemaster below), and All-Out Attack, this unit is going to be a monster on the battlefield. Assuming it gets off its rampage it will be swinging with rend 3 and 4 against targets and bleeding mortal damage on any slap backs.

Hard not to like a unit keeping its spot in the batting line-up.

Runemaster – What Changed?

As expected, the bonus CP is gone. Oh, and his save is 5+ now. But other than that, this is straight gas. Priest (2)? Fuck yea, that’s hot. This means you can save goodest boi points or get two of these precious magmic power tokens in one turn.

But the important bit is the rune enhancements. These are effects you can add to the battle trait runes. You just have to pray to Grimnir successfully three times to them. While these don’t stack, it is notable that multiple Runemasters could be acquiring magmic power tokens to hedge bets on chanting a 1 or just to have back-to-back enhancements.

Analysis

Priest (2) is already a straight buff. Being able to chant for two prayers, often one an invocation, is amazing.

Rune Enhancements are where this unit becomes an absolute must have. Assuming you chant twice in your round 1 turn and once in your opponent’s turn, you can have 3 magmic tokens by round 2 for a quick enhancement ready to go! With the Forge (below) you can get +1 to these rolls and if also near a place of power you can get +2 to chanting rolls making rolling a 1 the only thing you have to fear.

The notable enhancement here is the Rune of Searing Heat enhancement. Not only would it now do mortal damage on 6s to hit, but the weapons would have an additional rend to boot. This is basically combining the rune of searing heat and awakened steel from 3e into one. That is very nice.

Rune of Fury enhancement is also very nice. This turns your Fyreslayers into defensive power houses while the rune is up. Not only do they get Strikes-First but they also get +1 to wound. That’ll make opponents think twice on engaging and make engagements you force all the more potent.

With Priest (2), even if not aiming for enhanced runes, you can certainly aim for enhanced prayers. Using Prayer of Ash as an example, with the aid of the Forge, you only need to roll a 6 on 2d6 to get the enhanced prayer. That’s quite nice.  This means that if you desire to throw a magmadroth into the mix on turn 1 you can make it extra tanky.

Hearthguard Berserkers – What Changed?

These guys had the most controversial changes in the Fyreslayers chats. No longer do they have a 4+ ward near heroes. Instead they, and an accompanying hero (ANY INFANTRY HERO NOW!), have a 5+ ward if the hero is wholly within 3” of them. That’s a, uhhh, tight spacing. 

Further, they now gain +1 attack if they are within 3” of any damaged heroes. That’s nice.

Sadly, their save was knocked down from the already low 5+ to the worse 6+, though they did gain an innate 6+ ward. 

What’s more notable is what wasn’t changed: their combat profile. If you walk on over to the other faction focuses you’ll find that good ol’ humans are slapping on 4+/4+, Aelfs on 3+/4+, and everyone else on some permutation of these numbers. Hell, the hyper elite SCE are hitting on 3+/3+. So keeping a 3+/3+ profile and the innate rend on the broadaxe is incredible. 

Analysis

The change to the bodyguard ability to work on any hero and not only on Runefathers is perfect. Hearthguard Berserkers are now going to give wards to everyone, including your priests and your Grimwrath berserkers. They will be the ultimate in backline protection as well as front line supporters. I foresee at least one single un-reinforced HGB being often taken just to protect the Runemaster and his other support heroes.

Further, toss on the Rune of Searing Heat or Fury, especially if either is enhanced, their Fires of Vengeance and the Runefathers bonus to attack and you got a unit that has 4 attacks each, hitting on 3s (with Crit(Mortal)), wounding on 3s or 2s, and rending at 1 or 2, slapping the snot out of opponents. 

While the 4+ ward will be missed greatly. The unit overall still has a nice spot in the army and has gained a lot of utility in bodyguarding more than a runefather/son.

Molten Infernoth – What Changed?

Everything. EVERYTHING. RIP my slot machine, you glorious beast, you gobbler of foot heroes, you bane of Mannfred. You will be forever mourned. But this is actually a pretty solid change.

This is now, effectively, a free unit that gets to go muck around enemy lines and possibly debuff them. Oh, it gained FLY, that’s nice.

Analysis

Raging Torrents is fairly short range at 8” and not very potent, but I can see it being a nice way to knock a couple wounds onto something. A shooting attack on this is certainly interesting though. Since it’s flying it also ignores obstructing terrain, too. Maybe he can kill the pesky wizards, still.

Molten Claws, now that’s an attack profile for a free unit. With Crit(Mortal) this thing is going to burn some people down.

Yea, even against a 2+ save this is punching through 3 damage. This is important because FLAMESCARRED triggers at the end of the turn if something does take damage. This gives minus one to wound rolls for a unit that has suffered a damage from this until the end of your next turn. That’s right, not until the start of your next turn, but the end of it. Incredible. When stacked with prayer of ash you’re looking at -2 to wound rolls against your units from this thing’s targets. Love it!

Battlesmith – What Changed?

We are going to assume that the abilities here are the same, or close to, the non-Spearhead version. With that in mind this is going back to the old 2e Battlesmith and gaining a +1 save Aura. Considering the above Hearthguard Berserkers’ save got worse, this fixes that right up.

Further, it can give out a 5+ ward aura. This part is iffier, at least as it’s written here, of surviving to the regular army. I would expect this to at least get Once Per Battle (Army) if anything so you can’t have multiple Battlesmiths using it. 

The lack of bonus to rally rolls here is concerning, but it’s hard to say if that will come back or not. Too many pieces of information could change with a spearhead warscroll.

Analysis

In an edition where GW claims save stacking is significantly reduced, getting a +1 save aura seems very good. This rectifies the Runemaster back to a 4+, the HGB back to a 5+, and puts the Magmadroth on a 3+. Combined with All-Out Defense and the enhanced Rune of Fiery Determination (Runemaster effect) and you can have +2 to save on multiple units and +3 to save on one unit. That’s some nice save stacking that Fyreslayers lack even in 3e.

Hopefully he keeps the Nulsidian Icon, but that’s outside the scope of this.

Bonus: Faction Terrain 

Forge – What Changed?

Sidegrade from +1 to chanting rolls wholly within 18” to +1 to chanting rolls on one priest within 3”. But this also gives Wizard (1) for unbinding. Unbinds are always welcome. 

Burning the forge down now heals all Fyreslayers for d3 as well. Oh, and it has Cover, Impassable, and Obscuring.

Analysis

Overall a sidegrade with a tinge of buff. Being able to heal the entire army is nice, but it’s only d3. Still, that can be clutch in certain instances. 

More importantly, giving out +1 chanting is still around. Parking a Priest (2) Runemaster next to this thing looks quite nice. +1 to chanting two prayers is a lot of priestly points acquired. Further, FS always lacked unbinds and this fixes that issue. 

The obscuring trait is also a good add-on for this terrain. This allows you to park a hero behind it, right in its little arm crook, and have it hidden from shooting from almost the entire battlefield. That’s quite nice.

Cooking With These Ingredients

It seems Fyreslayers will retain their identity as a hard-to-remove combat army. The magmadroth is extremely potent and the Hearthguard Berserkers, especially with fight first and defensive buffs, will outfight anyone. 

Just putting together what is shown you could have a list of a Runefather, Battlesmith, Runemaster, and Hearthguard Spam and it would absolutely smash things – assuming the points aren’t wildly overboard.

That’s very encouraging. If the little tidbits we have can already build something meaningful then adding more will only spice up the pot. 

Imagine a line of Hearthguard with 5+ ward, +1 (+2 save with all out defense), and -1 to wounds against them as well as possibly -1 to rend against them: that’s actually very tanky. For perspective, a Reinforced Squig Herd – which is no slouch in damage – would punch through only 7 wounds on average against that, killing 3 Hearthguard Berserkers, assuming you didn’t get to fight before them – with Strikes-First a 5-man Hearthguard unit wipes almost the entire Squig unit out before it even gets to kill those three Duardin.

These can be backed by a Runefather on Magmadroth which can swing for the fences and reduce enemies saves even further. With the new ability of all units to hit within 3″, placing a Droth behind a line of Hearthguard Berserkers is maybe not a bad idea — hand out the rampage and if opponents attack the Magmadroth instead they inadvertently buff the Hearthguard’s damage profile.

And don’t forget a Molten Infernoth handing out -1 to wound and mucking about in the opponent’s lines. Even if they banish it in their turn the -1 wound should persist.

Fyreslayers have always been about how all the units can work in concert to make your opponent’s life hell and there appears to be no change to that here.

That said, we are missing a few key ingredients here. The Runesmiter is MIA and his deepstrike is always an important consideration. Auric Hearthguard, the only shooting unit in Fyreslayers, is missing. Grimwrath Berserkers have a place in many players’ hearts: will they still be spammable? Will they keep their oaths? Who knows.

But a big one not shown here is the Flamekeeper. He has been a big boon to nearly every Fyreslayers list in 3e, with many running two. His ability is extremely potent and in 4e would see him be a near must have. Even one flamekeeper would cause Hearthguard’s searing heat Crit(mortal) to do three mortal damage on a 6, now that’s a big hit. Here’s hoping.

Conclusion

Good stuff. Please show us more. No further notes.