By Roland Rivera

For those that remember such ancient times, Games Workshop stores of the 90s had a specific feel (and smell) to them when you walked in. They also played LOTS of rock music. If you could wrap all of that up into an Age of Sigmar faction, you’d get the Slaves to Darkness (and possibly a little bit of Nurgle…).

UPDATE (07/23/2024): This article has been updated to better reflect the high-performing units in the faction, the strongest manifestation lores, and alternative playstyles.

Playstyle

As befits a faction with such a wide model range, Slaves to Darkness has a variety of playstyles available to it. I believe many players will gravitate to an aggressive playstyle using cavalry units such as Chaos Knights and Varanguard. This is pretty straightforward: you do horrific amounts of damage on the charge, so you charge your opponents and knock them over. The rest of your army is there to support the big scary cavalry by providing buffs, standing on objectives, or scoring Battle Tactics.

The army is also capable of a more defensive/controlling playstyle employing Chaos Chosen and Chaos Warriors to control territory, as well as control pieces such as Be’lakor and the Mindstealer Sphiranx to disrupt your opponent and quality chaff units like Chaos Furies to tie opponents up in melee. This playstyle also employs manifestations extensively to block off sections of the board and engage units that refuse to fight your formidable combat blobs.

Last but not least, the Darkoath part of the army is nominally capable of putting large amounts of troops on the table that can be brought back using the Darkoath Horde Battle Formation, but I find that playstyle to be quite a bit weaker than the two styles mentioned above and won’t talk too much about that one here.

Battle Traits

Slaves to Darkness only has 2 Battle Traits, but they’re both pretty good ones: Eye of the Gods triggers whenever your units destroy an enemy unit and offers an array of potent buffs. I recommend always taking the re-roll on the table, as it gives you a greater than 50% chance of getting the buff you want. Aggressive units will likely want the +1 to hit first in order to maximize your resource efficiency. Once you have that, target the +1 Rend. Defensive units will likely want to stack those wards.

The Marks of Chaos lets you choose from an array of buffs associated with each Chaos god. Khorne and Nurgle are the standouts in offence and defence, respectively, and they are the ones I would choose from when given a choice. For the units locked to a particular Mark, Undivided is respectable, and Tzeentch is conditional. I don’t see a reason to choose Slaanesh other than the mark-specific prayer on the Chaos Warshrine, which is not enough incentive.

Let’s look at the Nexus Chaotica since it’s a de facto faction ability. Its ability to charge up and grant bonuses to cast is OK, but the benefit I like the most is the ability to generate mortal damage bombs on objectives. Additionally, it somewhat functions as a free screen with its ability to occupy space and absorb damage on your behalf.

Subfaction Traits

We have access to 4 subfactions (known as Battle Formations), but one of them stands head and shoulders above the rest in my opinion. The Godswrath Warband turns an objective that you’re contesting into a mortal damage minefield, and as far we know, it cannot be interacted with further. This extra damage source on objectives can make it difficult for your opponent to retain control of them, which helps you accomplish your primary objective (scoring points) via the thing this army is best at (killing their stuff).

In the event that you wish to consider something other than Godswrath, the Darkoath Horde has a potent unit revival effect in Rally the Tribes for Darkoath units. I consider the abilities of the Despoilers and Legion of Chaos Battle Formations to be too conditional and not sufficiently impactful to compete with Godswrath or Horde.

Spells

The Lore of the Damned has an obvious all-star spell in Daemonic Speed. While the casting value make it something you can’t necessarily rely on, charging on 3D6″ is quite a potent effect. Spite-Tongue Curse isn’t the strongest spell, but the threat of casting it multiple times in the same turn can make it a decent Hero sniper, and the threat of it can influence your opponent to hide their Heroes. Lastly, Binding Damnation‘s ability to put down the strikes-last debuff can swing a key combat in your favor (though beware of the short range).

Our native manifestation lore (the Manifestations of Malevolence) is nothing to write home about, in my opinion. While the Realmscourge Rupture has a useful conditional debuff in -1 to hit and the Eightfold Doom-Sigil can get you +1 Attack in a turn where you sequence your combats cleverly, I find it to be overall weaker than some of the generic lores. The generic lore par excellence in my opinion is Morbid Conjuration, which has the Purple Sun of Shyish for save penalties, Malevolent Maelstrom as a mortal damage bomb, Suffocating Gravetide as a horde thinner, and Soulsnare Shackles as a movement disruptor that is particularly nasty when cast on your opponent’s turn. I also think Primal Energy is a strong lore for us, as Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws is a durable threat that can’t be banished in one shot and Emerald Lifeswarm meshes well with our high-Health models. A Lore that I have a bit of a soft spot for is Forbidden Power, which has the Soulscream Bridge for moving units (especially slower ones like Warriors and Chosen) around and Horrorghast to provide you with a bit of shooting and the chance to shut down command abilities (disallowing an opponent from using a Counter-charge, for example, is a potentially game-swinging play).

Last but not least, if you’re planning to go light on spells and just want to defend yourself from enemy manifestations, I think the Krondspine Incarnate of Ghur gives you the best bang for your buck.

Enhancements

In the Artefacts section, I think the choice is pretty clear: this is an elite army that will struggle on objectives, and The Conqueror’s Crown helps shore up that weakness. An argument can be made for the Infernal Puppet if you feel that you don’t have enough protection against opposing spellcasters, but the fact that it is once per game and triggers I don’t think it’s enough of a disincentive. The Realmwarper’s Twist-Rune is niche tech at best.

The Heroic Traits section, on the other hand, is a bit trickier. If you have a fightier Hero such as the Chaos Lord on Karkadrak or the Daemon Prince, Deathmonger is a nice way to make them more threatening. Radiance of Dark Glory is good if you have lots of high-Health models, such as Hero Monsters. I rate Favoured of the Pantheon below those options, but it’s hardly bad.

Units

My opinion is that the most efficient warscroll in this army is Chaos Knights. I find that you get a great deal on points for how fast, durable, and damaging they are on the charge, especially if they are marked Khorne (which they should be!). I begin virtually every list with 2 units of 5, and suggest you do the same. Another standout unit is Chaos Furies, who are blazing fast (which makes them excellent for completing Battle Tactics or contesting faraway objectives), and have a retreat ability that makes them very hard to take out in melee. Not every Hero has access to them, but every list should.

The other heavily armored units are also potent. Varanguard are the best overall hammer unit in our army and capable of a terrifying amount of damage, Chaos Warriors are efficiently priced objective grabbers that do more damage than you’d think, and Chaos Chosen can dish it out as well as they take it. If you’re looking for cheaper units, the Darkoath Fellriders have great speed, solid damage to pick off low-save units and small Heroes, and are an efficient source of health that can get revived in the proper Battle Formation. Another option in the cheap unit department is Furies, which perform a useful function as cheap, fast fliers that can waste opposing combat activations.

On the Hero front, Be’lakor strikes me as doing quite a lot for his points, with solid damage, being a Wizard (2) with a good warscroll spell, and powerful abilities such as The Dark Master. Staying with casters, I believe the Chaos Sorcerer Lord on foot and the Gaunt Summoner on foot are both very efficient. The Sorcerer’s Oracular Visions almost feels like a very powerful second spell, and the Gaunt is an actual Wizard (2) with a neat ability for moving some of your slower units (like Chaos Chosen) around. I also think the Chaos Lord on Daemonic Mount is pretty efficiently priced, especially for those cavalry-heavy aggressive lists. Last but not least, Archaon the Everchosen costs a ton of points, but he is also an imposing enough presence on the board to make him running him worth it. He hits hard, moves fast, is incredibly durable, and has great abilities, especially his ability to put down opposing manifestations with ease.

Sample List

Here’s a sample list that features some of the premium warscrolls and synergies in the army.

Army: Slaves to Darkness
– Battle Formation: Godswrath Warband
– Manifestation Lore: Primal Energy
– Spell Lore: Lore of the Damned
– Honour Guard Rule: Priority Target

REGIMENT 1
Hero: Be’lakor (410)
– General
Unit 1: 6 Varanguard (620)
– Mark of Chaos: Khorne
– Reinforced
– Honour Guard
Unit 2: 5 Darkoath Fellriders (150)
– Broadswords
Unit 3: 6 Chaos Furies (100)
Unit 4: 6 Chaos Furies (100)

REGIMENT 2
Hero: Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)
– Heroic Trait: Radiance of Dark Glory
– Artefact: The Conqueror’s Crown
– Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch
Unit 2: 5 Chaos Knights (250)
– Mark of Chaos: Khorne
Unit 3: 5 Chaos Knights (250)
– Mark of Chaos: Khorne

TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)

Coming in right at 2000 points, this list is an offensive powerhouse. Be’lakor and the Sorcerer Lord need no introduction, Knights and Varanguard bring the pain (especially when the Priority Target rule is live to give them +1 to hit and wound), Chaos Furies are a premier screen and objective grabber, and Fellriders are a somewhat bulkier unit that can harass Heroes and threaten opposing chaff. As this list is very fast and full of beefy multi-Health models, I favor the Primal Energy manifestation lore because of the Emerald Lifeswarm‘s ability to heal your guys as well as Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws for some extra damage.