Category Archives: Aaron Newbom

Aaron Newbom, Age of Sigmar, Astral Templars, Celestial Vindicators, Celestial Warbringers, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Hallowed Knights, Hammers of Sigmar, Knights Excelsior, Order, Stormcast Eternals, Tactics

Stormcast Tech: Tele-Guarding

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Stormcast are known for two things. Dragons and Paladins. Today’s article is about both and a super nasty way to get the most out of the combination of the two.

Everyone loves Karazai and Krondys. Beautiful sculpts with compelling lore and super dope abilities, but they have a critical flaw that’s kept them from seeing much competitive play. 18 wounds, even on a 3+ save, is surprisingly easy to kill.

All too often your badass centerpiece model would get blown off the table in a single shooting/hero phase leaving you missing your key hammer. Several top players found an elegant solution to this: Praetors.

Praetors are a bodyguarding unit that sucks wounds away from your heroes, and Krondys/Karazai are indeed stormcast heroes. But even then, Praetors are slow, and your dragons are trying to fly about the battle wreaking havoc. So what are we to do to keep your dragons from being vulnerable once they’ve gone aggressive?

Well here is the really clever bit. By bringing along a lord relictor with translocation, you can teleport up those Praetors to remain in bodyguard range of your dragons.

“But once my dragon charges in those Praetors will be left 9″ out and won’t be up front with my hero!”

There is truth here, but also a really cool interaction.

Krondys and Karazai are on MASSIVE bases. Approximately 6.5 inches across. What this means is that even if your dragon charges into the fight, the back of their base will still be just 2.5″ away from the Praetors, allowing the bodyguards to stay out of the fight (where they might be targeted by opposing attacks leaving your dragon vulnerable) but still keep your dragons alive so they can rip the heart out of the enemy army.

If you’ve been wanting to field those 520 point terrors but haven’t been able to keep them alive, try this strategy out in your next game!

Aaron Newbom, Age of Sigmar, Destruction, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Kruleboyz, Orruk Warclans, Tactics

Kruleboyz Tech: House Hopping

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Following on from Aaron’s article last week on Big Waaagh stacks, this week, his gaze shifts to the Man-skewers of the Kruleboyz.

Kruleboyz, and more specifically Man-Skewer Bolt-Boyz, have had a critical weakness since launch.

Man-Skewers feature two shooting profiles on their warscroll, Aimed shot and Hasty shot. Aimed shot has a range of 24″, but unfortunately cannot be used if the unit has moved. What’s a Bolt-Boy to do if the opponent simply hangs out 24.1″ away? Cry? No, a true Swampboss is never bothered by nonsense like “playing fair” and “good and honest fighting”. Instead we are going to abuse poorly worded terrain rules in a proper Mork-y way.

Hopping in


Defensible terrain, also known as Garrisons, allows you to enter instead of a move action if you’re wholly within 6″ of the terrain. What’s important about this is that it does not count as moving. That means you still get to shoot a full 24″. Additionally, your range can be drawn from any point of the terrain piece, so all 9 of those big yellers bolt Boyz can draw from a 1mm point on the corner of a building. If the building is 6″ long, counting the hop in, you have extended your range by 10-12″ farther than your opponent expected.

Hopping out

Even better, hopping out doesn’t count as a move action either. When you leave a garrison, you only have to be within 6″, not wholly, meaning your range is further extended by 7″. Opponents hoping to hang outside your range can find themselves under heavy fire they didn’t expect and too far away to punish it.

This technique is excellent for sniping away supporting characters. The aimed shot is not exactly high damage, but it’s accurate and consistent, making it the perfect tool to pop 5-6 wound wizards and buff pieces. It’s also a great way to have your Bolt Boyz manoeuvre to contest objectives without giving up entire turns of shooting.

Finally, there is another big advantage to holding up in a den of destro sneakyness. Unleash hell can be drawn from any point setting up disgustingly powerful anti charge fire, and your Boyz are -1 to hit and +1 save while in that garrison. On top of that, you can exit a garrison even if tagged in combat and still shoot as it was neither a retreat nor a move. This really makes aggression into your juicy bits a lot less rewarding and much more heavily punished than it otherwise would be.

So get out there and pretend it’s 2006, flip some houses and rain green death on your enemies.

Aaron Newbom, Age of Sigmar, Big Waaagh!, Destruction, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Orruk Warclans, Tactics

Big Waaagh Tech: Waaagh stacks

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Big Waaagh is an army that relies on building stacks of Waaagh Points, which slowly applies stacking buffs until every unit in your army becomes Big Green Murder Machines. There are many ways to generate Waaagh Points, from landing charges to heroic actions, and especially by having units stuck in at the end of combat.

That last method is what has created the technique known as Waaagh Stacks.

A Waaagh Stack is when several units (typically a screen and several heroes) are tightly confined near each other so that when you engage with one, you engage with them all. In most situations, this would do more harm than good—a single unit tying up multiple units (restricting their movement)—so what’s the benefit in doing this?

Two characters, less than 3″ from an Arboyz screen

The answer lies in Waaagh points and how critical they are to your army! For each of those units stuck at the end of the combat, you get an additional WP. Even if they can’t do damage (shamans, wurrgogs, etc.), they’re still stacking buffs for the rest of your army. The difference of 2-3 WP early game is huge, often reaching your powerful buffs a whole turn earlier, allowing you to take control of the game much sooner than your opponent might have expected.

Even outside of the early game, an early WAAAGH can be detrimental to your opponent. This technique has allowed me to hit full stacks, twice, in multiple combat-heavy games. Getting +1 to charge, cast, and hit at the top of round 2 instead of round 3 has cascading results as your army chops your opponent down instead of dawdling and trying to accumulate resources.

Many of the risks from the Waaagh Stack technique are mitigated by natural functions of the army. For example, Orruk characters tend to be pretty tough and fighty, so a few stray hits reaching over your screen are very unlikely to actually kill your units.

Additionally, mechanics like the Wurrgog stare and teleports from the Big Green Hand of Mork can get you unstuck and ready to fight on your own terms. This prevents your opponent from gaining a strategic advantage off of their plays while you reap the rewards.

Every small edge matters in a game of Age of Sigmar, so remember, Stay Stacked or Get Clapped.