Category Archives: Beginners army

Age of Sigmar, Army Lists, Beginners army, Chaos, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Getting Started with..., Peter Holland, Slaves to Darkness

Vanguard: Slaves to Darkness – Beginners 1,000 Point Army

2 Comments

Following on from Danny and Phil’s excellent chat about the new Slaves to Darkness Battletome, we thought it would be great to give you an option for a beginners army based on the new Vanguard: Slaves to Darkness.

Vanguard: Slaves to Darkness

This new boxed set priced at £85 through Games Workshop comes with 17 models in total to give you an (almost) complete beginners army. I say almost, the total points in this set amounts to 680 points.

Included in the box you have:

  • 1x Chaos Lord (115 points)
  • 10x Chaos Warriors (220 points)
  • 5x Chaos Knights (230 points)
  • 1x Gorebeast Chariot (115 points)

But we want a full 1,000 point army that we can start playing with, so to add to the above I’d possibly look at buying a Chaos Sorcerer Lord, a Darkoath Warqueen and a set of Darkoath Savagers.

What will it all cost?

  • Battletome: Slaves to Darkness £32.50
  • Vanguard: Slaves to Darkness £85
  • Darkoath Warqueen £21
  • Darkoath Savagers £35

That’s total of £173.50 at Games Workshop prices for everything you need to play at 1,000 points with Slaves to Darkness.

You can of course get these cheaper through your local retailers. Element Games in the UK offer between 15-25% off on these prices. Why not use our affiliate link below to start your army today?

Advertisements

The List

Army Faction: Slaves to Darkness
– Subfaction: Host of the Everchosen

LEADERS
Chaos Lord (115)
– General
– Mark of Nurgle
– Reaperblade and Daemonbound Steel
– Command Trait: Death Dealer
– Artefact: Hellfire Sword (Reaperblade)
Chaos Sorcerer Lord (120)
– Mark of Nurgle
– Lore of the Damned: Daemonic Speed
Darkoath Warqueen (100)

BATTLELINE
10x Chaos Warriors (220)
– Mark of Nurgle
– Murderous Weapons
– Retinue
5x Chaos Knights (230)
– Mark of Nurgle
– Cursed Flail
– Ensorcelled Banner: The Eroding Icon
10x Darkoath Savagers (100)

OTHER
1x Gorebeast Chariot (115)
– Mark of Khorne
– Lashing Whip & Chaos War-Flail

TOTAL POINTS: 1000/1000

This army is tough! and it has fast elements which can also pin units in place while you bring your Chaos Warriors and Darkoath Savagers to bear. We’ve gone for Host of the Everchosen as our subfaction, this will allow us to bring back slain models on 5+ instead of 6+ with our rally ability. This only applies to the Chaos Warriors and Chaos Knights, but these two units with the Mark of Nurgle are already going to be blighters to shift anyway, this will just make it even harder for our oppposition!

How it could play

Chaos Lord

Our general for this particular list. He’s tough and hits like a hammer. Giving him the Mark of Nurgle means the enemy have to subtract 1 from their wound rolls that target him when using melee weapons. It also gives him the ability to use the Command Ability: Bestow Contagion. This will allow our other Nurgle Marked units (Chaos Warriors and Knights) a chance to cause D3 mortal wounds to enemy units within 3″ on a 3+.

We’ve got Death Dealer as our Command Trait, and this will allow our General to fight for a second time in the fight phase once per battle. Admittedly it’s with the Strike-last effect, but even so, well worth having.

With Chaos Lords you’re also allowed to choose a retinue which you can pass wounds off to on a 3+ (the reasons for this shown in the Chaos Warriors section), for this I’ve chosen the Chaos Warriors, as really he should be sticking to them like glue throughout the game. The other benefit from being retinue is they can fight immediately after our Chaos Lord if they haven’t fought yet. Essentially giving you two fight activations for the price of one!

As an artefact, I’ve gone for Hellfire Sword, which will allow our Reaperblade to cause two mortal wounds for each hit roll of 6.

Giving him the Reaperblade and Daemonbound Steel does mean that the damage output is slightly better than that of the Daemonbound Flail when you also take into account the mortal wounds caused by Hellfire Sword:

Weapon– Save6+ Save5+ Save4+ Save3+ Save2+ Save
Reaperblade222222
Daemonbound Steel111110
TOTAL333332
Daemonbound War-Flail222222
Average Damage after Saves
Advertisements

Chaos Sorcerer Lord

This lovely fellow is a good buff to your forces. He’s a single cast and single unbind wizard which isn’t anything to write home about, but what he does provide is his spell Daemonic Power. With a casting value of 6 and a range of 18″ it should be fairly easy to cast each turn, and when you do you’ll be able to give ANY of your other units in this list +1 to hit and +1 to wound for their melee attacks. That’s nothing to be sniffed at!

As well as this he can give a 6+ ward to one of your other units in this list until the next hero phase. Hopefully you’re starting to see the tankiness of those Chaos Warriors now with their Mark of Nurgle (-1 to wound them) and a 5+ Ward Save against mortals and 6+ Ward against everything else.

Darkoath Warqueen

I absolutely love this model, which is mainly why I’ve chosen it (never discount rule of cool!). Like the Chaos Lord, this unit can allow the Darkoath Savagers to fight immediately after herself (as long as they haven’t already fought), another twofer!

She has an ability where if issuing the inspiring presence command while inside the enemy territory she can give it up to 2 Darkoath or Cultist units. We only have one for this list, but perhaps consider buying one of those awesome Warcry warbands when you look to expand to 2k?

Chaos Warriors

The first of our three battleline units. Keep these near your Chaos Lord so that they can benefit from the Retinue rule and fight immediately after the Chaos Lord in the fight phase.

With a 3+ save, a 5+ ward against mortals and a 6+ ward against everything else using the Chaos Sorcerer Lords Oracular Visions, AND the ability to have slain models return from the rally command on 5+, this unit is going to take A LOT of punishment before it goes away! In fact they would need an average of 72 damage from zero rend weapons to be allocated to them before saves, for the enemy to have a chance of destroying them.

By getting the Chaos Sorcerer Lord to cast Daemonic Power on them as well you’ll soon see their average damage output after saves is not to be ignored:

Weapon– Save6+ Save5+ Save4+ Save3+ Save2+ Save
Murderous Weapons1414121075
Murderous Weapons (Enemy Territory)*21211814117
*Chaos Warriors gain +1 attack while wholly within enemy territory
Advertisements

Darkoath Savagers

Another unit I absolutely love. These guys have an added benefit of causing mortal wounds on hit rolls of 6 when in combat. This is the perfect unit to try and take objectives with, because if you manage to claim one previously held by the enemy then this unit will get a 5+ ward save until the end of the game. They won’t stand up to much punishment though, so if you’re going to commit them make sure you can win!

Weapon– Save6+ Save5+ Save4+ Save3+ Save2+ Save
Darkoath Weapons874411
Average Damage Output after Saves

Chaos Knights

Another tanky unit. They also benefit from the 5+ ward save against mortal wounds. We’re also giving them Mark of Nurgle (who is Mark anyway?) so the enemy is at -1 on their to wound rolls.

These guys are quick as well, we’ve given our Chaos Sorcerer Lord the spell Daemonic Speed. This will allow to roll 3D6 for their charge rolls when within 18″.

We’ve also chosen to give these chaps The Eroding Icon Ensorcelled Banner, this will worsen the rend of melee weapons used against them by 1, making them even harder to kill!

You’ll want these guys quickly claiming objectives and tying up units you want to hold in place ready for your Chaos Warriors to pummel.

Weapon– Save6+ Save5+ Save4+ Save3+ Save2+ Save
Cursed Land (Charging)888664
Cursed Lane*443321
Cursed Flail*322110
Trampling Hooves*322110
TOTAL*1087541
Average Damage Output
Advertisements

Gorebeast Chariot

Another flanker unit for our army. We’ve given this the Mark of Khorne which allows us to add 1 to the attacks of its melee weapons when it charges.

Don’t forget that at the end of the combat phase it can make a normal move even if still within 3″ of the enemy. If it does so, it can cross across models with wound characteristics of 4 or less as though it can fly. If you do so, pick a unit that this model passed over and roll a dice, on 3+ that enemy suffers D6 mortal wounds! You’ll probably do an average of 3 or 4 mortal wounds… And it only costs 115 points! Bargain!

Weapon– Save6+ Save5+ Save4+ Save3+ Save2+ Save
Lashing Whip100000
Chaos War-Flail322110
Crushing Fists222200
TOTAL644310
Average Damage Output

Where to go next?

Everything in this book looks cool and you certainly couldn’t go wrong by possibly buying a second Vanguard box! If not, have a look at the Varanguard and Chosen, both heavy hitting units if that’s what you like. There’s also a certain bloke named Archaon…

Age of Sigmar, Army Lists, Beginners army, Chaos, Disciples of Tzeentch, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Getting Started with..., Peter Holland

Vanguard: Disciples of Tzeentch – Beginners 1,000 Point Army

Leave a comment

Following on from Danny and Patrick’s excellent Battletome review we thought it would be great to give you an option for a beginners army based on the new Vanguard: Disciples of Tzeentch.

Vanguard: Disciples of Tzeentch

This new boxed set priced at £80 through Games Workshop comes with 27 models in total to give you an (almost) complete beginners army. I say almost, the total points in this set amounts to 730 points.

Included in the box you have:

  • 1x Magister on Disc of Tzeentch (145 points)
  • 3x Screamers of Tzeentch (100 points)
  • 3x Flamers of Tzeentch (190 points)
  • 10x Tzaangors (175 points)
  • 10x Kairic Acolytes (120 points)

But we want a full 1,000 point army that we can start playing with, so to add to the above I’d possibly look at buying a Fluxmaster, the Tzeentch Endless Spells and a Chaos Spawn (buy a couple, they can be summoned by certain spells).

What will it all cost?

  • Battletome: Disciples of Tzeentch £32.50
  • Vanguard: Disciples of Tzeentch £80
  • Fluxmaster £27.50
  • Tzeentch Endless Spells £27.50
  • Chaos Spawn £30

That’s total of £197.50 at Games Workshop prices for everything you need to play at 1,000 points with Disciples of Tzeentch.

You can of course get these cheaper through your local retailers. Element Games offer between 15-25% off on these prices and the total of this army would cost just £166.37 through their store. Why not use our affiliate link below to start your army today?

The List

Army Faction: Disciples of Tzeentch
– Subfaction: Hosts Arcanum
– Grand Strategy: Master of Destiny

LEADERS
Magister on Disc of Tzeentch (145)*
– General
– Command Trait: Arch Sorcerer
– Artefact: Spiteful Shield
– Spell: Arcane Suggestion
– Spell: Infusion Arcanum
– Spell: Shield of Fate
– Spell: Bolt of Tzeentch
Fluxmaster (170)*
– Spell: Unchecked Mutation
– Spell: Blue Fire of Tzeentch

BATTLELINE
10x Tzaangors (175)*
10x Kairic Acolytes (120)*
3x Screamers of Tzeentch (100)*

OTHER
3x Flamers of Tzeentch (190)*

ENDLESS SPELLS AND INVOCATIONS
1x Burning Sigil of Tzeentch (50)
1x Tome of Eyes (40)

CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: 990/1000

Aside from the Acolytes and Tzaangors this is a quick army with all of the other units moving a minimum of 9″ per round. We’re also magic heavy in true Tzeentch fashion with the ability to use 6 spells from their lore and two endless spells. Movement and casting with your leaders will be key.

How it could play

Magister on Disc of Tzeentch

Our general for this particular list. He’s quick with a 16″ move which should be enough to both keep him out of combats you don’t want him to be part of, as well as keeping him range for casting one of his myriad of spells.

He’s a single cast wizard with the ability to cast two at the 17% risk of changing into a Chaos Spawn. I would only cast two spells with this chap if you’re on the ropes in a game, otherwise stick to one.

It’s not a great model for melee, so try and keep it out. That said if it is in combat then we have the Spiteful Shield which will cause two mortal wounds on an attacker if you make any save rolls of 6 in melee.

In terms of the spells this model knows we’ve given it the Arch Sorcerer command ability to give it access to two more spells for a total of four.

Bolt of Tzeentch will allow it to cause D6 mortals on a unit, Arcane Suggestion will allow you to debuff enemy units making them easier to wound or making it harder to attack for them. Shield of Fate will give one of your units a ward save. While Infusion Arcanum will give buffs to its own attacks in combat. Something for every eventuality and that’s not including the two Endless Spells we’ve picked.

Fluxmaster

This “chap” comes with his own Arcane Tome ability which, once per style will allow you to re-roll one casting roll for this unit, it also allows you to add 3 to that casting roll when you do so. For its spell I’ve chosen Unchecked Mutation to go alongside its Blue Fire of Tzeentch.

Blue Fire of Tzeentch is particularly tasty, rolling nine dice for an enemy unit within range. For each 5+ roll that unit suffers 1 mortal wound and your force gains 1 Fate point. Unchecked Mutation causes D3 mortal wounds on a unit and if that successfully removed a model then you cause an additional D3 mortals.

As with the Magister you’ll ideally be keeping both of these characters out of combat and casting as many spells as you can to raise fate points. You should be able to manage two or three Fate points per turn giving you an opportunity to summon units at around turn three or four.

Tzaangors

As mentioned, these and the Acolytes are the slowest units in your force. That being said, both units are still movement 6″…. And they can run and charge in the same turn. If they do charge then each model can add 1 to the number of attacks they make with their beaks. This doubles those attacks from 10 to 20!

If you have 10 of these all with paired blades you’ll find they’re kicking out 30 attacks at 3+/3+/-/1 giving you on average a damage output (along with their beaks) of 16 before any saves (19 on the charge). That’ll remove some lighter units in a single turn. With both these and the Acolytes you’ll want to work in concert with your magic to make sure you’re removing the units you need to remove in order to win, as damage output is not the best with Tzeentch.

With the amount of damage this unit has the potential to do, it makes it your hammer. Tie up units with the Acolytes or Screamers then pile these boys in to bring them down.

Kairic Acolytes

Coming with Sorcerous Bolt at 18″ range, this is your only unit with any ranges firepower. Hitting on 4+, and wounding on 3+ with no rend (but this can be improved to -1 through their own spell) and only a single point of damage they aren’t Sentinels. They do an average of 3.3 damage at range and so make perfect units to chip damage off lightly armoured enemy.

They are classed as a wizard (with a +1 and so can cast a spell and also unbind in each hero phase. A lot of the time you may be improving the rend of their Sorcerous Bolts, but that’s good, as any successful spell can generate you a summoning point for more units!

Get them as near to enemy casters as possible, as each time they successfully cast near this unit they’ll suffer a mortal wound on 4+.

Finally, this unit has the option to take three models with shields. These shields give you a ward save of 6+ so remove these after you’ve removed other models to keep your ward save going.

Screamers of Tzeentch

These are quick, and they can dish out mortal wounds as well. With a 16″ move, if you use the movement to go over another unit you’ll cause mortal wounds to that unit on 4+ for each Screamer. Meaning on average you’ll score one to two mortal wounds. This is great for perhaps adding some chip damage to a hero or for whittling down an enemy anvil unit.

Once in combat they’re ok but not great. Causing on average 4 damage at rend -1. They’re better for harassing the enemy and using the pass over skill to cause mortals. Also use them to capture objectives quickly.

Remember to use Locus of Change if these are in combat and within 12″ the Fluxmaster as enemies will suffer a -1 to hit against them.

Flamers of Tzeentch

Another fairly decent ranged unit. It’s 18″ attacks should cause on average 6 damage (8 if the target has 5 or more models) before saves, which isn’t to be sniffed at. They’ll wipe small cheap screens like Hobgrots with ease.

If you summon an Exalted Flamer, be sure to place it near to these chaps to give them +1 attack each. That’ll push their average damage before saves up to 10 if they target a unit with more than 5 models.

Like the Screamers, they’re fairly fragile in combat so keep them out of it unless absolutely necessary or you need to finish off a unit. Take advantage of their ranged attacks.

Like the Screamers, remember to use Locus of Change if these are in combat and within 12″ the Fluxmaster as enemies will suffer a -1 to hit against them.

Other Notes

We’ve included two Endless Spells in this list. The first being the Burning Sigil of Tzeentch. This spell cause D3 mortal wounds to enemy units within 9″. If this is successful, then you also get to drop a Chaos Spawn model within each unit that suffered a casualty from this spell. Chaos Spawn‘s can be great to pin down units that are causing you problems as they’ll heal ALL their wounds if there is a friendly wizard within 9″ of them that successfully casts without their spell being unbound. They won’t stick around long as they’re only five wounds with a five plus save, but they’re worth it, especially if a spell is giving them out for free.

The second Endless Spell is the Tome of Eyes. Which when summoned will follow its caster around allowing them to re-roll their casting rolls. It also gives the caster access to yet another spell, The Parchment Curse, this will allow you to cause D3 mortal wounds to an enemy unit within 18″ of the caster on 3+. For each model slain by this they have to subtract 1 from their bravery for the REST OF THE GAME.

As Disciples of Tzeentch a wizard in your army can automatically cast a spell (the enemy doesn’t get an opportunity to unbind) that summons one of your Endless Spells. As this happens before the first Hero Phase it may be better to cast the Tome of Eyes to give the casting benefits to your caster in your first Hero Phase.

The other key thing to remember with Disciples of Tzeentch is that you can automatically unbind a spell with one of your Wizards in the first, third and fifth battle round thanks to our subfaction Hosts Arcanum.

You also have access to Destiny Dice where you roll nine dice at the start of the game and place them to one side. These dice can be used to replace a roll you have made for:

  • Casting Rolls
  • Unbinding Rolls
  • Dispelling Rolls
  • Run Rolls
  • Charge Rolls
  • Hit Rolls
  • Wound Rolls
  • Save Rolls
  • Rolls that determine the number of attacks or damage of a weapon
  • Battleshock Rolls

Remember to keep track of your Fate Points! You’ll get a Fate Point each time you successfully cast a sell that isn’t unbound. You can use Fate Points to summon units into your army. Once at 10 (which is the minimum needed to summon) you’ll have enough to bring either 3 Screamers of Tzeentch, 10 Brimstone Horrors or 10 Blue Horrors onto the table.

The army should be a lot of fun, especially if you like dominating the Magic Phase.

Where to go next?

I’d possibly look at buying a few of the summonable units such as Blue Horrors and another box of Screamers.

You get great value for money from the Burning Chariot kit. This can be used to build a Fateskimmer and an Exalted Flamer, a Fluxmaster and an Exalted Flamer, a Burning Chariot and a Changecaster or a Blue Scribes kitbash and a Changecaster.

Either way you go, have fun and let us know how you do!

Age of Sigmar, Beginners army, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Getting Started with..., Historics, Hobby Update, Newcomer's Guide, Peter Holland, Sci-Fi, Tale of Wargamers

Tale of Wargamers – Introduction

Leave a comment

What is a Tale of Wargamers?

Back in the mid 90’s when I was first getting into Warhammer and wargaming in a big way there used to be an article called ‘A Tale of Wargamers’ in the White Dwarf. The premise was simple, each person had a budget of £25 and spent that each month on expanding their army.

I thought it would be great to try and do this again in the current day and age. But also, we’re making it even harder for ourselves! What if we approached this as though we had never bought any models, paints or brushes before?! As in, what should a complete beginner look at purchasing and where from?!

So, if you’re a beginner to Warhammer or in fact any wargaming system (not just Games Workshop), then you may find this series interesting and useful. For those a bit more long in the tooth, you may just find this plain entertaining!

The Rules

As there are a few members of the team taking part in the Tale of Wargamers from all corners of the globe we first had to agree the limits.

  • UK based members have £25 GBP
  • US based members have $35 USD
  • Australian based members have $65 AUD
  • Rest of Europe have €30

You can use independent retailers, Amazon (I wouldn’t, but you could….) or Games Workshop for your supplies of tools, paints and models. Preferably eBay should be avoided as prices can be difficult to replicate.

Anything that isn’t spent in one month can be carried over to the next. You CANNOT spend more than the budget allows.

Finally, purchasing 3D miniature prints from a vendor on Etsy or similar is fine, however, we are banned from using our own printers for his purpose.

Warhammer Fantasy and Oldhammer Players

If you’ve already got a large collection of miniatures but want to take part, then use the budget as normal and consider each set of 10 models/artillery or similar to cost £25 and a hero/character to cost £15. Then purchase the paints etc as normal. I.e. you have a set of 10 Trollslayers in your pile of shame. Deduct £25 from your budget and paint them up.

I’m not going to lie, we think it’s going to be tough, but it is doable! And don’t worry, none of us will be resorting to using PVA glue to stick our models together!

Want to keep up to date on everyone’s progress? Why not join our Discord, on there you’ll fine the Tale of Wargamers channel where we post our thoughts and musings throughout the month.

Age of Sigmar, Army Lists, Beginners army, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Idoneth Deepkin, Order, Xander Bennett

Vanguard: Idoneth Deepkin – Beginner’s 1,000 Point Army

3 Comments

Everybody Do The Wave

Have you heard the call of the Ethersea? Do you steal the souls of sentient creatures to prolong your own life? Do you like to move fast and hit hard while looking fishy and fabulous? Then Idoneth Deepkin is the faction for you!

The obvious place to start collecting an army of watery aelves is the Vanguard: Idoneth Deepkin box, available from Games Workshop or your favorite local game store.

The box is great value. Here’s what you get:

  • 10 Namarti Thralls. The backbone of virtually any Idoneth Deepkin army, these Battleline units hit like a truck but are relatively fragile. The kit has only one weapon option with a few different visual choices.
  • 3 Akhelian Guard. These ultra-fast flying cavalry can be built as either Morsarr Guard (spears) or Ishlaen Guard (swords). I highly recommend building them as Morsarr Guard, as the offense-oriented eels are more widely usable in a variety of different lists.
  • 1 Akhelian Allopex. Think of it as a flying gun platform that can also bite people. Very fast and decent at both shooting and melee. Comes with a choice of harpoon launcher or net launcher. Build your first shark with the harpoon, as the net is more situational.
  • 1 Isharran Soulscryer. The Deepkin’s only Priest character. While he’s nobody’s first choice of hero, “Mister Pointy” still has his uses, especially in the 2022 Matched Play season.
Advertisements

Alternative Starting Points

If you can find it, the old Start Collecting: Idoneth Deepkin box is a little cheaper but still provides good value. You’ll get the same 10 Thralls and 3 Akhelian Guard, but you’ll miss out on the Allopex. In place of the Soulscryer you get the Isharran Soulrender, arguably a much better hero. If you’re starting out with the Soulrender, consider choosing the Mor’phann sub-faction to get the most out of him.

If you can find the 2022 dual-faction box Fury of the Deep, the Idoneth Deepkin half comes with 10 Thralls, 10 Namarti Reavers (mobile ranged battleline) and one Akhelian Thrallmaster (a buffing hero that improves Thralls). This might be a good option if you’re splitting the box with a Fyreslayers player, or if you plan to focus on Namarti and avoid the eels and sharks.

Fyreslayers face the fury of Idoneth Deepkin
Fire, meet water

Your First 1000 Point List

Here’s how to build your first 1000 point Idoneth Deepkin list:

Allegiance: Idoneth Deepkin
– Enclave: Dhom-Hain
– Grand Strategy: The Creeping Gloomtide
– Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Isharann Soulscryer (150)*
– Artefact: Dritchleech
– Universal Prayer Scripture: Curse
Isharann Tidecaster (150)*
– General
– Command Trait: Teachings of the Turscoll
– Lore of the Deeps: Counter-current

Battleline
10 x Namarti Thralls (130)*
10 x Namarti Reavers (170)*

Units
1 x Akhelian Allopexes (165)*
– Razorshell Harpoon
3 x Akhelian Morrsarr Guard (195)*

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment

Total: 960 / 1000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 2
Allies: 0 / 200
Wounds: 50
Drops: 1

This list can do something in every phase of the game. While fragile, it has access to two Isharran rituals (Creeping Mist during Low Tide and Deepsight during High Tide) that can keep you safe from shooting and protect your Namarti, respectively.

We’ve chosen Dhom-Hain for our enclave as it will allow us to get a bit more out of our two Namarti units, and maybe even pull off a cheeky double attack with the Namarti Thralls.

A typical deployment would be to set up defensively behind your Gloomtide Shipwreck and keep the Soulscryer off the board, accompanied by the Reavers, the Allopex or even both. With your one-drop battalion, you’ll usually want to give away first turn to force your opponent to come closer (allowing you to hopefully grab the double turn). Based on your opponent’s army and deployment, decide whether to use Teachings of the Turscoll to reverse the order of the tides to your benefit.

The game plan is to whittle down your opponent with shooting before charging in with your eels, shark and Thralls. Deep-strike the Soulscryer and friends in at an opportune time to grab an objective or harass the opponent’s backline. Use his Curse prayer along with Namarti shooting and melee to hopefully break even the largest enemy unit.

If you want to embody an Idoneth general, start practicing your satisfied smirk

Want more infantry? For an alternative list, lose the Tidecaster and add 10 more Thralls, bringing that block up to 20. You’ll have more bodies and more presence on the board, but you’ll be missing any form of magic.

Looking for something that’s high risk/high reward? Lose the Soulscryer and Tidecaster and add an Akhelian King. You’ll have no magic (unless you give him Arcane Tome and Flaming Weapon, which you absolutely should), no rituals, and you’ll be spending a quarter of your points on one very fragile hero. On the other hand, he’s extremely deadly and he buffs your Akhelian units. While amazing in a larger game, he may not be the best choice when you’re just starting out.

Advertisements

Pricing It Out

So how much will this list cost you?

BoxUSDGBPEURAUD
Vanguard: Idoneth Deepkin$130£80€105$190
Namarti Reavers$55£32.50€42.50$84
Isharran Tidecaster$32£18€23$40
Gloomtide Shipwreck$60£35€45$84
Battletome: Idoneth Deepkin$55£32.50€42.50$84
Total$332£198€258$482
Purchasing from eBay or your local game store can drop these price by 15-20%

Let’s talk about the ur-kraken in the room: The Gloomtide Shipwreck. It’s currently out of stock on Games Workshop’s website and very expensive on eBay. Your best bet is to scour local game stores in search of one.

This is an important model for your army, but you can make do without one if you’ll be playing casually at first. My advice is to use a template or proxy model until you find one or they come back in stock online.

Next Steps

So you’ve played a few games at 1000 points and you want to expand your army. What’s next?

First things first: grab yourself an Akhelian King. The Slap-King, as he’s known, is a fantastic finesse piece which can reliably delete the enemy’s biggest threats and almost guarantee you the This One’s Mine! battle tactic. Just be careful with your positioning and watch out for Unleash Hell and Stomp.

I strongly recommend at least another 10 Namarti Thralls. They may be eye-less but they’re not harmless, as their 2″ reach and surprising damage output can chew through most enemy units.

To support your Thralls and Reavers, you could consider investing in heroes such as the Isharran Soulrender, Lotann or the Akhelian Thrallmaster. The Soulrender is a particularly good choice, as he unlocks the popular Mor’phann enclave.

Waving to his fans

Now we’re getting into the big centerpiece models. The Eidolon of Mathlann is a huge support hero that comes in either Sea (spellcasting) or Storm (combat) flavors. The Eidolon of the Sea is currently your best bet for a reliable spellcaster in the entire faction, and it also brings along a massive bravery buff and an excellent warscroll spell. Definitely a worthwhile investment.

Finally, the Akhelian Leviadon is a hefty model with a hefty points cost (and price tag), but as the faction’s only monster he doesn’t disappoint. The titanic turtle is a shooting, fighting, tanky monster that protects and buffs your Namarti. If you happen to choose the Nautilar enclave, the Leviadon’s attacks become truly terrifying against heavily armored targets.

Good luck harvesting the souls of your enemies! If you have any questions or want to share your ideas for starting an Idoneth army, dive into the comments section below.

Age of Sigmar, Army Lists, Beginners army, Brett, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Stormcast Eternals

Stormcast Eternals – Beginners 1000 Point Army

5 Comments

Are you a long time 40k Space Marine pilot looking for a new, but familiar, challenge or someone that likes being good at everything but not spectacular? Do you long to be the bedrock on which a new world is built?

If the answer is yes then I have the solution for you. And it involves a lot of gold.

Stormcast Eternals (SCE)

These returning heroes have everything, stalwart infantry, Heroes that not only buff but also slap pretty hard, mortal wound shooting and if you want cavalry then they do it right – with dragons.

I am going to run you through a few options to get started in the faction and give you a solid base for a competitive army. SCE start collecting boxes are out of print now, they were the SCE half of the starter kits in 1st and then 2nd edition. But they are one half of the current AoS Starter sets and we will be looking at a list built from the Extremis or Harbinger Starter Sets. These lists are intended to be competitive but might not quite reach the top table. I won’t be featuring Vanguard Raptors, Fulminators or Storm Drakes. Or not yet (read to the end).

There are a lot of avenues to collect SCE models, they have been one half of the starter sets for all three (3) editions of Age of Sigmar (AoS) and featured in the Moral Realm magazine. They have the largest model range in AoS and can be allied into all order armies or take allies from all order armies.

Warhammer AoS Extremis or Harbinger Starter Sets

The Harbringer Set

The current AoS starter sets offer 2 armies, SCE and Kruleboyz Orcs as well as a core rule book and a special campaign book. The Extremis set adds some useful Terrain pieces. For SCE the set provides:

SlotUnit
LeaderLord Imperitant with Gryph hound
Battleline5 x Vindictors
Praetors3 x Praetors
Extremis/Harbinger Stormcast Eternals

The List

Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals
– Stormhost: Hammers of Sigmar (Scions of the Storm)
– Mortal Realm: Ghur
– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line
– Triumphs:

LEADERS
Lord-Castellant (155)*
Lord-Imperatant (175)*
– General
– Command Trait: Shock and Awe
– Artefact: Arcane Tome
– Spell: Celestial Blades

UNITS
5 x Vindictors (130)*
5 x Vindictors (130)**
3 x Annihilators with Meteoric Grandhammers (240)**
3 x Praetors (165)*

CORE BATTALIONS
*Battle Regiment
**Hunters of the Heartlands

The Cost

To create this list I’ll start with the Harbinger set and a Warcry: Thunderstrike Stormcast Eternals. This great value box provides both a second set of Vindicators and our Annihilators. You’ll also need a Battletome. The prices by region are shown below;

SETRRP AUD $RRP
USD $		RRP EUR € RRP GBP £
Harbinger Starter Set$120$99€80£65
Lord Castellant$65$38€31.50£24
Warcry: Thunderstrike Stormcast Eternals$98$60€50£37.50
Battletome: Stormcast Eternals$84$55€42.50£32.50
Total$367$252€204£159

As always third party stores offer between 15% and 20% discount, which could reduce this to about $306 AUD.

(If you’re in the UK you could sign up to SCN Hobby World’s mailing list and receive 25% off the RRP – Peter)

Key Units

Lord Imperatant

Source: Games Workshop

Say hello to our General, the Lord Imperatant. While no slouch in combat he isn’t here for his combat ability so we’ve given him the Arcane Tome making him a wizard able to cast one spell and unbind an opponent’s spell. We’ve given him the spell Celestial Blades which casts on a 5 and gives a unit of your choice within 18” +1 to wound rolls. This means he can make Praetors or Vindictors hit on a 2+. But his best trick is his warscroll ability, Guided by Lighting

Guided by Lightning

Once per turn, at the end of your movement phase, pick 1 friendly STORMCAST ETERNALS THUNDERSTRIKE unit with a Wounds characteristic of 3 or less that is in reserve. When you use the Scions of the Storm ability they may be set up more than 7” rather than 9” from enemy models.

Your whole list, other than the Lord Castellant, are Thunderstrike.

He can also issue a command without using a command point once per battle on top of a handy little shooting attack and his companion animal.

Lord Castellant

Source: Games Workshop

Our second in command, he brings significant combat prowess (and a friendly gryph hound) but mostly he’s here for his Lantern. 

Warding Lantern

In your hero phase either pick one STORMCAST ETERNALS unit wholly within 18” granting them a +1 to save rolls; or an enemy unity wholly within 18”, if you pick an enemy unit roll a dice, on a 2+ the target suffers D3 mortal wounds.

Drop him behind your Annihilators and they will be very annoying with a 2+ save.

Vindictors (Battleline)

Source: Games Workshop

Your basic 2 wound troop with a nifty spear giving them a 2” range and a 3+ save. They’ll lurk at the back or can be dropped in close to an enemy thanks to the Guided by Lightning. They have 2 attacks each, 3 for the sergeant (Prime), doing a Mortal Wound on an unmodified roll of 6. On average then you can expect:

WeaponNo. of AttacksAvg HitsAvg WoundsAvg Damage (pre-saves)
Stormspear115.5
(+1.8 MW)		3.6
(+1.8 MW)		5.4

With Celestial Blades this increases to 4 wounds plus the mortal wounds. This is equivalent to 2 ardboyz after saves. 

Annihilators with Meteoric Grandhammers

Source: Games Workshop

Finally our hammer unit, these beasts cause mortal wounds when they land, charge and even die. And they hit very hard. WIth the Lord Imperatant on the Field you can place them just over 7” from an enemy unit and they can reroll the charge giving them an almost ⅔ chance of making the charge.

With the Lord Castellant to support them you can improve their Save to 2+ with 3 wounds making them much harder to remove. Shock and Awe also gives them +1 to their hit rolls when on the turn they arrive in and they are -2 rend. So if they make the charge:

WeaponNo. of AttacksAvg HitsAvg WoundsAvg Damage (pre-saves)
Meteoric Grandhammer108.36.920.8

With their arrival and charge contributing another 5 Mortal Wounds.

Used carefully this is something your opponent is going to have to play around. They can potentially delete a Mawcrusha in a round.

Praetors 

Source: Games Workshop

Probably my favourite model of the new Thunderstrike line these are meant to be a bodyguard unit but it is a unique version of bodyguard. At the start of the battle you nominate a unit that they will protect. Everytime a wound would be taken by the unit they are protecting you roll a dice, on a 1 or 2 the wound goes through to the Hero they are protecting, 3 or 4 to the Praetors and on a 5 or 6 it is negated.

They are no slouches in combat either with a combined 10 attacks hitting and wounding on 3s and doing 2 wounds for a successful attack.

Concept of Operations

Our list is not an alpha strike monster, instead it allows you to control the board and make your opponent play to your strengths. There are 3 key feature that make the list harder to deal with and you need to keep in mind.

  • Hammers of Sigmar have a 6+ Ward save if they are near an objective
  • Scions of the Storm lets you place units in reserve and bring them on to the table at the end of any of your movement phases (so Turn 1).
  • Thunderstrike units inflict mortal wounds on death – for every wound killed in that Turn they roll a dice, on a 6+ that inflicts a mortal wound – a real kill me and I’ll hurt you.

For Scions of the Storm you need to have one unit on the field for every unit you put into reserve. And the Lord Imperatant must be on the field for Guided by Lightning to work. The ideal set up then is to start with one unit of Vindicators, Praetors and the Lord Imperatant on the field. The Annihilators, Lord Castellan and other Vindicators are deployed in reserves.

Set the units on the field up in cover and play to go second, your ideal start would see your opponent look to engage you and let you choose a unit to drop the Annihilators near and destroy. The Lord Castellan is there to give the Annihilators a +1 save just in case. You then have the 2nd Vindictors to drop in another round, they can’t reroll but they can still start just outside 7” from an enemy. Don’t drop them too early though – the value of the Annihilators and Vindictors increases the longer the game goes.

I would use the Lord Imperatant and the Praetors to cover one objective with the Praetors covering the Lord and the Vindictors another depending on the mission. If it was a 3 or 4 objective mission I would put all of them on the home objective. 

Overall this is a flexible list that lets you get to the table with an effective force while you only need to build 18 models.

Next Steps

SCE are in a good place at the moment so you have a few options to build your list into a solid 2000 point. Another Warcry kit combined with vanguard raptors and a Knight Relictor gives you a straight forward 1985 list build on this base. But taking those same Vanguard Raptors and adding some Stormdrakes (2) or Fulminators (4) gives you a lot of mobility. If you are worried about the extra VP from the Fulminators then run them as Desolators.   Lastly, there is a potentially cheaper option. AoS 3.0 was introduced with the Dominion Battlebox, this set included the same units as the Starter Sets we’ve looked at with more heroes, Vindicators and Annihilators. All up this box has 1415 points. If you look carefully you should be able to find an unsold kit or at the very least a Stormcast half and it offers a very affordable way to begin.