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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

January 14, 2023 Peter Holland 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?

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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	– Save	6+ Save	5+ Save	4+ Save	3+ Save	2+ Save
Reaperblade	2	2	2	2	2	2
Daemonbound Steel	1	1	1	1	1	0
TOTAL	3	3	3	3	3	2
Daemonbound War-Flail	2	2	2	2	2	2

Average Damage after Saves

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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	– Save	6+ Save	5+ Save	4+ Save	3+ Save	2+ Save
Murderous Weapons	14	14	12	10	7	5
Murderous Weapons (Enemy Territory)*	21	21	18	14	11	7

*Chaos Warriors gain +1 attack while wholly within enemy territory

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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	– Save	6+ Save	5+ Save	4+ Save	3+ Save	2+ Save
Darkoath Weapons	8	7	4	4	1	1

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	– Save	6+ Save	5+ Save	4+ Save	3+ Save	2+ Save
Cursed Land (Charging)	8	8	8	6	6	4

Cursed Lane*	4	4	3	3	2	1
Cursed Flail*	3	2	2	1	1	0
Trampling Hooves*	3	2	2	1	1	0
TOTAL*	10	8	7	5	4	1

Average Damage Output

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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	– Save	6+ Save	5+ Save	4+ Save	3+ Save
Lashing Whip	1	0	0	0	0
Chaos War-Flail	3	2	2	1	1
Crushing Fists	2	2	2	2	0
TOTAL	6	4	4	3	1

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…

Aeldari, Army Lists, Games Workshop, Peter Holland, Sci-Fi, Warhammer 40k

Combat Patrol: Tyranid – Beginners 1,000 Point Starter Army

October 28, 2022 Declan and Eeyore 2 Comments

Today we’re looking at the Tyranid Combat Patrol box, continuing our series of 1,000 point start armies using the Combat Patrol boxes as our base.

I’ve put links throughout this article to buy the items at Element Games (UK only), but hopefully you’ve got a FLGS nearby who can also help. If you buy from Element Games, you also help Woehammer as we get a small affiliate bonus.

Combat Patrol Beginners Armies
Aeldari (Eldar)
Adeptus Sororitas
Blood Angels
Orks

Combat Patrol Tyranid

Like the other boxes the Combat Patrol box is filled with goodies and makes for fantastic savings when you’re starting out in collecting an army for 40k. They are RRP of £90 (or local equivalent), but most FLGSs provide a discount on this.

Inside the box you get:

Hive Tyrant (£36)
3 x Tyranid Warriors (£35)
36 x Termagaunts (£63)
3x Ripper Swarms (included on Termagaunts sprues)

That’s a total of £134 if you were buying these kits separately, meaning you get a saving of £44.00

To add to this boxed set, we’re going to add a few extra units that’ll give you something different to paint and expand your synapse.

3 x Tyranid Warriors (£36)
Tervigon (£36)

Meaning that the total army including Codex: Tyranids comes to a total of £238.50.

Element Games provides this all at discount, meaning the whole lot including the book will cost you just £165 – that’s not much more than the RRP of the models in the Combat Patrol box.

The Army List

This is the list I’ve come up with

HQ
Swarmlord – 240 points
Tyranid Prime – 90 points
Tervigon – 215 points

Troops
5 Tyranid Warriors – 155 points
12 Termagaunts – 84 points
12 Termagaunts – 84 points
12 Termagaunts – 84 points

Fast Attack
3 Ripper Swarms

997 points
(depending on loadouts)

Swarmlord

This is our first of 3 HQ choices – perhaps overkill but we need the synapse – and he’s a close combat monster. This kit will allow you to assemble a Hive Tyrant, or a winged Hive Tyrant instead but with all the Termagaunts, who doesn’t want this hunk of awesome to lead them.

13 wounds, with a 4+ invunerable save and only Melee weapons… but with 9 attacks, damage 3 and -4 AP. He’s slicing and dicing almost anything in the game and even Terminators are relying on their invulnerable saves.

In addition (what a phrase) he’s a two power psyker and ignores the first damaging hit in combat. In a 1,000 point game he’s definitely going to be a target.

Tyranid Prime

So this is more of a niche choice, but he’s here because I’ve got a unit of 5 Tyranid Warriors so I’ve got one left over. Just ensure he’s obviously different, watch your opponent panic and get the rest of the army in. Seriously he’s just a Primaris Captain for the ‘Nids and they are ten a penny.

However he makes a great painting opportunity and a good model to practice on before you do the Swarmlord.

Tervigon

Much like the Swarmlord, I’ve chosen this because of the number of Termagaunts… the Tervigon get’s you more! But if you’re bored of them you can build it as a Tyrannofex.

The Tervigon also has 17 wounds, so he’ll either drag shooting from the Swarmlord, or be the one left when you get in close and brutal… but as mentioned above he helps the Termagaunts… a lot

You could get another box of Termagaunts for his once per battle, but yours are going to die getting to the enemy so you’ll be fine.

Tyranid Warriors

Not everyone likes them but the models are iconic which is why I’ve bought another 3 of them… so there are 6. As above one of them is our Prime for Synapse coverage, but the other 5 are in one unit.

I use these for the ranged threat… so Venom Cannon and Deathspitters are my choice — but of course you can make your own choice if you prefer different load-outs.

None of the options will set the world alight, but they allow the Warriors to hold some more distant objectives but still contribute to killing the enemy. Plus… they are Assault weapons so you can move and shoot.

Termagaunts

36 Termagaunts… 36! I love hordes and this is awesome… what a box! Of course you may not be so keen especially as a new player and here Contrast Paint is your friend. Have a play with some options and chose a paint scheme you are happy with.

I’m a fan of the spinefists, but the devourers are also good and allow the Termagaunts to provide a similar role to the Tyranid Warriors. Spinefists mean you’re going to be getting closer to the enemy – which may backfire.

You also get them coming back with the Tervigon.

WHAT NEXT?

There are two main ways to take the army… monsters or more troops. Monsters are Carnifexes, Haruspexes, a Tyrannofex or a Toxicrene. The names may be confusing, but you’ll have it down in no time.

Other options are foot troops and you’ll need Hormagaunts… and Genestealers for more combat punch!

Remember you can purchase these at your FLGS or local supply source, but if you’re in the UK and fancy helping Woehammer out, you can use Element Games!

I hope you enjoyed this, how would you build a 1,000 point list from the Combat Patrol Box? There may well be aspects of the codex or units that I have not included that you think should be, so why not let us know in the comments below.

Declan and Eeyore

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

October 20, 2022 Peter Holland 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!

Aeldari, Army Lists, Games Workshop, Peter Holland, Sci-Fi, Warhammer 40k

Combat Patrol: Aeldari – Beginners 1,000 Point Starter Army

August 15, 2022 Peter Holland 1 Comment

Today we’re looking at the Aeldari Combat Patrol box, continuing our series of 1,000 point start armies using the Combat Patrol boxes as our base.

Combat Patrol Beginners Armies
Adeptus Sororitas
Blood Angels
Orks

Combat Patrol Aeldari

Like the other boxes the Combat Patrol box is filled with goodies and makes for fantastic savings when you’re starting out in collecting an army for 40k.

Inside the box you get:

Farseer (£18)
Wraithlord (£35)
10x Guardians (£32.50)
6x Windridets (£65.00)

That’s a total of £147.50 if you were buying these kits separately, meaning you get a saving of £57.50.

To add to this boxed set, we’re going to add a few extra units that’ll give the army a bit more play (especially onto Space Marines).

Guardians (£32.50)
Howling Banshees (£35.00)
Shining Spears (£37.50)
Falcon (£35.00)

Meaning that the total army including Codex: Aeldari comes to a total of £262.50.

However, remember that if you email Sarah at scnhobbyworld@outlook.com and ask to go on her mailing list, you can get 25% off Games Workshop products. Meaning the whole lot including the books will cost you just £197!

Here’s our final 1,000 point list.

Faction: Aeldari Craftworlds
– Craftworld Selection: Far-Flung Craftworld
– Attributes: Hail of Doom

HQ
Farseer (100pts)*
– Psychic Power: Guide
– Warlord Trait: Fate’s Messenger
– Singing Spear
– Warlord
– Treasures of the Aeldari: Kurnous’ Bow

TROOPS
Guardian Defenders (120pts)*
– 10x Guardian Defender w/Shuriken Catapult and Plasma Grenades
– Guardian Heavy Weapons Platform: Bright Lance
Guardian Defenders (120pts)*
– 10x Guardian Defender w/Shuriken Catapult and Plasma Grenades
– Guardian Heavy Weapons Platform: Bright Lance

ELITES
Howling Banshees (95pts)*
– 1x Howling Banshee Exarch w/ Shuriken Pistol & Banshee Blade
– 4x Howling Banshee w/ Shruriken Pistol & Banshee Blade
Wraithlord (155pts)*
– 2x Shuriken Catapult
– 2x Bright Lance
– Ghostglaive

FAST ATTACK
Shining Spears (105pts)*
– 1x Shining Spear Exarch w/Laser Lance & Twin Shuriken Catapult
– 2x Shining Spear w/Laser Lance & Twin Shuriken Catapult
Windriders (120pts)*
– 6x Windrider w/Twin Shuriken Catapults

HEAVY SUPPORT
Falcon (185pts)*
– Bright Lance
– Twin Shuriken Catapult
– Crystal Targeting Matrix
– Spirit Stones

DETACHMENTS
*Patrol Detachment

Total: 1,000pts

FARSEER

This fellow is our only HQ choice and your Warlord, so you’ll want to keep him out of harms way.

With that in mind we’ve given him Fate’s Messenger as his Warlord Trait. Once per turn this will allow him to change the damage characteristic of an unsaved attack against him to 0. Remember he also has a 4+ invulnerable save as well making him reasonably tanky.

As our only HQ we’ve kitted him out a bit. He has the Kournous’ Bow relic which replaces his standard Shuriken Pistol. It gives him 6″ of extra range to 18″ as well as an additional 2 shots on the Shuriken Pistol’s 1. With a pip more strength means it’ll hit on 2’s and wound Space Marines on 3’s, but with added benefit that any successful wounds are mortal wounds (MW).

On top of this we’ve given him a Singing Spear, which in melee hits and wounds on 2’s no matter the target doing a flat 3 damage. It also counts as an assault weapon and should be used instead of Kournous’ Bow when charging into combat with a character as it’ll do more damage to a single unit than the three attacks from the bow. In fact with a shooting phase followed by a combat phase this can down most single model HQ’s should they stray to close.

For his power we’ve selected Guide. If cast, this will allow a Craftworld Core or Craftworld Character within 18″ to re-roll their hit rolls for their attacks until your next Psychic Phase. If you cast this on a 10+ then that range increases to 24″. This applies to all the other units in our army list apart from the Falcon. Great for those Banshees in the combat phase.

You also have access to the powerful Eldritch Storm stratagem. Really great for grouped enemy units within 24″ of your Farseer. But, you want to cast Eldritch Storm and Guide? No problem!

With Unparalleled Mastery you can do just that! Admittedly you’ll be eating through your CP, but it’ll be fun right?

GUARDIAN DEFENDERS

These boys and girls are perfectly suited to holding objectives. When they’re within range of an objective they can re-roll hit rolls of 1 with their Shuriken Catapults. Ok these weapons aren’t much to write home about being Assault 2, Strength 4, -1 Armour Pen and 1 damage apiece. BUT, we’ve taken the Craftworld Attribute Hail of Doom, which means each unmodified hit roll of 6 automatically wounds the target. This will mean when they all open fire there should be on average 3-4 hits that go straight to the enemies save roll step. On top of this you could also use the stratagems Martial Citizenry and Bladestorm.

Bladestorm means that all those 6’s to hit you roll generate an additional hit – before you ask, you still have to make wound rolls for these hits they don’t auto wound under the Hail of Doom attribute.

While Martial Citizenry will allow you to re-roll 1’s to hit for attacks even when not near an objective.

We’ve also taken a Bright Lance weapons platform with both units of Guardians as these will add some nice anti-vehicle attacks to the army.

HOWLING BANSHEES

These are a great melee unit and great for throwing at infantry units you’d like to… what’s the term?… Blend?

When they charge, units are unable to fire overwatch or set themselves to defend due to their Banshee Masks.

With three attacks each (four for the Exarch) hitting on 3’s and wounding Marines on 4’s you should see 5 damage assigned to those marines before armour saves. Wait, did I say armour saves?! Silly me, they’re virtually non existent as they’ll be saving on 6’s, and that’s only thanks to their Armour of Contempt rule.

The Banshees can run and charge as well but be aware you’ll be hitting on 4’s in combat instead of 3’s, reducing that earlier damage output to 4 damage instead of 5.

With a save of 4+ and 5+ invulnerable you’ll want keep this unit safely out of harms way until you’re ready to use them. Perhaps consider placing them in the Falcon we’ll be looking at shortly? Alternatively for CP you could deploy them in reserve using Webway Strike.

This’ll keep them out of harms way until you need them and give them a chance at getting into the fray straightaway.

WRAITHLORD

I personally think this is one of the best models in the Aeldari range. We’ve equipped ours with two Bright Lances. This combined with its Ghostglaive (Crushing Strike) means it’s very good as a vehicle hunter should you need it.

In melee against infantry it can choose to use the Ghostglaive as standard, in which case the Wraithlord essentially doubles it’s attacks to 8 (Ghostglaive grants two hit rolls per attack). Those will be hitting on 2’s and wounding standard marine infantry on 3’s. That puts out around 8 damage on average before saves are made.

You can use the Tears of Isha stratagem to keep the Wraithlord as healthy and fighting fit as possible. Healing D3 wounds in the command phase for 1cp.

WINDRIDERS

These are great at taking our horde infantry like Orks or Astra Militarum. We’ve six bikes here which armed with Twin Shuriken Catapults amounts to 24 shots at S4 -1 AP. Hitting on 3’s and wounding Space Marines on 4’s. However, these guys and girls will also be re-rolling 1’s to hit thanks to their Swift Demise ability, and automatically causing additional wounds on 6’s thanks to Hail of Doom.

Use them to attack lightly armoured foes, capture objectives and harass the enemy lines.

SHINING SPEARS

The Shining Spears benefit from Twin Shuriken Catapults, but they also have additional shooting and combat capabilities thanks to their laser Lance.

The Laser Lance has a single strength 6 shot as range which may be ok for plucking a couple of wounds of a light vehicle or murdering a couple of Space Marines. Where it excels however is in the combat phase.

Make sure you charge with this unit, as doing so will give them +3 strength on the charge meaning you’re wounding Marines on 3’s instead of 5’s. With 3 attacks each (4 for the Exarch) you’ll find you’re causing 8 wounds worth of damage before saves. Saves? Yeah with -4 AP there isn’t much armour that can stand up to their charges. Including Space Marines. Getting your Farseer to cast Guide on them as well would really help.

FALCON

In the mid 2000’s I used to face my nephew’s army of Eldar two or three times a month. I came to hate his grav tanks, they just had all these tricks that meant they were so difficult to kill!

This unit is perfect for transporting your Howling Banshees around, getting them into combat quicker. With its Cloudstrike ability it can arrive from reserve an deliver it’s deadly cargo 9″ away from the enemy.

It comes armed with a Bright Lance for a little extra punch and it’s standard twin Shuriken Catapults.

WHAT NEXT?

I’d consider having some fun and getting some more of the specialist units like Fire Dragons, Swooping Hawks or Dire Avengers. But really, you need to probably lean into the speed of this list. Perhaps drop the Wraithlord and think about more bikes or things like Swooping Hawks etc.

Peter

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

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

June 24, 2022 Xander 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.

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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.

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Pricing It Out

So how much will this list cost you?

Box	USD	GBP	EUR	AUD
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.

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.

Chaos, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Hamsfans, Reviews

Start Collecting: Slaves to Darkness – Beginners 1,000 Point Army

June 20, 2022 hamsfan Leave a comment

What’s in the box……!?

1 Chaos Lord on Karkadrakk
5 Chaos Knights
10 Chaos Warriors
16 miniatures, including a mounted hero and five cavalry

One of the best things about the Start Collecting! boxes are the savings, which are usually great. In this case, (as of 18/06/22 in GBP) the box is £65… What do you save, you may ask…. Well, that’s a bit of a complicated question, the Chaos Lord on Karkadrakk isn’t available in any other way and the newer knight and warrior models are also only available in this set…. Oof.

Aside from this, these sculpts are push-fit and the two units do not include options for either banners or standard bearers which you will want. This means that, in order to have units working at their full potential some conversion is needed, which isn’t brilliant for a starter set presumably aimed at beginners.

There are some minor options available – two head options for the Karkadrak Lord and head options for the warriors (male and female which is cool). There’s also the option to build a Doom Knight champion, with a Doom Flail, for the Chaos Knights to give extra Doom.

Unfortunately, the nature of the kit does mean that only one of the four potential Chaos Warrior option weapon fits is available, as these are hand weapon and shield warriors only. In addition, only the lance option is available for the Knights (other than the aforementioned Doom Knight option).

The push-fit nature of the sculpts does also present a bit of a tricky painting problem as there are some hard to reach bits and sub-assembly may be a bit fiddly.

These sculpts are excellent though, very dynamic but close enough to the originals to fit nicely in in with the rest of the range. They also don’t have markings for any specific god so can be painted to suit your taste in appalling extra-dimensional overlord or overlords. A great update to classic sculpts.

As mentioned, the Chaos Lord on Karkadrak sadly isn’t available in any other set and so there really isn’t any way to give yourself much variety if you wished to run more than one…. though I don’t know why you would.

A separate Chaos Warrior regiment set, with the older sculpts, is available direct from GW at £35 for sixteen(!) warriors. The sharp-eyed amongst you will have noticed that this isn’t a good number as the minimum unit size is ten, so you will have more hotdogs than buns. On the flip-side, whilst these are older and more static sculpts, which were designed to rank up for Warhammer Fantasy, they are multipart and do have banner and musician options.

This older kit can be built with either shields or two hand weapons but if you want halberds or great weapons you will need to spend a bit of money. GW used to make upgrade kits for these options but have discontinued them, sad to say. It is possible to make some quite convincing halberdiers though by using the spears from the separate Chaos Knight kit, if you choose to build your Knights with Ensorcelled Weapons.

For separate Chaos Knights, with the older sculpts, you will need to find £36 for ten. YMMV on this but I don’t think this is terrible value though I do really like the aesthetic of the kits. This multipart offers all of the build and command options and fits in reasonably well alongside the Start Collecting! knights, though perhaps not so well aesthetically as the warriors.

Who or What are Slaves to Darkness then?

The Chaos Gods are the ‘Big Bad’ of the setting and have had a huge trove of lore written about them over decades, so please forgive the rough edges of what follows…..

These are extra-dimensional representations of mortal drives and emotions become self-aware and turned up to eleven. These ‘Gods’ destroyed the Old World (does this mean GW is actually Chaos Undivided?) and are intent on corrupting the Mortal Realms and doing it all again. The Chaos Gods are reflections of mortal drives and emotions and seek to drive mortals further and further down the path of dedicating themselves to those drives and emotions. There are separate books for those purely aligned to a single God and their Daemonic footsoldiers. The Slaves to Darkness book is more for those who are still holding their cards close to their chest before playing a hand they can’t win. Chaos Undivided is the worship of all of the Chaos Gods, if you enjoy buffet food for some reason then this may be the option for you.

Slaves to Darkness are the (largely) mortal worshippers of Chaos Gods who are still sampling the buffet and have not yet dedicated themselves (entirely) to a single God, though they may have a Mark which bestows some Godly favours.

Unit Review

Chaos Lord on Karkadrakk

This got a slight points drop after the book was released from a slightly bonkers 250 to a slightly less bonkers 225.

Our Karkadrak can move 9″ and comes on a 90 by 52mm base which can be useful in blocking off an enemy move and generally being a bit annoying.

At 9 wounds Look Out Sir! is available, with a 3+ save and a 5+ mortal wound save this is moderately survivable but can’t stand with any serious melee threats for too long.
Your healing options in Slaves are limited so be aware that, if focused, this Lord will go down quick. This is a sad truth of Slaves, in my opinion, your generic Lords are not the melee terrors they were in The World That Was and if you try to use them like they are you will suffer.

The Karkadrak does have a plethora of attack profiles though – five with a total of 13 attacks!

These aren’t great though, most are zero rend with six at -1. Your Karkadrak does have a heal effect with their axe, if it slays an enemy with the weapon it can heal D3. On the charge the Karkadrak can deal D3 damage to each enemy unit within 1″ on a 2+

The Karkadrak may be best described as a moderate utility buff hero and not an anvil or a beat stick. What buffs though….? Well, Slaves units receive buffs from nearby heroes with the same Mark. Plus, the Karkadrakk has a Command Ability which buffs Chaos Knights and Chariots wholly within 18″ giving them reroll charges and +1 to hit. This means that, if you wish to lean into Knights and Chariots, the Karkadrak can be a fun addition.

Chaos Knights

These are currently 170 points for a five and sadly often used more like semi-survivable chaff rather than delivering the hammerstrike you may be wishing for, I am afraid you need to look to Varanguard for that.

Knights have a 10″ move which is OK for cavalry and a 75 by 42mm base. Knights also have a 4+ save and a 5+ mortal wound save with 3 wounds. Their big bases are helpful for screening but again they won’t survive prolonged attention.

Command options include a champion, standard bearer and musician. The Doom Knight champion gets an extra attack and can take a flail with a 2″ range and D6 attacks. IMHO both the Ensorcelled Weapons and Cursed Lances outclass this but YMMV.

The Standard Bearer (1 in 5) adds plus one bravery giving a potential bravery 8, it’s free so you take it but I do usually find this unit is either OK or just blows up….

The Hornblower musician (1 in 5) adds plus 1 to run and charge rolls, which is always a great buff.

Knights are apparently scary *cough*, so their Horrifying ability subtracts one Bravery from enemy units with a model within 1″…. ahem.

Are they actually scary though? Well, with Ensorcelled Weapons they’re putting out 3 3+ 3+ -1 rend 1 D attacks…. plus the 2 4+ 4+ – 1 D attacks from the horses. We have the lance variant from the Start Collecting box though which gives us buffs on the charge (2 damage and -2 rend) but is less effective in a prolonged melee grind with only 2 attacks and hitting on 4s.

Knights sadly don’t do great damage and can’t really take a punch.

Chaos Warriors

These clock in at a whopping 200 points for ten. They do have 2 wounds though and taking mark of Tzeentch can help their resilience, which really spikes in units of ten or more though (+1 to save taking them to 3+) so if you are looking for that you will need to pile in 400 points or lose it quickly.As mentioned, Warriors have a range of weapon options – Hand weapon and shield, Great Weapon, dual hand weapon, halberd and dual wield.

We all know dual wield should be the correct option, with a dove fly-by, but sadly only giving reroll hits and losing the mortal wound repelling ability of the shield (5+ MW ignore) simply isn’t worth it.

Great Weapons are another cool choice but again the loss of the shield is a huge blow, though the pip of rend is nice.

Halberds give us a 2″ reach, compensating for the 32mm girth, with the trade off of a 4+ rather than 3+ to wound and may be a nice option for a large block of warriors, allowing more to attack.

The only option in our start collecting box though is hand weapon and shield, giving 2 3+ 3+ 0 rend 1 D attacks, I haven’t found Warriors very killy in any variation but they can do some work against light armour and can be considered an OK anvil.

As mentioned, Warriors have a range of weapon options – Hand weapon and shield, Great Weapon, dual hand weapon, halberd and dual wield.

Points mean prizes

At the time of writing the Start Collecing! box clocks in at a fairly respectable 595 points and immediately fills our core requirements for a 1k game of a hero and two battleline.

Should you buy multiples of this set?

Well, in the current meta definitely not (and possibly not even one….). They are fantastic models though and really give the heavy metal theme of Slaves to your army. You will have a bit of a samey feel to your army though due to the lack of variety in poses and will need to do some work to create your command models.

So, a 1K army list might look like this:

Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness
– Damned Legion: Ravagers
– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line
– Triumphs:
Chaos Lord on Karkadrak (225)
– General
– Artefact: Mark of the High-favoured
– Mark of Chaos: Khorne
– Ravagers Command Trait: Master of Deception
Chaos Sorcerer Lord (135)
– Ravagers Command Trait: Bolstered by Hate
– Spell: Mask of Darkness
10 x Chaos Warriors (200)
– Hand Weapon & Shield
– Mark of Chaos: Khorne
5 x Chaos Knights (170)
– Cursed Lance
– Mark of Chaos: Khorne
10 x Chaos Warriors (200)
– Hand Weapon & Shield
– Mark of Chaos: Tzeentch
9 x Untamed Beasts (70)
– Mark of Chaos: Khorne

Total: 1000 / 1000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 2
Allies: 0 / 200
Wounds: 78
Drops: 6

Battalions to taste.

This makes good use of our box and adds in a wizard with a teleport and an extra couple of wounds, courtesy of Bolstered by Hate. Our Karkadrak Lord now has an 18″ range on their Aura of Chaos and so can buff your Khorne units from further away, in addition Master of Deception subtracts 1 from hit rolls of melee attacks directed their way.

An extra block of warriors gives our wizard a body guard and a nice target for their teleport spell to go objective grabbing. Untamed Beasts round out our points and are a good cheap screen with a cheeky pre-game move.

A nice trick in Ravagers is the ability to summon in models via the General which you can rotate through your heroes. This summoning is more impactful in smaller games and the ability to bring in ten marauders is very nice. You will need to pick these up though to effectively round out your list (I would suggest twenty marauders) but these models will be useful as you expand to 2000 points.

All in all I think this is a nice fluffy list which will be fun and meets our heavy metal theme from the Start Collecting! box.

What will it cost?

Set	GBP £	USD $	EUR €	AUD $
Start Collecting: Slaves to Darkness	£65	$110	€85	$165
Battletome: Slaves to Darkness (2nd Ed)	£27.50	$45	€35	$70
Chaos Sorcerer Lord	£11	$16.50	€13.25	$22
Chaos Warriors	£35	$60	€45	$75
Untamed Beasts	£42.50	$70	€55	$110
Total	£181	$301.50	€233.25	$442

With the above you’ll end up with 10 additional Warriors for when you look to expand to 2,000 points. You’ll also have a Warcry warband, which is nice. As always, shop around. You’ll be able to find retailers who’ll offer 15-20% off the prices above. If you live in the UK sign up to SCN Hobby World and join their mailing list, with them you’ll receive 25% off GW prices!

If you want pure metal though, buy a second Start Collecting! and use everything from both, excepting the second Karkadrak….. I am not saying it’s great on the table but you can turn the volume up to eleven and headbang your way to a 0-5.

So, is it a buy?

Overall, I would say yes…. it was a buy for me. I picked one of these up and use all of the units in most of my Slaves to Darkness lists. They look cool, especially if you like the heavy metal aesthetic and are a truly great reimagining of classic Warhammer Fantasy units. They do currently lack a bit of juice on the tabletop but who knows what a new book and a shaken up meta might bring……

Speaking of which, with a new Battletome coming for them later this year, it’s likely they’ll also receive a new Vanguard boxed set much like the other factions.

But, until then prepare your claim for whiplash injuries and bellow to the uncaring skies “For The Everchosen”!

Age of Sigmar, Death, Games Workshop, Nighthaunt

Vanguard: Nighthaunt – Beginners 1,000 Point Army

June 19, 2022 Brett Martin 4 Comments

Nighthaunt – the true children of Nagash

Have you felt the chill of the grave rising through a faint mist? You enjoy painting pale figures stalking out of the horizon and falling on your enemy like the tide? Or have you read the lore and know that Nagash is the true inheritor of the World that Was and you want to join the right team? Have you decided it is time to up your miniature storage game?

Even before the release of the new battle tome we were seeing a small resurgence including a top 10 at LVO for the Nighthaunt. A faithful band of followers, leavened with new recruits, has kept the faction alive in the competitive scene. With a new tome, and the move to smaller hero based armies, it’s perhaps one of the best times to start Nighthaunt.

When they were first introduced the Nighthaunt were competitive but they faded a little with the arrival of the Elves (Daughters of Khaine, Idoneth and finally Lumineth). As an army they reward considered play and take a little bit to get the best from. Nighthaunt suits a player that is willing to take their time and wants to make the most of their opponents’ mistakes.

AoS 3.0 and the new battle tome sees a major change in their play style but they retain their mobility which is one of the best reasons to play them. They also have access to and strong synergy with possibly, at least in my opinion, the most interesting model in the game – Nagash.

The Nighthaunt Vanguard set makes it easy to get into the army and gives you a reasonable starting position.

Let’s look at building a 1000 point list from the Vanguard:Nighthaunt set.

The List

Allegiance: Nighthaunt

– Procession: Emerald Host

– Mortal Realm: Ghur

– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line

– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

Knight of Shrouds (135)*

– General

– Command Trait: Ruler of the Spirit Hosts

– Artefact: Pendant of the Fell Wind

Reikenor the Grimhailer (190)*

– Lore of the Underworlds: Shademist

20 x Chainrasps (220)*

– Reinforced x 1

10 x Grimghast Reapers (165)*

3 x Spirit Hosts (125)*

*Battle Regiment

Total: 1000 / 1000

Reinforced Units: 1 / 2

Allies: 0 / 200

Wounds: 61

Drops: 1

The Cost

SET	GBP £	USD $	EUR €	AUD $
Vanguard:Nighthaunt	£80	$130	€105	$190
Reiknor the Grimhailer	£26	$42	€34	$55
Grimghast Reapers	£60	$100	€80	$77
Battletome: Nighthaunt	£32.50	$55	€42.50	$84
Total	£198.50	$327	€261.50	AUD$406

With typical game store discounts (15% to 20%) this would reduce to between AUD$338 to AUD$353.

Key Units

I’ve used the full Vanguard box including the Knight of Shrouds. This creates some issues with the choice of small heroes, for a 1000 point list I would normally prefer to use a Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed and a Guardian of Souls. Instead I’ve used Reiknor to provide some mobile threat and casting with the Knight of Shrouds.

The first key unit though isn’t a unit, the Procession, Emerald Host, will get a lot of work done for us through the Emerald Curse

The Emerald Curse

After armies have been set up but before the first battle round you can pick D3+1 units on the battlefield. At the end of each battle round you roll a dice for each unit you picked, on a 2+ it suffers D3 mortal wounds (D3+1 for monsters)

That’s at least 8 free wounds per game (on average) and potentially many more. The curse could easily clear a battleline unit per game.

Knight of Shrouds

Our General in life and now in death, chosen today because Reiknor can’t take a command trait and for Nighthaunt one trait is very important – Ruler of the Spirit Hosts. This brings half of a destroyed unit back once per game which can be helpful with the 4+ save (and 6+ ward) most of your 1 wound units have. Unfortunately while he’s effective in combat his warscroll abilities are not useful in our list. The Spectral Overseer ability allows a unit to Redeploy or Unleash Hell without using a command point. We have one shooting unit and it’s not in this list. He does have an ability to allow successive activation in the fight phase which can be useful. Otherwise he brings 5 attacks hitting and wounding on 3s with -1 rend and 2 damage.

Weapon	No. of Attacks	Avg Hits	Avg Wounds	Avg Damage
Sword of Stolen Hours	5	3.333	3.05*	6.11

*Includes auto-wound on 6 effects

Reiknor the Grimhailer

With lots of choices for heroes I’ve used Reiknor, who is a bit expensive at 190 points, because he gives some mobility and is a wizard with combat capability. To get value from him you will need to use him in combat but with only 7 wounds and a 4+ save he can be pretty squishy even with a 6+ ward. He needs to be accompanied by the Spirit Host for their “bodyguard” ability which restricts him to an 8” move. So what does he bring? His combat skills first:

Weapon	No. of Attacks	Avg Hits	Avg Wounds	Avg Damage
Fellreaper	5	3.333	3.05*	6.11

*Includes auto-wound on 6 effects

As a wizard he may cast one spell and deny one spell. I’ve given him Shademist which has a casting value (CV) of 6 and allows him to grant a friendly unit within 12” -1 to incoming wound rolls. He can place this on himself. He also brings special ability to improve his casting (Corpse Candle) and a warscroll spell (Wraithstorm).

Corpse Candle

In your hero phase, before this unit attempts to cast a spell, you can say that you will snuff out a corpse candle. If you do so, pick either this unit or 1 enemy unit within 12” of this unit. The unit you picked suffers 1 MW. If the MW was suffered by an enemy unit, add 1 to the casting rol. If the MW was suffered by this unit, add 3 to the casting spell.

Wraithstorm

A spell with a casting value of 7 and a range of 12”. If successfully cast, pick 11 enemy unit within range and visible to the caster. That unit suffers D3 MW, if any models are slain that unit immediately suffers an additional D3 MW.

Corpse candle is extremely useful, easily reducing Shademist to a CV of 5 (>60% success rate) as well as inflicting a MW. The other profile is more situational but if you used Corpse Candle and then Wraithstorm, Wraithstorm would go off on a 4 (>75% success). Wraithstorm is situational though but a good way of chipping a hero or potentially clearing a small screen. To get both damage rolls the best targets are single wound models but a single D3 is still stronger than Arcane Bolt.

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Units

Chainrasps

Our big block of ghosts with attitude, there is nothing subtle or amazing here. They all have 1 wound, a 5+ Save (and 6+ Ward), hit on 4s, wound on 4s and do one damage. But they can also be brought back to life by our heroes. On the charge they add one to wound rolls. What does this all mean (if they can all hit the same target). And they autowound on 6s.

Weapon	No. of Attacks	Avg Hits	Avg Wounds	Avg Damage
Malignant Weapon*	41	22.77	22	22

*With all-out attack and a charge, +1 to hit and +1 to wound.

You might not get the whole block of 20 into the same target but they are capable of overwhelming a lot of threats. The autowound on 6s means more than 6 wounds on average which increases the number of wounds significantly. The Nighthaunt Ethereal ability (that grants the 6+ ward) lets them fall back and charge every turn. It’s easy to make them wound on a 3+.

The downside is that they have no save against -2 Rend or better, realistically a charging Fulminator could remove the unit in one round.

Grimghast Reapers

Our hammer units in this list with their Rend – 1 weapons and their 3 attacks so long as there are more than 5 models in each unit. Run here as smaller 10 model units to give operational flexibility, it is always worthwhile to have the Death Knell in the unit.

Weapon	No. of Attacks	Avg Hits	Avg Wounds	Avg Damage (pre-saves)
Slasher Scythe and Death Knell	30	12.5	13.33	14

The Death Knell would be a lot better with flat damage rather than D3 but it still contributes reasonable damage. Against a 2+ save (-1 Rend makes this 3+) the unit will still do 4.66 damage and are threatening against a lot of armies. Unfortunately they can be removed if they are left exposed without Shademist or All out Defence.

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Spirit Hosts

They have an incredible 6 attacks each, in this list they are here mostly to hold backline objectives or, when required to act as bodyguards (their new ability lets them take a wound for a hero within 3” on a 3+ in place of the heroes ward save). The downside is no rend and only one damage per wound but they still autowound on 6s.

Weapon	No. of Attacks	Avg Hits	Avg Wounds	Avg Damage (pre-saves)
Spectral Claws and Daggers	18	7.5	3.75+3	6.75

Concept of Operations

This list is meant to be straightforward and adaptable. Everything is in a battle regiment to give control of priority, however there is an option to place 3 of the battle line infantry into Expert Conquerors and the remainder into a Battle Regiment. Expert Conquerors makes the infantry count as 3 models on objectives – the Chainrasp would count as 60 models. Our Preference is to go second to make your opponent come to you (keep out of line of sight if they have shooting) and hopefully get the double turn. You can also redeploy up to 3 units via Vanishing Phantasms into reserve before the start of combat and then set them up in ambush (9” from the enemy).

Then buff the Chainrasps and use them to dominate the centre of the field (or anywhere else).. I mean grant them All out Attack, with a CP, from the Knight of Shrouds and make sure they charge or fallback and charge each turn. In activation, from the second round onwards start fighting with your Knight of Shrouds to take advantage of the double activation (your Knight fights and then one of other units immediately – normally the Chainrasps). If you have Grimghast Reapers in range they are a better recipient of AoA and the immediate activation.

Within this list the Spirit Hosts are mostly intended to provide a Bodyguard role to Reiknor but they are also available to take objectives in the rear. This list is vulnerable to shooting (a weakness of nighthaunt) especially Vanguard-Raptors. If they are present try to make sure that at least some of the Chainrasps are not visible and then remove the visible models first. This way you can still return models with the Spirit and Guardian.

In summary this is just a sample of what you could do, from the Vanguard: Nighthaunt box set. I would prefer to replace the HQs with a Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed and a Guardian of Souls for their warscroll abilities and bringing our Triumph into play (975 of a 1000 points). The biggest advantage of the Guardian is his ability to return models which transforms this list into a very frustrating defensive list with bite.

Next Steps

The easiest way to bring this list to 2000 points is to add Nagash, God of the Unquiet Dead. This takes the list to 1955 but you do lose the one drop Battle Regiment. Ideally you’d remove the Spirit Torment (it’s roll is replaced by Nagash) and either have 2 units of 20 Chaingasts and add some Craventhrone Guard or Hexwraiths. You could reinforce the Spirit Hosts into a unit of 6 then.

Alternatively play into the small heroes and bring in Lady Olynder and the Krulghast Cruciator along with the Black Coach for some more punch. I would still look to move to 2 units of Chainrasp and a unit of 6 Spirit Hosts to meet battleline requirements. Myrmourn Banshees and Bladeghast Revenants have done well in the new book and can be useful additions.

Bonus List – Arena of Shades

I started writing using the Arena of Shades box set but I wasn’t happy with the list but I’ve since found synergies that make could make it work really well so as a bonus for anyone still reading I’ve included the list:

Allegiance: Nighthaunt

– Procession: Scarlet Doom

– Mortal Realm: Ghur

– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line

– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

Scriptor Mortis (155)*

Spirit Torment (115)*

Guardian of Souls (150)*

– General

– Command Trait: Ruler of the Spirit Hosts

– Artefact: Cloak of the Waxing Moon

– Lore of the Underworlds: Shademist

10 x Bladegheist Revenants (175)*

5 x Craventhrone Guard (115)*

4 x Myrmourn Banshees (105)*

*Battle Regiment

Total: 990 / 1000

Reinforced Units: 0 / 2

Allies: 0 / 200

Wounds: 45

Drops: 1

The Cost

SET	GW PRICE
Arena of Shades	$320
Guardian of Souls*	$35+10
Bladegheist Revenants	$77
Battletome: Nighthaunt	$84
Total	$526

As always, look for discounts.

This list is a lot more fragile but also a lot more aggressive. The Scriptor Mortis is a very interesting model with the ability to make life very difficult for smaller support heroes or even monsters by stripping wounds in every round. Scarlet Doom applies mortal wounds on the charge, and you can fall back and charge every round. You can have one unit of Bladegheist hitting and wounding on 2+ with 3 attacks each. The Craventhorne Guard’s shooting might seem a bit underwhelming until you remember that they may be put in reserve and return in an ambush position within 9” of an enemy and they may shoot through cover. That is you can put them in an obscured position and fire away.

As always I’d love to see how you plan to use Nighthaunt, will you be grabbing some of the new models (Awlach or the Scriptor) or building lists from what you already have.

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

Stormcast Eternals – Beginners 1000 Point Army

June 1, 2022 Brett Martin 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 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:

Slot	Unit
Leader	Lord Imperitant with Gryph hound
Battleline	5 x Vindictors
Praetors	3 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;

SET	RRP 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

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

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)

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:

Weapon	No. of Attacks	Avg Hits	Avg Wounds	Avg Damage (pre-saves)
Stormspear	11	5.5 (+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

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:

Weapon	No. of Attacks	Avg Hits	Avg Wounds	Avg Damage (pre-saves)
Meteoric Grandhammer	10	8.3	6.9	20.8

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

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.