Age of Sigmar/Warhammer Fantasy discussion

[MiaKage]

I understand that the elves are still around, but I miss the old lore of Athel Loren, and how the wood elves were super isolationist and didn't really care for the other elves. Just seems the end times ignored a lot of animosity that the wood elves had for the high elves, and I don't understand how Drycha is being nice to Alariel since she hated elves. Ever since the End Times the lore has been really weird for me, especially with the realms being all split up and stuff.

I do like the new Daughters of Khaine, though I don't understand how they are part of the Order alliance.

[wander]

Well Ghyran, the Realm of Life of which Alarielle is a goddess of, has all sorts of areas in it's woods, it's basically one big Athel Loren, or you can have your Wanderers from a section of Ghyran that is basically an Athel Loren expy. :)

I haven't read the Sylvaneth battletome, so I admittedly don't much on the current lore on Drycha... ^^;

The Daughters of Khaine are with Order mainly as they hate Chaos and fight against them and will ally with the other elf factions to do so and against any other threat the elves may face. They aren't nice by any stretch and will join Deepkin in raiding innocents, though they HATE Chaos, especially Slaanesh, for obvious reasons. Morathi has also teamed with Malerion (read: Malekith) plus Tyrion n' Teclis who are all gods of their own two realms and are main proponents in kicking Chaos and Slaanesh. Order tolerates the Daughters mainly as they're awesome at killing Chaos things and removing them from the Grand Alliance would really put them back a bit in their battle against the Four Gods. Some Daughters are actually sociable and they get along with the Sylvaneth well as they're a strong defence for Ghyran and can't sacrifice dryads as they don't have blood to shed. ^^'

[wander]

Decided to throw up a list of each faction available for quick viewing for anyone who wanted to have a quick reference. The Underlined factions are 'main' ones, many have full support from a battletome or are popular enough to be easily still bought. Allies are basically stuff that is pretty elitey or just offcast models that make up a faction though are best used as allied into your main faction than played alone pure.

CHAOS;
brayherd + warherd (Beastmen), Clan Pestilens, legacy skaven clans, Chaos Daemons (all four chaos gods),
Chaos Mortal Armies (includes Tzeentch Arcanites, Nurgle Rotbringers and Khorne Bloodbound with slaves to darkness).
Allies: Archaon's Everchosen, Gargants, Thunderscorn (Dragon Ogors).
Forge World: Legion of Azgorh (chaos dwarfs) + Tamurkhan's Horde (elite Nurgle stuff).

ORDER;
darkling covens (+ legacy dark elves), Daughters of Khaine, free peoples + devoted of sigmar (legacy Empire),
Fyreslayers, Kharadron Overlords, Idoneth Deepkin, Seraphon, Stormcast Eternals, swifthawk agents (+ legacy high elves),
Sylvaneth, wanderers (legacy wood elves).

DESTRUCTION;
Beastclaw Raiders, Bonesplitterz (savage orcs), gitmob grots, greenskinz (basic legacy orcs),
gutbusters (on-foot Ogre army), Ironjawz, moonclan grots, spiderfang grots.
Allies: gargants, lots of ogre types, monsters of destruction, Troggoths (elite trolls army).

DEATH;
Flesh-Eater Courts, Legions of Nagash including; deathlords (lords + morghasts), deathrattle (wight-led skeletons),
soulblight (vampire stuff). Plus Nighthaunt (an army of ghosts) battletome has been announced.
Allies: Necromancers + Deadwalkers.

I'm hoping this makes an easy reference for what's out there going into 2nd edition Age of Sigmar.

[Cold Heritage]

I was led to believe that there is only one faction in the Age of Sigmar and that faction is the Sigmarines and that that is the way Sigmar intended it.

[wander]

Stormcast Eternals have got a fair selection of model releases, this year so far has been more about Aelves and Death, both woefully underutilised and supported before now.

I see Slaanesh Daemon Hosts being the big up-and-comer with 2nd edition currently. The daemons are pretty alright units and with 2nd edition now doing summoning via action points generated in game for matched play (rather than needing to set aside reinforcement points from your list to deep strike in your pre-chosen gribbly-gals and wibbly-steeds), infinite daemonette-zerg rush is a bit of a horror scenario.

Flesh-Eater Courts also got a heck of a lot more competitive too.

[wander]

1,500pts Clan Pestilens List
Allegiance: Pestilens.

o Verminlord Corruptor (220)
> General
> Warlord Trait: Master of Rot and Ruin
> Artifact: Bilous Bell

o Plague Furnace (200)
> Bonus Congregation Artifact: Liber Bubonicus

Troops:
(all plague monk units have a plague scroll, contagion banner and bale-chimes. The units of 40 have 2 banners and 2 chimes)

40x Plague Monks (240)

40x Plague Monks (240)

20x Plague Monks (140)

20x Plague Monks (140)

1 x Plague Claw Catapult (180)

Battallion: Congregation of Filth (140): special rules affect the plague furnace and the two units of 40 monks.

Total = 1,500pts.

[wander]

Something neat;

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/05/30/30th-may-rules-preview-artefacts-of-the-realmsgw-homepage-post-2/

Announced this week was the ability in 2nd edition Age of Sigmar to announce which of the Realms your army hails from (not including Realm of Heaven which has been untouched by Chaos, or the Realm of Chaos itself). So that's a choice of Seven Realms and for this the army can replace an artefact of theirs with one from their home Realm, with each Realm having six magical weapons and six magic trinkets each to choose from.

Glad I haven't painted my army of rats yet, I'd love to see more on what's available and give them a fitting paintjob to reflect the Realm they have their gnaw-tunnels running through. 

[wander]

I figured I'd post some thoughts on the changes to the main rules now for 2nd edition.

The biggest change outside of the command point additions which hasn't got coverage is the anti-daisy chaining happening in this edition. Basically, if a unit going into the battleshock phase is out of cohesion, then models need to be removed (and counted as slain) from that unit to get it back into cohesion. Thus, for those units that try and daisy chain, if they take too many casualties, that kind of play is going to suffer (generally seen when trying to get a Hero bubble buff and stretching out to get control of an objective at the same time).

Shooting can be done within 3" though it must be at the unit that is 3" or less away. Makes sense for immersion to fire those bolts and arrows at a squad hacking at the archers, rather than them ignoring the crazy barbarians to shoot across the field as they're being charged and killed. ^^;

Look out Sir! is a nice -1 to hit buff to a Hero if they're within 3" of a unit with 3+ models. Doesn't count for Monsters, so whilst my Verminlord Corruptor doesn't get it, funnily enough my Plague Furnaces will be able to Look out Sir!, despite them being big ol' models themselves, they have the Behemoth keyword, though not the Monster one. ^^;

So, mainly the Split Unit rule is the biggy. Personally, I'm hoping Pestilens will get a Spell Lore come the release of the new General's Handbook. I'm lax to switch to Maggotkin and lose the cool Pestilens stuff.

[MiaKage]

What about lore? Did they do any crazy updates with it? n.n

[wander]

Not sure yet. The main rules are available (see below), though not the full corebook, which is out for preorder this Saturday and will hold all the lore, actual battleplans and other things outside the basic rules to play.

For sure when I get my hands on the big hardback, I'll be talking about the lore and my thoughts on it. With three years to build up a new lore, the corebook will be consolidating it and building more of the new narrative. I think from what I've seen and heard though, that really it'll be expounding and going into more detail on events already told. Factions will be getting a few pages to explain how they fit in and the Mortal Realms will have a few pages each too, including some maps and also sample images of what a regular person of the Realm in question looks like.

Click here for the new official site for the game, where in the downloads section you can get the updated main rules legally for free as a pdf.

https://ageofsigmar.com/

[wander]

Also, here's my 1000pt Escalation League list.

By time the League hits 1,500 the new General's Handbook will be out, so there'll likely be a few changes from my earlier planned list. Unsure whether or not there'll be an Endless Spell thrown in, we'll see. 

Clan Pestilens 1000pt Vanguard
Allegiance: Pestilens

Leaders (2/4);
Behemoths (2/2);
Battleline (2/2+);

o Verminlord Corruptor (220)
> General
> Warlord Trait: Master of Rot and Ruin.
> Artifact: Bilious Bell

o Plague Furnace (200)
> Bonus Artifact: Liber Bubonicus.

o 30x Plague Monks (210)
> Foetid Blades & Woe-staves.
> Plague Scroll, Contagion Banner, Bile-chime.

o 30x Plague Monks (210)
> Foetid Blades & Woe-staves.
> Plague Scroll, Contagion Banner, Bale-chime.

o Battallion: Congregation of Filth (140)
> Affects Plague Furnace + 2 units of Plague Monks.

Total = 980pts.

[MiaKage]

How does this look for a 1500 point game? I don't know the rules for Artifacts just yet, so they are subject to change.

Allegiance: Wanderers
LEADERS
Waywatcher (100)
Wayfinder (100)
- Artefact : Starcaster Longbow
Spellweaver (80)
- Heartwood Staff
Spellweaver (80)
- Heartwood Staff
Waystrider (80)
- Artefact : Splinterbirch Blade
UNITS
30 x Glade Guard (360)
30 x Glade Guard (360)
20 x Eternal Guard (160)
5 x Wild Riders (140)
SCENERY
Sylvaneth Wyldwood (40)
TOTAL: 1500/2000 WOUNDS: 115
LEADERS: 5/6 BATTLELINES: 3 (3+)

[wander]

Looks cool! Lots of Heroes, though that may work out. 

I got the General's Handbook, which has the Wanderer Artifacts, I'll message them to you when I'm more awake and refreshed. ^^

In general, you get one Artifact, though for every Battallion you take, you get a bonus one also. As with my Pestilens list, my Verminlord has an artifact and because I bought a Battallion, I get a bonus one to add to my Plague Furnace. :)

[MiaKage]

Oooh ok, I have the generals handbook too, just didn't look into how many artifacts you get n.n;

In that case, I'd probably switch the Splinterbirch blade with the forget me knot, shutting down a big hero guy sounds really nice n.n

[wander]

Nice. :)

So, what would be the strategy on your army, how would you play it in a game? 

[MiaKage]

Mobile hit and run, if my Eternal Guard could get onto an objective that is also in cover, they would root themselves onto it and I thiiiink they would be hard to uproot. I'd probably use my one shot abilities pretty early on to get the max use out of them. I don't know AoS enough to have a strong idea of how to play, but keeping my old style of being speedy shooty elfs being a pain in the butt seems like fun n.n

[Metro Mech]

I mostly wish that they had kept my favorite race to play which is the bretonnians, all that Cavalry and fancy knight armor while yelling at all the peasants to go do their job. Sigh that was the most funny part of Warhammer fantasy. 

[wander]

MiaKage; Nice. ^^ I hear on the grapevine that the new General's Handbook is nerfing the Wanderer's teleport to be for one unit rather than all of them.

The Waywatcher is a great defender for your squishy aelfs with his -1 to hit bubble and the Wayfinder also has some synergy with your archers. I think the Waystrider is a lil superfluous as he's more for melee builds. I'd personally replace him and the 2nd Spellweaver with 20 Eternal Guard (or 5 Wild Riders as I dig the stag cavalry loads), although having two Wizards is a good idea incase one gets ganked. Spells are pretty powerful depending on faction and having the ability to unbind some nastiness can keep your aelves alive.

The Age of Sigmar subreddit has posted the point costs to the new Endless Spells and their stats are available for download from Geedubs now too, if you wanted to see what they may offer. They're decently cheap to fill in holes in a list if you have points left (though now every 50pts left over gives +1 Command Point to a list, also if your list has less points than your opponent, you get your free once-per-game Triumph).

Metro Mech;
Tis a shame the Brettonians got ganked, though funnily enough the Flesh Eater Courts see themselves as fancy knights and men at arms, despite being mad cannibals... I recommend checking out their lore and seeing what you think of them. I very nearly picked them as my first army just based on them delusionally seeing themselves as white knights fighting for the glory of their King and Nagash...

[MiaKage]

Yeah, I looked at swapping him our for weaver, but forgot the name of the melee hero, lol. I noticed the new command points thing too, having two spell weavers would give me two auto dispels per game! I only have the 20 eternal guard, otherwise I would throw a 2nd unit in. I'll have to hunt my wildriders, I think I might have 8 in total, I made two into sisters of thorn to use as spellsingers on mounts back in 8th edition. I may add a unit of wardancers in, not sure how good they are but I always loved their concept n.n

[wander]

With the Endless Spells being a thing for sure having more Spellweavers will help to cast or dispel them, depending on if you take one or not. Point costs for units may change come the end of this month, so it's something I know I'll need to factor for my Escalation Clans Pestilens list. Currently I have 20pts over and potentially I could fill that gap with an Endless Spell atm, though I'll have to wait and see what does get changed and what will stay the same.

I know as I have a battallion, I'll get +1 Command Point going in, which is nice. Pestilens really benefits from both the Verminlord's 'Gouge-Tear their Eyes!' ability along with the very important 'Inspiring Presence' as my Plague Monks auto-fail armour saves, so whilst they do hit like a truck, if they go second in combat they can potentially end up in trouble and whilst they get buffed Bravery, the more they lose in a unit, the harder their Bravery drops for Battleshock.

Wardancers are technically phased out of the Wanderers list, they're a legacy wood elf unit now. They cost 60pts for five wardancers, though you may find depending where you'd play they may not be allowed, also they do not have the Wanderer keyword anymore and won't benefit from the army allegiance abilities.

Whilst they're expensive points-wise, take a look at the Wildwood Rangers if you want an elite melee unit that has Rend. 180pts for ten, they do d3 damage versus Monsters if you know you're going to be going up against things with that keyword.
Otherwise I highly recommend just getting more Wild Riders for melee badassery, they're probably one of the best units at great value for the Wanderers.

[MiaKage]

The AoS app says wardancers are still wanderers, unless my app isn't updating right. Either way the people I play against are friends, the store I used to play at closed down which is why it's been ages since I've played. I'm not looking to buy anything new till I get my group back up and playing again, but the Rangers are something I'll defanitly pick up since one of the guys loves to bring monsters.

[wander]

Gotcha. Yeah, that's the main thing is to have fun with friends. 

I've grown to be pretty eager for the release of Malign Sorcery now. Not only will it contain the Endless Spells, it also contains Spell Lores for each Realm that wizards can use when using the Realm Battle rules in the corebook to activate special rules for playing in a particular Realm (something that the current General's Handbook contains in the Narrative Play section in a smaller scale under 'Times of War'). So there's that, along with special additional Artifacts if you choose your army to have hailed from a particular Realm. For sure I'll be going through those Artifacts and considering what would be swapping in, which will also affect future unit colour schemes to make my ratbois look all nice thematic. 

Hopefully the Realm rules get balanced. Right now my Clan Pestilens are very weak to Chamon's Steel Rain. ^^; However, on the plus having a battle set in Ghur is stupidly fun thanks to it's Monstrous Beasts special rule and my Verminlord casting 'Wildform' on my Plague Monks is a terror to those that face me. 

[MiaKage]

I took a look at those endless spells, I like the healy bugs n.n

Also having a giant flaming head roam the map is kinda funny to imagine. the swinging pendulum looks like it'd be fun, but kinda hard to use. Since wardancers aren't Wanderers, are Glade Riders taken out too? I could use them as wild riders if that's the case.

[wander]

Someone showed off the Pitch Battle costs for Endless Spells the other day. You can see them here;

https://imgur.com/a/v59J5Aa

I'm a fan of the Chronomantic Cogs and same with the Emerald Lifeswarm. Both are 60pts though, so a lil... eh for including for myself. Soulsnare Shackles though is a nice cheap Endless that can help in defensively keeping away combat-experts away from my Plague Monks and for 20pts I may slip that spell in.

On the Glade Riders, yeah you'd need to use them as Wild Riders. Which isn't so bad, as I still think the Wild Riders are one of the best units the Wanderers have for pure stats and they're fairly cheap points-wise too.

[wander]

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/09/26/make-your-own-free-city-the-easy-way-sep26gw-homepage-post-4/

Old article on Warhammer Community, though it's doing the rounds atm as 2nd edition comes in and the promise of more fluffy armies thanks to Malign Sorcery and the increased lore on the Realms in the corebook. 

So, whilst I play Pestilens and they don't dwell in a free city, I figured I'd roll a free city for fun and maybe my ratmonks have a gnaw-hole that's under it maybe. 



I rolled for the place the name of 'Sun Forge'... Very Sigmar!

It's located in the Realm of Shyish, the realm of Death... A Sprawling Metropolis and it's populace include Aelves, Duardin and Seraphon. Weird mix. I wonder just what this trio of peoples are doing in such a large sprawl in the Realm of Death...

It's a Legendary Location whose most notable feature is a Notable Freeguild. I suppose the humans are there purely as a garrisoned guard and aren't actually residents of the metropolis proper. I expect some hefty crowns come from Sun Forge to pay for a notable guild force!

Surely something big is here if both the Freeguild and Seraphon are watching over such a large place when Nagash and his Legions are such a credible threat! Duardin are the experts in technology and Aelves are gifted in magic usually. Could be a place of expert manufacture and exporting to other Realms and Shyish is where the amazing Shadeglass stems from.

If Pestilens turn up at my games in Shyish, perhaps Sun Forge may make a cheeky appearance. 

So, with 2nd edition coming, I figure now would be a good time to make up a free city, maybe involve it in your narrative in a future game and build up some lore for your army.