theyseemerollingones

[theyseemerollingones]

Teach Me! BM Sensei: Sylvaneth

What’s in the box: 16 Dryads, 1 Branchwych, 1 Treelord

Total GH Points: 600

Technically you’re paying for 20 Dryads, since you have to buy them in groups of 10. If you’re not interested in the Battalion bonus, you can get a total of 640 points if you assemble a Treeman Ancient or a mighty 740 points if you opt for resident big bastard, Spirit of Durthu.

How it plays: It’s, well… Sylvaneth play is meant to revolve around Wyldwoods. You have none in this box. It’s unfortunate, but we can make this work. Your Dryads are your bulk, your Treelord is your damage. The Branchwych provides magic support for the big guy as he puts out the hurt at range and in melee. The Dryads can act as bubble wrap for the Wych, as she is relatively squishy, using their large model count and attacks to threaten anything that gets too close.

Common Rules: Synergy with Wyldwoods is a common trait amongst these guys, triggered by the unit being within 3″ of one. Dryads impose a -1 penalty to hit rolls against them, Branchwychs get +1 to their hit rolls, and Treelords can teleport between two Wyldwoods. (If you went for Durthu, he gets +d3 attacks with his sword, which is disgusting)

Units: 3 units, 18 models, including the amazing Treelord kit. Be grateful you weren’t there for its 8th edition launch, where the release of the new, gorgeous plastic Treeman was accompanied by a mystifying nerf to all the already-underpowered treekin.

 Dryads - At first glance, Dryads seem pretty lacklustre. They get two attacks each and move a nimble 7″, but their 5+ save, single wound and aggressively average attack profile make them seem like they’re going to do a whole lot of nothing. However, all three of their abilities improve upon their damage and survivability in the right circumstances. They get +1 to their saves while they have at least 12 models, they get +1 to hit against one enemy unit as long as it’s your turn combat phase, and they get -1 to hit against them if they’re near a Wyldwood. The more of these circumstances they find themselves in, the better they get. (If you have a Wyldwood yourself, putting them entirely within one and casting Mystic Shield gives them a +2 save at full strength, combined with the -1 to hit makes them a horrible tarpit to try and get through.)

Branchwych - A hybrid caster/fighter hero, not particularly great at either but adaptable and with some fun abilities. She puts out 2 attacks with a 4+/3+/-/2 profile, which is pretty good against low-save enemies, but this can get even better with a +1 to hit near Wyldwoods and an extra 2 attacks if she suffered a wound earlier in the combat phase. Both of these triggered can make her relatively dangerous. Don’t rely on the extra attacks, though; with only 5 wounds and a +5 save, that trigger is only going to happen once or twice before she dies. Her casting is average, one spell a turn with no bonuses, and her unique spell is pretty hit-or-miss - it’s an AoE spell that hits everything within 9″, rolling as many dice as the casting total (it’s cast on a 5, so that’s the minimum, but hope for better). It only causes mortal wounds on a 6 though, so there’s a good chance of whiffing entirely. You need probably want to hit at least 3 units with it, or just go arcane bolt. 

Oh, and her bug gets one attack in combat with -1 rend. Take the last wound off a Bloodthirster with it. 

Treelord - This is where it gets good! Treelords went from being hot garbage in Fantasy to being the absolute tits in AoS. 12 wounds and 3+ save mean they take an age to put down, and they’ve got a cheeky 5 ranged attacks at 12″ at -1 rend in case they can’t quite get close enough. In combat, they’re brutal, starting at 4 attacks at 3+/3+/-1/D6. D6!!! He then has an extra one, that wounds on a 2+ with -2 rend; only 1 damage, but if you damage something with it, you then roll a dice - if it’s higher than the wounds the model has left, it’s insta-gibbed. Nice for finishing off characters while the D6 damage attacks delete their unit. To help keep himself alive, he can give an enemy unit in combat -1 to hit on a 4+ by knocking them the fuck out. 

This is a monster, however, and like all monsters in AoS, suffers penalties to its offensive output as it takes more damage. Ranged attacks are harder to hit, Impale is harder to wound, and you get less of your big attacks. Pop Mystic Shield on him to give him a 2+ and keep his damage up.

(The variants are basically this but better - the Ancient trades a Sweeping Blows attack for magic, and a Spirit of Durthu just kills things better. Fucking murders them.)

Battalion bonus: The Heartwood Host is a pretty simple affair, but fuck me is it degenerate. Every hero phase, both the Branchwych and Treelord heal a wound, and the Dryads regain a slain model. Keeps your Dryads on the board, keeps your Wych from dying too quickly, keeps your Treelord at maximum damage. 

This happens every hero phase. Yes, even your opponents. That’s two wounds each and two dead Dryads back per battle round. No requirements, no choosing which unit benefits.

Who thought this was a good idea? Disgusting.

Where next?: This is a pretty well-rounded box, so really what you get is up to you. If you’re keeping in Sylvaneth allegiance, investing in one of the brilliant new kits is a good idea - Kurnoth Hunters can serve as either much-needed, top-notch ranged support, or as Big Bastard Melee Bruisers. Tree-Revenants are more fragile than Dryads as a battleline unit, but have superior damage output and can just teleport to any board edge whenever they feel like, allowing for some disgusting objective plays. Or, you can expand your Dryads into bigger units or invest in another of the Treelord variants.

Drycha and Alarielle are brilliant centrepiece models, and provide both big damage and support to the rest of your army. Drycha synchronises well with Spite-Revenants, and Alarielle is just a fucking monster, capable of totalling just about anything and keeping all your monsters alive at the same time. Just buy whatever looks cool and it’ll probably work! 

Recommended listening: Literal fake plastic trees tho

#aos #age of sigmar #teach me bm sensei #sylvaneth #warhammer

[theyseemerollingones]

And here's all 3 of the Best Buds, now fully based. Only like 50 more to go! Wooooo

#age of sigmar #warhammer #sylvaneth #drycha hamadreth #mistweaver saih

[theyseemerollingones]

A wee Mistweaver Saih to accompany my Sylvaneth. Wanted a kimono-like pattern on her dress to go with the cherry blossom theme. Probably utterly fucked it, but it looks alright? I guess?

#age of sigmar #warhammer #mistweaver saih

[theyseemerollingones]

BM’s Going To Stirling Again - 2000 Point Sylvaneth List

So my first tournament since the release of the General’s Handbook is Forgotten Heroes - the beginning of September at the amazing Common Ground Games in Stirling. Normally I half-arse a list the week before but I’ve already got mine down because I’m buzzing about these fucking trees. It’s a 2000 point list, which means at least three Battleline units (the new Core equivelant), up to 6 heroes and up to 4 behemoths (big bastards). i’ve planned my army basically around what units I want to use, but I also wanted to have some fun with the new Wargrove battalions - much like the Formation Detachments of 40k, but simpler, these are army-wide templates made up of smaller battalions. Some of them also allow you to add units from the wider Grand Alliance without giving up your allegiance bonus (which is very important to Sylvaneth as their allegiance is what lets them shit out trees).

This is what I ended up with;

Gnarlroot Wargrove (80) (1-3) Household (20) - Treelord Ancient (300) - Branchwych (100) - Tree-Revenants x 5 (100) (0-1) Outcasts (40) - Spite-Revenants x 3 (100) - Spite-Revenants x 3 (100) - Spite-Revenants x 3 (100) (0-1) ORDER Wizard - Mistweaver Saih (80) Other SYLVANETH Units - Drycha Hamadreth (280) - Treelord Ancient (300) - Dryads x 20 (240) - Tree-Revenants x 5 (100) So let’s talk about the structure. The Wargrove requires at least one Household (with an Ancient instead of a normal Treelord), and gives us a list of optional batallions to take within it, giving it a very modular approach. However, anything that doesn’t fit in one of those battalions can simply added under “Any number of SYLVANETH units”, meaning you can take the Wargrove as long as you satisfy the requirements for the 1 initial battalion. Considering it’s a very good way to get some powerful buffs to your army without requiring a great deal of committment, it’s a good idea to at least consider taking one. As mentioned, some of them have options for units beyond the Sylvaneth faction. This one I’ve taken, Gnarlroot Wargrove, has a slot for 1 ORDER wizard of any kind. So naturally I opted for my favourite Silver Tower model, the Mistweaver Saih. Gnarlroot allows my Ancients and Branchwych to cast and dispel twice a turn, and gives all my wizards an extra spell that returns dead models to units (d3 for Dryads and Tree-Revevants, 1 for everyone else). Given that I’m running a total of 5 wizards, this gives me 8 spells a turn. The smaller battalions have additional bonuses - the Household gives those three units the ability to prevent enemies from retreating in combat, and the Outcast makes anything that gets too close to too many Spite-Revenants take mortal wounds based on a bravery check. The overall force is split into three groups in my head, and I’ll mention the highlights so I don’t bore you to tears. DRYCHA’S SPITE BUBBLE OF SADNESS Taskforce Drycha is comrpised of the plant Dreadnought herself, the Spite-Revenants, and the Mistweaver. There’s a lot of bravery-related synchronisation between these units. The Spite-Revenants have a -1 bravery aura (as well as an ability that makes nearby terrain spooky and forces battleshock rerolls). This combos with the fact that Drycha, the Msitweaver, and the Outcast battalions all have spells or abiltiies that inflict Mortal Wounds based on enemy bravery. Combined with re-rolls on battleshock, this block of sad girls is good at forcing through a ton of mortal wounds on enemy units and then making those wounds cost even more models when battleshock comes around. YOUR BOARD EDGE IS MY BOARD EDGE - WHY TREE-REVENANT MUSICIANS ARE SILLY AS FUCK All Sylvaneth units, when in Sylvaneth allegiance bonuses, have the ability to teleport from one Wyldwood to another. However, Tree-Revenants go one step further. Their unit musicians have the ability to teleport to Wyldwoods from anywhere - or, if you don’t fancy a Wyldwood, they can teleport to any board edge. Including your opponent’s. They still have to be 9″ away from an enemy and can’t move after, but they can charge, and well... There’s a number of mitigation factors to that. There’s an arcane magic item that allows a Sylvaneth Wizard to, once per game, move anywhere on the board at least 4″ from an enemy. In my case, this Wizard is a Treelord Ancient. A nice wee 12-wound wizard monster accompanies the Tree-Revenants across the board, right to my opponent’s squishy ranged units and objectives. This Treelord is also my general, and has a command ability that gives nearby units +1″ charge range. Combined with the Tree-Revenants’ ability to re-roll any one dice per phase - like, say, a charge range dice - there’s a very good chance of them making that 9″ charge. And if one unit fails, there’s always another to try. And if they both fail, the Treelord has a much shorter charge to make. The ability to suddenly pressure the opponent’s backline and their rear objectives out of the blue is hella potent. In summary, the new Handbook has returned the joy of listbuilding, I’m very excited for Forgotten Heroes, and I’m going to lose all my money to tiny plastic trees.

#age of sigmar #teach me bm sensei #sylvaneth

[theyseemerollingones]

re: aforementioned Sylvaneth mania

Painting more cherry blossom plant people. Drycha edition!

[theyseemerollingones]

The Return You Almost Certainly Weren’t Waiting For

BM Sensei is back! After a long and definitely unexplained absence. Basically unviersity happened. But I reckon now’s a good time to return to these, because with the General’s Handbook out, we have an exciting new context to review the Start Collecting boxes in. Officially supported constructed play in Age of Sigmar! Fuck me.

There’s plenty of new Start Collecting boxes to write about, and I’m going to write up a Teach Me post for them soon. But I’m probably gonna put up a wee article about my 2000 point list for Sylvaneth, because I’ve just started playing the mad wee tree ladies and I love the new Battletome rules and I love the new battalions and. fuck. I’M REALLY EXCITED ABOUT AGE OF SIGMAR AT THE MOMENT OKAY

#age of sigmar #teach me bm sensei

[theyseemerollingones]

Teach Me BM Sensei: Let’s Pretend It’s 8th Edition Empire

Okay so this isn’t strictly a Start Collecting! Age of Sigmar box per se, and it’ll probably be finding its way into GW’s Last Chance To Buy section later this year, but I have a couple of friends interested in the Empire (hence the slightly longer post). Plus, Order has one Start Collecting box between it’s bazillion factions, so it needs all the help it can get.

What’s in the box: 20 State Troops, 8 Knights (basic or Reiksguard), 10 Handgunners (or crossbows), 1 Cannon (or Mortar)

(Full disclosure, on the subject of the Knights, I honestly have no idea if the White Wolf sprue is still included. This would be relevant if you wanted to arm your knights with the less-durable, more-killy Cavalry Hammers over Lance/Shield, as the hammers were the trademark of one of the old Knightly Orders. They were included with the individual Knights boxes but I don’t know if they’ll make an appearance in the Battalion.)

Pool Choices: 8 (technically you’re 2 knights short of 8, since pool systems only deal in multiples of mininum unit size. blame whoever thought 8 was a good number of models for a plastic box). All alternative assemblies cost the same points

How it plays: The Empire has always had a very hammer-and-anvil play style, and while this is a bit more flexible in AoS, it’s still apparent. Your State Troopers are bulk line-holders, there to stand between your artillery and ranged troops and be a surprisingly durable roadblock. Meanwhile, your knights have the toughness and offensive power to take on dedicated melee units with a real chance of success, while still possessing the mobility to catch more mobile units.

Obviously, being an old battalion box, you get neither a character to provide synergy buffs for your units, nor a Battalion formation bonus. Until you add a General or somesuch, you’ll need to make the most of your units in their best roles.

Common Rules: While the Empire lacks any of the recurring special rules of previously mentioned armies, I feel like I should mention their musician bonus for their ranged units here, because it’s pretty unique to the Empire afaik and it’s common to both their Handgunners and Crossbowmen. It’s basically overwatch from 40k. You get charged, you shoot the guy.

Units:

  State Troops - state of these fuckin troops man Your faithful meatwall is... Alright? Average? Actually these guys are pretty nifty in their own way. Very average stats, 4-ups to hit and wound with everything and a 5+ save. They get +1 to hit at 20 models and another +1 for 30 and 40, so as long as you don’t lose a single model, you’ll be hitting on 3s. Lucky you. They get a choice of halberd, spear and sword, and take a shield with all of these (some mild conversion will be needed to take the shield with halberds or spears, I think). Swords give you a +1 to saves in combat, halberds give you a -1 rend, and spears have a 2″ range which is useful for squeezing more attacks out of a large crowded unit.. The shield lets you re-roll saves of a 1. Essentially, your choice becomes between more attacks (spears), more damage against armour (halberds), or more durability (swords). I always find that Rend Is Your Friend, but you might find that the increased durability helps keep your other units alive. They’re a bit too shite to justify the spears.

  What makes them noteworthy in terms of ability is their counter-charge ability on their musician. A simplified version of the old detachment rules, it allows the unit to declare a charge in the opponent’s charge phase, after all of their charges have been finished. It only moves D6″ instead of the normal 2D6″, basically allowing them to go “HO YOU THAT’S MA FUCKIN COUSIN” if a nearby handgunner unit gets charged.

  Handgunners/Crossbowmen - Your ranged units are pretty strong for basic infantry (although they could definitely use some extra numbers). Crossbows are a simple affair, hitting on 4s, wounding on 4s, and 6s to wound giving them -1 rend. 20 models and up lets them fire twice, but you’ve only got 10 of them, so settle down. Handgunners only hit on 5s and have slightly shorter range, but wound on 3s and have -1 rend all the time. They also hit on 4s if they stand still (a buff you lose if shooting overwatch), and their unit leader can get a sick AF 720 no scopez sniper rifle with 30″ range, 4s to hit and 2 damage. (or a repeater handgun, but no.)

  Both of these units have the aforementioned overwatch ability tacked to their musicians that let them shoot at a unit that ends a charge within 3″ of them. Remember this takes away the ‘gunners +1 to hit buff so enjoy those 5+s.

  Empire Knights/Reiksguard Knights - Big Metal Men. They move twice as fast as your state troops, have a 4+ save re-rolling 1s, attached to two wounds. You get your choice of a lance/shield or cavalry hammer - the lances get +1 wound and +1 damage on the charge, grant you a re-roll of 1s for saves, and a 2″ range. The hammers dispense with the shield and the 2″ range and the charge bonus, but have an extra attack and always wound on 3s, making them just as killy all the time. Their horses get 2 attacks with a decent profile, and once per game the unit can re-roll ALL failed saves for a combat phase.

  You can field them as Reiksguard instead. Reiksguard get a +1 to their bravery, and hit on 3s instead of 4s. They don’t get to choose hammers, and trade their once-per-game ability for a (largely irrelevant) bravery-related ability that only triggers if you’ve fielded Karl Franz or Kurt Helborg. If you’re taking lances anyway, then Reiksguard are a more consistantly killy alternative with better protection from battleshock, but you’ll use your once-per-game save re-rolls, so they’ll be less durable when you need them to be.

  Cannon/Mortar - The ultimate in hugging-your-table-edge gameplay. Long-range, high-rend, multiple-wound guns which unfortunately aren’t as accurate as they used to be. The cannon only hits on 4s, but fires 2 shots that wounds on 2s with a -2 rend. When your wound goes through, it inflicts D6 damage (so an average of 3-4 wounds, best saved for your opponents more valuable, less numerous units. You also have a last-resort in grapeshot, an alternative to shooting that rolls a dice for every model in a target unit within 10″, that causes a mortal wound on a 6. You need to have a lot of enemy models for this to be worthwhile.

  The mortar has a shorter range with a mininum, hits on 2s but only fires 1 shot, wounds on 3s, only has -1 rend, and D3 damage. So on paper it’s pants in comparison. The advantages it gets are the ability to fire without line of sight at no penalty, allowing you to keep your squishy crew protected from enemy shooting. It also increases its damage based on the number of models in the unit, D6 at 10 and 2D6 at 20. Overall, less killy but more durable. You’re probably better with the cannon, especially after you invest in an Engineer later down the line.

  War engines in AoS rely on their crew more than previously, as they are easier to pick off due to being targettable individually, and the engine gets lets powerful/mobile as they die. The cannon loses its second shot when it’s down to 1 crew member, and the mortar gets less accurate with each death. They also lose an inch movement (down from 4″) for every one that dies. They get cover as long as they’re close to the machine but even then it’s only a 5+ save, so be /very/ wary of ranged attacks coming in range of them.

Battalion bonus: None! Square bases get no favours.

Where next?: Fuckin CHARACTERS. You have none. You want them. Technically any model in your army can be a general (probably the leader of your knights unit), but you want a real one. An Empire General can buff your State Units (including the handgunners) with a bunkering ability that improves their hits and wound when they stand still, and a Grand Master can buff your your knight’s mobility. A Griffin General can buff both with a mix of the above. Pick one based on which way you intend to expand your army, or look into the special characters that have Command abilities.

  You have many many options when it comes to magic - Battle Wizards can choose from one of eight unique spells (you’re better off with the buff ones that let you hang back safely, though). You can also invest in one of the Empire’s customary Giant Magical Party Vans that pump out buff/offensive abilties as well as magic.

  If you want a cannon line, get an Engineer. They buff your warmachines by standing next to them (you can get about 3 buffed reasonably from one Engineer). Of note is re-rolls to hit for cannons. Fun times.

Recommended listening: Fit for conquering Euro- I mean, the Old World.

#warhammer #age of sigmar #the empire

[theyseemerollingones]

Teach Me BM Sensei: Malignants

What’s in the box: 3 Spirit Hosts, 5 Hexwraiths (alternatively Black Knights, but don’t.), 1 Mortis Engine (alternatively Coven Throne).

Pool Choices: 5 (5.5 with the Coven Throne)

How it plays: As you might’ve guessed from it’s sheer size, this box largely revolves around the Mortis Engine. While not providing any direct buffs to the other units, it is what most of your precious money has been sunk into, and using it effectively is important. The battalion bonus for these guys, while perhaps not as outwardly sickening as others, is also a big part of making the most of this box’s ridiculous mobility, by allowing distant units to instantly redeploy close to the Mortis Engine.

Common Rules: Etheral is a rule shared by the Hexwraiths and Spirit Hosts that allows them to ignore rend when making saves. This, combined with their surprising 4+ saves, allows them to effectively tank the nastier units of your opponent’s army, keeping them away from the sadly very corporeal Mortis Engine. While also not a unique special rule, every model in this box can fly, and with your high average movement and battalion bonus, you will often find yourself able to completely outmaneuver your opponent.

Units: This box only has 9 models, split between 3 units. Shocker! Your Mortis Engine functions like akin to a flying monster, while Hexwraiths function like flying cavalry, and your Spirit Hosts are the closest thing you have to your basic infantry.

  Spirit Hosts - These are 3-wound bases, pumping out 6 attacks each. These only hit a third of a time, with no rend and mediocre chance of damage, but every 6 on a hit translates into automatic mortal wounds. This essentially means that your Spirit Hosts are about throwing 18 dice at the table and hoping for as many 6s as possible, with 5s giving you a limited chance at some extra damage. Their Etheral rule allows them to be a problem for enemies dealing in small amounts of high-rend attacks.

  Hexwraiths - These are close to as good as anyone’s cavalry get. 2 wounds, 4+ save with Ethereal, and a 12″ fly move mean these are very maneuverable units that sacrifice none of their durability. In combat they throw out 4 attacks each, 2 with the wraith’s above-average profile with some rend, and 2 with the steed’s pretty forgettable profile, totalling 20 attacks for all 5, 10 of which are not to be sniffed at and the other half with a good chance of forcing through some more wounds on low-save models. Also of note is that if they fly over an enemy unit, you roll a dice for each Hexwraith model that actually moved over - on a 6, you get a free mortal wound. Not hugely impressive, especially considering you must begin and end your move at least three inches away from an enemy model, but nothing to turn your nose up at. Overall, a very above-average cavalry unit with a moderately useful gimmick.

Mortis Engine - Your giant altar-on-spooky-ghost-horse-cart-thing goes like fuck. By which I mean, it is very mobile. Starting off at a 14″(!) fly move, it is far more mobile than it looks, and has a mighty 12 wounds attached to a 4+ (not Ethereal! It’s not that good) save. In combat it is passable, starting at 12 Spirit Host attacks and 1 single necromancer attack with a possibility of D3 damage, it’s not going to stand up to dedicated combat units but it will definitely do some damage. It does, however, have a number of special rules attached to it. It has a ranged attack that triggers on each unit within range (but happens in the Hero phase, before movement, unfortunately) that does mortal woundsbased on the difference between a 2d6 roll and the unit’s bravery, meaning more damage on low-bravery units. It also adds 1 to the casts of nearby friendly wizards (but you don’t have any of those yet), and subtracts 1 from the casts of nearby unfriendly wizards. Lastly, once per game, you can Push The Red Button and heal/damage each friendly/enemy unit withi 4d6″ for D3 mortal wounds. Potentially very good, potentially a bit piss. Hope for the best!

Battalion bonus: This allows you to, during the hero phase, redeploy any of your other two units to within a short distance of the Mortis Engine. Very useful if one of your units finds itself too far away to be where it wants to be, or if it’s caught in a combat it’s going to lose. This allows you to always support your Mortis Engine if you need to. Also of note is you can use this to slingshot your Hexwraiths - instantly redeploy them with the back of their bases just within the maximum range, and then use their full 12″ move to get those potential free mortal wounds.

Where next?: You are even worse-off for heroes than the Daemon boxes - you don’t even have a hero. A Vampire or a Mortarch are good candidates, carrying both Command Abilities and magic to take advantage of the Mortis Engine’s buff. (The Zombie Dragon Vampire’s command ability gives a unit re-rolls to hit, which is absolutely lethal for re-rolling the Spirit Host’s many many misses for more chances at auto-mortal wounds). You might also want to address your tiny model count by padding out your Spirit Hosts or investing in more traditional undead infantry.

Recommended listening: A Friendly Ghost

#Warhammer #age of sigmar #vampire counts

[theyseemerollingones]

Teach Me BM Sensei: Daemons of Nurgle

What’s in the box: 1 Herald of Nurgle, 3 Plague Drones, 10 Plaguebearers, 3 Nurgling swarms. No alternative assemblies

Pool Choices: 5

How it plays: Like the Khorne daemons, these disgusting mouthbreathers play exactly how you might expect; slow and incredibly resilient. 

Common Rules: All Daemons benefit from a Locus rule - different for each unit, but with a common trigger. Being within 8″ of a Hero daemon of the same God will give each of your units a God-appropriate buff. You also benefit from Nurgle’s signiature special rule, Disgusting Resilience. Common amongst all your Plaguebearer-type models, it provides you with a 5+ save after taking either a wound or mortal wound. So you get two saves against normal wounds, and still get to take one against mortal wounds.

Units: You’ve got four units in the box; one hero, one cavalry, one infantry unit and one swarm unit.

  Herald of Nurgle - Your walking Locus buff has 5 wounds with a 4+/5++ save, and heals 1 wound every time any unit - yours or your opponents - is wiped out within 7″. Don’t count on this to keep you alive, but it gives you a bit more durability. He’s no slouch in combat, with only 3 attacks on a 4+, but the 3+ wound, -1 rend and potential d3 wounds means a very lucky round of combat can result in up to 9 wounds. Ultimately, he’s slow, more resilient than most footslogging heroes, but will still go down to focused high-rend or mortal wounds. Assuming your opponents are not distracted by....

  Plaguebearers - Basic foot slogging green daemons. Deceptively resilient, they’re only 1 wound, 5+ save, but benefit from the typical 5++ unrendable second save against normal and mortal wounds that is typical of Nurgle daemons. While each roll might only have a third chance of succeeding, needing to fail two successive rolls for each of the 10 men will mean they will die frustratingly slowly, especially when combined with their Locus bonus which lets them re-roll saves of a 1 (this only applies to the first save, no cheesing on the 5++). They also have that ridiculous daemon icon rule that allows them to add D6 models back to the unit when you roll a 1 on battleshock tests, which is fucking bananas. Remember you can’t add models you don’t actually fucking own. Anyway. Don’t expect them to do much damage, though. They only have one attack, with a very average profile and no rend. Use them to be a pain in the arse and tie up threats to your real threat, these fuckers below.

  Plague Drones - This is where your shit kicks off. These only move 8″, but they’re still the fastest unit your diseased Nurgle-worshiping arse is going to get, and they can fly over units and terrain. Each has a 14″ ranged attack which, while underwhelming, can help pick off fragile fast-moving units your army will struggle to catch. In combat, though, these bastards are fantastic. Each has the same save profile, 5++ included, as a Plaguebearer, except they have 5 wounds. They put out 5 attacks a piece, 4 of which are aggressively average but will do some damage in bulk. Their last attack, their sting, has some rend attached to it and does D3 damage, so hope it hits. Their locus bonus is where they can really shine. Every to wound roll of a 6 made within Locus range adds a mortal wound as well as the normal damage of the weapon (remember this applies to ranged attacks as well). With 3 ranged attacks and 15 melee attacks at full compliment, you can likely force through a few of these each turn.

But the real reason everyone will hate these is the battalion bonus. See below.

  Nurglings - A good chaff unit. 4 wound models with no save (including no 5++ save - every wound these take WILL go through). Their attacks are pants, needing 5s to hit and wound, but each base churns out 5 of them, so it averages out. What makes them neato is that any unit that takes a wound from them in combat, takes an extra d3 mortal wounds on a 5+. Nothing to rely on, but not to be sniffed at. Also, any bases with lost wounds restore to full wounds at the end of each turn, so they need a moderately concentrated effort to be dealt with. They very much benefit from the battalion bonus.

Battalion bonus: Every hero phase, if a unit is close enough to your Herald (and this, combined with Locus, is why you MUST keep that fucker alive), it restores a model that died earlier in the game. So, uh. 1 extra Plaguebearer? Nice. 1 extra Nurgling base? That’s pretty tasty. And, uh, 1 full-wound Plague Drone. Every turn as long as at least one of them is dead. It’s filth befitting the God of Filth.

Where next?: You need another hero - your locus buffs are very important - and you need one that can either cast magic or has a useful command ability. A Great Unclean One covers all these bases (and is actually the only Nurgle Daemon that provides either unless you want a Mortal commander), as well as providing a Large Scary Man with a nice offensive spell and is really fucking hard to kill. Epidemius is also an alternative if you aren’t too fussed about magic or command abilities, but he makes for a much better support hero, left to stay alive and work his Tally ability away from nasty mortal wounds.

Recommended listening: Edgy music for your edgy army

#warhammer #age of sigmar #nurgle #daemons

[theyseemerollingones]

Teach Me BM Sensei: Daemons of Khorne

What’s in the box: 1 Herald of Khorne on Blood Throne (alternatively, a Skullcannon), 3 Skullcrushers of Khorne and 10 Bloodletters of Khorne

Pool Choices: 3.5 (4 with skullcannon)

How it plays: Exactly how you’d expect. Khorne Daemons specialise in running up to things and hitting them with their swords. They hit like a ton of bricks, but they’re fragile. Daemon units like sticking close to their heroes to receive Locus buffs, so avoid straying too far from your Herald. Roll your units like a tightly-knit ball of unresolved anger.

Common Rules: All Daemons benefit from a Locus rule - different for each unit, but with a common trigger. Being within 8″ of a Hero daemon of the same God will give each of your units a God-appropriate buff. Also, all your Bloodletter attacks, be they on foot or riders, have the Decapitating Attack rule, which causes a to-hit roll of 6 to turn your damage into an automatic unsaveable mortal wound.

Units: You’ve got three units in the box; one hero, one cavalry, and one infantry unit.

  Blood Throne - Your friendly Herald of Khorne rides into town on a chariot that eats people. The Throne is relatively quick, relatively durable with 7 wounds and a 4+ save, and relatively killy with 7 attacks; 4 from the Herald with an above average profile, 2 from his crew with slightly worse to-hit rolls, and a single, potentially nasty bite attack from the chariot. If the bite attack hits, it heals the chariot for however many wounds it dealt in damage, giving the Throne a bit more longevity. This is also your source of Locus buffs, so keep it close to your other units, and keep it alive.

  Bloodletters - Your basic red lads have only one attack, but with wounding on +3 and with -1 rend, with the added bonus of the Decapitating Attack rule, they’re nothing to sniff at. Their Locus bonus lets them re-roll 1s to hit, giving you some extra chances at those juicy decapitations. They’re fragile, though, at 1 wound each with a +5 save. If you’re lucky, though, you might get some of them back with your Icon - a roll of a 1 in a battleshock test will replace d6 of your dead lads. 

Bloodcrushers - Your cavalry equivalent doesn’t fuck around. 4 wounds apiece with a 4+ save means they’re significantly more durable than your footsloggers, and their 8" move lets them keep pace with your Throne. They have a standard Bloodletter riding them, but the Juggernaut itself attacks three times, with better to-hit. They excel at charge bonuses: they have a 50% chance to automatically deal 1d3 mortal wounds to any unit they charge, and their Locus bonus re-rolls ALL misses, but only in the turn they charge. Take care not to charge outside the 8" Locus range unless you have to.

Battalion bonus: Every hero phase, if one of your units is already fighting, they can pile in and attack with their swords. In the hero phase. And then attack normally later in the turn. In a game were combat is often decided by the order of units attacking, this is potentially devastating. It doesn’t apply to Juggernaut hoove or Throne maw attacks, however, so make sure to pick the unit that will get the most mileage out of it.

Where next?: Your Bloodletters want to be bigger. 10 models with a single 5+ save won’t last long. 30 models will. You also receive a +1 to hit bonus as long as 20 of them are alive; this also means Decapitations will happen on a 5+! They will also make very grateful recipients of your battalion’s free hero phase attack.

Other things to invest in would be a more apt General. Your Throne Herald doesn’t have an inherent command ability, and Inspiring Presence isn’t very useful for Daemons who rarely fail and occasionally benefit from Battleshock. The various flavours of Bloodthirster have nice buff abilities for your army, as well as being Big Angry Men with incredible models and combat stats (and a price tag) to match.

Recommended listening: This should be obvious

#warhammer #age of sigmar #khorne #daemons

[theyseemerollingones]

Start Collecting! Teach Me BM Sensei

So GUGS will be running an Age of Sigmar league thingy. Given that AoS does not have any inherent internal points system, we’ll be adopting the AoS Pool System, a nifty wee system that is incredibly easy to use and keeps AoS’s ‘straight out the box’ philosophy intact.

We’ll be starting at 4 pool choices, which is basically one of Games Workshop’s value-off-the-fucking-walls Start Collecting! boxes hands down. So if you want to go for one of these, what exactly are you getting in terms of the Pool System? Is your box a shiter? Is it a belter? How would you even go about playing the fucker? I’ll be doing wee reviews of each box, for the benefit of GUGS and the wider Internet. I know, I’m a fucking philanthropist.

#warhammer #age of sigmar