Games Workshop - Warhammer - Age of Sigmar - Slaves to Darkness Army Set (English)

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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

Ally considerations: There are some fun options here but not necessarily good ones. Fatemaster has a command ability that lets you roll a dice, store the result and then have the option to reroll dice rolls that match it for units within 9” which could be fantastic if you roll a 1 or a 2 but pretty horrible if it’s a 5 or a 6. You could also go full madman and take Kairos Fateweaver and pair him with Archaon to fish for the slayer of kings instant death proc using Kairos’ one off ability. That said, I actually think if you want to run Tzeentch mortals you should just run the Tzeentch marked warscrolls from this book under the Tzeentch allegiance as both the Chaos Sorcerer Lord on Manticore and the Chaos Sorcerer Lord on foot can benefit a great deal from the Tzeentch spell lore. Is he worth it? He’s much more expensive than he was, at 380 pts but not as much of an investment as Archaon at least. If you include him you really have to build around him, but he can cleave through enemies like tissues. He also has his own legion but that is beyond the scope of this article. We’ll discuss it another time.

Gresh’s Iron Reapers

This list went 3-0 and won a 12 man tournament in the Age of Sigmar RTT in Phoenixsville PA. A pretty standard looking list without needing to break the bank on Varanguard. Despite the intent of Games Workshop to allow you to focus on multiple gods, its often best to focus on just one and really invest. Anthony chose Nurgle, which is easily the most useful buff of all of them (Reroll all Wound rolls and +1 to saves from Chaos Warshrines) making an army that is both deadly and a pain in the ass to kill. Given it swept the tourney, it’s proof you don’t need to go out and buy all the Varanguard. Sergey Bolgov’s Hosts of the Everchosen List Warriors who catch the attention of the gods may be presented with dark powers on the Path to Glory. These Exalted Heroes are armed with rune-etched weapons, tailor-made for taking heads and winning infamy. SRM: The other half of the Darkoath Power Couple, the Chieftain is a blender of a Hero. On the charge he’ll plow through most infantry pretty easily, and dish out a mortal wound or two to boot. He also has a Marauder/Cultist version of Archaon’s By My Will ability, which is useful considering how fragile those units can be. There are updates to be found on the blossoming beef between the Everchosen and Be’lakor . The Dark Master has recruited whole legions to his penumbral banner through subterfuge, daemonic bribery, and promises of power – and he’s not stopping there… Khorne –Basically identical to the Chaos Warshrine’s Khorne ability, on a 3+ reroll all hit rolls. Solid choice B+

Great Weapons are another cool choice but again the loss of the shield is a huge blow, though the pip of rend is nice. This also works both ways, as units with the Mark of Chaos ability can be taken freely in the mono-god Battletomes. For example Chaos Warriors with the Nurgle mark can be taken in the Nurgle allegiance freely without needing to be allied in. Ellarr: Every army list for Slaves to Darkness should start with at least one of these dudes, they are simply that good and versatile. Soul Grinder There are also command traits available to heroes that let them fight a second time in a combat phase, roll on a special Eye of the Gods table which offers powerful boons (or treacherous traps on a poor roll), allow them to know all spells in the legion's spellbook, or become a Priest which changes the God keyword on any Undivided cultist in your army. There are also special command traits for the monstrous Daemon Princes, boosting their wounds, auto-healing nearby allies, and more. Spell Familiar: The bearer knows one extra spell from the Lore of the Damned. Another lame choice that you should probably just skip over. D

Slaves To Darkness - Daemon Prince

Ellarr: This guy saw a serious buff in this book, and if it wasn’t for the model being tragic from a thematic standpoint I’d be snap purchasing at least one. As SRM said it fills a niche S2D otherwise doesn’t have and it’s versatility makes it an intriguing choice, especially in a Despoilers army where it has the potential to regain wounds over the course of the game. Slaughterbrute Ellarr: I’ve already seen a few well respected competitive players experimenting with this unit because of it’s potential to mess with the action economy in the combat phase, though I remain very cautious about this feline because it’s ability triggers in the hero phase, making it somewhat awkward to get into position for it’s sadly short range eye stare. Moving it within 12″ on a turn ready to use it exposes it to a great deal of risk and this thing isn’t the hardiest of creatures. Keep an eye on this cat as it may be a sleeper hit. Fomoroid Crusher Bolstered by Hate: Add two to this general’s Wounds characteristic. Boring but effective, especially relevant on fragile units like a Chaos Sorcerer Lord. C+

Many models are multi-faction –As discussed above, with the proper Mark of Chaos you can use a lot of these units in the mono-god armies, making them an excellent bridge to your second army. Other benefits: The Nurgle warshrine prayer allows reroll of wounds to a nearby unit, with a bonus +1 to saves if said unit is Nurgle marked – great if you’re mono Nurgle but if you’re not then praying to Chaos for rerolls to hits and wounds is outright better.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 All armies with the Slaves to Darkness allegiance must select one of four damned legions, this isn’t optional like with some battletomes and their sub-factions. The first decision you are expected to make when creating a Slaves to Darkness list is to decide on a legion, which grants you access to specific allegiance abilities, command abilities artefacts and command traits that contribute to that define the theme and gameplay of that legion. Ravagers