A Swifthawk Agents Flog (Forum Blog)

[TheNotebookGM]

So, upon reading @Double Misfire's AMAZING thread on Ironweld Arsenal I've been thinking alot about the un-battletomed armies of Age of Sigmar and I keep finding myself wondering the same thing- why not just write them yourselves and use them for casual games? Not only will you get better at playing your army with your friends, but the design-based approach to thinking about your army and its synergies, ally strategy, shortcomings, and strengths will make you a better player even when you do end up with the Order allegiance abilities at a tournament or in your FLGS with a stranger. 

So, in an effort to put my money where my mouth is here is a first part of a first draft of a Swifthawk Agents set of Allegiance Abilities, Command Traits, Artefacts, and their own unique mechanic "Skybanners". My thought here is that alot of the Swifthawk units field banners and it is actually one of the things that makes the Skywarden worth fielding at all. I know next to nothing about the backstory for this game so I'm doing everything ad hoc here but I was just playing around with some mechanics and some ideas on how GW goes about crafting these allegiance abilities and such. My hope is that since the high aelfs (or whatever) got passed over for allegiance abilities in GHB2017 they might be getting some in the foreseeable future anyhow but I have Friday nights off and this is how I get down, so enjoy. 

Swifthawk Agents: 

The Swifthawk Agents are secretive organization of spies, knights, adventurers, scholars, and archivists that seek to defend the interests of the common downtrodden folk in the face of the many dangers of the worlds. Like the Stormcast Eternals, the Swifthawk Agents can be found fighting against the forces of Chaos and Death across the realms but unlike the Stormcast the Swifthawks follow no god, no state, and no true leader. Instead the Swifthawks are pledged to the community in which their chapter is located, and in times of dire peril fly the Skybanners across the realm to gather Swifthawk warriors to stand against the corruption. Most of the time Swifthawk Agents operate without insignia, protecting the interests of the common, the poor, and the underrepresented, but when they march their glorious banners bring hope to the populace. Nobody knows how the Swifthawks sustain their organization financially but it believed that between the treasure hunting bands of adventurers that populate their ranks, their various interests around the realms, and the goodwill of the people they save that they actually maintain a relatively large endowment- allowing them vast political power despite their nebulous framework. 

 

Allegiance Abilities:

Loreseekers: The ranks of the Swifthawk Agents include many an adventurer and the organization, it is rumored, even sends teams of such to follow rumors of caches of such artifacts. As such an army with the SWIFTHAWK AGENTS allegiance can take one additional Artefact of Power at the start of each battle.

Natural Leaders: Swifthawk Agents work with the many peoples of Order to fight the forces of evil and chaos. Swifthawk Officers, therefore, are well accustomed to commanding units of allied forces in battle. For the purposes of resolving Command Traits, Command Abilities, and Skybanners all allied units count as having the SWIFTHAWK AGENTS keyword. 

Inspiring Banner: Swifthawk Agents distinguish themselves by the banner of their individual chapter, leading to much good-natured competition between such. Any SWIFTHAWK AGENTS units with a banner may add an addition +1 to their Bravery characteristic. 

 

Skybanners: At the beginning of each Hero Phase roll two dice, if the result is 7 or more choose one of the following Skybanner effects, if at the beginning of a hero phase you no longer have a HERO unit on the board do not roll for a new Skybanner. If you successfully activated a Skybanner in your last turn that Skybanner stays in effect, otherwise you complete the battle without the benefits of this ability:

- Each SWIFTHAWK AGENTS unit can roll battleshock checks twice and take the better result until your next hero phase.

- Each SWIFTHAWK AGENTS unit can re-roll failed charge rolls until your next hero phase.

- Each SWIFTHAWK AGENTS unit can retreat and charge this turn.

- SWIFTHAWK AGENTS units, when they suffer unsaved wounds or mortal wounds can roll a die for each wound, on a result of 6 they can ignore that wound. This effect lasts until your next hero phase.

That's all for now- I'll come back with Command Traits, Artefacts, and some fun Battalions either later tonight or tomorrow. This is, of course, all just me playing around but I feel like there is alot of room for this kind of stuff at casual tables. Once I get done with all of that maybe I'll explore some different "Chapters" of Swifthawks either a la Kharadrons or the larger mega battallions of something like Bonesplitterz. Let me know what you all think!

[Double Misfire]

Great thread. I like the Skybanner effects.  

Swifthawk Agents should be all about speed and avoiding damage, so a battle trait allowing them to make a 2D6" move (usually out of combat) immediately after attacking in the style of a Gryph-hounds' darting attacks would be very cool, especially when combined with a command trait or artefact that let units attack out of sequence, similar to a Quicksilver Potion.

Possibly having a special rule that activates when Swifthawk units are in enemy territory too? They are supposed to be messengers, fighting and evading their way towards bastions of Order through the most hostile parts of the Mortal Realms, so passing through the enemy's territory would logically be on their delivery route.

[TheNotebookGM]

@Double Misfire that's really good to know- I haven't read any of the lore or anything so I was just going by aethetic. I know a few of the units have a similar ability (namely the reavers). I'm posting the artefacts in a couple hours once the lady heads off to work and doesn't require attention anymore but one of these ones I had adds 1d6 to retreats for all units if they end their moves closer to the General. 

[Double Misfire]

That's cool, though I quite like the idea of being able to attack in combat and then "retreat". Retreating and shooting seems more like a *spit* Wood Elf thing to do.  

[TheNotebookGM]

20 minutes ago, Double Misfire said:

That's cool, though I quite like the idea of being able to attack in combat and then "retreat". Retreating and shooting seems more like a *spit* Wood Elf thing to do.  

Hahaha. Good call. I'll edit the skybanner since we Swifthawks are made of tougher stuff than those leafpeepers.

[TheNotebookGM]

Hey all- back at ya with part 2 of my Swifthawk Agents Flog.

Today I'm going to put down my first draft of Artefacts and Command Traits. I finally got to take a look at the Swifthawk fluff in the GA: Order book and I gotta say it makes me like this faction even more than I already did. I was pretty close to the mark when it comes to power aesthetic but I'll definitely be using my incoming Spire of Dawn book to inform the second draft of these things to make sure I'm at least adjacent to Fluff Canon (band name). 

Artefacts of Power: 

Arrow of Slaying: The first enemy unit that suffers an unsaved wound from one of your ranged attacks in the shooting phase suffers d3 mortal wounds in addition to any other wounds once all other wounds have been resolved. 

Swifthawk Blade: Choose one melee weapon profile for this model. Increase the attack and rend characteristics of that profile by 1. 

Cloak of Displacement: Add 1 to save rolls versus ranged attacks.

Banner of Recall: Once per battle friendly SWIFTHAWK AGENTS units within 16" can retreat 2d6" during the hero phase- they must end this movement closer to the general that holds this artifact than they started it. 

Lodestone Pennant: The wielder of this artifact may attempt to unbind 1 spell per turn as if they were a Wizard. If the GENERAL holds this artefact they may add 1 to their rolls to unbind.

Symbol of the Aegis: Roll a d6, on a 5+ this hero may choose a friendly SWIFTHAWK AGENTS model within 18" and that unit can add +1 to their save rolls until your next hero phase. 

 

Command Traits:

Glimmering General: Whilst your GENERAL lives you may re-roll the first failed battleshock test for friendly SWIFTHAWK AGENTS unit during the batteshock phase. 

Clarion Chargecaller: Once per battle, when your GENERAL can call the charge. Units within 12" of the GENERAL can add 2d6" to their charge distances this turn.

Savage Windrider: The GENERAL's command of his mount is impressive to behold in battle. Add 2 attacks to the weapon profile for one of the GENERAL's mounts attacks.

Tactical Maneuvers: The GENERAL may charge in the same turn that they retreated. 

Staunch Defender: Whenever the GENERAL suffers a wound or mortal wound roll a d6, on a roll of 5 or better the GENERAL can ignore that wound.

Press the Line: Once per battle, when an enemy unit suffers any unsaved wounds from an attack made by one of your units you can roll a d3. The enemy suffers that many mortal wounds in addition to any other damage. 

 

Next time, Battalions. My goal with the Battalions is to actually model most of them after the Kharadron-Stormcast Battalion, my thinking here is that since the Swifthawks are the link between the different armies of Order in the canon, and as a supplement to local forces in my conception of the I am going to have most of the battalions that I'd make here would be mixes with other factions, including ones that aren't "allied" with the Swifthawks, since units of this nature predate GHB2017 I feel like there is design space here to be used. In addition, this gives a list space to fit two notable splashes of other factions into an army and fits the motif of the army. 

 

[Aezeal]

10 hours ago, Double Misfire said:

Great thread. I like the Skybanner effects.  

Swifthawk Agents should be all about speed and avoiding damage, so a battle trait allowing them to make a 2D6" move (usually out of combat) immediately after attacking in the style of a Gryph-hounds' darting attacks would be very cool, especially when combined with a command trait or artefact that let units attack out of sequence, similar to a Quicksilver Potion.

Possibly having a special rule that activates when Swifthawk units are in enemy territory too? They are supposed to be messengers, fighting and evading their way towards bastions of Order through the most hostile parts of the Mortal Realms, so passing through the enemy's territory would logically be on their delivery route.

When you put it like that I feel there is a high overlap between swifthawks and wanderers (the latter more focussed on range.. but still). I still feel the reavers should be in the wanderers list :D.

[Tiger]

If there's something I'd want for Swifthawks it'd be heavier class skycutter. 

[Gecktron]

20 hours ago, TheNotebookGM said:

[…]

Natural Leaders: Swifthawk Agents work with the many peoples of Order to fight the forces of evil and chaos. Swifthawk Officers, therefore, are well accustomed to commanding units of allied forces in battle. For the purposes of resolving Command Traits, Command Abilities, and Skybanners all allied units count as having the SWIFTHAWK AGENTS keyword. 

[…]

First of all, great post! I think, being able to come up with your own lore or rules is one of the big advantages AoS has over the old WHFB. 
I like the aesthetics of the Swifthawk faction and they definitely deserve Allegiance abilities, artifacts and traits. So, keep it up.

Only question I have, what do you mean with the "Natural Leader" rule? Do you want allies to benefit from Swifthawk abilities? Because I think thats one of the few things GW wanted to get rid of with the keyword system. This could lead to unintended combos, which could be a pain to balance. 

[TheNotebookGM]

4 minutes ago, Gecktron said:

Only question I have, what do you mean with the "Natural Leader" rule? Do you want allies to benefit from Swifthawk abilities? 

The plan here was just to show how Swifthawk Generals, as a faction that works with the entirety of the Grand Alliance, would be suited to having their "commands" followed by other factions. By limiting it to only General obviously it creates a big target on them but it wouldn't cover all abilities or anything, just the specific things activated by the General. I'm totally open to criticism so if this ends up feeling way too overpowered in play I'd be open to that evidence. I'm trying to avoid creating a "fanboy wishlist" and instead making everything feel like the other battletomes.

[TheNotebookGM]

17 minutes ago, Tiger said:

If there's something I'd want for Swifthawks it'd be heavier class skycutter. 

If wishes were fishes. I'd also love a calvary unit mounted directly on the eagles. 

[Gecktron]

1 minute ago, TheNotebookGM said:

If wishes were fishes. 

Sooooo, Flying Fish cavalry units? 

But more seriously:

21 minutes ago, Tiger said:

If there's something I'd want for Swifthawks it'd be heavier class skycutter. 

A skycutter catamaran, two connected sky cutters drawn by one eagle.  Either equipped with two of the smaller bolt throwers or one big ballista mounted in the middle. 

Also, now that wood elves lost their Hawk Riders, maybe they could fit into the swiftHAWK agents with a little tweaking. 

[TheNotebookGM]

1 minute ago, Gecktron said:

Also, now that wood elves lost their Hawk Riders, maybe they could fit into the swiftHAWK agents with a little tweaking. 

It is my quiet little whisper of a dream that they did that to prepare for a Swifthawk battletome.

[WABBIT]

Wanderers and Swift hawks should definitely be merged into one allegiance. They are very similar. Fast hit and run types.

Henceforth they shall be known as - Wandering Hawks? .......Swift Wanderers? and my fav Swanderers?  Cue Status Quo music

I could go on but i'll let others have a go  

[Tiger]

32 minutes ago, Gecktron said:

A skycutter catamaran, two connected sky cutters drawn by one eagle.  Either equipped with two of the smaller bolt throwers or one big ballista mounted in the middle. 

Sounds cool. I had an idea of a ship powered by a crew of mages, in your hero phase you distribute the available energy into various systems, movement, shooting or activating aura ability. I wanted to create something that'd be worthy of bearing the title of a flagship.

41 minutes ago, TheNotebookGM said:

If wishes were fishes. I'd also love a calvary unit mounted directly on the eagles. 

I'm glad I'm not the only one that'd like to see the sky navy theme expanded!

[Gecktron]

18 minutes ago, Tiger said:

Sounds cool. I had an idea of a ship powered by crew of mages, in your hero phase you distribute the available energy into various systems, movement, shooting or activating aura ability. I wanted to create something that'd be worthy of bearing the title of a flagship.

That sounds really cool! This could be the magical equivalent to the mechanical Kharadron Airships. 
But im not sure if its should be purely magical. I think animals are a strong part of the Swifthawk agents theme. Maybe putting a swarm of smaller birds under the hull? Or have it drawn by one big 4 winged eagle-like creature?

Also in regards to the catamaran, I drew a quick sketch to show what I meant. I thought about naming the big ballista a "Spear of Azyr" ballista, as Azyr is the home realm of Sigmar but also a synonym for sky. And maybe the Swifthawk agents could direct the typical elvish arrogance against anyone who dares to soil the clear skies with their presence. Maybe the Ballista could use special ammunition that adds +1 to-hit and to-wound rolls against flying units?

[Aezeal]

1 hour ago, TheNotebookGM said:

If wishes were fishes. I'd also love a calvary unit mounted directly on the eagles. 

Yes I'd like the wanderer lord on eagle back too

[chord]

what did the lore say in the order book?

loving this thread!

 

 

[TheNotebookGM]

1 minute ago, chord said:

what did the lore say in the order book?

loving this thread!

 

 

Skinny of it is that the swifthawks carry messages between the forces of order in the fight against chaos. Emphasizes fast movement, harrying hit and run tactics, escort missions, and moving in enemy territory.

[Tiger]

7 hours ago, Gecktron said:

But im not sure if its should be purely magical. I think animals are a strong part of the Swifthawk agents theme. Maybe putting a swarm of smaller birds under the hull? Or have it drawn by one big 4 winged eagle-like creature?

Mages were meant as a support (conjuring winds for the pulling creature to glide on), as the vessel losses wounds it should also lose the available energy so the ship becomes less effective. I don't really have a good answer on what creatures should be there to provide base movement, ideally I'd want something of a size that's between the great eagle (skycutter) and Phoenix. Two eagles would also be a solution. 

Your Catamaran is brilliant, it's a heavier gunboat, exactly what I'd want instead of Kurnoth Hunters that I currently intend to use.

[Gecktron]

On 9.9.2017 at 2:50 AM, TheNotebookGM said:

Skybanners: At the beginning of each Hero Phase roll two dice, if the result is 7 or more choose one of the following Skybanner effects, if at the beginning of a hero phase you no longer have a HERO unit on the board do not roll for a new Skybanner. If you successfully activated a Skybanner in your last turn that Skybanner stays in effect, otherwise you complete the battle without the benefits of this ability:

- Each SWIFTHAWK AGENTS unit can roll battleshock checks twice and take the better result until your next hero phase.

- Each SWIFTHAWK AGENTS unit can re-roll failed charge rolls until your next hero phase.

- Each SWIFTHAWK AGENTS unit can retreat and charge this turn.

- SWIFTHAWK AGENTS units, when they suffer unsaved wounds or mortal wounds can roll a die for each wound, on a result of 6 they can ignore that wound. This effect lasts until your next hero phase.

First of all, I want you to know that I just ordered a 500 points force of Swifthawk Agents (Highwarden, Ellyrian Reavers, Spireguard) because of this thread. Really exciting all in all. 

Anyway, regarding the Skybanners, did I get that right, you need to have a HERO on the field to roll for a Skybanner. On a 7+ you get the effect of one of these until your next hero phase. When you have to roll again for another banner. If your HERO dies, you get last turns banner again? But not if you have a HERO on the field and fail the 7+ roll?

[TheNotebookGM]

Exactly. The idea was basically to find a way to mimic spellcasting without actually having any WIZARDS in the force. I liked the idea of using magical banners to signal and inspire the force, but if your generals die, who is giving orders? I haven't gotten into the fluff portion yet, but I'm seeing the Skybanners as giant things carried by giant eagles, signalling the movements of the army and directions of the commanders. I feel like they'd keep flying that last banner to inspire the troops. That said, mechanically I could see how that doesn't really work that well, or at least increases annoying bookkeeping. It was an attempt on my part to balance out the GIANT bullseye this mechanic puts on your definitely not invincible heroes. I'll have to think on that and amend it when I do the posts for the second draft.

Anyhow, so glad you're enjoying the thread! I'll keep posting here as my thoughts and experience develop, but I wanted to start this before I started playing to chronicle my way through the game. I'm working on the battalions now in my notebook and I'm finding balancing them and making them feel unique and thematic tricky. 

[Gecktron]

49 minutes ago, TheNotebookGM said:

Exactly. The idea was basically to find a way to mimic spellcasting without actually having any WIZARDS in the force. I liked the idea of using magical banners to signal and inspire the force, but if your generals die, who is giving orders? I haven't gotten into the fluff portion yet, but I'm seeing the Skybanners as giant things carried by giant eagles, signalling the movements of the army and directions of the commanders. I feel like they'd keep flying that last banner to inspire the troops. That said, mechanically I could see how that doesn't really work that well, or at least increases annoying bookkeeping. It was an attempt on my part to balance out the GIANT bullseye this mechanic puts on your definitely not invincible heroes. I'll have to think on that and amend it when I do the posts for the second draft.

The sky banners are definitely a cool and fitting mechanic for the Swifthawk Agents (SHA for short?). I just think that "rewarding" the player for getting his warlord slain feels unintuitive and, as you said yourself, could result in unnecessary bookkeeping. Maybe making it so that a banner stays into effect until it gets changed by a 7+ roll? So that its the same for failing the roll or getting your HERO killed.  

But I like your idea that they could keep the banner flying after the warlord gets slain. Maybe you could turn that into a warlord trait? So you can get an additional banner when the warlord dies. 

 

Also, regarding the fluff, you talked about making "chapters" in your first post.
I drew some coat of arms for different houses that could exist inside the Swifthawk Agents, maybe there are aristocratic houses or meritocratic guilds. I just thought these could be groups that fit the themes that already exist inside the SHA. Maybe you can use them, or at least get inspired. I called the three: The House of the Celestial Talon, from Azyr; The House of the Drowned Star, from Hysh and the House of the Shrouded Mountain, from Ulgu. 

 

 

 

Spoiler

[TheNotebookGM]

2 hours ago, Gecktron said:

The sky banners are definitely a cool and fitting mechanic for the Swifthawk Agents (SHA for short?). I just think that "rewarding" the player for getting his warlord slain feels unintuitive and, as you said yourself, could result in unnecessary bookkeeping. Maybe making it so that a banner stays into effect until it gets changed by a 7+ roll? So that its the same for failing the roll or getting your HERO killed.  

But I like your idea that they could keep the banner flying after the warlord gets slain. Maybe you could turn that into a warlord trait? So you can get an additional banner when the warlord dies.  

 

 

 

Those are good ideas, I'm just gonna leave it for now and catch it on the second pass  (which I'll definitely do before playing anyhow) thanks! 

It would be cool to get the skybanner effects up to 5, make them last until recast, and make the roll 8 (to account for increased versatility) and then make each chapter have its own banner with unique effect to make 6. That let's you use roll for random effects in other spaces.

As for coat of arms, awesome job. I wish my art skills approached that level.

[Gecktron]

I thought about a way to add new Units to the SHA without putting too much time in converting. I remembered what GW did for the FEC, the Bonesplitters and the BCR. They took existing multi-part kits and made new units out of them.  SHA have a great number of snap-fit models so it can't be done in the same scale as GW did. But a viable option is the Chariot/White Lion Chariot kit. 

The Chariot could become a HERO unit simply trough swapping the weapon and the helmet of one of the two charioteers. A added helmet plume and a switch from spear to axe on one model should make a big enough difference. This new unit could be a Warden on Chariot, analogous to the High Warden on Griffion and Skywarden on the Skycutter.

In rule terms, the chariot got a slightly better close combat weapon and a command ability. When activated, the Warden would order a nearby chariot unit to accelerate and crush into a enemy unit, rolling over the first few lines. It can potentially cause 9 mortal wounds, which is a lot but I thing its situational enough to balance out. First of all, rolling a 7+ is only a 50% change, also all chariots have to reach the enemy which means they have to give up their 6" pile in range. 

 

I forgot adding the Keywords, but it would basically be the same like the normal chariot only with the Keyword HERO added.

 

Please tell me if there are mistakes, english isn't my mother tongue, so feedback would be much appreciated.