Gaz Taylor Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 This is a topic to give a basic overview of the different factions in Age of Sigmar. This will not be a definitive guide because I'm sure people will disagree with what I'm saying but more importantly there are over 1000 Warscrolls to cover!!! I will also be writing this guide with Matched Play in mind (note- you will need the Generals Handbook for this), so if you want to do something else you can do in one of the other ways to play! Because of the amount of Warscrolls, this guide will only cover the factions which have Battletomes and will only give you a feel to them. If you have any queries, go to the Grand Alliance Sub section and post them in there. UPDATED - 10/05/2017 Grand Alliances Before we get too carried away, here is a quick guide to each of the Grand Alliances. All of the factions fit into a Grand Alliance - Order, Chaos, Destruction, & Death. You can mix and match factions within each Grand Alliance to use in your army (in Open or Narrative play, you could mix and match across Grand Alliances but we will focus upon Matched Play). Order This Grand Alliance is made up of Humans, Duardin, Aelves, Seraphon, and all creatures associated with those races. This is a very big Grand Alliance with access to lots of different types of units and themes. Want an army of Organised infantry? Order can do that. Want an army of lots of shooting units? Order can do that. Want an army with lots of Cavalry? Order can... you get the idea. Chaos This Grand Alliance is made up of Humans, Daemons, Skaven and all sorts of evil mutated creatures. If you like close combat, Chaos is for you but they do have some sneaky tricks up their sleeves with being able to move units around the board and they do have access to some very good shooting. Destruction This Grand Alliance is made up of Orruks, Grots, Ogors, and lots and lots of monsters. If you like Barbarian Hordes, this is the alliance for you. Have access to lots of monsters and some of the best monsters in the game. Death This Grand Alliance is made up of Vampires, Skeletons, Zombies, Ghosts, lots of other stuff and of course the God of Death: Nagash! This Alliance has access to lots of different units and is generally seen as close combat orientated. All of the Grand Alliances have access to strong units and all have produced tournament winning lists. Due to the evolving meta of Age of Sigmar, the Grand Alliances should allow you to field an army which can play how you want it to play without making massive changes to your army. Battletomes Here is a quick overview of the Battletomes. I'm going to do this roughly in order of release as it will make easier to update as new ones come out. This will only include current Battletomes and not any which have been replaced due to a newer version of it. Also will only concentrate on Battletomes which are seen as a force and not a few warscrolls (sorry Everchosen and Dreadhold). All the early Battletomes consisted of some Warscrolls and Battalions in a themed list, but the more recent ones added abilities, spells and magic items. Older Battletomes tend to be rarely seen and are often used with other warscrolls and will use the abilities, spells and magic items, which became available with the Generals Handbook. Seraphon (Order) Seraphon are an army of Space Lizard Daemons which are remembered into existence by the Slann. They have access to some very strong infantry, which are supported by lots of light infantry and monsters. Generally seen as average in the army rankings, they do have access to all sorts of units units which can shoot, cast spells, fight well in combat and do movement tricks. Main reason they are seen as average is because newer battletomes tend to synergise more. Fyreslayers (Order) A bunch of angry semi naked Duardin which fight anybody and anything if it means they can get ur-gold, which they believe are fragments of their God: Grimnir. Got some great units which can fight well, can be very resilient, and have some tricks with units being able to pop up anywhere on the board. They suffer from being expensive points wise as well as in real life money, so aren't commonly seen on the battlefield. They will be getting a points drop in the next version of the Generals Handbook, which might make them more appealing. Skaven Pestilens (Chaos) The crazed followers of Clan Pestilens, exist only to spread disease, filth and corruption in the name of the Horned Rat. Generally seen as a weak battletome due to Plague Monks dying to a wet paper napkin, do often cause players surprise shocks as nobody can remember what they do, because they are so rarely seen. Plague Monks are a great unit with lots of options but the rest of the force is limited in what it can do and tend to get over looked. Ironjaws (Destruction) Big angry Orruks. This is a very popular Battletome as the models are fantastic and it can be quite competitive if you know what you are doing. Basically, these guys like fighting and do it really well. Have access to one of the best battalions in the game which makes Ironjaw units a lot faster with the Destruction Battle Trait (move 2D6" in Hero Phase!!!). Often seen as a whole army due to how the units synergise with each other. Flesh Eater Courts (Death) Crazy, mad Ghouls and Vampires who think they are knights of the realm. This army is very fast and resilient and is very good. Seen as a strong army and if you know what you are doing they are very good. Sylvaneth (Order) First Battletome which included specific traits and stuff for a faction. Army of scary wood daemons, lead by the Goddess of Life: Alarielle. Seen as very strong due to having access to move units across the board quickly, change the layout of the terrain on the board and some of the best shooting units in the game. However, not that strong where anybody can win with them without any practice. Beastclaw Raiders (Destruction) Do you like Ogors riding big hairy monsters? Pick these guys! Seen as an average faction and tend to see Warscrolls in use with other armies. Have access to some of the best monsters in the game (Stonehorns and Thundertusks), which often appear in strong Destruction lists. Faction has some tricks, but everything is expensive and the monsters are that good. Bonesplitters (Destruction) Naked Orruks this time. Very brilliant themed force around stoneage like Orruks who like to kill monsters. Have access to one of the strongest lists in the game (and also the most annoying), but experienced generals will know the tricks and be able to put up a fight and pick it apart. Relies a lot on it's heros to get to the strongest list. Search Youtube the Warlords Event on the Warhammer TV channel to get a feel how it works. Disciples of Tzeentch (Chaos) Magic focused force with access to manipulate dice rolls. Got access to lots of spells and good shooting. A strong faction but hasn't made it's full mark on the scene at the moment. It's not far off it though.... Stormcast Eternals (Order) Posterboys of Age of Sigmar. Very strong faction which is great at fighting and shooting and offers lots of variety and choice. Tends to suffer from units being expensive but has plenty of movement tricks that makes them very mobile. Blades of Khorne (Chaos) The other Posterboys of Age of Sigmar. All about the close combat and has access to some great combos. Has ability to have units to charge in opponents movement phase, which is very strong but relies on units being wiped out to get this. Unknown how strong they are from a competitive view point but seem to have some good combos lurking in the book. Kharadron Overlords (Order) Brand new race to the game that are basically Steampunk Duardin in Airships with all the guns. Very customizeable list with some very good shooting options. At moment, best builds seem to run around multiples of Khemists to buff the weapons of nearby units. There you go. Hopefully that will help some people get off to a start with choosing an army. Any suggestions, mention it below but this is intended to be a brief summary/guide (last bit is briefer than intended but I'm running out of steam!!!) Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tuluth Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 Addition suggestion: Chaos Dwarves ( aka Legion of Azgorh) (Chaos) As a Forgeworld range, it has it's own compendium but is unlikely to get a battletome. Evil dwarves and centaurs that mould demons into their craftworks. A heavier focus on warmachines than any current army. However, again this is a Forgeworld range, and will be more expensive than other armies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerrorPenguin Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 Suggestion: flesh eater courts Crazy, mad Ghouls and Vampires who think they are knights of the realm. This army is very fast and resilient and is very good. It's resilience comes from regenerating models. Has the choice of using some monsters but does not have any shooting. Like all death armies it is reliant on its characters and you need to be careful with these. Seen as a strong army and if you know what you are doing they are very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rokapoke Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 On the "Pros" side of playing Seraphon -- dinosaurs riding other dinosaurs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz Taylor Posted April 18, 2017 Author Share Posted April 18, 2017 On 4/12/2017 at 5:19 PM, Tuluth said: Addition suggestion: Chaos Dwarves ( aka Legion of Azgorh) (Chaos) As a Forgeworld range, it has it's own compendium but is unlikely to get a battletome. Evil dwarves and centaurs that mould demons into their craftworks. A heavier focus on warmachines than any current army. However, again this is a Forgeworld range, and will be more expensive than other armies. Nice idea but I think most players interested in Legion of Azgorh will already have a good feel of how the different armies work. Plus it keeps it easy just to look at the Battletomes rather than things like compendiums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trout Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 Anyone ready to talk about how the Kharadron Overlords play? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz Taylor Posted May 3, 2017 Author Share Posted May 3, 2017 On 02/05/2017 at 7:35 PM, Trout said: Anyone ready to talk about how the Kharadron Overlords play? I'm waiting for all the models to come out before I get writing anything. This will hopefully prevent me from just saying use all the Khemists for them too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naflem Posted May 5, 2017 Share Posted May 5, 2017 Funny that Flesh Eater Ghouls are deluded cannibals who think they're (basically) Bretonians, but theres no other actual Bretonians Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trout Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 On 5/3/2017 at 6:54 PM, Gaz Taylor said: I'm waiting for all the models to come out before I get writing anything. This will hopefully prevent me from just saying use all the Khemists for them too This is a living document, you aren't writing it in stone. You could write first impressions now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz Taylor Posted May 10, 2017 Author Share Posted May 10, 2017 On 5/8/2017 at 6:23 PM, Trout said: This is a living document, you aren't writing it in stone. You could write first impressions now. Updated. One of the reasons I wasn't rushing is because I have lots of stuff going on in real life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonzai Posted May 17, 2017 Share Posted May 17, 2017 Something to add to the Clan Pestilens, is that they are a glass hammer playstyle army. They drop over in a stiff wind, but their battle line units can deal 4 attacks per model with re-rolls. The army also has a lot of ways to deal out mortal wounds. So it's an army that races to dish out as much damage as it can before it gets wiped out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael D'Auben Posted May 31, 2017 Share Posted May 31, 2017 Deleted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacDuff Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 I think this thread needs a lot of updating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pseudonyme Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 Ok, what would you change? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacDuff Posted January 3, 2018 Share Posted January 3, 2018 Well, Nurgle for one... The Firestorm forces are also a different way of looking at things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz Taylor Posted January 3, 2018 Author Share Posted January 3, 2018 7 hours ago, MacDuff said: Well, Nurgle for one... The Firestorm forces are also a different way of looking at things. Write up a quick overview and I can add. I have been meaning to update this but been too busy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maledictor Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Legion of Nagash? Daughters of Khaine? Would really like a short review, if anyone can! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AthlorianStoners Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 “strong faction but hasn't made it's full mark on the scene at the moment. It's not far off it though....” haha lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wizo Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 Perhaps you should update this since the general's handbook apparently changed some things. Am I wrong or no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morganb4 Posted June 4, 2018 Share Posted June 4, 2018 Hello. Newb here, we don’t play tournament or anything like that, just me and the kids at home. tell me, what’s the relationship between nurgle, Pestilens and slaves to darkness, can they be allies of convenience? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz Taylor Posted June 4, 2018 Author Share Posted June 4, 2018 38 minutes ago, Morganb4 said: Hello. Newb here, we don’t play tournament or anything like that, just me and the kids at home. tell me, what’s the relationship between nurgle, Pestilens and slaves to darkness, can they be allies of convenience? Hi, yes they can if you choose Chaos as your alliance. Full rules can be found in the Generals Handbook, but there is a new version of the game coming out in a few weeks so best to wait before buying it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robinlvalentine Posted June 4, 2018 Share Posted June 4, 2018 49 minutes ago, Morganb4 said: Hello. Newb here, we don’t play tournament or anything like that, just me and the kids at home. tell me, what’s the relationship between nurgle, Pestilens and slaves to darkness, can they be allies of convenience? I believe they can all be Nurgle aligned, so they can all fit in the Maggotkin allegiance, as long as the Slaves To Darkness have the Mark Of Nurgle. As far as I remember, all Pestilens units have the Nurgle keyword on their scrolls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morganb4 Posted June 5, 2018 Share Posted June 5, 2018 Brilliant thanks guys So what books would I need to buy too in order to have all the right literature for them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz Taylor Posted June 5, 2018 Author Share Posted June 5, 2018 4 hours ago, Morganb4 said: Brilliant thanks guys So what books would I need to buy too in order to have all the right literature for them? Hang fire a few weeks. There is a new edition coming out this month so there will be a load of new books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morganb4 Posted June 5, 2018 Share Posted June 5, 2018 Yeah I just saw the announcement today for the new boxed set.... hmm, not a fan of their pushfail engineering. I’m not crazy about Nighthaunt either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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