Age of Sigmar - Neuigkeiten, Produktbilder und Gerüchte [No comments please]

Quelle

Nagash is one of Warhammer Age of Sigmar’s most iconic characters – a figure whose power and drive threatens even the gods of Chaos. With Nagash and his machinations taking centre stage during the Malign Portents, it was only fitting that his armies had a battletome that truly represented the horror of battling the God of Death.

Legions of Nagash is more than just a battletome – it’s a reboot for Death as a whole, designed to bring them in line with modern Warhammer Age of Sigmar. The core of the army still plays as it should – endless, regenerating hordes of low-level infantry, reinforced by powerful elite units – but they have been bolstered with a range of synergies, new artefacts and abilities that open up a vast array of effective armies.

We’ll be previewing the Legions of Nagash in depth every day this week, starting with the changes to summoning and the Grand Host of Nagash – a relentless allegiance that’s particularly cool for players who love Deathrattle skeletons.

Summoning
Firstly, summoning for Death units has been fundamentally changed in the new battletome, regardless of how you build your army. Rather than being summoned through magical means, several Death units now possess the Summonable keyword. This keyword unlocks all sorts of synergies and combos with the rest of your army, the simplest being that most Death heroes now possess an ability called Deathly Invocation. This ability heals a number of Summonable units every turn or restores lost models to the unit. Its effectiveness depends on the strength of the given Death character – Nagash, for example, affects five units, while a humble Wight King will heal two.

This ability stacks, so by taking several Death Heroes, you’ll be able to render your favourite units nigh unstoppable – as if trying to chew through a horde of Grave Guard wasn’t already tricky enough!

Dedicate your army to one of the Legions of Nagash, and you’ll be able to make Summonable units even more powerful with gravesites – areas of the battlefield that represent sealed tombs, long-lost barrows or just mass graves from ages past. Every Legions of Nagash army gets to place four gravesites on the table – two in their territory and two in the enemy’s. Summonable units can be set up to emerge from these gravesites later in the game, and they have a similar effect to Deathly Invocation, healing nearby units. As such, Death armies can control territory on the board more effectively than ever before – after all, the leisurely pace of a 60-strong unit of Zombies doesn’t hurt so much when you bring them onto the board 9″ away from the enemy…

The Grand Host of Nagash
While the other Legions use cunning, strategy or magic to win their battles, Nagash prefers to batter his foes down with raw attrition and terrifying demonstrations of power, sending wave after wave of the undead to grind his foes into submission. On the tabletop, this is represented by Legions Innumerable:

Combined with gravesites and Deathly Invocation, you could see your units restored by 3D3 models every turn, if not more, making your units even more difficult for your enemies to chew through. Indeed, they’ll be forced to chase down and annihilate weakened squads, lest they be restored in later turns.

If you love Deathrattle units, then you’ll find the Grand Host of Nagash the perfect allegiance. For one, you’ll be able to take Grave Guard as Battleline in the army, and for another, there are a couple of Command Traits and artefacts that specifically aid these most relentless servants of Death. Lord of Nagashizzar, for example, allows you to maximise the attacks of a nearby unit. Combine it with a nearby Wight King and a Necromancer casting Vanhel’s Danse Macabre, and you could quite easily get 162 (yes, one hundred and sixty-two) attacks out of a unit of 20 Grave Guard.

A note to my erstwhile editors – my calculations here are based on a unit of 20 all getting their attacks – not implausible thanks to their small base size! The unit has 2 attacks base, plus one for the champion. This is then increased by 2 by the Wight King and the Lord of Nagashizzar ability. This brings the unit up to 81 attacks – which, attacking again with Vanhels would give you 162 attacks. WOW.

The Ossific Diadem, on the other hand, provides additional durability to your Deathrattle units, stacking well with Deathless Minions to make them very hard to kill indeed.

.Of course, if you’re looking for some more elite units to support your horde of Skeletons, then you’ll want to pick up some Morghasts – deathly angels personally created by Nagash to prosecute his will. In the Grand Host of Nagash, Morghasts gain a +1 bonus to Attacks, making them particularly effective when equipped with spirit halberds.

Finally, if you’re looking for an elite way to theme your Death army, the First Cohort warscroll battalion is ideal. Representing Nagash’s elite, you’ll be able to make the God of Death even more durable by allocating wounds he suffers to nearby units of Morghasts – because trying to bring down Nagash wasn’t daunting enough without help…
Nagash himself will also be able to take full advantage of two new magical lores – but that is a tale for tomorrow. Come back then when we’ll be looking at the masters of Death Magic – Arkhan the Black’s Legion of Sacrament.

Quelle

Death armies have long been renowned for their magic in the lore of Warhammer Age of Sigmar and the world-that-was. There’s something particularly stirring about the thought of covens of Necromancers releasing howling gales of amethyst magic on the battlefield and armoured Vampire Lords dispatching foes with amaranthine lightning. In Battletome: Legions of Nagash, the aforementioned forces of Death more than ‘live’ up to their reputation, with two new lores, a powerful new magical ability to combine them with, and a whole Legion designed to harness them to their full potential!

Magic In Legions of Nagash
Legions of Nagash provides Death players with a wider range of magical spells than ever before, thanks to two new spell lores. Don’t worry – your favourite spells are still in the game and, rest assured, Arkhan can still unleash the horrifying Curse of Years upon his foes. Instead, the new Lores of the Dead add to your toolbox of spells and open up new options for your army. Deathmages from your army – such as the humble Necromancer – will be able to sap the vigour of your foes with the Lore of the Deathmages, while Vampire Lords will be able to unleash magical wrath with the Lore of the Vampires. Meanwhile, Deathlords Wizards will be able to choose from both!

Whichever Lore of the Dead you’re using, you’ll benefit from the Locus of Shyish. Cast any spell from any lore on an unmodified casting roll of 9+, and you get to resolve the effect twice – particularly useful for spells such as Soul Harvest, a spell that draws the life of nearby foes towards the caster:

Whether you resolve this once or twice, you’ll be able to deal horrific damage to the foe while keeping a more valuable caster (like a Mortarch!) alive for longer.

Vampire Wizards, on the other hand, will find Amaranthine Orb a risky but powerful way to blast a hole through enemy battle-lines.

The Legion of Sacrament

If you’re looking to take full advantage of the new spells in Legions of Nagash, you’ll want to use the Legion of Sacrament, the army of Arkhan the Black. The Legion of Sacrament are notorious for their mastery of Death magic, and many mages in the Mortal Realms make the long pilgrimage to Shyish to learn from Arkhan himself.

On the tabletop, the Legion of Sacrament gains additional bonuses to cast – a small but welcome ability that increases your chances of activating the Locus of Shyish.

Meanwhile, your gravesites will be even deadlier thanks to The Master’s Teachings, an ability that can turn dead enemy units into fresh reinforcements for your army:

In this way, armies serving under Arkhan will benefit from both the endless regeneration provided by Deathly Invocation and their gravesites, as well as sudden spikes in the later game when you begin to wipe out enemy units. We’d recommend fielding your army as a castle based around the gravesites in your territory, battering the enemy with a hail of magical spells. Should anyone get close – well, that’s when you can unleash the Black Gem:

The Black Gem is a high-risk artefact, but one that’s well worth taking for the moments when it works – just be careful not to leave your friendly units too close!

If you’re looking to play more defensively, the Wristbands of Black Gold are a great choice, helping to shield your more valuable characters from getting shot down – ideal for a Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon:

.If you’re looking to truly master the magic of Death, you’ll want to take the Lords of Sacrament warscroll battalion, a formation centred around Arkhan, a Mortis Engine and a coven of Necromancers. Each unit in the battalion is shielded from attacks by the Mortis Engine, while they’ll also benefit from being able to cast an additional spell every turn! While this formation might consume a good number of points, it’ll be sure to catch your opponents off guard and is a great way to pay tribute to Nagash’s greatest pupil.

Fancy destroying your opponent by more direct means? The Legion of Sacrament represents just one way to play your army with the new battletome – check back tomorrow when we’ll be taking an in-depth look at the vampire elite of the Legion of Blood.

Quelle

Quelle

The Legion of Night are Nagash’s terror troops. Under the command of Mannfred von Carstein, these sinister warriors do more than just annihilate their foes in single combat, they break their enemy’s spirit using underhanded tactics and the ageless strategic genius of their master to outmanoeuvre their foes as they fall for deadly traps.
Mannfred has never been one for a fair fight, and the tactics of his Legion reflect his dishonourable (and highly effective) approach to warfare.
This works in two parts. Firstly, any Deathrattle units in your territory will be given +1 to their saving throws thanks to The Bait:

Combined with gravesites and Invocation of Death, this is going to make a skeleton horde sitting on your home objectives even more difficult to displace, giving your army a superb anvil. You’ll be able to couple this with potent hammer units thanks to Ageless Cunning:

Death armies are not traditionally the fastest of forces, but with this ability in hand, you’ll find getting round your opponents easy. You could hold a unit in reserve for the entire game to swoop onto a key objective at the last minute, or rip into the flanks of your foe’s more vulnerable units with a heavy hitting unit like a Zombie Dragon or Terrorgheist. This ability also works when deploying your gravesites offensively – bring on a Death hero from a table edge within 9″ of a gravesite, then summon another unit you’ve kept in reserve from that! The Legion of Night promises to be a deadly weapon in the hands of a canny general.

There’s a range of artefacts and command traits unique to the Legion of Night that help make your underhanded tactics even deadlier. Unbending Will, for example, helps ensure that your Deathrattle units stay in the fight and make it even harder for your opponents to grind through them:

Unholy Impetus, on the other hand, allows you to maximise the attacks of nearby units, and is deadly combined with hordes and more elite models alike:

The artefacts available to the Legion of Night allow you to play all manner of dirty tricks on your foes. Our favourite is the Curseblade, a wicked weapon that wears down the champions of your enemy while invigorating your own. You may even end up killing weaker heroes without even having to attack them!

Morbheg’s Claw, on the other hand, opens up new possibilities when writing your lists by providing significant bonuses to your spellcasting abilities.

If you’re building a Legion of Night army, the Nightfall Pack is a great place to start. Consisting of a combined force of Mannfred, a couple of units of Vargheists and some units of Skeleton Warriors to anchor them, the Nightfall Pack is designed to make the most of Ageless Cunning by making your skeletal forces seem unending, and your Vargheists even deadlier in close combat with Swooping Predators. Combined with their Blood-Maddened Feeding Frenzy, you’ll be able to sweep through lesser units with contemptuous ease while your Skeleton Warriors keep more dangerous foes occupied.

Of course, using this formation, you’ll still have room for another unit you can bring on from reserves – and for that, we think the new Bloodseeker Palanquin is a great choice:

The Bloodseeker Palanquin

Built from the same kit as the Coven Throne and Mortis Engine, the Bloodseeker Palanquin is an unusual and deadly new Soulblight unit in Legions of Nagash, designed to bolster your other vampiric units and slay enemy heroes.
Manage to kill an enemy hero within 9″ of the Bloodseeker Palanquin, and it’ll provide any nearby Soulblight units with additional attacks:

To help you accomplish this, the Bloodseeker Palanquin possesses a deadly unique spell in Blood Siphon:

We think the Bloodseeker Palanquin is the ideal accompaniment to some Vargheists, Blood Knights or any Soulblight units you prefer, opening up new options for those players that fancy fielding an entire army of Vampires – indeed, if you’re already using a Soulblight army, you’ll be able to continue to do so with the Soulblight allegiance abilities presented in the book.

Excited? You’ve not got long to wait to pick up Battletome: Legions of Nagash now – make sure to pre-order your copy tomorrow. In the meantime, if you’re looking to start a Legions of Nagash army, the Blade of the Blood Queen Battleforce is the perfect place to start.

Quelle

Quelle

Quelle

Quelle

You’ve seen the signs. You’ve read the stories. Now, it’s time to take control of the Malign Portents for yourself and shape the very future of the Mortal Realms through your skills on the battlefield and the painting table.

Dread Solstice is a global campaign designed to bring together players across the world to help produce a huge shared narrative. There’s a twist, however – this time, you won’t be fighting for your Grand Alliance, but for your choice of fates.

In Dread Solstice, players will be battling to decide what happens in an evolving thread of storylines, with the chosen outcomes each week having an impact not just on the rest of the campaign, but the story of Warhammer Age of Sigmar going forward.

The campaign takes the form of a three-part tree campaign in which you’ll follow the story of the war in Shyish as it unfolds. There are three chapters, each lasting two weeks, and each week presents you with a new dilemma and a choice to make between three fates. In order to cast your votes, you’ll need to win games, paint miniatures and report these successes to your local participating store, but choose carefully – the outcomes of each week will have far-reaching consequences for the campaign and the Mortal Realms.

As you can see, choosing one set of options can alter the outcomes in later weeks of the campaign. If you remember the Season of War campaign, you’ll recall how the Seeds of Hope would later be integrated into the lore and rules of Warhammer Age of Sigmar in Firestorm – just imagine what the Dread Solstice could bring to the future!

Getting involved in the campaign is simple. All you need to do is head down to your nearest participating store. Every single Games Workshop and Warhammer shop is taking part, alongside a host of independent retailers. You’ll be able to report your victories in store, where they’ll be added to the tally for your choice of fate. Winning a game is worth one vote, as is painting a complete warscroll’s worth of models you’ve purchased during the campaign.

You’ll need to keep your wits about you during the campaign, as the consequences in each chapter won’t just pertain to the story, but also to your games! Each chapter will feature new rules to add to your games and keep you on your toes – after all, Shyish is a dangerous place for the living…

You’ll be able to get stuck in with the Dread Solstice campaign very soon, with battle commencing on the 15th of February.

If you’re looking to get involved with the Dread Solstice campaign, make sure to pick up a Harbinger and the Malign Portents book for expanded rules for your battles in Shyish, the latest background in the story of the Age of Sigmar, and much more besides. We’ll see you on the 15th!

Quelle