Here’s how to play Stormcasts Hammers of Sigmar & Hallowed Knights with some 2,000 point AoS army lists from the new battletome.
We have dug into the Anvils of Heldenhammer and Astral Templars, which you can see here. Then we looked at the Celestial Warbringers and Celestial Vindicators which you can check out here. Today we are going to jump into the Hammers of Sigmar and Hallowed Knights and build lists around those two armies.
How to Play AoS Stormcasts: Hammers of Sigmar & Hallowed Knights
All the Stormcast Eternals Models Available
First, let’s recap the Stormcast Eternals overall abilities:
Stormcast Eternals are broken down into either Stormkeep or Thunderstrike Eternals which do one of the following (see below). Then they are further broken down into 8 different sub-factions.
Each article will look at two of the different sub-factions and build a list that is from the Thunderstrike brotherhood while the other is from the Stormkeep brotherhood.
- Stormkeep Eternals: 1 in every 4 units in this army may be a unit from the Cities of Sigmar faction and they gain the Stormkeep keyword. Add 1 to the Bravery of these units if they are wholly within 12” of a friendly Stormkeep Redeemer unit. Also, in the first and second battle rounds Stormkeep Redeemer models count as 3 for objectives in or partially in your territory. Starting from the 3rd battleround they count as 3 per model for any objective on the battlefield. In addition, if an enemy unit finishes a charge move within 1” of a friendly Stormkeep Redeemer unit that is wholly within 6” of an objective, roll a dice, on a 3+ that unit suffers D3 mortal wounds.
- Thunderstrike Eternals: You can set up a unit of models in reserve for each unit that is set up on the board during deployment. (So, if you have 10 units 5 can be set up on the board and 5 in reserve). At the end of your movement phase, you can set up a unit from reserve anywhere on the battlefield as long as it is more than 9” from an enemy unit.
- Non-faction-specific enhancements (can be used by all sub-factions).
Hallowed Knights
Let’s start with the Hallowed Knights: Which gain the ability, when a friendly Redeemer model is slain within 3” of enemy units, on a 4+ that model can fight before it is removed from play.
Hallowed Knights Stormkeep Army:
- Gardus Steel Soul: 160 Points, Leader 1 of 6
- Knight Venator: 175 Points, Leader 2 of 6
- Yndrasta, the Celestial Spear: 320 Points, Leader 3 of 6
- Knight Judicator with Gryph Hounds: 205 Points, Leader 4 of 6
- Knight Vexillor with Banner of Apotheosis: 160 Points, Leader 5 of 6
- 10 Liberators: 230 Points, Battleline 1 of 3
- 10 Vindictors: 260 Points, Battleline 2 of 3
- 5 Vigilors: 195 Points, Battleline 3 of 3
- Celestar Ballista: 140 Points, Artillery 1 of 4
- Celestar Ballista: 140 Points, Artillery 2 of 4
- Total 1985 Points
To me, this is an army that is all about winning slowing moving across the battlefield grinding down your enemy, all while using your shooting to soften up your targets. Gardus will add a ward save to your units around him (your Redeemers) and hopefully, you can tag an opponent with your Vigilors so add that hit bonus to your ballista and Venator to shoot down your opponent’s more powerful units.
Your banner and Yndrasta will be bringing back Redeemer models that hopefully every time they die get to fight dealing additional damage. Move slowly but you might be able to grind out your opponents while whittling them down with your archers.
For this army, I am going to go with the Grand Battery for the war machines and one of my leaders, and then Warlord for the rest. For artifacts, I am going to go with Amulet of Destiny for the Knight Vexillor so that he can make sure to re-populate my Redeemer units with the banner. After that, I am going to take Staunch Defender for my command trait to try and boost out the mortal wounds my units can dish out near objectives.
For my bonus artifact, I would think about giving the Knight Venator the Luck Stone to make sure the star-fated arrow attack hits potentially taking out a key hero from your opponent. Finally, I will select Thunderbolt Volley to get off a shooting attack in the hero phase and hopefully soften up my opponent.
Hallowed Knights Scions of the Storm Army:
- Gardus Steel Soul: 160 Points, Leader 1 of 6
- Knight Vexillor with Banner of Apotheosis: 160 Points, Leader 2 of 6
- Lord Imperatant: 175 Points, Leader 3 of 6
- Yndrasta, the Celestial Spear: 320 Points, Leader 4 of 6
- Knight Judicator with Gryph Hounds: 205 Points, Leader 5 of 6
- 10 Vindicators: 260 Points, Battleline 1 of 3
- 10 Vindicators: 260 Points, Battleline 2 of 3
- 10 Vanquishers: 250 Points, Battleline 3 of 3
- 3 Annihilators: 200 Points No Unit Type
- 1990 Points
This one is a bit more aggressive with the teleporting ability of the Scions of the Storm ability but rather than weathering the storm of your opponent, this one is an all-out attack. Again, you’re hoping your big units of battleline troops every time they die get that 4+ strike back that can really pile up the damage. After that using Yndrasta and the Banner of Apotheosis to regenerate models can be helpful to make sure you have the push back to keep those all-important objectives.
For this I am going to take Battle Regiment and Command Entourage, to try and get dictate who gets the first turn. Given you will have 4 drops at the point so it will be difficult to do against other armies looking to do the same. For artifacts, I am again taking the Amulet of Destiny for my Knight Vexillor to make sure he can use his banner, and the Mirror Shield on my Knight Judicator to make sure my opponent can’t pick off my archer from across the board. For unique abilities, I am going to choose Shock and Awe for my command trait and then Final Thunderstrike.
Hammers of Sigmar:
Next up we will jump into the Hammers of Sigmar: Friendly Hammer of Sigmar Units wholly within 12” of an object have a 6+ ward save.
Hammers of Sigmar Stomkeep Army
- Lord Celestant on Stardrake: 500 Points, Leader 1 of 6, Behemoth 1 of 4
- Drakesworn Templar: 455 Points, Leader 2 of 6, Behemoth 2 of 4
- 2 Stormdrake Guard: 340 Points, Battleline 1 of 3
- 2 Stormdrake Guard: 340 Points, Battleline 2 of 3
- 2 Stormdrake Guard: 340 Points, Battleline 3 of 3
- Total 1975
I wanted to make an all-dragon army and here is it within the Hammers of Sigmar. This is a very fast army, so it doesn’t make sense to have them in the Scions army, instead, I want to claim those objectives and if my opponent gets close, I get that mortal wound bonus. This is a very low model count army so you need to make sure that you pick your battles wisely, but your units are the elite of the elite so they can win out in most fights.
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For this battalion, you are going to want to take Battle Regiment to get that one drop army and dictate who goes first or second. I like the Mirror Shield here to protect one of your dragons from ranged attacks. After that, I am going to choose Light of the Young Stars for my mount trait as an option to debuff my opponent. For my unique abilities I am going to take Steadfast March to get a run and charge for one of my dragon units and then Master of the Celestial Menagerie to buff all my dragon units around my general.
Hammers of Sigmar Scions of the Storm Army:
- Lord Arcanum on Celestial Dracoline: 200 Points, Leader 1 of 6
- Lord Commander Bastian Carthalos: 300 Points, Leader 2 of 6
- Vandus Hammerhand: 215 Points, Leader 3 of 6
- Aventis Firestrike Magister of Hammerhal: 325 Points, Leader 4 of 6
- 2 Dracothian Guard Fulminators: 230 Points, Battleline 1 of 3
- 2 Dracothian Guard Fulminators: 230 Points, Battleline 2 of 3
- 10 Vindictors: 260 Points, Battleline 3 of 3
- Total: 1990 Points
This is an interesting army where I went for as many named Hammers of Sigmar units as I can fit into the list, while still using Dracothics as battleline troops. The Lord Arcanum will buff all the other Dracothics, while the other named heroes can hold their own in battle. For me, I am setting up Lord Commander, the Vindictors, and Vandus Hammerhand in reserve and then setting them up turn one to threaten my opponent. They are all very powerful units and can win one on one battles on their own. With my Dracothaian Guard, I will use their mobility to gain objectives and have a more aggressive approach to the battle.
For battalions, I am going to select Battle Regiment so that my army is a 2 drop army giving you a shot at who dictates going first. For an artifact, I like the Mirror Shield on my Lord Arcanum protecting them from ranged shooting allowing them to buff your other units. For unique spells, I am going to choose Celestial Blades and Thundershock because your wizards are going to be in the thick of things. For a mount trait, I am going to choose Envoy of Lightning for my mount trait and then Shock and Awe for my unique ability.
There you have it the two most popular stormhosts in Stormcast Eternals with a couple of ideas for army lists. I do think the Hammers of Sigmar are probably the strongest of the stormhosts in this new book but, the Hallowhearts are nothing to sneeze at either. I would be happy to take any of these lists to a game and see how they perform though if I had to choose one I think the all dragons list in the Hammers will probably be the strongest.
Next time we finish off this battletome with Knights Excelsior and the Tempest Lords, until then happy gaming!
Don’t forget to check out the other How To Play Stormcasts sub-faction army lists and breakdowns below for the Stormcasts Eternals battletome as well!
- Stormcasts Anvils & Templars
- Celestial Vindicators and Warbringers
- Hammers of Sigmar & Hallowed Knights
- Knights Excelsior & Tempest Lords
More AoS How-To For Beginners & Veteran Players!
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