Which new Mercenary Company is the best? Love it or hate it, the 2019 AoS General’s Handbook is here and brought a slew of changes to the game.
One of the major changes from the latest General’s Handbook is the addition of mercenary companies and being able to add them to any army. They are not free though, costing you points out of your allied pool and your turn one command point. Since most games are played at 2000 points, we are going to look at this as if we have 400 points worth of allies we can take. Let’s look at each of them and see if they might be worth it.
The Mercenary Factions:
- Fyreslayers Greyfyrd Lodge
- Flesh-eater Courts Tenebrous Court
- Necromancer & Skeletons
- Algeuzzler Gargants
- Blood Knights & a Vampire Lord
- Freeguild Rough Riders
- Duardin Hired Guns
- Chaos Gargant
- Darkoath Rampagers
- Maneater Gutstuffers
Greyfyrd Mercenary Company:
This mercenary company is made up of any Fyreslayers except Auric Runefathers, which let’s be honest we are going to take a bunch of Hearthguard Berzerkers and an Auric Runemaster. Taking 10 Hearthguard Berzerkers with a Runemaster will cost you 360 Points.
- Auric Runesmiter: Move 4”, 5+ Save, 7 Bravery, 5 Wounds. He 1 missile weapon Range 8”, 1 Attack, Hitting on a 5+, Wounding on a 5+, for 1 Damage. Then one melee weapons the Latch Axe: Range 1”, 1 Attack, Hitting on a 4+, Wounding on a 3+, for 2 Damage. During set up he and 1 unit can be set up at the end of your movement phase rather than at the start of the battle anywhere on the battlefield as long as they are more than 9” from the enemy. This counts as their movement for the turn. He has a prayer where he rolls a D6 on a 3+, he can pick a unit of Fryeslayers wholly within 18” and it allows them to re-roll their failed wound rolls in the combat phase.
- Hearthguard Berzerkers: Move 4″, 5+ Save, 8 Bravery, 2 Wounds. They have 1 missile weapon Throwing Axes: Range 8”, 1 Attack, Hitting and Wounding on a 5+, for 1 Damage. Then they are armed with either a Broadaxe: Range 2”, 2 Attacks, Hitting and Wounding on a 3+, with -1 Rend, for 2 Damage. Otherwise, they have Poleaxes: Range 2”, 2 Attacks, Hitting and Wounding on a 3+, for 1 Damage. (6’s to hit do 2 mortal wounds as well). The leader is a karl and adds 1 to his Attacks. Each time this unit takes a wound or mortal wound roll a dice on a 6+ that wound is ignored, add 2 to this roll if there is a friendly Hero wholly within 10” of this unit.
- Special Ability Fulfil One’s Oaths: Add 1 to Hit Rolls for attacks made by melee weapons that target a unit that charged this turn. After the 3rd battle round subtracts 1 from this mercenaries company Bravery unless it is within 18” of your general.
Even at only 10 models these guys are beasts and being able to deep strike with them is what makes this little unit worth it. Especially in an army that lacks any sort of deepstrike unit, these guys can pop up on an objective and hold it while dishing out pain in return. I like them for the Destruction armies that lack deepstriking, or chaos armies like Tzeentch and Blades of Khorne.
Tenebrous Court Mercenary Company:
This mercenary company is made up of any Flesheater Courts models except Royal Terrorgheists or Royal Zombie Dragons. What you really want from this list is a Ghoul Kings for the ability to summon Ghouls. 340 Points.
- Abhorrant Archregent: Move 6”, 4+ Save, 10 Bravery, 7 Wounds. He has 1 melee attack: Range 1”, 7 Attacks, Hitting and Wounding on a 3+, with -1 Rend, for 1 Damage. He heals 3 wounds in you herp phase, and I a wizard casting 1 spell with his unique one being Ferocious Hunger: Range Flesh Eater Court unit wholly within 24”, casting value 6, roll a D3 and add that many attacks to their attacks characteristic. His command ability is the ability to summon 3 knights or 20 serfs.
- Abhorrant Ghoul King: Move 6”, 4+ Save, 10 Bravery, 6 Wounds. He has 1 melee attack: Range 1”, 6 Attacks, Hitting and Wounding on a 3+, with -1 Rend, for 1 Damage. He heals D3 wounds in the hero phase and is a wizard that can cast 1 spell with his unique spell being black hunger: Range friendly flesh-eater courts unit wholly within 24”, casting value of 5, it adds 1 to their attacks characteristics. His command ability can be used once per game and summons a unit of 10 serfs onto the battlefield.
- Special Ability Frightful Allies: Add 1 to hit rolls made by Flesh Eater Courts units that made a charge move this turn. Flesh Eater Courts units cannot retreat in combat.
For two models that are taking up leader space, this isn’t great except for high CP armies like Goomspite Gitz. They have more than enough Command Points to take full advantage of these two models summoning abilities turn two and not worry about losing the initial command point.
The Sons of the Lichemaster Mercenary Company:
The mercenary company has 1 Necromancer, 1 corpse cart with unholy loadstone, and 0-3 units of zombies or skeletons. Which we will take a unit of 30 zombies, bringing it to 390 Points.
- Necromancer: Move 5”, 6+ Save, 10 Bravery, 5 Wounds. He has one melee attack: Range 2”, 1 attack, Hitting on a 4+, Wounding on a 3+, with -1 Rend, for D3 Damage. If there is a summonable unit within 3” of this model every time he takes a wound on a 4+ the unit takes it instead of him. He heals or returns up to D3 wounds to two summonable units within 6” in your hero phase. He is a wizard and can cast 1 spell a turn with his unique spell being Vanhel’s Danse Macabre: Range summonable unit within 18”, casting value 6, the unit can pile in and attack twice in the combat phase.
- Corpse Cart: Move 4”, 6+ Save, 10 Bravery, 6 Wounds. It has 3 difference melee attacks his first is either a goad: Range 2”, 2 Attacks, Hitting and Wounding on a 4+, for 1 Damage. Or a Lash: Range 1”, 3 Attacks, Hitting and Wounding on a 4+, for 1 Damage. Then Zombies Rusty Blades: Range 1”, 2D6 Attacks, Hitting and Wounding on a 5+, for 1 Damage. It adds 1 to all casting rolls for death wizards within 18”, you can re-roll deathly invocation while the unit is within 6”, and instead of attacking with the goad or lash you can instead roll a dice and on a 5+ the model suffers a mortal wound.
- Zombies: Move 4” No Save, 10 Bravery, 1 Wound. They have 1 melee attack: Range 1”, 1 Attack, Hitting and Wounding on a 5+, for 1 Wound. The standard subtracts 1 from bravery of enemy units within 6”, the noisemaker can charge 6” unless it rolls higher. Add 1 to hit rolls if the unit has more than 20 models, or add 2 if it is more than 40 models. Add 1 to hit rolls if this unit is within 9” of the corpse cart. Any models slain by this unit roll a D6 on a 6 they come back as a zombie.
Special Ability Power of the Lichmaster: Add 1 to the attacks of zombies or skeletons while they are wholly within 18” of the necromancer.
This is a great little force for an army that might be lacking bodies like Stormcast Eternals or Fyreslayers. Or if you want to add them to a Nighthaunt army this is a great way to bring in the Necromancer and Corpse Cart buffs to them using otherwise unavailable allies.
Grugg Brothers Mercenary Company:
This mercenary company is made up of 1-3 giants. Due to point limitations, we can only take two. 320 Points
Aleguzzler Gargant: Move (Damage Table 8” down to 3”), 5+ Save, Bravery 6, 12 Wounds. They have three different melee weapons: ‘Eadbutt: Range 1”, 1 Attack, Hitting on a 4+, Wounding on a 3+, with -3 Rend, for Damage (Damage Table D6 down to 1). Next is Massive Club: range 3”, Attacks (Damage Table 3D6 down to D6), Hitting and Wounding on a 3+, for 1 Damage. Finally Mighty Kick: Range 2”, 1 Attack, Hitting and Wounding on a 3+, with -2 Rend, for D3 Damage. If this model charges and rolls a double this model cannot make the charge, and the players roll-off, the winning player picks a point within 3” of this model and all units within 2” of that suffer D3 mortal wounds. After this model piles in you can pick 1 enemy model within 3” and roll a dice. If it is equal to or greater than double the model’s wounds characteristic, that model is slain. When this model is slain players roll-off, the winning
Special Rules Sibling Rivalry: Re-roll hit rolls of 1 if models from this company are within 6” of one another. Re-roll all hit rolls if within 6” of 2 other models.
I love these guys and they are great in any army as I think they are well worth their points. They are great for any army needing big behemoth type models like Stormcast, Nighthaunt, Free Peoples, etc. But really any army should add them because who doesn’t love a bunch of drunken giants!
Order of the Blood-Drenched Rose Mercenary Company:
This mercenary company is made up of 0-1 Vampire Lords and 1-2 Units of Bloodknights. For this unit assuming it is not a Death army taking them we will take 2 units of 5 Bloodknights. The total is 400 Points.
Bloodknights: Move 10”, 4+ Save, 10 Bravery, 3 Wounds. They have two different melee attacks, the first is Lance: Range 1”, 3 Attacks, Hitting and Wounding on a 3+, with -1 Rend for 1 Damage (D3 on a charge). Then horse attacks: Range 1”, 2 Attacks, Hitting and Wounding on a 4+, for 1 Damage. The leader of this unit gets an additional attack, the standard subtracts one from enemy units bravery with they are within 6”, and the hornblower lets this unit always charge 6” unless they roll higher. This unit heals a wound at the end of any combat phase in which they killed a model, and they add 1 to save rolls against attacks with no rend.
Special Ability Unreasoning Bloodlust: They are immune to battleshock tests.
I really like these guys for basically any army but especially ones that last cavalry options. They hit hard, have a great save, and are immune to battle shock. The price tag for 5 at $100 bucks though is not so fun.
There you have it a brief overview of five of the 10 mercenary companies, some could potentially be useful in matched play but for the most part, a lot of these seem to be more geared towards narrative play. Still it’s a neat idea and hopefully, GW continues to release more mercenary warband rules as well as maybe even releasing some mercenary boxed set with unique models?
One can hope!
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