Don’t miss a new series where we take a look at summoning lists for Age of Sigmar, and see what makes them tick in the new edition of the game!
With the new Age of Sigmar there comes new rules, one that is both liked and hated is that some armies can summon models for free now.
People argue that free units are ways to break the game, while others argue that committing to summoning makes you take more expensive models and gives up on some better combos the army may have. Love it or hate it, it looks like it is here to stay for the time being so we’re going to start looking at summoning lists one by one in our Summoner Wars Series.
AoS Summoner’s War Tactics: Disciples of Tzeentch
Disciples of Tzeentch:
Fitting enough to start with the master of change and magic to be the first list we cover in our series as his mechanic is all about getting fate points from magic. Every time a spell is successfully cast without being unbound you gain 1 Fate point (enemy magic counts as well).
You can summon basically any daemon unit from the Disciples of Tzeentch army starting with 3 Screamers at 10 points all the way up to a Lord of Change at 36. *Note Blue Horrors can be summoned using Bluestone horror points which you get 2 for every pink horror killed. Brimestone Horrors can be summoned using Brimestone points which you get 1 for every bluestone horror killed.
Let’s start with your leaders and remember we are trying to maximize our magic to get off as many spells as we can.
- Lord of Change (340 points): Leader 1 of 6, Behemoth 1 of 3 (2 Spells)
- Gaunt Summoner of Tzeentch (180 points): Leader 2 of 6 (2 Spells)
- Magister (140 points): Leader 3 of 6 (1 Spell, possibly 2 on a double)
- Curseling, Eye of Tzeentch (160 points): Leader 4 of 6, (2 Spells)
- Blue Scribes (140 points): Leader 5 of 6, (1 Spell)
- Herald of Tzeentch (140 points): Leader 6 of 6, (1 Spell, possibly 2 on a 9+)
You’re at 1100 points for all these leaders but if they all cast successfully (and get off their bonus spells) your looking at 11 fate points in your first turn. This is an insane amount of magic, with the unique disciples of Tzeentch spells, the realm spells, and the endless spells you are not going to be hurt by the rule of 1 either.
Starting off with the Lord of Change command ability you will be giving +1 to casting rolls for all daemons of Tzeentch within 18 inches. (Pink Horrors, Gaunt Summoner, Herald of Tzeentch, Blue Scribes, and himself). Then you can cast the Boon of Tzeentch from the blue scribes allowing you to re-roll failed casting rolls for all Tzeentch Wizards within 18 inches.
After that, it is just a matter of kicking out various spells that you think are beneficial. Also get those unbinds in first with the Curseling, as if you successfully unbind a spell with him he can then try and cast it. So generate an additional 2 points on your opponent’s turn.
Next, we need to fill out your battleline with pink horrors
- 10 Pink Horrors (200 points): Battleline 1 of 3
- 10 Pink Horrors (200 points): Battleline 2 of 3
- 10 Pink Horrors (200 points): Battleline 3 of 3
You are now at 1700 points which is very expensive in terms of battleline types, however, remember for every 1 pink horror that dies you get 2 blue horror points. Once you get 10 you can summon in 10 blue horrors. Then follow that up with brimstone horrors at a 1 to 1 ratio. Also, they are all wizards so you are getting 3 more casting attempts with these little guys putting you at a possible 14 fate points per phase on your phase!
Now let’s add in some Endless spells:
- Balewind Vortex: (40 points)
- Chronomantic Cogs: (60 points)
- Prismatic Palisade: (30 points)
- Soulsnare Shackles: (20 points)
Total 1850 points which is pretty much your entire army but I selected this many spells because you have a ton of wizards and you’re really not going to be doing much damage outside of the magic phase. The Vortex and Cogs will each let you cast an additional spell per turn so you’re at 16 fate points per phase now. The Palisade will block line of sight so that if your opponent has a really good shooting unit or fast charging unit you can use this stop that.
Then the Soulsnare Shackles will slow down your opponent giving your wizards more chances to cast more magic and generate more fate points.
With the final 150 points you can do whatever you want but if I were playing them, I would get maybe a unit of marauders or 3 chaos spawn or maybe two units of 5 harpies. Anything that you can put in front of your troops to soak up a charge or two and give your wizards another round of magic. Then start summoning and summon whatever you need to score the objectives. I know it is tempting to save up 36 points for a free lord of change, but no need to do that when some screamers will score you an objective and give you the lead.
Obviously, this list is very much dependent on magic and summoning (and a ton of blue and brimstone horrors) so it is a model heavy list and not for everyone. Nor is it ideal in terms of being competitive (not a lot of non-magic heavy hitters) but it is built to get lots of free models on the battlefield quickly!
Use those disciple dice smartly and get as many bonus casts as you can with the Magister and Herald of Tzeentch, or save them for unbinding rolls with the Curseling and cast the magic back at your opponent.
The final tip is giving your Lord of Change the Mark of the Conjurer where if you roll doubles for casting rolls you get two fate points instead of one. The Lord of Change’s Mastery of Magic ability where you change the lowest roll to the highest means you will get this every time.
About the Author: Travis Perkins
An avid homebrewer and Detroit sports fan (yes even the Lions). I am new to the world of wargamming and very much enjoying the journey. If you have any suggestions or comments feel free to comment on the article or email me at perki116@msu.edu
