Mercenaries are coming back in a new way! On top of their rules, we’ve also got the first official word on the skirmish-style Meeting Engagement games.
Warhammer Community gave us a preview showcasing some of the rules on Mercenary Companies and how they’ll be fitting into our lists. In short, you don’t have to worry about faction keywords, but there are a few drawbacks…
Fitting Mercenaries Into Your List
A mercenary company consists of a small selection of thematic units, representing one of the myriad groups of sellswords who ply their trade across the Mortal Realms. Mercenary companies each have a special rule of their own and the Mercenary keyword, differentiating them from the ‘normal’ versions of these units and giving them all a distinct feel on the battlefield.
The point of a Mercenary Company is to be able to bring units that you wouldn’t normally be able to under the normal Ally rules. Here’s the lowdown on everything you need to know about fitting them in your games:
- They don’t care about faction keywords.
- They take from the same pool of ally points for pitched battles. That means you can’t take a 400 pt ally AND a Mercenary at 2k points.
- Bringing them forfeits gaining 1CP at the start of the first battle round.
We Have Ten Mercenary Companies To Choose From
We’ll have ten total mercenary companies to ally in with any of our armies.
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
We haven’t seen the full list of rules for these mercenary companies, however, Warhammer Community did share a few of the rules.
Sons of the Lichemaster
This mercenary company adds a splash of death to your force with a Necromancer, Corpse Cart, Skeleton Warriors, and Zombies.
These undead will be fighting a bit harder than your standard unbuffed rank and file ones. It all comes down to keeping the Necromancer closeby and protected.
Grugg Brothers: Aleguzzler Gargants
While there are five Gargants in the pic, you can actually only add three to your army. But because they’re all brothers, they’ve got some sibling rivalry…
As long as all three are going strong and are close by to one another, they’re motivated to fight harder. They get to reroll all hits for attacks at full strength and reroll hits of 1 if there are still two left. Honestly, Gargants have a bad save, only a handful of wounds and degrade fast. This mercenary company probably won’t be too popular in matched-play games.
Order of the Blood-drenched Rose: Vampires
This company allows you to mix in some Blood Knights and a Vampire Lord with the rest of your army. These guys are an elite pack of fighters that are immune to battleshock as their special rule.
Nimyard’s Rough Riders- Free Guild
Consisting of at least one unit of Pistoliers, with the option for Outriders and a Freeguild General, this mercenary company lets you add some fast-moving firepower to any force.
With at least one Pistolier unit needed, it sounds like we are able to take even more if we have the points. Multiple squads of these guys may not be too bad of an option for adding speed to a slower army.
These guys can essentially outflank together coming in from a table edge more than 9″ away from enemy units.
Blacksmoke Battery: Duardin
Consisting of 1-3 Cannons or Organ Guns, with options for a Cogsmith and a Gyrocopter, it’s cracking for any collection in need of some Artillery. Keep the Gyrocopter close to your enemy for the best possible results…
This Mercenary Company is somewhat fragile. It only gets its bonus by having one key unit up close to the enemy you’re firing at. You may get a turn or two to reap the full benefit of this company but your opponent might stop you in your tracks by sniping out the Spotter.
Skroug’s Menagerie: Chaos Gargant
While this guy is the head honcho of the Mercenary Company, you’ll also be able to pick from a handful of options of Chaos beasts to join him. The special rule on this guy is that he’ll be acting as a second General for your army able to use any stratagems on his followers.
Rampagers- Darkoath Exiles
You can take the Darkoath Warqueen or Darkoath Chieftan with 1-3 squads of Marauders. These guys are going to act like a band of brutal savages on the battlefield running straight into the frontlines of the enemy.
With their On the Rampage ability, you can get a few extra inches of movement out of these guys when you set them up. It’s not a broken ability but it’s something the entire Mercenary Company will be able to do immediately. That means it’s not fragile and can’t be shut off by your opponent.
The Gutstuffers
Finally, the Gutstuffers are going to consist of 1-3 Maneaters and one Firebelly who’s in charge. These guys are going to just act like a chunky speed bump for your opponent. Maneaters are very tough and can punch back in melee. Plus, you get the bonus of some magic from the Firebelly.
The only thing is that they don’t exactly care for tactics. The entire Mercenary Company can reroll charges but they have to charge if they’re within 12″ of an enemy. Depending on what’s close by, they could bully it to death or just get eaten alive by something like a Terrorgheist.
Meeting Engagement Skirmishes
Meeting Engagements are designed for matched play, but form a flexible system that’s rewarding to use whatever style of play you like. If you’re looking for a quick format for your open play battles, it’ll fit in nicely, while the new game mechanics are really effective at depicting the clash of two patrols ahead of their main armies.
Meeting Engagements aren’t supposed to entail your entire army. Rather, a small expeditionary force ahead of the rest of the army. Scouting out any enemies that might be lurking about. With that in mind, the games are only 1,000 pts in size and have a certain structure.
Each Meeting Engagement force consists of:
- The Spearhead: Your units that make the first contact with the enemy, 0-1 Leaders, 0-2 Battleline, and 0-2 other units.
- The Main Body: What comes after the spearhead force, 1-2 Leaders, 1+ Battleline, 0-1 Behemoth, and any number of other units.
- The Rearguard: This is the reserve force that gives you that last bit of pushing power, 0-1 Leader, 0-1 Behemoth, 0-2 Artillery, and 0-2 other units.
Other Restrictions to Meeting Engagements:
- Your army can’t have more than two units from the same Warscroll unless they are part of a Warscroll Battalion.
- Spearhead Battleline size is kept at the minimum number of models. However, Battleline units in the Main Body can be taken at double the minimum unit size.
- You can only take one Warscroll Battalion.
- You can only have one allied unit.
- You can only include one endless spell.
These games are going to be smaller and focus more on tactics that two forces smashing into each other at full strength. You’ll have to divide your 1,000 pt force into multiple segments that come in at different points of the game.
The Spearhead starts on the board. At the end of your first turn, the Main Body comes in. And lastly, the Rearguard is deployed at the end of your second turn.
Meeting Engagement games are played on a smaller area – we’ve suggested a battlefield of 30-36” by 40-48″! This makes it easy to squeeze into a smaller play area, like a coffee table. What’s more, if you’re a club gamer, you’ll be able to fit more folks in for your tournaments!
And there you have it! The first batch of rules previewed for the Mercenary Companies and the low-down on Meeting Engagements. How do you feel about smaller, faster games becoming the tournament norm for AoS? Do you prefer full-sized games of AoS or smaller skirmishes like what was just previewed? Let us know what you think in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group.
About the Author: Wesley Floyd
Wesley Floyd
Job Title: Staff Writer
Joined: 2018
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Bio: Imperial fanboy, tabletop fanatic, and the self-proclaimed King of Sprues. Wes has been in the Warhammer hobby since 2015 and joined the Spikey Bits writing team in 2018. He knows for a fact that Mephiston red is the best-tasting paint and is the commission painting equivalent of a Wendy’s 4 for $4.
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