Today we’ll look at how to play Stormkeep at 2000 points and the rest of the armies from the Morathi Broken Realms book.
Last week we covered two big faction changes that happened in the Morthai book, the Zainthar Kai (Daughters of Khaine) and Misthaven / Har Kuron (Cities of Sigmar). To see that article you can check it out by clicking here!
Today we are going to round out the last of the book and build armies around the Stormkeep (Stormcast Eternals), look at the updated warscrolls to the Idoneth Deepkin, and build a list for the Idolators (Slaves to Darkness). Let’s start with GW’s golden boys the Stormkeep.
Stormkeep Changes:
Your Stormcast Eternals replace their legends of the tempest with these Stormkeep ones. Add 1 to Bravery of friendly stormcast eternal units while wholly within 12” of Liberator units.
- Liberator units that did not move can “stand fast” which lets them add 1 to hit and save rolls until your next movement phase.
- 1 in every 4 units in your Stormkeep army can be a Cities of Sigmar unit, and these units can be treated as Stormcast Eternal units for ability and rules purposes.
Building the Army:
For this army, I am embracing the Stormkeep narrative and am going to build around the Stormkeep patrol and the remaining army is “manning the guns”. Here is what I put together, it’s probably not going to win you many games but it is a pretty fun “shooty” list.
- Lord Veritant: 110 Points Leader 1 of 6
- Cogsmith: 60 Points Leader 2 of 6
- Lord Ordinator: 140 Points: Leader 3 of 6
- 12 Gryph Hounds: 240 Points
- 6 Vanguard Raptors with Crossbows: 280 Points
- 6 Vanguard Raptors with Crossbows: 280 Points
- 10 Liberators: 180 Points Battleline 1 of 3
- 10 Liberators: 180 Points Battleline 2 of 3
- 5 Liberators: 90 Points Battleline 3 of 3
- 3 Aetherwings: 40 Points
- Helstorm Rocket Battery: 130 Points Artillery 1 of 4
- Helstorm Rocket Battery: 130 Points Artillery 2 of 4
- Stormkeep Patrol: 130 Points Battalion
Total 1990 Points.
Final Thoughts on the Army:
Basically, Stormkeep patrol lets you set up your crossbows before the first round starts and lets them unload into your opponent. Then your heroes buff your Helstorm Rockets and hopefully, you’re shooting a couple of your opponent’s main units off the board. Your liberators are not going to do much other than blocking your opponents and claiming objectives.
Moving on for the Stormkeep we are going to jump into the Idoneth Deepkin, who had quite a few warscroll changes.
Idoneth Deepkin Changes
- Akhelian Allopexes: Movement increased by 2”, rend add to harpoon launcher, additional attack added to hooks and blades along with a 3+ to wound instead of 4+, 2 additional attacks to ferocious Bite but a decrease of 1 damage, removal of scythe fins. Bloodthirsty predators add an attack to ferocious bite instead of the re-roll charge. Increase of 10 points from 100 to 110 points.
- Aspect of the Sea: Gain a 5+ Ward Save. Decrease of 50 points from 380 down to 330 points.
- Aspect of the Storm: Cruelhook to hit increased from 2+ to 3+. Gained a 5+ Ward Save. Drench with Hate changed from within 9” to wholly within 18” and instead of re-rolling wound rolls of 1, it adds 1 to wound rolls. Decrease of points from 360 points to 330 points.
- Akhelian Leviadon: Move 10” instead of damage table, Save is a damage table from 2+ up to 5+ instead of a flat 3+. Harpoon Launchers attacks jump from 3 to 8 and gain an additional -1 to rend. Spear and Harpoons are combined into one attack now with the following profile: 1” Range, 6 Attacks, Hitting and Wounding on 3+, for 1 Damage. Fins got a boost with the to Hit going from 3+ to 2+ and a better damage table for Damage. Crushing Jaws got an additional attack but the damage is a flat 3 instead of D6. Crushing Jaws also is 3 mortal wounds on an unmodified hit roll of 6 (6 against monsters) instead of 6. Void Drum not only affects units with 8 wounds or less, and instead of cover adds 1 to save roll to all Deepkin and if they are Namarti they also get 1 to hit rolls. Finally, on charges they now roll a dice for every unit within 1” and on a 2+ that unit suffers D3 mortal wounds. (D6 if it only has 1 wound). Increased 30 Points to 340.
Building the Army:
For this army, let’s build it around the Leviadon and the Allopexes because those are the warscrolls that got the biggest update. Games Workshop still has the broken realms set in stock so we are going to start with that and a Leviadon. Then we are going to grab two start collecting boxes and an Eidolon to round out this army. While it makes use of the new rules, this certainly is not the cheapest army to build out there.
- Akhelian King: 230 Points, Leader 1 of 6, General
- Isharann Soulrender: 80 Points, Leader 2 of 6
- Isharann Soulrender: 80 Points, Leader 3 of 6
- Eidolon of Mathlann, Aspect of the Sea: 330 Points, Leader 4 of 6
- Akhelian Allopexes: 110 Points
- Akhelian Allopexes: 110 Points
- 10 Namarti Thralls: 120 Points, Battleline 1 of 3
- 10 Namarti Thralls: 120 Points, Battleline 2 of 3
- 6 Akhelian Morrsarr Guard: 340 Points, Battleline 3 of 3
- Akhelian Leviadon: 340 Points, Behemoth 1 of 4
- The Bloodsurf Hunt: 120 Points, Battalion
Total 1980 Points
Final Thoughts on the Army
This makes use of all the updated warscrolls in the Morathi book and it’s a different take than the eel army you see everyone run. It is probably less competitive than the eel armies but who does not like Aelfs riding sharks?
Finally, we are going to look at the Idolators and see what they are bringing to the table. They are themed around priests and cultists which is an interesting take on an army.
Idolators Changes
- Priests can add 1 to their prayer rolls, and gain the leader battlefield role
- Cultists gain the battleline role, and when charging you can replace the lowest dice with a 6.
- 1 Chariot or Gorebeast chariot can be upgraded to a Leader role gaining hero, lord, and priest keywords.
- Add 1 to wound rolls again priests from opponent’s army.
- Command Ability Desecrate: Use in hero phase, target 1 friendly Idolators unit wholly within 12” of a Lord and within 3” of terrain feature that is part of the enemy army. Roll a dice if it is greater than the number of enemy models within 3” of the terrain feature is desecrated and its scenery rules are no longer applied.
Building the Final of the Broken Realms Armies
This is an interesting way of building an army around priest models. Games Workshop still has the Broken Realms: Rokar Gresh available online so we are going to build around that. Then we are going to add a Chaos Warshrine and a start collecting boxes. Finally, I am going to round out the force by adding a large unit of cultists, I choose splintered fang but you can use whoever catches your eye.
- Idolator Lord on Gorebeast Chariot: 150 points, Leader 1 of 6
- Chaos Warshrine: 170 Points, Leader 2 of 6, Behemoth 1 of 4
- Chaos Lord on Karkadrak: 230 Points, Leader 3 of 6
- 5 Chaos Knights: 160 Points, Battleline 1 of 3
- 10 Chaos Warriors: 180 Points, Battleline 2 of 3
- 3 Gorebeast Chariots: 450 Points
- 2 Gorebeast Chariots: 300 Points
- 30 Splintered Fang: 210 Points, Battleline 3 of 3
- Gresh’s Iron Reapers: 140 Points, Battalion
Total 1990 Points
Final Thoughts
This is a fun mechanic army that could ruin your opponent’s plan if you are able to desecrate something like a Loonshrine or a Mawpot or something similar. There is not a ton of priest models in the slaves to darkness line, so you are basically using the Warshrine and the lord for those roles. While a fun army I don’t think it will be super competitive as slaves to darkness, in general, is a little on the weaker side of things but it would be a fun way to play a game or two.
There you have it the other three armies introduced in the mortal realms book and my take on building armies around them. Hopefully, we get another broken realm book so as I really enjoy the plot moving forward and more options for existing armies in terms of play styles.
More AoS How-To For Beginners!
If you are currently publishing hobby content and would like a shot at getting featured on the site. Or getting on our publishing schedule, we would like to hear from you! Please email Rob at spikeybits.com with examples of your work!
