Hot off the holiday presses, Travis is back and he’s got the Age of Sigmar Chaos Slaves to Darkness Battletome. Let’s get his take on this one!
We have had a few weeks to dive into the Christmas treat that GW gave us in the form of the Slaves to Darkness Battletome. Let’s see what units came out winners and losers, as well as look at some of the sub-factions and abilities.
Chaos Slaves To Darkness Alliance Abilities:
- You must choose to be a Ravager, Cabalists, Despoiler, or Host of the Everchosen
- Ravager – 5 different non-daemon prince generals can gain a command trait. Rotate your general between your non-daemon prince leaders. Command ability to bring in a unit of 10 chaos marauders or cultists or a unit of 5 marauder horsemen every turn for a CP.
- Cabalists – Gain access to rituals that you can perform 1 a turn (chaos prayers). All wizards learn a new spell that deals mortal wounds and reduces movement.
- Despoilers – Aura from the general is 18” instead of 12”, daemon prince general gains 5+ shrug. Friendly daemon princes and monsters gain D3 wounds back in the hero phase on a 4+. Daemon Princes within 6” of terrain feature can make the terrain pitch black and nightmare chasm.
- Host of the Everchosen – Archaon is general and has 18” aura. No battleshock tests if Archaon is general. Archaon can pick 1 enemy unit in hero phase and you can re-roll hit and wound rolls of 1 against that unit. Gain command ability to roll dice and secretly see who is getting the next turn. Your varanguard gains a “circle” and you can choose a bonus for them, they also become battleline.
- Pick an Aura of Chaos for your army.
- Khrone – re-roll hit rolls of 1 within 12” of hero, if general re-roll wound rolls of 1 as well.
- Tzeentch – Re-roll save rolls of 1 within 12” of hero, if general ignore spells on 5+
- Nurgle – Wound rolls of 6 deal 1 extra damage while 12” of hero, if general subtract 1 from hit rolls of missile weapons of units within 12”
- Slaanesh – Hit rolls of 6 score 2 hits instead of 1 while within 12” of hero, if general re-roll run and charge rolls.
- Undivided – Do not take battleshock tests within 12” of hero, if general units have 6+ wound ignore while within 12” as well.
- Eye of the God table: Roll two dice when hero kills a monster or hero and get a boon (battle long stat boost, can be turned into daemon prince, etc.)
- Unique Spell Lore
These are some pretty standard things now in terms of the battle tomes that GW is kicking out for AoS 2.0, minus that in this book you must pick a sub-faction. The clear winners here are the Despoilers and the Host of the Everchosen, but you could have fun with the other two as well. Each faction (minus host of Everchosen) has its own artifacts and command abilities to choose from.
The auras are powerful and boosts your entire army. Eye of the Gods can be nice giving you a chance at beefing up a hero or even turning them into a daemon prince. It’s pretty random though so you can’t rely on it, but still a fun mechanic to add to the army. The spells are legit and do more than just damage, with a few effecting movements or hit and wound rolls.
Overall, I think you’re going to see quite a few Archaons lead Hosts of the Everchosen, but Daemon Princes have a very nice warscroll for the point costs so you could see them do well as well. Speaking of warscroll onto the unit winners and losers!
The Big Winners:
- Archaon the Everchosen
- Guant Summoner on Disc of Tzeentch
- Be’lakor
- Daemon Prince
- Marauders
These are my top five in this book because they can win you games by themselves. Archaon has a new warscroll and he is beefier, hits like a hammer, and has a huge board presence (and point cost to match). The Gaunt Summoner on Disk has a great horde control spell and gets a once-a-game free summon, which can help flood the board with bodies. Bellakor is a good daemon prince, and daemon princes themselves are amazing leaders in this army and can go toe to toe with most mid-range heroes without support. Finally, marauders are cheap and guarantee a charge of 7 with their new rule, them being battleline makes them all that better.
Winners but not as big:
- Furies
- Chaos Sorcerer on Manticore
- Chaos Sorcerer Lord
- Chaos Lord
- Chaos Knights
- Mindstealer Sphiranx
- Chaos Marauder Horsemen
- Varanguard
The furies are a good objective grabber for relatively low cost (would be higher if battleline). The Chaos Sorcerer Lords have great spells and are good support units. The Manticore itself can dish out some damage so it is worth taking in more diverse armies. Chaos Knights and Maurader Horsemen both got buffs and are mobile battleline units, while the Varanguard are pretty elite but taken as battle line with Archaon they can wreak some havoc.
Take it or leave it…
- Chaos Warriors
- Chaos Warshrine
- Untamed Beasts
- Darkoath Chieftan
- Darkoath Warqueen
- Theddra Skull Scryer and Godsworn Hunt
- Chaos Chosen
Chaos Warriors have some shiny new models and a better warscroll to boot, but in this book, there are just better battle line options for the points. (see marauders) The Untamed Beasts can a free move making them a solid unit choice, if only they counted as a battle line. The Darkoath chieftain and war queen can beef up your marauders (not a bad idea), while the chosen if deployed right can boost your entire army.
Little Losers:
- Mutalith Vortex Beast
- Slughterbrute
- Soul Grinder
- Chaos Lord on Manticore
- Chaos Lord on Daemonic Mount
- Chaos Lord on Karkadrak (sweet model though)
- Ogroid Myrmidon
- Chaos Chariots
- All warcry warbands not named Untamed Beasts
- Gorbeasts Chariots
The chariots not being battleline makes them worth quite a bit less for the points, same with the large behemoths. You could make something work with the big monsters but for the points, there are just better options out there. Same with the chaos lords, them can be useful but the sorcerer lords are just better right now. The Ogroid Myrmidon is a neat model and he could be useful, but again he just isn’t a must take in any sort of slaves to darkness army.
Big Losers:
- Chaos Lord on Manticore
- Exalted Hero of Chaos
- Chaos Spawn
- Fomoroid Crusher
- Raptoryx
The Exalted Hero of Chaos is basically a really good chaos warrior and not much else and with the random D6 attacks you can’t really rely on him. Chaos spawn are fun but unless you’re getting them for free, don’t waste the points. Raptoryx will go down easily, you’re better off taking Furies for only 10 points more. Finally, the Crusher is decent against units turtling in terrain but that is about it, way to situational to run in a normal army.
There you have it my take on the slaves to darkness book, overall, I am a very happy camper with the battletome (especially because I have had Archaon painted with little reason to use him) and what it includes. I think Hosts of Everchosen and a Daemon Prince led Despoilers might be the sub-factions to go with, but I am open to the others as well should the right list strike me.
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