Today we’re going to take a look at the new AoS Broken Realms armies and how to play Daughters of Khaine at 2000 Points.
The pandemic is not slowing things down in the mortal realms, and Morathi has been out for some time now. I am not going to go into the book’s story or lore because of spoilers, but it does introduce five new armies for you to play around with.
There are the Zainthar Kai (Daughters of Khaine), Misthaven and Har Kuron (Cities of Sigmar), Stormkeep (Stormcast Eternals), Idoneth Deepkin, and the Idolators (Slaves to Darkness). Let us dive into the changes these are bringing as well as build out some armies with these new traits.
Zainthar Kai Changes
*Note to any players that run Daughters of Khaine or Idoneth Deepkin, there are updates in this book to warscrolls that override what is in your current battletome
Zainthar Kai: This new army of Khaine is all also the snake ladies, lets break down the special army rules:
- Add 1 to Bravery of Melusai and Harpies units.
- 1 Additional hero in your army gets an artifact of power from the Daughters of Khaine Battletome
- Command Ability: Usable 1 per phase, target is friendly Melusai or Harpies unit wholly within 12” of a hero. That unit adds 1 to Attacks for all melee weapons until the end of the phase.
- General gains trait where at end of combat phase roll D6 for each enemy unit within 3”, on a 5+ that unit sufferers D3 mortal wounds.
Nothing amazing here, the bravery is a decent buff to have in your back pocket, the bonus artifact is always a solid choice, the command ability is pretty solid, and the general trait is an AOE that might do something but you’re not going to count on it consistently. Next, let’s look at model updates.
- First off Morathi-Khaine is way different now, where you put both models out at once. The bravery on both went down by 1 but other than the stats stayed the same. The weapons however changed on the snake model significantly. No longer is the gaze of shadow queen instant kill, instead, it’s an 18-inch missile attack that does D6 damage. The number of attacks for Heartrender went up as did the damage table of the envenomed tail. (No longer a D6 roll but the averages are better). Crown of Serpents is 2D6 attacks well instead of a flat 5 which is also on average a better stat.
- Rules-wise changes are that Morathi herself does not take damage instead everything goes onto the snake, when the snake is killed so too is her human form. Her unique spell got a different name and increased its range to 36”. The snake gained an ability that while it is in combat all Harpies and Meusai wholly within 18” add 1 to their melee weapons, she keeps her ability to only take 3 wounds a turn but she can no longer heal at all and loses her magic. Her cost is now 600 points.
- 3 Different battalions that you can play around with each around 140 points.
Aos Broken Realms – Daughters of Khaine Points:
So Morathi got a pretty big bump in points but being able to field both models at once with improved stats makes it well worth it. So, let’s build an army around her and our friends the snakes er… Melusai which happens to come in a nice start collecting bundle and buy two of those, then we will need to pick up a box of Blood Sisters to round out our battlelines.
- Morathi- Khaine: 210 Points, Leader 1 of 6, Unique
- Shadow Queen: 390 Points, Leader 2 of 6, Unique, Behemoth 1 of 4
- Bloodwrack Shrine: 210 Points, General, Leader 3 of 6, Behemoth 2 of 4
- Bloodwrack Medusa: 140 Points, Leader 4 of 6
- Slaughter Queen on Cauldron of Blood: 330 Points, Leader 5 of 6, Behemoth 3 of 4
- Hag Queen:100 Points, Leader 6 of 6
- Blood Sisters:140 Points, Battleline 1 of 3
- Blood Sisters: 140 Points, Battleline 2 of 3
- Blood Sisters: 140 Points, Battleline 3 of 3
- Avatar of Khaine: 140 Points, Behemoth 4 of 4
Total 1940 Points
Final Thoughts on How to Play Daughters of Khaine at 2000 Points
There is a nice, themed snake army, which is not terribly expensive (which we broke down here) when compared to a Witch Aelf themed daughter’s army. Given that Morathi is expensive but she is also your centerpiece model and takes up over 25% of your points. This is a magic-heavy army as well so you’re going to want to use those last 60 points in endless spells, but overall this army could hit pretty hard in the magic and melee phases. Where it will struggle is objective claiming as there is not a lot of bodies in this army.
Next, let’s dive into the new Cities of Sigmar army and see what these new armies bring to the table.
Cities of Sigmar Changes:
Misthaven:
- Must be from Ulgu
- Can set up a Shadowblade or privateer models unit of no more than 10 models in reserve for every Darkling cover, Freeguild, or Duardin unit already set up.
- 1 Hero may have a Misthavn narcotic and an additional hero may take one for every battalion you take.
- Command Ability Shadow Strike: Once per turn after setting up a reserve unit wholly within 12” of a Mishavn hero. It may move D6”
- Unique Relics, Narcotics, and Command Traits
Or you can choose to be the Har Kuron:
- No longer gets Ways of the Free Peoples Battletrait and must be composed of Darkling Covens, Order Serpentis, Scourge Privateers, or Shadowblades.
- Must be from Aqshy
- 1 in 4 units may be a Daughter of Khaine unit and it gains Cities of Sigmar and Har Kuron Keywords.
- You can pick 1 friendly priest to try the Incite to Murder prayer in your hero phase in addition to their other prayers.
- Command Ability: Use at the start of Battleshock Phase, Target 1 Friendly Har Kuron unit wholly within 12” of a friendly hero. 1 model in that unit is slain but all other friendly units wholly within 18” do not need to take battleshock tests.
- Unique command abilities, spells, and artifacts.
Cities of Sigmar Points:
For me, I want a mix of the two units and I like the abilities of the Har Kuron more than the Misthaven so I am going to pick that to be my Cities of Sigmar army. I also really like the battalion that comes in this book so I am going to build my army around that which consists of a Sorceress on Black Dragon, Dreadspears unit, and Darkshards unit. Then I am going to add the start collecting Anvilguard, a pair of assassins, and another 30 black arc corsairs to max out that unit. *If you can find a Drusa Krarth boxed set for this army that is a good deal, otherwise a lot of these models are older and not being used in modern AOS so the eBay market might be a good place to find them.* Your final army will look like this
- Sorceress on Black Dragon: 300 Points, Leader 1 of 6, becomes a unique hero in a battalion, Behemoth 1 of 4.
- Black Ark Fleetmaster: 60 Points, Leader 2 of 6, General
- Assassin: 80 Points, Leader 3 of 6
- Assassin: 80 Points, Leader 4 of 6
- 40 Dreadspears: 320 Points, Battleline 1 of 3
- 40 Dreadshards: 400 Points, Battleline 2 of 3
- 40 Black Ark Corsairs: 280 Points, Battleline 3 of 3
- 1 Scourgerunner Chariot: 80 Points
- 1 War Hydra: 170 Points, Behemoth 2 of 4
- Kraeth’s Shadowhost: 160 Points, Battalion (Dragon, Dreadspears, and Dreadshards)
Total 1930 points.
This is a lot of painting so if your not up for massive units then I would stay away from it, or build it so you bring in Morathi or something as a 1 in 4 characters. For me, this army is all about taking the objectives and holding them. You’re not going to outright beat anyone in any of the phases but that is ok as you have tons of bodies and can make your units immune to battleshock. Also, you can probably find a lot of old dark elf players looking to sell or trade their miniatures for pretty cheap, so this might be an army you can buy via a lot of sales.
There you have it the first two of five new armies that Morathi is bringing to the table with her new broken realms book. Next week we will round out the last three armies to finish off the book, until then get those minis painted!
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