With the new edition of Warhammer Age of Sigmar just days away from launching with the release of the massive Dominion boxed set, we’re checking in with four intrepid hobbyists who we challenged to start new armies.
The Path to Glory narrative play system in the new Core Book is the perfect way to begin a new force – you can start with as little as 600 points of units, and grow your army as you play games. Our four warlords chose their armies and set about building and painting starting forces, with varying degrees of success. Here’s how they’re getting on so far.
Gav – Idoneth Deepkin
When he’s not writing for Warhammer Community, Gav can often be found in a local aquarium trying to measure the sharks for saddles. It’s no surprise that he chose some underwater aelves for his new force.
Gav: Sometimes picking a new army is difficult, sometimes it’s easy, and sometimes you just fall in love at first sight. That’s what happened with the crab. Seeing Duinclaw from the Warhammer Underworlds warband Elathain’s Soulraid for the first time meant that I just had to go with the Idoneth Deepkin. Not only that but it gave my Path to Glory army a goal – to prove themselves worthy of the legendary crab.
With a faction selected, I read through Battletome: Idoneth Deepkin and became a little obsessed with the idea of really angry aelves living in the Realm of Fire. But what if there was an enclave that lived especially near to a series of underwater volcanoes? Maybe it would have an impact on their skin pigmentation. Hence, red aelves.
The easiest way to kick off a new army is with a Start Collecting! box (it’s not just a clever name). The Idoneth Deepkin one has some fast and deadly Morrsarr Guard, and a unit of Namarti Thralls to mop up anything that your eel-riding nobles leave standing. The Isharann Soulrender is a great unit in its own right, and can bring your Thralls back to life. What’s not to love? When it comes to aelves of all flavours, I always associate them with archers so I rounded out my starting army with a unit of Namarti Reavers to lay down some withering covering fire as the rest of the force advances.
Painting-wise, I used Blood Angels Red for the skin and added Martian Ironcrust to the bases to really give them that Aqshian feel. My Isharann Soulrender is clearly a typically arrogant aelf, and so wears golden armour (painted with Retributor Armour) into battle. One thing that I’m especially happy with is his fish, which is Aethermatic Blue over Grey Seer and gives an almost translucent look, almost like some real fish.
The Namarti Thralls kit is full of really cool accessories such as little fish and bits of coral for the bases of the models. I’ve decided not to use them yet as the warriors in that unit will have to earn the right to accessorise through performing heroic deeds over the course of the Path to Glory campaign.
For a starting territory, I selected the Wild Lands, less for the ability to add an extra Monster and more because it fitted in with my idea of an army of slightly feral aelves. Our first quest will be Search for the Artefact. Having some really cool stuff is bound to impress Duinclaw, right?
Laura – Gloomspite Gitz
Laura is an unstoppable force of kitbashing, whose creations delight and terrify all who see them. For her Path to Glory army, she turned her attention to an equally unstoppable force – some of the largest creatures available to the Gloomspite Gitz.
Laura: TROGGOTHS! I've never done a Destruction army before, and a new edition of Warhammer Age of Sigmar seemed a good point to try something new.
I've been working on a lot of Death-related models recently, from Ossiarch Bonereapers to Soulblight Gravelords, so I fancied the idea of having my Troggoths come from some gruesome part of Shyish – perhaps from a sickly, oily swamp that claims the souls of those who wander nearby, drawing the Troggs to feast upon their remains. Perhaps they're avatars of some dark offering in Kragnos' name, summoned into being by the sinister alchemy of human sacrifice and wanton destruction.
Either way, I knew I wanted my Troggoths to look creepy and slimy. I've done a quick test on some Fellwater Troggoths. I may amend this scheme as I go as currently, I think it looks a little flat – but I love how they look like they've recently emerged from some swampy morass. Next up is my Dankhold Troggboss, who I’ve merged with Crypt Horror bits, some creeping vines, and a lot of skulls to make it into a gross construct of Shyishan-flavoured destruction. Now to get some paint on it.
Martin – Soulblight Gravelords
Some sort of strange transformation has come over Martin since he started this challenge. He’s been eyeing up necks, steering clear of the light coming through the windows, and his morning coffee looks a bit… red. We’re sure it’s fine.
Martin: I was delighted to be invited to take part in this new take on the classic “Tale of Four Warlords” for Warhammer Community. I’m a massive fan of Warhammer Age of Sigmar, and so when the chance came along to delve into the latest edition with a new army, I bit their arm off.*
With the full range in front of me, and so many options for this new project, one sucked me in** more than the others: the new Soulblight Gravelords. The fantastic update to Warhammer’s classic vampire faction was too good to resist, and so I set to work summoning an army to walk the Path to Glory.
I started with my general. Of course, that should be a Vampire Lord, and the obvious choice was the amazing new model of the same name. She would be Mariana von Carstein, of the Kastelai Dynasty.
I wanted a theme for my force and decided on “the Dark Hunt”, a core of Vampires and Blood Knights supported by other creatures of the night, all fast-moving, which let me lean into the hunting idea. I started this month with the vampires.
The main feature of these models is their armour, so I had to get that right. I wanted a vibrant red like the artwork on the cover of Battletome: Soulblight Gravelords and decided on a metal basecoat with a couple of layers of Flesh Tearers Red to get the effect I wanted. Some rough edge work with Stormhost Silver added extra definition. With this done I’ll stick with more muted colours for the rest of the vampires, apart from their heads which will be almost white and ghostly, just like the artwork which inspired them.
I look forward to getting these finished in the coming weeks and adding more creatures of the night to the hunt!
Joel – Hedonites of Slaanesh
Joel practically paints armies in the time it takes other people to build a single kit, so he was eager to get started on a new force for this challenge. Almost too eager. Sort of excessively eager.
Joel: Having just finished a hobby project, I was excited to move on to something new for Warhammer Age of Sigmar, so this was an excellent opportunity to paint something a little bit different.
I decided that Hedonites of Slaanesh would be a great contrast to the Lumineth Realm-lords I’ve been painting. To further differentiate them I chose to have this new force hail from the lands of Ulgu, taking on traits from the Realm of Shadows.
For model choices, I wanted to run a Slaanesh army with a low model count, so I chose Sigvald to lead,*** alongside a unit of Myrmidesh Painbringers. I also love the Slaangor Fiendbloods miniatures, so I had to fit some of those in there.
When it came to painting them, I wanted them to be much darker than the usual Hedonites look, to fit into the Ulgu aesthetic, so I painted black armour and cloth, with the classic Slaanesh purples and greys as a secondary colour. I based them on snow to help them stand out a bit more on the tabletop.
I definitely have some ideas for what's next, but I'm very interested to see where the rest of this project will take me.
Thanks to all our hobby heroes. We’ll rejoin them soon to see how they’re getting on. In the meantime, you too can walk the Path to Glory – all it takes is a Start Collecting! box or a couple of units for your chosen faction. If you’re starting a new army for Warhammer Age of Sigmar, show us your progress on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Don’t forget that you can still pick up the epic Dominion boxed set and make sure that you join us for the online celebration of the new edition of Warhammer Age of Sigmar on Saturday.
* No arms were harmed in the making of this army.
** That’s enough vampire puns.
*** This technically breaks the Path to Glory rules, which stipulate no named characters, but the opportunity to see Joel paint Sigvald was too good to resist.