The next chapter of the Nachmund saga has been revealed! In War Zone Nachmund: Rift War, Haarken Worldclaimer advances to claim the Nachmund Gauntlet for Abaddon. If he succeeds, he’ll cut the Imperium in two, plunging trillions of souls into darkness – and he’s not alone in his terrible quest. An array of factions are duking it out for dominance over Nachmund – Drukhari artists, Space Marine raiders, Chaos and Imperial Knights… and even the mutable sorcerers of the Thousand Sons Legion.
War Zone Nachmund: Rift War details this juicy narrative of desperate defenders and unholy opportunists in full, and it’s also stuffed with new rules for bringing the Rift War to the tabletop – including an Army of Renown that will have the ever-fluctuating followers of Tzeentch cawing in celebration.
Warpmeld Pacts are sorcerous warbands who see realspace as an imperfect reflection of the shapeless warp – and so they’ve come to the Nachmund Gauntlet, the galaxy’s most stable path through the Great Rift. These roving heretics exemplify change, using mutagenic powers and tricksy magics to create monstrous Chaos Spawn and worse.
These twisting energies are a clarion call for the Tzaangor, who poke their beaks out from the immaterium to join these mobile cabals in their droves. No longer bound by the Mere Servants rule, acolytes of Tzeentch in the 41st Millennium may now take armies comprised of vast flocks of Tzaangor, without the need for Magnus-mandated dusty boys. Such is their mutant savagery that Warpmeld Pacts can’t include VEHICLES, DAEMONS, or CULTISTS, have to use the Discipline of Change, and don’t receive the Brotherhood of Sorcerers ability.
In exchange, units of TZAANGOR – as well as CHAOS SPAWN and your psychic leaders – receive the Touched by Tzeentch rule. Phasing in and out of reality as they bound towards their foes, they receive a 5+ invulnerable save along with the ability to shrug off mortal wounds on a roll of a 5+.
The unpredictable rhythm of their stuttering strut also lets these units move up to 6” at the start of the first battle round. Plus, the new Strength of the Brayherd ability means that Tzaangor Shamans who are surrounded by a fiendish flock will generate extra Cabal points for all your ritualistic needs.
Avian appreciators rest assured, there’s even more in store for your feathered friends. Warpmeld Pacts have access to the Manipulator of Reality Warlord Trait, allowing your sorcerous leader to navigate the roiling whorls of the empyrean, and shuffle up to three friendly Tzaangor after deployment.
Spot a gap in your enemy's defences? Need to shore up your lines? You can fold your brutal birds out of reality and back into a new position, anywhere wholly within your deployment zone. You can even place these units into your Strategic Reserves without spending any additional Command points. Plans within plans!
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Thousand Sons army if you didn’t have a host of mind-bending Cabbalistic Rituals to perform. While invulnerable saves and their newfound resistance to mortal wounds already make them pretty tough, The Braychange renders your Tzaangor atrociously difficult to put down for good.
Not only do you get to roll an extra D6 on your Psychic test for a Blessing or Malediction, if you roll a 10 or more you can shape fresh mutants from the ether. Buff a nearby unit with Glamour of Tzeentch, and bolster them further by bringing back 2D3 Tzaangors – or D3 Tzaangor Enlightened – to keep the fight going. Adapt and overcome! Then adapt some more. Tzeentch likes that.
Shifty Stratagems also abound – there are seven in total, such as Ephemeral Existence, which bestows upon your Tzaangor the ability to flicker through obstacles as if they weren’t there.
This kind of occult trickery can turn a battlefield packed with immersive terrain into a playground for your beaked bad boys. It all culminates in a full army of shifty, hard-to-kill Tzaangor that swarm back to the battlefield like a flock of angry magpies, led by a coven of cabbalistic sorcerers.
If bending reality – and the rules* – sounds like your idea of fun, you’ll be happy to know there’s more in store for the Thousand Sons in War Zone Nachmund: Rift War. For example, what are these curious questants actually going to do with all that warp-junk they salvage from the Gauntlet? We’ll be back soon with more peeks at what you can find within this upcoming campaign book.
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* It’s what Tzeentch is all about! That, and turning folk into horrible bird-people.