After a season spent battling in the claustrophobic tunnels of Gallet, the veterans who once ruled those subterranean skirmishes have retreated to lick their wounds. As the armies of the Mortal Realms march across the Splintered Land once more, it now falls to bold heroes to inspire their allies in a new General’s Handbook for 2023.
General’s Handbook Pitched Battles 2022-23 Season 2 will shake up the landscape in matched play, as GALLETIAN CHAMPIONS are taking charge on the front lines. This new keyword applies to all unmounted HEROES with a Wounds characteristic of less than 10 – including the likes of swift High Gladiatrixes, fungus-brained Loonbosses, or savage Beastlords.*
These champions have discovered The Key to Victory, which, it turns out, involves not getting shot full of arrows. In game terms, as long as GALLETIAN CHAMPIONS are within 1” of a friendly Battleline unit, they cannot be targeted by enemy missile attacks. Aim those crossbows elsewhere, lads – no sniping today.
Waging war in the hypogean gloom beneath the Realm of Beasts has sharpened their reactions. If you’re taking the second turn in a battle round, one of your GALLETIAN CHAMPIONS may take a Desperate Action, allowing them to perform two heroic actions instead of one.
Fittingly, there are two new Heroic Actions to choose from this season. Strike at the Opening lets a GALLETIAN CHAMPION fight in the hero phase – turning the tide by striking at a weakened or overeager foe. You can’t use it to fight twice in the hero phase, however, and that champion suffers the strike-last effect for the rest of the turn.**
They can combo this with Lead By Example, and command their Sworn Bodyguard to fight alongside them in the hero phase – with the same restrictions. This vicious one-two punch gives you a chance to neutralise an out-of-position threat before you even think about moving or shooting with the rest of your army.
So what is a Sworn Bodyguard? They’re part of one of the Galletian Command – one of three new core battalions this season. This battalion pairs a GALLETIAN CHAMPION with a single unit of infantry, such as an Arch-Revenant and a loyal band of Tree-Revenants.
This team-up not only unlocks the Lead By Example heroic action, it provides them with the United in Purpose ability, which allows your champion and their bodyguard to fight in an unbroken chain in the combat phase if they are wholly within 6” of each other, keeping your foes from fighting free.
These new options unlock fresh tactics and opportunities for devious generals, but they’re just the start. The General’s Handbook also includes a Realm spell for punishing units camping out on objectives, a new command ability to trade piling in for extra attacks, and a stockpile of artefacts and unique Aspect of the Champion enhancements reserved for GALLETIAN CHAMPIONS.
Grand strategies, battle tactics, and battleplans have also received updates. Half of each roster*** are returning favourites from Season 1, while the other half are new arrivals, with their focus set firmly on GALLETIAN CHAMPIONS. Be sure to muster your heroes!
You can tuck into all the juicy details early next year, while the Warhammer Studio will discuss these changes in the next edition of Metawatch – make sure not to miss it by signing up for the newsletter.
* Unique characters also don’t count – sorry, Drekki.
** That means Prince Vhordrai can’t command his Wight Kings to fight twice in the hero phase!
*** There are a total of 12 battleplans, six grand strategies, and eight battle tactics.