Armies have been battling over the blighted tundras of Andtor for a while, and veterans of these spell-pocked battlefields are slowly but surely unpicking the tactics and strategies that make up the current state of play in the General’s Handbook: Pitched Battles 2023-24.
To ensure the future of matched play is challenging, balanced, and ever-compelling, the Warhammer Studio has today unfurled the second Battlescroll of the season. Here’s Matt from the Studio in a video that goes into most of the juicy changes in detail.
Get straight to business by downloading the Battlescroll below, and check out the FAQs and Downloads page to see whether your faction has received any additional errata.
Months of chasing down the puissant spellcasters of the Mortal Realms has hardened the Wizard-finders of Andtor, whose Magic Hunters ability now shields them from the effect of spells and endless spells that target them on a 5+. The new battle tactic Drain Their Power meanwhile gives armies that have eschewed the arcane arts an extra way of scoring – provided that a Hero with a Nullstone Adornment can contest an objective controlled by their opponent.
Melee mastery is still the order of the day in the Age of Sigmar, and various units have seen their melee range increased to 2” so they can better fight in two ranks. Gors, Tzaangors, Vanquishers, Vulkite Berzerkers, Bladegheist Revenants, Dreadscythe Harridans, and Glaivewraith Stalkers all benefit.
Alongside the usual expected points changes, there are a number of tweaks to faction-specific battle tactics – Flee-Flee! for Skaven, The Grasping Dead for Soulblight Gravelords, and Sneak Up and Dat’s Our Turf Now! for Orruk Warclans have all received minor changes.
Slann Starmasters of the Starborne variety have seen the thaumaturgical tide turn, as Lord of Celestial Resonance now only grants two cosmic power points for the first cast or unbind they perform each phase. Kroxigor pick up the slack by gaining an extra Wound.
For the Cities of Sigmar, the Alchemite Warforger’s Blazing Weapon spell has cooled down, and now only affects melee units, while the Null Myriad subfaction of the Ossiarch Bonereapers find their magical defences cracking slightly as their ability to ignore spells falls to a 4+.
The terrifying Bloodthirsty Shivers of the Fuethán enclave of the Idoneth Deepkin now only automatically wound on hit rolls of 6s, making their Akhelian Allopexes slightly less terrifying. The Eidolon of Mathlann in the Aspect of the Sea improves its Tsunami of Terror spell, which now reaches further and is guaranteed to hit three units, incentivising your melee armies.
Like charging? All three varieties of Maw-grunta now only lose points from Unstoppable Momentum at the end of the battle round, keeping these porcine wrecking balls up to speed.
Daemon Princes have received a sizable increase in their attack output, and that’s not all for Chaos. Khorne has had just about enough of Wizards, and Hatred of Sorcery now extends to friendly spells – still scope for some spellcasting shenanigans, but it’s now far less reliable.
After some recitals, the Sloppity Bilepiper has changed his My Love is Like a Ripe, Ripe Fart ability, which now affects hit rolls rather than pile-ins, to prevent some unwanted negative play.
There are a handful of other changes to be found, and as ever, the document is capped off with substantial points changes – both up and down – for most factions, aiming to tweak internal balance, incentivise new builds, and balance the playing field further.
An earlier version of this article alleged that Blue and Brimstone Horrors would become Battleline for Disciples of Tzeentch. This was in error – they’ve had their points lowered, but they didn’t become Battleline in the end. The Changer of the Ways is as tricksy as ever!