It’s a double battletome weekend on Saturday, when two stalwarts of devilish despoilment arrive for pre-order at the same time. The Beasts of Chaos bring brute strength and spectacular goatees, while the Gloomspite Gitz are more hopped up on puffballs than ever before.
This shared debut set the cogs turning among the lads at Battle Report, who figured it might be a wise – or at the very least, amusing – idea to pit these two factions against each other and see how they fared.
Head of Grot Relations Nick Bayton has taken a moment from forcing his squigs back into their cages to tell us all about his epic showdown with Beastlord Simon’s Beasts of Chaos.
Nick: This week is actually a tale of three new books! We're pitting a herd of the foul Beasts of Chaos against a cackling horde of Gloomspite Gitz – both of whom have a new battletome on the horizon – and playing a battleplan from the new General's Handbook too. That means this episode of Battle Report is a great new way to check out these new books for Warhammer Age of Sigmar, and catch an epic clash in the process!
Suffice to say, it was a brutal game! Simon – part-Bullgor already – took control of the Beasts of Chaos while I, being devious and cunning, claimed the Gloomspite Gitz. There were gruelling fights kicking off every battle round, and momentum ebbed and flowed in both directions. You won't be surprised to hear that at the end of the game, there were very few miniatures from either side left on the table.
As usual, the squigs were the real stars, with particular shoutout to my Squig Herd which – when powered up by the new Sguigboss and his Gnasha-squig – was an unstoppable force of insatiable hunger. Simon’s spell-munching Cygor put up a sterling performance, but in reality it was their really cool ambushing rules which stood out, with beastly herds coming on from all sides... it was a nightmare to deal with!
I can't reiterate enough how good squigs are in general now. They’re terrifying to face, with multiple ways to bounce right up in your grill very early on. The new Squigs Gone Wild ability that triggers when they fail a battleshock test makes them particularly dangerous to stray heroes.
The new General's Handbook was in play for this game too, which brings a host of new grand strategies and battle tactics, as well as objective-grinding Realmsphere magic, a new command ability, and unique Galletian enhancements. We explored all of these in the game, as well as playing a new battleplan called Only the Worthy, which pits heroes against heroes – it was really good fun!
We had an absolute blast playing the game and we really hope you enjoy watching it. A huge thanks to Martin for lending us his Gloomspite Gitz army, and to Steve for the gorgeous subterranean Gloomspite Gitz scenery.
Thanks Nick! Such a brutal scrap will surely get the blood flowing, so Citadel Colour Masterclass is on hand this week with an in-depth tutorial for painting realistic claret on your miniatures. Subscribe now to get this and much more from Warhammer+!
