The malevolent being known as Be’lakor, the first and greatest of Daemon Princes, recently made an appearance as one of the main characters in the Broken Realms series. Our events expert, Steve, reached out to a pair of tournament stalwarts from the UK, James Tinsdale and Michael Wilson, to see what they think about the Legion of the First Prince and their new allegiance abilities, and also if the changes to the Nighthaunt have given them legs (from a matched play perspective, naturally).
Steve: Thanks for joining us. Why don’t you both introduce yourselves and tell us a bit about your history with the game?
James: It feels like I’ve only been playing Warhammer Age of Sigmar for a long minute. From the moment I stepped into my local Games Workshop store in Liverpool and grabbed a set of Crypt Ghouls to becoming Grand Champion at Warhammer World, my hobby journey has been both mesmerising and unforgettable.
Over the past few years, I’ve been getting deeper into painting, playing, and reading as much as I could about Warhammer Age of Sigmar. I’ve been privileged enough to appear on Warhammer TV, compete at events all across the country with multiple different armies, and take in the vast range of experiences the hobby has to offer.
Michael: I’ve been playing Warhammer since its fifth edition – I was reeled in by a combination of the Bretonnians in the starter set and a friend introducing me to the game, and I’ve been hooked ever since. Since then I’ve played quite a bit of Warhammer Fantasy Battles and Warhammer 40,000, but I’ve been drawn into Warhammer Age of Sigmar by the fantastic open setting that it has and the amazing community around it.
When the first General’s Handbook came out, I became a regular tournament player with our group of gamers down in Dorset, and I’ve become known for doing pretty well with my Disciples of Tzeentch and Hedonites of Slaanesh armies. Now I’m lucky enough to be part of the playtest team, which is a great opportunity.
Steve: I’ve been enjoying the Broken Realms story, and now that Be'lakor has turned up, things have really taken a turn for the worse for the forces of Order. I definitely want to start this article with him. He’s obviously got an amazing new model, but how has he changed from a gamer’s perspective. Is he still the powerhouse that we saw before this update?
James: Be’lakor has always brought a strong identity to Chaos. Players who have always enjoyed his character will no doubt be amazed to see the new model. The studio team did a great job increasing his board presence by raising his Wounds, Movement, and combat prowess while still retaining his iconic trait, The Dark Master.
Michael: The best way to describe Be’lakor now is an upscaled version of his old warscroll. As James said, he’s now quicker, tougher, and has more attacks, while keeping all the old rules that made him such a common inclusion in a lot of Chaos lists. The Dark Master ability has slightly changed, so you now choose the unit to be affected. When used at the right time you can completely shut down your opponent’s most powerful unit, putting them on the back foot.
James: It actually feels like you’re controlling the opponent’s decisions when you roll the 3+ for The Dark Master ability. You can really toy with their emotions, just like Be’lakor does in the story. His matched play cost remains under 400 points as well, so fittingly he can be allied into any existing force as well as command his own legion at a reasonable cost.
Steve: How do you see the new Legion of the First Prince allegiance abilities working? It looks like there are some interesting options for creating a mixed daemon list, with the potential to get new units every turn!
James: The Legion of the First Prince does a great job of defining Be’lakor’s role within lists, and enabling some great hobby. Be’lakor gains additional durability while allowing you to field multiple mixed daemon units under his banner. All are welcome, from Horrors of Tzeentch to Plaguebearers, Bloodletters to Daemonettes. Be’lakor, as you expect, becomes extremely potent within his legion.
Michael: The Legion of the First Prince allegiance allows you to make Be’lakor even better by giving him a 6+ save, along with other daemons. Additionally, you can pass wounds on to nearby daemons. You also have a chance to summon fresh daemonic units each turn, based on the Hero’s affiliation (a command trait makes this more reliable), which allows you to swamp the board with daemons to dominate the objectives game.
Steve: As a longtime Chaos player, I’m excited to see what sort of lists can be built using these new rules. Can either of you show off a list you like and give a brief description of why you consider it to be effective?
Michael: The list I’d use for a Legion of the First Prince army is based around Nurgle and Tzeentch units, making use of some of the new Nurgle options in Broken Realms: Teclis.
Michael: The idea behind this army is to have survivable units to hold the line. Pink Horrors and Plaguebearers are exceptionally good at this. I’ve also included two big monsters to wreak havoc with the enemy’s battle plans. The Verminlord Corruptor has up to ten attacks with his plaguereapers, so he’s a great candidate for the Fourfold Blade artefact.
On a 6 to hit, he inflicts an extra mortal wound due to his Plaguereapers rule. With this and his command ability, Lord of Pestilence, which allows him to re-roll hits, he’s devastating against units with a good armour save.
The Exalted Flamers in the list give you a little bit of shooting with Rend, allowing you to weaken any minor Heroes or units, so the Plaguebearers – with support from the Sloppity Bilepiper and Spoilpox Scrivener – can hold onto objectives and grind their way through anything that attacks them. Be’lakor allows you to summon any unit of lesser daemons with the Unyielding Legions allegiance ability, allowing you to choose what you need at any particular time.
In Hero missions, Be’lakor becomes king with Shadow Form ability, and his own units soaking up wounds for him. He can be really hard to push off an objective, allowing you to safeguard one to concentrate on taking the others.
Steve: Although Be’lakor is our main protagonist in the new Broken Realms book, Chaos isn't the only Grand Alliance to receive some attention. I imagine that all the Nighthaunt players will be excited to try out new allegiance abilities. Have the updates changed the competitive perspective on the army? At first glance, The Sorrowmourn Choir looks to boost Lady Olynder’s survivability...
James: The Nighthaunt are one of my favourite ranges in Warhammer Age of Sigmar. My own force has a very visceral identity of a violent and tormented army. They even received a painting nomination at Warhammer World. The queen of my collection is, of course, Lady Olynder. In Broken Realms: Be’lakor, she receives great support from The Sorrowmourn Choir warscroll battalion.
With the updated warscroll for Dreadscythe Harridans, you now have a very thematic unit that can provide a bodyguard for Lady Olynder using the Eternal Handmaidens rule.
Combine this with the fantastic new Hero, the Krulghast Cruciator, and his Empowering Excruciation ability, it’s now much more likely the Mortarch of Grief will live long into the night!
These changes now provide additional options to the Nighthaunt battletome that should give tournament players an opportunity for a little more variation and to explore more allegiances.
My list uses the Reikenor’s Condemned warscroll battalion, which allows the Nighthaunt to have a lot more mobility as it has more generals (one of which is a little harder to kill with 8 Wounds). The Corpse Candle is quite a fun artefact, although it can be a challenge to use well.
Michael: The Nighthaunt are another one of the armies I really enjoy playing, and this book has given them some fantastic options with two Nighthaunt Processions. My favourite of these is the Emerald Host. This allows Hexwraiths to gain attacks when they charge, plus they also become a fantastic bodyguard for your general.
Keeping your general on the board is important because it means they can keep using the Spectral Summons ability to get your units where they need to be. The Emerald Host also has a fantastic ability called the Emerald Curse which makes it so much easier to take down a vital Hero.
The Sorrowmourn Choir is also great for people who are fans of Lady Olynder, as it gives her a way to pass off wounds. She also counts as an extra general, which allows you to keep the ever-handy Dreadblade Harrow as a general. That means you have two generals to teleport units, so you can change the focus of your attack in an instant.
Steve: Seraphon are considered to be one of the most competitive armies since the new battletome dropped. They receive a new Thunder Lizard warscroll battalion, but more intriguing is the new range of bound endless spells. I’m sure there must be some fun new uses for these…
Michael: I think the Bound Shards of Valagharr could be an underrated choice. The ability to halve an enemy’s movement can be very strong, particularly if there’s no danger of it being used against you, and ensnared units also subtract 1 from any hit rolls they make. This allows the Seraphon player to outmanoeuvre their opponent by slowing them down and also weakening their combat potential.
It looks like the Broken Realms books are once again making big waves for both the narrative of the Mortal Realms and the competitive tournament scene. We’d like to thank James and Michael for helping us break down the new book.
Did this instalment of Metawatch give you some new ideas? Did you catch some killer combos you want to try out? Share them with us on the Warhammer Age of Sigmar Facebook page.