Do you dream of dominating the tabletop to prove the superiority of your vision and prowess? The Lumineth Realm-lords would approve of your ambition. As with any new faction, there’s going to be a learning curve as you test the new aelven army out, but lucky for you Chuck Moore from Strength Hammer wants to show you how he built a competitive Lumineth army. Let’s see what he has to say.
Chuck: Hey, everyone! While I’ve fallen into a darker realm over the past few years with my love of the Daughters of Khaine, I was once a very passionate High Elf player back in the days of Warhammer Fantasy Battles, and the Lumineth Realm-lords have me very excited as two of the greatest heroes from the world-that-was are making their moves in the Mortal Realms.
I start every army list by immediately adding Archmage Teclis and The Light of Eltharion to my roster. Teclis is the greatest mage to ever live, and his unappreciated attempts to stop the End Times are more than enough for me to include him in any army. On top of this, the magical capability of Teclis is hard to ignore. Eltharion is also an easy choice for me with his ability to venture off and pin a unit, dealing out solid damage to whatever he comes in contact with during combat.
Before I get too deep into building my list, let’s take to look at what Great Nation your army will hail from. All of the Great Nations have some lore and rules that are worth looking into, but personally I found myself pulled toward Iliatha based on both their lore and abilities. I really like the flat +2 Bravery on my units as well as the command point-saving ability, Unity of Purpose.
I also enjoy the theme of units of clone twins fighting side by side in this Great Nation. This bit of lore also helps guide me to build in pairs of units as much as possible to maintain the army theme.The next step for me was to add some much-needed bodies to my roster in order to protect Teclis’ large base as well as capturing and holding objectives. For my first 2000 points of Lumineth, I am planning on keeping it simple with a few units of twenty Vanari Auralan Wardens and a few smaller units of Vanari Auralan Sentinels for some excellent ranged damage.
After that, I added a Scinari Cathallar and put all of them into the Auralan Legion warscroll battalion. The battalion’s ability to re-roll saves of 1 whenever two units from it are within 3” gives me a very survivable army when combined with the Protection of Teclis spell.
My remaining points are enough to add in the new Lumineth endless spell, Hyshian Twinstones, that I plan to quickly charge up by keeping it near Teclis as he casts his spells with impunity!
During my playtesting, I’ve also found the value of adding in Emerald Lifeswarm to keep my already-tough units fighting as close to full power as possible. After these spells have been selected, I’m left with 20 remaining points that I’m willing to sacrifice in hopes of gaining a triumph against my opponents!
While I feel comfortable with this roster as the first 2000 points into my Lumineth Realm-lords army, I do feel a bit of guilt for not fielding any of the more mountain-themed aelves. In order to remedy this, I’ve also worked on how to begin shifting my first list to include more Alarith units. This move does require me to sacrifice some of the bodies in my original list, but I gain some room for elite units.
By removing a total of twenty Vanari Auralan Wardens as well as dropping my two endless spells, I’m able to add in two units of Alarith Stoneguard and an Alarith Stonemage. I imagine they’re a small contingent from a mountain temple within the Great Nation of Iliatha, sent as ambassadors to my growing army to see if they’re worthy of the aid of a mighty Alarith Spirit of the Mountain – of course, I’m already planning on buying one!
I really love how the Lumineth Realm-lords capture the classic High Elf feel and turn up the volume, much like all of the other great army releases we’ve seen for the Age of Sigmar along this hobby journey.While I’m excited to get to gaming with the Lumineth, I’m even more excited to see how everyone paints these great models as they pop up on all my social media feeds. If the original overflow of Lumineth hobby that I saw when the Army Set was released is any indication, then the world is in for a treat when the entire range becomes available for purchase. I look forward to seeing what Teclis and the Lumineth Realm-lords do next for the betterment of the Mortal Realms!
Building an army list is always a fun and exciting way to get to know your army, but a little guidance never hurt anyone. Do you have an idea for a competitive build of your own? Head to the Warhammer Age of Sigmar Facebook page and tell us about it!
If you haven’t started building your own list yet, you should hop to it! You can pre-order most of these units already, and the rest will be on pre-order from this Saturday.