In the Age of Myth, when gods walked the realms alongside mortals, the duardin deity Grimnir met his end in an epic confrontation with Vulcatrix, the Mother of Salamanders. In the pyroclastic explosion that followed their mutual destruction, Grimnir’s divine soul was dispersed across the eight realms, cooling and coalescing into a potent magical material known as ur-gold.
The duardin who once followed the Berserker God still dedicate themselves to his memory. They are the Fyreslayers – an entire civilisation of warrior-cults, organised into great clan-lodges who scour the lands for fragments of ur-gold, aiming to amass enough to free Grimnir’s trapped spirit.
Their Zharrgrim forge-priests work ur-gold into runes of power, which are embedded into the flesh of their kin to protect them on their quest to gather more divine metal. Once awakened, these runes channel the might of Grimnir and the fire of Vulcatrix, whipping the Fyreslayers into a berserk rage that lights their eyes and smoulders their skin.
Separated from their distant cousins amongst the Kharadron Overlords and Dispossessed exiles by religious fervour and fiery determination, the Fyreslayers nevertheless throw their lot in with the rest of the forces of Order, standing shoulder to shoulder with Sigmar’s forces and their allies… typically for an ur-gold fee.
Overview
Fyreslayers are among the most fearsome warriors in the Mortal Realms, inheritors of a grand martial legacy from a belligerent god. The first of their lodges were formed when Grimnir still walked the realms, and many in the Age of Sigmar directly descend from these legendary holdfasts. Most lodges build their magmaholds into a natural source of heat and geomantic energy, often a volcano. These are ruled by a single absolute monarch – a Runefather or Fyrequeen – with authority passing down through their favoured children.
Each lodge hosts a forge-temple managed by the Zharrgrim priesthood. These solemn figures have a variety of responsibilities, including assessing and smelting ur-gold, crafting runes, and ensuring that the rites of death are followed according to Fyreslayer tradition. Most lodges also maintain a magmadroth hatchery – these terrible fire-lizards are the offspring of the Ur-Drake, harnessed by Fyreslayers for their power and sacred significance. The Fyreslayers’ relationship with these creatures is complex – as pragmatic as it is symbolic. With their armoured hides and fire breath they are a great strategic asset, while their existence acts as a living link to their father’s death, a testament to his final challenge and worthiest foe. Nevertheless, they are proud creatures and do not surrender to be tamed without a struggle.
Lodges are organised into fyrds, each a battle host linked by familial bonds that are further strengthened as they campaign as mercenaries or seek out incalculably precious veins of ur-gold. They fight with a passion born of their fiery lineage, charging into the heat of battle in a berserk rage that honours their dead god.
Battle Traits
When the Fyreslayers do battle, the latent energies with the runes embedded in their flesh are unleashed, imbuing them with berzerker strength. They have five potent UR-GOLD RUNE abilities, each of which is available to use once per battle, right when you need it. This kind of power comes at a cost, so you can only use one per battle round.
The Rune of Fury allows your doughty duardin to strike down charging foes before they can fight, making it perfect for any turn where you suspect your foe is about to go on the offensive. The Rune of Fiery Determination empowers the Fyreslayers’ defensive capabilities by granting a WARD (5+).
The Rune of Relentless Zeal is more aggressive, helping your army sprint directly towards trouble and objectives, while the Rune of Searing Heat lays down the pain once they’re in combat. The Rune of Farsight ensures that distance is no defence, as your duardin unsling their throwing axes to pelt the enemy.
Battle Formations
While each lodge has its own favoured tactics, each fyrd can specialise in a variety of warrior ways. A Warrior Kinband assembles Berserk Kindred who fight with particularly fearsome zeal, adding 1 to wound rolls for INFANTRY which charged that turn.
Other battle formations can make your MAGMADROTHS more resilient, enhance the objective-capturing prowess of your HEROES, or reinforce your territory by shaping barricades of molten stone.
Arcana and Incantations
All knowledge of arcane runecraft in the Fyreslayer lodges is held by the Zharrgrim. Their mastery of elemental flame and ur-gold runes make them formidable in battle, invoking Grimnir’s blessings through war chants that draw on the power of their dead god.
The Prayer of Ash has a chanting value of 4 and lays a protective blessing on a nearby unit for that turn, allowing you to shroud your lightly-armoured duardin. On an 8+, this divine barrier also blunts incoming blows, applying -1 to Rend. With the UNLIMITED keyword, you will be able to summon multiple ashen barriers to protect your Fyreslayers as they march into combat.
Unit Focus
An Auric Runefather on Magmadroth is a sight to behold, a lodge leader with the fury of Grimnir burning in his veins.
These Warrior-Kings can inspire their allies once per battle, granting an extra attack to all melee weapons for Fyreslayers wholly within 12”. The Volcanic Blood of their steed will give pause to even the most skilled monster hunter, while the Raging Inferno of its presence is so blisteringly hot that enemy armour will buckle and give way on a roll of 3+.
Auric Runemasters offer a subtler but no less imposing power, for they specialise in tapping into the power of ur-gold. Each one is a High Priest of the Zharrgrim with the ability to chant two prayers per turn, and each answered prayer generates a magmic power token.
When you trigger one of the UR-GOLD RUNE abilities granted by your battle traits, this Master of the Runes can harness their stocked divine power, spending three tokens to empower that ability even further and awaken the Fyreslayers to their maximum potential. Keep in mind that in the new rules, units cannot be affected by the same passive or persistent effect more than once at a time, so these effects do not stack.
All Fyreslayers are mighty fighters, but few can hold a candle to the Hearthguard Berzerkers, the elite bodyguard who protect the magmahold’s royal family – a responsibility that is their Duty Unto Death, granting a WARD (5+) to both the Berzerkers and their ward.
Those who wield two-handed berzerker broadaxes can handily split a rampaging ogor in twain, and if some villain manages to wound their charge, the Fires of Vengeance will burn hot in their veins, causing them to strike with even more fury.
Zharrgrim don’t restrict themselves to simply bolstering and protecting their allies with their chants and prayers. If times are particularly dire, they can summon a Molten Infernoth to turn the tide of battle.
These elemental manifestations personify the incandescent wrath of Vulcatrix and wade through solid earth in a trail of bubbling magma. They disrupt formations and melt flesh with torrents of lava, leaving their foes Flamescarred and vulnerable to follow-up attacks.
The Word from the Studio
John: “The key playstyle of the Fyreslayers has been preserved in the new edition – doughty duardin who hurl themselves across the battlefield, blazing with power and drinking deep of their god's divinity at the right moment to carry them to a confident victory. As a result, Fyreslayers have now been granted complete control over their extremely potent runes.
“This grants the Fyreslayer commander the ability to fully exploit the deadly divinity locked away within each Fyreslayer's body. Not only that, but the Auric Runemaster can enhance each effect for a truly awe-inspiring turn, provided they have built up the power beforehand. It is a good year to be a scion of Grimnir!”
Spearhead Spotlight
Every Fyreslayer longs for their name to be remembered in the legends of their lodge. A Saga Axeband is formed of hot-headed duardin who lost patience while waiting for a battle to find them, and have set out to find one on their own. Four bands of five Vulkite Berzerkers are accompanied by a Battlesmith bard who observes their deeds, protected by five Hearthguard Berzerkers. Each battle round, they can Awaken the Runes. They can even draw out an enhanced effect with a bit of luck.
Even though the Vulkite Berzerkers in the Saga Axeband are eager to run headlong into the jaws of danger, the Battlesmith accompanying them ensures that these indignant warriors can earn a death worth recording in the legends of the lodge, shielding them from lesser foes with the Icon of Grimnir.
In the next Faction Focus article, we’re going to cool off by taking a plunge into the abyssopelagic depths of the oceans of the Mortal Realms, and meet the merciless Idoneth Deepkin.
