Congrats to Zak who just recorded a superlative 6-0 at AOS Worlds last weekend!

With Adepticon in the rear-view mirror and the warscroll rewrite imminent, we can look back on what were some interesting announcements for Age of Sigmar. On the one hand, if your interests include:

• Vague, tantalising hints of drip-fed rules that our system is desperately in need of; and
• Proxying entire factions from other systems as Cities of Sigmar

…then Adepticon was for YOU. If you’re not into that, well you’re probably feeling a little ‘whelmed’ (RIP Heathy 🙏🏼)

But here at Plastic Craic we live and breathe positivity, always finding the good in things; even manure is good for the garden (shoutout to Positive Pat for coining that one, I think?).

GW promised warscroll rewrites in that reveal and they’re starting from today with Skaven:

So like every other jackass with two thumbs and a social media account, we decided the world needed to hear our ideas, and we’re having a go today at upcycling a few units that are in desperate need of attention in our game. GW, feel free to kick up your heels, take a load off and upload these straight onto Warhammer Community. We gotchu boo.

Our Aims

One of the main complaints regarding AOS4 has been how linear and stale the game feels, primarily due to the tepid, shallow nature of the indices.  So the aims of this rewrite were:

• To add extra tools into armies that need them;
• To identify units that have fallen by the wayside (or never saw the spotlight at all) and give them a purpose;
• And to put some life back into list writing for factions.

So in that spirit, I’ve tried to capture the essence of a given piece and give it a unique feel, taking inspiration from earlier editions as well as a unit’s lore. Some will definitely need to go up in points as a result, because these are often weak rules that have been in a “race to the bottom” points-dropping cycle up until now.

Also – if you think any of these warscroll changes are broken or “too much”, I refer you to Be’lakor’s actual in-game rules.

All warscrolls sourced from https://www.ageofindex.com/ because frankly it’s a better website, and I can look at all of the rules.

I know what you’re thinking: “This is all great, but can you PLEASE show me a weird, qualitative Tier List?”

Before we go any further, I’d like to coin this the “3-2 Experience Tier List”. The premise here is to both generate clickbait from the ragefiles who skim articles and don’t read the context, and also to approximate the experience of your average 3-2 GT attendee: The higher up the list something is, the more oppressive the experience to play against for a mid-table maestro.

Like most tier lists, there’s a sweet spot. Top tiers in this list can feel soul-crushing to play against for the peleton, while the bottom tiers can just feel too vanilla. So this tier list was an important first step in identifying the armies that could be too linear to play with and against, and put a bit of zing in the salsa by framing some more powerful synergies and warscroll upgrades. Or to put it another way: the blander the army, the harder we can go on the refresh. In fact this whole exercise is intended as a flavour boost as much as an attempted power-level correction.

D for Debacle

The two Dwarf factions have their own special place in this tier list, sitting in D-Tier because D for Duardin. Don’t worry, in classic Bendigo fashion I have a bit of a rant about both of these armies at the end.

You might also note that Gargants did not make an appearance on this tier list for the sole reason of me not wanting to dredge up someone’s fluke of a Cancon performance¹.

Okay let’s go.

Da Rewrites

Gloomspite Gitz: Snarlfang Riders (Currently 100pts)

Whilst quite sexy in their own right, this unit misses the mark on what the army actually needs. Another light cavalry option in Gitz? What is this, a foot hero in Fyreslayers? With only 9 wounds per unit, they’re neither a serious threat nor an anvil – just another great Light Cav option in a category that was already stacked.

Gitmob needs a proper combat unit so let’s make the Snarlpack a bit more punchy, making those Pointy Skewas 4s and 4s and giving them rend 1, as well as giving the Giant Snarlfang Jaws Crit Mortal. We’ll also increase them to 4 wounds a piece². This unit would need to go up significantly in points as a result – however, giving Gitz a true heavy cavalry piece wouldn’t be a bad thing. Who knows, sales might even go up?

Also, Pat will try and tell you that this is already the best unit in the game.

Lumineth: Alarith Spirit of the Mountain (320pts) & Avelenor (410pts)

Has anyone actually seen a Cow in 4^th edition? To be consistent with GW’s adoration for all things Aelvish, and stay thematic to Lightning Fast Reactions: if they can fight with two units in a row, let’s give them two unit upgrades too. Poor languishing Aelves. 

So here’s what I’m proposing for STONEHEART SHOCKWAVE: When a Spirit of the Mountain smashes its worldhammer into the ground, it can direct the resulting shock wave at a nearby foe, hurling the enemy to its knees.

Declare: Pick an enemy unit in combat with it to be the target.

Effect: Roll a dice. On a 4+, the target has STRIKE-LAST for the rest of the turn. Add one to the roll if this unit did not charge.

So we’re removing the “If this unit did not charge this turn” from the Cows’ Declare step on Stoneheart Shockwave and (to use classic Lumineth terminology) “In Addition” we’ll also add into the Effect step “Add one to the roll if this unit did not charge.” So you get to attempt it every turn, but with a conditional bonus to maintain the anti-charge flavour.

Overall this gives the unit a lot more play; a Prized Beast that hits like a truck and can issue Strike Last is pretty intimidating.

Bull King Avalenor needs a bit of a touch up too. His Unshakeable Faith of The Mountains is a bit restrictive and only synergises with the Alarith Aelf units. And since it costs a CP, you can’t AoA or AoD Avalenor himself. So we’ll convert this into a Once per Game ability affecting all friendly LRL units Wholly Within 12″; that gives this army a bit more synergy and less discrimination between the different LRL factions.

DOK: Avatar of Khaine (140pts)

Another unit that has been neglected by 4^th Edition (and 3rd Ed, and… come to think of it, forever).

Let’s add in a rule allowing it to benefit from the Double Fight command ability All Out Slaughter, making this unit a lot scarier:

And while we’re here, we’ll give back its 5+ ward. And because this is Aelves, too much is never enough, so let’s add a Once Per Battle (Army) ability: Friendly DOK units wholly within 9” of this unit are considered to be in the next Battle Round for the purposes of the Blood Rite table. If it needs to go up in points a little to add in synergy, flavour and relevance, be our guest!

Cities of Sigmar: Freeguild Steelhelms (90pts) & Freeguild Cavaliers (160pts)

This is one of many warscrolls that could benefit from a minimum unit size of 20, giving Cities some board presence through chunks of 40 dudes that are decently tanky. Bump their points up accordingly and remove “On a 3+” from their Consecrate the Land ability, as there are already a few hoops for this unit to jump through.

Call me narrative, but this lore excerpt from the Freeguild Cavaliers demands representation on the tabletop: “Cavaliers know the wars they fight will not be decided in one glorious, shattering charge…In a tight wedge of muscle, horseflesh and metal, they drive their charge home, blades biting deep and steel-shod hooves lashing out to cave in faces and shatter skulls. The enemy howls in disarray as the Cavaliers burst through their formation – then wheel, weapons raised, for the fight to begin in earnest.”

Another Human unit in Cities that is worse than their soon-to-be-Old-World counterparts is the Freeguild Cavaliers. This unit is lacking a bit of an identity and feels very “samey” to the rest of the cavalry in the game. The solution? Give the Cavaliers a Once Per Turn (Army) ability that costs 1CP and allows them to charge again at the end of turn (even if it is in combat). And while doing so, they may pass through models with a lower Health characteristic less than their own.

What’s very exciting is that with the new SBGL release GW have already touched on some of these ideas. For example, SBGL’s Army of Renown has given Blood Knights the command Carve a Bloody Path, which lets them charge again after they have charged – rampaging into the enemy’s backline.

Ogors: Icebrow Hunter (120pts) & Ironguts (240pts)

You’d be hard pressed to find a worse, less relevant 120pt hero unit in the game. Currently the IBH has synergy, but only with the least efficient points-to-wound ratio model in the game. Let’s fix that. 

Add in an ability allowing this unit to pick an enemy unit that was targeted by all of this Hunter’s ranged attacks, and all friendly Ogors 18” within receive +1 charge against the target – and also add one to their Trampling Charge rolls³. This shines a spotlight on the Hunter’s lore, scouting ahead of the main pack and identifying prey for the main army to takedown.             

As for Ironguts – yes they are punchy, but they are also one of the squishiest hammers in the game at the moment, that 5+ save is just rude! The Ogor lore says that all vital organs are in their stomach, so they’re actually heavily armoured in the only place that counts – that’s the whole point of the gut plate.

I wouldn’t argue against a superior 4+ armour save, but we could also represent their toughness via an additional rule that makes them -1 to wound at all times, from both combat and shooting attacks. So simple, an Ogor player can use it.

Nighthaunt: Scriptor Mortis (120pts)

His ability sucks, requiring 2 dice rolls to do something that has no direct synergy with the rest of the army. 

Bump him up to 140pts, make him Priest (1) and give him the following prayer: “Choose a Sentenced unit. Roll a dice and on a 4+ Nighthaunt units add 1 to their hit roles when targeting that unit.” People have been asking ever since this model came out for it to be made a Priest so he has a bit of synergy, and at worst you’d at least get an extra Banish.

Maggotkin of Nurgle:  Spoilpox Scrivener (100pts)

He only buffs one niche unit. Bump him up to 120pts and replace the Plaguebearers keyword restriction from his ability with Daemon, and allow it to also effect Companion weapons.  Now you’re cooking.

Skaven: Doomwheel (120pts)

Skaven’s problem at the moment is that every unit faces the question “Is this better than 20 more Clanrats?” and the answer is normally “No”.

Give the Grinding Wheels Rend 1 and add in the rule (stolen from the Khorne Skullcannon) which lets this unit shoot in the combat phase after it slays a model in combat. Then for 120 points it can go fight a soft tactics-scorer unit. 

Khorne: Wrath Axe

Khorne’s Manifestations suck so much that people are allying in Wizards just to get access to a different Lore – what a fall from grace. The Wrath Axe does no damage compared to other Manifestations that are supposed to be punchy. Boost that melee profile to 8A/4/2/-2/D3 and watch it go.

Sylvaneth: Drycha (240pts)

Drycha is an iconic model within the Sylvaneth range and had an average warscroll in 3^rd edition that somehow, and quite impressively, got worse. So she’s due a few fixes.

• Add back Crit Mortals to both her Flitter Furies and Swarm of Squirmlings attack profiles
• Primal Terror: Pick a unit in combat with this unit to be the target, and on a 2+ it can’t use commands
• Song of Spite: Remove the Infantry stipulation from the Declare step

Disciples of Tzeentch: Tzaangor Enlightened (150pt & 90pts)

These units are so hopeless that they are potentially among the most irrelevant scrolls in the game. So let’s bump up their melee profiles to 3 attacks each and hitting on 3s. Make this elite combat unit actually do damage, maybe that’s worth a try?

Maybe then people will stop playing a million Horrors and double chicken? I did exactly that…. and went 3-0 at a one dayer and got the pleasure of tearing Pete’s beloved Bonesplitterz apart piece by piece, as well as tabling the recent winner of Vic GT⁴.

Idoneth Deepkin: Thralls (100pts)

This warscroll is drowning⁵ and hasn’t seen the light of day this entire edition.

Remove the ability Sweeping Blows and replace it with an ability that in your hero phase, this unit chooses either an offensive or defensive stance:

• Defensive stance grants this unit fight on death
• Offensive stance gives them +1 attack

This book already has SO much anti-monster with the Sharks and Turtle, so they don’t really need more of it. 

Ironjawz: Megaboss on Mawcrusha (360pts)

What a fall from grace! A once-threatening centrepiece of the Ironjawz army reduced to shitty rend 1 attacks on 4s to hit.

All weapon profiles should hit on 3s (with the same change for Gordrakk), and give the Maw-krusha’s Fists and Tail a base of Rend 2 on the profile. Additionally, change Destructive Bulk to 3D6 from 2D6, cos their base is so fucking huge.

Kruleboyz: Killaboss on Great Gnashtoof (170pts) & Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast (240pts)

The Gnashboss has special meme status for going down in points at every update in every edition. They were already as rarely seen as Gryph Hounds’ teeth when they were practically giving them away in late 3rd edition.

Let’s shake it up with something impactful. Change his All Part of Da Plan to a Once Per Turn (Army) In your Hero Phase ability. Choose a friendly Kruleboyz unit wholly within 12 of this unit to be the target, and either choose to add +1 to Dirty Trickz rolls for the target until the start of your next turn, or they are -1 to wound from attacks that target that them.

As for the Sludgeraker, GW ruined the only unit in this entire book that let Kruleboyz do any meaningful damage. GW have dogged the king of a small empire.

Just. Give. Him. The. +1. Damage. Back.

Seraphon: Oldblood on Carnosaur (290pts) & Scar Veteran on Carnosaur (230pts)

The poor old Carnosaurs – a model that is such an icon of the angry dino army. EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE would rather see big dinos that those fat fucking frogs in chairs. 

First off, in the Blood Frenzy rule, remove the first line. Just make it a plain old Strike First on a 3+, no more hoops to jump through.

Additionally, let’s rewrite that Spearhead of the Charge into a Once Per Turn (Army) Reaction to a friendly Saurus unit wholly within 12″ that declared a charge, allowing them to replace one of their charge roll dice with a 4.

Some good synergy for the army as well as a tricky combat piece, given that 2/3rds of the time it’s striking first.

For the Scar Veteran remove the Hero keyword from Maim and Tear in the declare step, and let it pop on a 4+. Bingo bongo … your unit is dead now.

Stormcast Eternals: Celestant Prime (340pts)

This model is so iconic and is literally wielding Sigmar’s personal hammer, and where has it been all edition? Sitting on garage shelves collecting dust. This unit has historically been a massive beat stick without much in the way of synergy for the rest of the army. 

Perhaps we could add in a new rule called Inspiration of Sigmar which would issue a Wholly 12″ aura of +1 to hit when this unit drops down from the Celestial Realm.

S2D: Darkoath Marauders (80pts) & Darkoath Savagers (100pts)

Darkoath came out, and it was bad, and always has been bad. So let’s double the cost of Marauders and make the unit size 20, while we allow Savagers to be reinforced. Simple and clean and it makes the Darkoath a bit more hordey – as they should be⁶. 

Rant about the crap state of Dwarf armies

Fyreslayers

Fyreslayers face a number of challenges, and whilst the models all look the same, that we can’t fix. The issue we could fix is how they move through the game: their playstyle is plagued with excessive levels of intricacy. There also are myriad opportunities to tie in the Fyreslayers’ mercenary nature to their Battle Traits, for example setting grudges at the start of the battle and gaining a bonus once complete (i.e. expanding out Doomseeker-style abilities army-wide).

Khadron Overlords

KO is just a challenging army to insert into a combat-focused game. They are inherently hard to balance, usually either dominating the meta or looking forlorn at the bottom and doing a whole lot of nothing.

The entire WinCon revolves around asking “Hey can you catch and kill a boat?” If you can, cool, you win – and if not you lose. Plenty of people have gone on record that they dread facing KO, played primarily by calculator-pushing geeks who salivate as they compute the average damage output of each unit in front of you.

KO often don’t even have the decency to shoot you off quickly so you can go to the bar, forcing you instead to sit through a 45-minute movement phase as they plot your desolation with millimeter precision, a forest of plastic measuring sticks and a barely-concealed stiffy. At the end of the day, shooting people and running away is a tedious premise and a horrendous play experience for anyone playing in this 3-2 bracket.

Over to you

So how would you fix Fyreslayers and KO? Please have a go and get back to me. Honestly, the issues facing both factions could go well beyond a couple of warscroll touch-ups, but couple of places you might start would be the Runeson on Magmadroth (260pts) and Codewright (80pts). So if you’ve got any ideas for how to fix these armies, I’m all ears.

Over and out.

~ Zak “Did I mention my 6-0 at Worlds last weekend?” Rockman

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1. I mean, that still counts as a mention, right? RESET THE CLOCK ~Pete ↩︎
2. One for each grot and two for the wolf. Currently that giant wolf has the same health as a miserable Grot, go figure 🤷‍♀️ ↩︎
3. I said what I said. 2+ D3 rolls are just sad for a main army rule ↩︎
4. FLEXXX 💪 ↩︎
5. You’d better believe that pun was intended ↩︎
6. Shoutout to Justin Clark – completely stole this from him, and I am not sorry about it ↩︎

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