This is probably the most excited I’ve been to play AOS in years. Flavour is back and Battle Chores are being completely rethought, so the next GHB is looking up already.

The Scourge of Ghyran rules that are being dripped out right now include some really bold updates to the game. GW are having a proper crack at this: giving some under-used units a much needed boost, yes, but also exploring new and interesting design space. Stormcast are switching off tap and go objectives. Cities can snipe out Manifestations on the turn you summon them. Every army is being allowed to break the game in its own personal way, and I’m fine with that.

It’s reminiscent of Mr Burns being diagnosed with every disease all at once, and none of them could get a foot hold – and you can’t argue with medical science.

So in the spirit of adventure, I’m pleased to report that the Gloomspite updates are absolutely bent sideways. So that’s our focus today: running you through the basics but also adding some nuance around using these units effectively. And we’ve got diagrams, baby!

You can catch the update here, so shall we get into it?

The Subfactions

Gitmob gets rend, which is all we ever asked for. You have to charge, but OK, I can live with that. The closest thing Gitmob has to their own hammer is a unit of 6 Snarlpack, and this is what you can expect from them on the charge with AOA:

That’s not bad for 200 points now.

Moonclan Grots meanwhile get objective-stealing bullshit. That’s what we’re here for! Get a single crooked yellow toenail on there and your whole unit is golden. A callback to the 3rd Ed rules where Stabbas could cap from 9″ away, but you do have to get that one model on there – I like this rule a lot. Remember that these units will always get +5 OC to a unit when you’re under the Bad Moon, too. I’ve always been big on MSU Moonclan and I’d say both Grot subfactions (old and new) have plenty of game. Big tick from me – this rule is unique, cool and powerful.

Spells

Bear in mind these rules are modular – you can pick and choose this Lore or the standard one from the book, regardless of whether or not you’re making use of the other new stuff in the pdf. I do like these new spells better overall, although it does lack a teleport, so you’ll want to strongly consider Forbidden Power as your Manifestation Lore if you take this one (and honestly, just in general. FP is great).

Bright Fright: Retreating everyone out is a nice pivot. Note that this does not allow you to retreat and charge – I’ve seen a lot of people mistakenly thinking you can get Kragnos (for example) out of a bogged-down combat and charge back in somewhere better, but that’s not the case. This is very much a “running away” thing. Let’s see what the new Battle Tactics bring but if your opponent has committed to killing a specific unit, with enough movement maybe you can reshuffle the pack and hide that one unit behind the others you retreat.

One little benefit is that you can get a unit out of combat then Rally it. So perhaps not as game-warping as it first looks (if you thought you could retreat and charge), but it will sometimes have play.

Gitspeed: If you don’t think an extra 2″ matters, ask your wife. Really opens up alpha-pinning bullshit with those already-fast chariots.

Gaze of Glareface: Sold! This is why I’m probably taking the Frazzlegit Lore. I will admit that I have a disproportionate contempt for shooting, but halving that range is a massive tipping point for messing with “Teleport and Bang” plays styles. Key units like Sentinels and Blissbarbs for example have 18″ base range, so if they are popping up outside 9″ away, they are shit outta luck.

A couple more notes:

• Can potentially combo well with the Frazzlegit Shaman and their Gimme All Da Light ability to create large no-shoot pockets.
• Remember Redeploy is a Run move. You’ll have times where turning off Redeploy will be enough to swing a game on its own.

So all in all, I think I’ll take this one about 7 times out of 10, but almost always with Forbidden Power. And as a final note – remember that Soulscream Bridge actually does allow Kragnos to hook out of combat and charge off somewhere else on your own turn.

Fanatics

Pour yourself a glass of wine, because it’s about to get emotional. Both of these warscrolls are fit for purpose at their points, and yet also capable of breaking the game in unexpected ways. On a bad day, they’re worth it, and on a good day they’ll win you games. They really are that good.

70 points for Sporesplattas? Um, OK. I reluctantly accept.

Let’s take a look at the scrolls, because it’s a bit of a journey.

Loonsmashas

They lose their Strike First and the attacks are levelled off at 3 instead of D6. But there’s a world of difference in how they pop out, and what they do after that.

1. They can start off the board – you don’t have to nominate a particular unit that they’re hiding in, just dump them into Reserve.
2. When they do pop up, that can be anywhere within 3″ of your Stabbas or Shootas. There’s no other restrictions, i.e. they can jump straight into combat and do it on either player’s turn.
3. After they jump out, they move 2D6 and can pass right over enemy units when they do so. They deliver D6 mortal damage to every unit they pass across in this way (a bit like a classic Endless Spell).

How this DOESN’T work

Like I said, this unit is a bit of a journey. The first thing people often say is that they’ll run loads of small units and pump out loads of D6 damage.

I’m afraid not. It’s a once per turn ability, so you’re only doing the thing with one unit. That one unit can potentially hit a lot of enemies, and do D6 to each of them, but you’re not pounding any given unit with D6 after D6 sadly.

The actual applications

Don’t worry though, they’re still great.

The first and most obvious use: Jump out, zip through, do a few mortals on your way past and hit a soft hero who was hiding in the back:

The Stabbas don’t even have to charge in themselves: they can just stand back, controlling the board and the objectives as they were born to do, and unleash the Fanatics. You’ll average 6.67 damage into a 3+ save without using AOA, or the same into a 2+ save with AOA, so there’s a good chance you’ll pop something useful:

This is a perfectly valid way to use them, but we’re just getting started. The important thing to note is that your Fanatics can spring up in combat – but they don’t have to. In fact: you don’t have to use the Fanatics as a combat unit at all. You can just skip merrily over to an objective they have vacated, and steal those VPs:

Fanatics get +5 OC under Da Moon, and we already know there will be Battle Tactics that revolve around holding terrain, so you can piss off and steal that too and deny their Battle Tactic:

So these new Fanatics might have lost their Strike First, but that extra movement gives you a powerful and flexible unit that breaks the core flow of the game by moving in your opponent’s charge phase – whether that’s into the fray, or scarpering off to steal the biscuits. Sneaky and unique, with loads of room for skill expression.

Sporesplattas

They’re less smashy, but they have three roles:

1. Debuffing enemy combat units. Yes Sporesplattas are supremely easy to ping off at range, but pure melee builds like S2D and IJ will be in all sorts of trouble. Don’t underestimate how much ground those 5x 32mm bases cover, too.
2. Tagging your opponent’s army. The skill-expression part, where you fuck with their plans and up-end the status quo at the end of the turn, bringing units into combat that had big plans for charging off and smashing your face in.
3. Being there. The hidden use: 70 points makes these units one of the cheapest in absolute terms in the game. Just having some empty bases that you can put on the table, with no rules on them at all, would be worth a few points. Dump them in a corner to zone out deep strikes, or put them on an objective so your opponent can’t teleport straight onto it and make them roll the 9″ charge.

So even if points 1 or 2 aren’t relevant in any given game, that cheap-ass points cost rescues them. The risk-reward stands up and I think they’re worth serious consideration in a competitive list.

Now let’s focus in on Point 2 above for a moment, because I think it’s the most interesting part. How I see the Sporesplattas being used is that you teleport them up the board to 9″ out, then move in at the end of the turn and tag stuff.

You’ll need a 7+ on 2D6 to get within combat range, which is basically a 60:40 chance. It’ll prevent combat units moving up the board, and force shooting units to pump their output into your throwaway unit rather than the good stuff. If you use it with the classic Gloomspite Horde battle formation, you can pile in an extra 3″ straight after, tag even more units and maybe ping out a couple of mortals too.

The timing is crucial here: the fact that you pseudo-charge in at the end of the turn means you don’t have to survive a round of combat (which these spuds never would). So that’s very elegant design and really makes them fit for purpose.

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One Final Kick in the Balls

If you’re planning on tagging people with Sporesplattas, please consider using the Nurgle Regiment of Renown too:

Grotmas Regiments of Renown: The Plastic Craic Review

Can you imagine the howls of nerd rage when your opponent wastes a turn killing 70 points of stupid Sporesplattas, only for them to morph into Nurglings instead and keep them locked down? I can, and it’s giving me a little green stiffy.

So that’s a wrap! I’m a big fan of all of these rules, especially the bullshit you can pull with Fanatics. I have a fair amount of experience with playing this army competitively myself, so I’ve written up a prototype list over on the Patreon which we can refine after the full GHB lands. Can’t wait!

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