AoS: Plan for Battle – The Duality of Death
Duality of Death is one of the weirder Battleplans in AoS. It’s a chance to bring the big guns though…
GW is continuing their series on Age of Sigmar Battleplans. Today we’ve got a look at the Duality of Death battleplan, which they point out is one of the more unusual ones. It has a curtailed deployment zone, and more importantly, it’s a scenario where only Heroes and Behemoths can capture objectives. And capturing objectives makes you stronger–so you’ll want to be able to both take an objective and hold it against your enemy’s assaults, while also pushing your enemy off of an objective they might be controlling.
This scenario promotes a lot of action, and has its own sort of metagame in the middle of it. What does your army focus more on, attack or defense–how long can you control an objective, who’s going to come away with Play of the Game, Tracer again, probably, but it could be Zarya if she gets a well-timed gravity bomb off.
Er, sorry, forgot what game I was talking about there for a second. But this battleplan does remind me of a few competitive video game type scenarios in the best way. So let’s dive in and see what GW has to say.
GW sat down with Russ “The Face” Veal to get some insights into the Duality of Death (which is also, I am sure, some kind of Metal album, if not a band).
Key points to consider:
- Only Heroes and Behemoths can capture objectives in this scenario
- Non-Behemoth Heroes heal when they score points in this scenario
- These units only claim an objective when you end a move within 3” of an uncontested objective, or by killing the enemy model holding the objective and being within 3″ of the objective.
- The longer you stay on the objective the more points you score.
- You cannot capture an objective while retreating.
- A set up is not a move, so you cannot use Lightning Chariot or similar abilities to capture objectives.
- Your territory is only the area you can deploy in and most of the table is neutral (this is important for abilities which work “in your territory”).
Getting the choice of first or second turn, having the right models to capture the objectives and being prepared to take board position early will really help you in this scenario. If you have an army with lots of 5 and 6 Wound infantry Heroes, this will be a tough battleplan for you, but there are ways around this! Your opponent’s army might have a superior range threat or a way to kill your Heroes early, so keep your scoring models alive and kill your opponents! Sounds easy, right?
Plan 1 – Here I am! Come and ‘ave a go!
If you can take turn 1, and have a high wound, flying or fast moving Hero or Behemoth with a decent save in position to claim an objective turn 1, then this is a move which can win you the game early on! Throwing your Stardrake with mirror shield onto an objective, with a screen of Liberators dropping from the sky to surround it, will provide a tough nut to crack for any army; not only are you resilient to shooting due to the mirror shield and most likely Staunch Defender, but you’re also screened from any combat threat.
Be wary of armies which have a way to deal with your character at range, especially mortal wound output, like a Lord of Change’s Infernal Gateway. Some abilities can move your model away from the objective, such as the Slaughterpriest’s Blood Bind prayer. When you move to take the objective, ensure to be mindful of these abilities and stay outside of threat range.
Plan 2 – Alpha Strike!
Maybe your army can just kill all the enemy characters before they can earn any points or claim a single objective point; if you do this it’s game over!
Kharadron Overlords Barak-Zilfin armies are deadly at this; usually, they can dictate the turn, drop in with Aetherspheric Endrins in turn 1, bail out and lay down a hail of fire killing all the enemy scoring units to win. Remember they have to move to claim an objective. However, a canny Overlord could simply deploy the Ironclad (maybe redeploy with Fleetmaster) then use their once-a-game hero phase move before bailing out and getting within range to eliminate the heroes.
Plan 3 – Bait and Smash
Let them take the objective and then simply kill the scoring models, claim the objectives and, if you have the first double turn, end up on 6 points to 2 with your scoring units in a great position. This can be a bit risky, as unless it’s your scoring unit that kills the opponent’s, you need to move your Hero or Behemoth in after the model has been killed.
Plan 4 – Chain Gang
Another strategy is setting up reserve fighters ready to take position if the enemy kills your scoring units. You can patiently place Heroes outside of range, ready to move or run in, and use your other units to surround and block the objectives. This relies on your earning points bit by bit, this is very hard against someone who has a lot of mobile ranged threat, but you might be forced into this play style by nature of your army selection. I have used this strategy with my Bloodbound, as I usually have 6 Heroes this gives me plenty of options to score with.
Plan 5 – Change in Management
This is a bit of a strange one, but it’s so powerful it needs its own section. It relies on having The Changeling in your army. This unit is amazing in this battleplan, as it can deploy hidden but still scores as your model – remember you cannot deploy this guy outside the enemy territory, so if they can block it from an objective turn 1 to foil this strategy. But remember, it can also slow down enemy scoring units with Puckish Misdirection to stop them being able to reach an objective.
Don’t get caught out by using a setup or special deployment to take the objective, as this does not count as a move. Plan your deployment around the scoring unit movement, and try to deploy ranged units so they can threaten any unit taking up position early if you can’t take the first turn.
And that’s how you Duality of Death in the pale moonlight.
