Idoneth Deepkin: Battletome First Impressions
We have the Idoneth Deepkin Battletome in hand and we’re scouring through it’s pages to learn all we can. But in the meantime, we thought we’d share some of the first few tidbits that caught our eye. Behold the secrets of the Deep!
Table of Contents
Let’s start with the basics – the Table of Contents. This is a brand new army with a ton of lore to chew on PLUS a plethora of new units as well. Oh and lets not discount all the rules that go along with the army as well; those Enclaves are where it’s at!
Why Do They Fight?
The Deepkin are raiders from the sea who are after souls. Why do they need souls? Because many of their kind have ‘withered souls’ due to how their race was created. But they have perfected the art of spirit-theft and they aren’t afraid to use it. There seems to be a “hole in their soul” and they aren’t afraid to fill it with bits and pieces from others.
Traveling Around The Realms
There are seven major Whirlways that are harnessed by the Idoneth Deepkin with other minor ones that make up a connective “Web” they travel. It’s pretty convenient that these are all basically buried underwater and are pretty impossible to get to with out magical means. Or an army of SCUBA certified divers. No wonder Chaos never used these gates to invade other realms. Who needs the Realmgates when you have these, amirite!?
What Brought Them From Below?
Blame Nagash. After a LONG time hidden, they can’t ignore the Necroquake that Nagash has unleashed. It’s almost like those Malign Portents had something to do with it. But, as we discovered from one of the stories, there has apparently been a secret alliance with the forces of Sigmar for sometime. I guess things are looking pretty bad when you have to call up the “terrors from the deep who steal souls” to bail you out.
Who Leads Them?
Say hello to High King Volturnos. He definitely doesn’t take after another Aelf-ish Hero who is good with VECTors. Anyhow, he’s got a powerful magical sword named “Astra Solus” which somehow translates* into “Blade of Light” and a magical shield named “Cealith.” Look, any hero that has a named sword AND shield is gonna be a pretty amazing, right? Well he also rides on a named Deepmare – Uasall! Yeah – this guy has a name for ALL his cool stuff. No wonder he’s the boss!
How About Their Rules?
Forgotten Nightmares is pretty mean! It’s basically the 40k character targeting rules, but for all the models in your army! Until you remember that shooting isn’t quite as prevalent in Age of Sigmar as it in 40k. At the same time, it’s got to prevent their heroes from getting sniped and it messes with armies that rely on ranged weapons. That’s good because this army wants to get in your face and give you the beatdown in melee. Tide of Death is their OTHER ability that uses the Tide Chart:
Joking aside, there is a lot of really cool new lore to explore. Some of it has been pretty snicker inducing, but we’ve also been getting our minds blown by some of the stuff, too. We’ll have more about these Deep-sea dwellers all next week as well so be sure to come by and check it out!
Ain’t no pineapples under the Ethersea…
*We think maybe Astra = Heavens or Stars and Solus = Sword or Blade…but it looks an awful lot like it should be “Star Soul” don’t ya think?
