AoS General’s Handbook 2019: The 3 Top Mercenary Companies
Let’s talk about the best three Mercenary Companies, and how to use them on the tabletop.
Now that the General’s Handbook has hit shelves, players can make use of all the new allegiance abilities, play styles, and mercenary companies. I have been looking forward to adding the mercenary companies to my army since they were teased on the Games Workshop website. Here are my three favorite Mercenary Companies, and how I think they can be best utilized on the battlefield.
Greyfyrd
According to the Fyreslayers battletome, the Greyfyrd lodge is the least picky about who they work for, throwing in their lot with Orruks, Vampires, or even rampaging Chaos warbands. This mercenary company represents that quest for ur-gold, showing the younger, less experienced members of the lodge. The only restriction for this company is no Runefathers, but the rest of the Fyreslayers codex is up for grabs, including Runesons and Smiters on Magmadroths. Any units selected as part of the company add 1 to hit rolls targeting any units that charged that turn, making them excellent roadblock units or objective grabbers. The downside is that their Bravery can deteriorate if they aren’t near your general starting turn 3, but their Bravery is already pretty high so that’s not a huge detriment.
Use this company to cover your backline when you have an aggressive army, or to hunt down and camp objectives and leave your heavy hitters to do what they’re good at.
Order of the Blood-Drenched Rose
I’ve always loved the Soulblight, so I jumped at the chance to take them as mercenaries. This is made even better by the drop in points Blood Knights enjoyed in the new handbook. Not much makes an army better than the addition of a few units of ticked off vampire cavaliers, especially not those same cavaliers led by a mounted Vampire lord. The mercenary company is also immune to battleshock, but honestly it’s not very likely that you’ll have to worry about that with how small your units are likely to be.
Add this mercenary group to your army if you need a steamroller unit to trample through your enemies while the rest of your army stays back to hold objectives or use abilities that require them to stay stationary. I’ll likely be using this alongside my Wanderers to make the most of their long range and shooting bonuses for not moving.
Rampagers
Darkoath models are incredible on the charge, so having a special ability to move d6” down field before the game even starts is pretty powerful. Add a unit 20 Marauders and you’ve got a big, fast threat that is almost guaranteed to get a first turn charge. Add this company to an army that needs a little extra speed, like Fyreslayers on footslogging Stormcast (but have fun explaining why Slaves to Darkness are allying with Sigmar).
Alternatively, you can use the company to make an early objective run and secure it for your side. For extra security, take the unit in a block of 40 and give them shields for a small measure of added survivability.
~Which mercenary company is your favorite?
