Age of Sigmar: Despoiling with Slaves to Darkness Endless Spells
The new Slaves to Darkness Endless Spells are amazing, and here are some ways you can use them on the battlefield.
The new Slaves to Darkness are, at long last, coming to the Mortal Realms on Saturday, and as with most of the new releases, a batch of new Endless spells are on their way as well. These are gorgeously Chaos in both design and flavor, and they’re going to cause all manner of havoc on the battlefield.
Eightfold Doom-Sigil
A floating dark iron eight-pointed star growing out of a flaming pile of skulls; if that doesn’t scream Chaos, I don’t really know what does. The Doom-Sigil is an awesome support piece, especially when combined with a Ravagers army list. The spell casts on a 5+, and is set up anywhere within 12” of the caster, where it stays since it isn’t a predatory spell. Once it’s down, you keep track of the number of models, friendly and enemy, slain within 12” of it, and at the end of the turn roll that many d6. For every roll of 3+, the player whose turn it is MUST select a Slaves to Darkness unit within 18” to add 1 to its Attacks until that player’s next hero phase. Each unit can only be targeted once this way, but that could still be huge if all of your units are nearby when the rolls are made, especially if you are taking the second turn of the round. Should you get lucky and win the roll for the NEXT turn, that’s two turns of boosted attacks, and considering how much damage you do already, that could be a game changer. Plus, since it only effects StD models, you don’t have to worry about buffing your enemy, so there really isn’t any down side to having this spell around. If you’re playing Ravagers and have a bunch of Marauders or Cultists summoned in, you can feed them to the machine with impunity to buff your stronger units.
To make the most of this spell, get it as central as possible quickly and try to keep your fights around it.
Darkfire Daemonrift
This spell is my absolute favorite design-wise, because it just looks like a Bloodthirster raging out at a metal concert. Sure he’s also projectile vomiting unholy fire, but really who ISN’T when some fire death metal is playing, right? This is a predatory spell, and for the first time in a while it DOESN’T ignore your own units, which is frankly very Chaos in my opinion. Oh you wanted me to care about your worthless lives? Wrong faction, bucko. Even so, it’s capable of dealing some massive damage, so it’s probably worth the risk. It’s summoned to battle on a 6+, is set up wholly within 9” of the caster on summoning, and moves 12” with fly every round and when it’s summoned. After it moves, any units it has passed across and then any other units within 1” suffer d3 mortal wounds. However, this guy loves to suck up magic, so you add an extra mortal wound to the damage it inflicts for each Wizard and each other Endless Spell within 12” once it moves.
If you’re playing as, or against, Tzeentch or one of the other magically charged armies, this spell can deal some serious damage, so make sure to pack it along. Also consider running this alongside a Cabalists army to take advantage of all the Wizards you’ll definitely have have in your army.
Realmscourge Rupture
Finally, a predatory spell that won’t go off hunting on its own. The Realmscourge Rupture is unique among predatory Endless Spells in that, once it picks a direction, it will never turn. It is summoned on a 7+, placed wholly within 9” of the caster, and then can move 9” with fly ever turn. However, when you summon it, you set it up with one of the short ends pointed in the direction you want it to go, and then regardless of who moves it that’s the ONLY way it can go; it can’t turn and it can’t go backwards, since it’s a crack in the ground traveling directly forward. Sure that crack is assisted by giant spikes coming out of the ground, but I digress. Like a natural fault rupture, the spell causes damage as it moves and compromises the footing of those it passes. Once it has finished its move, all units it passed over (or I suppose under in this case) and all other units within 1” when it finishes suffer d3 mortal wounds. In addition, until the end of the round (not the turn, the whole round) all models effected by the spell half their Movement. This can be huge against fast armies like Slaanesh, Skaven, or Daughters of Khaine, and can put an extreme damper on slow armies like Dwarves or Ossiarchs.
Use this spell to soften up some units before your cavalry run them over, or to blunt a charge before it begins.
What do you think of the new spells?
