Gods Fall in Warhammer’s ‘Broken Realms Teclis’ from Games Workshop
Games Workshop’s latest expansion book for Age of Sigmar is jam packed full of action. One god doesn’t make it out alive.
Broken Realms is Age of Sigmar’s new large narrative series of expansion books. Book two – Teclis follows on the heels of Broken Realms Morathi released several months back. Compared to the slow-moving narrative arcs of sister game Warhammer 40K, Morathi was a breakneck series of world shifting unheavals. We detailed the big shockers of Morathi here and were hoping that it was not a fluke and that Games Workshop would keep up the excitement and action as the series continued.
With volume two – Teclis here, I can safely say – Nottingham hit it out of the park. The grand narrative moves to Shyish and Hysh, the realms of light and death, and the two forces destined to clash are Teclis and Nagash. Here’s the big shockers we loved.
Be Prepared…
+++SPOILERS+++
Old World Callbacks
It would seem that as GW keeps growing Age of Sigmar they have shaken off their initial trepidation at referencing the World That Was. Broken Realms: Teclis has fully embraced its Warhammer Fantasy roots and with two demi-gods battling doesn’t hold back. We get a fantastic conversation between Teclis and Nagash where they both refer to each other by their Old World names, overtly hurl insults about the weaknesses both showed in The Old World, and directly refer to events that occurred during THE END TIMES series.
It’s FANTASTIC! After years of everyone and thing in Age of Sigmar groveling to Nagash, it’s a breath of fresh air to have Teclis waltz into his Syhish throne room, call him a two-bit Khemrian thief of Elven magic, and threaten to kill off his beloved Ossiarchs then and there – with them in the room! There are many more rematches of old enemies from back in THE END TIMES with vastly different results. All in all – just fantastic work that bonds both fantasy universes together. More please!
Scheming Vampires
If there’s something that old Warhammer Fantasy fans know – is you can never trust a Von Carstein. During the back and forth war between Shyish and Hysh, Nagash dispatches his three classic Mortarchs to bleed the Lumineth Dry. If only they were dealing with simpletons – but these are the new Hig-elves we are talking about. They are countered at every turn and soundly defeated in detail. But of course, simple defeat isn’t enough.
Even in retreat, Mannfred is up to no good. In an obscured passage it is noted that he took his army and invaded the lands of Neferata! Even as she sent her spies into his realms to whip up trouble. Such a major development as a civil war between the vampire Mortarchs is left vague and hanging, but I have no doubt this will be a plot hook that will be fleshed out and reinvigorated in the upcoming Gravelords battletome.
Vampires, can’t live with them, and they are already dead…
Invasions & Counter Invasions
The main action of the book is Teclis’ invasion of Shyish – a fast-moving campaign to send a signal to Nagash that his home realm is not safe. It is successful, and enraged, Nagash sends his Mortarchs and three armies to destroy Hysh. It doesn’t go as planned, but along the way, we learn how the Ossiarchs can do truly horrible things like make constructs out of mixed races – and infuse them with hybrid souls locked in horror and servitude.
We learn that the Ossiarch Empire can try to enact the bone tithe on other death allies if in dire straits – with catastrophic consequences – for themselves. We also get to see the way of war a smart army will take against the Bonereapers – burning their own dead and any destroyed Ossiarchs after each army – to deny them any material to rebuild and repair their losses.
Magic Battle SUPREME
But after all his idiot lackeys fail, Cobra Commander, umm I mean Nagash rolls up his sleeves, walks into Hysh, and starts wrecking shop. I mean god of death wrecking shop. Like – I’m going to suck the life out of MOUNTAINS and reduce them to dust kind of magic! Once the great Necromancer starts going to town on Hysh itself, it’s only a matter of time until Teclis show, and IT IS ON – like Donkey Kong!
Nagash Eats It!
I won’t go into the details, but the battle is EPIC, as it should be. We get Moons taking part, we get armies sacrificing themselves to give their chosen demi-god any tiny edge. We get both of them hurling bolts of terrible power, as well as trying to strangle each other by hand. You have combat in Hysh, and combat in the cosmos. But in the end, Nagash is the lord of DEATH, while Teclis is the lord of MAGIC, and this is certainly a magic fight.
The epic content ends with a mighty magical convergence from Teclis and allies all around that binds and constricts a furious Nagash. Then all the Spirits of the Mountain come down from their rocky homes, surround him and hammer Nagash’s physical form into powder in a mighty mob hammering! His broken spirit flees Sauron-like back to Shyish where he is now bound. The magic and all activity caused by the Necro-quake is permanently ended. Teclis:1 – Nagash:0
Future Set-ups
We have a final conversation between Teclis and Allariele, where many plot seeds are planted. She notes that such a drastic removal of Nagash will have unforeseen consequences and that the web of power will shift in the Mortal Realms. Teclis is at peace with his decision and accepts that change will come, but that Nagash simply had to be dealt with for his transgressions.
With Broken Realms: Be’Lakor coming up – it looks like Chaos will be keen to fill the power-void. It should be marvelous!
