Age of Sigmar: To the Sound of Thunder – Subfactions of the Stormcast
The Legions of Sigmar are far too vast for a single fighting style.
The Stormcast Eternals have had their new book for a little over a week, and alongside the plethora of fabulous new units came some updates to the Stormhost subfactions. Like the Orruks Warclans (and hopefully with all 3.0 army books going forward), the subfactions no longer lock you into an artefact and command trait, instead offering you a snazzy army ability and, in some cases, some brand new battleline. The Stormcast have a whopping eight subfactions, which is a little too much to cover in a single article, but here is a quick review of the first four Stormcast subfactions. Don’t worry if you don’t see yours; it will be in the way shortly.
Hammers of Sigmar
The OGs of the Stormcast and poster boys and girls of the battletome, the Hammers of Sigmar are the first forged and the most dedicated to the vision of Sigmar. They march at the forefront of almost all Sigmar’s major wars, and no matter what happens, they are unflinching, believing truly in their heart that they cannot fail. The fervent belief manifests in-game as a 6+ ward save while they are wholly within 12″ of an objective, meaning once they have an objective, they’re likely to keep it. They also get to take Dracothian Guard of all types as Battleline, meaning you can make an army of indestructible lizards that will park on objectives and never move.
Hallowed Knights
If the Hammers of Sigmar are the God-Kings militant fist, the Hallowed Knights are his holy disciples, bringing the light of Sigmar to even the furthest, darkest regions of the realms. They are entirely devoted to Sigmar and have no fear of dying in his name, so long as they take down the enemy as well. On the battlefield, if they are slain within 3″ of an enemy unit, they can fight back on a 4+ before they are removed, allowing them to throw themselves against the deadliest of foes without fear. They don’t get any special battleline choices, but they seem to work best with Sequitors and Liberators, and their army ability will make the already powerful Stormdrake Guard even scarier.
Celestial Vindicators
Sigmar’s most ruthless avengers in the fight against Chaos, the Celestial Vindicators have been viewed by even their contemporaries as too harsh, offering and accepting no mercy or quarter from the servants of the Dark Powers. They fight like a storm of weapons, exploiting every break in the enemy’s defenses to land a killing blow, and are especially devastating on the charge. Every combat phase, you can pick 1 unit that charged in the same turn to unlock their fury, allowing them to score two hits instead of one whenever they roll an unmodified 6 to hit. On a unit with multi-wound weapons, like Annihilators or Praetors, this will be absolutely destructive and could easily wipe a unit in a single turn.
Anvils of the Heldenhammer
Pulled from the Realm of Shyish, the Anvils are made up of long-dead heroes returned to service in Sigmar’s name, much to the chagrin of Nagash. Being creatures of the dead, they carry with them a grim, terrifying aura that frightens even the most hardened of foes, reminding them of their own fragile mortality. At the end of every charge phase, you can roll 2d6 for every enemy unit within 1″ of a friendly Anvils unit, and if you beat their Bravery, you can ignore the first two wounds they deal in the combat phase. In an already defensive army, this is massive, and against almost everything but Death, this is virtually guaranteed to work, so you’ll have an army that hits hard and brushes off enemy attacks like water.
Will you be using any of these subfactions?
