Age of Sigmar: Look to the East – More Stuff I Want to See for Dawnbringer Crusades
We’ve seen the State Guard of Sigmar, but I know there’s a lot more waiting in the wings to enforce the Thunder god’s will.
Order has no shortage of armies, but it is also the nature of humanity to expand. The brave warriors of the Cities of Sigmar are stalwart fighters, but they can’t be expected to venture out into the Realms. Still, the cities can’t be expected to hold the growing population forever. War, disease, and even victory means Sigmar’s empire must put down new roots. Enter the Dawnbringer Crusades; these warriors cut the path to make room for new strongholds. While not all the warriors are human, that’s all we’ve seen so far. However, Sigmar has friends all over the Realms, so I imagine the crusades will have tons of participants. While this could get bloated fast, there’s a few units that I think would make great additions to the exploratory force.
Wood Aelf Hunters
This seems the most obvious to me, but I want to go deeper than just “guides”. I want the full experience of the old Wood Elves, complete with hunting hounds or scout hawks. The Sylvaneth have all of Alarielle’s love, so they get Ariel. However, I think Kurnous could give his blessing to aelven archers that practice his Wild Hunt. It could even be infantry versions of the Wild Riders, or perhaps a return the the Hawk Riders of old.
Heck, for my money we could bring back smaller Forest Dragons, something the size of the drakes the Stormcast ride. This hunters would lead the crusade into uncharted areas, or scout ahead to make sure the path is free of danger. Perhaps they could even be the initial exploratory force, calling in the rest of the crusade after they’ve established a small foothold.
Dwarven Cartographers
Whether they’re offshoots of the Kharadron Overlords or just standard Duardin, I love the idea of dwarves mapping vast patches of land. They could show the dangerous places, the places that are safe to travel, or even places to avoid altogether. While this might sound like the purview of the Aelves, I think the Duardin would make exceptional cartographers.
They could even work with Aelven scouts to track (or make) paths and map trade lines between existing settlements. Dwarves do everything with meticulous skill, so their maps would be beyond compare. Plus, if the going gets tough, a Duardin mapmaker is perfectly capable of speed-cutting an entire forest to make room for travel. An Aelf might have doubts.
A New Brand of Stormcast
While the Stormcast Eternals have MORE than enough in terms of choices, I think a version of their armor forged exclusively for exploration would be awesome. Like the Scouts of the Adeptus Astartes, they could have lighter armor, different equipment, and more tools for watching their backs and forging ahead. The Vanguard warriors do this now and could be the template.
The next step would be to take the Pallidors and Raptors and make them lighter, faster, and deadlier. They could even try to tame some of the beasts of Ghur, using the more natural creatures to get a lay of the land the celestial beasts can’t match. Also, come on; how awesome would it be to see a Stormcast riding a dire wolf or even a mechanized transport in the style of a Steam Tank?
What do you want to see when the Dawnbringer Crusades finally drop?
