AoS: Things You’ll Love About the Slaves to Darkness Battletome
The Slaves to Darkness crash onto the battlefield with their official 4.0 Battletome, and they’ve got more nasty options than ever!
Welcome in, Generals of the Realms! Chaos remains ascendant in 4.0 with the release of Chaos Battletome: Slaves to Darkness. This handy book shows you all the tricks you can pull off with these mighty warriors and gives you the rundown of leading an army of them for the glory of the Dark Gods. New to 4.0, you can get this incredible tome in either the standard hardback or a more compact Gamer’s edition, which includes helpful reference cards.
I played Slaves to Darkness a good deal back in 3.0, and I was impressed with how powerful they could be without feeling oppressive. Unfortunately, 4.0 has seen a significant drop in their power. In exchange, however, they got a vast array of brand-new toys and new ways to play. Just because MY favorite playstyle isn’t viable anymore doesn’t mean the army is bad.
New Slaves to Darkness Units and Armies
While they aren’t brand new, the new Darkoath units bring an exciting variant to playing Slaves to Darkness. Though everyone knows the heavily armored warriors synonymous with Chaos, hardcore fans will also know about the clans that comprise the most significant part of their forces. These warriors swear oaths to the Chaos gods and are granted power in return. On the tabletop, the Darkoath warriors provide a new way to play, replacing the Marauders of old with powerful warrior-kings ready to sacrifice themselves for the Dark gods. Plus, they have the Wilderfiend, which is just gorgeous to look at.
The Wilderfiend isn’t just easy on the eyes, of course. This monster can be an absolute blender on the battlefield. With 9 attacks, a damage potential of 21, and a nasty suite of abilities that get stronger the more units die nearby, you’ll want to have at least one of these beasties in every list. While they are Beasts, and so not the best at taking objectives, they’re great at pushing the enemy OFF objectives. The Darkoath are back in style with this one.
My favorite thing about this book, however, isn’t something new. The ability for Knights, Chosen, and Warriors to bring magic standards to the battlefield feels super “Chaos” to me. The Banner of Screaming Flesh and Blasted Standard are my favorites, but all five available banners are incredible. Whatever you need a unit to do, you can probably suit a banner to it.
Special Anvil Rules
Just like with all the other armies released this year, the Slaves to Darkness have unique rules for forging a hero for Path to Glory. Considering that Chaos Champions feel the most worthy of this style of play, it’s nice to see them getting some love. You can choose to play as a Darkoath hopeful, a seasoned Chaos Warrior, a Sorcerer, or even an Ogriod! Whatever path you choose, there are tons of ways to unlock your potential.
I really love that the Darkoath is the base choice, and the Lord and Sorcerer build off of it. The Lord, for example gets a much better weapon and armor, at the cost of 4 Destiny Points. In exchange, they also get access to the full range of Slaves to Darkness units, while the Warleader can only use Darkoath models. While I think the Darkoath choice is more thematic, in the Realms of Sigmar, a fully armored warrior is more likely to gain support than a simple warchief.
I really like the new way PtG works, especially for Chaos. The flaws and origins feel very thematic, especially the option to be betrayed by the “old gods” but also discarded by Chaos. A Chaos Lord feeling betrayed by both his past and the gods of his fellows may become the greatest warrior of all by his strength alone. The table in this book makes the perfect story for just such a warrior. I love just how expansive the options are. There’s even a second-level perk that allows a Champion to return from the dead.
Will you be picking up any Slaves to Darkness goodies?
