Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Lumineth Realm-Lords

Grand Alliance Order Lumineth Realm-Lords

FOR ULTHUAN HYSH!!!!!

Lore Tactics General Tactics

The time of isolation is over, and now the Lumineth Realm-lords (not capitalizing the "-L") finally rise to defeat the forces of chaos with their unwavering resolve, unstoppable magic, angry cow people, stupid and impractical headgear even by this setting's standards and crippling drug addiction! (No really, that last part is actually part of their rules).

Why Play Lumineth Realm Lords?

• You were a big fan of High Elves in The World that Was.
• You saw 300 Alexander the Great and thought to yourself "Yeah, this is cool, but you know what would be awesome? If they had pointy ears and a drug addiction!"
• Because you agree with most people that Eltharion was done dirty in The End Times and thought he deserved a new chance to shine.
• Because you want a more defensive playstyle with very durable infantry and a lot of flanking and ranged firepower.
• While you are an Elf fan, you also secretly like Dwarfs and want a factions that mixes elements of both.

Pros:

• Extremely durable core options with your Vanari units being able to automatically give enemies -1 to hit for your standard spears, archers and cavalry.
• If you absolutely need to hit a unit before it gets away or fights back, you can with Lightning Reactions.
• You can give your units buffs out the ass, and you don't need magic to do so.
• Speaking of magic, did we mention all your Vanari units are mages? You are *the* magic army, with only the likes of Tzeentch being able to keep up with you... and then you could take Teclis, who gives Lords of Change penis envy. Nobody expects Geminds and Lifeswarms to come out of your battleline.
• You can't throw a rock without hitting something that deals Mortal Wounds.
• Very powerful HQ choices. Obviously they have Teclis but if you don't want/can't afford him their other options are pretty damn good (eg; Light of Eltharion, Lord Regents...)
• Sweet spell lores. Being able to drop all enemy Bravery, make all your opponent's command abilities cost double, giving one of your units Ethereal or teleporting them to name a few... you have a spell for every situation.
• Horde factions are going to hate your guts because you have a lot of ways to get cheap, plentiful models off the field.
• You can turn the main weakness of using Aetherquartz, the -1 to bravery, and give it to your enemy, giving factions like Grots and Skaven a massive middle finger.
• You have a tool for nearly every situation. Units that can shrug off spells? Got em'. Shooty units that can hit-and-run? Yep. Units that can teleport? Anyone can with a certain spell. Want casting bonuses? Take your pick.
• Between all your monsters, Alarith units and Severith, you are the bane of terrain features and siege warfare.

Cons:

• Remember all those buffs we mentioned above? Well, most come with withdrawal drawbacks. Sure, you can get your wardens to give the enemy -1 to hit having their models all touching, but now they can't run or charge. Sure you can break into your Aetherquartz reserve to give your troops a rush, but now they have -1 to bravery. You need to make sure you are using them at the best time to mitigate the drawbacks.
• They're a very synergy-heavy army, so all the interacting mechanics can be hard to keep track of and easy to forget. As a result, they're not very beginner-friendly.
• The models are bad to transport. There's a lot of bits sticking off them like weapons, tassels, crests and braids. The Vanari Dawnrider models are only connected to their bases by one hoof from their horsies. They'll likely need the Nighthaunt/Sylvaneth solution (it involves big boxes and lots of little magnets).
• Their bravery is mediocre, and gets even worse if they use aetherquartz, with a cumulative -1 debuff per use of aetherquartz. While the Scinari Callathar can nullify this, they're frail on the defense and a prime target for a smart opponent.
• Your only allies are your edgy siblings from the sea, questionable lore be damned.
• Though you have the military style down from the High Elves, you traded the awesome stuff like Dragons, Lions and eagles for weird furry Elemental spirits and amalgamation mounts.
  • Ok, this one is really more of a personnel preference thing, but if you were hoping that the Lumineth would just be "High Elves in AOS" you might be a little disappointed as there are some actual differences between them, unlike say Seraphon which are literally just Lizardmen copy and pasted into AOS.
• Remember how everyone complained about Disciples of Tzeentch (especially Arcanites) being overpowered? Then Hedonites of Slaanesh? Then Ossiarch Bonereapers (especially Petrifex)? Then Kharadron Overlords? That's where you are now; you can mitigate your few weaknesses and excel at one-upsmanship. Around half of these "Cons" are about the models and lore. Be prepared for possible nerfs in the future and for everyone you play against to hate you even if you're just trying to have fun.
• The models are so detailed they take an eternity to paint.

Army Rules

Battle Traits

Aetherquartz Reserve: This is your big army-wide resource, more akin to the Kharadron's Aethergold in application. Every unit in your army has a single share of Aetherquartz. Once per phase, you can let one unit blow their reserves for one of the following powers below. However, using it has drawbacks: After using it, the unit suffers Drug withdrawal -1 to their Bravery for the rest of the game.

• Heightened Senses: Triggered before the unit shoots or fights. The unit adds +1 to hit with any attacks they make for this phase (Shooting/Combat Phase).
• Heightened Reflexes: +1 Save when chosen as an attack target (Shooting/Combat Phase).
• Magical Boost: +1 or reroll casting (Your Hero Phase).

Lightning Reactions: When you get to select a unit to fight, instead of picking only 1, you get to pick 2 units with this ability. They then fight one after the other.

• SHINING COMPANY: Any Vanari units (Auralan Sentinels, Wardens, bladelords, and Dawnriders) that is set up where a model is touching bases with two other models is automatically made a Shining Company, encouraging block-like tactics of old. Units in this fashion are harder to hit with a -1 to hit them. Luckily for you, Arcane Cataclysm is scrapping the movement restrictions, meaning that this is now active as long as every model is touching bases with at least two others.
• DEEP THINKERS: Any Scinari Wizards can choose to skip casting spells to think really hard. If they do so, next turn the first spell they cast is automatically cast at a 9 that cannot be modified, but can be unbound. They learned a little from Teclis, but not quite enough it seems.
• ENDURING AS ROCK: Before the first battle round of the game and at the start of your hero phases, you can set up any number of Alarith units (Hammerboys, stonemages, and Moontains) into the Mountain Stance. Until the end of your next Hero Phase, your units now ignore Rend -1. There is currently no reason to opt out of doing this. Always have it on.
• TECTONIC FORCE: At the end of all combat phases, your Alarith units can each nominate an enemy unit within 1" of them (Though two units can't nominate the same enemy). The enemy is then shoved 2" in any direction so long as they are more than 1" from any Alarith unit and then you can let these units within 3" pile in 1" to continue fighting. This is your means of dominating the objective game and tossing enemies into deadly terrain.
• MOVE LIKE THE WIND: Any time a Hurakan unit piles in, it doesn't need to pile in to the closest enemy model. In addition, when they charge, they can fly and move 3" for piling in. All of it helps establish their role as alpha-strikers, the pile-in trick helping them move to more favorable fights.

Command Traits

<tabs> <tab name="Lords of the Warhosts"> Vanari only.

1. Grand Strategist: If your general is on the field during the first turn, you gain 1 CP.
2. Consummate Warrior: Once per turn, your general can re-roll a failed hit, wound or save roll they make.
3. Astute Commander: When your general is on the field, you can roll a die any time you spend a CP and regain that CP on a 6+.

It's more a toss-up between Consummate Warrior and Astute Commander, hinging on how much you need your CP. If you don't spend them much, then Consummate Warrior will give a bit of an edge in combat. Otherwise, Astute Commander gives a meager chance of winning back some CP. </tab> <tab name="Lords of Brilliance"> Scinari only.

1. Spellmaster: Once per turn in your Hero phase, you can re-roll 1 failed casting attempt.
2. Loremaster: Your General knows 1 extra spell from the Lore of Hysh.
3. Warmaster: When your general is on the field, at the start of your Hero phase, you get a CP on a 4+.

If you're bringing a Cathallar you could honestly go for any of these. Spellmaster is strong enough, as there's so many good spells you really want to go off. Loremaster is good if you want some more versatility from your spellcaster and if you give it a Silver Wand you could get a caster that can get a ton of magical value in one turn. Warmaster can get you some nice CP if you're lucky though if you want consistency from your general you're better off with the other two. </tab> <tab name="Lords of the Air"> Hurakan only, meaning only your nimbus-wizard.

1. Grand Windrider: When a Windchargers unit wholly within 24" of the general moves, their movement is upped to 16" and they can fly.
2. Swift: Your general adds +3" to movement.
3. Loremaster: Your general knows 1 extra spell from the Lore of the Winds.

Grand Windrider pretty much expects that you'll be running a windcharger-heavy list so it can actually see use, as it provides nothing to the archery foxes. Swift serves as a decent choice if you plan to sprint a lot between supporting foxes and charges as you'll be needing to heal the former while making sure the latter can be free to move where they wish. Naturally, Loremaster is as powerful here as it is in any other list. </tab> <tab name="Lords of Stone"> Alarith only, so for right now, just floaty rock guy

1. Majestic: Add 1 to Bravery of friendly Lumineth wholly within 12" of the General. Also, your enemies subtract 1 from Bravery while they are within 18" of the General.
2. Enduring: Add 3 to the General's wounds characteristic.
3. Loremaster: General knows 1 extra spell from the Lore of High Peaks.

Majestic seems boring, but with all the bravery debuffs in this army, you could easily have most of the opposing army at -3 Bravery while you're able to at least walk off the Bravery penalty of spending your share of Aetherquartz. A few casualties over multiple units could see elite armies heading for the hills real quick. Enduring isn't bad when the big hat man is public enemy number one for keeping your war cows at top bracket, improving Rend of Cow Elves around him, and providing re-rolls to saves in the Moo Cow battalion. A very good choice when mixing the various defensive buffs available to him. Loremaster is, obviously, a solid enough choice. </tab> </tabs>

Artefacts

<tabs> <tab name="Gifts of the Sun"> Vanari Heroes only.

1. Syari Pommel: The bearer gets another share of Aetherquartz.
   • The Syari Pommel is not as potent as Syar's ability to give everyone extra shares, this is enough to help boost your forces once over or grant the Cathallar another shot at debuffing the enemy. The Sun Stone pretty much is there as an insurance policy if you're not expecting your wizard to survive. Especially powerful on the Lord Regent.
2. Senlui Amulet: The bearer can run and charge in the same turn.
   • The Senlui Amulet is pretty much tailor made for the lord regent who absolutely needs a massive charge range, though the bannerblade can also benefit from it if they're not bothering with supporting their allies.
3. Waystone: Once per game, the bearer can immediately redeploy to any location within 12" and at least 3" away from any enemies.

</tab> <tab name="Heirlooms of Hysh"> Scinari Heroes only.

1. Phoenix Stone: If a friendly Lumineth Realm-Lords Hero is slain within 12" of the bearer, before removing that model from play, roll a dice. On a 3+ that model is not slain, negating any further wounds and restoring the hero to d3 wounds.
   • While no longer as unreliable, the issue lies in that its healing power has taken a nerfing. This will do nothing for a hero caught in a duel with something equally as deadly.
2. Silver Wand: The bearer can cast 1 extra spell in their hero phase.
   • Most likely your go-to item, as nothing has nearly as much utility.
3. Rune of Senthoi: +1 to unbind rolls for each Scinari Hero within 6" of the bearer.

</tab> <tab name="Gifts of the Winds"> Hurakan Heroes only.

1. Windblast Fan: Once per game during the enemy's movement phase, you can pick a unit within 3" of the bearer. This unit most move and must retreat from the enemy, no questions asked.
   • The Windblast Fan can provide some breathing room when dealing with battles, but it also means that you're still in range for a second charge if you don't bail immediately.
2. Wind Stone: You get a single-use grenade you can throw at an enemy unit within 18" of the bearer. On a 2+, that unit takes 2 mortal wounds, but a 5+ makes it 4.
3. Buffeting Aspiragillum: Once per battle at the start of the fight phase, the bearer can make one enemy within 3" take -1 to hit for the rest of the phase
   • Ignore. HARD. This is only useful once and nothing more.

</tab> <tab name="Gifts of the Mountain"> Alarith Heroes only.

1. Hearthstone Amulet: 5+ FNP save.
   • Adds even more survivability to your already potentially hyper-tanky mages (between ignoring rend, the sanctum, and this, you could have a pretty annoying model to remove)
2. Molten Talisman: Any Alarith units within 6" that do not charge improve the Rend of their weapons by 1.
   • Great to improve the effectiveness of your stone warriors and cowtains.
3. Magmic Hammer: If the bearer is a Wizard (Which the only one model to take this item is), add 1 to the number of mortal wounds inflicted by Arcane Bolt spells that are cast by the bearer.
   • Adds more punch in case your don't need to buff any Alarith squads.

</tab> </tabs>

Great Nations

your bog standard subfaction list. We have six, and these versions are heavily trimmed down, but decent.

Syar

• Gleaming Brightness: All your Syar units get 2 Aetherquartz reserves instead of 1. With how powerful these boosts are, you'll definitely appreciate a second wave of these working without worry about Morale. Pair with a Cathallar to avoid a permanent -2 to your bravery.

These guys will make your aetherquartz last much longer, and feel more impactful. The meth lab workers among the Lumineth, hence their larger stash. A Cathallar is pretty much a requirement in this army because otherwise your troops will have the bravery of most Skaven troops after blowing their reserves.

Iliatha

• Unity in Purpose: Two Vanari units can use Aetherquartz in the same phase rather than one.

If you're a sucker for good 'ole High Elf aesthetic, then this is your choice, or if you wanna go for quantity rather than quality, though you're still going to be fairly elite.

Zaitrec

• Lambent Mystics: 1+ to cast, dispel and unbind for all wizards.

The magic choice. Took a hit after the Twinstones were nerfed, but still nice buff that plays to Lumineth's magical strength.

Ymetrica

• Mountain Realm: Ignore up to -2 Rend for units in Mountain Stance, instead of -1. Alarith Stoneguard become Battleline.

Obviously, this one is meant of Alarith units, so you should be going with a stoneguard, mountain spirit and stonemage army for this one. It remains very focused on using the Alarith, tanking blows and shoving around enemies.

Alumnia

• Claim the Field: Alumnia Vanari models that are B2B with at least two other models in their unit count as 2 models each when contesting an objective.

The objective secured nation. Paired with the criteria needed for Shining Company, Alumnia makes your Vanari Wardens go from 'formidable line holders' to 'try and take this, I dare you'. Pretty useful when you expect to go up against either big target armies like Sons of Behemat, or objective-capping powerhouses like Chaos Warriors.

Helon

• Gale of Killing Shafts: All Helon missile units can get +1 attacks to their missile weapons, but can only target enemy units within 6" of themselves. Hurakan Windchargers become Battleline.

You pick this one if you REALLY want to piss your opponent off. Giving you ranged units extra shots will drive them to want to bash your face in with a hammer. It's also great if you want to go with a Hurakan themed army.

Spell Lores

• Power of Hysh: Casts on 6. This can be cast by the battleline units with Sunmetal Weapons, and allows them to dish out mortal wounds on a 5+ instead of a 6+. Very, VERY good, especially on Bladelords now that they FINALLY have Sunmetal on their, y'know, LITERAL SUNMETAL SWORDS.
  • Greater Power of Hysh: Casts on 7. The version given to Lord Regents and Lyrior Uthralle essentially lets you spread this to D3 other units wielding Sunmetal weapons within 18" of them. Pretty much there so you're not fretting about which unit you want to use Power of Hysh on.

<tabs> <tab name="Lore of Hysh"> Teclis, Vanari and Scinari Wizards only.

1. Speed of Hysh: Casts on 5. Double the movement of a friendly unit within 18" of the caster. Amazing for sprinting onto objectives, stealing away an important enemy charge, or slinging some cavalry almost 30" across the board.
2. Solar Flare: Casts on 8. Pick a point on the battlefield within 10" of the caster. If there is an endless spell there, dispel it. If there is a unit there, roll a dice for each enemy model within the flare's point , Each +6 does 1 MW and until next hero phase -2 to enemy wizards cast, unbinds, and dispels. Very useful in mirror matches.
3. Overwhelming Heat: What used to be Zaitrec-exclusive is now up for grabs for all your non-temple wizards! Casts on 7. Pick an enemy unit within 24"; halve theor movement characteristic until your next hero phase, then roll a D6, inflicting D3 MW on them if you equal or beat their save characteristic. Downright VICIOUS against tanky armies like Nurgle or Bonereapers. Best used on Sentinels, as it gives them a decent tool to slow down potential flanking threats before you turn them into glowing pincushions.
4. Ethereal Blessing: Casts on 6. Give Ethereal to a friendly unit within 18". Remember that this also includes positive buffs like cover or drugs. Think before you cast.
5. Total Eclipse: Casts on 9. Until next hero phase, your opponent has to spend 2 CP instead of 1 when using command abilities. Easily our most trolly spell, use it to absolutely cripple some of the stronger combinations in the game by stopping almost all Command ability shenanigans. You should almost always have this, just in case. Ossiarch Bonereaper players collectively shit themselves when you whip this bad boy out.
6. Protection of Hysh: Casts on 8. Give friendly units wholly within 9" of the caster 5+ FNP. Doesn't stack with Teclis' sadly.

</tab> <tab name="Lore of the High Peaks"> Teclis and Alarith Wizards only.

1. Crippling Vertigo: Casts on 6. Pick an an enemy unit within 18" of the caster. Until your next hero phase, roll 2d6 each time the unit tries to make a normal move, pile in, or charge. If the roll is higher than the unit's bravery, it cannot make that move. The most obnoxious spell in this tree, use it to even further stall that big monster who got hit by your stonemage's signature spell.
2. Living Fissure: Casts on 7. Draw a line to a point 18" from the caster, on a 2+ deal D3 MWs to each unit that lines passes over.
3. Unbreakable Stoicism: Casts on 7. Choose a friendly Alarith Stoneguard unit wholly within 12". They now trigger mortal wounds on a 5+. Power of Hysh but for your rockaelves. Who needs magically-attuned sun-cured metal when you can just tell some dudes to swing their hammers harder?</tab>

<tab name="Lore of the Winds"> Teclis and Hurakan Wizards only.

1. Freezing Squall: Casts on 5. An enemy unit within 12" is unable to run until your next Hero Phase. Annoying, though it may not matter much to certain armies.
2. Howling Gale: Casts on 7. An enemy unit within 12" will be unable to use or benefit from command abilities. Oh, this can prove to be a right pain, especially in armies that really rely on their leaders.
3. Guiding Flurries: Casts on 7. One friendly Lumineth unit wholly within 12" of the wizard can pick between either adding 6" to the range of their missile weapons or adding +1 to hit with their missile weapons. This is a pretty handy support option, though it can be hamstrung depending on circumstances.
4. Calming Zephyr: Casts on 6. A friendly Lumineth unit wholly within 16" of the wizard heals d3 wounds and ignores battleshock for the turn. Pretty solid for support.
5. Burning Simoom: Casts on 6. Pick an enemy unit within 12" of the wizard and roll a number of die equal to the number of models in this unit; Each model suffers a mortal wound on a 6, though this can be improved to a 5+ if you scored a 10 or better on the casting check. An absolute doozie with Teclis. See that block of 60 Grotz? Now you don't--...I smell something burning...
6. Transporting Vortex: Casts on 8. One friendly Lumineth unit wholly within 12" can now immediately redeploy anywhere on the field so long as it's over 9" away from any enemy unit. You'll definitely be needing this for your more mundane forces, as your Hurakan units can easily skip around where needed.
   • Worth mentioning that you can redeploy a Vanari unit that exited out of shining company, back into shining company, as per the last FAQ. So dropping a hurt unit of wardens on a point will make them quite immovable.

</tab> <tab name="Endless Spells">

1. Sanctum of Amyntok: 30 points, creates a triangle around the caster and now counts as part of their model. Gives the enemy -1 to hit against the caster, gives the caster +1 to their save and a 50/50 shot to deal some MWs to anyone standing too close. Cheap and a good way to protect your squishy wizard, plus since the spell counts as part of their model, it makes their bubbles slightly bigger, which is good for those rules which require the unit to be "Wholly within" range.
2. Hyshian Twinstones: 30 points, starts at 1 and gets a charge every time a spell is cast within 12 inches of it (maxes out at 6). While within 12" of it, your wizards can choose to add the value of the charges to their casting roll. Easily your best endless spell. As per the FAQ on its order of operations, after one spell is cast, it can give the rest of your wizards within range a permanent +2 to cast every single time. This means you're looking at a +4 to cast on nearly every spell you sling if you bring Teclis and Zaitrec. Since our stuff is expensive, if you have <100 points left over, bring it. Always.
3. Rune of Petrification: 70 points, subtracts 1 from the run and charge rolls of non-Lumineth within 6, and does d3 Mortal Wounds to non-Lumineth within 6 on a 4+ at both the start and end of both players movement phases. That's 3d3 minimum if your opponent moves out of range on their first turn. If you get a double turn that's 5d3 if they can move out of range at the first opportunity. It's a good way of controlling enemy movement, but it's expensive. Probably the hardest to use of the three, plus being more expensive than both of the other spells combined means this is less than ideal most of the time, but still holds potential.

</tab> </tabs>

Unit Analyis

Named Leaders

• Archmage Teclis and Celennar, Spirit of Hysh (700 pts): One of the dual gods of Hysh and another of the big literal god-tier models. He went from "the best wizard who's not a daemon, demigod or Slann" to "gives Greater Daemons penis envy and makes Slann second-guess themselves". While he's not a slouch in CC, he shouldn't try to take on big scary things alone, as he'd rather be slinging spells and ruining your opponents day.
  • He can cast 1, 2, or 4 spells. Depending on the number of spells he choses, they cast at differing values (1 spell meaning a 12 with no unbinding allowed, 2 spells means a 12, but otherwise normal, and 3/4 spells going off on a 10). Due to the nutshot he got from Nagash in Broken Realms, Teclis loses his ability to autocast one un-unbindable spell when he’s taken 10 wounds and after 13 wounds he also loses the ability to autocast two spells on a 12.
  • Celennar’s Aura: +1 to cast, dispel, and unbind to everyone within range. Keep this in mind for when you cast the twinstones in a Zaitrec list for +3-8 on your casts.
  • Can auto dispel 1 endless spell in your hero phase and auto unbind 1 enemy spell in their hero phase, and can still unbind unlimited enemy spells after his auto-unbind.
  • Friendly units in Celennar's aura ignore spells on a 4+, and bounces a handful of MWs at an enemy within 18" of said unit when it works.
  • Spells: (1) Protection of Teclis: 10 to cast. 5+ FNP within 18", can't be cast same turn as Hysh Protection. (2)Storm of Searing White Light: 10 to cast. Roll a dice for each enemy unit within 18" and visible. 1, nothing happens; 2-4 D3 MW, 5+ D6 MW. Oh, plus EVERY spell from all three Lumineth trees. And when new elemental temples get released, they generally get a new accompanying spell lore, meaning that he's only going to get stronger as time goes on.

• Light of Eltharion: (220 pts) Eltharion returns to us as a living suit of armor. A melee beat-stick with ethereal bonuses, a ranged d3 mortal wound shot, and a massive leadership bonus tied to his command ability. He wants to aim at a character and rip and tear untill it is done. Once your enemies duelists/buffs/characters who looked at you funny are down, aim Eltharion at whatever you want and have fun. Tanky, killy, and obnoxious, Eltharion is easily one of your best HQs.

• Avalenor, the Stoneheart King: (360 points) The Mega Moo himself. Avalenor is a great support character for your army, He has a 30” ranged attack which can do D6W at rend 2 (range decreases with damage) and has 6 attacks (7 if it didn’t make a charge move this turn) that are Rend 1 with 5 Damage each in melee. He also has a debuff aura which makes all enemy units within 12” have a -1 to hit, which is awesome when he's properly positioned in the middle of your front line. He also has a command ability which can give D3 Alarith Aelf units +1 attack, sorry other moontains. All these nice things get a bit worse with damage taken, but if you have a Stonemage within 12" of him, he can pretend to be max health, so keep your little mage friend safe. His last ability, Elder Wisdom, allows a hero within 6" to use a command ability for free next turn, so keep him within grumbling advising range of your dudes.

• Sevireth, Lord of the Seventh Wind: (300pts) DO YOU NEED SPEED? Just as Avalenor is king of the earth-moos, this guy is one of the seventy-seven most powerful winds (or kitsunes). Unlike Avalenor, his stats never degrade, which means that he can always shoot at maximum efficiency. Since unlike Avalenor he isn't a mountain but a wind, he is also fast. Fast as in 24" flying - something necessary because his bow is actually quite short-ranged at 18" but comes with a dangerous -3 rend and D3 damage. To keep his 5+ save out of trouble he can move another 12", but he can slso still charge. That's great since his melee power's not too bad. Impact damage on the charge and doing more Mortal Wounds as he flies over enemies, debuffing enemies close to him. As he's quite fragile for a monster, he does need support - Take a Windmage so they can heal him up. Remember, he is a Hurakan unit, so should you find yourself in a fight you are unlikely to survive, just leave and laugh as you do, Hurakanspirits were playful and giggling once. His last ability is Scour, which allows him to essentially render enemy setpieces into ineffective hunks of plastic on a 2+. If you ever wanted to tell the OBR Obelisk to shove it, here you go.

• Ellania and Ellathor: (260pts) The new hot pair of Elven twins, one of whom is a master mage and the other a peerless warrior. This totally-not-Tyrion-and-Teclis combo will probs take the place of them, especially since one serves Tyrion and the other serves Teclis. Like Syll'esske and the Sisters of Twilight, these two are effectively one model. To no one's surprise Ellathor's not-Tyrion's new sword is terrifying, with damage equal to the turn number and a one-off batch of mortal wounds in a line a la Sunfang, while Ellania not-Teclis' staff is merely decent with a -1 rend. Riding on top of this, the end of each fight phase gives the chance of vanishing if you roll a dice and it's under the turn number or amount of wounds suffered they vanish to a spot 12" away from any enemies as well as healing d6 wounds - likely very useful earlier on, but prone to wearing out its welcome as the game carries on. Not Teclis can also cast/unbind two spells, and comes with a unique spell that grants a 5+ FNP, which you will be using.
  • Their neatest gimmick is that they can be taken as allies with any army who's general has the Order Keyword and can generate Command Points on a 4+ if they are within 3' of them, though this comes at the cost of never being generals themselves. Internationally focused elves? What a unique and interesting idea, cough cough.

• Lyrior Uthralle, Warden of Ymetrica: (210 pts) The head general of the Lumineth and Tyrion's right hand man. He's your named lord-regent, and much like the other forms of named "melee HQ on bigger than average mount" that AOS released, he'll probably be a bit better, but a bit less flexible than his normal form. If his lance wounds a Chaos or Daemon Keyword model, he automatically does 3 damage instead of d3, but it still only has 1 attack, so don't get too excited about it. It's worth noting he lets you get more CP when you don't have Teclis hanging around, and since he has the same spell as the lord regent, it becomes clear that he's meant to be hanging around the other Vanari units.

• Myari Lightcaller: (220 pts) The new character from the Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm box set. While he’s a single model unit, he must be accompanied by his retinue, and their points are included in his points cost. Same stat-line as the Stonemage, he trades tankyness for a decent shooting attack and okay close combat. His Scryowl Familiar adds 1 to his casting, unbinding and dispelling rolls and, similar to the Sentinels, can choose a unit 24” away and out of line of sight to have LOS on. His unique spell, Dazzling Light subtracts 1 from hit rolls from missile weapons that target him, or a unit wholly within 6” of him. Mathematically, this will mean you can fit a Cow Mountain in this bubble, giving a -2 modifier to hit when stacked with Avalenor’s Guardian of Hysh ability.

• Myari’s Purifiers: (220 pts) A separate unit from Myari Lightcaller, but included in his points cost. You get one Bladelord, one Sentinel, and one Stoneguard. The Bow gets two shots, but only has the 18” profile, the Mallet retains the Crushing Blow ability to do extra damage, and Greatsword and Bow are both Sunmetal weapons, but they cannot access Power of Hysh. Their Guardians ability is their saving grace, allowing them to intercept a wound or mortal wound on Myari Lightcaller while he is within 3”. Basically, they’re here to be a tax to bringing Myari, which was a bit of a pain before all the new HQs got announced.

Leaders

• Alarith Stonemage: (130 pts) Floaty cow-kin him/herself. You will be seeing him in every list with Cow Elves (Stonegaurd) and Spirits of the Mountain. Fairly squishy at 5 wounds and only a 5+ save, until you remember he is ignoring Rend 1 (and Rend 2 in YMETRICA armies) among other defensive buffs. She is your standard 1 cast/1 unbind wizard that provides a powerful buff in the form of his STONEMAGE STANCE. In the start of the combat phase, the Stonemage can strike a pose that allows every ALARITH AELEMNTIRI WHOLLY WITHIN 12 inches an additional Rend on their melee weapons in exchange for not making a pile in move. Easy Rend 2 on all my Stoneguard? Yes please. His spell, Gravitic Redirection is cast on a 5+. The stonemage gains fly, and picks an enemy units within 18", cutting their speed in half and turning off fly. It also does a mortal wound, but that's definitely not the main point. Pick the enemy's big flying threat and laugh at the waster 400+ points. S/He's got a pretty standard mage melee statline, but his/her real job is to buff till the cows come home. If you can't tell, the model's sex is hard to tell, go elves!

• Scinari Cathallar: (140 pts) These professional mourners are excellent at debuffing foes and mitigating the drawbacks of crystal meth aetherquartz. Aside from the obvious Scinari benefits, she also gains the Emotional Transference ability, allowing her to target any Lumineth unit within 18" and let them ignore battleshock. What's more, if that unit lost models, you can later target an enemy with 18" and add their casualties to their bravery roll. Basically her job is to ruin the fun your opponent thought he was having when his Scary charge killed 15 elves.

• Scinari Loreseeker: (160pts) LOREMASTERS OF HOETH RETURN TO US NOW, AT THE TURN OF THE TIDE. Since they embody the balance of tyrionic and teclian ideals like none other, they perform well in both melee, a 12" shooting atack and casting a single spell a turn. That however is not what you take them for. You take him for his special rules. With "Loreseeker" he generates a CP everytime a enemy with an artifact dies within 3" of him, but the real ticket is the Rule "In Addition" "Lone Agent" He gets +1 to his save if he is away 9" from friendlies, he gets to set up 3" away from enemy models and not your territory. If you set him up near an objective without enemies it's his and it cannot be stolen until he dies. Either game breaking or a neat trick, the jury is still out on this one.

• Scinari Calligrave: (100pts) A new wizard who's job it is to un-chaos lands he visits with totally-not-dwarf-runes. Their unique spell is a like arcane bolt, but it only works against other heroes and instead of rolling really high, you need to spend a turn marking an enemy hero with this spell before casting it again to deal D6 MW. Since 2D3 is statistically better than 1D6, it's pretty meh, even more so since you also need to cast the spell again to get the chance to completely botch your D6 roll; the other side of the coin is D6 MW sounds terrifying in prospect, especially on marked support heroes that could get instascrubbed on a favourable roll, which could lead to enemy players treading mega conservatively to let you get into better position or leave one of their units without their support. Once per game, he can pick a spot ANYWHERE on the map. Roll a dice and add the current battle round to the result. On a 5+, he paints out a rune on the chosen spot; this rune makes it so that no friendly Lumineth units wholly within 9" need to make battleshock tests while wizards within this area can add +1 to their casting/dispelling/unbinding checks. Don't expect to get this off early in the game, and whilst it sounds crappy on paper, the rune could add some much-needed stability in late/endgame cycles in matches when your army has taken a beating. You pay a generous 100 points for a mediocre spell and an ability that requires waiting a few turns before it can be reliably cast, so whilst you'll be uhm-ing and ahh-ing about this guy, there isn't much to whinge about! He's cheap, he has his uses, can give a bloody nose in a fight, and it's one more spell to add to your Hero phase! Have him contemplate and spam Total Eclipse whilst babysitting some Starshard Ballistae, people will hate you.

• Hurakan Windmage: (120pts) The not-last Airbender/Son Wukong with Horns comes in fast with 16" on his little cloud friend. A 5+ Save and standard mage whacky stick is nothing to write home about, he is your buff boy for all things windy. With the rule on the "Windmage Symbiosis" on the Windspirit scroll he replenishes their power, with his own "Windleap" he has your Windchargers go a bit faster and since Calming Zephyr from his spell lore is kind of the default he has some more heals to go around. For his own protection his little fan redirects enemy missile attacks to give him a better save and on an unmodified 6 on his save he can send a mortal wound back to an enemy within 9". No matter how small or big your Hurakan temple will be, he's a part of it.

• Vanari Lord Regent: (150pts) Your new generic melee hero on a bomb ass amalga-mount. His addition means you finally have something other than wizards to give those melee focused artifacts to, as well as an HQ who can actually keep up with the dream of a cav-spam list. 14", 6 wounds and a 3+ save as well as good melee sees him pose a mobile threat. His Pure Aetherquartz not only makes his casting a little better but also offers an innate -1 to hit against him, so he shines bright like a diamond until he uses his Quartz up, then the ability dies. Greater Power of Hysh is your safety net, should a Vanari unit fail to get their power of Hysh cast. On a 7 you can give the same Power of Hysh to D3 units wholly within 18". A fantastic all around choice.

• Vanari Bannerblade: (110pts) An elf with a massive banner. Friendly Lumineth within 18" add +1 to their bravery just by seeing this flag, but this is boosted to +3 when this guy's within 3" of an enemy. In addition, once per game during any phase you can trigger the power of their banner - enemy units within 18" need to roll a d6 and if they roll under the current turn number, they eat D3 MWs and a -1 to hit in melee for the phase. Despite being no slouch in Melee, he is more of a niche choice, but not one you'll have to feel bad about.

• Scinari Enlightener: The new hero of Arcane Cataclysm, this is another mage that's more dedicated to being a caster, being able to cast and deny twice and being able to have a successful Hysh spell cast twice if you roll a 3+ once per turn. Their unique spell locks onto an enemy within 12", making any wounds they suffer transfer onto their chosen enemy. While suicidal as all hell, it can be funny to see an enemy daemon prince kill the puny mage only to then get split open by their own sword.

Battleline

• Auralan Wardens: (Battleline, 120pts, Min:10, Max:30) The Elven phalanxes finally return home, and they come equipped with 3" range Sunmetal spears pikes that get -1 rend and +1 to wound when they are charged. Like all the other Sunmetal weapons, each hit roll of a natural 6 causes a MW. The unit champion comes with a -1 rend sword, a one-use mortal wound bomb used at the start of the combat phase. On top of that he is a wizard as long as there are at least 5 models in the unit. All this combined with the shining company bonus makes these guys amazing charge screens for your archers and objective holders. Wardens are the only unconditional Battleline unit of the Lumineth. But for every unit of Auralan Wardens, you can take a unit of Auralan Sentinels or Auralan Dawnriders as Battleline.

• Auralan Dawnriders: (Conditional Battleline, 160pts, Min:5) Their Deathly Furrows ability grants bonuses for attacking infantry: 1 additional attack for all weapons (ie rider & mount) if the target has 2 wounds or 2 additional attacks if the target has 1. This *ONLY* works against units without mounts, so try to aim for infantry if you can. This Translates to a lot of dead chaff and 1-wound elite infantry. If speed is your game, cast speed of Hysh on them and you'll be looking at a 28" standard move, meaning you have no excuse to not pick the perfect charges.
  • Arcane Cataclysm has seen a decent upgrade for these guys. Shining Company now apply to them despite their need for speed, which means a lot to a unit that's going to be the first to get shot at.

• Vanari Auralan Sentinels: (Conditional Battleline, 165pts, Min:10) More MWs, delivered at a distance & w/o line of sight. While the spear elves poke & hold the line against heavy hitters (or Stoneguard, if that's how you swing) with your horses mulching chaff, Sentinels are ideal assassins - pumping mortal wounds into the opposing (support) heroes from far away with Sunmetal arrows. Since mortal wounds trigger on natural 6+ (Or 5+ with Power of Hysh) 'Look out, Sir!' does not help those supporting heroes. Conveniently their bows have a second firing mode that deals more consistent normal damage with higher Rend, this is at a "shorter" range though (18") so really is more for supporting your spears or whatever flavor of tarpit needs the firepower after the opponent's general is kaput. Remember that the unit leader does not have a bow and only strips cover from the enemy, so to maximize shooting and mortal wounds taking reinforced units is probably better. Remember that rules that remove specific models can remove your ability to fire out of line of sight if they kill the squad leader. Thanks to AoS 3.0 you can now run a unit of 30 of these bastards if they're battleline. With the new Unleash Hell command they become unfavorable to charge and worse to leave alone.
  • Arcane Catacylsm saw a considerable hike-up in the Sentinel's cost, the only excuse for this being that Shining Company is now a lot less of a hassle to use. Honestly, these guys didn't even worry much about the movement penalties to begin with.

• Alarith Stoneguard: (Conditional Battleline, 100pts, Min:5, Max:15) Your elite infantry choice and a battleline if you're playing Ymetrica. They come in two types, a dual handed diamondpick hammer or stone mallet with -1 rend and a captain with *OPTIONAL* dual Stratum Hammers for more attacks. If you roll an natural 6 with the stone mallets you get 1 extra damage and if you get a 6 with diamond picks you get 1 mortal wound. This means mallets are better at killing crowds where as picks are better at dealing with armored units. Flexible elite choice depending on how you build them. Even if you're not focusing on Alarith units, a squad of 5-10 of these guys work great at one end of your phalanx to prevent flanking and losing your buffs. How historical.

Never take the Stratum Hammers in lieu of the chosen unit weapon on the leader- they're utter horsecack.

• Hurakan Windchargers: (Conditional Battleline, 130pts, Min:5, Max:15) Aelven archers riding battle tauntaun-furdino-kanga-joust mounts. 14" pseudo-flying movement, 2 wounds and a whimpy 5+ save. Their Bows hit and wound on the aelven standard of 3+, at range with -1 rend and -2 rend when used in melee. Yes, they use their Bows as sticks in melee and are rewarded with an extra rend for it. The Bows only have 12" or range when shot, which can place them in harms way, but remember that you can use the Hurakan rules to just have them leave.

• Vanari Bladelords: (145pts, Min:5, Conditional Battleline) Swordmasters reborn. Now you can have heavy infantry without the need for stupid hats/conversions, HOORAY! Each one comes with a sunmetal greatblade that doesn't have the Sunmetal rule, so no Mortal Wounds. Instead they can use in one of two ways: either a single high rend stab that auto-hits (to hunt characters and monsters), or a number of anti-horde swings based on how many enemies are nearby. Paired with their innate extra magic protection and Shining Company, and you have a flexible unit to plug gaps in your line, HOWEVER don't be overconfident. 10 of these guys only kill 3 chaos warriors a turn or ~13 marauders (or equivalents), so don't expect them to be fully self sufficient. They also don't get to cast spells, which makes them rather dependent on others.
  • Instead of considering them as beatstick, instead field them as bodyguards. After all, Arcane Cataclysm makes each Template:AoSKeyword you take gives you a squad of Bladelords as Battleline. Before a Scinari hero suffers a wound, nearby Bladelords can take the hit instead for 1 MW on a 2+. A double-strength pack of Bladelords makes any Scinari functionally immortal. Of course, doing that is prohibitively expensive, especially with the recent price hike they took.

Other

• Hurakan Spirit of the Wind: (250 pts). The generic Fox is Severith, but lesser. Eight wounds instead of ten, a slightly less impressive bow and he loses some rules. No "Scour" to take the rules off of faction terrain, no fly-over Mortal Wounds and his quiver is way less cool. But he retains the movement shenannigans of his named counterpart, same regeneration from the Windmage, same absolutely insane 24" move.

Artillery

• Vanari Starshard Ballista: (100pts) Your new and only artillery unit, ultimately proving to be more like a classic ballistae than the Stormcast's machine gun blasts. It fires twice at -2 Rend and d3 Damage, making it a bit of a menace - especially if you manage to get a hero in position so they can grant a ballista a +1 to hit so the attack is pretty much guaranteed to hit. Keep it still in the movement phase, and it gets another shot, meaning another nasty potential D3 dead dudes. They also have a once-per-game ability to stun an enemy in addition to the sweet damage potential, dealing a -1 to hit whilst you gib them, so you can annoy and put the pressure on enemies until you can have someone else handle them.

Behemoths

• Alarith Spirit of the Mountain: (340 pts). The Moontain. Your primary beat-stick and use for command points when you bring 'em. Outside of heroes, your only source of >1 damage attacks (well, the Stoneguard can get it on a 6 to wound with the Mallets) - at full health, his hammer is hitting on 3s, wounding on 2s, -2 rend, and 5 damage each. Keeping a stonemage within 12" of him allows you to ignore his damage table. Finally, his command ability allows you to add 1 to the attack characteristic of 1 unit's melee weapons.

Terrain

• Shrine Luminor: A floating shrine meant to power up your already crazy strong mages. It lets you nominate a hero to be the shrine guardian, who gets to use their command ability for free, as well as giving heroes 1 free reroll on cast/deny/dispell a turn within 12", growing to 24" turn 2 onwards.

Battalions

Due to how Battalions are now universal, expect see the whole lot of this on the trash bin outside of narrative games. Bonus rules, traits and doodads are going to be likely added to the faction rules as default.

• Alarith Temple: (120) MIN:690/MAX:1510
  • Requirements: 1x Avalenor or Alarith Spirit of the Mountain, 1x Alarith Stonemage, 1-3x Alarith Stoneguard.
  • Ability: At the start of your combat phase, a Stoneguard unit from this battalion that is wholly within 12" of a hero from the same batalion can reroll saves until end of phase but can only pile in 1".

If you are playing Ymetrica you may as well take this one with Avalenor. Makes your already annoyingly tough units even tougher.

• Auralan Legion: (120) MIN:780/MAX:2820
  • Requirements: 1x Scinari Cathallar, 2-4x Vanari Auralan Sentinels, with an equal amount of Vanari Auralan Wardens
  • Ability: Units within 3" of another unit from this Battalion can reroll saves of 1.

Again, make your top objective holders better at holding objectives. Cast Etherial Blessing vs Rend or otherwise use your Aetherquartz against that key charge and you will definitely keep control of that objective. This is particularly good for Iliatha armies, since you want to keep your Auralan units near each other anyway.

• Dawnrider Lance: (120) MIN:380/MAX:1680
  • Requirements: 2-3x Vanari Dawnriders
  • Ability: Units from this Battalion may reroll 1’s to hit on the charge.

A cute buff that pumps up the offensive half of your cavalry are a fairly manageable cost. Toss 2 10-man squads in here for a solid enough flanking force.

• Hurakan Temple: (180) MIN: 680/MAX:1770
  • Requirements: 1x Sevireth or Hurakan Spirit of the Wind, 1x Hurakan Windmage, 1-3x Hurakan Windchargers.
  • Ability: Any unit from this battalion wholly within 12" of a hero at the start of the fight phase will count as having charged this round.

Useful for movement and kiting shenanigans. If you're playing Helon you may as well pick this up.

• Starshard Battery: (120) MIN: 520/MAX:720
  • Requirements: 1x Scinari Calligrave, 3-5x Vanari Starshard Ballistas
  • Ability: The ballista's Warding Lanterns ability now triggers on a 5+ instead of a 6 if they're within 3" of another pack of ballistas.

A pretty decent grab if you're focusing on the ballistas, as this makes them a bit more durable. The calligrave gives you a wizard that can also grant you a decent safezone for your army as well.

• Vanari Bladehost:
  • Requirements: 1x Vanari or Scinari hero, 2-3x Vanari Bladelords
  • Ability: Any units that charged this turn can re-roll 1s to hit.

Pretty much an auto-take if you're running any builds not focused on Teclis or any temple heroes. The units are pretty much going to be taken anyways.

Super Battalions

• Teclian Vanguard: (80) MIN:2370/MAX:14,470
  • Requirements: 1x Archmage Teclis and Celennar, 0-1x The Light of Eltharion, 1x Alarith Temple, 1-3x Auralan Legions, 2x Dawnriders Battations.
  • Ability: While wholly within its own territory, every friendly unit from this Battalion has a 6+ Feel No Pain.

Not a terribly bad bonus, better than a poke in the eye with a Sunmetal Spear. If you're playing 2,500 point games for some reason, the value of this battalion is VERY mission dependent, depending almost exclusively on the size of the territory.

• Lumineth Battlehost: (50) MIN:2430/MAX:15,290
  • Requirements: 1x Vanari Lord Regent, 1x Vanari Bannerblade, 0-3x Scinari Heroes, 0-1x Alarith Temple, 0-1x Hurakan Temple, 1-2x Auralan Legion, 1-2x Dawnrider Lance, 1x Bladelord Host, 1x Starshard Battery
  • Ability: For every hero in this battalion, roll a dice, and for every 6 you get a command point.

Considering that you can have up to 11 heroes in this army that is up to 11 chances at more CP, which is always appreciated. If you take Lyrior Uthralle as your General (He does have the Hero and Lord Regent keywords after all) you can get 12 chances of regaining CP.

Allies

Oddly, the army may only take Idoneth Deepkin as allies. Some of them have gotten over their Teclis hate/fear boner, good for them (Or they've realized there's shit out there that's way scarier than their estranged father and his new favorite kids). The Akhelian half of the army patch the speed issues of Lumineth. You don't need more anvils, so the trident eels and allopexes are definitely the right choice. With the Broken Realms: Morathi update to their warscroll, a squad of 3 Alopexes with nets may be just the high rending damage, speed, and flying that this army is greatly missing. Alternatively you can take a soulscryer and two Allopexes to give your army some much needed backline deployment. Another option to consider is bringing an Akhelian king and a single squad of trident eels for two mobile, multidamage units to help your cav deal with their primary weakness.

Your also have the Order option of Gotrek Gurnisson. For a similar point cost you are probably better off taking Teclis. While he doesn't benefit from speed of Hysh, his speed isn't as detrimental to the Lumineth compared to other armies since you're already slow as sin if you don't bring Hurakan units. Also, on a lore note, they've met in the world that was, and even though they worked together, they did not get along.

• Bundo Whalebiter: A Kraken-eater Mega-Gargant mercenary available to all Order factions. He could be a useful way to play up your strength by moving midfield objectives back into your defensive line, but his cost is a very large hurdle to deal with, as you're nearing Teclis levels of points and cheese.

Tactics

• High Elf roleplaying: For those of us who remember the halcyon days of WHFB, focusing on your Vanari units can let you relive peak High-elf fun! 2 or 3 spear bricks and a lot of archers as your backbone, with a ballista and some totally-not-Swordmasters. Not the most effective list we could run, but good enough to handle most things. This list gets significantly more viable come all the new generic HQs.

• Moontains march to war!: Building your list around 2 Alarith temples (1 of which has Avalenor) and a buncha hammers as ymetrica lets you build a surprisingly tanky list that hits like a bull. 2-3 moontains will mulch through anything short of a god or mega-gargant without much worry, though you should try to keep in mind that this list only has 2 casters, and none of the spells that really screw with your opponent.

• The Tryhard: Sticking Teclis, 2 units of minimum spears, and FAR too many archers with the twinstones enables you to run the competitive tryhard list of your dreams! No one likes you for doing it, and you'll have minimal actual fun, but it can be done for an easy way to guarantee a win against most factions.

Age of Sigmar Tactics Articles
General Tactics	Tactics Realm Of Battle Malign Sorcery Path to Glory Skirmish
Order	Cities of Sigmar Daughters of Khaine Fyreslayers Idoneth Deepkin Kharadron Overlords Lumineth Realm-Lords Seraphon Stormcast Eternals Sylvaneth
Chaos	Beasts Of Chaos Blades of Khorne Disciples of Tzeentch Hedonites of Slaanesh Maggotkin of Nurgle Skaven Slaves to Darkness
Death	Flesh-Eater Courts Nighthaunt Ossiarch Bonereapers Soulblight Gravelords
Destruction	Gloomspite Gitz Ogor Mawtribes Orruk Warclans Sons of Behemat
Others	Monstrous Arcanum Legends Old Rules