Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Stormcast Eternals

Grand Alliance Order Stormcast Eternals

Cue the power-metal.

Lore Tactics General Tactics

Lo and behold the might of the Stormcast Eternals!

If you want to always have multiple wounds and fight for Sigmar, the Stormcast Eternals are for you! Stormcast Eternals all have at least a 4+ save and 2 wounds per model making them a tough force to take down in hand to hand combat. At the moment they seem more focused on having X models and ensuring those X models survive until the end of the game through various hero abilities (immune to Battleshock, regain wounds, increase their already durable (for AoS at least) 4+ save and bonuses to hit). At the same time, your guys don't punch all that hard, though your Paladins (read: Elite) more than make up for that. Thanks to their hardiness and comparatively low damage output, they are the epitome of "easy to learn, hard to master," much like their 40k cousins.

The new book in 2017 included the Vanguard Auxiliary chamber, and rules for using specific Stormhosts and new battalions.

The book released in 2018 introduced the Sacrosanct Chamber. Mostly comprised of warrior wizards but also contained the Stormcast's first dedicated artillery piece and accompanying engineer style hero to go with it. Stormhost rules were overhauled, two new faction-specific lores were added in addition to three faction-specific endless spells.

The Third edition book released 9/18/2021, and brought forth a much-needed refresh for a faction that had well lagged behind its counterparts, as well as bringing in four new named heroes, a small slurry of minor heroes, the totally new Thunderstrike Brotherhood, and an overhaul of just about everything, now allowing you to bring all kinds of unusual combinations to the tabletop witha staggering 76 unique warscrolls. Oh, and this is now the faction to play if you want to play a Dragon-only list. Eat your heart out High Elves.

Why play Stormcast Eternals?

• They are Space Marines in Fantasy, and you've always been a Space Marine fan at heart.
• You hate Chaos Daemons and Nighthaunt.
• You want to run an all-dragon army. Especially doable with the new Draconith units available.
• If you're into metal music, there's plenty of thematic songs to choose from.
• You resent the idea that only Chaos and those green maniacs can have ultra-muscular warriors in bulky armor.
• Thor is your favorite Avenger and/or Mythological figure and you want a whole army that fight like him.

Pros

• Fairly tough, well-armored Troops.
• Newbie friendly, very forgiving of mistakes.
• You have a constant supply of new models. Seriously, you've had one big release per year every year since the game launched. The Lord Sigmar saw his legions in 2021 and said it was good enough for the moment.
• Lots of options in both Heroes and Units to pick from, making it possible to fill out a wide variety of battle strategies.
• Have many abilities to restore Wounds.
• You have a staggering 76 Warscrolls at your fingertips. You theoretically have an army loadout for every situation.
• You have one of the newest battletomes currently, alongside the Orruk Warclans.
• The model range provides a lot of conversion opportunities.

Cons

• Expect to throw out your previous Battletome every year with all the new models coming out.
• Your Bravery Scores are relatively low.
• When you bring 5 guys, almost everybody else brings 10. So if your opponent is on an objective you need to smash him in the knee caps to do it. Even worse now in the new edition, where everything is more expensive, and less models are on the table. About 20 models is more or less 1500 pts, so get ready to be really questioning what you want versus what you need.
• No real way to stop Mortal Wounds and with your high saves and elite units they can really sting. Between this and your low bravery, Nighthaunt will hurt you bad.
• You don't hate Chaos Daemons and Nighthaunt as much as you used to, and now your former friends who exclusively play Chaos and Death want some revenge.
• They are Space Marines in Fantasy.
• You aren't quite the favorite child Space Marines are in Fantasy, so unlike them you don't get new models and rules every week (Much to the joy of literally every other faction in the game)
• Currently the most played army and basically have all the same issues that Space Marines do in 40k. Foremost among them is that just about everyone you will ever face will have some kind of plan or optimization to counter your Sigmarines. Expect Codex Creep to set in as the months pass and other battletomes get the formula down more.

Rulebooks

Faction rules and abilities: Battletome Stormcast Eternals (2021)

Latest Matched play points: Battletome Stormcast Eternals (2021)

Core rules: here

Matched play rules, battleplans and expansions: General's Handbook 2022-23 Season 2, plus the battleplans from the Core Book.

Supplement all the above with any Errata and Designers' Commentary from the FAQs.

Allegiance Abilities

Battle Traits

If your army has a STORMCAST ETERNALS allegiance and chose to take the STORMCAST ETERNALS allegiance abilities, it has the following rules:

<tabs> <tab name="General"> Stormhosts: Pick your subfaction, giving all (Stormcast Eternals in the army that keyword. named characters from different Stormhosts stop you from gaining the subfaction ability.

Guardians of the Heavens and shields of the mortal realms: pick between the mobile strike force descending from Azyr (Scions of The Storm) or the boots on the ground troops (Stormkeep).

Blaze of Glory: Introduced in the 3E Dominion Boxset to mildly offset the sting of losing models in melee. When one of your models is slain, target an enemy unit within 1" and roll a number of dice equal to their wounds stat, adding another one if the model has the Thunderstrike keyword; each 6 deals a mortal wound to that model. </tab> <tab name="Scions of The Storm"> The original battletome's trait, the only change since the first and last book is that the protection after deap striking is now a command trait ):

Scions of The Storm: 40K Deep Strike. You may hold up to half of your units (rounding down) in reserve instead of deploying, and at the end of your movement phase, decide if you want to set up one or more reserve units on the battlefield. Each unit not set up this way before round 4 is slain. Setting up anywhere more than 9" away from any enemy models.

• Very useful, especially for an otherwise relatively slow army. It does let your heavy-hitters get across the board really fast as well as set up your ranged units in prime firing positions. Now even stronger courtesy of certain lords allowing you to set up from 7" away, and certain units dealing damage when they deploy this way to enemies.

</tab> <tab name="Stormkeep"> Introduced in Broken Realms: Morathi and expanded upon in our newest Battletome, a STORMCAST ETERNALS army can choose to be stationed in a Stormkeep instead of blasting down from the heavens. When making your army, you can say that it is from a Stormkeep and use the following Battle Traits instead of the default ones:

Watchful Guardians: You get Cities of Sigmar Auxiliaries to make a Coalition army. They gain the Stormkeep keyword and don't affect any of your battletraits. In addition all your units add +1 to their bravery when they're within 12" of a friendly Redeemer unit.

Shield of Civilization: Redeemer units count as 3 models for each model for the purposes of capturing objectives in their own deployment zone in turns 1 & 2, and any objective starting turn 3. Additionally, that unit deals d3 mortal wounds to whoever charges them on a 3+.

</tab> </tabs>

Stormhosts

If your army is a Stormcast Eternals army, you can give it a Stormhost Keyword. ALL Stormcast Eternal units in your army gain that keyword - if they already have a Stormhost, like Vandus or Neave (Side note, almost all named characters are part of the Hammers of Sigmar Stormhost. The Celestant-Prime, the sons of Dracothion and Yndrasta are the only heroes without a Stormhost to call home), it does not replace it, but it also doesn't prevent other units in your army for having a different Stormhost keyword.

Hallowed Knights

No longer the Black Templars of Stormcast, now you can potentially fight again whenever your Battleline dies.

Trait

Hallowed Knights - REDEEMER units get a 4+ attack again when they die.

• This does stack with Blaze of Glory- this could be a very nasty combination with Vindictors. However, no extra Battleline with this Command Trait makes it far less appealing than some of the other options, as you're just banking on being able to kill things whenever you lose a unit. Not inherently a good thing in Stormcast, where you're always outnumbered. Still worth a consideration in any Stormkeep list, however, as conditional battleline won't pick up the REDEEMER keyboard that serves as the base for the Stormkeep abilities.

Special Characters:

• Gardus Steel Soul

Celestial Vindicators

Previously the vicious hatefilled melee combatants. Now they're unfortunately one of the weakest Stormhosts.

Trait

Celestial Vindicators - At the start of combat, pick a unit of Celestial Vindicators that charged to make Exploding 6s on hits.

• No extra Battleline and a mediocre Command Trait? I'm sorry Celestial Vindicator players. If you want to lean into this, focus on your melee blenders like Vanquishers, Protectors, and especially Decimators and Desolators. It can also help your Annihilators make their debut turn even more destructive. Avoid units like Vindictors, Retributors and Concussors, who already have a built-in "on an unmodified 6+ to hit" mechanic.

Hammers of Sigmar

GW's special golden boys got treated pretty well. They have many names and they get free dragons.

Trait

Hammers of Sigmar - DRACOTHIAN GUARD is battleline, and your units have a 6+ Ward when within 12" of an objective.

• You shouldn't need me to tell you that this is strong, but it's very strong. Free dragon battleline, and ward saves? Easily one of the best Stormhosts in the book. Unfortunately.

Special Characters: In short? Most (with official models) except the Celestant Prime and Yndrasta.

• Vandus Hammerhand
• Gavriel Sureheart
• Astreia Solbright
• Vorrus Starstrike
• Neave Blacktalon
• Aventis Firestrike
• Bastian Carthalos
• Aevon Stormsire

Anvils of the Heldenhammer

Shyish Heros Resurrected.

Trait

Anvils of the Heldenhammer - At the end of the charge phase, roll 2D6 for each enemy unit within 1" of a friendly unit at the end of the charge phase. If you roll higher than the enemy unit's Bravery, you get to ignore the first 2 wounds of that unit for the phase.

• Fairly unreliable, especially if you're up against daemons or undead. It's interesting, but is it useful? Not really.

Knights Excelsior

Annihilators of all Chaos. Getting heavy armor everywhere.

Trait

Knights Excelsior - Annihilators, Decimators, Protectors, and Retributors all become Battleline. Also, once per turn during the combat phase if a Paladin unit is with 1" of an enemy unit that outnumbers them, you can add +1 to hit and wound rolls for that unit until the end of the phase.

• Paladins got a real boost in the new edition so if you're fond of elite, tanky forces, perhaps this is the Stormhost for you?

Celestial Warbringers

Use to be the wizard guys, now just Future Readings

Trait

Fearless Forsight - Each phase your units may reroll 1 roll to hit, wound, or armour save.

• While perhaps seeming basic the ability to get a free reroll every phase is not something to discount, as it can be a real late game save against a bad die roll. No special battleline is unfortunate but still this stormhost is still one to consider.

Tempest Lords

Previously were about CP farming, Now about getting those Prosecutors and dragons into combat.

Trait

The Host on High - Prosecuters become Battleline. Flying units may reroll one of the dice on charge rolls.

Astral Templars

The Storm Wolves, Specializing in Monster and Hero hunting.

Trait

Astral Templars - Vanguard-Palladors and Vanguard-Hunters become Battleline. and enemy monsters cant pick them for their rampages. They essentially get a free Hunters of the Heartland battalion ability.

• In the new Monster Meta, these will prove useful- the Vanguard Chamber will hopefully come into their own now through the Astral Templars as specialized Monster Hunters to team up with Yndrasta.

Enhancements

Command Traits

A STORMCAST ETERNALS General of an army with a STORMCAST ETERNALS allegiance and has chosen to take the STORMCAST ETERNALS allegiance abilities can choose one of the following Command Traits:

• Shock and Awe: -1 to hit units that came out of deep strike this turn. This buff effects the whole army, so your general doesn't have to come in with them.
• Staunch Defender: Stormkeep armies may reroll the number of mortal wounds that a Redeemer unit gets to roll within 12" of your general.
• Envoy of the Heavens: When a STORMCAST ETERNALS model dies in a unit, that unit gets +1 to saves for the rest of the phase. Vindictors can now go to 2+s.
• Master of the Celestial Menagerie: If the general is a Monster and is on the table, subtract 1 from all wound rolls of melee weapons that target friendly STORMCAST ETERNALS MONSTERS. This has since been FAQ'd to also require the Behemoth role, so no -1 to wound across the board for all the new shiny Stormdrakes!

Artefacts of Power

One HERO in your army may take a relic from the following tables:

<tabs> <tab name="Storm-Forged Weapons"> Pick a weapon that is not used by a mount for one of the following bonuses

1. Blade of Heroes: re-roll failed to hit rolls made with a melee weapon against HEROEs or MONSTERs. Pairs well with the 2+ wound rolls of the mounted Lord-Celestants' hammer option.
2. Hammer of Might: Pick a weapon; unmodified wound rolls of 6 double damage for that weapon. Gives a Lord-Celestant on Dracoth charging in with the glaive 5 chances at a 6-damage attack. Spicy.
3. Fang of Dracothian: If you deal a wound to an enemy model with this weapon, then at the end of each turn it suffers a Mortal Wound. Situationally useful, but it's hard to think of a scenario where this outperforms rerolling hits or doubling the damage of every sixth hit.

</tab> <tab name="Heaven-Wrought Armour">

1. Drakescale Armour: Re-roll failed saves for this HERO against weapons with a Damage characteristic greater than 1.
2. Mirrorshield: Missile weapons can't target the bearer unless the firing unit is within 9".
3. Amulet of the Silvered Sigmarite: Any incoming attacks against the bearer cannot be re-rolled.

</tab> <tab name="Artefacts Of The Tempest">

1. Quicksilver Draught: Once per battle this HERO gains Fight First in the combat phase.
2. Luckstone: Once per battle you can change the results of one-hit, wound, run or save roll for this HERO to the result of your choice. For 1d6 rolls you pick a number 1-6, and for 2d6 rolls you pick a result 2-12.
3. Obsidian Amulet: Once per game, this hero can ignore all effects of any spells or endless spells that are affecting or would affect the bearer until your next Hero phase.

</tab> </tabs>

Spell Lore

Your wizards May take one spell from the Lore of the Storm. All spells are 12" range, but if the caster is LORD or DRACONITH then it goes up to 18".

<tabs> <tab name="Lore of the Storm">

1. Lightning Blast: CV 5+. The closest visible unit is dealt d3 Mortal wounds. Like 40k Smite, except with no range to speak of. Ensures your Wizards will always be able to do work so long as they can see somebody, even if caught out of position on the other side of the board.
2. Azyrite halo: CV 5+. Pick a visible Stormcast unit wholly within 12", until the next hero phase, whenever the unit makes an unmodified save roll of 6, the attacker takes a Mortal Wound. Remember that you still make a save roll even if out-Rended. Not a bad pick for defensive spells, but Mystic Shield exists for the same casting value, and combats rend (and stacks with all-out defense).
3. Celestial Blades: CV 5+. A visible Stormcast unit wholly within 12" adds 1 to Melee wounds rolls until the next Hero Phase. Not a bad pick, as you get to pick a unit to have "their finest hour", which in combination with all-out attack can make most of your guys hit and wound on 2+s.
4. Chain Lightning: CV 6+. One visible enemy unit within 12" suffers D3 Mortal Wounds, then each other enemy unit within 3" of the first take a mortal wound on a 4+. Perhaps your best damage-dealing spell, as you can ping one unit with mortal wounds, then all their buddies may take some damage too. Of course, it's not perfect, but unless you're casting for utility, or have a better spell at your disposal, this is a good way to soften the enemy up before you bring the hammer down.
5. Thundershock: CV 6+. Pick a visible point within range. All enemy units wholly within 6" have -1 to wound on all their attacks. There's some potential here, but it's high casting value and the fact that typically, increasing saves is a better call means that this spell can probably be ignored. Keep in mind that between Mystic Shield, the Castellant's Warding Lantern and All-Out Defense, +1 save is a lot easier to get than -1 to wound, so why not both? Bring along the Lord-Relictor to give enemies -1 to hit and you've got the Holy Trinity!
6. Starfall: CV 5+. Pick a point on the table. On a roll of 4+ for each enemy within 3" of that Point, until end of turn that unit cannot make pile-in moves. A weird situational spell, and one that's liable to not even go off as you need to do two whole rolls in order to get the ability to go off. Pass.

</tab> <tab name="Endless Spells"> These can only be cast by STORMCAST ETERNAL WIZARDS.

• Everblaze Comet: (100pts) Comet of Cassandora, Stormcasts edition. When it comes down, it hits everything within 10" for a bunch of Mortal Wounds determined by a D6 roll - on a 1, the unit takes a single Mortal Wound. On a 2-5, the Unit takes D3 Mortal Wounds, and on a 6, the Unit takes D6 Mortal Wounds! Also, all Wizards must subtract 1 from their casting rolls while they are 10 inches or closer to the comet. This spell got, well, reduced in points, and in value. It can no longer keep spitting out mortal wounds round after round, this combined with the fact that it costs 100 points, forces you to be extremely cautious about where and when to put it.
• Celestian Vortex (80pts) (AKA the HAMMERNADO): It's a Hurricane of Hammers that dispenses Mortal Wounds (12 dice on 6+) and gives any Unit within 6" of it -1 to hit with Missile Weapons. Thanks to its 8 inch movement (14" if you're controlling it with a Lord-Arcanum) the Hammernado proves to be a relatively cheap and effective way to damage forces that lack mortal wound protection and screw ranged units (If you manage to cast it against a Tzeentch or Skaven army, they are in for a bad time).
• Dais Arcanum: (55pts) This is what is known as a STORMCAST ETERNAL WIZARD that has ascended past a STORMCAST ETERNAL WIZARD. A big disk for your Wizard to ride on: it grants them Fly, 12" movement and an additional Unbind. For just 55 points, you can hop in a Knight-Incantor or a Lord-Exorcist, and make them go even further beyond. Your opponents are going to love it, trust me...

</tab> </tabs>

Prayers of the Stormhosts

Every PRIEST in a STORMCAST ETERNALS army gains an additional prayer which can be used in addition to their other prayers in the Hero Phase.

All prayers have a range of 12" for Knights, which extend to 18" for Lords

1. Divine Light: 3+ to cast, choose an enemy unit wholly within 12". You may re-roll 1's to hit when attacking that unit until your next hero phase.
2. Translocation: 3+ to cast, remove a friendly STORMCAST ETERNAL unit wholly within 9" of this priest (12" for Lords) from the battlefield and set them up again anywhere on the battlefield more than 9" from enemy units. Expect to use this a lot for your footsloggers.
3. Bless Weapons: 4+ to cast, a friendly unit wholly within 18" deals 2 hits for every unmodified 6 rolled to hit instead of just 1. Remember that these "unmodified roll of 6+" type abilities can't stack, so units like Longstrikes, Retributors and Vindictors will have to choose which ability takes effect.

Traits of the Noble Beast

One mount in your army may be "exceptional" and take a relevant trait. Heavily changed from before.

1. Aetheric Swiftness: For DRACOTHS, DRACOLINES, and Gryph-Chargers. Allows the rider eligible to fight and pile in from 6" instead of 3".
2. Light of the Young Stars: For STARDRAKES. It gains a new Monstrous Rampage to grant -1 to hit rolls until the end of turn on a 3+.
3. Celestial Instincs: The mount can fall back and either charge or shoot on the same turn.
4. Envoy of Lighting: If the hero deep-strikes with Scions of the Storm, roll a d6 for every enemy unit within 10" of them, dealing d3 mortal wounds on a 4+.
5. Scintillating Trail: Enemy wizards suffer a -1 to their unbinding rolls when a wizard from within 12" casts a spell.
6. Thunderous Presence: For Draconith. It effectively gives you a second roar that shuts off commands during the Battleshock phase, shutting off the use of Inspiring Presence.

Holy Commands

At long last. Stormhosts no longer hand out a bonus Command Trait, so you get these instead. You get one of five to choose from for your army. You may use that Command Ability once per game. They are unique enhancements, so you can take multiple if you spend additional enhancements to do so. Also with the exception of Call for Aid, these commands can only be issued by KNIGHTs or DRACONITH/LORDs, the latter of which get an 18" range.

1. Call for Aid: Can be issued by any hero. A REDEEMER unit of 5 models or less get all their dead models to come back to life. An interesting ability, and HALLOWED KNIGHTS will like this ability as they rely on those units to fight as their frontlines. If they can come back and do it again, this can be potentially devastating - if only limited by the model requirement.
2. Steadfast March: The unit that is issued this Command Ability gets to run and charge. You already have some ideas of what you want to do with this, don't you?
3. Thunderbolt Volley: Allows an Angelos or Justicar unit within range to shoot in the hero phase.
4. Unleash Thy Hatred: One PALADIN unit within range adds +1 to the attacks for their melee weapons.
5. Final Thunderstrike: You add +1 to the rolls for a Blaze of Glory, dealing mortal wounds on 5+s. Save it for when one of the dragons (which are THUNDERSTRIKE) or your biggest hero dies, and watch your enemies explode. Requires a little bit of finesse, as you have to call it at the start of the combat phase, so make sure the enemy doesn't have a way of avoiding or mitigating attacks directed at the Final Thunderstriking unit.

Grand Strategies

As the new gimmick in AOS 3rd edition, each army has three unique Grand Strategies. Of course, Stormcast get the... Weird ones.

1. Draconith Defiance: You complete this grand strategy if the only HEROES left alive are DRACONITH.
2. Pillars of Victory: You complete this grand strategy if the only BATTLELINE left alive are REDEEMERS.
3. Sacred Charge: You complete this grand strategy if 2 friendly CITIES OF SIGMAR units are left alive on the battlefield.

Battle Tactics

You get these in addition to the ones granted by your battleplan (either the core ones for core batteplans, or the Ghur ones for the GHB2021 battleplans).

1. Hammer Strike Assault: Get victory points for killing a Hero with at least 10 wounds.
2. No Challenge Too Great: Get victory points for killing a Hero with a Redeemer Unit.
3. Draconith Destruction: Get victory points for killing a unit of 10 or more models with a DRACONITH unit.
4. A Matter of Honour: Get victory points for killing a MONSTER with a DRACONITH unit.
5. Pioneers of the Realm: Get victory points for capturing objectives wholly within your opponent's deployment zone with a CITIES OF SIGMAR unit.
6. Lightning-shattered Morale: Get victory points for making a model in a unit of Bravery 10 run.

Core Battalions

Coming soon, but these battalions just shuffle around the roles a bit while granting the same options.

Warscrolls

Common keywords in these warscrolls are ORDER, CELESTIAL, HUMAN and STORMCAST ETERNAL.

Named Leaders

The majority of these characters tied to the Hammers of Sigmar. Note that named characters cannot be given command abilities or relics. Named characters CAN however take Mount Traits, regardless of if their mount is named or not.

• Krondys, Son of Dracothion: (550pts, Unaligned) Apparently the dragon with Sigmar's ear, aside from being a big dragon with lots of wounds, fire breathing, and nasty claw and fang attacks, apparently can cast spells as his armor boosts his magical ability. Stormcast's first level 2 wizard with 2 casts and unbinds, and a +3 to cast before he starts taking wounds. This doesn't extend to his unbinds, but oh well. Notably, he only knows one Stormcast lore spell, so choose wisely. His unique spell is interesting, as it requires a 9 to cast at 24" range, with 4 different effects to choose from. Subtract 1 from target's hit rolls with all attacks, subtract 1 from the rend of that unit's attacks, subtract 1 from the attacks characteristic of missile weapons, or subtract 1 from save rolls. You should seriously consider his ability to worsen rend or subtract from saves, but this spell can be a real swiss-army knife if you need it.
  • Just because Krondys is the wizard, doesn't mean that he's a slouch in a fight. Most notably, the attack characteristic of his tail attack is equal to the number of enemy models within 3". At 600 points, he's easily the biggest and most impressive of the large Stormcast Models, and seems to be perfectly ready to rip open your enemies a new one. Enemies also get -1 to hit him with melee weapons, and he more or less has the same attack profiles as Karazai, but with slighty worse damage. He continues the trend of all Stormcast wizards also being combat wizards, by virtue of being a big monster who can probably easily handle almost anything thrown at him. Just don't try to throw him against Nagash or Skarbrand in melee.

• Karazai, the Scarred: (550pts, Unaligned) While Krondys seems to bring his mind to the battlefield, Karazai is all brawn. Not a wizard at all, but that's fine since Karazai wants to get up close and personal to Rip and Tear. All melee weapons target him subtract 1 from their attack characteristic to a minimum of 1. It seems he prefers his jaw attacks, as it has a terrifying 6/3+/1+(at 8 wounds or less)/-3 rend and 3 damage an attack, and then use his Talons to finish off whatever is left behind. He also gets tail attacks equal to the amount of enemy models within 3" of him, and his own fire breath attack, which will at least deal out a single mortal wound. Whenever Karazai kills an enemy unit, he then gets an effect depending on what that unit was. If it was a Monster or Hero, then he gets +1 attacks on all weapons. If it was a unit with 3+ wounds, he gets +1 to run and charge rolls, and units with 2 or less wounds simply heal 1 wound. Not quite what we were expecting, but Karazai promises to be a melee terror on the battlefield.

• Celestant-Prime: (330pts, Unaligned) While not exactly named, this here is your army's big model that also acts as a centerpiece. The 'first' Stormcast Eternal, this is one bad dude. Prime has a very powerful shooting attack, dramatically one-upping the Lord-Celestant on Dracoth by tossing a comet onto the battlefield. His close combat potential seems to have potential, having 3 attacks base. That said, have him deep-strike and add 2 to the attacks characteristic of Ghal Maraz until the end of the game. This is cumulative so he gains more the longer you keep him off the stronger he gets. However this can be a trap as keeping off the board for even turns can be risky as a lot can happen in that time and you actually want him to contribute when he arrives. He now has a 4+ ward so he is far more durable than before, so he can much more reliably land behind enemy lines to smash face. In addition he has the super-rare ability to actually choice types of die rolls instead of rerolling. Which is perfect for guantee long charges or needed save rolls. Ovearll stronger than before defensively and offensively, however lost some inherent army buffing as he lost his universal +1 to bravery for ORDER units.
  • In fact, the Prime is a lot better than it would seem at first glance. With his "Orrery of Celestial Fates," once per turn, you can CHOOSE one of his rolls (to be precise, a save roll, hit roll or wound roll, a run or charge roll. So no heroic action, for example, or anything else) to any result you want. Meaning, each turn you can either: almost guarantee 3 Damage in combat if you change the Hit dice (Ghal Maraz wounds on 2+ and has -3 Rend), or almost guarantee that 9" charge the turn he enters play, or avoid one non-mortal wound to him if you change the Save roll (even against -3 Rend opponents!). Your second turn is ideal for this: most of your units will be engaged, and with 5 Ghal Maraz attacks, if you change the hit dice, the Prime deals each turn something like 9 wounds in combat (except against a handful of super-protected units, like Stonehorns or Phoenix Guard), which is MIGHTY.This guy requires a lot of skill to play, but if you do it right, his 325 points cost will be repaid in no time.

• Yndrasta, the Celestial Spear: (280 pts, Unaligned) Dominion's big centerpiece Sanguinius-chan is quite a dangerous showing. She's a flying Thunderstrike hero with a 3+/4++ save and equipped with some very dangerous weapons. Both of them wound on a 2+ with -2 Rend, but the spear deals d6 wounds at range while the sword only deals 3. This is especially a problem for monsters, as she also has a 3" aura that forces any monsters she faces to act as if they've suffered 10 additional wounds, meaning that her very presence can nerf greater daemons and other monsters before she attacks them. That said, she's not entirely offensive. Friendly Stormcast and Cities of Sigmar units within 12" can ignore battleshock and once per turn she can raise one model for a Stormcast unit with a wounds characteristic of 3 or less - incredibly useful since now you aren't only gaining back those models for attacking but also to act as reloading kamikazes. Send her monster hunting for best results, then send her after enemy heroes.
  • Do note that while she ruins almost every monster in the game, do not under any circumstances have her engage Skarbrand, as ol' big red at -10 wounds will delete Yndrasta and any other unit engaging him.

• Vandus Hammerhand: (190pts, Hammers of Sigmar) Dracoth-borne Lord-Celestant of the Hammerhands, the first chamber of the Hammers of Sigmar. He's Sigmar's favorite Stormcast, and it shows. His tempestos hammer, Heldensen, deals 3 wounds rather than D3. In addition he has a ranged attack that always deals d3 mortal wounds on a 4+, making for a nice shot for softening up enemies, but nevery something to rely upon. He gets 2 extra attacks if he's charged, and he automatically grants battleshock immunity to all Hammers of Sigmar units within 24". Curiously, he's picked up a new trick this edition, allowing you to grant 1 Hammers of Sigmar Redeemer unit wholly within 12" of him an extra attack for all their weapons. If you take Vandus to the field, run him alongside your Battleline as a linebreaker, where he can deal the most damage. Sadly, despite a decrease in points, he's not as useful as the generic option in a dragons-only list.

• Astreia Solbright: (170pts, Hammers of Sigmar) A named Lord Arcanum on a Dracoline. Not only can she stave off death for a Stormcast unit, but she can also add +1 to saves for Hammers of Sigmar Sacrosanct units hit in melee, offsetting their weaker saves. In addition, she can re-roll her charges and her unique spell is a debuff bubble that deals -1 to hit rolls on all enemies within 6".

• Aventis Firestrike: (270pts, Hammers of Sigmar/Hammerhal) A named Lord Arcanum on a Tauralon, unique in that he's also capable of supporting a Cities of Sigmar army just as effectively. One of your few wizards who gets 2 casts and unbinds, he's gained quite a few new tricks this battletome, including the ability to stave off death for one model within 18" and restoring a wound on them - though it's not sure if this will still trigger Blaze of Glory. While ineffective on himself, he can heal d3 wounds each hero phase anyways. His last ability lets him normal moves give +1 to hit for nearby Hammers of Sigmar and Hammerhal units. His unique spell has a 7+ CV and a rather short range of 9", but it's a blast that deals d3 MWs to enemies within 3" of the chosen location.

• Gardus Steel Soul: (170 pts, Hallowed Knights) Named Lord-Celestant of the Hallowed Knights who has been the main character of a few novels and has a starring role in Broken Realms: Be'lakor. While he's only as fast as your regular battleline, he has a 5+ ward save that spreads to other Hallowed Knights units within 12". On top of that, he has a once-per-game ability to re-roll charges for any heroes within 12" and add an an extra attack, and Martyr's Strength, which gives him the ability to fight again on a 2+. All in all, very solid choice for a melee leader for your Hallowed Knights, if you want a dedicated named character for the job. However, he's 30 more points expensive than the default Lord-Celestant, and lacks the generic version's abilities.

• Gavriel Sureheart: (110pts, Hammers of Sigmar) Lord-Celestant and yet another member of the Hammers of Sigmar. Not only can he re-roll his charges, but he can also make a free Forward to Victory command each turn for Hammers of Sigmar units. He trades the Lord Celestant's regular weapons with 2 damage -1 rend sword with 5 attacks (that deals 2 MWs on a crit 6 to hit) and a Thundershield that deals out mortal wounds when you roll 6s to save. Same price as the default lord-celestant, and arguably an alternative pick for when you play Hammers of Sigmar.

• Neave Blacktalon: (110pts, Hammers of Sigmar) The Stormcast Eternals Hero Hunter who's no longer as supporting for allies. Her boltstorm pistol allows her to run and shoot. Her real damage comes from the whirlwind axes, providing a dizzying 8 attacks that add +d3 more attacks on the charge with -1 Rend. Her standout ability is Windrider, which lets her re-deploy wherever she wishes and ensures that she can always be close to some prey. Much more identical to the default Knight-Zephyros now, even being the same price as her. The real question is if you think those extra attacks will help in the long run.

• Averon Stormsire: (210pts) Only usable with Stormsire's Cursebreakers. A buffed Knight-Incantor with a buffed spell, adding d3 wounds to enemies within 6".

• Lynus Ghalmorian: (240pts, Anvils of the Heldenhammer) Named Lord Arcanum on Gryph-Charger for the Anvils of the Heldenhammer, found in the August 2019 White Dwarf. Almost identical to the base one, but makes every friendly Anvils of the Heldenhammer unit within 12" reroll save rolls of 1 against missile weapons, replaces the healing spell with one that is cast on a 6+ and deals D3 mortal wounds to a unit within 12" while also giving it -1 to hit rolls until your next hero phase and haves a command ability that gives every friendly Anvils of the Heldenhammer unit within 12" +1 to their hit rolls. 240 points.

• Lord-Commander Bastian Carthalos: (300 pts, Hammers of Sigmar) The newest Hammers of Sigmar character, and their leader to boot! His stat line is scary. 8 wounds with a 3+/4++ save, and 4 attacks with +3/+2/-2 and 4 damage a piece! And that's before you get into his abilities. During the hero phase he picks a single enemy unit and rolls d6 equal to their wounds- for every 6, that unit suffers a single mortal wound. Useless against chaff, but great for dueling heroes, monsters, and anything else with more than 4 wounds. He also allows you to redeploy d3 friendly Hammers of Sigmar units as long as you go first in the first round- a great plan if your opponent manages to somehow strategically outflank you before the game begins, or if you come up with some genius plan after you finish all your drops (and you're playing Stormcast, you always finish your drops first). Next up, he's got the Lord-Imperitant's "free command ability" ability, a real lifesaver when you're short on CP. Lastly, he's got the Mantle of the First Storm. At the end of any phase if any models were slain by Bastian, he can heal all wounds allocated to him. He's looking like the go-to choice for Hammers of Sigmar, but whether or not you want to actually use him with his cost of 300pts is up to you- either way, he's one scary hero who you will always pull his weight, either by moving with your battleline, or charging into the fray himself.

Leaders

Celestant

• Lord-Celestant:(130pts) An okay hero on foot that can shoot d6 shots at an enemy within 12", and has 5 attacks in melee that can deal 2 damage apiece. His unique traits allow him to deal out mortal wounds instead of regular attacks when he rolls 6s to hit, and he can issue All-out Attack for free, once per battle. A lot has changed since the Lord-Celestant first graced the tabletop, to the point where if you want a melee beatstick to go with your Battleline, the Lord-Celestant should be the first hero you consider. You probably don't want the vanilla Lord-Celestant for your general however, now that his mounted versions have become much stronger, and the inclusion of the Lord-Imperitant into the game.

• Lord-Celestant on Dracoth: (215pts) A guy in pompous golden armor and a big cloak who can be equipped with a Dracothian Guard weapon and rides a dragon on lightning. Couldn't be more Power Metal if he tried. He's very killy in close combat and can use the All-Out Attack command once per game for free. Due to being mounted, he moves at a fast pace and has 7 wounds as opposed to the "general" hero base of 5. This guy is hard-hitting, fast and durable meaning you want him up in the front line where he can lead the charge. To simplyfy, his Dracoth can spit out some mortal wounds if you get lucky, but you will never want to rely on it, as it only spits out d3 mortal wounds on a 4+. The Dracoth's Claws and Fangs will surely tear out enemy battleline, or even a hero if he gets to rip into them, and whenever you roll a 6 for a save, he gets to deal out a mortal wound to whoever had the gall to try and hit him. Pick the Glaive or the Lightning Hammer for best results.
  • The Celestant's Weapon choice:
    • The Stormstrike Glaive that deals more damage on charges, its pitiful damage of 1 becomes a 3 if the Lord-Celestant charged this turn.
    • The Lightning Hammer that deals 2 Mortal Wounds on hit rolls of 6 instead of rolling for damage
    • The Tempestos Hammer, which only gets 3 attacks at 3+/2+/-1/D3 Damage, but you can stack an additional D3 onto each hit if he charged this turn. While this can deal the most damage in a single blow, it also comes with the worst rend out of his 4 weapon profiles.
    • Lastly, a Thunderaxe that only deals out a single point of damage, but gets 2 extra attacks if the Lord-Celestant is fighting against a unit with more models than 1.
  • With Stormcast Dragons now a potential army option, he's potentially a budget leader option to lead your Dracothian Guard into the charge.

• Lord-Celestant on Stardrake:(500pts, Behemoth) aka Rage Made Manifest. Hoo boy. Looking at the stat-wheel, this guy compares quite well to Nagash, with eighteen wounds at a 3+ save and a high flying Move. Melee-wise, the Drake looks lacking at first, having just about the same profile as a Vampire Lord, with four attacks at 3+/3+/-2/2 damage, which is a good profile, but not stellar for such a huge model, and a tail attack which is D6 attacks at 3+/3+/-1=2 damage. The Celestant on top adds to the beastie by wielding either the same Hammer with better rend, or a Sword with more attacks. He also bears a Shield, which can cause Mortal Wounds on the guys who punch your Celestant. And then you see why the Drake looks so lacking in melee: At range, he can shoot comets, which are now a 4 attack ranged weapon with 30" to shoot, and Rend -3 and Damage 3, then before combat, he can just flat-out eat up to 3 enemy models, with higher chances to succeed if their Wound-stat is low. He also has a once-per-game ability to issue one free command to a Stormcast unit within 12". And he can also adjust casting rolls for all Wizards around him by +/-1. Simply put, this guy is not an auto-win button, but he raises holy hell by having a huge threat bubble and crapping out an enormous amount of Mortal Wounds all over the field.
  • Tempted to bring him as the general for an all-dragon list? You bet your are. The Lord-Celestant on Stardrake is a nice middle-ground between picking the Knight-Draconis, or going with big Karazai or Krondys. While not as much of a blender as Karazai, and not a caster like Krondys, this Lord-Celestant isn't going to stop until something kills him dead, or he breaks the enemy line for the rest of your dragons to take care of business.

Arcanum

All variants in the GHB 2019 received a 20 point decrease but is canceled out by the increase in Sequitors if you take 10 or more of them. Only really beneficial to lists using an Arcanum for spawning endless spells and no Sequitors (Even then, Incantor is still usually the better option).

• Lord-Arcanum: (155pts) A wizard and Leader of the Sacrosanct Chamber and has a few abilities. Solid in a fight compared to most wizards in the game, but then again stormcast wizards tend to be less pure spellcasters as much as characters who just so happen to cast spells. Once per turn, he can heal a recently slain Stormcast model (that is not himself) back to 1 wound allowing him to hold the line longer or crawl back to the nearest Cleric (this does not count as having been slain, so no blowing up stormcast and stuffing them back in their armor to keep fighting anyway). For spells, he has Thunderclap, which subtracks 1 from an enemy unit's hit rolls. He can move predatory endless spells he controls an extra 6" in addition to their movement speed, which makes him pretty good as a Endless Spell caddie. All in all, the Lord-Arcanum acquits himself as a decent middle-of-the-road wizard, and he's definitely the one you want to be casting your predatory endless spells.

• Lord-Arcanum on Gryph-Charger: (195pts) Came from the Soul Wars box, now only available bundled with an Evocator-Prime. The medic of the Arcanum. Like other Gryph-Charger, his movement increased to 12", Gaining 3/+3/+3/-2/D1 Beak & Claws, and the same Aetherstave as the default Lord-Arcanum It also gains the ability to Ride the winds Aetheric which lets it essentially redeploy instead of move. It has a different Unique spell that Heals D3 wounds on a Stormcast Model and D6 instead on a cast of +8, this spell can make him good friends with Dracoths. Unfortunately, with the loss of his unique command ability, this Lord-Arcanum is somewhat rudderless compared to his counterparts. While previously you wanted him to stick with either the Sequitors or Evocators to give them free empowers, or to let the sequitors pick both of their channeling abilities, that's all gone now. Keep him with your Battleline, where he can support them as a wizard, and heal your troops as well.

• Lord-Arcanum on Celestial Dracoline: (200pts) Mounted for offense and would lead Evocators on Dracolines. Similar to the Gryph-Charger stats but has one less in rend, but makes up for it by increasing its Claws damage to d3. Dracolines also subtract 1 from enemy Bravery. Its unique spell creates a 12" line that inflicts a Mortal wound to an enemy unit on a 5+ for each of its models that falls under the line. Its unique aura Gives +1 attack to the Claw weapons of nearby Evocators mounted on Dracolines. If you're running Evocators on Dracolines, you might want to consider bringing this Lord-Arcanum to lead them into battle.

• Lord-Arcanum on Tauralon: (MONSTER, 285pts) A Lord-Arcanum Riding a flying Ram that has a similar weapons profile to the Dracoline but with one more attack. The Tauralon gives a +1 to hit for Stormcast and Cities attacks so long as he's within 3" of them.. His Unique spell deals d3 mortal wounds to on a 4+ to enemies within 3" of a point you pick. The Lord-Arcanum on Tauralon has become somewhat unfocused, having lost much of the utility that it once had (and now only being able to cast one spell. Kind of an unnecessarily cruel nerf to the Master Wizard of the Sacrosanct), and its previous buffs to shooting now requires him to stay next to whoever you want him to buff. Instead now consider taking this Monstrous Rampage-y caster into combat, where he's capable of causing up to 20 wounds across 8 3+/3+/-1 attacks, which benefit from his own +1 to hit aura if he made a normal move before charging in, and then granting it to your other units that he's fighting alongside.

Other Wizards

• Lord Exorcist: (170pts) A Wizard that Specializes in Close Quarters Exorcising. He has the same stats and weapon Profile as the Lord-Arcanum. His abilities have changed up now enemy units cannot return slain models while within 9". His Unique spell Rolls a dice for each enemy unit within 12". If (d6 + enemy's unit's Bravery <= 12 ) than that unit takes d3 Mortal wounds. Overall he's lost his unique bonuses against Daemons or Nighthaunt, but gained better utility overall. He is the unfortunate recipient of one of the largest points increases of any Stormcast character from the last edition to this one, putting his current price at an alarming 170 pts! While his utility may have increased, his greatest strength was that he was insanely cheap and a solid wizard to boot. Post nerf, he's 35 pts more expensive than just shooting for a second Lord-Arcanum on foot. Not saying he's useless, but he has to earn his points now and its hard to imagine a world where he's worth that much more than the other footslogging wizards.

• Knight-Incantor: (125pts) The on-foot wizard from Soul Wars. Nothing to write home about in melee, and not a particularly impressive caster with only 1 each cast and deny with no bonus. The Knight Incantor does, on the other hand, come with a Voidstorm Scroll, a once-per-game ability that can be used before rolling to make an Unbinding roll automatically succeed. This can deny your opponent a critical spell, breaking a combo or saving one of your units. Finally, Her unique spell creates a Storm that gives -1 to Charge and Run of all enemies within 18". The Knight Incantor is a decent all-around wizard who doesn't stand out in any one area, but can also do almost any task you ask of her. Also a solid ally to any Order faction that doesn't have wizards of their own. Anywho, they're best taken as your budget wizard.

• Knight-Arcanum: (135 pts) From the Dominion Boxset. An otherwise ordinary wizard who acts as a 3" bubble of denial for predatory Endless Spells - no spell can go into or through this space, which can give you a bit of breathing room. Their unique spell acts like an Arcane Bolt that can pick who it hits in exchange for any overcasting benefits, and its range is boosted for every Thunderstrike unit wholly within 12" of the caster. The Knight-Arcanum's melee abilities are notably a worse iteration of both the Knight-Incantor and the Lord-Arcanum's melee. While promising d3 wounds, having to wound on 4+s means that the Knight-Arcanum is best spent away from the thick of it. At the end of the day, the Knight-Arcanum's real role is endless spell denial, put her in her back line where your opponent is liable to drop their predatory spells, and keep her with your battleline that you want to stay alive. Any honestly, she has to compete with the Knight-Incantor, who is both cheaper and better at shutting down enemy magic at the source with her voidstorm scroll.

Priest

• Lord-Relictor: (145pts) Your foot-slogging cleric with a wicked skull helm. He has two unique prayers, one where he can choose to either heal a friendly Stormcast Eternals unit wholly within 12" for D3 wounds (best used on other Heroes), or to make an enemy unit wholly within 12" take d3 mortal wounds, and hae them suffer -1 to hit until your next hero phase. Best used on nearby enemy heroes. You will also choose 1 of the 6 prayers (which can be cast each turn in addition to one of the 2 just described). While no slouch in combat, he's nowhere near as good as a Lord-Celestant; of course, this isn't why you take him. The best use for him is in the "secondary" line, using his healing buff to keep your men in fighting shape and lending a hand with the lightning storm anywhere they're struggling. Heroes and paladins of all types will find him a very good "best bud." The comparison between him and the Lord-Celestant is easily explained: the Celestant is the fighter of the party while the Relictor is the cleric. Remember that the healing storm can't actually bring things back to life, it only heals stuff that's still alive. Frankly, the guy is awesome. The advent of Prayers gives him two options to influence the game in the Hero Phase, neither of which can be unbound. Favorite combo - "the FUCK YOU button": Give him the prayer Divine Light and then use his Lightning in enemy mode. With luck you'll have a unit that's taken D3 wounds, is -1 to hit, and your whole army gets to re-roll ones against them. His biggest draw now is ultimately cost- he's not as cheap as he used to be, but he's by no means the most expensive hero in the Stormcast hero lineup. Consider him carefully, especially now that Translocation can teleport your heavy paladins around. Also, he gets +1 to chanting rolls, meaning that no matter what you ask him to do, he's probably going to get that prayer answered.

• Lord-Veritant: (155 pts) Another Priest, Has extra wounds compared to standard heroes just like the Castellant, and gets a pretty good melee profile (3 attacks at 3+/3+/-1, 2 damage each). Again, like the Castellant, he gets a Free pet gryph-hound who no longer counts as a seperate model bringing his overall wounds to a healthy 8. He can unbind one spell in the same way as a wizard, and has a 50/50 chance of doing D3 mortal wounds to an enemy unit within 12" with his prayer. Which isn't a spell so there is no way are very few ways for the enemy to stop it (The Knight Relictor in this army book being one such example). Also it now effects any unit, not just wizards. Last but not least he is a priest, so don't forget to throw some extra prayers on him. His role is more of an assassin than the Relictor's more support role, choose accordingly for him when deciding on prayers. His biggest con is, like the Castellant, he's lost some of his mojo, and just isn't as strong as he used to be, despite increasing in price, though getting a bit more tanky by technicality. Still, he's a sturdy priest with an unbind and decent arm behind a solid blade. Potentially a good pair with the Witch Hunters in Cities of Sigmar lists. Also good if you have a spare hero slot and you cant decide on getting another Wizard for magical defense or a priest for utility: just get a Veritant, he does both roles surprisingly well.

• Knight-Relictor: (140 pts) The newest priest, and the only Thunderstrike option. He's a fairly basic model though, with a pretty decent mace with 3+ hit/3+ wound/-1 Rend/2 Damage. His most important power is the ability to negate the effects of enemy prayers or invocations on a 4+, giving you a big bubble of anti-priestness. Super useful if your local meta has tons of priests, but will likely become even more relevant if the coming army books expand each army's access to Priests like many think will happen. Keep an eye on him.

Others

• Drakesworn Templar: (MONSTER, Behemoth, 400pts) If you like your Drake better without a meh Command Ability. Like Paladins, Dracoths and Dracoth Celestants, the Templar gets the obligatory choice of your three favorite weapons, and again all of them do different things: The Axe gets 6 swings at 1 damage and has a chance of drastically worsening enemy Pile-in moves, great to keep your Templar safe from small gribbles. The Hammer is more or less a Retributor's hammer but with damage 2, but with the extra goodness of 6+s To Hit making 2 To Wound rolls instead of 1. This can ruin a monster's day all on its own. Be wary that the Hammer does only get 3 swings, so debuffs will cripple you. The Lance also gets you a nice effect: If you roll a 6+ To Hit against a monster with it, you instantly deal D6 Mortal Wounds. Now much better, as its base damage has been reduced to a 1. Again, the Hammer is the more balanced choice, right between Monster killer and tarpit cleaner, but it's not as specialized as the other two; pick the one you think is most appropriate, the Drake will probably do most of the work on its own anyway. He gives a +/- of 1 to Nearby Wizards. He also has a bow which spits out a random amount of attacks every time, but for each 6, instead of rolling that wound, it just deals a mortal wound. Notably got worse, as he dropped down to having a 4+ save, as opposed to the Lord-Celestant's 3+.
  • While the Drakesworn Templar has long been "the worst Stardrake" in the community's eyes, the truth is that now, he's finally found a niche of his own. Coming it at a whole 50 points less than the Lord-Celestant option, and taken with the lance, all of a sudden the Templar is a pretty good monster hunter for the All-Dragon Stormcast list, which is where he will probably see a fair bit of use from now own.

• Lord-Aquilor: (170pts) The post given to the leader of the Vanguard Auxiliary Chambers, aka the Stormcast Eternal Rangers. He's got decent combat stats and some ranged capability. The Vanguard Chamber really got shuffled around in this new edition, and he's no exception to it. Now, all he has are Ride the Winds Aetheric, and the ability to give out a free command to any friendly Vanguard units within reach. Before, you could get up to some fun shennanigans with his abilities, now he's mostly useful for babysitting your other Vanguard units. Currently, this only incudes Vanguard-Hunters and Vanguard-Palladors; he can't use the free order on Vanguard-Raptors, or even himself. Groan as appropriate.

• Lord-Castellant: (160pts) No longer the powerhouse he once was, The Lord-Castellant is interested in walking alongside Battleline to buff them, and to deal some extra damage. His unique ability is his lantern, which can either add 1 to save rolls for a friendly stormcast unit in 18", or can potentially deal out d3 mortal wounds to an enemy unit within 18" in a 2+ (meaning he can basically cast an Arcane bolt-like attack without it being a spell that's vulnerable to dispels or a prayer thats vulnerable to anti-prayer mechanics like the Knight-Relictor. This kind of unavoidable mortal wound sniping can be key in mid-to-late game fights, and carefully employed can catch an opponent unawares and deny him a pivotal character or lose him a general who would otherwise survive). His buff ability only works on Stormcast now, meaning his usefulness has decreased drastically as an ally in soup armies like Cities of Sigmar. He can acquit himself alright in combat, and has a fairly impressive 3+ save, 8 wounds, and 9 bravery, but just fails to stand out like he once did and has good versatility for both buffing Stormcast and tossing unavoidable mortal wounds across the table. Reliable if you want to pay for him.

• Lord-Ordinator: (110pts) A mustachioed non-Engineer that buffs Warmachines. Add 1 to hit rolls to War Machines wholly within 9". This pairs very well with the Celestar Ballista which has gone from good to great, and with his ability, goes from great to terrifying (you feel like hitting and wounding on 2+s?). Has the ability to deal two mortal wounds with every 6 you roll to hit, instead of regular wounds. An interesting ability, should his precious war machines become besiged by flankers. He will find himself in lists with Stormcast Eternals or Free City Warmacines.

• Knight-Azyros: (120pts) Your flying support Hero. He's got 5 attacks at 3+/3+/-1/2 damage apiece, but he's got his special little lantern to help as well. His only ability now is giving +1 to hit on an enemy unit 9" of him in the combat phase. No longer a buffer for your shooting units, the Knight-Azyros wants to be moving alongside your other Prosecutors, or calvary.

• Knight-Venator:(140pts) Your flying shooty Hero. Has a whole bunch of good shots at a ridiculously high 30" range, but is by far the worst Stormcast Hero in melee. He can also shoot a special arrow once per game that can either hurt a Monster real bad or murder the face off of a normal Hero with D6 Damage on a 3+. You could theoretically waste this on a regular unit as well, but he really, really wants to be a hero/monster hunter. The biggest problem with the Knight-Venator is now his high cost, and the fact that all his ranged attacks that he prizes so much only deal 1 damage a piece.

• Knight-Heraldor: (100pts) Oh how the mighty have fallen. Previously, a unique hero with a unique ability, now your single cheapest hero, who doesn't bring much to the table. While he acquits himself nicely with a 3+ save and a broadsword that's alright in combat, his previously inpressive horn got hit with the nerf bat pretty hard. Now he picks a piece of terrain wholly within 18" of him, and he you roll a dice for each enemy unit with 3" of that terrain feature. On a 2+, that unit suffers d3 mortal wounds. Neat, but not as impressive as it once was.

• Knight-Vexillor: (120pts) Your standard, Standard Bearer. In melee, he's a Hammer-Liberator with twice the attacks, and he can have a pick of two banners. No matter which you pick, Stormcast Eternals around him get to reroll charge rolls. Also, the banners have these effects: The Meteoric Standard grants you a one-shot explosion where you pick a point within 24", and each enemy within 6" get d3 mortal wounds. The Pennant of the Stormbringer, on the other hand, lets you pick up a Stormcast unit and then redeploy it anywhere so long as you stay 9" away from enemies, sadly no longer guaranteeing a charge or dropping mortal wounds on nearby enemies. No Longer the go-to option it was, but still potentially very useful. The bigest question you have to ask is if you want his new brother for 40 more points? Ultimately, it comes down to which abilities you want more, but where his Thunderstrike brother is pure utility with his once-per-game heal, the default option can either blow stuff up, or redeploy a unit.

• Knight-Vexillor with Banner of Apotheosis: (140 pts) The Dominion boxset's version, meant to work with Thunderstrike units. Alongside the bubble to re-roll charges, there's also the unique banner which, once per game, can be triggered to use three charges: These charges can heal one nearby unit of 1d3 wounds or restore a model with 1d3 wounds. This also means that you can spend multiple charges on one unit, allowing you to immediately reinforce a very battered unit on the double with 2d3 or 3d3 wounds.

• Knight-Questor: (100pts) Well IF you want to field him, be our guest. The Questor is very self-sufficient, meaning he's not dependent on any buffs but doesn't dish any out either. Your duelist hero, with an alright combat profile that gives himself +1 to hit when he's fighting a Hero. When he rolls 6s to hit, he gets a free 2 mortal wounds on his enemy. An ok hero who isn't to impressive, the biggest problem with the Knight-Questor is that he just doesn't do anything when he's actually in play. A duelist who doesn't have a lot of wounds, strikes first, or any real way to get into close combat with enemy heroes is an easy pass. If you want an actual on-foot assassin, just take the Knight-Zephyros.

• Errant-Questor: (140pts) Warhammer World exclusive, so expect to pay inflated eBay prices if you can't get there yourself or ask a friend. Similar profile to the Knight-Questor except instead of a rerollable save, he ignores Rend. This might be preferable when facing armies that pile it on. At setup he can take one of three oaths; the first one lets him take wounds for a nominated Stormcast Hero as long as he's within 3", like an automatic Look Out Sir. The second lets you name a Hero in the enemy army, which gives the Errant free rerolls to hit and to wound versus that guy. The final and arguably best oath gets you an extra attack, cumulatively, for every 10 wounds you inflict - and with a base of three attacks at 3+/3+/-1 doing D3 damage each, that isn't too hard. He also rerolls all failed charge rolls, no catch. All in all a pretty strong character; team him up with a Celestant on foot and Castellant for your own little Stormcast Adventuring Party. Surprisingly, one of the few models that didn't get a points increase in the jump to 3E.

• Knight-Zephyros:* (100pts) She can run and shoot in the same turn. Her best ability is "Windrider" - Instead of doing a normal move with her, you can instead remove her from the battlefield, then set her up again more than 1" from all terrain and objectives, and more than 9" from all enemy units. Unlike Neave Blacktalon, the Knight-Zephyros can benefit from Command Traits, Artifacts, and can be part of other Stormhosts. In short, she's a great skirmisher and is a useful asset to keep in your backline to cut off any pesky throw-away squads gunning for an uncontested objective (looking at you, skinks). The biggest thing holding her back is the low damage of her pistol and axes- while she gets a fair bit out of it, she's going to struggle duels against dedicateed enemy melee heroes. Send her to handle chaff and enemy infiltrators that are prowling your backline, and use her to protect your vulnerable slow rear or artillery.

• Lord-Imperitant: (170 pts) The commander among Dominion's generic heroes. His weapons aren't too bad, with a ranged weapon that spits out random attacks and a pet gryph-hound to support him. Most useful of his abilities is that he can issue a command each turn without spending CP, which is quite useful. Also helpful is their ability to guide fellow Thunderstrike Eternals in deep-striking, letting them arrive within 7" of an enemy unit rather than the typical 9" - in case your unit REALLY needs to get stuck in immediately. In the fluff he's the strategist leader, in play seems to confirm him as this, as his most useful features is his free command ability and reduced deep strike. While he can reliably pump out four attacks with his hammer, and has an 18" shooting with his baton with fairly reliable hit, wound, and rend, he's not exactly a damage dealer, or a tank. Stick him into the thick of it at your peril, since he would be better positioned behind your Vindicators. That said, consider bubble-wrapping him with Praetors so he doesn't get focused-fired before you can drop your Annihilators. The biggest drawback to this lord is just that his deepstrike ability only works with keyword Thunderstrike, meaning you're going to have to bring all the new toys along to get any mileage out of it.

• Knight-Judicator: (200 pts) The newest lieutenant-type hero. The Knight-Judicator's the big brother to all your little Judicators, and allows you to take the new Vigilors as battleline when you field him as your general. He's got a greatbow that has a range of 30" with 2 attacks at rend -3 and 3 damage a piece. He also has a once per game ability to pick a point on the field and deal D3 Mortal Wounds to all enemy units with 6" on a 4+. He also comes with two gryph-hounds, which come with Warning Cry. If you intend to run a ranged Stormcast army, this one is an auto-include.

• Knight-Draconis: (300 pts) The new hero mounted on a dragon, and the one to take to make Stormdrake Guard Battleline. He can make one unit of Stormdrake Guard battleline. He hits hard, with his dragon's breath weapon dealing mortal wounds, even giving out a single mortal wound on rolls of one. He also comes with a 4+ spell ignore. Also note that after this hero attacks, your opponent picks 1 model in the unit that was attacked, then you roll a die. If you rolled greater than the wounds characteristic of the model that was picked, it is instantly slain. Once per battle you can also pick 1 Stormdrake Guard unit if they are wholly within 12", and they can shoot their mortal wound breath. The Knight-Draconis wants to be leading your Stormdrake Guard into the thick of it, and while he doesn't get a bevy of customization options, he does get the Aeonfire Blade, one of the nastiest weapons with 2 damage, and rend -3. Give him all-out attack, and there's a good chance your enemies will be tacking 10 wounds just from the rider alone. Not to be outdone, the Stormdrake is a force to be reckoned with as well, who only has slightly worse attacks, wounding ability, and rend than the rider. Oh yea, and he gets Monstrous Rampage.

Battleline Units

All matched play games require 2-4 battleline units as a minimum. Some units are made battleline by your choice of general.

Strike Chamber

• Liberators: (Battleline, 115pts, Min:5) Your basic melee troops, strong with average durability (4+ and 2 wounds). Have gotten some changes in the new book. Namely they have finally done away with the sword or hammer debate where they now have the same profile (the old sword profile) and basically are just cosmetic. So take whichever one you want really. Also, Liberators finally get rend on all their weapons! The shield has changed up significantly and has gone the way of the new edition getting rid of save rerolls, now it gives liberators +1 to their save roll as long as at least half the current unit size has shields. So functionally a 3+ saves in most circumstances (but won't get better than that except to offset rend). Paired weapons have also been simplified in that they now give Liberators 3 base attacks instead of 2. 1 in 5 can still take grandweapons, again the sword and hammer have the same profile, but now finally hit and wound on 3's. Liberators also lost their hit bonus against bigger targets, instead now it allows liberators to do d3 mortal wounds to a unit within 6" of an objective and 1" of them on a 4+. This seems to show their new primary role as sturdy objective holders. Being the cheapest battleline your going to get, squads of Liberators can be your sturdy backfield and objective holders which frees up your more powerful fighters to move forward against the enemy. Which you can improve even more if taken as a Stormkeep army where they can count as three models each. Don't forget to equip the Liberator Prime with the Grandweapon for +1 attacks!

• Judicators with Skybolt Bows: (Stormcast Battleline, 200pts , Min:5) Battleline if you're running a Stormcast Eternals army. Your basic ranged troops, same stats as the Liberators. Most notably got split into two different warscrolls with different weapon loadouts. The Skybolt Bows option is the one you will probably want to take if you need ranged attacks, rather than something to handle a horde. At 24", with 2 attacks at 3+/3+/-1/1 Damage, they're not exactly anything to shake a stick at, but when they get unmodified 6s, they deal mortal wounds instead of regular wounds. 1 in every 5 can come with a Shockbolt Bow, which gets D6 attacks at the same profile as the other one, but technically doesn't get their special rule to activate unless your opponent is a gentleman about things. Needs to be Errated to function as intended, and are most notably, your single most expensive Battleline default option in the entire faction.

• Judicators with Boltstorm Crossbows: (Stormcast Battleline, 190pts, Min: 5) Battleline if you're running a Stormcast Eternals army. Your basic ranged troops, same stats as the Liberators. Most notably got split into two different warscrolls with different weapon loadouts. At first, with only 18" range and no rend, unlike their brothers with the Skybolt Bows, your first instinct would be that the Crossbow is the worst of two bad options, but thanks to being 10 points cheaper than their brothers, and the changed to the Celestar Ballista, these guys do have specific function in a Stormcast list- horde cleaners. Their special rule, Rapid Fire (which they share with Vanguard-Raptors w/ Hurricane Crossbows) makes it so that whenever they score 1 hit, it turns into 2 hits. While you still have to roll wound and save rolls for each of those hits, suddenly that damage can really multiply when you have to clean out hordes, tarpits, or any other large unit with single-wound models. Put these guys behind your Battleline that's camping on an objective, and use them to unleash hell on whoever has the gall to charge your shieldwall.

• Vindictors: (Stormcast Battleline, 140 pts, Min: 5) The primaris-cast troops of Dominion are a considerable step up from the base liberators, given a flat 3+ save and spears that have a bit of range and hit and wound on a 3+ but can't be thrown. Of note here is that their spears instead deal mortal wounds on a natural 6 to wound, which is a bit of a help. 1 in every 5 can come with a standard, which adds 1 to bravery for a grand total of 8, making them just as brave as the Praetors. Overall a solid battleline choice if a bit expensive, though not terribly so given the elite nature of Stormcast in general. Very good unit overall, though perhaps best to find other units to objective camp, as these guys are too good offensively to waste on guard duty.

• Vanquishers: (Stormcast Battleline, 125pts, Min: 5) Did you miss being able to bring Greatsword infantry? Then these are the Battleline for you! Start with a base attack of two with a similar attack profile to Vindictors, though only 1" range and no mortal wounds. However instead they get an extra attack if there's 5 or more models in the unit they're fighting, and they get a whole 2 extra attacks instead if they're fighting a unit of 10 models or more. So at max four attacks each, which isn't too bad and firmly places them as your generic anti-horde option. The squad can also take a musician, which triggers their other big gimmick of note is if their musician is alive when the unit attempts a rally command they return models on 5+ instead of 6. So they can regenerate units faster than other squads. This can be useful but it requires them to survive combat in the first place. Could be useful in culling large fragile horde units, but they face stiff competition from the other plentiful battleline options in the book, and arguably compete for the same niche in the army with the excellent Vindictors for frontal assault battleline. After thinking about Vanquishers and realizing that they work a lot different than most people think at first, Vanquishers are a relatively good choice for dealing with hordes and tarpits. Even better, keep this unit held back in reserve so you can strategically deploy them to counter your opponent's hordes as needed. The biggest demerit against these guys is that since they have little way to handle multiwound infantry ('Ardboyz, Gutrippaz, Dire Wolves, etc.), as they just lack the innate multiple attacks against these hordes that Decimators and Desolators have.

Sacrosanct Chamber

• Sequitors: (Stormcast Battleline, 145pts, Min:5) Now just Stormcast Battleline. Sequitors have gotten a big shakeup since their original publication in 2E, and are now more expensive than even the Vindictors. For all those 145 points though, what are you really getting? To start, swords and mauls are now just "sancrosact weapons", and have lost dealing extra damage against Death and Daemons. 2 of every 5 sequitors can come with a Greatmace, which you always want to take. The Sequitor-Prime can also take one, meaning your unit of 5 can get 3 of these bad boys to really lay some pain on multi-wound Battleline- it's just that you can't take a Redemption Cache with that unit then (more on that later). Unless you have to deal with a lot of Death and Daemons, take the Greatmaces, as they come with better damage. Next up, Aetheric Channeling, their core unique rule. Previously legendary for shitting all over Death and Daemons, now... Well it's hard to say without further testing, but they've gone from "great" to "good", at the very least. You can no longer pick both weapons and shields due to changed to Lord-Arcanums, but if you pick Weapons, for every onmodified 6, every attack turns into 2 attacks. For Shields, the unit gets a Ward Save of 5+. Nice. Lastly, there's the Redemption Cache. If you choose to give the Sequitor-Prime the weapon and shield option, then slain models cannot be returned to enemy units that are within 3" of this unit's Sequitor-Prime. Perfect for crapping on Death's whole gimmick, and can occasionally find usage outside of anti-death lists due to how healing units work now.
  • Consider still taking them as an assault option compared to your regular Liberators. While they lack Mortal Wound output, the fact that they get either Ward Saves or extra attacks is still a nice little choice.

Conditional Battleline Units

Several units in the Stormcast list now are Conditional Battleline depending on subfaction, general, or even hero selection.

Strike Chamber

• Vigilors: (Conditional Battleline: Knight-Judicator General, 195pts, Min: 5) Vigilors are the newest ranged Stormcast option, and Conditional Battleline when you take the Knight-Judicator. They are essentially Judicators with Skybolt bows but with worse range, but they can mark a target they hit, giving +1 to hit it, both melee and ranged attacks, for the rest of the turn. Not bad. Five points more expensive than Judicators with Crossbows, the real reason why you want to bring these guys along is to let them shoot first, then have your army target the unit with the bonus to hit- which, if used in conjunction with any other weapon that has a 3+ to wound, could put that unit in the ground. This works wonders with anything that hits and wounds on 3+s, and if you have something that already wounds on a 2+, those units slapping a marked unit will make nearly any opponent terrified of Vigilors.

• All the Paladins have the same basic profile, swapping an inch of movement for an extra wound and point of bravery for their Liberator brethren. 2 in every 5 models of all Paladin units can take a Starsoul Mace that automatically inflicts D3 mortal wounds on a 2+. All Paladins are Battleline for anyone who's using Knights Excelsior as their Stormhost of choice.
  • Retributors: (Conditional Battleline: Knights Excelsior subfaction, 235pts, Min:5) It's Hammertime! Retributors are the jack of all trades when it comes to Paladins. With each of them getting 3/3+/3+/-2/2 Damage, they'll pile on the saves your opponent has to take, your opponent will sorely regret every save he fails. While their special ability isn't as gimmicky as the others', it's the most reliable, with Unmodified 6s to hit inflict 2 Mortal Wounds instead. Probably the best and most consistent all-around choice out of the paladins, there's not much in the game that'll enjoy being in combat with these guys. They have some stiff Competition with Annihilators with Meteoric Grandhammers, but consider the humble Retributor to be spiky anvil for the Annihilators to flank against to tear their enemies apart.
  • Decimators: (Conditional Battleline: Knights Excelsior subfaction, 215pts, Min:5) These guys have an ax to grind. They don't like horde infantry, and horde infantry doesn't like them. You want these men in the thick of the fight, as deep in an enemy unit as possible. Why do you ask? Because each Decimator gets five attacks apiece at 3+/3+/-2/1 they'll certainly put a combine harvester to shame. Furthermore, you get to add 2 attacks to each Decimator if they're outnumbered, courtesy of their unique rule. They're far weaker to monsters or characters due to slightly less damage than the Retributors. You could potentially add a Starsoul Mace to deal with that, but a previous anon covered this merit of this idea quite nicely. You're trading a bucketload of attacks against horde infantry for a few guaranteed knocks against a monster you shouldn't have engaged with Decimators in the first place. With the changes to how Decimators worked previously, and the potential for a paladin-only army, Decimators are firmly stuck in their role of handling enemy hordes, and the heroes that buff them (see, you knew that Starsoul Mace was going to come in handy).
  • Protectors: (225pts, Min:5) Protectors come with big glaives and are almost as blendy as the Decimators with a whopping 5 attacks each. And thanks to their 3" reach, they can quite easily fight over the top of any other troops you want to put them with. Now you add one to save rolls if at least half are armed with their glaives. They can also reach over a front rank to shank any dickheads who thought they were safe in the back with their 3" weapons. Protectors seem most at home moving up directly behind your Battleline, and supporting them against enemy monsters, heroes, or any other sort of multiwound elite infantry- but especially light infantry they can blend with their high attacks and reach, and with their save bonus they can tank a surprising amount of damage. Because of this Protectors along with Annihilators can serve the role of strong anvils if your running all paladins, and their reach comes in real handy supporting Redeemer squads.

• Annihilators: (Conditional Battleline: Knights Excelsior subfaction, 200 pts, Min: 3) Dominion's new version of the Paladin/Terminator type, a massive tank who immediately hits the ground running. That mighty 2+ save alone already makes them a bit more survivable against rend. That said, they have only two uses: Upon deep-striking, they can roll a d6 for each enemy unit within 10" of them and deal d3 mortal wounds on a 3+. Their second role is as chargers: Upon arriving, they can re-roll their charge distance, but on any charge they can potentially deal mortal wounds before they even make a swing. The issue with this second rule is that it requires all your boys to be there to be at its most effective, and with only three models with three wounds each, expect to use Yndrasta or the Banner of Apotheosis to reinforce them plenty of times.
  • So remember how the Lord-Imperitant allowed units to deep-strike within 7" of an enemy? Yeah, these are the prime targets, allowing them to strike as many foes as possible before making the mother of all bumrushes.

• Annihilators with Meteoric Grandhammers: (Conditional Battleline: Knights Excelsior subfaction, 240 pts, Min: 3) Their new kit has them coming with grandhammers, which gives them 3/3+/2+/-2/3 damage hammers. The only tradeoff is that they now go to 3+ save. Are they worth it moreso than regular Annihlators? Probably, but they're certainly far more of a threat than the regular ones are, considering they have all the same rules. The biggest question you probably are asking yourself is, why bother making these two different units with differing points cost? Why not mix-and-match weapon profiles, since all the other stormcast do it? The answer is greed- but there's another answer as well. Regular Annihilators can not only act as a strong hammer against most infantry, but are also tanky as all hell against anything that doesn't deal out mortal wounds. These guys are the real threat, having all the mortal wound ability as the other Annihilators, only now with 3 damage hammers apiece. If you want something to go kill a monster or a hero with, and you don't have Yndrasta for whatever reason, you probably want these guys.

• Prosecutors with Celestial Hammers:(Conditional Battleline: Tempest Lords Stormhost, 110pts, Min:3) With the ability to fly 12", these guys are basically assault marines. The hammers shoot 18" at 4+/4+. This goes up to a 3+/3+ when you close to face-smashing range, which won't be hard considering that they can charge 3D6 at 18". Never forget the increased charge range, especially when you are setting them up via Lightning Strike, as it grants them a significantly better chance of making that 10" charge. These guys will lend your army some much-needed mobility. Soften up a big enemy unit for a charge, pick off wizards and war machines, or zoom on to a much-needed objective. For every one in three, one can take a Grandweapon which is a single Celestial Hammer with 2 damage instead of 1.

• Prosecutors with Stormcall Javelins: (Conditional Battleline: Tempest Lords Stormhost, 155pts, Min:3) Get a completely exclusive Warscroll for some arbitrary reason. Surprisingly poor in melee but pretty damn good at range, they get only 1 attack at 4+/4+/-/1 in melee, but also an 18" shot at 3+/3+/-/1. One in three can instead get a Stormsurge Trident so you can also rock freaking Poseidon while you're at it. The Trident is identical to the Javelin, except that it deals 2 damage instead of 1. Never let these guys anywhere NEAR the enemy. Better yet, never take these guys. Despite being more expensive than their brothers with the hammers, they are far, far more weaker than them in both shooting and melee damage (a single-shot 1 damage ranged weapon is awful, and these guys only come with rend -1). If there are winners and losers in this Battletome, then these guys are the definitive losers.

Vanguard Auxiliary Chamber

• Vanguard-Hunters: (Conditional Battleline: Astral Templars Subfaction, 125pts, Min:5) Battleline if Astral Templars is your Stormhost. They are armed with either a Stormwrought Weapon (the sword and axe share a statline now) and all carry a Run & Shoot(not anymore; 3rd ed. saw them trade run & shoot for an extra 3" on the range) Boltstorm Pistol 12"/2/4+/4+/-1/1D, making them an odd Jack-Of-All-Trades unit. Further, they have an 'Astral Compass', which allows the unit to redeploy instead of move- you just have to set them up 6" away from the battlefield edge, and more than 9" away from all enemy units. This can't be improved by the Lord-Imperitant, as this isn't Scions of the Storm (nor are they THUNDERSTRIKE, anyway). Sadly. Having previously occupied such a strange role in the Stormcast roster, the Vanguard-Hunters continue to be unusual choices that don't quite fit in by the standards of their modern brethern. However, with a movement of 6", and their unique weapon profile, their function suddenly becomes clear- skrimishers and flankers. While they wont quite be as tough as your core battleline, the fact that they can be redeployed in the middle of the game can provide some avenues for creative generals to suddenly set up Vanguard-Hunters to flank an enemy horde from one side, while sending your heavy-hitters to deal with the things you really need dead.

• Vanguard-Palladors: (Conditional Battleline: Astral Templars subfaction, 215pts, Min:3) Gryph riders - your new fast cavalry with either javelins or axes. Their mounts are surprisingly powerful for skinny demi-gryphs, having 5 Wounds and a 4+ Save, and -2 Rend mortal-wound-causing attacks, meaning they eat other armies' heavy cavalry for breakfast. So do not think of them as cheap cavalry, in fact, they're pretty expensive and elite, use gryph hounds/aetherwings for that. They got a good 12" Move, and they have Ride the Winds Aetheric, allowing them to redeploy anywhere so long as they're 1" from terrain, and 9" from all enemy units. If you're trying to determine to kit them out with the Javelin or the Handaxe, consider the following. The Javelin only has one attack, but a consitant 2 damage that can be used at ranged, or in melee. The Handaxe has three attacks, but deals d3 damage for each attack that lands- meaning you could get more (or less) damage out of an attack. Astral Templars want to be monster hunters, and these guys seem to support that idea- each of their weapon profiles (except for their pistols) can deal multiple wounds, and these guys can easily provide some well-needed backup for Yndrasta on her hunts.

Extremis Chamber

• The Dracothian Guard, your elite Dragon Riders. In Pitched Battles, they come in units of at least 2 and cost more than 200 points. All Dracothian Guard units have the same profile - 10" move, 3+ save,, 6 wounds per model, and bravery 7. In addition, they all have the same attacks for their mounts - Claws and Fangs(3/3+/3+/-2/2 weapon) and Storm Breath (shooting attack, hits on 4+, deals d3 mortal wounds, 12" range) - the primary difference comes from their weapons and a few special abilities. Note that the kit comes with the parts to make all of these, and enough spare arms to magnetize at least two weapons for each model, so you don't have to commit while you're building them. Notably, all the Dracothian Guard are now Battleline if you're playing as Hammers of Sigmar, making them the battleline of choice for Dragons- unless you prefer the Stormdrake Guard.
  • Concussors: (Conditional Battleline: Hammers of Sigmar Subfaction, 220pts, Min:2) Retributors +1 on dragons. As with the Retributors, Concussors are the jacks of all trades. Their Lightning Hammers get 3 swings each, at 3+/3+/-2/2, and a 6 to hit both inflicts mortal wounds instead of regular wounds. With the Dracoths now dealing 2 damage on each claw and fang attack, and their hammers dealing it too, Concussors can reliably handle just about anything you throw them at.
  • Desolators: (Conditional Battline: Hammers of Sigmar Subfaction, 220pts, Min:2) No longer a really big disapointment. Much to their relief. Desolators, at first glance, appear to be slighty worse Concussors despite sharing the same attack profile, but a closer inspection reveals them to be the Dracothian Guard equivilant of Decimators, which coincidentally, are just five points less than these guys. They share the same rule as Decimators, where if the unit they're fighting outnumbers them, they get 2 more attacks. The Desolators feel right at home being your horde blenders, and probably woudn't mind getting to take a bite out of enemy calvary or other large units with low wounds. Use them to tie up hordes, or if you're feeling particularly gutsy, send them after enemy artillery or lone heros, and you'll find that they'll make short work of them.
  • Fulminators: (Conditional Battline: Hammers of Sigmar Subfaction, 230pts, Min:2, Max:12) YES. Cavalry with actual charge weapons. No, they're not spears, they're glaives, like the ones the Protectors get, but cooler. Same stats but shorter range, but here's where it gets interesting: Their glaves go from Damage 1, to Damage 3 if they charged this turn. These are your line breakers. They're pointless to shoot at with anything less than War Machines and raise holy hell if they make the charge. However, they are a bit less intimidating than Concussors if they don't charge, so make sure you have a command point floating to ensure they get that charge off!
  • Tempestors: (Conditional Battline: Hammers of Sigmar Subfaction, 220pts, Min:2) The odd one out. These guys want to be shooty, with a 3-shot crossbow. Don't expect them to shoot something dead or out-damage the other variants. Their rules changed ever so slightly, but enough that it's worth noting- if they land an attack, it scores 2 hits instead of 1, which means... Kinda nothing really. While Desolators finally found their niche, the Tempestors are still floating rudderless, without anything to really justify them being a thing other than the fact that GW really wants to keep selling that part of the sprue. Big pass, as you have much, much better shooting than these guys

• Stormdrake Guard: (Conditional Battline: Draconith or Stardrake general, 340pts, Min: 2) Finally, actual dragons. Now we're talking. The newest Extremis chamber members (canonically speaking the Stormdrake Guard aren't part of the Extremis or any other chamber; they answer only to the Stormhost's Lord-Commander). These guys are conditional battleline if you take the Knight-Draconis, Krondys, Karazai, the Lord-Celestant on Stardrake, or the Drakesworn Templar as your general (why would you do that last one though?). They come with 9 wounds, a 3+ save, a 4+ spell ignore, and a 12" fly. They have the same dragon breath shooting attack and the same dragon claws as the Knight-Draconis, but they have a slightly different weapon choice. They either have a lance with a range of 2" with 3 attacks at 3+/3+/-1/1 damage, but turn into rend -2 and damage 2 on the charge, or a warblade that's OK, with 6 attacks at 3+/3+/-1/1 damage. Since you'll probably be using these guys as linebreakers, you probably want their Lance instead of the sword. They notably hagve a 3" unit choerency. Also note that after this unit attacks, your opponent picks 1 model in the unit that was attacked, then you roll a die. If you rolled greater than the wounds characteristic of the model that was picked, it is instantly slain. Once per battle, this unit can also make a move, after which, you roll a die, and on a 2+ they can charge. At long last you have your Hurakan-killers. Unlike the other Extremis Chamber units, the different weapon loadouts aren't different units. These will spend the game either hunting down and putting Hurakan in the ground where they belong, or wrecking those pesky enemy multi-wound elite infantry. Either that, or hunting monsters. Oh yea, and did I mention they get to do a single monstrous rampage, like all other good monsters?

Slow Units

Strike Chamber

• Praetors: (165 pts, Min: 3) Bodyguards in that fancy new Dominion boxset. Before the game begins, they have to bind themselves to a single hero, for whom they'll potentially either soak wounds for or even flat-out negate. Fortunately, that 3+ save gives them some decent protection and their halberds are more than capable of making a dent in an enemy. However, their entire role is built upon being bodyguards, so you can't throw them at enemies so carelessly or else lose out on their damage mitigation.

Sacrosanct Chamber

• Castigators: (105pts, Min:3) Cheaper Judicators with Boltstorm Crossbows with a smaller unit size and a rapid-firing Greatbow that hates Death and Daemons. Like the Sequitors, Castigators have an ability that allows you to choose between 2 different upgrades: during the shooting phase, you can choose to add 1s to hit or increase their rend to -2. Notably got a little worse better as their Greatbows now fire D3 shots each, and on unmodified 6s, turns into 2 hits against Malignant or Daemon units. Not as cheap as they once were, and not as powerful against Death and Chaos as they used to be, but capable of firing significantly more shots than before- all in all a solidly "ok" unit that can potentially find their home in a Sancrosact list where they pull up behind your Sequitors to Unleash Hell when they get charged, or just provide a decent amount of support fire to a Sacrosanct advance. Also keep in mind that Castigators, being Sacrosanct, can benefit from Empower from Evocators. Toss an All-Out Attack their way, aetherically boost their Rend and suddenly each one is firing D3 shots at 2+/2+/-2/1.

• Celestar Ballista: (140pts, Artillery) Did someone want Quad Heavy Bolters in AOS? Well here you go- The Mustash man now doesn't have to import his guns, and with the advent of a new Battletome, this thing has gone from ok, to terrifying. The Ballista has two firing modes, you have to pick one when you shoot with it. The first is a single 36" shot at 3+/2+/-3/D6 damage. The second is 2d6 shots at 18" at 4+/3+/-2/1 damage. Use the first firing mode to take out heroes, monsters, and chip damage at multiwound infantry, use the latter to lay the pain against hordes. Similarly, don't forget to put this thing close behind your Battleline so it can Unleash Hell on your opponents. An enemy hero getting a surprise Lightning-charged Shot to the face right before combat will not be particularly pleasant for them. Otherwise, consider keeping a spare hero (like one of your wizards, or the Lord-Imperitant) near the ballista, so it can benefit from all-out attack while it puts rapid fire volley after volley into the enemy hordes. Dakka has never tasted so good.

• Evocators: (230pts, Min:5) A cabal of Magical "Paladins" (No Paladin Keyword, so no battleline, sorry). Each Evocator model can choose between Tempest Blade and Stormstave or Grandstave - the paired weapons get 4 attacks at 3+/3+/-1/1 with 1" range, the Grandstave gets 3 attacks at 3+/3+/no rend/2/ with 1" range. With Stormcast going back down to just Lore of the STorm, Evocators only know Empower, but they can still unbind a spell just like the good old days- it's just that they don't have the Wizard keyword for Prized Sorcery Grand Strategy. Let's go over Empower first. Pick a friendly Redeemer or Sancrosanct unit within 12", if you cast Empower on them, they get +1 to wound until your next hero phase. This spell turns Liberators into fairly offensive infantry, and Sequitors and Vindictors into efficient infantry when paired with All-Out Attack. Their other ability is Celestial Lightning Arc. After the Evocators fight in combat, pick an enemy unit within 3", and roll 2 dice for each model in that unit- for each 4+, that enemy takes a mortal wound. Not as powerful as they once were, Evocators are still a force to be reckoned with. Specifically, these guys are well at-home on the ground, moving up the battlefield with your infantry, buffing them and aiding them in battle. Just remember to activate these guys first for combat.

• Stormsire's Cursebreakers: Only usable alongside Averon Stormsire. A pair of Evocators with 1 extra attack each. They still have Empower, an Unbind, and Celestial Lightning Arc, meaning that they're not completely useless, only an Evocator unit of 2.

Vanguard Auxiliary Chamber

• Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows: (240pts, Min:3) Snipers with magical giant crossbows that shoot thunders. They have 24" range, or 30" if they don't move; their weapons are very powerful but only shoot twice each turn, but with a 6 to hit they instead deal 2 mortal wounds. These are the guys you want for killing commanders/wizards/support heroes/war machines or just elite units that are highly armored and powerful but not very numerous. Just find them some cover and/or high ground and start head shooting; some screening units, particularly Aetherwings, are also welcome. They can also hold pretty well if some fast melee unit catches to them, because they've got the basic Liberator stat line (but only Bravery 7), but don't expect them to survive for very long and send them some support asap. Using a Lord-Relictor or some other priest to teleport them every time the enemy is gonna catch them will give your opponent repeated rage episodes and/or seizures, which are always fun things to see.

• Vanguard-Raptors with Hurricane Crossbows: (230pts, Min:3) "These magical lightning-shooting crossbows my guys have are nice and all", thought Sigmar one day, "but I can do even better". Then he gave them magical lightning-shooting machine guns. So, now they only have 18" range, but make 4 attacks, with each attack turning into 2 if they land. Support them with some Aetherwings or something that can tarpit the enemy well (like Liberators), and even saints will start flipping tables: if all goes well, they'll never be in melee, while still peppering thing with lots of shots. Use terrain to your advantage, too. They're excellent against hordes with low saves, slow units, or units with good saves but low numbers (with enough paper cuts, even the mightiest armor will be breached). Be aware of units with both decent numbers and armor, though, as they will survive, reach you and kick your sorry ass. If you're still not convinced, because of their low range and the high cost and all, use a priest to just go, *Poof*, whenever the enemy is going to reach you. Guaranteed to break even the strongest, years-long, "you-saved-my-life-and-married-my-sister" friendships.

Fast Units

Strike Chamber

• Gryph-hounds: (110pts, Min:6, Max:18) Your war hounds. 2 wounds and claws of 4/3+/4+/-/1 damage, but with no armor saves. They will be found near archer because of Warning Cry let them shoot enemies that think they can deep strike you. If the enemy doesn't deepstrike, They will be put on chaff duty, Using their attack & retreat ability to annoy heavy hitters by tieing them down and then running away before they can smack them back.

• Stormstrike Chariot: (165pts, Min: 1) A curious addition to the Stormcast Battletome, the Stormstrike Chariot acquits itself well with a 12" move, 12 wounds, a 3+ save, and a bravery score that doesn't matter since it's a unit of one. It can come with either the Great Stormbow (2 attacks at 18" with 3+/3+/-1/1 damage), or the Tempestuous Spear (2 attacks at 2" with 3+/3+/-2/2 damage), and a Stormstrike Axe (3 attacks at 1" with 3+/3+/-1/1 damage apiece). The Gryph-chargers get 6 attacks at 3+/3+/-2/1 damage, which brings us to the question of what to do with this thing- the answer is obvious when you take a hard look at its abilities. Celestial Blaze means that enemy units have -1 to hit the chariot if it charged this turn, and Azyr Unleashed means that once you pull off your charge, you can roll a number of dice equal to the unmodified charge roll for that move, for each 4+, the enemy unit you charged into suffers a mortal wound. While the Stormstrike Chariot doesn't strike fear into the hearts of men at first glance, what it really does is hit fast, and hit hard, with plenty of differing attacks to allow it to take down chaff and even go toe-to-toe with some elite infantry- it will suffer against multiwound infantry and monsters though, as it doesn't get command abilities out on its own.

Sacrosanct Chamber

• Evocators on Celestial Dracolines: (280pts, Min:3) Evocators riding Dracolines granting them 2 more wounds and a 12" movement. The Dracolines acquit themselves well with similar attack profile to the Tempest Blade and Stormstave, namely 3/3+/3+/-1/D3 damage. In addition to its Evocator abilities, you get to re-roll charge rolls for your Dracolines. The Evocators on Dracolines are less strong than they used to be, but when backed up by the Lord-Arcanum on Dracoline, suddenly your cats get one extra claw attack. Similarly to the vanilla Evocators above, you want to fight first with these guys, to get their Celestial Lightning Arc to trigger, but don't overlook their Unbind and Empower as well. Deploy these ones with a Lord-Arcanum on Dracoline, and send them into battle together. Have them cast Empower on either themselves, or the Lord-Arcanum to turn the mounted wizard into a real threat.

Vanguard Auxiliary Chamber

• Aetherwings: (65pts, Min:3) Attack birds Defense just birds. Lovely plumage. At about 10 pts per wound for 4+/4+/-/1, it's a waste to use them to attack anything. They will kill nothing and promptly die due to "-" save. Now worse, as they just grant a +1 to hit for targets within 12" of Vanguard-Raptors. Hard pass now. Or ARE they? Besides giving a free All-Out Attack to any Vanguard-Raptors shooting units close to them, our starbirbs are also disposably cheap and lightning quick. Use them to speedbump anything that can't zap or blast them out of the way, or slam them into a shooty unit to soak up an Unleash Hell that then can't be used against any useful units. Still probably overcosted, but they can still find a home in a solely support/objective grabbing role. Like flying, super-fragile T'au markerlights for Vanguard-Raptors.

Extremis Chamber

• Dracothian Guard Fulminators (Single): (115pts, 1 Model only) Another unusual addition to the Battletome, no doubt caused by the changes to how unit sizing and reinforcing units works, and GW realizing that nobody will want to assemble a generic Lord-Celestant on Dracoth when we can just buy Vandus Hammerhand. This single Fulminator can, surprisingly, issue commands to himself, and can do all the same stuff a regular duo of Fulminators can do. Curiously however, you can only include one of these units in your army if you bring a Lord-Celestant on Dracoth, and it cannot be Battleline unlike the other Dracothian Guard. Potentially a viable selection for the dragon-only list, as the single fulminator can ride as backup to your lord-celestant, or whowever else you think needs a slightly cheaper friend at their side.

• Stormdrake Guard (Single): (145pts, 1 Model only) Similarly to the above single fulminator, the new Knight-Draconis can only be assembled when you buy a box set of two Stormdrake Guard. It's got all the same rules as the regular Stormdrake Guard, only that you can only include him in your army if you field the Knight-Draconis, and it cannot have the Battleline role. At the end of the day, it's a cheaper Stormdrake Guard, and if you went out of your way to buy both the Knight-Draconis, and another box of Stormdrake Guard, why not take him? He gets monstrous rampages you know...

Tactics

• Dominion: Playing with what you get from Dominion is exactly 1415 points. Add a Celestar Ballista into the mix, then swap the praetors for a unit of Prosecutors with Celestial Hammers, and suddenly you have a real army on your hands at exactly 1500 points. This list can be shrunken down to 1000 points as well, but be mindful that playing Stormcast at 1000 points means that you bring just about nothing to the game. Hold the Vindictors and Annihilators in reserve, and take the first turn as opposed to your opponent. Drop the Vindictors on whichever objective you want at the end of the first movement phase to instantly fortify and force your opponent's hand. Save the Annihilators as a hammer for the enemy line, using the Lord-Imperatant's ability. Keep the Lord-Imperatant back to make sure he survives spells and shooting, and use Yndrasta to first hunt down a monster, then any enemy heroes. Be mindful, since most people know that Yndrasta is the nastiest monster-hunter in the game, when she even comes out of your storage case, your opponent is going to be trying to hide their big monster from as far away from her as possible. If they're even smarter, they're going to try their hardest to hide their heroes too. Use this to your advantage, and use the Celestar Ballista to snipe at anyone or anything that thinks its safe hiding away on the other side of the board with its genuinely ridiculous range. Put the squeeze on your opponent as well by forcing their hands with control of the objectives, and the fast-moving Prosecutors. This list makes good use of everything good right now in Stormcast, such as Vindictors, Annihilators, Yndrasta, and a terrifying piece of artillery that is now the terror of the tabletop.
• Deep Strike and You: Stormcast are unique among AOS armies for their ability to hold half the army in reserve- and drop any number of them down at the end of movement. Unlike in 40K, you can charge your guys out of this "deep strike", but you'll need to be conscious about how you use it. Here's some basic ideas for how to use Scions of the Storm to maximum effect;
  • Objective Grabbing: It's a very valid strategy to hold your objective-grabbers in reserve, and take the first turn to just put them down on one (or more) objectives. It's an aggressive move, as you're immediately in control of one or more objectives, and forcing your opponent to respond quickly before you rack up VP through board control. The other benefits are simple: Stormcast are notoriously slow, as a whole army of heavily-armored elite infantry that are horrid footsloggers, doing this will be like immediately lighting a fire under your opponent's feet. Of course, the first problem with this is simple- putting your Objective grabbers in reserve is slots that your more offensive units could've wanted instead, as many of SCE's heaviest hitters are real slow- but if you're going to center your list around this aggressive strategy, you should prepare for that by bringing mounted paladins, chariots, or a real mean beatstick to back up your dudes.
  • Hammer and Anvil: The "traditional" method when it comes to reserves. Put your real slow heavy-hitters in reserve, bring a Lord-Imperatant, and use his Guided by Lightning ability to drop your heavy paladins within 7" of the enemy. Ideally, you'll want to drop them behind your opponent's line, to either trap their battleline against your shieldwall, or to take out a troublesome caster or war machine. This is a tried and true strategy, and it works even better courtesy of the Lord-Imperatant- but you'll still have to force your paladins to make a 7" charge to really get it to work, and you can only use Guided by Lightning on one unit, once per turn, during your movement phase. Now the flaws become apparent- not only can only one unit of heavy-hitters drop at once, but when selecting this strategy, you're essentially going to be telegraphing this move to your enemy at the start of the game. Savvy opponents will prepare for you to do this, and will do their best to actively hamper your attempts at doing so, or place their units specifically to deny you any space to drop your guys. Your best workaround for this is to bring a Lord-Relictor with the Translocation prayer, so you can get it on a 2+ and make sure guys, no matter where they initially deploy, are in the right place to take a charge, or charge your opponent their next movement.
  • Responsive Action: The oddball of the three strategies for handling Scions of the Storm. This ideology requires you, as a general to "go with the flow of things". Keeping an odd assortment of paladins, battleline, and harassers in reserve means that theoretically, you could deploy the right tool for the right job. Need an objective grabbed to deny a point? Drop battleline to contest. A shieldwall is about to break? Drop the paladins to reinforce them. An annoying caster keeping those skeletons alive, or a war machine tearing your lines apart? Send in those harassers to tie them up in combat. Just want to make the enemy die in alarming volume: Celestar Ballistas (yes, this is very much still a thing). This is pretty simple, all things considered, as it keeps your options open throughout the battle on what you feel that you should respond to. A word of caution, this strategy is hard to pull off in small games. If you're playing at any less than 2000pts, you can kiss this strategy goodbye, as you simply don't have the manpower to spare. A small recommendation, bring both the Lord-Imperatant, and some flavor of priest (but preferably either the Lord-Relictor or the Lord-Veritant) that can take Translocation. This not only allows your reinforcements to quickly get stuck in (a 2" difference always is a little more than you think it is, especially when deep striking), but also to redeploy should they manage to complete their current task and need to move somewhere else where their talents could be appreciated instead of having to footslog it. Of course, this requires also having your priest being in range of the unit you want to translocate- hence the importance of selecting a Lord-level priest, as opposed to a Knight-level priest.

Army Building

There is very little that a Stormcast Eternal army can't do. When you're building your army, probably the first decision you should make should be the units you want to use for your battleline. You've actually got five options here.

• Liberators: Liberators are your cheapest choice for Battleline, what you'll be doing unless you have a theme going. Liberators aren't going to get a huge amount of killing done, but that's not their job - their job is to stay alive and force the enemy to spend time killing them. With a 4+ save that gets an added 1 to the save thanks to their shields, they're good at this. Keep them near an objective to get easy access to Law Low The Tyrants and the ability to dish out some mortal wounds, and watch your enemy's frustrations mount. With Broken Realms, you can take the stormkeep battle traits and turn these guys into objective-holding monsters that count as 3 models for every one of them, and can dish out mortal wounds when they get charged. Liberators are your anvil of choice for Stormcast, and now they will certainly hold the line, or die trying.
• Judicators: Your choice for ranged battleline. Judicators are your most expensive Battleline option currently, but have the ability to be involved in the battle more thanks to having ranged weapons. The biggest problem with Judicators is the changes made to their rules, while still going up in price. Unless you have a specific plan in mind (perhaps taking a ranged list that focus-fires on a single enemy each turn?) then your best bet is take a unit of Judicators with the Crossbows to keep them behind whatever is camping the objective, and having them deal out chip damage, and unleashing hell on whatever makes the mistake of trying to charge that objective.
• Sequitors: Sequitors are Battleline now, irregardless of general. Sequitors are almost strictly better than liberators, but come at a cost (30 points more, to be precise). Their weapons are strictly better - their mauls are more accurate than liberator hammers, and they have access to a large mace that's 3+/3+/-1/2. Sequitors have an extremely useful unique ability - at the beginning of the combat phase, the unit chooses whether to upgrade its shields to get a ward save of +5, or upgrade their weapons to turn one attack into 2 on 6s. Add in that they can take a Redemption Cache to prevent enemy units from bringing models back to life, and all of a sudden Sequitors are your go-to pick against Death armies. The biggest problem with Sequitors is that they're more expensive than the other really good option on this list, the Vindictors.
• Vindictors: As the Primaris Stormcast, Vindictors are Battleline regardless of your General. Vindictors are fairly boring and unremarkable, but this isn't much of a problem for them. However, a closer look at Vindictors reveals that they're the brand new auto-pick unless you've got something in mind, or you really need a cheaper option. Boasting an impressive 3+ save, a bravery of 8 (so long as the standard bearer is alive), 2" reach with their spears, spears that dish out mortal wounds on 6s, and when Vindictors blow up, they get an extra dice to potentially deal mortal wounds. For Battleline Stormcast, they are now the automatic pick. So long as they're sticking around Yndrasta or the Knight-Vexilor (which they should) they even can potentially heal wounds and bring back their dead. The biggest downside is that unless you bought Dominion or any of the new starter sets, they're essentially only available on the aftermarket due to GW pushing back their official release.
• Vanquishers: The newest Stormcast Battleline, these Greatsword infantry can potentially mow through single-wound infantry and hordes, and with a musician in their ranks, they're liable to actually stay alive should they get finished with that horde. They're best paired with some sort of healer hero to help keep them alive. Just like the good old days of WFB, eh? Be mindful that, of all the options here, they're fairly offensive, with little defensive ability, and they won't perform as good against multi-wound enemies with their low damage, and because they don't carry shields around. These guys are definitely the scissors you bring to beat paper hordes, rather than the rock that your Liberators, Sequitors and Vindictors are.
• Vigilors: Battleline as long as you have a Knight-Judicator as your general. Vigilors are you middle-ground option between Liberators with crossbows and skybolt bows. The biggest boon they bring to the table is that if they wound a unit, all attacks that target that unit until the end of turn get +1. Vigilors are good at standing behind your shieldwall, shooting at whatever is engaged with your battleline, and ensuring that your guys get a free all-out attack every turn. However, their high cost is a small, but notable demerit against them. Coming in at 195 points, ideally, if you're bringing them as your battleline tax, you'll want them to grab objectives, and having them target different units (their Navigators of the Storm ability can't stack) with their bows to cause maximum damage while your heavy-hitters bring the pain.
• Vanguard-Hunters: Battleline as long as you are playing as the Astral Templars. Vanguard Hunters are a mixed bag, having some ability to shoot with their boltstorm pistols, an extra inch of move compared to most of your units, and an ability to appear 9" away from the enemy and within 6" of the board edge. For all this, they're 10 more points expensive than Liberators, without any real addition in killing power. Being able to shoot their pistols in melee does bring you up to a respectable 4 attacks per hunter, though. Unless you absolutely love the Vanguard chamber aesthetic, probably best skipped.
• Vanguard-Palladors: Like their little brothers above, the Vanguard-Palladors are Battleline so long as you're playing as Astral Templars. Now while 3 units of them will cost a grand total of 645 points, these are the guys you want to seriously consider taking with Yndrasta to hunt down enemy monsters. Saying that, 2 units of these guys plus Yndrasta makes exactly 750 points, meaning that you can run them alongside Yndrasta as a support squad while she bags that big enemy monster your opponent brought. These are your troop choice when you want to hunt monsters, and while they're not all that impressive, they can functionally act as shields to Yndrasta by going and hitting say, a Gargant first, to soften them up for when Yndrasta makes her attack?
• Paladins: A new list that seemingly popped up out of nowhere (c'mon, we all knew that dragons were going to be a thing well in advance) for Stormhost Knights Excelsior, a paladin-only list is now technically a thing. A few things to note here. First, Stormcast are already an expensive army with elite infantry. By going the direction of taking paladins as battleline, you're making your army even more elite than it previously was, but in exchange, you're going for even more killing power, and even better infantry. Just remember that going down this path makes your army really slow. Either bring a Lord-Relictor with Translocation, or keep most of your Paladins in reserve to drop as needed. Due note that the Knights Excelsior trait does help to deal with you always being outnumbered now by giving one of your paladin units +1 to hit and wound per turn- which, as we both know at this point, can turn just about any Paladin unit from good, to scary. How do you feel about your Annihilators wounding on 1+s? A cool themey and effective army, but one with very specific set of strengths and weaknesses.
• Prosecutors: Another weird one that came out of nowhere for Tempest Lords. Prosecutors are... not in a good spot right now, but are a cheaper option than Liberators by a whole 5 points, meaning that this can open up some options further down the road. 3 units of prosecutors are just 330 points, which won't hold up as well as a unit of Liberators or Sequitors are, but if you take the Tempest Lord's rule of being able to re-roll one of the charge dice (!!!) now all of a sudden you might be able to lean into an Alpha Strike list with all that 1670 points you still have...
• Dracothian Guard: Battleline for Hammers of Sigmar, the Dracothian Guard are going to be your core for an all-dragon army. Concussors, Desolators, and Fulminators all have their own unique roles to play on the field, and taking one of each may be a good idea, if only to bring them along to deal with the specific threats in question. At the end of the day though, if you're selecting these guys as Battleline, it's probably because you're playing Dragons, and who needs to worry about the enemy army when you've brought Krondys, Karazai, or a Stardrake?
• Stormdrake Guard: Battleline for if your general is Krondys, Karazai, a Stormdrake, or the Knight-Draconis, the Stormdrake Guard are the expensive Battleline option for the dragon list, especially since the single Stormdrake Guard unit cannot be taken as Battleline. These guys are the single most expensive Battleline option available to you, but boy howdy do these guys more than make up for it with their profile. They should be able to tear through anything they can get their claws on, only being stopped by enemy centerpiece units (Nagash, Archaon, named greater daemons, The Glotkin, Alarielle, Gotrek, some of the Mortarchs, Mega-Gargants, etc.) or dedicated monster-slayer units. Also, bringing three Stormdrake Guard is expensive, that's 855 points. That's more than Archaon, less than Nagash. Just so you have a relative idea of how many other points you have to fit in say, Krondys, Karazai, the Lord-Celestant on Stardrake, or the Knight-Draconis. Consider this option carefully.

Allied Armies

While playing a Seize Ground Matched Play battle, throwing in a Seraphon/Stormcast Eternal army for the first time, I discovered they made an all right combo. Sure, they don't have matching keywords or anything, but then Stormcasts don't really need them anyway. The Seraphon work well with the Stormcasts, as the lizard dudes give a front line of more numerous units - Saurus Warriors, for example - and a cheapish cavalry who can chew at your enemy, before the Paladins can -every and make your opponent cry! What's more, the Seraphon can give the on for main thing the Stormcasts are lacking - wizards. Now, with a Lord-Relictor and say, even a Skink Starpriest, enjoy as your Lightning Prayers and Arcane Bolt make wonders ... depending on the fortune of the dice, of course! Finally - it seems that, due to the strength of individual Stormcast units, you can basically ally them with any faction - some more fitting than others. But Seraphon, Sylvaneth and, maybe, Fyreslayers - I don't know! - perhaps ⠋⠊⠞ best.

• Bundo Whalebiter: A Kraken-eater Mega-Gargant mercenary available to all Order factions. Taking him uses up your entire ally points allowance and he ignores any Behemoth or Hero limitations. A big terrifying centerpiece who can kick objectives around and instantly kill models by shoving them into his net. You can choose at the start of the Combat phase for him to fight at the end of the phase, in exchange for re-rolling failed hit rolls.

Cities of Sigmar

Hoo boy, did this open some venues.

As a universal rule, Cities of Sigmar armies can grab a unit of Stormcasts as part of their army for every three normal units they hold. Sure, this will rob them of any Stormhost keywords and traits, but you instead gain the city's keyword and special rules. While we won't go into the full specifics of how these cities and forces work, here are some basic ideas.

• Hammerhal: Fun note here - Aventis Firestrike buffs not only Hammers of Sigmar, but also Hammerhal units by giving them +1 to hit within 3" of him. You can generally pick anything on this end and not go wrong, but do beware how squishy your humie/stuntie/elfy friends are.
• Anvilguard: Nothing to really support you here. Stormcast aren't really the sort that hurt easily in Battleshock, and going *BLAM* on one is a terrible idea. Being able to delete units via Vitriolic Spray is good, and only costs around 270 points (320 if you add Emerald Lifeswarm for maximum grief).
• Tempest's Eye: Very keyed towards alpha-striking. Whether it's getting your Vanguard in place to lay down fire early or helping throw Prosecutors and Paladins right in the enemy's face, you really wanna make that turn 1 speed-boost worth your while. Also, remember that the Kharadron Overlords can also cover shooting since they can also be included.
• Hallowheart: Sacrosanct Chamber says hello. Each Evocator squad can now cast Empower twice a turn, allowing them to boost even more of their own, while the Lord Arcanum can try their chain lightning and then fire an amped-up Arcane Bolt.
• The Living City: While not the same as your normal deep-strike, this does give you some fun venues for sniping flanks. Wanted to make your Dracothain Guard fire and then smack up? Want your Judicators to volley fire and then slip away? This is no better way for it.
• Greywater Fastness: Don't forget your Lord-Ordinator! While Stormcasts lack much in the way of artillery, your Lord-Ordinator can absolutely bolster what war machines you do pack. His command ability doesn't hurt either, especially if you take some more Stormboys to act as a wall for your war machines. Of course, you can always bring your Celestar Ballista now...
• The Phonecium: Kinda hard to work with here. Stormcast are expensive. Sure, you can send packs of chaff to fuel your big boys' strikes, but that's just whack. Aetherwings can make decent enough chaff, tho, and the anti-charge ability can give you some control about when they die. Plus, you can paint them as mini Phoenixes!

As we wait for Cities of Sigmar (or Dawnbringer Crusades, or Redeemers, or whatever GW wants to call the soup faction now) to get a new exclusive book, Stormcast got several new options for taking Cities of Sigmar units in a Stormkeep list instead of the other way around, and there is the Sacred Charge Grand Strategy and Pioneers of the Realm Battle Tactic that you can get mileage out of, if you're feeling up for it. Potentially, this is a good way to take something from the Cities list that can do just as good as Stormcast (if not a little better, or more specialized than Stormcast are) and save on points, or potentially just make an interesting, weird list using some of the unique options from Cities of Sigmar. Just remember that your mortal companions aren't as tough and as enduring as Stormcast are, and that additional protections will be needed to ensure that they survive the fight- especially if you're playing with the Sacred Charge Grand Strategy.

External links

Rules are here Here are links to all the warscrolls for the army, in the same order as they are listed in the article.

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-celestantprime-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-lord-celestant-dracoth-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/warhammer-aos-lordcelestant-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/warhammer-aos-lordcastellant-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-Lord-Veritant-ENG.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-knightvenator-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-knightazyros-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-knightheraldor-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-knightvexillor-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-knight-questor-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/warhammer-aos-liberators-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/warhammer-aos-judicators-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-retributors-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-decimators-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-protectors-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-prostecutorhammers-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-prostecutorhammers-en.pdf

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