Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Idoneth Deepkin

The new boys on the block! The Idoneth Deepkin are a new faction which sees GW re-envision elves to fit in the Age of Sigmar setting. Tragically lacking souls so they've come to steal yours the Idoneth are an army that rewards careful placement of models, a variety of units that provide rapid mobility and negative modifier shenanigans and some of the best allegiance abilities in the game.

Why play Idoneth Deepkin?

1. Because you want to play with Dark Eldar in a fantasy setting.

2. Because you want to copy 40K's system of character protection.

3. Because you love sea life!

4. Because you love an army built around speed, speed and MOAR SPEED!

Allegiance Abilities

Battle Traits

• Forgotten Nightmares: Enemy units can only target your closest unit with Missile Weapons. Keeps your Heroes safe from shooting, though not from magic. Also note that you can use allies to shield your Deepkin with this.

• Tides of Death: Each round, you get a different ability. After the fourth, it cycles back to 1.
  1. Low Tide: Your units count as being in cover. Helps you advance without making you scramble to terrain.
  2. Flood Tide: After running, your units can either shoot or charge (but not both).
  3. High Tide: Units with this trait fight before everyone else in melee. Also, there's a bunch of abilities that activate during this turn.
  4. Ebb Tide: After falling back, your units can either shoot or charge (but not both).

• The Ethersea: You get to place up to two Etheric Vortex terrain pieces. Currently, the only existing Etheric Vortex terrain piece is the Gloomtide Shipwreck, which you can either split into two or buy and place two full ships of. The shipwrecks give your units a 6+ Save-after-the-save and have a chance to deal damage to enemies, so they are fairly useful, though less so in a pure Akhelian army.

Command Traits

1. Merciless Raider: Can reroll run and charge rolls. Interesting for Steed of Tides shenanigans.
2. Hunter of Souls: Reroll 1s To Wound. Shame this doesn't work on a mount's attacks, but still nice.
3. Unstoppable Fury: During High Tide, your General adds +2 to his attacks. Again, shame this doesn't work on mounts, but it still makes an Akhelian King terrifying.
4. Born From Agony: Your general has 2 more Wounds. Always nice to shrug off an additional Arcane Bolt.
5. Nightmare Legacy: Enemy units within 12" take -1 Bravery. Not a strong effect, but in a fairly large bubble, so it evens out.
6. Lord of Storm and Sea: +2 Bravery for Idoneth Deepkin units wholly within 12". Since your units aren't exactly blessed with great Bravery, this is pretty nice.

Akhelian Artefacts

Can be given to an Akhelian Hero (so only the Akhelian King, because Volturnos can't get one):

1. Sanguine Pearl: Gives a 5+ save after the save in melee
2. Potion of Hateful Frenzy: Once per game active in the hero phase to get + 1 to hit and +1 to wound for a round. Then they take 1 mortal wound in the following hero phase. Your personal super sayan mode. Combine with Unstoppable Fury to make your King utterly terrifying for one turn. And don't forget to draw your Falchion to make the most out of it.
3. Ankusha Spur: +3" to movement and rerolls 1s to hit for attacks from the mount. The latter of which, an Akhelian King already does. Whoops.
4. Armour of the Cythai: Enemy gets -1 to hit if they target the bearer in melee. You're probably better off with the pearl.
5. Bioshock Shell: Once per battle at the start of the combat phase you can inflict D3 mortal wounds on each enemy unit within 3". You have so few ways of dealing Mortal Wounds that this is interesting. That said, is it really worth running this on a 240 point King?
6. Abyssal Blade: You can improve the rend characteristic of 1 weapon carried by the bearer. Also increase the damage of that weapon by 1 if targetting SLAANESH. Too situational, but interesting.

Idoneth Artefacts

Can be given to any Idoneth Deepkin Hero:

1. Rune of the Surging Tide: Use at the start of hero phase once per battle. It has 2 modes: adds 1" movement to all friendly deepkin or takes 1" from all enemies until your next hero phase. Neither a big buff nor a big debuff.
2. Black Pearl: It is the fastest ship with Johnny Depp usually as the captain. Oops, wrong universe. I mean it gives a 6+ save after the save.
3. Lliandra's Last Lament: Once per battle you can have all friendly deepkin completely within 18" skip their battleshock test. Very interesting, especially when running a big unit of Allopexes.
4. Terrornight Venom: Pick a weapon. You can reroll wound rolls of 1 for that weapon. Also gives a permanent -1 to bravery to things wounded by that weapon. Not many weapons worth using it on.
5. Cloud of Midnight: Once per battle at the start of any phase the bearer cannot be targetted for attacks, spells or abilities for that phase. They also cannot use attacks, spells or abilities that phase either. It could pair great with Forgotten Nightmares against a shooty heavy army.
6. Whorlshell: Once per battle at the start of your hero phase you can pick an enemy HERO within 9" and roll 2d6. If you beat their bravery they get -1 to all hit rolls for the rest of the game. Since most Heroes you'd want to do that to have high Bravery... just take Brain Barnacles instead.

Isharann Artefacts

Can be given to any Isharann Hero:

1. Steelshell Pearl: Gives a 5+ save after the save against missile weapons. Interesting if you want a cheap sacrifice to soak up fire thanks to Forgotten Nightmares, but other than that, it's useless precisely because of Forgotten Nightmares.
2. Mind Flare: Once per battle at the start of combat pick an enemy unit within 3". They get -1 to hit for that phase. Meh.
3. Dritchleech: All Wizards except Idoneth Deepkin get -1 to casts while within 18". Interesting, but remember that this will affect allied Wizards as well.
4. Auric Lantern: At the start of your shooting phase pick an enemy within 18" in cover. They dont get cover until your next shooting phase. Not too great, since your shooting isn't exactly stellar.
5. Disharmony Stones: Once per battle at the start of your hero phase you pick up to 2 enemy heroes within 12" and then the opposing player must make a choice. 1) they roll a dice for each hero picked on a 3+ they take a mortal wound. 2) They roll a dice for each hero picked and on a 5+ they take d3 mortal wounds. 3) Each hero picked takes d3 mortal wounds. Then roll a dice, on a 4+ the bearer of this artifact takes d3. Be very careful with these, as they might end up doing nothing or doing something and hurting you as well. Also worthless against armies without many Heroes.
6. Brain Barnacles: Once per battle at the start of your hero phase pick an enemy hero within 12" and roll 2d6. If the roll is equal or greater than the distance between them then that Hero gets -1 to hit and spell cast for the rest of the game.

Arcane Artefacts

Can be given to any Idoneth Deepkin Hero who's also a Wizard, so Tidecaster and Aspect of the Sea only:

1. Arcane Pearl: Gives a 5+ save after the save against mortal wounds. Combines nicely with both the Aspect of the Sea's inherent toughness and the Tidecaster's Spirit Guardians.
2. Sands of Infinity: Once per battle you can make a spell last for 2 rounds instead of one. You must use this before the cast and unbind roll. Very nice.
3. Coral Ring: Gives 1 reroll for casting and 1 reroll for unbinding for the game. More reliability is never a bad thing.
4. Bauble of Buoyancy: Gives fly and doubles their run roll. Just in case you want a Tidecaster to keep up with an Akhelian army.
5. Kraken Tooth: Once per battle in your shooting phase pick an enemy unit within 12" and visible. Roll a dice and: 1: bearer suffers d3 mortal wounds, 2-5: enemy suffers D3 mortal wounds, 6: Pick 1 enemy model in the unit. If the wound characteristic is less than 10 they are slain. If it is 10+ they take 2d6 mortal wounds. The kraken does not mess around.
6. Augury Shells: Once per battle at the start of the hero phase you can roll 2d6. You can choose to use that result for your casting roll or your enemies unbinding roll on spells cast by the bearer during that phase. You must choose to substitute the roll before rolling for the spell/unbind. Very nice. A terrible roll you can give to the opponent and a good one you keep to yourself. Again, more reliability.

Lore of the Deep

1. Steed of Tides: Casting Value 5. Pick a friendly hero that is not a monster within 6". Remove them from the table and set them up within 24" of their original spot and outside of 9" of enemies. This counts as their movement in the movement phase
2. Abyssal Darkness: Casting Value 5. Friendly deepkin are treated as being within cover while wholly within 9" of the caster until your next hero phase. Entirely worthless on your first turn and worthless on any other turn if you have a Leviadon. That said, if you go heavy on Namarti and don't use a Leviadon, fairly good.
3. Vorpal Maelstrom: Casting Value 6. Pick a spot within 18" of the caster that they can see. Roll for each enemy unit within 3" of that spot, if the dice is less than or equal to the number of models in that unit they take d3 mortal wounds.
4. Pressure of the Deeps: Casting Value 7. Pick an enemy they can see within 12" and roll a dice. If you beat their wound stat they are slain. Interestingly you pick a model with this, not a unit. So just point at that icon bearer in the Pink Horror unit to seriously piss your opponent off.
5. Tide of Fear: Casting Value 6. Pick an enemy the caster can see within 12". Until your next hero phase that unit gets -1 to hit and to bravery. Nice, but remember that your Aspect of the Sea can do that to D6 units. Better yet, combine the two to make sure one enemy unit in particular is utterly screwed.
6. Arcane Corrasion: Casting Value 6. This auto targets the closest enemy. Measure the distance between the caster and that unit. If the distance is: 12" or less: 1 mortal wound. 13-24": 2 mortal wounds. 25-36": 3 mortal wounds. 37-48" 4 mortal wounds. Such a weird spell

Isharann Rituals

Deepkin can cast 1 ritual a turn. At the start of your hero phase you declare which ritual you wish to cast, pick an ISHARANN HERO that is more than 9" away from an enemy and roll 2d6. On a 10+ the ritual succeeds and if not then nothing happens. You get +1 if the caster is within 1" of a Gloomtide Shipwreck, +1 if the caster is a PRIEST (i.e. a Soulscryer), +1 for each non priest Isharann heroes within 3", and +2 for each priest Ishaaran hero within 3". This is not a spell and cannot be unbound. They have no range, they simply affect the game

The 3 Rituals are:

1. Ritual of Erosion: Until your next hero phase your enemy does not get a cover bonus. Your go-to if you don't have an Eidolon around. No cover does horrible things to bulwark armies like Eternal Guard-Wanderers and Freeguild.
2. Ritual of Rousing: Heal 1 Wound on each EIDOLON and they can reroll all failed hit and casting rolls until your next hero phase. In case you didn't realize, this is horrifying on an Aspect of the Sea with his two spells per turn.
3. Ritual of Tempest: Until your next hero phase enemy models cannot fly. Unless the table is littered with terrain, this really only helps against Kharadron and Nighthaunts.

Warscrolls

Named Characters

• Volturnos, High King of the Deep: An Akhelian King +1. For a measly 40 points more, Volturnos gets another swing with his weapons and far better buffs, such as the reroll-aura being extended to 18" and all Deepkin within that bubble also getting +1 to Bravery. But the real kicker is his shield: Whenever he's affected by any spell, you can choose to roll a D6 and on a 3+ that spell doesn't affect him (but works normally on everything else). Not only does that keep him relatively safe from enemy debuffs and damage spells, it also means you can drop Vorpal Maelstrom on top of him when he's surrounded by enemies.

• Lotann, Warden of the Soulledgers: Aka Octobro. With a fairly standard Hero statline but slightly above-average damage output thanks to the Ochtar, he's not too shabby on his own. Especially his 5+ Save-after-the-save is appreciated since he can't take Artefacts. But what you really take him for is his buff, giving Deepkin in general +1 Bravery and Namarti in particular the ability to reroll 1s To Hit in a massive 12" bubble. That said, if you play mostly Akhelians, then the Akhelian King does the buffing better.

Heroes

• Akhelian King: As mentioned above, the generic Akhelian King pales in comparison to Volturnos, but that doesn't mean he's bad. He's worse at everything, but can take Traits and Artefacts, which can combine to make him either tougher or killier or supportier than Volturnos, though never all three. Whatever you pick, the Akhelian King is always a fast, reasonably tough and extremely killy Hero who provides good support to your Akhelians. His main weapon is either a Greatsword or a Bladed Polearm; the later is better: 2", -2 Rend, and trades one attack for dishing out 3 damage instead D3 when he charges.
  • I think it may be worth noting here that while it may seem appealing to run and charge all units in on turn 2, the command ability of Akhelian kings (and Volturnos) are only valid for turn 3, by which point the opponent may retaliate and kill off your King, especially if they win the roll-off for turn 3. Additionally, many units gain bonuses on the charge, including the King with the polearm, and the Morsarr Guard (below). Therefore it still is absolutely appropriate to charge in some units on turn 2 to take advantage of Flood Tide (e.g. Ishlaen Guard to tarpit an enemy unit), but it may be worth keeping the king and Morrsarr Guard to charge on turn 3 instead as a second wave, then pop the Command ability to provide bonus attacks on the now souped up weapons.

• Isharann Tidecaster: A fairly survivable support caster. All in all, you only pick the lass for two reasons: One, you want a Wizard but don't feel like playing an Aspect of the Sea. Two, you take her as your general, because she can reverse Tides of Death. Combined with the Fuethán turning Ebb Tide into Flow Tide, this will give you a very fast, very aggressive army.

• Isharann Soulscryer: Count von Count here is a support character through and through. Fragile, with only milquetoast attacks, but blessed with a combo of bonus effects in that he can outflank along with 2 other Deepkin units and on top of that the ability to add 3 to Deepkin charge rolls so long as they charge the one unit he points at. Also allows for some targetting shenanigans with Forgotten Nightmares, as you can force your opponent's backfield fire support to shoot your nigh-invulnerable Ishlaen Guard.

• Isharann Soulrender: The Soulrender wants to be a hybrid Hero killer/buffer. The latter role he pulls off remarkably well, reviving D3 plus however many models his Hook killed that turn Namarti models at the end of your battleshock phase. The former role... eh. His two hook attacks are fairly decent, with a rule that makes it better against Heroes, but it will take some prior damage for him to take down any Hero with 2 damage 2 attacks, even with the fish pitching in.

Troops

• Namarti Thralls: Unconditional Battleline. Namarti Thralls are the quintessential aelven infantry: Extremely fragile and insanely killy. Seriously. Wildwood Rangers wish they were this scary. They attack with the standard elite infantry profile of 2 attacks 3+/3+/-1/1, but with the bonus of adding another attack against 1 Wound models and adding 1 to the damage against models with 4 or more Wounds. However, they also run around with 1 Wound, a 5+ Save and a paltry Bravery of 6. They also have Icon Bearers, who let them reroll battleshock. Weirdly, the Icon Bearer gets another attack but nowhere does it say that you're limited to one per unit. That said, if you do buy so many boxes that you are able to field entire squads of Icon Bearers, you deserve whatever happens to you (bankruptcy, nerfs, punches in the face...)

• Namarti Reavers: Battleline with an Isharann Hero as general. Namarti Reavers are fast (8" and rerolls run) and equipped with really weird bows. At 18", they get one shot at 4+/4+/-/1, which isn't exactly stellar. At 9", they instead get three shots at the same profile. Still not incredible, but that sure is a lot of shots. And if they get into melee? Each of them has a Sword-Liberator's worth of attack. So these are Archers that are only effective at extremely short ranges. Think of them as less versatile but more killy Shadow Warriors and you're not far off.

• Akhelian Ishlaen Guard: Battleline with an Akhelian Hero as general. Defendy cavalry. Huh. Ishlaen Guard are fast and have decent damage output, but their true strength lies in their shields. They ignore Rend and gain +1 to their saves when they charge, which they will, since they move 14" and reroll charges thanks to their musician. So the opponent has to throw Mortal Wounds at them just to reliably get past their saves and even then each of the buggers has 4 Wounds.

• Akhelian Morrsarr Guard: Battleline with an Akhelian Hero as general. Same basic profile as the Ishlaen, but with 1 less attack on the weapons and no ability to ignore Rend. This seems lacking, especially considering they cost twenty points more. But then you notice that their spears gain Damage 2 and -2 Rend on the charge and that they can, once per game, drop 0.83 Mortal Wounds per rider on whatever pisses you off and you realize that they are wallbreakers instead of walls. That said, just because they're missing the defensive abilities of the Ishlaen, that doesn't mean they're frail, as they still rock 4 Wounds with a 4+ Save.

• Akhelian Allopex: Chariots in all but name. Each has two riders, one who swings a spear and one of which mans a harpoon with either 3 Damage 1 shots or 1 Damage 3 shot. The shark itself has a bunch of scary attacks and 8 Wounds at a 4+ Save, so they are tough, fast and bring the pain. That said, don't trust the harpoon to do much damage, as it's mainly there to trigger their ability: If they charge while within 12" of a model with wounds allocated to it (like that Blightking you just hit with a harpoon), they reroll charges. Very nice with a Soulscryer. Finally, they can be taken in units of up to 4, which is very risky but with potentially huge payoff. Risky because they have Bravery 6, so you run the very real risk of losing 140 point Sharks to battleshock, however, in exchange, units of them make for an incredible target for the Akhelian King's Command. It'd be wasted on a single Allopex, but on a unit of three or four? Oh dear. Just make sure you use Inspiring Presence on them until High Tide rolls around.

Behemoths

• Akhelian Leviadon: Very scary in several ways. Not only is it very strong in melee, it also spreads a 12" range bubble of cover around. Great, you might say, 3+ Save and guaranteed cover. But nope, remember, Monsters don't benefit from cover in Matched. Still amazing. 16 Wounds at a 3+ Save that spread cover to the rest of your army. It also has a shooting attack, which is the exact same as that of one Allopex, which we can only assume was a joke.

Eidolon of Mathlaan

• Aspect of the Storm: Angry Matt.

• Aspect of the Sea: Caster Matt.

Warscroll Battalions

• Royal Council

1 Akhelian King, 1 Isharann Tidecaster, 1 Isharann Soulscryer

If the Akhelian King (note this is keyword, so applies to Volturnos as well) is your general, he can use a new command ability: in hero phase if the two Isharann are within 3" of the general, up to 3 units that are wholly within 12" of the general can add 3" to movement until the next hero phase. While this may sound good, it's really only applicable on turn one, maybe two. It's also unclear if this replaces the Akhelian king command ability - if not, then it would be viable (so you can still pop their other command ability on high tide), but still a bit pricey and the other battalions are just better. If it does replace the command ability, forget it. If you're taking an Akhelian king, you're likely taking 'sea cav' which are already pretty fast, and their base command ability is far better, especially if you're taking Volturnos. It could work better on a slow-moving Namarti army I suppose.

• Akhelian Corps

1 Akhelian Leviadon, 2-4 units of Akhelian Guard, 1-2 units of Akhelian Allopexes

Great battalion if you're running sea cav. For only 100 pts, this battalion let's you, once per phase re-roll one hit, wound, save, run, or charge roll for one unit from this battalion that is wholly within 12" of the Leviadon from this battalion. This is great - you can re-roll a run in the movement phase, a hit/wound in the shooting phase, a charge die in the charge phase, and a hit/wound/save in the combat phase - including the turtle's bite to try and get that 6 mortal wounds. Also note that the Nautilar enclave let's you take two Leviadons in this battalion; so the wording suggests that you can re-roll one dice per phase for a unit within 12" of either Leviadon - subject to FAQ.

• Namarti Corps

1 Isharann Soulrender, 2-6 units of Namarti Thralls, 2-4 units of Namarti Reavers

When the soulrender from this battalion (i.e if you take 2, the second one can't do this) uses Lurelight to return Namarti models, you always get 3 instead of D3. For someone who consistently rolls 1s and 2s on a D3 die, this is great for only 100 pts, if you're going Namarti heavy. Note that the Briomdar enclave let's you take up to 6 reavers, so you could potentially take 2 soulscryers and drop in 3 units of reavers each (or 2 with a soulrender) near the table edge to pepper the enemy while the 2 (or more) thrall units move up the board with various other characters/units.

• Phalanx:

1 Royal Council, 2-4 Akhelian Corps, 2-4 Namarti Corps

If you have this battalion (and likely nothing else, because it's hella expensive), once per battle you can swap in High Tide instead of the ability that would normally be used. So on turn 2 or 4 you could have back-to-back High tide, letting you fight first FOUR times in a row (also applies in opponent's turn). Or, if you swap it in on turn 1, you can drop in 2 units with the soulscyer (or 3 if you take Briomdar), so you could drop hard-hitting units (e.g. part of an Akhelian corp, including a large unit of morsarr guard, an akhelian king for re-rolls, and say a Leviadon) 9" from the enemy, adding +3 to the charge roll from the soulscrayer, allowing your two/three units to fight first for a massive alpha strike. Should be noted that the minimum tax to run this is 4020 points, so you won't see it in most games.

• Alliance of Wood and Sea:

1 Isharann Tidecaster, 2 units of Akhelian Guard, 1 unit of Namarti Thralls, 1 unit of Namarti Reavers, 1 unit of Akhelian Allopexes, 1 Branchwych, 2 units of Dryads, 1 Treelord Ancient

The Sylvaneth in this battalion get the Tides of Death bonuses as well (similar to Ionarch enclave trait). The minimum tax is 1520 points, which isn't too bad, but the battalion restricts the number of units you can take, so you'd just increase min-sized units to fill out a 2000 point list. You won't get free wildwoods, without which I find dryads to be a bit useless (I suppose you could pay for wildwoods if you really wanted to), but the +1 cover is decent. I wouldn't bother with this battalion, for 140 pts - just go with the Ionarch enclave so you have more flexibility over which units you can take and you get the same bonus (although you are technically getting more than 400pts of allies, which is allowed in a battalion, so that's the main bonus, but even then, Tree Revenants and Kurnoth Hunters would be far better than anything this BAttalion gives you).

The Enclaves

They are akin to the Sylvaneth Wargroves. Each has unique special rules for your army and allows you to upgrade one of your Warscroll Battalions

1. Ionrach: +1 to cast and unbind rolls for your Wizards, which, as you know, is invaluable. However, your Warlord Trait is locked into the Ionrach-exclusive Emissary of the Deep Places, which provides your allies access to the Tides of Death rules. Great if you have allies, worthless if you don't. Also your Royal Council can have up to 2 Soulscryers and Tidecasters.

1. Dhom-Hain: Akhelians and Namarti reroll 1s To Hit on the charge. Relatively meaningless as Lotann and the Akhelian King respectively do the same whether you charged or not, but nice if you find yourself outside the relevant bubbles. Your Akhelians also reroll Wound rolls against Monsters. Interesting against some armies, worthless against others. Also your Akhelian Corps can have up to 6 units of Akhelian Guard. Dhom-hain are notable as one of the Enclaves that have no restrictions whatsoever.

1. Fuethán: You reroll 1s To Wound with your mounts. Also, during Flood Tide all your units reroll 1s To Hit and Ebb Tide turns into another Flood Tide. You'll really miss that fall back + charge on turn 4, but in exchange a Tidecaster can make you super fast by giving you Flood Tide on turn 1 and High Tide on turn 2. Also, your Phalanx can contain up to 6 Akhelian Corps. Not that you will ever use a Phalanx.

1. Mor'Phann: Your Soulrenders raise an additional 3 models. This is huge and out-Death's Death armies. However, your Wizards can't take Lore spells and instead get Freezing Mists, which drastically lowers an enemy unit's Pile In move. Also, your Namarti Corps can have 6 units of Thralls.

1. Nautilar: Your units reroll all failed Hit rolls if they were charged that turn. Not that your opponent needed more discouragement from charging your Namarti. Their casters lose access to lore spells and instead get Protective Barrier, which targets a friendly unit and lowers the Rend of any enemy attacking them, so it's effectively a worse Mystic Shield. Still interesting, though, because it can stack with Mystic Shield. Also your Akhelian Corps can have up to 2 Leviadons.

1. Briomdar: Your Soulscryers can take up to 3 units along and place them 18" away instead of 12. Also your units can move over terrain (but not enemy units) as if they were flying. Not too great since most of your army already flies. Also your Namarti Corps can take up to 6 units of Reavers. Again, it is notable that the Briomdar have no restrictions to their name.

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