Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Malign Sorcery

Malign Sorcery is an optional expansion for Age Of Sigmar which introduces the rules for Endless Spells, a number of Endless Spells that can be used by wizards in any army, additional spells for when playing in a specific realm, realm specific artefacts and additional play types and battleplans. See the Malign Sorcery page for more details.

If Malign Sorcery is being used for the current game/campaign then all armies must adhere to the additional rules.

Spells Of The Realms

If fighting a battle in a specific realm, then all wizards gain a number of new spells depending on the realm. See the main tactics page.

Artefacts Of The Realms

Declare your army comes from a specific realm and then when choosing any artefacts of power you can optionally choose to take an artefact from the realm specific list instead. For each realm, there are six weapon artefacts and six wizardy artefacts.

Ghyran

• Weapons

1. Entangling Blade: Pick a melee weapon to be: if you score 1+ hits on a hero or monster, subtract 1 from hit rolls that enemy makes until the end of the phase in which the enemy was hit.

2. Jadewound Thorn: Pick a melee weapon to be: 1 mortal wound on a 6+ to hit.

3. Blade of Hammerhal Ghyra: Pick a melee weapon to be: +1 attacks.

4. The Sunderblade: In your shooting phase, roll a dice for each enemy within 9". On a 6+ they suffer D3 mortal wounds.

5. Ghyrstrike: Pick a melee weapon to be: +1 to hit and wound.

6. Arboreal Stave: At the start of the combat phase, pick an enemy hero within 3" that is visible to the bearer. On a 5+, that hero cannot make a pile-in move this combat phase.

• Relics

1. Hypersnare Seeds: At the end of your opponent's shooting phase, pick a unit within 8" and roll a dice. On a 5+, they can't charge.

2. Verdant Mantle: You can dispel one endless spell per turn with this unit (if it's not a wizard) and without using up a cast (if it is).

3. Jade Diadem: If you roll a save of 6+, heal 1 wound.

4. Greenglade Flask: Once per battle, in your hero phase, heal D6 wounds.

5. Ghyrropian Gauntlets: You get an extra 3" for pile-in.

6. Wand of Restoration: In your hero phase, heal 1 wound to a model within 6".

Ghur

Generally only the Gryph-feather Charm is worth taking. The Amberglaive might be useful in some cases, too.

• Weapons

1. Stonehorn Blade. Pick one melee weapon. At the end of a phase where a wound was inflicted by the weapon, roll. On a 5+, pick an enemy unit within 3" and do D3 Mortal Wounds.

2. Anraheirs' Claw. Pick one melee weapon. All wound rolls of 6+ do an extra 2 damage.

3. Amberglaive. Pick one melee weapon. Add 1 to hit rolls and 1" to range (up to 3").

4. Blade of Carving. Pick one melee weapon. Hit rolls of 6+ automatically wound.

5. Rageblade. Pick one melee weapon. Add 1 to Attacks.

6. Rockjaws. During shooting, pick a target within 8". On a 3+, do D3 mortal wounds.

• Relics

1. Beastcaller's Bones. At the start of the combat phase, roll a dice for each monster within 3". On a 5+, the monster can't attack. If it's a mount, the rider can still attack.

2. Drakeforged Plate. Reroll saves of 1 if the attack has a random Damage characteristic.

3. Gryph-feather Charm. -1 to hits targeting the bearer, and +1" to movement.

4. Gargant-bone Dice. Once per battle, you can roll 3 dice. For each 5+, each enemy unit within 6" takes D3 mortal wounds.

5. Shardfist Pelt. Each time you roll a save of 6+, the attacking unit takes 1 mortal wound.

6. Tuskhelm. After you charge, roll for each enemy unit within 1". On a 4+, they take 1 mortal wound.

Chamon

• Weapons

1. Aiban's Hidden Blade. Pick one melee weapon. On a hit of 6+, add 1 damage.

2. Flowstone Blade. Pick one melee weapon. On a hit of 6+, get +1 to wound for that attack only.

3. Rune Blade. Pick one melee weapon. It has a Rend of -3.

4. Crucible of Molten Silver. Once per battle, during your shooting phase, pick a point within 9" and draw a 1mm wide line to it. All units other than the bearer that line passes over takes D3 mortal wounds.

5. Chamonite Darts. In your shooting phase, pick an enemy unit within 8" and roll 6 dice. For each 6+, the enemy takes 1 mortal wound.

6. Argentine's Tooth. Pick one melee weapon. Reroll hits of 1.

• Relics

1. Gildenbane. Blocks enemy Artefacts of power within 3".

2. Argent Armour. -1 to melee hit rolls targeting the bearer.

3. Hydroxskin Cloak. Grants fly. After the bearer moves, pick a unit that the bearer passes across and roll a die. On a 3+, they take D3 mortal wounds.

4. Godwrought Helm. Negates wounds on a 6+.

5. Bejewelled Gauntlet. At the end of the combat phase, pick an enemy unit within 1" and roll a dice. On a 3+, they take 1 mortal wound.

6. Alchemical Chain. Bearer can unbind 1 spell. If they're already a wizard, they get 1 more unbind.

Aqshy

• Weapons

1. Ruby Ring. In your hero phase, you can pick the nearest enemy unit within 18" and a die. On a 5+, you do D3 mortal wounds. If two units are equally close, pick one.

2. Magmaforged Blade. Pick one melee weapon. If the wound roll for that weapon is 6+, that attack inflicts 1 mortal wound in addition to its normal damage.

3. Magmadroth Blood Vials. In your shooting phase, pick an enemy unit within 8" and roll a die. 4+ do 1 mortal wound.

4. Purefire Brazier. In your shooting phase, roll a die for each enemy unit within 9". On a 5+ do 1 mortal wound to that unit.

5. Onyx Blade. Pick one melee weapon. It gets +1 to-wound.

6. Exile Torch. At the start of the combat phase, pick an enemy hero within 3" and roll a die. On a 6+, that hero takes a mortal wound and may not fight or be chosen as the target of an attack.

• Relics

1. Essence of Vulcatrix. Once per battle, at the start of your hero phase. Roll a die. On a 1, take D3 mortal wounds. On a 2+, get +1 to hit and wound until next hero phase.

2. Thermalrider Cloak. +4" Movement and can fly.

3. Smouldering Helm. During the combat phase, each save of 6+ deals 1 mortal wound to the attacker.

4. Ignax's Scales. Negate mortal wounds on a 4+.

5. Crown of Flames. +1 Bravery to allies wholly within 9".

6. Cleansing Brooch. Once per battle, at the start of the hero phase, you can heal D3.

Shyish

• Weapons

1. Blade of Endings. Pick one melee weapon. When the hit roll is 6+, add 2 Damage.

2. Banshee Blade. Pick one melee weapon. Each hit roll of 6+, roll 2D6. If 2D6 > target's bravery, the attack does D3 mortal wounds in addition to damage.

3. Lifebane. Pick one melee weapon. Add 1 to wounds.

4. Sliver of Decrepitude. Pick one melee weapon. Allocate wounds inflicted before any other attacks by the bearer. If 1 or more wounds by that weapon are inflicted on a HERO or MONSTER, they get -2" movement until the end of the battle.

5. Wraithbone. In your shooting phase, pick an enemy unit within 18" and roll 6 dice. Each 6+ is 1 mortal wound.

6. Splintertooth. In your shooting phase, pick an enemy unit within 8" and roll 3D6. If two dice have the same roll, do D3 mortal wounds. If all 3 are the same, the unit takes D6.

• Relics

1. Cronehair Fetish. Can adjust the Shyish Realmscape by 1.

2. Ethereal Amulet. Makes the unit a Nighthaunt unit by making them immune to save modifiers.

3. Sepulchral Plate. Negates wounds on a 6+.

4. Amethyst Blindmask. When the bearer dies, roll for each enemy unit within 6". On a 3+, that unit takes 1 mortal wound.

5. Ragged Cloak. Once per battle during the opponent's shooting phase, you can activate this. If you do so, the bearer may not be chosen as the target of an attack until the phase is over.

6. Goblet of Draining. If 1 or more wounds are inflicted on an enemy hero, roll a dice. On a 5+, the enemy hero takes D3 mortal wounds.

Endless Spells

Stormcast Eternals, Nighthaunt, Flesh-Eaters Courts, Gloomspite Gitz , Beasts Of Chaos and Skaven have their own faction specific endless spells which are covered on their own pages.

Non-realm Specific

• Balewind Vortex: (Casting Value 6) Remember those little tornado-platforms that wizards could grab back in Fantasy and gave them a couple neat perks? Yeah, that's back. It's also only available to squishy solo wizards with less than 9 wounds (Though if you think it's ever possible for Nagash or Archaon to even sit on that with their fat asses, we'd love to see it work). It, unfortunately, can't move, but considering your wizard gets a free spell, a range increase of +6" to all their spells, and a +1 to all saves, they'd be hard-pressed to find a reason not to.
• Aethervoid Pendulum: (Casting Value 6) This is something you set up if you want a disposable weapon to kill. It doesn't even attack in the traditional sense, it just moves in a direction and anything it passes just eats d6 mortal wounds as do those near it after it stops. The one issue it has is that it's mobility is locked in straight lines (and has been clarified not to run backward like a real pendulum would) so you have to prioritize your targets.

AZYR

• Chronomantic Cogs: (Casting Value 7) This is a setpiece for any wizard. It can't move, but it allows any wizard on the caster's side within 9" to either speed up time (adding +2" to movement and adding +2 to charge rolls for the entire board) or slow down time (allowing the wizard to cast another spell and re-roll saves) during the Hero phase. One has very limited applications that require a frontline caster, the other pretty much relies on one side capitalizing on the speed boost.

AQSHY

• The Burning Head: (Casting Value 7) This spell works as part attack-pet, part support. Sure, it deals d3 mortal wounds to anyone it passes or approaches (Adding +1 when in the Realm of Fire), but it also offers nearby allies a re-roll on any attack rolls of 1.

CHAMON

• Quicksilver Swords: (Casting Value 6) This particular spell is pretty much made to drown enemies with mortal wounds. Once it moves, you select a single unit within 6". You then roll 12 die (15 in the Realm of Metal) and for every 6+ (Or 5+ on Chaos units), that's a Mortal Wound. This is pretty much here to dispose of any mob of elites or monsters, stopping short of felling the really big guys.

GHUR

• Ravenak's Gnashing Jaws: (Casting Value 8) This is another pure-offense spell, remarkable for it's big move range of 12" (Adding 1d6 in the Realm of Beasts). Moving it across only deals d3 Mortal Wounds to any models it crosses and -1 Bravery per model that got torn up (I think. The description's real easy to misunderstand).

GHYRAN

• Emerald Lifeswarm: (Casting Value 6) This particular spell is worth it if you lack any healers or ways to resurrect dead models. What it does is heal d3 (d6 in the Realm of Life) wounds or resurrect a number of models with wounds equal to that roll.

HYSH

• Prismatic Palisade: (Casting Value 5) This spell is pretty much your emergency cover with perks. Any models covered by it reduce any damage taken by 1 on a 5+ (4+ in the Realm of Light) while the wall itself denies LoS to anyone inside the Palisade, forcing enemies to circle around into a potential trap.
• Geminids of Uhl-Gysh: (Casting Value 7) Casting this sets up two different models: one of light, and one of darkness. The dark piece deals d3 mortal wounds to all models it passes over and subtracts 1 from the attack value of their melee weapons. The light piece deals d3 mortal wounds to any models it passes over and deals -1 to all hit rolls. When in the Realm of Light, the light piece gets a re-roll on the wounds it deals.

SHYISH

• Suffocating Gravetide: (Casting Value 6) You can certainly use it to just kill stuff, throwing d3 wounds and -1 bravery to any units it flies over, but it also acts as a cover for any missiles attacking those nearby the tide. Using the Realm of Death just makes sure it can do this role better by making it move 12" rather than 8".
• Soulsnare Shackles: (Casting Value 5) By summoning this triad of towers, you get to make a rather big zone of unsafe terrain to discourage any direct charges. Anyone within 6" of one of these has to roll a d6, halving movement on a 3+ and taking d3 mortal wounds on a 6. If you set up this spell in the Realm of Death, you can make that denial zone even bigger as the coherency range for each of these is 9" compared to the standard 6", but then you risk people sliding through the cracks which is good as it reduces the 6" of overlap to 3" which gives you a larger area to work with.
• Purple Sun of Shyish: (Casting Value 8) BEHOLD, FOR THE PURPLE SUN OF XEREUS RETURNS TO RUIN SHIT! This giant purple ball of fun isn't quite as broken as before, as it can only instakill models if the sun passes over them and they roll a 6, and if the model has over 6 wounds (read: most named heroes and monsters), they just take 2d6 wounds. Of course, it also helps that the sun deals -1 to any unit's Bravery when they're within 6". As an added bonus, placing this spell within the Realm of Death gives the sun a 12" move rather than it's standard 9".
• Malevolent Maelstrom: (Casting Value 7) Here is a giant whirlpool of death and destruction, useful only if you point it away from your side. It'll suck up any spells cast around it and steal the souls of any destroyed units and gain points, with an additional point for every turn when you're in the Realm of Death. After every round of fighting, you then roll a d6, add your points to the result and if you get a 7+, it blows up and deals d3 mortal wounds to everyone within 3d6".

ULGU

• Umbral Spellportal:(Casting Value 5) You get two doors that connect to each other (The doors have a range of 18", but the Realm of Shadow pretty much makes the range unlimited). You can cast a spell from one to have it shoot out the other side and endless spells just jump through the doors.
  • Note that as per an Errata, only one spell a turn can go through.
• Geminids of Uhl-Gysh: (Casting Value 7) Casting this sets up two different models: one of light, and one of darkness. The dark piece deals d3 mortal wounds to all models it passes over and subtracts 1 from the attack value of their melee weapons. The light piece deals d3 mortal wounds to any models it passes over and deals -1 to all hit rolls. When in the Realm of Shadow, the dark piece gets a re-roll on the wounds it deals.

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