Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Edition 1.1/Fyreslayers

For your new half-naked Dorfs in the Age of Sigmar setting.

Want an army that is visibly different from your standard issue Dorfs and still much closer to their Old Norse origins? Well, these might be the army for you, mixing the best elements of forge-crazy, greedy and insane berserker-rage.

General tips on using half-naked raging dorfs

• Because they only wear a loincloth, some people think Fireslayers are kamikaze glass cannons, like the Slayers of old. That's not the case at all: in fact they wear armor, only it's in the shape of flesh-embedded runes of divine gold. The "core" units, Hearthguard and Vulkite Berzerkers, have innate saves-after-the-save, that also work against mortal wounds. With some Battlesmiters to improve your saves, most of your army should have a 4+ Save, and then the save-after-the-save. This means Fireslayers can be, in fact, arguably the best all-around protected army of the game: against things without Rend you have a combined protection equivalent to a 3+ or even 2+ Save, things with Rend are less effective against you than if you had a normal Save (a save-after-the-save actually becomes BETTER if your normal Save is diminished by Rend, minimizing its impact), and you also have protection against Mortal Wounds. All of this mitigates Fireslayer's works weaknesses (slowness, lack of magic and long-ranged units) and makes much more bearable those first turns of receiving shot after shot until you reach the enemy. Kill or maim your opponent's most dangerous ranged units/war machines with the Runesmiter + Auric Hearthguard combo in the first turn, and you're set!
• Always remember every one of your Dorfs has a ranged attack, the throwing axe gimmick. It's weak and short-ranged, so it seems bad at first, but because you can shoot into combat, it makes your melee units even more awesome: the opposing unit will receive both the melee attacks of the first rank of your units, and the throwing axes from EACH one of your guys! Also you can shoot outside combat, meaning your units in melee can actually support other nearby units, by throwing their axes into those elite bad guys fighting their friends, instead of that tarpit they themselves are fighting.

Warscrolls

Leaders

• Auric Runefather on Magmadroth: This count also as Behemoth.The big lizard with the big boss on top. The Runefather himself is already a beast in combat with his damage 3-axe that can break enemy weapons in order to permanently lower their Hit rolls and on top of that you get the Magmadroth. 12 Wounds at a 4+ save, high movement, a strong melee profile and an outrageous amount of Mortal Wounds. If can breathe fire which causes mortal wounds, swipe with its tail which causes mortal wounds and it can bleed fire on enemies which, you guessed it, causes mortal wounds. It is sort of fragile though, considering it's a high-priority target and huge. His Command Ability (rerolls for all Battleshock tests and Saves of 1) may seem weak at first, but it works in a 40" bubble, so it will affect almost all your army, and a little bonus that affects a lot of units is in fact a huge bonus.

• Auric Runesmiter on Magmadroth: This count also as Behemoth. Make no mistake. The Runesmiter is a support hero and the Magmadroth is probably wasted on him. If you do use them together, the Magmadroth becomes a sort of walking altar from which the Runesmiter can cast his blessings. This blessing lets a friendly Fyreslayer unit reroll To Wound (so by itself it's better than most Command Abilities) and once per game he can make that ability affect (also) ALL Fyreslayers around him, which can be PAINFUL. Always give him the Key, so the re-roll ability works at 20".

• Auric Runeson on Magmadroth: This count also as Behemoth. Probably the best candidate for the Magmadroth as the Runeson wants to be in the thick of it. In addition to the Magmadroth, he either brings another great melee profile or an awful melee profile that can also be used as a decent anti-monster ranged weapon. His Command Ability (charges for Fyreslayers within 10" are made with three dice, discarding the lowest) can be very good in an army like this, that wants to be in melee as soon as possible.

• Auric Runefather: Aside from not having a Magmadroth, the Auric Runefather exchanges his defensive-minded Command Ability for a more offensive one that allows your guys better pile-in moves and gives a sort of Look Out, Sir! to the Runefather because, you know, he doesn't have a huge fucking lizard to soak up damage (as written, unlike similar abilities, this one lets the unit protecting the Runefather still take their saves/saves-after-the-save, so most times you'll avoid the wound completely). Other than that, even without the Magmadroth, the Runefather is a beast in combat who can trade blows with the best of them.

• Auric Runesmiter: This guy is probably better on foot, as he has a really mean special rule that basically allows him and another Fyreslayer unit to deep strike at least 9" away from the enemy, which is unfortunately slightly too far to use your throwing axes that turn. All he sacrifices for this awesome trick is the whole "once per game he can use his buff on all the Fyreslayers at once" thing.
  • If you think Fyreslayers are too weak and limited, because they don't have any Wizards, artillery, long-range shooters and whatnot, just take a Runesmither and twenty Auric Hearthguard. First turn, emerge from a tunnel 15" to that unit you think is unfair, then shoot 40 blasts of lava at it, and watch how it melts. Now which is the unfair army?
  • Vulkite Berzerkers also work well with the Runesmiter, because with their musician they re-roll one charge dice, meaning they have over 50% chance of making charges of 9" or more. Riskier than just using Auric Hearthguard, yes, but they are cheaper and much less squishy in great numbers.

• Auric Runeson: As it says on the tin, it's a Runeson without the Magmadroth. This also means that you really should not give this version the Javelin, because he doesn't have the Magmadroth's melee to fall back to. He's only good as General against Ogres or other multi-wound (or Hero-filled) armies, otherwise pass.

• Grimwrath Berzerker: This guy wants to be right in the middle of your opponent's army. He has a save-after-the-save that gets better the more enemy units there are around him (MSU-playstyles beware) and if he kills enough, he can potentially pile in and attack a second time in each combat phase. And the guy can keep fighting even after he's killed, for one more turn.

• Auric Runemaster: Skip. Seriously. He is awful at melee and range and his main gimmick aids the enemy more than you. Your opponent picks one of his units to carry some Ur-gold. That unit can reroll To Wound-rolls of 1. If your Runemaster gets close to that unit, all Fyreslayers get an extra attack with all their weapons against that unit. Your opponent can easily use this to his advantage by, for example, picking a war machine. If you manage to charge a backfield war machine, it's dead even without bonus attacks and until you get there, his cannon has a better chance of blowing you to shreds. His other special rule of summoning magma underneath a terrain piece is potentially useful but not worth putting up with the other one.
  • If you still want to use him, you can always go with the Runesmiter + Auric Hearthguard trick, to kill wathever your opponent chooses in the first turn. Your opponent will probably choose that cannon/archers unit you were going to kill with the Hearthguard anyway... But if they don't have dangerous ranged units, the Runemaster actually becomes pretty good: the advantage he gives to the unit is minimal, and the one he give against it is enormous: +1 to ALL of your attacks, even those throwing axes all your units have!

• Battlesmith: In terms of killyness, the Battlesmith is awful, but that's okay, because he's a support Hero and support he does. So long as he's alive, Fyreslayers within 8" of him reroll saves, which is awesome: even your guys with worse Saves will have one better than 4+, and will weather the inevitable arrows that will rain upon them turn after turn. With the inherent save-after-the-save that some of your units gets, you'll actually be one of the best protected armies of the game! Other Standard Bearers have to be inmobile for their ability to work, but the Battlesmith only makes you unable to retreat, a very minor drawback. If he bites it, Fyreslayers can decide to not move away and protect his banner, meaning they have to stand still but get to reroll all To Hit and To Wound rolls. If you think this sounds perfect for Auric Hearthguard, you are doing it right.

• Doomseeker: A pure melee Hero, in an army that doesn't need these at all. He can be very damaging against the unit you choose as his target, specially hordes with low Save, and he's cheap, but he's still too slow and one-dimensional. He can work with a Battlesmith, Runesmiter or some other way of protecting him/making him reach combat faster, but everything he does a Grimwrath Berzerker does better, and in a more epic way.

Troops

All the troops, independently from their equipment can take throwing axes.

• Vulkite Berzerkers: Your standard Battleline unit. No matter how you equip them, they gain a save-after-the-save of 6+ that grows better the more Dorfs you have in the unit (+1 for more than 10, +2 for more than 20). They're milquetoast, but if your whole army has them, they add up. They come with several different load outs for the whole unit:
  • Bladed Slingshield and Handaxe or War-pick: the axes and picks are pretty similar, with the axes wounding better and the picks having some Rend. The shields on the other hand grant you better saves in melee when they have not charged AND can cause mortal wounds on a charge, which is unreliable, but potentially powerful.
  • Two Handaxes: Unlike most units with these options, Vulkite Berzerkers with two weapons get to reroll all failed To Hit rolls, not just 1s, so these make your Dorfs much killier outright.

• Auric Hearthguard: These are probably the best unit in the Fyreslayer list. The normal Dorfs have Irondrakes, who are almost universally acknowledged as one of the most powerful ranged units in the game. Auric Hearthguard leave them in the dust are about as killy with their great big Magmapikes, which make them halfway decent in melee and utter murder at range, with 2 shots each at 4+/3+/-1/1, with bonuses To Hit with any weapon if their target is within 5" of a Fyreslayer Hero (think of a Grimwrath Berzerker for this job). Keep in mind now that most ranged units lose efficacy if they move or enemies are too close. Auric Hearthguard doesn't. They can charge right in and finish the job if their shots only almost killed something. And in addition they can use their shots to trap enemy monsters in magma, halving their movement and lowering their Hit rolls.

• Hearthguard Berzerkers: The first time you read through the Fyreslayer rules, you think Hearthguard Berzerkers are the elite infantry to the Vulkite Berzerkers' basic infantry. The second time you look through them, you wonder just why they barely do more damage than the basic infantry. The third time you realize that they aren't that killy because they're not the elite version of Vulkite Berzerkers, they fulfill an entirely different role. Where Vulkite Berzerkers are only tough in numbers, Hearthguard Berzerkers have a 4+ save-after-the-save even at minimal unit size so long as there's a Fyreslayer Hero close to them, which there always should be anyway. Where Vulkite Berzerkers have tons of attacks, Hearthguard Berzerkers have few powerful knocks that can even inflict Mortal Wounds on top if you pick the right weapon. Vulkite Berzerkers are the all-purpose infantry, Hearthguard Berzerkers are there to hold the line and smash up the stuff with the big saves.

Battalions

Lords of the Lodge

Found in the Fyreslayers Battletome

An Auric Runefather or an Auric Runefather on Magmadroth, an Auric Runemaster, a Battlesmith and a unit of Hearthguard Berzerkers.

With this Battalion, you get a once per game ability that allows you to get a bonus to your roll to determine who goes first in the battle round. The bonus is +1 for each Hero in the Battalion. The Hearthguard Berzerkers in the Battalion can also pile in and attack twice in each combat phase as long as they're within 6" of a Hero from the Battalion.

Warrior Kinband

Found in the Fyreslayers Battletome.

An Auric Runeson or an Auric Runeson on Magmadroth and 3 units of Vulkite Berzerkers.

For your bonuses, the Vulkite Berzerkers in this Battalion can throw their throwing axes twice if they are within 10" of the Runeson, and can pile in additional D3 inches if they are within 5" of another Vulkite Berzerker unit from the same Battalion.

Forge Brethren

Found in the Fyreslayers Battletome.

An Auric Runesmiter or an Auric Runesmiter on Magmadroth and 3 units of Auric Hearthguard.

Wound rolls for members of this Battalion of 6 or more in the combat phase reduce the following save roll by 1. Also, in the Hero Phase, one unit of Hearthguard within 10" of the Runesmiter can make a wall of covering fire, giving either a unit within 15" or themselves a +1 bonus to their saves until your next Hero Phase, or until they charge.

Grand Fyrd

Found in the Fyreslayers Battletome.

A Lords of the Lodge battalion, 2 Warrior Kinband battalions, and a Forge Brethren battalion.

Units from a Grand Fyrd subtract 2 from their battleshock test rolls. The other bonus has no effect in Matched Play.

Arngard's Berzerker Fyrd

A Grimwrath Berzerker, a Battlesmith, and 3 units of Vulkite Berzerkers.

Army Building

1000 pt.

At 1000 pt. you can deploy almost all the battalions at minimum size and you have room for a lot of customization. Consider that not all of them respect the minimum requirement for a Pitched Battle so you have to left some room for your Battleline units.

Alternatively you have a really low minimum core tax of 240 pt. with 2 Battleline units and a Runemaster/Runeson.

If you're not thinking of using a Runemaster or a Runefather as general, you're stuck with Vulkite Berserkers as Battleline unit, and you want units of at least 20 Dorfs to gain some bonus. This means 640pt. plus your mandatory leader which should be a Runeson. After that you have 280pt. for customization and a tough choice to make. You can either add a third smaller unit of 15 Vulkite Berserkers and play with the Warrior Kinband battalion, you can add a unit of 10 elites and another Runeson/Runemaster or add a unit of five elites, add 5 Vulkite Berserkers and a major 100pt. leader.

In this sense a nice 1000pt. list could be: a Runeson as General with 2x20 Vulkite Berserkers equipped at will, 5 Auric Heatguards with a Grimwrath Berserker for bonus and a Runemaster to spice things up. If you're passionate for Behemoth a variation of the same concept is a Runeson on Magmadroth as General with 2x20 Vulkite Berserkers equipped at will and the Runemaster.

2000 pt.

At 2000 pt. a single battalion is not enough and you can start considering to double your choices.

Alternatively you have a really low minimum core tax of 320 pt. with 3 Battleline units and a Runemaster/Runeson.

2500 pt.

Grand Fyrd level. With the bonus given by the Dour and Fearless rule you should really consider this. Also, you have 680pt. more for customization.

Alternatively you have a really low minimum core tax of 400 pt. with 4 Battleline units and a Runemaster/Runeson.

External links

Rules are here