Wargamer’s Age of Sigmar Gloomspite Gitz guide introduces you to the mainstays of this rancid greenskin army. All across the Mortal Realms, beneath cities and forests, dreadforts and mountain holds, all manner of gruesome gribblies linger in mushroom-infested darkness. The Gloomspite Gitz are all but forgotten, dismissed as myths by the surface-dwelling races, but they lurk in slimy sinkholes or deep-sunk dankholds, plotting malevolent mischief.
Cruel Moonclan grots with glinting fangs and sharp knives, giant-gobbed squigs ridden by heedless lunatics, gargantuan Arachnarok spiders, lumbering troggoths with short tempers and bottomless appetites, all these horrors and more make up the Gloomspite Gitz, and all dwell, unsuspected and undetected, in the clammy darkness.
If that doesn’t sound like your cup of fungus brew, we have a guide to the other Age of Sigmar armies to help you decide on a more suitable faction.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Age of Sigmar Gloomspite Gitz.
- Gloomspite Gitz grots, spiders, troggoths, and squigs
- Gloomspite Gitz and the Bad Moon
- Loonshrine Gloomspite Gitz faction terrain piece
- Gloomspite Gitz battletome
- Gloomspite Gitz Vanguard starter set
Gloomspite Gitz grots, spiders, troggoths, and squigs
Grots make up the bulk of most Gloomspite Gitz forces. Shootas and Stabbas are weak and cowardly but they’re also incredibly numerous. Hidden in their ranks are deadly and suicidal Loonsmasha Fanatics, mushroom-maddened grots whirling lethal balls and chains with devastating force.
Spiderfang Grots worship gargantuan arachnids and can harness spiders of ever more terrifying size to ride to war. Their Spider Riders are swift cavalry, able to scuttle up and over terrain, and their potent venoms cause mortal wounds on to-hit rolls of six.
Big, strong, stupid and stupidly tough, troggoths hit hard and can regenerate any wounds they have suffered.The mighty Dankhold Troggoths and Dankhold Trogbosses are colossal, ancient creatures that are even harder to kill than other troggoths, and their odiferous presence improves the bravery of nearby Gitz.
Squigs are fang-filled mouths on legs that bounce across the battlefield. All squigs move a random distance, so neither you nor your opponent can predict quite where they’ll end up. Some grots are brave, foolhardy or insane enough to ride squigs into battle like lethal space-hoppers.
The largest Mangler Squigs are chained together in pairs, careening across the battlefield like wrecking balls. Like most monsters, their profile degrades as they become injured, but uniquely it begins to improve again as they approach death, the squigs becoming even more unpredictable and vicious!
Gloomspite Gitz and the Bad Moon
The different clans of the Gloomspite Gitz worship a terrifying celestial body known as the Bad Moon. This revolting orb veers haphazardly through the heavens above the Mortal Realms, shedding its evil light and leering maniacally at the terrified mortals below.
The Bad Moon blocks out the sun, and its rays have a hideous transformative property, driving mortals and animals to madness and forcing vile mushrooms to sprout from everything they touch, be it wood, stone, or living flesh. To get a sense for how ridiculously terrifying this leering moonface is, we heartily recommend the novel Gloomspite by Andy Clark, which manages to make the grots as terrifying as they are revolting.
The Bad Moon even has an effect on tabletop games. Before the battle starts, you’ll elect a table quarter from which the Bad Moon will approach the battlefield. Each turn the Moon may linger in its current position or move erratically onwards, through the centre of the battlefield and eventually off the other side. While the Bad Moon hovers over a table-quarter, it will shed its baleful light on all the models there, and when in the centre of the battlefield it will cover the entire board.
The Bad Moon invigorates your Gitz, making cowardly grots more likely to rally, troggoths thicker-skinned, spiders more venomous, and bouncy squigs able to run and charge in the same turn.
Loonshrine Gloomspite Gitz faction terrain piece
The Gloomspite Gitz build effigies to the Bad Moon wherever they make war, and you can represent this on the battlefield using the Bad Moon Loonshrine faction terrain piece.
The Loonshrine is a sacred icon to the Gloomspite Gitz and carries a sliver of the Bad Moon’s power. Gloomspite Gitz units wholly within 12” of the shrine count as being bathed in the light of the Bad Moon.
The shrine is an entrance to the Gitz’ endless Moonclan Lairs beneath the earth. Once per turn you can try and summon reinforcements from under the earth – once per turn you can pick a destroyed unit of models with wounds characteristic five or less, roll a d6, and on a 4+ you get to place a new unit with half as many models back on the board.
Gloomspite Gitz battletome
The Gloomspite Gitz battletome contains all the rules, Warscrolls, and army abilities you need to build an army of nasty little goblins and their reeking allies.
Rules are included for five different subfactions of Gitz. Da King’s Gitz are the most numerous of all the troglodyte hordes, and can re-roll the dice when trying to return destroyed units to the table using the Loonshrine’s Moonclan Lairs ability. The Badsnatchers are sneaky and magical, and get better at spell casting when they gang up close to each other.
Glogg’s Megamob boosts how often Troggoth units can regenerate lost wounds. Grimscuttle Tribes are spider-riders who follow the massive Skitterstrand Arachnaroks as they burrow through holes in reality. In game terms, this allows units of Grimscuttle Spiderstrand units to arrive from reserves almost anywhere on the board.
The Jaws of Mork are especially fond of their squigs, and increase the Attacks characteristic of their big-mouthed bouncing beasts on any turn that they charge.
Gloomspite Gitz Vanguard box set
The Gloomspite Gitz Vanguard box set is like a grotty tasting platter for the main flavors of the army. It contains 34 models, consisting of:
- Loonboss x 1
- Moonclan Stabbas (or Shootas) x 20
- Rockgut Troggoths x 3
- Squig Hoppers (or Boingrot Bounders) x 10
It provides a flexible basis for an army at a good bundle price, but may not be the right way to start if you want to double-down on a particular theme, like Squigs or Troggoths.
With thanks to Mel B for providing the Squig pic from her incredible Jaws of Mork army.