Games Workshop has revealed the core army rules for the Stormcast Eternals in Age of Sigmar fourth edition, in a Faction Focus article published on Tuesday.
This is the first set of Age of Sigmar army rules to be revealed for AoS 4th edition, and gives us the first real indication of how complex the new edition is going to be. The example rules revealed for the Stormcast Eternals look fairly straightforward, and they’re written in somewhat more natural English than the rules for Age of Sigmar third edition.
Here’s what Games Workshop has revealed about the Stormcast Eternals rules so far:
- Stormcast Eternals Battle Traits
- Stormcast Eternals Battle Formations
- Stormcast Eternals Arcana and Incantations
- Stormcast Eternals Heroic Traits and Artifacts of Power
Stormcast Eternals Battle Traits
“Battle Traits are army rules that define how each faction plays on the tabletop” according to GW’s Faction Focus article. The Stormcast’s classic ability to set up part of their army in the Celestial Realm, and then dive into battle on pillars of lightning, remains in place.
The new rules format for AoS 4e turns every rule that could affect a unit into an ability, with a specific “declare” and “effect” step that tells you exactly when they’re used and what happens. This is weighted a little bit more towards precision than readability, so we’ve summarized the traits as follows:
The Celestial Realm
| Phase | Deployment Phase |
| Effect | Deploy up to half the units from your army in reserve in the Celestial Realm |
| CP cost | 0 |
Scions of the Storm
| Phase | Your Movement phase |
| Effect | Select a unit in the Celestial Realm and set it up at least 9” from all enemies |
| CP cost | 0 |
Heavens-Sent
| Phase | Once per battle, Your Movement phase |
| Effect | Pick a friendly, destroyed, unit that started the battle with at least two models and isn’t Unique, and set up a half-strength version of that unit at least 9” from all enemies |
| CP cost | 1 |
Their finest hour
| Phase | Once per turn, during your Hero phase |
| Effect | A friendly unit that hasn’t used this ability yet gets +1 to wound on combat attacks, and +1 to save rolls, for the rest of this turn. |
| CP cost | 0 |
Stormcast Eternals Battle Formations
Battle Formations will “work like the subfaction rules of old” – you’ll pick one when you build your army, and it will provide an army wide ability. Games Workshop has revealed the names of three of the four Stormcast Eternals Battle Formations:
- Thunderhead Host
- Lightning Echelon
- Sentinels of the Bleak Citadels
- Unrevealed
The Sentinels of the Bleak Citadels can use a once per turn ability, ‘Ancient Aura’, during any Hero Phase. This grants one Ruination Chamber unit a 5+ ward save for the rest of the turn.
Stormcast Eternals Arcana and Incantations
Games Workshop has already revealed that each army may have access to a unique Age of Sigmar Spell Lore, Prayer Lore, and potentially Manifestation Lore, granting their priests and wizards unique abilities. The latest article shows off the Bless Weapons prayer for the Stormcast.
Bless Weapons has a chanting value of six, requiring your priests to accumulate at least six ritual points before the prayer will be answered. When it’s answered at this level, it grants one Stormcast Eternals unit wholly within 12” of the priest +1 Attack on their melee weapons until the start of your next turn. If you manage to build up 12 ritual points instead, the prayer will affect every visible Stormcast unit wholly within 12” of the chanter.
Stormcast Eternals Heroic Traits and Artifacts of Power
The WarCom article states every Faction Pack will contain “three Heroic Traits and three Artfacts of Power” that can be taken by any Hero, but hasn’t yet revealed what they will be for the Stormcast Eternals.
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