This holiday season in AoS land we have received a swathe of Regiments of Renown to add to the game. A thank you to Games Workshop for sending across for review.
We covered what Regiments of Renown are and how you can put them into your lists at the start of the new edition, which you can find here. The short version of that is they take up one of your five Regiments when building a list and nothing else can go into that Regiment. So they automatically add one additional drop, which will often make the difference between choosing to go first or not in turn one! Some armies care about this much more than others and for the most part Regiments of Renown are a fun, flavourful, thing instead of being something seen in competitive lists. Some do, of course, make it into competition anyways for sheer utility.
For the most part Regiments of Renown have to come from the same Grand Alliance (Death, Destruction, Order, or Chaos) but these new ones are very different and instead often cross-alliance. We’re all pretty surprised by these choices…
Enforcers of the Tithe (Ossiarch Bonereapers)
Organisation:
- 1 Mortisan Ossifector
- 10 Mortek Guard
- 10 Mortek Guard
- 1 Gothizzar Harvester
Can Join:
- Cities of Sigmar
- Daughters of Khaine
- Flesh-eater Courts
- Fyreslayers
- Gloomspite Gitz
- Kharadron Overlords
- Kruleboyz
- Ogor Mawtribes
- Skaven
- Sons of Behemat
- Soulblight Gravelords
Summary
Ossiarch Bonereapers are the epitome of Lawful Evil: They will work with their enemies, as long as something is in it for them. This Regiment of Renown represents a contingent of Ossiarchs who are willing to break bread with other factions long enough to repel the forces of Chaos, if it means keeping the bone tithe flowing.
Leading the band is the Mortisan Ossifector, who has a unique spell, Soul Tax. You must pick a friendly unit not in this regiment and then a target who is in this regiment. The non-OBR unit has its control score sapped to 1, while the OBR unit gets +1 to hit and wound, both until the start of your next turn. This is actually quite good and really helps the Mortek Guard hold the front lines for your main forces.
Continuing the trend of “hurt your own”, the Harvester may Collect the Tithe which lets it pick an infantry unit in range (friend or foe!) and if it can roll higher than that unit’s health characteristic they lose a model but the Harvester gains a tithe. It still has its usual way to collect tithe points, so it’s pretty solid if you think you won’t get a good enough haul from this combat.
Finally, these OBR actually get recursion. For the cost of 6 Tithe points you can bring back a unit of dead Mortek or the Ossifector at Half strength.
There are some shortcomings here; the Mortek Guard don’t get access to Relentless Discipline which will impact their performance somewhat. They can’t get a 5+ ward or +2 to movement, but the lack of +1 to wound is mitigated by the Soul Tax spell. They also do still have their 4+ Ethereal. Overall I’d argue this is the most competitive of the set and has some legs to it as everything synergizes really well. If your army lacks an anvil or chaff, you can do worse.
Exile Scavengers (Kharadron Overlords)
Organisation:
- Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit
- 3 Skywardens
- Grundstock Gunhauler
Can Join:
- Beasts of Chaos
- Bonesplitterz
- Cities of Sigmar
- Daughers of Khaine
- Fyreslayers
- Gloomspite Gitz
- Ironjawz
- Kruleboyz
- Lumineth Realm-lords
- Ogor Mawtribes
- Ossiarch Bonereapers
- Seraphon
- Slaves to Darkness
- Sons of Behemat
- Soulblight Gravelords
Summary
These all get deployed off-table at the start of the game and have a very unique deployment during your movement phase. Instead of needing to be 9” away from all enemies they can be set up just more than 6” from an enemy carrying an artefact of power; it’s still 9” from all other enemies. You place the Gunhauler and then all four other models get set up within 3” of it and only more than 6” from all enemies. This creates a funny little case where if your opponent has a hero running around with an artefact on their own the Gunhauler can drop in pretty close; even when it doesn’t the others come down pretty close for an easy 6” charge to deliver a quick blow to what might be an otherwise protected hero or back-field unit. If they’re in combat with that artefact of power then they have a small chance of removing it as well. If it’s some form of defensive artefact then that can be great to remove before attacking.
This might end up being popular amongst slower armies like Fyreslayers to add some manoeuvrability. Realistically it’s a scalpel and applied to the right place at the right time can actually be quite devastating. Even just forcing your opponent to screen this out and be wary of it may force them to play more defensively than normal!
Squires of the Everchosen (Flesh-Eater Courts)
Organisation:
- 1 Varghulf Courtier
- 3 Morbheg Knights
Can Join:
- Blades of Khorne
- Disciples of Tzeentch
- Hedonites of Slaanesh
- Maggotkin of Nurgle
- Slaves to Darkness
Summary
Varanguard who were afflicted by the curse of the Flesh-Eater Courts, but still haven’t forgotten who they swore their oaths to. An interesting flavor idea to repurpose models and absolutely begging for some killer kitbashes.
Their ability is a two-parter; in short you can pick an enemy unit during Deployment with A Deluded Quest and then follow that up by killing them with A Quest Well Done which adds a whopping 10 to the control score of both units for the rest of the game.
As for the units themselves, there’s probably some play here in Nurgle and Khorne, who have very slow Cavalry. The other three Chaos factions have excellent cavalry and you’re likely to just take those over some Morbheg Knights.
The Lost-Song Spirits (Sylvaneth)
Organisation:
- 1 Tree Lord
- 5 Spite-revenants
- 5 Spite-revenants
Can Join:
- Flesh-eater courts
- Idoneth Deepkin
- Nighthaunt
- Ossiarch Bonereapers
- Soulblight Gravelords
Summary
Sylvaneth who’ve lost the ability to hear the Spirit Song. They instead started listening to Death Metal and signed up with the Forces of Nagash.
This is a very straightforward faction, emulating some of the tricks in Sylvaneth but in novel ways. With Ominous Fog none of the units can be shot at from more than 12” away if they remain wholly within 9” of the Treelord, giving a sort of moving obscuring terrain piece. Also, each turn thanks to Endless Wandering you get a free move with one unit in your Opponent’s Hero phase, and free movement shenanigans are never bad.
The units inside are very tech-y and can be disruptive if used well. Spite-Revenants aren’t very tough (or strong) but they do Crit Mortals and can shut off Commands in combat, so they can make good partners with a stronger unit to avoid the enemy using All Out Defence. The Treelord is a solid beatstick that also inflicts can shut off run and retreat abilities and -1 to wound.
So altogether they’re a decent kit of debuffs to supplement the bruisers in your main army. It’s not bad.
Nurgle’s Gift
Organisation:
- Nurglings unit with 3 models
- Nurglings unit with 3 models
Can Join:
- Beasts of Chaos
- Bonesplitterz
- Cities of Sigmar
- Daughters of Khaine
- Flesh-eater Courts
- Fyreslayers
- Gloomspite Gitz
- Ironjawz
- Kharadron Overlods
- Kruleboyz
- Lumineth Realm-lords
- Ogor Mawtribes
- Skaven
- Slaves to Darkness
- Sons of Behemat
- Sylvaneth
Summary
By far the most amusing one on the list. If you don’t read further than this, I don’t blame you; when I first saw this I had an audible chuckle that made my partner question what I was doing. It’s Nurglings that burst forth from dead models mid-game and it’s amusing if nothing else.
They must deploy off the table and you don’t even get to choose when they come in! When a unit that isn’t one of these Nurglings is killed, roll with a bonus for each other unit that has been killed so far in the battle; on a 5+ one unit of these two units of Nurglings is set up within 6” of the now-dead unit and can even be set up in combat range. It’s cute! Stuff dies and SURPRISE a bunch of Nurglings pop out. It’s a shame they can’t be taken in a Maggotkin army because that does feel very on-theme but none of the Regiments get to be taken in their parent army so, fair enough? The list of armies that they can be taken in does almost feel a bit random. Sons of Behemat might enjoy having some small units around and they’re not bad at killing stuff either, maybe they take this. Genuinely, if you’re considering this, please tell me why, I wanna know what you’re thinking.
Stumblefoot Gargant (Sons of Behemat)
Organisation:
- One Mancrusher Gargant
Can Join:
- Beasts of Chaos
- Blades of Khorne
- Bonesplitterz
- Cities of Sigmar
- Daughters of Khaine
- Disciples of Tzeentch
- Flesh Eater Courts
- Fyreslayers
- Gloomspite Gitz
- Hedonites of Slaanesh
- Idoneth Deepkin
- Ironjawz
- Kharadron Overlords
- Kruleboyz
- Lumineth Realm Lords
- Maggotkin of Nurgle
- Nighthaunt
- Ogor Mawtribes
- Ossiarch Bonereapers
- Seraphon
- Skaven
- Slaves to Darkness
- Soulblight Gravelords
- Stormcast Eternals
- Sylvaneth
Summary
Yup, it’s just one small Gargant. That’s it, that’s the regiment. This Gargant vomits in every shooting phase (not just the controlling players!) as a Rampage to pick a point within 6” of himself and hit everything within 3” of that to inflict D3 mortals on a 2+ roll. His next Rampage in any charge phase can be used if it made a charge move (so a normal charge in your turn or a counter-charge in your opponent’s) to pick another enemy unit within 9” and move 2D6” towards them, passing through enemy models (walking over them) and ending in combat range with that target; or not move if it can’t. That last Rampage is in any combat phase to roll a 3+ for one enemy unit within 3” to be -1 to their hit rolls.
Those all sound pretty solid! Unfortunately you can only do one of them each turn so you’ve going to have to think ahead and also hope that he doesn’t die between those decisions. These guys go down pretty quick. A little extra punch is never a bad thing though and this guy can get through screens nicely to thwack a cowardly hero with some ease. Or just vomit on stuff, that’s an option.
Snerk’s Trogg-fer-Hire (Gloomspite Gitz)
Organisation:
- Loonboss
- Dankhold Troggoth
Can Join:
- Beasts of Chaos
- Blades of Khorne
- Bonesplitterz
- Cities of Sigmar
- Daughters of Khaine
- Disciples of Tzeentch
- Hedonites of Slaanesh
- Idoneth Deepkin
- Ironjawz
- Kruleboyz
- Lumineth Realm Lords
- Maggotkin of Nurgle
- Ogor Mawtribes
- Ossiarch Bonereapers
- Seraphon
- Skaven
- Slaves to Darkness
- Soulblight Gravelords
- Stormcast Eternals
Summary
An incredibly extensive join list here; this Loonboss and Trogg will work for basically anybody. As long as your Loonboss is alive and near the Trogg then it can Retreat and Charge in the same turn; he still takes D3 mortal damage but that shouldn’t kill him since he’ll heal D3 beforehand. The Loonboss also gains a 4+ ward while in combat range with the Trogg but each successful ward allocates a point of damage to the Trogg. You don’t want that. The reason you even consider this regiment is for the sheer damage output a Dankhold can provide, not the middling Loonboss.
You’ll want to keep the Loonboss close to your Trogg but not in combat range. Assuming this is priced reasonably a couple armies may consider it, however from a narrative perspective this is basically a guy running around with his giant pet smashing stuff and there’s a lot of scope there for some fun conversions.
Goroan Scions (Slaves to Darkness)
Organisation:
- Ogroid Myrmidon
- Ogroid Thamaturge
- 3 Ogroid Theridons
Can Join:
- Bonesplitterz
- Gloosmpite Gitz
- Ironjawz
- Kruleboyz
- Ogor Mawtribes
- Sons of Behemat
Summary
This is the first one on the list (and the last one too, funnily) that I’m actually considering fielding and taking in my Gitz army; mostly because these models are cool and I don’t want to do a full Chaos army. On a 3+ one of the heroes here gives a Destruction Hero an extra point of Rend from your Hero phase until your next hero phase; however that hero has to be wholly within 3” which rules out any Mega Gargants since those are 5” bases. Nice to take a Dankhold Troggboss to Rend 3 though. The Thaumaturge also gains a spell that casts on 7+ to place Strikes-Last on an enemy within 12” until the start of your next turn. Additionally while that enemy unit has the Burning keyword they suffer -1 to their hit rolls; it gains Burning by suffering damage from the Thaumaturge in a turn either from melee attacks. Two really nice debuffs that can be placed on something scary before slapping it with the rest of the regiment.
Now, the “Quenching the Flames” Passive ability is part of the Disciples of Tzeentch Battle Traits to remove Burning by healing… and it’s not anywhere on this sheet or referenced…so I don’t think you do when using this Regiment? That might be FAQ’d later on but that would make it a permanent debuff that can’t be removed.
Happy Grotmas!
Well that’s all for now and these are all pretty fun, actually. I’m not typically someone that’s very big on Regiments of Renown (in fact I typically think people using them are cowards) but hey, these aren’t necessarily very good and can add a bit of flavour to your list. Enjoy!
Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don’t forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.
