Earlier this week, Games Workshop released PDF rules of the Regiments of Renown. In Warhammer Fantasy, Regiments of Renown were named Dogs of War, which were mercenary units multiple units could take.

Seeking to replicate this, Games Workshop has recreated these mercenary companies in Age of Sigmar. Sold as individual boxes up for preorder this weekend, because they consist of models already in the game, the warscrolls were released on Wednesday for everyone to use right now! If you want to see for yourself you can see them on the Warhammer Community site or follow this link.

Rules Summary

Before we go into the individual regiments to determine which are potential good and which don’t really make it, let’s go over a few rules about them that all of them share.

• Matched Play Compatible: Regiments of Renown can be used in Matched play, and count as an ally. These have existed before, with the Krondspine Gargant Mercenaries and the “gods” of the Grand Alliances (Gotrek, Kragnos, Nagash and Archaon) but for the first time these are less than the 400 points usually allotted to a 2000 point game. Despite that, you cannot take any other allies if you use these.
• Tied to Grand Alliances: Each Regiments of Renown unit consists of units of a handful of specific units from one of the Battletomes available and can be used by any army in that Grand Alliance except the tome they came from. For example, the Coven of Thyrx consists of units from Disciples of Tzeentch and can be used by any Chaos army except Disciples of Tzeentch.
• Taken as a Unique Unit: Each unit is a collection of models that count as Unique, with their own names. Even though they are taken together, they are separate units once the game starts. So in practical terms, it’s just like taking a pre-selected suite of Allied units at a discoun and with a few bonuses on top.
• One Drop: Each Regiment of Renown is placed in their own unique battalion, which is a one drop battalion. Not a bad bonus at all, meaning if you bring them they will only increase your drops by 1.

Order

Elthwin’s Thorn

• 1 Arch Revenant
• 5 Gossimid Archers
• Can’t be taken by Sylvaneth armies

Point Savings: 110 (420 vs 310)

An interesting combo. The Revenant is a solid melee combatant with a respectable attack profile and a 4+ ward should you choose to turn it on. A lot of his warscroll abilities won’t do you much good with the Archers but there’s other possibilities. The archers themselves have some meh shooting, 12″ range, 2 shots per model, no rend but they do D3 mortals on a 6 to hit.

If the Archers are wholly within 12″ of the Arch Revenant they gain +1 to wound on their attacks, including the ranged attacks. While you really want to roll 6s to hit for the mortals, wounding on a 2+ for the shots that don’t get that is still a decent bonus. The real showstealer though is the Flight of the Zephyrsprites where if the unit of Archers is within 3″ (not wholly within, mercifully) of the Arch Revenant, both units can teleport instead of retreating on a 2+. The teleport has some limitations, you have to drop the Archers wholly within 3″ of a piece of terrain, the Revenant within 3″ of the Archers and all must be outside 9″ of the enemy.

Overall, potentially very useful in armies that lack a lot of deep strike or teleports and struggle in the movement department e.g. Fyreslayers. Even with the restrictions of the Teleport, it creates an interesting screen that if your opponent charges them, can immediately dip out to a better vantage point or even on top of an objective.

Norgrimm’s Rune Throng

• 1 Runelord
• 10 Irondrakes
• 10 Longbeards
• Cannot be taken in Cities of Sigmar armies

Point Savings: 30 (370 vs. 340)

All units with natural Synergy. The Runelord has an excellent ability to dispel spells and a prayer to add 1 to rend to one of the other 2 units. The Longbeards make decent chaff to hold objectives while Irondrakes can do some pretty solid shooting. Sadly you can’t get the ignite weapons buff from Hallowheart but can’t win em all.

Once per game the Runelord can strike the Rune of Restored Hearth on an objective they are within 6″ of an objective, which gives the entire Regiment a 5+ Ward and counting as 2 models for the game while on that objective.

The synergy is obvious, get on a point, activate the rune and stay there, exploiting your resiliance. In practice it really doesn’t come together. Dwarves are slow, they move at 4″ so you need a way to get them onto a decent objective, unless you just want them to hold your own objective, which seems like a lot to spend, as the points reduction is only 30.T

This regiment probably get a lot further if it doubled up on Irondrakes or even Longbeards but the way it splits the difference means there just isn’t enough strength here to be worth it. Your army probably has a more effective “sit on the point and defend it” unit already.

Chaos

The Coven of Thryx

• 1 Magister of Tzeentch
• 10 Pink Horrors
• 1 Burning Sigil of Tzeentch
• 1 Tome of Eyes
• 1 Daemonic Simulacrum
• Cannot be included in a Disciples of Tzeentch army

Point Savings:  200 (540 vs 300)

I know what you’re thinking and unfortunately this warscroll specifically says you cannot use the Split and Split Again ability, so the main purpose of bringing Pink Horrors as a tarpit is immediately gone. They will work as a screen that might do some damage on death but little else.

So what does it get you? Rather unusually, this regiment gets the 3 Endless Spells for Tzeentch and like a Tzeentch army you can drop any of them on the field before moves are made. This regiment iterates on it further by letting you swap out the spells, but it requires a bit of set up. If a Horror model died while the unit was wholly within 12″ of the magister then you swap the endless spell for a different one. The fact you have to lose Pink Horror models for the swap makes it a bit awkward to use, because they tend to collapse pretty fast if hit with a solid hit.

The Tzeentch endless spells all range from good to excellent so being able to use them out of faction is a pretty good deal, even if you don’t get to exploit the free swap all that much. An odd quirk of the box is that it doesn’t include Chaos Spawn, which limits the use of Burning Sigil (if only a bit, Mortal Wounds are still valuable).

Hargax’s Pit Beasts

• 1 Ogroid Myrmidon
• 1 Fomoroid Crusher
• 1 Mindstealer Sphiranx
• Cannot be taken in a Slaves to Darkness army

Point Savings: 35 (325 vs 290)

An eclectic menagerie, the most interesting thing about this box is the Ogorid and Fomoroid being basically brand new. As a team these are bruisers that bring an interesting set of tools. The Sphiranx can inflict fight last on an enemy unit. While the Fomoroid Crusher is a cheap and fun meme unit that can do some decent damage on his normal attacks and some mortal wounds. if he can camp out near a piece of terrain

The Myrmidon brings it together with +1 to wound against a unit if it took damage earlier in the phase (which helps, since the Fomoroid can also attack at ranged and melee). In the regiment, it can issue All Out Attack or All Out Defense once per turn for free to any model in the Regiment. You can’t use it again elsewhere in the same phase so definitely confirm you want to do that.

It also has an interesting ability The Worthiest Stock where if the Crusher or Sphiranx gets into combat with a Monster, on a 3+ both models get Strike-Last, which is still an advantage on your turn as your unit will fight first.

Overall, potentially a fun unit to run. Fomoroid Crusher is a really fun unit that I think is often slept on so if your Chaos army lacks some decent bruisers, this might be worth looking at.

Death

Veremord’s Shamblers

• 1 Corpse Cart with Balefire Brazier
• 20 Deadwalker Zombies
• Cannot be taken in a Soulblight Gravelords army

Point Savings: 20 (200 vs 180)

A pretty straightforward tar pit. Normally I’d say the Balefire Brazier is worse than the lodestone, but it has its perks and the Lodestone isn’t going to be much good outside of a Soulblight army anyway. Not having a +1 to save on your zombies sucks, but -1 to wound isn’t bad.

The Corpse Cart gets to count as a Hero, which is useful so he can issue orders to his zombie minions. Repurposed Wards gives the Zombies their 6+ ward back that is tied to their Soulblight Allegiance, which they desperately need due to their lack of a save while also giving the Corpse Cart a surprisingly useful 5+ ward. Both require the unit to be within 12″ of each other, a reasonable expectation.

The really interesting piece of this is the the Vitiang Vapors that force an opponent to subtract 1 from Ward Rolls when when the target is within 12″ of this Corpse Cart. This can make Nurgle a lot less resiliant and absolutely shut down other Death Armies and armies like Daughters of Khaine which rely heavily on their death rolls.

Of all the Regiments, I think this one is my favorite. The effect is incredibly useful, especially for something like Ossiarch Bonereapers which are seeking a cheap screening unit like this. Even Nighthaunt or Flesh Eater Courts could get some value from a unit that can possibly shut off or neuter wards.

Destruction

Big Grikk’s Kruleshots

• 1 Beast-Skewer Killbow
• 3 Man-skewer Boltboyz
• 3 Man-skewer Boltboyz
• Cannot be part of a Kruleboyz Army

Point Savings: 30 (340 vs. 310)

If you heard screaming it’s from our resident author Ellarr noticing that Kruleboyz yet again don’t get a new toy, and to add insult to injury their toys are given to someone else.

Briefly put, the Boltboyz are one of the few legitimately good units in Kruleboyz, but they have their limitations. They do Rend -1 Damage 2 shots, but their long range shot is 24″, but they cannot move and shoot, which means that outside of 24″ they’re kind of shot.

What brings them together is that on 6s that 2 damage because 2 mortal wounds. This regiment has a special rule to give it to all 3 of these units. Sadly you can’t ally in a Swampcalla Shaman to make it a 5+ (Unless you’re big Waagh! in which case, definitely do that) but if the Beast-skewer bow hits a Monster, the Bolt Boyz can get +1 attack against it. Gnarly if you fight an army with a big Monster, solidly OK ranged support otherwise.

Conclusion

So far the Regiments of Renown are interesting curiosities. I don’t see them shaking up the meta, but some of them have some real potential to fulfill roles an army doesn’t do well, or just a weird gimmick to run in your list with some leftover points.

The big question right now is what long term support might look like, since previous attempts to add “mercenary units” to Age of Sigmar have deflated and quickly lost support, so the long term fate of these has to be seen.