Got a Warcry collection? Chances are, you might already have most of a Slaves to Darkness army, too! Today, we’re showing you just how close you are to a 2,000 point army – and hopefully giving you some inspiration for some awesome conversions.
This article was originally published on the Warhammer-community site.
This army list is something a bit different. While we’ve made sure it’s matched play ready by making sure it costs around 2,000 points, and by including Battleline units, it’s focused around fun, a strong theme, with opportunities for you to paint and convert up some stunning models. To fit our theme, we’ve gone with one small unit of each warband, but if you’ve got a favourite warband (or a few), you can field units of 30-40!
The List
Part 1: The Rules
Choosing our sub-faction is super easy for this army – we’re going to dedicate them to the Ravagers. You can learn more about these Slaves to Darkness in our preview, but the gist is that these folks are brilliant for Warcry-themed armies thanks to their ability to summon a free warband to the table every turn and the fact that up to six Heroes get a command trait.
Part 2: The Core
This is the simple bit. We’re going to include one of every Warcry warband! Nearly every Warcry warband is featured in Battletome: Slaves to Darkness* with a bespoke warscroll of their own and a host of tactical tricks. The Iron Golems, for example, are amazingly efficient objective holders, boasting a 4+ re-rollable save when they stay still, while the Splintered Fang deal a deluge of mortal wounds in combat. We’ve chosen one of each for maximum variety, and to really hammer home the idea of a disparate collection of cultists brought together by war.
Part 3: The Leaders
In a Slaves to Darkness army, having loads of Heroes is really important, as they allow you to dramatically boost the effectiveness of your core units. In this case, we’ve almost maxed out our allowance with loads of Darkoath characters and the Ogroid Myrmidon, an upcoming Warcry monster who also works as a Leader for Slaves to Darkness forces. The rules on these models are brilliant for an army themed like this – the Darkoath Chieftain lets them fight even if slain, while the Ogroid Myrmidon shores up your lines with battleshock immunity.
These offer some really great modelling opportunities. Perhaps your Darkoath Chieftains and Warqueens are leaders like Marakarr Blood-Sky, hailing from afar and using their personal force of will to bond together the differing tribes of the Bloodwind Spoil. Or perhaps you could take things further, and convert each Darkoath Warqueen and Darkoath Chieftain to look like one of your warbands!
Make sure to keep some Daemon Princes (and Chaos Spawn!) handy – you never know where the Path to Glory may lead.
Part 4: The Monsters
Seasoned Warcry warbands are often accompanied by enslaved monsters – something we’re representing here by including the Fomoroid Crusher and Mindstealer Sphiranx in the army. Apart from being gorgeous models that few could resist including in a collection, these two are great picks for any Slaves to Darkness army. The Fomoroid, for instance, punishes enemies who cower in terrain by SMASHING it. Just think of the damage you’d do with an Enduring Stormvault on the table…
The Mindstealer Sphiranx, on the other hand, is brilliant for armies using multiple small units, capable of forcing your enemies to fight last, letting you activate all of your warbands before they have a chance to react!
Finally, we’ve added in the Furies and Raptoryx – it wouldn’t be Warcry without these horrible beasties, and their speed makes them great at hampering enemy units’ progress across the battlefield.
Part 5: The Battleline
If you’re planning on using your army in matched play, you’re going to need some Battleline units. Fortunately, Chaos Chariots are Battleline in Slaves to Darkness armies, and they’re also super easy to Warcry-ify! Just assemble them as usual, but swap out the crew for fighters from your chosen warband. Or go even further – how about an Untamed Beasts Chariot drawn by Rocktusk Prowlers? Or an Unmade Chariot drawn by… more Unmade? When building an army like this, a few parts swaps here and there go a very long way.
Part 6: A Chimera
It’s got 3 heads, it deals insane damage in close combat, and if you play Warcry, chances are you already own one. While the Chimera isn’t part of the Slaves to Darkness army, it *is* available as an ally, as are all Beasts of Chaos units. Likewise, Beasts of Chaos can take Slaves to Darkness as allies. Say what you like about Chaos – it certainly brings people (and bipedal goat-monsters) together.
And there we have it – 1,980 points of total Chaos! Of course, this is just one way to approach it – you could use only one kind of warband rather than several, or even include some Chaos Knights, Chosen or Warriors further along their own Chaos journey. To help you build your army, the Warcry warbands are now available in new boxed sets, featuring even more warriors. Pre-order them today alongside your copy of Battletome: Slaves to Darkness.
* The exception being the inferno-slinging Scions of the Flame! Don’t worry – we haven’t forgotten about them, and when they’re released, they’ll be sure to have Slaves to Darkness rules too.
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
