Broken Realms: Be’lakor is here and with such an ancient threat as the first Daemon Prince of Chaos on the offense, many factions within the mortal realms are vying for control. With possibly the most factions so far we’re going to explore each faction independently to give them all more attention. Ranging from a new battalion to complete subfaction rules and new warscrolls there’s so much here. So let’s not tarry and continue forth!

Stormcast get some love again in Broken Realms in the form of a new character, Gardus Steel Soul. The warscroll is available freely so there’s not a lot to talk about you can’t see for yourself, but let’s see what makes ol’ Gardus so special

Lord-Celestant Gardus Steel Soul

It may come as a surprise to some but Gardus isn’t really new. Gardus was the main character in Josh Reynold’s Hallowed Knights novels, a Lord-Celestant of the titular Hallowed Knights Stormhost. He fought the Daemons of Nurgle in Ghyran to rescue the chamber’s Lord-Castellant, and fought Mannfred Von Carstein in Shyish to establish a foothold in the fight against Nagash and his Black Pyramid.

The books are generally well regarded, Josh Reynolds has been a tentpole author for Age of Sigmar, though these books are a fair bit older than the modern Age of Sigmar novels so they can feel a bit “off” at first to read as the setting was not entirely hashed out yet they still hold up remarkably well.

Enough about the backstory, how does he play on the table?

Well, he’s a named Lord-Celestant alright! His statline is about the same as a regular one, though he has better bravery and an extra inch of movement, very nice. His attack profile is identical, which is fine. He also shares the Sigmarite Warclock and Furious Retribution command abilities.

Where he differs is a few very unique abilities. Aura of Purity grants him a 5+ Feel no Pain (With a 6+ to those within 12”) which is huge for his survivability and those around him and will benefit Stormcast alot, as a traditionally hardy army with multiple wounds per model and decent save this can help them hold on from an attack they may not otherwise survive. Saintly Assault allows you to reroll all charge rolls for Characters within 12” and add 1 to their attacks for the turn, once per battle. Hero-heavy armies are a perfectly legitimate strategy for Stormcast Eternals as they have a lot of them. This combos well with Hallowed Knights unique Command Ability Holy Crusaders which adds 1 to run and charge rolls and lets them run and charge in the same turn. This makes first turn charges very possible when you consider the rerolls, allowing you to shred an opponent before they even get to act.

Rounding it out, Martyr’s Strength  makes it so when he dies, he can roll a die and on a 2+ get a free attack activation. Nice little perk if finally goes down, but like most abilities like this, don’t try for it.

So…whats the downside? Well, he’s locked to the Hallowed Knights, he is their Lord Celestant after all. Traditionally they are considered very not great as their abilities are exceedingly mediocre. You can take him with other armies but all his combat buffs, the reason you want a Lord-Celestant, only affect his own Stormhost, limiting his abilities for other armies.

He doesn’t cost much more than a normal Lord-Celestant so if you played Hallowed Knights, perhaps because you like the fluff then he’s basically an auto-take. Otherwise you can safely leave him at home. Unfortunate, but Stormcast have a lot of other Leaders to go around so most won’t be too upset at the loss..

Up Next: Fyreslayers

We’re just getting started so next up is the Fyreslayers with two updated warscrolls!