The Fyreslayers join their Duardin brethren the Kharadron Ovelords as they fight alongside the Stormcast Eternals in the fight against the force of Chaos, particularly the Daemons of Tzeentch that inhabit their realm of Chamon. To aid them, two less-appreciated units have been given new warscrolls. While you can see these yourself quite easily, we want to discuss what changed and what that can mean for the army going forward.
Doomseeker
Let’s talk profile first: very minor changes here, same wounds, save, move. bravery and the doomseeker axe is unchanged. The war iron now wounds on a 3+ instead of a 4+ which is a nice little buff. His Fyresteel throwing axe as previewed by Warhammer Community has seen a substantial boost to hitting and wounding on 4+ now and Rend -1 built in, still not something to ever rely on but still nice. The Oathbound trait works the same as before, pick a unit at start of game to be sworn to kill, but now if within 3” of that unit in end of the combat phase then the Doomseeker can attack again but it must focuses all attacks against the chosen target. A second part of this rule has been added as well, allowing the Doomseeker to pile in and attack if slain whilst within 3” of his chosen target (note these attacks don’t need to be directed at the chosen target though). Also Runic Power is unchanged, which is still nice to have but with only 5 wounds it’s difficult to get use out of.
Seeing as this unit has only gained from these changes (aside from the attack-again change) it’s cool that the Doomseeker has also dropped by 10 points. So like, slot one in I guess if you have 90 points spare but already took all the Magmic invocations.
Oh and it’s still not a Leader, thank Grimnir, I was a little worried that would be changed.
Grimwraith Berzerker
This is the non-Leader Hero you’re taking more often between the two though let’s be honest, it always has been, and will continue to be unless you’re in a weird position of being able to afford the Doomseeker as this guy has seen a 10 point increase.
Same change here with the throwing axe, and it would be cool to see this as an army-wide change but nothing in the book about that happening at this time. Otherwise stats and axe are identical to what they were before. The abilities however are where this warscroll sees a more significant change: Still fights a second time on a 2+ at the end of combat phase. Still fights when he dies.
Does not have the FNP roll built in any more and instead picks one of 6 Oaths to choose from at the start of the first battle round. However if you take more than 1 Grimwrath, they each have to have separate Oaths, you can’t pick the same one more than once and they are:
- +1 to hit, to wound, and damage with all attacks that target non-Fyreslayer Priests
- Pick another Fyreslayer Hero that’s not a Magmadroth to bodyguard. While within 3” of the hero get +1 to hit and wound rolls and can take wounds/mortal wounds for it on a 2+ as long as there’s no Auric Hearthguard also within 3”.
- Run and charge. Also re-roll run and charge rolls. Simple and effective, likely the first Oath you’re choosing if running multiple and there’s no cause to take the anti-Priest one.
- +1 to hit and wound rolls while within 12” of any allied units, strangely specifically including itself if it was taken as an ally. So I guess just take a Grimwrath as an ally, and then take this so it’s always getting the buff? Seems weird but fine, ok.
- 6+ FNP but becomes 5+ with any enemies within 3”. A clear nerf to the previous ability which was built-in and gave +1 per enemy unit within 3” allowing the Berzerker to get stuck in and just rank wounds. Maybe for the best though? You’re probably not taking this trait first.
- Each unmodified hit of 6 deals 1 mortal wounds in addition to normal damage. Nice that it works on the throwing axe attack as well, but again probably not the first trait you’re taking.
Grimnir’s Fury
These are relatively small changes but spell out that larger ones are coming to Fyreslayers as a whole. It would have been nice to see the throwing axes become army wide better, and they could have used a Battalion like a few of the other factions got since as an army there are so few choices. The Grimwrath losing the built-in FNP roll doesn’t feel great, it’s still there if you want it but you probably now want to be taking the run and charge ability, slam him into something, and just hope that attacking then attacking when dead does enough. Despite that, there’s still almost no reason you’d take a Doomseeker over a Grimwrath as a first choice in any list, if you have points free to take either without changing the bulk of your list.
Up Next: Disciples of Tzeentch
We’re not even close to done so don’t you worry. Next up, the Daemons of Tzeentch strike back against the Duardin with a new Battalion!