This review was completed using a free review copy of Dawnbringers: The Long Hunt provided to us by Games Workshop

The end of the Dawnbringers saga errs ever closer as we hit part 3. The Twin Tailed Crusade moves ever closer to it’s destination, establishing new cities in Ghyran and Aqshy. They are continuously dogged by all the races of the mortal realms and as the people further degenerate into religious fervor, will it even be worth the journey?

What’s in the book?

The structure is much less revolutionary this time, building upon the designs of Reign of the Brute. Specifically included:

• Fiction covering the penultimate chapter in the Dawnbringer crusade as the Cities of Sigmar stake their claim in both Aqshy and Ghyran
• Path to Glory campaign rules for Cities of Sigmar players to play through the Dawnbringer crusade themselves and continue where they left off after Reign of the Brute
• Unique, standalone path to glory battleplans for the Armies of Renown included in this book.
• Armies of Renown for Stormcast Eternals, Sylvaneth, Fyreslayers and Ogor Mawtribes
• A regiment of renown for The Blacktalons – Neave and her companions from the Warhammer+ animated series.

What are Armies of Renown?

The Long Hunt contains a new way to build your army for a handful of factions in the game. “Armies of Renown” are themed lists restricted to specific types of unit, in exchange for their own exclusive allegiance abilities. Each Army of Renown will name a specific keyword restriction you must follow for list building in order to be able to use it.

While Armies of Renown still count as part of their parent faction (effectively functioning as a brand new subfaction), there are some differences. Armies of Renown have their own Army Rules which replace the core battletome the faction comes from. This means you cannot use the following from the original battle tome:

• Battle Traits
• Command Traits
• Artefacts of Power
• Sub-factions
• Heroic Actions

In addition, you cannot use the book’s original:

• Grand Strategies
• Battle Tactics
• Core Battalions (Core Rule and General’s Handbook core battalions are still OK)
• Warscroll Battalions (if in Narrative Play)

You can still use the army’s terrain piece, if applicable. Ultimately this means that the factions portrayed in The Long Hunt are standalone. Since all the necessary Warscrolls and pitched battle profiles are freely available you do not need the original Battletome to play any of the Armies of Renown in this book.

Each of the armies of renown will be covered in separate articles going up after this one, to be able to cover them all in depth.

The Lore

The crusaders are at their weakest point, taking heavy losses both in Ghyran and Aqshy at the end of Reign of the Brute it’s unclear if it’s even worth continuing or if the forces should be pulled back, rather than waste further resources. The Cities of Sigmar have become ever more zealous in their faith in the God King Sigmar and decide to press on, even at the cost of their lives.

The lore follows the journey of both crusaders as they are hounded by hostile denizens. Aqshy filled with followers of Khorne and even Idoneth Deepkin, while Trugg and his Troggs follow behind. The crusaders in Ghyran must keep their profile low while the Sylvaneth fend off attacks from Gargants and Nurgle.

Overall the lore still feels…off. It’s still a lot of wheel spinning, though this calls back a lot of well known characters like Kragnos and Khorgos Khul who desperately want to put the followers of Sigmar down. Though ultimately it just feels like a “hey I recognize that guy!” journey.

Path to Glory: The Twin-Tailed Crusade Part 2

I don’t have much more to say about the Path to Glory than I did in the last book. In short, if you liked that, the concept has been refined. It’s another choose your own adventure path, but with a few more options. There are ultimately 4 stages and while they all lead to the same outcome, you at least have more possible paths to take to get there, improving replayability.

It still ends in much the same way, reccomending you finish it up in the next book. So we’ll have to see if that makes it all worth it.

What’s Next?

This probably feels very brief, even more so than the last one, and that’s mostly because there just isn’t much new to talk about in the broad strokes. The structure is almost exactly the same as Reign of the Brute and offers few surprises there. The interesting stuff is all the new Armies of Renown which will be in follow up articles this morning. So we’ll see you over there!