™ ®

ISSUE 480

SEASON OF
SKIRMISH
40 PAGES OF KILL TEAM AND WARCRY
TOMB WORLDS FLASHPOINT FATE OF OLD WHITE-FUR
ALSO

£6.99 / $11 USD / $14 CAN / $17 AUS / $20 NZ

€9 / 70 dkr / 80 skr / 75 nkr / 14 CHF / 35 zł
¥1,630 / 70 rmb / HK$95 / RM45 / S$19

MAP TILE RONDHOL: BARBARUS – A SKAVEN

CAMPAIGN THE WAAAGH! BATTLE REPORT SHORT STORY
SUBSCRIBE TO
• A WHOLE YEAR OF THE
ULTIMATE WARHAMMER
MAGAZINE, DELIVERED
DIRECT TO YOUR DOOR
• NEVER MISS AN ISSUE AND
SAVE MONEY COMPARED TO
BUYING INDIVIDUAL ISSUES
SEPARATELY
• SUBSCRIBER ISSUES OF
WHITE DWARF FEATURE
FULL-ART FRONT COVERS
AND TRANSPARENT GLOSS
LOGOS
SUBSCRIBE ONLINE AT GAMES-WORKSHOP.COM/SUBSCRIPTIONS OR CALL THE NUMBERS BELOW
UK USA & CANADA ASIA-PACIFIC REST OF WORLD
subscriptions@warnersgroup.co.uk custserv@gwplc.com au.custserv@gwplc.com uk.custserv@gwplc.com
+44 1778 392083 1-800-394-4263 +61 2 9829 6111 +44 115 91 40000
To read our full privacy policy, see the White Dwarf Privacy Notice in the Customer Services section on Warhammer.com.

Copyright © Games Workshop Limited 2022 excepting all
materials pertaining to the New Line theatrical productions:
MIDDLE-EARTH, THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP
OF THE RING, THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS,
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING, THE
HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, THE HOBBIT: THE
DESOLATION OF SMAUG, THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE
FIVE ARMIES which are © 2022 New Line Productions, Inc.
All rights reserved. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE
FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE
TWO TOWERS, THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF
THE KING and the names of the characters, items, events
and places therein are trademarks of The Saul Zaentz
MADE IN Company d/b/a Middle-earth Enterprises under license to
THE UK New Line Productions, Inc. © Warner Bros. Entertainment
Inc. All rights reserved. MIDDLE-EARTH, THE HOBBIT: AN
UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF
ISSN: 0265-8712
SMAUG, THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES and
Product code: 60249999622 the names of the characters, items, events and places
therein are trademarks of The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a
Middle-earth Enterprises under license to New Line
Productions, Inc. (s22)
All quotations from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
(including any of the volumes thereof) © the Tolkien Estate/
HarperCollins.
White Dwarf © Copyright Games Workshop Limited 2022.
White Dwarf, GW, Games Workshop, Citadel, Golden Demon,
’Eavy Metal, Paint Splatter, Space Marine, 40K, Warhammer,
Warhammer 40,000, the ‘Aquila’ Double-headed Eagle logo,
Warhammer Age of Sigmar, Battletome, Stormcast Eternals,
and all associated logos, illustrations, images, names,
creatures, races, vehicles, locations, weapons, characters,
and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are either ® or TM,
and/or © Games Workshop Limited, variably registered
around the world. All Rights Reserved.
Please be aware that Games Workshop products are
usually sold unpainted and unassembled and the contents
of any products may vary from those shown herein (for
example, any banners shown may not necessarily be
included). Pictures are used for illustrative purposes only. In
accordance with national laws, Games Workshop is
prohibited from selling spray paints and bladed equipment
to certain age groups. Further, certain Citadel products may
be dangerous if used incorrectly and Games Workshop
does not recommend them for use by children under the
age of 16 without adult supervision. Whatever your age, be
careful when using glues, bladed equipment and sprays
and make sure that you read and follow the instructions on
the packaging. Prices correct at time of going to press.
Customers are advised to contact Games Workshop for
current availability and current Games Workshop prices.
Prices quoted are for products sold by Games Workshop
through its own stores, catalogue or website. Independent
retailers are responsible for determining their own prices.
White Dwarf Manager: Ian Huxley
Managing Editor: Lyle Lowery
Printed by Warners Midlands PLC in the UK.
Distributed in the UK by Marketforce UK Ltd, 2nd Floor,
5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HU
Telephone: 0203 787 9101
Web: www.marketforce.co.uk
Email: team@whitedwarf.co.uk
WHITE DWARF (ISSN#0265-8712) is published monthly for
$9 by Games Workshop Ltd., Willow Road Nottingham NG7
2WS, United Kingdom. Periodical Postage is paid at Santa
Ana, CA and additional mailing offices.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Games Workshop
Customer Services, 6211 East Holmes Road, Memphis,
TN 38141.
UK Publisher: Manufactured by Games Workshop Limited.
Willow Road, Nottingham, United Kingdom, NG7 2WS
EU Publisher: Represented by Games Workshop Limited
- Irish branch. Unit 3, Lower Liffey Street, Dublin 1, D01 K199,
Ireland
Registered in England and Wales
– Company No. 01467092.
September 2022

X MARKS THE SPOT
M
ap campaigns are a fun way to give
some context and raise the stakes
for your Warhammer games.
There are many versions of map
campaigns out there, and we launched an
ongoing Age of Sigmar map campaign in
the previous issue. This issue features an
entirely different map campaign for
Warhammer 40,000.
We started with the idea of creating a map
campaign that wasn’t too complex but
featured a modular, customisable map that
would offer loads of replayability. We drew
inspiration from the ancient and venerable
Mighty Empires, if you’re a gamer of a
certain vintage and can remember that far
back! But how could we put such a thing in
ISSUE 480
White Dwarf? The result was a system built
around a set of square tiles you use to build
the map.
You can certainly just cut them out and get
straight into playing, but I have a couple of
tips if you want to give your set of tiles a
professional look. First, whether you
(carefully) use scissors or a hobby knife,
metal ruler and cutting mat, do the job as
LYLE LOWERY
neatly as possible. If you want those nice Managing Editor
rounded corners, you can use an
inexpensive corner punch. The one I have
has punches for three different corner
radiuses, making it useful for many card
sizes. To keep your map nice and tidy, you’ll
find that the tiles fit in standard coin pocket
pages with 50mm or 2" pockets!
1
ISSUE 480

CONTENTS
16
™

72 ®

2
 CONTACT!4

52 Letters, questions and pictures of miniatures

sent in by you, our readers.
WORLDS OF WARHAMMER 10
In a galaxy of war and madness, are there any
‘good guys’?

ISSUE 480
FLASHPOINT NEPHILIM: 16
A REGAL RECKONING
The Silent King unleashes the inquisitive
Illuminor Szeras on the Nephilim Sector.

FLASHPOINT NEPHILIM: 24
RISING TOMB CAMPAIGN
An immersive campaign set on a Necron tomb
world. Will you defend it or purge it?

ECHOES FROM THE WARP 36

What is ‘flow,’ and how can it benefit you on
the battlefield?

KILL TEAM ENGAGE! 40

The White Dwarf team continue their Spec Op
campaigns. Some squigs came to some harm.

90
OPERATION BRIEFING 52
Bring your torches because this column is a
designer’s commentary about Into the Dark.

GALACTIC WAR HOSTS: 58

OPERATIVES ASSIGNED
Fancy building and painting a kill team? Here’s
some modelling and painting inspiration!

FLASHPOINT CLASH: 72
DESPERATE COUNTERMEASURES
A mini-campaign set in Thondia that pits Orruk
Warclans against Stormcast Eternals.

FLASHPOINT RONDHOL: 82
THE WAAAGH!
Weirdnob Shaman Ka-rokk has had a vision,
and it looks a lot like Everquake City!

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT 86
Are you a Pitched Battle general or a casual
commander? Serious applications only…

INTO THE GNARLWOOD 90

INCLUDED WITH A new column all about Warcry! This inaugural
THIS ISSUE… 6 REACTOR 6 REACTOR 6 ACCESS NODE article introduces the new edition of the game.
Thirty tiles for FROM THE DEEPS! 100
the Rising Tomb
1 HAUNTED WASTES 1 HAUNTED WASTES 1 HAUNTED WASTES
See Fighting Battles –
Radiation Effects
See Fighting Battles –
Radiation Effects
When moved on to, you gain
the Access Protocol.
A gallery of Warhammer Underworlds
Campaign
6 ACCESS NODE 6 ACCESS NODE 6 LEAKING
REACTOR
warbands painted by you, our readers.
presented in this 2 SHATTERED
2 SHATTERED
2 SHATTERED

issue! These tiles BRUSH TIPS 108

© Copyright 2022 Games Workshop Limited.

DEFENCES DEFENCES DEFENCES

When moved on to, you gain When moved on to, you gain See Fighting Battles –
the Access Protocol. the Access Protocol. Radiation Effects

How was Teclis painted, and how did his

LEAKING

represent the
6
®

REACTOR

colours inform those used on the Lumineth?

®
© Copyright 2022 Games Workshop Limited.

®
All rights reserved.

Necron tomb
40K
®

Once per battle round, when Once per battle round, when
40K

ABANDONED ABANDONED you use a Battle Tactic

ABANDONED you use a Battle Tactic
3 3 3
®

HAB-DISTRICT HAB-DISTRICT Stratagem, roll one D6: on

HAB-DISTRICT Stratagem, roll one D6: on

world you and BATTLE REPORT: 114

See Fighting Battles – a 4+, that usage of that a 4+, that usage of that
Stratagem does not cost any CP. Stratagem does not cost any CP.
®

Radiation Effects
40K
®
®

®
All rights reserved.

THE FATE OF BARBARUS

40K

your friends (or

0-3
®
40K
®

®
40K

0-3

The first part in an epic 18,000-point battle on

foes) are fighting
®
40K
®

0-3

the blighted home world of the Death Guard.

Once per battle round, when
ABANDONED you use a Battle Tactic
3 HAB-DISTRICT 4 ARCHEOVAULT
Stratagem, roll one D6: on
Once per battle round, when Once per battle round, when
you use a Battle Tactic you use a Wargear Stratagem,
4 ARCHEOVAULT
Stratagem, roll one D6: on roll one D6: on a 4+, that
0-3
®

a 4+, that usage of that a 4+, that usage of that usage of that Stratagem does

over. They can be

40K

Stratagem does not cost any CP. Stratagem does not cost any CP.
0-3

not cost any CP.

0-3

set up differently OLD WHITE-FUR 130

0-3

Contains 1 Toy item – Game Cards,

When moved on to, if you have When moved on to, if you have

The skaven encounter a terrifying white-furred

the Access Protocol, you the Access Protocol, you
0-3

can open this archeovault. can open this archeovault.

each time you 4 ARCHEOVAULT 5

Once per battle round, when
HIGH-SECURITY
you use a Wargear Stratagem,
roll QUARTER
one D6: on a 4+, that
usage of that Stratagem does
not cost any CP.
5
Once per battle round, when
HIGH-SECURITY
you use a Wargear Stratagem,
rollQUARTER
one D6: on a 4+, that
usage of that Stratagem does
not cost any CP.
Once per battle round, when
you use a Wargear Stratagem,
roll one D6: on a 4+, that
usage of that Stratagem does
not cost any CP.
adversary in this short story by David Guymer.
play to make
60249999622
Contains 1 Toy item – Game Cards,

every campaign When moved on to, if you have

the Access Protocol, you can
INSIDE THE STUDIO 142
Check out the games we’ve played and the
open this archeovault.
60249999622

unique. models we’ve painted this month.

3
 CONTACT
Letters, questions and miniatures sent in by you, our readers
STAR THIS HOBBY SAVED MY LIFE
LETTER
Hi guys. One of my most cherished childhood
memories was losing myself in the worlds of
Warhammer. Before the difficulties and stresses of adult
life hit, this hobby was my safe place, my happy place.
But it wouldn’t be long until that magical veil was
removed, exposing my anxiety-ridden mind to the
frightening reality of life. Due to a long list of not so
pretty life experiences, I began to seek ways of escaping
from the world. My mind was an uninhabitable place
where I did not want to be. I became an addict. For the
last 10 years, I have struggled on a daily basis with mental
health issues and substance misuse. Absolutely any way I
could hide away from my depressing reality, I took.
But I am proud beyond words to say that I am now a year
clean and sober, and I owe significant gratitude to this
hobby for getting my life back on track. The
concentration, creativity and patience required has been
fantastic for my mental health. The Warhammer
community has constantly reminded me I am not alone,
and this camaraderie and shared passion has enabled me
to start a brand new chapter of my life.
Wolf Guard Terminators
by Adam Duncombe
4
I never thought I’d pick up the brush and the dice again,
and I believed that Warhammer was just a distant
childhood memory. But, Warhammer has helped save my
life, and I am eternally grateful.
Danny Callear
Cheadle, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire
Congratulations on your year of sobriety! That’s a
fantastic achievement, and your story is very inspiring.
It sounds as though you’ve overcome a lot in the last
year or so, and we’re glad that this great hobby of ours
helped you on your journey. Having an engaging and
creative interest to lose yourself in can be really helpful
in recovery, and Warhammer fits the bill perfectly.
Just remember that, even in the grim darkness of the
far future, you are not alone. There are thousands of
hobbyists around the world, and you’ll find that most
of them love talking about Warhammer! Hobby clubs
in particular are a great way to get out of the house and
meet some like-minded individuals.
Kurdoss Valentian, The Craven King
by Jorge Martos Gómez
ASK GROMBRINDAL
I have a question for you, oh Great Bearded One. In
Age of Sigmar, who is the biggest of them all. Just
asking as a trophy hunting Slayer.
Ben Laver

CONTACT
Ely, Cambridgeshire
Ah, so you have taken the barazakdum, have you?
Well, I won’t enquire further as to why. It’s not polite
to ask.
The answer to your question is likely Ignax the Solar
Drake, at least since the death of Behemat. There may
be larger zodiacal godbeasts out there in the Aetheric
Void – Dracothion amongst them – but they are more
constellations than corporeal creatures, so good luck
getting your Doomseeker Axe into their neck.
As a rule, godbeasts are more likely to be myths than
real creatures. However, Ignax is rumoured to still be
out there somewhere, curled up for warmth within a
volcano or just lying as low as a
kiloton-weighing, eternally
burning dragon can do.
I hope you find a suitably
heroic end. If you ever
meet a godbeast, I’m sure
you will!

Grombrindal

POETIC INSPIRATION
THEY DWELT AMONG THE UNTRODDEN WAYS
Hi team! Here’s something I’ve been working on. I have They dwelt among the untrodden ways
two young sons, and when I was reading poems to them
Beside the pools of blood,
at bedtime, I had a flash of inspiration. I’d read them a
beautiful poem by William Wordsworth called ‘She A horde whom there were none to faze
Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways’. This immediately
A never-ending flood.
made me think of the Beasts of Chaos from Age of
Sigmar, and the gears in my head started turning. So I sat Effigies upon a stone,
down and wrote an homage to Wordsworth’s famous
Grotesque to the eye!
poem, turning it into a description of the Beasts of
Chaos. I may not have a career as a poet ahead of me, but Foreboding as a star, all alone,
I had a lot of fun bringing poetry into the Mortal Realms.
The last one in the sky.

Josh Richards They lived unknown, and few did know

Caldicot, Wales
What would come to be

It always amazes us to discover the different ways in But we are in the grave, and, oh
which Warhammer inspires people’s creativity.
Now they come for thee.
Coincidentally, editor Andrew has a PhD in Romantic
poetry (his official title is Poet-Revenant), and he says
you’ve done a great job of bringing Wordsworth’s style
to the Mortal Realms. It’s much scarier than the
original; we hope you don’t read this to your kids!

5
 Squig Herd
by Eric Schlegl

Myrmourn Banshees
by Christopher Stahl

PAINTING QUESTION: THE FLAWLESS HOST

Dear White Dwarf. With lockdown restrictions easing in
the UK, my group of friends and I are starting our own A
Tale of Four Warlords after reading all about it in White
Dwarf. With two of them picking Imperial factions and
another going xenos, I’d thought I’d toss my hat in with
Chaos. After reading through White Dwarf 461, I have
decided on the Flawless Host. I was wondering, how I
would go about painting them like the studio models?
Cameron Laurie
Newcastle, UK
That’s a great question, Cameron. If you want to paint
a host of the Flawless Host flawlessly, simply follow the
stages provided by the studio army painters. We
recommend painting the dark purple areas first and
then tackling the pink. That way, if you do make a
mistake, it will be easier to correct than if you’d got a
dark colour on a light area.
To speed things up, you could try using the many pinks
in the Citadel Colour range. Fulgrim Pink or Kislev
Flesh with a Volupus Pink wash would both work.

DARK PURPLE PINK

Basecoat: Naggaroth Night
Shade: Abaddon Black
Highlight: Naggaroth Night &
Administratum Grey 
Highlight: Administratum Grey
Basecoat: Rakarth Flesh & 
Mephiston Red  3:1
Shade: Mephiston Red
1:1 Highlight: Rakarth Flesh,
Mephiston Red & White Scar  3:1:1
Highlight: White Scar

6
MODEL OF THE MONTH: MAGNUS THE RED BY JUAN SANZ
Juan: I had in my mind two words when
painting Magnus the Red: red and Tzeentch.
So I sacrificed his fancy armour in order to
show off his big red body in all its glory.
I painted his skin a bright carmine red,
which I shaded with blue to add depth and
highlighted with fluorescent red paint to
make it glow. The warp energy then flows
from his body and up through his wings,
with glowing magenta in the recesses that
contrasts with the deep blue tone of the
feathers. The magical runes, eyes and balls of
energy were painted with a combination of
turquoises, fluorescent green and pure white
to create burning green flames.
CONTACT
I also made a small conversion to this model.
I cut the ball of sorcerous energy from the
other blade that comes in the kit and
mounted it above his outstretched hand
using a thin piece of wire.
7
 Spirit Hosts
by Thibaut Lily

Cypher Lords
by Vanessa Cotineau

A REDISCOVERED PASSION
Dear White Dwarf team,
I still vividly remember reading my first White Dwarf,
issue 269 (complete with Inquisitor Battle Report), and
being fascinated by the models. I was only a child, and
back then my experience with the hobby mostly
consisted of making an enormous mess! Still, I enjoyed
White Dwarf for years, only to lose touch with all things
Warhammer as I grew up, went to college and got a job.
However, as with many people, being confined to my
home for long periods in recent times led to me
rediscovering my love for the hobby, and I’ve loved
catching up on all of the issues since the revamp! You’re
all doing a stellar job of keeping that classic White Dwarf
feeling of hobby joy, and I wanted to thank you for
everything you do for the community!
Jonathan Cassidy
Castlebar, Republic of Ireland
Many of us in the office fondly remember number 269;
it was a great issue! If you’re looking for more classic
hobby joy, the Vault on Warhammer+ contains a huge
(and still growing) selection of White Dwarf issues,
making it easier than ever to revisit old favourites.

8
 Exalted Sorcerer on Disc of Tzeentch Tyranid Broodlord
by Rittipong Wongjaroenkij by Callum Badger

CONTACT
The Crimson Court
by Duncan Weatherhead

Harlequin Troupe and Death Jester

by Rudy Bigand

SEND US YOUR LETTERS, QUESTIONS AND PICTURES TO: TEAM@WHITEDWARF.CO.UK

9
 WORLDS OF
WARHAMMER
In a galaxy of war and madness, are there any ‘good guys’?
ANDY CLARK
Andy is the senior
background writer in the
Warhammer 40,000 Studio,
which means he’s had his
mechadendrites in many
mechanical pies over the
years. When asked
whether he supports the
‘good guys’ or ‘bad guys’ of
Warhammer 40,000, he
simply pointed at the Orks
on his desk and shrugged.
10
T
he war-torn galaxy of the 41st
Millennium is a place of violence,
ignorance and horror, yet it is a
narrative we hobbyists immerse
ourselves in time and again. So what keeps us
coming back for more? The Warhammer
40,000 setting blends savage, superstitious
and absurdist elements of medieval history
with the technological excesses and colossal
scope of science fiction to create something
dystopian and compelling. Amidst its
shadows lie countless shades of grey. There
are no ‘good guys’ in Warhammer 40,000 nor
should there be. There are instead warring
factions whose motivations are as
questionable – and as excessive – as their
methods, yet all of whom are convinced they
possess a monopoly on the truth.
EMPIRE BUILDERS
Scattered across the galaxy are worlds beyond
counting, many capable of supporting
colonisation by sentient life. You might
reasonably think there would be room for
everyone. This being Warhammer 40,000,
you would be incorrect.
Humanity possesses the largest empire in
M41. Its armies fight to defend unimaginable
numbers of Human lives. They battle daemon
worshippers, xenos-tainted fanatics and
creatures who view them as slaves, vermin or
just lunch. At first glance, Humanity’s defence
seems a noble enough cause. Yet from its
inception, the Imperium has been a bloody-
handed realm. The armies of the Great
Crusade saw no room amongst the stars for
aliens, purging countless xenos species and
making enemies of many more.
With the rise of the Imperial Creed,
Humanity only became more intolerant and
fanatical, not only towards aliens but also
anyone deemed heretical. Mankind’s
mightiest warriors, the Space Marines, are
psycho-indoctrinated living weapons whose
humanity is a dim memory. The Imperium’s
finest technological minds are superstitious
ideologues who value machines over Human
life. Most Imperial citizens endure short lives
of hopeless suffering under the rule of
uncaring masters. This is what Humanity’s
rulers believe is required for their species to
endure, and there are those amongst the
Emperor’s armies who truly strive to uphold
what they believe is right. Yet without a
doubt, Humanity is neither blameless nor ‘the
good guys’ in Warhammer 40,000, and even
those who think themselves noble view such
concepts through a tragically skewed lens.
The Necrons, by comparison, mastered the
galaxy in an era long before the first
primordial life squirmed on Terra. Their
conquest of the stars was bought at a terrible
price. Their ruler, the Silent King, bargained
his race’s souls for living metal bodies and
technological power so advanced it seemed
like magic. Even so, the Necrons were
eventually compelled to retreat to stasis-
crypts to wait out the millennia, believing
they would awaken to a galaxy in which their
foes had been reduced to dust by the march
of time. Those who survived their long sleep
instead arose to find their ancient empire
plundered and shattered. The Silent King now
seeks to reclaim his peoples’ territories,
determined not to fail them again. Many
Necrons obey strict codes they believe place
their deeds beyond reproof. Yet this in no
way stops them from subjecting the galaxy to
merciless wars of reconquest or viewing their
foes as beasts to be exterminated. It can be
tremendous fun to take on the mantle of a
mad Necron Overlord and unleash android
legions from the darkest Gothic horror, but
there is little good to be found in these
despotic and soulless destroyers.
While the Necrons are amongst the galaxy’s
oldest empire builders, the T’au are some of
its youngest and most idealistic. These aliens
venerate technology and live by a strict creed
of service to the Greater Good. They employ
diplomacy before war and have incorporated
willing species into their growing empire
with the promise of shared enlightenment
and strength through unity. It is possible to
point to the T’au and argue that here, surely,
are Warhammer 40,000’s ‘good guys’. But the
T’au are every bit as fanatical as the
Imperium in their own way. Safe in their
certainty that theirs is a noble and
enlightened cause, the T’au turn the
technological might of their military machine
against any who resist their initial, peaceful
overtures. That they do so with heavy hearts
does not render the resultant carnage any less
WORLDS OF WARHAMMER
horrifying.
RAMPAGING HORDES
For every Warhammer 40,000 faction
attempting to build something through
conquest, there are others who want instead
to tear it all down. There is a certain honesty
to these powers and their ‘straightforward’
motivations, but they’re unlikely to be the
heroes of anyone’s stories except their own.
The worshippers of Chaos are the greatest
enemy not just to Humanity but arguably to
all life in M41. Yet while they spread
ruination, torment, sickness and butchery,
many servants of the Dark Gods are not as
two-dimensionally evil as you might expect.
At least they don’t all start out that way. In a
dark and terrible galaxy, mortal beings can be
left feeling powerless and frightened,
desperate for any promise of power, be it to
advance their own station, protect those they
11
 care about or overthrow the rule of unworthy
masters. Worshipping the Dark Gods
promises a quick route to strength, and the
demagogues of Chaos are quick to exploit the
systemic ignorance enforced throughout the
Imperium to tempt Human souls into
damnation. Even once they manifest horrific
mutations and supernatural abilities – or seal
pacts with daemons – many who serve Chaos
think themselves enlightened rebels or
freedom fighters. They are not, of course;
everything touched by Chaos inevitably turns
to ruin. But are they any more ‘the bad guys’
than some of those with whom they do
battle? That’s a harder question to answer.
The Orks are a law unto themselves, and their
rambunctious nature appeals to many. Orks
enjoy fighting for its own sake. The majority
of them give no more thought to why they
spread war and destruction than to why they
draw breath. Their society is as crude yet
robust as the Orks themselves, and their
brutish enjoyment of speed, explosions, loud
noises and extreme violence rarely falters.
Many would argue it is as much a waste of
time defining Orks as ‘good’ or ‘evil’ as to
ascribe such terms to a natural disaster. Of
course, such high-minded philosophising is
all well and good until you find yourself in
12
the path of such a cataclysm. One would do
as well pleading with an earthquake as with
the Orks, whose gleeful rampages are
never-ending.
The Tyranids are, again, difficult to call
objectively evil. So little is known about the
nature and motivations of these rapacious
aliens by the denizens of M41 that any form
of value judgement is meaningless. What the
Tyranids most certainly are is without mercy
or conscience. They devour all living things.
They cannot be bargained with, bought off or
deceived. They leave dead and airless worlds
in their wake, and to them all sentient species
are nothing but prey. In the end, there is an
inventively horrible, almost malicious streak
to the Tyranids’ bio-weapons, which – when
coupled with the ineffable cosmic horror of
the Hive Mind – casts them as monsters
rather than simply predatory beasts.
SURVIVORS AT ANY COST
There are factions within Warhammer 40,000
that do what they do simply to survive. This
is true of enclaves of almost every faction –
particularly those in especially desperate
straits or cut off from the rest of their species.
Above all, however, it is applicable to the
scattered remnants of the Aeldari.
Even setting aside the hedonistic collapse of
their forebears’ empire and the consequential
creation of a Chaos God – we’ve all made
mistakes – the Asuryani aren’t exactly
clean-cut. True, they mostly fight to preserve
the last of their species, and true, they are the
avowed enemies of Chaos. They even employ
their powers of psychic foresight to aid the
galaxy’s younger races at times and might
appear to be steering them away from the
path of disaster. For all this, though, every
decision the Asuryani take, every battle they
fight and warning they issue is motivated by
the goal of their own species’ survival. The
craftworlders will not hesitate to redirect
threats towards other races. When they do
fight, they employ nightmarishly powerful
weapons and make war without mercy,
turning on those they previously have treated
as allies without compunction. To the
Asuryani, the other peoples of the galaxy fall
into two categories: tools to be used or
enemies to be annihilated.
Then there are the Drukhari. Even the most
morally challenged individual would struggle
to brand these twisted and vampiric beings
anything other than unutterably evil and
completely unrepentant. It may be impossible
to point to the ‘good guys’ in Warhammer
40,000, but it is no great stretch to find the
most evil of all the setting’s factions.
Fortunately, these sadistic space-going xenos
do what they do with such grotesque style
that it is hard not to like them.
STRANGE ALLEGIANCES
By any real-world standard, the motivations
WORLDS OF WARHAMMER
of all the factions in Warhammer 40,000
cannot be condoned. This is a setting whose
story is one of species pushed to the darkest
extremes by the overriding instinct to survive
at any cost. Its events occur in a consciously
dystopian and darkly satirical galaxy in which
hope has long been extinguished. We can
enjoy the factions for how evocative their
miniatures look and for the cool things they
do on the tabletop battlefield. We can find
empathetic motivations for the stories of the
armies we collect or in the tales of individuals
fighting to endure within this appalling
setting. We can appreciate the spectacular
battles waged between armies of post-human A WORLD OF
POSSIBILITIES
warriors, towering monsters and baroque war What would you like to
engines because – fortunately for everyone read about in Worlds of
concerned – M41 is very much fiction. But at Warhammer? Let us know
your thoughts, and we will
the end of the day, within the Warhammer get on the vox to the 40K
40,000 galaxy itself, there are no true good team straight away!
guys to be found, and the only real winners
team@whitedwarf.co.uk
are the thirsting gods of battle…
13
 TM

IN THE GRIM DARKNESS OF THE FAR FUTURE, THERE IS ONLY WAR!

 A REGAL RECKONING FLASHPOINT NEPHILIM

WHAT ARE
FLASHPOINTS?
Flashpoints are series of
articles that explore a
particular region or war
zone at a specific point in
time. Flashpoints contain
new rules along with
stories and background
about the setting, giving
you plenty of opportunities
to theme your games.

Flashpoints typically span

multiple issues, and
articles are always marked
with the Flashpoint’s
symbol, making them easy
to find in your copy of
White Dwarf.

16
T
he approach of the Silent King sent
ripples of shock throughout the
Nephilim Anomaly far in advance of
his arrival. His coming was like that of
a meteor, presaged by omen.

The inertialess drives of the Silent King’s

trans-spatial war barque powered down as
the ship reached the heart of the Xendu
System. Servo-augurs aboard the system’s
Imperial monitor stations, defence satellites

FLASHPOINT NEPHILIM
and weapons platforms might have attempted
to rationalise the gigantic, stately vessel’s
sudden manifestation above the system’s
second world as a pinpoint warp translation
of unsurpassed precision. But all of Xendu’s
inter-system might – defence monitors,
armed stations, orbital batteries – had been
atomised, their vapour-like remnants left to
hang in space, unmoving, for not even the
star’s solar wind was free to blow from its
noctilith cage. Those once-citizens who
remained were husks of men and women, no
more capable of wonder or awe than a lump
of clay.

The second world’s solitary moon had been

specially prepared for the Silent King’s
arrival. Every trace of alien artifice that might
offend Szarekh had been rendered into dust
by swarms of Canoptek constructs in their
tens of thousands. Heralds of the Triarch
Praetorians had arrived far in advance,
warning the Crypteks and nobility within the
system before moving on, spreading
throughout the contra-immaterial nodal
matrix to distribute the message of the
coming of the Bringer of Unity.

Nobles from dozens of ancient and

distinguished lines, representing several
dynasties both great and small, gathered
upon the purged moon. They had been
drawn there for ceremonies of affirmation
and elaborate rites of obeisance. They were to
gift the Silent King with their legions to wage
war in what many considered to be a feral
backwater system – and on numerous other
worlds – at the direction of the Silent King’s
chosen representative, Illuminor Szeras.

As the Silent King’s war barque hung

overhead, the throne of the Triarch
descended like a graceful comet. His ship,
larger than the moon’s diameter, was placed
between the caged star and the moon. It cast
a shadow over all of the gathered Overlords,
suzerains, princes, karifars, regents,
potentates, and others. They were arrayed in
eldritch finery of myriad hues, their tall
bodies raising them above the comparatively
stunted forms of their viziers, astrologers,

17
 cosmaseers and technoscopes. The nobles
stood in imperious groups, invisible lines of
familial and political interplay carefully
demarcating where each should stand in
relation to another.
Three thousand Triarch Praetorians
materialised in a crescent just as the Triarch
– the council of three phaerons led by the
Silent King – landed in their midst. Their
throne settling to hover with crackling arcs of
energy atop a raised dais of airless rock, the
Triarch addressed the assembled nobility and
Crypteks. Speaking as one, while Szarekh
stood impassively, the Phaeron of the Stars
and the Phaeron of the Blades delivered the
Triarch’s will. The phaerons declared that
Illuminor Szeras was honoured amongst
Crypteks, that without his tireless genius the
triumphal creation of the nodal matrices
would never have been established. They
affirmed the Silent King’s praise for Szeras’
vigorous experimentations to understand the
means by which the flesh-vermin now
assailing the nodal matrix were able to resist
its energy. They implored the master
Technomancer to redouble his efforts for the
unity and protection of the King’s people.
So as to aid this burdensome duty, the
phaerons continued, a gift of the flesh-vermin
would be made to further the Illuminor’s vital
and ongoing work. A number of the Triarch
Praetorians moved aside to reveal amidst
their ranks a ragged mob of Human slaves. A
nimbus of breathable atmosphere at a
18
temperature their biological bodies could
stand was held around them in arcane
suspension. Most were catatonic, heaped
upon hovering biers shepherded by Canoptek
constructs. Szeras’ multiple eyes lit up as he
spied several of the genetic anomalies the
Humans called Space Marines, barely
managing to shuffle forward on once-
powerful legs. The Cryptek was pleased to see
a number of psykers amongst their number,
unarmoured and in chains, their eyes bulging
and faces contorted in agony. There were
even some Human specimens who were
seemingly unaffected by the matrix’s aura,
males and females of all ages, eyes wide with
terror but alert and sure-footed. They piqued
his interest considerably. Szeras made his
thanks to the Silent King, affirming that he
would take personal charge of the matrix,
before activating a rune-covered device on
one of his upper limbs. In an instant, the
Illuminor and the Humans vanished.
With Szeras having taken his prize away for
painful and extended biological
interrogation, the Triarch began to address
the failings of the King’s people to repulse the
alien interlopers from the growing
boundaries of the Great Work. Szarekh took
the responsibility of that failure upon his own
munificent shoulders, but now such errors
were buried beyond recall. The King opened
his arms wide, and in the minds of every
Necron present, a multi-dimensional strategy
unfolded as Szarekh outlined his plans for the
eradication of the Human armies.

LEGIONS OF THE ANOMALY
Szarekh’s presence at the head of his armies brought
much-needed unity to the dynasties. Yet politicking
and intrigue amongst the Necron nobility continued.
Lurking Psychomancer agents of numerous dynastic
rulers, watching the unfolding massacres of the
Humans, would report back to their masters that
there existed a continuum in the nature of the Silent
King’s support. At one extreme was the King’s
supposed own royal line, the Szarekhan Dynasty.
Their nobles were unfailingly loyal to the King,
fanatically so in the case of Overlord Neshkafar.
Loyalty forged by pacts of mutual support and
promises of territory, meanwhile, was believed to have
been the basis of the Nihilakh Dynasty’s support.
Despite the fall of Phaeron Shemvokh against the
Humans and the furious noble’s slow restoration at
the hands of his Technomancers, Nihilakh’s powerful
legions of war engines remained a core component of
the King’s strategy.
Some, like the Oruskh Dynasty, were split. The ruling
phaeron was said to have withheld his legions, while
Crown Karifar Lakshmet led fifty thousand warriors.
FLASHPOINT NEPHILIM
It is likely she sought the Triarch’s tacit approval for a
coup against her Phaeron in due course. Nor had all
dynastic forces arrived from outside the growing
bounds of the nodal matrix. The minor dynasties of
Phet’zesh, Uretp and Mefhamnet occupied relatively
small dynastic territories within the contra-
immaterial region. They had benefitted from the
disruption it caused to the flesh-vermin in their
realms, and although the Uretp Dynasty had declared
for the Silent King, the Mefhamnet Dynasty used the
freedom to annexe neighbouring dynasties’ territory.
The Phet’zesh Dynasty even clashed with Nihilaki
legions loyal to the King.
Agents not aligned to any dynasty also worked in the
nodal matrix. The Oruskh Dynasty made claims of
theft against an honourless archeovist. The Shining
Company and their Royal Warden fought once in the
service of every noble due to corrupted engrammatic
patterning, seemingly unaware of the King. Phaeron
Vordreska, meanwhile, appeared to be fixated on a
singular cycle of revenge. The last of her line, she led
her legions against Orks invading from the galactic
south-east.
19
 Lesser vermin, you trespass
amidst the realm of
beings beyond your stunted
comprehension. Your presence
dirties that which has
been sterilised of organic
contaminants and cannot
be borne.

20
THE LEGIONS RESURGENT
Where Szeras had held back much of the
dynasties’ armies under his command in the
name of gathering empirical data, Szarekh
allowed for no such partial measures.
Unfettered by the nodal matrix’s effects on
psychic communication, Szarekh coordinated
hundreds of thousands of the dynasties’
nobles across the entire sub-sector at once;
they in turn commanded their legions to
attack on countless fronts. Scouting Imperial
forces were ambushed. Those that attempted
to dig in were overwhelmed with wave upon
wave of metallic warriors. Those that fled
were stalked and hunted down, their fitful
and unreliable warp jumps no match for the
Necrons’ superior technology.
As the Necron counter-offensive gathered
pace, Szarekh and the other phaerons of his
Triarch descended in person to grace a
number of battlefields with the Silent King’s
magnificent presence. Wherever Szarekh
fought, there were never more than a handful
of survivors. As the embodiment of the
dynastic codes, Szarekh offered multiple
enemy armies the simple choice of ceding
victory and abasing themselves or facing
complete annihilation. Much to the Silent
King’s grudging admiration, no Imperial
army sought surrender.
From the Silicate Redoubts of Rorgaestis III, a
combined army of Barghentine Plains-
rangers and Holassi Sky Commandos
attempted to break out of their defensive
positions. Their plan to make for their
landing zone for evacuation and
redeployment faltered in the face of
overwhelming Necron forces. Szarekh was
intrigued and impressed by the enemy’s
fighting spirit. He sensed, however, an
opportunity to send an unambiguous
message – not only one that he believed the
Humans would understand, but one which
would also resonate with his nobles. He
allowed the Imperial forces to fight their way,
at significant cost in their lives, to their
extraction craft. He even allowed several to
lift off, but then Szarekh unleashed no fewer
than five C’tan Shards, hundreds of
Annihilation Barges and Canoptek Wraiths of
his own Szarekhan Dynasty. These hunted the
evacuees down, while Monoliths and Doom
Scythes destroyed the landing zone and
awaited any survivors.
At Bhorsis, Szarekh commanded his Crypteks
to unleash a plague of a trillion Canoptek
Scarabs. In such numbers, they darkened the
planet’s skies and fell upon the enemy like a
storm, picking apart thousands of survivors
of the nodal matrix’s effects with horrifying
ease and swiftness. In their wake, Szarekh
and his legions advanced steadily through the
beleaguered Imperial ranks, exterminating
any Humans who remained to face them. On
Bhorsis’ densely urbanised moon, the
Overlord Karep’ta, a favoured scion of the
Nihilakh Dynasty, halted his forces’ advance
as he made a bold and unequivocal challenge
to the commanding Space Marine Captain he
faced. Such was Karep’ta’s right under the
FLASHPOINT NEPHILIM
dynastic codes, and the gesture was deemed
fair and honourable by his peers. But the
Necron army’s halt had meant nothing to the
Imperial invaders who kept up their attacks
across the entire battlefront. Upon learning of
this, Szarekh chose to interpret their
ignorance as a wilful insult. The Silent King
dematerialised from Bhorsis. Dozens of Night
Scythe flights swarmed over his combined
Nihilakh and Oruskh army upon both the
planet and its moon, snatching the Necrons
up in flares of eldritch light. The jubilant
Imperial forces believed they had been
victorious. Until, that is, the stars moved
overhead, and what had been assumed to be
the night sky resolved itself as the hull of
Szarekh’s war barque, which stretched from
horizon to horizon. After a bombardment of
hyperphasic coil bolts that split the atoms of
the crust apart, Bhorsis, its moon and the
Imperial armies on both ceased to be.
Wherever Szarekh fought, the nobles pledged
to him – and the millions of Necron soldiery
bound in turn to them – fought with a
martial synchronicity and a unity of purpose,
the likes of which none of his servants could
remember. Szarekh alone remembered for
them all.
21
 AEONS-OLD MAJESTY
The varied dynastic and semi-autonomous
legions each played their own part in
enacting the Silent King’s imperious plans.
For some nobles, this entailed furthering
their own ambitions first and foremost.
Phaeron Shemvokh of the Nihilakh Dynasty,
his form still reknitting in his
Technomancers’ catacrypts, enacted his will
through a host of lesser nobility and Royal
Wardens. His legions, augmented with the
heaviest firepower and arcane war engines his
tomb vaults could furnish, bludgeoned a path
along the galactic southern arc of the nodal
matrix. On Dharvik, Olontar and the hastily
reinforced Imperial shipyards around the
Gebn Nebula, Shemvokh’s shackled minions
purged the Humans from battlefield after
battlefield. Olontar, in particular, was entirely
depopulated. Then the Imperial force’s ships
in orbit, preparing for extraction, were
pre-emptively targeted by Shemvokh’s fleet
before Nihilakhi forces in the tens of
thousands concluded the extermination. The
embittered phaeron extended open
invitations in every war zone to the Triarch
Praetorians whose presence the noble felt like
an overbearing shadow. If they must watch,
he thought, let them watch first-hand what
his dynasty was achieving for their master,
and let them report every stinging defeat of
22
the flesh-vermin. Meanwhile, the southern
region would be conquered by his forces and
would soon be incorporated into Nihilakh’s
territory.
A cabal of Crypteks, under the authority of
Szarekh’s close adviser, Orikan the Diviner,
led a mixed dynastic army to destroy the
troublesome Basilicanum Imperator on
Vantis III. The sanctified castellum had been
fortified by Battle Sisters of the Order of the
Argent Shroud to become an iron thorn in
the Silent King’s side. Orikan had foreseen it
could become a greater threat still, the Sisters’
uncanny resistance to the contra-immaterial
waves enabling Vantis to become a staging
system for further raids. Via the Triarch,
Szarekh had ennobled the Chronomancer
and his arcane colleagues with the authority
to take Vantis and requisition whatever
dynastic assets they required. Szarekhan,
Oruskh and Uretp Dynasty legions were
dedicated to the castellum’s destruction, a feat
of dynastic unity that was not lost on Orikan.
Such a coming together of divergent forces
would have taken months, if not years, of
complex negotiation, attempting to weave a
path through jealous and egotistical nobles’
hierarchies of honour. With but a command
from the Silent King, all obstructions had
been removed, and the plan succeeded.
There were individual losses for Szarekh’s
legions, but the Silent King saw these for the
mere unavoidable delays that they were. The
Humans’ faith was instrumental in holding
back Necron advances in multiple systems.
His deathless legions, however, suffered none
of the slow erosion of permanent losses –
none of the grinding attrition to their morale
– that saw one Imperial holdout after another
pushed back, picked apart with advanced
weaponry and driven into full rout.
What did concern Szarekh were those
dynasties who fought solely for their own
selfish goals. Reports received from his
hidden agents revealed that, while destroying
Human foes in the process, many forces
seized opportunities to deal ancient
challengers a dolorous blow, skirting systems
where such rivals were in need of
reinforcement and ignoring calls for help.
Other Necron forces, he discovered, pursued
pinpoint strikes rather than his demanded,
and expected, utter obliteration. From his
loyal Overlord, Neshkafar, Szarekh learned of
the purging of a single Human ship. It had
been lured out of position, boarded and
robbed of its pitiful crew. Neshkafar
suspected the archivist Trazyn the Infinite to
be behind the outrage, as the Overlord
termed it. For in targeting the single ship, the
acquisitive Trazyn had alerted the ship’s fleet
to the Necrons’ presence in the system.
Neshkafar’s expected element of surprise had
been reversed, and the void battle that
followed was far more costly that it should
have been.
For all the Humans’ victories, Szarekh’s forces
succeeded in pushing them further and
further towards the nodal matrix’s fringes,
FLASHPOINT NEPHILIM
there to be expelled – if they were allowed to
escape at all. Szarekh’s legions and the
dynasties loyal to him would not stop there,
he silently vowed to himself, for the contra-
immaterial boundary was growing, gradually
cutting one doomed star system after another
off from the invasive tendrils of the warp.
And it was not alone. All around the fringes
of the galaxy, the Silent King’s nodal matrices
waxed ever and ever larger. There would
come a time, so his loyal Chronomancers had
claimed, when they would unite. The Silent
King had long ago learned to treat such
proffered wisdom with wary caution. He had
come to this nodal matrix in person precisely
because of this wariness, and he planned to
secure the unimpeded operation of many
others.
23
 RISING TOMB CAMPAIGN
FLASHPOINT NEPHILIM
Campaign rules for fighting on a Necron tomb world

A
Rising Tomb campaign is one ideally suited for two
to four players, allowing the group to string
together a tense and exciting narrative over a few
weeks of play. Players will build a map consisting of
different districts and explore it together, battling one
another in games of Warhammer 40,000 as they do so.
Along the way, they will gain new abilities and be able to
raid any Necron vaults they find, securing powerful pieces
of xenotech in the process.
The campaign can be used for matched play or Crusade
battles, depending on the players involved and their
preferences. The rules on the following pages will explain
any additional steps that Crusade players need to take.

24
CONTENTS
There are two types of tile in a Rising Tomb campaign. These are District tiles and Access Protocol Sigil tiles.

DISTRICT TILES
On the front face, these tiles depict one of the city blocks, including information such as how dangerous the area is and any special rules that
apply. On the rear, they have an Energy Signature, which gives some indication of how alert the Necron tomb’s defences are in that region. At
the start of the campaign, players will only be able to see the Energy Signatures of the various districts, but as they explore and flip them over

FLASHPOINT NEPHILIM
to reveal their front faces, more and more of the city will become visible.

The district’s Hostility Value. Higher The type of city block.

values indicate more dangerous areas 4 ARCHEOVAULT

and will result in different rules taking

effect in the battle (see Fighting Battles,
page 28).

Any special rules that the city block has When moved on to, if you have
the Access Protocol, you
will be listed here. can open this archeovault.

Low Energy Signature: These blocks have
yet to face the full weight of the awakening
Necron tomb’s fury. That said, safety within
a war zone is still a relative term.
Medium Energy Signature: Players
venturing into these areas will discover
emergent xenos structures, as well as
encountering greater resistance from the
tomb’s guardians as they go.
High Energy Signature: These districts are
under heavy assault by swarms of unliving
constructs and are highly dangerous. But
with great risk comes great reward.

25
 REACTOR TILES
Amongst the normal District tiles are two Reactor tiles. These tiles have an additional symbol on them.

LEAKING LEAKING
6 REACTOR 6 REACTOR 6 REACTOR

See Fighting Battles – See Fighting Battles – See Fighting Battles –

Radiation Effects Radiation Effects Radiation Effects

Radiation Value: This indicates how much dangerous energy
is seeping from the reactor, which can be lethal to combatants.
This could represent an unstable and unmaintained Imperial
generatorum, whose attendant labourers have vanished, or
perhaps the transphasic energies emitted by the tomb as a
defence mechanism.
As battles take place in and around a reactor, they can cause further
radiation leaks (see Fighting Battles, page 28). Whenever this
happens, it will be necessary to replace the relevant Reactor tile with
one of the two Leaking Reactor tiles. These look the same but do
not have an Energy Signature on their rear face. Instead they show
higher Radiation Values, used to indicate the escalating catastrophe
befalling the area.

ACCESS PROTOCOL SIGIL TILES

As players explore the city, they will gain access to Access Protocol Sigils left behind by the Necrons. These Access Protocol Sigils can be used
to gain entry to the archeovaults that players will have to discover, but they also have an in-game effect (see Fighting Battles, page 28). We
have included a set of tiles for each player, depicting each of these Access Protocol Sigils. These are intended to be used by players as memory
aids when playing their games.

PLAYING A RISING TOMB CAMPAIGN

The process for running a Rising Tomb campaign is as follows.

1. DECIDE ON A CAMPAIGN MASTER 4. THE VAULT HUNTERS STAGE

This step is not essential, but it can be very beneficial for helping
to keep the campaign running smoothly. If a Campaign Master
is selected from amongst the players, they will be the person
responsible for looking after the map, making the moves of players,
and keeping track of players’ Campaign points and any upgrades
they have earned.
2. SELECT FACTIONS
Each player selects a Faction keyword to use when mustering their
armies for all games in this campaign. This keyword cannot be
Imperium or Chaos.
3. CREATE THE CITY
In this step, the players get together and build the campaign’s city
using the various District tiles. They then select their starting
positions on the map.
During this first stage of the campaign, players will fight battles
using the unique Theatres of War found on pages 33-35, while
searching for the various Necron technology caches, moving around
the map and investigating the various districts as they go.
5. THE HONOUR BATTLES STAGE
During this second and final stage of the campaign, players will have
a chance to settle any grudges or vendettas that have built up during
the bitter street battles of the first stage, potentially catapulting
themselves up the leader board in the process.
6. DETERMINE THE FINAL STANDINGS
After the dust has settled, the players’ final standings are tallied,
determining their positions going into the next iteration of the
campaign as they delve deeper into the Necron tomb below.

26
CREATING THE CITY
Humanity and countless other races have encountered Necron tomb worlds throughout the vast breadth of the galaxy, though not even the
Aeldari – who actively hunt out these abodes of their enemies – have discovered more than a handful. Hidden for millions of years, their buried
structures have often been built upon by ignorant, younger races.

Technoarcheologists even posit that some Necron crypts, catacombs and entire tombs have been newly phased into place beneath Imperial cities,
claiming to have previously detected nothing but solid rock beneath them before the tomb’s shocking emergence. When buried tomb complexes

FLASHPOINT NEPHILIM
begin to flicker back to mechanical life, woe betide any megalopolis built above it. Long before the tomb’s skeletal Necrons are awakened, ancient
protocols rouse Canoptek constructs to purge the region of biological life and effect repairs. The tomb’s structure reverberates and reforms, spars
of living metal thrusting through bedrock, foundations and city districts alike as the tomb reasserts itself over hab-blocks, industrial quarters and
defence emplacements.

To set up the city:

• Turn all 20 of the District tiles (not including the Leaking Reactor tiles) face down so that only the rear sides that show their Energy
Signatures are visible.
• Mix the tiles up.
• One randomly determined player selects one of the tiles and places it face down, without looking at it, as the first tile of the map.
• Each player then takes it in turn to select one of the tiles that has yet to be placed on the map and places it face down, adjacent to one
of the already placed tiles, again without looking at it. This continues until all 20 of the District tiles have been placed. When placing
District tiles, the final map should not be more than 5 tiles wide and not be more than 4 tiles high.

Once all the tiles have been placed, you should end up with a map that looks like the picture below.

Designer’s note: To preserve the map and keep it tidy between games, you can use a coin binder sheet for 2" or 50mm coin flips, as pictured on
page 24.

27
 In the same order that players placed the District tiles, each player then selects their force’s starting position on the map. This can be
any of the tiles with a Low Energy Signature (note that there is no limit to how many players’ forces can be on the same map space). We
recommend using a model from each player’s army to mark their position on the map.

Once this is done, each player flips over the tile their force is starting on, revealing what type of district they have found themselves in.

SHATTERED SHATTERED
2 DEFENCES 2 DEFENCES

1 HAUNTED WASTES

1 HAUNTED WASTES

Finally, give each player their own set of the Access Protocol Sigil tiles, which they can use once their force has found them while playing
the campaign.

FIGHTING BATTLES
As more and more of the awakening tomb’s defences activate, the world’s surface above it – and any city that occupies it – becomes ever more
dangerous. Swarms of Scarabs gnaw the city’s structures, converting metal, plascrete, rock and armaglass into energy and material to benefit
the rising tomb. Tremors and eruptions shake the younger races’ settlement as megastructures rise to the heavens, sloughing off the devastated
remains of the city. Countless living inhabitants are crushed amidst these endeavours, are eviscerated by the roving Canoptek constructs that
spread from the emerging tomb or vanish, never to be seen again. Armies are drawn to the irrupting tomb: strike forces race to the city’s aid,
while opportunistic xenos and callous raiders prey upon the weakened region. Necron legions step from hyperspatial nodes or descend from
orbit; some of these reinforce the tomb’s own defenders against interlopers, but others represent rival dynasties seeking to loot or claim the tomb
before its noble masters fully wake. The fracturing city and the tomb rising beneath it become increasingly hostile. Nanoscarabs infest interlopers,
alerting more of the tomb’s defences against their hosts even when they move on to other districts. Canoptek Wraiths phase through solid rock
to hunt down trespassers. Cosmic energies flare from towering pylons, while swirls of semi-sentient filaments chase transgressors from block to
ruined block.

When fighting a battle, before selecting a mission, add up the combined Hostility Value of the two tiles that both players’ forces are on – this
represents the aggressive attention of the Necron tomb’s defenders that each player has unwittingly brought with them and has an impact

28
on how lethal the battlefield becomes. This Hostility Value total will determine which Theatre of War’s rules you use for the battle ahead, as
shown below.

Combined Hostility Value total Theatre of War

0-5 Quiescent Threat (page 33)

6-8 Desperate Defences (page 34)

9+ Cityscape Subjugation (page 35)

FLASHPOINT NEPHILIM
At the start of the first battle round, each player can select one of the Access Protocol Sigil tiles that their force has obtained and use this for
the duration of that battle. Each of these tiles has surprising and unexpected effects on various pieces of equipment, such as communication
arrays, power fields and so on, and can grant its user powerful abilities on the battlefield based on which one a player selects. We recommend
placing the selected tile next to your army roster when playing in order to remind you of its impact.

RADIATION EFFECTS
The radiation effects of Reactor tiles have a number of effects, both during the battle and afterwards. In order to work out if any of these
apply to the battle being fought, players must check to see if either one of them is within radiation range of one or more Reactor tiles. To do
so, for each Reactor tile that has been revealed on the map, check that tile’s current Radiation Value. If a Reactor tile has a Radiation Value of
0, then there is currently no radiation leak and it does not cause any effects. Otherwise, measure from that tile to see if that player’s force is
within that range of it as shown below.

LEAKING SHATTERED SHATTERED

6 REACTOR 2 DEFENCES 2 DEFENCES

See Fighting Battles –

Radiation Effects

1 HAUNTED WASTES

RADIATION VALUE 1

RADIATION VALUE 2

1 HAUNTED WASTES

• If the Reactor tile in the above diagram had a Radiation Value of 1, then Dave’s force would count as being within radiation range of it,
while Joe’s force would not.
• If, however, the radiation leak at that Reactor tile worsened and its Radiation Value was increased to 2, then Joe’s force would then count
as being within radiation range of it.

29
 If either player’s force is within radiation range of any Reactor tiles, then the following radiation effects will take place for that battle:

Comms Interference: In the first two battle rounds, when attempting to set up a Reinforcements or Strategic Reserves unit, roll one D6: on a
1-2, that unit cannot be set up that turn.

Radiation Sickness: After the battle, if playing a Crusade battle, the player that lost the game rolls one D6: on a 2+, they select one unit from
their army (this does not have to be a unit that was destroyed) and generate one Battle Scar for that unit.

Reactor Damage: After the battle, if either player’s force was on a Reactor tile itself, roll one D6, adding 2 if the player on that tile lost the
battle: on a 4+, the radiation leak worsens; replace that tile with a Reactor tile that has a Radiation Value one higher than the current one. A
Reactor tile’s Radiation Value cannot go above 2.

AFTER THE BATTLE

After the battle, starting with the winner, each player moves their force on the campaign map. The winner can move up to two spaces, while
their opponent can move one space. Players are able to move diagonally, as shown in the sequence opposite.

Each time a player moves onto a tile:

• If that tile is still face down, flip it over to reveal what type of District tile it is.
• If that District tile has any effects that take place when a player moves on to it, resolve those effects now.

The two tiles that have such effects are:

ACCESS NODE TILES

Each time a player’s force moves on to this tile, they gain the Access Protocol Sigil tile specified on that tile. The Campaign Master should
make a note of this and, if it is a Crusade campaign, that player should make a note of this on their Order of Battle.

ARCHEOVAULT TILES
The archeovaults store powerful repositories of technology and esoteric energy. Some of it may be Necron in origin and phased into
existence by Crypteks to aid the Canoptek forces in their fight against the planet’s invaders. Others may be mechanisms of numerous races
hoarded by the tomb’s architects or ancient treasures once held in this district by the city’s Imperial rulers and now buried in the ruins. If a
player’s force moves onto an Archeovault tile and that player has the Access Protocol Sigil tile that is specified on that tile, they can venture
into it. Each player can only venture into each archeovault once.

When a player ventures into an archeovault they can select one weapon that a Character model can be equipped with (excluding Relics) and
augment it with the technology or energies they find within the vault. If the player is using a Crusade force, they must select one weapon that
is carried by a Character model on their Order of Battle. Each weapon can only be augmented in this manner once. Roll one D6 and consult
the table below to see which effect this has on the weapon.

D6 Effect
1-2 Kinetometric Adaptation: Add 1 to the Damage characteristic of this weapon.

Hyperphasal Shards: Each time an attack is made with this weapon, invulnerable saving throws cannot be made
3-4
against that attack.

Chronoghast Transducers: Each time the bearer shoots with or fights with this weapon, it makes 2 additional attacks
5-6
with this weapon.

30
The Campaign Master should make a note of any weapon augmentations and:

• If it is a Crusade campaign, that player should make a note of this augmentation on the bearer’s Crusade card and increase that unit’s
Crusade points by 1.
• If it is not a Crusade campaign, then when mustering their army in future games, that player can give that augmentation to one instance
of that weapon that a Character model in their army is carrying.

ABANDONED
3 HAB-DISTRICT

FLASHPOINT NEPHILIM
4 ARCHEOVAULT HIGH-SECURITY ABANDONED
5 QUARTER 3 HAB-DISTRICT

When moved on to, if you have

the Access Protocol, you
can open this archeovault.

SHATTERED HIGH-SECURITY
2 DEFENCES 5 QUARTER

• Joe wins a battle, so he can move his force two spaces on the campaign map.
• For his first move, he moves his force one space to the right onto the Abandoned Hab-district tile.

ABANDONED
3 HAB-DISTRICT

4 ARCHEOVAULT HIGH-SECURITY ABANDONED

5 QUARTER 3 HAB-DISTRICT

When moved on to, if you have

the Access Protocol, you
can open this archeovault.

SHATTERED HIGH-SECURITY
2 DEFENCES 5 QUARTER

• For his second move, he moves his force diagonally up and to the right.
• This tile is still face down, so he flips it to reveal…

6 ACCESS NODE

When moved on to, you gain

the Access Protocol.

…an Access Node tile.

• Joe resolves that tile’s effects, with his force gaining the Access Protocol Sigil tile.

31
 WINNING THE CAMPAIGN
At the start of the campaign, all players begin with 0 Campaign points. The campaign is broken into two phases.

Vault Hunters
During the bulk of the campaign, the players will be scoring points from venturing into the Archeovault tiles, with those that gain earlier
access securing the best loot. Each time a player does so, they will score a number of Campaign points based on how many other players
have already ventured into that tile beforehand, as shown in the table below.

Player that Ventured Into that Archeovault Tile Campaign Points Scored
First to do so 3

Second to do so 2

Third to do so 1

Any later players 0

Once there is a single player who has ventured into all three vaults, the other players can make any pending moves they still have left to
make, and the campaign enters its final stage, the Honour Battles stage.

Honour Battles
During the Honour Battles stage, each player will be able to issue a single challenge to one of the other players within the campaign. With
warring commanders perhaps manipulated by psycho-gnomic echoes of the tomb’s feudal command protocols or grown embittered over the
course of vicious street battles, these challenges cannot be turned down, and the two parties must play a game together. If a player wins the
game against the person that they challenged, they will score a number of Campaign points based on their opponent’s standing at the start of
this phase. While the top player may be worth the most points, they may also be the hardest to defeat, so choose your opponent wisely.

The Campaign points each player will be worth are shown in the table below.

Player Standings at the End of the First Stage Campaign Points

First 4

Second 3

Third 2

Fourth 1

If any players are tied in these standings, they are worth the higher of those standings’ Campaign points. And if two players both
challenge each other, they just play one game with everything on the line. It is possible for a player to receive multiple challenges and
have to play multiple games against different opponents, but they can only score Campaign points from the battle against the person they
themselves challenged.

After all challenge battles have been fought, the players tally their Campaign points and the victor is determined. Make sure to keep a note
of the order of the players’ standings at this point as it will have an important impact on the next part of the campaign, when the players will
descend into the claustrophobic corridors and hallways deep within the bowels of the Necron tomb. This will be presented in a future issue
of White Dwarf.

32
EXPANDING THE EXPERIENCE
This campaign is designed to work best with two to four players, but it can easily be expanded to accommodate higher player counts or
to have a more expansive map if players just want the campaign to last for a longer period of time. This can be achieved by picking up
additional copies of this issue in order to add more District tiles to your tile pool.

For larger map layouts, the number of Archeovault tiles should still remain at 3, with the following recommendations for the other elements
of the map (when mixing in additional tiles in, we recommend ensuring a fairly even mix between the different Energy Signature types).

FLASHPOINT NEPHILIM
EXTRA PLAYERS
Number of Players Map Width Map Height Number of Reactor Tiles
5 5 tiles 5 tiles 2

6 6 tiles 5 tiles 2

7+ 6 tiles 6 tiles 3

Longer Duration Campaign

Duration Map Width Map Height Number of Reactor Tiles
Extended 7 tiles 4 tiles 2

Epic 7 tiles 5 tiles 3

THEATRE OF WAR: QUIESCENT THREAT

Through subtlety or careful reconnaissance, rival forces have evaded the worst of the tomb’s defences, or are at least taking advantage of an
apparent faltering in their protocols, emboldening warriors to surge forward aggressively. Still, packs of Canoptek constructs roam this district on
hunting circuits, and advance scouting of the area has prioritised the locating of ideal defences and fire points from which to secure this territory.

Aggressive Advance: In the first battle round, add 2 to Advance rolls.

Reconnoitred Defences: While a unit is receiving the benefits of cover from a terrain feature, it receives the benefits of Dense Cover, Light
Cover and Heavy Cover.

Each player has access to the following Stratagems:

OPPORTUNISTIC DYNAMISM [1CP] PLANNED WITHDRAWAL  [1CP]

Battle Tactic Stratagem Strategic Ploy Stratagem

Advance reconnaissance of the district has identified miraculously Contingencies and backup strategies wrought through the meticulous
intact channels amidst the crumbling buildings, avenues through scouting of this city quarter can be enacted in an instant, enabling
which those with the will to take advantage can press forward with warriors to withdraw along pre-planned routes in good order while
rapid assaults. maintaining effective firepower.

Use this Stratagem in your Movement phase, when a unit from your Use this Stratagem in your Movement phase, when a unit from your
army is selected to Advance. Until the end of the turn, that unit is army is selected to Fall Back. Until the end of the turn, that unit is
eligible to declare a charge in a turn in which it Advanced. eligible to shoot in a turn in which it Fell Back.

33
 THEATRE OF WAR: DESPERATE DEFENCES
The esoteric defences of the vast Necron tomb are increasingly widespread, the danger they represent and the severity of their interference making
manoeuvres doubly risky. Orders are disseminated warning troops to exercise greater caution and to take advantage of as much remaining cover
as possible. It is not just the enemy or the tomb’s mobile guardians they must beware; outcrops of sinister rock spear upwards, and glowing veins
of energy or throbbing mechanisms tell of the power awakening far below.

Shrouded Firepoint: Each time a model makes a ranged attack, if its unit is wholly within an Area Terrain feature, improve the Armour
Penetration characteristic of that attack by 1.

Inspirational Aggression: Character units are eligible to perform Heroic Interventions if they are within 6" horizontally and 5" vertically of
any enemy units, and when doing so, each model in that unit can move up to 6". All other rules for Heroic Interventions still apply.

Each player has access to the following Stratagems:

BLACKSTONE SPARS [1CP] ENERGISTIC CONDUIT  [1CP]

Battle Tactic Stratagem Wargear Stratagem

Seemingly extruded by the rising tomb, nodules and pillars of
blackstone – or noctilith – appear threaded throughout this district,
the strange material hampering esoteric energies around them.
Use this Stratagem in any phase, when a unit from your army
would suffer a mortal wound. Until the end of the phase, each time
a model in that unit would lose a wound as a result of a mortal
wound, roll one D6: on a 5+, that wound is not lost.
Despite rapid ministrations by Canoptek constructs, ruptures in the
tomb’s visible portions are still evident. Those who dare are able to
siphon minute amounts of cosmic energy from exposed conduits to
grant their weapons greater power.
Use this Stratagem in your Shooting phase, when a unit from your
army that is within range of an objective marker you control is
selected to shoot. Until that unit has finished making those shooting
attacks, each time a model in that unit makes an attack, add 1 to any
damage roll made for that attack.

34
THEATRE OF WAR: CITYSCAPE SUBJUGATION
The most dangerous districts are saturated with guardian automata and flickering energies, the tomb’s hyper-intelligent master program
unleashing vast resources to obliterate the accretion of the living it detects above it. Pylon arrays douse the city remnants in distortion fields to
destabilise cellular regeneration, and the master program coordinates arcane weapons via its ancient protocols, launching munitions of terrifying
power that target gatherings of interlopers at key sites.

Enmitic Distortions: The first time in each phase that a unit is selected as the target of an attack, roll one D6: on a 4+, until the end of the

FLASHPOINT NEPHILIM
phase, that unit cannot make use of any rules that allow it or the models in it to ignore wounds.

Annihilation Protocols: From the second battle round onwards, at the start of the battle round, roll one D6, adding the current battle round
number: on a 7+, the Annihilation Protocols are enacted. When the Annihilation Protocols are enacted, roll one D6 for each unit within
range of an objective marker: on a 2-4, that unit suffers D3 mortal wounds; on a 5+, that unit suffers 3 mortal wounds. The Annihilation
Protocols can only be enacted once per battle.

Each player has access to the following Stratagems:

PROTOCOL PROVOCATION  [2CP] TO THE LIVING THE SPOILS  [2CP]

Epic Deed Stratagem Strategic Ploy Stratagem

Especially daring or reckless intruders attempt to galvanise the Vicious rivalries and personal blood debts are the cause of many
crypto-technological defences of the emerging tomb, hoping in their murderous actions, but behind many honour kills is the sole intention
desperation to draw more death down upon their rivals and free up to remove competitors for the technological treasures rumoured to lie
more plunder for themselves. within the tomb.

Use this Stratagem at the start of the battle round, if you control at
least one objective marker, before rolling to see if the Annihilation
Protocols are enacted. Add 1 to that roll. Each player can only use
this Stratagem once.
Use this Stratagem in your opponent’s Movement phase, when a
unit from their army that is within Engagement Range of one or
more units from your army is selected to Fall Back. Select one of
those units from your army. That unit can fight as if it were the Fight
phase, but, when resolving those attacks, models in that unit can
only target the unit that was selected to Fall Back.

35
 ECHOES FROM
THE WARP
How ‘flow’ can benefit you on the battlefield
‘F
DUNCAN WAUGH
Duncan is one of the
Warhammer 40,000 games
developers. Over the last
few years, he has worked
on many codexes, rule
books and supplements,
ensuring that the rules and
stat lines represent what
we expect our models to
do on the battlefield.
Accordingly, his WS and
BS are both 2+.
36
low’, as a term within certain of mental clarity. For others, it might take the
disciplines of psychology, refers to form of something more physical, such as a
a mental state that the human body runner’s high, where it feels like the world
can enter into. It has been well moves around them. Sadly, bereft of the
understood within the realm of video games necessary dedication and determination to
for some time now but over the past 15 years achieve either of those higher planes of
or so has spread like wildfire within the field existence, I prefer to get my hit of flow from
of tabletop game design, and it is a significant classic eighties arcade games, wherein the
factor in the modern-day renaissance of both bright, colourful sprites and blaring sounds
board and miniature games as a whole.
The human brain can do a lot of incredible
things. When you think about something as
inherent to us as sight, that lump of grey
matter knocking about in our skulls does a
huge amount of processing work on the
imagery it receives. Be it filling in missing
details with what it guesses might be there,
pruning the mountains of unnecessary data
down to something understandable or
applying all manner of complex filtering and
post-processing algorithms to this noise – it’s
one of the most demonstrably intricate parts
of our psyches. Even something as simple as
recognising a face and determining what
kind of expression it is making is far from
simple, as anyone with prosopagnosia (the
inability to recognise faces) will tell you. And
that’s something the average person typically
does thousands of times a day! And all of this
is why flow is so important, because as
humans we are constantly bombarded with
stimuli, and it can be tiring. So very tiring…
Flow refers to when a person can enter a state
of such complete focus on a task that they can
block out a lot of these competing
distractions. Their ability to perform the task
becomes easier and easier, feeling almost
effortless in its execution. Some will liken it
to a meditative state, achieving zen-like levels
can transport you to the sort of place where
time passes quickly, and before you know it,
it’s… well… Let’s just say, sleep is overrated.
This factors into game design in a couple of
key ways. Firstly, if you ensure your game’s
mechanics hijack parts of the brain’s
programming that it is already pre-
conditioned to perform well at, not only do
you make your game easier to pick up and
play, but it also makes it easier for the player
to master. This ensures that games play out
faster, that there’s a smooth progression in
terms of player growth and that there are
generally fewer rough edges for them to catch
themselves on (those ‘gotcha’ moments where
one player gets caught out by something that’s
either obtuse or narratively incongruent).
In addition, flow is crucial to immersion
– avoiding unduly complicated decisions that
pull the player out of the experience. This
encompasses both gameplay engagement
(elements such as the core mechanics, trying
to outmanoeuvre your foe, etc.) and narrative
immersion (for example, an Ogryn hitting
harder than a grot).
One of the most demonstrable examples of
the power of flow came in the arena of AI
research. In 1997, Garry Kasparov, a chess
grandmaster and world champion, was
beaten in a six-game match by a computer
called Deep Blue. Chess, for all its excellent
qualities, is a very abstract game. Each piece
moves distinctly, with the ultimate goal of
pinning the enemy’s king. The way pieces
move is non-obvious, with little logic or
ECHOES FROM THE WARP
justification as to why they behave the way
they do, and a beginner will find it very hard
to look at a board state mid-match and
correctly analyse it. Compare this with Go, a
similarly ancient Chinese game in which
players take it in turns to place stones on a
grid in an attempt to surround their
opponent and envelop their territory. It
would take nearly two decades of additional
research (and considerably greater financial
investment) for AI to reach a similar skill
level at Go as it has with chess.
So why was Go so much harder for machines
to beat the human mind at? On the one hand,
yes, the number of moves a Go player can
make in a turn is an order of magnitude
higher than in chess, and this certainly was a
factor. But a big part of the problem was that
Go is much more closely aligned with the
kind of problem-solving that our brains are
naturally good at. A new player can look at a
Reading a game should be easy. These Havocs
carry Heavy weapons, which suggests that
they can probably do a fair amount of damage
in the shooting phase. It’s logical really!
37
 In gaming terms, what you see should be what
you get. The bigger the target, the nastier it is
likely to be. The more armour it wears, the more
deadly the guns you’ll need to take it down!
Go board and very easily get a sense of which
colour is dominating the other. Simply put,
it’s easier for a Go player to enter a state of
flow than it is in chess. And so, besides
allowing for a more seamless experience, a
game designed around a tight flow
implementation can also have the rather
beneficial effect of raising the players’ skill
ceilings.
WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET
A huge part of helping to make Warhammer
40,000 read clearly and ensure it is easily
understandable (particularly given the
massive range of armies and models that the
game supports) is to make sure that both
rules and models have a clear and cognizant
alignment between one another. There needs
to be consistency across the range as a whole
so that the statistics and abilities found within
the rules mesh cleanly with the game’s many
visual cues.
So, if one model is bigger than another, then
this should be represented in the form of
some sort of durability buff – most likely
their Toughness or Wounds characteristic.
While if one of them is more armoured, the
same logic applies, but this time we would be
looking at the Save characteristic. When done
38
well, a player’s opponent can immediately get
a feel for which of their weapons should
shoot at which targets without even having to
ask a single question of their opponent. The
guns that do more damage are probably
better off against the bigger models, while the
ones that are better at punching through
armour are probably best utilised against
those guys wearing layer upon layer of
ceramite.
The same holds for wargear and weapons. A
gun with a longer barrel can shoot further. A
firearm with a bigger calibre of round will
probably hit harder. The weapon that has
some form of muzzle brake should probably
have less recoil, and so might be more suited
to being a Rapid Fire weapon or maybe even
have a higher number of shots.
There’s going to be that sci-fi, fantastical
element, and that is where the nuance comes
in – adding all those crazy, dramatic bits from
the lore that makes the 41st Millennium so
compelling without losing the huge gains we
get from making the battlefield readable to
the casual observer. And, as you scale this up
to factor in stacking abilities and other,
similar rules effects, the complexity of the
task grows significantly.

All of this culminates in the concept of
functional believability, wherein units need to
be able to do things on the tabletop that make
sense. They need to move and interact with
the scenery in believable ways, their resilience
to different types of damage needs to work in
the context of the universe they inhabit, and
the kinds of models they prey on (or are prey
to) should feel appropriate.
EVOLUTIONARY HEADSPACE
This brings us to the design of the core rules
themselves and how they fit into this design
methodology. The biggest factor we take into
account is movement: the balance between
the threat ranges of infantry and mechanised
forces, the way encircled units become
trapped and suffer damage, even the way
Strategic Reserves represents the deployment
of rapid reaction forces. All of these ensure a
smooth flow of movement across the turns,
which we link to the placement of objective
markers to give games of Warhammer 40,000
their desired pacing.
Things such as pile-in and consolidation
moves help prevent mechanically rigid table
states, while Heroic Interventions exist to
ensure there aren’t arbitrary barriers to
engagement that would both break the
ECHOES FROM THE WARP
narrative and essentially create ugly gotcha
moments (you’ll notice these two aspects
often go hand in hand together). This is also
the reason why Overwatch was moved to a
Stratagem in this edition, as it went from
representing a critical defensive stand at a key
location to a mechanic that, if overly abused,
could lock down large swathes of the board,
essentially creating an uneven and ‘bitty’
experience for the opponent.
In addition, line of sight blocking terrain with
the Obscuring rule has risen to prominence
in this edition due to a similar design choice,
because working out sight lines and fields of
fire is something we are inherently good at.
It’s not an abstract concept in the way that the
benefits of cover can be, and it is something
clear and readable no matter a player’s
background.
SUMMARY
In conclusion, as games designers, our task is
FUTURE ECHOES
to make models behave as they look, to make If you’ve got an idea you
armies play like they are described in the lore would like to see explored
and to ensure the actions that can be in Echoes From the Warp,
let us know, and we will
performed within the game piggyback on the get on the vox to the 40K
millennia of evolutionary biology that has team straight away!
shaped the way we as a species view and
team@whitedwarf.co.uk
think about the world. Simple, really!
39
KILL TEAM ENGAGE!
I
Five Dwarfers. Five t’s month three of the Dwarfers’ Kill Team
campaign, and things are certainly hotting
kill teams. A whole
up. Over the last month, the five players
lot of carnage. This have got to grips with their teams,
time: the first Spec mastering the rules for their operatives, what
Ops are completed! Strategic and Tactical Ploys to use when, and
the best ways to achieve their Tac Ops. Well,
for the most part…
A flurry of gaming has seen the majority of
the team complete the first operations in their
Spec Ops campaigns. Sophie completed her
operation first, despite a string of tragic
battlefield performances with her Void-
dancer Troupe. She was closely followed by
Lyle, who successfully krumped five
opponents in a row with his Ork
Kommandos. Dan and Matt completed their
first operations soon after, one using little red
laser dots and high-powered guns, the other
using unnatural flamethrowers and even
more unnatural space magic. Bringing up the
rear of the pack (or, in his words, providing a
40
tactical rearguard) is Ben, whose Veteran
Guardsmen have struggled to complete their
Tac Ops despite his best efforts.
NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES
With conflict comes experience but also
injuries. And, at times, fatalities. All five of
our kill team commanders now have Veteran
operatives among their ranks – grizzled
warriors who have entered the crucible of war
and emerged more ruthless, more resourceful
and more deadly as a result. However, some
unfortunate fighters have staggered out of the
same messy crucible a little more scathed
than they would like. The T’au have taken a
particular beating in this respect, having
received more Battle Scars (normally in
combat) than any other team. However, the
Veteran Guardsmen are the only kill team to
suffer any fatalities – three so far! Unless you
include Lyle’s Bomb Squigs. The squig death
tally now sits at five, the majority of which
have been enthusiastic self-detonations.

HULL BREACH!
The latest expansion for Warhammer 40,000: Kill
Team is set in the claustrophobic confines of a derelict
space hulk – the Gallowdark. Badly lit corridors, low
ceilings and heavy doors with unexpected enemies
lurking behind them are the norm in such places. It’s
not dissimilar to the White Dwarf corner of the
Warhammer Studio, come to think of it.
KILL TEAM ENGAGE!
Keen to try out the new rules for this version of the
game, the Dwarfers have harangued the Kill Team
team (the KTT, as they’re more commonly known)
into giving them an introductory game before they
tackle the Gallowdark proper. You can find out how
they get on next issue when they begin their new
campaign. Torches are recommended.
41
ORK KOMMANDOS

SQUIG GAMES
Lyle: As of right now (as in, about five everything he could to stop me scoring it.
minutes ago – this is live reporting, people!) I Fortunately, the dice weren’t always on his
have completed my first Spec Op! side (see Not Quite Da Killin’ Blow opposite).

LYLE LOWERY
Lyle recently got into
trouble with animal rights
groups when they found
out he’d been mistreating
his squigs. Apparently,
throwing tasty treats at
enemy operatives and
shouting ‘fetch!’ is just not
on. He’s trying to make a
case that their dynamite
jackets are to keep them
warm in winter.
This victory is somewhat bittersweet,
however, as I also suffered my first defeat in
the campaign so far against Matt and his
Warpcoven. It was a tricky mission because
the Execution Tac Op requires you to
incapacitate more enemy operatives than they
incapacitate of yours over the course of two
Turning Points. The issue I had was that Matt
only fielded six operatives – three Sorcerers
and three Rubric Marines – all of which were
monstrously hard to kill. I knew he would be
coming towards me to complete his own Tac
Ops (his fly-the-Sorcerer-off-the-board-as-
quickly-as-possible strategy has become
somewhat infamous by this point), but he
played particularly cautiously and did
So what have I learned recently? First off,
Ambusher is an amazing Battle Honour (see
below) that both of my ‘big guns’ now have. I
also tend to pick Infiltrate during the
Scouting step so that I can change a third
operative’s order from Conceal to Engage if I
need to. It means I can stay hidden for as long
as possible before shooting.
I’ve also found giving Bruze an extra action
to be extremely good fun. With an extra
action, he can smash through a wall, then
chuck a stick of dynamite at someone (it’s
Unwieldy, so it costs 2AP to use). This tactic
worked especially well against Ben, whose
Guardsmen just love huddling up together!

JAK OF ALL TRADES

His name is Jak, and he is deff! As in death, not deaf. Jak is
arguably my most successful operative as he is now an Ace! This is
mostly thanks to the Fearsome Reputation Requisition, which has
seen him rack up experience very quickly. I’m pleased to say that
he’s won pretty much every fight he’s ever been in. First, he’s a
Duellist, which means his opponents are at -1 Weapon Skill when
fighting him in combat. He’s also Stalwart, which means he doesn’t
suffer the effects of being injured during a game, so he never fights
at anything less than his full potential. Also of note is Zuka, who
has now acquired the Ambusher Battle Honour. This means he can
start the game on Conceal orders, then change to Engage at the
optimum moment to fire a rokkit at someone. Boom!

SNEAKY LADZ
NUMBER OPERATIVE OPERATIVE TYPE NOTES XP RANK
1 Grok Throatslitta Nob Power Klaw, Shifty 10 Veteran
2 Zippa Grot Runner 6 Veteran
3 Jak Slasha Boy Duellist, Stalwart 24 Ace
4 Dak Dakka Boy Ambusher 7 Veteran
5 Bruze Breacha Boy Thievin’ Git 10 Veteran
6 Ragga Snipa Boy Sharpshooter 9 Veteran
7 Reddik Burna Boy 4 Adept
8 Mouf Comms Boy 3 Adept
9 Zarbutz Boy 0 Adept
10 Pop Bomb Squig 0 Adept
11 Zuka Rokkit Boy Ambusher 13 Veteran
12 Gordok Boy +++ OPERATIVE ASSIGNED +++ 0 Adept
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

42
 NOT QUITE DA KILLIN’ BLOW IT’S EASY BEING GREEN
My game against Matt proved to be extremely tense because Last issue, I mentioned how I’d painted
rather than aim to complete his Tac Op, Matt instead tried to kill my Orks’ skin in different tones to add
my Kommandos! Despite the huge amount of damage he dealt, variety to my mob. I thought it would be
he somehow only incapacitated one of my operatives, but three worth expanding on that and providing a
(including Grok) were left on one wound at the end of the game. few examples. All of the Orks below were
undercoated with Chaos Black and
sprayed with a zenithal layer of Corax

KILL TEAM ENGAGE!

White. I then used various Contrast,
Layer and Base paints to glaze the green
skin tone onto the miniatures. For some
models, such as Dak, this was the only
paint I applied. For others, I then
highlighted the skin as normal.

DAK
Basecoat: Ork Flesh

ZARBUTZ
Basecoat: Caliban
Green
Wash: Nuln Oil

DA MEASURIN’
GAUGE
I got creative this month JAK
and made my own Orky Basecoat: Skarsnik
measuring device. I cut Green
some 1mm plasticard to Wash: Coelia
the correct dimensions for Greenshade
the gauge (3", 2" and 1"), Highlight: Nurgling
then modelled Ork glyphs Green
and shapes onto it to
mimic the Kill Team logo. I GROK
gave it a battered, scuffed Basecoat: Warboss
up look, with lots of Green
missing chunks and Wash: Coelia
scratched paintwork to Greenshade
make it feel like an
in-world Orky artefact.

REQUISITION LEDGER REQUISITION

TRANSACTION DEBIT/CREDIT DETAILS POINTS
STASH: STRATEGIC ASSETS:
Starting Balance +5

5
• Harpoon • Tactical Uplink
Equipment Drop -1 [4] Slugga, Choppa
• 2x Stikkbomb • Loot Hoard
Game Played +1 [5]
• Sledgehammer
Operative Assigned -1 [4] Gordok
• 2x Dynamite
Equipment Drop -1 [3] Dynamite, Climbing Rope
Game Played +1 [4] • 2x Climbing Rope
Spec Op Completed +1 [5] Blitz, +1 Asset Capacity • Slugga
• Choppa ASSET CAPACITY

SPEC OP: BLITZ

(Operation 1) Rapid Assaults: 100%

(Operation 2) Killing Blow: Complete

43
HARLEQUIN VOID-DANCER TROUPE

SUPER TROUPERS
SOPHIE BOSTOCK
Some say that Sophie is a
particularly cruel Lead
Player, as she throws her
Harlequins into battle with
little thought for their
safety or wellbeing. Her
‘tough love’ approach to
warfare seems to be
working, though, as they
have completed their Spec
Op and gained a number
of Battle Honours.
Sophie: It’s been a tough road, but I’m super
happy that I chose a Void-dancer Troupe as
my kill team. Aeldari often have a reputation
for being a bit fragile and, if you use them
incorrectly, they will die easily. But that’s part
of the fun because you have to think very
carefully and tactically about every move. It’s
an exciting challenge. Despite my many losses
(oh, so many!), I have enjoyed every game
I’ve played, and my kill team has actually still
progressed pretty well. I was the first member
of the team to complete my Spec Op, and I
even started a second one before we decided
we’ll be heading Into the Dark next issue.
One of my key learning points over my last
few games has been using the Saedath
properly. Initially, I wasn’t sure how it worked
or benefitted my Troupe, but once I got the
hang of it, I realised how useful the Allegories
can be. Tragedy is pretty easy to get into play
and can mean the difference between life and
death for a Player, while Odyssey can be a
nasty little surprise for opponents who think
they’re just out of range of a Charge action.
What I’ve really enjoyed about Kill Team so
far is seeing my Players gain ranks and the
stories they’ve created for themselves. The
Moon Seer, for example, is just a regular
Player. I’m quite reckless with her, chucking
her into the fight so that my more valuable
Players don’t get shot. Yet she almost always
survives my games. Her crowning glory was
surviving two rounds of combat against one
of Matt’s Sorcerers. At the end of the game,
she ranked up, and I randomly rolled the
Resilient Battle Honour for her, which felt
very fitting. I’m looking forward to seeing
what stories come up in the Gallowdark.

TINY DANCERS
The last few games have seen the majority of my Troupe attain the
rank of Veteran, while my Shadowseer – the Golden Hunter – has
become an Ace. My Shadowseer is, without a doubt, my most
deadly fighter, and he’s gained loads of experience since I gave him
the Requisition, The Role of the Fallen. Sure, he has to be
incapacitated to get the extra XP, but that pretty much always
happens anyway! His Battle Honours so far are Resilient and
Whimsical, the latter giving me the ability to get out of (or in to)
trouble more easily. Other fighters to watch out for are the Sky
King and the Comet Princess, both of whom now have the
Virtuoso Battle Honour. Being able to shoot or fight twice at a
crucial moment has proved extremely useful in my games.

CAST OF THE CRIMSON SUN

NUMBER OPERATIVE OPERATIVE TYPE NOTES XP RANK
1 The Sky King Lead Player Fusion Pistol, Kiss, Virtuoso, Grand Role 11 Veteran
2 The Redtide Prince Death Jester Death From Above 9 Veteran
3 The Golden Hunter Shadowseer Neuro Disruptor, The Role of the Fallen, Whimsical, Resilient 16 Ace
4 The Moon Seer Player Shuriken Pistol, Kiss, Resilient 9 Veteran
5 The Star Queen Player Shuriken Pistol, Kiss 4 Adept
6 The Redtide King Player Shuriken Pistol, Blade, Duellist 9 Veteran
7 The Hidden Knight Player Shuriken Pistol, Kiss, Calculated 7 Veteran
8 The Comet Princess Player Shuriken Pistol, Kiss, Virtuoso 10 Veteran
9 The Dawn Lord Player Shuriken Pistol, Embrace 0 Adept
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

44
 BLUE FOAM, BLACKSTONE
I started working on my Blackstone
Fortress-inspired killzone last month,
and this is where I am with the project so
far. I wanted to represent the maze-like
interior of the Blackstone Fortress, so I
busted out my set and laid out the game
tiles around the board. I then raised

KILL TEAM ENGAGE!

them to different heights using sections
of blue insulation foam that I cut into
hexagonal columns. The plan is to
texture them and paint the board, then
glue the Blackstone Fortress tiles on top
to create an other-worldly environment.

SOME SERIOUS SCHOOLING

This month, I challenged Elliot Hamer – the Kill Team
games developer – to a match. It went both well and
badly for me! As you’d expect, I lost, but I did
complete two of my Tac Ops, and I learned a few
valuable tactics along the way. First, you have to play
Ork Kommandos at their own game. They are
annoyingly sneaky, so I had to be even more so. I
found the best way to deal with the Orks was to move
behind them using Dash (or Charge) actions, then use
my extra action point to shoot or fight in combat.
Basically out-sneak the sneaks! My Shadowseer also
proved pivotal when he used Mirror of Minds to psych
the Kommando Nob to death. Sadly, I concentrated
too much on killing operatives (six in total!) rather
than taking objectives, which enabled Elliot to claim a
solid 17–8 victory. Still, valuable lessons were learned.

REQUISITION LEDGER REQUISITION

TRANSACTION DEBIT/CREDIT DETAILS POINTS
STASH: STRATEGIC ASSETS:
Starting Balance +2

5
• Support Grip • Loretrove
Game Played +1 [3]
• Pure Psychocrystals • Expanded Armoury
Game Played +1 [4]
• Prismatic Grenade
Asset Acquired -1 [3] Expanded Armoury
• Accelerated
Operative Assigned -1 [2] The Dawn Lord – Player
Game Played +1 [3] Monofilament Wire
Requisition -1 [2] Grand Role ASSET CAPACITY
Game Played +1 [3] Prophecy Fulfilled

2
Spec Op Completed +3 [5] +3 Requisition Points
Accelerated Monofilament
Equipment Drop -1 [4]
Wire
Game Played +1 [5]

SPEC OP: DANCE ALONG THE THREADS OF FATE

(Operation 1) Intricate Steps: 100%

(Operation 2) Prophecy Fulfilled: Complete

45
THOUSAND SONS WARPCOVEN

CHANGE OF PLANS
Matt: It’s official – I like using psychic
powers. I especially like using them to kill
stuff. More Sorcerers casting more powers
and slaying more enemies of Tzeentch is
definitely a good thing.
cover and change from Engage to Conceal so
that he can’t be targeted. This has caught
several members of the team out, though I
imagine its only a matter of time before they
come up with ways to counter it.

MATT HUTSON
As a valued servant of the
Architect of Fate, Matt has
been gifted with many
wonderful Boons of
Tzeentch. His ability to
read minds is unparalleled.
His skill at Temporal
Manipulation is second to
none. The tiny mutant arm
he keeps hidden under his
jumper is… useful for
opening doors.
So what underhand tactics have I been
devising? Well, Exalted Astartes is definitely
my go-to Strategic Ploy as it enables Sanakht
Bekti to fight twice (see below) or Merhet
Maat to shoot twice. The combination of
warpflame pistol and Doombolt is usually
enough to kill several weaker foes (Ben) or
one nasty one (Lyle) in a single activation.
Capricious Plan is a Tactical Ploy that I’ve
taken to using. After activating a Sorcerer, I
can then perform a free Dash action and
change his order. This means I can fly Merhet
Maat in, burn something, then dash off into
One tactic I still haven’t quite got my head
around is using Rubric Command to give a
Rubric Marine an additional action point.
They can’t move and dash, and I don’t really
want them in combat, but I guess it could be
useful to complete mission actions. Sadly my
Sorcerers are always off enjoying themselves
and tend to leave the Rubric Marines behind.
Lastly, I feel that Amen’ket, my Tzaangor
Champion, deserves a special mention. His
attacks are now Brutal, Lethal 5+ and Savage,
making him a proper combat nightmare. He’s
going to love Into the Dark!

THE ONE-MAN MAGIC ARMY

My game with Ben (see opposite) saw four of my operatives rise to
the rank of Veteran. Despite being a later addition to the team,
Sanakht Bekti has already become a Veteran, mainly because he
does most of the hard work! The combination of 3APL, Time-
walker, Warp Swell, the Relentless rule for his Prosperine khopesh
and Exalted Astartes makes him vicious in combat. He is very
likely to inflict at least 25 damage when he makes a Fight action,
and there are few enemy operatives that can stop (or absorb) that
much damage! Lastly, the Psychic Dominion Strategic Ploy is
useful as it enables me (well, Sanakht) to cast two powers a turn.
Fluxblast is handy for taking out wounded operatives, while
Temporal Manipulation is perfect for healing my own fighters.

PRODIGAL SONS
NUMBER OPERATIVE OPERATIVE TYPE NOTES XP RANK
1 Merhet Maat Sorcerer Warpflame Pistol, Destiny Discipline, Immaterial Flight, Temporal Manipulation 11 Veteran
2 Brother Onaris Rubric Marine Gunner Soulreaper Cannon 2 Adept
3 Brother Shen Rubric Marine Icon Bearer Unwavering 7 Veteran
4 Brother Kallisar Rubric Marine Warrior Unwavering 7 Veteran
5 Amen’ket Tzaangor Champion Savage 7 Veteran
6 Hor’tio Tzaangor Horn Bearer 1 Adept
7 Kh’nem Tzaangor Fighter Autopistol, Chainsword 1 Adept
8 P’Tra Tzaangor Fighter Autopistol, Chainsword 2 Adept
9 Sanakht Bekti Sorcerer Prosperine Khopesh, Tempyric Discipline, Time-walker, Warp Swell 10 Veteran
10 Amonhep Rhan Sorcerer +++ OPERATIVE ASSIGNED +++ Inferno Bolt Pistol, Warpfire Discipline, 0 Adept
Incorporeal Sight
11 Brother Metenh Rubric Marine Gunner +++ OPERATIVE ASSIGNED +++ Warpflamer 0 Adept
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19

46
 THE SOURCE(RER) OF ALL HIS POWER
I recruited my third Sorcerer this month
– the mighty Amonhep Rhan. Like my
other Sorcerers, he is an amalgamation
of two kits, combining the chest plate
from the Exalted Sorcerers kit with the
Sorcerer components from the Rubric
Marines. I also recruited Brother Metenh

KILL TEAM ENGAGE!

– a Rubric Marine Gunner with a
warpflamer – who I reckon will be pretty
useful in Into the Dark. I personalised
him with a Sorcerer’s pointing hand to
show him picking out his next victim.

A DUEL OF WITS
Ben’s clearly been learning
some tactics, because in our
game this month he took an
early lead in victory points.
He raced his Veterans out,
captured three objectives,
scored two Tac Ops then
killed a Tzaangor with his
first shot of the game!
Pinned in my corner of the
board, I had to break out. I
flew Merhet Maat around his
flank and started toasting
Guardsmen with his
warpflame pistol and
Doombolt, while Sanakht
Bekti got stuck into combat.
The Exalted Astartes
Strategic Ploy proved pivotal,
enabling me to fight twice in
each activation. I just made
sure I charged two
Guardsmen and chopped
both of them up! I won the
game by a single VP, using
Scry Secret to prise a VP out
of one of his Veteran’s heads.
Then I killed him…

REQUISITION LEDGER REQUISITION

TRANSACTION DEBIT/CREDIT DETAILS POINTS
STASH: STRATEGIC ASSETS:
Starting Balance +2

1
• 2x Gargoyle Bayonet • Herdstone
Game Played +1 [3]
• 3x Arcane Robes • Rebinding Altar
High Capacity Magazine
• 3x Gilded Horns
Equipment Drop -1 [2] (Inferno Boltgun),
• Sorcerous Scroll
Arcane Robes
Operative Assigned -1 [1] Sorcerer • High Capacity
Operative Assigned -1 [0] Rubric Marine Gunner Magazine
ASSET CAPACITY
Game Played +1 [1]

SPEC OP: ARCANE ARTEFACT

(Operation 1) Discern Location: 100%

(Operation 2) Extract Artefact: Incomplete

47
ASTRA MILITARUM VETERAN GUARDSMEN

MEDALS AND BANDAGES FOR ALL

BEN HUMBER
Ben went to the Field
Marshal Haig school of
military tactics, where he
developed his favoured
tactic of walking his troops
towards the enemy and
getting them shot. A Lot.
He’s planning on building
a shrine to all the kill team
operatives that he’s lost in
the campaign. That’s three
so far.
Ben: I’ve played a good number of games
now, and I feel I’m starting to get the hang of
my team and how best to use them.
Unfortunately, it seems to be the same story
for everyone else!
Victories have been few and far between for
the Astra Militarum, and I’m sad to say, there
have been losses along the way. ‘Rookie’ and
‘Digs’ have become permanent casualties,
though ‘Trench’ and ‘Hot-shot’ have been
drafted in as their (suspiciously similar-
looking) replacements. This means I can keep
my pool of Trooper Veterans at four, so I can
continue to field them as Ancillary Support.
Despite slow progress towards completing my
Spec Op, the lessons I’ve been learning in
defeat are staring to pay off. I’ve bought the
strategic asset Comms Network – which
allows me to re-roll for initiative once per
battle – and Expanded Armoury, upping my
equipment capacity by 4 extra points. Enough
for plenty of hot-shot capacitor packs.
Spending an early Command Point on Into
the Breach along with the Trooper’s Group
Activation of 2 means I can get to work
scoring objectives and Tac Ops early in the
game. It’s then been down to my Sniper and
Gunners to provide cover and try to stop my
opponent scoring points.
Sgt. ‘Bully’ Ketua has also developed a taste
for heroic last stands. Using the In Death,
Atonement Tactical Ploy lets him stay on the
field for one more activation after being
incapacitated. That gives him just enough
time to stagger towards someone and blast
them with his plasma pistol before
succumbing to his injuries.

WELL DONE, LOVELY BOYS!

The magnificently moustached Sgt. ‘Bully’ Ketua has become the
squad’s first to rise to the lofty rank of Veteran. As a reward, he’s
gained the Resilient Battle Honour, increasing his wounds from 8
to 10. This extra staunchness will hopefully allow him to remain
un-incapacitated for 25% longer, giving him more time to issue
Guardsmen Orders to the team. ‘Chef ’ Kebakaran also ranked up
to become a Veteran after some impressive heroics against Sophie’s
Void-dancer Troupe. Singeing several dancing xenos and taking a
vital objective (prior to incapacitation), he’s now a Crack Shot
with his flamer! This means ‘Chef ’ can now serve 1 mortal wound
with each critical hit. ‘Tash’ Thorne, ‘Zapper’ Hobbs and Trooper
‘Shiv’ also ascended, further honing their skills.

HUTANIAN BULLSHARKS
NUMBER OPERATIVE OPERATIVE TYPE NOTES XP RANK
1 Sgt. ‘Bully’ Ketua Sergeant Veteran Plasma Pistol, Power Weapon, Resilient 7 Veteran
2 ‘No 2’ Aji Confidant Veteran Bolt Pistol, Chainsword 5 Adept
3 ‘Operator 2’ Diell Comms Veteran 4 Adept
4 ‘Tash’ Thorne Sniper Veteran Sharpshooter 7 Veteran
5 ‘Bishop’ Irons Zealot Veteran 5 Adept
6 ‘Stitches’ Malika Medic Veteran 5 Adept
7 ‘Chef’ Kebakaran Gunner Veteran Flamer, Crack Shot 7 Veteran
8 ‘New Guy’ Gunner Veteran Plasma Gun 3 Adept
9 ‘Zapper’ Hobbs Gunner Veteran Meltagun, Decorated Veteran 6 Veteran
10 ‘Pins’ Deeler Gunner Veteran Grenade Launcher 2 Adept
11 ‘Shiv’ Payne Trooper Veteran Ancillary Support, Gun Ace 6 Veteran
12 ‘Digs’ Jacksen Trooper Veteran +++ K.I.A. +++ 2 Adept
12 ‘Hot-shot’ Niran Trooper Veteran +++ OPERATIVE ASSIGNED +++ Ancillary Support 3 Adept
13 ‘Taurox’ Binns Trooper Veteran Ancillary Support 5 Adept
14 ‘Rookie’ Sachs Trooper Veteran +++ K.I.A. +++ 0 Adept
14 ‘Trench’ Magnusson Trooper Veteran +++ OPERATIVE ASSIGNED +++ Ancillary Support 5 Adept
15
16
17
18

48
 WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE
I’ve made some progress with my
killzone scenery this month. My first
mission was to cut away some parts of
my building with a saw to make it look
battle damaged, then fill the gaps with
Creeping Vines and spare branches from
the Awakened Wyldwood kit to make the

KILL TEAM ENGAGE!

structure look overgrown. With my
building converted, I sprayed it Chaos
Black followed by Death Guard Green to
establish the base colour. I followed this
with drybrushes of Straken Green and
Karak Stone to give it a painted concrete
look. Washes of Agrax Earthshade and
Nuln Oil around the bottoms of the walls
helped make the structure look suitably
damp and swampy.

A VIEW T’AU A KILL

My closest game to date was
against Dan and his T’au. We
played Master the Terminals
on the board that Dan built,
which felt really cinematic
and intense. I used my Zealot
to sabotage the terrain while
my Trooper Veterans ran out
to activate the terminals.
Meanwhile, Tash sniped
three Pathfinders, enabling
him to rank up. My favourite
moment was when I goaded
Dan into fighting his Medical
Technician against my
Confidant Veteran in combat
– he’s a sucker for
cinematics! His medic got
suitably chainsworded,
losing him the objective. The
final score was a close 14–13
to Dan.

REQUISITION LEDGER REQUISITION

TRANSACTION DEBIT/CREDIT DETAILS POINTS
STASH: STRATEGIC ASSETS:
Starting Balance 3

1
• 4x Hot-shot Capacitor • Comms Network
Game Played +1 [4]
Asset Acquired -1 [3] Comms Network Pack • Expanded Armoury
Asset Acquired -1 [2] Expanded Armoury • 3x Krak Grenade
Equipment Drop -1 [1] 2x Hot-shot Capacitors • 2x Trench Shovel
Operative Assigned -1 [0] ‘Hot-shot’ Niran • Chronometer
Game Played +1 [1] ASSET CAPACITY
Operative Assigned -1 [0] ‘Trench’ Magnusson

2
Game Played +1 [1]

SPEC OP: GRAND OFFENSIVE

(Operation 1) Secure Approaches: 60%

(Operation 2) All Out Offensive: Incomplete

49
T’AU EMPIRE PATHFINDERS

A CASTE OF HEROES
DAN HARDEN
Dan’s mission to bring the
Greater Good to the galaxy
has taken another step
forward this month as he
has completed his Kauyon
Philosophy of War. Now
the patient hunter must
cast aside his camouflage
cloak and bring ruination
to his enemies with a
decisive killing blow. Nova
charged, of course!
Dan: Kauyon complete! I have completed the
first part of my Spec Op and mastered the
philosophy of the patient hunter. Now I must
embrace the way of the Mont’ka – the fabled
killing blow.
So, what’s been happening in the blue corner
over the last month? First off, I was really
excited to play some games on the killzone
that I built. It seems like the rest of the team
were excited to use it, too, as no sooner had I
finished my game with Lyle than Matt and
Ben were fighting over it. It certainly
provided for some excellent cinematic
moments, with operatives desperately trying
to hide behind ruined pillars, diving through
windows and poking guns through fire slits.
It reinforced the opinion I’ve always had
about playing our games – a great battlefield
makes for a better, more immersive game.
I’ve also been inspired to make more T’au-
specific gear for my kill team. I loved making
my Tidewall Barricades (shown opposite),
and I quickly discovered that there are plenty
more things I can build. The Repair Damaged
Drones Requisition has inspired me to
convert some kind of drone repair facility,
where my Drone Controller can rebuild his
helpers. I’ve already started working on an
Aerial Surveillance Drone (a strategic asset),
partly because I think it will look cool but
also because it will help me remember I have
it! I’m also planning to build a Remote Sensor
Tower as my third strategic asset, then make
some of the strategic assets from the core
book. I have a vision of a T’au base of
operations, complete with Devilfish (a new
one, after the team’s previous one crash-
landed), a Med Bay, an Expanded Armoury
and loads of other fancy stuff. So many plans!

TOP OPS OF THE T’AU EMPIRE

It took me four games before one of my operatives became a
Veteran, but now I’ve got the hang of allocating experience, they’re
all ranking up pretty nicely. N’Mojo was the first to achieve
Veteran status – I’ve equipped him with the High-intensity
Markerlight in my last few games, and it has made a big difference
to his shooting. Also of note is my Medical Technician, J’Huli. For
a medic, she’s particularly adept at killing things, and she’s earned
most of her XP from incapacitating enemy operatives. Lyle’s Burna
Boy suffered a particularly embarrassing death at her hands. An
honorary mention also goes out to Kor’ves Lau, my Recon Drone.
Though it can’t move and fire its burst cannon due to the gun
being Heavy, it’s still managed to rack up a good number of kills.

DESIGNATION: DARKLIGHT
NUMBER OPERATIVE OPERATIVE TYPE NOTES XP RANK
1 T’kemali Shas’ui Pathfinder Martial Philosopher 6 Veteran
2 Col’tura Blooded Pathfinder Reliant Support, Critical Impairment 7 Veteran
3 Sa’cha Shas’la Pathfinder 4 Adept
4 A’var Shas’la Pathfinder Cunning Hunter 8 Veteran
5 Tucu’pi Shas’la Pathfinder 5 Adept
6 J’Huli Medical Technician Pathfinder Cunning Hunter 7 Veteran
7 N’Mojo Transpectral Interference Pathfinder Merciless Hunter 9 Veteran
8 Hari’sa Marksman Pathfinder 4 Adept
9 Maha’oi Weapons Expert Pathfinder Ion Rifle, Lingering Ailment, Reliant Support 7 Veteran
10 T’ahini Drone Controller Pathfinder Severe Concussion 4 Adept
11 Kor’ves Lau MB3 Recon Drone Capable Under Fire 9 Veteran
12 Kor’ves Cho MV31 Pulse Accelerator Drone 3 Adept
13 Kor’ves Iko MV33 Grav-inhibitor Drone 1 Adept
14 Egu’si Weapons Expert Pathfinder Rail Rifle 0 Adept
15 Kor’ves Sha MV7 Marker Drone +++ OPERATIVE ASSIGNED +++ 0 Adept
16 Kor’ves Nai MV4 Shield Drone +++ OPERATIVE ASSIGNED +++ 0 Adept
17
18
19
20

50
 MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION
My toughest challenge of the campaign
so far was against Lyle’s Kommandos in
the mission Duel of Wits. I had hoped to
outsmart the Orks but quickly found
myself on the back foot as Lyle sneaked
them through the ruins to take and hold
most of the objectives before I could get

KILL TEAM ENGAGE!

anywhere near them. The first couple of
Turning Points saw Lyle score 8 victory
points to my measly 1, but some
excessive T’au shooting at point-blank
OPERATIVES ASSIGNED range (17 damage on Pop the Bomb
I’ve added three new operatives to my kill team – a second Squig and 18 on Nob Grok) left me in a
Weapons Expert and a couple of drones. The Weapons Expert is good position achieve my Tac Ops. The
armed with a rail rifle which, as I’ve found with my Marksman, is game ended 12–10 to Lyle, with just
absolutely lethal and should help me take out tough targets. The seven operatives left on the board – four
two drones are a Marker Drone and a Shield Drone. Now I’ve got T’au and three Orks.
the hang of using markerlights, I should be able to make good
use of this faithful helper.

SUPERIOR DEFENSIVE TECHNOLOGY

I built some T’au barricades to represent the Tidewall Barricades
strategic asset found in Kill Team: Chalnath. I sanded down the
undersides of some Battlesuit shields to make the feet, then
glued chopped-down Devilfish aerials vertically to the tops of
them to create the energy field retaining walls. The translucent
blue energy field is a 2" wide section taken from the Tidewall
Shieldline kit.

REQUISITION LEDGER REQUISITION

TRANSACTION DEBIT/CREDIT DETAILS POINTS
STASH: STRATEGIC ASSETS:
Starting Balance +2

1
• Target Analysis Optic • Aerial Surveillance Drone
Game Played +1 [3]
• High-intensity • Tidewall Barricade
Kor’ves Sha – MV7 Marker
Operative Assigned -1 [2] Markerlight
Drone
Game Played +1 [3] • Orbital Survey Uplink
Kor’ves Nai – MV4 Shield • Drone Repair Kit
Operative Assigned -1 [2]
Drone ASSET CAPACITY
Repair Damaged
-1 [1]

2
Drones

SPEC OP: PHILOSOPHY OF WAR

(Operation 1) Kauyon: 100%

(Operation 2) Mont’ka: Incomplete

51
 OPERATION
BRIEFING
A designer’s commentary on Into the Dark

Y
ou think you’ve got a grip on Kill Team: Into the Dark is the first release set
operations, rookie? Think again! We’re aboard the Gallowdark, a vast space hulk that
being redeployed for close-quarter has emerged in wilderness space in the
battle aboard a space hulk, and that Nemesys Sector of the Segmentum
ain’t like nothing you’ve ever seen or heard. Tempestus. As all varieties of kill teams gear
There’s a horror in every bulkhead that’ll make up to explore this millennia-old
a bigger mess of you than a bolt round to the conglomeration, I wanted to talk you through
chest, so gear up… and pack a stablight. the key design features of the terrain, the
rules and what it means for your games.
ELLIOT HAMER
As the games developer
for Warhammer 40,000: Kill
Team, Elliot has worked
long and hard to develop
the rules for Into the Dark.
So invested is he in the
game that he built a life-
size space hulk out of
cardboard boxes inside his
house. After three days ‘on
mission’, he still hasn’t
found the kitchen.

52
SPACE HULKS REALISED
First and foremost, the most important part
of Kill Team: Into the Dark is a new killzone.
It includes a large collection of walls,
hatchways and apparatus from an ancient and
decrepit spaceship – one of many that form
the Gallowdark. Space hulks are an iconic
setting in Warhammer 40,000, even having
their own line of board games that first began
as far back as 1989. For the very first time
though, we’ve had the opportunity to realise
this classic setting with an extensive three-
dimensional plastic terrain range, and playing
a game with it feels fantastic. Having played
uncountable games of Kill Team using
standard killzones, there’s something special
about sending your operatives into this
classic setting, as if you’re exploring the dark
corridors alongside them!
The terrain has some key features designed to
make it functional and flexible. It includes
standardised fittings and specifications to
allow for easy construction and adjustable
configuration. The universal connection
points and pillars mean you can put it
together before each game, then construct a
different layout for the next one. You can
create endless combinations, ensuring the
killzone never feels stale or repetitive.
For some of you, the extra time needed to be
creative with killzones might not be suitable,
so we’ve designed missions to ensure you can
get them built quickly and easily if you want
to get on with gaming. Every mission map in
the book has a specified terrain layout,
allowing you to set up carefully crafted
boards for gameplay. Using a key and grid
OPERATION BRIEFING
system, you can quickly set up your terrain:
every terrain feature is denoted, and it goes in
a specific location in the killzone designated
by the tiles and gutters of the gameboard. A
handy tip: once you’ve painted your terrain,
paint or write in permanent marker its
respective key on the bottom. This will allow
you to identify the terrain feature without
needing to refer to the key.
53
 KILLZONE: GALLOWDARK
Once you jump into a game, you’ll soon realise
that this type of terrain offers a very different
experience to your standard killzone. Tight
corridors, walls and rooms have a huge impact
on Line of Sight. Operatives can no longer take
up a good spot and see across the board.
Instead, visibility is heavily restricted by the
cramped nature of the killzone. You’ll have to
carefully consider which corridors and rooms
your ranged operatives will function in, as
they can’t use a Vantage Point to oversee large
sections of the killzone.

While the killzone has reduced Line of Sight, it

also has a reduced amount of generally smaller
scatter terrain, so when your operatives do line
up a shot, you can expect it to be more
damaging if the enemy has no Cover to retain
defence dice automatically. Similarly, the
cramped nature of corridors and rooms will
group operatives together more, increasing the
utility of Blast, Torrent, Splash and area of
effect weapons.

Melee operatives will become an increased

threat. They can use the walls and corridors to
stay out of Line of Sight as they close the
distance, then spring ambushes on enemy
operatives on the other side of a corner or

54

Hatchway. Having a scary melee operative
roaming the halls offers you a lot of board
control, as enemy operatives will be wary of
moving into their Charge distance but equally
will struggle to engage without doing so.
Similarly, the aforementioned grouping of
operatives means a melee operative is more
capable of fighting multiple enemies, great for
the Reap critical hit rule and elite operatives
such as Space Marines and Chaos Space
Marines who can perform two Fight actions
in the same activation. It’s also great for tying
up enemy operatives and making them waste
activations to Fall Back. Sharpen your blades
and charge up your power weapons, it’s about
to get bloody!
Pregame planning will become a key element
to success in your games, as once your
operatives commit to a route through the
killzone, the walls and corridors mean they
will rarely have time to turn around and
support other areas that need it. You’ll have to
think about how many operatives you’ll
commit to interacting with particular areas of
the killzone. Too much commitment is a
waste; operatives could be supporting other
areas that need it more. Too little commitment
and you’ll lose a key area with little ability to
send in reinforcements. Therefore, have a plan
OPERATION BRIEFING
when setting up for where you want your
operatives to push and which operatives will
do so in each area.
Coordination between your operatives is also
key to support your lethal operatives. Support
operatives will need to open hatches, scout out
areas, draw out the enemy and defend key
access points, all of which allow your lethal
operatives to use valuable action points doing
what they do best – eliminating the enemy.
CLOSE QUARTERS
Killzones aboard the Gallowdark use a new set
of rules called Close Quarters. These rules
were designed to provide some specific
changes that enhance the intense and cramped
nature of combat aboard a space hulk. For
example, Blast, Torrent and Splash weapons
all get the Lethal 5+ special rule. Considering
you’re more likely to get additional attacks
from these weapons, as mentioned earlier, it’s
a twofold increase on their effectiveness. This
means the impact of shrapnel, gouts of flame,
explosions, etc. are appropriately magnified
inside small rooms and corridors.
The cramped space will make it harder to
damage enemy operatives when shooting
through other operatives. You’ll have to
55
 incapacitate the first rank of enemies first, as
shooting operatives behind them will give
you one less attack dice. To avoid friendly
fire, attacking operatives will suffer the same
drawbacks if friendly operatives are in the
way. Finally, you’ll have to be more direct
with your Indirect weapons, as things like
lobbing grenades into Cover are much harder
when there’s a low ceiling above you!
The most important addition to the rules that
Close Quarters brings, however, is a brand
new action called Guard.
GUARD
Guard is a new action that operatives can
perform in Close Quarters. Performing the
action puts an operative ‘on guard’. Once
during each enemy operative’s activation,
after it performs an action, you can interrupt
that activation and select one friendly
operative on guard to make one of the
following guard attacks:
• Perform an Overwatch action.
• Perform a free Fight action.
• Perform point-blank overwatch. This is
an Overwatch action against an enemy
operative that has moved into this
operative’s Engagement Range, and is at
56
the expense of fighting back in combat
(should the enemy subsequently perform
a Fight action).
This means you can move an operative into a
key position and perform the Guard action.
Then, after an enemy operative performs an
action, you can interrupt their activation to
Shoot or Fight them. Here are a few
scenarios to imagine this in action:
1) An enemy operative performs a Normal
Move action into a corridor. A friendly
operative performs a guard attack to
Overwatch them before the enemy operative
performs a Shoot action.
2) An enemy operative performs an Operate
Hatch action to open a Hatchway. A friendly
operative on the other side performs a guard
attack to Overwatch them before the enemy
operative performs a Charge action.
3) An enemy operative performs a Charge
action and ends the move within Engagement
Range of a friendly operative on guard. That
friendly operative performs a guard attack to
Fight for free against that enemy, crucially
allowing it to be the attacker instead of the
enemy.

The Guard action will offer a new dynamic to
activation and action priority. Previously, if
there were no important targets to attack, it
was a common tactic to activate less
important operatives first. Then, when enemy
operatives moved into vulnerable positions
later in the Turning Point, you could activate
your important operatives to attack the now
exposed enemies. The Guard action offers a
new angle on this. Rather than moving into
an exposed room only to be counter-attacked
by a waiting enemy, you can move into the
same room and go on guard. If that waiting
enemy now tries to counter-attack, they’ll
have to weather the guard attack first. This
becomes vitally important around objective
markers, as bold play to move up and control
them is now less risky when the controlling
operative can be on guard to defend it too.
Having enemy operatives on guard will open
up a lot of thought-provoking dynamics
you’ll need to respond to. For example:
1) Do you bait the enemy to use up their
guard attack? Each operative can only do one
guard attack per Turning Point, so they could
use it to attack a less valuable operative, then
you could counter-attack with a more
valuable one.
OPERATION BRIEFING
2) Do you ignore the territory the enemy
operative is guarding entirely? If you can
afford to concede it to your opponent, you
can send your operatives elsewhere.
3) Do you weather the storm and counter-
attack? If you’ve got an operative that can
take some damage, or if you’re feeling
particularly safe or lucky, you can engage
nonetheless and hope the guard attack does
minimal to no damage.
4) Do you make careful use of Line of Sight
to get an advantage? Remember the most
common guard attack (Overwatch) still
needs Line of Sight, so clever movement of
your operatives could mean you can still
engage the guarding enemy but can’t be
attacked back. For example, careful
positioning to make use of the Obscuring
rule or making attacks with Silent weapons.
These are some of the key features for this ADDITIONAL
BRIEFINGS
new venture in Kill Team. Best of luck aboard Do you have an idea we
the Gallowdark, make sure vox-casters are could feature in Operation
fully charged before you go in, and keep an Briefing? Let us know your
thoughts, and we’ll get our
eye out for what’s lurking in dark corners! comms operative to tell Kill
Team high command!
team@whitedwarf.co.uk
57
 OPERATIVES
ASSIGNED
O
ne of the many great things about Kill
Modelling and Team is the freedom you have to
painting inspiration create and customise your very own
for the armies of band of elite operatives. There are
the 41st some rules to stick to – such as what weapons
Millennium. This and equipment each operative can have – but
issue: kill teams. otherwise you can build your team however
you like. You could convert your Cadian
Veterans to wear camo cloaks, for example, or
build a squad of Raven Guard Reivers
carrying loads of covert ops kit such as
climbing ropes, proximity mines and auspex
scanners. How about a patrol of Mephrit
Dynasty Necrons phasing into reality through
realspace portals? Or a Kinband of Kroot
carrying trophies from devoured foes?
58
This level of customisation can extend to the
painting of your miniatures, too. Will your
kill team match an existing collection or will
they be completely unique? Perhaps they’ll
match a killzone you’ve painted.
This article celebrates the unique modelling
and painting opportunities that Warhammer
40,000: Kill Team offers the discerning
hobbyist. Opposite, you will find some useful
guidance on how to go about creating your
own kill team, followed by a gallery of
inspirational kill teams built, converted and
painted by members of the Warhammer
Studio. There’s even a bonus feature: a trio of
painting guides for the Into the Dark scenery!
ASSEMBLING YOUR KILL TEAM
Useful advice for establishing a colour scheme for your operatives.
There are lots of aspects that can be explored
FACTION COLOURS AND UNIT MARKINGS
when coming up with a colour scheme and
Below are four examples of kill team colour schemes. Each team
background for your kill team. Indeed, colour
has a name and a colour scheme based on their sub-faction. For
schemes and stories are often linked. Here are
example, the Exalted Scythe hail from the Novokh Dynasty. They
a few ideas to take into consideration when

GALACTIC WAR HOSTS

also all feature unique markings and iconography to single them
creating your kill teams.
out as a specialist team, such as the black fangs displayed on the
shoulder pads of the Fangs of Ulfrich.
• Give them a name. Will they have a
designation or a nickname? ‘Kill Team:
Something’ or ‘Operation: Such-and-such’,
for example. Perhaps their name is linked
to part of their colour scheme like the Red
Skull Kommandos.

• Choose a sub-faction. Most factions have

sub-factions that have their own colour
schemes, markings and unique
personalities. Space Marine Chapters are
a great example of this. You could even
come up with a sub-faction of your own. Fangs of Ulfrich Starn’s Disciples

• Choose a killzone. Where are your

operatives fighting? What type of world or
environment? Jungle, urban, snow, tomb
world or factory world? Your choice will
likely affect how you paint your models!

• Write some background. What’s the

story behind your kill team? Are they
shiny new recruits on their first mission
or heavily weathered veterans?

• Create a colour scheme. Sub-faction plus

killzone plus background equals colour
scheme! How will all these factors affect The Exalted Scythe Eldritch Raiders
the colours you use?

Theta-7 Acquisitus of the Adeptus

KILL TEAM THETA-7 ACQUISITUS
Mechanicus is a great example of a kill team.
Using the format above, it has the following:

• Name: Theta-7 Acquisitus.

• Sub-faction: Forge world Stygies VIII.

• Killzone: Bore-hive Ultris, Vigilus.

Hivesprawls, worker-habs and factorums.

• Background: They are the personal

retinue of Balphamus Vaulk, a Tech-Priest
Manipulus obsessed with the acquisition
of rare xenotech.

• Colour Scheme: Deep red armour, stark

black robes and bare metal bionics. Unit
markings and forge world icons are
picked out in white.

59
 101ST KRIEG SIEGE REGIMENT BY HARVEY SNAPE PURPLE GREAT COAT CREAM FATIGUES
Harvey: I painted my kill team to match the colour scheme of my Basecoat: Barak-Nar Burgundy Basecoat: Morghast Bone
custom Space Marines Chapter – the Knights of Byzantium. I
imagined them fighting alongside each other in the same war Wash: Nuln Oil Wash: XV-88 & Lahmian Medium
zones and the Death Korps adopting some of their colours. I picked
out their gas masks in light grey to draw attention to their faces. Highlight: Screamer Pink Highlight: Ushabti Bone
The Medic wears a white helmet to encourage the enemy not to Highlight: Pink Horror Highlight: Screaming Skull
shoot him. That may or may not work…

CAST OF THE MIRARI BY PIOTR JERMOLOWICZ RED DIAMONDS BLUE DIAMONDS

Piotr: I picked the iconic blue and red diamond pattern of the Basecoat: Mephiston Red Basecoat: Night Lords Blue
Masque of the Midnight Sorrow for my Harlequins, though I added
in hints of yellow and pink for extra pizzazz. The hardest part was Glaze: Troll Slayer Orange & Glaze: Calgar Blue & Lahmian Medium
painting out a grid for the diamonds – I started with one line and Lahmian Medium
created more parallel lines above and below it. I then painted the Highlight: Lothern Blue
lines in the opposite direction. I used Lahmian Medium extensively Highlight: Kislev Flesh
to achieve the colour fade on each individual diamond.

60
KILL TEAM MYRMIDON BY ADAM LANGTON BLACK ARMOUR SILVER ARM
Adam: My Deathwatch are close-proximity specialists, excelling at Basecoat: Abaddon Black Basecoat: Grey Knights Steel
search and destroy missions on space hulks. They have highly
modified and personalised weaponry and prototype versions of Mk Recess Wash: Rhinox Hide Wash: Drakenhof Nightshade
X power armour to help them accomplish their missions. Such
modifications include targeting arrays, a servo-arm mounted heavy Highlight: Incubi Darkness Layer: Runefang Steel
bolter and a highly experimental T’au-influenced pulse weapon. Highlight: Thunderhawk Blue Layer: Stormhost Silver
The unit is led by Sergeant Salaium bal Ur of the Tome Keepers.
Highlight: Fenrisian Grey Glaze: Talassar Blue & Contrast Medium

GALACTIC WAR HOSTS

THE SEVENS BY TIMOTHÉE OZOUF WHITE ARMOUR GOLD ARMOUR TRIM
Timothée: I like all my models to look dirty and battle damaged, Basecoat: Wraithbone Basecoat: Retributor Armour & Leadbelcher
which definitely fits the theme of my Death Guard kill team. They
are an elite warband that’s survived thousands of years of warfare, Wash: Agrax Earthshade & Nuln Oil Wash: Agrax Earthshade
spreading disease and decay wherever they go. My personal
favourite technique for chipped paint and rust is to use a damaged Stipple: Mournfang Brown Wash: Typhus Corrosion
paint brush and randomly stipple the models where the rust would Stipple: Typhus Corrosion
settle or where the armour would be damaged.
Highlight: Wraithbone

61
 THE HOUNDS OF BRASS BY ANDY BARLOW BRASS ARMOUR RED PAULDRONS
Andy: I was excited to work with the new Legionary kill team, as Basecoat: Runelord Brass Basecoat: Word Bearers Red
the upgrade frame adds lots of interesting characters to the squad.
It was also the perfect opportunity to test out a new colour scheme Wash: Agrax Earthshade & Agrax Wash: Carroburg Crimson
I’d been working on. I can then expand the kill team when I play Earthshade Gloss
more games and hopefully build them into a full force. The colour Highlight: Fire Dragon Bright
scheme features a neutral brass for the armour with warm red Drybrush: Runelord Brass
Recess Wash: Rhinox Hide
pauldrons and cool blue-black details. Drybrush: Canoptek Alloy

KILL TEAM HOLT BY PIOTR JERMOLOWICZ BLACK ARMOUR RED WEAPONS

Piotr: I converted my Deathwatch kill team from Space Marine Basecoat: Chaos Black Basecoat: Mephiston Red
models wearing Phobos armour to give them a sneaky, covert ops
look. While they are technically all just Deathwatch Veterans, I Airbrush: Eshin Grey Wash: Agrax Earthshade
wanted to create stories for each of them, which is why I converted
a medic, a sniper (armed with a stalker bolt rifle) and a comms Highlight: Administratum Grey Layer: Evil Sunz Scarlet
operative. I also kitted them out with all the extra gear I could to Highlight: Bestigor Flesh
show they’re working behind enemy lines.

62
VAUL’S SEEKERS BY LUKE DUNFORD TEAL ARMOUR RED TABARDS
Luke: Corsairs exist in a strange middle ground where they aren’t Basecoat: Sotek Green Basecoat: Mephiston Red
as twisted as the Drukhari with their darker colour schemes nor as
pure-minded as the brightly coloured craftworlders. As such, I Recess Wash: Black Templar Glaze: Rhinox Hide
chose a similar colour scheme to those on the box but more blue
than black or green. I picture these Corsairs being part of a small Highlight: Sotek Green & Lothern Blue 1:1 Highlight: Wild Rider Red
group that focuses on obtaining relics and technology, either to Highlight: Lothern Blue Highlight: Fire Dragon Bright
trade or to further their unknowable cause.

GALACTIC WAR HOSTS

KRIEG 48TH SIEGE REGIMENT BY JAMES ASHBEY TAN GREATCOATS DARK BLUE ARMOUR
James: I’ve always loved the Death Korps, and I’ve long felt their Basecoat: Zandri Dust Basecoat: Incubi Darkness
greatcoats would look cool in a mustard-brown. I paired this with
Incubi Darkness as it’s one of my favourite colours. I also wanted to Wash: Snakebite Leather Wash: Nuln Oil
give a nod to the artwork and graphic design of the Kill Team
books, where orange predominates. I tried this out on this squad, Recess Wash: Wyldwood Highlight: Kabalite Green
glazing Troll Slayer Orange onto reflective areas, such as the Highlight: Ushabti Bone Highlight: Russ Grey
Sergeant Veteran’s power sword, and the coils on plasma weapons.

63
 LA’RUA J’KARRA BY PETE MCMULLIN GREEN ARMOUR T’AU SKIN
Pete: My Pathfinder kill team is led by Shas’ui J’karra and is known Basecoat: Sons of Horus Green Basecoat: Thunderhawk Blue
as ‘the Mirror’, so called because its members are experts in
mirroring enemy movements. My models are mostly built straight Wash: Coelia Greenshade Recess Wash: Dark Reaper
from the box but with a couple of conversions, such as using
Shadowsun’s spare heads on my Shas’ui and Marksman. My Highlight: Kabalite Green Highlight: Russ Grey
favourite model other than J’karra is the Blooded operative, who Highlight: Gauss Blaster Green Highlight: Blue Horror
was built using the Blooded parts and a pair of running legs.

DA RED SKULL KOMMANDOS BY WADE PRYCE GREEN SKIN RED SKULLS

Wade: I wanted to paint a mob to represent Boss Snikrot’s famous Basecoat: Orruk Flesh Basecoat: Mephiston Red
Red Skull Kommandos. That’s why all my boyz have gas masks,
belt buckles and equipment featuring red skull glyphs. I aimed for Wash: Biel-Tan Green Wash: Agrax Earthshade
a modern military look with some sandy desert-coloured boots
and patchwork camouflage gear. I used combinations of Death Layer: Orruk Flesh Layer: Evil Sunz Scarlet
Guard Green, Death World Forest, Death Korps Drab and Castellan Highlight: Ogryn Camo
Green, which lets their bright green skin stand out. Highlight: Wild Rider Red

64
65
GALACTIC WAR HOSTS
 DAVOK’S DESTROYERS BY STU BLACK METAL ARMOUR GOLD TRIM
Stu: I love the Iron Warriors; their colour scheme is cool, their back Basecoat: Leadbelcher Basecoat: Retributor Armour
story is ace, and I thought the idea of a small squad of elite killers
would be a fun theme to explore. I used a Havoc Champion as my Wash: Nuln Oil Wash: Wyldwood
leader as he’s a bit bigger and more imposing than the standard
Champion, and I wanted him to look like he could dominate his Highlight: Leadbelcher Highlight: Retributor Armour
team by force, not just rank. I’m planning to add some of the Kill Highlight: Stormhost Silver Highlight: Stormhost Silver
Team: Nachmund models to my team next.

THE CRIMSON THORNS BY PIOTR JERMOLOWICZ WHITE ARMOUR RED CLOTH AND HAIR
Piotr: The Crimson Thorns are an all-female band of raiders, and I Basecoat: Chaos Black Basecoat: Tuskgor Fur
converted every model to have a unique head. They are an esoteric
bunch, but they are bound together by their paint scheme, all of Airbrush: Administratum Grey Wash: Carroburg Crimson
them sporting black and white outfits and red hair. I painted their
shiny black undersuit first, which required a lot of ’Ardcoat, and Airbrush: Corax White Highlight: Wazdakka Red
then painted the white armour as cleanly and neatly as possible to Wash: Agrax Earthshade
create a light-dark contrast. I used red and brass as spot colours.
Highlight: White Scar

66
THE CATACHAN 44S BY PETE MCMULLIN GREEN ARMOUR FATIGUES
Pete: My kill team was converted using a combination of Catachan Basecoat: Castellan Green Basecoat: Wraithbone
and Cadian parts – namely both Command Squad boxes and the
Cadian upgrade frame. This allowed me to create characters that Wash: Nuln Oil Wash: Creed Camo
matched the different operative types. Favourites include the
Zealot, who inspires others with her banner, and the Bruiser, who Highlight: Loren Forest Layer: Elysian Green
uses a shovel as a trench club. Lieutenant Franklin – the leader of Highlight: Straken Green Layer: Nurgling Green
the team – wields a power sword and bolt pistol.

GALACTIC WAR HOSTS

THE COVENANT OF SYLUX BY JAMES JACKSON METALLIC BLUE ARMOUR GREEN WARP FLAMES
James: I painted this kill team to match my existing Alpha Legion Basecoat: Leadbelcher Basecoat: Grey Seer
army. The armour is really easy to paint, as the trim uses the same
colours as the panels, just without the final glaze. As Veterans of Wash: Nuln Oil Layer: White Scar
the Long War, these Legionaries use older wargear such as a Mk III
heavy bolter and Mk IV backpacks. The one that looks like the Drybrush: Necron Compound Glaze: Tesseract Glow
leader wears a cut-down Sanguinary Guard helmet, but, in true Glaze: Terradon Turquoise
Alpha Legion fashion, he’s not actually the boss!

67
ENTER THE GALLOWDARK
Into the Dark is packed full of exciting scenery that can be
painted in myriad ways to represent the diverse interior of
an aeons-old space hulk. To help you paint your own set,
we’ve come up with three easy-to-follow guides that
showcase a range of techniques, styles and colours. The
blue wall section opposite was painted to match the
scenery featured on the Into the Dark box, while the two
below provide alternative schemes.

MEDICAL BAY – PALE CREAM WALLS

1 2 3

Spray the walls Wraithbone. Once both sides of the Paint all the metal details with Iron Warriors. Try to Pick out non-metal details with matt colours. In this
walls are sprayed, open any doors to prevent them be neat with the application, but don’t worry too example, the wires and pipes were picked out with
from sticking. much about going over the lines. Mephiston Red and Corvus Black.

4 5 6

Lay the wall section flat and cover it (walls, metal, Immediately load the same brush with Skeleton Create paint chips using Dryad Bark applied with a
all the details – everything!) with a thick layer of Horde and wash the whole wall. The Lahmian sponge. Pick out lights and screens with a layer of
Lahmian Medium applied with an M Shade brush. Medium will help the paint run into the recesses. Wraithbone followed by Gryph-hound Orange.

LOADING BAY – ORANGE-TINTED WALLS

1 2 3

Undercoat the terrain with Chaos Black spray. Once Lightly drybrush all of the terrain – white, grey and Glaze the entire wall with Fuegan Orange. Do not
dry, spray it again from above with Grey Seer to black bits – with White Scar. This will help pick out apply the paint as a heavy wash; you just want to
create zenithal highlights. the details. tint the colour of the walls.

4 5 6

Use an airbrush (an M Dry brush works well if you Use Sybarite Green thinned with water to glaze all Pick out the lights with Iyanden Yellow using the
don’t have one) to pick out the terminals, working the screens. Again, a thin layer of paint is all that’s same technique. Apply several glazes to build up the
lights and anywhere that glows with White Scar. required. You don’t want pooling. desired depth of colour to each area.

68
 GALACTIC WAR HOSTS
COMMAND DECK – GREY WALLS

1 2 3

Undercoat the walls with Chaos Black spray. Once Lay the wall flat and wash it with Nuln Oil. Make Pick out the metalwork with Leadbelcher and wash
dry, basecoat them completely with Mechanicus sure to prop open the door so the paint doesn’t stick it with Agrax Earthshade. Apply the same Shade to
Standard Grey spray. it shut! Once dry, drybrush with Administratum Grey. the lower portion of the wall to make it look dirty.

4 5 6

Mix Troll Slayer Orange with a little water and then, Basecoat the lights with Screaming Skull and then Basecoat the skulls with Wraithbone, then wash
using an S Layer brush, apply the wash around wash them carefully with Casandora Yellow. Pick out them with Skeleton Horde. Drybrush them with
bolts, rivets and in recesses to create rust streaks. the cables with Kabalite Green. Pallid Wych Flesh to pick out the details.

69
 ®

THE ETERNAL WAR FOR THE CONQUEST OF THE MORTAL REALMS

 DESPERATE
COUNTERMEASURES
FLASHPOINT CLASH

As the struggle in the Ghurish Heartlands intensifies, the strategies of Sigmar’s folk become
more bold. To hold back the ever-advancing hordes of the greenskins, hosts of heavenly
warriors – the Stormcast Eternals – descend into the fray, looking to strike down orruk
warlords and buy crucial time for mortal settlers to establish new outposts.

Civilisation has never found it easy to set
down roots in Ghur. When the Dawnbringer
Crusades of Sigmar attempt to establish a
new outpost within the Amber Realm, they
employ strategies honed by former
generations – their mortal desire to conquer
the unconquerable burning bright. The walls
of their settlements are made as much from
repurposed monster bone as honest stone, for
such titanic carrion is in no short supply
across the Ghurish Heartlands. Some
Dawners take this even further, using the ribs
of these creatures to create rings of stakes
surrounding their new settlements,
sharpened until they can dissuade a
marauding gargant or chimera.
Though this may be enough to check feral
creatures, the warriors of Gorkamorka are
another matter. In particular, the orruks
crash against Sigmarite strongpoints with
frenzied abandon. The orruk race is defined
by its belligerence. There is no foe they will
not battle simply for the joy of fighting. Led
by their bosses, they travel across the realms
in search of the perfect fight, venting the
primal fury that eternally thumps within
their souls. This was true even before the Era
of the Beast. Now, as the Great Stomp – a
psychic sensation that thrums throughout the
lands and pounds constantly in the minds of
all greenskins – propels them onwards, the
orruks mass like a rockslide bearing down on
the fragile nations of mortalkind.
When a warclan is on the rampage, it
inevitably attracts more greenskins, every act
of barbarity and desecration a spiritual
beacon that cannot be ignored. No matter
how many orruks fall, more of them always
seem to congregate provided that there is a
suitably powerful boss to lead them. If a
warlord of sufficient might were to rise, they
could trample Sigmar’s holdings in the
Ghurish Heartlands like the great green foot
of Gorkamorka himself.

72
THE AVENGING STORM
The warlike spirit of the orruks is their
greatest strength but also an exploitable
weakness. Without a boss of suitable vision to
keep them in line, warclans are prone to
violently fracturing, for orruks will fight one
another as eagerly as outside foes. Indeed,
this is arguably the only reason they have not
already stomped creation flat. By targeting a
horde’s leadership, its lethal momentum can
be checked as other bosses turn on each other
Knights Excelsior have repeatedly petitioned
Grungni’s agents to accelerate the Reforging
of their warriors, despite the great perils this
will surely invite.
The Astral Templars have gladly embraced
this campaign of decapitation. Many of their
number originally hail from Ghur, and they
have long fought to corral the monsters
plaguing the Ghurish Heartlands. A network
of lodge-fortresses and outposts traces across

to establish their dominance.
It is to the task of hunting these warlords that
the God-King has set his Stormcast Eternals.
These warriors are, in many ways, the perfect
weapons to launch such vengeful strikes,
invested with strength to match the
greenskins and resilience to endure the
savage terrain of Ghur. This is still a gruelling
trial, and often a suicide mission, since
slaying an orruk boss is never easy. But,
before their souls are blasted back to Azyr,
the Stormcasts fight to eradicate enough of a
warclan’s leadership that, with the grace of
Sigmar, the horde will collapse in on itself.
The Era of the Beast has already been marked
by many bitter clashes between the
Stormhosts of the God-King and the hordes
of Gorkamorka. The Siege of Excelsis was the
greatest of these, where Sigmar’s capital in the
realm was all but ransacked. The merciless
Knights Excelsior who founded that city –
though severely reduced in number and
rendered even colder of soul for it – are eager
to deal out pain in kind to the greenskins. It
is even murmured by some of their fellow
immortals that the commanders of the
FLASHPOINT CLASH
Thondia and beyond, greatest of which is the
settlement of Templia Beasthall. The Astral
Templars prize their reputation as Sigmar’s
premier beast-hunters, and their proud and
ferocious chieftains are loath to leave such a
task to Stormhosts less in tune with the
Amber Realm than they.
The Hammers of Sigmar also have business
with the greenskins. It was one of their
Warrior chambers, the Auric Lions, who first
encountered the Kruleboyz at Amberstone
Watch. That same chamber was later
martyred in the Krondspine Range, falling to
a man while defending a narrow pass against
a horde of greenskins and gor-kin. The Lions’
deaths were grotesque, with their liege
Tyberain Vorst insultingly slain by a
Kruleboyz boss who had evaded him at
Amberstone Watch. For the Hammers – who
take it upon themselves to embody the hope
of Sigmar’s people – this cannot stand.
Though their strength is needed on a
thousand fronts, they hurl themselves into
the Ghurish fray regardless. Their example
has inspired other Stormhosts to do the same.
It remains to be seen if even this can slow the
tsunami of green-skinned violence.

THE STORMCAST
ETERNALS
The Stormcast Eternals are
Sigmar’s chosen, their
numbers drawn from the
most heroic denizens of
the realms. Upon the brink
of death, these champions
were snatched up to Azyr
and – through enduring
punishing trials – remade
as singularly potent
warriors. Their name of
‘Eternal’ is no empty boast.
Upon death, a Stormcast’s
body explodes in a nova of
cobalt-hued starfire, their
soul arcing back to the
heavens to be Reforged.
Yet this process bears a
mysterious flaw, and
should a Stormcast endure
it multiple times, they
become less like the
mortals they defend and
more akin to the pitiless
hammers they wield…

73
 TO SEVER THE HEAD
Ghur resounds to the rage of the
greenskins. If their advance is not stymied,
then their path of destruction will cleave
through the nascent Sigmarite empire
established in that realm. It falls to the
Stormcasts to launch daring counter-raids
against the hordes, looking to take
advantage of the orruks’ irrepressible
ferocity and turn them upon themselves.
To hear the lay preachers of the Church
Unberogen, the war in Ghur is progressing
well. The Siege of Excelsis had been a time of
spiritual testing, but one that the faithful had
endured nevertheless. Now the Dawnbringer
Crusades set out to push back the darkness
haunting the Amber Realm and establish new
havens. If certain crusades met with foul
ends, those were the wages of war. The next
venture would always be bigger, more
well-supplied, and more resolute – effective
propaganda for ensuring they never lacked
for manpower.
The reality was starkly different. Within the
Stormhosts, Sigmar’s generals saw the dire
picture for what it was. Attacks from the
greenskin warclans were not slowing down. If
anything, they were becoming more frequent
and, if it could be believed, more violent. In
Thondia alone, several hordes were
converging upon Sigmarite territory close to
the Coast of Tusks like monstrous emerald
spears. Few, if any, Sigmarite strongpoints
were ready to withstand such an assault.
To many Stormcasts, a good offence was the
best defence. Any lord or knight who could
be spared began to assemble brotherhoods,
speaking the litanies of the celestial hunter
and marking out chokepoints such as passes
through the Krondspine Range or defensible
Sigmarite strongpoints. To slaughter the
hordes entirely would be a feat beyond even
Sigmar’s chosen. Instead, they would strike at
the warlords and trust the self-destructive
nature of the orruks to do the rest. If enough
of the greenskin leadership could be
decapitated, there was a chance the
rampaging armies would collapse before
reaching Sigmarite territory.
As for the orruks, they continued to grind
across the plains with crude war-songs on
their lips, unconsciously marching in time
with the Great Stomp. They recognised the
Hammer God’s warriors as worthy foes and
eagerly anticipated the darkening of the
tumultuous skies that would see the
Stormcast Eternals descend into the fray.
Moreover, one did not have to be as kunnin’
as the Kruleboyz to recognise that should the
boss of a Waaagh! fall, room for brutish
advancement would open up…

THE ORRUKS
Orruks are thuggish
creatures that will fight
anything and everything,
including each other,
though they are never
happier than when they
are overrunning civilised
lands. These destructive
crusades are known as
Waaagh!s, a term also
used for the primal magic
that crackles around
greenskins at war.

There are multiple

sub-categories of orruk.
Ironjawz are muscle-
bound brutes clad in thick
armour and obsessed with
brawn. The lanky
Kruleboyz, meanwhile,
embrace ambush,
poisoned weapons, and
other dirty tricks. The
Bonesplitterz are strangest
of all. Adept beast-hunters,
they scoff at greenskins
who weigh themselves
down with armour, instead
wearing magical warpaint
as protection. In fairness, it
often seems to work.

74

Lord-Imperatant Tyberain Vorst did not have to direct
his kin as they strode from the lightning’s wake and
towards the Kruleboyz filling the pass. By now, every
member of the Auric Lions chamber was a veteran
orruk-killer. They knew their business. Vindictors had
already formed a defensive perimeter around the
formation’s edge, shields locked and prepared against
flanking manoeuvres. A hail of crude crossbow bolts
whistled through the air, only to be hurled aside by
turbulence conjured by the Gale’s Eye. He had
commanded the Knight-Arcanum to begin her spellcraft
in the moments before they were loosed from Azyr,
ready for the instant they struck.
That was the thing about revelling in dirty tricks.
Eventually, you still became predictable.
Gold-clad Stormcasts crashed into snarling orruks.
Green flesh split. God-forged warriors perished in
eruptions of celestial light. Vorst ignored it all, forging
forwards like Sigmar’s own spear – like his old
companion Yndrasta – towards the warband’s boss. He
knew the creature would try to skulk away and creep
round the flanks, which was why he had commanded
his Annihilators to strike just behind, forming a wall of
meteoric defiance that even a Kruleboy could not slip
through. With flight no longer an option, his foe
embraced its urge to fight, hurling itself forward with a
snarl. Vorst met its black-iron cleaver in a flurry of
blessed steel. The Azyrite lord was vaguely aware of a
grot slinking behind him, shank at the ready, before his
companion, Ironbeak, pounced on the creature, the
Gryph-hound’s talons eviscerating the wretch.
FLASHPOINT CLASH
For a smattering of heartbeats, a maelstrom of steel
whirled. Then Vorst got the upper hand, his hammer
smashing into the orruk’s chest and knocking it
sprawling, his boot descending upon its neck. Instinct
told him to slay the thing and be done with it. Vengeful
pride instead compelled him to crouch and tear the
creature’s scrap-iron helm off. Disappointment curled
within him. Part of him had clung to the hope that this
would be the monster that had killed his former
incarnation at the Krondspine Range – the thing that
had hemmed his proud Lions in like rats and
slaughtered them.
But it was not. It was just another orruk.
‘What?’ The greenskin wheezed, spitting thick phlegm
over Vorst’s golden shins. ‘What you—’
Tyberain’s stamping boot crushed its skull. Letting out a
heavy breath, the Lord-Imperatant stood, watching as
his warriors helped one another back to their feet or else
finished off writhing foes.
‘Let them go,’ Vorst said, banishing frustration from his
voice as he gestured to a pack of fleeing orruks. ‘They’ll
return to the greater horde. We’ll follow them.’ His eyes
narrowed then, irises once the bright blue of an
Andtorian morning now filled with the cold light of
distant stars.
‘Then we do it again.’
75
 SAVAGE RETRIBUTION
FLASHPOINT CLASH
Stormcast Eternals take on Orruk Warclans in a brutal campaign
T
he forces of Order struggled to hold on to their
territories in Thondia following the sacking of
Excelsis by Kragnos and his mighty Waaagh!
Once-mighty strongholds were besieged and small
outposts were entirely overrun as orruks reclaimed the
savage lands. Yet pockets of resistance still held out, and
Excelsis, though ravaged, was still in loyal hands. In time,
reinforcements arrived, and the Stormcast Eternals began
to turn their attentions from defence to offence.
76
Over the next few pages, you will find a mini stand-alone
campaign for two players that follows the ongoing war in
Thondia. As the commander of the Orruk Warclans, your
goal is to smash the lightning-boyz good and proper and
make your way to the Coast of Tusks where the fighting is
thickest. As the Stormcast Eternals player, you have been
tasked with slaying the leaders of the orruk hordes and
blunting their attacks. So what are you waiting for? Grab
your spears and hammers, and prepare for battle!
THE HUNT BEGINS
INTRODUCTION
On these pages you will find a campaign arc for 2 players. One player takes
the role of the Orruk Warclans, and the other represents the Stormcast
Eternals. Together, you play through a series of battles that capture the hunt
for the orruk bosses responsible for a series of relentless Waaagh!s across the
Heartlands of Ghur.

FLASHPOINT CLASH
WHAT’S A CAMPAIGN ARC?
A campaign arc is a self-contained mini-campaign that can be played either
as a stand-alone campaign in open or matched play or as part of a Path to
Glory campaign. This one is designed to last for 2–3 battles, making for a
perfect weekend’s worth of gaming between 2 players.

THE BATTLEPACK
This campaign arc can be played with the Open War battlepack, the Path to
Glory battlepack or the Contest of Generals battlepack. If you play through
the campaign with Path to Glory armies, there are extra rewards to add to
your Path to Glory roster at the end of the campaign.

FORGING A DIFFERENT NARRATIVE

If you do not have an opponent with a Stormcast Eternals or Orruk Warclans
army, you can quickly adapt this campaign to another army by renaming
the locations that are being fought over. The Warhammer Age of Sigmar Core
Book and many of the battletomes contain detailed maps within to help you
choose a new location for the battle. Alternatively, you can use cities and
towns of your own creation to fight over!

77
 GETTING READY
One player takes the role of the Orruk Warclans; the other plays the
Stormcast Eternals. There are 4 locations in this campaign (shown on the
map): the 3 initial locations – the Krondspine Pass, Thondian Plains and
Morruk Hills – and the final location of the Coast of Tusks.

Before the campaign can begin, the Stormcast Eternals player must decide
which of the initial three locations is to be their primary defence, which is to
be their secondary defence and which is to be their last resort. To make this
decision, the Stormcast Eternals player is encouraged to look at the rewards
each of the locations will give to the victor and try to guess where the Orruk
Warclans player is likely to attack (see the location tables on page 80 for
details). Once the Stormcast Eternals player has made their decision, they
should note it down in secret. The campaign is now ready to begin!

PLAYING THE CAMPAIGN

The campaign will consist of 2–3 battles in total. For the first battle, the
Orruk Warclans player picks 1 of the 3 initial locations to attack. When
making their choice, they are encouraged to both look at the rewards
each location gives the victor and to also try to guess where the Stormcast
Eternals player has left the weakest point in their defence.

Once the Orruk Warclans player has chosen the location of the first battle,
the Stormcast Eternals player reveals if the location was their primary
defence, secondary defence or last resort. This determines how many points
the Stormcast Eternals player can spend when picking their army, as follows:

STORMCAST ETERNALS ARMY

LOCATION TYPE
COMBINED POINTS VALUE
Primary Defence 10% more than the Orruk Warclans army
Secondary Defence Same as the Orruk Warclans army
Last Resort 10% less points than the Orruk Warclans army

SELECTING THE BATTLEPLAN

Each of the 3 initial locations has a location table associated with it (see page
80). These describe which battleplan you will use based on the battlepack you
selected, as well as what rewards are given to the player who wins the battle.
If the battleplan is randomly determined, it is chosen after armies have
been picked.

FIGHTING THE BATTLE

After the armies have been picked and the battleplan has been selected, you
can fight the battle using the Warhammer Age of Sigmar rules.

THE AFTERMATH
After the first battle has been fought, the winner of the battle gains the
reward of that location in the next battle of the campaign.

If the Orruk Warclans player wins the first battle, their Waaagh! has crushed
the first Sigmarite strongpoint and now makes its way straight for the Coast
of Tusks! The next battle fought is Clash on the Coast of Tusks (see page 81).
This is the final battle of the campaign and has its own unique battleplan.

If the Stormcast Eternals player wins the first battle, their defences have held,
but the Orruk Warclans have not yet been defeated. The Orruk Warclans

78
 player picks 1 of the 2 remaining locations, and a second battle is fought in
the same manner as the first.

If the Orruk Warclans player is the winner of this second battle, Clash on the
Coast of Tusks is then fought as the third and final battle of the campaign. If
the Orruk Warclans player loses this second battle, they fail to reach the final
Sigmarite strongpoint, and the Stormcast Eternals player wins the campaign,
as described below.

WINNING THE CAMPAIGN

FLASHPOINT CLASH
The player who wins the Clash on the Coast of Tusks battle wins the
campaign. In addition, the Stormcast Eternals player wins the campaign if
the Orruk Warclans fail to reach the final Sigmarite strongpoint.

REWARDS FOR PATH TO GLORY ARMIES

Players using Path to Glory armies with this campaign arc gain the
following benefits:

1. In step 3 of the aftermath sequence after each battle, units involved gain a
bonus D3 renown points each.

2. The winner of the campaign can immediately add 1 artefact of power to

their vault. For the Stormcast Eternals, the artefact represents a reward from
the God-King for valiantly defending the strongpoints of the Dawnbringer
Crusades. For the Orruk Warclans, it represents the Azyrite treasures found
Thunderscorn
in the ruins of theThe
ransacked strongpoints.
Drench Peaks

gs
CAMPAIGN MAP fa n
Ic e
Izalend

a
C l aw i ng

i
The Great
Gutfort Se a
Gr

d
ea

Ex C oa
st o
t

n
ce fT
K ro n d s p i ls us
ne R is ks
an Ro

o
ad
e atfist M awpath ge
Bilgeport

h Lake Everglut Salzagor’s Hope

T Cr
s s om
Gl o vasse
e r of
Speallus
Ma
hskol Krondskol
Excelsis
ak face M awpat
Br e h
Morruk Amberstone
Hills Watch
e
Ym

Fr S t o nl o r
ak u t i
to Na Questing
Lost
n o gN o r t

a Serpent
Cr Mesas
ev River

et
as
(

se Nautil

C a rc a s s D onse
Peaks
’s T h )
ram

Koatl’s
Crawling Gullet eva l
Pits of Pr imngle
Gharrentia Ju
p

Mekitopsar
le

h
Plains of pat 79
Mekitopsar Brok en ja r l M aw Greatpeaks of
erchasm Andtor
 KRONDSPINE PASS
The Krondspine mountains are a warren of jagged peaks and cavernous monster lairs, and the few passes
through its canyons are points of immense strategic value. The orruks will no doubt seek to batter their
way through to reach the plains of Thondia, but in doing so, they must breach a deadly choke point…
BATTLEPLANS
Open War Path to Glory Contest of Generals
Use the Open War Roll a D6: Rising Power
battleplan generator.
1-2 – The Ritual The Orruk Warclans player is
The Orruk Warclans army uses 3-6 – Hold or Die the attacker.
Territory B.
The Orruk Warclans player is the
disruptor or custodian.
Orruk Warclans Reward: If the Orruk Warclans player wins the battle, in the next battle, after
deployment but before the first battle round begins, the Orruk Warclans player can move each friendly
Orruk unit up to 6".
Stormcast Eternals Reward: If the Stormcast Eternals player wins the battle, in the next battle, the
Stormcast Eternals player can pick 2 Holy Command command abilities to use in that battle instead of 1.

THONDIAN PLAINS
The plains of Thondia are now riddled with the broken wreckage of Dawnbringer Crusades that could not
overcome Ghur’s fury. Even those ventures that manage to establish an outpost, however, are not safe from
greenskin assault. The Stormcast Eternals must man the defences of these vulnerable places and repel
the hordes.
BATTLEPLANS
Open War Path to Glory Contest of Generals
Use the Open War Roll a D6: Burn and Pillage
battleplan generator.
1-3 – Sudden Assault The Orruk Warclans player is
The Orruk Warclans army uses 4-6 – The Watchtower the attacker.
Territory B.
The Orruk Warclans player is
the invader.

Orruk Warclans Reward: If the Orruk Warclans player wins the battle, when the Orruk Warclans
player picks enhancements for their army for the next battle, they can pick 1 extra enhancement.

Stormcast Eternals Reward: If the Stormcast Eternals player wins the battle, once per battle in the
next battle, at the start of the hero phase, the Stormcast Eternals player can return 1 slain model to each
friendly Redeemer unit on the battlefield.

MORRUK HILLS
The Morruk Hills are home to numerous clans of Kruleboyz, and all manner of greenskins now flock
there. Before the hordes can burst free from the swamp-like valleys and into wider Thondia, a brotherhood
must be dispatched to hold them in place.
BATTLEPLANS
Open War Path to Glory Contest of Generals
Use the Open War Roll a D6: Frontal Assault
battleplan generator.
1 – The Trap The Orruk Warclans player is
The Orruk Warclans army uses 2-6 – Breakthrough the attacker.
Territory B.
The Orruk Warclans player is
the invader.
Orruk Warclans Reward: If the Orruk Warclans player wins the battle, once per battle in the next
battle, at the start of the combat phase, the Orruk Warclans player can pick 1 friendly unit within 3" of
any enemy units. The strike-first effect applies to that unit until the end of that phase.
Stormcast Eternals Reward: If the Stormcast Eternals player wins the battle, once per battle in the next
battle, at the start of the combat phase, the Stormcast Eternals player can pick 1 friendly unit within
3" of any enemy units. Until the end of that phase, if a model in that unit is slain within 1" of an enemy
unit, for the purposes of the Blaze of Glory battle trait, the target suffers 1 mortal wound for each 3+
instead of each 6+.

80

CLASH ON THE COAST OF TUSKS
The Stormcast Eternals have
done what they can to blunt the
advance of the orruk hordes,
attempting to slay elements of
the leadership and prevent the
greenskins from breaking out
of certain flashpoints across
eastern Thondia. It was unlikely,
however, that they could ever be
stopped completely. A warclan
of orruks now makes its way
towards a valuable strongpoint
that stands on the Coast of Tusks.
If the Stormcasts’ efforts to bleed
the horde’s strength elsewhere
have proved successful, they may
yet be able to stop them in their
tracks. But as bestial war-hunger
intensifies, the waters of the
Clawing Sea may yet redouble
their own attack on the coast…
THE ARMIES
The Orruk Warclans player is the
attacker. The Stormcast Eternals
player is the defender.
THE BATTLEFIELD
This battle is fought over 4
vital structures of a Sigmarite
strongpoint on the eroding
shoreline of the Coast of Tusks,
ERODED
COASTLINE
Terrain Feature
Terrain Feature
DEFENDER’S
TERRITORY
BATTLEPLAN
and appropriate terrain features
should be used to represent this.
Set up 4 terrain features in the
centres of the small quarters of the
battlefield shown on the map.
DEPLOYMENT
The defender sets up first, wholly
within their territory. The attacker
sets up their army second, wholly
within their territory.
BATTLE LENGTH
The battle lasts for 5 battle rounds.
FIRST TURN
The attacker chooses which player
takes the first turn in the first
battle round.
ERODING COASTLINE
At the start of the third battle
round, the flanks of the battlefield
fall away from the coastline and
the rest of the battle is fought
on the narrow strip of land that
remains, as shown on the map.
Any models that cannot fly that
are wholly within these areas of
the battlefield are immediately
ERODED
COASTLINE
N have been ransacked when the
ATTACKER’S
TERRITORY
Terrain Feature
Terrain Feature
slain and removed from play. Units
that cannot fly cannot move into
the areas marked on the map as
‘eroded coastline’ starting from the
third battle round.
RIPE FOR
FLASHPOINT CLASH
RANSACKING
Units in the attacker’s army
treat the terrain features on
the battlefield as enemy models
and can attack them with melee
weapons (they are not affected
by spells or abilities except for
those that affect terrain features).
The terrain features in this battle
are considered to have a Wounds
characteristic of 10 and a Save
characteristic of 4+. If a terrain
feature is allocated a number
of wounds equal to its Wounds
characteristic, it is removed
from the battlefield and said to
be ransacked.
SEVER THE HEAD
At the start of each battle round,
the defender receives 1 extra
command point for each Orruk
Hero in the attacker’s army that
has been slain.
GLORIOUS VICTORY
• The attacker wins a minor
victory if 2 terrain features
battle ends.
• The attacker wins a major
victory if 3 or more terrain
features have been ransacked
when the battle ends.
• The defender wins a minor
victory if only 1 terrain feature
has been ransacked when the
battle ends.
• The defender wins a major
victory if none of the terrain
features have been ransacked
when the battle ends.
81
 THE WAAAGH! FLASHPOINT RONDHOL

WHAT ARE
FLASHPOINTS?
Flashpoints are series of
articles that explore a
particular region or war
zone at a specific point in
time. Flashpoints contain
new rules along with
stories and background
about the setting, giving The continent of Rondhol shakes beneath the stomping feet of a million million greenskins, the
you plenty of opportunities savage creatures drawn there in search of a good fight. Most of the warclans are content to
to theme your games. bring ruin to anything or anyone that gets in their way, but Da Choppas – led by the Weirdnob
Flashpoints typically span Shaman Ka-rokk – have been spurred on to achieve something greater.

G
multiple issues, and
articles are always marked reen. As Ka-rokk started awake,
with the Flashpoint’s staggering up from the pelts he used as
symbol, making them easy
to find in your copy of a bed, green filled his vision. Tusked
White Dwarf. emerald faces roared against the sky,
their howls shaking a land of cracked earth
and toppled stone, all suffused with a glow of
grimy jade. The air trembled to bass chanting,
stamping feet and the clash of iron on iron.
Humie towers toppled under the force of the
bellowing.
‘Zog me,’ Ka-rokk muttered, as he blinked
away the violent phantasms. The stomping
remained though. You couldn’t get away from
it these days. It had started even before Ghur
went completely crazy, and every time the
Weirdnob snatched visions from the Great
Green, it got worse. Less helpful when you were
trying to sleep than when pounding some git’s
face in time to the beat, but you didn’t argue
with Gorkamorka.

82
 g
zi n
Bl a s
TheCr est

Drakatoa’s
Gouge
The Duel T
of Gods hi
nn

FLASHPOINT RONDHOL
er
th
n ta i n s o f M a cl
r iff
M ou az
pa

e
a
w

M The M a r
p er
tg ul
Har The Svlind
Da Choppas
l
Gaping Twinhorn
Clatch’s Portal Bonesplitterz Peak Ur
ho

War
Warclans
Ironjawz Warclans
Kruleboyz
Tuskvault
Warclans
nd

Kruleboyz Warclan
Biti Home Base
ngse
dh o
l
Civilia’s
Ruin
a Dawnbringer
Crusaders
The Craw
Ron t l a n d s
r
Hea
Khornate Raiders
Ro

Slaves to Darkness
Piratical Ogors of
Targug the Cleaver Templia
Notable Battle Beasthall

Gargant Stomping
Ground
aw
M
wl
br a
H ol d

du
‘Somethin’s up, Doggrok me old mate,’ Ka-rokk ‘Rondhol,’ Ka-rokk muttered as the visions
grunted, fumbling around for his staff. As he faded again. ‘Lendu. Everquake City.’ The

n
a
tl s

G odswlt
et

Wreathport
lifted the thing, the jaw of the orruk skull orruk’s brow creased like buckling tectonic
u n e r’

De

e
mounted atop it clattered open and closed. It plates. ‘Dat supposed to be funny, namin’ it
Ga ish

L
was one of the more intelligent things the that?
Ne Temptin’ fate, that is. We’ll give ’em a Splitneck
W
ai

o Sea
warclan’s ex-Megaboss had ever said. Ka-rokk Be th’sso bad they’ll never get up from it.’
quake
lin

ar
d
g sp

still swore blind that he had no idea how Another thought occurred. The Weirdnob
ik e

Doggrok had come down with that nasty case blinked, before turning to look Doggrok in the
of spontaneous exploding, but the rowdy empty eyes. ive
r
R
members Zara’s
of the warclan
Thetended to get back in A sp
Harm Bro
Last ke
line underCharge
the hollow gaze of their boss’s ‘Or… or, he might Hcome,
oof n’
Ka-rokk murmured.
remains. ‘The humies are up to somethin’. Scenes danced in his mind’s eye: a colossal
Hang on…’ h
centaur roaring to the sky, cracking the land
t
m ou beneath each hoof-step. Kragnos. The heart of
v er
Sh i w hite
n
Reaching into his filthy robes, Ka-rokk pulled the Stomp. lt
s B l o od r d s
au Fjo
out a bundle of Glowey Morkeyez. Stuffing the di n
gV
n
fungal cluster in his gob,Neckthe Ta l o
slitWeirdnob Gr i n

staggered and squeezed his eyes shut as the

Bja
Se

stomping echoed louder in his brain until it

a

drowned out all else. Ka-rokk’s soul plunged It isfas you feared, Lord-Celestant. The warclans of Gorkamorka
o

are onSthe
d
back into the vision-maelstrom. It took move. Some great force has re
arrived in northern
e u
Rondhol,rits
t
ac law
considerable will for the Weirdnob not to be p only desire to trample Fanything
r C in its path. For now,
the creaturese war
ng
mimortals
swept along by the general aura of violence. n t amongst themselves and againstSthose e a
cr t e
R i v er and the toppled
Instead, as time ran iningreverse
v
s But that won’t last. Momentum isGawith them.
lost to the darkness.
R edta
towers rose once Cmore, a
Doggrok strained of l a i Ghur drives them onwards. They will come south, towards
le ir seto De l
t L a hu
e a
listen for the wrathful soul of the Beast t Realm. Everquake City, and we will have to be ready for them.
Da
Gr

A Wurrgog Prophet had shown him how to do War

B
ru ta l Ju t Basili
it, once. It came in handy, as Skavenskrol
three names – Knight-Judicator Zagesi, He of the Starlight Bow
trickled like mire-sludge into his brain. Lendu’s s t
Claw
M
G o on s C oa
ug t r
el um i an
an l ur
Everquake ds Tsi
City Ehvell
Insgate 83 Ur-Luparl’s
 ‘He’s the Earthquake God, after all. With a
name like “Everquake,” he might not be able to
resist.’
‘Boss?’
A gust of wind blew into Ka-rokk’s grunta-hide
tent as a Brute pulled aside the entrance flap
and glanced inside. The shaman must have
been talking to himself louder than normal.
Mind spinning with promised violence,
Ka-rokk reacted on instinct. He levelled his
staff, green light flooding Doggrok’s empty
eye-sockets before it shot out to strike the
greenskin in the chest. The orruk was pitched
into the air before landing with the crash of
smoking armour. Moments later, the earth
quaked; Godgouga, Doggrok’s old Maw-
krusha, strained at the heavy chains clamped
around its neck as it barrelled over, snatching
up the orruk’s remains and beginning to feast.
Brutes and Ardboys glanced up from their
brawling before getting back to business.
‘Somethin’ up, Weirdboss?’ asked Mogger
Krump as he tramped over. The Warchanter
was one of the Daggboyz, and his deep navy
armour was festooned with the the chequered
patterns and triangular ‘dags’ of a veteran
vandal. No-one could get the lads riled up like
Krump and his mates. Drawing himself up and
shaking off his fighty urges, Ka-rokk planted
his staff firm and adopted his most
commanding voice.
‘Doggrok’s talkin’ to me, lads,’ he said. He knew
his words would carry over the sprawling camp
– a trick of weird magickin’ he’d picked up over
the years. Other orruks stood at attention now,
and not just because Godgouga was still
looking hungry. ‘He’s sayin’ dat da humies are
mukkin’ about in Rondhol. They’re buildin’ up
forts like they own the place.’ As he spoke,
Ka-rokk slammed the heavy butt of his staff
against the ground. Doggrok’s skeletal jaw
snapped rhythmically, every few strikes seeing
his eye sockets fizz with power.
As the thumping continued, Krump began to
slap his Gorkstikk and Morkstikk together with
echoing crashes, a long and guttural chant
escaping his throat. He was soon joined by
other Warchanters of the Daggboyz, their
voices echoing off the valley walls. Before long,
the rest of the clan had picked it up, smashing
their feet against the earth in time with the
psychic stomp. The wave was building, the
tsunami of blue-armoured violence that
smashed through civilisations and swept up
anything in its path. All Ka-rokk had to do was
direct it to its target.
84
Only he could do it. Only he had the vision to
remind the orruks of the realms what they
ought to be doing. That was why he’d been
chosen and Doggrok hadn’t. Simple as.
‘And worst of all,’ Ka-rokk shouted, voice
projecting from Doggrok’s bucket maw. ‘Da
lads in Rondhol ain’t doin’ nuffin’ about it!
Uvverwise, Gork wouldn’t ’ave sent for us now,
would he?’
‘NO!’ came the responding bellow, as baritone
horn blasts sounded off without rhyme or
reason.
‘You fink dey’ve forgotten how’z ta fight?’
‘YES!’
‘Who’s gonna remind ’em?’
‘DA CHOPPAS!’
‘We’z gonna smash ’em!’
‘WE’Z GONNA SMASH ’EM!’
‘We’z gonna bash ’em!’
‘WE’Z GONNA BASH ’EM!’
‘Come on Da Choppas!’
‘COME ON DA CHOPPAS!’
‘WAAAGH!’
‘WAAAGH!!!’
The greenskins’ fury reached a crescendo.
Godgouga hurled back his head and let loose a
bone-shuddering howl. Ka-rokk thrust his staff
skyward, Doggrok’s empty skull filling with
light. A beam shot from its cranium and burst
against the Ghurish night, forming a roaring
bestial visage whose eyes blazed with a
war-hunger as old as time itself. It was a spark
catching upon dry parchment. As one, Da
Choppas surged forwards, whatever scraps of
their souls not already burning with battle-lust
now ignited with a desecrating zeal. As he
watched the ironclad beast that was his
warclan crash down the valley, Ka-rokk gave a
toothy grin.
Rondhol wasn’t going to know what hit it.
 ’WARE, FOLK OF
THE FRONTIER!
- Thy hammer craves vengeance -

THE GREEN MENACE DESCENDS!

FLASHPOINT RONDHOL
THE ABOMINABLE KA-ROKK
AND HIS VILE MINIONS
KNOWN FOR DESECRATIONS AND ATROCITIES NOT LIMITED TO:
THE TOPPLING OF MAVA’S HOPE - THE BUTCHERY OF THE FLAGBEARER MARCH -
THE EXTINCTION OF THE LITHOTAURI - THE COLLAPSE OF
WYRDWATCH HALL - THE PROFANING OF GREENMOTHER’S FALLS -
THE DAUBING OF THE GURNING IDOL - THE SILENCING OF THE BELLS
- THE HORROR OF THE GULCH OF CORPSES - THE ENFLITHENING
OF THUNDERMONT - THE BLOODSHED AT SEILUTHRA REFUGE

Dawners who present a head belonging to one of the shaman’s ‘Daggboyz’ veterans to their corporal-
at-arms shall be considered for settlement within a prime domicile, subject to the stipulations of
Ordinance 462.

85
 RULES OF
ENGAGEMENT
Are you a Pitched Battle general or a casual commander?
LOUIS AGUILAR
Louis is one of the Age of
Sigmar games developers.
Since joining the studio in
2018, he’s worked on most
of the system’s battletomes
and General’s Handbooks.
This issue, ‘Mr Matched
Play’ breaks apart the
pieces of the matched play
puzzle and explains how
you can rebuild them to
suit your gaming needs.
86
T
here are many players of Age of
Sigmar who love the structure that
matched play provides; it helps them
focus on the tactical elements of their
armies and explore how to get the most out of
them. At the highest level of competitive play,
Warhammer Age of Sigmar is an intense,
objective-based affair, a balance of how
different armies match up against each other
and tactical nous. From strategies to thinking
turns ahead, it requires a significant amount
of information to remember or refer to – and,
simply put, this isn’t the way everyone wants
to play. Thankfully, there is so much to draw
from these competitive formats that you can
repurpose them to fit the type of games you
and your friends are looking to play.
The most important thing to remember is
that Age of Sigmar can be played in as many
different ways as you desire; you are free to
play whatever types of games you want with
as many or few rules as you wish. It is your
hobby, after all. Adapting things to suit your
needs can go a long way. It could make all the
difference when convincing a friend to start
collecting, or you might simply prefer to have
fewer things to think about when you play.
This column is aimed at those who want to
learn how to play the game in stages or adapt
the current system to meet the requirements
of what we call ‘casual play’. I’m going to
encourage you to break down the Age of
Sigmar core rules, to repurpose elements of
our battlepacks and to head into uncharted
territory with your games. The end result
should be a streamlined way of playing
matched play battles and a means of
gradually introducing mechanics to simplify
gameplay or to help you learn the system.
THE CORE RULES
The third edition of Age of Sigmar makes
finding and adjusting the mechanics you
want to use really simple, thanks to the
numbered headers for its overarching rules.
6.0 COMMAND POINTS
The tracking and use of command points can
be one thing too many for some players to
remember or make the most of. While they’re
a big part of the Age of Sigmar system, they
can easily be removed from your games until
you’re ready to use them. Much like many of
the things I’ll talk about in this column,
command points can be slowly added back at
any point you wish or, if you prefer, adjusted
to work in a way that is much simpler.
Designer’s Tip: You could say that instead of
using command points, your Heroes can
issue one command in each phase of a turn.
You could even assign specific commands from
the core rules to a certain Hero, keeping
things streamlined when it comes to making
choices during the battle.
7.1 HEROES AND HEROIC ACTIONS
Depending on the size of your game, you
could simplify the hero phase by removing
the use of heroic actions. While these abilities
really help to give your Heroes the presence
they justly deserve, you might find yourself
pondering which of these abilities you want
to use. This can slow down the game when
both players are able to carry out their own
heroic actions in the same phase.
Designer’s Tip: Add heroic actions back into
your games one at a time when you feel ready
to do so. This could even be during the same
battle that started without them!
17.0 TERRAIN
Terrain rules can often be fiddly to use if
you’re inexperienced with them, and they can
have a big impact on a battle when combined
with rules from the Mysterious Terrain table
(28.1.3). If you’re looking to reduce the
impact these pieces have on your games, you
can have a ‘house rule’ that they are used
simply as decoration, rather than interacting
with the units from either player’s army.
Designer’s Tip: A lot of terrain features block
visibility for attacks made with missile
weapons or obscure the targets of spells and
prayers. You could agree with your opponent
which terrain features will have these effects in
advance so that things run smoothly when the
battle is underway.
21.1 MONSTROUS RAMPAGE
In a similar vein to heroic actions, the
monstrous rampage rule is another mechanic
that gives both players decisions to make in
the same phase of the same turn. If you want
to keep things simple for a beginner, or if you
just want to speed up the charge phase, this is
an ideal mechanic to omit until you’re ready.
Designer’s Tip: If you do want your
Monsters to unleash their monstrous
rampages, you could simplify the mechanic
according to your needs. For example, if you
wanted to use Stomp, you could resolve its
effect after you finish moving the miniature,
instead of waiting for the end of the phase and
potentially forgetting to resolve it.
26.0 BATTALIONS
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
Depending on the amount of time you want
to take making your army lists, using core
battalions can add a level of complexity that
you may not want to take on. While core
battalions can be used by armies of any
faction, they include additional rules that
need to be remembered during the battle, so
you might choose not to use them.
CONTEST OF GENERALS
The Contest of Generals battlepack found
inside the Warhammer Age of Sigmar Core
Book was the first iteration of matched play
before the Pitched Battles of the General’s
Handbook 2021 were developed. Inside this
battlepack, you’ll find a completely different
set of points limits, reinforced unit caps and
battlefield sizes to those found in the
General’s Handbook. For our exercise of
breaking down matched play, it’s the perfect
place to start hand-picking aspects of the
system that work best for you.
87
 The three battleplans provide a great set of
simple scenarios for different types of battles,
each one rewarding a different style of
gameplay. You have an all-round, objective-
holding battle in Frontal Assault, an
aggression-focused battle in Burn and Pillage,
and finally a position-focused battle in Rising
Power. These will help you to understand the
ways you can play with your army without
being too much to process as you go. If you’re
introducing someone new to the system and
don’t want to overload them, this battlepack
offers a streamlined experience that could see
your games played out in full in 90 minutes
or less (depending on game size, of course).
Contest of Generals also contains a suite of
grand strategies and battle tactics that can
help you establish a basic understanding of
secondary objectives in matched play, or they
can easily be removed from your games if
you’re not quite ready for the complete
experience. Grand strategies and battle tactics
essentially add another layer of tactical
management to your battles and can make all
the difference in sealing victory or keeping
the victory points score close. They can also
help armies that aren’t great at holding
objectives to achieve victory points in a more
traditional way (namely by slaying!).
88
Designer’s Tip: These add-ons are great as a
contained set where both players pick from the
same pool of options. This will create some
interesting interactions where you know what
battle tactics your opponent has left to use as
you take your own options into account.
One of the most significant rules of this
battlepack is ‘stealing the initiative’, where
players decide who will deploy their army
first and who will get the first turn of the
battle. A large part of the Age of Sigmar
system is built on this mechanic, which is
also linked to some core battalion abilities.
While it provides an extra layer of tactical
nuance for your games, it could be that you
prefer not to make use of core battalions or
stealing the initiative, and a simple roll-off at
the start of a game to determine who gets the
first turn will do fine.
Designer’s Tip: Control of who has the first
turn is a major advantage in Age of Sigmar.
Ensuring that both players understand its
importance and agree on how it is determined
will help the overall experience of a game.
SUMMARY
The beauty of playing games that you’ve
customised is that you control how much of a

time commitment you want to make before a
battle begins. It could be that you and your
group are happy building 800-point armies
and dipping into multiple factions to keep
things diverse, or perhaps you want to make
an intuitive and fun introduction to Age of
Sigmar for those newcomers at the club.
If you’re a new starter yourself and have a
friend starting out too, why not play a series
of games that gradually adds mechanics and
units as you go? For example:
Battle 1 – Restrict both players to one Hero
with a Wounds characteristic of 6 or less and
two Battleline units each with a Wounds
characteristic of 2 or less.
Battle 2 – Add one or two units of different
types, maybe some fast-moving units or some
that are armed with missile weapons.
Battle 3 – Add a Monster or larger units to
get a feel of what reinforcing units and using
some of the range’s biggest miniatures is like.
The goal here should be to build up your
knowledge and experience, rather than
jumping in at the deep end and risking what
we like to call ‘analysis paralysis’.
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
If you’re already familiar with the units in
your army and are happy to dive in, why not
try these instead:
Battle 1 – No heroic actions, monstrous
rampages, battle tactics or grand strategies.
Battle 2 – Add heroic actions and monstrous
rampages.
Battle 3 – Add battle tactics and grand
strategies.
CONCLUSION
With so many moving parts in Age of Sigmar,
it’s easy to find the mechanics that match
what you want from the game. Making things
your own might inspire you to run special
events with custom rules or encourage new
players to take up the game. Whatever your
reasons, the joy of using your miniatures on
the battlefield is what you make it, and some
of the best battles you’ll have will be against UPCOMING
ENGAGEMENTS
like-minded generals. So the next time you’re Got an idea for Rules of
arranging a game, ask yourself what you want Engagement? Let us know
to learn. Are you and your opponent looking your thoughts, and we’ll
send them via
to evolve your experience and become fully Gryph-hound courier to
fledged Pitched Battle generals? Or do you the AOS team.
want to keep things simple and just enjoy
team@whitedwarf.co.uk
rolling dice and pushing models around?
89
 INTO THE
GNARLWOOD
Warcry is back, and this time it has its own column!
S
am: The drums of war sound out
across the Mortal Realms once more,
drawing warriors of every ilk into
brutal battles for glory and power.
Warcry is back, bigger and better than ever
before. This time, the action takes place not
in the shadow of the looming Varanspire but
within the Gnarlwood of Ghur, a sprawling
forest home to flesh-eating trees and
countless other horrors – not a place you
would want to go camping for the weekend!
Last month, the new Warcry box set, the
Heart of Ghur, arrived and not only is it
crammed full with two brand new warbands
and more terrain than you can shake a
twisted gnarloak branch at, it also heralds a
new edition of the game. In this article, my
SAM PEARSON & fellow writer of rules, Dave Sanders, and I are
DAVE SANDERS going tell you some of its secrets, each more
Sam and Dave are games
developers in the Age of juicy and tantalising than an itxi grub (in the
Sigmar team and the eyes of a slann, at least).
architects behind both
Warcry and Warhammer
Underworlds. As such, they To begin with, I will focus on the new Core
know all there is to know Book before Dave takes over and explores the
about high-intensity accompanying Warcry Compendium, so if
skirmishes. They certainly
make a formidable you’re a new player to the world of Warcry or
bar-room-brawl tag team. a grizzled veteran, this article will bring you
up to speed with everything you need to
know about this exciting new chapter.
AN ITERATION NOT A REVOLUTION
The latest edition of Warcry is designed for
both new and veteran players alike. It takes
the previous rules set and builds upon it
rather than rewriting it from scratch. For
those unfamiliar with the game, in Warcry,
players each muster a warband of a dozen or
so warriors and pit them against one another
in brutal skirmish battles. Warcry is fast and
action packed. Players take it in turns to
90
activate a single fighter at a time, choosing for
them to leap across terrain, make a dash for
some treasure or deliver bone-shattering
blows upon the enemy before their opponent
gets to do the same.
The rules of Warcry are quick to pick up, and
we receive lots of feedback from hobbyists
telling us that Warcry was the game they used
to introduce family and friends to the hobby.
For this reason, we were keen not to
overcomplicate the rules. For every new
addition to the rules, we have streamlined or
reduced the complexity elsewhere to ensure
the game is even easier to get into than
before. Veteran fans will no doubt appreciate
the rules for allies, monsters and thralls
moving to the core rules and becoming much
more simple in the process, as well as the
streamlined rules for battle groups. At the
same time, there’s a heap of new rules and
mechanics to explore, namely the new
reactions system and the redesigned
campaign rules, which are the most
immersive we have ever done. So let’s take a
look at some of the new features.
REACTIONS
Warcry has always been known for its fast
and brutal play style. Each battle round is a
constant back and forth as players take it in
turns to activate fighters one at a time. The
biggest addition to the core rules is the
introduction of reactions. A reaction is
something your fighters can do to interrupt
your opponent’s turn by spending one of
their actions early.
The core rules introduce three reactions that
every fighter can employ in battle, each giving
an answer to an area of the game players
might currently feel frustration with. For
example, the first reaction, Counter, works as
follows:
Counter: A fighter can make this reaction
after they are targeted by a melee attack action
but before the hit rolls are made. For each
hit roll from that attack action that misses,
allocate 1 damage point to the attacking
fighter. For each hit roll of 1, allocate 3
damage points to the attacking fighter instead.
If you’re fed up with your warriors getting
punched in the face before they can even
strike back, this reaction lets them deliver a
riposte to the attacker. This reaction also
makes for a perfect ‘last stand’. After all, if
your fighter is about to be taken down, they
might as well go out swinging! As it’s based
on the number of hit rolls that miss, fighters
with high Toughness will be better placed to
use this reaction (after all, what better way to
counter an enemy blow than with a giant
shield!).
The second reaction, Take Cover, allows a
fighter to keep their head down when
attacked by an enemy fighter’s ranged
weapon, giving them the chance to dodge
critical hits. This can be crucial if your
opponent has brought Longstrike Crossbows
with a critical damage value of 10 to the
battle. Finally, the third reaction, Strike
Them Down, lets a fighter take a swing at an
opponent who flees from the fight.
Players should find these three reactions give
them a lot to think about during their
INTO THE GNARLWOOD
opponent’s turn, but it doesn’t stop there.
Each warband gets its own bespoke reaction
too, something Dave discusses in more detail
later in this column.
NEW CAMPAIGNS
For most players, the true challenge of
Warcry lies in successfully completing a
campaign with a Warcry warband.
Campaigns are a system of linking your
Warcry battles together in an ongoing story.
After each victory, you will receive rewards
and in defeat, your warriors might suffer
crippling injuries or be removed from your
warband permanently. Campaigns remain
key to the Warcry experience, and the new
edition brings the most engaging and
immersive campaign experience to date.
With the previous edition’s narrative taking
place in the Eightpoints, most warbands were
vying for the favour of Archaon the
91
 Everchosen. This time around, the story has
moved to Ghur, the Realm of Beasts. A
crashed Seraphon temple-ship is rumoured
to lie in the centre of a great forest of
gnarloaks, and now warbands are drawn here
to earn treasure and glory.
For this edition, we really wanted players to
feel like they were setting foot in this dark
and treacherous place, so the rules for the
campaign experience were overhauled to give
you the means to set up encampments, send
out warriors to explore or search for treasure,
and slowly start to unravel the secrets hidden
within the Gnarlwood.
MORE QUESTS
The quest system has been reworked for the
new edition. While quests are still solo affairs,
allowing you to shape the destiny of your
warband any way you wish, they now take on
average 2 or 3 battles to complete rather than
10 or so. This means that rather than
choosing a single quest to define your
campaign, you are likely to complete half a
dozen or so with your warband before they
can retire and live on the spoils (or die in the
process).
Each quest is unique in both its rewards and
how it is completed. Some might task you to
send fighters out to explore after each battle
to search for an artefact of power (such as the
‘Gifts of the Dark Gods’ quest shown below),
whereas others such as ‘Hunt the Beast’
require you to defeat a monster in battle
before it can be tamed and added to your
warband.
Chaos Quest
GIFTS OF THE DARK GODS
During the Age of Chaos, the Gnarlwood was assaulted many times by the
servants of Chaos, and it bears the wounds of those invasions to this day.
In the darkest stretches of the forest can be found all manner of powerful
relics, locked away in forsaken vaults or hidden in ruins. Seek them out so
that they might aid in the destruction of your enemies.
Pick 1 artefact of power from the Gifts of the Dark Gods table and note it
in your quest log. You cannot pick an artefact of power already borne by a
fighter in your warband.
While embarked upon this quest, you must keep track of the progress
your warband makes, represented by a progress score. In step 4 of each
campaign battle’s aftermath sequence, add 2 to your progress score if you
won the battle, and add an additional 2 if you were the attacker (whether
you won or not). In addition, you can pick 1 fighter from your warband
and send them forth to search for the artefact. To do so, roll a dice
and add the roll to your progress score. In addition, on a 1, the fighter
being rolled for is attacked by something within the Gnarlwood. Make an
injury roll for that fighter.
You can complete this quest once your progress score is 15 or more.
When you complete this quest, you obtain the artefact of power that was
noted in your quest log.
92
WHERE WILL YOU SPEND THE NIGHT?
The Gnarlwood is a place of unrelenting peril,
and even in the aftermath of battle, warriors
are not safe. All kinds of dangerous flora and
fauna lurk here and, as a result, places of
relative safety do not remain so for long.
While playing through a campaign, your
warband will have to set up an encampment
in one of the many locations of the
Gnarlwood. To begin with, you’ll be camped
on the outskirts of the Gnarlwood, but as you
fight battles, you will be able to discover
different locations that allow you to move
your encampment further into the depths of
the Gnarlwood. Each location you discover
brings a unique benefit, so you will need to
constantly be on the lookout for opportune
locations to relocate to.
Stranglegrove Swamp
The writhing vines in this swamp stretch out to
throttle trespassers. There are many treasure-
laden corpses entangled within; perhaps
their loot might be recovered, if you are very,
very careful?
In step 5 of the aftermath sequence, you can
pick 1 fighter from your warband and send
them forth to explore the swamp. To do
so, roll a dice. On a 1-2, make an injury roll
for that fighter. On a 3+, roll once on the
Gnarlwood Lesser Artefacts table.
As I said before, safe havens do not stay as
such for long in Gnarlwood, and after each
battle, you will need to make an encampment
check to see if yours has been compromised
or not. Once your encampment has been
discovered, it’s only a matter of time before it
is stripped bare by your enemies, so you’ll do
better to not get too attached to any one
location.
CAMPAIGN ARCS
The last new mechanic I wish to explore with
you before I let Dave take over is the
campaign arcs. While a Warcry campaign can
be played alone (meaning you do not need to
be part of a regular gaming group, and the
one-off battles you fight against any opponent
can form the battles of your campaign), we
understand that a lot of players do still play
Warcry with a close-knit group of friends.
Campaign arcs are an optional layer you and
your friends can add to your campaigns to tie
them together in a single story. The new Core
Book contains two campaign arcs, and many
more will be presented in future publications.
All of the campaign arcs are designed to last
for three to five battles, so each makes for a
perfect afternoon of gaming. During your
 O u ts k i r ts o f
t h e G n a r l wo o d

S t r a n g leg r o ve
S wa m p We l ls p r i n g

INTO THE GNARLWOOD

De a d G n a r lo a k G r o ve
Fo r e b o di n g
Wa tc h to we r
T i m e wo r n R u i n

Hidde n C a ve r n
L e y Li n e
Ne x u s

S c o r p id Hi ve Shard of
Ta la x is

wider Warcry campaign, you are free to play
as many or as few campaign arcs with your
warband as you like.
Below is an example of one of the campaign
arcs to give you a good idea of the fun to be
had with these.
Dave: Now that Sam’s taken you through the
changes to the game in the new edition and
set the scene for Warcry’s most exciting
narrative yet, I’m going to discuss how we’ve
approached the balance of the game in the
Warcry Compendium.
GROWING PAINS There are 10 different locations
Warcry has grown considerably from its available to all warbands. Will
you be able to discover all of
beginnings, and what started as a game that them, or will your warband
catered for a relatively small number of meet its doom in the process?
warbands has developed into a skirmish
game that includes the vast majority of the
Age of Sigmar range of Warhammer
miniatures. This happened very organically,
presenting us with the challenge of balancing
an ever-increasing game and, in some cases,
stretching the system to its limits. We know
that some players felt that the ‘core’ Warcry
warbands had a different power level to
warbands assembled from the wider Age of
Sigmar range, and we took steps to address
this in the Tome of Champions 2021, which
revised the points values for a great many of
the fighters in Warcry.

THE PATH OF VEN TALAX

In this campaign arc, one warband has secured a Ven Talax
map that tells of a treasure hoard hidden within the depths
of the Gnarlwood. As they search for it, their rivals are
hot on their heels. This campaign arc is for 2 players and
lasts for 3 battles, during which a set sequence of unique
battleplans is played through to determine the outcome. Every campaign arc adds a
thrilling narrative to your
Warcry campaign that ties your
warband’s story to those of
your opponents’ warbands.

93
 BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD
This new edition presented us with an
opportunity to go even further. With the
introduction of reactions, we knew that we
wanted to revisit the 40-odd factions in
Warcry and give them each a reaction that
suited their character and play style. These
are all available in the Warcry Compendium, a
book that collects nearly all of the over 800
fighters in Warcry into a single, easy-to-use
volume. While we were at it, though, we
spotted an opportunity to make a tweak here
and there… and there… and there…
The result was what amounted to a complete
rebalance of the system. We came at it from
two directions: checking that each fighter in
the game did what we thought it should do –
that it was fast enough, tough enough and hit
hard enough, with abilities that matched its
role in the warband – and then also checking
that we were charging the right amount of
points for that fighter. This was, and I do not
use this phrase lightly, a lengthy process. We
learned a lot about the system as we were
doing it, and we refined our methodology
again and again as we went. There was a good
month or so when the only way I could
communicate with my colleagues was in a
curious code composed of fighter
94
characteristics, percentages, probabilities and
points values. They came to dread my
appearances at their shoulder with ‘just one
more change’. However, what we ended up
with, we believe, is a more tightly balanced
system, where every warband stands on an
even footing with every other.
WHAT’S CHANGED?
We’ve changed every warband in Warcry,
approaching each fighter individually and
looking at each faction as a whole. It would
be impossible to discuss everything that we’ve
improved, added or replaced in this article.
However, here are some changes that we
applied broadly, so we can give you an idea of
what’s new for your warband.
SMALLER BOSSES
One change that affects pretty much every
faction is that we’ve reduced a lot of Wounds
characteristics. The fighters this affects most
are ‘unit champions’ – the Vindictor-Primes
and Gutrippa Bosses of Age of Sigmar.
Whereas previously these fighters tended to
have around 10 Wounds more than their
rank-and-file equivalents, they’re now closer
to 5 Wounds more. In addition, some of the
smallest fighters in Warcry – most notably
grots – have a lower Wounds characteristic

now, as we’ve developed our understanding
of resilience in the game (more on that later).
We’ve used the ‘extra room’ these changes
gave us to differentiate more between fighters
towards the higher end of the scale. These
changes mean that there are now cheaper
potential leaders available to each faction,
making it easier to take larger warbands if
you want to. They also bring more fighters
into the optimal range for a game of Warcry,
where – if you really put your back into it –
you’ll be in with a shot of eliminating the
toughest fighters your opponent can bring.
OLD
V I N D I CTO R- PR IME 200
INTO THE GNARLWOOD
CAREFUL CALIBRATION
We also looked at every weapon in the game,
and adjusted many of the Range
characteristics. A handful of fighters had
attacks with a Range of 4 that were
nevertheless ‘melee’ weapons; these now have
a Range of 3. Many ranged weapons,
meanwhile, have had their Range
characteristics adjusted to bring them all onto
the same scale and to give them better
balance.
OLD
B EASTSPEA K ER 130

2 3 4 2/5 4 4 4 1/2

4 6 30 1 3 4 1/4 5 4 15

NEW NEW
V I N D I CTO R- PRIME 170 B EASTSPEA K ER 110

2 3 4 2 /5 3 4 4 1/3

4 6 25 1 3 4 1/4 5 4 15

95
 FAITHFUL STEEDS
While we were playtesting the Warcry
Compendium, we came to agree that, in many
cases, mounted fighters (who, in most cases,
have the Mount ( ) runemark) felt a bit
lacklustre. While they were faster and harder
to kill than their foot-slogging brethren, they
didn’t generally hit any harder. We addressed
this by building a ‘mount bonus’ into the
melee weapons of mounted fighters, so you
should now find your cavalry charges even
more glorious!
OLD
VANAR I
DAW NRID E R 150
2 3 3 2/4
10 4 18
NEW
VANAR I
DAW NRID E R 160
2 4 3 2 /4
10 4 18
ANYTHING YOU CAN DO…
Alongside the fighter cards, we also looked at
each fighter’s abilities, and we did a lot of
work to balance the different kinds of abilities
against each other. You’ll see that many
abilities that had quite variable effects
depending on what you rolled are now more
consistent, making it easier to fit those into
your strategy. We made sure that each ability
has the right level of impact on the game,
whether it is a [double], [triple] or [quad],
by balancing the power of these abilities
against how often (or rarely) you’ll get to use
them. We also made the wording more
consistent between similar abilities. We
removed some of the lowest impact abilities
from the game, replacing them with abilities
that should see far more use. Some factions
now have additional abilities, as we had room
to flesh them out a bit in the Warcry
Compendium.
GET TO THE POINT(S)
All of these changes have naturally had an
impact on the points values of fighters, but
far more significant were the changes that we
96
made to how we calculate a fighter’s points
value. We decided to go right back to the
drawing board here, challenging each of our
existing principles and refining or replacing
any that did not seem to be having the right
effect on a fighter’s points when considering
that fighter’s overall effectiveness on the
battlefield.
HOW TOUGH IS THE FIGHTER?
For example, the way that we factor in a
fighter’s resilience – a term we use to describe
the combination of their Toughness and
Wounds characteristics – has been refined, so
a fighter’s value is more closely tied to their
staying power. This has seen some fighters
with low Toughness actually increase in
points and some of the fighters with high
Toughness decrease in points, based on the
amount of effort (and attack actions) it
should take to get rid of them.
OLD
C H AO S WARRI O R WITH
C H AO S H AN D WEAP O N
AN D RU N ES H I ELD 140
1 3 4 2/4
4 6 15
NEW
C H AO S WARRI O R WITH
C H AO S H AN D WEAP O N
AN D RU N ES H I ELD 110
1 3 4 2/ 4
4 6 15
HOW LETHAL IS THE FIGHTER?
Similarly, we developed new formulae for
how we value a fighter’s weapons. This
calculation takes into account the Range
characteristics of the weapon and also the
Move characteristic of the fighter to
determine that fighter’s ‘threat range’, which is
used to help us judge how many times a
fighter is likely to be able to make an attack
action with that weapon in a battle. It takes
into account the average damage dealt vs
different Toughness characteristics and also
the ‘swinginess’ of a weapon – that is, how
consistent its damage output is. Where a
fighter has more than one weapon, it
compares the relative values of those weapons
to judge whether that fighter should pay any
more points for its second weapon. Some of
the most devastating weapons in the game
have been given a discount – once your
expected damage gets over a particular
threshold, all the extra damage does is make
your fighter’s target even more dead. One
widely visible impact of these changes is that
fighters that are wizards in Age of Sigmar
97
INTO THE GNARLWOOD
 have come down a lot in points to better discount in order to take into account their
reflect the impact of the ranged weapon these low Move characteristic and the consequent
fighters usually have. possibility of them having very little impact
OLD in some games.
O R RU K W E IR D NOB
S H AMAN 230 OLD
A ETHERWI N G 65
3-7 2 3 3/6
1 3 2 1/2
2 3 4 1/4 3 4 35
12 2 6
NEW
O R RU K W E IR D NOB
S H AMAN 170 NEW
A ETHERWI N G 115
3 -7 2 3 3 /6
1 3 2 1/2
2 3 4 1 /4 3 4 32
12 2 6

HOW MOBILE IS THE FIGHTER?

As a final example, we looked at how we
value a fighter’s Move characteristic. As I
mentioned above, this plays a part in how we
calculate how lethal a fighter is, but it also has
an inherent value in a game where your
fighter’s position on the battlefield is so
important. This means that highly mobile
fighters – and especially those that fly – are
paying a premium for the impact they can
have on the battlefield. It also means that
some fighters have received a substantial
GLOW UPS
One consequence of the new points values is
that some of the ‘core’ Warcry warbands were
weighing in at substantially less than 1,000
points. This didn’t seem right to us at all, so
in the Warcry Compendium, we’ve beefed up
these warbands so that they all come in at
around 950-1,000 points, however you’ve
assembled them. This means that they now
hit like the champions they are and are all
worthy exemplars of a Warcry warband.

98
 INTO THE GNARLWOOD
OLD
I RO N L E G I O NARY 70 [Reaction] Unexpected Assault: A
fighter can make this reaction after an
enemy fighter finishes a move action
1 2 3 1/3 visible to this fighter and within 3" of
this fighter. Pick another friendly fighter
with the Cypher Lords ( ) faction
4 5 10 runemark and the Mystic ( ) runemark.
That fighter makes a bonus move action.
NEW After that move action that fighter must
be within 1" of the enemy fighter that
I RO N L E G I O NARY 75 made the move action.

1 3 3 1 /4

4 5 12 [Reaction] Quick Bite: A fighter

REACTIONS
Finally, I’m going to come back around to
reactions, which is where we started our
changes to the Warcry factions. Each faction
has a reaction now, which they can use
alongside the universal reactions in the core
rules. These reactions have been tailored to fit
the play style and background of the factions
and give you some great new tactical options
in your battles.
can make this reaction after they
are targeted by a melee attack action
but before the hit rolls are made. If
none of the hit rolls from that attack
action result in a critical hit, allocate 3
damage points to the attacking fighter,
and remove up to 3 damage points
allocated to this fighter.
SUMMING UP
We’re really excited in the studio for the new
edition of Warcry, and we hope you are too.
There are so many exciting stories waiting to
be told, and so many storied warbands to
collect! There’s something new for everyone
in Warcry, and we hope that you have as
much fun playing it as we’ve had writing and
testing it. To the Gnarlwood!

99
FROM THE DEEPS!
A selection of WARBANDS OF BEASTGRAVE BY NICCOLÒ PANZERI
Niccolò: I started painting my Beastgrave
Warhammer
warbands in March 2020, during the first
Underworlds lockdown here in Italy. I began with the
warbands painted models in the Beastgrave set, followed by all
by you, our hobby- the other warbands. We couldn’t play, so I
loving readers. spent a lot of time painting miniatures!
I always try to get a smooth finish on my
models (for example, on the Snarlfangs’ fur or
on Hrothgorn’s skin tone). Usually this is
achieved by painting with thin glazes or even
wet-blending the colours on some of the
larger areas. I also like to emphasise different
surfaces and materials by giving them some
texture. For example, the metal armour worn
by Grashrak’s Despoilers was heavily
Skaeth’s Wild Hunt
Hrothgorn’s Mantrappers
100
weathered using brown and orange Contrast
paints, which create a battered, rusty effect.
At the other end of the spectrum, I edge-
highlighted every single scale on Kyrae’s
snake body to make them look leathery and
reflective. I’m crazy, I know!
I like to use a contrasting spot colour on my
miniatures. For example, Morgwaeth’s
Blade-coven are painted with pale skin tones,
so I picked a very deep red for their clothes to
create a striking contrast. On Skaeth’s Wild
Hunt, I used mainly browns and warm
colours, so I decided to use a very bright
orange for their hair to draw the attention of
the viewer.
Morgwaeth’s Blade-coven

READERS' GALLERY
Rippa’s Snarlfangs

Grashrak’s Despoilers

101
 THE GODSWORN HUNT BY PHILIPP HÖPPNER
Philipp: The painting inspiration for the
Godsworn Hunt came from the ‘How to
Paint’ tutorial on the Warhammer YouTube
channel. Sometimes I follow the tutorials
exactly, and sometimes I alter parts
depending on the effect I’m after. In this case,
I added a couple of additional highlights to
the skin to make it brighter and to give it
more definition. To achieve this, I thinned
my paints by at least 50%. This enabled me to
YLTHARI’S GUARDIANS BY ANTHONY EMERSON
Anthony: When painting Ylthari’s
Guardians, I envisaged an area where the
Sylvaneth lived close to Grandfather Nurgle’s
gardens, so I used dark colours for the wood
and fleshy colours for the spites moving
around them. The base colour for the bark is
a mix of Rhinox Hide, Xereus Purple and
Stormshield. The Stormshield helps to create
the matt effect on the bark. I then drybrushed
the bark using the same mix but with
102
layer and blend the skin tones together to get
the smooth effect I was after. Overall, I enjoy
this step of painting the most.
Other important considerations on these
models are the chaotic hair colours and the
blue glowing rune in the middle of Theddra
Skull-scryer’s hand. These gave me a chance
to add some bright colours to the models,
which contrast with the more natural tones.
progressively more white added for the
highlights. To contrast with this, the warriors’
bodies were painted with a basecoat of
Fenrisian Grey and Teclis Blue and then
washed with watered-down Nighthaunt
Gloom (about 1:1 with water). Again, I added
increasing amounts of white to my original
mix for the various highlights. Lastly, I
painted their weapons to look like they are
made from the heartwood of a tree.
THE WURMSPAT BY JESÚS SÁNCHEZ
Jesús: My favourite colour is turquoise, so I
used that for the skin tone on the Wurmspat.
I then used complementary colours, such as
yellow and orange, on the armour plates and
cloth to create a contrast between different
areas of the model.
I painted the skin with Thousand Sons Blue
and added Ungor Flesh to give it a fleshier
look. A wash of diluted Volupus Pink added
THE SEPULCHRAL GUARD BY STAHLY
Stahly: When the Sepulchral Guard made
their way into the Mirrored City, I thought
they would be perfect for a self-contained
painting project.
I went for a classic yellowish shade for the
bone on my skeletons. I started with Ushabti
Bone washed with Agrax Earthshade. I then
layered it with Ushabti Bone and highlighted
it using Screaming Skull and Pallid Wych
depth and contrast. For the armour, I started
with a grisaille in white followed by a wash of
Gryph-hound Orange to give it a coppery
look. I then used Averland Sunset and Yriel
Yellow to give it a metallic appearance
without using metallic paints. Fecula’s habit
also started with a white grisaille followed by
READERS' GALLERY
a layer of Iyanden Yellow. I added Yriel Yellow
to the Contrast paint for the highlights,
creating a saturated final colour.
Flesh. For the spot colours, I chose purple
and black. The purple clothes were based
with Screamer Pink, washed with Nuln Oil
and highlighted with Screamer Pink followed
by a mix of Screamer Pink and Screaming
Skull. The black was painted Abaddon Black
and highlighted with Eshin Grey and
Dawnstone. The brass armour was basecoated
with Brass Scorpion, washed with Agrax
Earthshade and highlighted with Ironbreaker.
103
 Ironsoul’s Condemnors

The Wurmspat

Lady Harrow’s Mournflight

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE DEAD BY ADAM GLADZIŃSKI

Adam: For Ironsoul’s Condemnors, I used a
metallic lacquer for the silver to make it super Oxide and diluted Caliban Green were used
shiny, while the gold was painted Retributor
Armour and washed with Reikland
Fleshshade. The white cloth was basecoated
Celestra Grey and blended up to White Scar,
while the red started with Mephiston Red
and was highlighted using Evil Sunz Scarlet
and Fire Dragon Bright. By contrast, the
Wurmspat are much dirtier! Their brass
armour was based with Runelord Brass then
washed with Agrax Earthshade. Nihilakh
for the patina effect. The cloth areas were
splattered with Agrax Earthshade and Nuln
Oil to make them look filthy. For the
Nighthaunt, I used an airbrush to create a
transition between black and white. I then
used Nighthaunt Gloom to add colour to the
cloth and glazes of green on the trailing ends.
The edge highlights were done with
Baharroth Blue and White Scar.

104
MORGOK’S KRUSHAS BY JONATHAN KOCH
Jonathan: When painting my warband, I
used an airbrush to apply a basecoat of
Bugman’s Glow, followed by a zenithal
highlight of Nurgling Green (with a hint of
Krieg Khaki) to the skin. I then washed the
skin with Athonian Camoshade and
highlighted it with the Nurgling Green and
Krieg Khaki mix. The leather, wood and bone
parts were mostly painted using Contrast
paints (Snakebite Leather, Wyldwood and
MAGORE’S FIENDS BY DAVID TAUZIA
David: The aim with this warband was to
paint it quickly but to a high standard at the
same time. After a Chaos Black undercoat, I
sprayed the warriors with Retributor Armour
to make painting the trim of their armour
easier. I then washed them with Seraphim
Sepia to give the trim the look of old brass. I
finished off the metal with a couple of light
drybrushes of gold, which is a perfect way to
highlight brass armour and give it a worn
Skeleton Horde) with some extra highlights.
Painting the metal parts was probably the
most liberating part of the paint job. I have
no real colour recommendations here as it
was a wild mix of colours sponged on: a
brownish-black basecoat followed by
stippled-on Typhus Corrosion, Leadbelcher
READERS' GALLERY
and a variety of orange-browns. I added red
as a spot colour and splattered a bit of Blood
for the Blood God on the pointy bits.
texture. A thin wash of Nihilakh Oxide
around the rivets shows that the armour has
begun to oxidise.
With the armour trim complete, I neatly
painted the inside panels of the armour black.
I used cool blues to edge and spot highlight
the black and to provide a contrast to the
warm yellow of the brass trim and the rusty
red-toned bases.
105
 The Wurmspat
Morgok’s Krushas
The Godsworn Hunt
CHAOS AND DESTRUCTION BY MICHAŁ SKUBLICKI
Michał: My goal as a painter is to tell a story
with my miniatures, to explain (or even just
suggest) who they are, where they are from,
who and where they are fighting, and so on.
Conversions, colour schemes and details on
the bases are my tools to achieve this, so you
can understand their story without words.
I love working with bright, vivid colours
(especially purple and turquoise) and mixing
them with weathering techniques such as
106
stippling, chipping, texture paints and
pigments to bring that grim ‘Warhammer’
feeling to my miniatures. Recently, I've
started tinkering with painting on textures
(such as fur, leather or cloth), which I find
really enjoyable and a great alternative to
layering and highlighting. I also take
inspiration from real life, and I use plenty of
reference photos while painting, whether it
be ideas for my bases, fur patterns or rusty
metal on weapons.
THE WILDEST WARRIORS BY SERGEY BELYAEV
Sergey: For Skaeth’s Wild Hunt, I picked a
bright, colourful scheme. Bright orange hair
and soft, light skin tones help make the heads
the focal points of the miniatures. With the
hair, I focused not on highlighting every
strand but instead on painting the whole area
using thin layers of paint to create smooth
Hunt. After shading and highlighting their
armour and weapons, I added rust by glazing
specific areas with different orange tones. WANT TO BE IN
WHITE DWARF?
Have you got a collection
With Hrothgorn’s Mantrappers I tried a new of beautifully painted
technique – fur texture. I started by giving miniatures that you think
Thrafnir a base colour that transitions from deserve a spot in White

READERS' GALLERY
Dwarf? Send some
transitions. orange to light grey on the legs and face. pictures of your finest
Then, using short brush strokes and diluted creations to:
I painted Grashrak’s Despoilers in a dark and paint, I added a touch of yellow to the
team@whitedwarf.co.uk
grungy scheme to contrast with Skaeth’s Wild previous colours for the highlights.

Skaeth’s Wild Hunt

Grashrak’s Despoilers

Hrothgorn’s Mantrappers

107
 BRUSH
TIPS
Archmage Teclis: inspiration for a colour scheme

TOM WINSTONE
Tom has been a member of
’Eavy Metal for over a
decade, and he’s been the
lead painter for many army
projects, including T’au,
Gloomspite Gitz, Thousand
Sons, Fyreslayers and the
Lumineth Realm-lords. His
favourite armies are
Aeldari and the Lumineth
– he just can’t get enough
of their sparkly gemstones!
T
om: When we first pitched the idea of
an ’Eavy Metal painting column to
White Dwarf, one of the things we
wanted to talk about was colour
schemes for particular ranges. Last year, Max
delved into the Kruleboyz and how we
developed the colour palette and techniques
we used on that range of models. It was a
great insight into how much work goes into
establishing the colour scheme for even the
most basic warrior. Inspired by those articles,
I thought it would be interesting to tackle the
same topic but with a very different subject. I
was extremely fortunate (not to mention
keen!) to help develop the primary colour
scheme – in time known as Ymetrica – for
the Lumineth Realm-lords. I also got to paint
the centrepiece model for the faction – the
mighty Archmage Teclis! Over the next few
pages, I’ll delve into how we established the
army colour scheme for the Lumineth
Realm-lords and explain how I painted the
Mage God. But first, some history…
ONCE UPON A TIME…
Teclis is one of Warhammer’s oldest named
characters and actually celebrates his thirtieth
birthday this year. How time flies! He is also
one of my favourite Warhammer characters
of all time; I loved his original miniature
when I was a kid, and his story has to be one
of the coolest, not to mention most extensive,
around. That narrative has grown over the
decades, and Teclis is now one of the major
deities in the Mortal Realms and one of the
focal characters of the Lumineth. As a High
Elf in days gone by and now a god of the
Lumineth, Teclis has always shared the look
and feel of his associated race, including their
colour scheme. Some heroes, such as

IN THE WORLD-
THAT-WAS…
Teclis first appeared as a
miniature way back in
1992, with a second
incarnation released in
2002. In those days, blue,
white and gold were very
much the colours
associated with the High
Elves, and Teclis was no
exception. He received
several different paint jobs
over the years, with gold
and silver trading places
for prominence on his
wargear. The major
difference between the
classic Teclis models and
the modern day Archmage
is the switch from deep
red gemstones to pale
pink aetherquartz.

108
ARCHMAGE TECLIS AND CELENNAR, SPIRIT OF HYSH

BRUSH TIPS

109
 REGAL DETAILS
Large models like Archmage Teclis are covered in intricate details and interesting focal points. Here you can
see how Tom used specific colours to draw the viewer’s eye to certain areas of the model.

Focal points on a miniature, such as Teclis’ headdress
(1), are the perfect place to introduce an extra colour to
a miniature. On this model, the bright yellow-gold
crescent with the pink gemstone in the centre helps draw
attention to Teclis’ face. The same gold is then repeated
on Celennar’s horns (2) and the Lunar Staff (3) to create
a consistent focal point colour across the model.
Teclis Blue (appropriately!) was used as the main colour
for the plume on Teclis’ helm (4), the tassels on his cloak
and the streamers coming from his waist (5). It was also
used as the shade on the light-blue trousers and the
highlight on the outside of his cloak (6). Using one
colour in three different ways is a great way to maintain
consistency across a model while introducing new tones.

1 2 3

4 5 6

PAINT SWATCHES
The paint swatches
presented here are the
main colours used on the
model shown in this
article. Painting in the
’Eavy Metal style often
involves blending, which is
where one colour
transitions smoothly into
the one next to it, usually
by applying thin glazes of
paint one over another to
build up a particular tone
and texture. This process is
not always easy to break
down into definitive
stages, but the colours
here will give you a close
approximation.
SKIN WHITE ARMOUR CREAM INNER CLOAK DARK BLUE OUTER CLOAK
Basecoat: Cadian Fleshtone, Basecoat: White Scar & Basecoat: Screaming Skull Basecoat: Kantor Blue &
Screaming Skull, Grey Seer & Karak Stone  9:1 Ushabti Bone  9:1
White Scar  7:1:1:1 Wash: Screaming Skull &
Wash: White Scar & Tau Light Ochre  1:1 Wash: Basecoat mix &
Wash: Basecoat mix & Karak Stone  1:1 Abaddon Black  1:1
Doombull Brown  1:1 Glaze: Screaming Skull & 
Recess Wash: Karak Stone & White Scar  1:1 Glaze: Kantor Blue &
Recess Wash: Doombull Brown Dryad Bark  1:1 Teclis Blue  2:1
Recess Wash: Tau Light Ochre
Recess Wash: Rhinox Hide Highlight: White Scar & Dryad Bark  1:1 Glaze: Kantor Blue &
Teclis Blue 1:1
Highlight: Basecoat mix &
White Scar  1:1 CHAIN MAIL GOLD ARMOUR TRIM Glaze: Kantor Blue,
Basecoat: Runefang Steel Basecoat: Liberator Gold & Teclis Blue & Hoeth Blue  1:1:2
Highlight: Basecoat mix & Stormhost Silver  1:1
White Scar  1:9 Wash: Drakenhof Nightshade Highlight: Hoeth Blue
Glaze: Karak Stone &
Highlight: Stormhost Silver Dryad Bark  1:1 Highlight: Hoeth Blue &
Celestra Grey  1:1
Highlight: Stormhost Silver &
Liberator Gold  4:1 Highlight: Blue Horror

110
Commander Dante or Magnus the Red, don’t
share the colours of their followers, whereas
Teclis is the epitome of it. While he wasn’t the
first model to be painted for the Lumineth
Realm-lords, he is the best example of the
army’s overall colour scheme and a great
miniature through which to explore it.
provide a warm contrast to an otherwise cool
colour scheme.
Something we wanted to explore with this
army was using particular colours to help
identify the different subsets within the
Lumineth faction. We chose to pick warriors
out with a deep royal blue, while mages wear

THE STARTING POINT
Whenever we start a new project, there’s a lot
we take into consideration. We write down
key words that describe the race (in the case
of the Lumineth, these were harmony, light,
balance, purity, magic and brightness). We
colour in line drawings to see what colours sit
well next to each other, and we chat to the
designers about their vision for the models.
Seb Perbet – the lead designer on the
Lumineth – imagined them to be wearing
white armour, for example. We look at the
faction’s heritage. In the case of the Lumineth,
they have clear ties to the High Elves of old,
so silver, white and blue were obvious colour
choices. This also felt appropriate
background-wise. Teclis has not changed a
huge amount since the days of the World-
that-Was, and he is now imparting his vision
of unity and harmony to the Lumineth. He’s
something of a big deal right now, and his
ideals are the building blocks for this new
age. Besides which, blue and white are very
fitting colours for the Realm of Light.
EVOLUTION OF THE AELVES
Once we had our starting point, we evolved
the classic High Elf colour scheme. Cream
was the first colour we added. It’s a neutral
colour that fitted the light aesthetic we were
aiming for. The white and cream contrast
tonally with the darker blues, while yellow
golds and brown leathers with a hint of red
BRUSH TIPS
a very pale pastel blue. This means you can
tell at a glance which path a Lumineth aelf
has taken in life. The Vanari Bladelords are an
interesting mix of the two, for they are part
warrior, part mage, so their clothes are pale
blue while their cloaks are dark blue. For the
Alarith mountain warriors, we painted their
robes grey instead of cream, and added more
grey into their overall colour scheme, to
evoke the look of stone. The wind-borne
Hurakan wear ochre robes, like the colour of
a dawning sun.
Another interesting aspect of this colour
scheme is the gemstones. We often use gems
as a bold spot colour on miniatures, but
aetherquartz is meant to be really pale and
pearlescent, so we developed this pale pink
tone with hints of blue that makes the gems
look shimmery like opal.
THE ARCHMAGE
Teclis combines all of these thoughts and
ideas together on one miniature while adding
in a few extra elements for good measure. I
undercoated him with Wraithbone spray as
it’s tonally pretty close to both the colour of
his robes and his armour. I started by
applying most of the basecoats and washes
(the colour swatches for which you can find
below and over the page). Shading can be a
bit messy – and on this model you really need
to be neat on the final layers and highlights

LIGHT BLUE CLOTH BLUE TASSELS AND ORNATE GOLD BRIGHT YELLOW GOLD AETHERQUARTZ
Basecoat: White Scar, PLUME Basecoat: Abaddon Black & Basecoat: Auric Armour Gold Basecoat: White Scar
Administratum Grey & Basecoat: Teclis Blue Dryad Bark  1:1
Teclis Blue  3:1:1 Glaze: Gore-grunta Fur Wash: Fulgrim Pink &
Wash: Teclis Blue & Layer: Gehenna’s Gold White Scar  1:1
Wash: Basecoat mix & Blue Horror  1:1 Highlight: Auric Armour Gold &
Teclis Blue  3:1 Highlight: Auric Armour Gold White Scar  4:1 Wash: Fulgrim Pink
Highlight: Teclis Blue &
Wash: Basecoat mix & Blue Horror  1:3 Highlight: Stormhost Silver & Highlight: Auric Armour Gold & Wash: Fulgrim Pink &
Teclis Blue  1:1 Auric Armour Gold  4:1 White Scar  1:1 The Fang  3:1
Highlight: Blue Horror
Wash: Basecoat mix & Wash: Gore-grunta Fur Wash: Fulgrim Pink &
White Scar  1:1 The Fang  1:1
EYES Recess Wash: Rhinox Hide
Basecoat: Abaddon Black Reflection Dot: White Scar

Iris: Teclis Blue

Dot Either Side of Iris:

White Scar

111
 CHILDREN OF LIGHT
The Lumineth Realm-lords painted by the ’Eavy Metal team hail from the Hyshian continent of Ymetrica and
share a colour scheme with Archmage Teclis. Here are a few examples of them.

As explained by Tom, the

colour scheme for
Ymetrica is closely based
on Teclis’ colours.

Vanari units such as the

Sentinel (1), Bladelord (4)
and Warden (5) wear
white and cream with
accents of mid-blue. The
Bladelord also wears hints
of lighter blue to show that
he is also a mage. The
Alarith Stoneguard (2)
wears light grey tones to
show that he is of the
mountains, while the
Hurakan Windcharger (6)
features natural, golden
yellow tones, to evoke the 1 2
dawning sun.

The Scinari Cathallar (3) is

unusual in that she wears
dark, almost black, robes.
This represents her link to
the Realm of Shadow and
signifies her role as an
emotional siphon for her
fellow aelves. Such a deep,
dark blue is rarely seen
amongst the otherwise-
bright Lumineth, though it
can also be seen on the
outside of Teclis’ cape.

3 4

5 6

112
– so I got all the shading done first before
working all the colours up together. One of
the advantages of this method is that it can
help you establish the overall tone of the
piece, making colours lighter or darker
compared to those next to them.
One of the good things about light colours is
Staff and Celennar’s horns (all of which share
a common shape), providing a diagonal line
of bright gold across the model that helps
draw the eye to his face.
On the subject of Celennar, my teammate
Neil Green painted Teclis’ companion. Neil
used natural red, brown and cream tones to

that you can achieve them quite easily with
only a few stages. The cream cloth, for
example, uses controlled shading in the
recesses, then careful glazes to build up the
colour transition through to the final
highlights. There are a lot of soft textures on
the Lumineth, so thin glazes are the perfect
way to create smooth highlights. I avoided
really deep shading except for the very
deepest folds, such as the line that divides his
trouser legs.
There is a colour that’s unique to Teclis – a
bright yellow-gold that helps identify him as
the ruler of his race. It’s most prevalent on his
headdress, but it is also featured on the Lunar
BRUSH TIPS
add warmth to the piece and to provide a
high colour and texture contrast between (for
want of a better description) the mount and
the rider. He used blue as a spot colour on the
tassels and added Thunderhawk Blue to the
greys on the fallen temple to tie the two
characters together. A lot of Celennar’s EVEN ’EAVIER
colours also appear on the Dawnriders’ METAL!
horses and Windchargers’ treerunners, If you have a painting
question, a technique you
showing unity and harmony across the range. would like to know more
about or an idea for
I hope this insight into Teclis’ colour scheme something you would like
the ’Eavy Metal team to
has made for interesting reading and that the talk about, you can send
colours we’ve provided help you paint your your suggestions to:
own miniatures, be they Lumineth Realm-
team@whitedwarf.co.uk
lords or something else entirely!

THE RUINS OF HYSH – PAINTING TECLIS’ BASE

TOHNASAI TREE BARK TOHNASAI TREE STONE RUINS GREY ROCKS
Basecoat: Mournfang Brown & LEAVES Basecoat: Karak Stone & Basecoat: Eshin Grey
Karak Stone  1:1 Basecoat: Loren Forest Administratum Grey  1:1
Heavy Drybrush: Dawnstone
Wash: Mournfang Brown Wash: Coelia Greenshade Wash: Basecoat mix &
Thunderhawk Blue  1:1 Glaze: Mournfang Brown
Wash: Mournfang Brown, Highlight: Straken Green
Dryad Bark & Abaddon Black Deep Shade: Dark Reaper Drybrush: Administratum Grey
2:1:1
WHEAT GRASS Drybrush: Karak Stone & Drybrush: Administratum Grey
Wash: Dryad Bark & Basecoat: Ogryn Camo Administratum Grey  1:1 & White Scar  1:1
Abaddon Black  1:1
Wash: Athonian Camoshade & Drybrush: Basecoat mix,
Layer: Mournfang Brown & Seraphim Sepia  1:1 Administratum Grey & White SAND
Karak Stone  1:1 Scar  2:1:1 Basecoat: Mournfang Brown
Highlight: Ogryn Camo &
Highlight: Mournfang Brown & Screaming Skull  1:1 Highlight: Administratum Grey Drybrush: Zamesi Desert
Karak Stone  1:3 & White Scar  1:1
Highlight: Screaming Skull Drybrush: Ushabti Bone
Glaze: Karak Stone

113
 THE FATE OF
BARBARUS
T
The Dark Angels he Dark Angels’ assault on Barbarus
was one of the most violent and
lead a massed
hate-fuelled actions of the Horus
assault on the Heresy, yet little is known of the events
Death Guard home that took place on that blighted world before
world of Barbarus it was wiped from the face of the galactic
in this colossal, map. Some say that the Lion gave the Traitors
18,000-point Battle a chance to throw down their arms and die
an honourable death. Others claim that the
Report.
First Primarch attacked Barbarus in the hope
of finding weapons that could be used against
the Warmaster’s forces. Many claim that it
was simply a war of vengeance for Lion
El’Jonson and Leman Russ, who sought to
punish the Traitors for their perfidy. There is
truth in some of these tales. And lies, too.
And even truth within the lies. Yet what
transpired on the battlefields has remained a
mystery. Until now…
114
THE FATE OF BARBARUS
This Battle Report is exciting for a number of
reasons. First, it includes all six of the massive
3,000-point armies we featured last issue for a
total of 18,000 points. On one side there’s the
treacherous Death Guard, Iron Warriors and
Sons of Horus. On the other, the loyal Dark
Angels, Space Wolves and Raven Guard.
Second, it’s being fought on a huge, custom-
made 8' x 6' battlefield. Third, it uses the new
rules for the Warhammer: The Horus Heresy.
Fourth – and perhaps most exciting of all –
the events of this battle will be written into
the background of the Horus Heresy itself!
This issue includes the rules for multiplayer
games in the Age of Darkness, the Legendary
Mission and the first half of the battle, with
the conclusion appearing in White Dwarf
481. Prepare for epic conflict!
Centurion Leofric of the Dark Angels surveyed the
desolation from his seat in the Land Raider Spartan’s
command cupola. He felt revulsion. Revulsion and bitter
hatred. Barbarus had never been considered a paradise,
but the Death Guard had turned their world into an
unimaginable hellscape. No grass remained. No trees, no
animals, only mildew-covered fungi that quivered
unnaturally. The light was sullen and sickly, like bruised
fruit. The horizon curved unnaturally upwards as if
distorted by a concave mirror.
And there was the stench. Even through his rebreather he
could smell the decay. The earth reeked of death, the air of
putrefaction and chemicals. His senses registered the ozone
tang of rust and the rankness of unwashed bodies mingled
with the sharp bite of manufactured acids and the cloying
sweetness of aerosolized poisons. Barbarus had fallen. And
it had fallen so very far.
A loud detonation drew Leofric’s gaze skyward. A BATTLE REPORT
Thunderhawk Gunship in the off-white and green livery of
the Death Guard was already plummeting earthward, its
tail section missing. The stricken aircraft disappeared
beyond a ridge several miles distant, trailing smoke and
fire. Vox traffic indicated that a Raven Guard Xiphon
Interceptor had brought it down.
Leofric turned to look over his shoulder. Behind the
black-clad Spartan, an armoured column stretched for
several miles – the combined might of three Legion strike
forces. It was a powerful assembly of warriors, thought the
centurion, made a thousand times more deadly by the two
Primarchs who rode to war alongside it. The Death Guard
and their allies would pay a heavy price for their treachery.
The Plains of Orthrya would run red with their blood.
Leofric took one last look at the hellish vista before him
and closed the hatch.
115
 COVENANT OF WAR
The Covenant of War rules allow players to recreate some of
the largest battles of the Horus Heresy, in which large allied
forces stood shoulder to shoulder against their enemies.
The rules presented in this article are a supplemental
addition to the core rules for Warhammer: The Horus
Heresy, which are required to play Covenant of War. The
rules presented here are a precursor to a more complete and
exhaustive Covenant of War rules set to be released in future
publications. These rules are presented to provide players
with a baseline for fun group games between opposing teams
of players.
Army Composition
The models brought by all players on a single team compose
one ‘army’. This requires a number of adjustments to the
usual rules for building an army and playing a game.
Force Organisation
Each player uses their own Force Organisation chart. This
can be the Crusade Force Organisation chart on page 281 of
the Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Age of Darkness rulebook
or any Force Organisation chart of the player’s choosing
from subsequent publications.
The Warlord
Each player must choose a Warlord for their force. However,
to represent the authority of a single figure over their entire
team’s army, one Warlord must be chosen as the Supreme
Warlord. All of the other Warlords within that army are
automatically Adjutant Warlords. Both the Supreme Warlord
and all Adjutant Warlords are treated as the Warlord of their
controlling player’s force in all respects, with the exception
that only the Supreme Warlord may take a Warlord Trait.
Adjutant Warlords may not select a Warlord Trait.
Primarchs and Lords of War
Each player must abide by their Force Organisation chart
and the maximum combined Lords of War and Primarch
value based on the points limit of their own individual force,
rather than the Total Army Size. For example, if each player’s
force is 3,000 points, then each player may include Lords of
War and Primarch units totalling up to 750 points.
During the Fate of Barbarus Legendary
Mission, the Loyalist army’s Supreme
Warlord must be included in the Dark
Angels force, and the Traitor army’s
Supreme Warlord must be included in
the Death Guard force.
116
Unique Sub-type
Only one instance of a unit with the Unique Sub-type may
be included in an army. This means that each team may only
bring a single instance of a given Unique unit.
Levels of Alliance
Each player’s force must abide by the guidelines described in
the Allies in the Age of Darkness section on page 282 of the
Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Age of Darkness rulebook
when interacting with the units included in their teammates’
forces. Note that units may not Embark upon Transports or
be joined by Independent Characters from another player’s
force, regardless of their level of alliance or whether or
not they share a Faction. The targeting of special abilities,
Warlord Traits, and so on are still determined by the level of
alliance between the relevant units.
Wide-ranging Effects
Due to the combination of various forces, different effects
may combine in odd ways. For this reason, the specific units
that are affected by various rules are modified slightly.
Friendly & Enemy Units
All units controlled by all players on a given side are
considered friendly to one another. All units controlled by
the players on the opposing side are considered enemy units.
Detachment
The definition and contents of a Detachment are
unchanged from the Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Age of
Darkness rulebook.
Army
Rules that affect an entire army are considered to affect all
appropriate units controlled by players on the same team
as the controlling player of the rule causing the effect. For
example, the White Scars Warlord Trait, Born to the Saddle,
affects the Warlord and all models in the same army with the
Legiones Astartes (White Scars) special rule and the Cavalry
Unit Type. This Warlord Trait would therefore affect the
Warlord, and White Scars Cavalry units in the Warlord’s
controlling player’s force as well as any other White Scars
Cavalry units included in the forces of the other players on
the same team.
Game Turn Versus Player Turn
During a Covenant of War game, each team is considered
a single ‘player’ with regards to Phases, player turns, and
Game Turns.
Phases
The players on each team act simultaneously during each
Phase of their team’s player turn. When a decision needs
to be made regarding the order in which these actions take
place, the players on a given team should decide as a group.
The player whose force includes the Supreme Warlord has
final say if a disagreement arises.
Reaction Allotment
Each player has a Reaction Allotment of 1. Effects that
provide additional Reactions to an army (such as a Warlord
Trait) provide the additional Reaction to the force controlled
specifically by the player who controls the model or rule that
provides the effect. Players choose individually when and
how to use their Reactions within the limits of the core rules.
• If an army includes multiple players each controlling a
force from the same Faction, then each such player may
use the Faction-specific Advanced Reaction once per
game.
• Each army (regardless of the number of players) may
only make use of one Faction-specific Advanced
Reaction per Phase, regardless of Reaction Allotment.
Faction-specific Advanced Reactions are intended to
be more powerful than Core Reactions, which is in
turn balanced by their once per game limit. As such,
being able to use multiple Faction-specific Advanced
Reactions in a single Phase could be unbalancing.
Deployment
Each army deploys in full, as dictated by the scenario.
BATTLE REPORT
Infiltration
Each army may deploy units using the Infiltrate special rule
as normal.
Reserves
Due to the complexity of the Interceptor Reaction, units
arriving from Reserves are limited in group games. A number
of units equal to twice the number of players per side may be
kept in Reserve. These units may be from the forces provided
by one or more players, as agreed upon by the players on
their side of the battle. The player whose force includes
the Supreme Warlord has final say if a disagreement arises.
When rolling for incoming Reserves, each player makes a
single Reserves roll that applies to all of their units kept in
Reserve, instead of rolling individually for each unit.
Alternative Deployment
Alternative deployment rules for units kept in Reserve can
quickly become complicated in larger games. For this reason,
all of the players in each team must choose one alternative
deployment type (Deep Strike Assault, Flanking Assault,
Subterranean Assault, etc.). The player whose force includes
the Supreme Warlord has final say if a disagreement arises.
Units in that army that are kept in Reserve may enter play
from Reserve either in the manner described on page 310 of
the Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Age of Darkness rulebook
or using the chosen alternative method.
117
 THE FATE OF BARBARUS LEGENDARY MISSION
‘It is here that the Lion’s indignant campaign ends and upon this
world that his crusaders will falter. If they do not fall before our
guns or die upon our blades, they will drown in the spilled blood
of every fallen son of Barbarus. We are the unbroken, and this
place is our domain…’
– Address to the 84th Company, Barbaran Garrison.
The combined wrath of the Loyalist Legions that joined the
Dark Angels on a crusade across the galactic south would
eventually fall upon Barbarus, the home planet of the Death
Guard. With the majority of Mortarion’s Legion en route
to Terra, the remaining garrison forces were reinforced by
splinters of the Iron Warriors Legion and a contingent of
the Sons of Horus. This alliance would be forced to face the
might of an incensed Lion El’Jonson and the fury of Russ, as
they sought not diplomacy nor subjugation but to annihilate
all who had sided with the Warmaster.
Owing to the entrenched forces of the Death Guard and
their allies, even the most unassuming bunker or hab-block
was turned into a defensive redoubt, bristling with weapons
and dominating the surrounding landscape with overlapping
fields of fire. Even those most astute military strategists
would be forced to concede that a war upon this world
could only be fought by a grinding clash of attrition where
surrender or mercy would play no part.
The Armies
This mission is intended to be played using the supplemental
Covenant of War rules.
The Loyalist team has the role of the Attacker and the
Traitor team the role of Defender. Players should choose
their armies using the Warhammer: The Horus Heresy rules,
but the Attacker may not take any Fortification choices.
If players are using this scenario with alternative forces,
they must decide who will be the Attacker and who will be
the Defender.
Setting Up the Game
Before any models are deployed, all scenery must be set up,
except Fortifications included as part of any army.
A single Objective marker is placed at the centre of the
battlefield. The player whose force includes the Supreme
Warlord on the Defending team then places 4 Objective
markers – one in each Deployment Zone and two in the area
118
of the battlefield outside of the two Deployment Zones. If
possible, these Objective markers should be placed within or
near significant terrain features.
Deployment
Using the deployment map on page 119, the Defending team
selects their Deployment Zone and deploys their entire
force, including any Fortifications they possess, except for
any units held in Reserve, into their Deployment Zone.
The Attacking team then deploys their entire force, except
for any units placed in Reserve, into their Deployment Zone.
First Turn
The Attacking team has the first turn.
Game Length
After four turns, the player whose force includes the
Attacking Supreme Warlord rolls a D6. On a 4+, a fifth and
final turn is played.
Victory Conditions
This mission represents one of the many assaults that
the Loyalist alliance launched upon points of strategic
importance upon the surface of Barbarus. The Defending
team must hold out against the attack and maintain control
of the objective locations. At the end of the game, the team
that has scored the most Victory points has won the game. If
the teams have the same number of Victory points, the game
ends in a draw.
Primary Objectives
Devastation Objectives: At the end of each Active team’s
turn, the current Active team gains Victory points for each
Objective marker they control.
The number of Victory points scored for each Objective
marker is determined by where the Objective marker is
located as follows:
• Team’s own Deployment Zone: 1 Victory point
• No Man’s Land (the area of the battlefield which
is not covered by either Deployment Zone): 2
Victory points
• Opposing Team’s Deployment Zone: 3 Victory points
 Secondary Objectives
Fixed Reserves • Slay the Warlord*
No dice are rolled to determine if units • Attrition

BATTLE REPORT
arrive from Reserve. Instead, all units • The Price of Failure
placed in Reserve automatically arrive at
* The Warlord of each force that makes up both the Attacking
the start of turn two.
and Defending teams is worth 1 Victory point. A single additional
Victory point is scored if the Warlord is a Primarch or a
Subterranean Detonation Supreme Warlord.
At the start of turn three, the player
whose force includes the Supreme
Mission Special Rules
Warlord on the Defending team chooses
• Fixed Reserves
D3 Objective markers. That player then
places a Blast (X) marker, touching one of • Subterranean Detonation
the selected Objective markers. Any units,
both friendly and enemy – excluding Deployment Map
those with the Flyer Unit Type – suffer a 6. Vanguard Strike
number of S7, AP- Hits with the Ignores If using the Vanguard Strike deployment map, the battlefield
Cover and Pinning special rules equal is divided into two equal halves across its diagonal. The
to the number of models from that unit players then agree which diagonal Deployment Zone each
that are either fully or partially under will play or can instead randomise to decide.
the Blast (X) marker. The size of the Blast
For Vanguard Strike battles, a player’s battlefield edge is the
(X) marker is determined by which team
long battlefield edge that touches their own Deployment
has accumulated the greater number of
Zone.
Victory points by the end of the second
turn as follow:
• Attacking team has more Victory
points: Apocalyptic Blast (10") 72"
marker.
• Neither team has more Victory
points: Massive Blast (7") marker.
• Defending team has more Victory Side A
Deployment Zone
points: Large Blast (5") marker.
Any Hits allocated to models with an
12"
Armour Value are resolved on the Rear
Armour Value of that model. 48"

Once these Hits have been resolved, the 12"

player whose force includes the Supreme
Warlord on the Defending team repeats Side B
the process above until they have placed Deployment Zone
a Blast (X) marker touching each of the
selected Objective markers.

119
DEPLOYMENT
17
THE PLAINS OF ORTHRYA
The Death Guard and their traitorous allies
prepare their defences as the Dark Angels lead
the Loyalists’ assault across the plains.

Thanatar Siege-automata/Iron Warriors Ref: Artillery

Orthryan Bastion 8

Warsmith/Iron Warriors  Ref: Legion Command

7 11
9
6
5
TRAITOR
DEPLOYMENT
An Iron Warriors Leviathan, 4
Contemptor Dreadnought
and Mortificator (1) deploy
on the western flank of the
army closely followed by 12
the Sons of Horus Kratos 10
(2) and a Spartan full of
Terminators (3).

Behind the Spartan, the 3

Warsmith and Domitar
Battle-automata (4) stand
shoulder to shoulder with
a pair of Death Guard Thunderhawk Gunship
Contemptor Dreadnoughts 2
(5) and an Arquitor (6).

A Death Guard Heavy

1
Support Squad (7) and an
Iron Warriors Tactical
Squad (8) defend the
bastion alongside a
Cerberus (9). 20
Legion Tactical Squads
make up the bulk of the 19
Traitors’ battle line, with the
Sons of Horus positioned
front and centre (10-11). A
Death Guard Spartan 18
loaded with Terminators
sits between them (12).

Death Guard and Iron

Warriors Tactical Squads 18
(13-14) hold the line near
the generator terminal.
They are joined by Mortus
Poisoners and a Veteran
Squad mounted in Rhinos
(15). They are backed up
by an Iron Warriors Heavy
Support Squad and a Sons
of Horus Dreadnought (16),
a pair of Dreadnoughts, a
Thanatar Siege-automata,
a unit of Terminators and
the Forge Lord (17). Contemptor Dreadnought/Raven Guard Ref: Fire Support

120
 29 LOYALIST
DEPLOYMENT
The Loyalists’ western
flank is held by a trio of
Raven Guard Contemptor
Dreadnoughts (18), a Dark
Angels Javelin and a Space
Wolves Tactical Support
Squad in a Rhino (19).
Parked nearby are the

BATTLE REPORT
Dark Angels Sicaran
Venator and Arcus (20-21),
a Leviathan and a
Contemptor Dreadnought
(22). The Grey Stalkers
stand amongst them (23).

The Spartan tanks carrying

Legion Sky-hunter Squadron/Dark Angels (Ravenwing) Ref: Rapid Attack the Primarchs and their
Terminator bodyguards
hold the centre of the
17 battle line (24). A Raven
16 Guard Arcus Squadron sits
behind them (25).

Generator Terminal The Grey Slayers, Jorlund

14 28 Hunters and Raven Guard
Kratos deploy east-of-
centre (26), with a Raven
15 Guard Tactical Squad, Dark
27 Angels Tactical Squad and
13 29 the Interemptors deployed
in Rhinos nearby (27).

A Space Wolves Heavy

Support Squad and
26 30 Contemptor (28) hold the
eastern flank alongside the
Battlefield Centre Sky-hunters (29).

The Mor Deythan (30), and

two Tactical Squads (31)
hold the backfield.
24

31
22

Comms Tower

23
25

21

20 26

Sicaran Venator/Dark Angels Ref: Anti-armour Kratos/Raven Guard Ref: Line-breaker

121
TURN ONE: LOYALISTS

THE WOLF AND THE LION UNLEASHED

His battle plan formulated, Lion El’Jonson orders the Loyalists to engage the enemy at range and take key
battlefield objectives. However, his headstrong brother Leman Russ has a different plan in mind…

C
astellan-Praetor Vrokhorn of the Death Guard 84th
Company punched his hand into the door release
button and stormed down the Spartan’s access ramp.
Smoke and flames swirled around him as the tank
ignited, its reactor core ruptured by a devastating laser
strike. Vrokhorn’s Terminators quickly formed up around
him and began firing at the dark-armoured warriors
advancing towards them through the smog.
All was chaos and carnage. On the western flank, the Iron
Warriors Dreadnoughts were taking heavy fire from the
Raven Guard and Dark Angels support vehicles. To the east,
silver-clad Legionaries disintegrated as a Raven Guard
Kratos unleashed its volkite weapons upon them. Arcus
warheads screeched overhead and slammed into a Death
Guard Rhino, blasting the vehicle onto its roof as lascannon
beams tore through the air to scour the Cerberus tank on
the hill to his rear. Legionaries died around him. Tactical
readouts in his helmet blazed red. None of it mattered. The
battle seemed to slow around him as his gaze met that of the
enemy thundering towards him. Eyes as cold as ice stared
back as Leman Russ, Primarch of the Space Wolves, charged
through the fog of war, the Axe of Helwinter raised high.
Vrokhorn clenched his jaw and held his ground.

The Raven Guard 14

Contemptor Dreadnoughts
(1) and the Dark Angels
Arcus (2) shoot the Iron
Orthryan Bastion
10
Warriors Leviathan (3),
causing four wounds. The
Dreadnought makes the
Return Fire Reaction and 21 12
half-destroys one of the
Contemptors.

The Dark Angels Javelin

(4), Venator (5) and
Leviathan (6) target the
Death Guard Spartan (7).
They cause just enough
damage to wreck it. The 7 20
nearby Contemptor (8)
fires at the disembarking
Terminators but causes no Battlefield Centre
damage. They also use the
Return Fire Reaction,
knocking two wounds off
the war machine. 8 9
6
Thunderhawk Gunship

122
 7 20

BATTLE REPORT
Spartan/Death Guard Ref: Transport (Command tank)

17
Generator Terminal
19 Leman Russ and Terminators Tartaros/Space Wolves Ref: Primarch

16 The Loyalist Spartans (9)

fire at the Cerberus (10)
but cause only two Hull
Points of damage.

18 The Raven Guard Arcus

Squadron (11) fires at the
13 lead Death Guard Rhino
15 (12). It detonates, killing
three of the Mortus
Poisoners inside.

The Mor Deythan (13)

cause two wounds on the
Thanatar (14).

The Grey Slayers (15) run

forward alongside the
11 Jorlund Hunters (16), Dark
Angels Rhinos and Raven
Guard Rhino (17).

The Kratos (18) fires at the

Comms Tower
Iron Warriors Tactical
Squad (19) but kills just
two of them thanks to
Heart of the Legion (a Feel
No Pain roll gained from
being near an objective).

Leman Russ (20) and his

Terminators disembark
from their Spartan and run
straight towards the Death
Guard Tactical Squad (21).
Incredibly, they fail their 4"
Charge! However, their
close proximity means that
they could, in the Traitors’
following turn, perform the
No Prey Escapes the Wolf
Advanced Reaction. Put
simply, if any Traitors move,
Russ will charge them!

123
TURN ONE: TRAITORS

TREACHEROUS RETALIATION
Faced with the savage fury of Leman Russ and the imminent threat posed by the arrival of Lion El’Jonson, the
Traitor Legionaries turn their guns upon the Wolf King.

J
arl Joryn Wolfhowl bellowed for his Terminators to
protect the Primarch as the Death Guard opened fire.
Bolters blazed, incandescent in the failing light.
Spicula rockets and globes of super-heated plasma
detonated amongst the Space Wolves like miniature suns.
Several members of Joryn’s pack fell, their armour breached,
their sagas abruptly ended.
The nearby Dark Angels were faring little better. As Joryn
watched, Lion El’Jonson’s Spartan came under heavy fire
and slewed to a halt, burning. The Lion and his bodyguards
disembarked and were set upon by shape-shifting creatures
from beyond the veil. Their presence made Joryn’s skin
crawl, but El’Jonson slew every one of them with contempt.
Then the Death Guard charged. Power fields flared as
weapons clashed, but the Space Wolves were horribly
outnumbered by their treacherous foes. Joryn swung his
frost axe in glittering arcs, severing limbs and splitting
gorgets, but his combat prowess was not enough to turn the
tide. Blow by blow he got weaker and slower until he was
driven to his knees. The last thing he saw as the chainfist
was thrust towards him was his gene-father, ablaze with the
wild fury of Fenris, charging headlong at the enemy.

FOR THE
WARMASTER
The Sons of Horus fire
upon the Dark Angels
Spartan. It takes the
combined firepower of the
Cerberus, Kratos and
Spartan to destroy it. This
is mostly due to the flare
shield protecting the front
of the vehicle, which
causes most of the
Cerberus’ shots to become
Glancing Hits instead of
Penetrating Hits. As Lion
El’Jonson and his
bodyguards disembark, 40
Sons of Horus Legionaries
pour their firepower into
them. They kill just two
Order Cenobites. The Dark
Angels use the Return Fire
Reaction to slay three
Legionaries (two of them
by El’Jonson).

ANNIHILATION
PROTOCOLS
The Iron Warriors Domitar
Battle-automata fire at the
Dark Angels Javelin but fail
to ground the Land
Speeder. Nearby, the
Leviathan Dreadnought
targets the already
wounded Raven Guard
Contemptor Dreadnought.
It takes the Contemptor
down to its last wound, but
the war machine fires back
using Return Fire and
destroys the Leviathan!
Because of its atomantic
deflector (a feature on
most Dreadnoughts), the
Leviathan detonates
automatically, damaging
the nearby Iron Warriors
Contemptor Dreadnought
and wounding the Legion
Mortificator.

124
TERMINATION POINT
In the centre of the battlefield, the Death Guard shoot Leman
Russ and his Terminators with everything they have. Between
the Cataphractii, the Praetor, a 20-man Legion Tactical Squad, a
Veteran Squad and the Arquitor, they reduce the unit to three
Terminators, Leman Russ and Jarl Joryn. Desperate to prevent the
Space Wolves charging, the Death Guard storm into combat and
Vrokhorn issues a Challenge to Russ. The Primarch smashes the
Praetor to the ground, but the Death Guard Terminators slay
Joryn and his bodyguards in return. Despite this, they Fall Back

BATTLE REPORT
from the fight, dragging their seemingly dead leader with them.

TRUE HERESY!
The Sons of Horus
Esoterist summons a trio
SCORE
of Ruinstorm Daemon LOYALISTS
Brutes to the battlefield, Mission Objectives
who charge Lion El’Jonson Home Objective 1VP
and his bodyguards in an No Man’s Land 4VP
attempt to bog them down Enemy Objective 0VP
in combat. Unfortunately Slay the Warlord 1VP
for the Traitors, the Sons of
Horus Terminators and the SCORE6
Esoterist fail their own
Charges, leaving the
Daemons to fight alone.
El’Jonson’s Initiative is
higher than that of the TRAITORS
Warp entities, so he strikes Mission Objectives
first in the combat. With Home Objective 1VP
the Lion Sword inflicting No Man’s Land 2VP
Instant Death on anything Enemy Objective 0VP
it wounds, it takes the
Primarch just a few SCORE3
sweeps of his blade to
annihilate his Daemonic
adversaries.

125
TURN TWO: LOYALISTS

THE JAWS BEGIN TO CLOSE

Under intense fire, and with their force taking heavy casualties, Lion El’Jonson and Leman Russ storm towards
the fortified bunker protected by the Death Guard.

L
ansa K’ann, Vigilator of the Raven Guard, watched
the battle unfold with the patient, calm eye of a
seasoned veteran. From his vantage point overlooking
the plain, he could see every manoeuvre and action
undertaken. He recorded and reported everything. To the
north, the Dark Angels had unleashed the full fury of their
Interemptors on the Iron Warriors, though their assault
quickly descended into a firefight of mutually assured
destruction. Far to the west, the Contemptor Dreadnoughts
under K’ann’s command were pushing back the enemy’s
flanking forces as his air support lay waste to the Traitor
war machines lurking amidst the devastation.
The centre of the battlefield was nothing short of carnage.
The Dark Angels had brought vengeance to the Sons of
Horus, blasting apart a Spartan before turning their guns
on its Terminator-armoured occupants as they staggered
from the wreckage. The Lion, resplendent in his finery,
strode through the Warmaster’s Legionaries as if they were
not there. Broken bodies lay in his wake. K’ann shifted his
scanner slightly. He watched as the Wolf ’s scions butchered
the Death Guard line infantry. He saw Leman Russ fling
broken, white-clad Terminators aside as if they were made
of straw. The advance had slowed, but the Emperor’s forces
were still gaining ground. Victory was surely in their grasp.

14

24 3

5 21

Spartan/Sons of Horus Ref: Transport (Command tank) 4 19

6
18
22
Raven Guard reserves Battlefield Centre
arrive in the form of a
Xiphon Interceptor, (1) a
Fire Raptor (2), the Moritat 23 13
and a Dark Fury Squad (3).
The Xiphon immediately
destroys the Arquitor (4), 14 15
while the Fire Raptor
blows up the Sons of Thunderhawk Gunship
Horus Contemptor (5),
resulting in the deaths of
eight nearby Legionaries.
The Moritat suffers from a
Disordered Deep Strike 11
12
and is blasted apart by a
Death Guard Contemptor
26
(6) using the Interceptor
Reaction.
27
The Interemptors (7) fire at
the Iron Warriors Tactical
Squad (8) with their
plasma burners, scoring 47
Hits and wiping out the
entire squad. The Iron 25
Warriors use the Bitter 16
Fury Advanced Reaction to
fire back before they die.
They kill all but one of the
Interemptors in return.
Nearby, the Space Wolves

126
 24 8

BATTLE REPORT
Dark Fury/Raven Guard Ref: Rapid Attack Legion Tactical Squad/Iron Warriors Ref: Tactical Line Unit

Heavy Support Squad (9)

wipes out the Mortus
Poisoners (10).
Generator Terminal
The Dark Angels Land
Speeder (11), Venator (12)
7 and Contemptor (13)
8 wreck the Sons of Horus
Spartan (14). Five of the
disembarking Terminators
are gunned down by the
10 9 Dark Angels Leviathan (15)
20 and the Arcus (16).

The Grey Slayers (17) race

to protect Leman Russ
(18), but he charges into
the Death Guard
Terminators (19), killing
two and running down the
others. The Grey Slayers
17 and the Jorlund Hunters
2 (20) massacre the Death
Guard Tactical Squad (21).

Lion El’Jonson and his

bodyguards (22) fire at the
Sons of Horus Tactical
Squad (23), killing three
but losing two Terminators
in return to the Death
Dealers Advanced
Reaction. The Lion charges
Comms Tower the Tactical Squad, wiping
them out to a man.

The Dark Furies charge the

Death Guard and Iron
Warriors (24) without fear
of Overwatch due to both
units being Pinned by their
sudden assault. They slay
1 five Traitors, causing both
units to flee. Miraculously,
both units escape.

The trio of Dreadnoughts

(25) blast apart their Iron
Warriors counterpart (26)
but fail to kill the
Mortificator (27).

127
128
 BATTLE REPORT

TO BE CONTINUED…
129
BLACK LIBRARY
OLD WHITE-FUR
By David Guymer
A Grombrindal short story
‘Y
ou have heard the story of the White-Fur,
yes-yes? I see in your smirk-faces that you have.
You would not sneer at this old-thing if you
had seen him. Yes. Yes. I have seen him. I faced
him and lived, for I have been to Gilder Spoil and run away.
Yes-yes. Gilder Spoil. The lost under-city of Thyria. The
once-great wealth of Clan Skrrl. Lair to a million million
clanrats, well fed and strong off the plenty of Ghyran. Until the
mysterious fall. Or not so mysterious. No. No. I know how
Gilder Spoil fell. The White-Fur did squeak it to me once the
last of my kin-rats was dead. Give-give one warptoken, most
munificent one. No? A bite-sniff of that crust you would throw
away then. Yes? Heh. Yes-yes! My story is worth more than
one warptoken. More than one measly crust of bread. Yes. It
cost me everything. For Gilder Spoil was never ours. Never.
The White-Fur holds it for his kin, and the curses of his kind
never fade…’
BLACK LIBRARY
It was raining.
Lukewarm slaps beat against the rubbery leaf canopy, water
runnelling down wagging fronds and onto the miserable
snouts of the clanrats sheltering underneath. Every bulging
raindrop fell out of the sky as though with a purpose to
deliberately seek out skaven heads. Fruits of a sort, dropped
by the dark, pregnant green clouds that rolled above the
jungle roof; they were thick with seeds that germinated with
horrific alacrity on impact. No sooner was a clanrat shaking
himself than he was scrabbling to tear a virulent bloom of
sticky white flowers from his fur.
Zeek Frazzleclaw, warlock master of Clan Skrrl, buried his
muzzle deeper into his hood and did what he could to cradle
the volatile machinery that sheathed both forearms. The
130
tanks made sloshing noises from under the layered folds of
his cloak. He glanced up and hissed. The clawpack of
Stormvermin he had hired as bodyguards stiffened as
though they hadn’t been caught in the act of shuffling away.
They stood a little straighter as if to compensate. Even the
smallest of them was several claw-lengths taller than Zeek.
He had been whelped as the runt of his litter. He had
survived those first formative weeks in his brood-mother’s
nest by his viciousness, his wits and the sheer outlandishness
of his ambition, but he had never fully outgrown the
disadvantages of his birth. It was intensely satisfying then, to
have such burly examples of virile skavendom scurrying to
his every squeak now and, given their relative differences in
height, the Stormvermin kept the rain off him adequately.
They performed the task for several minutes while a couple
of low-ranking clanrats worked to set up a canvas shelter.
When it was done, Zeek sighed, drawing his arms out from
under his cloak and stretching out across the jungle floor. He
looked up.
The rain drummed on the taut, oft-patched canvas. Lashings
of white-flowered sticky-weed swayed from the edges as
though groping for the musky scent of those cowering
underneath. Zeek watched them for a while, luxuriating in
the muggy tickle of his own fierce metabolism turning damp
fur into steamy air. He wondered if there was some way to
convert that abundant natural energy into useful work.
Could he not nail some clanrats’ footpaws to a conveyer
system for periodic dousings before positioning them to dry
off under a turbine? No. Too impractical. If he meant to
produce enough metabolic heat to power more than his
workshop’s light bulbs, then his subjects would need to be
from sturdier stock.

Proper, well-fed skaven it would have to be then…
He glanced at the Stormvermin. They pointedly looked away.
A clanrat wearing the triple-lightning-bolt brand of Clan
Skrrl and a loincloth came hurrying through the jungle to
disrupt Zeek’s thoughts. He abased himself at Zeek’s
footpaws.
Zeek sighed. He had just got dry, too.
‘Speak-squeak, mouse-meat.’
The clanrat grovelled. ‘It is Klatch-Master, oh greatest one. He
summons all clawleaders.’
Dismissing the wretch with a wave, Zeek sprang up, startling
the clanrats and his bodyguard alike. But if Klatch and his
man-thing pets had finally spotted Zeek’s prize after the
weeks he had endured in this green hell, then there was no
time to waste.
Zeek had been an engineer of modest standing in the
warrens of Cankrous Sprawl, but his ambitions had always
been greater. He had expended all of his resources towards
this expedition. His rivals had thought him a fool. A few had
even succumbed to unwise jealousy and told him so. But he
would prove them wrong. And who would be the fool when
the Sprawl’s scheming warlocks raided his workshops in his
absence and found them emptied down to the last bolt and
bearing?
Not Zeek Frazzleclaw, that was for sure. He knew something
they did not.
He knew the location of Gilder Spoil, and he would have its
lost riches.
BLACK LIBRARY
BLACK LIBRARY
Klatch Bloodpaw had always been good at spending Zeek’s
warptokens. He was as good at it as Zeek was at blowing
things up or setting things on fire. And in exchange for
everything Zeek owned, the old rat-servant had assembled a
sizeable and impressive horde: three hundred fierce-looking
clanrats, a score of giant rats commanded by a packmaster of
the Clans Moulder, and a gutter runner pack of the Clans
FICTION
Eshin, a mighty host swollen still further by Zeek’s own
weapons teams and chattels. Most of the clanrats, Zeek noted,
were currently looking fierce while scrimping what shelter
they could get from the rubbery tree cover. Every so often,
Zeek felt a hateful look linger on his shoulder blades as he
passed, but it was never there when he turned to glare in its
direction. He convinced himself he was imagining things.
After all, the charred scent of the last clanrat who’d whined
about the long march was still clinging to his cloak, so what
could any of them possibly have to complain about?
Klatch greeted him with a flash of throat and the snake-like
hiss of his tongue vibrating against the back of his teeth.
The burrowmaster was a mangy piebald, his snout a crazed
warren of badly healed scars. The thin, direct ones of knives.
The wide, ragged-edged ones of teeth and claws. His robe was
a hessian sack that had been pulled from the wreck of an
Azyrite steam-barge upriver of the Living City, holes chewed
out for two arms and a neck. Zeek had inherited the rat-
servant from the late and much-missed Warlock Master
Burnstash after the latter’s untimely, but entirely accidental,
demise.
The rest of Klatch’s hirelings were already with him.
Packmaster Purrlikk turned as Zeek approached. Four glazed
eyes stared at him with less intelligence between them than
Zeek was used to seeing in half that number; two tongues
lolled stupidly from the mouths of their respective heads. The
packmaster’s armour was of man-leather that had been cured
and hardened and smeared in the excrement of the rats that
scurried in and out of the joints between the plates. His
mutant musk was so potent that Zeek failed to even notice
Razr Fistang at all until after he had stepped on the
deathmaster’s tail. The Eshin agent turned his silk-wrapped
snout towards him and hissed a welcome.
Zeek withdrew the errant footpaw and squeaked an apology.
He tried to remind himself whose expedition this was.
‘Good-good.’ Zeek clapped his hands for attention. ‘All are
here. We can now start.’
131
BLACK LIBRARY
The three clawleaders shared a look.
Klatch coughed. ‘Yes-yes. Master. Come-come. Look-see.’
Shuffling to one side, the burrowmaster indicated a pair of
man-thing scouts crouched in the dense undergrowth ahead.
Zeek peered into the grey-green murk of distance and rain.
His eyes, though perfectly adapted to the cramped darkness
of the Under-Empire, were less suited to the expanses of the
surface. Ample evidence, he thought, of the inherent
foolishness and inferiority of the surface-dwelling races; why
a sensible creature would choose to live in such a blurry
landscape was beyond even his rampant imagination.
One of the man-captives handed him a pair of green-lensed
binoculars. Zeek snatched them off him, baring his teeth, and
then brought the device up to his eyes. The blur came into
proper focus. Zeek’s lips split into a wide grin. Who was the
fool now? The runt of his litter? The hopeless trier? It was
surely not Zeek Frazzleclaw.
A few thousand tail-lengths ahead of the sodden expedition,
according to the wavering tick-marks of the binoculars’
range-finder, was a mountain. It was shallow-sided, slumped
as though under the weight of the vegetation that had grown
across its shoulders. Here and there, a buttressing column of
stone fortification or a piece of old statuary poked out of the
strangling greenery, all squalled with brightly coloured birds
and roving, metallic clouds of flies.
Gilder Spoil.
He had always known it was real.
The binocular field settled over an exposed statue. He studied
it for a moment. It was a strange-looking thing. Its sculptors
had, for some reason, chosen to depict their subject with a
straight back and with a body clad in a stone rendition of a
splinted mail coat with a winged helmet on its head.
Furthermore, and all the stranger, all the subject’s fur seemed
to have been carved upon the statue’s chin.
But then, Gilder Spoil had been lost a very long time ago. It
was likely that they had simply not been very good at
sculpting.
With a shrug, he lowered the binoculars.
‘White-Fur…’ one of the clanrats chittered.
132
Zeek made to backhand the impertinent rodent’s snout, but
Klatch raised a warning paw. Zeek, though all knew that
Klatch was his rat, settled for a glare. Zeek did not give his
underlings names. He feared it would make him feel bad
about being obliged to gas, electrocute or set them on fire in
the interests of science. Klatch, however, had declared this
one precious, and had named him Passnitch for the flea-
market warren in which he had been acquired.
The clanrat raised a trembling arm and pointed at the
mountain he should not have been able to see. ‘White-Fur,’ he
hissed again.
‘Passnitch is a mad and silly rat,’ said Zeek. ‘There is no such
thing as the White-Fur.’ Even so, Zeek brought the binoculars
back to his eyes and trained them in the vague direction that
the clanrat had been pointing.
He was more relieved than he cared to admit at finding the
vine-choked promontory empty.
‘White-Fur,’ Passnitch said again, with a certainty Zeek found
unnerving.
‘White-Fur is a myth,’ Zeek hissed.
Deathmaster Fistang bared his teeth eagerly. ‘I will be the rat
who kills the White-Fur,’ he hissed, as soft and near-silent as
a very small knife. They were the first words that Zeek had
heard him utter since their departure from Cankrous Sprawl,
and they put an itch up Zeek’s fur. ‘I will take-take his head
and present it to the lords of the Masterburrow, and then the
Thirteen of the Shadow Council will whisper to the Great
Horned Rat that Razr Fistang is his greatest killer.’
Clutching the binoculars to his chest as if they were a scented
pomander proof against the deathmaster’s madness, Zeek
backed away. He was not afraid. No. He did not believe in
scare stories. Nor in any horror that could not be undone
with a liberal dousing of skaven warpfire. Or, failing that, a
great mass of furry bodies and a liberal dousing of skaven
warpfire.
‘Packmaster!’ Zeek snapped his claws until he had Purrlikk’s
full attention. ‘Take your giant rats and run-scurry. Find-
quick the way inside. Sniff out this White-Fur, if he exists,
and flush him out for Fistang’s weeping blades.’
Purrlikk glanced at Klatch. The burrowmaster appeared to
think for a moment, then nodded. It was good of Klatch,

Zeek thought, to selflessly shoulder the burden of command.
‘The rest of us will be quick-quick behind you.’
BLACK LIBRARY
Zeek cackled giddily as he sluiced the curtain of vines that
had been obscuring the old gateway with warpfire. Purrlikk
was inexcusably late and, after waiting an interminably long
time in the rain, Zeek had decided to find his own way
inside.
‘Come-come, slow-meat.’
Leaving his Stormvermin flat-pawed in his eagerness to be
the first rat to lay his claim on the arsenal of Gilder Spoil,
Zeek scurried through the still-smouldering vegetation.
The skaven were the masters of their subterranean realms,
but his awed squeak sounded suitably weaselly in the
vastness of the space he had just entered. It went on forever:
walls of neatly dressed stone veined with tuberous plant life;
the pulse, here and there, of an inset light-stone that had not
yet given in to its antiquity. The patter of rain hitting the
thick walls of the mountain warren set a dull, pit-of-the-
stomach vibration through the huge hall. As though the
skaven had burrowed themselves, dry but far from safe, into
the hollow belly of a vast stone drum. Balconies and
balustrades overlooked them like jealous eyes, going as far up
as skaven eyes could glean and presumably further still.
Vegetation with the pallid hue of things never touched by
Hysh’s light but which, by Ghyran’s bounty, flourished all the
same, strangled everything.
Another of those peculiar statues stood just inside the
entrance. Zeek paused before it. His Stormvermin gathered
up behind him, unconsciously cringing from it.
It was about three times the height of a skaven, straight-
backed in the way that those on the outside had been and
presenting its round shield to the entrance. Its posture
seemed more welcoming than aggressive, and the shield’s flat
surface was claw-scratched with some kind of written
message. Blowing out the pilot flame of his gauntlets so his
BLACK LIBRARY
eyesight would not be spoiled by the light, Zeek blinked away
the after-images and squinted at the unfamiliar alphabet.
‘A strange looking rat,’ he said, his voice dropping in direct
proportion to the distance of the ceiling above his head.
‘It is a beard-thing,’ said Fistang, matter-of-factly.
FICTION
Zeek shook his head. It did, he supposed, look a little bit like
a beard-thing, but that was unacceptable. He had put
everything into finding the lost weaponry and designs of
Gilder Spoil, and he would find them. He would see his
wealth and reputation returned a hundredfold, and all the
rats who had mocked him would beg on their knees for
permission to serve him. Anything that distracted from that
was foolishness.
‘This is no rat-warren,’ added Klatch.
Zeek scoffed, chittering softly to himself as he turned and
gestured to his weapons teams. They were just lugging their
equipment inside and peeling sticky-weed off their guns. Too
eager to properly corral his thoughts into words, he directed
the jezzails using an ad-hoc sign language, before
abandoning the concept and leaving Klatch to set up a
perimeter.
He scurried past the entrance statue. Several tail-lengths in,
he drew up sharply and tapped his footpaw on the ground.
Satisfied with its flatness, dryness and low likelihood of
collapsing underneath him, he squealed for his things. Klatch
might have found Passnitch. But Zeek had the map.
A trio of clanrats unfolded a trestle and set it up in front of
him. Another pair rolled out a yellowed map and unfurled it
over the tabletop like jewellers displaying their wares. Zeek
had always had a secret fondness for maps. Like warpfire and
electricity, they had an internal logic that made sense so long
as you understood their rules. In Zeek’s opinion, things ought
to make sense. Things that didn’t made the backs of his paws
itch and his musk glands clench.
The work of a warlock engineer, as he saw it, was to scratch
away the nonsense that gummed up the machinery of the
Mortal Realms and let genius run riot. The mere act of
claw-scratching one’s thoughts on a page codified raw
creation into the shape of what it was supposed to be. It
overlooked the random. It ignored the irrelevant. It lent
simplicity to the pointlessly complex to make something that,
for what it lacked in literal truth, it made up for in rightness.
133
BLACK LIBRARY
Lowering his snout to the parchment so that his whiskers
scratched the creases, Zeek sniffed at the page. He smelled
mould, musk, gun oil, blood, the faint but powerfully bitter
tang of the warpfire burn that had, sadly, taken a bit from the
left-hand edge on the journey.
With an excited chitter, he called over Klatch, Fistang,
Passnitch and the big fangleader of his Stormvermin. It was
obvious to him now that Purrlikk had got lost. A short lesson
in cartography would do Zeek’s underlings no harm at all.
‘This is us. Here-here.’
He punched a claw carelessly through the large open space at
the lower edge of the map.
Klatch pointed at a runic annotation. ‘What does this
rune-mark m–’
Zeek slapped away the slavemaster’s paw. ‘It is not important!
Now…’ He took a deep breath. Where was he? Ah, yes.
‘Here-here!’ He tapped his claw again, moving it almost faster
than lesser eyes could follow to indicate different locations
within the under-city. ‘Granaries. Armouries. Barrack-lairs.
We take-snatch all in time-time. But first…’ He pointed to a
smallish burrow at the map’s middle. ‘We must secure the
master workshop. In it will be the weapons I seek and the
warpstone we need to lure engineers of Cankrous Sprawl and
their warriors to our aid. Yes-yes.’
His eyes crossed suddenly, and he glanced sharply up from
the map.
‘Master?’ said Klatch.
Zeek squinted near-sightedly over the rustling, echoing
emptiness of the hall. He had heard something. A mumble
and a mutter. His ears pricked up and swivelled, but if the
sound had been anything more than his imagination then he
could not hear it now. He traced the sign of the Great Horned
Rat. As was customary he did so at arm’s length and in the
vague direction of his Stormvermin. A clever rat did not pray
for his foul god’s protection; he pushed another under the
Horned One’s nose while he scuttled quickly on.
Passnitch peered at the map. He pointed at the master
workshop. ‘White-Fur…’ he chittered.
Zeek felt a chill go through him.
134
This time it was Klatch who cuffed Passnitch. The rat rubbed
at the bruise and whined as though he could not understand
why he had just been hit.
‘There is no such thing as the White-Fur,’ said Zeek. But the
clever rat is ever the cautious rat. He turned to Klatch. ‘Split
the clanrats into thirteens and send them to look-scurry
down these tunnels.’ He indicated several sections of the map
bordering the main approach to the master workshop.
‘It is not smart-clever to split our strength,’ said Klatch.
Zeek squinted at him.
‘Your strength,’ Klatch corrected himself.
Zeek chose, just this once, to decide that his rat-servant was
not querying his cleverness but was merely discombobulated
by the diminishment of the horde that was currently
surrounding him. Or perhaps it was the thought of his
warptokens wandering off unsupervised. Either way, Klatch
was not looking at the bigger picture. Something took Gilder
Spoil from Clan Skrrl, beard-things or otherwise, and Zeek
wanted plenty of bodies between himself and it.
Having pondered on and adequately justified his decision in
his own head, Zeek saw no reason to belabour it by
explaining it aloud.
Zeek stuck his snout in the air and, from memory, struck
fearlessly in the direction of the master workshop.
BLACK LIBRARY
With his small army split and Purrlikk still too stupid to find
his way back, it was with fifty warriors that Zeek made his
straight scurry for the lost under-city’s buried heart. That
number, worrisomely small though it might have seemed to a
rodent of lesser intellect, included his Stormvermin
bodyguard and his weapons teams, and so Zeek was
unalarmed. The unease he felt was but a flea-bite itch, easily
ignored. The path wended through immense, high-ceilinged
corridors and under the feet of goliath statues before feeding

eventually into a staircase. It so resembled the opening of a
drain that Zeek hesitated before the mass of warriors at his
back pushed him in.
It led down.
Stylised heads embellished with helmets and chin fur glared
balefully from carved sconces. They all looked alike. Zeek
hated the expression on their faces. Without quite intending
to, or realising it, Zeek found himself dropping back from the
front. The stair was not nearly cramped enough for skaven
comfort. The rashness of his exuberance perished. Caution
edged its way out from the burrow of the subconscious.
The stairs were set at just the right interval for skaven legs,
but there was something about their scale that was not right.
As an engineer, he could intuit it. As a rat of flesh and blood
with two arms, two legs and an aching spine, he could feel it.
Even the Stormvermin, the supposed elite of skavendom and
none too bright, started to complain about the ache in their
thighs. Zeek thought about having the jezzails at the back
shoot at them a few times and see how badly their legs hurt
then, but the weapons teams were starting to sag themselves.
The steps were the proper size for skaven legs, to be sure, but
skaven were articulated differently to most other races. Clear
evidence of most races’ inferiority.
Only Fistang and his gutter runners seemed unbothered by
incline of the stairs.
‘This is not a rat-made place,’ Klatch murmured, for the one
hundred and sixty-ninth time.
Zeek bared his teeth, but not because he thought the old
rat-servant was wrong. He was starting to worry he might be
right. Someone else had lived in this warren before Clan Skrrl
had claimed it. It had been built by another.
‘Where are the dead, I wonder?’ said Klatch.
Zeek shook his head. Typical Klatch, always thinking of his
stomach. He looped his tail around a fibula bone that lay
amongst the general detritus cluttering the stairs and hoisted
it up.
‘Dead,’ he said.
Klatch snarled. He had become markedly more irritable as
they had shed warriors. Zeek knew that he should say
BLACK LIBRARY
something. Remind the old rat-servant which of them was
master.
The scarred rat returned his stare. Zeek’s muzzle twitched,
and he looked away. Later, though. He would do it later.
‘Skaven bones. Skaven dead.’ Klatch’s lips pulled back from
FICTION
his teeth. ‘Where are the dead of those who killed them?’
‘No dead,’ Passnitch tittered. The clanrat lurked, as always, by
Klatch’s elbow. ‘It was the White-Fur. He kill-kill everyone.
As he kill-kill every rat that follows me to Gilder Spoil.’ He
giggled, as though snaffling through a looted pantry and
unexpectedly uncovering a wheel of unspoiled cheese.
‘Except for me. I live-scurry. Run-flee. Yes-yes. Maybe he lets
me scamper-scurry again while Zeek-meat die-die.’
Zeek made to punch the slave on the nose. Under Klatch’s
glare, he reluctantly lowered his fist. Cursing under his
breath, Zeek drew both paws into his chest, his sleeves sliding
past his elbows and over the underslung warpfire throwers.
‘The bottom,’ one of the ratling gunners squeaked wearily
from below. ‘I see-smell.’
With a squeal of relief, Zeek pushed ahead of Klatch and
scurried all the way back to the front. Everything would look
pleasantly gloomy and dank again, he was sure, once they
were off these stairs and back under a properly close ceiling
again. Ahead of the gunners, who were taking advantage of
his distraction to set down their equipment and catch their
breath, was another doorless threshold leading into a
passageway beyond. Several more skeletons clad in scraps of
age-wizened leather had been heaped up over the jamb.
Zeek shrieked in terror.
It was not because of the dead-things. There was something
standing in the doorway.
His fur was white. The infernal hue of the emissaries that the
Horned One whelped to the Masterclan. The albino pallor of
the warrior-mutes who defended the Council of Thirteen.
The skaven colour for dread itself. His splinted armour was
silver and without blemish, such as no skaven would ever
glimpse, except for on the king of an as-yet un-murdered foe.
Runes of power, of invincibility and immutability shone from
every individual scale, unfamiliar words written into a
resounding chorus that even the wilfully ignorant could not
ignore.
135
BLACK LIBRARY
Zeek was frozen. All his warriors were. All time, except for
that which belonged to the apparition, had been stolen away.
By the Horned One’s ever-scratching claws – it was real.
‘White-Fur…’ someone squeaked. With horror, he realised
that it was not Passnitch this time. It was him.
‘I tried to stamp out the lot of you in Kavzar,’ it said, and its
voice was condemnation itself. Zeek clapped his paws over
his ears, but its words hammered into his skull all the same.
‘I advised the manlings against that blasted temple of theirs. I
warned them against accepting the unlooked-for aid of
strangers. Even then, though the city was doomed, I begged
the duardin of Kavzar below to do more. Alas, that my axe
alone couldn’t save it. But the city was too fair for its time.’
White-Fur looked at him then, and Zeek felt such acute
understanding of his own wretchedness that all he could do
was cringe from it.
136
‘It surprises me not that those whose civilisation first gnawed
their way into being from the failure of mine should mimic
the worst of my people even now,’ White-Fur continued.
‘Your industry. Your greed. You’re naught but a twisted
reflection of us. I should loathe you, as I do the orruk and the
grot, but you skaven are too wretched even to hate.’
It hefted its axe.
‘I understand that the Temple of Kavzar stands yet, and that
your foul race are still squatting in it. I’ll have it down, one of
these days.’
Squealing in panic and finding himself suddenly able to
move his paws, Zeek thrust out both gauntlets. Heedless of
the ratling gunners in front of him, or for the fact that all but
the fangleader of his Stormvermin guard had already done
their one job and put themselves between their master and
the White-Fur, he squeezed down hard on the trigger pads in
his palms. Two simultaneous gouts of purple-green warpfire
turned each and every one of them into a shrieking effigy of
dribbling tallow, dousing the corridor in flame. After a
thorough hosing that was several seconds longer than
justified or safe, he eased off on the triggers. The projectors
vomited a few last globs of burning fuel onto the flagstones.
The doorway was gone. The corridor beyond had been
warped by unnatural heat and the perverting touch of
warpfire. Puddles, like those at Zeek’s footpaws, continued to
burn. Here and there, weird fusions of metals and bone
pointed to the presence (or, more accurately, the absence) of
a weapons team or one of his heavily armoured Stormvermin.
Flames flickered around the White-Fur’s thick coat, oily
reflections of the Realm of Ruin struggling to leave an
impression on his armour’s scale.
‘Deathmaster!’ Zeek squealed, falling back.
Razr Fistang bared his teeth in pleasure and pounced from
the rear, a pair of long, poison-drenched knives stabbing for
the White-Fur’s unarmoured throat.
There was a blur. Zeek did not see the White-Fur move, but
somehow he was not dead and Fistang was somersaulting
over something altogether too fast to be a beard-thing’s axe.
There was an exchange of blows that Zeek could not follow. A
snap of the tail filled the ruined corridor with a blizzard of
throwing stars. The White-Fur turned his back, and the
volley rattled off his armour like pebbles off a cliff.

And then he ran.
Zeek gave an anxious chitter. This was behaviour he could
understand. ‘Go! Go! It cannot run far. Kill-stab,
deathmaster.’
Fistang spread his arms and looked down at himself. The
White-Fur’s axe had cut a neat line through the green-black
silk of his cloak. Blood was starting to seep into the fabric.
The deathmaster snarled. ‘Kill-Kill!’
‘No!’ Klatch squealed, grabbing for Fistang, but in a fluttering
of silks, he and his gutter runners were already flowing out of
the ruined staircase in pursuit of the White-Fur. The old
rat-servant pulled Passnitch into a headlock as though he,
too, might run and leave him. ‘You leave me short on
warriors,’ he said, spitting on the stairs before adding,
‘Master.’
Zeek briefly entertained the notion of leaving Klatch to keep
the White-Fur off his tail while he made a heroic escape, but
discarded it just as quickly. There was nothing there to go
back to. He had sold everything to raise the warptokens for
Klatch to spend on warriors. Warriors that, admittedly, he
appeared to have misplaced.
All that remained behind him now were slighted rivals and
lifelong foes.
‘We hurry-scurry for the master workshop,’ he hissed.
The only way left to him was onwards. And when he had
what he had come for, the infamous, highly experimental
arsenal of Gilder Spoil’s former master, then he would have
all the firepower he could ever need.
Enough to kill even the ghost of the White-Fur.
BLACK LIBRARY
Zeek saw it. The master workshop. Just at the far end of the
next corridor. Driven by a surge of elation, and the cunning
forethought of unencumbering himself of three-quarters of
his weapon fuel, he tore ahead of his remaining warriors.
The workshop was one of the few burrows he had come
across with its doors intact. This was probably because they
were huge, solid, metal things half a tail-length thick. The
BLACK LIBRARY
erstwhile master of Gilder Spoil had been commendably
paranoid.
‘In!’ he squealed, squeezing through the narrow opening and
urging his warriors to follow. Better to have them in there
with him than trapped in the corridor with the White-Fur.
FICTION
A couple of desperate jezzail teams in the rear dropped their
guns and sprinted, scrabbling through just as Zeek and the
Stormvermin fangleader forced the doors to with a clang and
a drizzle of dust.
Zeek leant his weight against the doors with a sigh of relief.
He would like to see the White-Fur try to come through that.
‘Fool-fool.’
Klatch had him by the scruff before Zeek was aware he was
being spoken to. The old rat was stronger than a creature his
age had a right to be, and he drew Zeek up until they were
nose to nose, which involved Zeek teetering on tip-claws.
‘Fistang may come back,’ Klatch hissed.
Zeek expressed his thoughts about that with a rancid squirt
of musk.
Passnitch gave a manic giggle.
Klatch let go of Zeek’s neck. They both turned to look.
‘White-Fur,’ Passnitch tittered.
Curled up in a large chair, atop a nest of assorted junk, sat the
object of the clanrat’s adoration: the partially mummified
remains of the ratman who could only have been the former
warlock master of Gilder Spoil. His wizened limbs and tail
were wrapped around what looked like a stripped-down
warp lightning cannon, his clutches stiffened by rigor and by
subsequent desiccation. Ignoring the shrivelled body for now,
Zeek gave a squeak and scurried over for a closer look at the
weapon. Here was exactly the kind of innovation he had
hoped to claim and pass off as his own. He checked the
energy crystals and gnashed his fangs in frustration. They
were dead. It would be difficult to be sure what the weapon
could do without a full charge.
‘Where are his clan-warriors?’ Klatch murmured. ‘How did
he die-die?’
137
BLACK LIBRARY
Zeek looked up.
The warlock master appeared to have died alone in his chair,
his weapon trained on the door. Struck by a sudden, horrible
thought, Zeek yanked his paw from the warp lightning jezzail
and pointed it towards the door behind him. A pawful of
skaven were still lingering by the entrance, and they cringed
from their master’s sudden fright.
‘Open the door!’
‘No,’ Klatch growled. ‘No. This is a trick. You send-scurry
Purrlikk. And Fistang. You lose all the warrior-meat I bring.
And then you lead me here for the White-Fur.’ He raised a
claw and pointed it accusingly at Zeek. ‘This is you. You do
this on purpose.’
Zeek gawped at him. ‘Fool-Klatch too scared of the White-
Fur to think-think. This is my expedition.’
Klatch laughed shrilly. Zeek realised he had never heard him
laugh before.
‘Who found Passnitch in flea-market?’ said Klatch.
138
‘Who paid for him?’ Zeek countered.
‘Who bought your precious map? Who misplaced Master
Burnstash’s insulating shoes before his last experiment? And
who then persuaded you to sell-sell all his things to go with
him to Gilder Spoil?’
Zeek blinked. His head was spinning. It had all been his idea.
Hadn’t it?
He was about to say as much when the Stormvermin
fangleader, charred but alive, and unhappy about something,
gave a growl of dissatisfaction.
‘This is your plan?’ he asked of Klatch.
‘Yes-yes, my plan,’ said Klatch, foaming at the mouth now as
he gesticulated towards Zeek with a contemptuous footpaw.
‘This over-excited runt could not think-plan for–’
He stopped suddenly.
The eruption of the fangleader’s rusty-edged halberd from his
hessian vest had something to do with it.

‘Bad plan,’ said the fangleader.
Klatch slumped painfully to the ground, smearing Zeek’s
overalls in blood on his way. Zeek looked at the dying
rat-servant in shock.
The skaven at the door, meanwhile, barely noticed the
altercation, never mind its outcome. They were rattling at the
door, squeaking in anguish that it was jammed from the
other side, scuffling with kin-rats returning from quick
scurries to the rear of the burrow to wail that there was no
other way out. Erstwhile kin-rats fell out over the extent to
which they were all doomed to die in this warren. Bared
teeth became drawn knives as craven hearts succumbed to
panic, and Zeek flinched as though struck himself, as the first
pavise bearer was stabbed in the back by his own gunner. All
around them fell to scratching, tearing, strangling, gouging,
and, barely noticed, Passnitch wriggled into the old master’s
chair and nuzzled the cadaver as though he had just found
his way home.
‘White-Fur…’
Zeek wished he could spare the clanrat the disgust he was
owed. He looked up at the fangleader.
The fangleader looked down at him.
Zeek raised his near-empty gauntlets and gulped.
BLACK LIBRARY
He had no idea how long he had been trapped down there,
licking the dampness off the walls, eating increasingly less
appetising bits of his warriors. He had started with Klatch,
even though he not been especially hungry at the time. The
rest of the expedition had been charcoaled and, even with the
tendency of Ghyran to mulch a corpse in a matter of hours,
that was enough to keep one rat fed for weeks.
He ate them all.
To pass the time and to occupy his feverish mind, he made
several attempts at escape. There was a large amount of scrap
littering the burrow, but putting things together was harder
than blowing them apart. His efforts invariably ended in
singed fur, a raging tantrum and no mark whatsoever upon a
door that steadfastly refused to recognise his genius.
BLACK LIBRARY
With no other rat to harangue for these calamities, he found
himself pacing in ever narrower circles around the master’s
rotting chair, strung out with fear and drawn in all his
bitterness to the emaciated husk curled up in its ripped seat.
Passnitch was still there, half burrowed in under the old
master. He had chosen to die there rather than come out.
Zeek could almost respect the clanrat’s cowardice. He had
FICTION
also refrained from eating him thus far, even though his belly
had started to growl, and he was experimenting with the
slimes growing on the wall. They let him smell in strange
colours and often left him giggling at his many misfortunes
before sleeping for an indeterminate period of time. But it
was still preferable to eating Passnitch. He did not want to
touch the mad-thing meat, and pulling him away from the
old master felt just as wrong.
Even now, with nowhere else in the workshop burrow left to
pick over in his increasingly self-destructive bids at escape,
the master in his chair was the one spot he dared not defile.
If only he had stayed away.
He had always known that Gilder Spoil was cursed. Right
from the start. But he had allowed his loyalty to the traitor,
Klatch, the murderer of his own beloved mentor no less, to
blinker his otherwise keen instincts for danger.
Woe was him. He should have suspected that his giving and
trusting nature would see him killed one day.
‘What did you do, fool-fool?’ he hissed at the master.
He had taken to addressing him directly in recent days.
Assuming it had been days. It may have been the effects of
the slime moulds on his senses, but he was certain, too, that
the dead-thing’s woody-dry eyes followed him as he paced
and that his skin crinkled as he drew himself straighter in his
chair when spoken to.
‘Yes-yes, dead-meat, I squeak-talk to you. I call you fool-fool.
Fool-fool! How did you end up dead-dead, alone, trapped in
your own burrow-hole?’
Water dripped from some hidden leak. Metal squeaked, dull
and far away. Zeek cocked his head to listen. He had asked
this question many times and never yet received a straight
answer.
‘This was a beard-thing place? Gagh! I see-smell that for
myself. But would Klatch and the others listen? No. No. They
139
BLACK LIBRARY
would not. I tried to warn them all. Yes. Yes. Yes.’ He shook
his head vigorously. ‘But they would not listen. Do not go to
Gilder Spoil, I told them. It belongs to the White-Fur.’
The master’s parchment-thin robes rustled, like the pages of
the maps in Zeek’s old library in Cankrous Sprawl.
‘I did. I told them. Do you call Zeek a liar?’ He rounded on
the dead-thing. ‘You are the liar. A liar and a fool-rat! Where
are your warriors, fool-rat?’
‘The worst enemy of the skaven has always been the skaven.’
Zeek peered at the mummy. ‘Do you squeak-speak?’
‘Over here, you dullard.’
Zeek whirled around.
He gawped, weakening at the knees and collapsing into a
fawning heap on the floor. Possibly from lack of food.
Possibly with the discovery that he had not been so afraid of
his slow descent towards starvation and insanity that he
could not feel true terror now.
140
The White-Fur looked down on him, like the hateful high
star of Azyr that left no shadows for rats to hide in. With eyes
averted, he scratched the rune of the Great Horned Rat into
the floor, not caring if his terrible god gobbled him whole if
only he would see him, but the mark disappeared from the
tiles as quickly as it had appeared, and no god came but the
one already there.
The White-Fur sighed, as though contempt had finally lost
out to pity.
‘This was a duardin hold,’ he said. ‘Once. Before it fell to the
Glottkin with the rest of Thyria during the Age of Chaos. But
the Brothers Glott couldn’t have cared less for the glories of
the duardin and, as your lot are wont to do, you soon
wormed your way in once the Brothers had moved on. You
held my people’s wealth for less than a year before killing
yourselves over who had the best ideas on how to spend it. A
part of me was there to see it, so I remember. You see, the
Dispossessed left a single ranger behind them when they left.
One elderly whitebeard whose task it was to stand watch over
the lost holding and keep record ’ere the return of the king.
He perished, alone and long ago, but his vigil passed into
legend and into me.’

He leant in closer.
Zeek screwed his eyes up tighter. Being close to the White-
Fur was like being close to a rusty blade. His fur shrank from
it, sapping what little defiance he had remaining from his
shivering flesh.
‘And so long as the descendants of that king still live, so long
as there are duardin who yearn for the restoration of Garok
Stromaz – aye, that’s its real name – so long as there are
skaven who fear the myth, then I’ll be here still.’
‘I will tell them, oh white-furred master!’ Zeek squealed,
grovelling on the floor. He had the sense that the White-Fur
had grown vast above him, and he did not dare look up to see
if it was true. ‘Zeek will serve as Passnitch-meat failed. He
will squeak the story of the White-Fur to all who will listen.’
‘You will. And you’d better. And you’ll keep the rats out of my
home for another generation or two.’ He grunted. ‘Alas that
your kind live such short lives, convinced of their own
rectitude and the mendacity of others. You’ve no respect for
history. Could you not have inherited that from those whose
empire first fed yours?’
BLACK LIBRARY
The cold light on Zeek’s eyelids slowly dimmed. Cautiously,
he blinked open his eyes. The workshop was empty. The
doors were open. He gasped, pulling himself into an upright
slouch on his knees, unable to believe that he was not only
alive but free.
The White-Fur had spared him. As his own god had
FICTION
pointedly not.
‘I will squeak the story-tale,’ he hissed, the zealotry once
reserved for the unnatural sciences leading him to spit the
words out as fast as he could think them.
The fur on his back prickled. The White-Fur was behind him,
he knew, but he dared not turn.
‘You’ll be back in a year or three, I’ve no doubt.’ The White-
Fur sighed. ‘But it’s better than nothing.’
141
INSIDE THE STUDIO
Painting, modelling and gaming from the very heart of the hobby

CONQUEST OF CARCASS DONSE

Over the last year, 25 members of the Warhammer Niemz and his Fyreslayers who came out top dog.
Studio have been engaged in a campaign to conquer Overall, the forces of Order held a mighty 51 regions,
Carcass Donse in the Realm of Beasts. As the with Destruction claiming 48, Chaos despoiling 39
campaign came to a close, it was photographer Erik and Death holding a measly 20. Bad luck, Nagash!

EVOCATIVE SCENES
BY MARK BEDFORD
Mark: When I paint my
models, I always see them
in a cinematic way,
imagining them in certain
places or scenarios. As
such, I often create scenes
for them using bits of
terrain, lights and suchlike.
With the Vindictor, I
imagined a lone sentinel
on guard in the swamps.
The greenish glow could
be a realmgate he’s
guarding or a Kruleboyz
shaman conjuring a spell.
For the Lord of Plagues,
maybe the viewer is
travelling through Nurgle’s
realm and turned a corner
to find this vile creature
blocking the path ahead!

142
HOBBY BINGO
Join us for White Dwarf Hobby Bingo 2022! Let us know
how you are doing at team@whitedwarf.co.uk or tag
your models online: #WhiteDwarf #hobbybingo
IN BRIEF Scoring table: Box 10, Line 50,
Entire grid 150

MATT SOPHIE JONATHAN

HUTSON BOSTOCK STAPLETON

INSIDE THE STUDIO

Matt: My desks are Sophie: I’ve been Jonathan: My
covered in hobby working on some hobby bingo has
projects at the extra Harlequins slowed down a bit
moment. At work, for my kill team recently, but I am
I’m halfway and a unit of 10 still working on
through painting a Vindictors for my Black Templars
Black Templars Stormhost – the here and there
Crusader Squad, Cerulean Dracoths. – mostly just a
while at home I’ve You can see some Crusader Squad
got the Crimson of my other models and an Emperor’s
Court on the go. on the back page. Champion.
510 PTS 570 PTS 30 PTS

DARK ANGELS
INTERCESSORS
BY LYLE LOWERY
Lyle: I’ve just finished
my first unit of Dark
Angels! I basecoated
them using a zenithal
technique (white over
black), then airbrushed
them Caliban Green. I
followed this with a
wash of Nuln Oil and
drybrushes of
Warpstone Glow and
Moot Green.
70 PTS

DARKSTRIDER LIBRARIAN BY
BY DAN HARDEN BEN HUMBER
Dan: I enjoyed painting Ben: This Librarian in
my Pathfinder kill team Phobos Armour is the
so much that I painted latest addition to my
Darkstrider for my Meridian Shields. I
D’yanoi T’au army. I painted him wearing
used the same colours urban camo robes,
as my Pathfinders (see while his armour is
last issue for colours), painted darker to show
though he has a bit that he’s being stealthy.
more green and I painted his eyes and
turquoise on him for sword to be glowing as
his hair braids and though he’s doing
targeters. psychic stuff!
190 PTS

90 PTS

143
 HOBBY BINGO EXTRA
THE LADY OF
VINES BY MATT
HUTSON
Matt: I painted the
Lady of Vines to add to
my existing Gnarlroot
Wargrove. My palette is
autumnal, with reddish
wood and muted
greens. For her bark, I
applied a base of
Rhinox Hide followed
by drybrushes of
Mournfang Brown and
Bugman’s Glow. I
painted the lighter
wood with a base of
Zandri Dust, a wash of
Agrax Earthshade and
a drybrush of Flayed
One Flesh. Her base is
sprinkled with sage.

AELDARI
WINDRIDERS BY
JOSH NOY
Josh: These Windriders
are the latest addition
to my Aeldari force. The
jetbike carapaces were
basecoated Balthasar
Gold and masked
where I wanted the
stripes to be. I then
painted Sons of Horus
Green over the top and
washed the recesses
with Incubi Darkness.
After removing the
masking tape, I
highlighted the bikes
using Sybarite Green
followed by Gauss
Blaster Green.

144
 LOTS OF DRAGONS BY SOPHIE BOSTOCK
Sophie: I really like dragons, so I painted some Draconith for
my Stormcast Eternals army. I painted Krondys a deep red,
using Barak-Nar Burgundy as a basecoat followed by
highlights of Khorne Red and Mephiston Red, working up to
Bugman’s Glow and Cadian Fleshtone on his wings. The black
Draconith were painted Abaddon Black washed with Rhinox
Hide and drybrushed with Skavenblight Dinge and Dawnstone.

INSIDE THE STUDIO

NEXT ISSUE NEXT ISSUE

ON SALE 21
THE GREAT STOMP PART II OCTOBER
 ISSUE 480
CONTACT!4
Letters, questions and pictures of miniatures
sent in by you, our readers.
WORLDS OF WARHAMMER 10
In a galaxy of war and madness, are there any
‘good guys’?

FLASHPOINT NEPHILIM: 16
A REGAL RECKONING
The Silent King unleashes the inquisitive
Illuminor Szeras on the Nephilim Sector.

FLASHPOINT NEPHILIM: 24
RISING TOMB CAMPAIGN
An immersive campaign set on a Necron tomb
world. Will you defend it or purge it?

ECHOES FROM THE WARP 36

What is ‘flow,’ and how can it benefit you on
the battlefield?

KILL TEAM ENGAGE! 40

The White Dwarf team continue their Spec Op
campaigns. Some squigs came to some harm.

OPERATION BRIEFING 52
Bring your torches because this column is a
designer’s commentary about Into the Dark.

GALACTIC WAR HOSTS: 58

OPERATIVES ASSIGNED
Fancy building and painting a kill team? Here’s
some modelling and painting inspiration!

FLASHPOINT CLASH: 72
DESPERATE COUNTERMEASURES
A mini-campaign set in Thondia that pits Orruk
Warclans against Stormcast Eternals.

FLASHPOINT RONDHOL: 82
THE WAAAGH!
Weirdnob Shaman Ka-rokk has had a vision,
and it looks a lot like Everquake City!

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT 86
Are you a Pitched Battle general or a casual
commander? Serious applications only…

INTO THE GNARLWOOD 90

A new column all about Warcry! This inaugural
article introduces the new edition of the game.

FROM THE DEEPS! 100

A gallery of Warhammer Underworlds
warbands painted by you, our readers.

0-3
BRUSH TIPS 108
How was Teclis painted, and how did his
colours inform those used on the Lumineth?
0-3
BATTLE REPORT: 114
40K ®
THE FATE OF BARBARUS
® The first part in an epic 18,000-point battle on
the blighted home world of the Death Guard.
0-3
40K ®

®
OLD WHITE-FUR 130
The skaven encounter a terrifying white-furred
adversary in this short story by David Guymer.

INSIDE THE STUDIO 142

40K
0-3 ®
Check out the games we’ve played and the
Contains 1 toy item – Game Cards, 60249999622 models we’ve painted this month.
®