War is coming to Ghyran, and the armies of the Realms are gearing up for a big fight. A few of them are just doing it a little better. Daughters of Khaine and Slaanesh are untouchable!
Welcome in, Generals of the Realms! The new General’s Handbook is almost upon us, along with the Scourge of Ghyran Battlepacks. Every army is bringing out their best warriors to lay siege to the Realm of Life. Games Workshop has given us a little peek into what’s coming for a few of our favorite factions, and I like what we’ve seen so far. There are new unit cards, enhancements, and formations for Idoneth Deepkin, Sons of Behemat, Daughters of Khaine, Seraphon, Slaves to Darkness, Lumineth Realm-lords, and Hedonites of Slaanesh. Though they’re all phenomenal, a few stand just a hair above the rest.
Daughters of Khaine
It’s no secret that I’ve always been a fan of the Daughters of Khaine. They’re a fun blender-style army, and they’re the final remnants of my favorite Fantasy army (though who knows that the Old World will hold). While I’m still holding out for Malerion in an upcoming battletome, the Ghyran updates for the DoK are fabulous. The bidding starts with a pair of gnarly new battle formations.
The first, Coven Zealots, keeps your bloodthirsty babes in the fight. At the end of every turn, you can restore d3 models to every DoK Infantry unit on the battlefield. While that won’t be game-breaking, it will keep you swinging for a LOT longer than your opponent might expect. The second formation, Arena Veterans, showcases the acrobatic skill of the Daughters of Khaine. Each turn, until a unit fights, their Ward save is increased to a 5+, ensuring they stick around long enough to get their licks in.
Alongside the new formations, the Daughters of Khaine get three new prayers to empower them. The first gives a unit a 6″ move, which allows them to surge forward or jump from one unit to another. If you cast with a high enough roll, you can target an additional unit. The second empowers a unit’s defensive capabilities, giving enemies -1 to wound the target unit in combat. If you happen to get a higher roll, the prayer becomes an aura, affecting all units wholly within 12″. Finally, you can beseech Khaine to give one of your units +1 to wound rolls and, if you roll high enough, an extra attack.
Closing out the Daughters of Khaine update is a pair of magical warscrolls highlighting a pair of powerful heroes. The first is Krethusa, the winged seer of Morai-Heg, who empowers her already potent suite of prayers. She can protect a nearby unit from enemy attacks or cause their weapons to bypass magical defenses. Perhaps my favorite update is the Bloodwrack Shrine, a nice alternative to the Cauldron of Blood. The deadly stare of the Medusa on the back keeps units from being set up too close, even spells, and you can hamstring a nearby enemy unit. Best of all, the Shrine is still just as much of a blender as ever.
Hedonites of Slaanesh
Slaanesh has dominated the forces of Chaos for a long time (pun intended), and the Hedonites are an extraordinarily powerful force. Even with the slight nerf in the latest edition, Slaanesh has been one of Chaos’s mightiest factions. The updates they received in Scourge of Ghyran just add fuel to the fire. Keeping with tradition, they start with a pair of great new(ish) formations. The first is the Pretenders, an homage to a subfaction of old. This allows one of your heroes to pick up an army rule during deployment IN ADDITION to the one you already got to pick for your army. The second, another throwback, is the Invaders formation. This rewards aggressive behavior by giving your units +1 to Rend with their melee weapons while they’re wholly outside your deployment zone. It’s nice to see the old subfacs back, even only partially.
The followers of Slaanesh are all arrogant to a fault, so it makes sense that they get new heroic traits. The first allows a hero to return a destroyed unit at half strength for the low cost of 1 CP. The second capitalizes on your temptation dice, forcing your opponent to use them or risk losing out on command abilities. Finally, your hero can turn a unit into a Euphoric unit if they fail a roll, potentially allowing them to succeed through command abilities.
Last but certainly not least, you get a pair of incredible warscroll updates. The first is for the symbiotic heroes Syll’Esske. They allow a Daemon and non-Daemon unit to fight one after the other during the Fight phase instead of alternating. In addition, they can buff a pair of nearby units, again one Daemon and one non-Daemon, giving the former a better save and the latter deadlier attacks. Finally, if they kill a Priest or Wizard, their power level increases for the rest of the battle. Next is the Slaangor Fiendbloods, an oft-slept-on unit that sees a significant facelift. They still aren’t auto-take units, but they can be incredible ambush units with their ability to appear from any table edge. If your opponent uses a command ability close to them, they can run into battle to punish the offending target.
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From North Carolina to Texas and back to North Carolina again, Clint lives the life of a traveling artist. An avid gamer, writer, actor, pyrotechnician, and general nerd, he has finally turned his love of EDH into a career. When not busy being a clueless cowboy, Winterfell Bannermen, or whatever else acting life throws at him, he enjoys reading folklore from around the world, writing narratives for his Wargaming armies, or running D&D 5e games as a professional DM. Look for his storytelling podcast, By the Dancing Fire, or find him on Twitch at FeybornPhyrexian, where he produces MTG content.
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