Today we watch the new Daughters of Khaine battletome - a new, extremely interesting, and original faction in Age of Sigmar.
This book is interesting not least because of background. You will learn many new details about what happened to Slaanesh and the elves since the time of Fantasy Battles. And, of course, the central character of the book is Morathi - she had played a significant role before, and now she's even got the rank of a goddess. And do not be embarrassed by the fact that this army belongs to the "Order". It is rather an alliance of convenience, but in fact, Morati pursues completely different goals ...
The army, obviously, has a face - all units are fast, very painfull, and initially poorly protected. Static 6+ save, working even against mortal wounds, is designed to correct this somehow. Despite is some decent shooting; the main potential is in close combat. So, for example, a new unit of snake-like Blood Sisters, is able to turn enemies into crystals, inflicting mortal wounds on 4+, in addition to three main weapon attacks. Their shooting version, although shoots quite painfully, does just one shot, and is still good in close combat.
The table of Blood Rites will improve your combat skills and it gets more powerful each turn. Just like Dark Eldars ‘Power from Pain. On the first turn, you obviously rush to the enemy, and run - so your units reroll 1-s for the run roll, which is quite logical. On the second turn you may already have the opportunity to attack, so add here the ability to reroll 1-a for the charge rolls… Then you get a reroll of 1-a to hit, then to wound, and in the end - to save, along with fearlessness. Do not forget that the effects are cumulative. In addition, individual units can be accelerated with artifacts and magic.
This alone makes the army quite difficult to use. Yes, you need to quickly get to close combat. But, having got there without preparation, you risk not to survive the reciprocal attack of the enemy. Therefore, playing for the Daughters, you will have to maneuver a lot, stretching the enemy's fighting ranks, and destroying them, starting with the weakest. The tactics of the game are not straightforward and involves thinking through each move. This automatically makes the army extremely interesting, and most importantly - gives it a face, these female warriors should behave on the battlefield exactly this way.
In addition, you can choose one of the six cults, each of them with its own special rules, artifact, and trait - it won’t be boring for sure. Some hit better, others have a chance to fight twice, the third is harder to be hit ... Choose something that is closer to you. Also, traditionally, you have three lists of artifacts - for fighters, wizards and priests - those that allow you to influence Blood Prayers are especially interesting.
Speaking of units, of course, you should start with Morathi herself. Perhaps this is the only unit in the game that has two profiles. The original, human form is rather weak. Although protected by powerful Iron Heart of Khaine, not allowing her to lose more than three wounds per turn. At the beginning of any turn, you can turn her into a monstrous form. However, this does not always depend on you - losing wounds, she becomes furious and turns automatically. Given that the second form has already 12 wounds, and the Heart of Khaine still remains, then you get an almost immortal unit. It is a pity only that the wounds received in the starting from, transfer to the second, doubled. Therefore, it is in your best interests to turn her as soon as possible. On the other hand - in the basic form she is able to strengthen friendly units and gets cast bonuses. So, you have to decide how to use her best. In both forms, she is a very dangerous wizard, and not bad in close combat - a unit that you definitely want to take, even despite the high price of 480 points.
Another unit that should be mentioned is Avatar of Khaine. He also starts the game in an inactive form, as a simple statue on a cart. However, on the third turn it gets animated, and then your opponents will regret they didn’t kill him before... However, you can animate him earlier, with the help of a special spell or abilities. So, we have two units, which change the abilities in the course of the game, and make you think about tactics carefully.
In total - we have a really original army - they
can be compared, perhaps, only with Khardrons on the freshness of gameplay
solutions. Yes, some of the ideas are taken from the old, fantasy Dark Elves,
some from the Eldar of 40K, but together, and within the framework of the
current AoS, this gives completely unique combinations and tactics. And the
appearance of this army obviously encourages you to start collecting them. The
case when it turned out both powerful, interesting,
and beautiful.