Serving as the golden children of the world of Warhammer Age of Sigmar, the Stormcast Eternals are once again riding down to the mortal realms on a crack of lightning! Including a huge new range of reinforcements (some brand new, some previously only available via boxed sets), there's a lot to choose from for your army. But I'm here to help! Games Workshop sent me a big batch of these new units to check out, so read on for my picks for Must-Have Stormcast Eternals.
For more of our Age of Sigmar coverage, check out our coverage of new Skaven miniatures, and our review of the new Warhammer Age of Sigmar Starter Set. And to see all of the upcoming Stormcast Eternals releases coming up for pre-order, check out the official Warhammer Community Sunday Previews article breaking it all down.
Must-Have Stormcast Eternals: Iridan The Witness
First up, we have to talk about the largest, perhaps flashiest model in this batch of incoming Stormcast units. And even though I don't have access to the Stormcast Eternals battletome just yet (I do have the Faction Pack, which Iridan isn't in), what I can see from the article leading up to his release makes me very excited.
Take, for instance, his "Prayer of the Witness" ability, which states: "For the rest of the turn, each time a friendly Ruination Chamber unit uses a Fight ability while it is wholly within 18" of this unit, after that ability has been resolved: Heal (D3) that unit. If the chanting roll was 8+, Heal (3) that unit instead. That unit has Ward (6+) rest of the turn." In other words, if you plan on crowding other fighting units in around him, they'll be auto-healing every time they fight!
He also has an ability called "Dark Flight," which lets him roll to slay an enemy unit near him and then retreat for free. Because he's riding on a giant flying monstrosity, I love the flavor of this ability which is basically: he just blasts off out of danger, absolutely splattering one hapless foe in his way.
We can also see from his construction booklet that he has solid health and defense, with 12 HP and a 3+ save. We can also tell from these bare-bones rules that his main weapon has 4 attacks, hits and damages on 3+, with Rend 2, dealing d3 damage. So while we teasingly don't have the full details yet, I really like what I see - and the model is absolutely gorgeous.
Must-Have Stormcast Eternals: Lord-Celestant
The Lord-Celestant has always been a good option for players who prefer a more aggressive playstyle, as their key ability is to allow another friendly non-Hero Warrior Chamber unit within their combat range (3") to fight right after they fight (and adds 1 to wound rolls). This means you can really surround an enemy unit, and get in a lot of hits before they can reasonably respond with much force.
This new release of the model includes a big variety of potential builds for this unit, which I think does a really nice job of helping us get away from a samey-looking army of Stormcast Eternals, which is why I think this unit's definitely worth having!
Must-Have Stormcast Eternals: Lord-Terminos
While I understand that the Lord-Terminos is effectively a beefed up version of the Lord-Celestant, the way in which he's beefed up is absolutely worth highlighting. First off, he has the same ability to let another unit fight as mentioned above, except that instead of adding 1 to wound rolls for that other unit, he's adding 1 to hit rolls. That's... big.
Also, when he's picked as the target of a non-Core ability (aka a special ability), once per turn you can roll a resistance die, and on a 4+, that ability has no effect on him. The thought of simply ignoring some fell spell makes this unit feel so hardy (and his 3+ save doesn't hurt either).
Must-Have Stormcast Eternals: Stormstrike Palladors
This is another unit that I don't have a ton of info on yet, except to say that the models themselves are absolutely top-rate and have an extremely dynamic, mid-action move to them that I've come to expect from modern cavalry units in Age of Sigmar. Giving some visual movement to the collection here is really nice, and shows the fury of their attack.
As for the abilities we do know about at the time of this writing, the most interesting (aside from them have the usual Anti-Infantry rule that makes sense for mounted units) is their "Ride For Vengeance" special ability, which states that: "if any friendly Warrior Chamber units have been destroyed this battle: You can re-roll charge rolls for this unit. This unit has Strike-First if it charged in the same turn."
Bonus! Stormreach Portal
Finally, and more as a bonus, because I don't honestly think this unit is a "Must-Have" necessarily, is the Stormreach Portal. Aside from it being just absolutely gorgeous, and looking very nifty on the battlefield, it also has an incredible ability built into it.
Basically, when on your movement phase, you can choose a friendly non-Monster Stormcast Eternals unit, and as long as it's not currently in combat and is close to the Portal (i.e. wholly within 6"), you can: "Remove the target from the battlefield and set it up again on the battlefield more than 9" from all enemy units."
The amount of mobility that this will add to your army, getting them basically wherever they want to be, is hard to ignore. But I wouldn't call it officially "Must-Have" since not every army's going to need that extra mobility.
What do you think of the new models coming out for Stormcast Eternals? Is this a solid upgrade to the army (both tactically and, in the case of new sculpts, cosmetically), or were you hoping for a different approach? Let us know in the comments below!
The models used in the creation of this feature article were provided by Games Workshop. All images courtesy of Games Workshop.
Giaco Furino joined the TechRaptor team as a Staff Writer in 2019 after searching for a dedicated place to write and talk about Tabletop Games. In 2020, he… More about Giaco
