Much like the slimline Core Rules book also included in this set, Warscroll Cards are one of those things that you don’t really appreciate the value of until you have a cause to use them. The Deepkin book is notoriously Hero heavy, the number of Heroes is more than double everything else combined. Most Heroes retained their general “vibe” even if a few abilities were tweaked here and there. Many units also got a ward, which massively helps their survivability. Eidolons of Mathlann Jay Hine – Gnarlroot (3-1-1): A sort of greatest hits collection from walking greenery, with 6 Lancers, 10 Gossamid Archers (sneaky good in a combat heavy meta), 6 Sword Kurnoth Hunters plus a Warsong giving the list a lot of play in all phases of the game This is the new hero for Fyreslayers…who is another foot hero for the army, bringing that total to 8 Heroes (6 of them Leaders). He is the first Fyreslayer to not also be armed with throwing axes, I suppose he forgot them at home. With all the new Idoneth Deepkin models coming out, I was really excited to start painting them. While there are some truly impressive centrepiece models like the Eidolon, I always like to start with the rank and file of the army. This is what you’ll have the most of, so how you paint them will define the look of your army. In my opinion, it’s better to start here, and base your hero and larger model paint schemes off of them, than the other way around.

As you’d expect with any aelven force, they’re fast, lightly armoured and hit hard – making the most effective use of these guys will come down to knowing how to combine them with your allegiance abilities. For one, these guys are ideal for screening – keep them in front of your most valuable units and they’ll absorb fire thanks to Forgotten Nightmares, a rule we previewed earlier that applies to all Idoneth Deepkin. For another, you can reduce casualties by making sure they’re in close combat in the third game turn – thanks to High Tide on the Tides of Death table, they’ll get to strike first! James: Namarti Reavers are a fantastic supporting unit. Taking advantage of Unleash Hell, they can combine their ability with their whisperbows’ Storm Fire – giving them three shots each into a charging unit. The Namarti Reavers are potent when they work in concert with units like Ishlaen Guard .

This unit has been split down to two warscrolls, which we’ve seen happen with other units in the past. Both units have the same throwing axes with the change mentioned above, the same bravery of 7 and movement of 4” with 2 wounds. They keep Berzerk Fury to fight when they die which needs to be activated at the start of the combat phase once per game and their musician still adds 1 to charge rolls.

A hindsight tinged by more recent 40K battlebox releases (which have trended towards including only models and a campaign book) makes Shadow and Pain look as if it were positively bursting at the seams with goodies. Fury of the Deep, however, makes it look positively underfed with its impressive offering of both miniatures and extra goodies to get people engaged with the game. Let’s take a closer look at everything in turn now. Literature Christoffer Karlsmose – Crematorians (4-0-1): Katakros, a Liege Kavalos, Arkhan and 6 Immortis Guards plus 10 Deathriders make for a mobile listKyle Calip – Mortis Praetorians: No Immortis whatsoever, as Kyle instead runs Kata, Arkhan, a buffed up Liege-Kavalos & 30 Mortek Guard as it’s core These buffs only effect Namarti Thralls and Namarti Reavers, but you’re not trying to get Reavers into combat so really they’re only effecting the Thralls. They’ve also seen an update for the better, so being able to hit harder is definitely welcome. But one does not require the ability to see souls to recognize a Namarti, as each is forced to wear an iron collar and a half-soul rune is found upon their heads which are placed upon them when they are given new souls. This is often taken a step further, as many collar fittings will involve the Namarti being ritually scarred to further mark them as mere thralls. [1a] [1b] We do have some questions on Hunters of Souls, which will surely require an FAQ is if the wounds will spill over if the champion dies. We haven’t encountered an ability like this, and my gut instinct says no, as it says it’s only targetting the champion. Further, how does this work on units that are tankier, like say Blightkings where the champion can easily tank the hit. Now they potentially have 2 models with wounds allocated, where do they go now? Not sure this was well considered.