I've sort of ended up with a BUNCH of armies for Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Spearhead. There are elements of Spearhead that remind me a bit of De Bellis Antiquitatis, which I like; short games, small footprint (on the tabletop), fixed army lists, you don't need a full battletome for each army you want to play... Of course, the gameplay isn't nearly so elegant as De Bellis Antiquitatis... it is a fun excuse to have a smattering of miniatures from a bunch of different armies - which is handy for other skirmish games or role-playing games.
It all started with the Hedonites of Slaanesh. I'd started building an army of these when the Third Edition of Age of Sigmar came out four or five years ago, so when they announced the new Fourth Edition and the new play mode (Spearhead) I wanted to start there... unfortunately NONE of the units I already had were included in the Spearhead army. Not to worry, the starting Spearhead armies for the new edition exactly matched the contents of the Vanguard boxes from the previous editions and was about $50-70 cheaper than buying the units separately.
So I bought that box and built and painted the Hedonites of Slaanesh before Fourth Edition was released!
When Fourth Edition was released, I bought the Skaventide launch box. I'd never bought a lauch box for any edition of either 40K or Age of Sigmar, so I thought it might be fun. It included a Spearhead rule book with ALL the Spearhead army's information that you could not get in print anywhere else!? (sure, you can download the basic rules of the game AND all of the rules for any of the armies as a free PDF from GW's website...) AND the board and terrain and cards you need to play (which, on their own, would be released later for $80) AND it included two full Spearhead armies (Stormcasat and Skaven!).
Initially I'd planned to sell off all the Stormcast and Skaven... but then thought maybe I'd keep them (or, at least, the Spearhead armies) so I could have some opposing armies that could be loaned out should anyone ever come over to play! So then I had three...
THEN, I ended up buying the Soulblight Gravelords army, because I was ordering a book from an online seller that was super cheap... and the had the Soulblight army deeply discounted as well... and I figures since I already HAD a Soulblight Gravelord army - just from the contents of the Warhammer Quest: Cursed City box! That made FOUR!?
THEN I traded some 40K Knights for a complete Blades of Khorne army - which conveniently did include the units requires for the Blades of Khorne Spearhead army!? That made FIVE. This was the second one I actually managed to get painted!
Then, somehow I managed to convince myself AND Amanda that I should get the Sylvaneth Spearhead army... and I painted that one up right away! SIXTH army, third one painted.
In the fall, when the Slaves to Darkness battletome was announced they also announced that a new Slaves to Darkness Spearhead would be released along with it. As I had a LOT of Slaves to Darkness models (another army I'd intended to build as an ally for my Hedonites of Slaanesh in Third Edition) but didn't have the models for the initial Spearhead Army, I decided to pick up the Darkoath Raiders Spearhead - to have ANOTHER (SEVENTH!) Spearhead army and build up the Slaves to Darkness army!
Through the rest of the year I ended up buying two deeply discounted battle boxes from previous editions of the game that the Dragon's Den had in their Bargain Bin (it's really more of a shelf... but you get the idea); Arcane Cataclysm and Arena of Shades (I also picked up the Extremis Starter box for third edition, but it didn't help with any Spearhead Armies!)
The Arena of Shades box included the units I needed to finish off a Daughters of Khaine Spearhead army (as I'd started a small force of those when I started playing at the launch of third edition, thinking Amanda might be interested in trying it out - since she was so fond of playing Morgwaeth's Blad-Coven in Warhammer Underworlds!) EIGHT...!?
As it would turn out, Arena of Shades also included most of the units required for the new Nighthaunt Spearhead army the following year. (potentially a NINTH!)
The Arcane Cataclysm Box has more than half of the units required for both Tzeentch and Lumineth Realmlords Spearhead armies!? (potentially TENTH and ELEVENTH!?)
Finally (so far) about a month ago, when GW announced the immanent arrival of the new Blades of Khorne Spearhead army and the NEW Spearhead army that would go along with it, the Fangs of Khorne, which I already had most of - Karanak and all the Flesh Hounds, only needed the one unit of the Claws of Karanak! - so, obviously I bought those! (TWELVE?!)
So... What is the status of all those armies...
Hedonites of Slaanesh - Blades of the Lurid Dream
DONE!
- 1x Shardspeaker of Slaanesh (General)
- 3x Slaangor Fiendbloods
- 5x Slickblade Seekers
- 5x Blissbarb Archers (plus 1x Blissbrew Homonculus)
- 5x Blissbarb Archers
As it turns out, these armies are not super well balanced and some of them are just objectively better than others. This one is NOT one of the better ones.. It does kind of suck buying and assembling and painting an army only to find out you picked the wrong one if you ever want to win a game... ever... despite that, I've played with them a few times:
Hedonites of Slaanesh versus Soulblight Gravelords
Heodnites of Slaanesh Versus Stormcast Eternals - Yndrasts's Spearhead
Blades of Khorne - Bloodbound Gore Pilgrims
DONE!
- 1x Slaughterpriest (General)
- 5x Blood Warriors
- 5x Blood Warriors
- 10x Bloodreavers
- 3x Mighty Skullcrushers
I've played a few games with these...
Age of Sigmar - Spearhead League - 2 Games (versus Flesh-Eater Courts and Soulblight Gravelords
Blades of Khorne Versus Soulblight Gravelords... Again...
Sylvaneth - Bitterbark Copse
DONE!
- 1x Branchwych (General)
- 1x Treelord
- 3x Kurnoth Hunters
- 5x Tree-Revenants
I have played a few games with these:
Last Spearhead League Game - versus Maggotkin of Nurgle
Sylvaneth Battling Soulblights in Shyish!
Lizards and Trees Clash in Shyish!
Sap for the Sap God...? - loaned to John to play against Blades of Khorne
Blades of Khorne - Fangs of Khorne
Almost done!
- 1x Karanak (General)
- 8x Claws of Karanak
- 5x Flesh Hounds
- 5x Flesh Hounds
Karanak and the Flesh Hounds I've had for a while and were fully painted before Fourth Edtion of Age of Sigmar was even announced. I'm over half done painting the Claws of Karanak. They should be done shortly...
Stormcast Eternals - Vigilant Brotherhood
Still to do... but getting close!
- 1x Lord Vigilant on Gryph-Stalker (General)
- 1x Lord Veritant (with Gryph-Crow)
- 3x Prosecutors
- 5x Liberators
This one is also so very close to being done, I really need to just push through and FINISH THEM. All are assembled and over half painted. Maybe 80% done...?
I have played ONE GAME with this force (not mine, the store's copy at the Warhammer Store in Saskatoon) I did not finish the game, I was leading when we had to call it, but I would NOT say victory was certain!
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Spearhead - First Game!
Soulblight Gravelords - Bloodcrave Hunt
Still to do
- 1x Vampire Lord (General)
- 3x Vargheists
- 5x Blood Knights
- 20x Deathrattle Skeletons
The Vampire Lord is done. Everything else is assembled and primed and the bases are done. These will probably be next after the Stormcast.
Nighthaunt - Cursed Shacklehorde
Almost done!
- 1x Spirit Torment (General)
- 2x Chainghasts
- 10x Dreadscythe Harridans
- 10x Bladegheist Revenants
- 2x Dreadblade Harrows
The Spirit Torment, two Chainghasts, and ten Bladegheist Revenants I already had (from the Arena of Shades box) and are painted. The two Dreadblade Harrows i recently acquired (second hand) and need to be repainted. I still need to pick up the ten Dreadscythe Harridans...
Daughters of Khaine - Heartflayer Troupe
Still to do...
- 1x Melusai Ironscale (General)
- 10x Witch Aelves
- 5x Blood Stalkers
- 5x Doomfire Warlocks
The Melusai Ironscale is painted, the rest have been assembled but still need to be painted. (warlocks are partly painted)
Slaves to Darkness - Darkoath Raiders
Still to do!
- 1x Darkoath Warqueen (General)
- 5x Darkoath Fellriders
- 10x Darkoath Savagers
- 10x Darkoath Marauders
The Darkoath Warqueen is assembled and partly painted. The rest... still on the Sprue...
Skaven - Gnawfeast Pack
Still to do...
- 1x Clawlord on Gnaw-beast (General)
- 1x Grey Seer
- 1x Warlock Engineer
- 10x Clanrats
- 10x Clanrats
- 3x Rat Ogors
These came with the Skaventide box. I've thought about getting rid of them more than a few times.. (and I DID get ride of the Skaven stuff from the box that WASN'T part of the Spearhead!) But ultimately decided to hold on to them - partly because I like the idea of having forces for all five of the dark gods of Chaos!
So many little rats to paint, tho...
Luminath Realmlords - Glittering Phalanx
Still to do...
- 1x Scinari Cathallar (General)
- 5x Vanari Bladelords
- 10x Vanari Auralan Wardens
- 10x Vanari Auralan Sentinels
I have the three units of Vanari, two are assembled, one still on the sprue, and I still need to pick up a Scinari Cathaller, but I probably won't do that until some of the other armies are finished up and I actually start painting the units for this army
Disciples of Tzeentch - Fluxblade Coven
Still to do
- 1x Magister on Disc of Tzeentch (General)
- 3x Screamers of Tzeentch
- 3x Flamers of Tzeentch
- 10x Tzaangors
- 10x Kairic Acolytes
Some of this came in the Arcane Cataclysm box... I picked up the Magister and Screamers separately, and still need the Flamers. So far, only the Screamers of Tzeentch are the only thing painted (though I have painted Tzaangors and Kairic Acolytes, those were all for Finnegan's Warhammer Quest games...)
STILL TO GET!?
It is bonkers to even consider any more at this point.
Yet...
Not going to lie, there are others that I would totally love to get...
Primarily, the Maggotkin of Nurgle - Bleak Host Spearhead army... mostly just to have all five Chaos gods represented (ugh... that still feels wrong including the Great Horned Rat in that... but whatevs).
Also the Seraphon - Starscale Host looks fun - I mean, General on a GIANT LIZARD!?
and more recently, I kind of like the idea of the new Helsmiths of Hashut...
Now, I'm NOT going ot run out and buy ANY of these any time soon. I definitely need to finish painting a bunch of the ones that I already have before I even consider getting another!
I've basically copied and pasted this post into a page where I can update it. If you're looking at this on a computer, it should be in the list of pages over to the left... if you're on a phone.. I'm not sure where it is, I never look at this on a phone... you can find it here, though:
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I can see the appeal of small self contained armies, I guess that's what I'm doing with my dux bellorum dark age armies ( even though I probably won't use the rules!) You don't do things by halves though do you!
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Ugh... I WISH I could take a moderate approach to something... but when something grabs my interest I am ALL IN... until I'm not, and then I don't want anything to do with it anymore (until it grabs my interest again in six months.. or a year... or a decade...!?)
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