Warhammer Slaves To Darkness Army Set Review

From remote caves where mortals chant to profane idols to curtained private rooms in sprawling cities, the mark of Chaos hides and grows ever stronger. For centuries, humanity has known only terror and death at the hands of the Chaos gods, chiefly served up by those mortal beings who pledge their minds, bodies, and souls to the four gods of depravity and darkness. In the new Warhammer Slaves To Darkness Army Set, it's these chaos-worshipping mortals who stand front and center. Complete with a new Battletome and the parts to build 14 miniatures, the Slaves To Darkness Army Set is a one-stop shop for interested players looking to start (or expand) a Slaves To Darkness army. We were lucky enough to receive a review copy of the Army Set from Games Workshop, so follow along for our official review!

What's Included In The Warhammer Slaves To Darkness Army Set?

Included in the Warhammer Slaves To Darkness Army Set is everything you need to jumpstart a new legion. From models to the new Battletome for the faction, as well as other useful accessories, this Army Set will get you well on your way down the Bleak Path. Included in the Army Set is:

• 128-page Special Edition Chaos Battletome: Slaves To Darkness
• Token Sheet
• 54 Warscroll Cards
• 28 Enhancement Cards
• 1 Daemon Prince (unassembled and unpainted)
• 3 Ogroid Theridons (unassembled and unpainted)
• 10 Chaos Chosen (unassembled and unpainted)

What Does The Warhammer Slaves To Darkness Battletome Cover?

The Warhammer Slaves To Darkness Battletome covers all the information needed to run an elite force of Slaves to Darkness units. The book starts with an impressive section of lore on the Slaves To Darkness, charting how societies often fall to Chaos (especially after Sigmar abandoned his people to hide out in Azyr). The lore section details everything from brief descriptions of the four Chaos gods to the 600-year toil and triumph of Archaon the Everchosen.

I was really impressed by the lore in this book. It's very carefully written, and covers a huge amount of content. These Battletomes often follow the point of view of the subjects of the book, and this tome is no exception. It's lovingly written from the POV of Chaos, though I really appreciate how it approaches its subject matter with an honest and knowing appraisal of all the faults and deadly compromises that come with following Chaos.

The Battletome also covers all lore for all currently released warbands for Warcry, the Warhammer skirmish game, as well as an impressive and fairly-long showcase section of painted models and painting tips. From there, the Battletome goes into the rules for fielding a Slaves to Darkness army, which we'll dive into in more detail below. And what's most impressive about this book is the truly astounding 44 pages of Warscrolls for Slaves to Darkness, with full rules to field 54 unique units.

What Rules Are Included In The Warhammer Slaves To Darkness Battletome?

The rules included in the Warhammer Slaves To Darkness battletome are quite expansive, covering allegiance abilities for the army including battle traits, enhancements, artefacts of power, spell lores, ensorcelled banners, and rules for choosing a damned legion sub-faction of your army. Also included are Path to Glory campaign rules for your army, matched play grand strategies, battle tactics, and core battalions, and warscrolls upon warscrolls upon warscrolls.

There's so much to cover that we definitely don't have space to go over it all here, but I'll highlight some of the larger rules. First, there's the Marks Of Chaos keyword. Some models in this book are already pledged to one of the four Chaos gods: Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch, or Slaanesh - or are marked as Chaos Undivided (meaning they are pledged to all four, essentially). Others simply have the "Mark of Chaos" keyword on their warscroll without a specific god. If your models only have the Mark of Chaos keyword on them, you have to choose one of the four gods or undivided, and they gain special benefits like command abilities allowing them to deal more damage (Undivided), deal damage after charging (Khorne), run and charge in the same turn (Slaanesh), and more.

There are also command traits available to heroes that let them fight a second time in a combat phase, roll on a special Eye of the Gods table which offers powerful boons (or treacherous traps on a poor roll), allow them to know all spells in the legion's spellbook, or become a Priest which changes the God keyword on any Undivided cultist in your army. There are also special command traits for the monstrous Daemon Princes, boosting their wounds, auto-healing nearby allies, and more.

There are so many rules to explore, and listing them out here wouldn't be as thrilling a read as exploring on your own, but suffice it to say the levels of customization and malleability available to players running a Slaves To Darkness army is truly incredible. I can't stop thinking about ways that this army could be tweaked, and it's hard to know which god to choose to devote a legion to, because they all do one thing really well.

Can I Field Warcry Models In My Warhammer Slaves To Darkness Army?

Yes! The Slaves to Darkness battletome contains everything you need to field units released for Warcry, the Warhammer Age of Sigmar skirmish battle game. The following units originally released for Warcry have rules included:

• The Centaurion Marshal (who we just reviewed recently)
• Chaos Legionaires
• Horns of Hashut
• Tarantulos Brood
• Splintered Fang
• Corvus Cabal
• The Unmade
• Cypher Lords
• Scions of the Flame
• Spire Tyrants
• Iron Golem
• Untamed Beasts
• Darkoath Savagers

What Models Are Included In The Warhammer Slaves To Darkness Army Set?

The Warhammer Slaves To Darkness Army Set includes one Daemon Prince, 3 Ogroid Theridons, and 10 Chaos Chosen. The Daemon Prince is the big baddie of this set, with 10 wounds, a 3+ save, and a ton of customization options available. You can choose from multiple different heads (pictured below), each signaling allegiance to a different god (and one generally demonic head for Chaos Unbound). You can also build them with wings to allow them to fly or give them a trophy rack of skulls which lets friendly units within 9" of them ignore battleshock tests. They come equipped with either a Daemonic Axe, a Hellforged Sword, or Malefic Talons. With all of this, and special heroic actions they can take based on which god they're pledged to, no one Daemonic Prince is likely to play like another.

The Ogroid Theridons included in this box huge, muscle-bound, horned monstrosities with 5 wounds each. Armed with either a Goroan Falchion or a Goroan Great Axe, these warriors strike out for chaos in a berserker frenzy. If they suffer any wounds, they add 1 to wound rolls in the same phase as they strike back with fury. And once per battle, they can add 1 to the attacks characteristic until end of phase. With weapons hitting and wounding on 3+, and dealing 2 to 3 damage, they can truly rush in as a shock unit and start chopping away at their enemies.

Finally included in the box are ten very hearty Chaos Chosen, to be fielded as two units of 5. With 3 wounds and a 3+ save, this heavily armored unit of ten soldiers is ready to strike fear in the hearts of your enemies. They come armed with the Soul Splitter, which has 3 attacks with a 3+ to hit and wound, rend -1, and deals 2 damage. Also, as a special rule, these weapons also inflict one mortal wound in addition to any normal damage on unmodified hit rolls of 6. Along with that powerful weapon, they also have the special abilities detailed in the image below, which can truly turn the tide of battle.

What Are Our Final Thoughts On The Warhammer Slaves To Darkness Army Set?

My one complaint with the models contained in this box is that it feels a little light in power, as it's not enough to run a 1000 point army (you get just shy of 900 points in this box). That being said, these are all semi-elite models (or actually elite with the Daemon Prince), and they look absolutely amazing. Plus, these are all brand new models, so there's nothing being reused or repurposed here. If you're looking to build on your existing Warhammer Slaves to Darkness Chaos Army, or looking for a good starting point, this is the box to jump into. But if you're hoping this will be a one and done purchase for this army, you'll likely need to supplement with a few more units.

Thrilling to build and field, and with a huge array of options when building your army, the Warhammer Slaves To Darkness Army Set is a fantastic release for an army that's always intrigued me. Now, the real question is: do I build a Slaanesh army of shifting, slippery killers? Or go all-out for blood with a Khorne army? It's so hard to decide, thanks to the robust offerings on display in the Battletome book included in this set!

The Warhammer Slaves To Darkness Army Set used in the production of this review was provided by Games Workshop.