PanzerKaput’s Slow Descent Into Madness and The Age Of Sigmar Spearhead

The battlefield shakes under the heavy hooves of the Freeguild Cavaliers as they make their charge. No idle jousters these – theirs is a war of grinding, brutal attrition where man and steed alike are expected to fight for hours at a time without rest.

These are such a lovely kit, detailed of hell and all the better for it. I When for the red Gold colour to set them against Jade.

There is something about these that I love and the sculpts and look are, in my opinion, some of the best in the Age of Sigmar’s range. I have gone with a red and jade theme and stated that they are from the Jade Dragon Company. I went with these colours as I love them and they work so well together.

The Cities of Sigmar are bastions of light and hope in realms embattled by darkness. With faith and overwhelming firepower, their mortal armies fight back against the fiend, the monster, and the wraith.

These guys of the Freeguild Steelhelms who are the rank and file defenders of the Cities of Sigmar, and the determined heart of the Dawnbringer Crusades – ordinary men and women, tasked with battling all manner of nightmares. These weatherbeaten soldiers may be individually outmatched by the myriad threats arrayed against their mission to retake the realms, but they have three things on their side: discipline, determination, and their faith in Sigmar.

The one thing at the moment thats lacking from AoS Spearhead is that there is only 4 terrain pieces, very nice terrain pieces but still only 4. As I have a love for the Soulblights I got the Warcry set that has the Crimson Court Warcry band in but even better was the terrain as it was nearly the same size as the terrain in Skaventide set, so no brainer, paint it up and use it.

It is very nice terrain too and will came in very handle when I choose to paint the full game of AoS

A Bitterbark Copse is a gathering of Sylvaneth that channels the spirit-song of Alarielle’s warlike Summer Aspect to purge the enemies of natural law. They are led by a Branchwych, a vengeful creature of bark and briar that cleaves through foes with their scythe. Fiercely protective of both their forest and their kin, each Branchwych wields verdant magic that allows them to weave sundered Sylvaneth barkflesh back together or add a thorned edge to their enchanted weapons.

Alongside them stride the wood—sinewed warriors of the Copse. Kurnoth Hunters fire with devastating accuracy from the back lines. They are uniquely in tune with the vibrations of the realmroots, allowing them to draw upon Alarielle’s might wherever they might be. Defending them are the Tree-Revenants, fey beings imbued with the memories of their fallen ancestors, who have ever sought to protect natural places of power. With centuries of experience to draw on, they are martial experts, able to switch between attacking and defending with natural fluidity. Each Copse is also accompanied by a Treelord, an ancient arboreal giant. Each one has lived for untold years, growing ever taller, wiser and more fearsome in battle.

This Spearhead army consists of the following units:
GENERAL
Branchwych
UNITS
1 Treelord
3 Kurnoth Hunters
5 Tree-Revenants

Eager for worthy kills to offer to their goddess, the most zealous disciples
of Morathi-Khaine set out in Heartflayer Troupes to massacre her enemies. These Khainites are darting, blood—slick killers upon the battlefield, eschewing heavy armour in order to maximise their dexterity and speed. Each Troupe is led by a Melusai Ironscale, most loyal of Morathi-Khaine’s Scathborn guard. These serpentine champions are powerhouses in their own right, viciously striking down foes with their keldrisaith staves or blasting them from afar with bolts of umbral magic. They are backed up by the
Melusai archers known as Blood Stalkers, who pick off opponents from a distance with preternatural skill, piercing hearts with enchanted arrows.

Surging forward to break through the front lines are the Doomfire Warlocks, incinerating enemies with flames made of pure shadow before beheading stragglers with their darkly gleaming scimitars. Throngs of Witch Aelves scream in their wake, eager to commit murder in the name of their bloody handed goddess. These priestesses of battle place great religious import on wanton slaughter, and they will relentlessly stab and slice until they are stained as red as the corpses that surround them.

As deadly as they are graceful, the warlike aelves of the Daughters of Khaine seek to spill sacred torrents of blood in the name of their violent deity. Shaped by drops of Khaine’s own blood, the elite Melusai Ironscale leads her slithering Blood Stalkers into battle. As their heartseeker arrows hiss overhead, Doomfire Warlocks fling howling bolts of dark magic and frenzied Witch Aelves leap into battle, eager to make an offering to the Bloody-handed God.

This Spearhead army consists of the following units:
GENERAL
Melusai Ironscale
UNITS
5 Witch Aelves
5 Witch Aelves
5 Doomfire Warlocks
5 Blood Stalkers

Crafted from the souls of Aelves that blazed brightest with the need for revenge, the Melusai Ironscales serve Marathi-Khaine as elite war leaders amongst the Scathborn and are terrifying martial champions in their own right. Each of the
Scathborn is bound in loyalty to Marathi-Khaine, and they are her eyes and ears outside her temple in Hagg Nar. Their baleful magic is capable of transforming their enemies into statues of living crystal, in which they remain forever imprisoned at the agonising point of death.

One of the reason I like Spearhead is that you can make a little more interest in your units and mix things about. As I wanted a more more of a Medusa look to these Blood Stakers I used the masked that the Blood Sisters have and I also mixed the weapons up to have both melee and ranged weapons.

The Blood Stalkers are Morathi’s elite archers, a venomous guard who rain death from afar. Each bears a heartseeker bow, a weapon carved from the wood of the sentient ashdusk tree. The arrows loosed by such bows are bloodseekers. shafts blessed by the Queen and imbued with the same enchantments as those that guide Morathi’s own spear, Heartrender. With uncanny accuracy, these missiles streak across the battlefield to pierce their targets through the heart. In close combat, Blood Stalkers wield scianlar, long daggers forged to absorb the energies from enemies’ vital organs. These are no gore offerings to Khaine, but tributes destined to strengthen the Melusai’s true master, Morathi.

I so love these as the cast spells on the Hero phase, loose small crossbows in the Shooting phase and charge in the Charging Phase. As for the Witch Aelves I have mixed the unit up a bot and added in or rather replaced a couple of Doomfire Warlocks with Dark Riders.

The Doomfire Warlocks are the light cavalry of the war covens. They harass foes with blasts of arcane flame and volleys of black-fletched bolts, worrying the enemy’s flanks and slaying unprotected targets. As the main Khainite formations become engaged, these swift riders will charge in, scimitars drawn, to help overwhelm and finish off their distracted victims. Up close, Doomfire Warlocks are gaunt and pallid, their black eyes haunted and lacking any emotion save spite. Emblazoned upon their brows are hateful runes that cause them great pain, yet are also vital to keeping them alive. They are, quite literally, a cursed lot.