Age of Sigmar: How to Play Legion of the First Prince
Today we look at how to play Be’Lakor’s Legion of the First Prince. Sometimes the original recipe is the best.
The Chaos faction is a fan favorite among Age of Sigmar generals, and for good reason. It combines powerful heroes with durable battleline, fast sweepers, and deadly assassins. The Chaos faction can be tailored to fit almost any playstyle. From the vanilla Slaves to Darkness to more focused themes like the Disciples of Tzeentch. But old school generals will remember a time before the world broke. A time where a cadre of chaos daemons from different allegiances banded together to make the world a much worse place and progress the dominion of their masters. Thanks to the Shadow Master, we can bring a little of that fire back with the Legion of the First Prince mini-faction from Broken Realms: Be’Lakor. Here’s a quick look at how to get the most out of the Legion, and what models you’ll definitely want to bring
Who Are They?
The Legion of the First Prince represents the daemonic followers of the four primary Chaos gods. All united under the leadership of Be’Lakor, the first of the daemon princes. Be’Lakor has a special hatred for the mortal followers of Chaos, especially Archaon. Since he views the Everchosen as a usurper for the position that should be rightfully his. As such, he leads an army of the collected daemonic forces of Chaos, forcing them to put aside their natural differences through sheer force of will. He used these armies to launch his attack on Chamon. Be’lakor was successful in blanketing the skies in dark thunderheads, blocking the souls of the Stormcast from returning to Azyr and eliminating an entire Stormhost. He was ultimately driven back, but now he has proven his worth to the Dark Gods. It’s only a matter of time before he’ll be back.
Courtesy of Games Workshop
Why Play Legion of the First Prince?
The Legion of the First Prince harkens back to the glorious days of Warhammer Fantasy when you could bring an army full of daemons to overrun your opponent. Their rules are a reminder of what used to be. You get an army-wide ward save, and your heroes can summon new units to the battlefield every turn. Be’Lakor can resurrect slain daemon models in every battleshock phase. Combine that with the variety of deadly options you can bring together from every god-aligned faction, and you’ll have an army that can fit any situation you throw at it.
Strengths
- Your entire army is extremely durable, and even if you go down, you can regenerate units.
- Be’Lakor is one of the most powerful heroes in the game, and he can basically shut down an enemy for an entire turn.
- You get to summon new units every turn without having to accumulate points.
- The army buffs the already formidable Be’Lakor to a brand new level of nonsense.
Weaknesses
- Even with all your unit options, you’ll be a bit shoehorned into how your army plays.
- Variety robs you of mastery, so you’ll be decent at a lot of things but not amazing at anything.
- You only have one faction spell, and while it’s pretty good, it doesn’t compare to anything from the other books.
Signature Rules
- First-damned Prince – Be’Lakor can re-roll hit rolls while he’s within 18″ of a unit of Bloodletters, Horrors, Plaguebearers, or Daemonettes. He can pass off wounds and mortal wounds to them within 9″ on a 4+. Combined with all the other stuff your army does, this is incredible.
- Infernal Realmwalkers – Every unit in your army gets a 6+ ward save, a call back to the old rules from the Daemons of Chaos book.
- The Cursed Skies – At the end of the battleshock phase, as long as Be’Lakor is your general (he will be) and alive, you can roll a d6 for every Bloodletter, Horror, Daemonette, Plaguebearer, and Furies unit on the battlefield. On a 3+ you can return d3 slain models to that unit (though you can’t add more than one Horror for obvious reasons). Combined with the Icon abilities most of those units have, this can get out of control fast.
- Unyielding Legions – At the end of the movement phase, one of your heroes can summon a unit corresponding to their Chaos keyword (Be’Lakor can choose any of them) on a 3d6 roll of 10+. If you roll a double you take a mortal wound, or d3 on a triple, but you can ignore them with your ward save, so it’s always worth doing this.
Key Units
As long as you’re bringing some daemon chafe to support your big guys you really can’t go wrong. Here are my 5 favorite models to pack.
Courtesy of Games Workshop
Be’Lakor – I know, big surprise to take the First Prince in his own Legion. Be’Lakor is a deadly fighter, a powerful spellcaster, and a nasty support piece even in Slaves to Darkness. So in a faction tailored to him specifically, he’s basically a little plastic war crime.
Courtesy of Games Workshop
Daemon Prince – If Be’Lakor is a poisoned dagger, this model is a Swiss Army Knife. It is able to adapt to whatever situation you need it for. Even though all its abilities affect Slaves to Darkness models only, it can easily target itself, Be’Lakor, or a unit of Furies. So it isn’t wasted in this army, and provides some much-needed support.
Bloodletters – One of the biggest battleline bangs for your buck, these servants of Khorne should be one of your primary blocking units. They have a ton of damage potential, they can increase their size, and they’re deadly on the charge. Always bring along at least one block of 20+.
Courtesy of Games Workshop
Keeper of Secrets – One of the most powerful Greater Daemons in rotation, the Keeper can dish out a ridiculous amount of damage while still keeping itself reasonably healthy. Combined with Be’Lakor, this model will dish out an incredible amount of pain, so bring one if you can afford it.
Courtesy of Games Workshop
Soul Grinder – An enormous, anachronistic combination of metal and flesh. The Soul Grinder is a deadly model with an obscene amount of weapons and attacks. Add the inherent 6+ ward save to this monster and watch the limbs fly as it tears apart everything in its path in both the shooting AND combat phase.
Sample Army (1000 pts)
Army: Legion of the First Prince
Leader: Be’Lakor. General
Leader: Skullmaster
Battleline: 20 x Bloodletters
Battleline: 20 x Bloodletters
Legion Tips
Try to bait your opponent with fake openings, only to surround them with summons once they’re committed. Pick your target for Be’Lakor’s debuff carefully. If you feel like not having friends, bring Kairos along as well and win every game.
~Remakes are no substitute.
