Age of Sigmar: How to Play Flesh-eater Courts
Take a look at the basics of how to play Age of Sigmar Flesh-eater Courts – crazy, carnivore cannibals!
The Flesh-eater Courts are deranged Vampires and Ghouls who hold wild delusions of nobility and grandeur. Your army will consist of slavering ghouls of various sizes, both winged and unwinged, undead monsters, and the horrible Abhorrents who lead the army into battle. If you want to play a glass hammer that is hilarious to role-play, you’ll want to check out these gruesome ghoulies.
Who are the Flesh-eater Courts?
Flesh-Eater Courts are the courts of madness that serve and are bound to the vampires known as the Abhorrant Ghoul Kings. Most of them are Mordants, former mortals starved by famine and desolation that trapped themselves within a horrific delusion.
Some of the courts still revere Nagash as their god and seek to please him in any way that they can, raising great churches and monuments to his glory such as the famed Corpsefane of the Nightlands. Others distrust and hate the Great Necromancer and it is these that are most often found beyond the Realm of Shyish and are usually regarded a plague upon those lands.
Why Play Flesh-eater Courts?
These gruesome guys are a lot of fun and have a variety of builds and built-in recursion mechanics. Your army is built around speed and offense, with a large amount of variable and interlacing buffs. They can be built as a horde, built with all bigger models like Horrors, or even have an all monster build.
Flesh-eater Courts Strengths
- Speed- very high base moves all around.
- Numbers- if you choose to go Ghouls, you’ll have a ton of them.
- Model recursion- with the right Heroes/builds, your units can go back to full strength almost every turn
- Shifting Delusions allow you to stay one step ahead of your enemy with army wide buffs
Flesh-eater Courts Weaknesses
- Nothing tough.
- Very reliant on Heroes.
- Delusions are occasionally random and if you’re counting on one for a strategy you could get left in the lurch
Signature Rules
Battle Traits
- A Kingdom Deluded – You’re playing an army of crazed undea-I mean, noble lords and knights! You’ll be convincing yourself of a lot of wild things that change how your army behaves.
- Feeding Frenzy – Add 1 to Attacks for units near a chosen Hero, even mounts!
- Muster Guard – Nobles can resurrect nearby models, either 3 Serfs or 1 Knight.
- Summon Loyal Subjects – Abhorrents can return destroyed units at half strength for a Command Point.
- Royal Blood– Friendly Abhorrants Heal(D3) in your Hero phase.
Battle Formations
- Knightly Echelon – Friendly Knights get +1 Rend on the charge while close to a FEC Hero.
- Lords of the Manor – Any time you bring back models, you get an additional model for free on Serfs and on a 4+ on Knights.
- The Royal Hunt– One friendly Serf unit gets a free Pile-In that deals a little extra damage at the end of every turn.
- Royal Menagerie – Beasts and Monsters near FEC heroes can use the same Rampage as another Monster and get Strike-First on a turn they charged with a 9+.
Featured Heroic Trait
- Stronger in Madness – Ignore the first point of damage in each phase and turn off enemy weapon effects. Absolutely massive.
Featured Artefact
- Charnel Vestments – Become a Priest.
Key Flesh-eater Courts Units
There are quite a few warscrolls in the battletome, so here’s a quick rundown.
Ushoran, Mortarch of Delusion
The big bad boy of the faction, Ushoran is an absolute unit. He allows you to slightly alter your Delusion roll to secure the one you want, can lock down an enemy in combat with Strike-Last, and has a nasty spell that makes his enemies fight amongst themselves. While he isn’t the monster he used to be, he’s still one of the strongest Monsters around.
Marrowscroll Herald
This Harbinger can give a close by enemy unit an infected bone on a 3+, which they must either accept or reject. If they accept, they risk losing all their Command abilities, Spells, and Prayers for the rest of the battle. If they refuse, they must Strike-Last for the rest of the turn. Nothing crazy, but a good way to shut down a harmful enemy.
Abhorrant Archregent
One of the saddest falls from grace in the book, the Archregent is still nothing to scoff at. While he lost most of his magical punch, he can pack a delusion that protects your units from shooting, and can restore extra units to life on a 3+. Not game-breaking, but a powerful support piece regardless.
Abhorrant Gorewarden
The King of Outflank and a disruption Monster. Allows you to drop up to 2 units anywhere on the battlefield, and has a delusion that increases their charge rolls. Do NOT leave this guy at home.
Abhorrant Cardinal
The venerable Priest of the Flesh Eaters. His delusion protects your units from Spells, Prayers, and Manifestations, and he gets extra Prayer power while close to friendly units. Decent if you need to fill out a list, but not essential.
High Falconer Felgryn
The new Chad on campus, and one of the coolest Heroes in the book. He can throw a bat-falcon-thing onto an enemy unit to turn off Ward saves, and his delusion reduced the Control of enemy units by a staggering 10 while they’re in combat with Serfs and Monsters. Another auto-include unlesss you’re going full Knights (which you honestly shouldn’t be).
Abhorrant Ghoul King on Zombie Dragon
This model was never bad in fairness, but he’s even better now! All non-Hero Monsters wholly within 12″ can Run and Charge, he can turn off Commands for enemy units, and his delusion increases the charge range of your Knights and Monsters. If you can afford him in your heavier lists, absolutely bring him along.
Royal Beastflayers
Monster slayers of the highest order, this hit will play havoc on enemy Monsters and Beasts. While it isn’t the auto-take it once was, they still have some utility.
Crypt Ghouls
The Ghouls are a much nastier group these days, thanks to adding 1 to their Rend while close to Nobles and Aborrants. Combine that with the high number of surprisingly durable models and you’ll have a unit of deadly blenders ready to mince lightly armored targets.
Crypt Horrors
One of my favorite units in the book, these Knights can do Mortal Wounds just for fun, especially on enemy cavalry, and still stick around for their attacks. I would always bring along at least one MSU of these brawlers.
Morbheg Knights
Morbheg Knights are an excellent cavalry option for Flesh Eaters Courts, with excellent speed and damage. They aren’t the yo-yo monsters they were last edition, but they can throw a little extra damage on an enemy unit and then jump over them to pick a new target. Best of all, they do that on the ENEMY turn, setting them up to slam into a different unit or hit the rear of their previous target.
Sample Army
Faction: Flesh-eater Courts
-Battle Formation: Royal Menagerie
Regiment 1
- Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Terrorgheist
- Royal Terrorgheist
- Royal Terrorghiest
- 40 Crypt Ghouls
Regiment 2
- Abhorrant Archregent
- 6 Horrors
- 3 Horrors
~With Noble Intent!
