Age of Sigmar: The Hedonites of Slaanesh Cavort Closer in New Army Of Renown
The Hedonites of Slaanesh are enjoying some attention. Maybe they’re enjoying it too much?
Too long have the Mortal Realms been free of the lascivious attentions of the Prince of Pleasure and his hosts. That’s all changing this week as Games Workshop shares a look at the contents of the upcoming Battletome: Hedonites of Slaanesh. So far, we’ve seen some details about the army’s new rules in general, as well as a more thorough examination of a new army of renown for Sigvald, the prince of perfection.
Paragons and Temptations
The Hedonites are an army that’s all about currying the favor of Slaanesh. This core ability is the key to it all allowing you to keep a healthy number of units with the Paragon keyword on the battlefield at all times. Of course, Slaanesh is a fickle god and lesser Paragons are at risk of losing their status.
Paragons among the Hedonites can access the six Temptations; abilities that offer your opponent a variety of effects from which they must choose. Needless to say, none of the options are good. A pair of the new Temptations have been revealed, both offering difficult decisions. Characters with the Paragon trait however, let you choose the effect yourself.
Cutting Barbs lets your Heroes rile the enemy in in combat and giving them a nasty choice. Your opponent must decide between reducing the control score of their unit to a measly 1 or grant +1 to hit for all attacks made against them.
Enthrall your enemies with this Temptation. The target can either remain captivated at the risk of some brutal Crit 2 attacks or lose all their own weapon abilities for the turn. And honestly, while it’s obviously more overtly powerful to make these Temptation choices yourself, there’s something to be said for making your opponent choose their own doom. Those are the kind of thematic rules that can really get inside a player’s head!
The Decadent Host
Besides these kind of core rules, the Battletome also includes new Slaaneshi Armies of Renown. So far we’ve been blessed with a look at two, beginning with the Decadent Host, the personal warband of Sivgald, Prince of Slaanesh. Befitting one of the most favored champions of Dark Prince, this army’s battle traits are all about buffing Sigvald at the expense of his loyal(?) Sybarites.
Sigvald is going to want to hang around his lessers to make best use of this ability. Gaining Ward 2+ would be solid enough, but on top of that you can shunt damage off to other Decadent Host units with each successful roll. This is some pretty serious survivability for what can be a fragile army!
Court of the Godlings
This Army of Renown enhances the corrup twins Dexcessa and Synessa and their daemon thralls. Dexcessa herself has recieved some serious buffs as she is now a whirlwind of self-healing violence. Killing enemy models lets her heal herself D3 at the end of the turn and then gain +1 to her formidable base of 8 attacks. This ability stacks so it’s easy to imagine her having 10+ attacks by the end of the game.
A pair of Hero Abilities allow the Twins to interact with all Slaaneshi unpleasantness you’d expect.
Whichever of the Twins your opponent isn’t picking on can become even harder to hurt with this once-a-turn Ward 4+ buff. This ability continues to explore the theme of offering your opponent difficult choices and is super thematic.
Alternatively, Essence Transfusion is a spell letting you shift damage back and forth between the Twins. By moving damage from one to the other, the original target will heal double the amount. Again, the Hedonites are starting to look like a very tough army!
The new wave of Hedonites will be available for pre-order this Saturday. Just in time for the summer convention season, the minions of the Dark Prince are going to shake things up in the Age of Sigmar.
What’s your pleasure, sir?
