Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Idoneth Deepkin

Grand Alliance Order Idoneth Deepkin

Soul-Hunting Pirates riding Sea Monsters.

Lore Tactics General Tactics

The Idoneth Deepkin are a faction which sees GW re-envision sea elves for the Age of Sigmar setting. Tragically lacking souls (so they've come to steal yours), the Idoneth are an army that rewards careful placement of models, a variety of units that provide rapid mobility and negative modifier shenanigans and some of the best allegiance abilities in the game.

Why play Idoneth Deepkin?

They are elves unique to AoS, and a rare example of sea elves with fleshed out lore and playstyle.

For more points:

Pros

• They are Soul-Hunting Pirates riding Sea Monsters.
• Because you want to play with Dark Eldar in a fantasy setting. Or you like the Dark Eldar playstyle but want a group that aren't completely unsympathetic.
• They are Soul-Hunting Pirates riding Sea Monsters.
• Because you want to copy 40K's system of character protection (one of which is the, here ironically named, Fish of Fury).
• They are Soul-Hunting Pirates riding Sea Monsters.
• Because you love sea life!
• They are Soul-Hunting Pirates riding Sea Monsters.
• Because you love an army built around speed, speed and MOAR SPEED! An all-cavalry army not only benefits those who like all-cavalry armies, but every unit has the fly special rule. With the right choices, you'll outrun everyone but Nighthaunt and maybe Sylvaneth.
• They are Soul-Hunting Pirates riding Sea Monsters.
• Because you wanted more Dark Souls in your Age of Sigmar.
• They are Soul-Hunting Pirates riding Sea Monsters.
• Nearly all of your melee units hit like a runaway freight train.
• They are Soul-Hunting Pirates riding Sea Monsters.
• Because Teclis wasn't a big enough dick already.
• Did I mention they are Soul-Hunting Pirates riding Sea Monsters?
• You saw the 2018 Aquaman movie and like how the Atlanteans' armies look in battle.
• Uh, Soul-Hunting Pirates riding Sea Monsters!
• No longer monobuild army lists; now we can have a competitive list without eel rider spam.
• If you like fish puns or sea puns...

Cons

• As awesome as the Leviadon is, it comes with a huge points cost.
• Their bravery is mediocre, though there are a few ways to mitigate this.
• Some units, such as the Namarti in particular, are quite fragile. This is especially true when compared to their equivalents in other armies.
• Mediocre spellcasting unless you bring a pricey Eidolon of the Sea.
• While no longer monobuild army lists, there's still not a large amount of variety (mainly due to the prohibitive point cost of the Leviadon).
• If you don't like fish puns or sea puns...

Rulebooks

Faction rules and abilities: Battletome Idoneth Deepkin

Latest Matched play points: Generals Handbook 2020

Core rules: here

Matched play rules, battleplans and expansions: General's Handbook 2022-23 Season 2, plus the battleplans from the Core Book.

Supplement all the above with any Errata and Designers' Commentary from the FAQs.

The Idoneth Deepkin Battletome was released in April of 2018, and as such, this is oldest active Battletome and thus overdue for an update. While the last new battletome released before AOS 2.0, and so they very likely had the upcoming game changes in mind when designing this book, the third edition of AOS is out and they still haven't gotten a new battletome.

Allegiance Abilities

Battle Traits

• Forgotten Nightmares: Your Idoneth Deepkin units can only be targeted with Missile Weapons if they are the closest visible target. Keeps your Heroes safe from shooting, though not from magic. Also note that you can use allies to shield your Deepkin with this as the rule stated that the Deepkin unit must be the closest unit. If there are no Deepkin units in range, then the attack must hit the non-Deepkin unit.

• Tides of Death: Each round, you get a different ability. After the fourth, it cycles back to 1.
  1. Low Tide: Your units count as being in cover. Helps you advance without making you scramble to terrain.
  2. Flood Tide: After running, your units can either shoot or charge (but not both).
  3. High Tide: Units with this trait get the Always Strike First rule. Get Shipwrecked, Gristlegore. Also, there's a bunch of abilities that activate during this turn.
  4. Ebb Tide: After falling back, your units can either shoot or charge (but not both).
  • It's worth noting here that the Tides of Death can be reversed with an Isharann Command Trait.

• The Ethersea: You get to place up to two Etheric Vortex terrain pieces. Currently, the only existing Etheric Vortex terrain piece is the Gloomtide Shipwreck, which you can either split into two or buy and place two full ships of. The shipwrecks give your units a 5+ Save-after-the-save, so they are fairly useful, though less so in a pure Akhelian army. Errata'd so that the shipwreck must be placed more than 6" away from objectives or any other shipwreck.

Command Traits

Akhelian Traits

1. Unstoppable Fury: During High Tide, your General adds +2 to the attacks of his melee weapons. Again, shame this doesn't work on mounts, but it still makes an Akhelian King terrifying.
2. Born From Agony: At the end of Battleshock, this general heals all wounds on a dice roll of 6. Unreliable but potentially useful. Only worth considering if paired with the Disharmony Stones or the Potion of Hateful Frenzy, otherwise pass.
3. Lord of Storm and Sea: All friendly Idoneth Deepkin units wholly within 12" ignore battleshock. This naturally makes the Akhelian with the trait immune to battleshock. Since your units aren't exactly blessed with great Bravery, this is pretty nice.

Isharann Traits

1. Hunter of Souls: At the start of any combat phase, if this hero is near an enemy hero or unit champion roll 1d6, on a 3+ that hero or unit champion takes d3 mortal wounds. Finishing of a fight before anyone's even rolled, sure why not? The extra thing about this is that it's not just heroes that can take damage, unit champions can too!
2. Merciless Raider: If a To Hit (not limited to melee?) rolls an unmodified 6, then that hit automatically wounds.
3. Teachings of the Turscoll: The ability that used to be limited to the Tidecaster. Reverse the order of Tides of Death if the general is on the battlefield at the start of the first battle round. Combined with the Ionarch (formerly Fuethán) trait of being able to turn Ebb Tide into Flow Tide for selected units, this will give you a very fast, very aggressive army.

Eidolon Traits

1. Ancient Pride: If this model is targeted by a melee attack that rolls an unmodified 1 or a 2 to hit, that attack fails and the attack sequence ends. Good trait for either Eidolon, preferably to make an Aspect of the Storm a greater threat in combat, but still good to give an Aspect of the Sea more survivability in melee.
2. Nightmare Legacy: Aspect of the Storm only. At the end of the charge phase, this model can carry out a monstrous rampage even thought it isn't a Monster. Great way to boost their offensive power, especially if you don't want a Leviadon.
3. Endless Sea Storm: Aspect of the Sea only. If they cast a spell on an unmodified roll of 7+ that isn't unbound, they can cast 1 extra spell in that phase.

Universal Traits

1. Battle-lust: Re-roll run & charge for the general. I mean, you always want your King to get into the action.
2. Skilled Leader: At the start of your hero phase, if you general is on the battlefield roll a dice, on a 5+ you get a command point. A bit hit-and-miss, as it's quite random, but potentially useful for backfield generals.
3. High Priest: Re-roll prayer chanting for this general. As the only priest Idoneth have is the Soulscryer, and they only get the generic prayers, perhaps don't waste your precious command trait here...
4. Heroic Stature: +1 Wound. Not too bad but you could probably find a better command trait to use.
5. Master of Magic: Once per hero phase, re-roll one casting or dispelling or unbinding roll. Useless on the Eidolon as Dormant Energies is better, and tolerable for a Tidecaster.

Mount Traits

Deepmare

One Deepmare may take one trait, for every battalion one additional Deepmare may take a different trait, so no trait twice and nobody gets two traits. Yes, Volturnos' mount Uasall can also take one.

1. Swift-finned Impaler: If the roll on the Deepmare Horn ability is 6, you do D6 instead of D3 Mortal Wounds.
2. Savage Ferocity: Both Deepmare attack profiles get 1 extra attack.
3. Voidchill Darkness: We got a winner lads, as every enemy model within 3" get to subtract 1 from their hit rolls.

Mount Traits: Leviadon

One Leviadon may take one trait, for every battalion one additional Leviadon may take a different trait, so no trait twice and nobody gets two traits.

1. Ancient: You ignore rend of -1, but not -2 or more. This makes the Leviadons shiny new shell even harder to crack.
2. Denizen of the Darkest Depths: One extra free Mortal Wound for the impact damage. Specifically states that you still do this extra Mortal Wound if you failed the roll to trigger Crushing Charge.
3. Reverberating Carapace. Increase the Void Drum's range from 12" to 15".

Artefacts

Akhelian Artefacts
Can be given to an Akhelian Hero:

1. Potion of Hateful Frenzy: Once per game activate in the hero phase to get + 1 to hit, +1 to wound, +1 attacks for their melee weapons and +1 to run and charge for a round. Then they take D3 mortals wound in the following hero phase and can't pile in for a turn. Your personal super sayajin mode. High-risk, high-reward. If you use it, combine with Unstoppable Fury to make your King utterly terrifying for one turn, and either the Savage Ferocity mount trait to add even more hitting power or Voidchill Darkness to protect him if the enemy survives to retaliate.
2. Armour of the Cythai: If the unmodified hit roll for an attack that targets the bearer is 6, all effects that would be triggered by that roll are ignored. Decent in general, due to the current meta. Downright awesome against armies loaded with "unmodified 6s" abilities, so versus armies like Nighthaunt or your estranged bright siblings, never leave the depths without it.
3. Disharmony Stones: Once per battle at the start of your hero phase you pick up to 2 enemy heroes within 12" and then the opposing player must make a choice. 1) they roll a dice for each hero picked on a 3+ they take a mortal wound. 2) They roll a dice for each hero picked and on a 5+ they take d3 mortal wounds. 3) Each hero picked takes d3 mortal wounds. Then roll a dice, on a 4+ the bearer of this artifact takes d3. Be very careful with these, as they might end up doing nothing or doing something and hurting you as well. Also worthless against armies without many Heroes.

Eidolon Artefacts
Can be given to any Eidolon:

1. Bioshock Shell: Once per battle at the start of the combat phase you can pick an enemy hero with 9" of the bearer and visible. If you beat their Bravery value on a 3D6 roll, they Always Strike Last until their next Hero phase. Can be used to leave a powerful enemy combatant open for attack, but that said, is it really worth running this on a 300+ point Eidolon?
2. Whorlshell: Once per game, all attacks fail on a 1+ or a 2+ to hit. Like Ancient Pride, but less effective. Maybe if you've already given an Eidolon of the Storm Nightmare Legacy.
3. Kraken Tooth: Once per battle in your shooting phase pick an enemy unit within 12" and visible. Roll a dice and: 1: bearer suffers d3 mortal wounds, 2-5: enemy suffers D3 mortal wounds, 6: Pick 1 enemy model in the unit. If the wound characteristic is less than 10 they are slain. If it is 10+ they take 2d6 mortal wounds. The kraken does not mess around. This is fun and potentially game-changing, especially since you can easily heal back those lost wounds.

Isharann Artefacts
Can be given to any Isharann Hero:

1. Dritchleech: All Wizards except Idoneth Deepkin get -1 to casts while within 18". Interesting, but remember that this will affect allied Wizards as well.
2. Rune of the Surging Gloomtide: Once per battle, you can summon an additional Gloomtide Shipwreck wholly within 12" of the bearer and more than 3" away from objectives. Good in Namarti-heavy armies to make them more survivable.
3. Brain Barnacles: Once per battle at the start of your hero phase pick an enemy hero within 12" and roll 2d6. If the roll is equal or greater than the distance between them then that Hero gets -1 to hit and wound for the rest of the game. This can devastate beatsticks like the Shadow Queen, Gotrek or Archaon. Just be careful, because the closer you get to increase the odds of this working, the less range they need to charge the bearer.

Lore of the Deep

1. Steed of Tides: Casting Value 5. Pick a friendly hero that is not a monster within 6" and visible to the caster. Remove them from the table and set them up anywhere on the table outside of 9" of enemies. This counts as their movement in the movement phase. The Hero does not need to be an Idoneth Deepkin.

1. Pressure of the Deeps: Casting Value 7. Pick an enemy they can see within 12" and roll a dice. If you beat their wound stat they are slain. Interestingly you pick a model with this, not a unit. So just point at that icon bearer in the Pink Horror unit to seriously piss your opponent off.

1. Arcane Corrosion: Casting Value 6. Target an enemy unit within 12" and worsen the rend of their melee attacks by 1 until your next hero phase. A useful debuff but with a very short range. Generally if a scary unit is within this spell’s range they are either about to kill or get killed by you.

1. Counter-Current: Casting Value 6. Target an enemy unit 18" and visible to the caster. That unit’s run and charge rolls are halved until your next hero phase. Fantastic way to keep your opponents heavy-hitters at a distance.

Isharann Rituals

Rituals changed quite a bit this edition. They have no range, they simply affect the entire game, but you have to have an Isharann unit to use this. At the start of the game, pick one of the four rituals and it lasts all battle. Each of the rituals is designed to buff one of the four Tides of Death, so picking which ones requires careful planning or you waste the rituals effects.

The 4 Rituals are:

1. Ritual of the Creeping Mist: Deepkin affected by Low Tide cannot be shot unless the attacking model is within 12". Unless your enemy can move and shoot really well in the first turn, or the board is small, this rituals means you won't be shot at all in the first turn!
2. Ritual of Surging Stream: Deepkin affected by Flood Tide add 1 to run and charge rolls. A solid army wide boost to really get you into combat when you want to.
3. Ritual of Deep-sight: NAMARTI affected by High Tide gain a 5+ ward. You read that right, Akhelians get no benefit from this, so this ritual really depends on how many Namarti you have in your army.
4. Ritual of the Spiteful Riptide: Before Deepkin retreat using Ebb Tide, roll a dice for each enemy in 3" of that unit. 4+ means d3 mortal wounds. An army wide middle finger as you leave combat. Unless you're doing an Ionrach special or some tide shenanigans with an Isharann, this might come in too late to make a difference.

Warscrolls

Named Characters

• Volturnos, High King of the Deep: [290 pts.] An Akhelian King +1. For a measly 40 points more, Volturnos gets another swing with his weapons and far better buffs, such as the reroll-aura being extended to 18" and all Deepkin within that bubble also getting +1 to Bravery. But the real kicker is his shield: Whenever he's affected by any spell, you can choose to roll a D6 and on a 3+ that spell doesn't affect him (but works normally on everything else). Not only does that keep him relatively safe from enemy debuffs and damage spells, it also means you can drop Vorpal Maelstrom on top of him when he's surrounded by enemies. After Broken Realms: Morathi, he now gets potential access to a Deepmare Mount Trait, finally balancing out some of the downsides to having to take a named character as your general for his superior High Tide Command Ability.

• Lotann, Warden of the Soulledgers: [115 pts.] Aka Octobro. With a fairly standard Hero statline but slightly above-average damage output thanks to the Ochtar, he's not too shabby on his own. Especially his 5+ Save-after-the-save is appreciated since he can't take Artefacts. But what you really take him for is his buff, giving Deepkin in general +1 Bravery and Namarti in particular the ability to reroll 1s To Hit in a massive completely within 12" bubble. Note that his bubble doesn't specify melee, so feel free to use it to boost those Reavers' shots. That said, if you play mostly Akhelians, then the Akhelian King does the buffing better.

Heroes

• Akhelian King: [250 pts.] As mentioned above, the generic Akhelian King pales in comparison to Volturnos, but that doesn't mean he's bad. He's worse at everything, but can take Traits and Artefacts, which can combine to make him either tougher or killier or supportier than Volturnos, though never all three (there is also nothing stopping you from taking one alongside Volturnos if you really want to). Whatever you pick, the Akhelian King is always a fast, reasonably tough and extremely killy Hero who provides good support to your Akhelians. His main weapon is either a Greatsword or a Bladed Polearm; the latter is better provided you can keep charging (perfect time to take advantage of Ebb Tide): 2", -2 Rend, and trades one attack for dishing out 3 damage, -3 Rend instead when he charges. If you can't reliably charge each time, the Sword and Spear actually mathhammer out to very similar damage (we are talking fractions here). The King is now one of the few heroes that doesn't have an natural Ward save. As such watch out for high rend attacks or magic!

• Isharann Tidecaster: [150 pts.] A fairly survivable support caster with access to a number of very interesting spells. She also gives you access to one extra Isharann ritual. A good pick if you want a Wizard but don't have enough points (or cash) for an Aspect of the Sea.

• Isharann Soulscryer: [150 pts.] Count von Count here is a support character through and through. Fragile, with only milquetoast attacks, but blessed with a bonus effect in that he can outflank along with 2 other Deepkin units (3 if you choose the Briomdar enclave). Also allows for some targeting shenanigans with Forgotten Nightmares, as you can force your opponent's backfield fire support to shoot your nigh-invulnerable Ishlaen Guard.
  • In 3rd a Soulscryer with the curse prayer and a larger unit of Namarti Reavers in close range can produce a surprising volume of Mortal Wounds. Get those 3 attacks each off for 0.5 mortals each against a cursed target and when they opponent counter charges use Unleash Hell for the same again.

• Isharann Soulrender: [120 pts.] The Soulrender wants to be a hybrid Hero killer/buffer. The latter role he pulls off remarkably well, reviving D3 plus however many models his Hook killed that turn Namarti models at the end of your battleshock phase. The former role... eh. His four hook attacks are fairly decent, with a rule that makes it better against Heroes, but it will take some prior damage for him to take down any non-support Hero with 4, damage 2, attacks, even with the fish pitching in.

• Akhelian Thrallmaster: [110pts.] The new hero introduced in Fury of the Deep. While they're fairly good at combat with a good five attacks with -1 Rend and 2 Damage and two basic 0 Rend bites from their pet eel, their main role is to support the Namarti so you can have your king focus on being the beatstick. Each fight phase you can make your 12" aura lets your thralls either re-roll hits of 1, score two hits on a natural 6 to hit, or make enemies take -1 to hit your thralls. The Thrallmaster is now one of the few heroes that doesn't have an natural Ward save. As such watch out for high rend attacks or magic!

Eidolon of Mathlann

• Aspect of the Storm: [355 pts.] Since GW doesn't like updating the warscrolls on their site, that one is now out of date. The Aspect of the Storm is a melee fighter with 12 Wounds and a 3+ save happy to get stuck in there, and with his two weapons in hand he is sure to bring the hurt. On the charge he is allowed to heal D3 Wounds, gains a fifth attack and one extra damage on his Spear and for the kicks he gets to retreat and charge again. His Stormshoal fish keep their attacks and give him a 5+ ward save. Pulling an enemy hero into the deeps gives any friendly units that attack them +1 to hit and wound said enemy hero. Lastly, his Drenched with Hate ability allows to add 1 to all wound rolls for friendly Idoneth wholly within 12". At 355 points, this Eidolon is a boon for aggressive armies, blends lesser units and Heroes with 8 or less wounds will fold before his awesome power.
• Aspect of the Sea: [325 pts.] You guessed it, this warscroll is now also out of date. Like his more murderous brother he got blessed with a 5+ ward from his fish friends. His bubble now gives all IDK units wholly within 18" Bravery 10. Still very important to keep those Namarti where they are ought to be. The Dormant Energies rule allows rerolls for all his magic rolls, and if you successfully cast any spells, he gets D3 wounds back. Nice. His Weapons remain untouched, so while he wont kill as hard as the Aspect of the Storm, he still makes a good account of himself. As a Wizard, he casts and unbinds twice and boasts two spells. One either puts D3 Mortal Wounds on an enemy heals a Idoneth unit for D3 wounds, not bringing anyone back from the dead though. The other punishes D3 enemy units with a -1 to their saves until your next hero phase. Surprisingly cheap for the benefits he gives, Aspect of the Sea is also playable, his biggest weakness being the short range of his unique spells.

Troops

• Namarti Thralls: (Battleline, NAMARTI, 130, Min:10). Namarti Thralls are the quintessential aelven infantry: Extremely fragile and insanely killy. Seriously. Wildwood Rangers wish they were this scary. They attack with the standard elite infantry profile of 2 attacks 3+/3+/-1/1 with 2" range, but with the bonus of adding another attack against 1 Wound models and adding 1 to the damage against models with 3 or more Wounds and a decent Bravery of 7. However, they also run around with 1 Wound, a 5+ Save. They also have Icon Bearers, who gain one more attack.
  • Needless to say, the new box gave a kind boost to weapon range and the damage boost's lowered qualifications means it can now see use against Stormcast Annihilators and other multi-wound heavy infantry. The Thrallmaster also gives you some measure of protection or offensive support depending on the situation.

• Namarti Reavers: (Battleline, NAMARTI, 170, Min:10). Namarti Reavers are fast with 8" movement and equipped with weird bows. At 18", they get two shots at 3+/3+/-1/1, which isn't exactly stellar. At 9", they improve their hit rolls by 1. Still not incredible, but that accuracy is incredible. And if they get into melee? Each of them has a basic hand weapon for a swing. In summation, these are Archers that are very effective at extremely short ranges. Think of them as less versatile but more killy Shadow Warriors and you're not far off. Viable as a bodyguard for a Tidecaster, but keep their price in points in mind.

• Akhelian Ishlaen Guard: (Battleline with an Akhelian King as general, AKHELIAN, 195, Min:3) . Defendy cavalry. Huh. Ishlaen Guard is fast and has decent damage output, but their true strength lies in their shields. They ignore Rend and gain +1 to their saves when they charge, which they will since they move 14" and reroll charges thanks to their musician. So the opponent has to throw Mortal Wounds at them just to reliably get past their saves and even then each of the buggers has 4 Wounds.

• Akhelian Morrsarr Guard: (Battleline with an Akhelian King as general, AKHELIAN, 195, Min:3) Same basic profile as the Ishlaen, but with 1 less attack on the weapons and no ability to ignore Rend. This seems lacking, but then you notice that their spears gain Damage 2 and -2 Rend on the charge and that they can, once per game, drop 0.83 Mortal Wounds per rider on whatever pisses you off and you realize that they are wall breakers instead of walls. That said, just because they're missing the defensive abilities of the Ishlaen, that doesn't mean they're frail, as they still rock 4 Wounds with a 4+ Save.

• Akhelian Allopex: (AKHELIAN, 165, Website Warscroll no longer up to date.) DUUNNN DUNNN... DUUUUNNNN DUUN... DUNDUNDUNDUNDUNDUN... Chariots in all but name. 14" flying, 8 wounds, 4+ save, all while not being Monster so it can hide behind cover. Each has two riders, one who swings a sword and one of which mans the gun. One option is the Razorshell Harpoon, blasting away four shots 3+/3+/-1/D3 Damage. The other is the Retarius Net Launcher, who slings out 1 shot 3+/3+/-/3. While the net lacks the weight of fire that the harpoon has, "Entangled" makes it so that enemies it by it cannot pile in this turn. This means you get to take a nice old bite out of their flank with basically no return. Nice. The ranged options can be mixed within one unit now. In Melee the Crew stabs and prods the enemy with 6 attacks, hitting and wounding on 3s because you are aelves, but no rend. The shark can than make its 3 attacks, 3+/3+/-2/2 Damage. If any enemy unit within 6" has suffered wounds or lost models this turn you get an extra bite, so let the crew swing first if you failed your shooting. Very nice with a Soulscryer.
  • Given their Bravery 6, taking big units is a high risk/high reward situation. Units of them make for an incredible target for the Akhelian King's Command and they have an expanded coherency range to make better use of cover. It'd be wasted on a single Allopex but on a unit of three? Oh dear. Just make sure you use Inspiring Presence on them until High Tide rolls around or keep them wholly within 12" of an Akhelian King with Lord of Storm and Sea or 18" of an Aspect of the Sea.

Behemoths

• Akhelian Leviadon: [500 pts.] Sea turtles, mate! A useful Monster and Behemoth, but arguably overpriced. The linked warscroll is drastically outdated. A fixed 10" flying move, a massive 16 wounds and a initial save of 2+ make for a durable beastie. "Initial save?" you ask? Why yes, for as long as he only suffers 8 wounds this turtle now has a 2+ save, after which it starts to degrade increasingly fast to a 3+, when he has suffered 12 wounds it's a 4+ and on it's last fin it's save is a sad 5+, but at this point he is dead anyway. The weapons that this beast can bring to bear however will make damn sure that whoever breaks it's carapace will pay dearly for it. Its Razorshell Harpoon Launchers have 8 Attacks 3+/3+/-1/D3, delivering Dakka from 24". Its crew poke six times with Rend -1, but the real hurt comes from the turtle itself. Its fins cleave four times with 2" 2+/3+/-1/ starting at four damage a swing, that's sixteen wounds you can punch in somewhere. Its bite befits the giant Snapping Turtle that it is, with two attacks hitting on 2s, degrading as the Monster takes damage, wounds on a fixed 2+, -2 rend and three damage. In addition if you roll an unmodified hit roll of 6, you do 3 Mortal wounds now, or 6 if the target is a fellow Monster. And the Attack sequence actually ends now! Amazing! Instead of doing damage on the charge, you can now cause your Stomp monstrous rampage to do D6 mortal wounds to enemy units with a wound characteristic of 1. We are not done yet. The Void Drum gives IDK units with 8 wounds or less and wholly within 12" +1 to their save. Close by Namarti benefit even more, gaining +1 to hit in the Void Drums bubble. While awesome, it's now 500 points so consider very carefully whether you want to shell out for it.

Battalions

Due to how Battalions are now universal, expect see the whole lot of this on the trash bin outside of narrative games. Bonus rules, traits and doodads are going to be likely added to the faction rules as default.

From Battletome Idoneth Deepkin

• Royal Council: (610pt. min.) [Battalion: 140pt.]

Requires an Akhelian King (Or Volturnos), a Tidecaster, and a Soulscryer.

Adds a new Command Ability, if the Akhelian King is the general. You can add 3" move until next hero phase for 3 friendly Idoneth Deepkin within 12" of the Akhelian King. The Soulscryer and the Tidecaster have to be within 3" of the Akhelian King to use this. Effectively nerfs the Soulscryer's ability to outflank because he needs to be within 3" of the King to use the Ability of this Battalion (unless you take an extra Soulscryer via the Ionrach enclave). Either way, taking the King as general means you can't reverse the tides with the Tidecaster.

• Akhelian Corps: (830pt. min.) [Battalion: 100pt.]

Requires a Akhelian Leviadon, 2-4 units of Akhelian guards and 1-2 units of Akhelian Allopexes

You can reroll a hit, a wound, a save, a run or a charge roll for one unit of this battalion wholly within 12" of the big turtle per phase.

• Namarti Corps: (660pt. min.) [Battalion: 100pt.]

Requires a Isharann Soulrender, 2-6 units of Namarti Thralls and 2-4 units of Namarti Reavers

The Soulrender resurrects 3 models instead of D3 with his Lurelight ability.

• Alliance of Wood and Sea: (1410pt. min.) [Battalion: 140pt.]

Requires (deep breath....) a Isharann Tidecaster, 2 units of Akhelian guards, a unit of Akhelian Allopexes, a unit of Namarti Thralls, a unit of Namarti Reavers, and some Sylvaneth - a branchwych, 2 units of Dryads and a Treelord Ancient

The Sylvaneth in the Battalion benefit from Emissary of the Deep Places regardless of your chosen Enclave.

Essentially a full Start collecting box of Sylvaneth, plus 4 more dyads. Also smart to buy one Awakened Wyldwood since the Treelord Ancient's ability Silent Communion gives you one per battle despite your Sylvaneth otherwise not having access to tree generation. Ideal for an existing Sylvaneth players wanting to branch out to something new (pun intended). But does it work as an useful army?

Other useful considerations would be that the two Sylvaneth Wizards in the Battalion don't have access to non-Warscroll spells, and especially considering that the one spell on the Treelord Ancient's scroll depends on Awakened Wildwoods to be useful, it's probably wise to take at least one Sylvaneth Endless Spell (or generic one for that matter) to give them something to do. Furthermore, Dryads are one of those units that doesn't perform well at their MSU size of 10 (getting a +1 to Save for 10+ models), so you should go ahead and plan on at least two units of 20 models (if not 30). Additionally, the added artefact you'll be getting from this Battalion will be wasted if you don't take at least one additional Idoneth Hero (since these Sylvaneth still count as Allies for the purposes of doling out artefacts). Finally, since the Allied Dryads don't actually count as Battleline (despite what Azyr says), you'll either need another unit of Namarti (if you take the Tidecaster as your general), or one of the Akhelian Kings (to make the Eels Battleline). Essentially, the Battalion is more for flavor, as it's super limiting of what you can actually end of taking in a 2000 pt army, but it could still be fun (especially if they update the Sylvaneth scrolls).

You could add two units of Kurnoth Hunters as allies (given anyone playing this will most likely have some lying around), but they wouldn't get the Tides Of Death (unless you went Ionrach).

From Battleforce Boxes

• Deepsurge Raiding Party (660pt. min.) (not legal in matched play)

Requires an Isharann Tidecaster, 1 unit of Akhelian Allopexes, 1 Unit of Akhelian Morrsarr Guard or 1 unit of Akhelian Ishlaen Guard, 1 unit of Namarti Thralls, 1 unit of Namarti Reavers

This gives the Tidecaster the ability to negate the first wound allocation to a model from the battalion instead of itself.

From Broken Realms: Morathi

• The Bloodsurf Hunt (570pt. min.)

Requires an Akhelian King, 1-2 units of Akhelian Allopexes, and locks you into the Ionrach Enclave

Kind of an interesting battalion choice, if you've ever looked at your sharks and wanted them to be meat shields for your glorious King. The Akhelian King model becomes a named character, Nemmetar, and gains the Lord of Storm and Sea command trait. Nice. BUT ALSO add 1 to hit rolls for your sharks' Barbed Hooks and Blades while wholly within 12" of Nemmetar. In addition, on a 2+ you can swap wounds from Nemmetar to Allopex units from the same battalion while they're within 3" of him. It may seem counter-intuitive to have your super killy sharks taking wounds for your Akhelian King, but if you're using Nemmetar as an anvil and Allopexes as a hammer with maybe a Leviadon backing them both up for +1 to saving throws...well, suffice it to say that you will have Nagash himself weeping that you got a First Cohort battalion that can actually be used.

Super-Battalions

From Battletome Idoneth Deepkin

• Phalanx: (3710pt. min.) (30810pt. max.)!!! [Battalion: 120pt.]

1 Royal Council, 2-4 Akhelian Corps, 2-4 Namarti Corps

The big one. Once per battle you get an additional High Tide.

The Enclaves

They are akin to the Daughters of Khaine Temples. Each has a unique special rule for your army, though they're a shadow of their former glory.

• Ionrach: The enclave of heroic actions. You can give an Akhelian unit additional Tides of Death effects as a heroic action. Combine this with some Isharann rituals for to really tailor when you want your enemies to feel the pain.

• Dhom-Hain: A very mobile, Namarti-heavy enclave. Dhom-Hain have a wonderful ability to make a second charge with their Namarti in one round, but only if they wipe out the unit they charged first. If they get in they can fight a second time. This ability can also be used in any round, rather just the first or whenever. Use this to clear up smaller or battered enemy units. Also, if their hero uses Redeploy on Namarti, you can move three units rather than just one.

• Fuethán: I hope you like Sharks enclave! Fuethán's rules are entirely based around the Bloodthirsty Shiver. A group of three individual Alopexes that can only be taken once. What's the rest of your army doing? The Fuethán don't care, because they have three sharks!

• Mor'Phann: The undying enclave. Your Soulrenders raise an 3 additional models with Lurelight. This guarantees you get 4 Namarti back each round, plus two potential more. This means you can have a very solid unit of Namarti holding the line, as long as they're not wiped. They've also lost the restrictions from previous editions as well as the unique spell.

• Nautilar: The most monstrous enclave. Your Leviadon's gain a unique Monstrous Rampage which changes that Leviadon's Rend to -3 on it's flippers and jaw until the end of the next combat phase. This is held back by Monstrous Rampages only being allowed to be used once per phase across a whole army but you'll have one very angry, very deadly, giant turtle for your opponent to worry about.

• Briomdar: The deep-strike enclave. Just like last edition, your Soulscryers can take up to 3 units along and place them 18" away instead of 12. But unlike last edition, your units CAN'T move over terrain as if they were flying. Looks like you're walking into battle...

Allies

• Cities of Sigmar: They offer the widest variety out of all the allies, particularly the aelven forces. Here's a more comprehensive description of what works with Idoneth:
  • Word of Pain from a Sorceress helps with -1 to Hit spam in a mage heavy list. (Just remember that they're susceptible to being sniped out).
  • Order Serpentis provide expendable cavalry with good saves to soak up fire for your Akhelians. A Black Dragon or War Hydra are good choices for fast heavy hitters and/or shooting.
  • While Scourge Privateers would be great thematically, only the Scourgerunner Chariot is really worth considering from this group (and there's a lot of bad blood between the two factions lorewise).
  • Shadow Warriors can deepstrike, and (if in cover) outshoot Reavers from afar (though they're less mobile once on the field).
  • Wanderers also offer several benefits (though most of the following description is outdated). A unit of 20 Glade Guard in your army provides you with a highly reliable "remove lynchpin" button that will likely enrage your opponents. Sisters of the Thorn are an awesome addition to a Cavalry army and provide a very nice spell to boot. Eternal Guards re-roll saves of 1 and 2 if they are in cover, are as fast as Namarti Thralls and cost 70 points (currently 130) per 10 models (with a super discount at max size). A Waywatcher has the invisible hunter rule, which gives shooting units that target him -1 to hit, and can be given to other Wanderer units within 18" for 1 command point (combine with Tides of Death to make shooty armies cry).
  • Battlemages are excellent support units that can be tailored to your needs, and the Battlemage on Griffon packs a punch too.
  • Phoenix Temple are amazing. Phoenix guard can eat enemy fire with minimal losses given their 4+ save and a 4+ save-after-the-save. Throw in a Phoenix Guard Anointed and they not only become fearless but the Anointed gives you an extra dispel. The Flamespyre Phoenix is also a great unit, trading the dispel for dropping MW on enemies and a one-use chance to come back from death on a 4+.
  • Ironweld Arsenal Gyrobombers are a good and cheap choice for dropping MW on enemy units with their bombs, but Gyrocopters with Steam Guns are both much faster (better able to keep up with IDK flying units) and have a MUCH more potent close-range, anti-horde missile attack.
• Daughters of Khaine: The best option by a long shot and currently lore-friendly. What they bring are cheap and expendable units of 90 points per 5 Harpies that can Deep Strike in, and help block shots for the rest of your army via Forgotten Nightmares. 2 Units of Javelin Harpies, or one unit of Sword Harpies is pretty likely to one shot a 5 wound hero to boot. Doomfire Warlocks are also solid allies for a Cavalry army and easily able to keep up as well as providing good shooting and a source of mortal Wounds. Your best bet here is probably a unit of Khinerai, seeing as how they can deepstrike independently from any other unit, and offer a decently strong enough attack to help shift an chaff unit off a back field objective. It doesn't hurt that they are cheap points wise too. The new Khanite shadowstalkers are quite good as allies, being able to teleport wherever they want. For a hundred points they are an interesting 9 man objective grabber, because sometimes your eels can't quite do it alone.
  • Alternate Opinion: While Daughters of Khaine are indeed an extremely powerful force on their own, they don't make very good allies for a number of reasons. They excel at being an extremely aggressive force when you pile on their faction bonuses (escalating table, 6+FNP, Temple abilities, extra prayers, their NUTS spell lore, not to mention any number of internally consistent abilities and rules) on their own without those they tend towards being overpriced or fragile. While you might get some mileage out of a unit of Khinerai or Doomfire Warlocks, you'd probably be better off with some more Idoneth.
• Lumineth Realm-lords: The only things worth considering here are Spirits of the Wind (Severith or generic) and Auralan units. Wardens are better defensively than Namarti-Thralls with Shining company and a superior save Sentinels offer better shooting and Dawnriders offer cheap chaff removal. Also, all three Auralan units are wizards and give the Idoneth a greatly needed hotbed of MW dealers.
• Stormcast Eternals: For a Namarti-heavy army, Liberators or Sequitors make fantastic cannon fodder when combined with a Lord-Castellant and Forgotten Nightmares. Other than that, Vanguard-Raptors make for some nice budget shooting. Fulminators are a nasty addition to any Cavalry heavy army, and combined with Tides of Death, will get your opponent to flip the table fast. A Knight Azyros can give your units a reroll 1 to Hit for enemies in 10". Also, a Knight Vexillor might use his redeploy ability to make your Stormcasts keep up with your Idoneths. A Celestant-Prime waiting in the heavens to boost his Attacks characteristic and then dropping in on turn 3 in High Tide (if Ionrach) can do all kinds of work. Turn 2's not bad either so that you can take advantage of another Cometstrike.
• Sylvaneth: The only things worth considering here are Kurnoth Hunters for some additional shooting and Tree Revenants for Warmachine hunting without investing hundreds of points into a Soulscryer and an escort. Additionally, you might want to consider their Outcasts Battalion (3 units of Spite-Revenants), which at 280pt for the minimum-sized battalion, will likely remain the cheapest way to squeeze an extra battalion in. That said, it's currently impossible to field this in a Deepkin list in Vanguard and meet all of the faction-units-per-allies-units requirements, so save this for your Battlehost-and-larger games.
• Gotrek: Despite costing 520pts, Gotrek can be brought as an ally in any Order faction even if that's more than the usual allies allowance. It's worth mentioning for the Ionrach enclave because he'll get the benefit of the Tides. Gotrek's an absolute beast in melee but is let down by his low movement and the fact he can never be teleported/ambushed onto the board etc.
• Bundo Whalebiter: A Kraken-eater Mega-Gargant mercenary available to all Order factions. Taking him uses up your entire ally points allowance and he ignores any Behemoth or Hero limitations. A big terrifying centerpiece who can kick objectives around and instantly kill models by shoving them into his net. You can choose at the start of the Combat phase for him to fight at the end of the phase, in exchange for re-rolling failed hit rolls. If you want a big monster that isn’t the Turtle, then this is your pick.

Lethisian Defenders

From the Forbidden Power expansion, this odd army coalition of Idoneth, Stormcast, Kharadron, Fyreslayers, and a random Excelsior Warpriest (w/Gryph-Hound) offers you new Allegiance Ability synergies on a level somewhere between those of the regular faction-only perks and the super basic list for Grand Alliances. By choosing this allegiance, all of your units gain the keyword LETHISIAN DEFENDER and gain access to a couple unique Battle Traits, a Command Ability, 3 Command Traits, 3 Artefacts of Power, and 3 Prayers (arguably the focal point of the Allegiance). Unlike simply taking allies in an otherwise Idoneth list, which is limited by the 1:4 unit ratio rule and (in Pitched Battles) the ≤ 20% pts rule, this allegiance allows you to take basically whatever you want from the four armies (two of which you previously had no access to without pulling back to basic Grand Alliance: Order), with the following exceptions:

• no Hammers of Sigmar (most Stormcast named heroes) [notable exception being the Celestant-Prime]
• no Vostarg units (Fyreslayers) [but Kharadron named characters are legal]
• not Volturnos [though you can take Lotann]
• Battleline is restricted to the armies' vanilla offerings (Arkanaut Company, Liberators, Vulkite Berzerkers, and Thralls) since you can't take the other options without allegiance to the specific factions). One notable exception here that might (but hopefully won't) be errata'ed is that Kharadron Endrinmasters (w/Dirigible Suits) as your general can currently grant you access to Skywardens and Endrinriggers as Battleline w/o KO allegiance, allowing you the potential to make an all-flying army with balloon-boiz and your Akhelains/Eidolons (plus whatever scattered Stormcast units you like).

Otherwise, all other units from the four armies are legal, though of course it makes sense to lean in on priests since all priests in your army gain a free prayer that, like most prayers in the game, goes off on a 3+ and can't be unbound. Also, one of the Command Abilities makes your non-priest general a priest as well, or gives a priest-general access to another prayer. Currently, in addition to the Excelsior Warpriest (a fantastically efficient option with a solid prayer of his own and able to unbind one spell per enemy hero phase), the four armies offer us access to the following priests:

• Stormcast: Lord-Relictor, Lord-Veritant (the superior option by far, super anti-Wizard)
• Fyreslayers: Auric Runemaster, Auric Runesmiter (able to deepstrike 1 Fyreslayers unit), Auric Runesmither on Magamadroth
• Idoneth: Isharann Soulscryer (notably lacking a prayer of his own)
• Kharadron: unfortunately no priests (though an Aetheric Navigator really should be)

The Battle Traits for the Army are as follows:

• all units can re-roll Battleshock tests (sadly mostly redundant for all Idoneth squads except Allopexes)
• all Human and Duardin units get +1 to-Hit in melee against enemies that charged them (on that turn)
• all Akhelian units get +1" Move and +1 on charge rolls, but sadly doesn't help non-Akhelians
• Command Ability: only works for Liberators wholly within 12" of a Stormcast Hero (gives them +1 Save in exchange for not being able to pile-in) [meh]

Drawbacks:

• you no longer benefit from any of the army's Allegiance-specific synergies (most-notably here, Tides of Death and Forgotten Nightmares), but you get to have fun allying with Duardin, more Stormcast, and have some Priestly fun!
• there's no specific lore to the army (besides the prayers), but if you want Wizards, you can always take Endless Spells or use the one Realm Spell from GHB20 (same goes for one extra artefact)
• unfortunately, there's no fix if you don't like the 3 Command Traits
• no new Warscroll Battalions, but you're allowed to use any of the existing ones

Ultimately, though most-likely not powerful enough to be competitive, I hope that GW will make more coalition allegiances like this, as it not only mixes things up, but it creates opportunities for you to collect and learn other armies, and it's super fluffy lore-wise. Plus, the Grand Alliances really don't have enough going for them, so this kinda makes up for that, meeting halfway between.

Army Building

There aren't a ton of options for building diverse armies since the Idoneth model line consists of 8 Leaders, 5 units with only one unconditional battleline and a behemoth. However with the addition of Enclaves your army will perform a bit differently and allows for a small but not insignificant level of specialization.

What to start with?

• As the name suggest, the Start Collecting! kit is a great way to start your collection, giving you 10 Thralls, 3 Eels and one Soulrender.

• Battleforce box being released for Holidays 2018. $170 (USD) will net you a Tidecaster, 10 Namarti Thralls, 10 Namarti Reavers, 3 Eel guard riders of your choice, and 2 Allopexes. Not a bad variety to start with, and is over a hundred dollars in savings, if you can somehow get your hands on it.

• Pick up the Broken Realms: Morathi Battalion Box for the Bloodsurf Hunt, which includes not only the Akhelian King kit, but also two Allopexes, all useable in a new Battalion that's actually solid (especially if FAQ'd out of being subfaction-locked to Ionrach).

Age of Sigmar Tactics Articles
General Tactics	Tactics Realm Of Battle Malign Sorcery Path to Glory Skirmish
Order	Cities of Sigmar Daughters of Khaine Fyreslayers Idoneth Deepkin Kharadron Overlords Lumineth Realm-Lords Seraphon Stormcast Eternals Sylvaneth
Chaos	Beasts Of Chaos Blades of Khorne Disciples of Tzeentch Hedonites of Slaanesh Maggotkin of Nurgle Skaven Slaves to Darkness
Death	Flesh-Eater Courts Nighthaunt Ossiarch Bonereapers Soulblight Gravelords
Destruction	Gloomspite Gitz Ogor Mawtribes Orruk Warclans Sons of Behemat
Others	Monstrous Arcanum Legends Old Rules