Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Old/Mercenary Companies
Introduced in the 2019 General’s Handbook, the Mercenary Companies are 10 unaligned groups that can be included in your army regardless of Grand Alliance or Faction. You wanna have some Free Guild army supported by Deathrattle? Maybe an Everchosen legion accompanied by some Ironweld firepower? Maybe you just want to add some Chaos monsters to your Ironjawz army. All of this is possible with Mercenary Companies!
Basic Rules
- You can only choose 1 of the 10 Companies for your army.
- For every 4 units in your normal army, you may include 1 Mercenary unit. In matched play they use your ally points allocation
insteadas well. - Mercenary units still cost the same points as the basic models.
- No Mercenary unit can be your General.
- You can include a Warscroll Battalion of Mercenary units, but they must all be from that Company.
- Each Company comes with an additional rule that makes them unique compared to their stock counterparts.
- Disruptive Presence-A side effect of having a third party join the fight. You do not receive the initial command point on your first Hero Phase. This can be extremely detrimental to some armies or an easy work around for others.
The Greyfyrd Lodge
Pragmatic Fyreslayers that actually decide to live up to their lore by selling their axes to any and all buyers...as long as they have the ur-gold of course. You can choose any Fyreslayers unit (except Auric Runefathers) to represent this group.
- Fulfill One’s Oaths- Add +1 to hit rolls for melee weapons when targeting an enemy unit that charged in the same turn. At the start of the 3rd battleround, subtract -1 from the Fyreslayers’ Bravery if they are NOT wholly within 18’’ of your General.
The Tenebrous Court
A Flesh-Eater Court that for one reason or another decide to fight alongside the mortals. They can be comprised of any number FEC units, except for Royal Terrorghiest and Royal Zombie Dragon.
- Frightful Allies- Add +1 to hit rolls if that unit has charged in the same turn. However, no unit in this Mercenary Company can retreat.
The Sons of the Lichemaster
Motivated by a legacy of death and the promise of fresh corpses, this Company must contain at least 1 Necromancer. He can then be supported by up to 3 units of Zombies/Skeleton Warriors (any combination) and 1 Corpse Cart with Unholy Lodestone.
- Power of the Lichemaster- Add +1 to the Attacks of any Zombies or Skeleton Warriors unit wholly within 18’’ of the Necromancer.
Order of the Blood-Drenched Rose
Cavalry vampires who don’t like serving Nagash. Can you blame them? It must include at least 1 unit of Blood Knights (a maximum of 3) and can be joined by a Vampire Lord on Nightmare Steed.
- Unreasoning Bloodlust- This Mercenary Company does not have to take Battleshock tests.
The Grugg Brothers
A bickering belligerent family of Aleguzzler Gargants. Includes up to 3 of these beasts.
- Sibling Rivalry- Reroll hit rolls of 1 if the unit is within 6’’ of another Mercenary unit. Alternatively, you can reroll all failed hit rolls if they are within 6’’ of 2 Mercenary units (though not in Matched Play).
Nimyard’s Rough Riders
Otto Nimyard is a dishonored Free Guild General who has taken his loyal cavaliers in the quest to strike it rich. The group must contain at least 1 unit of Freeguild Pistoliers (maximum of 3), and can be supported by 1 unit of Freeguild Outriders and a Freeguild General on Warhorse(No Stately War Banner).
- Eyes and Ears- Deepstrike Mercenary edition. At the end of first Movement Phase, set up the Company wholly within 6’’ of the table edge but also 9’’ away from enemy units.
The Blacksmoke Battery
Dour duardin gunners who specialize in heavy weapons. Must include at least 1 unit of Cannons or Organ Guns (maximum of 3 in any combination). Can be supported by a Cogsmith and either a Gyrocopter or Gyrobomber.
- The Spotter- Artillery Spotting in a neo-fantasy setting because why not? If the group contains a Gyrocopter/bomber, add +1 to hit rolls for the Cannons/Organ Guns as long as the copter is within 12’’ of their target.
The Rampagers
Outcasts from the Darkoath tribes dedicated to mindless slaughter. 1 to 3 units of Chaos Marauders that maybe joined by either a Darkoath Chieften or Darkoath Warqueen.
- On the Rampage- All Mercanary units get to move d6’’ after initial deployment.
Skroug’s Menagerie
An oddly intelligent Chaos Gargant who leads a petting zoo of various warped monsters and beasts. Must include 1 Chaos Gargant, who can be followed by up to 3 units of Chaos Spawn, Warhounds, and/or Furies in any combination.
- Lord and Master- Skroug can use At The Double, Inspiring Presence, and Forward to Victory command abilities, but only on his own units.
The Gutstuffers
The Firebelly ogor called Ashur leads a team of Maneaters in the name of fine dining. Must include 1 Firebelly and 1 unit of Maneaters (maximum of 3).
- Hungry Beyond Reason- You can reroll failed charge rolls for this group, however, if they are able to charge, then they MUST do so.
Best way to use them
Tenebrous Court & Greyfyrd Lodge
The biggest companies, putted together just for semplicity, also became they share similar traits. Basically, you can take as ally any units in the Flesh-eater courts or fyreslayer, with the exception of dragon, terrorgheist and runefathers. Flesh-eater are what you need for getting shock troopers in the battlefield, something that you can will use once at the last moment, in a critical spot. Being incapable of retreat make this mercenary a group of kamikaze. If you want to hit hard, take the crypt horrors, if you need a fast unit, take the flyers, and if you need a good, tarpit horde, go with 40 ghouls. Better not use heroes, because they usually are for support, while a varghulf instead can be a good hero-killer or horde-dealer. Instead, fyreslayer are a incredibly good tarpit if you get the right units. A group of hearth guards followed by a battlesmith is the perfect way to slow down your adversary or for hold objectives, especially if he charged them. If you instead want a thematic, and also strong, monster, the magmatroch is the right choice. A good choice for hordes centered armies, if you want to get some quality between the quantity.
The sons of the lichemaster
This guys are... Nothing special, really. Being forced to take the necromancer is already terrible, because he is quite expensive and specialized at help only summonable units. The horde that you can bring are good only if taken with the max cap, something that you usually can't do if you have the necromancer. Also, all of them are incredibly slow, easy to kill and with a bad ability to respawn. All at all is better if you grab Rampagers or ghouls if you want cheaps and good hordes.
| Age of Sigmar Tactics Articles | ||
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| Death | ||
| Destruction | ||
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