Hello there and welcome to my review of the Storm of Celestus warband. Today I’ll be taking a look at the newest stormcast squad to enter the halls and tunnels of Beastgrave.
Storm of Celestus is one of the two warbands from the new Warhammer Underworlds Starter Set - a release that is meant to be an introduction into our favourite game. What do they have in store? How will they hold up against other warbands? Let’s find out in this review.
Inspire condition
Fighters in this warband have fairly straightforward inspiration conditions. Our stormcasts have to make a successful attack with their Thunderhead Greatbow while Sleek has to hit with his Beak and Claws attack. This is fairly easy to grasp for newer players and also provides fairly reliable inspiration for our warband.
The Fighters
All of the eternals share one rule:
Thunderhead Greatbow - each fighter can make his ranged attack only once per phase.
Drakan Celestus - the leader of the warband. Drakan offers a fairly standard SCE body of 4 wounds, single block defense and move 3. On top of that he’s offering two options when it comes to attack profiles. First is his greatbow - range 3, hits on 2 hammers for a respectable 2 damage. In melee he can also treat his opponents with a heavy stock - short range attack hitting on 2 hammers for 2 damage. Not a bad self-defense option for when the gun (bow?) has been fired (shot?) already.
Once inspired his defense profile goes up to two dice which is very nice. His heavy stock attack gains one dice making it very accurate. In addition he gains a special rule - if he’s holding an objective he cannot be driven back. You’re not taking this guy off the objective with an attack unless you kill him. That can be pretty handy.
Aphus The Brave - one of two stormcast companions of Celestus. Stat-wise there are no surprises - SCE body straight off the Sigmar press: 3 move, 4 wounds and a single block.
Aphus is equipped with a greatbow having range 3 attack hitting on 2 hammers for 2 damage. In melee he’s also able to barge into his opponents with his shoulder hitting on 3 swords for 1 point of damage. While rather weak this attack carries some serious momentum as it is also having a knockback 1.
Upon inspiration Aphus barges in even harder with his attack damage going up to 2. He also gains a rule saying that if he’s holding an objective he can re-roll once dice in his defense rolls. Not great, not terrible with a single dice defense. Can for sure help avoiding some attacks.
Mellisan Star-sighted - last of the stormcast members of this warband. He’s yet another standard eternal with 4 wounds, single block defense and move 3. As his other companions he’s equipped with a standard greatbow with range 3 attack hitting on 2 hammers for 2 damage. In addition to that he can perform a (not-so) Crushing Kick - range 1 attack hitting on 2 hammers for 1 damage.
Once inspired his kick becomes more respectable - deals 2 damage and gains knockback. You can now re-enact “This... is... Sparta!” with a style.
Additionally while holding an objective Mellisan gains an extra attack dice to his attack actions. This is actually very cool - his greatbow becomes very accurate, so this is the guy who can potentially do some sniping for you when needed. Sadly he remains on a single block defense.
Sleek - a good boy Stormcast edition! This gryph-hound has 3 wounds, defends on a single dodge and has movement 4. His Beak and Claws attack has range 1 and hits on 3 swords for 1 point of damage. Sleek is not a great fighter, he’s however a very good boy and as a loyal beast he’s got a special ability called Warning Cry. This is a reaction that allows Sleek to once per phase warn his companions about an incoming attack. If an enemy fighter, that is within 2 hexes of Sleek, makes an attack action we can give a guard token to every friendly fighter within 1 hex from our gryphon. While situational, this can be super useful - put Sleek near your key fighter and you have almost guaranteed yourself a guard token for that guy.
Upon inspiration Sleek’s defense goes up to 2 dodge and his attack gains an Ensnare. What’s interesting is that while Sleek cannot have attack action upgrades he can hold objectives. He’s a very good boy.
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Overall those are fairly decent stats. Stormcast eternals have made us expect fairly well protected fighters - in this manner Storm of Celestus feels a bit weaker than rest of their Sigmarite friends, but they do have their tricks to improve this situation.
I really like the fact that Sleek can help hold an objective - his speed can be super helpful here.
They do feel a bit light on damage though - sure, those greatbow attack actions are really great. But it’s difficult to boost those up. Gloryseeker is great, but Fighter’s Ferocity feels a bit of a long shot here - unless it goes on to inspired Mellisan standing on an objective. Trouble is that it’s very hard to get a good mileage from those upgrades on their ranged attack. Only one shot per round hurts. It also devalues cards like Jealous Defender a bit. If you miss you’ll not have a second shot this round. I’m not sure I like it, but it’s also understandable that some kind of balancing had to be put in place for a team with access to 3 ranged attacks with 2 damage off the bat.
Those guys also have quite a visible theme of wanting to stand on the objectives - they gain bonuses off it, which I find a pretty cool little thing. Their inspire condition makes coming to them a move that can potentially buff them up. Charge in with some aggressive fighter to try to take one of the marksmen out and they’ll start shooting at you and inspire. And once inspired they not only gain stat boost, but can also activate their bonuses should they happen to be holding an objective.
Single defense dice might be a problem though. Current meta is full of damage and accuracy, so this could spell a short lifespans for some of those guys.
Faction Specific Cards
While rating the cards I will be following system as below:
1 - a very powerful card. You should take it in nearly every deck. A staple.
2 - a very strong card that you should consider taking. Might not always make the cut, but should usually contend with other options.
3 - a situational card that might prove to be good in certain situations or with proper card support
4 - a weak card. You might find use for it, but in general most often you’ll be better off with other picks.
Faction Objectives
Advancing Storm - a surge that can be scored after killing an enemy with your range 1 attack. Our Eternals aren’t the mightiest of the melee fighters, but with a bit of softening up they could get this done for sure. It’s pretty OK, but won’t be your first or maybe even second choice of a surge slot.
Rating: 3
Balanced Strategy - so this one is pretty interesting. It’s a new design for hold surges - it’s not after your activation, but after the opponent's activation - meaning there’s actually time for a counterplay. I love this approach. However having to hold 2 specific objectives is quite a major setback. Payout is fairly decent though - 2 glory. Overall this will require help to score, but could be a nice pick if in your meta objective tokens aren’t very contested.
Rating: 3
Bold Claim - so this one is a bit puzzling to me. It’s a copy of Balanced Strategy - still a surge scored after the opponent’s activation, still you have to hold 2 of the specific objectives and you get 2 glory. But the main difference is that now you have 3 objective numbers to choose from. It’s a significant improvement over Strategy, as having this flexibility can be a make or break. It still suffers from a possible counterplay and can be tough to score against hold objective centric warband, but it is a more viable version.
Rating: I should give it 2.5, but with the right built deck it could edge towards a full 2.
Bulwark Against the Dark - having to spread 4 upgrades around is a lot. Especially with one having to go to Sleek. That’s quite a steep price for 1 glory. It’s unlikely this will fit in - especially in a team that has access to some well scoring Hold cards.
Rating: 4
Crucial Objective - another of the new hold objective surges. This one is actually pretty good. Odds that you’ll have access to objective 2 or 4 are very decent. With a bit of luck you could score this while staying safely back in your own territory.
Rating: 2
Great Purification - this is a hybrid objective without a hybrid keyword. And both options are pretty difficult to score. Almost no one runs Supremacy in current meta - and for a very good reason. On the other hand this warband is not really good for a heavy aggro, so getting 4 kills can be super challenging. Versus strong players like Rippa or Krusha this is a dead card off the bat.
Rating: 4
Here We Stand - end phase version of Dominant Position. If you’re able to hold 2 objectives at the end of the round then you might want to consider things like Dominant Position instead. This one offers only a single glory and so is not really making the cut. There’s plenty of mucch easier 1 glory end phase objectives.
Rating: 4
Lightning Strike - there are surges that offer 1-2 glory for the very same thing and they are rather weak. So an end phase with only 1 glory that requires you to kill a leader is… not that amazing either. Especially for a warband that’s not that aggressive.
Rating: 4
Point Blank - this is a fairly reliable one. You might not be able to score it in round 1 because of the movement limitation. But overall this isn’t bad. It’s just a bit of a bummer that the attack has to be successful. Two hammer attacks are in general about 50/50 to hit, so unless your fighter has been charged you’ll need to commit him into a poor position for a 50% of a success. Overall it’s still one of the better surges they have.
Rating: 2
Righteous Banishment - This can be pretty doable. It’s a bit low on glory, but since it has no other requirements than to kill 2 models it’s actually pretty okay. Might not make the cut to the deck though.
Rating: 3
Shining Heroes - inspiring all of your fighters might be a bit tricky - especially in the first round. You might be able to do it with a hot dice and good objective placement. But in general this is more of a round 2 or 3 objective. And pays only one glory, so it won’t make the cut. There are easier and more reliable options out there.
Rating: 4
Zone of Banishment - so this is a slightly tweaked Denial. It’s very difficult to score in current meta, but against more passive teams it will be an easy 2 glory - especially in the first game of the set. Not being a 3rd end phase does help this objective a lot.
Rating: 3
Faction Specific Gambits
Aetheric Channelling - This one is most often a simply +1 dice to your ranged attack. It can however change into a Cleave or Ensnare if you already have some extra dice and you would like to punch through a guarded fighter or a fighter with multiple defence dice. Overall pretty solid accuracy those guys might need - especially to inspire.
Rating: 2
Channelled Step - this gambit allows you to hop between the objectives. It might be helpful to score your surges while you’re not standing on a correct objective number. Trouble is that the 2 hexes limitation is pretty harsh and most often will prevent you from executing this move. You might need some distraction effects to be able to play this effectively.
Rating: 3
Concerted Consolidation - even though this only works in your territory it’s still a very powerful card. It will be super useful to get your fighters onto those objective tokens. Because you can move up to two fighters you can score objectives like Bold Claim without using an activation to move onto an objective.
Rating: 1
Distracting Shot - pretty nice defensive ploy. It’s main problem is the fact that there are better options in the game. And there’s not enough slots in the deck for too many of those.
Rating: 3
Greatbow Block - this card is one of the reasons why you probably won’t be playing Distracting Shot. Very powerful effect which you’ll want in your deck.
Rating: 1
Healing Tempest - this is a faction version of good old Healing Potion. A very nice thing to have given that you have 4 wounds buffers across most of your fighters.
Rating: 2
Lightning Flare - not very useful - vast majority of the fighters will go face to face with you. This could force Mollog and alike to close the gap, but overall it’s not going to save you.
Rating: 4
Raise The Alarm - +1 dice but only against enemy fighters with a charge token? Just get Victimize, Determined Effort or Bloodscent. 2 out of 3 of those picks offer better value and all of them are less constraining. This also loses with Aetheric Channeling. Also on a side note - I find the name of this ploy confusing. I would expect this to be a defensive card, not an accuracy one.
Rating: 4
Stalwart Defence - if you’re having fighters holding an objective and you’re expecting an attack you could play this to boost your chances of not being hit. It’s not bad, but then again - Storm of Celestus has quite a competition for defensive slots in your ploys. Will this make the cut? I don’t think so.
Rating: 3
Swift Step - In faction Sidestep that gets better if played on Sleek. Pushes are your friend when you try to hold objectives, so this most likely will land in your deck. Remember - Sleek can hold objectives.
Rating: 1
Faction Specific Upgrades
Cautious Advance - oh how I wish this was available for all of the warband members… But since only Aphus can take this one it’s usefulness becomes very limited. Most often you’ll simply go for Duellist’s Speed.
Rating: 4
Concussive Cloud - this one is pretty amazing. It’s a backup ranged attack for one of your fighters. With this you could consider making Mellisan a Fighter's Ferocity bearer - 3 dice and can shoot multiple times. But what’s more important is that this is an excellent tool to control the battlefield. Not only you can distribute move counters to enemy fighters, but you can also push them around with a knockback 1. This can effectively shut them down for a round. Since this upgrade is not discarded after an attack you can turn your fighter into a menace for an aggressive opponent. This can also potentially paint a bullseye on your fighter’s back.
Rating: 1
Cool Head - so this is a situation similar to Cautious Advance. Very cool effect ruined by being limited to a specific fighter. It’s better to take universal options instead.
Rating: 4
I’ll Cover You! - I like the idea behind this card. Distributing defensive supports around is pretty cool. Sadly it stops working after your ranged attack breaking the deal on this one.
Rating: 4
Long Ranged - pretty nice way to extend the threat range of your ranged attacks. I wish this could also affect Concussive Cloud - it would be a higher score then. But since it works only for a single attack per round it’s not that hot. 6 hexes of threat range is going to be enough in most cases.
Rating: 4
Loyal Companion - this can be used to reposition Sleek and get him out of harm’s way or put him onto an objective. Overall not very useful - if this happened after move action Sleek could’ve been moved to provide support for an attack making the upgrade much more interesting.
Rating: 4
Reconquerer - I like this one. Effectively this can give you +2 move if you’re able to push yourself onto an objective. Stormcasts are fairly slow with move 3, so this is a great help. It has a major competitor in Savage Speed - two of your fighters will be happy to take that flat +2 speed as they’re defending on a single dice anyway.
Rating: 3
Reconsecrate - you can use this to swap objective tokens enabling you to score some of your objectives that care for objective number. Benefit is nice, but has very limited scope. And having to use an action for this plus giving out a charge token to your fighter is a very steep price. I don’t think this will be able to make the cut in your deck - upgrade slots are very contested in general.
Rating: 4
Stoic Fortitude - Great Fortitude, but limited to your leader. Not really worth it.
Rating: 4
Strength of Sigmar - a slightly weaker version of Giant Strength - limited to only range 1 attacks. This is mostly fine for Sigmarites and this card is very likely to find its way into your deck. It’s not your first pick, but surely a viable option for your melee attacks.
Rating: 2
Closing Thoughts
So… I love ranged warbands and I’ve been very excited to see what Storm of Celestus will have in store. What we’ve got is a warband that is very focused on holding objectives. I’m not a huge fan of this playstyle, but it’s actually a pretty okay thing for this warband. They’re having a decent accuracy and very good 2 damage on their ranged attacks. Limitation of being able to attack only once per round with the greatbow is disappointing. Since those attacks aren’t that accurate and will struggle against 2 dice defense profiles it’s very easy to see your inspiration not happening. You cannot make a turret by voltroning one of your fighters unless you’ll invest into additional attack upgrades like Concussive Cloud. This actually was quite a blow for my hopes of re-creating turret Farstrider shenanigans.
Another thing is that if you would like to inspire quickly (and you should if possible) you might need to expose your fighters to enemy attacks and possibly miss holding objectives. So it’s a bit of a dichotomy between the things this warband would like to do.
For a defensive warband they also don’t defend all that well. Inspired Celestus and Sleek are going to two dice which is very nice. Aphus can re-roll his defense dice once inspired as well. But this is not going to be a huge help versus aggressive warbands. Game is now bristling with damage and accuracy buffs. So a fighter with a single defense dice and 1-2 damage attack is a fairly tempting target. It feels like the defensive capabilities have been mostly shifted to your faction power cards. There’s a couple of them available, but the trouble is that not all of them will make the cut. In fact most of them won’t.
I would be tempted to try to play them aggressively and hope that the initial volley of 2 damage attacks will be sufficient to soften the enemy up enough to kill a key fighter. But I feel that you might be better off by playing an area control game. Lure opponent in, weaken his onslaught with your defensive ploys and then rain arrows onto him.
Overall they’re an entry warband for Underworlds, so they had to be good at introducing certain mechanics while not being overly difficult to play. And I think they’ll fulfill this role pretty well. For Championship format I can see them struggle with aggro warbands, but they for sure can devastate horde warbands before those will manage to boost up their defenses. They’re certainly worth trying out.
What do you think about them?
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