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| A shot of the cover of the tome. |
As I mentioned in my post yesterday, Storm of Magic has arrived. I was fortunate that my order arrived early and my FLGS started selling their stuff early as well. As such, I managed to hunker down and thoroughly read the large tome between last night and today. Now, I have NOT played a single game of Storm of Magic, but that will change later this week and I'll certainly keep everyone up to date with my thoughts and feelings on ow the game plays. Until then though, this remains a theoretical discussion. Nonetheless, today I hope to dig deeper then my little mini-review yesterday and provide a more in-depth look at the Storm of Magic expansion. To start I'll describe the book, the different sections of the book such as rules, magic, and monsters, and finally give a little review of the overall product.
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| I <3 John Blanche (most of the time). |
So what does $49.99 buy you from GW these days? Why, the Storm of Magic Warhammer Fantasy expansion of course! The book consists of 152 page hardcover with a very strange cover. The front flips out partially to reveal a spinner that plays a role within the expansion and leaves a little nub of hardcover. Overall the book seems well put together with a solid binding and a nice finish that resembles that of the recent Orc and Goblin and Tomb Kings books. The pages are of good durable stock and well laid out throughout the book. The wheel of magic I can see degrading over time but should last for many many games over the years. This really depends on how often players decide to venture into the Storms of Magic.
The interior is well laid out with sections centering on fluff, rules, magic, magical artifacts, monsters, new terrain rules, and scenario rules. Interspersed throughout the book one finds a variety of artwork from small vignettes appearing in the margins, to multi-page pieces of dramatic battles from favorites such as John Blanche. Many old pieces of artwork make a return in the book but also presented are several new pieces never seen outside of Storm of Magic. Also spread throughout the book, but also with several large sections at various points, come the miniature galleries. These mostly show stock models but hidden inside are some conversions as well as some as-of-yet unreleased models such as a high elf mage and an ogre butcher.
Each section within the book flows very well. The fluff section for instances starts off with small stories before presenting the reader with a multi-page battle and then a timeline showing famous battles wracked with magical storms. The book itself contains the following sections, in order; Fluff, Rules, Spells, Runes, Artifacts, Scenarios, Terrain, and Monsters. I'll cover some of these in my overview below. Regardless of whether I cover it or not, all sections of this book are worth reading. The fluff is interesting and not overwhelming, the rules are quick and coherent, monsters take up the majority of the book, and spells, artifacts, and runes take up most of the rest.
Rules
So the basic premise of Storm of Magic should be well known by now. I know BoLS had a list of expansion rules posted awhile back that seems pretty accurate looking back at it with the book in hand. To start, when magic energies converge or great and disastrous events occur and the winds of magic pour into the real world, Storms of Magic can occur. The convergence of this much magical energies causes artifacts of old to become empowered, gives mages more power to cast spells of incredible power, and allows for the binding of monsters and the summoning of allies. That's a quick overview of what Storm of Magic truly focuses on.
For an expansion, the rules presented really are slim, easy to learn, and quick to implement. Basically, in Storm of Magic the scenario centers around capturing magical fulcrums. The player with the most of these at the end of the game, wins. A few catches though, only mages can capture these fulcrums and once installed on a fulcrum are incredibly difficult to remove from their place of power. Any wizard may claim a fulcrum as long as the model fits on top of the terrain piece (hello Verminlord!). A mage on a fulcrum receives a number of advantages from a 3+ ward, immunity to Psychology and stomp/thunderstomp attacks, and is also immune to attacks causing multiple wounds. In addition, only a single model may be in combat with a wizard on a fulcrum. The fulcrums themselves are also very sturdy and act as buildings that cannot be destroyed unless specifically stated in the rules. However, manipulating magical energies on these fulcrums is dangerous and any miscast causes wizards to roll a normal miscast and then (if still alive) to roll on the fulcrum mishap table. This table has a variety of effects from turning every mage on the board into a frog, to obliterating the fulcrum (and the mage). Possessing fulcrums unlocks the ability for mages to cast cataclysm spells of various levels. Possessing a single fulcrum allows players to cast their presence level spells, having equal number of fulcrums to your opponent allows the equilibrium level, and if you are lucky enough to possess more fulcrums than your opponent you may cast the deadly domination spells. So how does one remove these wizards from the fulcrums (aside from waiting for them to blow themselves up)? Well, with monsters and other mages of course!
When playing a Storm of Magic game, the players agree upon a base point level. In addition to this basic level the players receive an additional 25% worth of points to spend on monsters, artifacts, and pacts from within the Storm of Magic book. These monsters all have a variety of abilities and some of them are positively brutal. The idea with the monsters being that if you send in a monster to attack a wizard on a fulcrum then they will stand a better change with multiple attacks at a high strength. However, monsters are not the only way to deal with enemy mages on fulcrums. All wizards possess cantrip spells (described in further detail below) that allow them to try and bump a caster off of their high perches.
Now another interesting aspect of Storm of Magic is the Wheel of Magic built into the book. This wheel is spun at the beginning of every turn and players can try and bend the winds to their favor if they possess a fulcrum already. A lore that stands as ascendant receives a bonus to cast and all lores throughout the warhammer world are represented on the wheel. Neatly enough, in every turn a major lore will be ascendant with some minor lores (necromancy, skaven, great maw, etc) will also be ascendant. Also, EVERY turn either Dark or High magic will also be ascendant although their bonuses are less since they are so consistent.
Lastly, as the magic being flung around in a Storm of Magic game borders on cataclysmic the winds prove much stronger. Players will roll 4d6 for winds of magic in their turn and dispel dice come from the two highest die rolls. The power dice pool obviously grows as well and maxes out at 24 dice, although casters are still limited to a maximum of 6 dice for each spell cast (excepting casters like Slann Priests of course).
The Magic (and Runes)
As mentioned previously all the lores of magic in Warhammer are represented in this book. Most of the major ones received an additional 3 spells each while some of the lesser lores only see one or two additional spells. In addition, GW associated all of the minor lores into the 8 major winds of magic for the purpose of tracking which lores gain ascendancy through the Wheel of Magic. I've listed those below for quick reference.
All wizards, regardless of race or magic level, gain the ability to cast cantrips. Currently, Storm of Magic introduces three cantrip spells - Magical Duel, Transagar's Transportation, and Unbind Monster. All of these cantrips are insanely easy to cast and will prove most useful in trying to claim additional fulcrums. Magic Duel is used to remove opponent wizards from fulcrums and provides a simple a quick method for attempting to do so. While not very dangerous to either party, this will allow a caster to knock an opponent off and usurp their position on top of the fulcrum. Transagar's Transportation allows a wizard already on a fulcrum to teleport to a vacant fulcrum. Useful for denying opponents a fulcrum at the last moment. Lastly, Unbind Monster provides wizards with a little defense against monsters by attempting to break the spells binding them to service. Warning though, this is a random change and could result in making the monster very, very angry indeed.
A new type of spell appears in Storm of Magic - Summons. These spells may summon either units or terrain and work differently depending upon which the user summons. Terrain may be summoned anywhere. Here is where the rules become a little grey as GW literally states this as anywhere, "but not if this would look silly". Okay, probably poor wording there. Additionally, terrain may not hang off the table or be perched precariously on something else. Summoned units must be placed more than 1" away from other units and impassable terrain. Additionally, a generic summons spell is available to everyone, the spell Seven Secret Sigils of Summoning which allows a single unit up to a particular point level determined by Presence, Equilibrium, or Domination. This spell will prove handy for many armies by allowing them to summon new casters to a game where magic proves pivotal to winning.
As previously stated, all of the lores receive between one and three spells. I've tried coming up with the names of these below for reference purposes. I'm not really going to address the specifics of each spell as I'm still trying to wrap my head around the specifics. Suffice it to say their are all varieties of spells from a magical vortex that heals units, a domination spell that brings back whole units from the dead, to a deadly spell that causes your opponent to destroy a number of units until both he and you have the same number of units. So feel free to ask for specifics on the spells if interested. I will not give casting costs, but I will give a rough description of the spell effects.
Interestingly enough, even Khorne makes an appearance here. If any Chaos Lores miscast one of their cataclysmic spells, Khorne will throw a fiery brass skull down upon the caster that works just like a stone thrower. Should the miscast kill the caster, the brass skull still drops, just on top of wherever the mage stood instead.
Dwarves are not forgotten either. They receive powerful ancestor runes and their runesmiths may claim fulcrums on behalf of the Dwarven army. Now, these ancestor runes work very closely like magic spells. You declare which rune you will use, roll dice, and work out the effects. Unlike cataclysm spells, ancestor runes do not require Presence, Equilibrium, or Domination and can be used at any time during the magic phase. As far as I can tell, runesmiths cannot cast cantrips or the basic summoning spell. This means Dwarves must be very wary of how many runesmiths they bring to a Storm of Magic game.
To use a rune, roll a number of power dice of your choosing up to a maximum of 6. Each result of 4 or 5 is a successful strike while a 6 is an irresistible strike. Your opponent rolls a number of dice chosen from the dispel pool. Every roll of 4+ removes on of your successful strikes. Irresistible strikes cannot be removed in this manner. If your opponent fails to remove all of your successful strikes, then the rune is struck and goes into effect.
The Artifacts
The book possesses a large assortment of artifacts from all the usual categories. I think the only categories lacking any items whatsoever are armor, standards, and talismans. Most of these artifacts gain power as your army progresses from presence, to equilibrium, to domination. All of these items come with a hefty point cost. The cheapest items I can find cost 100 points. I've listed the items below, without point costs, and given a quick description of the item. These are very quick and dirty as I am reticent to give away too many details.
Dawnstar Sword - Doubles attack characteristic and gains automatic hits, wounds, and multiple wounds (2d6) as it progresses along the power track.
Blade of Last Resort - Makes a character extremely powerful in duels but, upon winning a duel the character is removed as a casualty and a new character is given the blade.
Dodecahedron of Continental Drift - When playing with modular boards like the Realm of battle board, this bound spell (one use only) item allows players to swap board tiles with several restrictions.
Fozzrik's Floating Fortress - A floating fortress that can contain a single unit and move across the battlefield. Gains abilities as it progresses in power such as a flame attack, rock dropping gargoyles, and stone fists that assault anyone assaulting the fortress.
Woodwaker's Wand - Bound item, one use only that converts an existing forest into a unit of Guardian Trees. These trees have a pretty frightening statline that is much more impressive than treekin and in many ways, more useful than treemen.
Living Deadwood Staff - This has several effects ont he playing field. First, every forest counts as a blood forest. These forests do more damage as you progress from presence to equilibrium to domination. Lastly, this item allows for the summoning of Mysterious Forests.
Giantkin Helm - One use only. This transforms the wearer into a giant with all the advantages and disadvantages of that unit. This magic is temporary and the user checks every player turn to see if it fades (on a roll of a 1). Wounds are carried over even in excess of the original model (so they could die).
Windcatcher Prism - Probably my favorite item. Depending on which wind is ascendant this item provides the bearer and his unit with a variety of effects from flaming weapons that reroll to-wound rolls to Initiative 10 and ASF to non-magical attacks only hitting on the roll of a 6.
Paranoth's Piquet Fence - Turns a woods, hill, or marsh into a building. Temporary magic that can fade similar to the Giantkin Helm above.
Rockcharmer's Flute - Causes a nearby hill to attack any units on top of it and then move 2d6 inches. Units moved over will take damage as well. Bound item, one use only.
Wyssan's Weighted Dice - One use only (maybe). Pick two numbers. All dice rolls of the first count as the second. This goes for everything and everyone. As you progress along the power track it is possible to use the items multiple times.
Arabyan Puzzlebox - If the winds of magic are an odd number then add d6 power dice. Even number then reroll the d3 for magical flux (which lets you affect the wheel of magic and which lore is ascendant). As you progress in power gain several other abilities such as +3 to casting attempts that contain doubles, Doubles also increase the heroes characteristics by d3, to, finally, all doubles cause irresistible force.
Black Book of Ibn Naggazar - Grants Loremaster Death and Shadow. Each spell cast remove d3 models and add that number of dice to the casting roll. If no models in unit then bearer is killed. If he doesn't attempt to cast a spell from death or shadow during a magic phase he is also killed. Greater power adds additional power for the sacrifices (up to 3d6 per model!).
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| I know I used this yesterday. But it's a wicked piece of work. |
The Storm of Magic book contains 45 monsters for wizards to bind to their wills and use against their foes. I've posted a complete list below. These monsters range in power from Exalted Greater Daemons to Chaos Warhounds and provide a range of options for every army. They've even brought back a number of classics such as the Fimur, Zoats, Lammasu, and Truthsayers/Dark Emissaries. A couple new monsters make it in here as well such as the Bonegrinder Giant - a so-called giant of giants. Lastly, the monsters in this book are self-contained. So if your army already has hydras, you may still take those using the base points but any further hydras you want from the magic and monsters point allocation must come from this book. Also, the greater daemons in here could flay the greater daemons from the daemon book in two with little to no extra thought. Seriously.
Most of the monsters above come with a variety of upgrades, some more than others. Of the the monsters are useful for a variety of tasks such as removing wizards from fulcrums, flanking attacks, or terrain mobility.
We can only hope GW intends to support Storm of Magic by insuring that all of these monsters see models at some point in the future. Many of the monsters in this book appear in army books and still do not possess a model of their own.
In Closing
I didn't cover a number of aspects around the book such as the lore section, the new terrain rules, or the rules for pacts. All of these sections are superb and definitely add to either the atmosphere of the game or the rules in general. I particularly enjoy the new rules for arcane ruins, wizard towers, and shrines as it adds a great deal of character to the tabletop. The rules for pacts offer a quick and easy way to build up an additional army and get some practice playing with it while still playing large games.
So now for the brief review of the book, taking everything above into account.
Presentability - 8/10
Ruleset - 8/10
Replay - 6/10
Campaign Play 10/10
So let me break that down a bit. The rulebook really is a fantastic book chock full in interesting lore, fantastic artwork, and cool miniature shots but I can't give it full marks because of how awkward the wheel of magic makes reading and flipping through the book. The rules are quick, clear, and concise overall and players will be able to quickly adapt to ingesting a few new spells and facing off against some new monstrous units. Replay, like all expansions I see this waning over time. Even the popular City Fight and Apocalypse expansions for 40k see limited use these days. However, for campaign play this book opens up an endless amount of possibilities.
So if you like Warhammer Fantasy and don't shy away from the magic phase then definitely check out Storm of Magic. These rules definitely provide an alternative for larger games to make them more than just a large warhammer game.
Come back in the next day or two to see the finished results and opinions on the models I purchased for the Storm of Magic release. I finished assembly on the Cockatrice, Dark Elf Sorceress, and Chimera today. All I have left to assemble are the Dreadfire Portal and Eternity Stairs. So come back soon and see how those turned out, what I think of the finished model, and some tips for assembling your own!
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