Warhammer: Age of Sigmar - Who Are the Stormcast Eternals?

The Stormcast Eternals are one of the faces of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar.

By Christian Hoffer

At the heart of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar are the Stormcast Eternals, reincarnated warriors powered by lightning. Later this summer, Games Workshop will release a new edition of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, its fantasy-themed miniatures game. The new edition will come with an entirely retooled ruleset with multiple ways to play, including a new Spearhead mode, which uses pre-built army lists and simplified unit rules to keep gameplay under an hour. As a new edition is the perfect way to get started with Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, we've decided to take a look at some of the major factions of the game, starting with the Stormlight Eternals.

Who Are the Stormlight Eternals?

The Stormlight Eternals are one of the centerpieces of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar and represent one of the elite forces of Order fighting back against the Ruinous Powers of Chaos and the forces of Destruction and Death. The Stormlight Eternals are the elite fighting force of Sigmar, the god of civilization and progress (and who was once the mortal Emperor of Mankind in the older Warhammer Fantasy setting). Each Stormcast Eternal soldier was once a mortal hero that was pulled from the Mortal Realms at the moment of their death and reforged into a superpowered warrior with the ability to channel Sigmar's lightning.

However, this reforging comes with a curse, as each death and subsequent rebirth slowly strips away a Stormcast's humanity and personality, transforming them into grim shadows of their former selves. Those most affected by this curse are being revealed in the new edition as the Ruination Chamber, a collection of powerful battle-veterans accompanied by their mortal descendants who attempt to spur on some last remnants of their former selves onto the battlefield. Those who belong to the Ruination Chamber are on the brink of losing themselves entirely, to the point that they are accompanied by a Lord-Terminos who grants Stormcast a final and permanent rest when they totally lose themselves.

Why Play as the Stormcast Eternals?

The Stormcast Eternal are often referred to as the Space Marines of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar and are one of the faces of the game. The faction inevitably receives more consistent attention than other factions and it isn't too hard to get your hands on a Stormcast Eternals army. The upcoming Vermintide starter box will come with multiple Age of Sigmar units and the faction also has two Spearhead boxes, providing some additional variation in playstyle for those looking to dip their toes in the new player-friendly mode. 

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Additionally, because the Stormcast Eternals get a fair number of units with every edition's release (including the ability to team up with dragons), players can choose from a fair number of army builds and numerous heroes and named characters when building their own army. Basically – if you want a faction that isn't tied to a specific army style, the Stormcast Eternals may be right for you. 

Based on the previews we've seen for Age of Sigmar's fourth edition, the Stormcast Eternals' general strategy revolves around being able to summon additional forces deep in the battlefield and hold ground using temporary buffs that last for a single round. In past editions, the Stormcast Eternals' biggest strength was their versatility, flexibility, and general ability to survive, but they were hampered by a lack of specialization and a dependence on individual heroes to really make an army work...which meant that a hero's death often meant the loss of a significant amount of an army's abilities. We'll see how much of that holds true for the new edition of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, which will come out later this summer. 

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