Age of Sigmar Stormcast Eternals Krondys and Stormdrake Guard Preview

The Stormcast Eternals for Age of Sigmar are about to get some huge reinforcements in the form of Krondys and the Stormdrake Guard. One is a towering dragon, and the other are drake-riding warriors that sweep down over their foes. In this article, we'll look at the contents of the boxes for Krondys, Son of Dracothion, and the Stormdrake Guard, along with their rules. 

Krondys, Son of Dracothion

The Krondys box allows you to build one of two draconith, Krondys, Son of Dracothion, and Karazai the Scarred, both of which have their own unique backgrounds and battlefield role.

Krondys

An integral member of Sigmar’s inner circle, Krondys is majestic, wise, and immensely powerful. Among the most magically potent beings in the Mortal Realms. Filled with sadness and shame at the fall of the ancient Draconith Empires to which he is heir, it is Krondys’ great hope that, in alliance with the Stormcast Eternals, his kin might once more rise to greatness.

Krondys is indeed a powerful wizard, and inside his damage chart, the Regalia Fulmentarus boosts their casting roll, starting at +3 before any damage is taken. Krondys can cast two spells a turn, including Atavistic Tempest which comes on their warscroll and gives you several penalties they can dish out to an enemy within twenty-four inches, including reducing their chances of hitting, reducing their rend, reducing ranged attacks, and reducing their saving throw. 

But Krondys isn't just a wielder of magic, in offense, Krondys has four different attacks, Blazing Tempest, Apex Maw, Drake-lord’s Talons, and Calamitous Tail. Krondys' attacks offer a mix of ranged dealing automatic wounds, close up attacks with -2 rend and two or three damage, and an awesome tail attack that can target all enemies within three inches. With a fourteen-inch fly move, Krondys can position to make very effective use of that attack.

Karazai

Finding himself without an invite to Sigmar’s party, Karazai has been scouring Ghur, seeking vengeance for his scrambled kin and wreaking havoc on the forces of Destruction. When a dragon spends too long in the Realm of Beasts, though, a little of that realm may also find its way into the dragon, and thus it is that Karazai has become a bitter and violent creature – all but consumed with wrath and revenge.

Karazai makes up for their lack of magical ability with devastating attacks. Karazai has similar attacks to Krondys with Blazing Tempest, Annihilating Jaws, Ruinous Talons, and Calamitous Tail. The Blazing Tempest for automatic mortal wounds at range and three-inch radius tail attack are the same, but the close-up attacks roll more dice and have a higher rend. Karazai also has an ability that increases the number of attacks, movement rolls and also heals them when they slay a variety of enemy units, so they can hunt down heroes early game to boost attacks, and then troops when they need to heal.

Stormdrake Guard

The Stormdrake Guard box allows you to build a Knight-Draconis and Stormdrake Guard, or a unit of two Stormdrake Guard. These units are pretty insane on the tabletop and are probably going to have a large impact on the competitive meta. Games Workshop has even gone so far as to increase their points after some balance testing prior to their release because of their expected impact.

Both the Knights and Guard have a Draconic Flamestream attack, which is a weaker version of Krondys/Karazai's mortal wound dealing ranged attack, as well as the ability to ignore magic attacks on a 4+ and the awesome Dragged into the Tempest ability which lets them wipe out a unit at the end of the combat phase by rolling above the wounds stat of an enemy within one inch.

The Knight-Draconis is the mounted leader of the Stormdrake Guard and synergizes well with them. The Knight-Draconis is armed with an Aeonfire Blade, which acts as a symbol of their rank and prowess and has five attacks, -3 rend damage two to cut through most enemies. The Draconith also gets involved in close combat, with its own four, -2 rend, two damage attacks. Once per battle, the Knight can command a nearby Guard unit to fire their Flamestrike attack in the hero phase, which would let them use that attack twice during that turn.

The Stromdrake Guard come in a unit of one or two and can be armed with either warblades or lances. The warblade has a one-inch range and six attacks, and the lance has a two-inch range with three attacks, but by using the Guard's Merciless Impact ability, their lance attacks have their rend and damage boosted on a charge. The Guard's most powerful ability is their Draconic Onslaught. They have a normal fly move of twelve and using Draconic Onslaught, once per game, they can make a bonus move during the hero phase, after which, they can charge an enemy unit within twelve inches on a 2+. This means that they can threaten twenty-four inches before the game even starts, and during the game can cover a huge distance across the board to counter-attack or engage one of your opponent's key pieces.

All of the new Draconith units are beautifully sculpted, and go together easily. Both Krondys/Karazai and the draconith-riders look very impressive on the tabletop and their solid abilities mean that most Stormcast players will be picking them up. They all also have the Thunderstrike keyword, so will synergize well with the Stormcast units out of the Dominion launch box.

The copies of Age of Sigmar Stormcast Eternals Krondys and Stormdrake Guard used in this preview were provided by Games Workshop.