Warhammer Age of Sigmar Gloomspite Gitz Battletome Preview

The Gloomspite Gitz are an army in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar that delights in taking big chances to deal sweeping blows to their opponents. From the random nature of their spells to the way you never really know if your squigs will be able to close the gap to their enemies, this is a faction that truly embraces risk and reward. Games Workshop provided us with the newest Battletome for Gloomspite Gitz, as well as two new models for the army, so crawl out of your caves and join us as we Preview the latest from the Gloompsite Gitz.

How Has The Lore Changed For The Gloomspite Gitz?

The Era of the Beast has been a boon for many factions in the Mortal Realms who relish destruction or delight in chaos, and the Gloomspite Gitz are no exception. With tons of new lore added into the Gloomspite Gitz Battletome, we see the effects of the Era of the Beast in action. Chiefly, this army finds renewed inspiration in the erratic movement of the Bad Moon. We also learn more about the ways the Gitz interact with Kragnos, and check in on the latest scheming from Skragrott the Loonking.

What New Rules Are In Play For The Gloomspite Gitz?

The Battletome for Gloomspite Gitz featured a number of key changes that greatly impact the way this army works on the table. First up is a major change to their Bad Moon's Orbit Battle Trait. The Bad Moon, which is more an area of effect than any actual model placed on the table, takes up a large space on the battlefield, and specific units get boons if they're under the light of the Bad Moon. Previously, the Bad Moon started off the board, and would make its way onto the board with good dice rolls. But now, the Bad Moon starts on a large quarter of the board chosen by the Gloomspite player. It then moves its way across the board in a diagonal line with subsequent rolls. Benefits from the Bad Moon include: allowing Squigs to move and attempt a charge in the same turn, making it easier to bring back slain Gloomspite Gitz units with the Rally command, adding 1 to save rolls for attacks that target Troggoth units, and letting Spiderfang units cause mortal wounds on a roll of 5+, instead of the usual 6.

There are also useful updates to many units within the army. For one, Skragrott the Loonking gets a new spell, "Fangz of da Bad Moon," which has a casting value of 3 and a range of 24". If successfully cast, pick an enemy unit visible to Skragrott and roll a number of dice equal to the casting roll. On each 3+, you deal one mortal wound. That's... potentially huge!

The Gobbapalooza have seen a massive change, as all their individual warscrolls have been condensed into a single, more powerful warscroll. With the "Mesmerize" spell and the "Fungoid Cloud" spell, as well as a full suite of other abilities, this unit is now an extremely potent wizard on the battlefield.

The Moonclan Stabbas also get a new ability, "Anarchic Hordes," which allows them to contest objectives when there are 20 or more models in a unit if they're within 9" of the objective, not the usual 6".

Another major change comes to the Squigs! Traditionally, a Squig has a move characteristic that's completely reliant on dice rolls, but now those movement values have a set number in addition to a dice roll. So it's still random, but instead of a move of 3D6 (where you could pitifully roll a total move of 3) a unit will have a move value like D6+10. 

In other updates, Troggoths "Regeneration" ability now triggers at the start of both players' hero phases, and the Arachnarok spiders now deal 3 damage with their Monstrous Fangs instead of D3 damage.

What New Units Are Included In The Gloomspite Gitz Army?

There are two new units just released for the Gloomspite Gitz army, the Snarlfang Riders and the Squigboss with Gnasha-squig. The Snarlfang Riders buck the trend of cave-dwelling Gitz as these wolf-riding greenskins are used to being out in sunlight. These units have a speedy move value of 12", 2 wounds each, and attack with their Grot Bow, a Stabbin' Stikka, and the wolf's Slavering Jaws. This unit also has the "Can't Catch Us" special ability, which allows you to re-roll the dice that determines its move distance when you redeploy this unit. It can also shoot immediately after it redeploys. It can also fight when it's within 6" of an enemy unit, not the usual 3", and you add 1 to hit rolls for attacks made with the Slavering Jaws when you target a unit with 1 or more wounds allocated to it.

The Squigboss with Gnasha-squig is a new Hero for the army, with 4 wounds it attacks with its Squig-krook and the Squig's  Fang-filled Gob, and acts as a buff to nearby Squig units. In your hero phase, you pick 1 friendly Squig unit within 3" of the Squigboss to feed them one of three mushrooms. These different mushrooms either add 3" to the Squig's move, deal an additional 1 Mortal Wound for each attack roll of a 6, or add 1 to their Attacks characteristic. In addition, once per game you can use his "Release Da Squigs" ability to allow each friendly Squig Herd unit within 12" of the Squigboss to make a free move action.

That covers a lot of the major changes and updates to the Gloomspite Gitz army, but there's a ton more to explore within the updated Battletome!

The products used in the creation of this preview were provided by Games Workshop.