This article will detail the Lumineth Realm-lords army starting from its lore, describing the main units and their roles, how the army plays and finally our personal opinion of the army. We will go over everything you need to know in this Lumineth Real-Lords army guide and review.
For a complete run-down of the different armies available in Age of Sigmar, consult our Age of Sigmar army overview article.
In this article we will refer often to Matched Play and other technical terms like allegiance abilities, command points, army roles in building a list, core battalions, Endless Spells/Invocations, etc. We assume the reader will be knowledgeable with those terms, otherwise please refer to the relevant guides for more details.
Age of Sigmar 4.0
This article has not been updated yet with the newest rules and discoveries from the fourth edition of Age of Sigmar. We will be reviewing all articles and updating them really soon.
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Overview of Lumineth Realm-lords Army
The Lumineth Realm-lords are the children of Teclis and Tyrion, gods of the Realm of Light (Hysh). They are aelves with a dark past, who survived an apocalyptic internecine war to then reach enlightenment and attune to the spirits of Hysh.
They are the spiritual successor of the High Elves from Warhammer Fantasy, but with many a twist, in particular the variety and size of their headgears. At the centre of the new Lumineth ethos there are 4 aelementiri temples representing the various spirits: Mountain (Alarith), Wind (Hurakan), River and Zenith. Of these, only 2 temples have received miniature releases, meaning that almost half of the army is yet to be discovered.
The model range is completely new, with incredible room for expansion. Aside from the 2 temples above, Tyrion has not received a model yet, and we can bet the Scinari (mages) and Vanari (martial experts) side will see some additions.
Historically Lumineth have been a strong army at the top of many rankings, and the third edition sees them still rocking with some of the negative player experience that they imposed to their opponent been drastically reduced.
Lore of Lumineth Realm-lords Army
At the end of the World-that-Was, most elven souls were digested by Slaanesh, the Chaos god of excess. Tyrion, an experienced warrior, awoke in Hysh, the Realm of Light, now as a god. In his search of his twin brother Teclis, he lost his sight but inspired the spirit-soul of Hysh to resurrect his brother.
Now united once again as gods of Light, they set in motion a plan that would see them extract the lost souls from Slaanesh belly. Together with Malerion, god of Shadow and former adversary, and Morathi, High Oracle of Khaine and former mother of Malerion, they trapped Slaanesh in between Hysh and Ulgu, Realm of Shadow, and started their process of extracting the elven souls.
Each god took a portion to mould them however they saw fit. Teclis started with the Idoneth Deepkin but they were flawed and discarded. So the Lumineth were created to be perfect: Teclis taught them magic and philosophy and Tyrion the martial skills so that each aelf could strive to be the best in his discipline.
Aelven eagerness to strive to perfection is often associated with arrogance by the other races, and not without a fault: they were so consumed by their quest for enlightenment that they started a race to surpass each other that quickly escalated in conflict.
The Ocari Dara, or Spirefall, was a bloody civil war that saw almost the extinction of the Lumineth race and destruction of the Realm of Light. The chaos gods infiltrated even the aelven souls and such an apocalyptic event teared the fabric of the realms and allowed chaos gods to pour in Hysh. Slaanesh followers were particularly attracted by Lumineth hubris.
It was only when Teclis came back with Celennar, the spirit of Hysh’ true moon and taught the aelves how to co-exist with the spirit realms instead of trying to dominate them, that the disaster was averted. Now the Lumineth undergo a lengthy and dangerous path to attune to a specific element and earn once again the trust of the spirits they almost annihilated together with the Realm of Light.
Each aelementiri temple focuses on a specific spirit with Alathir representing the Mountain and Hurakan the Wind. Zenith and River are the other 2 temples. Lumineth bond with the spirits grew so strong that they are now able to summon them in battle to their aid, hence their title of Realm-lords.
Some of the most powerful spirits joined their call to arms, including Avalenor, the spirit of the tallest mountain in Hysh, that was defeated by Nagash at the end of the Soul Wars and Seviroth, the seventh wind, that was imprisoned by Slaaneshi followers in a cave during the Age of Chaos.
When Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead, summoned a powerful wave of Death magic and created the Necroquake, the Lumineth understood they could not stay isolated in Hysh but they needed to protect the other realms as well. As part of their crusade, they attacked the core of the Ossiarch Bonereapers empire in Shyish, the Realm of Death, infuriating the Great Necromancer. For revenge, Nagash invaded Hysh to corrupt a realmgate so that he could syphon Hysh essence in Shyish. In the ensuing battle great devastation was laid to the Realm of Light with the mountain of Avalenor suffering the most.
Only after a final confrontation between Teclis and Nagash, the latter was finally defeated and confined to the Realm of Death. The cost was great and Teclis still bears the scars.
Once the death energies left the Mortal Realms, Alarielle, goddess of Life, prepared a new ritual to awake the living energies of all realms. The side effect was a surge of violence in the greenskins now led by Kragnos, imprisoned since the Age of Myth in the Realm of Beast. The Lumineth have now to withstand a new threat, will they be able to contain the rampaging hordes of Destruction? Their unorthodox methods left them with few allies in the Order Grand Alliance, and Tyrion has not been seen yet…
Army rules for the Lumineth Realm-lords
But how does a Lumineth Realm-lords army play on a tabletop? First let’s go through the main rules for this army.
The Lumineth have six sub-factions to choose from called Great Nations:
- Ymetrica, a mountainous land focusing on the Alarith units that can reduce rend -2 and -1 to 0. Unlocks Alarith Stoneguard as battleline.
- Syar, home of the most skilled magic artefact crafters, starts with 2 aetherquartz per unit.
- Iliatha, experts in cloning their own soldiers, where once per turn 2 Vanari units can use an aetherquartz.
- Zaitrec, the most attuned to magic, provides a +1 to cast, dispel and unbind to their wizards.
- Alumnia, home of the most courageous and adventurous aelves, they count double when contesting objectives if in full contact formation.
- Helon, the windiest nation with archers able to add +1 to hit and wound to shooting attacks against a target within 6″ (consult FAQ). Unlocks Hurakan Windchargers as battleline.
They have two main other traits on top of their sub-faction, the most unique being the aetherquartz reserve. It is basically a once per game buff that each unit can activate, at the cost of -1 Bravery for the rest of the battle. Only one unit per phase can use this buff, but Syar provides 2 aetherquartz per unit, and Iliatha allows up to 2 Vanari units to spend this resource in the same phase. This is the list of buffs:
- +1 on save rolls for a phase.
- +1 to hit rolls for a phase.
- After rolling for casting but before unbinding, +1 to cast or re-roll.
The final trait, Lightning Reflexes, allows the Lumineth player to pick 2 units to fight one after the other, but only after all strike-first units acted and strike-last units cannot be selected.
Lumineth have access to various lists of command traits or artefacts depending on the type of general/bearer: Vanari, Scinari, Stonemage or Windmage.
Some examples of command traits include Fast Learner that allows a Scinari to unbind an extra spell per turn re-rolling that extra attempt, Grand Windrider, that extends the Windmage buff area to Windchargers from 6″ to 24″, and Unyielding Toughness that allows a Stonemage to pick a Stoneguard unit and increase their wound characteristic by 1 until your next hero phase.
The list of artefacts of power is equally long with Waystone allowing a Vanari hero to teleport within 12″ instead of moving, the Phoenix Stone allowing once per game on a 3+ to prevent the death of another hero within 12″ and Molten Talisman that gives +1 to Alarith within 12″ as long as the bearer did not charge.
Lumineth have access to three spell lores, discussed more in the Wizards section.
Units and their roles in the Lumineth Realm-lords Army
Heroes in Lumineth Realm-lords
Heroes can perform Heroic Actions, in addition to the other abilities they can perform. You do it in the hero phase and you can only do one heroic action. Here is the list:
- Heroic Leadership: on a 4+ (or 2+ if your general has been slain) get a command point only that hero can use.
- Heroic Willpower: one non-Wizard hero can attempt to dispel or unbind a spell for that phase like he was a wizard.
- Their Finest Hour: can be used only once by each hero to improve save and wound rolls by 1 for that turn.
- Heroic Recovery: a disengaged hero can heal D3 wounds if he rolls less or equal to his bravery with 2D6.
The first unit we are going to discuss is of course the Archmage Teclis accompanied by Celennar, Spirit of Hysh. As a god, his point cost is extremely high, but justified by the fact is one of the best mages in the entire game. So good, that he doesn’t even need to do casting rolls. Instead, depending on how many wounds have been allocated to him, he can decide to cast 1, 2 or up to 4 spells:
- If he says 1, it is automatically cast with a roll of 12 and cannot be unbound.
- If he says 2, they are automatically cast with a roll of 12 but can be unbound.
- If he says up to 4, they are automatically cast with a roll of 10 and can be unbound.
Note that those results above cannot be further modified (not even with Primal Dice for example). In addition, he can unbind any number of enemy spells and one of them can be unbound automatically. He can also dispel 1 endless spell automatically in his hero phase, in addition to the spells he can cast.
If that was not enough, he knows all spells from the Lore of Hysh, of the Winds and of the High Peaks other than Protection of Teclis (5+ ward to all friendly Lumineth within 18″) and Storm of Searing White Light for up to D6 damage to all enemy units within range.
That seems a lot, but what does Celennar add to this duo? An aura, starting at 16″ that decreases the more wounds taken, that adds +1 to cast, unbind or dispel to friendly wizards and allows (on a 4+) to ignore the effects of a spell or endless spell on a unit within range, redirecting D3 damage to another enemy unit. And some melee attacks, but you don’t take this unit to send it to the front line.
Overall there is a lot to unpack. If you want to control the magic phase, there is no better unit in the entire game. It is a great investments in points but is definitely worth in most lists. In particular to increase Lumineth survivability with its protection spell and by the versatility of having access to 14 spells from which to choose from.
The Light of Eltharion is a throwback to the past, the soul of a long deceased protagonist of Warhammer Fantasy: Eltharion the Grim. While a bit on the high price for a melee hero, he is a really strong warrior.
To start with, his save characteristic of 3+ cannot be changed (up or down) and he halves the damage received by attacks. He also ignores negative modifiers on to hit and unmodified 6s double the amount of attacks to roll when wounding.
The list of buffs goes on, he is a strong character and can represent a nice anvil.
Lyrior Uthralle, Warden of Ymetrica is the named version of the generic Lord Regent model. He represents the leader of the Dawnriders as a mounted wizard with a decent melee profile. He can issue one command per round for free to Ymetrica units (the sub-factions he belongs to) and his spell allows up to 3 units to do mortal wounds on a 5+ instead of 6.
Apart the free command per round, the Vanari Lord Regent has the same abilities, but is not tied to Ymetrica and can be further customised with command traits (when general) and artefacts of power. He does have a weaker melee profile though, so neither is the first option when choosing heroes.
The Vanari Bannerblade is a support guy with a giant standard. Being a totem, he can issue commands within 18″ range, and at the same range he allows to re-roll charges. Not extremely useful in army lists full or archers, but if you point on Alarith, he can be a good addition.
Ellania and Ellathor, Eclipsian Warsages are twins with a cool backstory. In game they act as a Vanari double caster from Iliatha nation (meaning they don’t get bonus from any other subfaction), with an embedded +1 to cast, dispel, unbound.
They have cool mechanics based on the current battle round, making them more deadly the longer the fights goes on, including a healing and teleporting ability (that you can’t control, it’s automatic if the conditions are met).
At the right cost, it may be worth exploring them.
The Scinari Cathallar is the first of our wizard caste, the Scinari. The trait in common to all Scinari is Deep Thinker that gives them a once-per-game auto-cast of a spell with a result of 9 that cannot be modified but can be unbound. It is useful to trigger a Protection of Hysh or even a Total Eclipse and 9 is high enough that may not be easy to unbind it.
Her main ability allows to transfer the Bravery debuff for using the aetherquartz from any unit in range to an enemy unit and her signature spell prevents a unit from moving, charging, shooting or fighting unless you roll less than their Bravery with 2D6. Against Destruction armies this can literally make a single unit useless for an entire turn.
The Scinari Enlightener is the latest wizard added to this roster. He is a double caster with the ability to resolve twice (on a 3+) a successfully cast spell from the Lore of Hysh (to a different unit). His spell allows to replicate the wounds he receives to an enemy unit. It doesn’t save him, but if he is going to die, better go out in style.
The Scinari Calligrave has an ability that allows to select a point on the battlefield where battleshock is not required for Lumineth units and there’s a +1 bonus to cast, etc. Not too exciting, not even combined with his spell that can do D3 wounds immediately to a hero, or wait to cast it again against the same target for 2D6 wounds instead.
The Scinari Loreseeker is another single caster with the ability to be deployed after everyone, directly on an uncontested objective for which he will count as 10 models… Not much else going on here, apart a shooting attack.
Avalenor, the Stoneheart King is the spirit of the most important mountain in Hysh and it shows in a warscroll that has a bit of everything starting with some extremely damaging melee attacks and a 25″ shooting attack.
He is tough with a good save, the ability to ignore unmodified -1 rend (and -2 when fielded in Ymetrica, note the FAQ clarified that the value has to be checked before any modifier is applied to the rend) and a bubble of -1 to hit to enemy units based on how many wounds he has received (he has a monster damage table degrading the more wounds he takes).
If you are interested in an Alarith-themed army, you definitely need him, a Stonemage that would make him always attack using the top row of his damage table, and few units of Stoneguard that can benefit of the extra attack provided by his command ability (can be issued to up to 3 units). As it’s a combat phase ability, you cannot All-out Attack, but you can always use the aetherquartz reserve.
Monster, Behemoth, Totem, he got them all…
The Alarith Stonemage is the main Alarith buff piece if you are interested in an Alarith-themed army. He is there to increase rend to Stoneguards (at the cost of stopping them from piling in), has a spell that allows him to fly while halving the Move of an enemy unit but the best use of his spell is Unbreakable Stoicism that given to a Stoneguard opportunely buffed allows it to do mortal wounds on a 5+.
He can also carry an artefact, Molten Talisman, that gives Alarith units within 12″ +1 to wound and can be given a command trait, Unyielding Toughness, that increases a Stoneguard wound characteristic by 1 until your next hero phase.
On top of that, he also allows Avalenor and the Spirits of Mountain to use their top row when attacking. If you are going heavy on Alarith he is essential, otherwise a hard-pass.
The Hurakan Windmage is the main hero and wizard of the Hurakan temple. Comparing to the Stonemage, he is just much less essential to a Hurakan list. His main role is to either cast the teleport spell (Transporting Vortex, but you have Teclis for that), or give 2″ more and flying to the Windchargers. If you really want flying cavalry, then making it general can expand this ability to 24″, but is it worth?
Sevireth, Lord of the Seventh Wind is the named version of the Spirit of the Wind. With 24″ flying movement and another 12″ normal move or retreat at the end of the shooting phase, he definitely can go places. He shares also the Hurakan pile-in of 6″ in any direction when charging and mortal wounds on units he flies over or after performing a charge. He can also perform the Monstrous Rampage Smash to Rubble as if he was a monster.
It’s a great model, interesting rules, but him and the Spirit of the Wind have a point cost appropriate to the old warscroll, not the most recent one.
Monsters in Lumineth Realm-lords
Monsters can perform special abilities called Monstrous Rampages at the end of the Charge phase. Each action can be performed only once per phase therefore only up to 4 monsters can perform one at a time. Here is the current list:
- Roar: on a 3+ an engaged enemy unit cannot issue or receive orders in the following combat phase.
- Stomp: on a 2+ do D3 mortal wounds to an engaged unit that is not a monster.
- Titanic Duel: + 1 to hit rolls against another engaged Monster.
- Smash to Rubble: on a 3+ demolish a close-by terrain feature, disabling its scenery rules.
There are mainly three warscrolls with the Monster keyword in Lumineth, two are Teclis and Avalenor.
The third one is the Alarith Spirit of the Mountain, the unnamed version from the same kit as Avalenor. The profile is very similar, but he is not a Leader, just a Monster, a Behemoth and a Totem. The difference can be seen in a weaker melee profile (still not to be trifled with), the -1 to hit applied only to a single unit instead of all in range and +1 attack to a Stoneguard unit applied to up to D3 units instead of flat 3.
While not a bad profile, there may not be enough space for him and Avalenor, and Avalenor just does so much more.
Sevireth, despite not being a monster, can perform Smash to Rubble.
Battlelines in Lumineth Realm-lords
The Vanari Auralan Wardens strangely enough unlock battleline options as each unit allows a unit or Sentinels or one of Dawnriders to become battleline. They are also the only pure battleline option and introduce the first particularity of Vanari: their leader is a Wizard as long as there’s at least 50% or more models alive compared to the minimum size unit. In this case 5 or more.
This to allow to launch Power of Hysh, a spell that can be cast by multiple wizards in the same phase that improves the Vanari weapons so that they do mortal wounds on 5+ to hit instead of only 6. In addition, the ability Shining Company gives the enemy a -1 to hit as long as each model touches base with at least 2 more models of the same unit.
Apart from this, they are a decent chaff, with 3″ weapon that allows to be put in tight formations and still all be useful and a 3+/3+ rend-1 attack profile when charging.
Conditional Battlelines in Lumineth Realm-lords
As mentioned above, for each unit of Wardens in the army, a unit of Vanari Auralan Sentinels or Vanari Dawnriders can be set as battleline. Of the Lumineth units they are the most infamous as they were a power house in the previous edition. They remain an excellent shooting unit, but a bit scaled back. As all Vanari, they have access to Power of Hysh (same Wizard rule as the Wardens) and Shining Company and when close to another unit of Sentinels or a Ballista, they can shoot up to 30″ away.
In Helon they get their better buff with a +1 to hit and wound when within 6″ of an enemy (used to be +1 attacks before the FAQ) and remain a good unit for a Lumineth castle (shooting unit covered behind a wall of units that slowly take position and annihilates everything around them).
The Vanari Dawnriders have the same battleline conditions as the Sentinels, with which they share Shining Company and the leader-wizard until there’s at least 3 models in the unit to cast Power of Hysh.
They are a good cavalry unit with 14″ movement and a deadly charge. They can increase their attack characteristic if they fight unmounted units with a low Wound characteristic.
One unit of Vanari Bladelords can become battleline for each Scinari hero in the army. Their third edition warscroll is much better than in the past, but their main role is to bodyguard a Scinari hero: wounds directed to a Scinari unit can instead (on a 2+) be directed to them protecting your fragile heroes.
When attacking they have 2 potential stances: Perfect Strike does straight up mortal wounds on a 2+, the number of attacks depending on how many enemies they are facing (up to 3 per Bladelord against a unit of 10 or more models), while Flurry of Blows is your normal attack, although without rend, that can be buffed to do mortal wounds on a 5+ instead.
The Alarith Stoneguard are battleline in Ymetrica armies. While they have a decent profile, extremely tanky, they can absorb buffs that is a real pleasure. In Ymetrica, not only they are battlelines, but they also ignore any base rend of -1 and -2 that combined with a 4+ save (mystic shield any one?) and 4+ ward while contesting an objective under your control makes them already tough to shift.
In addition, the Stonemage have access to a spell that improves their mortal wounds on 5+ to hit instead of 6. The Stonemage can also give them -2 rend if they don’t pile in with the through his stance, and he has access to command traits and artefacts that brings them to 3 wounds per model until your next hero phase and gives +1 to wound.
And Avalenor or a Spirit of the Mountain can give them +1 attack, that can be combined with their aetherquartz ability for a +1 to hit.
Shall we resume? A single unit of 5 can become 15 attacks 2+/2+, -2 rend, mortal wounds on a 5+ to hit, 3+ save, 4+ ward, ignore rend -1 and -2 and 3 wounds per model… Not a bad stat line for a moderately cheap battleline.
The Hurakan Windchargers are battleline in Helon armies where they get also a +1 to hit and wound on shooting attacks within 6″ range. They are a skirmish unit, with short-range missile weapons with the ability to ignore wards.
Their main ability, whose first iteration was terrible for opponent players, now allows them to pile-in in any direction, and if they charged in the same turn, they can pile-in up to 6″ flying. The idea is that they can either retreat from battle, or step over the front line and engage the rear-ways. They are much more fiddly, but with 3″ melee range and the right terrain in between, they can still engage an enemy, attack it and force it to do nothing that turn.
Wizards and Priests in Lumineth Realm-lords
Lumineth Realm-lords are great wizards, well represented by their selection of spell lores.
The Lore of Hysh can be used by Teclis, Scinari and Vanari wizards and includes great options like the dreaded Total Eclipse that forces the opponent to use 2 command points instead of 1 for each command ability played and Protection of Hysh that gives a 9″ bubble around the caster of 5+ ward that is essential for the survival of the less armoured units.
Apart from Teclis, the list of wizards that can use this lore includes the double casters Scinari Enlightener and Ellania & Ellathor, and the single casters Lyrior, Lord Regent, Cathallar, Calligrave, Loreseeker. The Auralan Wardens, Sentinels and Dawnriders can also become wizards when their champion is taken and their unit contains more than 5 (Wardens/Sentinels) or 3 (Dawnriders) models.
Teclis and the Hurakan wizards have access to the Lore of the Winds with mobility effects like Transporting Vortex that allows to teleport a unit anywhere outside 9″ from all enemies.
Teclis and the Alarith wizards have access to the Lore of the High Peaks with options like Unbreakable Stoicism that allows a unit of Stoneguard to improve their mortal wound damage on 5+ to hit.
There are no priests.
Other units in Lumineth Realm-lords
The Vanari Starshard Ballista is the only piece of Artillery available in the army. With a 30″ range, that can become 36″ when in proximity of another Ballista or some Sentinels, they can threaten the whole battlefield. With a damage output normally lower than Sentinels (except against monsters) their best advantage is a consistent attack profile, greater range and a once-per-game ability to impose -1 to hit to their targeted unit.
The Hurakan Spirit of the Wind is the other assembly option of Severith. He is not a hero, neither a monster and shares most rules with Severith including the 24″ flying movement, the 12″ move or retreat at the end of the shooting phase, mortal wounds and 6″ pile-in anywhere after charge.
As Severith, with a considerable point reduction, may be worth considering.
Myari Lightcaller and Myari’s Purifiers are a Warhammer Underworld warband from Season 4. Myari is a Scinari wizard from Ymetrica and her Purifiers act as bodyguard. Nothing else to see here.
Endless Spells, Terrain and Start Collecting in a Lumineth Realm-lords Army
Lumineth Realm-lords have the entire package, with endless spells, faction terrain and value-added box.
The Hyshian Twinstones is the first of our spells that provides a bonus to cast dependant on how many other spells have been cast successfully in its proximity. With so many bonuses to cast already in the army, it may be useful in some context to push something through, but it is a bit of a niche spell.
The Sanctum of Amyntok is an added protection to a wizard but it is not super easy to set up (more than 3″ from anything else on the battlefield, with the caster inside) and provides a very moderate amount of mortal wounds if a unit attacks it in melee…
The Rune of Petrification is not a game-changer but the best of the lot. In addition to multiple chances to do D3 mortal wounds to enemy units, it reduces their run and charge rolls by 1 as well.
The Shrine Luminor is an artwork, and in game an extremely useful piece providing garrisoning to a single unmounted non-monster hero that can then give one re-roll per turn to cast, dispel or unbind within 24″ (instead of 12″) and issue a command ability per round for free.
Finally, we get to the Vanguard box for Lumineth that contains an incredible assortment of units with a Scinari Cathallar, a unit of 5 Vanari Bladelords, one with 10 Vanari Auralan Wardens and one with 10 Vanari Auralan Sentinels. That is a good starting force. You have a wizard, a decent one at it, an elite unit, a chaff unit to protect your wall and one of the fiercest shooting unit.
And since the Scinari unlocks the Bladelords as battleline and the Wardens unlock the Sentinels as battleline, you already have 1 hero and 3 battleline options without sweating!
Tactics and Final Verdict on the Lumineth Realm-lords Army
Lumineth Realm-lords have dominated the tournament scene since they were first released. The new battletome reduced the negative play experience the opponent would feel while playing against but still keeps some tricks up their sleeves.
They are definitely much more approachable than before, even new players could try them, but it would require working hard as they still have some complicated synergies that would need practice.
Their strongest point is definitely magic. They don’t depend anymore from Teclis, earlier a staple of any Lumineth army, and can now vary a bit. Scinari ability to auto-cast on a 9 and few other magic buffs (like Zaitrec sub-faction), means that if you need to pull off Total Eclipse or Protection of Hysh you have more options. Another neat trick is to teleport a Scinari near the enemy lines to launch the Rune of Petrification endless spell for a minimum of 2D3 damage before the enemy can reply with a quite hard dispel roll.
You still have Teclis available, that also provides a bonus to cast and infinite unbinds, but is a huge investment in point cost.
Apart from the hero phase, another of their strongest points was the shooting phase. Sentinels are much scaled back from their first iteration, but are still a strong presence on worldwide battlefields. The Ballista and Windchargers provide more support in an army focussed on ranged potential. The latter, in particular, are great skirmisher, able to choose their fight when engaged and represent a threat when shooting.
Helon was the sub-faction choice for shooting armies, but July 2023 FAQ changed their main battle trait, so we will see if that makes shooting still viable or not. Other great sub-faction include Ymetrica to buff the Alarith and Zaitrec for some magic help.
After the shooting phase there was a bit of power vacuum in Lumineth armies. Now the Alarith temple comes at the forefront much buffed and proposing interesting combos, in particular in an Ymetrica army. The 3 units work well in concert, with the Stonemage used as main buffer, Avalenor (or a Spirit of the Mountain) as a hammer and buffer for Stoneguard that are now extremely resilient making them the perfect anvil.
The resurgence of the Mountain temple gives a bit of variety in an otherwise quite monochrome army, and opens up new options and strategies. The Stoneguard opportunely buffed can also punch back and spread mortal wounds the same way as Vanari buffed with Power of Hysh (the spell most of them can cast to improve their mortals on a 5+ to hit).
Between the Vanari, the biggest improvement is seen by the Bladelords that are now a real elite unit and can finally get their rightful place in many lists. They can provide enough fighting power in a castle army with much shooting, or be used with many other strategies. When thrown against horde units (10 or more models) they can really do some serious damage.
The aetherquartz reserve is an important tool in Lumineth’s arsenal as it provides a once-per-game buff (or twice in Syar) that can be impactful when used at the right time. What is more important, they overlap with command abilities like All-out Attack and All-out Defence, meaning that they can still receive other commands and get those benefits, or use the aetherquartz even if somehow they have been prevented from receiving command abilities in that phase.
Speaking of which, Lumineth still have access to Total Eclipse, a spell that forces the opponent to use 2 command points instead of 1 for any command ability, making much harder any type of reaction.
The last thing to consider, especially when using tricks like the Windchargers retreat, is the ability to pick two units to fight instead of 1 during the combat phase. This provides a great strategic advantage to Lumineth armies, especially considering that most of the time you will not have many units engaged so you will finish fighting before your opponent had a chance to choose many of his units.
Why you should play the Lumineth Realm-Lords army
Overall the army has a bit of everything, the Wind Temple probably being the biggest losers in the last iteration, but Windchargers are still useful and can annoy your opponent. Despite this, it still feels like something is missing. And this is because Tyrion and 2 temples yet have to make their appearance.
The present range really focusses on magic prowess and agility, with the Alarith being the only ones to distinguish themselves. We will have to see the unavoidable expansion what other tricks will bring to the fray. We mention this because entering the Lumineth world is a long-term investment. As opposite to other factions that may or may not receive an update or few models here and there, Lumineth have a strong chance to see an increase in models in the near and medium term.
As the model range is completely new, it’s also on the high end when considering costs. There’s that to take into consideration. Past this, the models are all stunning (headgears are an acquired taste), the army is highly competitive, internal balance is definitely better than previous iterations and most rules have been simplified making it less a daunting experience both to beginners and opponents alike.
