Grimhold Exiles are the survivors of fallen magmaholds, warriors who fight to honour their lost kin with each blazing hammer-strike. So inspiring and tragic are these individuals, they are often accompanied by a band of dedicated warriors from other magmaholds who proudly follow them into battle.
Deathmasters are the greatest assassins of the Clans Eshin, trained in the shadowy arts of stealth and contracted to slay those whom influential skaven deem too dangerous to live. Armed with poisoned ‘weeping blades’ and toxin-laced throwing stars, these supernaturally dextrous killers have slain kings and warlords beyond count.
For centuries beyond counting has the race of malevolent ratmen known as the skaven plagued the Mortal Realms. Arrogant, avaricious and utterly without mercy, the skaven seek to annihilate every other sapient creature – expanding, multiplying, and consuming everything in their path until they alone rule over the decaying husk of reality. Those who defy this vision are overwhelmed by swarms of frenzied, red-eyed warriors, weaponized plagues, monstrous beasts and lightning-spitting war machines. Arise, Children of the Great Horned Rat!
Clanrats mass into huge clawpacks, their vast numbers bolstering their courage and allowing them to surge across the battlefield and overwhelm the enemy, regardless of the hideous casualties they suffer along the way.
The skaven are a race of perfidious ratfolk who gnaw on the very fabric of existence, pouring from their Under-Empire in teeming swarms to spread corruption and conquer the Mortal Realms in the name of the Great Horned Rat. Led by maniacal Grey Seers, great seething hordes of Clanrats scurry to war, joined by hulking mutant Stormfiends bristling with esoteric weaponry, and unstable Warp Lightning Cannons that can obliterate entire regiments – if they don't destroy themselves first...
The lives of the Fyreslayers revolve around battle, for these grizzled duardin mercenaries will fight on behalf of any who meet their price in gold. Renowned for their fearsome tempers and unrivalled martial skills, the Fyreslayers seek treasure to gather the essence of their long-lost deity, Grimnir. Inspired by Battlesmiths bellowing the deeds of their forebears, stalwart Hearthguard warriors and unyielding Vulkite Berzerkers charge into battle, craving glory and gold alike.
Auric Runesmiters are war priests of unrivalled power and renown amongst the Fyreslayers, channeling the spirit of Grimnir into the lodge's warriors through ur-gold runes. Mounted atop a fearsome Magmadroth, a Runesmiter tears their way into the heart of battle in a wave of sacred flame, incinerating gathered foes even as they imbue their kin with uncanny strength and resilience.
The Aeldari once ruled the galaxy, before their civilisation collapsed beneath the weight of its own hedonism. Now the Asuryani sail the stars aboard massive vessels called craftworlds, their citizens keeping to highly disciplined Paths to avoid drowning in the same decadent madness as their ancestors. Each craftworld's Guardians take up arms to defend their dying race, wielding deadly shuriken catapults or power blades, or shredding foes atop their swift Windrider jetbikes.
Aeldari mythology is replete with noble heroes at one with their steeds, and in the Shining Spears, the glories of legend are made manifest. These Aspect Warriors live to joust, which they do at breathtaking speeds upon their jetbike mounts. Their chosen weapon is the long and formidable laser lance, which uses a powerful energy blast to burn an opening in the target – instants before the bulk of the weapon slams home with devastating, piercing force.
The Rangers are Outcast warriors, wanderers who left the regimented lives of the craftworlds behind them. Adepts in the arts of stealth warfare, marksmanship, and tracking enemies through harsh terrain, the Rangers aid their brethren as scouts and snipers. Veiled by cameleoline cloaks and gloom field generators, they can hide from their foes even in plain sight as they pick them off one by one from extreme range.
Autarchs are renowned for their strategic brilliance, sublime martial skill and indomitable strength of will. Long have they trodden the Path of the Warrior, wearing the ritual masks of countless Aspect Warriors and yet never once slipping into the trap of obsession. Instead, these peerless leaders now walk the Path of Command. Wielding a dizzying variety of wargear and tactics mastered across millennia of battle, they apply all that they have learned to their command of the Asuryani warhosts.
An Avatar of Khaine is an ancient deity incarnate – a burning shard of Khaela Mensha Khaine, the Bloody-Handed God of the Aeldari. Awakened for battle, he marches through enemy fire without breaking stride, laughing cruelly as his weapon – the Wailing Doom – cleaves flesh and tastes the blood of his foes with each strike.