Khazalite Holds Arrive and Fyreslayers Lose Seven Units
Every new army in Age of Sigmar has a second story, and it is usually about what the old armies lose to make room. The duardin of the Khazalite Holds are the first story this week, and the Fyreslayers are the second.
Bell of Lost Souls’ weekly Warhammer preview says the Khazalite Holds come out of the mountains to fight Chaos in the coming week. Wargamer, which covered the reveal from Games Workshop’s Big Autumn Preview, described it as a brand new faction, and listed the army set: Hjulda Drakkblud as the leader, ten Clanshields, three Gholems of Gazul, and an Oathkeeper Cannon. Wargamer also noted that the Fyreslayers are being folded into the wider Khazalite Holds, which is where the trouble starts for some collections.
Warhammer Community has now spelled out what that means. Fyreslayers units staying in Battletome: Khazalite Holds include the Auric Runefather, Runeson and Runesmiter, the Auric Flamekeeper, the Grimhold Exile, Vulkyn Flameseekers, Auric Hearthguard and Hearthguard Berzerkers. Seven entries are leaving: Vulkite Berzerkers, the Auric Runemaster, the Battlesmith, the Doomseeker, the Grimwrath Berzerker, the Magmic Battleforge and Magmic Invocations. Those are headed to Warhammer Legends and will soon come off sale. Bell of Lost Souls had flagged the cuts earlier in the week.
The timing detail matters most if you run one of those units. According to Warhammer Community, the removed units stay usable in competitive events for one year after the new book releases, then move to Legends. It gave no exact date for either the sale cutoff or the book itself, calling the battletome imminent and saying pre-orders open “very soon.” So the honest answer to “when do I need to decide” is that we do not know yet. If you were planning to pick up a Vulkite Berzerker box, the safe assumption is that the window is short.
Vulkite Berzerkers are described as the most impactful removal. What is left is a more elite army built around Hearthguard and Flameseekers, with Magmadroths and characters on top. That is a real change in how the army plays, and it lands on players who bought into the faction as it was. Players who want a Fyreslayers-only list still have the Fyreslayers units that remain and the Fyrd of Fyrepeak Army of Renown, per Warhammer Community. A fair criticism is that nobody should have to learn about a unit’s expiry date from a rules article rather than the box. A fair credit is that the one-year tournament grace period gives people time to finish what they already own.
Over in Dungeons & Dragons, Bell of Lost Souls asks who Venger is, since the cartoon villain keeps turning up: on the cover of the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide and now in the appendix of Arcana Unleashed. The outlet’s earlier cover coverage described him as the one-horned lead villain of the D&D cartoon, shown alongside Warduke and Skylla. For anyone running a table, the practical read is that Wizards of the Coast keeps putting him in official books, which makes him easy to use as a recurring villain without much explaining to the players.
What ties the week together is that published books keep deciding what stays on the table. A new army reshapes an old one, and a new appendix pulls an old cartoon villain into the core rules. Neither is a crisis. Both are worth watching for what they cost or give the people who already own the old stuff. We will be looking for the Khazalite Holds release date and the Fyreslayers sale cutoff as soon as either one is confirmed.
Sources: Bell of Lost Souls on the Khazalite Holds, Bell of Lost Souls on the Fyreslayers, Wargamer, Warhammer Community, Bell of Lost Souls on Venger.
