Broken Realms: Morathi - The Hobbyist's Review

Welcome to The Hobbyist’s Review, a semi-regular series in which I take a different look at Warhammer game books, old and new. This time I'm taking a look at Broken Realms: Morathi, the first in a new series of campaign books for Warhammer Age of Sigmar.

For me, the most appealing thing about a new army, faction or book is the chance to put my own stamp on the models in creative ways. That can be through an unusual paint scheme, unique character conversions or even an entire army-wide theme. Ideas can come from a wide variety of sources, but the intricate and evocative lore created by the Games Workshop writers never fails to inspire. The Hobbyist’s Review series considers Warhammer game books based on the scope and opportunity they offer for the creative hobbyist, using the lore presented in the books as a jumping off point, and suggesting ideas that you might like to think about for your own projects.

Warning! This review contains spoilers for Broken Realms: Morathi.

Campaign Book Overview

Warhammer Age of Sigmar has only been around for five years at this point, but it's already built up an impressive back-catalogue of campaign books and supplements. The Realmgate Wars series kicked things off, giving us our first broad view of the Mortal Realms and the basic foundations of the setting. Season of War: Firestorm introduced the free cities of Sigmar for the first time, as civilisation tentatively returned to the Realms. Following the release of the game's second edition, Malign Portents dealt with the events leading up to Nagash's necroquake, signalling the end of Chaos' dominance in the storyline and the beginning of the Soul Wars. Finally, Wrath of the Everchosen explored Archaon's response to the rise of Nagash and the forces of Death.

Each of these books and series took a different approach in its presentation style and storytelling. Some were very broad in scope, taking a bird's-eye-view of epoch-defining events in the style of a mythical saga. Others brought things down to ground level and showed us smaller (but no less significant) conflicts through the eyes of the key players. Some books had something for everyone, whereas others focused on just a handful of factions. Some were heavy on lore, while others encouraged players to create their own stories. All of this to say that, with an Age of Sigmar campaign book, you never know quite what you're going to get.

As it turns out, Broken Realms: Morathi is unlike any other campaign book yet produced for Age of Sigmar. The nature of the unfolding narrative and the way it's presented actually shares more in common with the End Times series that drew Warhammer Fantasy Battle to a close - major character-driven events that upend the status quo, told with grim, gritty detail and a flair for the dramatic. For all the gnashing of teeth caused by the end of the old game system, the End Times series itself is widely regarded as some of the best plotting and writing that the Games Workshop team has ever produced, and Broken Realms: Morathi feels of a piece with that. I felt the same sense of thrill, wonder and disbelief reading it as I did when the story of the World-That-Was reached its dramatic conclusion back in 2014. Oh, and there’s a load of brilliant, brand new artwork in it too!

So, before we get down to the business of exploring the hobby opportunities that this book offers, let me say this; regardless of whether you plan to use the campaign system, battleplans and new rules, Broken Realms: Morathi is a must-read for anyone with even a passing interest in the Age of Sigmar story and lore. There's more meat on the narrative bones than in any previous Age of Sigmar campaign book, and if this standard is maintained for the rest of the series then 2021 is going to be a fantastic year for fans of the Mortal Realms.

Now, on to the hobby stuff!

New Army Lists & Sub-Factions

When the contents of Broken Realms: Morathi were first revealed via Warhammer Community, my tentative assumption was that the new army lists might provide some interesting hobby opportunities, with evocative themes that would offer a new spin on existing units and factions.

Previous campaign books have been a bit of a mixed bag in this regard. Often, new army lists or allegiances can be very 'gamey' - they provide players with a new way to combine their existing models and factions, throwing in a few new allegiance abilities but without offering a distinctive theme that truly makes the list feel like something different and exciting. There’s nothing wrong with that – in fact I’m sure most fans would prefer to have more gaming options than more converting options. But that’s not the focus of The Hobbyists Review!

Occasionally, a campaign book will really fire up the hobbyist's imagination, tempting us with the opportunity to create a whole new army filled with characterful conversions - Season of War: Firestorm was a great example of this, with its ghost fleet of spectral pirates and the first glimpse of what would become the Cities of Sigmar, which was an entirely new concept at the time.

For the most part, the army lists in Broken Realms: Morathi fall into the 'gamey' category. They offer some interesting new ways to combine and play with your existing model collection, but there are no creative hooks on the level of 'ghost pirates!' for the hobbyist to make hay with. There are new rules for Daughters of Khaine, Cities of Sigmar, Stormcast Eternals, Slaves to Darkness and Idoneth Deepkin. These range from simple warscroll updates to new battalions and allegiance abilities that allow you to structure and play your army in a slightly different way. They’re are an effective representation of the forces that take part in the story, and well worth checking out if you already collect and play these factions, but they’re by no means a call to pick up your clippers and paintbrush.

Cities of Sigmar get two new sub-factions or allegiances in the form of Misthåvn and Har Kuron. Of all the new army lists, only these two really have any unique hobby potential. The 'city' of Misthåvn itself is a glorious creation - a mobile, floating settlement formed from an eclectic armada of ships all lashed together, and populated by the most despicable mortals ever to disgrace the banners of Order. A ragtag band of buccaneers and irredeemable criminals with a nautical theme is certainly a take on the Cities of Sigmar that we haven't seen before, and it would be interesting to see how the Citadel model range might be converted and painted to represent them.

Har Kuron (spoilers ahead) represents the aelven forces of the newly conquered and renamed Anvilgard, bringing all of Warhammer Fantasy Battle's dark elf legacy factions together again under one banner. And yes, it’s still a ‘Cities of Sigmar’ faction for rules purposes! There’s no new spin on the theme of dark aelves as such, but their unique place as the standing army of the 'city formerly known as Anvilgard' does at least suggest an interesting paint scheme, given that the city is characterised by an eerie green glow. That could look interesting.

At this point in the review you’d be forgiven for thinking that things are starting to look a little bit grim on the hobbying front, but have no fear! This book is actually chock-full of exciting painting and modelling opportunities - they just happen to come from less obvious places.

Varanthax’s Maw

I'm going to let you in on a secret; there's actually an incredibly creative and evocative new army in Broken Realms: Morathi. It features prominently in the story, it's described as having a plethora of unique units that would definitely need some conversion work to do them justice, and it has a really unique and compelling theme that's quite unlike anything yet seen in an Age of Sigmar battletome. Why didn't I mention it in the previous section, you ask? Because this wonderfully creative new army has no allegiance abilities, no warscrolls and no battalions. Yes, that's right - the most unique force in the book isn't actually one of the 'official' sub-factions and doesn't get any rules! D'oh!

No matter! The inveterate converter cares not for rules, 'viability', 'officialness' or any of that nonsense! We just want an excuse to get the bitz box out, and Varanthax's Maw offers that in spades. What is Varanthax's Maw you ask? I shall quote directly from the book:

"Once, the enormous forge-complex of Varanthax’s Maw was populated by nothing more than rabid, Chaos-warped monstrosities and scattered warbands seeking fortune and glory. Since the discovery of varanite surging up from below, however, it has been fortified and turned into a centre of dark industry."

Industrial-themed Slaves to Darkness eh? So far, so good! Just picture the barbed chains, the arcane mechanisms the acrid smoke, the crucibles of molten metal - perfect fodder for some truly delicious scenic bases and scatter terrain at the very least. But there's so much more. Varanthrax's Maw exists to extract varanite - Chaos-infused realmstone that, in its raw form, looks like molten, bubbling gore. This substance mutates anything it touches, and where there's mutation there's always an opportunity for conversions.

What models, precisely, would one apply this conversion work to? I'm glad you asked. The book talks about teams of slave labourers, which could be great stand-ins for Chaos Marauders. Kairic Acolyte models with Flagellant heads and a selection of primitive weapons could be a good foundation. Now imagine them standing on industrial bases, with splashes of gory varanite causing their flesh to become horrifically fused with the grinding metalwork. Tasty! And if you think that sounds good, just think of this concept scaled up to the level of a spawn or a Chaos gargant.

In the finest tradition of Age of Sigmar lore, the descriptions of the varanite mining operation also contain a number of throwaway references that don't go into great detail, but which spark the imagination nonetheless. Your conversion-heavy Varanthrax's Maw army could include 'thrall-smiths' and 'daemon-crawlers', for example. What are they? No-one knows, so go ahead and do whatever you like with these highly evocative names!

Thrall-smiths could be anything from Chaos duardin (similar to the one seen in the Iron Golem warband) to some kind of chained, warped daemon with hammers for hands. Daemon-crawlers are apparently used to transport the varanite, so some kind of daemon-possessed take on industrial mining equipment would seem appropriate, possibly combining the crude frame of a Warp Lightning Cannon with a Plagueburst Crawler or Mortek Crawler in some way. The Slaves to Darkness roster is so diverse that you can find a way to proxy pretty much anything your imagination can come up with. This section of Broken Realms: Morathi just oozes with potential.

Whereas the forces presented in the rules section of the book are pretty typical representations or minor remixes of existing factions, the denizens of Varanthax's Maw offer an entirely original take on the Slaves to Darkness - one which, on the tabletop, could look and feel very different to the way its parent faction is typically depicted. If the forces in Broken Realms: Morathi that got new rules could have been depicted as uniquely and evocatively as Varanthax's Maw, then I think you'd be seeing a lot of hobbyists starting new armies right now! A slight missed opportunity perhaps, but the book more than makes up for this in other areas.

Characters

Unlike most previous Age of Sigmar campaign books, Broken Realms: Morathi is very much focused on and driven by its characters. Whereas the Realmgate Wars series largely kept its characters at a distance from the reader, treating them more as plot points rather than as fully fleshed out individuals, Broken Realms puts them centre-stage and makes them feel like real, compelling people. They have distinct personalities, an inner life and agency within the world, directly shaping events rather than being broadly-sketched figures that are buffeted from one battlefield to the next by the winds of history.

While Morathi gets the lion’s share of the spotlight (as you’d expect for the book that bears her name) we spend just enough time with the dramatis personae of the other factions to get to know them. These include Stormcast Lord-Veritant Keiser Ven Brecht, Black Ark Fleetmaster Taras Nightscour and Chaos Lord Rokar Gresh, to name some of the more distinctive examples. In many cases they’re not given clear or unique physical descriptions that could form an obvious basis for a character conversion, but they’re interesting enough in terms of their personality and actions that I think many hobbyists will want to convert hero models to represent them regardless. It will take a little imagination, but the good thing about a vague description is that it gives more scope for personal interpretation and creativity.

If you already collect one of the armies that benefits from the new rules then I think this is where the hobbying opportunity lies. Adding a one-off character conversion to your collection could be a really fun little project, and could do a lot to help you feel immersed in the campaign games that this book provides.

Big Builds

We’ve looked at theming armies and converting characters – that’s the review done, right? Not by a long shot! There are several other hobby ideas evoked by Broken Realms: Morathi that I’m loosely classifying under the banner of ‘big builds’.

Firstly, if you’ve been searching for inspiration on how to build and theme an Age of Sigmar gaming table or Warcry board then this book is a gift. There are so many evocative locations that are extensively described and dripping with character. The two standouts for me are Misthåvn and – you guessed it – Varanthax’s Maw! I’ve already described both of these locales earlier in the review, so I won’t add to this already hefty word count by repeating myself here. Suffice to say, if you were to build a table based on either of these locations then not only would it be a truly rewarding hobby project, but you’d end up with a table quite unlike anything else I’ve seen, and one that would offer a totally different play experience to the usual Age of Sigmar or Warcry setup – verticality in the case of Varanthax’s Maw, and ship-hopping action in the case of Misthåvn. Special mention must also go to the Khainite gladiatorial pits of Anvilgard and/or Har Kuron, which get only a passing mention in the book but are clearly oozing with potential. The first person to build and share pictures of one of these tables or boards wins the internet for at least a week, guaranteed!

The second type of ‘big build’ that Broken Realms: Morathi inspires, for me, is the diorama. There are a number of dramatic moments in the book that are so richly described, I could see them playing out clearly and cinematically in my head. There’s the truly wild image of Morathi and her minions slicing open a giant bore-wyrm hanging within an industrialised underground chamber, using a cauldron to collect the bubbling varanite that gushes from its innards while Stomcast Eternals, Chaos slaves and Khainite scáthborn fight ferociously in the background. There’s also a great moment in which some Stormcast Eternals desperately take down a Chaos warshrine. Either of these, and so many more great moments, would make a fantastic diorama and a uniquely challenging hobby project.

It’s possible I may have saved the best ‘big build’ for last. As far as I’m aware, Broken Realms: Morathi is the first time we get an actual visual depiction of the elusive yet much-hyped cogforts! The picture itself is relatively small, and it’s not quite clear or detailed enough to model an exact replica, but it’s there! With some creative thinking and forward planning, hobbyists finally have the opportunity to build a cogfort based directly on how they appear in the setting, rather than supposition and guesswork. This cogfort, known as Old Firesnout, plays a small but dramatic part in the story, and I know there’ll be some hobbyists out there just itching to represent it on the tabletop somehow! And this thing is big. Whether you write up custom rules to field it in battles, use it as a scenario objective, build a diorama or even theme a whole table around it, it’s sure to be an incredibly eye-catching creation that enriches both your hobby and your games.

Conclusion

Broken Realms: Morathi is a triumph of writing, plotting, characterisation and atmosphere. And whilst I’m not generally one to get excited by new rules, I’m sure the rules content will satisfy the collectors of the factions that this book targets. I may have initially been a little thrown by the lack of hobby opportunities and inspiration in the new army lists or sub-factions, but it became clear to me pretty quickly that this is still a book to inspire the creative hobbyist in so many other ways, large and small. There’s so much great material here to draw on, and I truly hope to see a whole range of exciting and diverse projects spring from its pages.

To get your hands on your own copy of this fantastic campaign book, order from Firestorm Games for a substantial discount on the recommended retail price. Ordering from Firestorm Games via this link helps keep the light of Azyr shining on the Realm of Plastic.