Fyreslayers Are Back, and Now We’re Also Thinking About Giants
We started with one simple observation and somehow ended up staring at giant AoS warscrolls in disbelief.
Fyreslayers are having a real comeback
Michał threw it out there first: Fyreslayers are going through a proper renaissance after the update. And honestly, it really does feel that way right now. According to what we were chatting about, there’s basically not a week without dwarf armies landing in the top 3 of some Age of Sigmar GT.
That kind of result always makes us look at an army a second time.
Fyreslayers have had that reputation for a while of being a very specific taste: angry naked duardin, lots of orange, lots of axes, lots of running directly into trouble. But when an update suddenly pushes a faction back into regular top-table conversations, it changes how we think about army-building. A faction that used to be “cool but niche” starts looking like a very real project.
So how many dwarf factions are there in AoS, anyway?
That question also came up in the chat, because Age of Sigmar dwarf-adjacent armies can get a bit confusing if you don’t follow every release closely.
As we talked it through, the currently relevant duardin conversation looked like this:
- Fyreslayers
- Kharadron Overlords
- Chaos Dwarfs / Hashut stuff — announced, but not really here yet in the sense we were discussing
And of course that led us briefly into the side topic of Chaos Dwarfs in Total War, because no discussion about fantasy dwarfs stays on one track for long.
Then the conversation took a hard turn toward giants
The really fun part of the chat was when Michał started wondering what it’s actually like to play Sons of Behemat in Age of Sigmar.
The comparison was immediate and very relatable: it sounds a bit like Chaos Knights in Warhammer 40k. Very few models, huge presence on the table, and a list that looks absurd if you’re used to normal army counts.
At 2000 points, we were talking about armies that can be basically 3–4 models.
That’s the kind of list that instantly rewires your brain.
Instead of thinking:
- how do we fit another utility unit,
- how many screens do we need,
- what can hold the backfield,
…you’re suddenly thinking:
- how many massive idiots can we physically fit into 2000 points,
- how hard do they hit,
- and can they just stand on objectives and dare the opponent to do something about it?
That alone makes giant armies fascinating from an army-building perspective. They break a lot of the habits we develop from more conventional lists.
The points are wild
One of the details that really made us stop was the points cost. Michał noticed that the cheapest “proper” giant was 460 points. That is already enough to make the whole army concept feel ridiculous in the best possible way.
Later he also spotted that there are smaller gargants at 130 points, although the immediate verdict in the chat was… let’s say, not especially flattering.
Still, the key point remained the same: this is an army where every model matters, every movement matters, and every mistake probably feels enormous.
And apparently the giants are not just a meme
The funniest part is that this wasn’t just us theorycrafting nonsense. While checking GT results, Michał found that there were giant armies in the finals of GT events in August — including a build that featured three of the same giant.
That’s the moment where the whole thing stops being “haha, imagine bringing four huge models” and starts becoming a genuine hobby question:
what does it actually take to build, paint, and play an army like that well?
Because sure, low model count armies look easier on paper. Fewer kits, fewer bases, fewer details overall. But they also create a very different kind of pressure. When you only have a handful of pieces on the board, every one of them has to do work.
Why this kind of chat always ends in army ideas
This is exactly the sort of hobby conversation we love most. It starts with a meta observation — in this case, Fyreslayers doing extremely well after an update — and then immediately opens up a dozen side doors:
- should we take another look at duardin in AoS?
- how real is the Fyreslayer resurgence?
- are giant armies actually fun, or just funny?
- is Sons of Behemat basically the AoS answer to Chaos Knights?
And honestly, the answer is usually the same: now we want to read more lists, look at more event results, and probably price out some completely unreasonable project.
Images from the chat
A couple of screenshots from the conversation that pushed us deeper into giant-list curiosity:
Final thought
Right now the headline is simple: Fyreslayers seem very real again.
But the side effect of that discussion was maybe even better: we got reminded how weird and appealing Age of Sigmar army-building can be. One minute we’re talking about resurgent duardin at GT level, and the next we’re looking at armies where 2000 points might be just a few enormous lads stomping around the table.
That, honestly, is part of the charm.