How to Play Flesh-eater Courts in Warhammer Age of Sigmar (4th Edition)

The army's signature rule is the Delusion system (sometimes referenced as "A Kingdom Deluded"). You choose a Delusion that colours how your whole army behaves, and crucially you commit to it after seeing the battleplan, your opponent and who takes the first turn. That late decision makes the army very flexible.

Each Delusion pushes a different fantasy. Broadly confirmed examples include:

• A movement/board-control mode that boosts running and can screen your Heroes from being targeted at range.
• A charge-and-kill mode that grants +1 to hit when your units charge near your Heroes.
• Themes tied to specific Heroes (for example a Delusion that specifically pumps serfs and beasts).

The other pillar is recursion. Near your Abhorrant Heroes you can return slain models to your ghoul units for free each turn (more models come back for serfs than for elite knights), and Abhorrants can heal. This means a Flesh-eater army bleeds bodies far more slowly than its low saves suggest.

Note: some sources describe the Delusion as potentially changing during the game via a dice roll; treat the precise trigger as something to confirm in your battletome.

The current battletome offers around four battle formations, each leaning into one part of the roster. Confirmed formations include:

• Lords of the Manor - the recursion specialist. It improves how many models you return when you rally or muster the guard (serfs come back reliably; knights on a roll).
• Royal Menagerie - the monster formation. Non-Hero monsters and beasts can duplicate rampages and gain a strikes-first effect on a big (9+) charge.
• The Royal Hunt - a serf/infantry formation that grants extra pile-in movement and chip mortal-wound output.
• The Knight-focused formation (see the naming caveat in the warnings) that adds Rend to charging Knight units near a Hero.

Pick the formation that matches your core plan: bodies and objectives (Lords of the Manor), monster alpha strikes (Royal Menagerie), or an elite Knight hammer. Because the exact contents and points shift between updates, verify the formation list in your current book.

• Abhorrant Heroes (Archregent, Ghoul King, Cardinal, Gorewarden) - your engine. They enable recursion, healing and buffs, and several unlock or fuel Delusions. Protecting them is central to the whole army.
• Ushoran, Mortarch of Delusion - the centrepiece monster-hero, a durable, high-impact beatstick and a strong Delusion/buff anchor.
• Crypt Ghouls (serfs) - cheap, expendable horde battleline. They hold objectives, screen, and stream back to life near Heroes.
• Cryptguard / Royal Beastflayers - tougher infantry options that add staying power and offensive punch to the line.
• Crypt Horrors and Crypt Flayers (knights) - your elite damage-dealers: resilient, hard-hitting, and the payoff for Knight-focused buffs.
• Royal Terrorgheist and Royal Zombie Dragon - the big monsters. The Terrorgheist's scream is a ranged threat and both hit hard on the charge, especially inside the Royal Menagerie.
• Courtiers (e.g. Varghulf Courtier) - support pieces that buff and recur nearby units.
• High Falconer Felgryn - a newer Hero tied to a serf-and-beast Delusion theme.

Confirm unit availability, stats and points in your current battletome and battle profiles.

Flesh-eater Courts play as a resilient hybrid of horde and monster. The plan is usually:

1. Screen and hold with serfs. Cheap ghouls blanket objectives and no-man's-land. They die readily, but recursion near your Heroes keeps refilling them, so you win attrition on the board even while losing the body count. 2. Choose your Delusion for the matchup. Because you commit late, read the battleplan and opponent first, then pick the mode (movement, charge buffs, or a Hero-specific theme) that best answers them. 3. Land the hammer. Crypt Horrors/Flayers and your monsters (Terrorgheist, Zombie Dragon, Ushoran) deliver the killing blows, ideally on a charge and inside a formation that boosts charging. 4. Keep Heroes alive and central. Your recursion, healing and buffs all radiate from Abhorrants. Position them safely but within range of the front line.

The army rewards aggression backed by a deep, self-repairing body count.

• Letting Heroes die. Lose your Abhorrants and you lose recursion, healing and buffs at once - the army can fold fast. Screen and protect them.
• Committing the Delusion too early or picking the wrong one. The late choice is a strength; waste it and you leave value on the table.
• Spreading serfs too thin. They work as dense screens and objective-holders; scattered, they get chewed up before they can be recurred.
• Overextending monsters into concentrated anti-monster or high-Rend firepower.

Flesh-eaters tend to struggle against armies with heavy rend and mortal-wound / horde-clearing output (which outpaces recursion), against alpha strikes that kill your key Heroes early, and against opponents who can out-score while trading efficiently into your cheap chaff. Their low saves and modest bravery mean you rely on numbers, healing and positioning rather than raw durability.