Hammers of Sigmar

The first of the Stormhosts to be hurled into the Mortal Realms, the Hammers of Sigmar bleed and die each day in the name of Sigmar. Figureheads of the new order, they bear the responsibility that comes with that honour with strength and nobility

Let all who would oppose order and justice be warned – the **Hammers of Sigmar** have been unleashed. They are the power and majesty of the tempest, the fury of the bolt from the heavens made manifest.[1a]

The first Stormhost to be founded, the Hammers of Sigmar are the forerunners of the celestial storm. Gleaming and resplendent in their golden armour, they bore the honour of being the Stormcast Eternals sent into battle to strike the first blow of Sigmar’s new war on the Brimstone Peninsula. Since that initial blow, the Hammers of Sigmar have carried forth their proud banners into all the Mortal Realms. Bold, daring, and utterly committed to bringing down furious vengeance upon the Chaos oppressors, or any who dare oppose the God-King’s justice, the Hammers of Sigmar will ever be found at the forefront of the battle to reclaim the realms.[1a]

Of all the Stormhosts, the Hammers of Sigmar have seen the most battles in the name of the God-King; time and time again they are sent from the forges of the Sigmarabulum to the front lines of the grand war against Chaos. They know little of peace, for they are ever in the thick of battle. They would have it no other way.

This constant combat has earned the Stormhost many an accolade.

since the time of the Realmgate Wars. When the Free Peoples speak of the Stormcast Eternals, it is usually the Hammers of Sigmar to which they refer. Many are the statues raised to them. The Brimstone Peninsula, where the Hammers first wrested victory from the Goretide of Korghos Khul, has a great memorial to those who lost their souls to the scions of the Blood God that day, with a statue of the lost Lord-Celestant Jactos Goldenmane at its top. Similar honours and monuments can be seen across the realms – the free cities of Aqshy and beyond depict their victories, the better to immortalise them and give thanks for Sigmar’s blessings. Basilicas and palaces are adorned with mosaics and friezes inlaid with gold leaf imported from Chamon’s most glorious forests, and every minstrel or raconteur knows the songs and tales of their greatness. These warriors are rarely seen in the civilised hearts of the new cities, for the war against Chaos out in the wilds is never-ending. When the transfigured of the Hammers of Sigmar walk amongst those they protect, they seem to mortal eyes to be gilded statues from some fantastical dynasty given life, impassive beings of lightning and sigmarite that have more in common with angels than men.

For many of their number, that description is becoming more and more true with every reforging. Those who fight ceaselessly in the name of Sigmar risk death every day, and most have been killed more than once. The Hammers of Sigmar are often reforged in haste so that they may rejoin the war – and perhaps even bolster their kin to tip the balance in the same protracted engagement that saw them fall. Some amongst them, Lord-Celestant Vandus Hammerhand included, have begun to pay the price for this constant cycle of life and death.

The effects of these reforgings are becoming ever more noticeable, whether to their Stormcast brethren or the people they seek to save. Those who have been reincarnated too many times are afflicted with celestial visions, bear blazes of crackling lightning around their heads or manifest celestial energy in their fists when their temper runs hot. Such phenomena do not go unmarked, and only reinforce the rumours that, though mighty, the Hammers of Sigmar are not human at all.

As one of the largest of the Stormhosts, the Hammers of Sigmar can call upon every type of tempest-forged warrior Sigmar has created for his crusade. They have the largest Extremis Chamber of all their kind, for even the godbeast Dracothion has learned of their valour, and blessed them with the aid of many of his Stardrake and Dracoth children. They are the military machine around which all other Stormhosts are modelled, and hence are by their nature formal and rigid. They have trained so long in the Gladitorium that they intuitively form phalanxes, battle-lines, shield-walls and circular perimeters as one, and can adopt more complex formations at a single shouted word from the lords in their midst. Every warrior has a knack for tactics, and knows how best to support his fellows.

The Hammers of Sigmar fear nothing – nothing except that which they might one day become, and the notion of their own failure. Every man, woman and child across the realms looks to them for salvation, and they cannot be found wanting. In the Mortal Realms, hope is a fragile thing indeed; the Hammers believe if even a single rumour spreads suggesting that they are not equal to their task, it may undermine Sigmar’s entire endeavour. This fear of failure leads many of the Hammers of Sigmar’s commanders to drive their warriors on against impossible odds, when a more pragmatic leader might have conserved his resources or withdrawn for the sake of caution. Though this dogged refusal to concede the field has ended in calamity when the odds against them stack high, it has also seen victory snatched from the jaws of defeat. Those men and women saved by such incredible acts of fortitude are so thunderstruck, so grateful, they tell the tale of their awe-inspiring saviours whenever the opportunity arises. And so the legend of the Hammers spreads ever further.

As the cities of Sigmar’s new order rise high, the Hammers face enemies who cannot be laid low with force of arms. The expectations and desires of city leaders are of little import to the Lord-Celestants, for they answer only to Sigmar and the Celestant-Prime. With every petty noble or arrogant princeling they snub, they earn another enemy – and they have more than enough already. Many a determined Stormcast Eternal has fallen not to the axes of Chaos, but to the blades of assassins paid to remove them from the path of an ambitious lordling who prefers to rule on his own terms. Such schemers may well find a Judicator or Lord-Veritant at their door, whereupon their souls will be weighed, measured and found wanting – for even the corruption hidden in the hearts of noble men must be burned out if the Hammers of Sigmar are to succeed in their duty to the God-King.

The spiritual leader of the Hammers of Sigmar is the Celestant-Prime. Though that demigod-like figure is in many ways the lord of all the Stormhosts, the Hammers claim him as their own – he was the first of all Stormcast Eternals, just as their Stormhost was the first to be forged. The Hammers strive to be like him in all that they do. Perhaps, in doing so, they unconsciously hasten their journey towards becoming creatures of the storm.

## Known organization

### Temples

* **Azyr's Heralds** - Heraldor Temple.
* **Justicars of the God-King** - Judicator Temple.
* **Guardians of the Skygates** - Valedictor Temple.
* **The Risen Sons** - Relictor Temple.

### Crusade chambers

The Hammers of Sigmar comprises over twenty crusade chambers. However, only fourteen are formally listed in the Annals Celestis.

* Harbinger Chamber **‘The Hurricanums'** - Lord Nenthus Hurricanum.
* Harbinger Chamber **‘The Fulgurines'** - Lord Kaedus Fulgurine.
* Exemplar Chamber **‘The Engloriams'** - Lord Octus Engloriam.
* Warrior Chamber **‘The Skykindred'** - Lord Escrus Skykith.
* Warrior Chamber **‘The Hammerhands’** - Lord Vandus Hammerhand.
* Warrior Chamber **‘The Heavenhost’** - Lord Sargassus Heavenhost.
* Warrior Chamber **‘The Thriceblessed’** - Lord Devyndus Thriceblessed.
* Warrior Chamber **‘The Stormbound’** - Lord Tylos Stormbound.
* Warrior Chamber **‘The Annihilators’** - Lord Andrus Nihilat.
* Warrior Chamber **‘The Starborn’** - Lord Vectus Starborn.
* Extremis Chamber **'Heavenwrought'**.
* Extremis Chamber **'Hammers Draconis'** - Lord Imperius.
* Extremis Chamber **'Hammerclaws'**.
* Extremis Chamber **'Stormborn'**.

### Warrior Chamber 'The Hammmerhands'

* Vandus Hammerhand- Lord-Celestant.
* **Ionus Cryptborn** - Lord-Relictor.
* **Andricus Stoneheart** - Lord-Castellant.
* **Liminus Stormsight** - Knight-Azyros.
* **Laudus Skythunder** - Knight-Heraldor.
* **Yracus Cloudstrike** - Knight-Venator.
* **Vorticus Galespear** - Knight-Vexillor.[2a]

## Sources

* 1 *Order Battletome: Stormcast Eternals*.

	+ 1a pg.45
	+ 1b pg.47
	+ 1c pg.48
	+ 1d pg.49
	+ 1e pg.50

* 2 *The Realmgate Wars: Quest for Ghal Maraz*.

	+ 2a pg. 27

* 3 *The Realmgate Wars: Balance of Power*.

	+ 3a pg. 177
	+ 3b pg. 180
* 4 *White Dwarf Magazine: March 2017*