Warhammer Age Of Sigmar Strikes From The Heavens
July 4, 2015 by brennon
Games Workshop have now dropped the hammer. Coming next week will be a whole host of Age of Sigmar models, terrain, books and more. We start things off though with the Age of Sigmar Box alongside some hobby supplies like the Stormcast Eternal and Khorne Bloodbound Figure Cases...
Age of Sigmar
The first big piece thing to drop is of course the boxed set itself, Age of Sigmar. It comes with two sides. On one hand you have the forces of Sigmar, the Stormcast Eternals. These warriors are valiant beacons of light that are sent from on high to do battle with the forces of Chaos.
On the other hand you have the Khorne Bloodbound who are as deadly and berserk as they sound. Basically this is a good old fashioned stomping session between good and evil. While I'm still a big fan of the Sigmarites I think the Chaos models are a little bit more lacklustre. I'm sure I will change my mind when I open up the box.
Keeping Them Safe
To keep your models safe Games Workshop have done what they did with The Hobbit and come up with both a Stormcast Eternal and Khorne Bloodbound version of their figure cases.
These aren't too bad at all and with the new foam from Games Workshop (the stuff in their other figure cases) you could actually see these being a useful buy for some people.
Painting The Horde
With all those models you're going to need some paint. Not only have they put together a new spray for the golden army of the Stormcast Eternals; Retributor Armour Spray, they have some additional paints including Retributor Armour, Liberator Gold and Flayed One Flesh.
I still use a lot of the Citadel paints myself and while my range is limited I still find them pretty good. There are better paints out there of course but its nice to have new options.
The Story Unfolds
As well as all the miniatures there is a new book. Gates of Azyr focuses on the main battle that you see played out in the boxed game above and gives you an quick peek into the world itself. Of course, the big background dump will be from the boxed games book but its nice to have some more narrative for this new world.
I might have to pick this up too as I do like reading about the background of Warhammer.
The Rules!
Of course there are also the rules to consider. You can not only grab the Download but also get it in the new White Dwarf PLUS all the Compendiums for your existing armies HERE.
The Rules Download
I don't mind the new rules; I'm looking forward to what they do with the rest of the armies. The Dwarfs have got some interesting new options and rules (no Rune Crafting though!) There are even some 'funny' rules in there which is quite a surprise.
What do you think so far?
"Basically this is a good old fashioned stomping session between good and evil..."
Supported by (Turn Off)
Supported by (Turn Off)
Supported by (Turn Off)
![Warcradle Studios Reveal TINY New 10mm Festive Marker! [Updated]](https://images.beastsofwar.com/2025/11/christmas-kyle-main-600-338.jpg)
This is almost a carbon copy of dark vengeance (small fast unit, 2 5 man troops, elite heavy armoured, 2 heroes. lots of fanatic like guys, a big brute, some chosen and a hero), don’t get me wrong there beautiful models but it’s not showing any imagination as far as a starter box goes.
I wouldn’t be too quick to knock them over that. GW have been pretty imaginative with the ruleset and gameplay so if they only stick to a formula that works for a starter set then it’s not too bad. I’m not too sure how balanced the two forces are but it looks like a great introduction to quite a few different unit types.
I agree. Makes Fantasy a true alternative to 40k if you are new to the hobby. GW has been very imaginative and brave in pretty much all other areas of this reboot, the starter set still looks cool and is good value for money.
…and in all good toy stores!
Big downside here right off- it says to measure to the model and ignore the base, so how you pose your minis affects how you play the game, and it feels wrong to not have points values of some kind…
Having grown up with fantasy and loved it I’m actually quite excited by this. Recent editions of the rules put me off massively (magic, deathstars etc) and the unit count was a massive barrier to re-entry.
Could see myself picking up a small skirmish force just to paint up and try this out.
Having no interest in fantasy previously this has lit a fire under me to grab a small force and give it a go. I mean free rule sets are avaliable for everything so why wouldn’t ☺
Because the rules are shit.
Simple and free does not equal interesting or good.
That’s your opinion. It’s insulting, offensive and obnoxious, and your opinion. Wrong, of course. It is also a utterly content free. Explain yourself. Why do you think the rules are poor?
It manages to be both simple and vague at the same time.
It fails to cover anything related to how you go about creating your forces, other then “put stuff on table”.
There is little to no flavour in the magic system. There is summoning spells all over the place.
The bases dont matter rule, gives me a headache. Are you kidding? Measuring to and from bases are one of the easiest ways to measure distances. Why not use it?
It is a system that clearly favors those with a massive bank balance, and reeks of pay to win.
There are some things that i like:
The layout and idea behind the Warscrolls is a good one.
Amd the fact that the rules are free.
And i laugh that you think my oppinion is wrong and offensive/obnoxious.
Apparently we are not alloved to disagree with you.
But maybe I am not as smitten by the flash and the new shiny, as you are 🙂
I don’t think it’s the content anyone objects to, just the style with which you express it.
I actually mostly agree with you but the way you express yourself comes across as very agressive and condescending. Hence it creates a negative backlash.
Just saying…
Kings of War is simple and free yet surprisingly tactical and fun to play. I bet Age of Sigmar is the same, simple to learn but may be harder to master than people think.
I do like the Chaos models… The Sigmarites I’m really not sure about. It is a game I could see being fun to play with friends while having a beer and role playing as Sigmar and the Chaos Gods…but that’s just me.
I’ll reserve judgement until I have one or more games under my belt
I am not sold on the minis in the starter box, but that is ok I have a few old WHFB armies
Over all those Chaos models are not too bad but those Empire models look too much like Space Marines. Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard to be specific. It does not help that some of those have wings.
And thats a bad thing? I’m looking at the positive side of this. You can now have Blood Angels without the bellbottom armor!
No more bellbottoms, no more ugly bellbottoms! Oh yeah I’m dig in it, twork it bellbottomless blood angels!
Am I seriously the first to suggest, get some back pack’s & bolter’s and this is a blood angel vs chaos 40K starter set. I’d thought that would be the first comment.
Like how they’ve enabled everyone with stuff to carry on playing with the free downloaded warscrolls, eBay’s not going to be as flooded as I first thought.
Not so keen on the new models, they just don’t feel fantasy, very heavy 40K influence.
GW FiNALLY got a clue. No point costs is a massive step in a good direction. let’s be honest, not a single GW game ever could be described as “well-balanced”, but they all had one thing in common- amazing narrative. So a move away from the toxic tournament-hell into narrative-type gaming is a welcome, sensible and downright nostalgic move. If I can play with only a handful models and have an interesting game I will look into it for sure.
I agree with you on no point cost. Wrath of Kings follows a simple level per unit and it makes building your army so much easier and faster. If this is the way GW is heading, I’ll be all the happier. Good on them for finally seeing the benefits of removing point costs.
Wanting to play a game where your skill means something … you know, a game, where the enjoyment comes from tactics and skill within a more or less fair environment, is somehow toxic?
There’s narrative gaming and there’s meaningless gaming when you’re just rolling dice aimlessly at which point, how is that a game?
“Sensible” lmao, creating a situation where people – quite rightly – are accusing one another of being overpowered/taking the piss, whilst the other half deny it with no way of finding out who is right and who is wrong. My opponent has two units of 10 chaos warriors, I have 2 units of 20 goblins. He insists that is balanced. I say no and demand I be allowed 5 more Black Orks – he insists that would push the game into unfair, and he’s being honest about this. Who is right? At least Warhammer was mostly balanced and at least had a mechnanism for improving the balance…
Nostalgic? Warhammer for most of its years has been a game about skill as much as anything. Why are you dismissing the huge amount of players who actually don’t care much for the fluff or story and just want to play a medieval battle set in a fantasy universe with models they like the look of, but care not for the “fluff”.
I don’t understand your point. You can still play Warhammer, or Kings of War or any other game you choose whoever you want to.
No one is forcing you to play Age of Sigmar. No one. If you don’t want to, then don’t. Why do you feel otherwise? Perhaps this game isn’t aimed at you.
Either way, download the rules and play the game. If you don’t like it, or there are parts you disagree with, then change it to suit you.
“I don’t understand your point. You can still play Warhammer, or Kings of War or any other game you choose whoever you want to.”
I don’t know why this is so difficult for a minority of people to understand. When you say “you can just play the edition you like” it’s just not a very cricket thing to say. Yes, you can play whatever edition in theory. What a meaningless thing to say:
!) Older editions are not supported/updated to fix any errors/rules
2) Older editions do NOT have rules or even the means to have rules for newer models (such as Monstrous Cavalry)
3) Discontinued games – such as Fantasy – mean no new models for your favorite faction
4) Harder and harder to find people to play against.
“No one is forcing you to play Age of Sigmar. No one.”
I literally have no idea why people say these type of sentences or think it’s somehow appropriate. No one is forcing you to buy Batman: Arkham Knight for the PC but it’s still full of bugs and errors, and one can still point this out.
Would you say to a Star Trek fan’s face “no one is forcing you to see Star Trek Into Darkness” ?? Pleaseeee. Come on now.
Clearly this game is not for mature players with mature tastes such as yourself. Also, I have a great and easy tip to balance/powergaming issues- don’t play with arseholes. Seriously, you are under no obligation to play against someone.
As for “huge amount” of players..WFB was a dead game. Compared to 40k it dipped straight into “specialist games” playerbase size. And if you don’t care about the fluff…well, given that GW has always put tremendous focus on that aspect, maybe you’ve just picked the wrong game from the start?
WFB sales were not dead – they were just dwarfed by 40K.
And just because.. you know forget it lol
Compared to 40k, Bolt Action, DZC, Infinity, KoW and Warzone Res are all “dead games” with a “specialist game” player base.
Fantasy just didn’t sell as much as Space Marines, that doesn’t mean it “didn’t sell at all”. GW are just throwing a Capcom tantrum.
AoS will be dead soon enough. Right now it’s being sustained by hype, but it’s all smoke and mirrors. The game is even worse than previous GW releases, as are the “fantasy” mini’s. If GW couldn’t profit from the old system, with its excellent legacy core models, there’s no way this one will be supported for long… half-assed effort that it is.
The “How do we fix it?” crowd is ALREADY at work, clinging desperately to GW’s skirts. “We can make this work. We can rewrite the rules. GW loves me. They would never produce a bad system and then abandon it.”
If this was any other company, or a Kickstarter rules/miniatures venture, no one would give it a second look.
@poks this is a positive step in many respects. It is also one with many flaws, and a confirmation they are NOT a games company. As to your tournament comment, do you know what makes bad tournaments? – poorly written rules system that are left to fend for them self after they are issued. However, the independant tournament scene is one where lots have worked hard to support a game GW hasn’t, and if your into your tournaments (I am not) it is a positive scene.
As to an interesting game with a handful of models, that depends on what you find interesting but AoS wouldn’t even make it into my top 10.
It is a fun casual game though, to push around a few models while having a beer or two with mates.
If you’re going to be a miniatures company, and not a game company, then GW should see to making better ones.
i think rules are too simple and i cannot imagine tournament for that that aside i think its gonna be more sandbox than a full game, also killing Old World is a crappy move. overall it even might be nice game but its not warhammer fantasy in my book. this time im quite sceptical and as big warhammer rpg fan im really sad.
The game was designed to be specifically anti-tournament alas. Read between the lines there.
After having read the rules, I still think the current released set is a basic version, to which they’ll add onto later.
I may be way off, but I wouldn’t be surprised with expansions coming in later. Something for buildings, other races to get a new look or additions, more narrative campaign ideas, possibly expanded magic, that sort of thing.
Right now is getting everyone’s feet wet without diving into the whole thing and hitting the player base with too many changes at once.
At least that’s my hunch anyway
I think expansion will definately be coming, to sell more big kits – I think rules balance and quality isn’t even on GW’s radar
This is more like a party game, knocked up in half an hour by a few mates in the pub.
No way to balance it. Rules are wonky. Silly rules about moustaches and staring competitions are more akin to cards against humanity.
If we wanted something like this, any one of us could have written it ourselves.
I’m absolutely in favour of simple, fast, fun, narrative rather than competitive. Free downloads. All great.
It’s just that all these rules are terrible.
And the models are disappointing. Infitting with the rules, rather than taking the best of the 40k aesthetic, they look like a deliberate parody of it.
Again, I should point out, I wasn’t a warhammer player, and had nothing invested in it. I’m an RPG guy who plays a bit of 40k and dust tactics who was excited about GW releasing something that could be cool, who’s watched with interest as the rumours unfolded, only to find myself increasingly amazed at the terrible product that was gradually revealed.
Nice minis, shit rules.
GW just did not want to put the effort in to make another good game, which is a shame. At least the Sigmarines can be converted into Adeptus Custodes or some other fancy space marines.
So, just how do you create balanced armies for this? And what’s new? its still just a roll to hit, roll to save system. No command and control rules, just move and fight with everything. No objectives, no maneuvering, nothing but march forward and attack. Really disappointed in this, it’s just a simple set of rules for 12 year olds.
You don’t. It’s a game to play for fun and to have something to drink beer to. It’s not a srsbsns balanced game for mature players who will demand balance and then break the game any chance they can and whine about lack of balance.
Thank you! Precisely right.
So instead you just break it by taking more, bigger and tougher units? I win as I have a bigger bank balance than you? Where’s the fun in that? And why can’t you have fun with balanced forces, or even unbalanced if playing a scenario? Certainly more fun that playing a game where your opponent has a ton more stuff than you do. This isn’t even up to a beer and pretzel game, more like something for 8 year olds in the back garden.
You play with people who aren’t awful people, that’s how you win at the game. Seriously, are all you people living in powergamerland?
Because decent people, when they will, will often be plagued by the question “did I win because of skill? Or did I cheat-by-accident and win because my army was actually worth more in points (if there were points) than my opponents?
That’s why in games such as this (apparently) having no points is called “being fraking stupid”.
That being said, I don’t think they’re won’t be points – they’re just waiting for the game to play out – and play tested more – so they can build up a formula to use for a points system. Might take a year.
@poosh This is why GW needs to engage with the community. They simply disregard the community ad wonder why some products don’t sell.
Think of the rules and design of the models what you want…its quite a lot in there for your money!
There’s a good look at some of the warscrolls on faeit 212 for those of you wondering about rules and older units. Not a big deal to me, I already dropped all interest in this Heroclix version of a miniatures game.
Even the 3 brainwashed ex-employees from GW who come to my shop think this game is garbage, and they normally worship anything that comes out of that company.
Will be getting that 6th ed. gaming group started up as soon as time and money allows.
You can download all the warscrolls as free PDF’s from GW site for all the races and the older models.
Ok, GW have seriously lost it.
The Mad Count: Marius Leitdorf is an exceptional swordsman, even if he is totally insane. If, during your hero phase, you pretend to ride an imaginary horse, you can re-roll failed hit rolls for the Averland Runefang until your next hero phase. If you actually talk to your imaginary horse you can re-roll failed wound rolls as well.
Pride of the reiksguard:
Helborg’s skill is as legendary as his moustache is magnificent. You can re-roll any failed hit rolls when attacking with the Runefang so long as you have a bigger and more impressive moustache than your opponent.
And those are just from reading the first few pages of the Empire scrolls.
Are they serious? Is this the worlds greatest wind-up?
Ha ha it’s just a bit of fun 😛
Can we note the two models you refer to are beautiful pieces of art, some of GW’s greatest models.
Oh I agree entirely. Marius is a particularly glorious model.
May be just a bit too crazy for my tastes though. Maybe.
It sounds like fun – do you remember that? Change your underwear. It’s too tight.
Laugh, joke. Enjoy yourself. OK, if you don’t like it, then play another game.
People are in this hobby for different things. I like to make and paint miniatures and play games with my own group of friends. We have a laugh. We even enjoy ourselves. We are all in out thirties, so please forgive us if we don’t want to prance around like 5 year olds while we do it.
Bloodbowl was fun and light hearted and fun, but it wasn’t silly in its fun. This is just daft. I get that it may be aimed at youngsters and that the way to get youngsters into the game is to get them doing stare-out competitions or talking to pretend horses but its a bit far fetched to be taken as a serious wargame.
I am normally all for the mentality of trying a game out but not a chance on this. If I want stupidity and horseplay, Warhammer isn’t where I want to find it.
I love GW games and always have. I am even in a position where I don’t care about their prices. Unfortunately this game just doesn’t “fit” with the Warhammer universe. Could see rules like this in a game like “Home Raiders”.
Well, at least partly this s not overtly dissimilar from SAGA, where you win ties if you have more impressive facial hair then your opponent. 😉
Only on the roll of whom go first
lol despite the usual GW selling pitch by the GW staff, even she could only use the phrase “it’s really fun” lol not awesome, great .. but fun lol.
That being said dudes. GW have taken a massive, stupid risk here. If it doesn’t pay off we may looe the old range of models completely. And Warhammer entirely. Please just give this a go.
If they had stayed the course with 8th we would have lost it anyway. We can say what we like, but a game it was dying on its arse.
I’m glad I was wrong and 9th wasn’t “Warhammer Unbound” … though AoS is clearly worse than “Warhammer Unbound” so meh.
Just because you need to change direction on a trip across the country to get to Brighton doesn’t mean throwing the car into the sea and saying “we’ll get a boat to Mexico first, or we’ll never get to Brighton”.
They really don’t learn. One of the main problems with Warhammer and 40K is random charges: what does Age of Sigmar have? Random charges….
So ignore it! Have a charge being the movment value!
I’m not keen on the randomness either, so we changed (charging/running) to be Initiative. The rules are free. Use any models you want to play a game. See if you enjoy it. If you don’t, fair play. If you do, yay! It’s cost you *nothing* to have fun.
The debate here isn’t whether players can make up their own rule set to have fun with their models. It is about AoS and its viability as a game.
Hell, I can get some old action figures, move them around the table screaming “Arrrggh” at each other and make a game out of it. Whether other people would enjoy it is another thing.
Yes you can change the rules etc, and this is health but, here’s the thing: I. SHOULDN’T. HAVE. TO.
And when I play a random player, how exactly are we gonna fix the game. What if one of us has a bad fix but hasn’t quite realised it yet?
And “the rules are free” – eh ? So? You keep saying that as if GW have done something great. They’ve given away a 4 page leaflet with multiple holes which need clarification – many miniature games give actual booklets (not 4 page leaflets) with their products for free.
I really WANT to like this game. I can get my head around the lack of points values and the fact that it is meant for entirely narrative games and has very little by way of balance. I can deal with the random charge ranges and sudden victories etc.
I just can’t get around the silly horseplay and glaring holes in the rules like bases meaning nothing. E.g. If the base is 1/2″ wider than the figure all around, you can’t charge it without overlapping bases.
I am over the moon for anyone who tries the game and enjoys it and wish GW would do more risky things like this, just on a smaller scale (they could have tried the rule set out with a one-off boxed game first).
Maybe its just me being nostalgic and hoping for something great to bring me back to Fantasy but alas, it was not meant to be and I am probably a bit bitter for it.
“That being said dudes. GW have taken a massive, stupid risk here. If it doesn’t pay off we may looe the old range of models completely. And Warhammer entirely. Please just give this a go.”
See, we’re their customers, not a charity designed to keep them afloat. If they take a risk on something ugly and substandard and it backfires on them, that is not our fault. That’s how business works. It’s how evolution works. You mutate, and if your adaptation fits the changing circumstances, you survive. If not, you die off.
The good news is, life in general goes on. And the gaming world will survive with or without WHF or The Adventures of Sigbob the Model-whisperer, or whatever they’re calling it now.
I can imagine the shop workers banging there heads off the wall and muttering” There going to make us do all these actions in demo games aren’t they”
Have GW heard of the dignity at work act?
They do them already, have you not visited a store recently?
Anyone found what the little ✹ symbol means in the Warscrolls yet? Can’t seem to fins a rule anywhere for it.
That’s for when there is a conditional value. So when it’s on a warmachines movement then its dependent on the crew still alive manning it.
lol! So, looking at the Dragon Mage –
Age of Sigmar which is meant to be a simple, uncomplicated game … a dragon’s attacks change every time it’s wounded lol. I like the idea though, I think it’s good – but it’s not in line with the “make the game simple” philosophy eh?
I actually don’t mind it. It implies the monster getting weaker as it is wounded.
OK, it’s some housekeeping but the alternative is lots of dice rolling to determine the unit strength turn by turn.
It’s a great rule imo – but it’s contradictory to the philosophy of the game.
I like the rule a lot though.
So how many crew does the Bloodthirster have?
3 Bloodletters sitting inside mashing buttons and levers?
It might have been nice if GW actually took the game of WFB seriously. In the past something like this tripe would have been a fairly respectable tangent game along the lines of Necromunda, Mordeheim, Gorka Morka or even the Chaos Warband game published in WD. Instead they decide to scrap everything that has made WFB what it has been for at least the 20+ I had been playing the game and I’m sure a number of years prior to that. I get it, interest in WFB has lagged over ther years but for those players that have
AoS models looks much closer to 40k. I will need to finish reading the rules and get a game played to fairly comment on the game itself. GW has never been known for game balance.
I am a bit nostalgic for a grittier rank and file.
The rules are short enough. From my first look at the rules, I feel that a lot a flavor will come from the warscolls. Using model count for balance does not take into account unmatched models. It is hard to say if there will be enough to inspire and grab my imagination. I like to have a strong narrative in my games.
…played and prefer the more strategic forward thinking style of planning this is a slap in the face. If I wanted to play 40k I would play 40k, if I wanted another skirmish style game I would play any number of the countless skirmish games out there. Oh well, time to dust off the 7th or earlier editions and drum up interest yet again.
What’s saddening is the egotistical, entitled arrogance on display across the web. It’s a game. Play it, enjoy it or don’t. Stop whining. It is brattish.
As it happens, with space marines and Malifaux minis with some warmachine thrown in, my godson – 16 and my son – age 10 had a blast. Even down to the silly accents.
Or dont and lets not have any warhammer at all?
Good for you. What has that got to do with the rules provided in AoS?
It isn’t “egotistical or brattish” to say that you don’t like a rule set or find the horseplay contained within puerile.
You’re basically saying: “If you don’t like it, make up your own game”.
That’s true of every game on the market. If everyone did that, game makers would become extinct.
I don’t want to play a medieval/fantasy wargame with a 10-year-old, or even a 16-year-old, for that matter. I’ll pass.
I have no problem helping someone aged 10 -16 in getting into wargaming, provided their idea of wargaming isn’t pushing models around the table making pew pew noises, talking to imaginary horses and staring each other out.
I started playing around age 10-12 with board games like Heroquest, Space Crusade etc. By the time we were 16 we all knew how to play Fantasy (3rd and 4th ed) and 40k (RT and 2nd Ed) correctly and would have been really pissed off at having to behave like fools at the table to get bonuses to our troops.
It has all become more and more obvious that the bean counters of GW are all about the flash and flair revolving around outrageous and beautiful models but no substance behind them. They have been betting their future on the early teen player with rich parents that walk into a shop and say “this game looks cool, what do I need to play it?” Then rich daddy drops $400 on stuff that never get put together or hits a table. Never makes it to the secondary market because daddy can’t be bothered to sell on ebay so it doesn’t threaten GWs sales. To GW its a win win.
Exactly. All glitz, no substance.
Idont think the Sigmarites look like spacemarines. I think they ARE spacemarines. Hello one of the lost legions. GW are reestablishing the link between fantasy and 40k.
At the worst i got 5 new sanguinari guard. Those guys look awesome! But reading through the rules and of my army I think its a different direction but not one im discarding right away. Im giving it an honost chance.
Surprisingly good price for 47 models, and I actually like the dragon-type mount. The rest of the figures have armour so thick, or are so kitted out with random clutter, that they can’t be posed properly — obviously made by the same artists who, in part, failed to keep WFB alive. Completely wrong direction for their mini’s imo… not that it matters. If they’re all out of scale with my 28mm world, they are utterly useless to me anyway.
Makes me wonder how long the old figures will be around. I’ve got most of my fantasy armies bought up and awaiting paint (elf and some humans from GW), but it just occurred to me that I was in the middle of buying ungors to be painted up as devils for a grand otherworldly battle line. May have to step that up… not many on Ebay yet.
Rules: missed opportunity to produce something with greater tactical depth. Instead we get more of the same: crazy eights, but with ambiguous rules.
I see this as having the same half-life as Dreadfleet or Epic: big company support initially… until the excitement fizzles. Then the same desultory conversations will arise on how to “fix it.” GW’s interest will wane, until the game is no longer supported, and then it will be played once a month at a corner table in GW.
Epic fail, imo.
Yeah a real shame if this is the definate last attempt at making something great with fantasy .. having a hard time seeing how they are supposed to sell a starter set with beta rules. People dont seem blown away by the game, will give it a spin though just to see if theres any potential in there.
So here are the points I see.
First
Game wise, the game is radically different from Warhammer Fantasy which seemed to be games-workshops last bastion of complex gaming. It is simple, so simple in fact the last line is, “or choose what you think is more fun” obviously rules is not its most important factor.
Second
Models, a lot of people have noted the similarity between the Sigmarites and the Space Marines. Take that as you will, you can see it as a negative or as a positive.
I got the white dwarf and converted the guy into an Bolt pistol and chainsword guy but I may redo the chain sword to a power sword depending… Anyway! He looks fantastic and stands about a head taller than a normal marine I think it is fantastic, that you have a Fantasy sculpt that can be used with marines.
I think that it will require more time, for anyone to really know how good/bad this is.
’cause we where lacking models for marines? 😛
To be honest I am looking forward to this and the Sigmar knights I think would look better with a different colour scheme, too much gold.
I’d like to hear what the female gamers think of this, seeing as there are rules that actively discriminate against female players (the beard and mustache ones). Do they see it as a ‘bit of fun’ that they cannot use those particular rules due to the their gender which should have nothing to do with the game.
Females have every right to grow their facial hair in any manner they choose!
It’s important we don’t discriminate on this matter 😉
They have the right, but not the ability 😛
Thats all social construction, they are made to beleive they have to shave 😉 dwarves have that equality thing right! 🙂
I know several females with more facial hair than me.
I have mixed feelings about the models now that I see better pics of them. Some I like (the angels) and some I hate (the new Khorne chaos warriors).
But the rules…ugh. It doesn’t feel like they had any care whatsoever in creating them. They read more like the notes from a brainstorming session rather than something they took time to craft. I would emphasis the word “craft” here, because a good, solid rule set requires both a lot of work and a lot of love on the gameplay designer’s part to create. I’m not sure any time or love was put into making these rules.
Now they are a lot simpler, which I am a fan of. But at times they are simple to the point of ambiguity, which I am not. These are not game breaking. A little bit of house ruling fixes this no problem.
The same cannot be said for the complete lack of force creation. This is where my interest nosedives and where I start to really get the feeling they didn’t put much effort into the game. The current way of making forces, “use the same # of models”, is just sloppy. By this rule, 40 Ogres = 40 Night Goblins. Now the Ogre player could take less models, say 20…but then he gets to choose a special win condition. And 20 Ogres is still probably better than 40 Night Goblins. Maybe. I don’t know. We have no guide to assess the strength of models anymore.
Now we can get into a big argument over “narrative vs competitive” and what is considered fun…blah blah blah. I’ve seen people on both sides be, er, “passionate” about it. I’m not going to say one side is better than the other as that is personal taste.
But bad game design is still bad game design. And personally, I think AoS overall is a poorly designed set of rules. If I want something more tactical and competitive this is not the ruleset I would turn to as there is no shortage of alternatives. And if I wanted to play something narrative…I still wouldn’t play this because there are better choices. I would go play on of the many, MANY generic rulesets (Song of Blades and Heroes, Brink of Battle, etc.) which not only offer great narrative play but also give me the creative flexibility to make a custom force. Oh and even with those generic rulesets…they creators still put the time and effort to include a point system to give the players an idea on how powerful certain abilities/units are. Meanwhile the biggest company in the industry couldn’t be bothered.
As one final thing to say, these rules will truly kill Warhammer fantasy in America. The tournament scene is much too big and too important to ignore if you want to have a success here. You may think tournament play is “toxic”, but it doesn’t change the fact that it is a bad business decision to alienate a large chunk of your player base.
rules that actively discriminate? Maybe they are only trying to pander to neckbeards?
counterpoint:
I happen to know several females with more mustaches than me.
Also, anyone can wear a false one to the game to take advantage of stupid “funny” rules like that.
Well that would need an FAQ – The rules do not confirm nor deny that false beards and mustaches are useable.
Then again, maybe the AoS line of facial accessories are in the works…
Why couldn’t they have made cool cases like that before? They are fantastic…
I’m sorry… I know Beasts of War’s main thrust is an unquestioning love and acceptance of all things GW to rival the most frothing Dakka devotee. But I just don’t see how anybody could honestly say these models are beautiful or really take them seriously in any way.
While I applaud GW for obviously deciding to go full retard on their IP (I mean, if you’re going to be as sue happy as they are, you might as well actually do something unique enough to defend in a court of law), this is just too, too much. These models are all frosting on the cake and no meat on the plate.
I mean, what are we looking at here? Is this an ancient, war-torn world or is it Shogun Warriors Cosplay 2099? Everybody in the set looks like a villain from the Power Rangers, on steroids. It’s just… gross. And worse, some of them look like knockoffs. What a feat to manage, to release something new and have it look like knockoff of what it was supposed to be.
Sorry. I know we’re all required to unquestioningly love GW. But sometimes you guys need their failures pointed out to you. So… there’s one! There’s one now, guys! Look close! That’s what lame looks like!
I kinda like the models…but hey, each to their own. Oh and I think we’ve had enough letters through the post to not be bending over quite so readily to GW.
Just giving the game a fair whack like everything else out there. Playing it this week to see what I think of the rules with my old Dwarf army.
BoW Ben.
You know we’re getting the balance right @brennon when we get ‘you guys are GW haters’ & ‘you guys are GW fanbois’ all coming in at the same time lol
@bruunwald the Sigmarines might look better painted different colours. It’s obvious they want you to treat them as Space Marine Chapters – they have examples of other “chapters” already.
The Chaos models are wonderful but nothing unusual from GW.
I don’t think GW would take too kindly of BoW was “officially” critical about them here.
I had a similar reaction as Warren to the Sigmarines but it wore away pretty fast. I do like the Sigmarine Archers for some reason though (Watch the official video for those guys).
Hasn’t wore away for me yet lol
Still really like em! 😉
‘I’m thinking of painting them with a mixture of greys/dirty silver with heavy drybrush work – whitening them. Careful use of washes.
Lots of textures and depth will make them look very different methinks.
I actually really like the models. All of them.
Sigmarines are a bit daft but remind me of the angels from diablo. Guy on dragon cat is all sorts of awesome.
The Khorne guys are a bit Khorney (ha) but are great models for a chaos army. The guy with the hound and the cultists are particularly great imo.
Converting the Stormcast to look like Angels of the High Heavens from Diablo? Now that is an idea; all you would really need is a Prosecutor model, a head swap foo a cowled head, and a suitably impressive looking sword or two to replace the hammers.
I think any AoS force I wind up getting may be lead by Tyrael… 😉
The models within AoS are a matter of opinion. The knight riding the “gila monster” (I wonder does Justine own reptiles?) is fantastic and looks just right or Fantasy, the Sigmarines don’t really fit in Fantasy (as a rank and file soldier) but luckily or me (personally) I like Horus Heresy and will be buying a load on Ebay to convert to some kind of honour guard.
And BoW do sometimes come across as advertisers.
The figures are already on Ebay, being sold individually. The guy on the lizard goes for about $30. I’ll wait till the buzz dies down and it sells for less. The rider will, of course, go into the garbage, but I like his mount.
I fail to see the advantage in getting rid of points values. I have played games without point values with friends before, easier to take points out for narrative games than put them back in. The victory condition based on quantity over quality is nonsensical. That said I wonder if there is not a small amount of behind the scene balancing going on? the two forces in the box seem very well balanced by Gw standards. Perhaps the forces listed at the end of the pdf’s are similarly balanced?
That is my thought too. I’m going to put that to the test and see what happens. The two Dwarf ones vs some Ogres probably.
I thought of that myself based on the formations. The problem I have with it is that, if those are what you need to play for the game to be “balanced”, then we’re just going to see the same lists over and over again.
So it will be like going to tournaments…
You count your models as you go along … so one could just keep putting units on the table until you’re one model below that “third more” threshold :p
I have a theory that the GW “formations” – I forget what they are but they’re at the end of the Faction PDFs online, might have some form of eternal balancing.
Given this game is basically a beta, I think it’s not the worst idea to withhold points until they have a formula nailed down – creating the points of a miniature game is just as hard as writing the actual rules. It takes time and evidence.
So…are all the silly rules just on the war scrolls for old minis? None of the ones in the boxset?
Hmm…perhaps that’s just a reflection on GW’s view of the ‘old’ armies.
At the moment I feel very torn as to jumping in with AoS, on the one hand it looks fast & fun with a much lower model count but on the other hand it is clearly in need of refinement and clarification; AoS almost looks to be as uncertain as its future.
I would be interested to hear how that goes. I am thinking at some point people will start ascribing point values to individual models. It would be great if there was a thread where we could start to hammer out some consensus on that.
Today’s White Dwarf came with a free eternal fig, I have to say it’s a really lovely little model, the set is really tempting me
Your lucky you got one. Im on holiday at the mo so was unable to go to a store, when I checked on the GW site this morning they had already sold out 🙁
Having seen the figures today I am pleasantly surprised by their quality. Can’t wait to get home now and start painting my free mini 🙂
The miniatures are fantastic and I have pre-ordered two player set personally, however the rules I’m not sure about I’m all for making an easier rule set and taking down as many barriers as possible that may prevent people from getting into warhammer but the way war scrolls are set up essentially leaves very little organization to the overall game. I don’t want to barter with my opponent about what we can and cannot use, I want some form of framework there in a game like this to ensure that the game doesn’t quickly become a one sided borefest.
I do like the new chaos warrior’s.
I think the reason for not including the bases in measurements is because you’re going to have new round bases and old square bases on the same table.
apparently you can have good and dowright bad models on the table too, all mixed up 😛 and for no reason if i understand the rules correctly
it would be to remove any and all noise about base shapes or sizes. Which is good.
But what might happen now, is that people might start to overlap the bases to get more models into combat, and maybe even putting down jumbles of minis instead of standing them up.
Seeing as that will be an advantage of sorts.
I love the Khorne Warriors. skulls for the Blood God
Just got back from the GW store. The models look great. Better than in the photos in my opinion. I’m definitely going back next Saturday to pick up the starter box.
I’m slowly making a long awaited return to gaming. Having spent many years in the GW fold, I was quite excited about the prospect of a new shiny Warhammer. Having now read the rule set I am disappointed and ashamed to say I will steer clear of GW for the foreseeable future. DzC gives me my sci-fi fix and is a superbly nuanced rules set (I also have no doubt I will be ploughing my cash into drop fleet, once that arrives) and KoW seems to be the fantasy game that will cure the itch for me. Sorry GW. You just don’t cut it any more…
Look, 40k Khorne Berzerkers have invaded the world of Warhammer. Well, the minis in the starter do absolutely nothing for me. Pity, as I was interested in AoS.
Not wild about the dipped in gold face plates for the Sigmarines. And… something that BoW is very shy about revealing on any product, is how much is this boxed set going to set me back?
Check the GW website yourself. 75 squids.
£75 squid, but can easily pick it up from £52 if you shop around
Despite what I have read so far about Age of Sigmar online I am looking forward to playing this game. Its different from what we are used to for WFB but that can be a good thing and I am willing to give it a chance. With Age of Sigmar I am excited about fantasy again although I will not play WFB again as I haven’t enjoyed the game for years and feel it needed a huge revamp. This is just the first instalment of the game and Im sure more changes are to come, personally hoping for more in the way of magic but thats exactly what happened to 40K when it went form 2nd to 3rd edition; the rules got a major overhaul and Psychic powers went from tons of choices to just one or two per army. Hopefully this change will be as successful for fantasy as it was for 40k
The lack of points thing is really a very odd decision given GW’s prior approach to things. I still can’t work out how games are going to be balanced quickly or easily between gamers, especially those who don’t already know each other. Hopefully, since the downloadable rules seem to open the door to a ‘living rulebook’ approach for AoS, as people get to grips with the initial rules in the box GW will take the opportunity to reintroduce points or some other equivalent balancing mechanic into the game in further book supplements with attached fluff and as free downloads for people who just want the rules.
It has also occurred to me that, if they are concerned about points bloat and undue book keeping, they could opt for a streamlined points system that, instead of requiring thousands of points to field an army, operated more on the basis of reflecting the ‘combat strength’ or overall battlefield efficacy of a unit. Throw in minimum units sizes for less elite units and there would be plenty of balance to be had.
As an example, a unit of 10 state militia might have Combat Strength 1, as might a unit of 20 Goblins, where as a unit of 10 Stormcast Eternal Liberators would have, say, Combat Strength 2. As units get larger, you add combat strength to reflect increased size. 20 Militia would be CS 2, 30 would be CS 3. 40 goblins would be CS 2 and 60 would be CS 3 (30 would be CS 1.5, but it wouldn’t be too difficult to combine 0.5 values across a force to get a whole number by the end of army selection). 20 Stormcast Liberators would be CS 4 in this example, reflecting their greater battlefield prowess and rarity. To create an army, you just select a force to a pre-agreed CS total, perhaps a fairly capable force might have an army Combat Strength cap of 50. Naturally a lot of play testing would be required to hone the CS values for each unit and to take into account differences in the quality of the various troop types (and GW should really be the ones doing that play testing, but until they edit the rule set with more advanced balancing options – assuming they intend to – it falls to us gamers to apply the fix). Does the community here have any thoughts on the viability of this approach?
@vetruviangeek play a different system, or play with the attitude that its for fun and suck and see on the balance
Not a flippant answer just seems most productive approaches
Fair points @ dags. I was just wondering if there might be a means of imposing a bit more structure on proceedings for people who want to try and stick with Age of Sigmar but feel that the current rules a bit to vague. There is another option that is simplicity itself of course – enjoy the fluff, setting and models for Age of Sigmar… and just use the Kings of War rule set, at least until GW starts fleshing out AoS a bit. Fortunately, the Basileans are a great fit for the Stormcast eternals, and the second edition Kings of War core rulebook is being made available fee online by Mantic from July 10th onwards.
My basic guideline for collecting the past few editions has been 2xbase unit size for core, and base unit size for specials and rares. I could see going up to 30 being reasonable for a more horde type unit, or one that is really the mainstay for the whole army, which some of the warscrolls have rules for. As for points, in a pinch, you could always just port over points from the existing army books.
If you like AoS stick with it, work with your opponents and try out different lists – accept the odd game will be an unbalanced mess. If your playing with reasonable opponents its not unplayable, just need to accept it for what it is if that will give you gaming fix
There are so many better systems out there you don’t have to f*ck with. I already spent an hour with the AoS rules that I will never get back… that was enough.
I did notice a couple of interesting things in the Vampire Counts War Scroll Compendium.
All Vampire Counts units have Bravery 10, one assumes to reflect the fact that being dead sort of limits one’s morale issues.
Varghuls, Vargheists, and Blood Knights are all pretty nasty under the new rules.
There seem to be summoning spells for for most of the units in the army.Seriously, you can even summon Terrogheists and Zombie dragons if that’s your thing.
Cairn wraiths have surprising nasty Reaper Scythes with an amusing ‘Reaped Like Corn’ rule that grants them the possibility of doing rather a lot of damage to larger units.
And strangest of all… Zombies might actually kill something under AoS rules (yes, you read that right), with each additional set of 10 Zombies after the fist adding +1 to their to hit and to wound rolls, so that a unit of 30+ Zombies hits and wounds on a 3+. Zombies that actually present some kind of threat in combat will be enough to give Vampire Counts players every where the vapours.
@vetruviangeek not sure I want zombie vapours :S
Yeah – Zombie vapours would definitely fall under the ‘acquired taste’ category methinks… 😉
I wanted to start WHFB earlier this year, but friends told me to wait because there will be a new edition coming.
So I waited (which was very hard for me because I really wanted to get my hands on those nice minis) and was really looking forward to it, but the upcoming rumours, pictures and the published ruleset and silly extra features for every army made me feel disapointed.
I have to say, the minis are great in a technical way, but I don’t like the design and the style at all.
What a shame to sink a system that had a loyal fanbase for years like that.
Being frustrated I ordered two Warmachine / Hordes all in one army Boxes, extra rulebook, templates and counters for both factions. 3 friends from my local gaming club ordered at least one of the large boxes two. On tuesday we will get together and enjoy the fun of discovering a whole new gaming experience together. GW – that could have been your money!
you should mail that to GW, if they are smart they take it seriously and realize you are only one of many reacting like this.
@mkus Good call, what armies did you go for?
It strikes me that this game is set up extremely well for entry level players, which as far as I’m concerned its greatest strength. My son is super keen to get into 40k, but he’s just a little too young to get through the really rather dense rules.
I’m not saying this game just for beginners, far from it, but it is doesn’t feel intimidating to get into, and I applaud that.
…love the price of the paints! These guys mst be huffing it.
‘must’
Its not often I agree with you @unclejimmy but you’re right. Why are the gold paints £3.50 when all the others are £2.55? Do they contain real gold?
Had some hands-on with this boxed set on Saturday at my local Games Store, and grabbed the WD#75 with the free Eternal mini. Gotta say, I’m loving this. Simple, and yet common sense rules, that are fun as well. No major number crunching, and no second guessing on what is or isn’t a legal move. It’s very straight forward, and with interesting story background too. I’m definitely a believer in where GW is going with all of this.
Not had chance to play yet but watched a few youtube battle reports. Here’s a few things i’ve seen so far:
All games seem to culminate with all of the units being mashed into the centre of the table and just rolling buckets of dice for the sake of it.
There are benefits from piling models on top of the bases of other models in that you get to attack with more.
There are rules that just “add a unit”, any unit of your choice, at any size, just plop it down and crack on.
As said before, I really WANTED to love this, and love most games GW have made over the years, but from what I’ve watched so far it just blows.