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)
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… Read more »
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… Read more »
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… Read more »
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… Read more »
@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… Read more »
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… Read more »
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… Read more »
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… Read more »
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… Read more »
“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… Read more »
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.