Warhammer Age of Sigmar is now in its fourth edition. Since its launch back in 2015, Games Workshop’s flagship fantasy game has always been under pretty close scrutiny. This is because it has always had some pretty big boots to fill; the old Warhammer Fantasy Battle was a very broad church in terms of fantasy setting. Age of Sigmar brushed all of that away in favour of something more coherent, accessible and playable.
The new core rule book is currently available via the Skaventide boxed set but will soon be available in other formats. So, is this new game any good?
In short, yes, it is a big, thick, intimidating-looking book. That intimidation doesn’t last, as once you open it, you realise the book is mostly filled with setting material and inspirational art/photos of painted models. Age of Sigmar has always suffered from being a very specific, high-fantasy setting when compared to its very generic predecessor. This iteration of the game makes it easier to get what the world of AoS is about and why it’s fun.
Rules-wise, it’s still the basic game: beat up the enemy, take and hold objectives and try and pick up victory points by doing specific things like murdering the enemy general. But the flow of the game has changed. It is not so much streamlined; certain actions and rules move more easily into each other. Also, they’ve removed the battle-shock rules, which were a hold-over from much older game systems and slowed everything down. This is a change that will delight Skaven and Cities of Sigmar players, we’re sure.
(Special thanks to the team at GW for the review copy; much appreciated. Even if its heft did scare the cat.)
Objectives are easier, turns are better ordered, and the various things a unit can do have been made clearer. You’re no longer faffing around wondering what sort of a spell a thing is; it’s all just cool stuff a unit can do. The fundamental design change here seems to be that this is primarily a fun game rather than specifically a miniatures wargame; a lot of the old ideas have just been removed and made clearer. Historical wargamers will probably find it very different from what they’re used to, and that’s a good thing; it’s not a historical game. It’s a ridiculously cinematic fantasy game.
Overall, this is probably the best fantasy wargame Games Workshop has ever produced, and yes, we include Blood Bowl in that assessment.
