Games Workshop’s flagship high fantasy game franchise, Age of Sigmar, is almost ten years old. The setting is noted for blending classic fantasy tropes with a more modern, gritty and exaggerated aesthetic to create something genuinely unique. Age of Sigmar enjoyed its fourth edition of the rules this year with the release of Skaventide, a massive box filled with models, rules, and other bits required to pit magical knights versus sinister mutants. It’s a great box. It’s also quite a lot to take in.
Given how big the setting is, how complicated it can be to assemble and paint plastic models, and how the rules for the game can stretch to several volumes, it can all be a lot to take in. Enter the Warhammer – Age of Sigmar: Beginner Set. It’s a box that fits easily on a shelf, doesn’t cost too much money, and has everything you need to get started without feeling like a second job. Our copy arrived courtesy of the fine folk at GW, and we immediately set it to work by introducing non-wargaming friends into the hobby; it did the job very well.
The box comes with five liberators (the cool-looking knights) and twenty sneaky Skaven, mutant rat people. The models are super easy to assemble, and the Skaven are especially fun, being novel little monsters that you don’t find in other fantasy settings. We get a play mat made of glossy poster paper, a range ruler, some fairly standard little white dice, a guide on hold to build and paint the miniatures and a simple rulebook.
Essentially, this is an introductory game in a box, the sort of thing you’d get if you walked into a Warhammer shop and told the store owner that you’d never played a wargame before. It’s pretty basic but enough to get going. We should also note that if you’re in the UK, it’ll be easier to get the slightly more expensive Warhammer – Age of Sigmar: Introductory Set – it’s basically the same as the Beginner set but comes with paints and a paintbrush. The beginner set can be found in Barnes and Noble or via your handy third-party retailer.
Rules-wise, this is a good way of getting Age of Sigmar Fourth Edition; the essential flow of play and basic tactics are explained, as well as turn order when to roll dice and so on. It does strip out some of the nuances, but that just means you have more to explore once you get into the game. This is a fun starter set that eschews that fiddly painting stuff in favour of gameplay. A great introduction.
