Warhammer: Age of Sigmar 4th Edition Review: Streamlined Fantasy Warfare

Lightning-powered warriors battle rats in the new Warhammer: Age of Sigmar boxed set.

By Christian Hoffer

Warhammer: Age of Sigmar is easier to play than ever, thanks to a streamlined ruleset and a new game mode that focuses on a comparatively small number of units. Next month, Games Workshop will release the newest edition of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, the fantasy equivalent to Warhammer 40,000. With over two dozen armies to choose from – each of which contains dozens of units that often consist of five, ten, or even twenty models – it can be daunting trying to jump into Warhammer: Age of Sigmar at any point. This makes the new edition a critical "jumping on" point for players, as newcomers can invest in a starter box that comes with the foundation of two armies, and can start to learn the rules while veteran players are still learning about the nuances of the new rule set. 

For those unfamiliar with a Warhammer game, it involves two players assembling an army made up of multiple units (each unit contains a set number of models ranging from 1 to 20) and then pitting them against each other on a tabletop filled with terrain. Players typically battle over control of objectives and score points based on certain factors based on the ruleset they're playing with. How large a player's army is determined by the game mode they're using, with play typically lasting four or five rounds. 

Games Workshop releases new editions of its core games Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer: Age of Sigmar every three or so years. While the models that makes up a player's army typically remain the same, the gameplay rules often differ from edition to edition, either refining existing rulesets or reworking the game entirely. In the case of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, the rules received a major overhaul along with a brand new game mode called Spearhead that involves small armies battling on a smaller field with a simplified ruleset. 

The Skaventide box itself comes with almost 75 miniatures, split between the stoic, lightning-powered Stormcast Eternals and the chaos-fueled Skaven rat people. While most Warhammer miniatures require glue to build, the Skaventide starter box contains sprues of push-fit miniatures, simplifying the process for newcomers. Personally, as a miniatures veteran, I dislike the push-fit miniatures because they often leave small gaps in the finished miniature, but that's easy enough to fix with a little hobby know-how (if you cut off about a half millimeter of a peg, the pieces tend to fit more snug) and the builds in the Skaventide box are great for newcomers. While building 75 miniatures seems like a daunting task, me and a partner were able to construct the box over the course of a weekend with little issue.

Another perk for newcomers is the game's Spearhead mode, which can be played using just the miniatures that come in a Skaventide box. While other Warhammer starter boxes require supplemental units to form an army, the Spearhead box only uses about half the units that comes with the box. Spearhead uses set army lists and the core rules of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar - about 20 pages of rules that explains how to move units and fight and determine who has control over objectives. This means that even players totally unfamiliar on how to play Warhammer: Age of Sigmar should come away with at least a decent understanding on the cadence of gameplay. 

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Games Workshop simplified the Warhammer: Age of Sigmar rules for the new edition, doing away with things like battleshock and redefining many abilities so that they fit within five phases during the combat round. No matter what ruleset you're using, gameplay always follows the same pattern of five phases. The Hero Phase involves individual units casting spells and activating special abilities, followed by a movement phase where units move, run, and retreat. That's followed by the Shooting phase, where units not in melee combat (meaning they're not within 3 inches of an enemy unit) shoots projectiles, and then a Charge phase where units can make an extra push to get into combat range. A player's turn ends with the combat phase, where units take turn bludgeoning each other with pools of six-sided dice, with damage dealt if a player can successfully clear three hurdles (an initial hit roll, followed by a wound roll, and finally succeeding on damage if the opponent fails to make a saving throw). 

My biggest complaint about the Skaventide box set was that it wasn't truly "new player" friendly. While it's the easiest way for a person to jump into Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, but trying to play through a game of Spearhead is a headache when both players are sharing a rulebook that contains all the unit rules AND the core rules. Considering that the box set comes with cards, there's no reason why the Starter box couldn't have contained the warscroll cards needed to play Spearhead along with a reference card explaining the basic phases and damge rules. While trying out Spearhead, my playtest opponent (a total newcomer to Warhammer) bemoaned the lack of reference cards and said the game would be easier if she could just look at a reference sheet for ease of use. However, while it took about three rounds for us to actually get all the rules of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar right, I think the experience was successful as my playtester immediately asked when we could play again after our Spearhead session wrapped up.

The world of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar is a rich one and it isn't particularly bogged down by lore as the game and its worlds are only a decade old.  If you're a fan of fantasy worlds filled with shades of grey and a unique British sense of humor and irony, you'll love all the lore and tales and tragedies that Age of Sigmar provides. Another perk is that Age of Sigmar (unlike its sci-fi cousin Warhammer: 40K) is a living world, where major characters die, cities are destroyed, and realms are taken over by billions of rats over the course of an edition. If you like continuous storylines, you may enjoy the overarching Warhammer: Age of Sigmar fandom even if you decide that building, painting, and battling miniatures isn't your thing. 

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Ultimately, Games Workshop has found a pretty good balance between simplifying Warhammer: Age of Sigmar to make it accessible without making the game feel too homogenous. Every unit in Skaventide feels unique and has their own special abilities, but the unit rules aren't so complex that a newcomer will be instantly overcome. Plus, Spearhead is a game mode that's even easier to enjoy and is built primarily for the newcomer and the casual player in mind. While I wish there was a bit more new player friendly tools in the box, I still think Skaventide is a good purchase for players and I'm hoping this new edition helps push a solid game to even higher heights. 

A review copy of Skaventide was provided by Games Workshop for review purposes.

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