Warhammer Age of Sigmar

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Warhammer Age of Sigmar
Manufacturer Games workshop
editor Games workshop
Publication date 2015
genre Tabletop wargame
preparation Depending on the size of the game, usually 15 to 30 minutes
Playing time Depending on the size of the game, usually 1 to 4 hours
website www.games-workshop.com

Warhammer Age of Sigmar (also Age of Sigmar or short WHAoS or AoS ) is a tabletop game company Games Workshop . It replaced the previous game Warhammer Fantasy in 2015 after it was discontinued by Games Workshop.

Background, development, criticism and breakthrough

Despite a large player base, the sales of Warhammer Fantasy were comparatively weak, especially when compared to the successful sci-fi spin-off Warhammer 40,000 . In addition, the rules of the game were criticized as being too complex and not very easy for beginners. For these reasons, Games Workshop decided to discontinue Warhammer Fantasy and instead developed Age of Sigmar as a successor game. This was published in the first edition in 2015 with the starter set “Stormcast Eternals vs Khorne Bloodbound”. In June 2018 the second edition of the game appeared, which included the "Stormcast Eternals vs Nighthaunt" starter set.

Despite the apparent success of the new game system, recognizable by increasing sales, there was a lot of criticism of Games Workshop from the player base for the decision to discontinue Warhammer Fantasy . Many were not convinced by the simplified set of rules. Furthermore, the renaming of many units and races was criticized (e.g. the renaming of the elves to "Aelfs") and it was assumed that Games Workshop only wanted to secure the naming rights. The models of the "Stormcast Eternals" were also initially referred to as copies of the "Space Marines" from Warhammer 40,000 due to their similar appearance and given the nickname "Sigmarines" (new word from "Sigmar" and "Space Marines"). In parallel to Age of Sigmar , after Warhammer Fantasy was discontinued , many tapletop players developed their own player-created spin-offs and rules for Warhammer Fantasy (e.g. "The Ninth Edition"). Age of Sigmar is also perceived positively by many players due to its more flexible rules, uncomplicated gaming experience and beautiful models. A major criticism of Games Workshop was less about the game Age of Sigmar itself, but about the rigorous attitude of Warhammer Fantasy . Games Workshop has been accused of “company politics and business, instead of hobby fascination” for years. Although a profitable company, the constant price increases and product decisions angered many players. Age of Sigmar is therefore sometimes seen as an attempt to replace the "lame" Warhammer Fantasy and to develop new players. Warhammer Fantasy appeared to newcomers to be too unfriendly for beginners, long-time players with large existing armies were no longer lucrative enough as buyers. They also criticized the fact that Warhammer Fantasy , with its background story built up over decades (vulgo "Lore"), was completely discarded, which was also reflected in countless novels, comics and computer games.

Age of Sigmar has successfully established itself in the tabletop scene since 2019 at the latest and is enjoying increasing popularity. For Warhammer Fantasy players, the community itself has created alternatives to the original game, such as The 9th Age .

The Age of Sigmar Universe

After the "End Times" caused by the forces of chaos, an event that led to the complete destruction of the Warhammer world and the death of most of the races, the legendary hero Sigmar floated aimlessly through space, to the metallic core of the old world clinging. After a long time he was discovered and saved by the great sky dragon Dracothion. Dracothion led Sigmar to the "realms of mortals", eight planes of existence that are connected by portals, called "Reichstore". These eight realms serve as the new world for Age of Sigmar . Sigmar received rulership of one of these realms from Dracothion and souls were drawn to these realms, including survivors from the previous world and newcomers. Sigmar forged alliances with these peoples and their respective gods when civilization was restored. This growth was short-lived, however, when the forces of Chaos struck again. Under Archaon's leadership, Chaos soon ruled seven of the eight mortal kingdoms, sparing only Sigmar's kingdom of Azyr. The civilizations and alliances that Sigmar sought were ultimately destroyed by the invasion of Chaos. Angry, Sigmar created the mighty "Stormcast Eternals" and leads them into the fight against chaos. So now begins the age of Sigmar.

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General principles

Age of Sigmar is mostly played by two players, whereby teams are formed or several players can compete against each other at the same time. It emphasizes the narrative aspect of the Wargaming experience and encourages the play of story-driven scenarios, the repetition of battles from history, and player-created stories. The aim is to defeat the opponent's army or to fulfill the given objectives strategically as possible through military-tactical skill combined with a bit of luck with the dice.

The rule set is designed to make the game easy to learn but difficult to master. The basic rules of the game are summarized on just eight pages and are quick and easy to understand, but advanced mechanics can be found in unit-specific pamphlets called “Warscrolls”, which contain more rules and statistics for the individual units. The art of the game is understanding how your units work together and leverage synergies to use them as a cohesive, effective army. As with other tabletop games, Age of Sigmar uses hand-painted miniatures and cubes to simulate what's going on.

The rules and warscrolls are available free of charge and can be downloaded from the Games Workshop website or viewed in the Age of Sigmar app.

Game modes

Age of Sigmar emphasizes three styles of play: Competitive ( "Matched Play"), unstructured ( "Open Play") and narrative ( "Narrative Play"). These are described in the “General's Handbook”. In "Matched Play" each unit is assigned a point value according to its combat strength. The players agree on a total number of points for their game and accordingly create armies of equal value, analogous to the army lists in Warhammer Fantasy . In this game mode there are army composition rules that change depending on the level of points being played, and the basic rules are modified to allow even play. The "Open Play" is the original way of playing Age of Sigmar . Each player places as many units as he wants. As a result, it can happen that one player has a larger army than the other, which is somewhat offset by special rules. To determine this, no points are used, but mainly the number of models. In "Narrative Play", the armies as well as the scenarios and combat goals are roughly given in order to replay battles from the "story".

Playable factions

There are at Age of Sigmar a variety of playable factions. They can be divided into four main categories: Grand Alliance Order (German: Order), Grand Alliance Chaos , Grand Alliance Death (German: Tod) and Grand Alliance Destruction (German: Destruction). “Order” represents the forces of “good”. Your main goal is to destroy the chaos. Driven by the basic needs and actions of mortals, chaos seeks to rule the mortal realms. His followers serve the four chaos gods Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle and Slaanesh. In contrast to chaos and more or less allied with order against chaos, "death" wants to rule all areas for itself, driven by the self-appointed god of death, Nagash. Unpredictably and opportunistically, “destruction” struggles for its own interests or for the sake of conflict.

Since Age of Sigmar in a fantasy world plays the fractions consist not only of people, but also from other nations, such as dwarves , elves or demons . When creating an army, you can either choose just one faction or combine models from different factions into a large army. The condition for this is that they are not enemies. Due to the initial lack of new miniatures, numerous models from the eighth edition of Warhammer Fantasy were taken over.

Grand Alliance people Faction description
order Celestial Stormcast Eternals Demigod-like warriors imbued with part of Sigmar's divine power and wearing magical armor made of Sigmarite. This is a completely new faction for the game. They were created by Sigmar with the help of Grungni to be the ultimate weapon against the forces of chaos. They are heroic members of the mortal races whom Sigmar chose from the realms for various reasons before their death and made them immensely powerful warriors. They are immortals in the sense that after death they are turned into energy that can be reused to recreate themselves. Certain Stormcast Eternals also ride on beasts called Dracoths. They form the Stormcast Extremis.
Seraphone Formerly the people of the lizard men, the seraphons in Age of Sigmar are created by the thought power of their leaders, the slans. Slans have such enormous strength of mind that all they have to do is remember the armies of the past to call them into existence. For this reason the seraphons are also described as demons who fight for order. In the genesis of the Warhammer world, the lizardmen were the first to be created by the creators, the so-called ancients , as their servants and guardians.
Sylvaneth Sylvaneth Forest spirits, living trees that adore nature.
Duardin (dwarfs) Fyreslayers Dwarf mercenaries who worship Grimnir. They fight for primordial gold, a magical element that they believe is the rest of their god.
Dispossessed The last surviving dwarves of the old world who still hold grudges against their enemies and worship Grungni.
Kharadron Overlords A completely new dwarf faction, released in the spring of 2017, consisting of nautical iron armor and warriors with armored diving suits. Separated from the other dwarves a long time ago, the Kharadron Overlords live in heavenly cities with a very different culture than their brothers. Instead of wielding axes, they wield knife-like swords and are armed with firearms powered by aether-gold, a gaseous metal in the sky.
Ironweld Arsenal Combined artillery of dwarves and humans. Everything from cannons to steam tanks to organ cannons.
People
Devoted of Sigmar The last vestiges of the old world empire.
Collegiate Arcane Human sorcerers and magicians.
Free peoples The rest of mortal humanity, from knights to popular militia.
Aelfs (elves) Highborn Formerly the high elves.
Exiles Formerly the dark elves.
Wanderers Formerly the wood elves.
Idoneth Deepkin A completely new elven faction released in spring 2018. The Idoneth Deepkin are predators from the depths of the sea.
chaos People Everchosen The followers of Archaon, the Chosen One of Chaos.
Slaves to Darkness Formerly the Warriors of Chaos faction.
Khorne Bloodbound People who dedicate their lives to the chaos god Khorne.
Tzeentch Arcanites People who dedicate their lives to the chaos god Tzeentch.
Nurgle Rotbringers People who dedicate their lives to the chaos god Nurgle.
Hosts of Slaanesh People who dedicate their lives to the chaos god Slaanesh and demons, created by the chaos god Slaanesh.
Demons
Daemons of Khorne Demons, created by the chaos god Khorne.
Daemons of Tzeentch Demons, created by the chaos god Tzeentch.
Daemons of Nurgle Demons, created by the chaos god Nurgle.
Daemons of Chaos Formerly the Chaos Demons.
Beastmen Beastmen Half animal, half human, mutated by the influence of chaos. Visually, parallels can be drawn to the mythological hybrid beings, such as the satyrs, centaurs (lower body horse, upper body human) or minotaurs (body of a human, head of a bull). But they are still wild beasts that pay homage to their own version of a chaos god.
Duardin (dwarfs) Legion of Azgorh Dwarves corrupted by chaos.
Monstrosities Monsters of Chaos Enormous beasts created by the forces of chaos.
Giants Chaos Gargants Giants that serve chaos.
Dragon ogres Thunderscorn Half dragon, half ogre. Mighty beasts in the service of chaos.
Skaven Skaven Now officially part of the Empire of Chaos when the Horned Rat rose to become the pantheon of the Chaos Gods.
Death living Dead Deathlords Formerly part of the vampire lords. These were the leading aristocracy of the vampire lords, consisting of Nagash's command unit, the mortarchs, the Morghasts and the vampire lords.
Soulblight Formerly part of the vampire lords. These are the typical vampires.
Deadwalkers Formerly part of the vampire lords. Zombies.
Deathrattle Formerly part of the Tomb Kings of Khemri. Skeletal warrior.
Flesh-Eater Courts Formerly part of the vampire lords. They consist of crypt ghouls, vampires who have turned into carnivorous monstrosities.
Nighthaunt Formerly part of the vampire lords. They are made up of ghosts and disembodied souls.
People Deathmages Formerly part of the vampire lords. Human magicians and necromancers who bring the dead to life.
Destruction Orruks and Grots

(Orcs and goblins)

Ironjawz Formerly the black orcs, heavily armored orruks. Grouped in different clans.
Greenskinz Formerly part of orcs and goblins. The typical Orruks that make up the majority of the Orruk race.
Bone Splinterz The wild orcs used to be. Orruks who are more primitive and use bone weapons and shamanism.
Grots Formerly the goblins. Grouped in different clans.
Giants Aleguzzler Gargants Giants who don't serve the chaos gods.
Ogre Beastclaw Raiders Ogor riding massive Thundertusks and Mournfangs.
Firebellies Ogor with the ability to spit fire.
Maneaters The typical Ogor who make up the majority of the Ogor breed.
Gutbusters Nomadic Ogor.
Trolls Troggoths Trolls who don't serve the gods of chaos.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tabletop Insider, October / November 2009 (No. 2), page 18
  2. ^ Age of Sigmar - General. Retrieved September 24, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Cas-P.net: The Ninth Age. Retrieved September 24, 2019 .