Warhammer: Age of Sigmar

Warhammer: Age of Skubmar Sigmar, also called New Warhammer by some ("Warhammer Light" by that guy who ranted about the rules below, and "Fucking Bullshit" by others), AKA Warhammer: New Coke, is a skirmish-level wargame set in the new Warhammer Fantasy setting that was formed after the world-sundering events of the The End Times.

According to Games Workshop it is a product that will remain supported and updated using a "living document", meaning it will be constantly updated rather than re-released as a new thing each time (for example, version 1.2, version 1.3, version 1.4, and so on). The initial rulebook only consisted of four pages which can be found for free online, with additional updates to come. Every model in the older Warhammer (or at least the models still in production when it was released) receives stats through a "Warscroll", a downloadable stat card. On July 3rd, 2015, the Games Workshop main page was altered to have Age of Sigmar rather than Warhammer Fantasy as its category. You can still click to view models by their 8e army, although now another sorting option shows armies by race.

As for the Warscroll Compendium released online for free online, it did what it was prophesied to do and basically made it so your prior investment in Warhammer miniatures isn't completely worthless. But then again, this was the bare minimum they had to do to prevent people from razing their HQ down to the ground. So, while the good news is that you can use your old collection with no hassle and there's the probability that fan favorite characters will survive into the new world(s), the bad news is that there's still no balancing or points mechanic. Much lulz was had when the actual rules were seen and revealed to be written in the unhinged style of Magic the Gathering. Needlessly to say, however, normal people could see that these clauses were only there for flavor and actual games will not require you to scream "FOR THE LADY!" while downing a goblet of wine - inasmuch as the factions those old rules were made for will play little to no part in the game when the full versions of each faction gets released.

Games are intended to be MUCH smaller, although there is no upwards limit on the size of the match. In fact, the second page of the rules state a player can literally field everything you own, until you run out of space on the field (making it the epitome of "pay to win"). While one would hope most people will not actually do this, the fact that it's even possible to do so is a cause for concern, given that it reduces all tactics down to "have more minis than your opponent does". The fact it is harder to make a game fair between both players than to win, and the fact balance is entirely reliant on homebrew rules, has thus far been a sticking point of many players.

As a skirmish game round bases will be primarily used, although Games Workshop specifically pointed out repeatedly in the corresponding White Dwarf release that any base size or shape is viable as now measurement will be made from the model itself (some were quick to point out that using a large and unwieldy base that cannot have other miniatures placed on it makes models unable to be engaged in Close Combat, breaking the game even before release). As base size no longer matters, models no longer are made to rank up and are significantly larger and out of scale with older miniatures (despite the lore actually stating that they tower over mortal men anyways) (Just As Planned). Games Workshop claims formation does not matter, and bringing ranked models on square bases on movement trays is still viable.

Despite the actual end of End Times indicating only one figure survived, Age of Sigmar allows any character to be fielded; in fact, some such as Grimgor who had confirmed deaths are still playable, although the chances that they're actually alive in the new setting are very slim.

The names of every classic Warhammer race was changed, most likely for maximum copyright.

The pre-order date is set for July 4th, and release July 11th.

The game now has only four factions, grouped into different races. You can field an army of half Aelves and half Duardin, with a few characters from Humans and Stormcast Eternals. Want to have an airforce of Gyrocopters and Dragons? Go for it. How about Cyclopean Ogres Ogors and their Goat-man herds? Maybe a plague army of Bubonic rats and Nurgle's best? Go for it.

Contents 1 Setting 1.1 Order 1.1.1 Stormcast Eternals 1.1.2 Humans 1.1.3 Red Slayers 1.1.4 Steamhead Duardin 1.1.5 Aelfs 1.1.6 Seraphon 1.1.7 Sylvaneth 1.2 Death 1.2.1 Vampires 1.2.2 Mummies 1.2.3 Skeletons 1.3 Destruction 1.3.1 Orruks 1.3.2 Grots 1.3.3 Ogors 1.3.4 Troggoth 1.4 Chaos 1.4.1 Daemons 1.4.2 Beastmen 1.4.3 Mortals 1.4.4 Skaven 2 Placeholder Rules Rant 2.1 The rules' implications 2.2 The Good 2.3 The Bad 2.4 The Ugly 2.5 In Conclusion Setting

Without peripheral vision, they may spend days like this without realizing it isn't their comrade next to them. After floating through the void of nothingness after Chaos's destruction of the Warhammer Fantasy world, Sigmar found the metal core of the planet which was in fact once the core of the twin-tailed comet that heralded his own birth (despite the fact that the world existed before Sigmar or the comet entered the scene)and used it to form a new plane of existence. Some time later, he made friends with some space-dragon which taught Sigmar how to form new realms from the void in exchange for a necklace made from part of said metal core- a material which Sigmar dubbed...wait for it...Sigmarite. (Yep, Sigmar named the magic super-metal after himself, the ego-maniacal asshole.) After forming the Mortal Realms, Sigmar then sought out the other beings who survived as well, all former Incarnates once bound to the Winds of Magic.

The new setting is made up of nine Realms. Each Realm represents a magical Wind and its properties (The Realm of Aqshy (fire) has volcanoes and the people tend to be aggressive and determined, the Realm of Hysh (light) is a bright and verdant world with symbolism in everything, so forth), and Sigmar ruled them all initially.

Unfortunately, the ninth Realm is basically the Northern Wastes from the Old World, and is Chaos incarnate. The Realms are connected through gates called "Realmgates", and when Chaos attacked and ravaged all the other Realms, Sigmar sealed off the Gates to the Realm of Azyr (Heavens) and began governing his own city of Order, readying a counterattack against the Ruinous Powers.

The overarching story of the game starts as Sigmar creates the Stormhosts, reforges his old ties with the other forces of Order, and sends their combined forces through the Gates of Azyr to beat some Chaos ass, with the ultimate goal of taking the fight to the Warp itself. It has been a very long time since End Times ended, and generations of mortals have lived and died. The previous setting is now called the Age of Myth, with End Times and what came after the Age of Chaos; Sigmar's unification of Order, and the point where Chaos for the first time began to lose power and territory to him, is the Age of Sigmar (roll credits). The plot will supposedly keep advancing after this, just like Warmachine and Hordes. Looks like GW took notes from Privateer Press, which has some fans optimistic and others breathing fire.

Order The factions united under Sigmar, interested in beating the shit out of Chaos and...well, just kind of surviving. Races are no longer homogenous; Dwarf, Elf, Human, even some Undead live and dwell alongside each other with all previous conflicts forgotten. Some cultures from the past world survived, and new ones have appeared as Sigmar united the mortals from many settings lost in the Warp.

Stormcast Eternals Sigmar forged his realm out of Azyr, Wind of Heavens, into the realm of Azyrheim and took small Human tribes which had been hiding from Chaos in the Warp and forged them into Demigods, more metal than man within armor made of pure refined Sigmarite. These beings were dubbed the Stormcast Eternals (prepare yourself for facepalm lore writing, as the Stormcast Eternals storm things stormingly with their stormhammers just as much as Space Wolves wolf things wolfishly with their wolfguns), and created to be the perfect defense against Chaos. Each group of the Stormcast belongs to one of eight chapters Stormhosts. Each Stormhost is analogous to a 40k chapter. Foremost amongst them are the poster child faction, the Hammers of Sigmar who bear the regal blue and gold and were the first Stormhost, followed by the Astral (dark) Templars who are the monster-killer Stormhost, cursed and brooding figures called the Anvils of Heldenhammer who were forged in a really depressing state and were born as a faction of emo kids, the Hallowed (grey) Knights which are the spiritually consecrated warriors immune to Chaos and so horrifically mangled they were battle-scarred at birth, the Celestial Vindicators who sport a spiffing turquoise armor which somehow ties into their role as Sigmar's new Witch Hunters, and the gold with purple Lions of Sigmar whose power is that they are dreadfully mysterious and can maybe cut guns in half with their mind if the rumor is true.

Laboratories within Azyrheim and the mysterious Six Smiths labor night and day to improve Sigmar's forces.

Thanks to their bulky appearance, massive fucking bodies, and design that's obviously meant to get the attention of Space Marine players, they are known to most of the fanbase as "Sigmarines".

They're Sigmarines alright.

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Sigmarine Stormbolters.jpg

Sigmarine Logical Conclusion.jpg

Gold Knights.jpg

UltraSigmarines.jpg

Nothing like saying "fuck you" to Khorne like having a man with a skull for a head carry your standard. Note how the Khorgaron's arms have switches places. They're the opposite on the model and in other pics.

Its All Over, Lovehammer Is Dead.jpg Humans The former Empire and Bretonnians, as one force, who reside in the creatively named realm of Sigmaron. This would be the equivalent of the Imperium of Man calling itself "Emperorland".

Red Slayers This is the named faction for Order that we know the least about right now. All we know is that they're mercenaries, who won't help the Sigmarines and friends out unless paid in gold. Some speculate that this will be a second dwarf faction, others that it will be the human descendants of the Empire and Bretonnia, as above, only with more Wardian fluff and a more fantastic look than before (Sigmar, please). So, in a world that was ripped to shreds from the sphincter out, these guys only care about gold. So, they're stupid, and dicks, but they're Sigmar's stupid dicks.

Steamhead Duardin The new Dorfs. Grungni helped forge the Stormcast Eternals for his bro Sigmar. Grimnir was around, then died fighting the mother of dragons and both of them are destroyed in the conflict. It's unknown if he was the original Grimnir or Gotrek,but killing the mother of all fucking dragons is a pretty badass way to leave this world. (actually its the mother of salamanders... so he got killed by a giant lizard.[still pretty badass])

Aelfs The new Elves of the setting, made up of three elf subfactions (Highborn, Exiles, and Wanderers) from the previous world and lead by Tyrion, who survived the End Times.

The Highborn are on Sigmar's side; when they learned Slaanesh was still in the remains of the old Warhammer World gorging himself/herself on Elf souls, they went to take it by surprise and capture it, which would successfully eliminate he/she/they/it/hermaphrodite from the equation. By contrast, the Exiles give only token lip service to Sigmar; their true loyalty is to themselves and a being called Malerion (Who may be Malekith but with a name changed so as to avoid copyright issues with Marvel), but at least for the time being they're considered part of the forces of Order. The Wanderers are just...there.

Seraphon The Lizardmen, having reached the new setting with their flying magical pyramids. They are described as reptilian warriors made of azyr who appear out of nowhere, making them the other order daemons alongside the Stormcast Eternals. The slann can summon in the lizardman troops as if they were demons. They are the only faction to get a warscroll that changes their fluff without making it fucking stupid in the process. It seems that they will survive relatively unchanged, as theirs is the only old rulebook with reasonable fluff and none of the silly rules.

Its worth noting that previously, Seraphon was the dragon mount of Malekith. It is unclear if in setting if anyone remembers that was her name, or who Malekith even is at that matter. Weird flipping reskinning has happened in /tg/. (i.e. 4e D&D archons). At any rate, whoever wrote Malekith's AoS war scroll remembers, since it specifically mentions his dragon mount by name and Malekith can use her breath weapon.

Sylvaneth The forest spirits of the Wanderer Aelfs. Lead by the goddess Alarielle, the new treefolk were made from "Soulpods" she created. After Sigmar retreated to his realm, she considered herself a free agent, opposing Nurgle who seeks to claim the Realm of Life as his own.

Death The spooky side of things. Same goals as Order, but they don't play nice and their secondary goal is ruling over the survivors after Chaos is gone.

Vampires New Vampire Counts, minus the skeletons. Nagash initially sided with Sigmar, although as one would predict he got sick of not being the center of attention and retreated to Shyish, Realm made of the Wind of Death to plot to:

Destroy everyone else, rule those willing to bow down to him. Eat Chaos, become supreme god of spooky. Because that worked so well the last time he tried it. Having learned nothing from the End Times, he fights the forces of chaos alone, and ends up getting defeated by Archaon...again. Still unwilling to accept defeat and too proud to accept a place in the forces of Order, he is currently in the state he always seems to be in: gathering power, just about to return. Some things never change.

Mummies The only thing that went from less to more generic. Tomb Kings minus the uniqueness.

Skeletons Now apparently their own faction. Initial images of this army were of Vampire Counts skeletons that bore a purple scheme with one very grim image; a white Fleur de Lis on a tattered banner borne by a skeleton knight. Some were quick to wince at the perceived insult from Games Workshop at the Brets, although others were quick to point out the other symbols from the same army are the heraldry of Noctilius the vampire pirate from Dreadfleet and that Noctilius's ship was made up of a castle on an island with a boat made up of several smaller wrecked boats forming one functional one (somehow), making it possible he is Bretonnian and survived both his own death at the end of the Dreadfleet narrative AND End Times to lead an army in Nagash's name.

Destruction The forces uninterested in beating Chaos, or more specifically not caring about who it is that they beat.

Orruks The Orcs of Orcs & Goblins, lead by Gorkamorka, the combined form of the old gods Gork and Mork. He was intially interested in Sigmar's plans until he got bored and lead the savage elements of the reborn world to his realm made of Ghur, the Wind of Beasts. Now they're predictably trying to get in as many fights as they can, and don't really give a fuck about exactly who it is that they're fighting.

Grots The Goblins of Orcs & Goblins, same lore as above.

Ogors The Ogre Kingdoms reborn.

Troggoth Trolls, now their own army.

Chaos Same shit, different setting.

Daemons Same old, same old. Defeats may be more crippling however, since everyone is fighting within the Warp itself. Khorne has new Daemons, the "Khorgoraths" who are mortal men so infused with Khorne's magic their skin becomes like liquid boiling blood with skulls bubbling within, and in time they come to resemble Khorne himself not unlike Great Unclean Ones resemble Nurgle.

Slaanesh is missing, but still has followers. The fluff originally hints that Tyrion captured him, but Slaanesh's forces think that a being known as Malerion (which incidentally is very closely connected to the Exiled Aelves) had something to do with its disappearance. They are currently invading Ulgu in search of Malerion for clues as to where their god(ess) is. "THE FORCES OF CHAOS HAVE ARRIVED...BUT WHERE IS THE DARK PRINCE?"

Say goodbye to Slaanesh kids, daddy/momma is goin' bye-bye.

Beastmen They're Beastmen. Shocking, isn't it?

Gors can now Move, Run AND Charge. Tuskagor Chariots nerfed, Ungor skirmishers receive re-rolls on shooting for having 20+ models. Specific Characters either benefit 'Brayheard' units (gors) or they benefit 'Warheard' units (minotaurs). Still have low Ld (except now called Bravery) and monsters have generic 5+ saves.

Mortals Warriors of Chaos have a new name, and that is...mortals. Chaos is still here and broadly similar to what they were originally. They are apparently still barbarian tribesmen if the WD leaks are to be believed, though it is unknown if the "Mortal Realms" have a North for them to be centered in. Oddly enough, theirs were the only miniatures to receive approval from the Warhammer Fantasy fanbase (although many have complained the new monster resembles something from 40k, with a hint of Alien except with a skull in it's mouth). The Glottkin are still around for some reason- maybe Nurgle decided to give them a second chance. The most prominent of the mortal servants of Chaos so far is a group called the Khorne Bloodbound; you can probably guess which Chaos God they serve just by looking at the name. Archaon the Everchosen is also still around as the leader of the mortal followers of Chaos, and in spite of his antics during the End Times and defeat at the hands of Sigmar he's no less prepared to see that the Mortal Realms meet the same fate as the Warhammer World.

The bearded Blood Warrior miniature has been lauded throughout the intrawebs as the best miniature in the starter set. As well as having the largest beard of any mini GeeDubs has ever put out. There is also a giant monster that may or may not be a new Chaos- You-Know-What. It's apparently called a Korgorath Skuldrak, which may mean a new type of daemon instead though.

Their faction includes the old Chaos Dwarfs.

This man's beard is the longest beard in all the nine realms.

Still miss the 90's?

Skaven They still exist. They are still aligned with Chaos. Preview images show Ogre Kingdoms forces with Skaven artillery manned by Gnoblars, interestingly *Edit*(The Skaven artillery is a converted Scraplauncher, not an ally. It was originally featured in a White Dwarf Weekly battle against the High Elves. It had a square base, but like the Ogor army it came from, it got rebased to round bases). Skaven peace is over, and they're backstabby again. Specifically, subordinates will kill their superiors and assume the roles as the battle progresses.

Placeholder Rules Rant Good news? The rules are free and simplified in 4 pages. Now to the real meat...

It is entirely possible to create an interesting and challenging ruleset with a minimal set of core rules that you could fit on four pages. However, this is not an example of that. This seems to be an example of 'what's the least amount of work we could do to create a ruleset that might sell fantasy figures'.

You have scrolls defining units, which seems like an interesting idea until you actually see they lack any limit on unit size. There's no army composition at all except apparently build whatever you want and count the number of figures you have. The only token nod to balance is the Sudden Death rule, but will result in games that suck. Either you'll get smashed by a superior force OR you'll get lucky and pull off the Sudden Death objective in which case all the figures your opponent has bought are irrelevant. Not to mention that 'a third' less figures could be a few figures, or hundreds.

It is limited and with flat to hit and wound rolls it is simply a more dumbed down version of regular Warhammer. This is simply "Warhammer Light". It doesn't have enough new stuff to be exciting or interesting and not enough of what made the old stuff compelling and exciting.

Games Workshop could have done a Wizards of the Coast like flip and start getting better, but they fucked it up. Or maybe this is their equivalent of 4th edition moment (both rearranged the world, oversimplified core concepts and pushed for online content while ignoring what the community had been saying in order to attract more new players) that might later get unfucked.

Rumor has it that additional rules may be on the way, and it's likely that the "full" rules for when the game is released are likely to be less bare-bones by comparison.

The rules' implications While none of the miniatures have yet been released, the 4-page ruleset seems to imply with but a single line, "Measuring from a model's base" that Age of Sigmar is apparently going to be more like 40k. Hell, there's even Space Marines in Fantasy, and they're fucking named after the 40k space marines. All of this pretty much points to the following:

Games Workshop started by making Fantasy Battles Fantasy battles was its own thing GW made Warhammer 40k. At this point it's essentially "Like Fantasy battles, BUT IN SPESS" 40k Went along and gradually became its own glorious awesome thing, and completely set the tone for gothic scifi for the next 40 years. 40 years later Fantasy Battles is completely dead. The few remaining players are experiencing an End Times. Games Workshop creates Age of Sigmar, which is hailed as "Like 40k, BUT IN FANTASY!" Space Marines In fantasy, but minus the space?... 40 Years from now: Warhammer 40k will be dead, and the cycle begins anew where it must be reborn as "Like Age of Sigmar, BUT IN SPACE!" where you will gain dice rerolls by putting your finger to the side of your opponent's head and shouting "BLAM HERESY".

The Good Bretonnia finally got a long-deserved update. Chaos is still made up of savage Viking-like tribesmen. GRIMNIR LIVES!!! But dies before the conflict even starts because he destroyed himself and the mother of all fucking Dragons!!!! GRUNGNI LIVES!!! AND HE MAKES THE ARMOUR FOR THE SIGMARINES! NAGASH UNLIVES!!! Glottkin are back! Updated marauders! Lizardmen are still a thing! They are now...good guy Daemons? Seriously, BEARDED CHAOS WARRIOR!!!!!! There's actually hope for the "good guys" unlike the old setting where Chaos will always win because good is dumb. The "good" gods can actually do shit and not just fade and be weak as hell. The plot actually advances. Sigmar is portrayed with a Beard! Everything in the starter set can be used as a heavy metal band name. Everything in the starter can be used as 40k units, Sanguinary Guard? Check, Custodes? Check! Khornate Feral World Chaos Cultist? Check! World Eater plastic Berserkers? BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! Just As Planned. Now balance depends on how you negotiate with your opponent what you can and cannot field, which is actually great for This Guy and very bad for That Guy. The merging of the factions and lack of points actually allow for new liberty when creating your army, for example, as pointed out at the beginning, you can now make a Black Death plague themed Chaos army, or Order shooty Dorfs backed by steam armoured dinosaurs, the possibilities for modelling and list-composing are endless! Warhammer Fantasy will finally get 40K levels of attention from GW. The Bad All models now come with eyes in the back of their heads and no longer move in ranks and files, rendering them immune to rear and flank charges. The new names for elves, ogres, and orcs are stupid as shit. No limit for unit size when it comes to Warscrolls, which mean bring more models to win, making this game a bit "Pay and Buy More Miniatures To Win" Sudden Death is either useless or makes the whole game unfair. Unless you played against the rich guy with much more units, in that case it is Karma. The rules are way too simplified for their own good. Stormhosts are mostly palette swaps. Exactly like Space Marines. Marauders don't have beards WHICH IS HERESY!!!! Lack of beards. Though the bearded Blood Warrior has beard enough for three other beardless, lesser men. Trollhammer. Random silliness with rules like 'You can re-roll any failed hit rolls when attacking with a Thane so long as you have a bigger and more impressive beard than your opponent'. And a recent interview indicates that these rules were intentional as an attempt to make using the older models "embarrassing" to play in public. It's a little depressing that GW showed the human race as being totally ineffectual and incapable during the End Times... but show the good guys ascendant as soon as they find some thematically muddled, ugly pseudo-Astartes. Seriously guys, why do you hate on normal people so much? The Ugly If you are THAT GUY, you will only field one Beefcake model (E.G Nagash) and nothing else, effectively making your opponent Lactose Intolerant and granting you Sudden Death (as you are fielding only one model) Some fucking idiot raged harder than Khorne, and set fire to their entire WHFB army instead of auctioning them off (I guess you can now call it Warhammer: Rage of Sigmar) Diablo 3- StormBloodHammerGore.jpg