Games Workshop is drip-feeding us information about the new edition ofAge of Sigmar. But instead of treating us to beautiful 360s of the new Skaven models like we all want, we’re getting boring rules updates instead. Okay, maybe that’s not boring for everyone, but it’s definitely not the side of the game that interests me the most.
However, the latest update fromWarhammer Communitymade me sit up in my gaming chair and start listening. Age of Sigmar 4th Edition is getting rid of the old unit types – Battleline, Behemoth, etc. – and moving to a regiment system. Each Hero in your army can lead a set number of troops, in a move that sounds suspiciously similar to the rules for Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game.
Nearly everyWarhammerplayer my age got involved because ofThe Lord of the Rings. Games Workshop’s officially licensed skirmish game had stunning models, intuitive rules, and tapped into the Ringmania that gripped the world in the early ‘00s. Soon, players who were heading intoGames Workshopstores got pulled into the far future or its own fantasy world far away from The Shire, and the rest is history.
However, the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game (as it is now known) is one of the best skirmish systems the company has ever produced. The beauty of it is that it scales perfectly at nearly every point limit, so whether you’re fighting a tiny 300-point bout or reenacting the Battle of Pelennor Fields with a dozen Mûmakil and countless heroes, the game feels balanced. The fact that Age of Sigmar seems to be taking a leaf out of this book can only be good news.
In Age of Sigmar 4.0, each regiment consists of a Hero, who is followed by as many as three units (four if they’re your General). All of these are deployed together as one drop when the battle starts, and the player with the fewest drops gains a bonus Command Point per battle round – a huge bonus. You can also take Auxiliary units, but these will significantly increase the number of drops and decrease the likelihood you earn that Command Point.
We don’t know the full details, but this system looks to negatively affect horde armies and buff elite forces.
This is already divisive, but there’s more. Heroes can only take thematically appropriate units in their regiments. The example given in the article says that “a Vanari Bannerblade can include any Vanari units in their regiment,” which makes a lot of sense. To move the example over to Skaven, whichI am obsessed withat the momentfor obvious reasons, a Plague Priest will be allowed to take Pestilens units, a Deathmaster Eshin assassins, and a Warlock Engineer all those messed-up beasts of Clan Moulder. However, a Verminlord is probably powerful enough to pick from any unit in the army.
As someone who prioritises flavour over most else, I like that this will force armies to be a bit more thematic. Tournament players will likely begrudge the limitations enforced by this system, and it will be interesting to see how the meta develops. I worry that there will be a couple of broken combos that can be spammed, but that wouldn’t be a big departure from the current tournament scene.
If you want to have fun with your army, you still can. An Age of Sigmar 4th edition product developer named only as Ben in the Warhammer Community article details an incredibly fun Skaven list that you can still take in the new rules. “If you want to build a list that’s just a single hero and a swarm of Doomwheels zooming around and causing havoc, we won’t stop you!”
Personally, I’d love AoS to go all-in on this change. Units should be buffed by their regimental Heroes and no others. They should have to deploy close to each other. They could even get special rules likeWarhammer 40K’sdetachments depending on the Hero and theme of the regiment. I know tournament players have stopped reading already, so they can’t even get angry about it. But it would be fun, right?
