Age of Sigmar: My Thoughts

Last year Games Workshop pushed the End Times for its Warhammer Fantasy game, giving this old game one last nod. Following this they introduced its replacement, Age of Sigmar. Initially this game came out with a total of 4 pages for the rules, and every pre-existing army received free rules, nicknamed Warscrolls.

The community is largely against Age of Sigmar for various reasons, however there are supporters out there for Age of Sigmar. I am not going to go into the argument of whether Age of Sigmar is a great thing or not, instead, I’m going to point out what I think Games Workshop got right.

1. Warscrolls

If you take a look at one of these warscrolls, for example the free ones introduced for the older armies, you’ll note that everything you need for the unit is on one page. I think this is great, every special rule is explained clearly and you do not need to open 2 separate books (Codex & Rules) and locate the rules every time you forget what something is. This is particularly great for new players, as being told to read through so many rules before you can play can be largely offputting.

2. Simple Rules

Games Workshop was listening to its newer customers when it wrote Age of Sigmar. I remember hearing people explain how much more difficult it was to get through all of the rules for Fantasy, and then getting your army build and tactics right on top of that. Granted I believe GW went overboard a little with simplifying this ruleset, another 2 pages of rules alone would clear up the most common queries and imbalances in the game. Combined with the Warscrolls, getting into the game is incredibly easy.

3. Points System

Games Workshop completely removed the points system from this game, and this is not what I’m supporting. Instead, I praise GW for reassessing the points system and not keeping to the traditional ‘count to a thousand’ system. I strongly believe they should have kept points in, as now it is much more difficult to play a balanced game with friends. Instead GW should should have looked at point systems such as SAGA.

In SAGA, your game size will vary between 4 and 8 points. All units are worth 1 point, and their unit size is dictated in the rulebook. Translating this to Age of Sigmar, let’s say you get 20 points, and your favourite infantry squad is 2 points for its minimum size of 5, and pays an extra 2 points for every 5 men. For your warlord, a small guy that doesn’t do much may only be worth 1 point, whereas a monstrous creature that spires fire everywhere may be worth 5 or more points.

This example above doesn’t require a great deal of counting and figuring out, making it equally as appealing to newer players as the lack of a point system, and more appealing to existing players who want to enjoy a games random element of not knowing who will win.

That’s all for now,

Peakwargamer Aaron.