Age of Sigmar - Neuigkeiten, Produktbilder und Gerüchte [No comments please]

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The General’s Handbook 2017 is out soon. We could hint at what’s inside and what you have to look forward to – or we could just make things easy and show you:

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That’s a lot of content – and nearly every single bit of it is new or updated. This isn’t just a new edition of the General’s Handbook, this is a completely new guide to gaming in the Mortal Realms – new ways to play, new Alliance Abilities, tonnes of new battleplans, allies, updated units and more.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be going into detail as to what all of these the new additions to the game mean, from the Open War cards to siege battles, to allies, which we’re covering today.

Allies are an exciting new addition to matched play games. We’ve all had that struggle when building our armies having to choose between focussing on one faction to take advantage of Allegiance Abilities and battleline units, or using the full Grand Alliance to get access to a wider selection of options. Each faction now has a list of other factions it can ally with, fitting the theme of each force; if your army is made up of the multitudinous hordes of the Clans Verminus, you can ally in the specialised troops of the other great clans, while the Deathlords can rule over any of the other Death factions (the clue’s in the name).

We’ll be going deeper into the allies for each Grand Alliance in the coming weeks, but to tide you over, here’s your allied contingent allowances for matched play games:

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With between 200 and 500 points, you’ll have plenty of space to experiment – that’s enough for an Aleguzzler Gargant in an army of Ironjawz, a furious Spirit of Durthu aiding a warband of Wanderers, a vicious Chimera alongside the Khorne Bloodbound or a fast moving pack of Vargheists to aid your legion of Deathrattle skeletons.

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Allies are particularly useful in light of the new Allegiance Abilities. We’ll be going into these further with future previews, but armies like the Hosts of Slaanesh or the Dispossessed will be able to make full use of powerful unique skills while having a range of choices available when writing lists for matched play. Similarly, you’ll be able to combine powerful allegiance-specific battleline units with allies to make for focused lists made up of the models you want to play.

This is a major change for all matched play games, whether you’re looking to compete at a tournament or just use some new tricks in battles with friends.

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Commanders of Death armies in Warhammer Age of Sigmar have a lot to look forward to in the new General’s Handbook. Followers of the Great Necromancer can expect updated command traits, artefacts and allegiance abilities. You’ll be able to raise a variety of powerful and versatile armies – from classic hordes of shambling minions to an elite core of ancient necromantic constructs.

Death factions benefit hugely from the new allies system, able to harness powerful allegiance abilities and battleline choices while making full use of the great synergies available within the Grand Alliance. A Deathlords army, for example, can make use of powerful Mortarchs and use a strong core of Morghast Archai while allying in a key monster like the Terrorgheist that would otherwise be difficult to summon. Similarly, many Death factions can add a caster like Arkhan the Black or a handy Necromancer to their forces, providing key magical support; this is great in a force that otherwise lacks wizards, like the Nighthaunts or Deathrattles.

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Excitingly, several Death factions are gaining completely new Allegiance Abilities. Flesh-eater Courts armies can now choose a powerful Delusion that applies to the whole force, like The Royal Hunt or Defenders of the Realm, and have command traits and artefacts to further arm your heroes. Your Abhorrant Ghoul Kings just got deadlier.

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Nighthaunt forces make powerful and otherworldly armies in the new General’s handbook. They are capable of deploying to the battlefield in the middle of the game or even turning one of their Cairn Wraiths or Tomb Banshees into a Wizard. If you choose the Nighthaunt allegiance, you’ll also be able to benefit from Hexwraiths as battleline units, allowing for a whole army of spectral riders to run down your foes with. Overall, the Nighthaunts are a surprisingly fast and hard hitting army.

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Finally, the Soulblight are a versatile elite army, taking advantage of some of the strongest Death heroes, in the form of loads of Vampire Lords, as well as hard-hitting units such as the Blood Knights. You’ll also be able to pick a bloodline for your Vampires indicating if they hail from an ancient clan of Necromancers or a draconic order of knights and giving them powerful traits.

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One small but significant change that’s going to be great for Death armies in the new edition is Massive Regiments. This new addition to matched play is aimed at making horde units more viable by offering players a points discount when they take a unit at its full size; you’ll want to take your Skeleton Warriors in units of 40 and your Zombies in units of 60.

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Death armies in the General’s Handbook are going to be more powerful than ever, with something to satisfy any budding Necromancer.

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Matched play is a key cornerstone of Warhammer Age of Sigmar, and the General’s Handbook 2017 will be making this style of play better than ever. From tweaks to balance, to the new allies system and new ways to build your army, the General’s Handbook 2017 promises to revolutionise competitive Warhammer Age of Sigmar gaming and test your skills more than ever before.

There are two new Rules of One for matched play games. Firstly, the roll for priority at the beginning of each battle round cannot be modified or re-rolled – if you’re fishing for a double turn, you’re going to have to rely on good old fashioned luck to get it. Secondly, no artefact of power can be taken more than once in the same army and so if you’re using multiple artefacts, you’ll now have to be creative and branch out. With tonnes of new allegiance-specific artefacts available, this shouldn’t be too hard.

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Some of the existing Rules of One have had a few adjustments as well. For example, as well as a roll of 1 always failing to hit or wound, a roll of a 6 will now always succeed. This means that no matter how huge, scary and tough your opponent may be, you’ve always got at least a slim chance to hurt them.

Another exciting new change is Massive Regiments. Several units are now discounted in points when taken at their maximum strength, making large units much more appealing choices. A full-sized regiment of Clanrats, for example, is 40 points cheaper than before, allowing you to take full advantage of Strength in Numbers. Fill out your Battleline slots in a 200 point Verminous army like this and you’ll have saved enough points for an allied Deathrunner.

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There are loads more ‘Battleline-if’ units for matched play armies, allowing for some unusual new lists. We’ll be looking more closely at these in our Grand Alliance previews, but there are some that really stand out. For example, the bloodthirsty Daughters of Khaine can now fill out their Battleline slots with Doomfire Warlocks and/or Sisters of Slaughter.

Once change that’ll affect every matched play gamer is the new Battleplans. There are six new Pitched Battles designed to test the tactical skills of players in a variety of situations. Some of these are refreshed versions of classic missions – Knife to the Heart, for instance, is similar to Take and Hold but features new objective placement and deployment. Others, like Duality of Death are radically different and force players to make new considerations when writing their competitive army lists. In this scenario, for example, you’ll need your Heroes and Behemoths to capture objectives, forcing you to risk your most valuable units to win the game. The Warhammer Age of Sigmar competitive scene is stronger than ever, and these new Battleplans promise to reward not just strong list-building but careful and considered play.

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Finally, the General’s Handbook 2017 has a few tweaks to matched play to help balance out games. Many units have had their points updated. The costs of some units have been reduced to ensure they are just as appealing as other choices, while the costs of others have been increased to make sure they are not overrepresented.

Matched play in the General’s Handbook will be better than ever – there are loads of new ways to build your armies and tightly balanced new Battleplans to test them in. If you’re a competitive gamer, the General’s Handbook 2017 means that your battles will be diverse, deep and, most importantly, fun!

Remember, the General’s Handbook will be out very soon, so now is a great time to seek out events in your local area in the coming months to try your skills at battle. There’s never been a better time to get started with Warhammer Age of Sigmar matched play. Come back on Friday, when we’ll be taking a look at the Order Grand Alliance and what the new book means for these stalwart defenders of civilisation.

The Order Grand Alliance is the biggest in Warhammer Age of Sigmar, and in the General’s Handbook 2017, there’s something for every faction.

The new Allies system is a great way to recreate classic alliances from the Age of Sigmar. The forces of the Free Cities are often made up of an eclectic collection of aelves, duardin, humans and Stormcast Eternals, and you’ll be able to build an army like this without losing access to your powerful new allegiance abilities. Each faction has its own allies table – the Wanderers, for example, can fight alongside their ancestral kindred the Sylvaneth, while the Stormcast Eternals can lend their strength to any Order faction.

On the tabletop, this is going to make for some powerful combinations. If your army didn’t have a Wizard before, you’ll most likely have access to one now, and a Wizard of the Collegiate Arcane (or even a Luminark of Hysh or Celestial Hurricanum) provides much-needed coverage from Mystic Shield on your key units as well as helping dispel dangerous enemy magic. Armies without Behemoths like the Dispossessed and the Free People will be able to add an indomitable Steam Tank to their forces, providing them with a durable juggernaut that’s capable of dealing with Monsters or just blitzing enemy infantry with a huge array of ranged weapons.

The Seraphon are one of the most improved armies in the new General’s Handbook, with new allegiance abilities, warlord traits, artefacts and two Warscroll battalions. The most powerful of these is the Lords of Space and Time allegiance ability – which lets you remove a unit and replace it anywhere on the battlefield more than 9″ from the enemy. One of the best units to combine this with is a Troglodon, which – with its increased charge range thanks to Drawn to the Screams – should be more than able to make the 9″ charge move.

There are loads of other tactical uses for this ability too; you could use it to drop a Massive Regiment of Saurus Warriors on top of a key objective or to reposition a valuable support unit like an Engine of the Gods away from a dangerous group of enemies.

The Wanderers are a fast-moving ranged army, capable of disappearing off of table edges then reappearing – combine this with Melt Away, and you’ll be able to lead powerful melee units on a merry chase around the tabletop while peppering them with deadly ranged fire. The best way to take advantage of this is with Sisters of the Watch – by forcing the enemy to charge you repeatedly, they’re going to have to deal with multiple attacks from Loose to the Last, which allows the Sisters of the Watch to shoot at incoming Units.

If you’re a fan of old-school duardin, the Dispossessed are the army for you. Thanks to Stubborn to the End, Dispossessed units are nearly impossible to shift and you’ll be able to safely take huge units of them.

A Massive Regiment of 30 Ironbreakers will make for a great core to build any Dispossessed army around. While this unit might be slow, you can overcome this with the Ancestral Pickaxe Artefact and drop an ironclad duardin speed bump right in front of your opponent’s deadliest Units.

If you prefer ur-gold over gromril, now’s a great time to get stuck in with a Fyreslayers army thanks to a host of new rules in the Generals Handbook 2017. During the course of the game, you can activate powerful ur-gold runes to swing events in your favour:

Coupled with two new Warscroll Battalions and a recently-released Start Collecting! boxed set, and a reduction in points for matched play games, there’s never been a better time to get started with Fyreslayers.

Finally, your Order army is going to be stronger even if it doesn’t have an allegiance ability of its own. Defiant Avengers has been changed so you always get re-rolls to your Battleshock tests, even when you’re not near your general. This is a great defensive ability and one that makes large sized units of elite models more viable than ever. This is great in the Order Serpentis, and you’ll want to field large units of Drakespawn Knights or Drakespawn Chariots (which are now “battleline-if”**) as the core of your armies.

We’ve only scratched the surface of it, and there’s loads more content for Order players to get their teeth into with the new General’s Handbook – let us know what you’re most excited about on our Warhammer Age of Sigmar Facebook page.

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Open play in Warhammer Age of Sigmar is fun, flexible and varied. With the new open play rules in the General’s Handbook 2017, you’ll be able to create pickup games in minutes and have fun with friends with new and exciting multiplayer game modes.

The new multiplayer rules are great if you’re looking for ways to play with your gaming group (or betray them). You can play Coalition of Death with any number of models, but we think it’s best for those epic, day-long games that every hobbyist loves – the times when your friends, or your group, or your club gather up everything they own and pit them against one another in an epic clash. As well as unique battleplans, there are game effects like Divine Intervention to keep things interesting for the losing side – a Death army, for instance, can see all its generals suddenly restored to “life”, while an Order army can suddenly defend itself against a devastating assault with Shield of Fate.

For players looking for a real challenge, there are Fog of War rules to represent the chaos of a truly massive battle – our favourite of these is Messengers, which only allows players to discuss strategy and tactics if their generals are physically next to each other – otherwise, you’ll have to pass each other notes! Coalition of Death games may not be a regular occurrence, but they’ll be the kind of games you talk about for years to come.

Triumph & Treachery:

Triumph & Treachery brings three or more players together in a multi-sided battle and allows you to outsmart your foes and betray your friends. In Triumph & Treachery, only one player can win, but to do so, you’ll need to forge temporary alliances – and know when to break them.

One of the most fun features of Triumph & Treachery is Treacherous Acts. For example, if you were feeling cunning and wanted to get rid of a particularly dangerous unit, you could bribe the player who owned it into charging another enemy – before using Cunning Ruse to prevent it from attacking until the end of the combat phase. If you’re looking for a fun way to put your cunning to the test, Triumph & Treachery is the way to do it.

Open War Cards

Open War cards allow you to create exciting battleplans in minutes. Like their Warhammer 40,000 counterparts, these cards randomise objectives and deployment maps, as well as adding unusual twists to each game – Dead of Night, for instance, hugely reduces the range of spells and ranged attacks. There are also ruses and Sudden Death Cards to balance games between mismatched armies, meaning that games between any two forces can be a challenging and enjoyable experience for both Players.

With 62,208 possible combinations, every game should feel fresh – you’ll never have to worry about picking a battleplan again. These cards aren’t just for open play and are really useful for matched play and narrative games too. The deck can be broken out to make a Tree Campaign with a variety of battleplans, or used by tournament organisers to create unique challenges for their players. Open War cards are perfect for Warhammer Age of Sigmar players who desire fresh, fun challenges every time they play with minimal planning.

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