My Thoughts on Age of Sigmar!

By far the most controversial release this year is the release of the Warhammer Fantasy Battle overhaul, Age of Sigmar.

News of this massive change in Fantasy has left the community divided, many take this as a fresh, new look of fantasy that has been long overdue. Others aren't taking the news so well, many would have seen the video of the guy burning his massive Dark Elves army, but there is and always will be stupid people out there eh?

But that is not the point of this article, after reading some of the rules and playing a few test games of Age of Sigmar, I will give my own opinion regarding this complete overhaul of Warhammer Fantasy.

Firstly the fluff has changed majorly, the Old World has ended and all we know and love has died... sort of. Age of Sigmar takes place after the events of the End Times, our story starts with Sigmar shooting through space like a comet, holding onto the core of the Old World, which happened to be made of a special metal called Sigmarite. From this Sigmar crafted a whole new plane of existence, completely free of Chaos. (nearly) Sigmar created 9 realms, each realm resembling a different wind of magic. (Fire, Light, Heavens etc) The ninth realm, however, was turned into an ashen wasteland similar to that of the Chaos Wastes on the Old World.

Sigmar somehow oversaw this slight nuisance and let it fester, believe it or not, the Chaos of the 9th realm broke through into the others and ravaged every single other realm excluding the realm of the heavens, the realm of Azyr. Here, Sigmars palace lies and is where he decided to make his last stand against Chaos. To aid him in this last stand he made an army of "Stormcast Eternals", these Stormcast were mortals that Sigmar found hiding from Chaos and were plated in Sigmarite armor, turning them into demigods. It is with this army, combined with the surviving forces of order, that Sigmar makes his push out of Azyr against the Chaos!

The rules of Age of Sigmar are completely rewritten from Warhammer Fantasy, there is no similarity. This new rule-set is far simpler than any other Games Workshop game system, this is made to cater more to people who are new to the hobby, who find using the To Hit/ To Wound charts frustrating. For a start Points are gone altogether, no more points! As of yet there is no official way of balancing armies. The basic way selecting armies works is the players roll off for who deploys the first unit, they do so, then the enemy thinks about what would be good to counter that and deploys accordingly. This allows for far more versatility in armies, and the complete disappearance of list writing means games will be faster and easier to play.

Many have and will complain that the lack of points allows for broken armies, and while this is true, it is not final, it can be countered. In old games of Warhammer Fantasy, when you saw your enemies army out and ready to go, there is nothing you could do to counter it, your list was written and there was no last minute changes, that was list tailoring. With this new way of army deployment, you can adapt your army to whatever your enemy decides to bring, for example: "Oh, my enemy put down a bolt thrower, I will put down some fast cavalry to counter that!" This then leads to your enemy putting down a unit to counter that fast cavalry etc.

All units and models now have pre determined to hit/to wound rolls that are consistent to matter what you are attacking. It doesn't matter if you are attacking a brick wall or a Dark Elf assassin, you will always be hitting on the same roll, same thing goes for wounding. This is obviously designed to make games simpler and quicker to play, there is no more asking your opponent what the toughness/ weapon skill of their model is.

The only thing that has stayed consistent with Age of Sigmar compared to Warhammer Fantasy is that each unit has their own movement value depending on whether they are mounted, dwarves, elves etc. Each unit has their own "Warscroll", which are available free to download from Games Workshop's Website. The addition of free rules was largely unexpected considering Games Workshops business model, though is much appreciated. The reason for these free rules, as far as I can see, is to enable more and more people to get into the hobby, an army book/codex was always expensive and now that the rules are free, more and more people will be likely to have games and at least, learn the rules.

The main rules are currently only 4 pages long, and are also available for free on the above link. Games Workshop has announced that they will be adding to these rules overtime, thus why they are not releasing a huge rulebook like Warhammer 40k has, yet.

Age of Sigmar is obviously a more light hearted game than Warhammer Fantasy, and I think such a change was ultimately necessary. The bland feel of Warhammer Fantasy has been greatly reduced in Age of Sigmar, partly due to the joke rules, but more due to the fact that Age of Sigmar has a far less competitive feel to it, no doubt this will annoy some people who play more for the tournaments and competitive games, though from a friendly gamer point of view, the new rules are a huge relief from the old rules.

Example of a Warscroll

Games Workshop has been marketing this new release massively, far more than any other release I can remember. They are sending representatives to many wargaming conventions around the world to both spread the word of Age of Sigmar and answer questions about it. Games Workshop has a very conservative business model, so this communication with the fans was very unexpected. Last week, in the first White Dwarf concerning Age of Sigmar we even received a free Age of Sigmar model, something which hasn't happened in my wargaming lifetime. It is blatantly obvious that Games Workshop has invested a lot of money into this change and they are doing everything in their effort to make sure it pays off. They have even changed the iconic Space Marine and Aquila out the front of the Games Workshop headquarters in Nottingham!

But the purpose of this post is not to deliver facts, but for me to give my completely subjective and highly biased opinion, and that is exactly what I am going to do.

I think Age of Sigmar is the best decision Games Workshop has had in a very long time. Many people will disagree with me here, saying that the heart and soul of Warhammer Fantasy has been ripped out and jumped up and down upon by the new Age of Sigmar releases. But what I truly believe is that Warhammer Fantasy lost its heart and soul long ago, it had become very black and white, a game that followed such a strict set of rules that many people gave up on it after a while. At my local Games Workshop store, we would see a maximum of 1 Warhammer Fantasy game per month, compared to the multiple 40k games being played every day. It is not untrue that Games Workshop had neglected Warhammer Fantasy for a long time, but I think its neglect was justified as there is only so much you can do with one universe, Fantasy has been around for a very long time, and of late it had become same old same old, nothing new and exciting until the End Times came along.

Archaon (finally) Ends Warhammer Fantasy

After staying stagnant for many many years, the End Times and the eventual Age of Sigmar were very refreshing, making Fantasy interesting again for many people. At my local GW the other day, I saw many people actually excited this new release, something which rarely happens as this particular niche of hobby seems to be very pessimistic. Having this many people rearing and ready to jump straight into the completely fresh Age of Sigmar truly inspires enthusiasm within hobbyists such as myself, it seems Games Workshops marketing techniques are paying off!

One of the biggest complaints about Age of Sigmar is that there is no balancing system, and I agree with this, that there are most certainly going to people who go out of their ways to find ways to make their armies super powerful and nearly unbeatable. But let me tell you right now, no matter how well balanced any game of this type is, no matter if it is Age of Sigmar, Warhammer 40k or even Lord of the Rings, there are always going to be people who are going to find ways to break the systems. There is always the option to just decline a game against someone you know is in that particular gaming meta. While for some an undesirable option, simply denying a game means you will always get to play against other people who are playing for fun, not playing to win.

People say tournaments are going to be impossible with the lack of balancing, and for those of you who enjoy the whole tournament scene, never fear! As with 40k tournaments, tournament operators are going to find their own ways of balancing the rules to create a far fairer experience for everyone. One of the ways people are suggesting it might be balanced is using wounds, a completely reasonable idea. Others are already thinking of formula's which incorporate various aspects of a units statline to create a points system which can easily be used whilst in a tournament.

The issue of bases is easily resolved, Games Workshop has even released a statement saying that your models can be on whatever bases you damn well please, whether that be square, round or triangular, mount your models however you want, bases are irrelevant in Age of Sigmar so pick whichever base makes your models look best, I am about to start rebasing all my Empire halberdiers on 25mm round bases, I reckon they will look sick!

Ultimately, Age of Sigmar is a far more simple and quick way of using your models on the tabletop, with whatever flavor, color or size base you want. Your models are now far more free to do what they want and your army is more flexible and versatile. A whole new strategy has come from Age of Sigmar, one I cannot wait to start tackling head on, and I know many people share my enthusiasm.

There will be people that won't like Age of Sigmar, and that is fine, I can see that it is not a game for everybody, but it definitely caters for more people than old Warhammer Fantasy catered for and for that I think we are all grateful, having an influx of new hobbyists into your local GW or FLGS will bring about new opportunities and experiences for everybody.

Cheers,

Christian  

Ork Unit Analysis: Gretchin

Gretchin

The Gretchin are the second troop choice in the Ork codex, and are by far the weaker of the two. Rocking perhaps the worst statline in the game, the Gretchin are 9 times out of 10, useless. Gretchin are WS2, BS3, S2, T2, W1, I2, A1, Ld5, Sv- and cost 35 points for a unit of ten Gretchin and a Runtherd, who statwise is identical to an Ork Boy. Lets start with an analysis of the Runtherd!

The Runtherd is essentially the leader of the unit, an Ork Boy tasked with forcing swarms of Grots to run screaming into their enemies midst, killing any who disobey. A runtherd has identical rules to an Ork Boy, 'Ere We Go and Furious charge. 'Ere we go is largely wasted on the Runtherd as the rule only has an effect on units composed entirely of models with the rule, Gretchin do not have 'Ere We Go so the rule will never come into play. (Unless the Runtherd is the only model left in the unit) 

The Runtherd comes base with a Slugga, Stikkbombs and a Grabba Stikk, which is close combat weapon which reduces the enemies attacks by 1 if they are in a challenge, not super useful given that a Gretchin unit would be decimated by nearly anything in the event of a melee. For 5 points, the Runtherd may take a Grot Prod, which is a close combat weapon which allows the Runtherd to discard all of its attacks for a single Strength x2 attack. In the Runtherds case, this would make it a S7 Ap - melee attack due to the furious charge special rule. I would personally take the Grabba Stikk over the Grot Prod as S7 will not be instant killing the majority of the time, so it would often be a wasted 5 points. 

For an additional 5 points, the Runtherd may take a Squig Hound, which, if the unit fails a morale check, does D6 Strength 3 Ap- hits to the unit and forces it to reroll the morale check, this can only be done once, the hound cannot do this twice per phase. This is, I think, essential to the unit as this unit lacks the Mob Rule, and due to its low leadership, will flee a lot of the time. Bringing this relatively cheap upgrade doubles the chances the unit has of staying put, always nice for Orks! Not only thia, but the model comes with a squig hound, so for WYSIWYG sake, bring a squig hound!

The Gretchin themselves are very weak, however, they are very cheap! A gretchin costs 3 points per model and can have a max of 30 Gretchin per unit, this makes the unit only 95 points without further upgrades, pretty good for a 30 wound meatshield! The Gretchin themselves come with no special rules, and only a Grot Blasta  for wargear. A Grot Blasta is a 12" S3 Ap- Assault 1 gun, so it is nothing impressive, though in a unit of 30 at BS3, it has the potential to cause some harm to weaker enemies. For every 10 Gretchin you can take an additional Runtherd, so that is up to 3 per unit for 10 points per model, not necessarily worth it, though good if you like the extra wounds. Rules-wise there isn't much else to say as these guys are a pretty basic unit.

I would personally never put these guys in a transport, the only reason people would bring them is because they are cheap troops choices, so putting them in a transport is going to slowly build your points up and up until they are not so cheap anymore! While many Ork Warbosses will never see a unit of Gretchin on their table, those of us who just love Combined Arms Detachments might consider bringing this unit to stay battle forged because they are so cheap. 

Gretchin make good objective holders, their height means it is far easier to hide behind cover, and your enemy will typically not perceive a unit of Gretchin as a huge threat, meaning they can often go unharmed for entire battles. This means Gretchin can really win you games when come the time to calculate Victory Points, you remind your enemy that you have had a unit of gretchin sitting on an objective the entire game, bumping the game in your favor.   

I couldn't justify bringing Gretchin other than their tiny points cost and their objective secured, they are extremely weak in game and nearly everything is wounding them on a 2+, and without armor means they will die quickly if your enemy chooses to target them. This means always keep your Gretchin in cover if possible, and if you really want to keep them alive, remember they are tiny so they can hide behind units of Boyz, giving them a 5+ cover save.

Cheers,

Christian

Ork Unit Analysis: Boyz

Ork Boyz

Geez, where do I even start? This post will likely be the longest of all the tactics for Orks, so ready yourselves!

9 out of 10 Ork armies are going to contain some amount of Boyz, 8 out of 10 of these are going to majority (model wise) boyz, this is because Boyz are the better of the two troops choices and form the backbone of any Ork strategy, we see this through the formations and detachments available to the Orks, most of which require some amount of boyz.

Boyz make up the majority of any Ork Waagh as they are the most numerous of all of the Greenskin species. Boyz love nothing more than a good scrap, and take more joy in the melee than everything else combined. Some Boyz prefer to use a big gun, but they still love to club their enemies (and sometimes friendlies) over the heads with them, to great effect. For the amount of armor a Boy wears, they are especially tough, it requires a weapon of quite a high caliber to pierce the flesh of the standard Ork boy. Ork boyz aren't very intelligent, and most ventures eventually dissolve into a violent brawl, they rely on Nobz and Warbosses for leadership, because the majority of Boyz have an absence of initiative.

Now let's start having a look at the rules for these models on the tabletop. An Ork Boyz unit costs 60 points base, and comes with 10 Ork boyz, all with Sluggas and Choppas. The standard Ork boy has the following statline; WS4, BS2, S3, T3, W1, I2, A2, Ld7, Sv6+. At 6 points per model, these are amongst the best standard infantry in the game for their relative points. Let's compare these boyz to another troop of similar points, the imperial guardsmen. 1 point cheaper, these guardsmen have 1 less WS, 1 less toughness, and 1 less attack. While guardsmen do have a higher save, initiative and BS, the lasguns they wield are weak in comparison to the sluggas and shootas, which actually have an AP.

The unit type is infantry, so no dramas there, all of the Ork HQ can join Boyz squads with the exception of Boss Zagstruk and each can make these units so much more powerful.

Let's start with the special rules; They have 'Ere We Go!, which allows them to make use of the Waagh! special rule conferred by the Warboss, 'Ere We Go! allows for the player to reroll a single dice when determining charge ranges, which is super useful if you are like me and fail all of your charges. Once per game, when the Warboss calls a Waagh!, all Ork Boy units can run and charge in the same turn, so think about this for a second. You move 6" in a trukk, disembark 6", run 6" and Charge 12" with a reroll on one dice, that's a potential of 30" worth of movement per turn (if you are lucky)

Ork Boyz squads also have Furious charge, which is not a major deal as it only gives S4 on the charge, though this is definitely a step up from S3 and is uncommon for a troops choice, imperial guardsmen etc do not get the same luxuries. The Boss Nob that can go in this unit benefits greatly from this, especially if he has a power klaw. A boss nob is S4 base, so the power klaw becomes S8, which S9 for furious charge. That's right, a S9 powerfist, not even Space Marine captains get that!

The final special rule Ork Boyz get is the Mob Rule, which is super useful given the Boyz low leadership. Basically, when a squad fails a morale or pinning test, they roll on the following table:

• 1 - Born to Fight: If this unit is in combat, it is treated as having passed the morale check and play resumes as normal, if they are not in combat, they fail as normal.
• 2-3 - Breaking Heads: If the unit contains 1 or more characters, (including independent) the unit suffers D6 S4 Ap- hits, these are randomly allocated though cannot hurt any of the characters. IF the unit does not have any characters, they fail as normal.
• 4-6 - Squabble: If the unit has 10 or models, it suffers D6 S4 Ap- hits which are randomly allocated. If it has fewer than 10 models, they fail as normal.

This table is usually pretty good for the Ork player, most of the time you will meet these prerequisites (unless you run squads of 10) and you won't turn tail and run.

The basic wargear that comes with an Ork boy squad is a slugga, choppa and stikkbombs. A slugga is a 12" S4 Ap6 Pistol, which is fairly good for a 6 point model. A boy also comes with a choppa, which is just a close combat weapon. This is good as it grants the boy 3 attacks base, more than any other basic infantry in the game. Finally, boyz get stikkbombs, which are 8" S3 ap- small blast assault grenades, useful as they stop the annoying charging-through-terrain initiative nerf. For 6 points per model, this basic wargear is generous. However, it gets better with the upgrades!

For starters, you can include up to 20 additional boyz for 6 points a model. As the old saying goes, boyz before toyz! So make sure you have nice beefy squads, not only will this make the unit a greater threat to your enemies, but it also makes leadership checks harder for the enemy to force and gives you a better chance on the mob rule table. I say a better chance because there is a 50% chance you will roll Squabble, which requires 10+ models. However, be aware that a trukk, the boyz transport of choice, can only transport 12 models, so depending on your playstyle, a smaller squad of 10 or so would be better for you. For those of you that like to use boyz with warbosses/painboyz/meks for buffs and meat shields, consider taking them in an open topped battlewagon so you can have a bulkier squad.Of course, if you are running a greentide list, there is no excuse not to have squads of 30 boyz with painboyz, footslogging it across the field.

Next up is the option to take Shootas, these cost 1 point per model and as a general rule of thumb I always bring my boyz with these very nice additions. A shoota is essentially a slugga with an extra 6" range and an extra shot. I would put these on par with boltguns, I say this because even though a boltgun has an extra ap and 6" of range, you do not have the ability to charge after shooting, something that is priceless in games, especially for Orks. You do lose an attack by taking shootas, however 3 attacks on the charge per model is still formidable, especially for 7 point models. (6+1 for shoota) No matter the circumstance, a shoota is always a good option, if you have a small squad in a trukk, they can zip around to where you need the support and help out with ~20 shots or you could slowly steamroll your opponent with 30 footslogger boyz who are putting out ~60 shots a turn, nothing to be underestimated.

The next option is the worst of all options, and that is the option to give the entire squad 'eavy armor for 4 points per model. I say it is the worst because it is so expensive, it turns a boy into a 10 point model, with a shoota that's 11, nearly the same price as a marine. And while slightly more expensive, a marine is better in nearly all regards (excluding attacks) and so trying to make your boyz more survivable is going to end up costing you more points that could be allocated elsewhere, where they are truly needed. The only time I could foresee 'eavy armor of boyz being useful is if you really want a deathstar unit, though I think nobz should be used for deathstars, not boyz...

A Silly 'Eavy Armor Boy!

Next on the list is the option to, for every 10 boyz in the unit, take either a Big Shoota or Rokkit Launcha, these cost 5 points a piece. While this wargear is strictly situational, I always bring a big shoota in all of my Boyz units. The rokkit launcha on the other hand, I would never take. I say this because you have a 1 in 3 chance of hitting due to an Ork's abysmal ballistic skill. The big shoota is assault 3, strength 5 ap 5, having 3 shots, the big shoota will statistically always hit at least once, better than the rokkit launcha, which will always statistically miss. Earlier, I mentioned that bringing these weapons is situational, what this means is that if you are using your boyz for CC, I wouldn't recommend bring either, as it causes the unit to lose an attack. However, in any other unit configuration, I would suggest bringing a big shoota. If it turns out your list is over by a couple of points after adding it all up, drop the big shoota from one of your units, 9 times out of 10 they will do nothing all game.

Next up is the option to take a boss nob for 10 points. I don't care who you are, what your unit is made to do, but you MUST take one of these in every unit, they are worth every point. The ability to take any ranged/melee weapons cannot be overlooked or underestimated, not to mention the optional bosspole! The Boss Nob gives the unit an extra wound and an extra attack, but more importantly gives access to additional wargear, let's run through it; The ranged weapon list I would personally ignore, the ability to take a kombi skorcha may be considered though, as flamers are always awesome for Ork's as it negates their poor ballistic skill. The melee weapons list draws attention however, particularly the Power Klaw, which is essentially a power fist, costing 25 points. This is awesome for our Boss Nobz as the aforementioned furious charge makes these klaws S9 Ap2 on the charge, for a regular sergeant, this is incredible. I run all of my Nobz with slugga, power klaw and bosspole, leaving them relatively cheap but very powerful.

The bosspole is a no brainier, for 5 points I see no reason why you wouldn't take it. Especially in a green tide list, you want to make sure your boyz don't turn tail and run, there is no better way to ensure this than to have a reroll on the old Mob Rule table. This can save your unit more than once, and can in turn save you the game. There isn't much more say about the bosspole or the boss nob, other than make sure you are taking both, even if it just for the reroll on the mob rule table, I guarantee you won't regret it.

The final option for our greenskinned friends is to take a trukk as a dedicated transport, a trukk is 30 points base, though anyone with half a brain cell would at the very least upgrade it to have a reinforced ram, allowing it to reroll dangerous terrain checks. The small transport capacity of the Trukk means that a unit larger than 12 will not be able to fit, meaning a green tide army will have little to no use for Boyz in Trukks. Other than this, I would generally always put my boyz in a trukk. You may even consider chucking them in a battlewagon, this does use up a heavy support slot, though does mean a unit of 20 can move around quickly. And remember, Trukks and Battlewagons are assault vehicles!

All in all, Boyz are very multipurpose, though there are definitely some stronger builds than others. As stated at the start of this article, no matter what kind of commander you plan on being, the chances are you are going to have at least a couple of squads of Boyz, and you can have hundreds of these models further into your Ork career, especially those of you who love your green tide lists! I think I have about covered everything I can for this unit, hope it answers any questions you might've had!

-Christian