Now, before you accuse me of being an agent of the Great Horned Rat, I just want you to hear me out when I say that Skaven rule and Stormcast drool.
The good news for us both is that Games Workshop has announced an upcoming fourth edition of Age of Sigmar, and it will center around shenanigans from everyone’s favorite rat-men. The Skaven are returning to the fray in a major way, streaming from the shadows and darkened places into the light. The day of the rat has come, and it’s time to usher in the age of Vermindoom.
Overall, details are slim, but a new trailer shows plenty of fighting between Skaven and Stormcast, and Games Workshop is promising that this will be something of a rework of the rules. Age of Sigmar was originally a very simple system, and over nearly a decade has stayed a little from that vision. I would guess that the recent 10th edition of Warhammer 40,000 will act as a good clue about what we can expect in terms of simplifying rules.
According to a GW news post, “The focus has been on streamlining, accessibility, and modularity—but not at the expense of depth.” This is almost word for word, the type of marketing we heard before the recent 40K release. It will be interesting to see exactly how the changes impact the game and the player base. One thing you can be guaranteed is that it means your entire army will be changing, with buffs and nerfs likely happening all over the place. The good news there is that all factions will have a free downloadable pack at launch. They will contain everything you need to know to get your army battle-ready and into the fray.
One thing that we know for a fact that Age of Sigmar is bringing with it is Spearhead. If you like Games Workshop’s more futuristic offerings, you will likely know about Combat Patrol, a smaller-scale version of Warhammer 40,000 that the 10th edition introduced. It works by having set forces, sold in Combat Patrol boxes, that have their own rules and rebalancing to make all the factions as equal as possible. It has been a big hit for Games Workshop, so it seems Spearhead will be the fantasy version of that. All factions will get their own Spearhead boxes containing similarly set forces that you can use to battle your friends at a smaller points size. It’s a quick and easy mode that is new player friendly and cuts out the complications of army-building for those who don’t like it.
As far as a release date goes, all we know for now is that it will be dropping this summer likely with a massive main boxset set and a variety of smaller-scale starter sets. I’ll be diving in, if only to get my hands on what are sure to be some exciting new models for my beloved Skaven.
