I think the new queueing system really fucked the scalpers.
friend is gonna send me an unpainted slaves to darkness army because he just had extra? so I guess I've gone from not playing sigmar to ordering dominion and playing slaves now.
Nice, hope you get on with them. They're a great army to collect, the fact you can run 30 model units of warriors is kinda bananas now and you can use a majority of their units in the mono god chaos armies too. So if 2 years down the line you wanted a Khorne force for example you could use your StD units as a backbone for that army as well. Plus this is a personal thing but I think the new chaos knights are some of the nicest models gw have put out recently.friend is gonna send me an unpainted slaves to darkness army because he just had extra? so I guess I've gone from not playing sigmar to ordering dominion and playing slaves now.
Reinforcing Units
The first thing to highlight is that we've done away with the minimum and maximum unit sizes. Instead, the Pitched Battle profiles now include a flat unit size for each warscroll you can include in your army. Unless the unit is noted as being 'Single', it can be reinforced or double reinforced. Reinforcing a unit allows you to double its size and double reinforcing a unit sees its size tripled.
Matched play battlepacks typically limit the number of reinforced units you can include in your army. For example, the Pitched Battles 2021 battlepack in the General's Handbook 2021 limits this to four. Only battleline units can be double reinforced, and doing so counts towards this limit twice.
This has a dramatic effect on army composition. Larger units become rarer on the battlefield, and that rarity makes them all the more important. Which of your units you want to reinforce will become a key consideration when mustering your army for battle.
More Granularity
The second thing to highlight is that points values can now be in factors of five, allowing for more granularity between units. This is particularly impactful for units on the lower end of the points value spectrum, where you can keenly feel the difference between 70, 75, and 80. It also means we can be more precise than ever before when we adjust points values moving forward.
Increases Across the Board
On the whole, points values have seen an increase. Before you worry too much upon seeing the points values for your faction, remember that all of them have received similar treatment.
We increased the points values for several reasons. Firstly, during the last edition of Warhammer Age of Sigmar, the points values of many different units were adjusted, usually seeing a steady drop. While this promoted better balance, the size of armies went up, which meant battles took longer to complete. This points rise will help battles come to their conclusion in a timely manner by reducing the size of armies once more.
The new edition also has a recommended minimum battlefield size that is slightly smaller than before – the reduction in army size ensures your units have plenty of room to manoeuvre.
Lastly, as battalions no longer have a points value, this increase will factor in those points that were used before on warscroll battalions.
The Points Calculator
If you read White Dwarf, you may recall that we discussed the points calculator that we use as a foundation for all of our points values in a recent Rules of Engagement article.
When developing the new edition, we put considerable effort into refining this calculator to make it much more sophisticated. It is not a simple formula that only adds up the damage or survivability of a unit, although these are accounted for. It is something that can spot trends within warscrolls. For example, it can identify if a warscroll is a 'glass hammer' – a unit with high damage but low survivability – or the opposite – a 'tar pit'.
It also factors in the size of the base the miniatures in the unit are mounted upon and cross-references it with their weapon range. Finally, it takes the allegiance abilities a unit has access to into account, including everything from the different spells, artefacts of power, battle traits, and even unique enhancements such as mount traits.
Powerful allegiance abilities, such as those that let a player reliably add new units to their army through summoning, can increase the points values of the warscrolls in a faction. When comparing warscrolls from different factions it is important to think of which has access to more powerful allegiance abilities.
You can find examples of this within the Pitched Battles Profile book itself. Comparing the Tzaangor units in the Beasts of Chaos faction and the Disciples of Tzeentch faction shows they have different points values. This is because the Disciples of Tzeentch have access to more powerful allegiance abilities – not only can they summon many new units onto the battlefield, but they can also control fate itself with their destiny dice.
The values given by the points calculator were a starting point that was then refined through playtesting, both here in the studio and by our team of dedicated playtesters. We pinpointed which units share powerful synergies with others in their faction and identified those who do not so we could adjust their points values accordingly.
You can find examples of this in units that have seen a larger increase and in those that have had their points values either remain the same or lowered. For example, for Orruk Warclans players, Orruk Ardboys have come down in points to reflect the new restrictions of the reinforcement rules and the loss of synergies previously gained from warscroll battalions such as the Ardfist.
New FAQs
Alongside the new edition of Warhammer Age of Sigmar, we will update all of our existing Designer's Commentaries and Errata. We'll cover all the burning questions you might have about how your faction works with the new edition, and we'll let you know if previous Designer's Commentaries and Errata still apply.
For example, there will be an Errata for each battletome to ensure your Unique Wizards can still be given spells from the relevant spell lores. These will all be published right here on Warhammer Community, within days of the launch of the Dominion boxed set on the 3rd of July.
Further Refinement and Tweaking
The dawn of the new edition, and the new set of Pitched Battle profiles it brings, is an exciting time for players. We are entering a phase of experimentation where players can try out new strategies and develop army compositions that are different to those used in the last edition.
Here in the Studio, we're looking forward to seeing how the meta of competitive play evolves and will be monitoring it closely so that we can make necessary adjustments moving forwards. We pay close attention to tournament results, discussion forums, and social media, as well as considering the feedback sent to us.
As the new edition grows, we will be making regular updates to points values to make sure every unit in your army has a chance to shine upon the battlefield.
We welcome your thoughts on the new points values, so please do not hesitate to send them in. The feedback that is particularly useful for us is that which focuses on powerful synergies and rules interactions between units that seem to have not been accounted for. Rest assured, we look at every bit of feedback that is submitted and greatly appreciate everyone who takes the time to do so.
We hope you're all excited to fight battles in the new edition of Warhammer Age of Sigmar. As always, if you have any rules questions or would like to send specific feedback, you can reach us by emailing [email protected].
Agreed. I'm just now getting into Sigmar and starting with Stormcast, and while I love their lore, I am getting lost in the volume of units that look the damn same. I don't know how you spice it up, but I wish they came up with something...I'm watching the Age of Sigmar stream and man, most of the stormcast all look the same to me. I don't know whether it's the stoic expressions or the similar armour across units, and sure, the same charge can be laid against space marines (who at least have forces broken up by a wide array of armoured support/specialised units over the last 30 years, admittedly I remember when it was really hard to make a marine army in the early 90s that didn't look the same as everyone else's). I really like that angel centrepiece model, and I think it's the height, the silhouette, the agility, that it's attacking, that it isn't the same stoic 'grounded' pose that the robes/loinclothes/tabards tend to give the rest of them. I really don't know how they managed to make Sigmar's magic-forged paladin suits of heroic storm energy and spirits of heroes, a really cool fantasy concept, just so… boring. A shame really when so many of the other AoS factions have a really cool vibe to the miniatures to match their original takes on Warhammer archetypes.
I'm watching the Age of Sigmar stream and man, most of the stormcast all look the same to me. I don't know whether it's the stoic expressions or the similar armour across units, and sure, the same charge can be laid against space marines (who at least have forces broken up by a wide array of armoured support/specialised units over the last 30 years, admittedly I remember when it was really hard to make a marine army in the early 90s that didn't look the same as everyone else's). I really like that angel centrepiece model, and I think it's the height, the silhouette, the agility, that it's attacking, that it isn't the same stoic 'grounded' pose that the robes/loinclothes/tabards tend to give the rest of them. I really don't know how they managed to make Sigmar's magic-forged paladin suits of heroic storm energy and spirits of heroes, a really cool fantasy concept, just so… boring. A shame really when so many of the other AoS factions have a really cool vibe to the miniatures to match their original takes on Warhammer archetypes.
Considering 40k space marines for a minute, there is a significant difference in silhouette between the three flavors of current Mark X power armor: Tacticus (base Primaris Intercessor), Gravis, and Phobos. Gravis differentiates itself from Tacticus with a very different upper body, back, and hood over the head. Phobos stands out by changing the legs, especially from the knees down, and making the shoulders asymmetric.I'm watching the Age of Sigmar stream and man, most of the stormcast all look the same to me. I don't know whether it's the stoic expressions or the similar armour across units, and sure, the same charge can be laid against space marines (who at least have forces broken up by a wide array of armoured support/specialised units over the last 30 years, admittedly I remember when it was really hard to make a marine army in the early 90s that didn't look the same as everyone else's). I really like that angel centrepiece model, and I think it's the height, the silhouette, the agility, that it's attacking, that it isn't the same stoic 'grounded' pose that the robes/loinclothes/tabards tend to give the rest of them. I really don't know how they managed to make Sigmar's magic-forged paladin suits of heroic storm energy and spirits of heroes, a really cool fantasy concept, just so… boring. A shame really when so many of the other AoS factions have a really cool vibe to the miniatures to match their original takes on Warhammer archetypes.
I think that's a really good point about the death-mask making them look more samey than, say, human knights or marines all wearing the same helmetConsidering 40k space marines for a minute, there is a significant difference in silhouette between the three flavors of current Mark X power armor: Tacticus (base Primaris Intercessor), Gravis, and Phobos. Gravis differentiates itself from Tacticus with a very different upper body, back, and hood over the head. Phobos stands out by changing the legs, especially from the knees down, and making the shoulders asymmetric.
The Stormcast armor design is very same-y in terms of helmets, chest plates, and greaves/boots. The different types may be scaled up or down, bit fatter or thinner, but they look basically the same. While the new set of armors do differentiate themselves from Liberators, Retributors, and Judicators by use of lots of cloth tabards and cloaks, that in turn makes them read similarly to Sequitors who originally stood out thanks to their additional cloth detailing.
Even the Annihilators, which I quite like and think do look pretty distinct, still use those same chest panels and same darn copy-pasted greaves.
In the big picture, I almost think the Stormcast face mask was a mistake. Helmets don't necessarily remove personality, but the Stormcast helm is meant to read as a human face, making them all look like the same guy. GW's designers are recognizing the demand for more personality with all these head options.
Codes in the battletomes... Guess means no more digital pdf versions like 9th edition.
Annoying I rather have a full digital ebook. Don't have space for the physical books.
Seriously. I hope next time they do a survey people spam the shit out of them on wanting digital books, the full ones.
I'm watching the Age of Sigmar stream and man, most of the stormcast all look the same to me. I don't know whether it's the stoic expressions or the similar armour across units, and sure, the same charge can be laid against space marines (who at least have forces broken up by a wide array of armoured support/specialised units over the last 30 years, admittedly I remember when it was really hard to make a marine army in the early 90s that didn't look the same as everyone else's). I really like that angel centrepiece model, and I think it's the height, the silhouette, the agility, that it's attacking, that it isn't the same stoic 'grounded' pose that the robes/loinclothes/tabards tend to give the rest of them. I really don't know how they managed to make Sigmar's magic-forged paladin suits of heroic storm energy and spirits of heroes, a really cool fantasy concept, just so… boring. A shame really when so many of the other AoS factions have a really cool vibe to the miniatures to match their original takes on Warhammer archetypes.
This is a good idea. A Stormcast is supposed to be a larger-than-life, deified version of the original person anyway.Considering that each Stormcast is custom-forged, I'd have taken the opportunity to have a bunch of different faces on the helmets. Sort of like they're modeled on their wearers.
My copy of dominion arrived, actually kind of impressed the sprues don't get damaged with how tightly they're packed.
Random question: does Sigmar have decals or anything of the like?
This one I think goes too far in the other direction if it's still supposed to be a stormcast tbh. Needs some more fantastical coloring and iconography, much too mundane.Posted on Warhammer community. The stormcast are just so much better with a headswap.
AOS is really popular, I'd be surprised if it underperformed. Maybe this time they actually did make enough supply to go around.I was at my local Warhammer store, and they had multiple copies of dominion there. Just reading all these anecdotal stories makes me wonder if this really just underperformed a ton.