Introduction
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZSiQ8lG0fs
From the maelstrom of a sundered world, the Eight Realms were born. The formless and the divine exploded into life. Strange, new worlds appeared in the firmament, each one gilded with spirits, gods and men. Noblest of the gods was Sigmar. For years beyond reckoning he illuminated the realms, wreathed in light and majesty as he carved out his reign. His strength was the power of thunder. His wisdom was infinite.
Mortal and immortal alike kneeled before his lofty throne. Great empires rose, and for a while, treachery was banished. Sigmar claimed the land and sky as his own and ruled over a glorious age of myth.
But cruelty is tenacious. As had been foreseen, the great alliance of gods and men tore itself apart. Myth and legend crumbled into Chaos. Darkness flooded the realms. Torture, slavery and fear replaced the glory that came before.
Sigmar turned his back on the mortal kingdoms, disgusted by their fate. He fixed his gaze instead on the remains of the world he had lost long ago, brooding over its charred core. And then, in the dark heat of his rage, he caught a glimpse of something magnificent.
He pictured a weapon born of the heavens. A beacon powerful enough to pierce the endless night. An army hewn from everything he had lost. Sigmar set his artisans to work and for long ages they toiled, striving to harness the power of the stars. As Sigmar's great work neared completion, he turned back to the realms and saw the dominion of Chaos was almost complete. The hour for vengeance had come. Finally, with lightning blazing across his brow, he stepped forth to unleash his creation.
The Age of Sigmar had begun.
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What is Warhammer Age of Sigmar?
Warhammer Age of Sigmar (commonly known as AoS) is a tabletop miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop that simulates battles between fantasy armies in a setting called the Mortal Realms. Originally launched in 2015 as a successor to Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Age of Sigmar is now in its third edition. Besides the game itself, a large part of Age of Sigmar is dedicated to the hobby of collecting, assembling and painting miniatures.
Age of Sigmar is played on a relatively flat surface decorated with models and materials representing buildings and other terrain. Miniatures move, charge, shoot, fight and cast spells over several player turns, and the outcomes of these actions are determined by dice rolls.
Games typically last anywhere between an hour to several hours depending on the size of the armies, and may be strung together to form narrative campaigns. Many hobby stores and independent organisations around the world host battles and competitive tournaments, with official events held on a regular basis too.
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The Mortal Realms
The Mortal Realms are eight planes of magically bound reality that hang in the cosmos, each a world unto itself with nearly limitless possibilities. Each realm is bound to a wind of magic that broadly shapes its nature and character: Heavens, Light, Shadow, Life, Death, Fire, Metal and Beasts.
The landscape in each realm varies from the areas of relative stability towards the centre - where magic is thin, and reality behaves more conventionally - to the untamed edges, which are wild, fantastical places saturated with raw and uncontrollable magic.
These are worlds of danger, magic and opportunity, of ancient legends, of gods, of hope, fear, and adventure. Built and settled in antiquity by a fledgling pantheon of new gods in the Age of Myth, then brought to the brink of annihilation in the Age of Chaos, Warhammer Age of Sigmar is the story of the third great age of the Mortal Realms.
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Azyr - Realm of Heavens
The Celestial Realm is the only one of the realms untouched by the ravages of Chaos, and that is down to its undisputed ruler, the God-King Sigmar. In the Age of Myth, the Realm of Heavens was a paradise, with deities, demigods and mortals living together in harmony, creating great works that benefited all the people of the Mortal Realms. It was here that Sigmar forged his pantheon and it is here that the Gods of Chaos covet most of all, for to tear down the heavens would be to bring eternal Chaos to all.
Since the coming of Chaos, Sigmar has turned the forges of Azyr to war, creating the Stormcast Eternals and launching his crusade to drive the Dark Gods from the Mortal Realms.
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Hysh - Realm of Light
The Realm of Light is, at its heart, a place of pure white magic, a beacon of light that shines across the cosmos. Yet, like all the Mortal Realms, the Ten Paradises of Hysh suffered greatly during the Age of Chaos. Ruled by the Lord of Lumination, the god Tyrion and his brother Teclis, Hysh was, for untold aeons, a safe harbour for many races of aelves and the great and wise among humans.
But the insidious power of Chaos was able to corrupt even the pure light of Hysh. It became a lure for the prideful and those who sought perfection, taking their good intentions and turning them to dark thoughts and dangerous obsessions. And so it is that the light now signals danger, as much as it does knowledge and purity.
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Ulgu - Realm of Shadows
The Thirteen Dominions of Ulgu, the Realm of Shadows, are a land of secrets and riddles, where truth and lies merge, and the god Malerion rules in uneasy alliance alongside his mother, the devious Morathi. Wreathed in perpetual gloom, ranging from twilight to the pitch black of darkest midnight, Ulgu draws to it those who thrive on intrigue and manipulation.
It is home to many aelves who flocked to the shadows after being freed from the clutches of the Chaos god Slaanesh. Twisted in body and mind, they found the shadows suited their temperament - and their desire to hide from other races. Indeed, Ulgu is known as a place to hide that which should never be found, as the mists of the realm have been known to swallow entire kingdoms as if they had never existed.
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Ghyran - Realm of Life
The Realm of Life, Ghyran is home to life in all its forms. From the tiniest mote to the greatest and oldest trees and creatures, the ecosystems of the Jade Kingdoms blend ancient civilisation with the natural world, bringing them together in perfect harmony. Ruled by Alarielle, the Everqueen, it is a land full of lush gardens and nigh-impenetrable jungles, all of it existing in a cycle of regrowth that makes the air itself rich with the stuff of life.
Across more than a dozen seasons, Ghyran thrived, until the Plague God Nurgle sent his forces to seize the realm and bring decay, turning harmonious life into blighted horror. The Sylvaneth - Alarielle's tree-spirits who inhabit Ghyran - fight hard to drive off the daemonic invaders and regrow their realm.
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Shyish - Realm of Death
Shyish is the Realm of Death, of tragic endings and tortured souls. Consisting of a series of underworlds, the geography of Shyish is incomprehensible to mortal minds, each of the races of the Mortal Realms interpreting it in their own ways and after their unique customs.
What all agree on is that Shyish is ruled with an iron fist by Nagash, the God of Death. A cold and unforgiving deity, Nagash is quick to punish and slow to forgive. Now Nagash's undying legions stir and all the Mortal Realms should fear his wrath…
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Aqshy - Realm of Fire
Aqshy is a realm of raging passions, and its landscapes reflect that, from raging volcanic mountain ranges to roiling seas of sulphur. The dozens of continents that make up the Bright Realm were once joined together, but the power of Chaos has split them asunder, making huge tracts of Aqshy only reachable by Realmgate - and this has made the battles for the Realmgates fiercer here than in perhaps any other realm.
Life in the Realm of Fire is hard and short, and so the people that inhabit it burn brightly and well. After decades of battle against the savage Bloodreavers of Khorne, the coming of Sigmar's Stormcast Eternals has reinvigorated the warriors of Aqshy, and their flame now burns brighter than ever before.
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Chamon - Realm of Metal
The Realm of Metal, Chamon, is a study in contradictions. Near its core, it is a land of verdant plains and pure water, all distinguished by a glittering metallic sheen. Here the people of the realm live in relative peace and prosperity, the great works of the duardin god Grungni providing them with protection.
Towards the edges of Chamon, however, reality itself is under siege. The lands shift and merge, strange alchemical processes constantly altering the makeup of the ground and air. Inhabited by nomadic tribes that have become used to adapting, it is a land of wonder and horror - and untold riches for those brave enough to seize them. The Chaos god Tzeentch particularly covets Chamon, for both its ever-changing nature and the valuable secrets it holds.
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Ghur - Realm of Beasts
A near endless string of primeval continents, Ghur is the Realm of Beasts. Inhabited by a plethora of outlandish monsters and bestial hordes, it is a realm of the savage and the bloody, a land where brute strength and primal violence are paramount. Every creature, from the smallest insect to the mightiest gargant, is both predator and prey.
No god could be said to truly rule Ghur, for it is a land that defies taming, but the mighty deity Gorkamorka is most at home here. The eternal battles between tribes of ogor and orruk, and hunting the great beasts of the realm, suit his dual nature, sating both his brutal and cunning sides.
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Chaos - Realm of the Dark Gods
Separate from the Mortal Realms, the dominion of Chaos is nightmare given form, a series of hellscapes that reflect the natures of the Dark Gods. Indeed, the gods and their realms are one and the same, all formed from the roiling aetheric energy of Chaos. As such, each god's domain reflects its master's natures: Khorne's realm is one of anger and bloodshed, Tzeentch's a mind-bending land of incomprehensible change, Nurgle's a bountiful garden of life and decay, and Slaanesh's a hedonistic paradise of excess and temptation.
Within these realms, the gods themselves take form, watching over their mortal and daemonic servants, and planning their conquest of the Mortal Realms, all while striving against each other for power and dominance.
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Realmgates
Getting between the realms is no simple matter - to do so, travellers and traders rely on an ancient network of pathways known as the Realmgates. Each Realmgate is hotly contested as control of each opens up new lands to conquer, new trading routes and opportunities to bypass the defences of an enemy.
The nexus of travel, the Allpoints (known to the servants of Chaos as the Eightpoints), is the single most coveted strategic location in the Mortal Realms. Its paths have been trod by the gods themselves, and its history is filled with wars and legends. The fall of the Allpoints to Chaos marked the end of an era, but now, Sigmar is seeking to conquer it.
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The Grand Alliances
In the Age of Sigmar, many factions vie for prominence and power in the Mortal Realms. Broadly, these fall into four Grand Alliances: Order, Chaos, Death and Destruction - ancient compacts that date back to the Age of Myth. To co-exist within a Grand Alliance does not mean allegiance, and strife runs rampant. The peoples of the Mortal Realms fight for reasons as varied as the realms themselves, there are none untouched by the endless cycle of war and slaughter.
The next four posts in this thread introduce the major factions found within each Grand Alliance:
Order | Chaos | Death | Destruction
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Spin-off Games and Media
Age of Sigmar spin-offs include two additional tabletop miniature games known as Warcry (a skirmish game) and Warhammer Underworlds (an arena game utilising card decks), Warhammer Quest board games, a tabletop RPG called Age of Sigmar: Soulbound, plus video games, novels and audio books.
The World That Was
The World That Was pre-existed the Mortal Realms, but was shattered by the unified power of Chaos many millennia ago. Only the gods of yore and the inhuman slann remember it vividly. When the world was torn apart in the culmination of the End Times, a set of realities crystallised from its scattered energies - realities now known as the Mortal Realms.
Games Workshop's earlier tabletop miniature wargame Warhammer Fantasy Battle was set in the World That Was, and it's being revisited with a new wargame named Warhammer: The Old World. Creative Assembly's Total War: Warhammer strategy games also take place in this setting, as do many other video games, a tabletop RPG called Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, and numerous novels. Additionally, the ever-popular Blood Bowl is set in an alternate version of the World That Was, where Warhammer factions compete in a violent parody of American football.
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Resources
- Core Rules
- App (iOS and Android)
- FAQs and Errata
- Legends (rules for OOP miniatures)
- Downloads
- Lexicanum (lore wiki)
- Army builders: Azyr | Warscroll Builder | Battlescribe
- Podcasts: Warhammer Community Podcast | StormCast | FaceHammer | Garagehammer
- Videos: Warhammer TV (YouTube) | Warhammer TV (Twitch) | 2+ Tough | Vince Venturella | AoS Coach | Rerolling Ones | Guerrilla Miniature Games | MiniWarGaming
- Social: Warhammer Community | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
- Stores: Games Workshop | Forge World | The Black Library | Warhammer Merchandise
- Era threads: Warhammer 40,000 | Miniature Gaming
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