Grab your hammers, axes, and bows, and muster your forces for battle – the latest seasonal rules update for Warhammer Age of Sigmar is here!
For those in need of a refresher, Battlescrolls gather rules changes, points changes, and other tweaks into a simple, easy-to-read format, giving you the information you need to balance a close-fought matched play game of Warhammer Age of Sigmar.
This latest Battlescroll is titled The Hunt, and it takes a satisfyingly different approach to balance.
Matt Rose from the Warhammer Studio has some insight into this unique balance update.
“It's an exciting time for Warhammer Age of Sigmar rules development, with a bunch of battletomes on the way, bringing new rules and points values specifically designed for the latest edition of the game.”
Balancing the game is a task that requires constant attention. For this second Battlescroll, the team are trying something different, providing “a standalone mechanism for us to address balance without invalidating the content of the battletomes you have collected, clashing with points contained in upcoming books, or restricting the use of an army that you may have spent a lot of time collecting and painting”.
To that end, the Predators and Prey rule in the General’s Handbook 2021 is being expanded. This rule provides players with another way of earning victory points – by targeting the biggest threats in the Mortal Realms. Players who choose to pack their roster with dominant units like the Dracothian Guard will surrender precious victory points for each unit lost.
On the other hand, players running factions that aren’t performing as well can earn even more victory points by taking down units at the top of the competitive meta. These bonus points make it possible for many armies to score some big wins, in matchups where they might previously have struggled.
You don’t need to change your army rosters in response to this update – but it might make some lesser-used units and factions rather more appealing.
“The lists of Priority Targets and Prime Hunters have been built based on both feedback from tournament players as well as analysis of data from hundreds of events”, explains Matt.
There’s been “a particular focus on the win rate per warscroll – that is, the percentage of time a faction wins when a certain warscroll is included in the roster.”
This update will go live on the Warhammer Age of Sigmar app in the coming days – you’ll also see that changes from the previous Battlescroll update remain valid, and have been added to the app and the FAQ documents.
“We're aware that this change will be more effective at addressing certain types of issues than others,” Matt explains. “Keep in mind, this is just one part of a bigger picture. We'll continue to release updated warscrolls and allegiance abilities in Battletomes and other supplements, and keep rebalancing points values in the General's Handbooks.”
“It's important to keep in mind that our regular Battlescroll updates are focused on game balance in matched play, with a particular focus on organised play and events. If you're new to the game or tend to play more casually, it's totally up to you and your opponent whether to include this system in your games of Warhammer Age of Sigmar.”
The Studio is keen to hear what you think about these changes – and everything else concerning the Warhammer Age of Sigmar rules. Send your queries and comments to aosfaq@gwplc.com.
“We read every email sent in”, Matt assures us, “and while we don't reply right away – we'd rather collect feedback and publish any changes publically, so everyone has the same information – we factor your feedback and recommendations into our ongoing work.”
You can download the Battlescroll right here, and it will be arriving on the Warhammer Age of Sigmar app very soon.