During the festive period on Warhammer+, the Battle Report team brought us the inaugural Warhammer 40,000 Arena of Death tournament – an epic two-part show that pitted the mightiest heroes and villains of the 41st Millennium against one another in one-on-one combat to earn the title of undisputed champion. This week, our gaming presenters head into the Realm of Chaos to bring you the Warhammer Age of Sigmar edition! Here’s Simon with more…
Simon: Brace yourself, folks – the Warhammer Age of Sigmar Arena of Death tournament has begun, and without wishing to give away any spoilers, it’s got more upsets and nail-bitingly close duels than ever before. The stakes have been raised even higher, as our list of contenders includes some of the deadliest warriors and wizards in the Mortal Realms, as well as many of the largest, most powerful monsters and daemons, and now there are actual gods too! Just take a look at this mouth-watering lineup for the group stages:
As with the Warhammer 40,000 tournament, we randomised which of the eight groups the contenders would fall into in batches according to their ranking, and in doing so, we ended up with some fascinating clashes. Group G, for example, matched the mighty Draconith brothers Karazai the Scarred and Krondys, Son of Dracothion, against one another. With the two majestic beasts sharing many profiles and abilities between them, who would win their duel, and would either qualify for the knock-out stages?
Other stand-out match-ups included Be’lakor against his Everchosen rival of old Archaon in Group B, and the legendary Slayer Gotrek Gurnisson in Group A against the current target of his ire, Nagash.* Group E, meanwhile, features a Destruction-off between Gordrakk, the Fist of Gork, and Kragnos, the End of Empires.
Once again, we made tweaks to the core rules to cater for the Arena of Death environment and to keep the focus squarely on the individual strengths and skills of the combatants. For example, by removing command abilities, heroic actions, and monstrous rampages from the equation – rules usable by all of the contenders (and Monsters), and which would otherwise be used relentlessly throughout – we could maintain an exciting pace to the fights.
With only the top two in each group earning qualification for the knock-out stage of the tournament, every victory and wound suffered would prove crucial. In fact, one of the groups turned out to be so closely fought that our usual decider for qualifying places in the case of matching win/loss ratios (the secondary score of having suffered fewer wounds than a rival) turned out to be insufficient! We ended up having to base it on the result of their duel instead. You won’t believe which two contenders this ended up applying to…
Yet again with the teasers, Si! You can, of course, catch all the action from the group stages of the Warhammer Age of Sigmar Arena of Death right now on Warhammer+ in part one of the show. In other shows available to watch from today on Warhammer+, Ed teaches us the secrets to painting horse hair techniques on Citadel Colour Masterclass, while on Loremasters, Alex reveals all about the Solar Auxilia, including their formation, battlefield strategies, and role within the Great Crusade.
If you haven’t already subscribed to Warhammer+, with almost 30 months’ worth of exclusive shows and animations to gorge upon, now’s the time!
* Gotrek believes that if anyone knows where the soul of his long-lost companion Felix lies, it’ll be the Supreme Lord of the Undead – and he wants answers!