After a year of beatdowns from behemoths during the Era of the Beast, matched play is shifting gears in Warhammer Age of Sigmar, as the General's Handbook: Pitched Battles 2022-23 – Season 1 comes to pre-order this weekend.
This new tome shifts the focus from the savage wilds of Thondia to the serpentine tunnels and plunging ravines of its neighbouring continent – Gallet, the Splintered Land. Here’s what you can expect in the coming season…
Murderously inclement weather batters the plains of Gallet, roaring winds strong enough to scatter whole armies. Those who wish to avoid these punishing storms must use the continent’s endless network of tunnels – but these gloomy grottos teem with swarming ratfolk and insectoid Ghurish predators.*
To protect themselves from such critters, caravans and travelling armies employ Masters of the Splintered Land – seasoned veterans who know how to navigate these twisting pathways and fend off their brutal bugs.
Your Battleline units now all gain the GALLETIAN VETERANS keyword… if they’re small enough to squirm into the tunnels, anyway. That means no mounts and no-one with too many wounds, marking a shift away from the supremacy of beasts.**
Each battle round, the player going second gets to pick an objective to be the Proving Grounds, as the confusing caverns and treacherous pits of Gallet shift in a way that can only be navigated by GALLETIAN VETERANS. Until the end of the round, other units can’t contest that objective at all.
This rule opens up a huge range of tactical ploys – perhaps you’ll lure your opponent’s Battleline into an ambush by picking a tempting-but-treacherous proving ground? Maybe you’ll ward off your enemy’s biggest monsters by leaving them unable to contest a nearby objective this turn?
Fighting shoulder-to-shoulder in cramped conditions also forges tight Bonds of Battle. When your GALLETIAN VETERANS attack in melee, they can target enemies within ½" of a nearby model in their unit – helping Battleline warriors with larger bases, such as Stormcast Eternals or Ogor Gluttons, avoid getting bogged down at chokepoints.
This rule combines particularly well with an Overwhelming Assault. Activated at the end of your charge phase, this new command ability allows your massed GALLETIAN VETERANS to pin down and exterminate smaller enemy units by inflicting the strike-last effect.
The realm rules for Gallet also include two new core battalions. Expert Conquerors are more accomplished at holding objectives than most, while Bounty Hunters specialise in gutting opposing armies – they deal extra Damage in melee when targeting the enemy’s GALLETIAN VETERANS.
Plus, there are 12 new battleplans, eight fresh battle tactics, and six Gallet-focused grand strategies which invite you to construct new armies and find inventive ways to do battle – as well as a new spell for any and all WIZARDS fighting in Gallet.
With rules for exploding realmstone caches that must be claimed as objectives, vast tunnel networks to ambush opponents through, and scuttling horrors guarding valuable caches, the General’s Handbook offers a fresh crop of strategic conundrums to solve using the only language that makes sense in the Mortal Realms – war.
The General’s Handbook is spiral-bound for ease of use, and also contains the core rules for Age of Sigmar, up-to-date rules for all universal Endless Spells, plus tokens for tracking objectives and your current battle tactic. It’s bundled with a 34-page Pitched Battle Profiles book with all the latest points values, which will also be available online for free.
This new season offers great opportunities for competitive players and anyone who enjoys matched play, ensuring that the state of play never gets stale. You can pre-order General's Handbook: Pitched Battles 2022-23 – Season 1 this Saturday.
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* Gallet’s bugs range from the fist-sized to the unimaginably huge. The Spiderfang grots love it.
** Don’t worry, you’ll be stomping to your heart’s content with Hunters of the Heartlands gone.