Spearhead is the brand new game mode for Warhammer Age of Sigmar. It involves lightning-fast tactical games without a huge army – the only miniatures you need are those found in a Spearhead box. Over the last few months, there has been a huge Spearhead league running in the Warhammer Studio, led by Lyle. We caught up with him and some of the players to find out how they got on.
Lyle – White Dwarf Editor
I ran a Spearhead league in the studio, the progress of which will be featured in the Bunker in White Dwarf 502 and the following issues. We had over 50 people sign up, and we kept the format nice and simple: players set their own pace, organised their own matches, and could score points based on a variety of factors from winning games, playing games with a fully painted Spearhead, and facing off against the most unique players.
We even took advantage of the unique format to give an award to the player who won the most games on the Aqshy or Ghyran side of the board. It’s a simple format that scales pretty well and suits a variety of gamers, and we’ve made it so you can easily run or play in a league of your own that runs parallel to ours. If you do, we’d love to hear how you get on and how many points you can rack up. How will you measure against the top of our league?
My personal goal was to see how many different Spearheads I could have fully painted and ready for battle by the end of the league. Ultimately, I had three armies at my command: Sons of Behemat, Nighthaunt, and Sylvaneth. They all play really differently, so it was fun being able to pick and choose from a variety of play styles.
Spearhead is a great way to play the new edition of Warhammer Age of Sigmar, but it’s also its own thing. It’s a different experience, with unique rules, tactics and scoring. I love it!
Ben – Age of Sigmar Product Developer
I've been playing Warhammer Age of Sigmar since its launch in 2015, and have loved every iteration of the game and played it all over the world. I loved Spearhead almost immediately because it’s such a fun and fast way of playing. It is perfect for a club night as you can easily get three games in during an evening. I wanted to play 25 games, one with each Spearhead, but unfortunately, I missed that by a long old way. Though every game I did play in the league was with a different Spearhead and a different opponent. Maybe next time!
Jonathan – Warhammer 40,000 Games Developer
I had never played Warhammer Age of Sigmar before this league, but I was excited to get stuck in. I collected Vampire Counts in my youth and wanted to try out the beautiful Soulblight Gravelords models in the new setting, and found that they had more than enough depth to keep me thoroughly entertained for the entire league, with a mix of powerful elite units and standard infantry that can waylay your opponent. The Battle Regiment and Enhancement choices you make before each battle are thought-provoking and engaging. My favourite part ended up being the balancing mechanics of the game. From the Underdog bonuses to the abilities on Battle Tactics cards that you can use to lever a way back into the game. I couldn’t recommend Spearhead more and I can’t wait to have more people to enjoy it with!
Leila – Necromunda Games Developer
I'm a massive fan of both full-sized Warhammer Age of Sigmar and Warcry, so learning that we were making a skirmish-sized version of one of my favourite games was like Christmas. I was able to play games in under 90 minutes once I had practised a few times, which was ideal for a friendly league. My pick for this challenge was Yndrasta's Spearhead and it was awesome to find out the Celestial Spear hits like a truck!
Luckily for my opponents, the rules team saw fit to only allow her onto the battlefield from Round 3, after which she would descend to dish out Sigmar's justice en masse. I averaged two games a week consistently through the league. I can see myself organising some tournaments for friends in this format in the future, too, since you can get four to five games in during a single day.
Steve – Warhammer 40,000 Background Editor
Before Spearhead was introduced to us in the studio, my journey in the Mortal Realms had been confined to Warhammer Underworlds and Warcry. Both of which appealed to me due to their smaller size, because I’m a completionist. Spearhead ticked my boxes as a small-scale game, with a wide range of collecting options available to me as well as customisation scope to make each Spearhead my own.
My Sylvaneth were based on a version of Ylthari’s Guardians that I made for a previous White Dwarf, and I loved the idea of fungal infestations so much that I had to do more! I get decision paralysis very easily so having a predetermined loadout for weapon options was perfect! After building, sculpting, and painting, I played my first game with them and was hooked. They teleport. They hit hard. They are trees. What is not to love? If you’re thinking of exploring the Mortal Realms, I would readily encourage you to try Spearhead. but don’t take my word for it, listen to my Treelord, ‘*wind moves through branches*’ – it’s a thumbs up!
Dan – White Dwarf Writer
Spearhead! Yes-yes, most excellent way to play Warhammer Age of Sigmar. Much stab-kill, many man-things to eat!
As you can probably guess, I fielded a Skaven force in the Studio Spearhead league. Even more exciting, it was the Gnawfeast Clawpack, which is the Spearhead that comes in the Skaventide boxed set. I've collected Skaven for decades, so fielding the new models in a new game format has been especially exciting.
First, it's easy to play, as all your army rules are presented on just four pages – ideal for a gamer like me whose memory is as reliable as my weapon teams. Second, the size of the game makes the action very fast-paced – ideal for lunchtime or after-work gaming. Third, the battle tactics mechanic for the game makes it intensely immersive. This means that, unless something goes terribly wrong and the Horned Rat completely disowns you (or you roll two consecutive double 1s for charges like I did in one game), your battles should always be really close right up to the last turn.
Many of the games were very close games, often coming down right down to the last few dice rolls – exactly what I'm after in a wargame. I actually have a Kharadron Overlords army, so I'm thinking I might have to explore them next as a Spearhead force.
Phil – Age of Sigmar Creative Lead
I've been playing Age of Sigmar in one form or another since it was released, and usually favour a table groaning under the weight of massed infantry. That said, what I love about Spearhead is how you can get the full wargaming fix of strategy, combat, manoeuvre and variety all in the space of an hour or two. When I first heard about the game, I wondered if it would just become a scrum in the middle of the table, but the need to claim various objectives or be near table edges keeps the game fluid and active in all quarters of the board.
I signed up to the league with a Wallsmasher Stomp which I saw as a little family group (Grandad's the one with the high trousers, Prissy is the one with the hair and the temper, but Shorty's in charge because he has a hat). However, over the course of a few months, I also played Lumineth Realm-lords, Nighthaunt and Ogor Mawtribes. Though you can get a lot of variety out of one Spearhead by choosing different traits and artefacts, it's really easy to move around from one Spearhead to the other – they are great self-contained hobby projects unto themselves and easy to get the hang of after a game or two.
Thanks all – we can’t wait to play Spearhead too. If you’ve been inspired by all of these first-hand accounts, find out more about the game by watching out this video which sums up everything you need to know about this exciting new game mode.
You’ll be able to get everything you need to play Spearhead yourself with the Warhammer Age of Sigmar Skaventide box – it contains the boards, terrain, and cards, as well as the Fire and Jade book with printed rules for every Spearhead.