Age of Sigmar: Season of War Advanced Rule Changes Ahead
The new General’s Handbook for Age of Sigmar is on the way. Get ready for some monumental game changes ahead!
I know the new edition of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar is still relatively fresh. Now, with the upcoming changes coming from the General’s Handbook and Season of War, it almost feels like a brand new game…again! I’m excited about the changes but it’s going to take some time to adjust. There will certainly be a learning curve with this season.
“This season introduces one of the most impactful shakeups to the game’s core systems in years. With broad updates to terrain, commands and magic, and a setting shift to Ghyran, players will navigate denser terrain, dangerous flora, and fresh mechanics that reshape how armies position and score.”
Advanced Rule Changes – Terrain
Terrain Rules have seen a major change in the new Season of War. They have been streamlined to help with gameplay. Additionally, they are designed to reward smarter positioning, too. As an example, cover now applies based wherever a straight line can’t be drawn between the closest base points of two units instead of any part of the model. This is a subtle change on paper but it’s has a big impact as it should simplify and speed up play.
Obscuring Terrain has seen another big change. “Non-Monster, non-Fly units with every model within 1” of Obscuring Terrain are now invisible to enemy units outside combat range. “ Furthermore, ranged attacks made from within Obscuring Terrain have their ranges halved! So there’s a give-and-take for units taking advantage of the benefits of Obscuring Terrain.
There’s more changes to terrain as well. Above you can see how Places of Power now gives players three different options.
Advanced Rule Changes – Magical Updates
Magic in the new Season of War has also gotten additional refinements. There’s a new table that clarifies interactions with summoned Manifestations. And speaking of Manifestations, all universal Manifestations now have a standardized profile that features a 6+ save and a 4+ to hit. These changes should also help speed things up and be less confusing overall.
Sacred Rites and Magical Intervention have both gotten a rework, too. When taken in concert with the Manifestation changes, these tone down what were essentially free units but also brings up some of the weaker options. Banishing becomes a real decision and not just something to be taken lightly. And if you were leaning on prayer-based magic vs spells things should be a bit less rocky for you.
There are also some changes coming to both All-out Attack and All-out Defence. These updates should make them less auto-use as they come with more risk-vs-reward to them. There will be consequences to using them and you’ll have to balance that against possible detriments for activating them.
Advanced Rule Changes – Battleplans
“All of this season’s battleplans are new and thematically tied to Ghyran. While the maximum number of objectives has dropped from eight to six, their placement is far more varied. These new Ghryranite Objectives draw inspiration from the Sylvaneth groves, and each has a distinct name and symbol. This allows for flexible, creative scoring rules, as some battleplans assign unique effects to specific objectives or link scoring to particular symbols while others offer underdog bonuses based on what you control.”
Scoring in game has changed quite a bit. Primary Scores are capped at 10 points per round (for a total of 50). Battle tactics can net you another 30 points which brings the cap for a whole game up to 80. Underdog is back with some of the missions granting the underdog player big bonuses. Those can be things like extra rules, extra movement, or even better scoring options.
The Battleplans have also changed with their layouts. Each one has a unique setup and there are no repeated combinations of deployment zones or territory shapes. This is really going to challenge players and make these games different. Some of these setups are really wild!
For example, as you can see the three above, Noxious Nexus has a completely asymmetrical layout with both players setting up on one-half of the board. With objectives on both sides, will you attempt to muscle out your opponent early or will you try and stretch out the lines and get those distance objectives?
Advanced Rule Changes – Battle Tactics
“The new system marks a dramatic shift from previous seasons. Tactics are now selected during list building, requiring players to commit before a single die is rolled. This removes the common issue of forgetting to pick a tactic at the start of a turn and helps reduce decision paralysis. But while clarity has improved, the complexity of individual tactics has increased.”
Battle Tactics in the game are seeing a big shift this season. Long gone are the days of “guaranteed” tactic points. You’ll now need to plan ahead and build around scoring these Battle Tactics based on your army and the synergies you find there. And you will want to plan because they are locked in and scored in a fixed order!
Poor planning could lead you to blocking out your own chance at scoring. More advanced play will see generals attempting to block out their opponents. I’ll be honest, this sound really tough to do in the long run but could be very rewarding.
The don’t call the GHB a game changer for nothin’!
