Hello all,
The "Age of Sigmar" is a revolutionary game, made by a company that is more commonly associated with an inability to change. For a long time, the previous fantasy game produced by Games Workshop (Warhammer Fantasy), stayed essentially the same. This is no longer the case. The Age of Sigmar is a really fantastic, fast paced game that can be played by just about anyone. There are two main components to this "awesomeness" that is the Age of Sigmar: speed and flexibilityplayer choice.
Speed
The Age of Sigmar is most definitely not a game designed ONLY for hardcore, obsessive gamers. This is a major selling point for GW (Games Workshop) because it will bring a lot more people to the hobby, then for an elitist game. Privateer Press makes a game called "Warmachine/Hordes", which is really quite a neat game.....but certainly not for anyone but a hardcore gamer. In fact, for quite a while, their policy was that you were supposed to make the roughest, hardest possibly army and try as hard as possible to crush your opponent. This is a different type of gaming "philosophy" then what most people like, as most people want to have an enjoyable social experience, with other people. If this is what makes a person happy, then by all means go for it, but speaking from experience....it probably will not make too many people happy.
The Age of Sigmar takes this gaming philosophy and follows through with it in game design. The Age of Sigmar is set up to play a fun, social, relaxed and sometimes even comical game....while not taking very much time to do so. This frees up time to paint, assemble, play more games or do other things not related. The size of your army will, of course, determine how long games go for. However, the games are a huge percentage (say about 33%) faster then they ever were before. If you and one of your friends wants to play a small game (say about 35 models or less), it will probably be one of the fastest miniatures games you have ever played or heard about.
The Age of Sigmar is designed to be quick: to make attacks (the "to hit" and "to wound" rolls) against the enemy, simply look at your model's weapon's stat bar and it will tell you what you need to know. There is no need to compare a stat to an enemy stat: just take 30 seconds to look at your two stats, then start rolling dice! The next step is to tell the opponent if your weapon has any "rend" capability. If it does, then their "save roll" (the roll to determine if their models survive the attack) will be affected negatively. If there is no "rend" effect, then they can make their save straight up. All in all, two people could have a couple units each fight and have each round of each combat last less then four minutes. In this new game, unlike most other games out there, there is no need to rush, stress out or worry about people slow playing.
The second huge aspect of this speed factor, is that units are in "skirmish formation". This means that the units may be ranked up (like how ancient warriors often fought) or left in a very loose group of models. They can switch back and forth, or just keep one shape. Terrain is much more usable, because models flow around it (including monsters and cavalry) like water around rocks. There is no idiocy of having units being unable to charge due to friendly units being in the way: that sort of super intense, super high management level tactics is simply gone. You want to have your unit of cavalry charge a unit of enemy swordsmen?? Then simply measure out your range and see if you can reach, then move up and charge! The new system is so simple: it is a breath of fresh air for all involved.
Flexibility/Player Choice
The next major section is that of flexibility. The Age of Sigmar is, in all probability, the most flexible game out there in the gaming market. Here is a short breakdown of different options for playing the game, all made possible by the rulebook, which gives a ton of power to the players to decide what their game will be like:
1) Small vs large (or large vs. epic) armies
2) Themed, storied battles vs. free for all's and more "standard" battle types
3) Lots of terrain vs. very little terrain
4) Themed, mystical terrain vs. "normal" terrain
5) Bands of heroic characters vs. armies consisting mostly of just regular soldiers
6) Armies consisting of multiple factions vs. armies consisting only of one faction
....and it goes on and on. The game is designed to be fun, thus there is so much that the players can do with it, as the short (!) list above shows. Games Workshop has listened to the demands and complaints of players for years now and the new game is the solution. For so long people have wanted to have more control over the game, and to have the game be less standardized and to have it feel less like it has an iron fist controlling what it is and how it is played. That time is now here!
I for one, am very excited. Me and the people that I know, we want to play in a relaxed, fun, non-competetive fashion. We just want to have a nice time and relax and chill out while playing a great game. The game allows us to do that. If we wanted to add in neat rules for the terrain, that is now here too. If we wanted to have very interesting and themed battles, that is now here too. A new age is here and the old times are gone forever.
This a new age for fantasy gaming and where it goes depends on the people that play. That is why GW made this game so fun, flexible and easy to learn: because they realized that they need to make it appealing to more people and more types of people, not just traditionalist gamers. That did not work in the past and now is the time for new methods of production and development.
Welcome to The Age of Sigmar!!!
