Enoby

I actually really like the new Slaanesh rules. Yes they look weaker than before, but they're still flavourful and have some good tactics to consider. I can't imagine they'll tear up the meta, but I'm looking forward to playing them at least!

It reminds me of when Thundertusks did flat 6 MW at 18" range. Could you beat it? Yes. What it lighting up the tournament scene? No. Were there tactics to mitigate? Yes. Was it fun to play against? Not at all. Some Warscrolls are the worst of both worlds - somehow bad in both a competitive and casual setting. I think they're usually designed for "Timmy" players who want big numbers and flashy monsters, but I don't think they really work out. I'm not sure if Kragnos fits into this category, but it is a bit of an anti-fun experience to have him delete whatever he goes into if you don't want to engage with things like screening. If you want to play AoS in more of a "my guys fight your guys in a scrum" then Kragnos will be the bane of those games.

Bit late to the party, but happy they're doing away with true summoning. Despite playing a lot of Slaanesh - which was a very summon heavy army - I didn't like having to bring a large selection of additional models that may never see the table, or being forced to balance around getting more models which often meant your core rules and units were less interesting (see Slaanesh 2.0). I'm also excited to see more things get toned down. I know it sucks to be on the receiving end of a nerf, but the more mellow the rules get, the better it'll be for the game as a whole. It's all well and good being excited for the wombo combo that does 50 damage to each of your opponent's units turn 1, but it quickly becomes boring an ensures that no one will have fun.

We've made a tentative restart to our playgroup, coming in at around seven players who want to try 4th. Interestingly, three of these players are totally new to Wargames - their only tangential experience is playing Pathfinder on the regular. I'm really curious as to how it'll go. We'll be starting with a narrative game, but I always offer very rules-bare demo games (basically just AoS 0 with the trimmings of the current edition). In AoS 3, I introduced another new player who found the base rules easy enough to pick up, but the bonus rules (e.g. heroic action, monstrous rampage etc) to be difficult to remember, especially when allegiance abilities came into the mix. Obviously people pick up games at different speeds, especially dependant on how interested they are about the game, but the new player (who is coming back as part of AoS 4) was pretty put off by feeling like they needed a check list to play out their turn. I'm not sure if AoS 4 will feel like that, but if so, I wonder how the three totally new players will take to it. I know one of them is pretty uncertain as they're not really big on learning rules.

Agreed. While it's not nice to have an army with natural 5+s to hit or wound, it's important for the diversity of the game to actually use the higher two numbers on a d6. I think AoS began to suffer from everything feeling like it was on 3/3 or better (after buffs), so whether you were against highly trained elves or a horde of squigs it all felt very similar. Personally, I'd like to see more models like zombies actually need 6s to hit, but for their strength to lie elsewhere - for example, being really easy to regenerate and super cheap. In the very beginning of AoS 0, 4+ was the good average - hence why Stormcast and Khorne (elite armies) were on 2 attacks, 3/4/-/1. Quickly, everything began to tunnel down to more 3/3/-/1 profiles, and then rend became more common too. I think it ended up homogenising the game, and actually reducing the flavour (if everyone is super, no one's super kind of thing). I don't think it'll happen, but I'd have actually liked to have seen more 'bad' warscrolls, so the average settles back higher, and truly elite models stand out.

With Age of Sigmar 4th edition around the corner, I thought it was a good opportunity to look at the 3rd edition of the game in a retrospective. My gaming group sort of disintegrated throughout AoS 3, and I've seen a few others mention their groups collapsed too. Combined with other things going on, I ended up leaving AoS about a year into the edition, so I can't say I've really been up to date with events. As such, I was wondering a few things: - Overall, how did you find AoS 3? - Do you think AoS became more or less popular in your area during 3rd edition? Any reasons why? - For those who played in 3rd edition, did you find most players in your group were new or experienced? - What rules did you like? Which did you not like? - Do you think 4e is a step in the right direction? - What do you think 3e did well, and what could it have done better?

Personally, I'm really excited for Spearhead - and I'm not usually a big fan of board games! While list building is nice, and I certainly wouldn't want it going away for the main game, I appreciate the idea of having a small version to play that can be completed in around an hour. Sometimes you'd like Wargame-like tactics without the whole faff of setting up 2k points. My only hope is they continue to support this. Even White Dwarf creating new Spearhead teams would be very nice to see!

Just to check, have they confirmed if the AoS core rules and Warscrolls (including Spearhead) will be free?

Unfortunately not near Nottingham - was just passing through by chance! - but thank you for the offer

After quite a hectic few years with family illness and the local AoS group disappearing completely in AoS 3, I'm hopefully not being too optimistic when I say I (alongside the play group) will be returning to Age of Sigmar with 4th edition. I'm happy with most of the changes presented, and glad that there's going to be a 'simple' spearhead mode for quick games. One of the biggest issues the group had for adopting AoS 3 was how finicky it felt, and that much of the complexity felt tacked on - which hopefully AoS 4 remedies. I actually had the chance to play AoS 4 at Warhammer World, and it might just have been the time between that and last playing, but I really enjoyed myself. The gameplay was smooth and nothing felt overly strong. I think I'm in the minority when I say I'd like to see a few things 'nerfed' - I'd like the game to be a bit less lethal, and for more opportunities to use the models brought to the table before they're destroyed. AoS 3 games relatively quickly began to feel very samey. So, glad to be back for AoS 4!

++ Mod hat ++ I know GW as a whole can make some odd decisions, but this is crossing the line into mean spirited.

++ Mod hat ++ Hey guys, please dial it back on the RAW vs RAI discussion - it's getting a bit out of hand Feel free to keep talking about it, just keep it polite please!

With 40k 10e on the way and the new models slowly being released, I have a question I'd really love an answer to. I apologise if this sounds belittling, it's not my intention I am just genuinely curious, but what do Space Marine fans see in new models? If someone likes Space Marines, that is 100% fine - everyone has different tastes and enjoys things for different reasons - but my question is specifically towards the Adeptus Astartes fans because Space Marines by design look very similar, with only slight variations in armour and weapons to distinguish them. I'm not a huge fan of a lot of armies; I don't much reckon anything to Ratmen, but when (if) Skaven get an update I can see a significant design difference between their models, so for those who do like them I understand the excitement at the prospect of new Skaven. New Space Marines on the other hand often look like talented conversions - small edits to a very similar base. Again, there is absolutely nothing wrong with liking Space Marines, but I'd be very grateful for someone who does like them to explain what they see in new models? What makes them exciting for you? To keep this at least tangentally related to AoS, one of the things I love about this system is that even if I don't like any of the armies scheduled to come out, whatever is produced will be novel, and even if the design doesn't gel with me, it makes sense why those who do like the army will be excited. It's really nice to see people get excited about all of the different possibilities for their factions.

I finished a game vs Soulblight with the following list: - Army Faction: Hedonites of Slaanesh - Army Type: Godseekers - Grand Strategy: Glutton for Depravity LEADERS Lord of Pain (135)* Keeper of Secrets (400)* - General - Command Traits: Master of Magic - Shining Aegis - Artefacts of Power: Girdle of the Realm-racer - Spells: Progeny of Damnation Contorted Epitome (190)** - Spells: Flaming Weapon Sigvald (205)** BATTLELINE Blissbarb Archers (150)* Blissbarb Archers (150)* Seekers (140)** OTHER Fiends (200)* Slickblade Seekers (200)** Myrmidesh Painbringers (145)** ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS 1 x Mesmerising Mirror (60) TERRAIN 1 x Fane of Slaanesh (0) CORE BATTALIONS *Battle Regiment **Battle Regiment TOTAL POINTS: 1975/2000 --- The Soulblight player was pretty inexperienced, so tactically there's not loads to gain from this, but I can at least say I learned more of how the army performs at its core The Keeper with the Girdle was a fantastic tech piece but the Keeper could be very swingy, even at 2s and 2s. I do like them though! The Mesmerising Mirror is fantastically strong, and something I'd like to take in most lists to be honest - at least with a casting reroll. Normal Seekers were just okay - I felt I didn't need their speed - I'd rather have another unit of blissbarbs to be honest, which were very strong again combined with the LoP. That little 'engine' (to coin a YuGiOh term), is a great way to have a very strong shooting core defend a back objective while provide a lot of damage. Fiends felt pretty swingy too here, but their -1 to wound hurt the Blood Knight's attempt to do much to them. Sigvald felt a bit too slow to do all that much with. He did a lot when he got in, but I think another unit of Slickblades would be better. Depravity racked up quickly, but we called the game the end of turn 2 as they'd lost about 80% of their army, compared to the five models I'd lost.

I've hopefully got a few games coming up tomorrow vs Soulblight and Stormcast - will do write ups for them