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This episode sets out the key changes introduced by General’s Handbook 2017 to tournament matched play for Warhammer: Age of Sigmar.  As all the Games Workshop advertising has made clear, the game has changed again!  While the fundamental principles of the game remain the same, almost all of the key inputs relevant to Age of Sigmar as a tournament game have changed.  We have new battleplans, new points values, new allegiance abilities and the new allies mechanic allowing you to retain the benefits of a faction allegiance while supplementing your army with units from other factions.

We have been deluged with an unprecedented amount of information by Games Workshop in the week leading up to this release.  We have had daily Warhammer Community articles, Warhammer TV videos on Facebook, daily Twitch streams, and additional podcasts, blogs and forum threads from members of the external playtesting team.

Throughout the week I have tried to collate this information in one handy location, while also providing short bullet point summaries of all the key details from the Twitch stream – you can check them out on this site (First Blood, Order, Chaos, Destruction).

Now, given this information overload, I’ve thought how can we at AoS Shorts help? What can we add that has not already been covered or will be covered by the other Age of Sigmar podcasts and YouTube channels, is not purely speculative, and has value?

The answer, I hope, is this episode on what you need to know if you are preparing for a tournament in a month’s time using General’s Handbook 2017.  You may even have one this weekend, for instance if you are in the Mid-West, USA, or next weekend,  BLACKOUT in the UK.

I’ll start with a brief recap of all the major changes, comment on how they are likely to impact on list design and finish with some thoughts about how General’s Handbook 2017 will affect tournament play (this part may be little more than informed speculation, but I hope you’ll indulge me).  Please note, that this episode has been written and recorded without seeing the new FAQs, compendium points and Forgeworld changes that are promised on release day.  So with that proviso, on with the show.

Update: the FAQ and points are now up – you can find them in one handy text-searchable and indexed PDF in the resources section.

General’s Handbook 2017: the top 10 changes you need to know!

Everyone loves a good top 10 list and it seems appropriate for this show.

1. New Rules of One

The General’s Handbook 2017 amends the existing Rules of One and adds two more.

• The roll for priority at the beginning of each battle round cannot be modified or re-rolled.  However, abilities such as Archaon’s which allow you to know who will have priority in advance, still work because they do not modify or re-roll the priority roll.  The Coven Throne is another unit unaffected by this change to the Rule of One.  For more information on the priority roll and how to manage it to the best effect in game, see my previous priority roll article but bear in mind that part of it is now invalidated by this rule change.
• No artefact of power (or similarly named items) can be taken more than once in the same army.  However, prayers remain immune from the Rules of One and certain abilities can still stack (as always, read the wording of the abilities carefully).
• Amendment: as well as a roll of 1 always failing to hit or wound, a roll of a 6 will now always succeed.  Games Workshop also took the opportunity here to reinforce the often mis-played core rule that re-rolls occur before modifiers apply.  Given how often this rule causes confusion, I’ll do a separate show on the topic in the future.

2. New Battleplans

There are six new Pitched Battles designed to test the tactical skills of players in a variety of situations: Knife to the Heart, TOTAL CONQUEST!, Duality of Death, Battle for the Pass, Starstrike, and Scorched Earth.  These battleplans are intended as additions to the existing six Pitched Battleplans in the General’s Handbook.  Some of the new battleplans:

• are amended versions of the older missions;
• favour new list builds (predominately units with 20+ models, but also behemoths); and
• one (Scorched Earth) introduces a new mechanic where you can destroy objectives to take a chance at scoring more points.

3. Allies

You can now add Allies to your armies.  This mechanic allows you to select units from other factions in your army without foregoing the benefits of your faction allegiance abilities (such as spells, artefacts, command traits, battle traits etc.)  The General’s Handbook contains a table of how many allies you can take, depending on the size of your army (for instance, you can use 400 points of your 2000 points army on allies).

Each faction has its own allies table of factions it can ally with.  These choices have largely been made to fit with the lore of Age of Sigmar.  For instance, Sylvaneth can take Wanderers and Stormcast Eternals as their allies.

Allies will allow you to fill holes in your army list to cover your weaknesses or emphasise your strengths – add wizards, artillery, behemoths etc. as required.  However, note that allies can’t be your general or count towards your battleline requirements.  Allies do count for your maximum number of leaders, behemoths and artillery.

Finally allies don’t gain the keyword of your main faction allegiance, so can’t be given artefacts or command traits and in most cases won’t benefit from allegiance abilities as they don’t have the necessary keywords.  This is the same approach as with the mixed-faction battalions in previous battletomes.  There are some exceptions, for instance, in Slaves to Darkness there is an ability which affects a CHAOS HERO, which could be one of your allies.

4. New allegiance abilities

The General’s Handbook contains a whole host of new options for certain Age of Sigmar factions.   These options are intended to provide more variety to factions and tie these factions even closer to their lore and background.  The factions which benefit are Darkling Covens, Dispossessed, Free Peoples, Fyreslayers, Seraphon, Wanderers, Brayherd, Slaanesh, Slaves to Darkness, Pestilens, Skryre, Flesh-Eater Courts, Nighthaunt, Soulblight, and Ironjawz.  All of these additions add flavour – for example, herdstones for Brayherd, the Wanderers’ ability to retreat and shoot and the great plagues of Pestilens.

5.Changes to existing allegiance abilities

There have been significant changes to existing allegiance abilities and artefacts.  Popular choices for Chaos, Destruction and Death have all been altered.  We understand the intention behind the change to be to increase variety by removing obvious choices.

6. Mounts

The rules team has added a new rule regarding how abilities affect mounts.  Any command abilities or magical artefacts can only be used to affect attacks made by the hero, and have no effect on attacks made by their mount unless specifically stated otherwise.  I’ll be interested to see if there is an FAQ which explains whether an ability that refers to “the model” is considered as specifically including the mount or whether it has to say it applies to the hero and its mount.

7. Changes to battlefield roles

Games Workshop has reviewed the pitched battle profiles for every unit in Warhammer Age of Sigmar and changed many of them for General’s Handbook 2017.  There are now far more choices for your general and more units which will count as battleline, if your army is a particular allegiance (“battleline, if” units) – for instance, Daughters of Khaine can have Doomfire Warlocks and Sisters of Slaughter as battleline units.  All of these changes are indicated by the red star you see alongside the entries in the pitched battle profiles.

8. Massive Regiments

Massive Regiments is a new mechanic in which certain units become cheaper (per model) if you field the unit at maximum size.  For instance, Dryads are 100 points for 10, but only 270 points if you take 30 in the same unit.  The general rule is that every standard infantry unit in the game has access to the rule.  Infantry units with missile weapons don’t benefit from the Massive Regiments rule (except for a few limited exceptions, skinks, gutter and night runners).

As I get on to later, expect to see more large units on the tabletop.

9. Points changes

The points for a substantial number of units and battalions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar have been changed – either up (Skyfires, Kurnoth Hunters) or down (Nagash and Jabberslythes).

What has probably received the most attention this week is that there have been significant increases in the points costs for battalions.  In many cases increasing by a multiple of 2, 3 or more!  These increases have been to reflect the benefits to an army of receiving an extra artefact and the ability to have fewer drops (see the deployment show for how battalions provide substantial benefits to deployment and dictating the first turn).  To understand the thinking behind the change, I highly recommend watching the Jervis Johnson interview on Warhammer Live this week, or reading my summary.

10. New FAQ, Compendium and Forgeworld points

Finally, Games Workshop have confirmed that there will be an FAQ published on Warhammer Community on the release date, alongside a PDF of pitched battle profiles for compendium units and new Forgeworld points and warscrolls.

Preparing for your General’s Handbook 2017 tournament

So, what does all this mean for you if you are preparing for your first General’s Handbook 2017 tournament this month?  The principles of good list design are unchanged (I’ve covered them in a previous episode) – you need to consider reach, board control, resilience, damage output and risk – but your inputs to that assessment have changed.  So to can we expect a change to the global and local tournament meta (the likely lists that you will face at a tournament and need to account for).  So how do you solve this new puzzle?

At the outset the key drivers for the changes are the new battleplans and the Massive Regiments rule.  After those, the introduction of allies and the changes to the allegiance abilities are likely to have the greatest impact on your tournament meta.

In addition to the previous list design factors emphasised by the pitched battle battleplans, you now need to consider behemoths and large units.

Behemoths – either bring one, or learn how to deal with them

You need to consider behemoths for the Duality of Death scenario – either in adding them to your army, or being able to counter those brought by your opponent.  For example, behemoths can either be tied up by your mobile disposable units or have their effectiveness reduced by chipping off wounds at range.

Behemoths are not mandatory, as heroes can still score in the scenario, but we can expect to see more of them.

Large units – making the most of your units with 20+ models

You are also likely to need at least one large unit of 30+ models.  Two of the scenarios, Total Conquest and Battle for the Pass, have an additional rule that allows a unit of 20+ models to seize control of an objective, even if the opponent has more models around the objective (if they are from different units).  There are important things to note:

• As Ben explained on Bad Dice Daily, you only need to have one model from that 20+ unit in range, to seize control of the objective.
• You can only control one objective with a unit.  So you can’t string the unit to claim several objectives.  However, if the unit is resilient, you are still incentivised to extend the unit out to control board space and block your opponent from scoring the other objective.  Denial can be just as important as positively holding an objective.
• Consider ways that you can support and reinforce that large unit – a large unit is a single target for buffs and is one combat activation – so make use of it.  Also prepare for ways that your opponent will try to take down that unit, by adding battleshock protection (whether through Inspiring Presence, or the Order and Free Peoples allegiance abilities for example)
• It is an advantage if that large unit is relatively mobile (or can be moved by a spell or ability).  You need to get onto objectives quickly and force your opponent to try and dislodge you.

Dealing with large units

Consider how you will be able to remove or minimise your opponent’s resilient large units:

• do you have Drycha, a Gaunt Summoner, Acolytes or Plagueclaw Catapults which have attacks aimed at large units or bonuses when targeting large units?
• Remember, you don’t need to destroy the entire unit – it may be enough to simply reduce it below 20 models in order to remove the scenario benefits or the extra benefits on its warscroll (such as Grots which get benefits based on the size of the unit).
• can you reduce their bravery and have them lose more models from battleshock?
• can you snipe out their support characters – such as the Free Peoples general which is making all the units nearby immune to battleshock?
• finally, can you block up the large unit with multiple small units of your own?  can you pin them in place by tagging them on the end of the line with a resilient and mobile unit such as Kurnoth Hunters?

Allies

As I’ve said earlier, use allies to fill gaps in your army – units that perform a role you previously did not have access to.  Need a large resilient block? need some cheap mobile and disposable units? need a ranged threat, for instance spear chukkas in an Ironjawz army? need a way to take out large hordes?

Also consider allies for reinforcing the key units in your main faction – for instance, with additional buff spells or abilities which may apply.  Just check the keywords to make sure the combination will work first!

Allies are the best way of achieving these ends.

Crystal ball time – the tournament meta

Now we reach the crystal ball part of the show.  As I’ve counselled earlier this week, it is important not to jump to conclusions based on leaks or information in isolation.  While we can make some informed comments about the likely future tournament meta, no one can accurately predict what will happen once a 1,000 tournament gamers get hold of the General’s Handbook 2017 and start trying to break the game apart.

However, I know many of you listeners are hanging out for some predictions.  So these comments are offered with a large heaping of salt:

Likely top armies

• it seems to us that the following armies remain strong:
  • Blades of Khorne – cheaper Bloodletters, Reavers and Bloodthirsters;
  • Disciples of Tzeentch – cheaper Tzaangors, horrors, despite the changes to Skyfires and the Lord of War;
  • Kharadron Overlords – still able to field powerful lists despite the change to Thunderers and Khemists – expect lots of shots from Arkanaut Company;

Impact on mixed Grand Alliance forces

• mixed Chaos, Destruction and Death have all been impacted by changes to their allegiance abilities which will require them to come up with more options.
  • Chaos has had changes to Lord of War and Crown of Command;
  • Destruction has had a major impact with the change to Rampaging Destroyers; and
  • Death has been affected by the reduced range of the Deathless Minions and the Ruler of the Night rules (presumably to balance the benefits from the Massive Regiments rule).
• These have been off-set by allied options, more faction allegiance abilities and some tweaks to battlefield roles and points.  It is possible that many of these forces will instead move to single-faction armies with allied contingents.  Keep an eye out for the Nurgle Cycle of Life abilities with the Blightwar box.
• By contrast, Order seems to be a significant winner with the introduction of new faction allegiance abilities and innate protection to battleshock for large units.  Seraphon look particularly interesting – and given their magical dominance (with Slaan able to unbind from anywhere on the table) make sure your plans don’t rely on getting that one crucial spell off!
• Plus every Order faction has the ability to have Stormcast as allies – lots of options.

Other comments

• Movement as always in Age of Sigmar is key – both Wanderers and Seraphon have benefited from new abilities allowing them to move units where they need to be, or out of a difficult situation.
• While I haven’t worked through all the possibilities, there seems to be some interesting tweaks to reinforcement points – check out the Ring of Immortality, the Slaan artefacts, and Slaves to Darkness ability to give you a free daemon prince on a 12 🙂

With the new scenarios and the possibility of larger units on the table it is more important than ever to be prepared with your army and the rules at a tournament game.  You need to move efficiently in order to complete your games on time – I recorded a range of tips and suggestions for this in a previous show.  This is a fundamental matter of fairness given that some of the battleplans, for instance Starstrike, really need to be played for all 5 turns.

Concluding thought

As a final comment, enjoy the extra options and variety to create armies you enjoy. It’s easy to get caught up with what is “tournament viable” or will succeed at the bleeding edge competitive level.   However, the reality of most tournaments is that you will not be exposed to the bleeding edge of what is theoretically possible.  It costs time and money to build an army.  You will most likely face a range of armies from your existing cohort of local players.  Those players now have more options and it will be great to see more thematic tools for Slaanesh, Seraphon, Fyreslayers etc.  Ultimately the goal for the General’s Handbook 2017 is to allow you to put a wider variety of troops on the table.

As always, you can find me on Twitter, on Facebook, and on TGA.  Let me know what you think 🙂

Resources

• All the official General’s Handbook 2017 information in one place
• Garry of Terrain Factory on Twitter

 

 

 

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Sylvaneth armies provide a unique challenge for opponents in that they have unprecedented mobility and ability to control board space.  There are also several related, but slightly different, rules relating to Sylvaneth Wyldwoods which means it can be hard to keep track.  This episode will explain how Wyldwoods work and how to counter them.

1. Sylvaneth Wyldwoods – the rules
2. How Wyldwoods benefit Sylvaneth armies
3. How Wyldwoods can be brought onto the table
4. How to beat the Wyldwoods

Sylvaneth Wyldwoods – the rules

A Sylvaneth Wyldwood consists of up to 3 Citadel Wood bases placed within 1″ of each other.   Each base must be set up within 1″ of each of the other bases in the Sylvaneth Wyldwood (i.e. the 3 bases must be in a cluster or clump, rather than a long thin line) – see the FAQ.

Before we go any further, if you are attending a tournament, it is worth checking to see whether there are any house rules limiting the number of bases which can deployed in one go, or be summoned over the course of the game.

There are two main rules for Sylvaneth Wyldwoods – a modified form of the Deadly terrain rules and the potential for mortal wounds.

Potentially Deadly to models other than Monsters or Heroes

If a model makes a run or charge move across, or finishing on, a Sylvaneth Wyldwood, roll a dice.  On a roll of 1, the model is slain and removed from play.  You do not need to roll for models with the SYLVANETH, MONSTER or HERO keywords.  So a Sylvaneth Wyldwood is more forgiving than Deadly terrain.

Note that this rule is not disjunctive – the Sylvaneth Wyldwood only captures run or charge moves, not any other type of move or set-up finishing on the Wyldwood (such as one occurring in the hero phase or a pile in).

Roused by Magic

Whenever a spell is successfully cast within 6″ of a Sylvaneth Wyldwood (even if it is unbound) roll a dice.  On a 5 or more, all non-SYLVANETH units within 1″ of the Wyldwood suffer D3 mortal wounds.  Note that:

• both these measurements are in relation to the Wyldwood, rather than any particular Citadel Wood base (so you could hit models approximately 28″ away); and
• any non-Sylvaneth units included in a battalion or as allies would also be attacked.

How Wyldwoods benefit Sylvaneth armies

An army with the Sylvaneth allegiance can place one Sylvaneth Wyldwood anywhere on the battlefield that is more than 1″ from any other piece of scenery.  This Wyldwood is placed after all other pieces of scenery are set up but before the battle begins and players choose territory or set-up their armies.  In essence, as soon as you approach the table at tournament.

Wyldwoods benefit Sylvaneth armies in four main ways:

• mobility;
• cover and other bonuses;
• mortal wound output; and
• board control.

Mobility

Wyldwoods offer Sylvaneth armies flexibility in both deployment and movement during the game.

Deployment in the hidden enclaves

Instead of setting up a Sylvaneth unit or battalion, you can deploy it in the hidden enclaves.  In any of your movement phases, you can transport the unit (or battalion) to the battlefield.  When you do so, set it up so that all models are within 3″ of a Sylvaneth Wyldwood and more than 9″ from any enemy models.   This is their move for that movement phase.

Navigating the Realmroots

If a Sylvaneth unit is within 3″ of a Sylvaneth Wyldwood at the start of your movement phase, it can attempt to traverse the spirit paths instead of moving normally.  If it does so, remove the unit from the battlefield, then set it up within 3″ of a different Sylvaneth Wyldwood, more than 9″ from any enemy models.  Then, roll a dice and consult the Spirit Path table:

• On a 1 the unit can’t do anything else for the rest of the Sylvaneth player’s turn (this result doesn’t apply to Treelords, Treelord Ancients or Spirits of Durthu, who can also navigate the realmroots regardless of whether they are in a Sylvaneth allegiance army or a mixed Order army);
• On a 2-5 they cannot move further (but can act normally otherwise); and
• On a 6+ they can move again during that same movement phase.

Two things to note here:

• the Sylvaneth player must teleport between separate Sylvaneth Wyldwoods (rather than between Citadel Wood bases in the same Wyldwood); and
• the teleporting unit only needs to set up within 3″ of that different Sylvaneth Wyldwood.  Unlike with the deployment rules, there is no requirement for all of the unit to be set up within 3″ of the Wyldwood.  Therefore, you can place one model within 3″ and then string the rest of your models out in a line (on to an objective for example) – see the main rules FAQ, page 2.

Finally, Tree-Revenants have a unique ability to move via the Wyldwoods.  If the unit still has a model with Waypipes left in it, then instead of moving in the movement phase, the unit can be immediately removed from play and set up so all of its models are within 3″ of a Wyldwood and more than 9″ away from the enemy.

Cover and other bonuses

At a more simple level, the Sylvaneth Wyldwoods provide units with cover and other buffs.

To be in cover, the entire unit must be in the terrain feature for the cover bonus to apply (see main rules FAQ, p 2).  Now there is some debate as to whether a model placed in the 1″ gap between the Citadel wood bases in a Wyldwood negates cover for the unit.  If in doubt, get a ruling from the tournament organiser before the tournament.

Sylvaneth units also get specific benefits from the Wyldwoods.

• Branchwyches get +1 to hit if within 3″ of a Wyldwood; and
• Branchwraiths and Dryads are -1 to hit if within 3″ of a Wyldwood.

Mortal Wound Output

Sylvaneth armies in general lack mortal wound output (outside of Alarielle, Drycha, the Hunters’ Trample Underfoot rule and two spells).  So the Roused by Magic ability of Sylvaneth Wyldwoods provides a useful way to chip away at enemy units and characters, especially if you are running the Gnarlroot wargrove and casting 6 or more spells a turn.

A Treelord Ancient can also cast its Awaken the Wood spell, which has a similar effect to the Roused by Magic ability but on units within 3″ rather than 1″.

Board Control

Finally, the Wyldwoods provide the Sylvaneth player with board control – an essential element to success in Age of Sigmar.   You will often see a Sylvaneth player place their free Wyldwood onto an objective, or close enough to an objective that they can use the Wyldwood to seize the objective late in the game.

A good Sylvaneth player will also use the Wyldwoods to limit their opponent’s movement and zone off sections of the board.  Most tournaments that I am aware of will play that the trees in the Sylvaneth Wyldwoods can be removed, for ease of gameplay (imagine models brushing aside branches), but not allow models to move through the tree trunk holes on the Citadel wood base.  This means that Sylvaneth players can place their models in such a manner as to reduce the number of incoming attacks from their opponent or to prevent a large model from hitting a unit.

Now there are limits on how effective this strategy will be because of course models in Age of Sigmar are free to climb trees and other terrain (as long as they pay the necessary movement and are still within range with their weapons).  I myself have found myself defending an objective from a Stonehorn balancing precariously on top of a tree.  If you struggle with that mental image, just pretend that the Stonehorn has spent the extra movement to knock the tree down.

How Sylvaneth Wyldwoods can be brought onto the table

As mentioned earlier, each Sylvaneth allegiance army gets a free Wyldwood at the start of the game.  Subsequent Wyldwoods must be summoned by a spell, artefact or ability.

A Treelord Ancient can generate a new Sylvaneth Wyldwood in each of your hero phases on a roll of a 4+.

The Verdant Blessing spell can be given to any Sylvaneth wizard – Alarielle, Treelord Ancients, Branchwyches, Branchwraiths and Drycha – and it can generate a new Sylvaneth Wyldwood.  Alarielle also has the Metamorphosis spell allowing her to turn a destroyed enemy unit into a Wyldwood.  Finally, a Sylvaneth wizard can be given the arcane treasure, Acorn of the Ages – which allows the holder to generate a new Wyldwood

Each of these spells and abilities have slightly different rules about where the Wyldwoods can be placed (including at what range and how far away from terrain and enemy models).  Therefore, it is important to check the rules that apply to the particular method relied on.

How to beat the Sylvaneth Wyldwoods

Now, how do you beat the Wyldwoods and stifle the Sylvaneth?

• deny the Sylvaneth player the ability to generate the Wyldwoods;
• you stop them using the Wyldwoods once they are in play;
• you neuter the effectiveness of the Wyldwoods by your own choices; and
• you destroy the Wyldwoods or turn them to your advantage.

Stopping the Sylvaneth player generating Wyldwoods

The two simplest methods of limiting the impact of Sylvaneth Wyldwoods are to stop them coming onto the table in the first place.  You either do this by:

• unbinding the Sylvaneth’s spells (for instance, by using a caster with superior range, think a Lord of Change in a Disciples of Tzeentch list unbinding at 27″); or
• denying the Sylvaneth player the space to place the Wyldwood on the table.  A Citadel wood base is 7.5″ x 10.5″ and as a general rule will need to be between 1″ and 3″ away from other terrain and units.  Therefore, if you are playing a game on a well-stocked table (say 8-10 pieces of terrain) you can use fast-paced chaff units to move into the gaps on the board and deny the Sylvaneth player any space to place the woods or push them to put the woods in sub-optimal places.

Stop them using the Wyldwoods once in play

As discussed earlier, in order to teleport to the woods or deploy from them, the Sylvaneth player must be able to place the unit either wholly or partially within 3″ of the wood and more than 9″ from you.  So if you can place a model or two in the centre of the Citadel wood base then the Sylvaneth player will have nowhere to place their unit and can’t use that wood for their movement shenanigans.

Neuter the effectiveness of the Wyldwoods

There are a number of ways you can reduce the impact of the Wyldwoods when they are in play.

If the Sylvaneth player does deploy a unit from the hidden enclaves then they are arriving in the movement phase and won’t have the benefit of a Mystic Shield.  Hit them when they pop up before the buffs arrive.

Remember that the Sylvaneth Wyldwood’s Deadly ability only works on run and charge moves.  So when charging a unit in a Wyldwood, send only one model in to 0.5″ to complete the charge.  Leave the remainder of the unit outside the wood, but able to pile-in in the combat phase.  Even if the one model you sent into the wood dies to the Deadly test, you have still completed the charge and can pile-in.

Heroes and Monsters also do not have to take the Deadly terrain test, so if you have combat heroes (such as Gordrak or a Bloodthirster) then they are perfect for removing units entrenched in a Wyldwood.

Finally, Grot Spider Riders can also ignore the effect of Wyldwoods thanks to their ability to ignore the effects of all terrain.

Destroy the Sylvaneth Wyldwood or turn it to your advantage

You can also destroy the Sylvaneth Wyldwood or turn it to your advantage.

Destruction – Nothing Left Standing

As it now stands, and this may change with GHB2017, Destruction have an Allegiance ability called Nothing Left Standing.  In your hero phase, pick a terrain feature that is within 6″ of your general and at least 5 other friendly Destruction models.  That terrain feature no longer provides cover, and any scenery rules it has can no longer be used.

Knight Heraldor – Toot toot!

A Knight Heraldor is also an effective counter to Sylvaneth Wyldwoods.  In your shooting phase, pick a terrain feature within 15″ and roll a dice – each unit within that many inches suffers D3 mortal wounds.  This can have a massive impact on a Sylvaneth army huddled round its woods.

Auric Runemaster – Boom!

An Auric Runemaster can turn a Sylvaneth Wyldwood into an active volcano.  In your hero phase, pick a terrain feature within 20″ and roll a dice for each model within 1″ of it.  For each roll of a 6, that model’s unit suffers a mortal wound.  In addition, until your next hero phase, roll a dice for any model that makes a run or charge move across, or finishing on, this terrain feature.  On a roll of a 1, the model is slain.

Pestilens Party

And last, but according to local players Jim and Aiden, certainly not least, Skaven Pestilens – which has two abilities to turn Sylvaneth Wyldwoods to their advantage.

• The Virulent Procession battalion can pick a terrain feature within 13″ of the Verminlord Corrupter at the start of the Skaven player’s hero phase.  Roll a dice for each enemy unit within 3″ of that terrain feature on a 4 or more that unit suffers D3 mortal wounds.
• The Pestilent Clawpack (in the compendium) – After you have set up your force, pick a terrain feature within 13″ of at least two units from the Pestilent Clawpack. That terrain feature is befouled. Units from this battalion automatically pass battleshock tests if they are in or on any such terrain. Roll a dice for all other units that start the hero phase in or on befouled terrain; on a 1, that unit suffers D3 mortal wounds (Nurgle units never suffer mortal wounds as the result of this ability).

 

 

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This episode is on making better decisions in game – how do you assess threats and decide on your target priority?  and then, once identified, how do you execute those plans efficiently on the table.  In Age of Sigmar, you could have a highly honed and efficient tournament list, but still lose because you have made poor decisions.

1. Achieving the objective – the key metric for threat assessment and target priority
2. Know thy enemy
   1. Review the lists when they are released
   2. Consider reviewing a short list of armies in detail
   3. Ask your opponent before the game
3. Dealing with threats on the table
4. Pick smart trade-offs
   1. Know your expected outcomes
5. Order of activation important
6. Dealing with buff units
7. Keep your eyes on the objective

Achieving the objective – the key metric for threat assessment and target priority

First and foremost, to win at Age of Sigmar you need to play to the scenario.  This is a fundamental tenet.  Therefore, your approach to the game should be based on:

• how you can achieve those objectives (by which turn and with which units);
• your opponent’s ability to:
  • secure the objectives; and
  • stop you taking the objectives;
• targeting those pieces in your opponent’s army which they need to win (such as heroes in 3PoP);
• modifying your game plan according to the stage of the game and the position of objectives.

To do this, you need to have accurate information.

Know thy enemy

In preparing your list for the tournament, you should have already thought about the likely meta – i.e. the types of lists which you are likely to face and the relative proportions of those lists – and the strengths and weaknesses of your army.  If you haven’t go back and listen to my episode on good list design for Age of Sigmar.

Review the lists when they are released

If the tournament releases lists in advance, this is your first chance to prepare for the decisions that you will need to make at the tournament.  Do your homework.  Review the lists.  Does the tournament “meta” – i.e. the types of lists which are present and the proportions of those lists – match your expectations when you wrote your list?  Are there any surprises (an overwhelming number of Wanderers armies for instance)?

Depending on the size of the tournament and the amount of free time you have, you can decide whether to review all the warscrolls and battalions on a list by list basis.  Unless dealing with a very small tournament, it is unlikely you’ll have the desire or need to review all the lists in great detail.   You are only going to be facing 5/6 of the lists in the tournament anyway.

Consider reviewing a short list of armies in detail

What I will often do is identify a short list for further consideration.  These lists will be ones that are known to be very powerful (i.e. net lists), or ones that are being run by players I know to be good players, or finally lists which look like they will be very difficult for me to face (i.e. hard counters to my list).

For anything on the short list, I will review the battalion and warscroll rules and try to understand the synergies in the army.  In particular, I’ll be focusing on movement and damage output.

If I’m running a gun-line army, I may also consider allocating an order of target priority at this stage – target 1, 2, 3 etc.  Of course, this will need to vary depending on the scenario and deployment, but I find it comforting to know that I have a target run-sheet at least sketched out in advance.

Ask your opponent before the game

Once at the tournament, it is important to conduct due diligence on your opponent’s list at the start of the round.  If you don’t know how your opponent’s list works – ask!  They should have a hard copy of their army list to hand you (and you likewise for them).  The number of questions you ask, and the level of detail you need will depend on the circumstances.  If you are facing a clearly sub-optimal list then you probably don’t need to ask many.  If, however, you are playing on the top tables, it is worth understanding the key pieces of your opponent’s army in detail because even the smallest margins can swing the result between competitive lists.

I’ve set out here a selection of points you will want to consider:

• how many “drops” does your army have?  See my deployment episode here.
• what allegiance abilities, artefacts and spells has your opponent picked, if they are not named on their army list?
• what do their battalions do?
• do any units have particular deployment rules – off the table, on a table edge, 9″ away?
• do any units have special movement rules – can run and charge, can teleport, can infiltrate, can retreat or disengage from combat on special terms etc?
• what options do you have in your summoning pool?
• understand threat ranges – how far can units move, run, charge and shoot/magic?
• how are your behemoths effected by damage? i.e. is there a significant drop off in power after a few wounds?
• do you have ways to heal or regenerate wounds?
• is there anything which is a particular threat to your army?  For instance, when playing with my Sylvaneth, I always want to know where my opponent has mortal wound output and high rend.

Dealing with threats on the table

So once you have assessed the likely key threats, you now need to decide the best way to deal with them.  In reality you have four options:

• Destroy – kill it;
• Delay – in short, this means blocking its movement or keeping it in combat with your throwaway units – this can be harder for some units than others;
• Minimise – if the key threat is a behemoth, it is likely that its effectiveness, and the amount of a threat it poses, will reduce after it has taken a few wounds.  For instance, taking three wounds off a Thundertusk will reduce its deadly snowball attack down from 6 damage, to D6 damage.  A similar effect occurs with Durthu’s sword.
• Ignore – you may find that you don’t have the tools to deal with the unit, so you are better placed to ignore it and use your army to take out other pieces in the opponent’s army or seize the objectives.

Pick smart trade-offs

It can be tempting to throw your strongest unit into the biggest threat.  While this may be your only option in some cases, it can result in a rock paper scissors world where you will be at the mercy of the dice.

A better option can be found in game theory and often traced back to Sun Bin’s parable of the three horses.  This story of course being that if you are to have three horse races against an opponent, and you each have a fast horse, a medium horse, and a slow horse, then it makes sense for you to pair your slow horse vs their fast horse, your fast against their medium and your medium against their slow.  In doing so, you ensure you win 2 out of the 3 races.

So to convert that into Age of Sigmar, it may make sense for you to throw chaff units at their strongest threat, while you use your strongest and medium-strength units to tidy up the rest of their force.  It is for this reason that factions with strong “chaff” choices perform well – ideally you want your “chaff” to either be able to fill multiple roles (such as Brimstone Horrors) or be strong enough to also take on an opponent’s medium units (such as Blood Reavers).

Know your expected outcomes

To help you pick smart trade-offs, you need to know the expected damage output for your and your opponent’s units.  This knowledge will come with time and experience, but if you want to shortcut the process then “mathhammer” can help.  For instance, for my last tournament, I used the AoS Combat Calculator to work out the likely damage output of my 6 scythes unit in various situations (+1 to hit from the Hurricanum, re-rolling 1s against Chaos, and against different armour saves etc).  Those results are set out in the table below.  You’ll see that I not only calculated the average expected result, but also calculated one sigma above and below the mean (i.e. giving me the range of outcomes which are likely to occur 68% of the time).  Therefore, depending on the game situation I could decide whether to risk going for a high return or more conservatively rely on the “Sig Low” outcome.

 

Order of activation important

The order in which you choose to shoot your units or cast spells can be crucial to making sure you get all the available power out of your army.

Always shoot at your number 1 target first.  This means that if the first few units you choose underperform then you can pour more shots in from other sources as required.

When selecting your units to fire, always choose to shoot with the unit that has the fewest number of options first.  That way, if you do kill your target, then you haven’t wasted damage output, because your remaining units have other options that they can shoot at.

Dealing with buff units

Another issue that often arises is deciding whether to target a supporting character or the units which receive the buff – think for instance Sayl with 30 Bloodletters or a Tzaangor Shaman and several units of Skyfires.   While circumstances will differ, a handy rule of thumb is to take out the support character first if there are several units receiving the buff, but target the unit if their is only one unit receiving the buff.   An obvious exception to this would be where the support character has such an overwhelmingly powerful influence on the unit that it can’t be left alive – the prime example being the Savage Orruk Big Boss in the Kunnin Rukk.  However, be careful not to overextend with the wrong units – an unbuffed Rukk can still do quite a bit of damage to your precious units.

Keep your eyes on the objective

Throughout the game, it is important to keep your eyes on the objective.  In Age of Sigmar, it is not much of an overstatement to say that everything in your list is expendable but also that everything in your list is valuable.   Even sneaking the lowliest model within 6″ of an objective on the last turn in Gift from the Heavens for example can win you the game.  This is because it is a scenario based game.  If you need to sacrifice key pieces, so that a ten man chaff unit keeps scoring on an objective, you will do so.  Quite often you can have games where you lose all your models, but still beat your opponent because you have scored enough scenario points.  No longer is there the old concept of assessing units on the ability to make their points back.