GW: Command Points – 40K vs AoS
Age of Sigmar 2.0 is less than a week away from retail but a lot of the changes have already been previewed. One of the biggest changes to the game is the addition of Command Points – but they function very differently than 40K’s version. So we had to ask – who does it better?
Now, we’ve written about Command Points before. It doesn’t matter if you think they are perfectly fine or totally broken they are part of the 40k landscape now and players are learning to adjust to them. It took awhile but I think folks are really starting to push the CPs in 40k to their limit. There were some growing pains for sure, and not all the armies have stratagems to spend those CPs on, but as the final codexes arrive all armies will have their own stratagems.
Age of Sigmar, on the other hand, already HAS “Stratagems” in the game for every single army available. They just didn’t have a way to use them all – until now. You can read a quick primer for them HERE. But basically they are a resource you can use to activate Command Abilities that your Heroes have. They can be purchased for points and you get 1 per warscroll battalion you have. And you also generate 1 per hero phase. Now, we’ve yet to see exactly how these new CPs will impact the meta, but I have a feeling things are going to get pretty crazy.
Generating CPs for both system is pretty similar if you think about it. You basically pay points for extra CPs in both systems – 40Ks version just comes with more models to use (See: Astra Militarum CP battery as an example). 40k also has much looser restrictions on spending those CPs on Stratagems. For AoS, you have to be in range of the Hero for the ability to be used on the target. Conversely, AoS allows you to use the same Command Ability as many times in a turn as you can afford, unlike in 40k where it’s (typically) one-and-done for the turn.
In terms of Stratagems vs Command Abilities, we haven’t counted the total yet, but I’m pretty sure 40k has more Stratagems total. With each army getting close to 20, that’s a LOT more than each faction in AoS’s Hero count. On the flip side, if we are being honest, each army in 40k really only has a handful of useful Stratagems. So while the Command Abilities in AoS are limited to being hero-centric, they seem to be a lot more focused and useful. On top of that, those abilities are going to combo with each other in unforseen ways – there is already chatter about how to pull off turn 1 charges and other crazy ways to stack them to turn basic troopers in to unstoppable killing machines.
Now there are lots of little things we can talk about for each version and at the end of the day it’s easy to say “neither is better than the other – they are just different.” Yeah, sure…but that’s a total cop out. That’s like when you ask a parent which child is there favorite – they have a favorite…they just don’t want to admit it. As for me, I think Age of Sigmar’s Command Point System is better overall for the simple fact that the ranges are limited to the Hero. If 40k’s CPs were reliant on being in range of an HQ I think that would do wonders for the game. But hey, that’s just my opinion, man.
So avid Tabletop Gamer, which Command Point System to you like better? Let us know in the comments below!
