Age of Sigmar: General’s Handbook 2021 Overview
What’s in the new General’s Handbook 2021? Pretty much exactly what you’d expect.
So we got our hands on the new General’s Handbook 2021 and it’s looking like a ‘must buy’ for Age of Sigmar 3.0 fans. Why? Lot’s of reasons…but also because of points.
Points!
Yes, yes, you need this book for the points changes. We’ve talked about them before and GW actually went into some detail about the overall reasons for the point changes in this book. We covered that. In general, most armies went up about 10-15% with some outliers in there. We’re not going to cover all the the points changes but just know that whatever list you were running previously probably got a little tighter. In most cases, you’re going to have to snip some units and trim things to fit in the new meta. But just know that pretty much everyone is tightening up that same belt, so don’t stress about it too much.
One thing to note about the points is that GW did balance them per army. One example listed is the Tzaangors. In Beast of Chaos they cost 175. In Disciples of Tzeentch, they run 195. That’s a 20 point swing and it’s because they perform differently in their respective books.
So again, whatever list you were running previously is going to need to rework somethings. If you were lucky enough to come out about the same or a little cheaper, congratulations, your army is a rare breed indeed.
One other thing to note is that this book essentially makes the battalions free – there are no points associated with Core Battalions. Those points got accounted for with the new edition – so don’t sweat those “missing” points.
Other Stuff
The GHB 2021 also comes with some handy tokens. You can use these for Objectives or trackers for …pretty much whatever you need. On top of that, they also have Battle Tactics which are in addition to the ones you’d find in the Matched Play section of the Core Rule book.
And we have to mention the Battleplans – of which there are 12 total. All of them take place in Ghur as this book is thematically set there. I’m sure Tournament Organizers can use these as templates for battleplans for their tournaments and set them in other realms. If nothing else, it’s 12 more battleplans to test out with various different ways to score victory points.
Couple of other observations as well, the “Battlepack: Pitched Battles 2021” is designed as a “season” to be used in matched play events. The idea is that each year GW will create a new set of rules for that “season” – hence the setting in Ghur. There will be new grand strategies and battle tactics, realm rules, and more.
These battleplans are also designed specifically for battles of either 1000 or 2000 points and on a board of a with a minimum size of 44″ x 60″ and a minimum of 8 terrain features. There are couple of other restrictions also listed which we cover in the video – they relate to how you add in “coalition units” which is something we’ll go over in more detail in a future article.
Endless Spells
The General’s Handbook 2021 edition also includes updates for nine Endless Spells. These were part of the Malign Portents box and I’m guessing they needed an update after the edition change. That and the way Predatory spells worked changed, too.
Core Rules Included
And also for your convenience, all the Core Rules are also included. So if you didn’t want to carry the BRB around with you, just snag the GHB 2021 and you’re golden. Plus the ringed-binding makes it a lot easier to leave pages open.
Overall, it’s a nice booklet beyond the points changes. And let’s be honest, if you were planning on playing AoS 3.0, you were going to snag this anyhow. At least it should be worth the price of admission!
Warhammer Age of Sigmar General’s Handbook Pitched Battles 2021 and Pitched Battle Profiles $40
The essential 2021 General’s Handbook is an invaluable supplement that enhances your games of Warhammer Age of Sigmar. This year’s edition is divided into two separate books – the General’s Handbook comes as a 96-page ring-bound hardback, while the Pitched Battle Profiles book is a 34-page softback.
Promotional Material Provided By Games Workshop, LLC
