Age of Sigmar: Battle Traits And Battle Formations Change Your Army
Games Workshop is back with a new explainer on how the Battle Traits and Formations will change your army in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar.
We got a look at how the list building is changing a bit in Age of Sigmar. Now we’re getting a better look at the new Battle Traits and Battle Formations that will also help to shape and create your army on the tabletop. These army wide rules are redesigned to work within the new ability system. But how exactly will they work? That’s what we’re going to find out today.
Battle Traits in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar
“For instance, the Stormcast Eternals have four different Battle Trait abilities that apply to the army as a whole. While heroic actions are gone, many of those ideas live on, and Their Finest Hour continues to power up a Stormcast Eternals unit for a turn at a time.”
Okay, if you’re seeing this for the first time you might be a little confused. Formerly, it was used by your Heroes as a Heroic Action. Now, it’s moved to a Once Per Turn ability during the Hero Phase. Additionally, it can be used by any Stormcast Eternals unit and not just a Hero. It’s also color coded to denote it’s meant for the Hero Phase, too.
The Stormcast Eternals also have a few other abilities as part of their Battle Traits that work together very well. The Celestial Realm and Scions of the Storm allow you to deploy units in reserve and then bring them in during your Movement Phase where you need them — more than 9″ away from the enemy of course.
Again, these are Battle Traits and the army just comes with these options. That said, not all Battle Traits are just “Free” options to use. Some of them do have an additional cost. For example Heavens-Sent does cost a CP to use. But I think with the right unit it will totally be worth it.
Dropping in a unit that had previously been destroyed at half-strength is pretty good for 1 CP.
And these are just the tip of the iceberg. I’m very curious to see the other armies and their Battle Traits if the Stormcast ones are any indication.
Battle Formations in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar
“You will also pick a Battle Formation when constructing your army. These work like subfactions of old, and exemplify the way a specific force might do battle or represent the specific tactics it employs – but they’re no longer tied to a particular colour scheme or location in the world, encouraging players to express their creativity and craft their own creations. “
Moving on to Battle Formations these are basically the old sub-factions only they aren’t bound by a color scheme anymore. This is something that Games Workshop has been moving towards in other systems and we’ll see it take effect in Age of Sigmar officially now, too.
How these Battle Formations work is fairly straightforward as well. Each Faction Pack that is releasing with the new edition will contain four different Battle Formations. These help you focus on particular strategies or options for the army.
As an example we have Thunderhead Host. This Battle Formation focuses on having Warrior Chamber units fighting in concert with other chambers. If they do, then the Warrior Chamber units will get to add 1 to their hit rolls.
Here’s another example with Lightning Echelon. This is designed to work best with the Extremis Chamber as it gives them Strike-First when they charge if they roll a 3+.
From my understanding you can pick and choose any of these Battle Formations when you’re building your army as well. Could you take an all Liberators army and run Lightning Echelon? Sure. But that’s probably not the most effective option.
I’ll be curious to see the rest of these options. They aren’t so dissimilar to the current stuff that these concepts are completely alien. However, they do have different options and different timings on things. It’s going to take a little getting used to these changes.
I’m hoping the Battle Formations end up being good for everyone.
