Age of Sigmar: New Terrain Rules Bring A Much Needed Update
The ground below is beginning to shift in the Mortal Realms. That rumble is the new terrain rules coming to Warhammer: Age of Sigmar!
Games Workshop has reworked and tweaked many of the movement and terrain interactions for the new edition. Plus they are adding a welcomed addition to how we all will place terrain in the future. Get ready for your battlefields to look and play different in the new edition of Age of Sigmar.
Terrain Interaction Changes
“You’ll find conditions for visibility and moving over terrain in the core rules, and it’s all simple and intuitive: models can clamber and vault over terrain features that are 1″ or less in height with no penalty at all. Any move over terrain taller than 1″ must count the vertical distance as part of their move. Units and models can no longer finish a move mid-climb, but they can now choose to jump down from terrain instead of climbing, landing on a lower level or on the floor. This ends the move.”
So not only will models be able to effectively move on/through terrain equal to or less than 1″ your models can also finish their moves by leaping down a level. I really like both of these changes as they feel a lot more intuitive vs having a unit have models half way down a wall and just stuck there. I think this will have a larger impact on really tall terrain more so than your typical one-story ruins.
But that’s not all that’s changed. There’s also a change to line of sight, too:
“Any model, from the lowest Clanrat to the most imposing Reclusian, can hide from another’s line of sight by hunkering down behind terrain. This is important for combat range because you’re only in combat if you’re both within combat range and visible to an opponent – you cannot charge units lurking behind solid walls. “
Looks like that first floor ruin with no windows is going to be a lot more important in the new edition now. And you think you’ll just be able to hide in terrain and avoid combat altogether, think again:
“There may be some cases where a unit has barricaded themselves upon a terrain feature to secure line of sight with their ranged weapons, or simply to provoke the enemy with taunts (we’re looking at the Gloomspite Gitz here). Even if there is no room for your unit to get up there too, you’ll still be able to charge them so long as you end with ½” of the terrain feature instead.”
Universal Terrain Rules
There’s also the modular addition of the “Terrain Advanced Rules module” coming to the game as well. This will have a chart with five universal abilities that help to shape your battlefield. These clearly defined rules are going to help smooth things out and keep the gameplay moving.
I do think these rules will take a little getting used to but they are still going to be helpful for the edition overall. The clear codification of what’s what makes this a better and more fair system. I’m looking forward to trying out all of these with the new ruleset.
One that stands out is the Place of Power: Heroes feature. What is that? Well it’s a combination of a few things. The short answer is that it allows your Heroes to get a bonus at the risk of getting some magical feedback.
What I appreciate about this new terrain type is that it allows for non Wizards or Priests to attempt to tap into the power and Unbind or Banish as well. This seems like it’s going to be a popular terrain feature to fight over.
Terrain For All
If you’ve already got a collection of Citadel terrain you’ll be happy to know that GW has you covered with a new Citadel Terrain List. This will have a set of common terrain features with standards for “terrain type, size, and the number of pieces each feature should consist of.” This should make setup for your games a lot clearer when you’re using the optional terrain maps.
I’m a BIG fan of these OPTIONAL terrain maps as well. I think they satisfy both the casual and competitive crowd. If you don’t want to use them you don’t have to but they are there. I think tournaments will probably favor them just so that’s one less thing for players to have to debate over. Having the list there on the sheet with the Terrain Type included is great for that.
It’s also worth noting that these standard/regular terrain features are indestructible — you can’t target them and they don’t have a stat block unlike faction terrain.
Overall, I’m really liking the sound of these changes for terrain. Clearly defined rules for the different types of terrain and the addition of optional terrain maps is a big win in my book. Now we just need to get our hands on that launch box and the rules already!
What do you think of the new AoS Terrain changes?
