Age of Sigmar: First Balance Changes Come To The New Edition
Games Workshop has released the very first round of updates to the rules for Warhammer: Age of Sigmar 4.0. What’s changed? Let’s find out!
While it might be true that no plan survives contact with the enemy the same can be said for a ruleset for a game. Just replace “plan” with “rules” and enemy with “players” and it still makes sense. That’s why we’re fortunate to live in an age where games (of all types) can be updated with a push of a button. In this case, the button being pushed is “download” because these rules are free to snag from GW right now.
Download AoS Battle Profiles & Rules Updates Here – September 2024
This marks the first rules update to the new edition and there’s quite a few changes. We’re not going to go over all of them with a fine-tooth comb. But we are going to cover the general rules changes and highlight the factions that got updates. We have a lot of ground to cover so let’s dive in.
“Updating the rules for every faction alongside the new edition of Warhammer Age of Sigmar was a big challenge, and as expected there are a handful of factions over, or under, performing at the moment. Thanks to everyone for sending in your feedback to [email protected], as it was instrumental in identifying common challenges and opportunities for adjustment.”
Core Rules And General’s Handbook Updates
The big things to note from the Core Rules changes are that Manifestations have gotten a rework. You can’t resummon them on the same turn they were removed. The more Manifestations your opponent summons the easier they get to banish. And there were a couple more targeted changes to specific Manifestations as well.
Honour Guard also got a slight re-work and we also saw clarifications for faction terrain rules in regards to fighting and piling in. And, what I would consider an oversight, was corrected by allowing All-out Defence vs Covering Fire.
These changes might not seem too sweeping at first but I think they will shift the meta a bit back towards the armies vs just summoning Endless Spells and Invocations.
Grand Alliance: Order Changes
The following factions got some attention from Games Workshop with this update:
- Cities of Sigmar
- Daughters of Khaine
- Fyreslayers
- Lumineth Realm-lords
- Seraphon
- Stormcast Eternals
- Sylvaneth
Without diving into each faction as most were rather minor tweaks, the two factions that got a lot more attention were the Sylvaneth and the Lumineth Realm-lords.
“The two Order factions we chose to focus on for this update were Sylvaneth and the Lumineth Realm-lords. We made several adjustments to Sylvaneth to make their battle traits easier to use, while as the Lumineth Realm-lords have been over performing in early results, we’ve started with an adjustment to tone down Shining Company, but we’re also closely monitoring the Hurakan units and will likely make further adjustments down the line. In addition to those factions, we’ve also made a handful of rules tweaks across several other Order factions, mostly for quality-of-life fixes, along with points adjustments across every faction to improve internal and external balance. “
Again, this is just a quick summary and we’re not even going to touch the points updates across the board. The main thing to know is that if you’re playing any of the factions mentioned, you should certainly check out the updated rules for your faction!
Grand Alliance: Chaos Changes
Most of the Chaos factions got some points adjustments. But the two big changes to note are for the Maggotkin and Hedonites. Burst Pustules is a new ability for the Maggotkin of Nurgle that should make it easier to spread disease taround. And the Hedonites of Slaanesh’s Temptation Dice have gotten more risky to use for opponents.
If you’re wondering where the Slaves to Darkness are, don’t forget they have a new Battletome coming soon. They did get points changes so check your army lists for sure!
Grand Alliance: Death Changes
The big story coming out of the Death Grand Alliance is that the Nighthaunt got some targeted nerfs to their army. The Death Stalkers battle formation now only targets one unit instead of the whole army. And the Dreadblade Harrows got a targeted adjustment, too. I’m a little surprised that the Ossiarch Bonereapers didn’t get anything more than some points adjustments …but maybe that’s just me.
Grand Alliance: Destruction Changes
Coming out of the Destruction changes was Kragnos, the End of Empires. This was just a flat points drop of 100 points down to 580. Why the change? Because it was compensation for the rework of this End of Empires ability as it only happens during your charge phase now. Is that a fair trade off? Let us know what you think in the comments. Aside from that more changes to points for basically all the factions so check your army lists.
This was a pretty massive undertaking and update overall. While these changes might not look that crazy individually, over 250 units had their points adjusted. And these are just the high-level changes. Considering the sheer volume of changes it seems like GW has been head down and fine-tuning the new edition. Now we just need to get our hands on all those Battletomes…
These changes are line so go grab them and start playing!
