Tabletop strategy game receives a massive facelift in newest edition

By KYLE GRAHAM, Staff Reporter |

For those who do not know “Age of Sigmar” and “Warhammer 40,000 (40k)” are tabletop miniature strategy games that are designed to be purely for fun or for fairly brutal competition.

“Sigmar” received a massive facelift from its previous editions, different movement from blocked lines and ranks of soldiers to 40k’s style of open movement and different spell/melee mechanics. This is also changed when the eighth edition dropped onto the table. 

Games Workshop as a whole has completely changed their marketing strategy to get more people into the games by reviving old games, producing new models every month and opening up to licensing deals with other businesses to use their content. 

Set in the dark future of Humanity, The Imperium of Man is beset by war on all sides from ravenous Tyranid super predators, savage Orks, Eldar (space elves), futuristic Tau and the forces of Chaos. A side must be chosen. 

While the eighth edition has opened up more customizability to lists, it removed a mass of bad aspects from the previous edition. 

In previous editions, formations and destroyer weapons (Strength D) were an absolute nightmare and everyone, save for a couple armies, had super heavy units that could decimate the game on their own. 

The formations gave certain play styles and massive amounts of a specific type of units (spam) a bonus for taking certain groups of units. This became problematic due to people finding loopholes to get free units or gain buffs that would be game breaking. 

The dreaded Strength D weapons had the power to wipe entire units off the board in one shot. Roll a six sided die, on a one, it misses, on a 2-5 the unit takes d3+1 wounds with no saves. Anything that was left had taken a moral check that was bound to fail due to rules.

People stopped playing the game because people would take models with the destroyer weapons and then include them in a formation lists to buff them to the stratosphere for free rerolls. The game just kept getting increasingly boring and no longer fun for anyone not power-gaming.

In the new edition, formations were completely removed and destroyer weapons got slapped with a nerf bat to be more like standard weapons, but with multiple shots and high armor piercing ability, however one shot only goes to one model, period. 

No more rolling wounds on the rest of the squad. Simple grunts actually stand a chance against a tank now. A wound or hit roll of a six will always hit or wound, unless a rule says otherwise. 

This helps guarantee that everyone has a chance to fight or do something. There is not a completely useless unit now for the most part. The rules have become read and play style, making it simpler to jump in and figure out the mechanics. 

Start Collecting and Kill-Team kits are massive money-saving boxes to help people start an army. The Tau Start Collecting box is now $95, but comes with a $50 pulse rifle/carbine/breacher team that can be made into two separate five person squads or one big squad with three different weapon configurations and many extra parts for kit-bashing or making other cool models.

It also comes with a $75 box of crisis suits, eight gun/shield/marker drones ($12 a pair) and a $15-$25 ethereal model that is now exclusive to that kit and come with the rules for the models. 

The game is an amazing experience and I highly encourage people to watch people play a couple of games either via YouTube or at a gaming store before jumping headfirst into the game. 

Starting an army should be solely what someone thinks looks the coolest out of the 25-28 factions that can be interwoven with one another. You are not restricted to only taking one particular faction. 

There are some rule benefits for taking certain factions together. Play with friends, have fun and view the rules as guidelines.

Interested in learning how to play? The AC Bookstore is hosting a Warhammer event on the Washington Street campus Apr. 5 at 2 p.m.

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