Warhammer: Age of Sigmar Reveals Details About New Spearhead Game Format

Games Workshop is revealing new details about its upcoming Spearhead game format for Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, which provides players with a shorter version of the game using pre-built armies. This week, Games Workshop provided new details about the upcoming Spearhead game mode for Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, the fantasy-themed cousin to Warhammer 40,000. The new game mode will officially roll out later this year with the launch of the new edition of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, although it has some similarities to the Combat Patrol mode in Warhammer 40,000. 

The new game mode is built around the new Spearhead unit boxes, which contain all the units needed to play a game of Spearhead. Notably, a game of Spearhead is played on a significantly smaller game table size than a normal game of Age of Sigmar, and only consists of 4 rounds. The new game mode uses different warscrolls than a standard edition of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, with some units able to be redeployed once destroyed and others forced off the field until the final turns of play to keep a sense of balance in the unit. For instance, the Stormcast Eternals can't deploy the powerful  Yndrasta until the third round of the game, which means that its players need to keep their army alive without the help of the powerful unit until she arrives. 

Spearhead also uses more simplified rules in keeping with Age of Sigmar's modular ruleset. Spellcasting, for instance, is a unit ability in Age of Sigmar,  turning some optional spells into the full version of the game into core abilities for units. 

Also included in the game are Battle Tactics and Command cards, which players can either use to score Victory Points by completing certain objectives on the card by the end of their turn or to issue extra commands to units, providing them with extra benefits. The game will also have a "Twist" deck, which provides extra rules and an advantage of some kind to the losing player.  

Warhammer: Age of Sigmar's 4th Edition, which includes the new Spearhead mode, will be released later this year.