Warhammer Age of Sigmar Skaventide

review by Sergio Almonte

The chittering. The damned chittering. Gnarled claws upon the surface of my mind, gouging free any hopes for the realms. How can we fight an enemy that consumes all? Those damned rats have already devoured any lands east of the adamantine chain, shriving clean fortresses that have stood since the breaking of the storm in hours. Their bells clang with such force as to reverberate the very foundations of our world. They gnaw. All they do is gnaw. Even the stormborne cannot survive in the wastelands they have created.

Except for the silent folk. Those touched by Morrda.

The Ruination Chamber.

I’ve seen those silver giants shrug off wounds that would fell a gargant. They barely seem to bleed, and their solemn voices crackle with dry lightning. Funny, isn’t it? The Skaven have consumed even our humanity, and only those cursed by the storm can save us now.

There is no question as to what awaits us.

Ruin. Ruin comes for us all.


Skreee! You have found-discovered my bestest kept secret, yes-yes? While you remain-stay, you-you are allowed to glance at my review-study of the Skaventide box set! But only glance! Take-Steal from Clawlord Sergio, and you-you will regret! Much suffering, yes-yes!

cough cough

Ahem.

Hello everyone! This review of the Skaventide box will encapsulate my thoughts on the contents of the box, a lore primer on Age of Sigmar (AoS), a discussion of my favorite models, and a guide to the brand new Spearhead gamemode. Let us begin with the…


Contents

The Skaventide box contains the following…

  • Warhammer: Age of Sigmar Core Rulebook (w/ Path to Glory rules)
  • Matched Play: 2024-2025 Cards
  • Spearhead: Fire and Jade Rulebook
  • Twist and Command Cards for Spearhead
  • 30” by 22.4” Double-Sided Gaming Board
  • Four Pieces of Terrain
  • Seventy-Four Models!
    • 24 Stormcast Eternals
      • 1x Lord Veritant
      • 1x Lord Terminos + 1x Memorian
      • 1x Lord Vigilant + 1x Gryph-Crow
      • 1x Knight Questor
      • 3x Reclusians + 2x Memorians
      • 3x Prosecutors
      • 10x Liberators
    • 50 Skaven
      • 1x Clawlord on Gnaw-Beast
      • 1x Grey Seer
      • 1x Warlock Engineer
      • 3x Rat Ogors
      • 1x Ratling Warpblaster
      • 3x Warplock Jezzails
      • 40x Clanrats

Wow. That’s quite the lion's horde of models. Whether you split the box with a friend, or use both sides to jumpstart a new collection of Stormcast and Skaven, the valuation of this box set in pure model terms is incredibly good. In regards to the rulebooks, the core rulebook includes nearly 150 pages of lore and worldbuilding, all the core rules required to play full sized games of AoS and the Path to Glory campaign rules. Meanwhile the Spearhead: Fire and Jade book will provide a quick introduction to the Spearhead gamemode, rules for every faction playable within Spearhead, a copy of the core rules from the core rulebook and a two-page quick reference sheet for quickly getting games of Spearhead set up.

“But Sergio,” you’re no doubt asking, beautiful individual that you are, “while this box sounds quite cool, I have never played a game of AoS. Moreover, I know nothing about AoS! I couldn’t tell my Sigmars apart from my Skavens if I tried!”

Well worry no more, my lovable apple tart. Skaventide, as the starter box for a new edition of the game, is designed just as much for new hobbyists and gamers as it is for veterans of the Realmgate Wars. A full reading of the Core Rulebook is a fantastic way to penetrate the opaque details of the setting, as it presents both universe spanning perspectives alongside the lives of the common citizenry of the various Cities of Sigmar. But, in lieu of these stories, what should a new player know about mortal realms?

 

An Introduction to Age of Sigmar


In eons long past, out of the formless aetheric void that stretches across the cosmos, the eight realmscapes were formed from motes of coagulated magic. Known collectively as the mortal realms, each realm drew to itself a distinct form of magic that suffuses its very crust, and soon life blossomed on these flat, disc-like physical planes. This time was known as the Age of Myth, and it saw legendary figures unlike any other explore and shape the realms. Most notable of all was the arrival of the God-King, Sigmar, flung into the realms clutching the iron core of the world-that-was and left to explore these new and dangerous places. Encountering other divine beings who sought to bring some form of understanding and peace to the untamed realms, Sigmar forged the Pantheon of Order, and under their communal efforts created vast civilizations that thrived in even the most inhospitable locales.

But nothing lasts forever, and the destruction of the Pantheon was a violent cataclysm long in the making. The Chaos Gods, eldritch entities that spelled the doom of the world-that-was, slowly worked their way into reality, utilizing temptation and deception as their cudgel, and full scale daemonic invasion as their hammer. Kingdoms were dragged screaming into the embrace of their new, horrific masters, and soon this time came to be known as the Age of Chaos. The gods fared little better than their worshippers, as many hid from the conflict or died in the attempt to stop it. Sigmar retreated to his home realm of Azyr upon losing his mythical hammer, Ghal Maraz, and shut the gates behind him, locking millions out from potential salvation but saving what fragments of civilization he could. This age of bloodshed and murder would continue for centuries, and many within the mortal realms resigned themselves to an eternity of torment at the hands of the Chaos Gods.

That is, until the tempest broke. Like a rolling thundercloud, Sigmar unleashed a new form of weapon to reclaim the realms: The Stormcast Eternals. Immortal warriors clad in gold and silver and wielding the power of Sigmar’s blessed lightning, the Stormcast rode down on lightning bolts to push back the endless hordes of chaos and reclaim what was lost centuries ago. Their success in forming a beachhead against the terrors of the night marked the dawn of a new age: The Age of Sigmar. Following a bloody conflict known as the Realmgate Wars, where the stormcast fought to secure the aforementioned realmgates that allow travel between the realmscapes, civilization sprung back from the ashes, and now fights to protect what cinders have survived the fires of the Age of Chaos.

Now, we are led to the present day, where a new, insidious threat has sprung out from the shadows to enact a plan long in the making. The Skaven, duplicitous ratmen who seek to kill and devour all that they can, have forced their horrific cities of towering brass and patchwork wood through the crust of Aqshy, the realm of fire, in an event known as the Vermindoom. Transforming entire continents into hell-blasted wastelands, the Skaven pour out of their gnawholes in the billions, surging forth to eradicate any enemies of their newly crowned god, the Great Horned Rat. Standing in their path are the stalwart champions of the Stormcast Eternals, specifically the morose warriors of the Ruination Chamber. Going where even other Stormcast dare not tread, the Ruination Chamber is made up of those warriors who have suffered the most from the immortality of the Stormcast; for when a Stormcast is killed, their soul is brought back to Azyr and reforged into a new body, allowing them to fight the enemies of Sigmar with tireless efficiency. But this reforging comes at a cost, as every new life strips a memory of who the Stormcast used to be. It begins with small things, such as forgetting a favorite food or the name of an old teacher. However, for those who have been reforged countless times, they struggle to hold onto even the tiniest fragments of their memory, and so they are led to the Ruination Chamber to sit in silent prayer and allow them a moment of respite.

But the moment calls for action, and soon those in the Ruination Chamber may forget even themselves in the fight against the Skaventide. Who will triumph in this Era of Ruin? It remains to be seen if the bastions of order will stand tall among the throngs of vermin that now gnaw upon their foundations…


The Models

Now that you, my dear reader, know more about the mortal realms than you started, you may now be hungry for knowledge surrounding the models contained within the Skaventide box set. Well worry not, as I have chosen a select few of my favorite models from either side to perhaps showcase the fantastic sculpts that await you. We shall begin with the…


Stormcast Eternals

Lord-Veritant with Gryph-crow

What a triumph of design! This model simply oozes gothic prowess, as if the flaming sword, brazier and blindfolded swordswoman were not enough, but also comes in a pair alongside an adorably scruffy gryph-crow. Within the lore, the Lord-Veritants use their undying hatred of chaos to act as witch hunters, killing profane sorcerers and banishing their souls with their flaming weaponry. Replete with small details and space for freehanded iconography, the Lord-Veritant has quickly become one of my favorite Stormcast models.


Lord-Terminos

If the Lord-Vigilant is the blazing hatred of Sigmar manifest, then the Lord-Terminos is his mercy made flesh. Despite the image of a positively brutal executioner’s axe, the job of this merry lad is not to make charcuterie of ratmen (though he can certainly do so with ease), but rather to provide the final death of any Stormcast unable to continue fighting on. For as much as Sigmar expects of his warriors, he is not so cruel as to deny them a surprisingly peaceful end, should they wish it. This is reflected beautifully in the somber placidity of the model, with his enormous axe held at the pommel, resting still until the moment where it needs to be brought thundering down. Simply an excellent fusion of flash and substance.

Prosecutors

What style! What grace! These winged warriors are perhaps my personal favorites out of the box, with incredible posing, fine detail on their wings and chest, but a sturdy construction that means that they cannot break easily. Wielding spears and the occasional trident, Prosecutors rush down from the heavens to skewer any foe who cannot be reached otherwise, meaning that no scheming rat is safe from the crack of heavenly thunder.


Skaven

Grey Seer

Where the Stormcast embody discipline and strength, the Skaven embody conniving, treachery and cruel power. No model exemplifies this better than the Grey Seer, a spellcasting hero that stands perched upon one of the many brass bells of the Skaven horde. Wreathed in ragged cloth that evokes the image of curling rat tails, the Grey Seer wields a staff in their left hand, and a vicious dagger in their right. With strong distinction between the softer materials (robes, rat tail, mangy fur) and the harder ones (armor, metal, wood), any painter will find the Grey Seer a beauty to paint. Acting as the agents of the Masterclan, the Skaven organization responsible for directing the various other Great Clans in some form of unity, Grey Seers are incredibly rare and incredibly dangerous, scoffing down vile warpstone in an attempt to boost their spellcasting abilities.

Warlock Engineer

In contrast to his snarling, rabid counterparts, the Warlock Engineer conducts himself with poise and a strange degree of confidence for a Skaven. Perhaps this is due to staying as far away from the enemy as possible, using his warplock musket to forcefully vacate the brainpan of a Stormcast warrior or human general. Directing the mad weapons of the Clans Skryre, Warlock Engineers can boost the power of any Warplock Jezzails that remain close by, allowing them to pick out targets that would otherwise remain hidden.

Rat Ogors

Any Skaven commander worth their weight in fur will rely upon the muscle of Rat Ogors to crush their opponents to death. Created in an awful fusion of skittering rat and hulking ogor by the frankensteinian efforts of the Clans Moulder, Rat Ogors can damage themselves to boost their strength, a worthwhile effort as it allows the tortured beasts to inflict as much damage as possible before they inevitably expire. Replete with head options and a special weapon, the kit is highly customizable, allowing the customization any rat-brained commander could possibly wish for.


Spearhead

Included within the Skaventide box are a few oddities, including strange cards, terrain and a game mat with objective markers printed on it. These materials can be used to play a bespoke gamemode using the contents of the box called Spearhead. Consisting of preset teams specific to a faction, players will quickly set up a battlefield in order to play a truncated, but not lesser, form of the full sized Age of Sigmar tabletop game.

“But what is Spearhead?” you may ask, inquisitive but lovable scamp that you are. Well, my dear reader, I will present an explanation of the gamemode for your reading pleasure.

Spearhead is played on the double-sided 30” by 22.4” mat of Aqshy or Ghyran included within the box set. Skaventide has two teams available within, the Gnawfeast Clawpack for the Skaven and the Vigilant Brotherhood for the Stormcast. After selecting your faction, players will roll off to determine who becomes the attacker and who becomes the defender. Attackers will lay down terrain on their side of the board, set up their armies and select their unique bonuses for the game, while defenders are given the luxury to respond to these efforts and choose which side of the board the game is played on. However, the attacker will be allowed to choose who takes the first turn in the game, a critical choice that will affect the flow of the match.

Once the game begins, two sets of cards are drawn. One are the twist cards, specific to the Aqshy or Ghyran sides of the board that offer opportunities for both players to score points, alongside an ability the underdog (the player with the fewest amount of points) can utilize. The other are the Spearhead cards, cards with two sections of text written upon them. The top half of the cards is what a player can score if they fulfill its requirements. For instance, if a player has a unit within 3” of the short battlefield edges, they score an extra point at the end of their turn. The bottom half has a command ability that can be triggered during a certain phase to gain a buff, such as moving a unit D6 inches during your opponent’s movement phase, or removing the rend from an enemy unit’s attack. However, the genius move for how you utilize these cards is that you cannot use the ability and score the objective; you must choose between one or the other. Additionally, Spearhead features the famous (or infamous, depending on your opinion) priority roll from previous editions of AoS, where at the end of a round, both players roll off to determine who takes the next turn, allowing for the dreaded double turn, where a player whose turn just finished to take another turn immediately after. In Spearhead, this feature remains, but with the caveat that if a player takes a double turn, they will not refresh their hand of cards unlike their opponent. These mechanics transform Spearhead from a gamemode that allows you to play using just a single box of miniatures into a bespoke gamemode filled with skill expression and nail biting, down to the wire games. A careful mixture of ‘rubberband’ mechanics (mechanics that allow a lagging player the ability to catch up) and the tradeoff of the Spearhead cards (do I use the ability now and protect my units/destroy the enemy units, or do I save the card and score it for extra points?) mean that Spearhead positively shines as its own experience.

Each faction (of which Age of Sigmar boasts twenty-four) has access to a Spearhead box, which includes a set of miniatures at a discount compared to its components that can be used in the Spearhead mode. If you wish to expand your forces from the Skaventide box set, Stormcast and Skaven have an alternative set of Spearheads that drastically change the rules and models within, from the ranged centric Warpspark Clawpack to the thundering Yndrasta’s Spearhead, alongside the various other factions that can be used within the mode. Spearhead will offer quick, concise games that reward skillful play, but are rewarding and accessible to new players. The rules for Spearhead also easily lead one into understanding the rules for Age of Sigmar, in all of its various forms in the new edition. I struggle to rate the gamemode highly enough, and my review will fail to do its subtle finishes justice.


Conclusion

In regards to having a complete experience out of a Warhammer launch box, Skaventide is the undisputed champion. Its models are some of the best Games Workshop has ever released, its rules are clearer, faster and more rewarding than previous editions of the game, its lore is explosive and engaging, and Spearhead offers an unrivaled entry point into the Mortal Realms for new and old players alike. In short, I highly recommend Skaventide to anyone with an inkling of interest in the wonderful wargame known as Age of Sigmar. Thank you all for reading, and remember that the Great Horned Rat watches over (or perhaps under) us all. 

Warhammer Age of Sigmar Skaventide is available now from our webstore.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar Skaventide