Review: Age of Sigmar Starter Set

Fun times ahead.

So I'm aware that at this point, it is rather late of me to be reviewing this starter set, what with it coming out nearly two years ago at the time of writing. But still, for those out there like me just now dipping their toes into Age of Sigmar and the miniature battles of glory that occur within, this may yet prove to be useful. As a disclaimer, I never played the fantasy battles variant of Warhammer, nor have I touched 40k outside of the excellent Dawn of War series. My early views of the Warhammer world were that it was the edgy and dark take on fantasy with an excessive amount of skulls, so I never touched the stuff, for I was neither edgy nor dark. Enter Total War. 

I love the Total War series. So when I heard that the folks at Creative Assembly would take a crack at the fantasy world of Warhammer, I was intrigued. After playing through the game as the various races, from the stunty dawi to the Warriors of Chaos, I was hooked onto the lore. I knew that there was a miniatures game attached, and with the fact that I enjoyed other tabletop games such as Pirates CSG and Star Wars, I decided to give the game a go. Naturally, I got the starter set, because where else would you start? 

Tempting....

Another disclaimer: I've never had a Games Workshop product before this point. I'm aware of the reputation they've garnered, but for the time I've been buying things from them they seem to have turned a new leaf. So there's that. Anyways, I open up this big box, and I'm greeted with tons of plastic. The miniatures are wonderfully sculpted, and the plastic holds detail beautifully. The sprues are well labeled, and as inexperienced as I was with this kind of miniature I found the process to be very easy. Underneath the plastic, thankfully protected by a thin cardboard insert, were the rules and guide to the game, as well as the assembly instructions. Naturally, I proceed to ignore that and go straight for what I thought were the coolest minis in the set: the Stormcast Prosecutors. 

Look at that angelic goodness. Look at it!

Removing these from the sprues was a pain, and no matter how hard I tried to be precise, I still damaged the wings (yes, I used clippers). For an experienced hobbyist, this may be a non-issue, but this is a starter set aimed towards novices like myself, so for something like this to occur can be discouraging. Other miniatures like this included the Korgorath, the large beast of Khorne, so for anyone new to the hobby, I would recommend extra patience while working with these particular models. You will also hate building reavers after you realize that there are 20 of them in the box and that there are only 10 unique models. Overall though I found assembly to be a joy, particularly the Celestant on Dracoth. 

As for looks, I know some people take issue with the Stormcast Eternals, but to be fair they do their job while looking quite good really. I opted for a different paint scheme than the blue and gold presented on the box, and that's part of the appeal of this group: they're easy to paint. But more on that later. The goretide half of the set, while excellently produced, are not my cup of tea (so many skulls everywhere), but with some creativity I'll be painting them to look more like the standard fare of vikings. The dynamic posing of each miniature is wonderful, with each one seemingly ready to leap out and plunge their weapon into their enemy. So at the end of the day, high marks for the quality of the miniatures. Onward to the rules then. 

More to it than that.

Ignoring what is available in the General's Handbook, the rules that come with the game are fun to use. The game plays in different phases: the hero phase, movement phase, shooting phase, charge phase, attack phase, and battleshock phase. The hero phase will see the titular heroes using their abilities to influence the battlefield. Movement is comprised of, you guessed it, moving, and the shooting phase is equally obvious. The charge phase allows  a unit to gallivant across the field into the embrace of an enemy unit to give them hugs of death. Combat works in a clever give and take fashion. Instead of one player resolving all of their combat actions at once, players alternate with the player's whose turn it is going first. This allows for some counterplay and really gives the game more depth, especially with other mechanics and synergies between units. In the battleshock phase, you'll see whether or not your units are cowards and roll to see if any flee the battle. These units are removed from the game, with no mechanic to rally your men back into the fray, which I personally would have preferred. I find that I very much enjoyed the rules, and the simplicity made for easy gameplay while the depth of play is certainly there. 

Finally, as to the painting. The models are easy to paint with lots of simple colors such as gold and blues should you choose to paint them that way. I went for a cream color on the pauldrons which gives them a more muted appearance. The starter set does not come with any paints or tools though, so it should be noted that you will need to get these beforehand. A set of nice paints will be a good investment for painting, although the cheap craft paints can be serviceable. 

I like it. 

I would say that the starter set is an excellent value for the price that you pay, and comes with lots of miniatures for you to build, paint, and play with. I would definitely recommend this to anyone interested in Warhammer tabletop.