Darkness falls over Shyish, but there is power and influence for the taking in these benighted lands for those with the courage to seek it. Within spectral hollows and the haunted ruins of dead cities, there are ancient sites of power, dread temples dedicated to the Mortarchs of Nagash. As every faction sends forth desperate bands of warriors to secure these unholy sites, explorers should tread warily. The whispers from the mausoleum and the gravesite may yield great reward for the bold but also tremendous danger…
Overview
Howdy goons! Today we’re cracking open Sand and Bone the new supplement for Age of Sigmar: Spearhead, which Games Workshop were kind enough to provide us with an early copy of for review.
For those that aren’t aware Spearhead is a mini-version of AoS, played on the small (now standard 30”x 22”) GW cardboard board. Unlike Kill Team and Warcry which use the same board, this game is not a separate game, but AoS using only the Core rules. Some of the Advanced rules are built into the game in the cards or as abilities for certain Warscrolls. Magic spells for example exist as abilities on unit warscrolls, rather than using the advanced rules for magic. The game is very concise and precise. You have prescribed forces (A set army list, depending on which Spearhead you’re using), you always play four battle rounds and the victory conditions are always the same. To keep things interesting you get to pick Enhancements (a battle trait, regimental ability and general) for your Spearhead and the terrain is deployed by both sides differently for each game. What you end up with is a fast paced and tight version of Age of Sigmar! You can play a game in 45 minutes to an hour and it’s really fun.
The 4e core box came with boards, cards, a (thicc!?) book of Spearhead rules/armies and the terrain. This was also available separately as a Spearhead (Fire and Jade) supplement box. This release mirrors the Spearhead supplement box. The action moves from being set in Ghyran/Aqshy to Shyish and the terrain, objectives etc all reflect this change in setting and theme. It’s spooky AS and I’m here for it!
Broadly what you’re getting here is another set of boards, tactics cards, twist cards and terrain for Spearhead. If you were enjoying Spearhead previous this is a new twist and way to play. If you’re new to it this gives you everything you need to jump in.
Whats in the box?
In the box you get everything you need to play Spearhead that isn’t an army. This comprises:
- Double sided 30” x 22” cardboard playing board
- 2 Twist decks (one for each side of the board)
- 2 Tactics decks (one for each player)
- 6 terrain features on on sprue- Shyish themed
- Rulebook with Spearhead rules and rules for 4x new Spearhead armies
New Spearheads are:
- Cities of Sigmar: Fusil Platoon
- Seraphon: Sunblood Prowlers
- Ossiarch Bonereapers: Mortisan Elite
- Ogor Mawtribes: Scrapglutt
This is indeed everything you need to play Spearhead in Shyish, bar the models and core rules. Might have been nice to see the Core rules in this box, but they’re free online. So not gonna cry over that one.
Everything is presented really nicely here, in cardboard sleeves dripping with thematic imagery and iconography. GW’s design game is on POINT right now. Lovely box!
You might wonder why there are only four new Spearheads here, but as they’re releasing one with every Battletome this is neither surprise or disappointment to me! The new battletome ones are free and online. Swell. We didn’t really need another great big thicc book of army rules you’ll probs only ever look at on your phone anyway.
Rules
The basic Spearhead rules, as well as most of the battleplan is identical here to in Fire and Jade. The difference in rules comes from:
- Realm Battlefield Maps
- Terrain rules
- Twist Decks
- Battle Tactic decks
The Realm Battlefield Maps (game boards) offer new challenges by way of different Objective positioning and Size.
Dolorum (Bone- the Dark Green side) still has five objectives, with a similar dispersal to Aqshy, except here the central objective is 7” across and all the others are 5” across.
Ossia (Sand- purple side) has only Four objectives and they’re all the new, smaller 5” diameter size. They’re all also nearer the centre line, on it if you’re playing the second deployment map.
The previous battlefield maps were quite balanced and both had 5 objective. The difference here is clear and means that board selection is much more important than before. A small elite army, with less board control is going to really benefit from the density and small objectives of Ossia. Given that the Defender always picks the realm, this makes the choice on whether to go first or not a tricker one… Like it!
The terrain rules are pretty similar to Fire and Jade, each player gets a big thing and a small thing to place. This time they’re all walls and fences. What is different is that you get two Mystical terrain features, each tied to one of the board sides. The Crypt of Blood is tied to Ossia (and only used on one deployment map) and the Icon of Nulahmia is tied to Dolorum (and activated if you draw a certain twist card). Each allows you to gamble (50/50, unless you’re the underdog) for a bonus one per turn. If you fail the roll it hurts the unit. These are cool and fun! Risk and reward. My issue here is that you don’t use them all the time. One depends on a certain deployment map and the other on drawing one of six cards. Would’ve been easier (and simpler) if you just always deployed them, depending on which board you were using. The rules for them and also weirdly spread out through the terrain and battleplan sections. This could’ve used a little neat box to condense the rules.
Also one teensie bugbear here is that the rules for the general terrain depend on the size of the terrain. As you have one large fence and one small fence that means that RAW you can see through one of the fences and not the other?! Perhaps the walls should’ve been the Large terrain pieces and the fences the small ones. Pedantic much? Sure.
The Twist decks are themed to their respective locations in the realm, as was Fire and Jade. Except here we have discipline and conquest (Ossia) and Grief and despair (Dolorum). Not so much repetition from the previous set, although there are a few (Disciplined Conquest – Reclaim/Aqshy/Ghyran or Overpowering Grief – Ring of Fire) that are close to some.
My faves are:
- Ossia- Will of the Necropolis: Underdog picks (or roll off), winner gets to pick either a unit gets an un-rendable save for the battle round OR an enemy unit has max control 1 for the round. Powerful sauce!?
- Dolorum- Survivor’s Grief: Each player scores 1 VP for each unit that has been destroyed or that is a replacement unit at the end of their turn. Also the underdog (or roll off) gets to pick a unit to Retreat/Run and Charge. Chance for a big swing back if you’re losing here. Which is fun!
I like these decks, but will reiterate that its a REAL shame that one of the Dolorum ones is wasted on deploying the Mystical Terrain.
The Battle Tactics cards in Spearhead have two options, the tactic and a command you can use instead. So if you can’t score the points, you use the tactic, or maybe you sacrifice an objective when you REALLY need to reroll that charge. It’s a fun mechanic that promotes tactic decision making and hints suggestively at the advanced rules of the game. These new cards have mainly repeated Tactics, but the Commands are almost all new, other than a couple of repeats (Dig Two Graves and The Grip of Death). Some of these are WILD and I’m enjoying them! Some faves:
- Speed of Death: End of turn, pick up an un-engaged unit and put them anywhere outside 6”. Great for board control and setting up a mean charge!
- Translucent Flesh: Reaction to attack ability; for remainder of the phase attack rolls to hit AND to wound against the unit fail on a 1-3. Super durable right when you need it?? Amazing name!?
- Grind Them to Dust: Fight twice at a cost of d3 mortals and Strike Last on the second go. On ANY unit?! Could be brutal!!!
Terrain
The terrain comes on one sprue and there’s very little assembly required. The walls and fences are one piece and the Statue and Blood Coffin have a few pieces. Instructions so simple they are in fact on the back of the box, not in a booklet. This means you can slam it together and get playing right away!
I’m really into the design here, it’s super spooky Shyish themed stuff and I love it. This is no surprise as I’m working on two Death armies right now, so maybe I am biased! The Icon of Nulahmia is a really nice piece, being a statue of Neferata herself. This and the Crypt of Blood offer some nice painting opportunities for the keen hobbyists amongst us. I’m considering integrating these into a Royal Crypt for my Barrow Legion army once I’ve got the models together. Maybe I’m riding high off the Soulblight Gravelords releases, but this terrain is a WIN for me!
New Spearhead Armies
There are four featured Spearhead armies here and there isn’t really any explanation was to why they feature. It’s not one for each Grand Alliance, as there is two for Order. The fluff for each mentions nothing. This writer suspects this says something about Battletome release schedule and that maybe these factions will be LAST on the tometrain?? Maybe? It’s a theory! Interesting that three out of four feature a Warcry or Warhammer Underworlds warband and one features BOTH!? Anyway, I feel they’re a little hit-and-miss in terms of models AND gameplay. Let’s have a quick look.
First up is a strong outing for the Cities of Sigmar with the Fusil-Platoon. Really nice pics from the new model range:
- Fusil Major on Ogor Warhulk
- Alchemite Warforger
- 2x 5 Freeguild Fusiliers
- 11 Wildercorps Hunters
This is a mainly shooting army and I think it whips. Fortify Position means you suffer -1 rend on ALL attacks against you if you don’t move. Whilst you can combine the Respected Leader Regimental Ability (Wildercorps Hunters gain Reinforcements) with Adept Tactician (allows you to replace both your dead Fusiliers with a unit of TEN) to make a relentless returning horde of soft bodies with guns! Nice. The Warforger seems a little out of place here, as their spell buffs Melee attacks and this army does have many. But otherwise this seems like a pretty great Spearhead of nice models and lots of powerful shooting.
Second is another Order army, the Sunblood Prowlers. This Seraphon Spearhead has yet another nice collection of models from the new range. Including an Underworlds warband AND a Warcry warband!? This looks like it would be a great start to a Seraphon army and that being one of the stated reasons for Spearhead, I am here for it. You get:
- Sunbloodpack (General, three models)
- 10 Saurus Warriors
- 2x 5 Hunters of Huanchi (BR 3)
- 3 Terrawings
- Spawn of Chotec (BR 3)
As I said this is a great selection of models and has a nice balance of shooting and melee. Sadly the Skinks and Spawn of Chotec only appear on Battle Round 3, which means you only have half those 6 units for half the game. The Saurus and Sunbloodpack are tough, not so much so and the Terrawings alone aren’t going to give you board control. So whilst the army list looks good, I think the late deployment ruins the gameplay for this one. My top pick of enhancements would be the Instinctive Commander, which allows a unit to make a normal move in the Hero Phase on a 3+. Nice models, shame about the reserves rules.
Death get the rather chonk and powerful Mortisan Elite. There’s no filler here. You get:
- Mortisan Ossifector
- 3 Immortis Guard
- 3 Necropolis Stalkers
- 2 Morghast Archai (Battle Round 2)
Ok I’m into this. Heavy bone, all elite. I can handle not having the Archai for a round and then they can deep strike and it’s only outside 6” so you’ll get the charge. You get a scaled down version of Relentless Discipline which lets you buff a unit each phase on a 4+ (3+ with the Regiment Ability Immaculate Generalship, take this!?). Sure the Ossifector is squishy, but screen them and go kick some ass!? Board control could be an issue for these boney lads, but who cares when you’re hench and full of bone axes?!?
Little note that I really like the new ‘Ward in top corner of profile box’ bit. Neat.
Last and sadly least, my beloved lumpy droogs get the Scrapglutt which seems to be the scapings of the Ogor Mawtribes barrel plus Ironguts. You get:
- Mantrapper with Gnoblar tokens (General, formally Hrothgorn’s Mantrappers)
- 2 Ironguts
- 2 Ironguts (Battle round 3)
- 4 Ironguts (Battle round 4)
- 12 Gnoblars
- Gnoblar Scraplauncer
Sadly this is just pretty bad. I am really not a fan of Spearheads that get units in BR 3 or 4. If you’re going second that means that your big unit would only get a single combat phase even!? It’s bad. Hrothgorn isn’t a great model and he’s a squishy ass 5+ general with mediocre attacks. The Gnoblars can regain models through No Shortage of Volunteers and have Reinforcements. But I’m still just not sure it’s enough. I’m gonna give this one a bash, cos I LOVE me some Ogres. But I think this sucks.
Maybe the most interesting thing here is the Enhancement Nasty Trap, which lets you pick an enemy unit within 12” of your General and then on their turn Cancel one of their move or charge actions on a 4+ and remove the token. Movement control is great in AoS and in Spearhead even more so.
Final Thoughts
This is a pretty good box. I like that you get everything you need here and that the previous Spearhead isn’t required. The theming, design and naming conventions are spot on (though as previously mentioned my love of Death might make me biased here!). The addition of some Mystical Terrain is great, but they’re missed a trick with not always having them in play IMHO. But regardless there’s nicer and better terrain here than in Fire and Jade. I would say if you enjoyed Spearhead already then this mixes it up enough to be worth it. If you’re new to the format buy THIS instead of Fire and Jade. Good release.
In the next two weeks before this drops I’m going to playtest this as much as pos with some friends and see how the game shapes up in live play. So watch this space for a review of some real games before release day…
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