Age Of Sigmar: Skaventide

The wait is almost over: there has been extensive rule coverage, 24 faction focus articles previewing how your favourite armies play, and loads of amazing miniatures. The Skaven have enacted their realm-shattering plan and are swarming across the Mortal Realms, and only the Stormcast Eternals stand between them and victory for the Great Horned Rat.

Skaventide is the behemoth debut for the new edition of Warhammer Age of Sigmar, and it’s the greatest launch box ever.

This massive launch box is packed to the brim with 74 jaw-dropping new miniatures divided between two factions.

The Stormcast Eternals comprise 24 miniatures, with a command staff made up of an imperious Lord-Vigilant on Gryph-Staker, a solemn Lord-Terminos with attendant Memorian, a Lord-Veritant with Gryph-crow, and a Knight-Questor. The rank and file are made up of 10 indomitable Liberators , alongside three battle-hardened Reclusians with their Memorians and three soaring Prosecutors.

Pitted against them are the perfidious Skaven. They are led by a scheming Claw-lord on Gnaw-Beast and a Grey Seer from the Masterclan, while a Warlock Engineer watches over the complement of Skryre weapons. The crowning jewel of this collection of chaotic contraptions is the Ratling Warpblaster, which is supported by three Warplock Jezzails. A truly prodigious collection of 40 Clanrats make up the bulk of this vile horde, and three hulking Rat Ogres provide the muscle.

Within the Stormcast Eternals and Skaven forces there are enough miniatures to construct their Spearhead forces, and rules for all of the currently available Spearhead boxes are contained within the 144-page Spearhead: Fire and Jade book.

On top of that, you’ll get a double-sided game board with printed objectives, the four pieces of terrain you need, 3” and 6” range rulers which clip together, and all the cards you need – two Twist Decks and two Battle Tactic Decks. Throw in some dice and you can be playing Spearhead on your dining room table on launch day.

That’s still not everything, as this mountain of stuff is capped off with a 272-page hardback Warhammer Age of Sigmar Core Book, which is a treasure trove of gorgeous art, in-depth background information – including a fold-out cosmology of the Mortal Realms – and an exploration of each of the eight realms told from the perspective of their inhabitants.

This book also contains all the Core and Advanced rules you need to play, the First Blood battlepack, and the Path to Glory battlepack. Rounding things out is a deck of 17 cards which contain the season rules and battle plans for the 2024-25 Matched Play Season General’s Handbook, so you can start honing your tactical nous from the word go.