Age of Sigmar: Five Armies To Look Out For In The New Edition
The new edition of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar is right around the corner and these are a few of the armies to look to make some big splashes.
Games Workshop is gearing up for the next edition and I was thinking about which armies I’m most worried about squaring off against when it launches. While we’ve gotten a look at everyone’s battle traits and one formation, it’s still really early to tell who’s going to be top dog. That said, there were still a few things that caught my eye in the Faction Focus articles. So here’s my list for armies I’d keep an eye out for in the next edition.
This is actually from March 2024, not 2023.
Skaven
You’re fooling yourself if you think the Skaven re-works aren’t going to be a big jump for the ratmen. On top of the previews let’s not forget they also have a bunch of new kits and even more on the way. The battle of Hel Crown is going to determine if we get Skaven or Stormcast reveals next. But BOTH are sitting on a bunch of releases, you can count on that.
What that translates to for the new edition is the Skaven are going to get a new battletome early as well as a bunch of new miniature/units. Anytime you get an injection of goodies for a faction, that faction gets a bump in the power rankings. I think Skaven are posed to come out swinging — and it’s about time!
Stormcast Eternals
Much for the same reason the Skaven are poised to make a splash, the Stormcast Eternals are still going to be a thing in the edition. They have solid rules to start. Coupled with all the new units and miniatures they are getting you can bet they are going to have loads of tricks up their sleeves. On top of that, it’s Stormcast Eternals — they have too many units to NOT have some gimmick lists waiting in the wings. Plus, for the next year, there’s going to be a free battletome that’s for all the models getting yanked. I don’t know if those are going to be good but I wouldn’t be surprised if they had some broken stuff in their mini-battletome on the way out.
I think at the start of the new edition and up until we get the first big batch of Battletomes the Stormcast Eternals are going to be near the top. They might fall off quickly after that. However, at the start of the new edition, they have inertia on their side.
Kharadron Overlords
I’m worried about the Kharadron Overlords in the new edition, but maybe not for the reasons you might think. My biggest concern about them is the rules changes for the army. First up, I think early on there might be some confusion about how their rules work. That is mostly because of the changes to how Skyvessels and transporting interact. Eventually, all of that should get sorted. But then we get to my next concern for this army and that’s the movement shenanigans they are going to have because of the “transport rules” of the Skyvessels.
An Arkanaut Frigate has a move of 12″ to start. It can transport a unit wholly within 6″ and they can then get out wholly within 6″ after it moves. On the extreme ends (not counting the base size of the frigate) that’s already 24″ of movement for two units. That seems like a bit much. Get ready for some slingshotting KO units to popup and blast basically any unit on the board. “Oh noes, they can’t charge!” I’m sure all their shooting is really worried about not being able to charge. I’m not even going to get into the Assault Boat ability.
Soulblight Gravelords
This one was a toss up between the Soulblight Gravelords and the Sylvaneth to be honest. Why? Because of the healing that they each can put out. I ultimately am leaning a bit more towards being worried about the Soulblight because of the straight-up unit recursion they get with their Endless Legions ability though. Both armies can heal, but I’m a bit more concerned about the Soulblight coming back after I take out a unit that’s probably already taken too long to finish off. I’m positive they are going to have some builds in their army that are going to cause problems for folks at the start of the new edition.
Cities of Sigmar
Going back to the top of the article, which army had the highest winrate at the end of the edition? And sure, part of that was because they were brand new. But the other part of that is because this army is rock solid. The biggest weakness is having so many good options that a list can lose focus pretty quick. But Sigmar help you when the Cities of Sigmar player has a game plan and focuses on achieving that objective. This army has loads of answers to problem lists and has staying power, fire power, and looks good to boot! I expect this to be a popular and tough army to beat in the new edition.
I could go on but I think this is my initial list for armies to look out for in the new edition. Tomorrow I’m going to talk about five matchups I can’t wait to take on.
