So maybe that’s not exactly different, but it’s not something I was expecting in a 40-page rulebook like this. The game is also designed for narrative, matched and open play. You still have Generals and Wizards and they have all-new command abilities/artifacts/spells they can get. Battleshock tests have been shifted around a bit to encourage the gameplay to be more brutal and quick.

While the core rules are the same, many of the rules have been slightly adjusted to accommodate the scale. But at the same time, it’s meant to be a quicker, leaner version of AoS. It does borrow some ideas from Armageddon? Yes – you can gain new abilities and rewards and you can spend your renown on new models to add to your warband. This really cuts down on the book-keeping and just lets you jump in and play. How that translates to the “end game phase” is that models that ran or were destroyed in the game return for the next game. And if you remember from our demo at Adepticon*, Shadespire is a cursed realm where warbands of models continually battle. The setting is also in the ruined city of Shadespire.

This leads to some interesting mixes in tactics and game play. In fact, “units” of models are gone – each model functions as a single unit. The core rules are the same but the army construction is tweaked and unit movement is relaxed. AoS Skirmish is a small set of modifications to the game to allow you to play AoS with a handful of models instead of massive armies.

Age of sigmar skirmish warbands