Games Workshop has debuted a new trailer teasing the fourth edition of Age of Sigmar, the fantasy tabletop game set in the ashes of Warhammer Fantasy Battles’ Old World. The bad guys won, and basically deleted The Old World — but the divine Sigmar, along with a cast of key characters, helped forge new realms where mortals could take refuge. This trailer shows a battle between Sigmar’s chosen, the Stormcast Eternals, and it heralds the return of the fan-favorite Skaven.
Skaven are so popular because while they’re horrifying beasts who can rip people limb from limb, they’re also silly little guys. Skaven are inventors who constantly blow themselves up, and they pair their potent tech with swarms of minions. A Skaven-like beast even showed up in the Warhammer 40,000 Necromunda game, so fans of evil rats are feasting right now.
While they are funny little fiends, they’re also a massive threat to the setting, and must not be underestimated. The Skaven are a big reason for the previous world’s fall, which saw the Great Horned Rat ascend to become the fifth Chaos god. That’s an unprecedented level of success for any faction — let alone one made up of angry, gnashing, evil rats. Their hidden realm, the Gnaw, has now exploded outward into the Mortal Realm of Aqshy, and the Skaven have gone from hiding in sewers and barrels to operating in the open.
The Stormcast are holy warriors of Sigmar and defenders of humanity. A major theme for the fourth edition of Age of Sigmar is the idea that Sigmar lied: The Stormcast Eternal come back to life when they die, but they are irrevocably changed before being sent back into battle. This immortality was sold as a blessing, but it seems like it’s much more of a curse, as every reforging destroys a piece of the Stormcast’s soul. The trailer shows a Reclusian Stormcast, which is an Eternal who has almost had their soul depleted. These warriors are sealed away in holy places, as any battle could be their last.
The fourth edition of Age of Sigmar is set to arrive in summer 2024, and it comes with a new gameplay type called Spearhead. While we don’t know a lot about that yet, we expect it to be a short-form, streamlined take on the full-fat experience — not unlike the Combat Patrol game mode introduced recently with the 10th edition of Warhammer 40,000. Games Workshop said in a news release that Spearhead games should only take an hour to play, and that every tabletop faction will be able to build a Spearhead army.
