Publisher: Games Workshop
Release Date: August 2015
Price: $130.00
Format: 264 pgs., Full-Color, Slipcase, Hardcover
Product #: N/A
Age Rating: N/A
ICv2 Rating: 3 Stars out of 5
To say that the new Warhammer: Age of Sigmar Limited Edition Book is massive would be something of an understatement. At 364 splendidly illustrated pages, with a heavyweight hard cover and a sturdy slipcase to boot, this is a heavy book. Which is good, because what it promises is pretty weighty stuff: the dawn of a new "age" for one of the longest-running fantasy tabletop wargames ever. Games Workshop is taking a big gamble with its new Age of Sigmar setting, and the Age of Sigmar Book is a cornerstone of that gamble.
Summary: The Book (as I will refer to it for this review) is something of an introduction to the various themes, locations, and ideas behind the new Warhammer setting. Available in two versions--a Limited Edition of only 2,000 copies worldwide and a more traditional version for a comparatively inexpensive $74--the Book tells the backstory of the Age of Sigmar: how and why the god Sigmar turned his back on the Eight Realms, how the teeming forces of Chaos conquered all but Sigmar’s own realm, and how he plotted his revenge.
Games Workshop is famous for its gorgeous artwork, both in terms of sculpting and in more traditional paintings, and it is in this area that the Book really shines. I am only half-joking when I call it a "gamer’s coffee table book": There are hundreds of illustrations showing the battlefields of the Age of Sigmar and crystal-sharp photographs of expertly painted miniature armies sure to inspire any miniature painting enthusiast.
But the Book is not only pictures and fluff. Two copies of the (astoundingly short) Age of Sigmar rules are included, one in the book and the other as a separate insert, are included, but those are available for free online, so that may not excite some. Other game-related materials, including special rules for battles fought in two of the Eight Realms, eight new “Battleplans”--scenarios that alter the basic rules of battle--and two dozen "Battlescrolls" showing the game stats of different units, round out the tome.
Originality: The Book is the Age of Sigmar version of the core rulebooks that we have long become familiar with, and from that perspective there is little new here. But what is interesting here is how Games Workshop has handled the creation of a core rulebook when a rulebook is completely unnecessary. After all, the rules only take up four pages. In classic Games Workshop style, they have filled it with stirring tales of bravery and bloodshed, and gorgeous paintings and photography.
Presentation: In a word: beautiful. The outer packaging is a stark white undecorated slipcover, edged and decorated sparingly with a gold-colored border and the Warhammer: Age of Sigmar logo. Only a short description on the back offers a hint of what might be inside. But upon slipping this volume from its protective sleeve, one is confronted with a magnificent painting of one of Sigmar’s champions in life-and-death struggle with a warrior of Chaos. Inside, page after page of magnificent pictures makes the Book more art piece than game accessory.
Quality: Keeping in mind that this is the Limited Edition, the quality of the Book is superb. The binding is excellent. The cover is thick and heavy. The pages are thicker than standard, giving the entire piece a feeling of quality and excellence. The outer edges of the pages are trimmed in shiny gold, and a sturdy cloth page marker is sewn directly into the binding. In both material and assembly, the Book is excellent.
The content of the Book is also quite good, at least as far as the pictures and the "fluff" text goes. The story of the Age of Sigmar is well-told in both mediums. That being said, the amount of actual gaming material is rather sparse. Out of 364 pages, only about a third of them actually have any material that applies to the game itself, and those pages are sprinkled in among the histories, making them difficult to find. And with a book of this quality, one doesn’t want to be madly flipping through it in the heat of battle...
Marketability: With a price tag almost as weighty as the tome itself, and its very limited actual game material, the Book is going to be a tough sell for a lot of gamers. Only the most die-hard fans of the game are likely to pony up well over $100 for a book that is much better to look at than use. Doubtless this is the reason why the "regular" version--which has all the same content without the fancy elements--has a much lower price. But even then, most players of Warhammer can easily manage without ever opening this book.
And this brings around my biggest complaint with the Book. Games Workshop has, wisely in my opinion, embraced modern technology in a big way with Age of Sigmar. The game rules and the basic Warscrolls for every model are available for free, either online or through the Age of Sigmar tablet app. Only a small number of "special" Warscrolls, describing "Battalions"--larger units with special abilities--must be purchased. Some of these Battalion Warscrolls are included in the Book, which is nice, but they can be purchased in the app for a couple bucks—far less than the cost of the Book. Sadly, the Book does not come with a code that allows the purchaser to download those for-sale Warscrolls. Which means that if I wanted to use them in the app while playing the game, which is actually an excellent game aid, I would have to pay for them again.
Overall: It remains to be seen whether Age of Sigmar is going to be popular or not. Debate on the issue has been contentious to say the least. A lot of people like it, and a lot of people have nothing good to say about it. The system is certainly not perfect, and while the Age of Sigmar Book does help a bit through the introduction of new Battleplans that increase the variability of gameplay, there is not enough game material in this book to seriously affect anyone’s opinion of the game itself.
If I were to rate this book as what it seems to me to be, a beautiful coffee-table-style book with beautiful artwork that I will enjoy looking at over and over again, I could easily give it a solid 4: Excellent quality presentation, gorgeous artwork, fabulous photography, and a price that isn’t really that far out of line for other coffee table books of this size. But, when I approach it as a game product, its limited gameplay material, the fact that most of that material is duplicated for free in other mediums, and its complete lack of integration with Games Workshop’s electronic-based game aids, would force me to be much harsher. As a game accessory, I would be hard pressed to give the Book more than 2 stars. So, averaging the two, I give the Book 3 out of 5.
--William Niebling
