We’ve made a big fuss about the Realm of Life with the month-long Scourge of Ghyran series preparing the way for a new General’s Handbook, but what of the Realm of Death? It’s a lot gloomier and far less welcoming, but we anticipate plenty of fierce skirmishes breaking out there because the Spearhead: Sand & Bone Gaming Pack is available to pre-order tomorrow.
Veteran Warhammer player and Season of War contributor Jordan Duncan was granted early access with the new Spearhead set, and has written a comprehensive review and some interesting tips for tackling the new maps and Battle Tactic cards.
Why I love Spearhead
My favorite thing about Spearhead is one of its most obvious strengths, that focus on small, skirmish-style forces – both from a hobby standpoint as well as gameplay. This gives the game a lot of depth and adds a vast potential for variety that’s really exciting to dive into, I know my Season of War colleague Ryan has enjoyed painting nine various Spearhead forces in the past few months!
Spearhead's streamlined gameplay makes it easy to pick up or get back into even after a hiatus. It’s made it the perfect game for me to introduce my partner and child to the hobby in an approachable way, and is the ideal format for those of us with busy lives to enjoy the Warhammer hobby.
Having played with or against almost every Spearhead force on the channel, I’ve discovered the fun tactical challenge of trying to come up with a game plan for each force and opponent. Exploring the tools and strengths of each force in pursuit of victory has been a lot of fun, and there are for sure a few that have stood out for me.
My favourite Spearhead forces (so far…)
It would be an injustice if I didn’t first mention the Sylvaneth Spearhead. These (not-so) friendly forest-folk were my first Age of Sigmar army when I returned to the Warhammer hobby over five years ago, and were a surprisingly strong contender in the Spearhead Tournament Series we ran on our YouTube channel last year. They seem fairly unassuming in comparison to other forces, but a combination of ranged threat, high mobility, and tanky Treelord make them strong competitors.
In the new Sand and Bone book there are rules for four new Spearhead forces: the Cities of Sigmar Fusil-Platoon, the Seraphon Sunblooded Prowlers, the Ossiarch Bonereapers Mortisan Elite, and the Ogor Mawtribes Scrapglutt. Two instantly stand out as must-play forces that I’m excited to try out, the Cities and Ossiarch forces.
The Fusil-Platoon features some staple units – the perfect excuse to paint up some models that have been hidden in my closet for a little too long. It looks interesting because it primarily features shooting units, and though that means strong ranged firepower, they may have a tougher time trying to push enemy units off of objectives to score – a fun challenge for any general!
Next, the Mortisan Elite features some of my favorite units in the range, the Immortis Guard, Necropolis Stalkers and Morghast Archai. I love playing armies with a lower model count and elite units, and this Spearhead is exactly that. The battle trait Relentless Discipline evokes the tactical and martial playstyle the army uses in Age of Sigmar, and is really fun to enact on the battlefield.
Shifting sands and sharpened blades
In the first year of Spearhead, battles were centered in Aqshy and Ghyran, while the upcoming expansion brings us to the bitter realm of Shyish. I was very excited to see the new board, which comes with a protective sleeve and what immediately stood out as the major shake-up for this new expansion: just four objectives.
This might not sound too drastic, but changing the number and location of objectives can really impact your strategies. A common thread I’d found playing Spearhead was the strength of ‘pinning’ opponents with fast and resilient units, but doing so on this board will be taking you away from the objectives more than before. It may turn out to be a balancing element for the various Spearhead forces.
Sand and Bone – Testing the new Battlepack
For our first pair of games with the expansion, we used two Spearheads we hadn’t played before: the Sons of Behemat Wallsmasher Stomp and the Slaves to Darkness Darkoath Raiders.
The new scenery included with the set is awesome, and the pieces are larger and more impactful than before. There are also new mystical terrain features, which have unique rules – providing bonuses to hit or OC. We played on the Ossia battlefield, and chose the deployment map that features the Crypt of Blood in the center of the battlefield, adding risk-reward mechanic for improving hit rolls or suffering Mortal Damage via the Unholy Draught rule.
Any Combat Phase
UNHOLY DRAUGHT
Drinking deep provides incredible power, but at what cost?
Declare: Pick a friendly unit within 6" of a Crypt of Blood terrain feature to be the target
Effect: Roll a dice. Add 1 to the roll if you are the underdog. On a 4+, add 1 to hit rolls for the target's combat attacks for the rest of the turn. Otherwise, inflict D3 mortal damage on the target.
New battlefields also mean new Twists. As an example, the Will of the Necropolis allows the underdog to pick an effect, granting a friendly unit either the ability to ignore save modifiers, or to reduce an enemy unit to OC 1.
OSSIA TWIST
WILL OF THE NECROPOLIS: The cold shadow of a deathless empire falls upon the battlefield, steeling some but debilitating others.
The underdog can pick 1 of the effects below. If there is no underdog, the players roll off and the winner can pick the effect.
Adaptable Defence: Pick a friendly unit on the battlefield to be the target. Ignore all modifiers to save rolls for the target (positive and negative) for the rest of the battle round.
Broken Will: Pick an enemy unit on the battlefield to be the target. The target has a maximum control score of 1 for the rest of the battle round.
OSSIA TWIST
INVINCIBLE REDOUBTS: Imbued with Ossian precision, these warriors prepare to meet the enemy with flawless resistance.
The underdog can pick 1 of the effects below. If there is no underdog, the players roll off and the winner can pick the effect.
Precision Strike: Pick a friendly unit. For the rest of the battle round, while that unit is wholly within friendly territory, it has Strike-first.
Dissent in the Ranks: Pick an enemy unit. For the rest of the battle round, while that unit is wholly within friendly territory, it has Strike‑last.
Tactical tips for the Realm of Death
For any aspiring Spearhead generals out there, here are some key tips to keep in mind when fighting in the Realm of Death.
Don’t be afraid to take that first turn! It’s common in Age of Sigmar to give it away to avoid a scary double-turn – but you might benefit from a different approach in Spearhead. Opponents may attempt to tie you up in your deployment zone, keeping you off of the objectives. If that’s a threat to your force, take a more proactive approach. Using less impactful units to score objectives early and screen your more critical units, you can set yourself up for a critical counter-attack.
If your opponent is the attacker and has the choice of first turn, try to skew your deployment to one end of the battlefield, limiting the threats that can potentially engage you, forcing your opponent to overextend.
While some key Commands return from the first season of Spearhead like Counter-Charge, the new Battle Tactic cards have some powerful Commands that may see you giving up more points than before.
BATTLE TACTIC
ATTACK ON TWO FRONTS: Divide and conquer by approaching the foe from two directions.
You complete this battle tactic at the end of your
turn if you control 2 objectives that were controlled
by your opponent at the start of the turn.
COMMAND
Reaction: Opponent declared an Attack ability
TRANSLUCENT FLESH: The touch of Shyish briefly turns these warriors to phantoms.
Used By: A unit targeted by that Attack ability.
Effect: For the rest of the phase, if the
unmodified hit roll or wound roll for an attack
that targets this unit is 1-3, the attack fails and
the attack sequence ends.
Translucent Flesh is a reaction to being targeted by an attack, which causes hit and wound rolls of 1-3 fail for the rest of the phase – strong in a critical moment.
BATTLE TACTIC
WAR OF ATTRITION: Grind down the enemy
to shatter their resolve.
You complete this battle tactic at the end of your
turn if any enemy units were destroyed this turn
AND
more enemy units than friendly units were destroyed this turn.
COMMAND
End of Any Turn
SPEED OF DEATH: Death comes on swift wings; one need only allow themselves to be carried.
Declare: Pick a friendly unit in combat.
Effect: Remove that unit from the battlefield, then set it up again on the battlefield more than 6" from all enemy units.
Speed of Death can catch people out if they are unprepared, allowing a unit to teleport from combat to anywhere 6” away from enemies at the end of a turn. This tactic will definitely be used to snag unguarded objectives, and may even deny more points than you give up by using it.
BATTLE TACTIC
MORBID CONSECRATION: Sanctify this ground with an offering of death.
You complete this battle tactic at the end of your turn if you control an objective not wholly within friendly territory. It cannot be the Dais of Blood or the Dais of the Necropolis.
COMMAND
Your Hero Phase
FINAL BREATH: Death is not the end here…
Declare: Pick a friendly unit that has been destroyed and has not already been replaced.
Effect: Set up either a replacement unit with a combined Health characteristic of up to 4 or a single-model replacement unit with X damage points already allocated to it, where X is its Health characteristic minus 4. The unit must be set up more than 6" from all enemy units.
Final Breath can replace a destroyed unit, something we’ve seen before, but this version allows the replacement of a single model with damage applied. Now even your big heroes and monsters will have a chance to get back into the fight.
Looking ahead – The future of Spearhead
After our first taste of action with Sand and Bone I’m definitely eager for more, and looking forward to diving into the new Spearheads. If you enjoy the idea of exciting, fast-paced tabletop action with unique and flavorful skirmish-sized forces I’m sure you’ll love everything new that this set brings as well.
As you explore Shyish, we’d love to invite you to follow our team’s journey over on the Season of War YouTube channel, where you’ll hopefully learn from our trials and triumphs. Either way, I hope you enjoy your time in the Mortal Realms as much as I have!
Thanks for that Jordan! You can pre-order the new Spearhead: Sand & Bone Gaming Pack tomorrow, alongside any (or all) of the four new Spearhead forces.
