A new General’s Handbook is available to pre-order right now, which means there are new season rules, battle tactics and battle plans to master. There’s a lot to unpick, and it’s time to let the Warhammer Age of Sigmar veterans from the popular YouTube channel Season of War discuss the incoming changes.
Whether you’re a tournament pro, or just looking to up your Matched Play knowledge, these tips will be invaluable.
Season of War: We're excited to dive deep into the new season's rules, updates, and strategic shifts. The Season of War team comprises three Warhammer experts: creator and tournament lover Jordan Duncan, Team Canada captain and frequent best-dressed guest Ridge Hanna, and new recruit Fabien Barbusse – a top 10 ITC player, and coach for several competitive teams.
Advanced rules changes
This season introduces one of the most impactful shakeups to the game's core systems in years. With broad updates to terrain, commands and magic, and a setting shift to Ghyran, players will navigate denser terrain, dangerous flora, and fresh mechanics that reshape how armies position and score. Here's what's changed and why it matters.
Terrain rules have been updated to streamline gameplay and reward smarter positioning. Cover now applies wherever a straight line can't be drawn between the closest base points of two units, rather than any part of the model. This change is simpler and speeds up play. Obscuring Terrain has seen the biggest overhaul. Non-Monster, non-Fly units with every model within 1" of Obscuring Terrain are now invisible to enemy units outside combat range. In addition, ranged attacks made from within Obscuring Terrain have their range halved, which adds an extra layer of depth to how ranged units are positioned, and how terrain affects damage output.
Once Per Turn (Army), Start of Any Turn
ACTIVATE PLACE OF POWER
The pulsing confluences of life scattered across Neos are eager and vital. A champion of sufficient will need only focus on them to harness their power – perhaps causing them to eject clouds of choking or soothing pollen, or erupt in thick tangles of verdant growth.
Declare: Pick a friendly HERO within 3" of a Places of Power to use this ability, then pick that Places of Power to be the target.
Effect: Pick 1 of the following effects:
Cauterising Pollen: Roll a dice. On a 1, inflict 1 mortal damage on each unit (friendly and enemy) within 6" of any Places of Power. On a 3+, Heal (2) each unit (friendly and enemy) wholly within 6" of the target.
Rapid Sprouting: Pick a Ghyranite objective or visible terrain feature within 12" of that HERO and roll a dice.On a 3+, that objective or terrain feature has the ‘Obscuring’ ability for the rest of the battle.
Tap the Ley Lines: For the rest of the turn, if that HERO is not a WIZARD or Priest, they can use the ‘Unbind’ or ‘Banish Manifestation’ ability as if they had WIZARD (1).
Places of Power now offer one of three strong effects when activated by a hero: healing, granting an unbind or banishment to a non-Wizard or Priest, or turning nearby objectives or terrain into Obscuring. Only one hero can use a Place of Power per turn, raising the stakes on who and when to activate it.
Magic has been subtly refined for clarity and consistency. A new table clarifies how different effects interact with summoned Manifestations, and all universal Manifestations now have a standardised profile featuring a 6+ save and 4+ to hit.
Your Hero Phase
SACRED RITES
The priest focuses on safely setting their ritual into motion
Declare: Pick a friendly PRIEST to use this ability, then make
a chanting roll of D6. On an unmodified chanting roll of 1, remove 1 ritual point from that Priest instead of D3.
Effect: Give a number of ritual points to the PRIEST equal to the chanting roll.
Enemy Hero Phase
MAGICAL INTERVENTION
A warrior learned in the mystic arts utters a rapid incantation to disrupt the enemy’s plans.
Declare: Pick a friendly WIZARD or PRIEST to use this ability.
Effect: That friendly unit can use a SPELL or PRAYER ability (as appropriate) as if it were your hero phase. If you do so, subtract 1 from casting rolls or chanting rolls made as part of that ability.
Sacred Rites offer Priests a much-needed quality of life change. Instead of declaring a prayer just to build ritual points, you can now perform Sacred Rites to safely generate them, only losing one point on a failed chant. Magical Intervention has also been expanded to let you remove enemy Manifestations, though it can't target ones summoned that same turn.
Ridge: These Manifestations updates are great. Some were very strong for what were basically free units. The streamlined profiles save time, and Banishing adds real decision-making: do you spend a CP to remove a key Manifestation? Sacred Rites also makes prayer-based play smoother and less punishing.
Jordan: I'm very excited by the changes to All-out Attack and All-out Defence. Warhammer Age of Sigmar is all about weighing risk and reward, and now that All-out Attack comes with consequences, you can't just pop it every time without thinking about the follow-up. Similarly, weakening All-out Defense helps break down those ultra-durable units that were tough to shift last season.
Battleplans
All of this season's battleplans are new and thematically tied to Ghyran. While the maximum number of objectives has dropped from eight to six, their placement is far more varied. These new Ghryranite Objectives draw inspiration from the Sylvaneth groves, and each has a distinct name and symbol. This allows for flexible, creative scoring rules, as some battleplans assign unique effects to specific objectives or link scoring to particular symbols while others offer underdog bonuses based on what you control.
Scoring structures vary across the battleplans. The most common pattern nets you 5 points for holding one objective, 3 for two, and 2 for more than your opponent, but this is far from universal. Some missions require matching pairs of Ghyranite Objectives, or may have entirely different conditions.
Battleplans now limit primary scoring to 10 points per round, for a total of 50. Add up to 30 from battle tactics, and games are now capped at 80 points. The underdog mechanic also returns in a more impactful way, with some missions granting the underdog player bonus rules, extra movement, or better scoring. It's no longer just a comeback tool, but a powerful tactical lever.
Finally, each battleplan has a unique layout, with no repeated combinations of deployment zones and territory shapes, making for a more diverse and strategic experience. Overall, this season rewards speed, flexibility, and smart positioning. To illustrate these changes, here are three standout battleplans:
Paths of the Fey
Fabien: This Battleplan is wild! I love the combination of narrow territories and spread-out objectives – you can't just sit in your deployment zone, you've got to take risks and move. The twist adds a lot of strategy, with players removing and then setting units back up. It's one of the most unique I've seen, and your choices around objective selection and unit placement can really swing the game.
Noxious Nexus
Jordan: The strongly asymmetrical layout of this battleplan isn't something we've seen much before, which makes it super interesting. It forces you to balance early combat with the need to reach far-off objectives, while still having the stamina to secure the crucial 10 points at the end. I expect a wide range of strategies here, but ultimately it'll reward the general who paces their aggression and doesn't burn out too early.
Passing Seasons
Ridge: This one's a throwback, with diagonal quarter deployment just like in earlier editions. Some armies will get great value from the underdog bonus, especially if they already have a 5+ Ward. It really makes you think about whether to go second and take fewer points early to gain a massive defensive buff, or go first to secure 10 primary points right away. I can see a lot of games being split across the short edge and fought over those juicy Gnarlroot objectives.
Battle tactics
The new system marks a dramatic shift from previous seasons. Tactics are now selected during list building, requiring players to commit before a single die is rolled. This removes the common issue of forgetting to pick a tactic at the start of a turn and helps reduce decision paralysis. But while clarity has improved, the complexity of individual tactics has increased.
The days of "guaranteed" tactics are gone and have become much harder to score – players should expect to miss some over the course of a game.Tactic selection is no longer reactive, demanding foresight and synergy as you build a cohesive plan into your list. This requires a deep familiarity with your army and the battlepans on offer, as poor choices can leave you locked out of points early.
Disruption remains vital. Denying your opponent's tactics is just as important as scoring your own, but now requires advance planning. With tactics locked in and scored in a fixed order, success depends on predicting your opponent's choices and blocking them at the right moment. To see how this plays out in practice, here are three standout tactics cards:
Wrathful Cycles
Fabien: I like this card because it fits my playstyle – it's safe. The first tactic is relatively easy to score, and the second is great insurance against a double turn. If you get doubled, you become the underdog, which unlocks this tactic and helps you stay in the game. It's not for aggressive players though – an early double would block you from scoring the last two.
Scouting Force
Jordan: This tactic stood out to me immediately. It really rewards fast, skirmish-style forces. I already tend to push units into enemy territory or onto flanks to pull opponents out of position, so this fits my playstyle. Even if they try to deny it by spreading out, they often expose themselves to focused attacks.
Intercept and Recover
Ridge: This card looks fun, but is very matchup dependent. Your opponent could use small, mobile units to carry treasure and escape, or assign it to tanky ones that are hard to kill. Your army needs speed and damage to handle both. Also, this is the only tactic with a permanent drawback for taking a double turn: you lose a tactic. So even if the kills seem easy, it really punishes you for going for a double.
Thanks for that tactical insight. The General’s Handbook is currently on pre-order.
