Taking a deeper look into the Age of Sigmar skirmish game, let’s review what a typical battle round will look like.
With previews coming from Warhammer Community and Imgur, interested fans are able to take a step deeper into the game before its release. Check out what each player’s battle round is going to look like.
A Deeper Look Into Warcry: Battle Round Breakdown
Looking at a player’s battle round, it’ll be divided into the Hero, Reserve, and Combat phases. In the Hero phase. you’ll be rolling for initiative and abilities with six dice. There are two key points to remember:
- The person who rolled the most singles (dice that don’t share a number) wins the initiative.
- All of the other dice that share a number are used towards abilities for the round.
For example, if someone rolled their dice and got three matching numbers, they could use the Stand Defiant ability on a unit with a matching runemark/faction (pictured on the left). The game balances itself by giving the player who rolled the most one-of dice values the first move. However, the person going 2nd has a greater chance of pulling off special abilities.
Each player gets one wild dice once the initiative is determined. This dice is a “freebie” that lets you add another single dice value or improve your dice to a double/triple/ etc. The main purpose of this is to help you not get completely screwed over if you roll badly.
Moving to the Reserve phase, your forces will be able to come in during later rounds of the game. Depending on what game type you’re playing you will be forced to divide your forces into three groups. These groups have restrictions on deployments and scorable objectives so keep that in mind when you split your guys up. Whoever wins the initiative will get to deploy their reserve forces first.
The Combat Phase Gives You Options
In the combat phase, both players will take turns activating one fighter after the other. Whenever you activate a fighter, you get to take two actions in any combination one after the other. You don’t have to pick both of your options at the same time if you don’t want to.
Looking at this tanky Iron Golem, he’s very slow at only a 4″ base movement. If you need him to get across the board as fast as physically possible, you might need to double move and have him act as a nightmarish speed bump for the enemy.
However, if this guy gets swarmed by light fighters, he has no need to move. You can choose to fight twice with him and clear off whatever is bogging him down with those giant mace hands.
Overall, the game looks to be a breath of fresh air from the same phases in 40k/AoS. It’s also mixing in a cool dice-rolling ability mechanic that is totally random! Based on what we’re seeing, these games look to be fully focused on melee bludgeoning and quick brawls with multiple factions.
Are you excited to get this game? Which Warband will you be playing? Have you thought of a paint scheme yet? Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group, and sign up to get your free hobby updates newsletter each morning as well!
About the Author: Wesley Floyd
Wesley Floyd
Job Title: Staff Writer
Joined: 2018
Socials: @RealmbrushPainting
About Wesley Floyd: Wes has been in the Warhammer hobby since 2015 and joined the Spikey Bits writing team in 2018. He is known for his satirist takes on trending topics and imaginative yet amazingly affordable hobby solutions to painting Warhammer miniatures.
Imperial fanboy, tabletop fanatic, and the self-proclaimed King of Sprues. He knows for a fact that Mephiston red is the best-tasting paint and is the commission painting equivalent of a Wendy’s 4 for $4. If you like what he writes and want to contact him or have your tabletop minatures painted (to a mostly okayish standard), message him on Instagram.
