You can’t play Warhammer Age of Sigmar without the indispensable rules tome of every aspiring general – the General’s Handbook.
Designed to guide, inspire, and empower you in your battles across the Mortal Realms, this handbook is an essential tome packed with invaluable strategies, game rules, and rich lore.
From the celestial city of Azyr to the infernal depths of the Realm of Chaos, every corner of the Age of Sigmar universe is a battlefield waiting for heroes to clash, alliances to be forged, and legends to be born (well on the tabletop at least.) The General’s Handbook is your comprehensive guide to navigating these conflicts, providing you with the crucial insights needed to lead your armies to glory each season.
This is an important change in format, as it means the new season is double the length of previous ones. This book will be the go-to matched play resource for twice and long – all the way through to summer next year. You can still look forward to quarterly balance updates, to ensure that the metagame remains as balanced as possible.
This book was previously released bi-annually, but starting with the 2023-24 book, each one lasts a whole year. So let’s dive into the latest news and rumors for the current Age of Sigmar General’s Handbook, along with the official reveals from Games Workshop below.
General’s Handbook Season Three: (June, 2023)
These previews come from Warhammer Community.
This is an important change in format, as it means the new season is double the length of previous ones. This book will be the go-to matched play resource for twice and long – all the way through to summer next year. You can still look forward to quarterly balance updates, to ensure that the metagame remains as balanced as possible.
The General’s Handbook Pitched Battles 2023-24 concentrates on the wizards who seek to profit from the primeval magic that suffuses Andtor, as well as those who hunt them down by using nullstone artefacts to weather their empowered and unbridled spellcasting.
It’s good we’ll still get quarterly updates, but a year-long season is quite the change. Also, with this focusing on a certain type of wizard, they might be the focus for this year. Again though, this seems to make the most sense if a new edition of AoS is dropping next summer.
They also mention there will be twelve new Battleplans this time as well.
In this battlepack, your WIZARD HEROES with a Wounds characteristic of 9 or less, and who are not Unique, gain the ANDTORIAN LOCUS keyword. Each round, the player with the second turn can pick one HERO to take advantage of the swelling magic in Andtor with Optimal Focus. If they’re an ANDTORIAN LOCUS, they can cast and unbind an extra spell that round – otherwise, they gain a free command point for issuing commands.
While gaining free Command Points is nice, getting an extra cast and dispel is huge!
Players may also harness the Primal Magic of Andtor, earning special dice which can be used to boost for casting, unbinding, and dispelling rolls. Wizards be warned, however – taming the feral magic of Ghur comes with the risk of a primal miscast.
An ANDTORIAN LOCUS can also cast from the Lore of Primal Frost instead of picking a spell from their usual selection. Such wizards might ensorcel their comrades’ weapons with biting Hoarfrost, completely changing their To Hit, To Wound, or Rend characteristic until your next hero phase.
This is a giant buff, and depending on what you roll, you can add -3 rend, 2+ to hit, etc. Either way, this will significantly increase a unit’s power in combat!
Armies without any spellcasters can take Nullstone Adornments to weather the hazardous sorcery of Andtor. The Hand-carved Nullstone Icon is one such enhancement, allowing heroes to unbind spells or dispel an endless spell, with a chance of unbinding another each time they succeed.
This is the last preview for now, but if you don’t have a ton of magic, this will be a must-include.
Age of Sigmar General’s Handbook Season 2 Galletian Champions Rules: (January 2023)
Warhammer Community previewed the new Galletian Champions General’s Handbook Season 2 for 2023 with some rules and what to expect!
The last update focused on big units as they were fighting in the tunnels; those who survived the fighting will be getting some buffs! Most notably, heroes on foot will be grabbing a lot of the extra power this season.
General’s Handbook Pitched Battles 2022-23 Season 2 will shake up the landscape in matched play, as GALLETIAN CHAMPIONS are taking charge on the front lines. This new keyword applies to all unmounted HEROES with a Wounds characteristic of less than 10 – including the likes of swift High Gladiatrixes, fungus-brained Loonbosses, or savage Beastlords.
We actually like how they change up the matched play. It keeps the game fairly fresh without having to drop an entirely new edition. Plus, it lets you make new lists that might not have been viable before!
These champions have discovered The Key to Victory, which, it turns out, involves not getting shot full of arrows. In game terms, as long as GALLETIAN CHAMPIONS are within 1” of a friendly Battleline unit, they cannot be targeted by enemy missile attacks. Aim those crossbows elsewhere, lads – no sniping today.
Waging war in the hypogean gloom beneath the Realm of Beasts has sharpened their reactions. If you’re taking the second turn in a battle round, one of your GALLETIAN CHAMPIONS may take a Desperate Action, allowing them to perform two heroic actions instead of one.
Just be sure to keep your heroes within an inch of battleline units, that way, they can’t be sniped! Then, getting two heroic actions is pretty nice and should make going second not as bad.
Fittingly, there are two new Heroic Actions to choose from this season. Strike at the Opening lets a GALLETIAN CHAMPION fight in the hero phase – turning the tide by striking at a weakened or overeager foe. You can’t use it to fight in the hero phase, however, and that champion suffers the strike-last effect for the rest of the turn.
They can combo this with Lead By Example, and command their Sworn Bodyguard to fight alongside them in the hero phase – with the same restrictions. This vicious one-two punch gives you a chance to neutralise an out-of-position threat before you even think about moving or shooting with the rest of your army.
Getting strike last shouldn’t be a huge deal, as you’re getting those attacks off early. Hopefully, your model kills enough so the return strikes don’t bring him down. Then, you can also do the same thing with your sworn bodyguard (rules right below).
If you’re going second, your one hero can actually do both actions, making this a pretty insane combo.
United in Purpose
So what is a Sworn Bodyguard? They’re part of one of the Galletian Command – one of three new core battalions this season. This battalion pairs a GALLETIAN CHAMPION with a single unit of infantry, such as an Arch-Revenant and a loyal band of Tree-Revenants.
This team-up not only unlocks the Lead By Example heroic action, it provides them with the United in Purpose ability, which allows your champion and their bodyguard to fight in an unbroken chain in the combat phase if they are wholly within 6” of each other, keeping your foes from fighting free.
This will let you fight one after the other and not let your opponent jump in and get attacks. So you don’t have to be as worried about your ordering. It also opens up the action above; who knows; maybe it will unlock more in the future?
These new options unlock fresh tactics and opportunities for devious generals, but they’re just the start. The General’s Handbook also includes a Realm spell for punishing units camping out on objectives, a new command ability to trade piling in for extra attacks, and a stockpile of artefacts and unique Aspect of the Champion enhancements reserved for GALLETIAN CHAMPIONS.
Grand strategies, battle tactics, and battleplans have also received updates. Half of each roster are returning favourites from Season 1, while the other half are new arrivals, with their focus set firmly on GALLETIAN CHAMPIONS. Be sure to muster your heroes!
It’s nice to see that some roster elements are staying the same. We probably won’t have to wait too long to get more previews and see what else the Galletian Champions can do!
Are you excited about the latest Age of Sigmar General’s Handbook?
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Joined: 2019
Socials: @paschbass
Bio: Dark Eldar Dracon and Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the third edition in 1998. He also loves camping because you can only paint so much! He joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the main daily writer since 2020.
Maybe one day, he’ll finish converting all his Ad Mech models and turn into a true tech enjoyer, complete with sad and happy robot noises!
