The new Age of Sigmar Battlescroll is here to make some big changes to armies that have been flying high at tournaments!
GW has been keeping a better eye on the meta with this edition of AoS, and a couple of armies have been doing really well for the past few months. With the General’s Handbook lasting a year, it’s nice to see Games Workshop still making changes. However, this should be the last update before getting another GHB or a new edition of AoS.
AoS Battlescroll Rules Update & Changes For February
Here is the latest on the Age of Sigmar Battlescroll updates.
Months of chasing down the puissant spellcasters of the Mortal Realms has hardened the Wizard-finders of Andtor, whose Magic Hunters ability now shields them from the effect of spells and endless spells that target them on a 5+. The new battle tactic Drain Their Power meanwhile gives armies that have eschewed the arcane arts an extra way of scoring – provided that a Hero with a Nullstone Adornment can contest an objective controlled by their opponent.
With how many spells are in the game, it’s nice to have some extra protection against them. However, the 5+ nullification is in addition to the +1 attack, so this got objectively way better! Drain Their Power is a pretty easy battle tactic to achieve near the mid-game, and it’s nice to have tactics you can actually achieve.
Melee mastery is still the order of the day in the Age of Sigmar, and various units have seen their melee range increased to 2” so they can better fight in two ranks. Gors, Tzaangors, Vanquishers, Vulkite Berzerkers, Bladegheist Revenants, Dreadscythe Harridans, and Glaivewraith Stalkers all benefit.
A bunch of weapons are getting their melee range increased, which should make getting more attacks easier.
Alongside the usual expected points changes, there are a number of tweaks to faction-specific battle tactics – Flee-Flee! for Skaven, The Grasping Dead for Soulblight Gravelords, and Sneak Up and Dat’s Our Turf Now! for Orruk Warclans have all received minor changes.
Skaven has to have any two units run for Flee! Flee! (this is changed from hero to unit, giving you more flexibility).
Slann Starmasters of the Starborne variety have seen the thaumaturgical tide turn, as Lord of Celestial Resonance now only grants two cosmic power points for the first cast or unbind they perform each phase. Kroxigor pick up the slack by gaining an extra Wound.
Slann has been quite strong, so a NERF here makes sense, but Kroxigors getting an extra wound is pretty big.
For the Cities of Sigmar, the Alchemite Warforger’s Blazing Weapon spell has cooled down, and now only affects melee units, while the Null Myriad subfaction of the Ossiarch Bonereapers find their magical defences cracking slightly as their ability to ignore spells falls to a 4+.
Cities of Sigmar have been doing really well, so it makes sense for them to get at least one NERF. Then, the Idoneth now auto-wound on 6s instead of extra hits.
Null Myriad is honestly a big NERF, as now it only ignores on a 4+, just making it much less viable than before. However, this is probably warranted.
Like charging? All three varieties of Maw-grunta now only lose points from Unstoppable Momentum at the end of the battle round, keeping these porcine wrecking balls up to speed.
Now, the Maw-grunta keeps all momentum until the end of the turn, which lets you keep your speed up and get off more charges!
AoS Battlescroll February Points Changes
There are a handful of other changes to be found, and as ever, the document is capped off with substantial points changes – both up and down – for most factions, aiming to tweak internal balance, incentivise new builds, and balance the playing field further.
There are about double the point changes when compared to the last update. Fyreslayers, Flesh-eater Courts, Daughters of Khaine, Orruks, Mawtribes, Nighthaunt, and Disciples of Tzeentch all get huge points drops. You can gain up to a couple hundred points in each list without a single increase. In contrast, Kharadron gets almost all NERFs.
This update is much more focused on decreasing points to make armies more viable, but there are some NERFs as well. It seems this go around; GW made worse armies cheaper instead of hitting current good armies too hard.
Click Here to Download All the Changes!
What do you think about changes in the February AoS Battlescroll?
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
