Here’s what is changing in the latest AoS Battlescroll balance update for January 2023 including massive amounts of units, points, and more!
We actually saw rumors about all these changes back in December 2022, and it looks like they might just have been true! Basically, every faction is having the majority of their points changed, so if you play Age of Sigmar this is going to have a huge impact!
Warhammer Community dropped all the changes and their thoughts on why they made them. It’s nice to have their reasons, but we’ll see how this changes the game, as this is an insane number of changes to drop at once.
GW Drops Massive 2023 AoS Battlescroll Balance Update
This is the only change in terms of non-points for armies. It just gives Sisters of Slaughter the ability to score more Victory Points, not just Witch Aelves. So, nothing too crazy yet, but the points for them really are!
We’ll check talk more about the points changes themselves below, but first, let’s check out GW’s method for making all the changes:
- Analysis: We gathered data from hundreds of recent events, and broke each unit down in a variety of ways: win rate when included in a roster, how often that unit was included in a roster, how many copies of that unit were included, and how often that unit was reinforced. We cross-referenced this information with overall stats for that unit’s faction, as well as stats when included as an ally.
- First Pass: After analyzing the available data, we made adjustments. In many cases, the data provides a clear picture – for example, if a unit’s win rate and inclusion were both higher than we’d like, that unit could probably use a points increase, whereas if both indicators were lower than we’d like, it was time to look at a proportional decrease.Other cases are more complicated – for instance, units with a low inclusion rate but a high win rate. In these cases, we’d take a closer look at the unit, how it was used, and at what scale of the event, and then adjust accordingly, generally with a more conservative approach due to increased unknowns.
- Feedback and Iteration: Once we’d completed our first pass, we sent it out to our two external feedback groups: the Metawatch Advisors, mostly made up of tournament organisers and analytically-minded individuals from the community, as well as our external playtesters, made up of skilled tournament players. I’d like to extend a huge thank-you to both groups, as their feedback has been invaluable.This was an iterative process and really helped to account for things like expected shifts in the new season or identifying cases where a points drop on one unit might crowd out another unit in a similar role, causing it to drop in inclusion too rapidly.
- Finishing touches: As a minor quality-of-life improvement, we’ve also added updated official base sizes to every unit in the Pitched Battle profiles. We’ve also decided to round off points values to the nearest 10, to make list building a bit easier.
It’s nice they are including a lot of tournament organizers, the community, and external playtesters. We’ve seen that GW doesn’t have the internal team to playtest everything. However, as we said, the changes, overall are massive.
This is more or less the norm for the whole thing (and most units getting discounted), with almost every unit getting a change, and a lot of them are 5 points, as it seems like GW wanted everything in tens for list building.
It is nice how they give the points changes in green and red, so you know exactly what’s changing and how! As we said, every faction is getting a huge update, and you can download them all at the link below!
Click Here to Download the Points & Changes!
Do you like that they are giving out free points updates that are easily identifiable? What about the changes in the latest battlescroll update?
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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!
