Start Collecting An Age Of Sigmar Wave Of Bone & Ratty Rot
March 5, 2016 by brennon
Games Workshop have put together a new set and a book for those of you that like the rot of the Skaven in Clan Pestilens. As well as that for Age of Sigmar they are also looking towards alternative Skeletal Hordes too...
Clan Pestilens
First off we have the new Chaos Battletome for the Skaven Pestilens. This book brings together the rotting hordes that will serve the Horned Rat. It seems like these creatures have taken over as lords of decay and are certainly putting Nurgle to shame...
Inside you get a run down of the background for this faction. You'll find out where it stands right now and where it should be going in the future. You will also get Warscrolls, Warscroll Battalions and Battleplans which allow you to base scenarios around your faction.
These books are actually looking like they could be quite the nifty buy for someone who is really into their Skaven.
Start Collecting
If you have a new Battletome then you're going to need an army to start collecting. With that in mind they have you covered with this Skaven Pestilens set which comes with a Plague Furnace, Plagueclaw, twenty Plague Monks and a Warscroll Battalion sheet allowing you to use this mix up of troops.
I still really like these Start Collecting sets which Games Workshop have been making and while this one might be a little much on the 'bigger is better' side of things I guess these are some of the iconic parts that make up Clan Pestilens.
Following on from these rats we also have a new undead Start Collecting set to check out. This one makes up the start of a Skeleton Horde and contains Arkhan the Black, ten Skeletons and five Black Knights. Not a bad shout simply for Arkhan himself!
This one might take a little bit of growing but it could certainly mark the beginning of a good army for your Age of Sigmar games. Skeletons are still a little bit dusty at the moment but with magic from Arkhan the Black backing them up I'm sure you'll have some good strength in there.
Will you be considering these?
"It seems like these creatures have taken over as lords of decay and are certainly putting Nurgle to shame..."
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Is anyone playing this game without mods and a point system? What id like to know is, would anyone playing AoS vanilla buy these sets?
Absolutely and many people are too. The issue is scenarios and linked strings of games in a narrative form. That is where AoS thrives. Overly comp’d games squeeze the flex and freedom from this game. Limits that try to twist it into something like 8th edition are not what makes AoS good. Forget about points, and think more than just one game in a vaccum and that imbalance has implications that affect the next game in the chain, and then the next and you have a different way of playing that you couldn’t (or the tournament scene’s pushing of their… Read more »
Serious players, or at least wishers, seem to be comping in some way or just playing fun non-serious games. There are some youtubers who do mental gymnastics to justify AoS which give me a laugh. One guy was even prattling on about how important it is to keep models is increasingly absurd unnatural formations because it affords him an extra attack via the rules. No self awareness.
People seem to be generally using a wound system which is nonsensical but the best they can do given the circumstances.
Yes, and have blast playing it. This game lends itself to great ” What if ” scenarios and with all the character actions leads for some great cinematic moments for those with imagination! I love the game….. And am proud to yell it from my soapbox.
Giving this a thumbs up because enjoying something shouldn’t be penalised with down votes.
Well said.
This goes on all too often within this community.
Very cool. I like what they’ve been doing lately (though I’ve never had a problem with them).
There is nothing wrong with those Start Collecting boxes as those are very solid products.
Is the game system solid though?
I am wrong person to ask that. AoS does not interest me as system so I tend to focus on miniatures and products like these boxed sets having those.
Absolutely. See my post reply above for another who asked a similar question
lol you know it’s not mate. But they are solid products for Warhammer Fantasy / 9th age stuff. Or just lovers of art!
its easier to push a downvote than argument for AoS, apparently
lolol we all know what goes on here, dude.
Could just be that the down voter disagrees with the person but doesn’t want to get into a flame war with them.
Now down voting someone for showing enthusiasm for a game system is beyond me and why @poosh was down voted for praising GW on the good value of these deals is odd.
May have to have a day every week thumbs upping every comment I read to spread the love.
Yes, only question are where do you get your square bases from?
Oh that is right have a mate with a lasercutter
Yep the mini are not the problem by GW,, Everytime a NEW BOOK, and then not ALL the rats, only PESTILENS , So will there be even EXTRA books, with the rest of the SKAVEN ?????
RULES for FREE, But for You to play with fun YOU need 10 EXTRA BOOKS !?!
What will GW come up with next, for every UNIT on the playing board his own Book ????
Not true…all the warscrolls for all their miniatures are free for download on the website. if you want all the fluff then yes, You have to buy quite a few books. But as far as playing the game withh all the minis….its all there for free.
Or the AOS app…wich is also free : )
It’s not like they’re doing anything different from how they’re treating army lists in WH40k.
Just how many Spacemarine faction books do we need ?
And why don’t they give Orks the same treatment ? (The old Ork fluff book detailed clans like Blood axes and Yellow moon IIRC)
AoS appears to be taking this to the extreme, but it still is in line with GW’s method of never selling army lists for more than one faction per book.
You don’t need all the battletome’s they are mostly fluff for those who like that sort of thing. I have the Grand Alliance Chaos book which has all the war scrolls for Chaos, Daemons and Skaven in it.
True! The grand alliance books have some minor updates on warscrolls, but those are free downloads in nearly all cases. What is essential though are the scenario books. This game plays MUCH better with scenarios, strings of linked games with implications based on objectives and not the tired old batteline. Its faster, cleaner, and craves the narrative arena over the hyper-competitive kill everything tournament style play. Scenarios are the life blood of AoS, and imbalance works just fine as long as the chain of games takes that into consideration. Hence the reason why there are SO many scenarios in nearly… Read more »
So the scenarios decide for you what types and how many of said type you can take for the scenario? (2 troops, 1 lord etc) and the scenarios are written for all available armies? There must be some very strong narrative value in the games for people to set any sort of balance aside and still have fun .. Im just not seeing it without a game master using techniques to tell a story while you basically just play another GW game of chuck a thousand D6s. But hey i could be wrong, im just not willing to throw any… Read more »
@hatamoto : it’s not that different from what wargamers do with historical settings.
I do have to say that having a book containing a more generic set of scenarios (and some clues as to how to design them) probably would help people adjust to this style of gaming.
with the historical setting you might be re-enacting a scenario that actually happened though, right? 🙂 theres alot of “free” motivation in playing something like that imo
There’s NEVER been a better time to get into Warhammer Fantasy, or even 9th Age :p These kits are possibly the best thing GW has done ever – they haven’t even got an annoying command-character-only model to drag the re-buy value down. Both RETAIL at £50: Start Collecting! Skaven Pestilens: £78.50 worth (save £28.50) Start Collecting! Skeleton Horde: £83.50 (save £33.50) The Virulent Horde (Retailed at £105) – actually worth £162.70 (Savings when you take into account you’re just getting the Start Collecting box set with some other stuff is: £133.20 meaning you save £28.20 ON TOP of the savings… Read more »
@hatamoto see, downvoted for using maths lol
Up voted for the use of math.
You’re more likely being downvoted for being positive about GW than some would wish. Even though you’re points are well thought out, reasonable and fair. That’s how some people are I guess.
I very much doubt I was downvoted for being positive about GW – though if I was stupidly positive for no rational reason or only being positive because I have pathetically low standards then I’d deserve it … but I think I was very fair and proved my point using the power of math. For literally more than a decade these kind of box sets have been exactly what GW should have been releasing to draw new players in, and allow older players ways of building large armies at a discount. It would be cray cray for anyone to diss… Read more »
Downvoting goes both ways you know. You can also get downvoted from not liking something that GW has done so no one is safe from that. It’s just that not everyone makes big deal about it.
Maybe the person is thinking… Downvote for the Downvote God! 😛
only problem for me is they killed the setting and changed the art direction of minis.
I so wish they didn’t go overboard and just moved the story and rules forward, like they are doing with 40k formations and latest books, rather than kill the world outright.
Agree .. it definatly wasnt necessary, in fact it shows a lack of understanding of what they had going with the old world
Ya they hacked off 30 years of really good IP. They KILLED ALL their fantasy IP. No one cares about any of that stuff now, a new player … why would they need to know or care about a world that is GONE. IT got blown up (or what the hell ever happened to it) so everything is new. At that point why didn’t they just create a completely new planet or something instead of BLOWING up the old one? It is probably one of the most extreme leaps any company has done with this kind of IP ever. Well… Read more »
If they wanted unique fantasy they had it, with the fluff and characters. I know of no other fantasy world with the atmosphere of the old world, and it acheives being original even while including all the classic fantasy stereotypes .. GW having lost its sense of direction thinks it has to do with what they choose to call their races.
Age of Sigmar was always going to be a failure – all those “haters” and “negative people” warned about it. And now Age of Sigmar is a disaster with GW’s sales stagnant or declining – despite releasing some of their best 40K models ever last year. The Warhammer Fluff was one of the primary reasons Warhammer was still loved and not a complete failure despite increasing costs – so, naturally, GW removed it in place of something, I don’t even know what. Old Warhammer Fantasy was like the movie Excalibur – Age of Sigmar is like the new flop hollywood… Read more »
More modes to add to my 9th age army or my kings of war army nice. Nobody plays AOS at the 4 stores around here and can’t blame them but we have two other good games systems to use these nice minis with
The undead one at least is mighty tempting, I’ll just have to track down some square bases after! 😛
The savings on these sets is really nice, makes the models a reasonable price. Only issue is the need to buy square bases for them.
That is the only comment I really hear anymore. Well new models at least. Most people have just utterly given up on GW games. LOL. Sad days. But hey new models. I must admit some of them are pretty cool … honestly …
Google Warhammer 9th Age.
You can find bases for the miniatures no problem! Ebay or google them, I’m sure plenty of companies produce their own.
I don’t play AoS but I’ve got to say, these sets are very nice and fantastic value.
I honestly believe if they’d brought these out sooner and lowered the cost of entry there’d have been no need to bugger about with the setting.
Absolutely, it was a short sighted disconnected decision .. The online community should put together boxes of good advice and pictures from the real world and sell it to GW, lets call them *start connecting* .. 2 pounds each
:p ha ha ha ha
I assume GW will be putting together a “start collecting” skaven host, I assume they’re not stupid enough to squat the normal skaven. Will look forward to creating an army with these combined boxes. I only wish there were more troop orientated ones.
“Start collecting” series is very good. I think it is a good deal.