Age of sigmar 2nd edition pdf download

The books you need to play matched play

Now let us take a look at where the matched play rules are located and what books you will need to play that type of game.

The rules for matched play are described in the newest version of the Generals Handbook and in the Big Core Rulebook page. The matched play rules cover what units can be used, what each unit costs in points to bring on the table, how many you can bring of each type of unit as well as some tweaks and additions to the core rules.

(If you are new to matched play and the points system, a good place to start is my article where I go into all the details about this)

Note: even though the big core rulebook contains the rules for matched play, it does not actually have the point cost for the units.

The points for your units can be found in the following places:

• In the latest version of the Generals Handbook you will find the points for all armies.
• The battletome for your army will have points for the units in it (unless the battletome was released before matched play was introduced).
• If a new generals Handbook has arrived after your battletome came out, there might be some updates to the points of your army and those will be located in the newest generals Handbook (a new version of the handbook has been released in July each year since ).

You can also find the points in various army builders. There are two official versions:

1. The free warscroll (army) builder
2. The paid part (called Azyr) of the AoS app is also a tool you can use for building lists and will also have points for all the armies

Do notice that both builders can have mistakes (especially when changes happen). If something is legal in there, it is not necessarily legal in the actual rules. Always refer to the books (and errata) if in doubt.

What special rules are there for each army and where are they located?

There are various special rules an army can get. These army special rules are called Allegiance Abilities. These abilities indicate the style of army it is and will change how they play on the tabletop. An example could be the Ironjawz that get a bonus on charge and can get extra attacks in before the opponent if they kill a unit in combat. Allegiance abilities will also include artefacts (magic items) and a trait for your general. The newest versions of Allegiance Abilities will even include faction specific endless spells (spells that have a miniature) and faction terrain pieces that gives some sort of bonus.

If your battletome is of the new version, you will find these abilities in the battletome. If your battletome was released before allegiance abilities was a thing, the allegiance abilities will be found in the newest Generals Handbook. There is also the chance that no extra abilities exist for your army.

The following armies have allegiance abilities in the Generals Handbook:

• Darkling Covens
• Dispossessed
• Free Peoples
• Fyreslayers
• Seraphon
• Wanderers
• Slaanesh
• Slaves to Darkness
• Skaven Pestilens
• Skaven Skryre
• Flesh-Eater Courts
• Ironjawz

Note: GW will soon release a new battletome for all skaven (all clans in one book) as well as the Flesh-Eater Courts. This in all likelihood will happen for all of the armies that have outdated battletomes (Seraphon, Fyreslayers, Everchosen and Ironjawz)

The following armies got updated summoning rules for the release of Age of Sigmar , and these will also be in the Generals Handbook:

• Khorne
• Tzeentch
• Everchosen
• Chaos
• Seraphon
• Sylvaneth

The following battletomes includes their own allegiance abilities:

• Sylvaneth
• Bonesplitterz
• Beastclaw Raiders
• Disciples of Tzeentch
• Blades of Khorne
• Kharadron Overlords
• Maggotkin of Nurgle
• Legions of Nagash
• Daughters of Khaine
• Idoneth Deepkin
• Stormcast Eternals
• Nighthaunt
• Beasts of Chaos
• Gloomspite Gitz
• All books released after this date

The four Grand Alliances (Chaos, Order, Death and Destruction) all have a set of Allegiance Abilities. These can be found in the Big Core Rulebook.

If your army is not on the above list, you are out of luck. You have to use the Grand Alliance allegiance abilities of the faction you play (and pray that the coming battletomes will include your favourite faction).

And the battletomes you can also find the warscrolls for something called a ‘battalion’. In short, battalion warscrolls are a few unique abilities your unit gets if you take a specific set of units in your army. A few battalions are also included in the Generals Handbook for the armies with outdated battletomes.

If you do not know anything about the warscrolls battalions, I suggest taking a look at my article here. It goes into detail on what a warscroll battalion is and shows exactly where all battalions are located.

Another good resource for new players is my rundown on how Allegiance Abilities work.

A word of advice for new players: if you want to avoid all the confusion with outdated books, just buy a battletome released after AoS was released (summer ).

Designers commentary, FAQ, errata and suggested base sizes

At some point you might overhear talk about the FAQ’s for Age of Sigmar. If you are new to the game, I would not really bother with it the FAQ stuff in the start. At some point you will have a good grasp of the rules and then it will be an interesting read for you.

But just to let you know what is what:

• You can find all the FAQ stuff on the GW page about it.
• Each book they have released will have an Errata and most will have with they call a ‘Designer’s Commentary’.
• Designer’s commentary is the document where they place the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). In there GW will clarify if something is a mistake or something is intended and how different rules should be interpreted.
• The Errata is the document where they will make actual changes to the rules or wording of rules.
• In the designer commentary for the Core Rules you will also find the suggested base size for each unit. If you intend to play tournaments, I suggest following that. This is only important if you buy models that are not AoS ready (models that do not come with round bases).

The image below shows the Age of Sigmar FAQ and errata model

What are the pros and cons of the digital book options?

If you are into physical books, you should obviously get your books in that format. You will be surprised to learn that the digital versions of the books are not cheaper than the physical versions (sometimes it is actually the other way around).

With regards to digital versions, things are actually quite complicated. These are the different options if you want to buy digital rulebooks for Age of Sigmar:

• You can buy the books in the iBooks app. This is good because the book actually gets updated with the errata. On the downside, it will only work of you run IOS and there is no way to move the purchases to Android. The books are stuck in iBooks forever.
• You can buy an epub version from the Digital GW site. This is a good option because you actually get the file, you can convert it to pdf and share it across all your devices. As far as I know, the epubs are not updated with each errata. Also, preorder this at you own peril. I have been burned so many times by this site, where I got the book several days after it had released. Not how a digital preorder system should work!
• There is also the option of buying the book directly in the AoS app. I find this is bad option, because you can only read it in the app and it does no go from Android to iOS and vice versa (even though it could be fixed with some sort of login option by GW). This is a good option because you will get access to view the battalion warscrolls for the book in the app, but very few do it this way because it is so clunky to read in the app (note that you can also battalion warscrolls in the app separately if you really want to).

I buy a few books digitally from time to time, but since books have such good artwork i prefer the physical books. I really wish GW would sell the digital versions cheaper, make some sort of cheap physical + digital bundle or a voucher system. But I guess this is a good start considering how their digital presence was only a few years ago…

When is the Core Rulebook a good buy?

As you can see from what you have read so far, the Core Rulebook is actually not a necessary purchase to play Age of Sigmar. Actually, very far from necessary. It is on the other hand still a very good purchase and, just like a battletome and the Generals Handbook, something that most players will want to acquire at some point.

A few things make the Core Rulebook a good purchase:

1. It is by far the best introduction there is to the Age of Sigmar story, the different races and the universe the game is set in
2. If you intend to play matched play, 6 of the battleplans are included there and not in the Generals Handbook
3. If you want the core rules in a printed version, they are in here.
4. If you do not intend to buy the Malign Sorcery expansion, this is the only other way to get the rules for Endless Spells
5. If you want to play with Allegiance Abilities from the four grand alliances, this is the place you can get them
6. If you want anything to do with narrative games, this tome is brimming with possibilities.

Related questions

How does the four Grand Alliance books fit into everything else?

It is funny you should ask because these four books actually do not fit in anymore. The books where a stop-gap solution, a way to release all warscrolls for all factions back when Warhammer Fantasy died and Age of Sigmar was born.

So basically, they are four books filled with warscrolls, very minimal fluff and nothing else really. I would not recommend anyone buying them, and would not be surprised if they disappear in a year or two (when more battletomes 

What is the Malign Sorcery expansion?

The Malign Sorcery expansion was released alongside AoS It is a book containing lore, rules for endless spells, artefacts usable by all factions as well as other hobby stuff. The expansion also contains several miniatures for the Endless Spells usable by all armies. You can read more about Endless Spells in my rundown article here.

What are Realmgate Wars campaign books?

GW released a load of campaign books in the start of Age of Sigmar. Most are quite a good read and are very interesting if you intend to play a narrative game. They mainly contain lore, battleplans and hobby stuff – so not really anything of interest from a rules perspective. if you just want to read the lore quickly, the new Core Rulebook is a much better option.