Age of Sigmar 3rd Edition: My Pre-Release Feels

I’m very resistant to change. I struggle with it, as I think a lot of nerdy-types do. It’s therefore no great surprise that weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth is the ever-present mood music of the Warhammer community, in which change is the only constant. A new edition of your favourite game will arrive to replace the old as sure as the sun rises - as will replacement army books, essential supplements and FAQs. This is the life we have chosen.

With all this in mind, it seems futile, churlish and completely lacking in self-awareness to bemoan the arrival of Age of Sigmar’s 3rd edition purely on the basis that it exists, and yet that’s exactly what I’ve been doing of late on Twitter. I disparaged the Stormcast redesign as a betrayal of their iconic look that left them looking like spindly, bullet-headed artist’s mannequins. I lamented the apparent rules bloat that seemed geared towards adding tactical complexity for the delight of crunch-loving players, but which I’d have no hope of committing to memory for casual play. I wryly pointed out that the very concept of ‘editions’ is perpetuated largely for commercial reasons, rather than for the sake of good game design - as if this were some previously undreamed-of insight that I was gifting to the naive masses. I tried to keep my outlook balanced with some positive takes - the glorious new artwork, the fantastic Kruleboyz - but the trend was clearly negative. I just wasn’t feeling it.

I got so bored of my own whingeing that I took a few days off from the platform to get some perspective. I avoided social media completely, and glanced at the Warhammer Community site only rarely. I mostly avoided my local community’s group chat, not wanting to pollute their enthusiasm with my ennui.

I’d like to say that the break cleared my head and gave me a fresh sense of unfettered optimism - that I’m now ready to throw myself into Age of Sigmar 3rd edition with gusto. That’s not quite what happened though. Fundamentally, my opinions didn’t change. I still don’t like the Stormcast redesign, and I still don’t care much for all the extra rules. Being away from all the noise did bring one revelation though, and it was this; there’s no point resisting the new edition, but I don’t have to embrace it either.

The Warhammer Community team have to plug the new edition relentlessly. They have to say it’s the best edition ever. They have to beam with unmitigated delight at every minor detail of the new rules and miniatures. That’s their job, and actually it’s a job I’d love to have. But it’s not my job, and I don’t have to do any of those things. This is my hobby. Looking at the big picture I love Warhammer - always have and always will - but that doesn’t mean I have to force myself to love everything about Warhammer, all the time.

Am I going to sit out Age of Sigmar 3rd edition? No. Everyone in my local gaming group will be playing it, and there’s no way I’m going to miss out on spending time with them for the next three months, let alone the next three years. I still want to push my painted war dollies around a tabletop covered in cool terrain, and nothing is going to stop me from doing that - even the exhausting prospect of struggling with multiple pages of additional rules that I’m entirely ambivalent about.

But am I going to do what I’m supposed to do as an Age of Sigmar content creator, and throw myself body and soul into the new edition hype? Not this time. Am I going to buy yet another hefty rule book, General’s Handbook and all the sundry gubbins that always accompany a new edition? Only if I can’t possibly avoid it. Am I going to surrender the meagre contents of my wallet to the painfully consumerist ‘new edition, new army’ mantra? With so many unfinished projects already littering my hobby space, absolutely not. In fact, as a quiet protest against the unstoppable march of change, I’m actually going to be stripping and repainting a vintage Lizardmen army from Warhammer Fantasy Battles that I’ve had sitting in boxes for the last two years. I’ll probably still be working on it when 4th edition rolls around.

So actually I guess that means I will be doing a new army for the new edition after all (the Lizardmen are all going on round bases), but it feels like I’m doing it on my terms instead of being swept away by forces beyond my control. Perhaps that’s what fear of change comes down to in the end - fear of loss of control. That being said, I think it’s good for one’s sanity to maintain the illusion of control at least a little bit. For me, that means being self-disciplined enough to avoid whinging just because I’m uncomfortable with the march of change, but it also means not relinquishing my hobby entirely to the relentless churn of the Games Workshop product cycle.

By the way, this isn’t some call to arms. I’m not advocating this attitude or approach for anyone else. If anything, I’m deeply envious of the vast majority of my peers in the community who are clearly delighted with the prospect of a new edition and can’t wait to get stuck in. Be like them if you can! Perhaps in time I’ll come around and join their ranks myself.

For now though, you won’t see me on the Age of Sigmar 3rd edition hype train - not because I’m not on it, but because I’ll be snoozing behind some luggage in the cargo carriage at the back. It’s peaceful here. I may not be entirely in control of the journey, but in this little space I’ve made for myself I can do pretty much whatever I want.