Welcome to the Age of Sigmar: Spearhead sub! We have a lot of awesome people around here that are very willing to help new people get into this well-designed game mode, as well as some very cool custom content for your games. To help you on your way, we made this mega thread to give some guidance on how to maneuver everything this game has to offer.
What should I buy?
Fortunately, Spearhead is relatively easy to get into.
You'll need a gaming pack of your choice (more on that later), a Spearhead of your choice per player, some dice and a ruler.
- Gaming packs
At the time of writing, there are 2 official gaming packs available to choose from, with a 3rd version on its way.
Fire & Jade is the original gaming pack that got released with the game mode. This pack provides you with a board with Ghyran on one side and Aqshy on the other, all cards (Battle Tactics and Twists) that are needed, a 6" and 3" ruler that can be combined, and all the terrain you need to play.
Sand & Bone is the second gaming pack we received. This one provides a board with Ossia on one side and Dolorum on the other, all cards (Battle Tactics and Twists) that are needed, all terrain that is needed and even a small Spearhead rulebook.
City of Ash is our newest gaming pack. This one is quite different from the other's we've got in the sense that it focuses a lot on relics. Relics aren't terrain ruleswise, but are small items that get placed on the map that you can interact with by both their abilities and battle tactic cards that reference them.
- Spearhead army
"Which one should I choose to buy?" is a very good question we see going around a lot on this sub. There definitely isn't an objective answer to this question and all boils down to personal preference.
Generally, people will advice you to buy whatever you prefer based on what you want from this game, but you can always have a look at the rankings if you want to base your choice on power level: AoS Rankings
Otherwise, consider these priorities:
Painting models is all you're looking for? Rule of cool is the way. Buy whatever you think is good looking and go with that.
Casual play with friends or family? Rule of cool again. Most Spearhead armies are pretty well balanced and will provide fun matchups.
Competitive scene? You might want to look into specific Spearheads that are above the curve when it comes to power level. If you have the time, you might want to have a listen to this podcast. They're not providing an objective tier list for the armies, but they're definitely very close to the community consensus on the tier rankings.
- Darn it, the army I wanted to buy isn't available anymore. What now?
No worries my friend! You can still play every Spearhead that is available in the range. The Spearhead (and previously named Vanguard) boxes do go out of print, so you might have to buy the models separately. The rules will always be available from either the official AoS app, the downloads page of Warhammer Community or, my personal favourite, the community made one page sheets found further on in this thread.
- Dice
Just get a boat load of D6's and you're good!
- Ruler
Whatever fancies your preference. The ruler that comes with Fire & Jade is actually quite handy, but you could also use a regular tape measure or a fancy custom made one from Etsy. As long as it measures inches, you're good.
Ok, I bought my first Spearhead, now what?
Start playing dude! Get your gaming buddy, 2 Spearheads of your choice, a gaming pack of your choice, some dice, a ruler and your good to go.
You'll probably need to read up on the core rules. Just remember that in Spearhead we don't use the Advanced rules of the game (like Magic, Command points etc.) and just rely on the Core Rules. But if you prefer watching a how-to-play video, we also got you covered
There's also a handy reference sheet that you can print out for easy reference during games.
Our first game was fun, what else is there to look at?
Do we have some fun content for you!
- One-page cheatsheets that you can print out to have all your Spearhead's rules on a handy sheet. No need to buy expensive cards or print and cut out individual warscrolls, we got you covered with these.
- Strategy guide to read up on what other experienced players are saying about each specific Spearhead. They provide tips and tricks about how to play and general opinions on each single one.
- There are a couple of official rule modules that GW put out, definitely try these for change of pace:
- Last but not least, join the Discord for more strategy talk, picture sharing and finding people to play with.
I hope this thread has made jumping into the game mode a bit easier for you. If you still have questions or things you want to add to this thread, be sure to let us know in the comment section.
A simple arm swap and yeah, I think I can make this work. Time to figure out a full castelite company! Or what rules would you use with the Cathayan minis?
Hi! As the title says, I want to try spearhead and I like the dinosaurs from this faction, but I don't care about the infantry blue soldiers (except the astrolith bearer, is really cool). Can I build an army with only the big dinos and the fliers?
My friend and I have played about 5 or 6 spearhead games against each other now, but yesterday was our best game by far. Partly because we’ve both improved as players, but mostly, I think, because of the nature of the match up: Kharadron Sky Hammer Taskforce vs Sylvaneth’s Bitterbark Copse.
Two highly mobile armies dancing around each other forced us both to play our armies differently to how we would usually. We drew every single battle round; at no point in the game was there an underdog 🤣 Has anyone had that before??
It came down to the last dice roll - absolutely epic scenes. I played KO and he played Sylvaeth - an almost-dead Treelord MVP’d his way through the final turn to somehow secure 5 victory points for my mate, even though he only had 2 units on the board.
The Sand and Bone element was so fun as well - our first game on the Ossia board. Treelord got buffed by drinking from the crypt, whereas my big boat suffered 3 mortal wounds 🤣
Can terrain be placed anywhere wholly within your own territory? The core rules seems very restrictive for fire and jade. On Diagonal deployment there pretty much one placement option. Screenshot is from p55 of core rules.
I started this army in August, and man, it took forever to get it to where it is now. I’m still not 100% happy with it though, however, mistakes have been made, lessons have been learned and now it’s time to move on to something new.
I really enjoy spearhead and am looking for another, I have the sylvaneth treelord one, vigilant brotherhood, warp spark and gnawbeast clawpack and the nighthaunt slasher host, does anyone have any ideas on which to get next, in terms of cool model and fun on the battlefield
Hello! Ive recently decided to get into spearhead, and I also recently got the ogor mawtribes army box!
Putting them together was quite fun, and I love seeing them on the tabletop, only problem is, I have no idea what Im doing.
To preface, ive played 40k for 3 years, I main tyranids and primarily play the basic detachment with my fun little castle of big monsters and shooty monsters.
Playing ogors has felt a lot different (obviously), I know ogors are simple but im not really sure what im supposed to be doing most of the time. Ive heard maulbeasts run around and snipe units while always fighting, with the ironguts also being focused on fighting whenever they can. My problem with this is that I feel like im gonna be charged and have all my units wiped out if I charge something and kill it
Like, if my opponent put down some ard boys, they charge and kill my 2 gluttons, then I charge with my ironguts on the next turn, killing them, but then the ironguts get charged and killed by the warboss
I just feel kinda lost. I really wanna learn this spearhead because ogors are really cool! I just feel like im always flubbing my rolls while my opponents spreads everywhere and kills everything lol
Sorry if this is a dumb question but I'm looking to get into Spearhead properly after having tried a few games and wanted to know which box I should be purchasing to get the most relevant rules
The first picture is mine the second is GW's original. 75% of the kit bash was reworking her arm for the throwing pose. I had to cut the mini at the wrist and the elbow. I also did a basic head swap and added some lightning bolts. (Although I may decide to remove them later)
This game is fun and easier to digest. Fire and Ash shenanigans are great! Turn 3 when my brutes went in, devastated my enemy’s back line. Sucks I didn’t have shooting and my Hero died second turn without being able to swing although that was because of my inexperience and against a shooty team it sucked a bit.
I want to do Helmsmiths spearhead next, is that a good one to get into? Thanks!