Can you believe it is nearly a year since the new edition of Warhammer Age of Sigmar landed? Time certainly flies…

At the same time as the new edition, Games Workshop also dropped a new way to play called Spearhead. Spearhead is to Age of Sigmar what Combat Patrol is for Warhammer 40k.

For the first year we have been playing the Fire and Jade Supplement of Spearhead, which was set in the Realms of Ghyran and Aqshy. For year two Games Workshop are mixing things up with a new gaming pack, entitled Sand and Bone. 

Our thanks to Games Workshop for sending us the Warhammer Age of Sigmar Spearhead: Sand and Bone Gaming Pack to unbox and review! It is up for preorder right now. Why not preorder through our affiliates Element Games? You’ll save VS RRP and help us out massively if you go through this link!

What is Spearhead?

Before we go any further with this review, I thought it best to quickly runthrough what exactly Spearhead is. 

Every faction in Age of Sigmar has a Spearhead box, which acts as both a Start Collecting (remember those?) as well as a self-contained box to play Spearhead with. 

Buy a box, build them, paint them, play games of Spearhead. As simple as that.

This particular box includes a double sided game board which is compact enough to fit on a standard size living room coffee table.

Instead of using the full Battletome rules for your units and armies, you instead have Spearhead specific rules for your force, as well as unique Spearhead Warscroll cards. This makes the games more streamlined and quicker to play. 

If you haven’t played Spearhead before, I’d highly recommend reading Matt’s comprehensive review of Fire and Jade right here. 

Unboxing Sand and Bone

You can watch the full unboxing of this Gaming Pack in the video below!

Inside the box you’ll find:

• Spearhead Sand and Bone Book
• Double Sided Gaming Board
• 36-Card Spearhead Cards (split into two decks, one for each realm)
• 6 Pieces of Terrain (all previously seen in the Warcry Starter Set, Crypt of Blood)

Let’s breakdown the contents a little further, before delving into the book.

Enter the Realm of Shyish 

The box contains a fold-out card battlefield, of which is double-sided. One side, Ossia, which has a Sand colour palette. The other side represents Dolorum, which has a Bone coloured palette.

Both sides have objective markers pre-printed on the boards to make the setup super straightforward. On the Sand board you’ll find two objectives right next to each other in the centre of the board, so be prepared for some combat! The other side has 5 objectives, including one in the centre of the board which also has one of the new terrain features (more on that later).

By having less objectives than the Fire and Jade supplement, I think you’ll find games a lot more brutal and probably even quicker to play, in particular on the Sand board with the two central objectives. You’ll almost certainly learn about type match-ups and the intricacy of moving models in and around the Combat Range of other models. 

The box contains two sets of cards.These decks contain a mix of Battle Tactics for scoring in the game and Twists to change the flow of the game. Their is a set of Twists for each side of the two realms in the box. I really like the fact that each side of the mat not only has a different layout, but also has a different set of cards, as it’ll help the game stay fresh for a bit longer. The Battle Tactics are the same regardless of the chosen realm. 

Crypt of Blood Terrain

Also included in the box is some returning terrain to battle over. Keeping in the theme of the Realm of Death we see the return of the scenery first seen in the Warcry Starter Box, Crypt of Blood.

For Spearhead this scenery set works perfectly. None of the pieces are too large and over-bearing for the size of the board, and fit the theme perfectly. 

It’s also really easy to assemble, which is always a bonus.

The book specifies what type of terrain each piece is, so you know what stops line of sight, etc. The book, battleplan and cards also interact with the terrain features, as Warhammer Community previewed during the week:

Sand and Bone Rulebook

The final, and very important, part of the box is the rulebook which shows you how to play Spearhead in the Realm of Death. 

The book shows exactly how to play Spearhead, starting with the five basic steps:

• Pick a Spearhead – Choose a Spearhead box and get it assembled. 
• Choose a Realm Battlefield – In this case either Ossia or Dolorum
• Pick your Regiment Ability and Enhancement – Every Spearhead has a number of Regiment abilities you can choose from, as well as a list of Enhancements you can pick for one of your characters.
• Prepare your Warscrolls – Basically have your warscrolls to hand, as you’ll need these to play the game!
• Fight the Battle! – Using the basic Age of Sigmar and Spearhead rules, enjoy the battle!

The battleplan is straightforward to follow, and has in-depth step-by-step instructions on how a turn plays out. It also includes all of the Victory Conditions and explains how the turn order works. 

The rulebook then goes on to detail the rules for each of the four new Spearheads:

• Cities of Sigmar: Fusil-Platoon
• Seraphon: Sunblooded Prowlers
• Ossiarch Bonereapers: Mortisan Elite
• Ogor Mawtribes: Scrapglutt

As mentioned before, all of the above have a choice of Battle Traits, Regiment Abilities and Enhancements. You’ll also go on to find each of the warscrolls for your Spearhead.

Summary

It’s a very simple and straightforward box, which I really like. 

A nice set of scenery, a board to play on (with two different designs) and a straightforward set of rules. 

I’ve played several games of Combat Patrol and Spearhead, and whilst both are fun, quickfire game systems, I actually slightly prefer Spearhead. This alone was a great reason to jump into this review as I wanted to see what the evolution of the seasons for Spearhead looked like.

A refresh of the cards and objective placement has given the game enough changes to keep you playing. 

The only thing I would say is, I’d have liked to have seen the Core Age of Sigmar rules covered in the book, so anyone that is completely new to Sigmar could just get this box, as well as a Spearhead box. I believe Fire and Jade had this, so I’m not sure why they’ve decided to not include it with Sand and Bone.

All in all though, I’m happy with the changes and the new realm terrain and boards, and cannot wait to give them a go.

Now…which Spearhead should I pick up first….

Published by David Jennings

Born and raised in Crewe in Cheshire, Dave is a geek through and through. Enjoys designing and managing websites. View all posts by David Jennings