The announcement of Age of Sigmar’s 4th edition heralds the golden age of AoS 3rd Edition. Let me tell you why!
With the announcement of an impending 4th edition, a bottom-up rewrite, of Age of Sigmar, there has never been a better time to pick up an army and books for the popular and successful 3rd Edition of the game. Yes, you read that right. If you are interested in AoS, you should start playing 3rd Edition, not saving up for the new box sets and battletomes that will eventually be coming down the pike. As my esteemed colleague, Lord Paddington, pointed out: “the next edition of Age of Sigmar is going to be a full re-write, invalidating all current books and resetting the armies back to indexes.” Put another way: GW has finally finished 3rd Edition!
I promise I am not being sarcastic, and only slightly glib. Once 4th Edition is released, I know many hobbyists will look upon 3rd Edition as a curio, a source of nostalgia, a dead game, and I understand why. There will be no more 3rd Edition events, no more grand tournaments, updates or FAQs. For a certain segment of the community, this state of affairs will effectively bar them from playing 3rd edition anymore. But most players that own the rules and valid armies will know someone else who does as well, and there is nothing stopping them from continuing to play 3rd Edition. In fact, there is no longer anything preventing them from becoming well versed, even expert in it.
“Living” or “current” games are great for the companies that can sustain the hype around the new releases, but they are pretty terrible for players, especially those with limited money, time or attention. Playing a “dead” game, such as 3rd Edition AoS, does not remove any of these constraints, but GW will no longer move the goal posts on you. Your army list won’t get nerfed half way through painting it, and a new Battletome won’t ruin your next game with massively OP new releases. You will know where you stand at all times and can play the game on your terms.
The goal for games should be to play them on equal terms. That does not mean perfectly equal or even balanced armies, but it means knowing how the game works and what your opponent is capable of. These are not easy things to achieve if a player does not have the time or money to invest in learning new rules and army lists as they come out, and can easily lead to “gotcha” moments where an opponent’s unique ability or play style effectively wins the game for them. It’s not much fun playing a tactical game if you don’t know what tactics to use or will be used against you. The solution is to play a game that is completely finished, that will have no new updates, and the most recent offering from GW that fits that bill is Age of Sigmar 3rd Edition!
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
