Age of Sigmar Introduction

solo-note: turning this blog over to our Age of Sigmar lead at BOLTERCON… take it away, Devon!

This year, we brought narrative and competitive spice from the Mortal Realms to all four (4!) days of BOLTERCON 2025. In this article, we will cover the 3 major events that took place across those storied days: Sigmarpocalypse, Spearhead RTT and Age of Sigmar GT .

Sigmarpocalypse 2025: Battle for the Oasis

When I was first starting into Warhammer, I really enjoyed watching the large battles of wargamer’s collections sprawled across 3-5 tables. This apocalypse scale way of playing has always grabbed me as being the most fun, laid back and narratively driven way to play Warhammer. A few years ago, I attended my first ever Maypoc event run by the Fundamalleus crew in Cincinnati. This event was a 2 day occurrence leveraging the Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse system. I really enjoyed the format’s ability to simplify combats and key rules to drive a large-scale narrative battle (this event is also where I was first introduced to Bolters at Dawn).

This year, I decided to home brew a format similar to this for Age of Sigmar. There are a few adjustments made to core rules to make this system work but the big 4 are:

No double turn. Priority is decided with a general v general fight during deployment.
All wizards go to power level 1, with casting and unbinding modifiers added based on their original power level.
Each team receives 4 command points per 2000 points on their team. Each per phase command ability may be used once per player on that team.
Here is the big one: Massed Combats. Combats happen concurrently, no models are removed until each unit fights with every model that was alive at the start of the core combat phase. Additionally, all units counted as being in combat as long as the unit itself was in combat.

These major changes lead to mass scale battles that can be played within the span of 7-8 hours.

Our two teams were split up between the Defenders and the Defilers. The defenders were tasked to hold an enchanted oasis, located in the deserts of Ghur. Within this oasis was a magical elixir that granted unbelievable power, and surrounding it, a newly found settlement of Sigmar. News of an invader coming to despoil the oasis had reached the highest Order generals in Ghur, and this despoiler would be none other than Archaon.

In an alliance of convenience, the Ossiarch Bonereapers, Seraphon and Sons of Behemat would join together in a fragile alliance to defend this newly found settlement. Riding over the dunes, were the defiling forces of the Slaves to Darkness, Blades of Khorne and Flesh Eater Courts. These agents of darkness rode forth to claim this elixir for their own conquest.

On the side of the defenders, King Brodd of the Sons of Behemat was chosen to be their general. There was no question as to who would lead the defiling forces, as Archaon rose to the role of lead despoiler.

To begin the battle, both Brodd and Archaon rushed to the center of the battlefield, hoping to lay the first blow and set forth the cataclysmic battle ahead. Brodd had laid a few devastating strikes upon Archaon and his mount, Dorghar. Archaon, however, mustering the power of the Slayer of Kings had brought Brodd within an inch of his life, but the forces of each side had sprung forth before Archaon could lay the final blow. Both champions retreated behind the front lines licking their wounds, preparing to strike again.

Magical missiles of arcane energy flew across the windswept desert. The sands of Ghur feasted upon blood and carnage. The very waters of the oasis themselves were stained with the blood of those who sought to defend or defile it.

In the end, the defilers were able to gather most of the oasis’ energy, laying claim on the settlement and the gifts of the oasis. While the dust settles, new storms crop up across every horizon. While these storms hinder clarity, one thing is for certain… the Sigmarpocalypse has only just begun.

Spearhead RTT

On the Friday of the event, we had a small sample of players giving Spearhead a spin; seeing what the small format AOS game had to offer. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed playing Spearhead. I certainly had my reservations going in; playing a pre-constructed format with low unit counts, I struggled to see the room for balance or feelings of tactical nuance. I am glad to have my NO GAMES opinion proven wrong.

The combination of the Battle Tactic/Command cards and Reinforcement rules, led to a game that is almost always playing 4 of its rounds. The Tactic and Command cards force the players to not just ‘wrecking ball’ their opponent, while the reinforcements are reserved for your higher model count chaff units; allowing for a unit on the backfoot to continue playing. It also added a level of tactical nuance in whether you destroy or weaken your opponent’s reinforcement units. Additionally, the units in each spearhead are all non-reinforced units, leading to statistically swingy combats that are less binary than a 2000 point game of AOS. It is my plan to bring this system to our club more often in the future, as I have been shown the light of its merits.

At the end of the day, Andrew Roake was our Best General, running the Wallsmasher Stomp Spearhead. This spearhead boasts 3 mini gargants and 2 of them have the ‘reinforcement’ ability (spooky af). Congratulations, Andrew!

Age of Sigmar GT

On the Saturday and Sunday of the event, the Age of Sigmar GT kicked off with 25 players fighting for the crown. Across our participants, there was a great showing of hobby, sportsmanship and competitiveness. We were even #blessed to have a dino v. dino grudge match round 1 between our club’s very own Taylor Barbieri and Drew Marfurt. They battled it out on our Jungle Rumble table to see who was the true apex predator.

Looking at the breakdown of our prize winners, we will start with our superlative/special awards. Taking The Artisan award (or Best Painted Army), was our very own Drew Marfurt, with his beautifully converted Seraphon army. The beauty of this army is in its varying sub species of large dinos that explode with vibrant colors across every model. Congratulations, Drew!

Our Hype Actual winner (or Best Sportsman) award goes to none other than Andy Hesik, who sported the tables with a hilarious 9 big pig list. While walking the tables, it was clear that whoever Andy was playing against was having just as much fun as he was, as he fostered a player experience that prioritized enjoyment. Congratulations, Andy!

It’s important to note that 14 of our 25 players received at least one vote for sportsmanship, showing the dope camaraderie of this group.

Our final special award goes to the player who won out on the bottom table in round 5, AKA the Gnoble Gnoblar award. Even the battle fought deep in the mud pits should be celebrated, and that celebration goes to our double prize winner Drew Marfurt!

Finally, our competitive awards went out to our first and second place winners. Our runner up or Aspiring Champion award goes to Xavier Green! Xavier piloted a Wyrdflame Host Tzeentch list that leveraged the all new ‘Curse-Steel Battery’ Regiment of Renown alongside Kairos, Lord of Change and a mix of pink and blue horrors. This list applies force at ranged with an incredibly active hero phase utilizing mortal wounds and debuff spell casting. This is followed by a shooting phase that cleans up whatever is softened in the hero phase. Due to a late high table drop, I got to play against Xavier and his list and had a great game, even as daemonic firepower rained down.

Our Best General who took the crown in the end was Michael Rausch! Michael piloted a Gloomspite Gitz that ran a mix of squigs and non-squig moonclan forces. This list takes advantage of an army that finds itself with plenty of point efficient and strong warscrolls that brings plenty of bodies to the table. You can’t walk around the table without tripping on a threat in this list, from double reinforced Squig Herd and single reinforced Boingrot Bounderz to 15 Loonsmashas springing forth from the loonatic hordes. Congratulations Xavier and Michael on the impressive placings!

Closing Statements

It has certainly been a very busy BOLTERCON for Age of Sigmar. I’ve taken a lot of notes, received a lot of feedback and have plans to continue to evolve and grow AOS’s presence at BOLTERCON going into 2026. I will especially be looking for others passionate about AOS to help facilitate some of the events throughout the weekend (DM me if interested baybeeee).

I want to end this by saying thank you to everyone who participated in an Age of Sigmar event at BOLTERCON. You all make it possible for this to happen and fully embrace everything we plan for the long weekend. Love this community!

That is all from your Chief Hierophant of Degenerate Extremists for now. Until next time… at BOLTERCON 2026! .