Rejoice, fans of Tiny Tabletop Warriors. Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground is one of the first full Age of Sigmar video game adaptations and… is it pretty good?
Ok, it's not without its rough edges, but as an Age of Sigmar fan, I'm glad Games Workshop's fantastic prog-metal-album-cover game is finally out on consoles and PC.
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground Review - A Tough Challenge Through the Mortal Realms
Storm Ground is a turn-based strategy game played on a series of hex-grid arenas in the Mortal Realms, the magical-style planes of Age of Sigmar. Each campaign involves you taking control of one of three factions and tackling a series of increasingly difficult challenges.
The three forces are the resplendent Stormcast Eternals of Sigmar, lightning-forged warriors from the realm of Azyr; the cruel and spectral Nighthaunt of the Kingdom of Shyish; and the portly and corrupt Maggotkin, worshipers of the plague god Nurgle.
Each of these factions is led by a unique hero and has three campaigns across the realms. The actual structure of the game is quite interesting, so let's break it down.
The first, and simplest, campaign and your first missions are tutorials. This introduces the game's hex combat and the two basic units of the Stormcast Eternals: sturdy tank units called Retributors and ranged artillery units called Castigators.
The fight is high risk and high reward. Most units have a basic attack and an ability or two (heroes often have two or three), as well as passive abilities that trigger under certain circumstances. For example, Retributors improve the defense of adjacent units. Each unit also has the expected attack, health, defense and movement characteristics.
Storm Ground does a good job of transmitting information before you engage in action: walk into range and the UI will show you that enemies can target you. Hover over an enemy to attack them and it'll show you how much damage they'll take - and how much you'll take in return.
This is useful because the combat is particularly deadly. Armor will mitigate some damage, with a percentage chance to fully deflect damage, and it's badly needed. Attacks can easily melt your units and you are often outnumbered and outgunned. If one of your units dies in battle, it is dead for good. Lose your hero and the campaign is over.
Unless, of course, he's some kind of rogue. Every time you die, you get up and try again.
You can keep three of your own units (represented as cards on the intermediate mission loading screens) and any equipped wargear. It's an interesting wrinkle and reflects both Age of Sigmar lore and how you'll take your favorite units off the table in a game and put them back for another round.
Once you complete the initial mission, you are free to choose between two missions, each with different rewards, such as new unit cards or equippable combat gear and skills. Chests hidden in distant locations in each mission can be scavenged for additional rewards, and skills that synergize with your heroes and units, such as extra damage when one unit kills another unit, allow you to diversify your Warband.
These upgrades come at a price, however, and as you stack gear on units their cost to summon increases, another wrinkle in Storm Ground's design. While your opponents will spawn in waves, you'll only start with your hero, limited to spawning in set hexes.
You start with three ether, your summon currency, and each turn you get one more, allowing you to summon units. Summon Stormcast alongside their hero, creating powerful defensive castles, while Nighthaunt and Maggotkin must generate Spirit Twigs and Hexes of Corruption to summon, allowing for tactical play.
Perhaps adding one layer too many to the game, abilities cost energy and have a cooldown. Energy is generated starting on your third or fourth turn, again increasing per turn, but this structure locks powerful abilities behind them.
It goes without saying that combat in Storm Ground requires careful planning. Line up quick killer blows, swap units only when you absolutely have to, and use area-of-effect attacks alongside abilities to manipulate movement, gain high ground, and block terrain to funnel enemies into hit points. strangulation is part of every fight.
Nighthaunt and Maggotkin also have it harder than the heroic Stormcast, as they rely on debuffs and map control to gain an advantage over their enemies.
It can be quite overwhelming at times, and there are a handful of missions - especially the final mission of each campaign - that can seem overwhelming until you've worked out a playstyle and strategy. I was battling my head against the Nighthaunt campaign ending for a while, as some high level enemies are incredibly tanky and hit hard, but the game gave me a few things to work with.
In the end, I ended up having a particular combo that allowed a ranged Chainghast unit to grow exponentially stronger each time it killed an enemy, and I spent the battle destroying small units until 'till they can take huge chunks of the boss. It was satisfying to put into practice, but having to start from scratch was often demoralizing.
On the opposite, the first battles can be quite basic. Having to wait to place units and put your strategies into play when picking missions and hoping to get the right unit as a reward can be a bit tiring.
It's also worth noting that the UI itself can also be a bit cluttered, with icons and basic information hidden away in unit descriptions. It wouldn't be a big deal, but getting around the UI is slow and frustrating. This is the game's biggest downside, with no quality of life options to speed up movement. The animations are canned and often distracting, but the inability to skip them, especially during early mission replays, can be frustrating.
Visually, the game is every inch an Age of Sigmar game, with each arena a little microcosm of Warhammer excess, nestled within larger dioramas that really show just how grand and bizarre the realms are. Although the mechanics here are the meat of the offering, the dressing is certainly excellent.
Storm Ground isn't the most visually polished you'll play, but weaving around the branches of a colossal tree in Ghyran or collecting a Nurgle in Chamon, the Metal Kingdom, really reinforces that wild fantasy vibe that Age of Sigmar .
The dubbing also matches the decor. The Maggotkin's phlegmatic declarations as they denounce the Stormcast's 'fools of gold', who refer to each other in zealous proclamations of faith, are not theater, but they are 100% chewing up the landscapes . They made me laugh.
In short, it's a world of immortal heroes and villains, so it's fitting that it plays with that very particular Warhammer sense of humor and pathos.
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground – The Bottom Line
Benefits
- Bold visuals
- Above top dialog
- Punishing yet satisfying turn-based combat
- A wide range of units, equipment and skills allow for various strategies
- Lots of content on offer, with nine campaigns at launch
The inconvenients
- Lack of visual polish
- Very clunky user interface
- Difficulty can often seem imprinted against you
- Roguelike nature can make progression a slog
- A number of crashes and technical issues with the UI, as well as AI units and bugging
After completing each of the three basic campaigns, you have the option to explore longer and more varied campaigns that require you to conquer two kingdoms, giving you the opportunity to play with new heroes. There's a lot to offer here, but I'll admit its roguelike structure feels daunting and even downright tiring given how brutal and punishing the game can be at times.
Storm Ground has a few rough edges: jerky animations, a handful of crashes, and a brutal difficulty curve. There are also quality of life issues. The hunt for powerful units, wargear, and skill combinations is compelling, but unfortunately too random due to the nature of the loot card rewards. And the way you have to discard all but two of your favorite units when you fail a campaign can sting.
But I always come back to a simple fact: this is an Age of Sigmar game. It's not perfect, but it conveys the attitude and atmosphere of the setting. Factions convey their unique mechanics well, and that's a big plus in a Warhammer game. It's a promising first step into the Mortal Realms, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone but diehard Age of Sigmar fans without a host of caveats.
[Note: Games Workshop provided the copy of Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground used for this review.]
