The Glossary

Almost everything a unit does is an ability — moving, shooting, fighting, casting a spell, even the special tricks printed on its warscroll. Each one tells you when it can be used (its timing), what you pick, and what happens.

A unit in a full-size army that isn't part of any regiment. It deploys on its own, so each auxiliary unit adds a drop during deployment. Taking them has a cost: whoever has fewer auxiliary units gets 1 extra command point every battle round (nobody does if it's level).

Anything you add to a model's base to make it look like ground: sand stuck down with PVA glue, or a ready-made texture paste you spread on and paint over.

An army-wide choice from your faction's rules that gives your whole army an extra ability, reflecting how it likes to fight. If your faction has any, you pick one when you build a full-size army.

Games Workshop's published entry for each unit in full-size games: its points cost, its unit size and any notes on how it can be taken. Your army's total has to fit the game's points limit.

One full lap of the game, in which both players take a turn. A battleplan sets how many battle rounds the game lasts, so games end on a round count, not a timer.

Mini-goals you try to complete during a turn for extra victory points. In Spearhead you hold a hand of 3 battle tactic cards: score one at the end of your turn for 1 VP, or use the command on it instead, never both. In full-size games played with the free rules, at the start of your turn you pick 1 of the 6 universal battle tactics you haven't tried yet, and score 4 VP if you complete it by the end of that turn.

The scenario you play. It sets the battlefield, where each player deploys, where the objectives go, how long the game lasts and how you score victory points.

How a Wizard casts a spell: roll 2D6 and try to reach the spell's casting value. In full-size games an enemy Wizard can try to unbind it and two 1s is a miscast, but Spearhead has no unbinding or miscasts: each Spearhead card says what to roll, if anything. There is no mana or spell-point resource in Age of Sigmar.

The number a spell's casting roll has to reach to be cast, shown on the spell. A prayer has a chanting value instead. Fall short and the spell or prayer simply doesn't happen.

A model that leads its unit, shown by the Champion keyword (often with a ratio like Champion (1/10): one champion per 10 models). A champion adds 1 to the Attacks of its weapons. Spearhead doesn't use champions: they're part of the Advanced Rules, which Spearhead leaves out.

How a Priest chants a prayer: roll a D6. In full-size games an unmodified 1 fails and costs the Priest D3 ritual points; anything else can be banked as ritual points, or added to the Priest's ritual points to try to reach the prayer's chanting value. In Spearhead, roll what the prayer's card says.

Units that want to fight in melee roll 2D6 and move up to that many inches. The charge only works if the unit ends within ½" of an enemy unit it can see at the end of the move. Only units that aren't in combat and didn't run or retreat this turn can charge.

Small, sharp cutters for snipping parts off the sprue. Cut with the flat side facing the part and you'll leave a much smaller nub to clean up.

The rule that keeps a unit together as one group. Whenever a unit is set up or finishes a move, every model has to be within ½" of at least one other model in its unit, measured horizontally. In units of 7 or more models, each model needs to be within ½" of at least two others. A few big models have a longer range printed on their warscroll.

Both players' units that are in combat, or that charged this turn, take turns to fight, starting with the active player. Strike-first units go before everyone else and Strike-last units go after.

The 3" bubble around each model. An enemy unit inside it that the model can see is 'in combat' with it. In full-size games it's also the distance models use to contest objectives.

An ability with a cost attached. In full-size games, commands are core abilities such as Rally, At the Double, Redeploy, All-out Attack, All-out Defence and Counter-charge, which any army can use by spending command points. In Spearhead, commands come from battle tactic cards: each card has one, and you can use it instead of scoring the card.

The currency for commands in full-size games. At the start of each battle round each player gets 4, the underdog gets 1 more, and whoever has fewer auxiliary units gets 1 more as well. Spearhead doesn't use them: its commands come from battle tactic cards.

A thin, tinted paint you brush over a light primer in a single coat. It gathers in the recesses and stays thin on the raised parts, so you get colour and shading in one go.

How strongly your units hold an objective. Each model has a Control characteristic on its warscroll. In full-size games a model contests an objective within its combat range (3"); in Spearhead it has to be standing on the objective (anywhere on the printed circle). A unit's control score is the total Control of its contesting models, and whoever has the higher total takes control.

An ability with the Core keyword, such as Move, Shoot, Charge or Fight: the everyday actions any unit can take. Everything else (warscroll abilities, faction rules, spells and prayers) is a non-Core ability, which matters when a rule only affects one or the other.

A full-game command costing 2 command points that lets one of your units charge during your opponent's charge phase.

A hit roll of 6 before any modifiers. On its own it's just a hit; it matters when the weapon has a Crit ability: Crit (2 Hits) scores an extra hit, Crit (Auto-wound) skips the wound roll, and Crit (Mortal) deals mortal damage equal to the weapon's Damage instead of going on to wound and save rolls.

The pre-game step where both armies are set up in their own territory. In full-size games players take turns, and setting up a whole regiment at once counts as one 'drop'. In Spearhead the attacker sets up their whole army first, then the defender, with every unit more than 6" from enemy territory.

Two turns in a row: going second in one battle round, then choosing to go first in the next. It's powerful, so it has a price. In full-size games you can't pick a battle tactic in that turn. In Spearhead it's called seizing the initiative, and you draw no battle tactic cards that round unless you're the underdog by 5 VP or more.

Wiping almost all the paint off a brush, then flicking it lightly across a model so colour only catches the raised edges. It's the quickest way to pick out texture, especially on bases.

The final step of each turn. Objective control is worked out here, and the player whose turn it is scores their victory points (their opponent scores at the end of their own turn). It takes the place of 3rd edition's battleshock phase.

An upgrade you give to a hero, such as a heroic trait or an artefact of power. In a full-size army you can take one from each of your faction's enhancement tables (unique units can't have them). In Spearhead, your box has four to choose from, and you pick one for your general before each battle.

The army you collect and play, such as Stormcast Eternals or Sylvaneth. Each faction has its own models, rules and personality. Factions are grouped into four grand alliances: Order, Chaos, Death and Destruction.

A terrain feature with its own warscroll that belongs to one faction, such as the Flesh-eater Courts' Charnel Throne. An army can include 1, at no points cost, and doesn't have to set it up. It goes down before any units, wholly in your own territory and more than 3" from objectives and other terrain; whoever begins deployment places theirs first. Full-size games only.

The first Spearhead battlepack, released in July 2024 in the Skaventide launch box for 4th edition. It has battlefields set in the realms of fire (Aqshy) and life (Ghyran), each with its own deck of twist cards. Later battlepacks — Sand and Bone and City of Ash — add more realms and rules in the same format.

Thin, papery bits of extra plastic that sometimes squeeze out around the edges of a part. Trim or scrape them away, the same way you clean up mould lines.

The hero who leads your army. In full-size games you pick one from the Heroes leading your regiments; in Spearhead your box says who the general is. Some abilities only work for the general or near them, and enemies will often try to take them out first.

How much damage a model can take before it is slain. When attacks get through, they inflict damage points on the unit; once a model has taken damage equal to its Health, it is removed.

The first phase of your turn, after the start of turn. Wizards cast spells, Priests chant prayers, and heroes use their special abilities. In full-size games, commands like Rally are often used here.

A label on a warscroll (Infantry, Hero, Wizard, Fly…) or on an ability (Move, Run, Shoot…) that rules check to decide which units can use an ability or be picked by it. A Charge ability can't be used by a unit that used a Run ability, for example. Singular and plural mean the same thing.

Older units Games Workshop has stopped making and supporting. Their rules are kept so you can still use the models in casual games, but Legends units aren't meant for competitive play or official tournaments. Some current units have a date when they'll move to Legends. This site marks both on their warscrolls.

A list of spells or prayers your army can take. You can pick one spell lore (every Wizard in the army knows its spells), one prayer lore (every Priest knows its prayers) and one manifestation lore (Wizards know its spells, Priests its prayers). A unit's own warscroll spells and prayers are on top of these.

A command for the enemy hero phase, costing 1 command point: one of your Wizards or Priests casts a spell or chants a prayer as if it were your hero phase, with −1 to the roll. Each army can use it once a phase, and it can't be used to banish a manifestation.

A magical construct with its own warscroll and model. A Wizard summons an endless spell by casting a spell from the army's manifestation lore; a Priest summons an invocation by chanting a prayer from it. Wizards only know a lore's spells and Priests only know its prayers, so a lore whose summons are all spells is no use to an army with Priests but no Wizards, and the other way round. Once on the battlefield it stays until it's banished, destroyed, or the one who summoned it is slain. Full-size games only: Spearhead doesn't use the magic rules.

Rolling two 1s on a casting roll (before modifiers). The spell fails, the Wizard takes D3 mortal damage, and it can't cast any more spells that phase, though it can still try to banish a manifestation. Spearhead has no miscasts.

Damage that skips the hit, wound and save rolls and goes straight onto the unit. It usually comes from spells and abilities rather than weapons. A ward can still stop it, because ward rolls are made for every point of damage.

A thin raised ridge along a plastic part, left where the two halves of the factory mould met. Scrape it off gently with a hobby knife before painting, because paint makes it stand out.

You move your units. A unit that isn't in combat can make a normal move (up to its Move characteristic) or run (its Move plus a D6), and neither can take it into combat. A unit that runs can't shoot or charge later that turn. A unit that's already in combat can retreat instead: it takes D3 mortal damage, must finish outside every enemy unit's combat range, and can't shoot or charge afterwards either.

A marker on the battlefield worth victory points to the player who controls it, scored at the end of that player's own turn. Most battleplans, especially in Spearhead, are won on objectives rather than by wiping out the enemy.

A short move of up to 3" that a unit makes when it fights, to get its models into better positions. Each model has to end no further from the enemy unit picked as the target, and the unit has to stay in combat with every unit it was fighting.

The number after a Wizard or Priest keyword, e.g. Wizard (2). It's how many spells, prayers or banishes that unit can use each phase, in any combination; a Wizard can also unbind that many times a phase. Spearhead doesn't use power levels.

A first coat, usually sprayed on, that gives your paint something to grip. Paint brushed straight onto bare plastic tends to bead up and rub off, so prime first. Citadel's White Scar is one example of a white spray primer.

The roll-off at the start of every battle round after the first: the winner decides who takes the first turn, and on a tie the player who went first in the previous round decides. Winning it can let you take two turns back to back — the end of one round and the start of the next — which is often the biggest swing in a game.

Ordinary white craft glue. It won't hold plastic parts together (that needs plastic glue), but it's ideal for sticking sand and grit to your bases.

A full-game command, used in either player's hero phase, that lets a battered unit that isn't in combat roll six dice: each 4+ can heal 1 damage, or several together bring a slain model back.

An ability you use in response to another ability being used, rather than on your own timing. After an ability is declared, the players take turns using reactions to it until both pass in a row.

A hero plus the units they lead. In full Age of Sigmar you build your army from 1 to 5 regiments: each has 1 Hero and up to 3 non-Hero units (up to 4 in your general's regiment), and each regiment can deploy together as a single drop. In Spearhead the army is fixed, and you choose one of two regiment abilities before each battle.

A ready-made band of units from another faction that you can hire into your army in full Age of Sigmar. You can normally only take one, and it can't use your faction's own rules unless it shares your faction keyword.

In full Age of Sigmar, a unit taken at twice its minimum size for twice the points (single-model units can't be reinforced). In Spearhead, a destroyed unit with the Reinforcements keyword can come back once as a replacement unit: once per turn, in your movement phase, it goes back on inside your own territory, entirely within 6" of a battlefield edge, and outside combat.

A weapon characteristic that makes armour less useful: the target subtracts it from their save roll. Against Rend 1, a unit with a 4+ save needs a 5 or 6. A '-' means no Rend.

How a unit leaves combat in the movement phase. It takes D3 mortal damage for breaking away, then moves up to its Move: it can pass through enemy combat ranges but can't end within one. A unit that retreated can't shoot or charge later that turn unless an ability lets it.

A Priest's store of devotion, built up over several turns. After a chanting roll of 2 or more you either bank the roll as ritual points, or add all your ritual points to the roll; if that reaches the prayer's chanting value it's answered and the points go back to 0. An unmodified 1 loses D3 of them.

A faster move in the movement phase: roll a dice and add it to the unit's Move. The unit can't move into combat while running, and a unit that ran can't shoot or charge later that turn unless an ability lets it.

The roll that stands for armour or toughness shrugging off a hit. A Save of 4+ means you need a 4, 5 or 6 on a dice. Lower is better, so a 2+ save is harder to get through than a 3+.

Units with ranged weapons attack enemies in range that they can see. A unit shoots with all its ranged weapons, and only models that can see the target get to shoot.

The small, fast way to play Age of Sigmar. Each Spearhead box is a complete, fixed army for one faction, and games are played on a smaller battlefield using a Spearhead battlepack. It's the whole reason this site exists.

The plastic frame your model's parts come attached to. You cut each part off as you need it, so leave pieces on the sprue until then and they won't get lost.

Units with Strike-first fight before units without it in the combat phase. A unit only has it when an ability gives it.

Units with Strike-last fight after every other eligible unit has fought. It usually comes from a debuff your opponent has put on you.

Each player's own part of the battlefield, marked on the battleplan's deployment map. You set up your army in your territory. A unit is 'within' a territory if any part of a base is inside it, and 'wholly within' if every part of every base is. Ground that belongs to neither player is neutral territory.

Your go within a battle round. On your turn you are the active player and work through the phases in order: start of turn, hero, movement, shooting, charge and combat, then the end of turn, before your opponent takes theirs.

A deck of cards tied to the realm you are fighting in. Each battle round a twist card changes the conditions of the battle, such as extra ways to score or a hazard both players must deal with.

Stopping an enemy spell. When an enemy casts a spell that reaches its casting value, one of your Wizards within 30" of the caster can roll 2D6: if it beats the casting roll (equal isn't enough), the spell is unbound and does nothing. Prayers can't be unbound, and Spearhead has no unbinding.

The player with fewer victory points at the start of a battle round. It's decided once, as each round begins, and stays the same for the whole round even if the scores change. If the scores are tied then (as they always are in round 1), nobody is the underdog that round. Some rules give the underdog a small boost to help them catch up.

A last-chance roll for each point of damage that gets through, usually from magic or divine protection. Ward (5+) means each damage point is ignored on a 5 or 6.

The card or page that tells you everything about a unit: its Move, Health, Save and Control stats, its weapons, its abilities and its keywords. Expect to check them constantly at first — that's normal.