3.0 Age of Sigmar Starter Sets Review and Comparison

Looking to start your first army in Age of Sigmar and unsure which starter set is the best for you? You are in the right place!

In this article we will review the current 3.0 Age of Sigmar starter sets and help you deciding which one is best for you. If you are new in Age of Sigmar we recommend starting from our Age of Sigmar landing page and get acquainted with the various terms and armies available.

We also had an article on the 2.0 old Age of Sigmar Starter sets, and you can check that out if you like to know what went before.

Which Age of Sigmar Starter Sets are available?

3.0 Age of Sigmar Starter Sets depicts the evergreen Stormcast Eternals against the Kruleboyz, a new type or Orruks (the name of Orks in AoS). Previous versions (from Age of Sigmar 2.0) had the Stormcast fight the Nighthaunt or the Blades of Khorne.

Age of Sigmar 3.0 launched with the Dominion box set. As it was a limited edition box, it represents a good value for money if you are interested in the content but is also not available anymore from Games Workshop main store. You could still find it in some third party retailer stores. As a launch box is not a starter set and therefore we will not be discussing it here.

For Age of Sigmar 3.0 there are three different boxes: Warrior, Harbinger and Extremis, whose differences can be found in the table below. Don’t worry if it doesn’t tell you much yet, we will go in detail soon.

First a premise: the Stormcast Eternals are the classic “good guys”, warriors created by Sigmar himself from the souls of the best mortals saved one instant before their demise while fighting the forces of Chaos. This does not mean they are perfect, and also apparently not immortal either. Age of Sigmar 3.0 brings a new restyle to the Stormcast, reflected by their new stylish armour (the Thunderstrike).

On the other side they are opposed to the Kruleboyz, a new breed of Orruks and their allies who left their hiding places and swamps following the awaken of primal energies and the rampage led by Kragnos, End of Empires and last of the Drogrukh race. While they are different from the bulkier Ironjawz or the more savage (and dated kits) Bonesplitterz, they can either be played as a individual army or all together as part of the Orruk Warclans Big Waaagh! allegiance.

Overview of content for Age of Sigmar Starter Sets: Warrior, Harbinger and Extremis

Warhammer Age of Sigmar Warrior Starter Set Overview

The Warrior starter set is the smallest of the sets and also the cheapest.

It contains 16 miniatures of which 6 are Stormcast and 10 Kruleboyz.

The Stormcast miniatures are a Knight-Arcanum and 5 Vindictors. The latter have an option for the champion and for the standard-bearer making the unit a legit unit for Age of Sigmar.

The Kruleboyz contain a Killaboss with Stab-grot (2 separate miniatures) and 10 Gutrippaz. This unit, while being a valid unit, is missing the standard-bearer and the musician available in the stand-alone box. They are also mono-pose miniatures with no alternative weapon loadout as they are armed with Wicked Stikka missing the Wicked Hakka option.

The box also contains:

• A lore book
• A core rules booklet
• 4 warscroll cards
• 2 allegiance abilities cards
• A 30″ by 22.4″ double-sided gaming mat
• 2 range rulers
• 10 dice
• 2 rules reference sheets.

If you are interested in the lore, the Core Book contains many more pages and the core rules in one single tome. It is practical to have a booklet with all core rules to take with you everywhere but you can find them also in the General’s Handbook or on the Age of Sigmar app directly on your phone.

The lore book in this edition also contains some battleplans to immediately use your miniatures.

The warscroll and allegiance abilities cards are outdated and useful only if you are starting to play with this box. If you are using it to expand on a proper Age of Sigmar army afterwards you’ll archive them really fast.

The double-sided mat has an interesting size as it should be a quarter of the recommended size for an Age of Sigmar match (60″ x 44″), however it is few inches bigger. You still need four to have a full table, but it’s enough to play with the miniatures present.

Pros and Cons of the Age of Sigmar Warrior Starter Set

+ For its price it’s a self-contained game with enough content to understand if Age of Sigmar is for you.
+ Miniatures are push-fit meaning they are easier to assemble for beginners. There are also some variants compared to previous edition where all miniatures had a single way to assemble them.
+ The only place where you can buy a Knight-Arcanum or a Killaboss with Stab-grot at the moment.

– Not many miniatures, just a hero and a single unit per side.
– Push-fit miniatures are not the best if you are an experienced player as it may leave gaps after assembling.
– Mono-pose miniatures with a bit of variation (champion or no-champion, etc.) but no different loadout or command group for the Gutrippaz.
– Many reference cards are not relevant anymore, may confuse beginners and are pretty useless to experienced players.

Verdict on Age of Sigmar Warrior Starter Set

For this price it’s a self-contained game ideal for beginners to start a game with few push-fit miniatures. It may not give you an idea on how a full game of Age of Sigmar plays, but it’s a low investment to understand if you are interested in the lore, the miniatures or simply painting them.

Please note that the rules are free in PDF format from the Warhammer Community website , therefore there is no need to buy this box only for that.

If you have a friend that is starting Age of Sigmar at the same time and is interested in the opposite faction, this could either be a good integration to other boxes or a decent starting point at a budget price.

For experienced players that have missed the Dominion box set, this box is the only (and expensive) way to obtain that couple of heroes from retail. It is probably cheaper to search the second-hand market.

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Warhammer Age of Sigmar Harbinger Starter Set Overview

The Harbinger set builds from the Warrior set expanding on the number of miniatures.

The lore book, core rules booklet, 6 warscroll cards (2 more), 2 allegiance abilities cards, the 30″ by 22.4″ double-sided gaming mat, 2 range rulers, 10 dice and 2 rules reference sheets are still there. The lore book has a different cover and few different battleplans to use the miniatures in this set, but the beginning is identical.

The Stormcast Eternals have a Lord-Imperatant with Gryph-hound, 3 Praetors and 5 Vindictors. This is actually an excellent starting point as all miniatures are more or less what you would find in their separate boxes. Except the Lord-Imperatant that you can only purchase through this box or the Extremis one.

The Kruleboyz have a Swampcalla Shaman with Pot-grot, 10 Gutrippaz and 10 Hobgrot Slittaz. While the Slittaz have the entire command group (champion, standard-bearer and musician) available, the Gutrippaz are without it and without the alternative weapon loadout. Here the value decreases a bit, but as a starting point for Kruleboyz is a decent one.

This box costs from Games Workshop £65, the individual kits cost roughly £92 (some contain only half of the box so the overall cost would be higher but have more miniatures) considering you can’t buy a Lord-Imperatant or Swampcalla outside of this box, making the purchase of this set extremely good money-wise.

If you have a friend that wants to start Age of Sigmar and is interested in the opposite faction as yours, even buying two of these boxes could be interesting as it would give you roughly 1000 points of Stormcast and 700+ of Kruleboyz (but 44 miniatures) for £65 each.

You could still buy the set and then try to sell the other half on the second-hand market and even the extra heroes you may not need, scoring a really cheap way to get into the hobby, but here is the conundrum: if you are just starting, you may not know how to sell in the second-hand market or understanding the mechanics. If that is you, then better finding a friend to share or buying directly from the second-hand market the half that you need.

Pros and Cons of Age of Sigmar Harbinger Starter Set

+ More miniatures, better price discount.
+ Excellent starting point for either faction if you can split with a friend or know how to sell in the second-hand market.
+ Push-fit miniatures ideal for beginners.
+ The heroes can only be bought through this or Extremis set.

– Push-fit miniatures are not the best for experienced players.
– The Gutrippaz command group and alternate weapon loadout is missing.
– Heroes locked to a single box means for veteran players that want to complete their collection an extra expense.
– Many reference cards are not relevant anymore, may confuse beginners and are pretty useless to experienced players.

Verdict on Age of Sigmar Harbinger Starter Set

As a stand-alone game, it’s less balanced than the Warrior set but it still gives you an idea of the game. It’s like 2 start collecting boxes in the same box at almost the price of one.

If you can split with a friend it’s excellent value for money. It is also a good way to enter the hobby.

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Warhammer Age of Sigmar Extremis Starter Set

The Extremis Starter Set is identical to the Harbinger one except it contains scenery and the lore book is updated to take advantage of it.

Therefore all considerations discussed for the Harbinger set miniatures and extra are still valid here. Let’s consider then the scenery pieces.

For £40 more (compared to the Harbinger) you get:

• Domicile Shell
• Domicile Shell with Winch
• Guardian Idol
• Nexus Syphon

All 4 sets are sold for £30 from the Games Workshop website as an exclusive item, so it may be difficult to buy them elsewhere. And that’s it. You need to consider if paying a third of the price for those 4 pieces of scenery is worth the extra cost. You need to like the style, and you need to agree on the price.

They don’t even have extra official rules, they are just scenery to fill your battlefield, but definitely not enough to fill a full 60″ x 44″ field (Age of Sigmar 3.0 recommended battlefield size).

For £40 you can find much more scenery elsewhere, you could even 3D print it if you are into that hobby as well. However, if you are just starting the hobby, it could be interesting to have something different than books and mugs to represent the insidious terrain of the Mortal Realms.

Pros and Cons of Age of Sigmar Extremis Starter Set

+ All pros from the Harbinger set and you get some scenery to start playing on a colourful battlefield (provided you paint them).

– Same cons as the Harbinger set but you are paying a lot for some non-essential scenery.

Verdict on Age of Sigmar Extremis Starter Set

If you are planning to play at home with friends and introduce them to Age of Sigmar, it could be a good deal to get this box and use it for demonstrations.

If you are a beginner, you may be interested in putting something on the table to represent obstacles.

If you really like this scenery, this is the cheapest way to get it and you will not obtain a better deal.

In all other circumstances we feel this is a hard-pass.

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Other great resources:

• Age of Sigmar Hub
• Age of Sigmar 2.0 Starter Sets Compared
• Age of Sigmar Beginner’s Guide
• Age of Sigmar Faction Overview