REVIEW

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound Review

by Daniel Clarke, June 12th, 2020

Welcome back heroes of the mortal realms! Cubicle 7 Entertainment have recently digitally released the Age of Sigmar: Soulbound RPG. Join us as we delve into worlds of gods, magic, and chaos with our opinions and insights into the game. For Sigmar!

So what is Age of Sigmar: Soulbound? This tabletop role playing game allows you to create an alter ego set in a universe in the eyes of the gods. Said gods have called upon your service with your souls bound to your heroic group. Your objective? To stem the tide of chaos and death across the mortal realms and reclaim order.

Character Creation

One of the most satisfying aspects of a role playing game is the character creation. Whether it be video games or the tabletop, molding your alter-ego allows you to make your mark in the world. In Soulbound, it is no different. The core book provides 8 steps needed to bring your hero to life. These steps are fairly easy to follow and sequentially walk you through the components thatwil make up your hero. These are your race and archetype, the 3 main attributes, understanding and selecting skills and talents, equipment, fleshing your hero out with personal details, your relations with the party and their goals, and getting to grips with the numbers you will use in an encounter.

For players well versed in TRPGs, it wont take long for you to familiarise yourself around the characters sheets and mechanics of your hero. It can seem similar to other titles much like different shades of the same colour. For newcomers to the scene, it can be a little daunting creating your first character and trying to learn everything else. But, with a kind and helpful Game Master(GM) you will pick up the rules in no time. Especially if they run an intro session so you can apply everything in front of you.

For me, I loved the look of the Idoneth race. Ocean Aelves seem to be as graceful as the sea. Also the background was rich and enticing. Only 1 in 100 are born with a soul. Thus, the constant hunt and acclamation of more is apparent for the survival of their race. From there, the Isharaan Tidecaster appealed the most with their mastery of the tide and skills in exposing the fears of their enemies. All these details were added to the character sheet. This includes the racial feature, in this case gaining additional points in a skill, and adding the Body, Mind, and Soul attributes.

From here it really opens up. Choosing what skills and talents from the list given by the archetype you chose can add another layer to your character. You have a limited amount of XP to spend on these. For skills, training allows you to add more dice to your roll; focus allows you to add to the result of such rolls. Quite a nice and simple system.

Once you have chose and added your skills and talents, you get to add your equipment, defining defining details about your character and goals, and their relations to your party. These 3 sections can be very enjoyable. This is especially so if your group and GM are all together discussing at the table. The dynamic of the group and how each character and player see one another is a wonderful experience. And adding little details such as battle scars, tales between heroes, and goals really adds another dynamic to the game. One where it is not just hack and slash but invests more to the narrative. You are the story!

After that, all is left is blocking in the stats you will need in an encounter. All through the core book, there are examples to demonstrate how mechanics work. These snippets are very helpful as on the surface it just looks like a bunch of numbers. But, examples demonstrate their functionality and relevance. Couple this with a supportive GM and a player can grasp the rules in no time at all. But, if creating a character seems a little too much, Cubicle 7 have provided some pre-generated characters whose shoes you can jump right into..

All in all, the character creation is fun and rewarding. There are enough choices to feel special but not so much that newcomers to TRPGs get overwhelmed. Compared to other titles of the genre it can look comparably small. With 108 possible core combinations in some cases compared to Soulbound’s 23, due to archetypes being restricted by race. However, it doesn’t seem to matter. There is something for everyone. Whether it be an upfront and personal warrior type, spell slinging magic user, tracking masters and hunters with animal companions, and masters of magic infused technology. You are bound to find fun here!

Gameplay and Mechanics

Once you have your characters and formed your party of daring and heroic adventurers, its time to for adventure! The GM, of which there is an entire section in the core book on how to be an awesome Game Master, will present the world and situations for your party to engage and interact with. The success for some of these interactions with come in the form of tests. Just like most TRPGs, you can determine the rate of your success of acting upon the world by the roll of the dice.

You might want to barter for lower prices with a merchant; attempt to repair magical wards protecting an ancient tomb; or fell a band of Orks that threaten the town you swore to protect. These situations, as well as many others, allow you to make use of your characters abilities and the sheet you have filled in earlier. These abilities come in the form of skills and traits.

The game handles such encounters with a mechanic called Tests. By rolling dice the player can see if they were successful in their actions. These tests are presented with the number on the dice you need and how many dice that need to hit that number. Force instance, DN(Difficulty Number) 5:2 means you would need to roll a 5 or higher on two dice to succeed. This is a lovely system to play with. It is also great for a GM to tweak when considering difficulty. Additional keywords might be added to test dexterity or channeling for more specific challenges.

On the surface, the tests mechanic is quite simple. Which is what you want in my opinion. Fluid and easy gameplay is key. Combat can get a little bit more complex when considering not only your abilities but your opponents. But, this is also the case for other titles. In Soulbound, the initial calculating of stats for attack, defense, and damage might seem a lot to take in for players not well versed in the genre. But, it is easy to forget that the GM is there to ask you for and push you towards the information that is needed.

In summary for combat, before you roll you dice you need to find out how difficult it will be to hit you opponent. To find out the difficulty you compare your offence to the opponents defense. For spells, the DN and requirements are listed for the spell which is very simple. After you have the DN, you roll your dice. The number of successful dice determines your damage. Your damage is then reduced by the opponents armour from which they take the remainder in damage. It seems a lot but, when in game it flows quite nicely.

There are skills and traits that can modify the rates of success for rolls made, as briefly discussed previously. As your character progresses you can improve them with new abilities. This is key for any RPG; progression. And in this game is it so satisfying ticking a box knowing you with have another dice to roll because of it! Or making it harder for the enemy to damage you.

Another mechanics that is cool and refreshing is movement in combat. In other titles, movement in 5 foot chunks is often employed. Here, the battlefield is sectioned off into zones. Dependent on your character’s speed (slow, normal, fast etc.), depends on how many zones you can move to. When accompanied by a battle map on the table, it becomes very easy and immersive to utilise.

Overall, the mechanics of the game are fun and fairly easy to use. Again, it can be a bit overwhelming trying to absorb all the information at once. Whenever I GM for players I always say, “don’t try and read the entire book on your own”. Not all of the book will apply to the player. If you are going to delve into Soulbound, or any TRPG really, work with your or a GM to help you take what you need from the tomb of infinite knowledge. Regardless, the examples in the book are very useful and do provide context to the information presented and how to use each of the elements on your character sheet. All of it will come to life and click when playing.

Story and Narrative

The lore in Warhammer and Age of Sigmar is notorious for its depth, scale, and rich narrative. Each of the 8 mortal realms and the 9th realm of chaos is full of detailed history. This lore details different eras of gods and mortals, wars, settlements, cataclysmic events, and generally how the realm has been shaped over its lifetime. Because of this, Soulbound has naturally inherited all of it. If you love immersive and encaptivating stories of gods, daemons, and the struggles of mortals then this is for you!

In summary, the mortal realms are subject to endless tides of undead, daemons and warriors of the dark gods, and rampaging orks. The walls of civilization are being battered with each wave, crumbling and tumbling into the blood red waters. The cries of its people drowned out by the maelstrom of death and chaos. You are chosen. You can beat back this tide. You are Soulbound!

By working with your group, your can traverse the realms and intact divine justice. This might take you to sky cities, jungle fortresses, or even the mouth chaos itself. You are bound to each other. And with that, you are more powerful. As such, the narrative of the game really makes you feel like to heroes the realm needs. For new and old players of RPGs, its very satisfying and empowering!

Verdict

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound by Cubicle 7 Entertainment is a fantastic TRPG with infinite replayability. You can craft a character that feels truly heroic and powerful but also unique with personal details. Combine this with oodles of rich lore, each session will always be an exciting adventure. The gameplay is gratifying and fairly easy to pick up. All you need is 6-sided dice and your character sheet.

As such, I would like to give Soulbound 9 out of 10. For a genre where you play the hero, this title definitely does that. Not only that, but you also feel powerful not only in yourself but as a group. It is easier to grasp the character creation steps and rules with a GM accompanied by an intro adventure for context. But, as core books go, each step of the way has snippets of context for each rule. This is great for the player to read and gain understanding on how to apply them.

Thank you for reading our review of Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound. It is available to pre-order on their official store from which you with obtain the PDF version free, to play straight away. If you haven’t done so already, be sure to have a gander of our narrative intro session of the game. Stay tuned for more news, reviews, and guides. Until next time, smile and game!