Munchkin Warhammer Age of Sigmar

About a year ago, I've shown you Munchkin Warhammer 40,000. The licensing deal with Steve Jackson Games does not only covering the grim dark sci-fi setting of the Games Workshop brand, but Warhammer Age of Sigmar as well, and so in November of 2019 the fantasy counterpart of Munchkin Warhammer was released, first in English and just last month as a localised German version of Munchkin Warhammer Age of Sigmar by Pegasus Spiele.

Munchkin started out in 2001 (almost 20 years ago!) as a not so serious card game, where you as the publishers say: Go down in the dungeon. Kill everything you meet. Backstab your friends and steal their stuff. Grab the treasure and run. Your goal is to reach level 10 before anybody else, by exploring dungeons, killing mobs, looting them, and using the loot to kill bigger mobs to proceed faster. All that in a world with a lot of tongue in cheek humour, parodising well known elements of fantasy worlds and role playing games.

This framework, that was kept the same over all the supplements and spin-offs, made it possible to add licenses and themes for a game that kept growing and growing over the last two decades. And in that time adding Pathfinder, Sci-Fi, Cthulhu or Superheroes to Munchkin, and since last year Warhammer as well.

A couple of side notes;

• all of the Munchkin card games are due to the same rule base playable with eachother (balancing will be slightly off, but the chaos is part of the Munchkin nature), so you can not only fight with your Space Marines along side Stormcasts, but all of the other decks as well.
• Steve Jackson of Steve Jackson Games, is not Steve Jackson (one of the founders of Games Workshop)
• this is not the first time Warhammer is referred to in the Munchkin universe, there are multiple jokes and promo-cards, taking a hint towards the tabletop wargame (can be found in regular Munchkin as well as Star Munchkin), but more on that further below.

We're covering the localised German version by Pegasus Spiele in this review, without the gameboard and 12 standies with plastic stands. Those are included for cosmetic reasons and not necessary for the game itself. For that reason, the German copy comes in a more compact box with the rules, 168 cards and a dice, for a lower price of 14,95 EUR. The US / english version by Steve Jackson costs 29,95 USD and covers the above mentioned board, 12 card board stand-ins with bases. These are "exclusive" to the Steve Jackson Variant and not part of the translated version. Levels are kept track usually by using tokens or a D10. The game experience (rules, cards and so on) is the same, only the way to keep track of the player levels is done in a different way.

Munchkin rules are pretty easy to understand, and covered on two double A4 pages, with all the explanations and some examples. The rules are available through Steve Jackson Games as PDF downloads.

The 168 cards are split into two decks, Door and Treasure cards. There are a couple of blanks, that are included for print production issues, that can be discarded. The game picks up the theme of the newer Warhammer Age of Sigmar, as you can see from some examples from both decks.

In Munchkin you play as an adventurer who wants to reach level 10 as quickly as possible. You can level up by multiple ways, but the most common one is by fighting a monster. The player who's turn it is, may enter a room by drawing a door card openly. This may uncover a monster, in that case, you're up for a fight. The card may show you a curse, that you have to deal with. If neither of those is the case, you can pick up the card and either loot the room (draw another door card, but face down this time) or look for trouble and play a monster from your hand. In a fight, your level is compared with the one of the mob you're up against, and if yours is higher you win the fight, may loot the mob and level up. In the realms of Warhammer Age of Sigmar, the mobs range from low level Gitz up to named characters, who will challenge you quite a bit, so you will need gear and items to give you boni or team up with other players. But as they are interested in reaching level 10 before you, you'll have to make deals, trade items, share loot and so on, to progress. Munchkin keeps it true to its name in the rules and doesn't take itself too serious. So you'll experience a fast paced, slightly chaotic games with funny illustrated and worded cards.

A game of Munchkin sets you up as a generic adventurer, and you would have access to classes like bards or warriors in the regular Munchkin (and appropiate classes in the other Munchkin variants), but in Munchkin Warhammer Age of Sigmar you can become one of 6 different "armies" from the Realms of Warhammer. This box provides the armies of Stormcasts, Skaven, Nighthaunt, Moonclad Gitz, Idoneth and Hedonite of Slaanesh. The upcoming (and partially already available) supplements provide additional armies / races for the game.

The cards are themed with the Warhammer universe, so the items, gears, curses and monsters are taken from the lore of the game. There are a few insider jokes, breaking the fourth wall, exiting the universe and pointing towards the tabletop hobby itself. But compared to Munchkin Warhammer 40,000 the meta level is noticable lower and there are fewer easter eggs. This is nothing you can blame the game designer for, Games Workshop rebooted Warhammer 5 years ago, parting with a 25 year old history of a game and setting up a new time line with new content, that isn't as present as The Old World (and especially not as the grim dark 40k universe, which is incredibly rich and broad).

So you can see, there is a mali for having an unpainted army, the Triumph & Tragedy card is a hint to the supplement of the same name, and that the weapon turns into lead (the material many miniatures are casted from) could be an easter eggs too.

The mobs included in this card deck are different units and monsters from the Age of Sigmar realm. Some of them are around since the old world, like the night goblin fanatic or giants, but with their new name of Loonshmasha Fanatic or Aleguzzler Gargant, others are from newer releases like the Flying Squig from Underworlds Mollog's Mob or new additions from the Age of Sigmar like the Lord-Celestant Vandus Hammerhand.

As Munchkin has been around for almost 20 years, the community has grown over the year and developers, distributors and players are very keen about it. Often they hand out promotional items on conventions and tournaments, with the card game those are often additional cards and bookmarks. Some of these need you to take additional actions to fully unfold their power and are often one-use items (the bookmarks must be physically destroyed to be used in some cases - unless they for example have a signature by one of the designers). With Munchkin Warhammer Age of Sigmar there were multiple bookmarks, unfortunately unlike the 40k promo none included with the White Dwarfs, but were given away on release. So far I am aware of these three promo cards and four book marks.

As Warhammer Munchkin is distributed by Pegasus Spiele and not by Games Workshop in Germany, your best chance to get your hands on the cards is board gaming events and stores.

If you want to sleeve your cards, please not that the Munchkin cards are less wide that regular trading cards. Here a brief comparison with a Underworlds card, the height is the same but they are not as wide.

Conclusion
Munchkin is very beginner friendly, as it is quick to learn and fast to play, without being to serious. So it's great to ease in a new gaming group or during a break in your regular  group (may that be board games or wargames). As Munchkin 40k is clearly sci-fi, the fantasy variant of Warhammer Age of Sigmar blends a bit better with the classic Munchkin range. Never the less, compared to Munchkin 40k Age of Sigmar doesn't go that deep into the meta tabletop jokes, which is a bit sad and if you're not familiar with the new Warhammer, the Age of Sigmar, there is not much Old World in there at all.

So far Steve Jackson Games already released multiple supplements for Munchkin Age of Sigmar, with more to come. The first one was Death & Destruction in february, adding Orruk Iron Jaws and Flesh Eater Courts as armies to the game. In June 2020 Chaos & Order, introduced the steampunky dwarfs of the Kharadron Overlords, and the Bloodbound of Khorne. Guts & Gory, covering Ogres from the Gutbuster Mawtribe and Nagash's Undead with Ossiarch Bonereapers will be released in October 2020. All of these sets are 19,95 USD and add 112 cards to the game.  In addition there are further accessories, a dice set and a Kill-o-meter, both cover 4 new cards as well.

To sum it up, you can either get the boxed version of the game for around 30 USD / 25 EUR in english or the compact, german (some people might say "efficient" 😉 ) boxed set for around 15 EUR. So very little invest for a fun, compact game that can be played during travel, as a main event or as a side on your next campaign or tournament weekend.

Munchkin is a brand by Steve Jackson Games and distributed in Germany by Pegasus Spiele.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.