Which Age of Sigmar Spearhead box should you buy first?
Force descriptions checked 29 October 2026.
Buy the Spearhead box for the faction you most want to paint. Games Workshop designs every force to be balanced against the others, so the rules should not decide your first purchase.
If you want two armies in one box, choose City of Ash, which is sold out at the moment. Any other box is one force, so a first game also needs a board and cards.
Match the box to how you like to play
Each Spearhead force has its own battle trait. These six show the range, using Games Workshop's own descriptions. The note in brackets after each name says whether that box can be ordered.
| You like | Box | What the force does |
|---|---|---|
| A hero who arrives late | Yndrasta's Spearhead, Stormcast Eternals (sold out at the moment) | Yndrasta and three Annihilators stay off the board until the penultimate battle round, so the rest of the force has to hold ground. |
| Ghosts from reserve | Cursed Shacklehorde, Nighthaunt (sold out at the moment) | Five Bladegheist Revenants and five Dreadscythe Harridans wait in reserve and arrive from the second battle round. |
| Rules that change as you play | Charnel Watch, Flesh-eater Courts (sold out at the moment) | You pick a Delusion in round one. After that you roll to see whether the belief shifts. |
| Risk and reward | Darkoath Raiders, Slaves to Darkness (sold out at the moment) | You show a Battle Tactic card to your opponent as an oath. Score it and you keep its command to use later. |
| Shooting | Fusil-Platoon, Cities of Sigmar (sold out at the moment) | Swift skirmishers tie up enemy units while long-ranged blackpowder guns take aim. |
| Tricks and teleports | City of Ash, Skaven and Cities of Sigmar (sold out at the moment) | The Skaven hero can teleport to within 6 inches of a friendly unit on a roll of 3+, and the Embergard force relocates after fighting. |
What the range looks like today
Boxes you can order now come first below, then the rest.
A single box such as Khainite Shadow Coven is £75.05 against an RRP of £95.00. City of Ash is a bigger box with two forces and a board. The rest of the range is in the Spearhead collection.
Why not pick the strongest force
Because there is no stable answer. Games Workshop gives each Spearhead force its own mechanics to balance it against the rest, and then adjusts them. Its rules update of 28 October 2026 changed four Spearhead forces, and its quarterly updates adjust points and abilities elsewhere in the game. A force that looks strong in a video this month may be tweaked by the next update.
Choosing in four steps
- Pick the faction whose models you would happily paint all of.
- If your first choice cannot be ordered, pick your second choice.
- Decide who you will play. A friend with their own box means two single boxes plus a gaming pack. Playing alone or with someone who owns nothing points to City of Ash (sold out at the moment).
- Add a board and cards before the first game, as the page on what Spearhead needs explains.
Common questions
Are all the Spearhead boxes balanced against each other?
They are designed to be. Games Workshop gives each force its own mechanics, from reinforcements to reserves, to even things out. Because the forces are updated, use the free app or the latest download rather than an old print-out.
Do both players need their own Spearhead box?
Each side's force comes from one box, so two players need two boxes. City of Ash is the one box that covers both sides, and the page on what Spearhead needs lists what it holds.
Do Spearhead forces have fewer models than a normal army?
Often fewer per unit. Games Workshop says Spearhead unit sizes are often smaller than in larger games, and bigger units are split in two. That is why a whole force fits in one box.
Force descriptions: Warhammer Community (Games Workshop's news site), 1 May 2024, 20 November 2024, 25 May 2025, 14 August 2025 and 14 April 2026. Rules updates: Warhammer Community, 23 September and 28 October 2026. Prices and stock: this shop.