Summoning is a great and misunderstood tactical tool in Age of Sigmar. It lets you adapt your army on the fly, allowing for some crazy flexible and strategic plays.

In this AOS tactics article, I will explain the fundamentals of summoning and how you can us it to kick butt.

My goal is not to tell you what to do, but to increase your understanding of the game so you can make better choices.

What is summoning

In AOS, Summoning is the ability to set-up a new unit on the table through a spell or ability.

You can summon plenty of units in Age of Sigmar. Usually, the spell that allows you to summon a unit can be found on the summoned units war scroll. All wizards from the faction know these spells unless the war scroll says otherwise.

For example, all Death wizards can summon Skeleton Warriors while only Slann wizards can summon Skinks.

Most summons have the same restrictions, they must be setup within 18″ of the caster and 9″ away from any enemy models. In most cases, these units are not allowed to move in the movement phase of the turn they come into play.

When you summon a unit you will have to pay for it with points from your “reserve pool”. You determine the size of your reserve pool on your army list. Your reserve pool counts towards the total point value of your army.

Some spells allow you to place more models if you get a higher cast result. It is important to realise that it only raises the number of models that you can set-up, it does not force you to.

Summoning offers Flexibility

The biggest strength of summoning is the flexibility it offers. Summoning allows you to set up a unit of your choice pretty much where ever you like. This means that you are not as limited by your army list as your opponent, allowing your to adapt to the way the battle unfolds.

This does not only allow you to counter your opponents actions, it stops your opponent from predicting your moves. When your opponent can not predict your actions, you can dictate the flow of the game.

Since you can strike virtually anywhere, you force your opponent to play defensively. In an objective based game that is huge. I can not stress enough how powerful that is.

I can not stress enough how powerful that is.

Location

Most summoned units must be placed within 18″ of the summoner and 9″ away from enemy models.

It is important to note that a unit is within’ a certain distance of something else as long as the shortest distance between the two units is equal to or less than the stated distance. This was stated in this F.A.Q.

This means you can set-up your summoned models however you like as long as they stay in unit cohesion, allowing you to reach a lot further than the 18″.

By setting up 2 of my 10 Skeleton Warriors a bit closer to the Necromancer, I was able to set up 8 skeletons 24″ away from my Necromancer. This way I can reach all the way across the table into my opponents deployment zone.

This allows you to capture objectives, prepare devastating charges or deny the movement of enemy units. You can read more about area denial and zoning here.

Balewind Vortex

The Balewind Vortex is a summonable piece of terrain that costs 100 reserve points. It allows the caster to stand on top of a magical vortex that increases its casting rolls by 1 and doubles the range of its spells, allowing you to set-up summoned units within 36″ of the caster.

When the Balewind Vortex is summoned, all models around it need to be moved so that they are not within 3″ of the base of the Vortex. Since the base of the vortex is roughly 4″ in diameter, you can use it to push friendly models in a direction of your choice.

For example, you could summon a Bloodthirster 9″ away from the enemy and behind the Bloodthirster, you could summon a Herald of Tzeentch. When this Herald summons a Balewind Vortex it can push the Bloodthirster forward up to about 5″, putting it very close to your enemies!

The Balewind Vortex can be removed from play at the beginning of the hero phase and summoned again by the same or another wizard from you army at no extra cost.

This gives you so much flexibility that it doubles the potential threat range of all your casters, making it very hard for your opponent to predict your actions.

By having enough points in reserve for a Balewind Vortex, you already put a lot of pressure on your opponent.

Overruling Restrictions

All armies can include a limited amount of heroes, behemoths and artillery on their army list. With summoning, you can override those restrictions, since you do not have to specify what you will summon on you army list.

It even allows you to break allegiance without losing its benefits. This allows for some amazing flexibility in your list building. For example, it would allow a pure Tzeentch army to summon a Bloodthirster without losing its use of destiny dice.

Reducing Deployed units

Every unit that you summon during the battle does not have to be set-up during your deployment. This can allow you to finish your deployment earlier than your opponent, giving you the choice for the first or second turn.

Having the choice of the first or second turn enables you to determine the development of the battle and who gets the first chance for a double turn.

Double turns are especially good for summoning since most summoned units cannot move in the turn the are set-up. Read more about the deployment or the double turn.

Summoning Support Units

Summoning goes far beyond the offensive. It is about controlling the battlefield, knowing what the place where and when to do it. Support units play a huge role in this.

Death has some great ways to mitigate shooting damage by summoning Bat Swarms, Chaos can summon a Blue Scribe for re-rolls on casting attempts, Order can summon an Astrolith Bearer for increased casting results etc…

It is important to note that summoned casters can cast spells on the turn they are set-up. This means that your summoned summoners can immediately start summoning. Even though this is quite a tongue breaker, it allows for some nifty plays.

The great thing about summoning support units is that you only have to pay for them when you need them, allowing you to field a more efficient army.

Finding the right support units that you can summon is a process of trial and error. Look at the weakest points in your army, in offence and defence, and see how these specific units can make things a bit better. Test your ideas and improve on them where necessary!