The shining city of Brightspear is not the haven people hoped for. Gangs and cutthroats roam the shadows, mages and scientists vie to unlock the secrets of the vaults and the taint of Chaos still lingers beneath the city. Luckily for those who want to live a peaceful life, a group of Soulbound has arrived. These heroes are linked to the gods themselves, and for whom the future is either glory or death.
We've been fans of Cubicle 7's Warhammer roleplaying games for a while, and you can read our preview of the full Soulbound rulebook here, and our review of the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying Game core rulebook here.

Toto, I've A Feeling We're Not In The Old World Anymore
Before we get into Age of Sigmar Soulbound, it's worth noting the difference between Age of Sigmar (AoS), and Warhammer (now known as Warhammer the Old World in Games Workshop's latest tabletop iteration). The original Warhammer was Games Workshop's fantasy wargaming system.
In 2015 (a decade this year and we're still having this conversation) Games Workshop had a narrative event called the End Times, which ended the Old World and started the new Age of Sigmar system, along with moving the narrative completely away and into a new fantasy setting (with many of the same elements, but also a lot of changes). Games Workshop has also since re-released (in January 2024) the Warhammer Fantasy game, which you can read our review of here.
I mention the above because Cubicle 7 publishes 2 Warhammer roleplaying systems. Age of Sigmar Soubound, for which we are reviewing the Starter Set here, is set in Games Workshop's premier fantasy setting, and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (WFRP), which is set in Games Workshop's original fantasy system. WFRP also persevered throughout the removal of Warhammer Fantasy from Games Workshop's wargaming range throughout the 2015-2024 gap.
We'll go into details of both settings in our coverage of the systems, but a quick summary is that Warhammer Fantasy is set in a more traditional fantasy setting, with the races of humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, and Skaven (ratmen) all battling over the map of the Old World, and Age of Sigmar sees the different races fighting across 8 different Mortal Realms, 8 unique planes of existence, connected through realm gates. A lot of the classic races are included, but they have a unique Games Workshop twist in AoS.

A Starting Adventure
Most roleplaying products start with a single book, either a Core Rulebook, which contains everything players and Games Masters (GM) need to run the games, or a Players Handbook, which focuses on the core mechanics and player options, expanding into other books for the Games Master (which we see historically in Dungeons and Dragons by Wizards of the Coast). Soulbound has a Core Rulebook available, but also to make it even easier, the Soulbound Starter Set has everything 5 players plus a GM need to play their first few games in one easy package, with no printing or other products required.
This Soulbound starter set contains extremely well-produced, visually engaging, and coordinated components that allow players to get going easily, with an experienced GM. The GM gets 2 books, Faltering Light, which is the adventure and rules for running Soulbound out of the Starter Set, and the Brightspear City Guide, which fleshes out the city that the adventure is set in with details and adventure hooks (and stats for other enemies) for continuing your campaign in the city.
Faltering Light acts as a tutorial, guiding players through the rules whist exploring the adventure, and it works for someone who might be new to running roleplaying games as a GM too, but they will need to do some preparation beforehand. Reading through the whole adventure, making notes, and getting the hang of the rules, as they will be the one guiding the players through their first games. This preparation will set you up for your future career as a GM running games, as you don't have the player's luxury of just turning up on game night to play, most GMs do a lot of background work in preparing the adventure for the players.
The players can get going pretty quickly with Soulbound out of the Starter Set, as the character sheets are very well produced, starting with a full-color image of the character on the back, along with character details including a fantastic 'why play' section on the front. The sheets open up to show all the stats, talents, and equipment, as well as a quick rules breakdown for the character sheet elements so you don't need to keep grabbing the rulebook. They also have a character background section, where you can pick goals, connections, and secrets to add depth and your own spin on the character.
The final starter set components are dice (a set of 8 custom 6-sided dice, but it's helpful if all players have their own set of 4 to 8 dice), an introductory leaflet, that doubles as the party details sheet on the back, some quick reference rules sheets a double-sied Brightspear map for the players. The box is also dual use, and the GM can use as a screen to keep his notes and rolls secret, and handily has its own map and quick reference sheets printed on the inside.

The Soulbound Answer The Call
The Soulbound Starter Set player experience begins with selecting a character. The Soulbound Core Rulebook has an impressive 23 character types to choose from, and the Starter Set has 5 pre-generated characters from those, taking a traditional roleplaying party of classes and races with the Age of Sigmar spin on it. Each character has a unique feel and party role, but will also feel comfortable to those who might be new to roleplaying. For example, Vel Arturious is a Stormcast Eternal, one of Sigmar's immortal fighters who like to go toe to toe with the enemy and Imren Sealgaire is an Idoneth Deepkin Tidecaster, a sea-elf magic user.
The other members of the party include Xan Bemyr, a human war priest, Malgra Dainsson, a dwarven engineer, and Darach a walking tree ranger (think a cross between Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings and Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy).

Chaos Everywhere!
The core Soulbound system is slightly different from what you might have experienced in other systems, and it has some interesting complexity that provides a lot of flexibility in what is an epicly heroic system. As with any system, Soulbound requires a player to roll a dice and beat a number set by the difficulty of the task. The number of dice the player rolls comes from 1 of 3 core stats, Body, Mind, and Soul. Additional dice are added for skills that the character may have that apply to the test.
The flexibility comes with the combination of the target number required to roll, most tests require a 4 but this is raised and lowered depending on how difficult the test is. The number of successes required can also change depending on the circumstances. This system allows flexibility beyond single-roll systems, allowing the GM to flex between difficulty and complexity. Finding a specific sentence in an unknown book in a library would require a lot of low successes, picking a lock might require a single high success, and picking the lock on the greatest safe ever made, would require a lot of high successes.
The system flows very well and is introduced as you progress through the adventure, which is intriguing, but very focused on a specific aspect of Chaos, which would be my only criticism of the adventure. It gives a great first impression, but not a very rounded one to someone who might be brand new to the setting. It would of course be difficult to give a fully rounded impression of the whole setting, as it's taken Cubicle 7 years and multiple supplements to cover all of it, but an introduction to some of the races and all of the Chaos gods would have been nice to see (and obviously a lot more work for a less experienced GM, or an experienced GM new to the setting).
Age Of Sigmar Soulbound Starter Set Final Thoughts
The Age of Sigmar Soulbound Starter Set is a great package, incredibly well-produced with great-looking components. The characters give a rounded first introduction to the setting, with awesome character sheets full of detail. The 2 books for the Games Master do a great job of introducing the setting and system and also allowing the GM to expand without buying further products if they want to test beyond the initial adventure with their players. The system itself is fun and engaging, fitting well with the heroic nature of the setting.
The copy of the Age of Sigmar Soulbound Starter Set used to produce this review was provided by Cubicle 7.
Review Summary
Pros
- A great variety of starting characters
- Extremely well designed package that expands well beyond the starting adventure
Cons
- The GM needs to do some prep work, which can be a little overwhelming for a brand new GM