I never got a chance to really read the first General's Handbook, so now having read this one, I will speak of it from a point of view of someone who didn't read the first one. As confusing as that sounds, the book itself tries to revive some of the game styles of the previous Fantasy Battles game. These are broken down into several game types, each with their own scenarios to play them out.
Coalition of Death
This is a verses match between two teams, with a number of players on each size. It has some limitations and rules, even a nice one that allows team mates to communicate with each other only if their Generals are within a certain range of each other and no enemies are near by. The only thing is that a Chaos army and an Order army have to be on opposing sides, with Death and Destruction being the interchangeable factions. Also, why is the alliance section done after players and their armies have already been picked? Perhaps I'm just a little confused on the set-up, but I have re-read the rules several times and it still sounds confusing to me. Oh well.
Triumph & Treachery
Another multiplayer game type, but this time each player is their own team. In it, you can choose which opponent will be your enemy in a turn, you can use any victory points earned can be used to bribe other players and you earn treachery points each turn to spend doing....well, treacherous things. Actually sounds like the type of game a devious Skaven player like myself could have a bit of fun with.
Time of War
The first of two narrative game types, this one lists most of the realms and the rules for what will happen when you play a game in their terrain. These rules will effect your armies in both negative and positive ways, great if you want to play a few story games in a single realm or across a couple of them.
Siege Warfare
While not as in-depth as it was back in Fantasy Battles, these rules allow you to have a siege game in which one side is essentially trying to breach the defenses of the other side in one of two game scenarios.
Pitched Battles
The main focus of the book, it is the central rules for point related battles, with options for causal games to tournament game play. Listed are the restrictions and requirements for unit fielding, depending on the number of points the game will be played at. In more casual play you can just pick your units, but with the more normal style modes, things like Battlelines and Allegiances are very important.
First off, Battlelines are the equivalent to what Core units were in Fantasy Battle and you need to field the minimum number requirement needed in order for you to use your army. A Battleline unit will only count as one if it is at least at minimum strength (I'll explain that in a second) and certain units will be classed as a Battleline depending on the Allegiance you choose. So as an example, a Chaos Allegiance means I can field things like Clanrats and Chaos Warriors, but if I wanted to field a Skryre Allegiance then my Battleline units become more limited with Skryre Acolytes and Stormfiends, which count as Battleline units only if my Allegiance is Skryre. You also get to spend a small number of your total points on Allies, which are listed in each Allegiance section (so allies for a Skryre allegiance would be limited to other Skaven groups, though Clan Pestilens gets access to Nurgle Daemons as well...go figure). It is important to not that your General cannot be chosen from your allies, nor do ally units count towards Battleline minimums (though they do count towards all other restrictions in your force), so no help for my Skryre force there.
Each unit has a minimum and maximum number of models that can be in it, with points for the both the minimum and the maximum. Most units are fielded in numbers of 5, 10 and 20 depending on the unit. You can field less then the minimum, but you must still pay the points for the minimum set number (so if a minimum number is 5 models and you field only 3 models, you still need to pay the points for the minimum 5 models). A Battleline unit that has less then the minimum number of models looses its Battleline status and does not count towards your minimum Battleline requirements. A number of units also benefit from the Massive Regiments rule, which means that if you field the maximum number of models in the unit, it uses the max point cost, which is cheaper points wise (so say a unit is 10/30 in min/max models it could have a points cost of 80/200, which means a unit at full model number would be 40 points cheaper, helping to encourage players to field larger units).
At this point the book lists each Allegiance under their main allegiance, with unit type, min/max size and points along with any additional information (mostly saying that if you field a more specific allegiance then certain units count as Battlelines). Not all units are listed here, particularly if your a Bretonnia or Tomb Kings player. All factions have an updated PDF on the Games Workshop website, which has updates for most units that haven't been incorporated into the game so far (including making certain characters have rules as normal Hero options for armies, such as Markus Wulfhart now becoming a new Hero type called a Huntmarshal) along with the Warscrolls and Pitch Battle lists for them. The only problem is that there are no rules in regards to allegiances (the Huntmarshal above for example says Order, Human but not if he is with, say, the Free Peoples) and allies (Tomb Kings for example don't have an allies list), so working them into some allegiances could prove difficult, particularly if you opponent is a bit of a jerk.
The final part is dedicated to the Allegiances. Each Allegiance contains its own special rule for the army (called a Battle Trait), a list of Command Traits for your General to pick from and a list of Artifacts of Power that one Hero (plus one Hero for each Warscroll Battalion in the army) can have, but a Hero cannot have more then one Artifact on them. You can choose which command trait and artifact you want or if needed, each one has a D6 table should you wish to roll for them (for a bit of randomness if a more narrative style is not your flavour).
Overall
It is a unique look into Age of Sigmar, trying to make the game more competitive in some areas, while more fun in others. While I understand the need for Battlelines, I honestly do not like the way the Skryre one works as it does tend to make it harder for me to field a more Skryre themed army without spending hundreds of dollars on getting Battleline units. Then again, a simple Chaos Allegiance does allow more colour to the battlefield. The updates changes of moving the Tomb Kings skellies from Death Rattle to Desert Legions means my Death army now has to be Death Allegiance, but I guess that isn't too bad either.
Personally, most of my problems come down to do you theme an army through creative work or via the Pitch Battle Allegiance rules? Rule wise you get some nice themed bonuses, but it also limits you greatly. I can see it working better for armies like Seraphon, Stormcast Eternals, etc. which already have a strong collection of models under them, but more limited model allegiances may have some trouble and those who want a more narrative themed army could find themselves unable to field all their troops other then in a general allegiance. This one is more down to ones personal preference and even the general alliances are not bad when it comes to their options as you can pick from a variety over the more limited ones (who can only choose from their lists and anything else must come from their ally options).
Unlike most of the books in the Age of Sigmar series, this one I do feel is worth the money. The only real problem comes from having the right Warscrolls (not all of them are on the GW website, a number of them are in other books) to field them and a number of Battalion options come from other books, including the previous General's Handbook. Still, this does give you a variety of game play options and may help some people who are still on the edge about Age of Sigmar to give it a go.
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