Is the competitive scene for Age of Sigmar changing? Recently I’ve seen a lot of questions asking whether Age of Sigmar is as popular as it used to be, has the release of Old World affected the numbers playing Age of Sigmar?
We can’t answer that definitively, but what we can look at is whether the number of tournaments and players attending them has fallen over the last couple of years.
Since the start of 4th Edition we’ve been gathering the data on tournaments and we have more than 900 tournaments and 28,500 player entries since it’s release. So for our research we’re going to look at two slightly different time periods.
The first will be January to October this year compared to 2025 for the same period, and then we’ll also look at July to October this year and last year to compare the General’s Handbook.
There are some limitations to the data, which I’ll go into later.
Smaller, but more tournaments
| Metric | Jan-Oct 2025 | Jan-Oct 2026 | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tournaments | 348 | 358 | +2.9% |
| Tournament Entries | 10,641 | 10,650 | +0.1% |
| Unique Players | 5,851 | 6,023 | +2.9% |
| Average Tournament Size | 30.6 | 29.7 | -2.7% |
| Median Tournament Size | 24 | 23 | -1 player |
The number of tournaments has risen, but the numbers of players attending tournaments has barely moved, with only 9 more players than the same period last year, but 10 more tournaments to
Where have the big tournaments gone?
Let’s look into whats happening at the different sized tournaments:
| Tournament Size | 2025 | 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-16 Players | 109 | 87 | -20.2% |
| 17-32 Players | 131 | 166 | +26.7% |
| 33-64 Players | 83 | 89 | +7.2% |
| 65+ Players | 25 | 16 | -36.0% |
The number of tournaments that have between 17 and 32 players has seen a large rise, while tournaments with 65+ players has dropped. Some of the larger tournaments last year will now be falling into a smaller category.
A possibility for this is that smaller tournaments are easier to organise and they require less space. Another may be that players prefer to attend their local tournaments rather than travelling to larger events now.
This isn’t true for all countries
The global figures hide some important regional changes.
Looking at individual countries, we can see:
| Country | 2025 Players | 2026 Players | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 1,688 | 1,341 | -20.6% |
| United States | 3,983 | 3,577 | -10.2% |
| France | 278 | 785 | +182.4% |
| Germany | 403 | 487 | +20.8% |
| Australia | 677 | 712 | +5.2% |
| Canada | 1,120 | 1,121 | +0.1% |
The UK and US have seen their overall player numbers fall since 2025 while France and Germany have seen a large increase.
But, I need to be clear that our tournament coverage has changed over the last year or so and the increase we’re seeing in the French tournaments may simply be down to our ability to get their results from tournament sites. France historically is big on their league and team systems and does favour these more than other countries seem to.
What’s happening in the UK?
Between January and October 2025, Woehammer recorded 63 tournaments with 1,688 players. For the same period this year the number of tournaments fell to 57 and the players to 1,341.
So unlike what we’re seeing globally the UK has fewer tournaments and fewer players going to them.
Is Age of Sigmar getting smaller in the UK? Maybe, but we can’t say that for certain from these figures alone. After all, this is just a measurement of the competitive side of AoS and not those who play narratively or casually outside of tournaments.
What about the new Handbook?
The results for the July to October period this year and last year:
| Metric | July-October 2025 | July-October 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tournaments | 167 | 140 | -16.2% |
| Tournament Entries | 4,922 | 4,316 | -12.3% |
| Unique Players | 3,646 | 3,291 | -9.7% |
| Average Tournament Size | 29.5 | 30.8 | +4.6% |
| Median Tournament Size | 22 | 24 | +2 players |
Unlike our Jan to Oct comparison where the numbers looked stable, what we’re seeing now is a fall across the main categories.
There’s been 27 less tournaments, 606 less players and 355 less unique players.
As always with the release of a new GHB, July starts off well and 2026 saw slightly more players than July 2025, but then August, September and October have all fallen behind compared to last year.
What does this all mean?
First, global tournament participation has been stable (thanks to the French) between similar periods in 2025 and 2026.
Second, the size of an average AoS tournament is changing with larger tournaments on the decline and tournaments with 17-32 players increasing.
Thirdly, the July to October comparison shows a decrease in the number of players and tournaments for the start of the new GHB compared to the previous one.
Last, we’re seeing a difference between countries with the US and UKs tournament scenes getting smaller while those in continental Europe are getting more popular.
But none of this means that Age of Sigmar is less popular and tournament attendance is only one measure of the games health. As we’ve mentioned, loads more people enjoy AoS without attending events.