We played a pretty simple scenario. There was a large, strange rock in the center of the board. Objective was to capture the rock as it may potentially be warpstone or some other useful rock-like item. At the end of the game, add up the total number of models within 3 inches of the rock (can't be a single character, war machine, or unit with less than 5 models, i think is what we agreed to). Whoever has most models, wins. Any other result is a draw. The other thing we learned was to ditch the rule that says all terrain pieces have to roll for an effect on the Terrain Table. It's just too much stuff to remember during the game. So we picked two pieces of terrain, and rolled for those. The farmhouse on my side of the table (empire side) and the far hill on the Elf side with the Bolt Thrower and Elf Mage. Both rolls were "Mystical" which basically meant any unit within 3 inches, in the Hero Phase had to roll a die. On a 2-6 they got a buff, on a roll of a 1 they were "befuddled". As the game went on the elves on the hill were befuddled almost every turn. It was kinda funny.
We divided the table up straight down the center in two halves on either side of the road, with deployment zones on each of the far edges. Because of the road, it made for a bit of a zig-zag deployment which was cool.
I wanted to try out the "battalion" rules and brought a State Troop Detachment battalion of an Empire General on foot, unit of 18 swordsmen, unit of 12 halberdiers, 10 Hunstmen Archers, and 5 Pistoliers. With the Detachment was also a unit of 5 Knights, a Battle Wizard, a Battle Standard Bearer (General with War Banner), and my newly painted Helblaster Volley Gun. (i'll follow up with a post about that later...)
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| I spy, with my little 28mm eye, some elves... |
With one game under our belt, we got started pretty quickly. The simple rules make this game super easy to pick up. You rarely pick up the rules to check stuff. After about two turns you pretty much remember everything. The only real hiccup is that you're referring to all the special rules in the warscrolls. That can be a little annoying. But like anything, once you play enough with the same army you'll memorize almost everything.
Turn 1, I won the initiative and moved up.
This wasn't really a battle report game - we were really interested in playing the new rules and getting familiar with them. But we took a few snaps here and there to grab the more interesting moments...like...when the special rule for the High Elves "Storm of Arrows" unleashed a ridiculous volley of fire into my archers and wiped them from the board!
I've been wondering how Age of Sigmar would hold up with larger armies. It's definitely a skirmish game and seems perfect for a smaller-sized game, especially after our first game when it just degenerated into a slog in the middle. I was also hoping that i could continue to deploy in ranks and movement trays even if it wasn't "ideal" for the best effect with the rules.
However, there is a subtle tactical element to this game that is not apparent the first time you read the rules and first time you play. The first time we played we totally screwed up the alternating combat in the first battle round. This time, we both knew it going in and it really made a difference. you can also make the pile in rule work with ranked units - just deploy them on your movement tray as normal, move the unit around that way (unless you need to go around scenery or whatever) but then for combat, just charge them in and remove them from the tray. Way fucking better than the old "lap 'round" rules which were never good. Plus, stuff dies very fast and in large numbers in this game. It still has a tendency to turn into Operation Grind Face once you're in combat, but you also have the Retreat rule and can leave a combat whenever you want. And if you're playing a scenario, getting stuck-in isn't always the best plan.
I had placed my Knights on the far right flank behind the town, shielded from the elf bolt throwers on the hill. But in my excitement to get them into game, i charged them into the spearmen unit a little too early and the Swordmasters of Hoeth hit piled-in on the Elf turn.
As usual, the horses did more damage than the riders.
Anyways it was getting late and we were going to play 6 turns but we called it at the top of Turn 4. we thought it was a draw but I noticed that the Elf Spearmen unit (seen above) was probably within 3 inches of the objective stone. We measured, he had 7 guys within 3 inches. Now, we had decided that the objective stone was also "Deadly", Option 4 on the Terrain table which meant that after each battle round on a roll of a 1 the model is slain. So it came down to whether or not he could roll seven 1's. If they were all 1, the elves in range were dead and no objective claimed (draw). If any survived, he wins. Sure enough, only one elf died and the Elves had claimed the objective. Win for the Elves!
So I won't get into a long discourse about AoS, but overall, after 2 games, it's pretty good. Sure, it has some flaws (like measuring movement by any point on the model. that's just plain dumb. we immediately ditched that and measured base-to-base). But overall I like it. It's not Warhammer Fantasy, but it's a cool, different game. It's really easy to pick up and fun to play. That game last night was probably the most fun I've had playing Warhammer in a long time. AoS doesn't provide (yet) the same level of mental stress and challenge as Warhammer Fantasy, but I think it might be there later.
This wasn't really a battle report game - we were really interested in playing the new rules and getting familiar with them. But we took a few snaps here and there to grab the more interesting moments...like...when the special rule for the High Elves "Storm of Arrows" unleashed a ridiculous volley of fire into my archers and wiped them from the board!
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| shit dies fast in Age of Sigmar |
However, there is a subtle tactical element to this game that is not apparent the first time you read the rules and first time you play. The first time we played we totally screwed up the alternating combat in the first battle round. This time, we both knew it going in and it really made a difference. you can also make the pile in rule work with ranked units - just deploy them on your movement tray as normal, move the unit around that way (unless you need to go around scenery or whatever) but then for combat, just charge them in and remove them from the tray. Way fucking better than the old "lap 'round" rules which were never good. Plus, stuff dies very fast and in large numbers in this game. It still has a tendency to turn into Operation Grind Face once you're in combat, but you also have the Retreat rule and can leave a combat whenever you want. And if you're playing a scenario, getting stuck-in isn't always the best plan.
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| Pistoliers and General charge in but the Halberds failed their charge. Boo! |
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| Take that you elves! Uh..er..Aelfs! |
I had placed my Knights on the far right flank behind the town, shielded from the elf bolt throwers on the hill. But in my excitement to get them into game, i charged them into the spearmen unit a little too early and the Swordmasters of Hoeth hit piled-in on the Elf turn.
As usual, the horses did more damage than the riders.
Anyways it was getting late and we were going to play 6 turns but we called it at the top of Turn 4. we thought it was a draw but I noticed that the Elf Spearmen unit (seen above) was probably within 3 inches of the objective stone. We measured, he had 7 guys within 3 inches. Now, we had decided that the objective stone was also "Deadly", Option 4 on the Terrain table which meant that after each battle round on a roll of a 1 the model is slain. So it came down to whether or not he could roll seven 1's. If they were all 1, the elves in range were dead and no objective claimed (draw). If any survived, he wins. Sure enough, only one elf died and the Elves had claimed the objective. Win for the Elves!
So I won't get into a long discourse about AoS, but overall, after 2 games, it's pretty good. Sure, it has some flaws (like measuring movement by any point on the model. that's just plain dumb. we immediately ditched that and measured base-to-base). But overall I like it. It's not Warhammer Fantasy, but it's a cool, different game. It's really easy to pick up and fun to play. That game last night was probably the most fun I've had playing Warhammer in a long time. AoS doesn't provide (yet) the same level of mental stress and challenge as Warhammer Fantasy, but I think it might be there later.
