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Let's Talk About Age of Sigmar

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11 Aug 2016 11:29 - 11 Aug 2016 12:10 #231818 by ufe20
Hey everyone. This is ufe/Ian. Seems I haven't posted here in like 2 years and I'm locked out of my account, so I made a new one.

So we were talking a bit about Age of Sigmar in the Runewars thread and I figured I may as well start a new one instead of high jacking that one.

For those who don’t know, Warhammer: Age of Sigmar is GW’s replacement for Warhammer Fantasy Battles. It moved to circle bases and streamlined the rules to make for more of a skirmish game than a rank and file battle game. Now to ramble on about things I like about the game.

Simplified, Free Rules

The rules are literally free. Here's a link to GWs website with the 4 page core rules and PDFs for “warscrolls”(unit stats) for all 15 8th edition WFB armies. There’s also an app that has the rules too. You do need to buy the books for points, scenarios and battalion rules and I think you can buy these all piecemeal through the app too.

Like I was saying in the other thread, I don’t make it out to play in stores as much as I used to and mostly game at home with the wife and friends of varying degrees of interest in tabletop games. That said, I played more games of AoS in its first month of release last year than I did during all of 8th Ed WFB. What it lacks in depth, it makes up for in accessibility.

Four Mega Factions

So instead of the 15 different armies of WFB, there are now only 4 “Alliances.”
Order: Humans, dwarfs, elves, lizardmen and the new stormcast eternals
Chaos: Warriors of Chaos, Demons of Chaos, beastmen and skaven
Death: duh
Destruction: Orcs & Goblins and Ogre Kingdoms

This is probably my favorite thing from someone who only casually plays. Many times GW would release a super cool dragon or whatever and I’d be thinking how awesome it would be to build and paint that, only to be put off by the fact that I’d have to build and paint like 40 elves to ever play it. Well, now the dragon can just go with my dwarfs or empire and I can come up with whatever excuse for that to work fluff wise. Even the new points system supports this. You will unlock additional units as battle line (mandatory core type units) if you stay within your specific sub faction, but even that is only marginally beneficial thanks to the…

Flattened Power Curve

Ok, so part of the move to simplify the rules system is that ‘to hit’ and ‘to wound’ rolls are just a static line on your warscroll instead of comparing weapons skills and strength v toughness like in WFB. The only way two units warscrolls generally affect one another is through the ‘rend’ stat, which weakens your opponent’s save roll.

Now, at first I really didn’t like this at all and thought it was too much a simplification of the old system, that it would make units lose their flavor. After playing a couple games though, it’s clear that between the various special rules and buffs being applied to units that zombies, goblins and humans don’t end up all feeling too ‘samey.’

What does happen though, is that now goblins have a snowballs chance in hell in landing a few wounds on a dragon. This means that I can bring all my big cool toys without feeling like a dick. It also means that the few basic troops you ae forced to bring in points games aren’t completely worthless cannon fodder. Most importantly though, this helps with scaling the game down.

Its long been a problem for Warhammer that the game is a massive upfront investment in both time and money before you can play a “real” game. Things like the magic phase in WFB or terminator armor in 40k just do not scale well to small points games. By making the more powerful creatures no longer near invincible and bumping the weaker units up a bit, it’s actually feasible to play a small skirmish.

So that’s just a bit of my ramblings about my most recent favorite miniatures game. Anyone else given it a shot yet? I’ve got the new General’s Handbook if anyone has any questions about it. It’s got points, scenarios, campaign rules, etc.
Last edit: 11 Aug 2016 12:10 by ufe20.

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11 Aug 2016 13:14 #231834 by Mr. White
This was fantastic, thanks!

Now I understand why the WFB players that I liked gaming with are cool with AoS. This actually sounds quite fun.

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12 Aug 2016 09:08 #231883 by wadenels
I've been thinking about trying to test drive the rules with what I already have around the house, but I don't have any minis except Heroscape stuff. Any thoughts on using Warhammer Diskwars pieces as proxies?

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12 Aug 2016 09:26 #231885 by Mr. White
I'd guess heroscape figs would work. Have any of the more fantasy leaning models? orks, knights, elves, etc?

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12 Aug 2016 13:17 #231899 by ufe20
I guess I should clarify what I mean by skirmish. In the 1000 point game on a 4'x4' board I played last weekend, it was 28 Chaos minis vs 53 goblins and trolls. I guess that may seem like a lot to most boardgamers, but considering single units of goblins would be 50+ minis in 8th edition WFB, it's pretty small scale.

That said, GW is now selling a mini starter with only a dozen or so miniatures with scenarios I believe intended for 2'x2' boards. You may be able to find a scan of that booklet to give you an idea on a set up small enough to make use of your diskwars set.

As far as using other minis, most of the battleline (core) troops I have are from either old WFB starters or Battlemasters, the old GW/Milton Bradley game. Hell, I'm using an old Weapons and Warriors catapult. So poke around that game closet, I'm sure you have some decent fantasy stand ins.
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12 Aug 2016 17:26 #231905 by Gary Sax
Awesome post!

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13 Aug 2016 09:58 #231925 by Brewmiester
I've enjoyed reading the battle reports and posts Mongoose Matt has been putting out

ttgamingdiary.wordpress.com/2016/08/12/b...e-chamber-unleashed/
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13 Aug 2016 11:04 - 13 Aug 2016 11:14 #231928 by Colorcrayons
I can understand why a lot of old school whfb players poo-poo the idea of AoS.

But, I think its just being resistant to change that makes them that way.

Whfb has long been full of crap that they have tried to 'fix' (power swings) for quite awhile. It just doesn't work in the sense of having a fun game that doesn't make the casual onlooker that is interested, make that huge jump into the deep end of the pool..

AoS is likely the best thing they have done for their fantasy setting since Mordheim. Its fun, accessible, and has a sense of tension without all the charts.

The only problem I can see is the incredibly weird decision to discontinue entire lines of minis. I just cant wrap my head around that. They are pretty models. Just because they don't fit into AoS doesnt mean they shouldn't be made available. But that's my one and only complaint about the shift.

That said, the best phrase in skirmish wargaming is:
'A song of blades and heroes'
Last edit: 13 Aug 2016 11:14 by Colorcrayons.
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13 Aug 2016 11:15 #231929 by Michael Barnes
WFB miniatures- the entire line- haven't sold sustainably since the 90s. The decision to discontinue them- from a business perspective- was both probably pretty easy and also overdue.

I'm not sure what the issue is with WFB players. GW has provided war scrolls for the old stuff AND there's nothing stopping anyone from playing the Old World stuff. There are even events and tournaments that continue to support it.

GW makes positive, progressive change and people flip out. They do nothing and they are regarded as behind the times. Damned if you do...

Thanks for this post Ian!

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13 Aug 2016 11:19 #231930 by SuperflyPete

Colorcrayons wrote: That said, the best phrase in skirmish wargaming is:
'A song of blades and heroes'


This, unless you want to say "Mutants and Death Ray Guns"

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13 Aug 2016 11:20 #231931 by SuperflyPete
Also, you can get older GW, painted models for a pittance on Ebay. I have two armies - Vampire Lords and Orks - and spent 40$ each. Painted, no less.

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13 Aug 2016 21:58 #231943 by metalface13
OK, GW is bringing back the Fimir, how can old school fantasy players be pissed about AoS anymore?

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13 Aug 2016 22:05 - 13 Aug 2016 22:09 #231944 by Mr. White
Wow...damn... that might get me into AoS.

Sweet model.

Wait...is GW bringing fimir back or is it just a forge world fig?
Last edit: 13 Aug 2016 22:09 by Mr. White.

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13 Aug 2016 22:32 #231945 by Michael Barnes
Forge World has had a three piece set of Fimir Warriors for years, I don't think they are necessarily bringing them back so much as they are trying to get the attention of old time players. It looks cool as hell though.
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13 Aug 2016 22:41 - 13 Aug 2016 22:48 #231946 by Mr. White
Double post
Last edit: 13 Aug 2016 22:48 by Mr. White.

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