Hey everyone, Reecius here from Frontline Gaming to talk a bit about Age of Sigmar and how it has been received by our crew and get some feedback from the community, too! Also, I’ve got something cool to share with you all, too!
Age of Sigmar has been a divisive game, to say the least. And, understandably so. It replaced one of the longest running tabletop miniatures games on the market. When you supplant a pedigreed game like Warhammer Fantasy, in which a large number of players have invested so much of themselves into, it is guaranteed to ruffle some feathers. Beyond that though, the game itself is a fairly dramatic divergence from what Fantasy was. In fact, I can honestly say I have never played a game like it before. It’s a bold move on GW’s part, and I wanted to discuss both my and my associates reaction to it as well as hear from some of you out there as well.
The Minis
First and foremost, I must say that I love the minis. That is the first thing that draws you into a miniatures game and in this aspect, I think Age of Sigmar does a great job. They’re very OTT in their Aesthetic, almost Warmachine levels of exaggeration, and I dig that! It fits the epic scale of the game, where every warrior is nearly a demi-god or the 1 in 1,000 bad asses to survive some hellish landscape to rise up and thrive. It fits. I look forward to getting some minis painted up…eventually….when I discover that 25th hour in the day! haha. Who am I kidding, I will likely have the Frontline Gaming paint studio paint mine! So I guess, more accurately I will enjoy using them when our paint studio has gotten them looking awesome!
The Setting
Speaking of which, the setting itself is good fun. I really dig the Michael Morcock style setting with mystic realms of crazy, high fantasy extremes, gods and goddesses active in the affairs of the mortal realms, and larger than life action. I enjoy that and while the Fantasy world had a deep and rich setting, it was pretty blase. Love it or hate it, the AoS setting is a bold move for GW and it feels more original to me at least. The lore of a game is what keeps me interested over the long haul, and I feel that this setting has a lot of potential.
Also, if you love reading fantasy fiction, seriously, read Morcock’s stuff. The books are short reads, but incredible. Plus, they heavily influenced GW’s fantasy IP. They’re some of the best fantasy reads out there, for me and will inspire some awesome games for you!
Game Play
This is where I am left on uncertain footing. Off hand, I can say the game out of the box has been pretty disappointing as a standalone product. However, I feel like some of that comes from my preconceived notions as to what a miniatures game should be. As someone who appreciates a complex, sophisticated rule-set, AoS is just too simple to the point that it doesn’t feel like a complete product. To be fair, I have only played a handful of games so far, but, every game has boiled down to models moving to mid-field by turn two in a giant scrum that end with the Chaos army getting tabled.
By no means am I judging the game entirely off of these experiences, but it has certainly not left me super excited about the game. It provides some fun and funny moments which is awesome, but I can get fun and funny from Cards Against Humanity, Zombicide or a similar game at a fraction of the price and almost no effort put into building and painting models. Why would I invest the time and energy into building an expensive army for fun and funny? I wouldn’t, honestly. That’s just me though, some folks would be happy to do so and that is totally cool. However, I want to give it a shot playing with scenarios and objectives, as I feel that this will help a ton to give the game depth. For me, so long as I can find that sweet-spot where the game is mentally challenging with a great deal of tactical depth and excitement, I get hooked.
Also, I am left wondering what the target audience is for this game? Is it aimed at hooking younger players? Is it meant to be a strictly casual game? Does GW think that that is where the profit lays? Perhaps they do and I am certain they have access to information I do not so I can only speculate as to their motives.
What do you all think? Emotion aside as much as possible in regards to it replacing Fantasy, as a game unto itself, what do you think? Is this GW saying, hey, our customers modify our games anyway, why not just let them do what they want to do? Or is it a real, fully fledged game in the eyes of GW? If so, do you all think it is a smart move or not? Or, even an simpler answer, have we not seen the game fully develop yet at this early stage? If that is the case, do you think it was smart on GW’s part to release an unfinished game? Do they really intend for people to just put any models on the table they want and that that will provide a rich game experience that will keep folks coming back for more? If so, I just son’t see it. I assume they must be planning on player created restrictions. What do you all think?
I continue to play as I really want to love the game and at times, I have a lot of fun, at other times I just sort of scratch my head. We’re going to be trying out some of the cool, community driven comp systems out there, and alternate missions with objectives which I think will go miles to helping me individually to enjoy the game. What are you all doing with your AoS games to get the game you want?
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Firstly if you play with one of several comps that are out on the internet it changes things dramatically. It may annoy some people but at the end of the day an endlessly play tested points/comp system done by a community of die hard fans will be better for the game in the long run. I have enjoyed SDK and Azyr so far.
Secondly custom mission design has been incredible. Funny enough I have played some ITC missions with very few tweaks in order to get a fun and interesting game of AoS. But there are tons of missions to find and honestly playing games with several objective markers and/or progressive scoring forces tons of maneuvering and interesting strategic choices.
If you want you can comp some things with rules. Limit summoning. Cover based on a model basis and not unit. No shooting into combat.
People are exhausted by the idea of using their own rules to “fix” a game but you aren’t fixing it you are just making it different to serve your particular needs. If you love your models and the narratives they evoke in your mind why would you not just do what you need to to get what you want out of the game?
The game is great and if you pack a table with scenery throw down some objectives and point up an army on SDK you will find a game that creates awesome moments worth thinking about that will motivate you to hobby and make sword clanging sounds while you push around dolls on a table.
My wet dream is that the ITC endorses a comp builds missions and pioneers the standard for AoS tournament play.
That’s the game plan! We just need to get some more experience with the game, first.
Looking at the books GW has released it seems to me that the intention is to play special missions and preferably linked together into campaigns. With this kind of mindset it gets pretty easy to just decide what kind of armies you want etc.
Put the “pick up” or tournament style of game really does seem a bit lacking.
Yeah, that is my impression as well. But, does GW really think there are that many more casual gamers that will purchase more models? Why not do both? It seems weird to me.
Yes, wholeheartedly. I think people confuse complicated rules with ‘easy game’. Chess has very simple rules, but the game is infinitely complex. I think the hope of bashing your opponent over the head with ‘rules lawyering’ is gone, and that’s a good thing.
For me, much is still too random and there are ‘errr’ moments but overall, it’s a good simple game. The great benefit that all the win at all costs and ‘competitive’ (read bullies) ignore is fielding what you like. As a player who likes the models, no longer being tied to taking skeletons or zombies but instead just wraiths/black knights or giant ghouls is vastly more fun than wading through the annoyances of points costs, army construction and so on.
I understand some people enjoy the ‘realism’ of such games and that’s fine. For me (and my children and spouse) a game is meant to be enjoyed, not re-create Waterloo with minutiae of rules conflicts, variations, tracking and what not.
So I have had fun playing game as it is however scenarios are a must and that social contract conversation about generally how large a force you want to field. Most of the Comp Systems seemed to limit your force composition too much. Certain basic troops for the old army lose a great deal of their value if you’re limited in scrolls or by wounds. The laws of war adjustment was interesting I had a few chances to use it its beauty is it does not limit you in what field just adjust afterword to attempt to bounce the game. My local game store here in San Diego has a running league with it’s own comp system it includes three scenarios.
I agree that AoS is a head-scratcher. A head scratcher until my scalp bleeds really. It’s hard to watch.
The fact that the community has to scramble for such severely interventional comp formats is such a weakness. There’s no reason GW couldn’t have made this into a decent game system but they intentionally chose not to. It feels like there’s just nothing there.
When you put Warmahordes and other minis games up against Age of Sigmar, Sigmar just looks exposed as being half-baked. I want to like it, I really do, but the effort I’m putting into trying to like it is exhausting.
I think the thing to remember is that GW is clearly intending for this game to be played with scenarios and in campaigns. You can play it loosy goosy but should probably plan it within those things.
I would say that I’d agree with what Shaydozer has to say on this.
There was a young lady on YouTube who made the statement that AOS is a new console and we’ve only just got the day 1 content…we really have no idea what it can do.
I’m really, really enjoying this game while on temporary a 40k hiatus.
I feel that GW might have put a bit more thought into this than people give them credit for. The warscrolls, for the most part, have been balanced. A cursory glance will say otherwise, but play a few games, you can really build the army you want to see/play and not feel you have to take or not take certain units. Not trying to be an apologist, just happen to be a guy who wanted a point system at first.
I would love to see the ITC committee take this on. But, I would ask that they not adapt a point/pseudo-point comp system. While some have come up with awesome ideas, it changes the game too much. +as we learn with power creep, points really mean nothing.
Wound count is a pretty solid measure to run a game by. While no means perfect, there does need to be a game size established for organized play. I play with 100-125. Still smaller and quicker than the old 2000 pt games.
Be mindful of limitations. Setting limitations on unit size, for instance can have unintended consequences. I’ve seen some folks comp at 25 per scroll. But that limits the effectiveness of the old core troops who need high numbers to get their viable bonuses.
Summoning needs limits. Yes.
Monster, character, and war machine limits? Probably, dependent on game size.
Listen, I get it, can this game be broken? Yes, totally. That’s already the case with other systems out there anyways. Do I wish it was tighter? Sure. But we got what we got, and I think I really like what we got.
Just my humble thoughts.
It looks like the tournament community has weighed in and some of the GTs are moving on to Kings of War.
Are you guys still planning to host Warhammer Fantasy at LVO in light of this move?
The LvO is hosting the Warhammer North American Masters, planning for it was happening well before AoS came out
Yes, but if all the Indy GTs have moved on to Kings of War for 2016, is there a point to have the masters play 8th edition?
Organized play, I think, will be what determines both game systems long term viability.
AOS or KOW will be like the adult film industry’s choice of backing beta or vhs.
My only thought, system aside, AOS might have the longer term viability based on the GW branding and purse strings. I don’t see 8th hanging on much longer in org play and KOW seems to be hit or miss on a regional basis.
Yeah, folks are still in the process of qualifying for the event, it runs all year and is based on Warhammer Fantasy 8th ed. It isn’t sensible to run a year long qualification and then have them play a different game at the championship event. The LVO 2016 Masters will likely be the last major 8th ed Fantasy tournament. Going forward though, who knows what will happen.
First off and as I mentioned in the comments in your second batrep you need to play with battleplans and realm rules otherwise you’re frankly put not playing the game just the introduction leaflet. Per now it’s 16 battleplans out there and I think two different realm rules. So give it a proper go and use the rules and scenarios already released before passing judgment and putting lots of comp instead of just talking with your opponent and agree on a rough format based on the battle plan you wish to play.
That’s part of the problem- you need to do some real research to understand that your starter set and downloaded rules (plus collection of old minis) aren’t the entire product.
We’ll have to try that out. Still though, the game ALWAYS devolves into a massive melee in the middle of the table and dice rolling till death. It hasn’t shown much more strategic depth that that to us, yet, but I am sure our inexperience has a lot to do with that.
That’s the nature of pitched battle and that is without a doubt boring as f. Play scenarios and it’s not about a pure scrum anymore and it will also influence what you bring to be better able to actually win a major victory which is often very difficult. You can even speculate in some scenarios to bring less than your opponent to get easier victory conditions but at a higher risk of getting tabled. Long story short. Give it a proper go and then pass judgment. You guys got two books worth of scenarios to play through.
I’ve played over 30 games and find the game pretty rough without some sort of comp and house rules. All the ones we didn’t use comp for came across lop sided. – Although using the forces from the box set vs each other felt ok – 8 out of 10 games going to the stormcast.
I know some people find playing the game as is acceptable and I’m happy for them – I find it a huge disappointment.
I wanted to like the game; but I just can’t. It’s not fun, it’s not balanced (even with the comp systems), and still feels very underwhelming when you play it – there’s not the sweeping sense of epic battles like there was in 8th ed.
I’ve been playing 9th Age quite a bit, however, and it being a tweaked 8th ed makes it perfect for what I want out of the game. The changes address some of the OP stuff that was prevalent in 8th, whilst keeping the grandeur and sense of accomplishment for winning that previous editions of Warhammer have had. I hope that folks that really enjoyed WFB give it a try; it’s not as wooden and non-interactive as KOW is.
http://www.the-ninth-age.com/
Have you played the Scenarios?
For AoS? Yes. I didn’t feel like it made the game any more enjoyable. If I wanted to play a better skirmish game, I’d play Malifaux; it’s got the balance, rules and fun factor that make those games interesting.
AoS is just not a substitute for an intermediary skirmish/mass battle game like WFB is/was. It’s mostly just disappointing.
AOS is ok for a good night with some friends, beers and that’s it. I don’t understand how people can call this game tactical after playing it a couple of time. Even with scenarios, the end result is always the same, big mob of troop in the middle of the table rolling dices to see who gets the advantage. It is like a game of Risk on steroides. I planning on playing The 9th Age. it feels like a battle, it is tactical and the game is well written even if the new rules just came in. In fact one of the best thing about it, is that it isnt written by GW.
Yeah, I tend to agree with you. Out of the box, the game just feels incomplete.
Locally we’ve been having great fun with AOS, and out of necessity (people were really wanting a tourney organized) we started with one comp system (close to our neighbouring Capital City Bloodbath version) then have evolved into a secondary system following tourney play when we realized that several things didn’t need to be comped as harshly (surprise!)
so here’s what we’re using – feel free to give it a go and see if it helps you have a balanced game that’s fun.
Composition Rules for AOS tournaments:
Armies must be composed solely of models containing keywords from either Order, Chaos, Destruction or Death factions. I.e. You cannot have units that contain the Destruction keyword with units containing the Death keyword as a part of the same army.
In other words lists are generated from each Grand Alliance:
Chaos (Beastmen, Daemons of Chaos, Skaven, Warriors of Chaos, Chaos)
Death (Vampire Counts, Tomb Kings)
Destruction (Ogre Kingdoms, Orcs & Goblins)
Order (Bretonnia, Dark Elves, Dwarfs, High Elves, Lizardmen, The Empire, Wood Elves, Stormcast Eternals)
Armies cannot exceed 125 wounds worth of models and are restricted to the following army composition:
0-5 Warscrolls with the HERO keyword
0-3 Warscrolls with WIZARD keyword (pink horrors are 2 for 1 choice in this regard)
0-3 Warscrolls with the MONSTER keyword
0-4 Warscrolls with the WARMACHINE keyword (skull cannons and ironblasters count as warmachines)
0-2 Warscrolls with the SCENERY keyword (note Sylvaneth Wyldwoods are a 2 for 1 choice)
Max of 3 duplicates of any individual Warscroll. The Exception being if a formation duplicates more than three choices (although you could not bring MORE of that individual warscroll on top of a formation that has 3+ of the same warscroll)
Maximum of ONE unique special character per army.
End times special characters (ie: Nagash, Glottkin, Thanquol, Mortiarchs etc.) are banned in tourney play
***Note: A model that has both the HERO and MONSTER keywords will count as 1 HERO choice AND 1 MONSTER choice. Similarly, model that has the HERO, the WIZARD and the MONSTER keywords will count as 1 HERO choice, 1 WIZARD AND 1 MONSTER choice
Maximum Warscroll size is based upon regimental bonus as follows:
if a unit of one wound models has a regimental bonus, they can have up to 10 wounds over their maximum number for regimental bonus (ie: orc archers can be 30, goblins can be 40).
if a unit has no regimental bonus or has more than one wound / model the maximum wounds for the unit is 20.
(ie: ogres can be 5 models max. stormcast liberators can be 10)
Deployment and Summoning:
At minimum 60 wounds of your army must be deployed, maximum 125. Any units not deployed may be placed in reserve for alternative deployment (stormcast teleportation, coming in from reserves normally or summoning). The only restrictions on summoning units is that it must come from this reserve pool – ie: you cannot summon something not placed in this reserve pool at the beginning of game and you cannot summon an army that would make you greater than 125 wounds. This allows summoning to be used as a tactical deployment decision rather than just making a bigger army for the win. Summoning units may act in any way listed as legal on their warscroll (ie: shooting and charging, or moving if it says this is allowed).
Abilities which are similar to summoning (ie: chaos lord’s ability) counts as summoning.
ERRATA:
Initiative is not rolled for each round (ie: no possibility of getting two turns in a row!)
Saving throws, to hit rolls and to wound rolls of 1 always fail, regardless of modifiers.
silly special rules (such as talking to your invisible horse or your models) apply automatically. If you still choose to dance with your Masque of Slaanesh it’s your choice, but it is not required to get the bonus. Greasus and the keeper of secrets abilities however only works if your opponent ACCEPTS the bribe/offer, it does not automatically occur!
Fateweaver can only choose to make a die roll to 1-6
Models must be equipped with the weapon option they have for clarity for opponents (ie: bowmen must have bows!)
measure from base to base contact when you’re both on the same horizontal level. (ie: both on the game mat) Do not overlap bases – this may wreck your opponents’ nice scenic base! If you’re standing elevated and near an enemy unit measure to the model for ease of gauging distance. (ie: standing on a wall beside a giant monster – you may be 1″ away from the model but 3″ from the base – you can still hit the monster!)
Victory conditions are based on number of WOUNDS slain, not models.
Sudden death rules do not apply.
I’m glad you’re having fun with it! It sounds like every group that is really enjoying it is house ruling it extensively.
Could I humbly suggest you take another crack at trying the game with our comp and see how it goes? Maybe you’ll have a better / balanced experience?
Truthfully I could just not get interested in even trying a game. Not that I played a lot of Fantasy as it was a lot of work to get a game in.
The main thing that struck me with AoS, was nothing about the game seemed particularly fun.
It had no feel of epicness or even differentiation, most everything was basically the same, or close enough to feel that way at a high level.
I enjoy the fantasy setting to have powerful heros, and magic shaping the battle field, while troops do what they can to stem the tide as these gigantic powers clash.
AoS really does not accomplish that. To me it feels like an entry level game for GW as they long ago discontinued support for all it’s specialist games which were a great entry point for younger audiences both in cost and rulesets.
I have hard time believing AoS was intended for the veteran community at all, but more as a lv 1 game for new players to War table gaming and possibly a game set where Frankie could actually be the greatest in the world…
Lol, Frankie should stick with it, then! haha
The only reason I play age of Sigmar at all is because I have hundreds of dollars in painted Bretonnian and high elf figs. The game is fairly fun and moderately quick to learn and play. I can also see where some subtle strategies would come in, but honestly if I didn’t have the models to play the game already, I probably never would.
I also think that I may be the only person who enjoys the rolling for initiative every turn. Otherwise my bretonnian knights tend to roll over most armies and units on turn 2, at least that has been my experience.
I LOATHE that rule, in any game I have found it in. I truly hate random initiative every turn, I feel it is an absolutely terrible rule.
I like it because charging is SOOO devastating, (At least with Brets where they get +1 Damage and +1 too wound), Knowing when I am going to go next lets me prep my army for almost constant perfect charges. The random Initiative lets my opponents make maneuvers that I didn’t expect. I’ve won and lost games both because of and in spite of the random initiative.
I guess it largely comes down to your perspective. I understand what you’re driving at but I feel that a skilled opponent can counter your charges (or whatever you are trying to do) without needing to randomly get to move before you. Thinking a turn ahead is a big part of a game of skill, and you need to be able to do it to be successful. When it’s random, long range plans become much less meaningful and the game boils down to chance, or at least becomes more reliant on chance.
I would much rather have the ability to make plans and succeed or fail by them than have my opponent roll higher than me for initiative in a subsequent turn and screw them all up without having put any thought or skill into it. It makes the game feel silly to me, I guess is the best way to put it.
Fair enough.
AoS has killed Warhammer Fantasy gaming in my local group. We used to have a half-dozen regular dedicated guys who went to tournaments and loved *loved* the game and hobby. There is no interested in AoS among them – and no one interested in starting AoS among people who previously didn’t play Fantasy. Four boxes of AoS go untouched on the FLGS shelves. Several of us have spent that extra energy exploring new games like X-Wing and Infinity (which is awesome!).
Yeah, that seems to be the case everywhere I get info about the game. It is either a big hit or a total failure. I have seen nothing in the middle.
If it was intended to bring a new generations of players, then they must be well to do as the figs are very costly. So much for the youth. As for the game, we had a group of some 14+ players which has shrunk. to 4 . Some have just left for X-Wing or other games, some after heavy investments in both money and time (painting) just gave up. Others are still searching for new rule sets. It may be peachy keen for some but for us a game ender. Also, the rumor that in a year or so it will all be replaced with a merge of it and 40K. Go GWS!
Merge it with 40K? I doubt that. But, I am sorry to hear it has been bad for your game group that stinks.
I honestly have only watched a few games. This unfinished game just reminds me that GW killed a game I loved and replaced it with Candyland more or less.
I’ll stick to playing games that are developed and tested with tight rules like Dropzone Commander, WM/H and Malifaux for now.
Right now our group is searching for something to play competitively as we used to travel and play WHFB all over and now…we dunno.
Try Frostgrave – very fun! –
I really do see every sale of AOS being another nail in the coffin of 40k. They would love nothing better than to merge their product lines. It makes great business sense. If it sells well enough 40k would get the same treatment in 5-10 years and the two systems would be compatible. Either AOS dies or everything we like about games workshop wargames does.
Me and the kids play AoS. I tried fantasy a few times over the years and just never had the time to commit. AoS is loved by us all. Rules are exciting, battles are quick and fierce, characters are powerful but die.
Love the books and the models. really excited about future and race releases. the scenerios in the books work well, pick stories you like and have fun and the game works.
Grand strategy it is not.
GW has caused me to spend more in the last three months than I have have in the last 5 years with them. If thats happening in the wider part time gamer community they have probably made a good call. If it isnt, well then AoS wont get much further.
This is pretty much how things are in my group. A large part of the group is now our sons and their friends. AoS is a perfect game for them (7-14 years) because bringing a new generation in is really important otherwise it’ll only be us old farts left in the end.
I think calling the end is a bit premature. People are hinging to much on the freebie rules and starter box without even trying the battleplans and getting involved with the game with the books. I find it quite frankly baffling how harshly people can assault a game of small plastic and tin men when they haven’t even played the game properly. I don’t think I’ve witnessed that before.
My gaming group and I have really been enjoying AoS, the synergy between units is awesome, gone are the days when only 30% of ones codes was useful (I’m looking at you Beastmen!!!) and the Scenarios have allowed us to make some seriously epic battles.
As a Khorne fan I am happier then a pig in shit that leaving a mage at home no longer hamstrings me!
When playing beer and pretzels we do whatever we want, pick a scenario and take shit from my collection until it seems fair/right, being able to counter deploy units is one of the many bonuses this game has, sure I miss the “theory hammering” of list building but it prevents truly bad match-ups.
If we want to play something a little more “dedicated” we use Scrollbuilder.
But something I would encourage if you are going to play using Scrollbuilder is to make armies that are (for examples sake) 15 scrolls that you will field +5, for 20 in total, this keeps the spirit of AoS’s deployment system and helps counter bad match-ups.
I have played more Fantasy since this game was released then the last year, as a grown ass man with a wife and kids this game just “fits” better, do I miss the days where knowing the rules better allowed me to crush all who stood before me!? Sometimes, but honestly I don’t think I really miss the 1/8th inch facing shenanigans and the eternal chaff war all that much.
Since AoS has hit we have successfully recruited more people into the game then the last 5 years of playing, why? Lower point of entry, vastly easier rule set (easy to learn, difficult to master).
If I’m looking to get all hopped up on Fantasy of eld, I’m just going to play Mordheim, the worlds greatest Skirmish game.
That’s awesome thta you’ve been enjoying the game so much and you make some good points. I think one of the reasons why it may feel so flat for Frankie and I is because we have a very limited number of models to use. Once we get more models in our collection, it may give us more options. Counter-deployment and unit options like you describe does make sense for providing more balanced games. I really do feel that you need to limit the amount of stuff you put on the table somehow, but it sounds like your group self-regulates.
Use Scroll Builder, it’s remarkably convenient and just use a side bar-type system!
http://scrollbuilder.com
Give it a whirl, I think you will enjoy it!
As to the model issue, I can understand that, I have been a long-long ass time follower of Chaos, I have a gigantic collection to pick from and being able to freely mix and match them once again is really nice.
Unfortunately the whole synergy thing starts to fall apart when you try to assemble force multipliers so I generally get into the groove of Mono-God forces.
Thanks for the tip!
Been playing a lot of it, and have to say, it’s great.
I know it is a kick in the crotch to the Fantasy players who had a lot of time invested, but I’m not one of them. I’m brand new to fantasy, and this game finally makes it something I will get into.
The reasons? Well, it is approachable. I don’t have to spend a ton of money on model to get into it. In fact, we played a lot with just the box set, but have since added more to that.
Tactics? The game is loaded with them. Every decision you make is reasonably critical. When to take wounds or kill a model matters a lot. Where to move, how to position for charges etc is HUGE in this game.
(I have watched the FLG batreps and Frankie and Reece are hilarious. You wonder why it ends up as a scrum in the middle each time… You have made effort to make a scenario or objective to achieve… how else could it end???)
We have played nothing but scenarios, some published, some made up on the fly with objective markers. We balance the game by looking at it and figuring out if it will be balanced. We don’t need comp rules to tell us when something will not work. We use our grey matter. (Not dogging comp rules, but we’re not looking to play smash mouth AoS… lol)
I actually played KoW a few times, found it to be cumbersome and boring, like Fantasy 8th.
I find, from my travels around the country and locally that it breaks down kinda like this…
75% of old Fantasy 8th Tourny players hate it
100% of GW Hate-train riders (You know, the everything GW does sucks crowd) hate it
Of the rest, seems to be split pretty evenly between thinking its fun, and thinking it’s dumb.
Still pretty early in the run to make the determination that “this will kill GW, methinks…”
Heard a good thought from Heelanhammer the other night. When you total the 4 pages of rules with all the war-scrolls and, you actually have a very sizable rule-set. So the fact that the core of the game is simple, is a relatively sophomoric judgement. The warscrolls and scenario format are where the game really shines.
That being said, making tournament rules for this? Wow, is that going to be hard. But that does not make it a bad game…
v/r
Bill