First Age of Sigmar game - Initial Impressions and questions.

Managed to oversee a game of the new Age of Sigmar rules this week in a matchup of the Ogre Kingdoms vs Vampire Counts. I played referee as two completely new Warhammer players took the reigns of the two forces on the table and the results were mostly positive! 

First we had to choose what to play with. Since there is nothing in the short 4 page rules about balance or how to make an army list we decided to go with two of the thematic lists at the end of each Battlescroll. That meant for the Ogre Kingdoms it was time to bring in the Gutbuster Wartribe! And with the Vampire Counts we dug up the ole' Deathrattle Horde! 

The rules for each and what we added (for fun):

Gutbuster Wartribe

1 Tyrant

1 Butcher

3 units of Ogres (we used two units of 3 with champs and bellowers, and one unit of 4 with full command)

1 unit of Ironguts (we used a unit of 5 with full command)

1 unit of Leadbelchers (we used a unit of 4 with champs and bellower)

and we added.... 1 Giant! 

The Gutbusters have the ability of the Ogre Charge which allows them do deal mortal wounds when finishing a charge move. Not too different from the earlier versions of the Ogre Kingdoms but this one is only available as part of this Battlescroll organization.

Deathrattle Horde

1 Wight King (this one had a banner)

1 unit of Black Knights (we used a unit of 10 with full command)

1 unit of Grave Guard (we used a unit of 14 with full command)

3 units of Skeletons (we used 2 units of 24, and one unit of 10 and all had full command)

and we added.... 1 Varghulf!

The Horde brings two special abilities with them on their Battlescroll. First they have the ability to re-roll save rolls of 1 when within 6" of another unit of this battalion. Powerful! Second they can always march 4" when they run which gets them farther into the battlefield at a steady rate. 

In the end after counting up all the stats of all the models we came in at 107 wounds for the Ogre Kingdoms vs 109 wound for the Vampire Counts. All in all it seemed pretty even heading into battle and we chose to play on a 2' x 4" table length wise. 

The Gutbusters were the underdogs with less models on the board and chose the Sudden Death objective of staying alive until turn 6. 

With the game under way the Gutbusters managed to get the first turn in most of the first phases and proceeded to move up and into position for a potential charge. The Deathrattle Horde followed suite and soon it was just a matter of time before carnage!! 

While the Ogres got the first charges in on a unit of Skeletons they didn't count on being stabbed to death by so many spears in the Combat phase. After only one Ogre was left the Giant decided he better get into the action too. 

With the help of the Giant and some additional Ogres the first big block of Skeletons began to crumble away though the ability of the nearby Wight King really shined in keeping them standing with an extra save (as their normal save was handily negated by crushing Ogre weapons). 

After taking out the Skeletons the Giant felt the full force of the nearby Grave Guard unit and decided to fall on some Ogres on the way out. A large and decisive battle was shaping up in the center of the board while (not shown) the Black Knights and Varghulf took out the unit of Leadbelchers and began eating through the group of Ironguts. Meanwhile back in the center the Butcher fell to the Wight King's blade and things were looking grim for the remaining Ogres. After a couple of failed attempts at eating the Ironguts the Varghulf and remaining Black Knights fell and allowed the Gutbusters to swing around and finish off the remaining Skeletons and Black Knight with the Tyrant crushing the head of the Wight King to dust. 

Result - Major Victory for the Ogre Kingdoms. 

So what did we learn? How about a handy bullet point list!

- The game is easy to pick up and grasp and neither new player had trouble figuring out what did what and when. 

- The back and forth in each phase makes the tactics a little more random but also more interesting.

- Choosing your combats is very important!

- The random run and charge was not much of a problem for either army with their command and other special abilities and everyone got where they wanted to go pretty easily. 

- It did turn into a bit of a scrum in the middle of the table but part of that was the shape and size of the battlefield we chose. 

- Fun was had and both players expressed interest in playing more and learning the game with different factions. 

But what did I think about the new rules and gameplay? Glad you asked...

Stuff I liked

- The simplified To Hit and To Wound and Saves. Yes I like the old WHFB style too but it was always one of the hardest things to teach new players. The new mode is easy and quick and you don't have to do a bunch of mental math expect for when dealing with Saves vs. Rending

- The thematic feel of the units. At least in this game the Skeletons and Deathrattle Horde did exactly what I have always wanted to see... acted as a legion of creepy reanimated Skeletons and who wouldn't go quietly! They really hung around and in mass they managed to do some serious damage to the Ogres. Conversely the Ogres really showed their brute strength and killing prowess by smashing the crap right out of the undead minions when they hit. 

- The rule of cool! Glad we added the monsters to both lists because they brought a lot of fun to the game and were quite effective. The mechanic of them getting less powerful as they take damage is a good one I think and it is nice not having to worry about Battleshock tests on them as they will never lose a model from their unit until they die. 

Stuff I wasn't in love with

- The movement seems a bit needlessly sloppy when you are playing with larger units of 20-30. We kept our big units on movement trays until we got into Combat but even then it was a bit of a mess. Couple that with the ability to stack minis on bases and well... I ended up with 5 broken Skeleton miniatures which I am not too happy about. 

- The terrain rules. I like terrain and the rules for it in the 4 page book are basically anti-terrain. Since there are no rules besides the magical D6 table I can't see a lot of love or effort going into this for most tables. Of course that might change with the release of new kits and rules. 

- The rules lookup. Of course it is a new set of rules and this is bound to happen. Still! With each unit having rules on it's own Battlescroll section and some units having rules on other Battlescrolls (like the Vampire Counts basically having the ability to summon units of any type from any of the scrolls) and then adding in the special rules for each Character, and then the rules for each terrain piece, and then the rules for each of the special organizations we used... it just felt messy and unorganized. 

- The lack of rules clarity. Especially in regards to units and their equipment. Who has what? Who can have what? Can we have mixed equipment in our units? Simplicity is nice but simple to the point of just making up your own solution can be frustrating.

So there you have it. First impressions are mostly positive and I felt the two forces we played with were pretty balanced from beginning to end. With a few different rolls the game could have gone either way a couple times. I hope to see some more direction for rules and army composition in the future but I am certainly excited to be playing Warhammer again and the idea of getting new blood playing in my area is great too.

New Age of Sigmar miniature photos leaked.

Bit behind on this so anyone who is actively following the upcoming Warhammer Age of Sigmar has probably already seen these... but look! 

But Randroid! What do you think about all these changes and shiny new models and stuff!? Well...

The name has already flown out and stuck to the Sigmarines. From the photo I am not in love with the look but I am also not a fan of Space Marines which these are clearly using as a design aesthetic.

The Chaos forces look cool but I am always a sucker for barbarian type dudes in various forms of undress rampaging about with their blood and skulls. I can see plenty of uses for them in other games I play too like Mordheim and Blood Bowl. So yeah I like them.

Round bases? Eh... I am not going to rebase my old WHFB minis. I can live with it.

New rules? Well the rumor that at least this starter box will have free rules available is pretty cool and certainly more in line with other current gaming companies. I certainly wouldn't mind a more skirmish focused ruleset as I don't have the time for long games of WHFB anymore in my life. Hopefully they scale up nicely to include larger units or blocks of infantry. I certainly won't be working on any of my WHFB armies in (eternal) progress until I learn more.

But what about Ogres!? Shit man!! I don't know! I hope they make it into this new world and 9th edition. All I can say is my love for Ogres and monsters will never die and worst case Ogre lovers can always fall back to 8th edition or roll into Kings of War or something. They will survive!

Now the waiting can begin until the official announcement comes around. 

Progress Report 1/28/12 - Rolling away...

I haven't put paint to mini in about two weeks! Been busy working on a position change at my job, reading a ton of books, and playtesting an upcoming boardgame called Impact City Roller Derby. It's a game meant to capture the speed and action of actual flat track derby.

This shot is from a game earlier this week. No miniatures for me yet, though Impact! does make some. Today I am off to see my local league play a match or two in the hopes of gleaning some new insights into what would make a good derby boardgame. Do you have any thoughts or suggestions on what you would like to see in a Roller Derby boardgame?

WHFB 8th Edition confirmed for July?

Read this on WarSeer and Snake Eyes Box Cars - WHFB 8th Edition might be out as soon as this July! The source is none other than next month's White Dwarf: 

"Its confirmed folks, Warhammer Fantasy is hitting us in July 2010. The source? Mays white dwarf. Double page spread that has Empire fighting Orcs with "Warhammer - July" Underneath it!"

"Also, visited Warhammer World recently and the miniatures hall is missing Skaven And High Elf armies...could this be linked to the rumoured starter box"

Looks like we'll be seeing more details about 8th Edition cropping up within the next few months. I've read through the various rumors circulating the web but I will refrain from spreading more of that possible hogwash around... time will tell...

Excited!?

A journey to the Maw - the making of Mawster Blaster.

The latest issue of The Word of Hashut was released last month and if you haven't taken a look at it yet I encourage you to do so now. It features a ton of great Chaos Dwarf material and this time around the mad Dawi from Chaos-Dwarfs Online have included a good deal of Ogre Kingdom related articles as well. One of the articles featured (on pages 76 and 77 for those keen to read it now) in the latest issue is a set of rules for a character known as "Mawster Blaster" which were developed by me.

If I am honest, this article did not turn out as I was expecting it to. I consider the content used as a "rough draft" for what I had hoped the final piece would be. As an example...

• The piece of art shown for the rules is amazing but it wasn't quite what I had in mind for the character (more on that below).
• The rules were written and revised several times but I did not have a chance to play test them.
• The name for the character was a placeholder to be changed once a proper back story had been written.
• I was not able to sculpt or paint an actual model for the character.

Although it doesn't meet my own standards I am pleased with the overall presentation of the rules and the great piece of art used in conjunction with my "rough draft". It was a good exercise in game design and I learned a bit about balance (at least on paper) in the process.

I started the creation of "Mawster Blaster" with an idea - I wanted to see a model which featured a Dwarf riding on the back of an Ogre (similar to Master Blaster from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome). Pretty basic but the idea really makes me happy.

My original concept for a character was a Dwarf Slayer who had lost the use of his legs in his search for a worthy doom. Disabled but not dead the Slayer hired an Ogre mercenary to carry him to his glorious death (the Ogre didn't mind as he got lots of ale, food, fights, and a share of the gold).

About a year later Willmark approached the Ogre Stronghold looking for ideas for an Ogre Kingdom tie-in for the upcoming issue of The Word of Hashut. I immediately returned to the Ogre carrying a Dwarf and thus "Mawster Blaster" was born.

While the basic idea remained the same (a Dwarf which did not have the use of his legs to get him around) the character changed in several major ways. The simple merc was replaced by a twisted Ogre monster from deep within the Chaos Wastes. The boisterous Slayer became a Tyrannical Chaos Dwarf Sorcerer Lord with a calcified lower torso lost to his devotion of dark magic. As the ideas began to take shape I wrote the first draft of the rules with a few things in mind:

• Cost - I looked to monstrous mount options which already exist in WHFB to find a relevant example before settling on a Chaos Lord on Chaos Dragon as my basis.
  
• Power - as both a Close Combat and Magic threat I had to keep balance in mind while adding just the right amount of overall capability for the point cost.
• Unpredictability - I love flawed characters and I think they add a lot of fun and random chance to what can often be a very straight forward and boring game.
  

The first set of rules were far more complex and featured several "what if" type tables detailing the results of the Mutant Ogre's loss of sanity after visiting the Great Maw and what would happen should the Chaos Dwarf be knocked from his mount. While fun (and full of crazy Ogre flavor) these rules were too complex for the tabletop - although looking at the new Skaven book and some of the tables it features I have to wonder if I made the right choice.

I am currently working on some other "new" characters for inclusion in a TOP SECRET project already in the works but I hope to get back around to this character at some point in the future. I don't consider the rule included in The Word of Hashut to be final and I would love to hear some input from other players - especially if you have played with the published rules.

Chaos In The Old World rules available for download!

What hope can there be for the mortal world?
— Liber Malefic

Saw this on The Hogs of War today - The full rules for the upcoming Warhammer Fantasy boardgame "Chaos In The Old World" are now available for download from the Fantasy Flight Games Support page.

As described on the FFG game page:
Chaos in the Old World is a game of conquest, pitting the four Ruinous Powers of Chaos against each other for control of the Old World. Players must out summon, out play, and outwit theirs rivals to ensure their domination of the lands for ages to come.

Most exciting! I have only had a few moments to look them over but I have to say I am really looking forward to this game's release. Playing as one of the four major Chaos Gods has to be fun right? If you need more visual aid be sure to check out this trailer of the game as well. I love the graphic designer's sweet Dr. Who scarf/poncho outfit and his dedication to stretched human skin.

I haven't seen a release date for the game yet but it is being demo'd at GenCon this month so hopefully it will be out sometime in the next few months. CHAOS!!

Rulespocalypse NOW!

Rules. All games have them by definition.

game; noun
a competitive activity involving skill, chance, or endurance on the part of two or more persons who play according to a set of rules, usually for their own amusement or for that of spectators.

This definition does not account for the reality of the Rules. The cold, harsh, tundra of the Rules wasteland cares not of antiquated notions such as "amusement". It cares not for personal feelings, thoughts, or desires. The Rules are a force of nature in games. An unstoppable force that cannot be reasoned or bargained with. In all game situations the Rules are akin to God.

Much like holy books such as the Bible or Koran are passed down as the word of God, so too are the Rulebooks for Warhammer: Fantasy Battles. Each section of these books can be broken down, explored, and translated into many different possible meanings. Each meaning has repercussions that reach far beyond the mortal realm, and its tiny models, and into the very fabric of human existence. Within these pages are the powers to destroy and create, to live or die. It is up to us to learn from the Rules, to take it's message and preach it's gospel of the nerd. To become like that which we may never truly understand. To become Rules Disciples.

Much like Biblical Scholars we study the Rulebooks, finding new and interesting interpretations of the cryptic texts contained within. Good or bad, these interpretations shape our view of the world around us and can change the very outcome of every encounter in the game. It is nearly impossible to truly know the Rules. Many nerds have devoted their entire lives to the pursuit of this goal, some failing to ever again see the light of day.

I am not so strong. My knowledge of the Rules is limited, as is my exposure to it's grandeur. But I carry on, knowing that I may never reach the apex of the icy Rules summit. That I may die from lack of oxygen, or starvation, as I claw my way towards the top. To be dragged back down by the packs of ravenous dire nerds who roam it's frozen cracks and crevices. Trying is the first step towards failing and I try in spectacular ways.

Tabletop Tuesday this week was attacked by the Rules. Our minds clouded by it's death-like grip we stumbled on in an attempt at game survival. We missed critical rolls. We missed important turn phases. We royally fucked up yet another game of Warhammer. And to add insult to injury, we fought against one another, not in the game as prescribed by our nerd brethren, but in reality as commanded by our very Rules master. Possessed like angels of mercy, or hellish fiends, we bickered and argued over minute details of the game. Unable to come to a compromise we bitterly ground out the last few turns of the game before calling it a night.

It was a pathetic showing for both armies involved, but in the end the Ogre Kingdoms overcame the Dwarf army in this point for point rematch of last week's battle.

No "play by play" this week. No cute little paint images. This is the reality of the Rules. This is the pleasure and pain, and this is why we play.

May the Rules spare our eternal souls.