Sunday 5 July 2015

Review of The Age of Sigmar Rules by GW

Warhammer is dead and has been replaced on the GW website with The Age of Sigmar. Most of the current models are still available, albeit under new names - all the old Tolkien names, Dwarves, Elves, Ogres are gone presumably because of GW's obsession with IP protection.

The rules and 'Codexes', now known as 'Warscrolls' are available to download free on the GW website, which is an improvement over the ridiculous sums being charged for 40K material. GW have followed Mantic in another regard in that the AoS is hugely simplified compared to Warhammer. The core rules are a mere four pages long.

However, in every other way Age of Sigmar is a poor competitor to Kings of War.

Players start a game by dividing the player area into two - they each own half the territory except for a 24" neutral zone in the centre.

Players then alternate in setting up their armies one unit at a time. They continue this until (i) they run out of units to plonk down, (ii) they run out of space to plonk them in, or (iii) they lose the will to live. If your opponent tires first it doesn't matter You can still drop additional units onto the table for as long as you like or as long as you've got more to unload from the boot of your car.

There are no points. I'll say that again: there are no points!

So what constitutes a unit? Weeeel, it could be a single figure such as Nagash or it could be a regiment of troops such as Skeleton Warriors. There are minimum regiment sizes, usually five to ten models but there are no upper limits.

I'll say that again: there are no upper limits on the size of a regiment.

Want sixty Blood Knights? Well go ahead my son. The only limitation is how much cash you are willing to spend down at your GW Warhammer Shop.



By now you have probably grasped that there is no such thing as balance in the armies deployed. The concept just don't exist in Age of Sigmar. There's no balance in the victory conditions either. You fight until one side is completely eliminated: there's no army morale. If you are in danger of dieing of boredom you can just stop and the loser is the one who has lost the highest percentage of his army as measured by models removed.

All models count the same for victory purposes! I'll, no on second thoughts I won't repeat that. I'm sure you get the picture.

Nagash is no more valuable than a skeleton warrior for purposes of victory.

There is a Sudden Death victory table that seems to be an attempt to balance the system for games with unequal armies - and they will all be unequal -  BUT IT WON'T WORK.

If one player has a third more models in his army than the other, the outnumbered player can choose a sudden death objective such as 'get any model to within 3 inches of a specified terrain feature by turn 4'.

Note: all models count the same for army size purposes. Again, Nagash is no more valuable than a skeleton warrior.

So I choose an army of ten super heroes, one of which flies. I am inferior to your modest force of troops so I get the sudden death victory condition on account of my army's inferiority (ho ho). On turn 4 I fly my badass hero to the specified terrain feature and thumb my nose at you. Want another game?

Then we get onto bases. They've changed the bases from square to round(ish) but to incorporate the old models you no longer measure from the base but from a 'point on the model' - like a spear point. This has all sorts of practical issues as melee weapons have a range, believe it or not. WHY? One inch in the case of swords, which may make it very difficult for a swordsman to engage Nagash on his large square base.

Forget your ranked troops fighting mighty battles. The close combat system is bit 40K-like with loose groups of troops that only fight as individuals when they get within striking distance of an enemy model.

I just don't know what to say about this. I can't make up my mind whether it's simply a cunning cynical plan to sell large, expensive, high-profit margin models like Nagash or just gross incompetence.

No name is attached to the rules as a credit, just the corporate copyright. And to be fair it does read like a piece of complete corporate drek without a scintilla of wit or creative spark.

You can download the rules for nothing, and that's about what they're worth. If this is the answer to the decline of Warhammer then GW have framed the wrong question.

Enjoy.





33 comments:

  1. OldHammer will still have it's players. It is such a shame that Warhammer is no more. While I had not played for 8 or 9 years it still has fond memories. This just seems like a waste of time from what you have said. But I will hold judgement for now. I mean this nicely but I do hope you are wrong.

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    1. Actually I hope I'm wrong but I don't think so. A huge model like Nagash waving a weapon with a 1" range. What a farce.

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  2. About 6 years ago I stopped trying to make sense out of the stuff done in Nottingham by a company called GW. I have tried to keep up with new developments out of curiosity but have sold off most of my stuff. Now I know I have taken the right course of action on this, what a bunch of male-cow-excrement... Oldhammer here we come!

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  3. Well, frankly words fail me...

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  4. Blimey... it's hard to know what to say! It's wargaming John... but not as we know it!

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    1. "...it does read like a piece of complete corporate drek without a scintilla of wit or creative spark."

      - I fear, Rick, that Friend John may just have pinned down *exactly* what to say.

      Crumbs.

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    2. The game is not Warhammer Fantasy Battle, but that is ok. I watched 6 people play today in the local GW store. They had a crowd watching. There were cheers. I haven't seen this kind of enthusiasm for fantasy in a long time. I am almost giddy at the opportunity to watch GW as it tries to support the living rule-set. That is a great experiment for such a large company with such terrible online presence. However, with all of its shortcomings, I am going to finally paint up some fantasy miniatures. I had no interest in fantasy before. I wish AoS had random activation for units, but I suppose we can't have everything.

      No matter what happens, this is going to be an interesting show. Who knows, GW might have a New Coke moment.

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    3. So different from the life of our own dear Queen, Rick.

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    4. I hope you are right, John. I am sceptical that GW can have any sort of conversation with their customers given their track record. I would be delighted to be proved wrong.

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    5. How about this.

      I'l wager that GW surprises us. That seems the fairest bet I can make. If they do anything sad and expected, then you win. If they do something novel, whether good or bad, I win. If they do nothing of note, then let's call it even and buy a round for our fellow gamers. Maybe if you win, you could invent some kind of bidding mechanism based on maximum wounds for army composition. See how I made this a win-win for us. ;)

      We'll know in a month whether GW planned this well.

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    6. LOL, I like your style, sirrah,

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  5. By the way, John, as I have generally shied away from things GW of late, I thought to myself whilst taking a break from Sunday night marking, 'I'll just have a prod around online, and see what this 'Sigmar' thing is all about...'

    I'm super-glad I came here first!

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    1. LOL, well I hope I haven't been unfair but I was so disappointed in AoS - not because it is simpler than Warhammer - but because I don't see how it can work.

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  6. As a bonus, many Warhammer players who hanker after mass battle will now be looking at other rulesets, I heard there's this rick guy kicking about producing rules somewhere?

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    1. That Rick guy? Didn't he design something called Warbammer or somesuch?

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  7. Actually I think gw have done exactly what they set out to do. If the system is not making as much money as desired reinvent a bad version so that everyone gets rid of it in totality and moves onto orback to the game that makes them profit. That way you can sell it all off. ( I can only hope).

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    1. It is very sad how GW have killed Warhammer.

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  8. Whilst I think KoW2 offers a lovely alternative, I'd hope that recent events spur people into looking beyond familiar territory:

    http://lostlandsgames.co.uk/blog/4589059971

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  9. It's a April 1st joke. It is just great. Hahahahaha! Everyone fell for it. Hilarious!
    Wait... it's July.... but...but...

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    1. I can almost hear Barnum yell, "You've been humbugged, suckers!"

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  10. I only played WHFB a few times - all using the 8th Ed. Haven't played it in a while, but still have my Empire troops. When I went to the website I couldn't find the link to the free rules. I'm intrigued by its brevity - I like simple rules. :)

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    1. Try Kings of War, which is simplified Warhammer. The new 2nd edition is free on the Mantic site on the 10th July.

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  11. I think its time for your frog pills Dr Lambshead
    I must go and have a look at these rules they really must be rubbish to have generated so much negative feedback so quickly

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    1. frog? Don't you mean monkey gland extractions?

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  12. Hi John I see what you mean all a bit fuzzy

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  13. The games themselves are kinda fun and they have brought a level of humour back that hasn't really been seen since 3rd edition. The rules are very much aimed at games between mates rather than being tournament competitive - there needs to be a certain degree of trust between the players to not game the system. It's certainly not the Warhammer of old but I don't think it'll turn out to be a bad game. I prefer KoW as my mass-battle system, but as a huge fan of skirmish games I am excited for the future.

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    1. Maybe GW will pull the rabbit out of the hat and delight us all.....

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