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Author Topic: In praise of Age of Sigmar  (Read 1318 times)

Gabbi

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In praise of Age of Sigmar
« on: February 06, 2020, 03:20:55 PM »
Kinda of Lost Cause advocate hare, but I'm bored, so let me indulge in this...

I've noticed kinda of general dislike for AoS (and everything GW that's not Rogue Trader or Oldhammer) on these forums. Not a surprise: GW did earned every bit of hate they get with their own hands, thanks to their behavior in the past years, albeit by a few years I think they have greatly improved their attitude toward their player base greatly.

Anyway, it's just AoS I would like to speak of here, as it's the fantasy board and it's a game that -in my opinion- would be enjoyed by most of the member here.

Let's start with the fact that the (basic) rules are free, so you can try it out for free. Also, despite all the efforts by GW to try convince us that the races in AoS settings are new and exotic, the majority of them are easily referable to the usual Tolkien-inspired ones. So no need to buy their models, either.
I write this because I find the game very oriented to narrative play. To the point that I actually don't understand people who play it competitively, because they're taking -imho- the worst the game has to offer (for competitive play, I think there are ruleset better refined for tournament style play). AoS has nice and fun rules for terrain, too, that's not just an obstruction, but provides interesting thing to do (i.e. raise a D3 of undeads to fight for you, or teleport your units around the table - or evene across multiple tables, if you have the means for this).
Even more, if you're willing to invest some quid in a "General's Handbook" (it doesn't need to be the latest one. A new one is released every year, and most updates are related to point costs and competitive play, so you can save some money by getting an older edition) it's crammed with new and interesting ways to play: campaigns (Path to Glory for example is a nice style of play where you'll see your general gaining power and new units under his command) and any kind of weird and asymmetrical scenarios, many of them with "neutral" hazards to keep the battles tense.
There's also a set of cards that allow for random scenario generation, where deployment zones, objectives and random events are generated by drawing cards, allowing for very weird combinations.

I am no way associated with GW, nor AoS is one of my fav systems (I love tighter ones the most, Warmachine and Dark Age are currently on top of my personal list) but I do enjoy the occasional game of AoS as a welcome change of pace.
So I wanted to suggest to the folks here, who seem to enjoy narrative and rules-light games the most, to give it a try. Leave aside eventual preconceptions toward GW and just give the game a try, chances are you'll like it :)
« Last Edit: February 06, 2020, 03:24:49 PM by Gabbi »

Offline Bloggard

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Re: In praise of Age of Sigmar
« Reply #1 on: February 06, 2020, 03:46:17 PM »
I think the 'malign sorcery' figures / spells and rules are a very nice 'thing' - intend to use them for my skirmish doings - and may yet use an adaption of AoS /  Mordheim for my rules overall ...
« Last Edit: February 06, 2020, 10:05:32 PM by Bloggard »

Online Daeothar

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Re: In praise of Age of Sigmar
« Reply #2 on: February 06, 2020, 03:51:15 PM »
Interesting; you made some valid points I think.

I personally never really looked into it, and am neither in the yea nor nay camp. But I do enjoy narrative games in fantasy settings, so I might very well take your recommendation in consideration... :)
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Offline jetengine

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Re: In praise of Age of Sigmar
« Reply #3 on: February 06, 2020, 04:26:19 PM »
The Old World was a grim low fantasy setting which is fine but has limitations and regularly needed retcons, deus ex machinas and ridiculous explanations for how factions interacted or survived. AOS is Power Metal, He Man and every crazy Fran Frazetta artwork mashed together. It embraces the weird and silly.

Gabbi

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Re: In praise of Age of Sigmar
« Reply #4 on: February 06, 2020, 04:31:29 PM »
Glad to hear :)
If you want to check the extent of weirdness/creativity the scenario can have, you can download this free collection (with a theme for big Monsters):
https://www.warhammer-community.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/WarCom_AOS_Monsters_Combined.pdf

@jetengine: I agree, and I found myself loving the over-the-top AoS setting more. It's somewhat refreshing, in it's own goofy way :D
Anyway, as previously said, it's easily replaceable by a different tone fantasy setting, as most of the races are -more or less- the usual ones.
« Last Edit: February 06, 2020, 04:33:05 PM by Gabbi »

Offline Bloggard

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Re: In praise of Age of Sigmar
« Reply #5 on: February 06, 2020, 05:38:26 PM »
might be a touch hopeful in context, but I hear a lot of (faint) Moorcockian echoes in all the (totally barmy) planes stuff.

Offline pixelgeek

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Re: In praise of Age of Sigmar
« Reply #6 on: February 06, 2020, 07:15:32 PM »
There is a wide gulf between the free AoS rules and the way that the game gets played based on the GW stats for their various factions.

The attack resolution system is baroque. The number of skills and abilities that interact with and influence this process can make it so that there are multiple to hit and multiple save rolls each combat.

I agree that the core rules are fun but everything having an ability, including terrain, just drags the game down.

Offline Elbows

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Re: In praise of Age of Sigmar
« Reply #7 on: February 06, 2020, 07:57:27 PM »
I think the issue for a lot of people is simple; many of us prefer a Tolkien-esque fantasy.  That lower, grittier fantasy was precisely what was attractive about Warhammer as an IP.  Warhammer Fantasy itself was edging away from that in later years as they released more and more absurd kits.  AoS took that idea and cranked it to 11.

Thus, because the aesthetics don't appeal to me, I've no reason to consider AoS.
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Offline DivisMal

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Re: In praise of Age of Sigmar
« Reply #8 on: February 06, 2020, 09:22:53 PM »
I never managed to play it, but bought the very first boxed set and by now quite some models. I did like the rules, and also the models. It is He-Man, it is Power Metal...but it is also fun.

Something that Warhammer hasn’t neen for me for ages.

Offline Steam Flunky

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Re: In praise of Age of Sigmar
« Reply #9 on: February 06, 2020, 09:35:25 PM »
I have never really look into AOS simply because a couple of years before it arrived Osprey brought out Lion and Dragon Rampant . After years of playing games with friends where we spent more time searching for explanations in the rules than playing, it was nice to have a fast, fun and simple game which worked.This made AOS unnecessary for me.
 I dont mind the setting of AOS but but i still dont like the "Sigmar marine" miniatures at all.
Pretty impressed we the Nighthaunts though.
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Offline Hobgoblin

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Re: In praise of Age of Sigmar
« Reply #10 on: February 06, 2020, 09:47:01 PM »
My experience echoes Steam Flunky's. I did download the free rules when they came out, but I couldn't really see anything compelling in them (a bit like Dragon Rampant without the overriding advantage of generic unit types).

Also, for over-the-top, power-metal gaming, there's Rogue Planet, which is terrific and really innovative. It has lots of opportunity for stupendous feats, extreme interaction with terrain and assorted derring-do, but with the added advantage of open unit-building opportunties. I didn't see anything in AoS that Rogue Planet couldn't do just as well or better.

I'm not sure if I'd quite agree with Gabbi about generic miniatures slotting into AoS. As an example, my early-to-mid-80s GW orcs will slot in nicely to most games. But I'd be surprised if they're a good fit for the AoS 'Orruks', in that they're a fraction of the size of even the GW orcs of a decade or more ago, and a sliver of the size of the ones produced for AoS.

So I suppose my entry barrier into AoS is just the question "What will this do that Dragon Rampant/Saga/Rogue Planet won't do better?".

Offline Elk101

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Re: In praise of Age of Sigmar
« Reply #11 on: February 06, 2020, 10:09:23 PM »
Be careful that this doesn't turn in to a general GW discussion as we already have a (very) large thread for that.

Edit: actually having re-read page 1 of the GW thread, unless it's actually about GW stuff you've built, painted, a game, etc any general discussion is supposed to go into that thread. You all kept it nice though, so thank you for that! Unless you really want to have this discussion over on the General thread, best that I should lock this now.
« Last Edit: February 06, 2020, 10:17:44 PM by Elk101 »