Oathmark rule query - artillery and future expansions

[Hincmar]

 A mate and I played a first game of Oathmark yesterday and really enjoyed it.   I found the combat mechanisms quite clever in terms of easy to follow procedures that gave quick results with lots of granular detail without needing buckets of dice.   The initiative and activation system produces lots of tension and there is enough differentiation between the various races and troop types to give the game lots of character.   

The loose, Dark Age setting is also evocative, and as well as refocusing my mind on decades-long but dormant thoughts of gaming Middle Earth, it has inspired me to pull out books by Paul Bonner and other artists who have influenced me with images of Norse and Anglo-Saxon myth, deep, dark forests, rugged landscapes and so on.   I just need to decide whether to work on an Goblin army based on my old school GW metal / Kev Adams sculpts, which is already part completed, or break new ground by starting a plastic army using the OM, Wargames Factory and GW ranges.

We missed or messed up a few rule points here as one would expect from a first try-out but there was only one real issue - artillery.  I deployed a Goblin light catapult which created mayhem in my opponents' Norse army.   This was because of how one is supposed to factor in the number of ranks that the target unit has.   The rules say that you use the latter to generate the number of combat dice that the catapult fires with (added to the basic CD that the artillery unit generates).   All fine and clear so far.   But then it gets unclear.   The question is whether, when determining the target to hit number, one applies all of the usual shooting modifiers that apply to other forms of firing, and in particular whether the number of ranks in the target unit applies as a modifier.

The reason we ask is that when we did apply the latter modifier, the catapult was devastating when it targeted a large unit, literally cutting a swathe through it in a couple of turns.   It seemed very over-powered for a cost of only 80 points.

At page 68, beginning of third paragraph of the Artillery section, the book states that the artillery unit "follows the usual rules for a shooting attack with a few exceptions", and then details the formula for computing combat dice.   These general words imply that all of the usual shooting modifiers apply for calculating the target number.

But the second paragraph on page 69 states "Apply the usual modifiers to a shooting attack if the target is in cover."   

This implies (or may imply) that you do not apply the other modifiers including the number of ranks in the target unit.

The QRS available on the Osprey web-site is silent on the point.

I suppose my scepticism arises from the fact that the number of ranks in the target unit were effectively being counted twice, albeit at different points in the procedure.

We did note that once a unit's ranks are whittled down, the target number obviously increased, which is logical given that the unit would be smaller and therefore harder to it.

Our intuition is that all of the normal shooting modifiers apply, which drew the comment from my opponent that it would easy for a player to deploy a battery of these things (quite cheap @80 points a pop) in a kind of Napoleonic grand battery style.

The other question I have is of a more general nature.   I am a bit disappointed with the new supplement, Oathsworn, as I was hoping that it would add lots of new and exciting units to each of the factions, such as Goblin chariots, alternative human armies and so on.   Does anyone have any info on whether there will be more detailed expansions in the future which will allow players to build up a greater variety of armies for specific races?   I see that there may be one that introduces Undead-type armies but nothing else seems to be in the pipeline and I think the game could do with it in time.

All in all though, a great new rule set in my opinion.   It is the first I have encountered that genuinely hits the sweet spot of mass battle, with individual figure removal, and quick playing.

[Neunfinger]

I think you mixed up the Target Number calculation.
You get -1 in the TN for each rank in your own, firing unit. Since an Artillery piece never has more than one rank, they never get a bonus for this.
The Combat Dice for Artillery on the other hand are generated based on the ranks of the opponents targeted unit which you did correctly.

[Ogrob]

We don't have a ton of info on expansions beyond the next one with the Undead. I have seen rumours about chariots but I don't know how confirmed those are.

[acefortune]

I would be very happy if chariots were included down the line, and I know a friend who has a GW Chaos army and would be very excited if a chaos type army was statted up down the road.

[Hincmar]

Thanks for the clarification: that makes complete sense.

I don't think it would be too difficult to create home brew units and expansions but it would be great if there were official supplements that did so.

[Mallo]

The other question I have is of a more general nature.   I am a bit disappointed with the new supplement, Oathsworn, as I was hoping that it would add lots of new and exciting units to each of the factions, such as Goblin chariots, alternative human armies and so on.   Does anyone have any info on whether there will be more detailed expansions in the future which will allow players to build up a greater variety of armies for specific races?   I see that there may be one that introduces Undead-type armies but nothing else seems to be in the pipeline and I think the game could do with it in time.

Chariots are definitely coming. Hopefully they will be in the next expansion along with the undead. At least, that's what has been said before on the facebook group. There is the third expansion 'Bane of kings', which is due sometime next year, so it is possible they will be in there rather than in with the undead expansion.

[Elder Days]

Any word on rules for barbarians, gnolls, snake men or halflings?

[Mallo]

Any word on rules for barbarians, gnolls, snake men or halflings?

I guess that Barbarians would just be classed as humans. so they already have rules.

 No halflings, we might see a halfling character but no halfling army list- though its not stopped the people in the facebook group asking for one, so who knows.

I've seen no mention of gnolls or snakemen. I'd probably just sub them in for men or orcs though.

This is all from seeing posts on the facebook groups mind, most of it comes from Joe or Northstar themselves, but I can't be 100% certain on any of it.

[peleset]

I guess that Barbarians would just be classed as humans.

Yyyeah, some may beg to differ however.

https://img.cinemablend.com/filter:scale/quill/8/d/d/4/6/e/8dd46e09327ca7a693a1bb8d3927a7abc7bcbc82.jpg?fw=1200

REH for one.

[puster]

Any word on rules for barbarians, gnolls, snake men or halflings?

I plan to use the Goblins stats for Halflings. The low A just reflects that they are generally unwarlike. All I need now is to invent a habitat for them.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Any word on rules for barbarians, gnolls, snake men or halflings?

Snakemen would be interesting, mainly because the Ghost Archipelago figures are on 30mm bases, so getting the five inch frontage would be an issue (four figures on a sabot base would work, but there are no traditional bases.

I plan to use the Goblins stats for Halflings. The low A just reflects that they are generally unwarlike. All I need now is to invent a habitat for them.

Think Shire, river lands etc. You might not get all the goblin options.

I've seen no mention of gnolls or snakemen. I'd probably just sub them in for men or orcs though.

I am using Orc stats for Gnolls.
http://ultravanillasmurf.blogspot.com/2020/08/oathmark-gnolls.html
Now plastic Gnoll Cavalry on War Hyena would be nice.

Anyone know if the plastic Oathmark Wolves are usable without riders?

[Ogrob]

Anyone know if the plastic Oathmark Wolves are usable without riders?

Yes, they don't have any mouled on sadles or anything so they work just fine riderless.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Yes, they don't have any mouled on sadles or anything so they work just fine riderless.

Thanks.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Thinking about it, Halflings should get one or two levels of Courage, it might be like herding cats to get them in place, but they will stand their ground.

No Spellcast, but a plus one to the casting number (CN) on any spell that is cast AT the unit (magic resistance). So Smoke and Mud  are unaffected but Sunder or Life Bane are. Note that Immolate would be unaffected if the enemy unit was Halflings, but would be affected if the friendly one was