Oathmark - Who's Playing?

[aircav]

How many Figures are in an average unit?

[Historiker]

5 is the smallest optimal starting number for infantry.

I would say a regular unit of infantry is 10.

The biggest possible block of infantry is 20.

[Mr. White]

Seems like a box of 30models can go pretty far then.

[Historiker]

Absolutely.

The rulebook says that a box of 30 is all you need for the first games. In fact the game was designed so that you can play it with just one box. The scale of the game is something between 30 and 300+ figures. I bet you could play it with fewer and even way more than 300 but my table is too small for really extreme experiments

Personally I got myself a box of Elf Light Infantry, a box of Human Infantry and the standard Dwarf Infantry plus two metal models and I think I won't be upgrading to more troops soon.

[aircav]

5 is the smallest optimal starting number for infantry.

I would say a regular unit of infantry is 10.

The biggest possible block of infantry is 20.

That’s good to know, it might tip me over the edge in buying a set, thanks

[Historiker]

You're welcome!

By "minimum optimal" I meant that, as far as I understand the rules, a unit with a front rank of 5 (in the minimum one rank) gets 5 Attack Dice. The ranks after the first full rank are providing bonuses on the stats.

With my box of Human Infantry I am planning to build 15 hand weapon & shield guys and 15 Archers. Whether this is strategically a good choice I don't know but I do know that I could use these numbers as a starter army.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Seems like a box of 30models can go pretty far then.

Yes.
I have some armies based on the minimum point value for learning to play here:
http://ultravanillasmurf.blogspot.com/2020/08/oathmark-forces.html

My starter Elf army can be built from just one box of Elf Light Infantry.

For the shootiest version, four ranks of Elf Rangers eats most of the points (they are very points hungry).

This does leave (almost) two sprues left over (there are a few figures needed from the sprues to reach the minimum point value)

As an alternative, you can swap one rank of Rangers for Pathguard and buy a level one Spell Caster.

I am looking at the movement buff spell to get the elves into position (and out of trouble).

[Ultravanillasmurf]

I have pointed up a dwarf Army  that used one box plus the sprue I bought at Salute 2017 - I need to buy the box though...

[aircav]

Is the base size critical?

My stuff is on 30mm lipped bases 

[Hobgoblin]

Just took the plunge and ordered the rulebook from Amazon - it's almost a tenner off there now. We've been playing through various individually based rank-and-flank games (Warhammer, Chainmail, Chaos Wars, etc.), so it seems rude not to give the newest addition to those ranks a go!

[Historiker]

Is the base size critical?

My stuff is on 30mm lipped bases 

This might be something you are looking for:

https://productsforwargamers.com/product/oathmark-movement-trays-2/

The footprint is a little too big when compared to the footprint in the rulebook but I don't think you should worry too much about that when playing with friends.

I will mostly play Oathmark with a smaller footprint and don't expect any complaints

[aircav]

This might be something you are looking for:

https://productsforwargamers.com/product/oathmark-movement-trays-2/

The footprint is a little too big when compared to the footprint in the rulebook but I don't think you should worry too much about that when playing with friends.

I will mostly play Oathmark with a smaller footprint and don't expect any complaints

Nice, thanks for that 

[Pattus Magnus]

Oathmark is pretty forgiving about moderate differences in unit footprints because only two opposing units at a time engage in combat and at the end of a round one or the other is moved back from contact. When units move into combat one or the other is moved to face the other edge to edge and they are placed centre to centre on the sides in contact, so having different unit widths doesn’t matter much.

Unit width differences would give figs on larger bases a slightly wider zone (and units with smaller bases a narrower one) for shooting, but that’s unlikely to have much impact on game play.

Possibly the greatest impact would be on movement- specifically units on larger bases having a harder time moving through friendly units ( the unit needs to be able to clear the friendly unit to move through). Units with smaller bases would find it easier to move through friends. A few minor rule tweaks would remove those effects, though.

The same applies to bases for large creatures- a bit of difference from the “official” base sizes is unlikely to break the game!

Overall, you probably wouldn’t have problems using 30mm or 20 mm bases as long as you and your opponent are willing to be reasonable about it!

[Mr. White]

If I never get to take advantage of the kingdom campaign rules... how good are casual/pick up games?

[aircav]

Thanks Pattus Magnus