"My Initial Thoughts on Age of Sigmar" Topic

Having read the rules, I have my gripes, but it ain't half bad. I'll have to try them out, but, with a little army building, I can see this supplementing Song of Blades and Heroes for my group.

I did a write up of my initial thoughts on the free 4 page on my blog

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Rule Bretonnia!

Thanks for the links! I just downloaded and skimmed. Looks fun and light enough to not be a hassle. Sort of halfway between Mordheim and WH. I too wish it had some sort of point system. That lack seems very broken.

I don't quite understand the summoning rules.

Not a fan of the "talk to models" "bribe or have bad things happen" style rules.

Looks fast and easy to play which is a bonus.

Everything seems to be based on a dice roll (except for things like screaming waaagh etc).

Overall, has potential but its also too casual for me.

Much applause to GW for putting everything up -rules and warscrolls for every army- for free on their site. I haven't been a fan for a long time but this is seriously a good move. Looking forward to giving these a try.

I might try to get a quick game in Sunday night. I haven't played WHFB for years now.

GW and "for free"?

Brings to mind that P.T. Barnum quote…

I don't really like the 'silly' stuff. Why should a character's in-game ability be dependant on the size of the player's moustache, for example? It's not particularly funny or clever and makes me think GW aren't taking the whole thing seriously as a set of rules. I'll either ignore these abilities or pass on the whole thing altogether I think.

Here is my initial thought:

Someone in GW said:

"Saga and warband games like it are quite popular: let's do that!"

I just read the new WD with the rules and free miniature. Briefly, the rules themselves seem fine, not dissimilar to Lion Rampant in some ways, still using units so it's not really a skirmish game as such. The new faction, Stormcast Eternals are Space Marines in both appearance and fluff. And the new fluff/background is really weak, completely uninspiring and uninteresting. It's like a 15 year old's bespoke fantasy world, and to the extent that the GW design studio is made up of pasty adolescent fanboys it's not really surprising.

However there's nothing to stop anyone using the new rules in the Old World especially since all the other minis and races remain in the game, which kind of makes the fluff reboot redundant – why would Sigmar 'raise up'the races of his new 9 realms just to replicate the Old World? And why would their cultural appearance be identical without having the same cultural history behind it?

Rules – Reserving judgement but respect to GW for such a radical overhaul.

Mini – meh.

Fluff – drivel.

"It's not particularly funny or clever and makes me think GW aren't taking the whole thing seriously as a set of rules."

I don't know how clever it is, but it has the potential to be very funny. I can't wait to see what I can get out of an OK army player with the bribing rules. I'll gladly lose a game for $25 USD a turn.

These rules are terrible. For Example:

Movement, "no part of the model can move further than it's Move value"

-So that means if I spin my empire state troop 180° it costs about 3.5 inches of movement. Over half the figures move to pivot.

-If I don't have to measure the pivot just flipping him around point to point is about 2+ inches of movement. The Rules don't specify

-In fact there is no facing. So I can back into an enemy behind me and fight it.

Xin

The "baseless measurement" rule means there will be a LOT of spinning models to face unlikely directions to the player's advantage.

That's a can of worms that could cause arguments among the most easy-going players. And for what?

Stormcast Eternals are Space Marines…

I believe they are being called Sigmarines.

I didnt see anything about charge reactions like stand and shoot or run away?

Too bad. I used to like to use fast cav to misdirect a tough unit to get a crack at its flanks.

Looking at the rules this all just seems like a dumbed down version of what was a great game. They had to give rules away for free because I dont think anyone would have bought them.

I have not played, just been reading a lot of reviews and looking at the downloads.

It is not for me. It seems silly and aimed at people who like to game while drinking heavily. LARP players might like it. Sort of like some of the music from the late 60's struck me as being designed to listen to while stoned.

I am not a keen fan of rules lawyers, but this version is more for rules anarchists. As a child my brother and I would stand up our plastic soldiers and take turns shooting rubber BB's at each others troops. Last man standing won the battle.

I think that was more thought out than AoS.

The good things about ages are…..there's a lot of them!

Had a nice chat with the GW retail minion yesterday who explained how the minis are "turtle-y ossum man" (or something like that.)

I agreed they were indeed well-crafted and "ossum", but I didn't actually like them.

I think a lot of GW's customers are people who'd rather collect and paint than play games. There's also a drive within their creative team towards a sort of dramatic, apocalyptic theme (yes, even more than previously) to everything – as seen in the artwork.

After all, what does a being do to pass the time once you've detroyed the universe?

That's not a bad thing if you're a collector, but I don't personally feel "connected" with this new creative content and style.

I tend to hunger wistfully for the anarchic elements of Rogue Trader, with Space Wombles scrawling graffiti on their shoulder pads instead of yet another skull. You used to be able to identify with even the meanest and greenest of races in The Old World. You could imagine setting aside your little skull-strewn battlefield differences for an evening to sit down with a night goblin or 3 and Chaos's Supreme Deathmaster of Hades to enjoy a quiet pint and watch the BloodBowl match on TV.

As for my free White Dwarf Sigmarine mini, he (she or it) will either end up in a one-off game of Mordheim or get the bronze & Nihilakh Oxide treatment to become statue somewhere on Necromunda.

As for Sigmar………….. well, I just don't see him as having the sense of humour to offer us a BloodBowl team anytime soon.

It's like it's all disappearing under the weight of its own hyperbole or, as a pan-dimensional being one said to Deep Thought, "Oh come on. This is getting needlessly messianic."

I tried out the Age of Sigmar rules in a solo playtest and wrote up a battle report on my blog. If you're interested in seeing how it went, have a look here:

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