"Armies of Arcana (AoA) - which rule edition is best..?" Topic

hello!

i wonder which rules edition plays best.
i have the first edition (red rule book, with bad photo shop artwork on the cover)

are the following editions better?
why so?

actually i would like to use about 50 – 150 figs a side.

any thgughts?

thanks!

IIRC the only differences between 3rd and 4th were layout and editing….with tournament rules tacked on. Check:

thanesgames.com/aoasupport.htm

I've never heard anyone speak about versions prior to 3 so that would probably indicate that the rules improved with each edition.

I learned with the 2nd or 3rd edition rules but I use the 4th edition rules now. The new rulebook is a nicer and basically cleans up 4th so it must be 5th edition. I would think the difference between 4th and 5th is minor. It is a great set of rules and easily playable with 50 -150 minis a side, more like a 2500-7000 pt game depending on the armies.
One day I will get the new rules.
Darius

yeah the difference between 4th-5th is cosmetic at best with clarifications, erata, and rewrites being the brunt of what is there besides a great improcement to graphics and layout.

If your just looking at the first edition then yes things have probably gotten a lot better.

actually my rulebookj seems to be the 3rd edition. sorry. but changes from 3rd to 4th seem quite fundamental in some parts, do they really give a better game?

Have you tried the forums at link ?

The official website is at armiesofarcana.com

I didn't get into it until 4th edition. The changes to "5th" edition were mostly cosmetic and to clarify rules.

You want the 4th edition rules because things have changed from 3rd to 4th.
Darius

I took the cleanest option and got the 5th edition.

DrDman:
have you read my post?

i asked which edition is best. and especially which onme is suited best for smaller armies. the 4th/5th editition requires huge units, as they will wipe the table with small units of any quality. i am not really happy with that.

the newest edition is not necessarily the bet, i thought.

4th and 5th are aimed at WHFB sized games. You can play smaller games but like you say, as there is no restriction on unit sizes nor anything to make large/small undesirable, large units can 'run over' small ones due to morale bonuses.
In a 4k pt game (about same as 2k WH) infantry units tend to be in the 20-25 figure range in my experience.

I do not know about AoA prior to 4th but I don't believe the scale of game was any different.

As for best? discounting pre 4th (as I don't have a copy), 4th is not so pretty (but then the cover on 5th is not exactly pretty) to look at as 5th but is essentially the same. 5th includes the errata and faq from 4th and the new vehicle rules that Thane developed during 4th, all in one document which is handy. There are a number of misprints with the army lists in 5th due to it being rushed out but I think the website is hosting the corrections.

I have found the layout of 4th easier for reference due to fewer pictures and more text on page meaning most sections are covered by 2 pages in the book making for less page turning but this is really down to what I am used to using for years.

thank you. that was helpful.

I wasn't aware that earlier editions were aimed at smaller sized battles. I started playing AoA not that long ago with 4th edition. There are some skirmish rules that Thane did for smaller games. I've looked at them but never played them. If you want I can post a link to where you can download them.

4th/5th edition doesn't require large units although it works well for large games. As long as you're playing equal points you shouldn't have to worry about huge units wiping the table with small units. It's hard to cover your flanks if you only have a couple massive units.

5th edition is probably the best rulebook from my point of view. Elvenblade's given a pretty good description of the good and the bad and differences with the new book over the last edition. 5th ed. fixed most of the problems with the 4th ed. book and made some new mistakes. The new website is up and going now and work is being done on the errata and FAQs. For myself I'm more concerned about rules than glitz and 5th ed. does clarify a lot of rules as well as making things prettier.

Howdy,

Is there a retailer in the US that carries the 5th edition?

Cheers,
Brian

No retailers that I know of at the moment. Napthyme is working on stocking books in the future and I do some mail orders in North America to help out Terrain Warehouse. If you want to order the book from me in Canada you can send me an e-mail at vsadneek @ hotmail.com for details.