Bloodsecration of the Gaming Table

Spent the weekend testing out Age of Sigmar with the gaming crew.  None of us knew the rules, which made the 4 page rules set that much more appealing.  After all, I'd rather be painting or playing than studying rules (and drinking Jack and Coke like a wounded hero downing healing potions).  All 4 players slapped together some medium-sized forces from our collections, each with a different style.  The Wood Elf player and I both picked a smattering of models of all types so we could test out all the different kinds of units in the game.  I was able to add some gobbo woflboyz and a dark elf Kharibdyss to my ogres, which is something I always wanted to do but was "forbidden" by the old WFB game.  The Brettonians came with an old style of force of a couple massive units of peasants, a giant block of regular knights, and a handful of heroes.  The other ogre player brought the best of the best ogre units, with a few additions like a gorger that was rarely seen in WFB because, like a number of other "outflanking" forces, they rarely showed up to the battle on time (or ever). 

We split the battlefield in half, ogres vs wood elves in the background, ogres vs Brets in the foreground.

I put a little too much terrain out there, thinking it would be easier to move around with AoS rules.  With 2 games going on though, the table got cramped pretty fast.  

A brawl broke out in the center, with Ironguts and Knights of the Realm mashing each other, and wolfboyz vainly trying to assassinate the Brettonian BSB as the peasants rained arrowstorms down upon the ogres.  

In game 2 we switched opponents, and the Kharibyss made its debut, eventually rampaging among Wild Riders and Wardancers and eating their bones (and sustaining 11 wounds!)

  Overall I had a great time, and didn't keep track of turns.  Didn't even finish either of my games since I didn't really care about the results.  Gamewise, all I really remember was the Bretonnian general skewering my giant in a matter of seconds, the wood elf lord shooting my tyrant before the battle began (how rude!), and in all 4 games the Ironguts dealt some serious damage with their damage 3 weapons.

I think there can be some modifications to the AoS rules to clear up some confusion and make a little more sense of things.  Shooting into combat (including one you're in), the old "look out sir" for heroes so they aren't sniped off now that they can't hide in units, and perhaps a challenge system for hero duels.  We'll either make our own tweaks or borrow some from other gaming clubs.  Seeing the studio play some games should also clear up some confusion so we can better understand the intent behind some of the rules.

For casual play, a loose force org/comp guideline is good to keep players in the same ballpark for forces, though it seems that the "loser" in every game can still blame their failures on unbalanced forces rather than just enjoy the game itself.  I think scenario and objective play will clear up some of this problem, because the "pitched battle" type of game can seem pointless if the only objective is to table your opponent.  If the true objective is to have fun, then killing every single one of your opponent's models with a heavily favored force seems to detract from that objective.  However, with scenarios and objectives each player can claim moral victories and occupy their time with objectives other than killing every model. A game is better when both players come away having fun, not just the "winner."

Win, lose or draw, I'll still claim my own twisted victory ("yeah you killed my whole army, but I burned your sorceress alive like the witch she is!!") and have fun.  I do that in 40K already....I don't care if I get tabled so long as at least once per game I can go "pew pew pew" and blow up a tank.

The hardest part about AoS now is waiting for the new releases to come out so we can help the old WFB players make that mental leap into the Age of Sigmar, and stop living in the Age of Myth.  I'll keep playing my old stuff for now, but only until an AoS faction comes out that I really want to collect (Khorne and Eternals look awesome, but aren't my cup of tea).   
 
So, the battles are done, the dust has settled, and I'm still a Warhammer fan.  All is well.