So I had my first game of Age of Sigmar last night, and I gotta say, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I played my Beasts of Chaos against Flesh Eater Courts, and got absolutely smashed. So I will run though my predictions from the last article, and just kind of update where I am with them now.
Excited:
Scoring- I absolutely loved the scoring. Despite getting absolutely destroyed the score was relatively close, as I was able to focus on scoring the objectives. There were objectives going diagonally across the board, spaced evenly apart. Scoring 1 point for 1 objective, 1 point for a 2nd, 1 point for holding more than the opponent, and 2 for each battle tactic. Being able to pick the battle tactics on the beginning of the turn led to making really dynamic decisions that I was able to adapt on the fly. I didn’t need a specific plan for the game, I could see where I was at the start of my turn and what I could accomplish. But that being said, if I planned ahead, it made that way easier to accomplish. So I really enjoyed the scoring. Also being able to leave an objective once you gain control of it was super refreshing. I didn’t need a unit to baby sit an objective and essentially be out the whole game, once you get one its yours until the enemy takes it.
Unique Faction Rules- My opponent and I each played different factions, and as predicted they were very different. His faction was able to bring back slain models pretty easily and had high bravery, but his army was definitely smaller than mine and seemed to hit less hard. My faction was able to ambush from the board edges, and doing special actions. Not to mention that we each had access to different pools of battle tactics. Theres a common pool for everybody, but then each faction has a pool they can pull from. Needless to say each faction seemed very different to play, and that is exactly what I was looking for.
Seasons- This doesn’t really come up in one game, but I do like the idea that I can play games as I am for a couple months, a year from the start, and then I get some changes to the way I play.
Movement- Im adding this one to my list of excited because I really got to experience it during the game and it stood out to me as a plus in this game. Since you have to stay 3” away from enemy units at all times you can really work to zone your opponent out of certain areas. Most other games have a stay out of 1” rule, and you can kind of zone out but it doesn’t work great. 3” is a lot more space that it sounds like once you see it on the table. Factor in terrain and you can just make it really hard for enemies to get where they want to go without having to fight through your unit first.
Hesitant:
Double Turn- So this one did not come up in our game, so I cant really give a first impression on it, but I imagine it is still awful. Looking at the board position pretty much every turn, I was really hoping to not get double turned, because that would have been just a nail in the coffin to end the game basically from the start of turn 3 onwards. Maybe that’s because Im inexperienced and didn’t plan for it, but basically every turn the game would have been over the second my opponent one that dice roll for priority. This is honestly my biggest hang up about the game, but I will see how I feel after a few games under my belt.
Static Wound Rule- This was not as bad as I thought it would be, and it does make dice math easier. But at one point he got a unit into my big monster and needed 3s to wound, and Im just looking at my model which is taller than 3 of his models on top of each other and going “Really?!” And then on top of it they were -1 rend so my monster only got a 6 up save against attacks that did 2 or 3 damage. It didn’t seem right, and I don’t know how corner case this example is, but it seems like it would come up every now and then. Not thrilled with this rule, but infantry on infantry it didn’t seem that bad.
So those are my updated thoughts on the game. I definitely think I understand the game better now that Ive had an actual game, and been able to see how rules work in practice. Im still very inexperienced so I will update this again once Ive had maybe 10 games or so to see. I can see myself liking this game, and I think I would be more likely to go to a tournament for this than I would for 40k, but I would never say no to a pick up game of either. Until next time, keep rolling dice!
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