Official point system comming to AoS

[Kol Saresk]

Well, so far the current AoS system has been pretty fluid. Take the Search for Nagash leading into Balance of Power for example.

Search for Nagash ends with Nagash refusing to even listen to the Stormcast while holding onto the soul of Tarsus and promising to tear him apart in order to find how Sigmar is stealing souls from Shyish.

But in Balance of Power, Nagash answers Neferata's call for help and then listens to the Stormcast, with the end result being at least a temporary truce between Nagash and the warriors of Sigmar.

And besides, the CEO GW currently has, has been willing to take risks over the past few years and other than having to deal with the backlash of AoS's arrival, those risks seem to be slowly paying off, even if it isn't reflected in the quarterly reports.

 

[Menkeroth]

Aye, the logic of the plot is as always of little concern to them, although multiple links between different works are pretty good and frequent. I wonder if they already wrote all the main twists in the plot.

 

[Mnemloch]

I've come to be a bit more reserved about it. Rumors are now starting to sound that the match play system uses the same core rules and FAQs, and I have a hard time seeing this game as playable with saves that stack up to invincibility, infinite recursive summoning, large models that can charge backwards but cannot turn around, models crawling on each others bases, Laser guided cannonballs sniping individual heroes out of melee, etc.

I mean, it's not the biggest problems, supplemental community rules packs and/or local scene house rules will still cover things, but I was kind of hoping that such wouldn't be necessary after the GC was out. *shrug*

You cannot stack saves to invincibility in the Compendium. It includes the rule that on 1 it is an auto fail. So you can get 2+ saves (like Blood Knights vs (-) rend attacks w/Bloodshields and Mystic Shield) but you will not be able to make a 1+ save with the compendium rules in play.

 

[Sception]

That's one problematic rule down, but still about a dozen left. The game really needs a second edition, something written with more of an eye to playability.

 

[Kol Saresk]

If they're willing to make point system, a second edition probably isn't too far behind.

 

[Realjuan]

I have not read anything about GW in a while, giving up my hopes on them. I think these are steps in the right direction. *Fingers Crossed*

 

[Sception]

It's very disappointing that the General's Compendium won't be out until a week or two after the global campaign starts, instead of the other way around. I was hoping to use these two things together to try and kick start a local community that is on life support, but I won't be able to get people into the campaign without a more playable official ruleset. Once the book that might bring such a ruleset is out, the campaign will already be well underway, and it will be much harder to get people to care about it.

yeah, some GW stores are getting a store copy early, but there isn't really one around here (despite living near what used to be the US headquarters for GW).

Unfortunate all round.

 

[Mnemloch]

I have to say I guess I am pretty lucky in that regards. In Tucson AZ the AoS scene is fairly vibrant with games going on at 3 FLGS and at the GW as well.

We just started our narrative escalation campaign ~1.5 wks ago with first major battle this Saturday. I have been painting like mad so that Death easily takes the lead in the majors (minor battles are limited but major is no holds bar).

 

[Kol Saresk]

Well, they finally started up Tale of Four Gamers again according to the Age of Sigmar Facebook page and the General's Compendium was mentioned in the post. Maybe we'll get a sneak peek of it.

 

[Menkeroth]

It's interesting. They can as well release it with all the conclusions from the campaign. Really not clear.

 

[Oppenheimer]

We also have a map based campaign going on in our local GW for a couple months now. Small games throughout the week and big group games every two weeks. Unfortunately the big games have a wound cap which is annoying. So I'm looking forward to the points if we're going to be forced to have something on those big games. Luckily the ones during the week are free play.

 

[Demian]

So, if I understand correctly, we have oportunity to support Nagash in every official store by pwning other armies?

Then we shall rally behind this page's flag and show the other alliances where they belong: as zombies. Wights if they are old enoigh maybe!

 

[Menkeroth]

Aye, it seems so. It reminds of the Medusa V campaign back in the day in 40k.

 

[Mnemloch]

Nagash and all 3 mortarchs will be on the table Sat for me.

I know Archeon will be in play, going to be interesting.

Did some 2v1's and I have to say, I am 100% confident that Death is the strongest army if played unbound.

 

[Oppenheimer]

Ugh. Your group sounds intolerable. I hate just putting the most powerful stuff on the board. I like armies that are more fluffy.

 

[Sception]

Oh, come now. If you can't bust out the big names for big games, what are either even good for?

 

[Mnemloch]

It fits the fluff of our campaign for control over Sigmar's Gate perfectly...

There have been 2 wks of ongoing battles (Arkhan even faced off against the unified forces of Skaven and Tzeentch). Now the first large scale (8x6 ft table at min) battle is going to take place.

My forces will include only 35 models (to start) that give a +2 to spells, +3 to summoning. Which gives Arkhan and Nagash a +6 to summoning. It is going to be amazing

 

[Mnemloch]

And I agree, 90% of the battles have been tier 4 or lower heroes. Glotkin and Arkhan are only big guys I know that made a surface. And 1 VL on ZD.


(tiers for me/our group)

Tier 1 GA Leader (Nagash)
Tier 2 Captains of above (Mortarchs)
Tier 3 Hero on monster/equivalent (VL/ZD or GK/T)
Tier 4 Hero on normal mount (VL on nightmare)
Tier 5 Hero with special Command Ability (Named or Unnamed, ie Vampire Lord)
Tier 6 Hero with nothing special or unique (Necro)



Our small battles have been limited to 3 boxes and 1 blister with no more than 1 Hero/1 Monster (games have been actually really well balanced outside of my first one... 10 Blood Knights and a VL on ZD was a bit much in retrospect).

 

[Oppenheimer]

Oh, okay. That sounds much better. I misunderstood and thought that you guys always fielded the highest tier guys. For sure, if this is a one off grand battle then sure thing that's fun

 

[Sception]

I mostly field rather high tier guys - Arkhan (though with summoning restrictions that take a lot of the wind out of his sails), or Krell in smaller games. Regular 5 wound heroes, though, I just don't trust. Not to be my general, at least. Not when every archer and catapult in the game can pick them out no problem.

I was going to try using a tomb herald to see if that could make some of the regular heroes more runnable, but then rumors of the Generals Compendium hit, and all games in the local area dried up while people waited for it, a drought which still continues.

 

[Mnemloch]

I prefer a pretty tanky setup with Blood Knights supported by either VL on ZD or Mannfred. Though I did put an ethereal army out last week that wrecked havoc, even with a necro as the general. My SH were rolling 6's on hit like crazy. Those mortal wounds really put the hurt out on good rolls.

 

[mmimzie]

As far as what Tier to bring. I generally don't field any named characters. I always find them very silly that they are running all over, and when they go against each other... <.< just seems so goofy.

"look death won a fight!!" "oh which mortarch was it?? or was it Nagash??" lol Got to have other generals out there.... <.< you know doin stuff. The other bit thats funny, is if you play rather poorly... "oh look nagash ran into the middle of the field alone with his pants down, nagash your so silly who'd of thunk you lead all of the forces of death." .

Edit: Lastly on the special characters.. they ruin the fluff... every time my spirit host one shot nagash.... The next time I read of him doing something awesome... <.< kinda just seems silly.

On spirit host. I'll let fly my favorite combat, them with a VL on ZD oooo momma 6 spirits will put out 10 mortal wounds a round with that reroll to hit.

 

[Sception]

People can always play better or worse with any character, so what? Frankly, I prefer the personality that named characters bring to the game over 'faceless mook general killed in turn one by a cannon' number two hundred and twelve.

And so what if they die in a game? They're already dead. It doesn't matter. Any character in the faction you can name has been killed at least once, and most of them dozens of times, Nagash included. Heck, Nagash utterly underestimating his opponents' strength and rushing face first into defeat is, frankly, an in character move completely supported by the fluff, and while you can say that makes him stupid, he's always back shortly thereafter little bothered by it, so I don't know why you should be bothered by it, either.

Have some fun. If there's one minis game out there that doesn't deserve to be taken seriously, it's this one.

 

[Demian]

I like both ideas, playing with big "legendary" heroes, and fielding ordinary heroes who can become legends! (That one time a zombie poked the eye of a Daemon Prince of Nurgle and killed him, back in 8th was what made me ascend him to Zombie Knight or... something)

I haven't had the opportunity to play with Nagash in AoS, but I'd really like him bolting, soul stealing and reducing stuff to dust, more than summoning 40 zombies a turn... even though there's nothing wrong with that to me, hehe

Vampire Lord + Spirit Hosts is something I had not considered! Nice combo!

 

[Sception]

Yeah, the vamp lord + hosts is good stuff, especially since, while we have access to tons of really significant offensive buffs, very few of them can be applied to hosts otherwise, since their offensive power is so surprisingly potent to begin with. Of course, defensively an arcane shield or two turns them into nigh unparalleled walls.

They're really one of our best units, whether you're looking at game mechanics, model quality, or money-value. At least, they are for now. Hopefully the GC's points system is kind to them.

Honestly, the nighthaunt subfaction in general, while small, and lacking in terms of in-theme army leaders (yet another reason to bring in the dragon lord), still has several real winners in it. Spirit hosts, as mentioned, are great. Mortis Engines are alright, provided you aren't playing against another Death army. The malignant box formation is one of our better formations. The FW ghost giant (I'm drawing a blank on the name...) is a particularly powerful model, and synergizes well with banshees and the mortis engine, etc.