Let's Talk About Age of Sigmar

Preorder this weekend, that's why there's nothing out there. I've been trying to squeeze out a little more info so I know which way to go with my surprise summer Death army. No monsters or large models, no resin or metal. Everything else is in, and you can play with anything in one alliance. So you can roll up with a couple of Liberators partnered with some HE Shadow Warriors and Kurnoth Hunters. Seems to encourage mixed units like that, which is pretty neat.

Huh...if I get a Nurgle hero I bet I can run Blight Kings/Plague Bearers...

IT BEGINS

I haven't watched the play through video, and for some reason plan on buying the book, but like I've mentioned...I'm not really sure Skirmish needs to be a thing.

We have Narrative play that supports low model games. To include mix factions, or hell, anything you want. Then we have Hinterlands that does the advancement tracking if you want that in your AoS. (Not sure I do...)

I know Hinterlands isn't an official product, but how much does Skirmish add over low model count Narrative play that makes it a worthy thing?

Eh, it's a $10 Warhammer book. I'm not able to not buy that.

I'm actually very interested in the six battleplans and the storyline.

I am getting the graveyard stuff for sure.

Barnes, do you know if Doc is going to carry Skirmish?

I can always go through Miniatures Market, but Id prefer to give Doc my business.

Indeed...$10, battleplans, and story are the three reasons I'm buying it as well.

But, look, 'Skirmish' is an uninspired title, a '4th way to play' seems to over sell it (if it was full on advancements, like Hinterlands, I could see the claim), and the aforementioned brand confusion all makes this a weird little title for me when GW has been doing so well with AoS.

It's not a downer, but I'm just not sure why this couldn't have been a summer campaign like Storm of Chaos was in the mid 00s. They could do a $10-15 booklet every year (season) with some new battleplans, story, and we'd be good to go.

Ok, this is starting to form up- I've seen a page of the Chaos list. Most of the battleline troops (Clanrats, Pink Horrors, Plaguebearers, etc.) are 1-3 points. Hero figures are like 12-30. I believe 50 points is the basic renown level. You have to have one hero, not sure if you can have more. You are only bound by alliance, so you could roll up an Undivided warband if you wanted to.

So 10 Clanrats, 1 Stormfiend,(a Warpfire thrower one, duh), 1 Skaven Warlord would be a warband.

Doomwheel is IN, which I didn't expect.

The whole "three rules of three" thing is in there...which is seriously going to impact mortal wound dealing units while also making them not stupendously OP in smaller scale.

AoS Starter + Silver Tower + Hammerhal + Nurgle Start Collecting = I have everything I need for this already.

no brainer buy on the book.

http://i.imgur.com/6Hc7qAY.jpg

A link to a page from the rules from GW's website. Looks like they have new command abilities, artifacts of power and mysterious terrain. You can replace your commend ability with one of the generic ones there, which should really help some of the armies that don't have as many options. You can give your general an artifact from either this new book or the general's handbook. I really like that warbands can be made up of any models from a Grand Alliance. Makes me want to pick up some of those hero boxes the released for WHQ.

The box sets they released for this seem OK. I may pick up the Ironjawz one since I can add the brutes to my goblin army. Have a buddy who's been interested in Death that I may be interested in the FEC box. One of these then a Start Collecting a bit later and you're almost at 1000 points and have been playing skirmish games the whole time.

I assembled my Changeling this weekend and looking at the booklet that came with the mini i think he's listed at 70pts. in the Tzeentch battletome he's more...maybe over 100. anyone know which is correct?

man, this lord of khorne that comes in the starter does not fit in any of my storage solutions. that sin alone may get him sold off...

Ha ha, wide and short. I had that problem. Now someone else does.

Battletome is the source of truth. I love that model, one of my favorites.

War of Sigmar has some pictures up from the rulebook- including all of the lists, albeit with the points redacted.

It's looking pretty extensive, as expected no large models, named characters, or anything in metal or plastic. Which stinks a little, because there are no Vampire Lords for death. Some of it is a little odd though- like how Swifthawk Agents has Lothern Skycutter...which is not what I would consider to be a skirmish unit. Only thing I'm not clear on is if you can only run ONE hero or if the stipulation is that you can ONLY have one hero. I hope it is the former.

Based on what I have, I am going to be able to run Stormcast, Tzeentch (Arcanites or Demons), Sylvaneth, High Elves (Swifthawk Agents), Khorne (using just Gorechosen and Hammerhal stuff), Skaven and now my new Ghosts n' Skeletons gang. If I can get a hold of Lord of Plagues, I can run Nurgle with Blightkings and Plaguebearers. And I'll be damned if I'm not sniffing around Overlords now, since I don't have to go all in to 1k with them.

You know what I love about this new GW?

They announce something...two weeks later it's on the shelves. It's such a relief.

Also, even though the Stormacasts and Kharadron aren't really my style, I like how they're going "F it" and putting out some different designs out there. I'm looking forward to eventually getting a Death faction but to be honest want to see how one becomes Age of Sigmared first. I'm not sure I want to buy WFB models. Been eagerly looking forward to the new designs, again, whether I agree or not.

And dudes, my son who has generally been a more scifi kid already talks about Tau. I think I'm going to have to skip the summer White Dwarfs or he's going to want us to go in on 40K. I can't support the two main lines, plus the skirmish games I play.... $$$$

Tau are awesome.

Also, that release with no long preorder leadup IS amazing, Mr White.

Here's a little review. Looks like this will be a great way to play if you want to learn without breaking the bank. And hell, you could always proxy.

www.mengelminiatures.com/2017/05/review-...t&utm_medium=twitter

Yeah man, you can run a 25 point game on a 2x2 board and have fun with it, it looks like. I am super stoked, I've got all of these warbands reeling through my head right now. I'm excited to do stuff like run three Stormfiends and a Warlock Engineer or a mixed squad of Liberators and Prosecutors. Shadow Warriors supported by Kurnoth Hunters and maybe some of those Stormcast Chocobo jockeys. I just ordered a cheap Lord of Plagues today to run with Plague Bearers and Blightkings. I also think this is an even better chance to use those Gorechosen dudes- they are made for skirmish, more so than the big field battles. If you have some of the WHQ packs, you've got a ton of heroes you can use, and since you are just bound by alliance, it should be very easy to mix and match cool teams. I am thinking this may actually replace the full game at home...especially once we get that Graveyard going and some more narrative scenarios...

There is some minor "huh" stuff...like how there is NO summoning/bringing units onto the board. This really impacts Pink/Blue Horrors. I'm sure it's reflected in their renown cost, but that is the signature quality of those guys. Other than their fabulous jewelry, that I can only assume they hastily don when they get the summons. "Hang on, I gotta put this bracelet on my tail".

I also think some of the unit choices are odd, like I mentioned, Doomwheel and Lothern Skycutter strike me as not very skirmishy. Not that I don't have or won't use them. I use that Doomwheel at the drop of a hat, it's one of my favorite Warhammer things ever.

I found out too that you can use as many heroes as you like, you just elect one to be a general. This is awesome, and it means that you can go out with ALL of those Gorechosen dudes in a horrible murder squad. Cue up the Cannibal Corpse. I don't believe there is a restriction on fielding them without troops. There is also a rule where you can take a unit's special weapon (i.e. one of those "one out of every five" things) but you have to meet the requirement- so for a Retributor group, you would have to bring 3 to have a Starsoul Mace.

As far as old WHFB models go- I love 'em. I like the classic stuff. Some of them are REALLY crummy compared to, say, anything Sylvaneth or Tzaangors...but with that said, I find the old sculpts really charming and usually really fun to paint. It's not as stressful, and they are more accommodating of sloppy painting like what I do. Most of the later WHFB stuff, like the Stormfiends, the Mortarchs, and so forth, are about the same quality/creativity as the new AOS stuff.

I think we will see a big Death roll-out with Shadespire, likely around Halloween. We've seen the Shadespire Death stuff, and it IS really fuckin' cool. Skeletons, but Sigmared-up ones. There has already been a few things pointing in a stylistic direction, not the least of which is Nagash. I really, really, really think that what we will see is a desert-ish, KIND OF Tomb Kings-y style that isn't specifically Egyptian. But definitely more in a Persian/North African sort of mode. Nagash is already like that and some of the newer stuff like Arkhan is kind of pointing in that direction. And since Shadespire is set in a desert in Shyish...it makes sense.

Hoping for some really killer Christmas boxes this year...that Sylvaneth box is the single greatest value I've purchased out of everything. Just a tremendous deal for that set.