Age of Sigmar

Hey, there.  I’m still getting caught up on things after two back to back conventions, so I haven’t made any real progress on the Gargant.  Probably won’t this week, either, because edits are due on Friday.

However... it’s a pretty standard tradition for my friends and I to have a few (read: several) drinks the night before San Diego Comic-Con and play a game or two.  And this year, we decided to take Warhammer: Age of Sigmar for a spin.

Now, I’m not going to talk too much about the actual gameplay.  Marc’s posted a simple battle report and some thoughts over on Atomic Warlords.  But I did want to mention a few things, more from the hobby/modeling point of view.

First, Age of Sigmar was a lot of fun and very easy to pick up.  If you have any familiarity with tabletop games, you can sit down and be playing in about fifteen minutes absolute tops.  Probably much less.

Second, it’s a very cheap game.  The rules are free. The war scrolls are free.  If you were a Warhammer player before, you already have a ton of models (and the rules are extremely thorough—they cover pretty much everything).  Even if you’ve only played Warhammer 40,000 before (like me), you’ve probably got a few models kicking around that you have for conversions.  There’s also a lot of folks online selling older models or pieces from the old Island of Blood starter set. And past that, there’s probably going to be some folks rage-quitting and dropping their models in the bits bins or putting them up on eBay.  Which brings us to... 

Third, or maybe second-point-five... you don’t need a lot of models to play.  Because there’s no force organization chart or points minimum, it’s possible to play Age of Sigmar with as little as one model.  It has lots of single-model battle scrolls.  A knight on horseback.  An Ork.  A witchhunter. A Skaven warlord.  A wight king.  That’s all you need to play.  If you happen to have a small squad or unit of some sort, that’s even better.  I spent a day digging around through my random bits and discovered I had almost fifty viable units, spread over nine different races/ factions, some assembled, some in parts.  Get three or four units (or even just models) for the same army and that’s the basis of a solid game.

Fourth, (or three, depending on how you read the last one) there is paperhammer scenery for Fantasy settings.  Lots of it.  Warhammer and Mordheim both have a collection of useful templates, ranging from a burned out farmhouse to an elaborate inn.  Plus I’ve talked before about other cheap scenery ideas that would work in a Fantasy setting.  I’m thinking I might have to try a few simple ideas for a graveyard, a simple building or two, and maybe even some ancient ruins.

Now, I can see where the rules could be frustrating to an established player, especially a competitive one.  As a new player, though, without any preconceptions of how Fantasy should be played, I think it’s a great little game. And it means I’m going to get to build and play with a lot of things I’ve had kicking around for ages for one reason or another.

I’m sticking Age of Sigmar in the win column for now.  Your thoughts may vary...