Let's Talk About Age of Sigmar

Which Sylvaneth box, the start collecting?
Can you make a warband out of the start collecting box?

When will skirmish be on the shelf at my local?

Tomorrow.
I watched a couple of games at the store and eyed the rules. Although I am way more interested (and invested) in Shadow Wars, I think this has the potential to have more meta. It is even easier to make a warband than a kill team and you don't need so much terrain. A 1vs1 campaign seems to be playable in an afternoon. And you still have these interesting synergies between units and combinations of those. Like you can run your 4 gorechosen as one warband, stuff like that.

No, not the Start Collecting...I got the BIG Sylvaneth Battleforce box they did as one of the Christmas promotions. Darkroot Wargrove. It was like $120 or something (at Doc's), it had TWO sets of Kurnoth Hunters, TWO sets of Tree Revenants/Spite Revenants, Drycha Hamadreth, and a Treelord/Spirit of Durthu/Treelord Ancient. Paired with a Start Collecting, it is literally all you need for a 2k army. KIND OF want another pack of Dryads though. Out of all my armies, I spent the LEAST on Sylvaneth because of that Battleforce set.

A warband from a start collecting would be just the Branchwych and Dryads- the other piece in there is a Treelord/Spirit of Durthu/Treelord Ancient which you can't run in skirmish. I think you would REALLY want Kurnoth Hunters (one of the best units in the game, IMHO), but Tree Revenants could be interesting too.

I don't think I was supposed to, but I just got the Sigmarite Mausoleum in the mail...seller was just like an hour drive away, so I guess I got it before release.

It's a LOT of terrain for the price, I'm really impressed. It is two of the old Garden of Morr sets, very excited about painting this up- looks simple and fun with a chance to do some cool gothy stuff. The only thing is, I guess, it is pretty specific...it's not like Citadel Wood or something that you can use universally. It's a graveyard, that's it.

I got the mat too but it hasn't come yet...it is WAY overpriced, but I am set on this concept.

Hot damn...an rpg.

cubicle7.co.uk/warhammer-age-of-sigmar-r...ying-game-announced/

Now AoS will have that rich worldbuilding that rpgs provide. That background that the more uninformed AoS detractors say it lacks.

I'll probably get the core book...

Mr. White wrote: Now AoS will have that rich worldbuilding that rpgs provide. That background that the more uninformed AoS detractors say it lacks.

I'm definitely not a detractor of AoS, and (considering how much time I've invested into it) neither uninformed. AoS background is a valid criticism. It's not a deal-killer and will grow organically (like the old world). But the story and the lore feel very bland. Again, Silver Tower helped a lot and I actually liked the story behind Shadespire. It provides or a very good background/motivation, which is what you need in your games (as opposing example, I still don't understand why bloodborne and ethernals are fighting each other, for example, except mutual hatred).

Talking about Skirmish. I really like this thing. I actually took a break from SW:A to re-touch my little rats and bloodborne. It is really cool how many options you have to build a small warband. Thinking of Bloodborne again, for example, without relying on the bloodsecrator. Or making a team of a warlord, an engineer and 10 clanrats.
Or getting into the undead without having to actually build an army.

What I am not so sure about is the campaign. My first complaint is that there's no death or injuries. I understand it is for the sake of balance (if you lose your 20+ points hero in a 25 pts game, huh, that's it), and yet... what I like about playing games (as opposed to real life), is the risk of losing everything (in the game). That's what gets my adrenaline going. If stakes are not high enough, I don't care enough. My second complaint is that the campaigns starts at 25pts, which doesn't seem interesting enough from the tactical pov.
On the other hand, it looks awesome for playing with kids or generally to ease people into the game.

After reading the Skirmish book, I do hope Hinterlands adds the XP and risk/reward systems. For what it is Skirmish is pretty well made, but ofcourse we always want more.

My copy is in the mail and have been moving units into boxes specifically for the campaigns (now that I know rough point values). Just waiting for next weekend when I get to dedicate an entire afternoon to the game.

Vlad wrote:

Mr. White wrote: Now AoS will have that rich worldbuilding that rpgs provide. That background that the more uninformed AoS detractors say it lacks.

I'm definitely not a detractor of AoS, and (considering how much time I've invested into it) neither uninformed. AoS background is a valid criticism. It's not a deal-killer and will grow organically (like the old world). But the story and the lore feel very bland. Again, Silver Tower helped a lot and I actually liked the story behind Shadespire. It provides or a very good background/motivation, which is what you need in your games (as opposing example, I still don't understand why bloodborne and ethernals are fighting each other, for example, except mutual hatred).

The thing is the background is fleshing out organically already. Hammerhal added a ton of content that people were looking for...life in an AoS city as well as the potential return of Slaneesh. The new Battletomes are filled with awesome and I understand some of the novels, particularly by Josh Reynolds, have become less model showcases but adding a lot of unique elements, giving the setting its own flavor of power metal:
-Cities built on the back of colossal worms, forever crawling through the desert.
-A deadly labyrinth of amber inside the skull of a star-faring beast.
-Mandragora turned defensive-weapons, turned to the direction of the enemy and then stabbed til it screams.
-A desert made of blood-turned-dust, where pilgrims travel to feed monasteries of vampires.
-Cities inhabited by ghouls, descendants of mortals who turned into monsters to survive.
-(Not from Reynolds books, but still interesting) A city built around a large rock of solidified scrying-magic, where pieces of prophecy are used as coin.
(the above pulled from an RPGnet post)

So, yeah, obviously an rpg will flesh out the world, but GW has already been doing that.

I'm becoming more and more a fan of the setting.

These are very cool concepts, Mr. White.
Since I don't read the GW books (except for Eisenhorn, which is actually a very decent series), it is kind of lost on me, though. I was actually thinking why I liked the Old World, since I didn't read the book either. I played that old PC game, Shadow of the Horned Rat, where you had band of mercenaries travelling around and taking contracts - I liked that. But when I was building my bloodborne army, I struggled with the purpose - like what are these guys after, except blood and killing (the official answer I received was: "blood and killing, because it pleases Khorne"). With skaven it was easier, and I read fluff about them here and there. Silver Tower is also pretty interesting (haven't tried hammerhall yet). I buy the skirmish and the shadespire setting 100%. The concept is pretty simple, but engaging: you have a band of adventurers going after treasure in an interesting & dangerous location, competing with other bands of treasure hunters.

Slowly, over time, I have collected (usually by trading the physical goods for my painting skills, such as they are); Silver Tower, Hammerhal, Gorechosen, the AOS Starter Set, the WQ Hero Packs, and a few other Sigmar pieces here and there. Enough for a couple of small armies, not enough to devote myself to actually filling out those armies in a serious way.

So Skirmish was an answer to all my questions. Just picked up the rules booklet, and very excited to get some friends together to give them a shot.

My problem? I have Warscrolls in Intro books, Warscrolls in pdf form, Warscrolls on half-sheets, warscrolls on full sheets, some in color, some in black and white. Some, I don't have and can't find. Collecting them all in a convenient, printed form looks to be a big undertaking.

I would promise to give (but probably not deliver on) my left generative organ to get hold of all of these warscrolls, each on a half-sheet of paper, in alphabetical fucking order. Guess I'm pretty anal.

Anyone have any suggestions? And are the 30-dollar packs of warcards or whatever they're called worth the price?

Right now, there are only cards for Stormcast, Kharadron, and Khorne. Honestly, I never use them. If you have Battlescribe you can print an army list with all of the stats and abilities in line. It's _invaluable_.

Thanks! This is helpful!

River and I just did a skirmish. Here's the pics. He took them.

www.flickr.com/photos/54116966@N03/shares/0p1478

Pardon the unpainted/half painted stuff...the graveyard is still a work in progress, as are the Death models.

So he had a Wight King (with a Masque of Horror!), Cairn Wraith and five skeletons (3x spears, 2x swords) versus my High Elf Loremaster (Helm of Authority), 4x Shadow Warriors, 4x Swordmasters. 50-ish renown. The scenario was Treasure Hunt, which puts five terrain pieces in the middle of the board. If you end movement within 3" and there are no other enemies there, you can roll a D6 to search. On a search, an artifact is there. The goal is to control the most artifacts at the end of 5 rounds or KO all of the opposing units.

Shadow Warriors made the most of their special deployment to get right on the graves we were using as objectives. They found one treasure right off the bat. I moved in quickly with some good run rolls to try to get to the Citadel Wood in the middle, where there was also a treasure location. RIver skulked around, trying to stay in cover since his team had no ranged and I had 18" ranger bows that reroll 1s when firing from cover. The Loremaster managed to Arcane Bolt a couple of skeletons, but once the Wight King was in range he unbound every damn spell I cast. The Cairn Wraith just cut right through a Swordmaster and a Shadow Warrior on my left flank, making a play for the treasure we found on turn 1. By turn 3, the middle was a hot spot but I had two Shadow Warriors in the trees and a Swordmaster holding it down. In turn 4, River started to turn it around- he rolled a six on the treasure location with the Cairn Wraith, which pretty much locked it up for the rest of the game. I held on to two, beating a a spear-wielding skeleton with a Swordmaster and parking the Loremaster behind one to try to Arcane Bolt the Wight King, who was moving into the middle. The Loremaster failed his check against the Masque of Horror at a crucial moment (if you roll a 1, you get scared and can't attack him) so he just barged into the woods and pummeled another Shadow Warrior. The remaining units in the middle had a do-or-die turn on round five- they had to get four wounds on the Wight King to reclaim the center objective. With two attacks from the Swordmaster, two shots and two melee attacks from the Shadow Warriors and another Arcane Bolt that got unbound...we managed to put 1 wound on him. His 3+ save on his shield was just impossible to break through. So we capitulated, River had three spots and we had 1 (one location never actually turned up a treasure.

GREAT game. Skirmish is awesome, but it does nullify a lot of unit abilities and you kind of have to adjust a bit for the changes from a unit being more than one unit to being just one model.

Whoa! A great looking table, Michael! If you're sure to use that mat, may be you can snowify those terrain (but if you have grass/other mats, better leave them neutral).

It looks really awesome. I especially like Cain Wraith and the scenery.