(Oh come on, we know full well these are one of the inspirations for the Stormcast)
Over the last month or so a lot has been said about Games Workshop's reboot / re-release of the Warhammer Fantasy game line and setting, Age of Sigmar. From what I'm aware most of it isn't particularly complimentary either. After having spent a while looking into the game as well as reading through the rules and "War Scrolls" (unit stats) on the Games Workshop website I've decided to throw in my tuppenceworth.
My experience with Warhammer is limited compared to 40k. Although I've bought a few models over the years, played a few games, and done a few conversion I'm mostly familiar with the game through the novels, WHFRP, board games such as Warhammer Quest and video games like the classic Shadow of the Horned Rat and Dark Omen. Despite my lack of exposure to the game itself however I'm very fond of the Old World as a setting, as well as it's takes on the standard fantasy races and tropes. That's why I find myself disheartened by the changes Games Workshop have decided to make to the setting.
So, let's have a looksee... keep in mind that I'm aware there is now a proper rulebook, but I don't have it and have no intention of buying it anytime soon. If ever.
So, let's have a looksee... keep in mind that I'm aware there is now a proper rulebook, but I don't have it and have no intention of buying it anytime soon. If ever.
Rules :
First things first one of the most common complaints is that the game currently has no points values for units, there is no way to set up a balanced game. The rules literally just tell you to empty as much of your collection onto the table as you like. This is absolutely ridiculous and hopefully that'll be one of the first things to change as more books / rules are released. The only balancing factor is that if your army is outnumbered (on a purely numerical basis) you can choose a Sudden Death victory condition, so that if you wipe out a unit / character of your choice, seize a piece of terrain or simply survive 6 game turns you win. Apparently an army of 100 Chaos Warriors is equal (as far as the rules are concerned) to an army of 100 goblins.
The turn order has been changed up considerably. Players roll off at the start of each turn (or Battle Round as it's now called) to see who acts first and who second. This is done EVERY turn now which is...interesting, I'm not sure if I'm a fan or not. The turn order now runs as follows...
Furthermore melee weapons now have a Range, just like Warmahordes / Malifaux, which is an interesting change that I actually approve of. Saving Throw Modifiers have been renamed Rend but they at least still work in the same way, with each weapon having its own Rend stat. Cover is a factor in both melee and ranged combat but it's only effect now is to add +1 to the saving throws of all models in cover. Another addition are Mortal Wounds, which are caused by some spells and the attacks of especially powerful models. Attacks that inflict Mortal Wounds do not roll to hit or wound, or allow saving throws, they simply inflict wounds directly onto a model.
Now, those are the basic rules, as for actual units their rules are now found on Warscrolls, which are similar to the current 1 page rules for Warhammer 40,000. The unit characteristics we're familiar with have been stripped down to the following stats...
First things first one of the most common complaints is that the game currently has no points values for units, there is no way to set up a balanced game. The rules literally just tell you to empty as much of your collection onto the table as you like. This is absolutely ridiculous and hopefully that'll be one of the first things to change as more books / rules are released. The only balancing factor is that if your army is outnumbered (on a purely numerical basis) you can choose a Sudden Death victory condition, so that if you wipe out a unit / character of your choice, seize a piece of terrain or simply survive 6 game turns you win. Apparently an army of 100 Chaos Warriors is equal (as far as the rules are concerned) to an army of 100 goblins.
The turn order has been changed up considerably. Players roll off at the start of each turn (or Battle Round as it's now called) to see who acts first and who second. This is done EVERY turn now which is...interesting, I'm not sure if I'm a fan or not. The turn order now runs as follows...
- Hero Phase : In this phase the player's cast spells and use special abilities such as the Inspiring Presence ability which is now universal to army generals. It allows one unit within 12" to ignore Battleshock (morale) tests for that turn. Spellcasting has been simplified, with Wizards all knowing the spells Arcane Bolt and Mystic Shield as well as additional spells depending on their individual rules. In order to cast a spell (Wizards can also only cast 1 spell each turn now) they roll 2d6 and must equal or exceed the spells Casting Value. While I like the fact that heroes and generals can do more to buff their armies (something that's always bothered me in 40k and Fantasy) the spellcasting is far too simple in comparison to its previous iterations.
- Movement Phase : This too has been massively simplified, there are no rules for difficult terrain now, with units simply moving their full distance in any direction. Likewise unit formations have been removed with each model being moved individually. The only limitations being that each model in a unit must remain within 1" of at least one other model, and that units cannot move any closer to an enemy unit than 3" without charging. Unit's can still run, adding 1d6 to their movement range. This is far, far too simplified, stripping the game of both complexity and tactical options.
- Shooting Phase : Shooting units can now split their fire between multiple targets, which is a massive change. Furthermore weapon rules now include a set number of attacks, with weapons with multiple attacks being capable of splitting them between multiple targets. I'll go into the actual combat mechanics at the end of this section.
- Charge Phase : This has been split from the close combat rules, instead any unit that has not run or retreated and that is within 12" of an enemy unit can charge. Charging units move 2d6 and at least one unit must be able to end their charge within 1/2" of an enemy model, otherwise the charge fails and no models are moved. Charge responses have been completely eliminated too... again, where have the tactical options gone?
- Combat Phase : This is split into two segments now, first all models in the unit may make a 3" Pile In move, after which they make their attacks. Again I'll go into the details in my section on combat mechanics.
- Battleshock Phase : All the Psychology rules have now been rolled into the Battleshock roll, yes that's what they're calling it and yes it is a stupid name. Any unit that has taken any casualties at all over the course of the turn must make a Battleshock test, this is 2d6 + (number of models from that unit slain this turn). For each point by which this exceeds the units Bravery characteristic (the replacement for Leadership) an additional model is removed as they flee the battlefield. It's... certainly a simple and elegant mechanic, but again its far TOO simple.
Furthermore melee weapons now have a Range, just like Warmahordes / Malifaux, which is an interesting change that I actually approve of. Saving Throw Modifiers have been renamed Rend but they at least still work in the same way, with each weapon having its own Rend stat. Cover is a factor in both melee and ranged combat but it's only effect now is to add +1 to the saving throws of all models in cover. Another addition are Mortal Wounds, which are caused by some spells and the attacks of especially powerful models. Attacks that inflict Mortal Wounds do not roll to hit or wound, or allow saving throws, they simply inflict wounds directly onto a model.
Now, those are the basic rules, as for actual units their rules are now found on Warscrolls, which are similar to the current 1 page rules for Warhammer 40,000. The unit characteristics we're familiar with have been stripped down to the following stats...
- Move : How far the model can move, simple enough.
- Wounds : How many wounds the model can suffer before being destroyed. With the exception of basic infantry models seem to have far more wounds that in 8e. For example Imperial Witch Hunters and Warrior Priests have 5 each, whilst Knights and Outriders have 2.
- Save : Roll this number or better to ignore a wound, just like it's always been.
- Bravery : The replacement for Leadership, I've already described how it's used above.
- Attacks : Each weapon carried by a unit has its own set of statistics, these being Range (which as I mentioned is now applicable to melee weapons), Attacks (each weapon having its own number of attacks now, which is something I actually approve of), To Hit, To Wound (I've already mentioned my issues with these stats), Rend, and Damage. This system is similar to that used in Warmahordes and apart from the static To Hit/To Wound rolls I actually quite like it.
- Special Rules : These vary from unit to unit, and to be honest I actually quite like a lot of the ones I've seen, such as Greatswords getting a bonus to their To Hit rolls if close to a Hero. I approve of these as they make the units that bit more distinct from one another, again it's a step closer to Warmahordes, not a bad thing.
- Keywords : Each unit has a selection of keywords that are used to determine whether they are or are note effected by special abilities. For example Empire Knights have the Order, Human, Free People, Knightly Orders and Empire Knights keywords. This is something else that I like, and that I'd like to see made use of in other systems as it simply makes a lot of the more niggly rules far clearer.
A few little things to keep in mind are that cavalry models and characters mounted on monsters now have a single stat block, something that started to come into play during the End Times run of books. Likewise it's not just units that have Warscrolls, scenery items do too, seemingly part of Games Workshops current push to discourage people to make their own terrain and buy theirs instead. Or so the cynical (and realistic) part of my mind suggests.
Overall it seems a competent set of rules designed for an introductory skirmish game, and if it was for a side-game (ahh, I long for the days of the Specialist Games lines) then I'd have no real issue with them except for the lack of balancing factors. As a replacement for Warhammer Fantasy 8e though it simply fails to stack up. By 8th edition the Warhammer Fantasy rules were, in my opinion, solid, well thought out and well balanced, to replace them with this overly simplified system is...almost insulting.
Fluff :
Oh deary deary me, where to begin? I don't own the new book or starter set so my understanding of the setting is gleaned from conversations with those who have as well as some research online. If anything I've written here is wrong feel free to correct me.
So the old world has been destroyed and replaced by Nine Realms (someone's been getting into Norse myth recently, or decided the popularity of Thor in Marvel's films was something to capitalise on) linked by Realmgates. Eight of the realms are linked to the eight winds of magic and are known as the Mortal Realms, with the last being the Realm of Chaos.
Despite Sigmar having been stated to be the only survivor of the End Times there were apparently a lot more, including Nagash, Tyrion, Malekith (now named Malerion, likely for copyright reasons, oh and he's now merged with his dragon...for some reason...) and basically every named character... I guess someone at GW doesn't know what "Sole Survivor" means.
After the eight Mortal Realms were formed and repopulated Sigmar, along with Nagash and the various other gods and near-gods that had survived, formed a new pantheon to oppose the Gods of Chaos (now joined by the Horned Rat after the disappearance of Slaanesh). Sigmar retreated to his realm and, with the aid of the dwarven gods, created the Stormcast Eternals, armoured warrior constructs imbued with the souls of the mightiest of warriors (whether human, dwarf, elf or otherwise) designed to be immune to the corruption of chaos.
As you'd expect everything went to hell when the Chaos God's launched an assault on the Moral Realms, Nagash betrayed Sigmar (surprise surprise), and everything started going to hell in a hand basket. The current-day metaplot begins with Sigmar attempting to reunite the forces of order to stand against their enemies, with (as you'd expect) mixed success. There's obviously a lot more to it than that but this is the cliff notes version of everything I'm aware of.
There's some interesting stuff here but it really does seem like GW have mashed together Warhammer, Darksiders, Exalted, and lots of random influences for 40k (such as the Stormcast warrior-constructs, who totally aren't western fantasy Necrons). It's just a bit of a mess really and whilst I respect that they were trying to create a setting with a more distinct identity than The Old World it has been done in such a slapdash manner, and with so much disregard for the fan's love of the previous setting, that it just doesn't work. It would be a potentially interesting high-fantasy world... but it's not the Warhammer World, or even an evolution thereof. It's a new IP with a bunch of names slapped on after the fact.
I find this an expecially bizarre move considering that over the next year or so we've a number of computer games coming out set in the Old World, namely Mordheim (already in Early Access), Vermintide, and most notably Total Warhammer. It's very likely that these games will draw in people who've never played Warhammer and instil in them the desire to do so. They'll walk into a Games Workshop store, or check out the website, and the immediate reaction by the majority will simply be "...what? That's not the world and game I'm interested in."
I find this an expecially bizarre move considering that over the next year or so we've a number of computer games coming out set in the Old World, namely Mordheim (already in Early Access), Vermintide, and most notably Total Warhammer. It's very likely that these games will draw in people who've never played Warhammer and instil in them the desire to do so. They'll walk into a Games Workshop store, or check out the website, and the immediate reaction by the majority will simply be "...what? That's not the world and game I'm interested in."
The Models :
The only new models I've seen so far are those from the new starter set. These are the Stormcast Eternals and Khornate Chaos warriors. They're good quality, detailed, crisp models as you'd expect from Games Workshop, however I do have a few issues. As the picture and quote for this page make clear I really feel like someone in the design team had spent a lot of time playing Darksiders before going to work on Age of Sigmar. The Stormcast certainly look cool, but they don't look like they're part of the Warhammer universe, at least not the one we're all familiar with. That, I suppose, is the problem. Likewise I think the accusations of the Stormcast being Fantasy Space Marines are pretty damn valid, and in a moment of weakness I did find myself considering using some bits and pieces for a few character conversions...
That said I do like the Chaos Warrior models, especially the Chaos Lord and Khorgorath.
Final Thoughts :
As one of my friends very eloquently but it, Games Workshop have completely "4th Edition'd" Warhammer Fantasy. With regards to Dungeons and Dragons, at least after a few years we ended up with the far superior DnD 5th, I only hope that Games Workshop look at Age of Sigmar, realise that they've alienated a huge portion of their fanbase, and take steps to rectify what they've done.
The problem is (as Rick Priestly made clear in an interview shortly after he left GW) that the people in charge of the company are utterly disconnected from the wargames industry outside of their own company. Whilst Wyrd, Privateer and Mantic all pay attention both to their fans and each other the decision makers for GW seem to neither understand (nor wish to understand) anything outside of profit margins.
Don't get me wrong, I love 40k, I love Fantasy, and I think GW have the potential to (and over the years have) make excellent games and models. The problem is the executives, as always seems to be the case. Is Age of Sigmar the end of Warhammer Fantasy as a setting? I hope not, and to be honest doubt it, but it's certainly the end of an era.
That said I do like the Chaos Warrior models, especially the Chaos Lord and Khorgorath.
Final Thoughts :
As one of my friends very eloquently but it, Games Workshop have completely "4th Edition'd" Warhammer Fantasy. With regards to Dungeons and Dragons, at least after a few years we ended up with the far superior DnD 5th, I only hope that Games Workshop look at Age of Sigmar, realise that they've alienated a huge portion of their fanbase, and take steps to rectify what they've done.
The problem is (as Rick Priestly made clear in an interview shortly after he left GW) that the people in charge of the company are utterly disconnected from the wargames industry outside of their own company. Whilst Wyrd, Privateer and Mantic all pay attention both to their fans and each other the decision makers for GW seem to neither understand (nor wish to understand) anything outside of profit margins.
Don't get me wrong, I love 40k, I love Fantasy, and I think GW have the potential to (and over the years have) make excellent games and models. The problem is the executives, as always seems to be the case. Is Age of Sigmar the end of Warhammer Fantasy as a setting? I hope not, and to be honest doubt it, but it's certainly the end of an era.
We will just have to wait and see what comes next.
Until Next Time
Happy Gaming
Michael
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