W:AoS Impressions

[Stuart]

Nice write-up Gaz. I know little detail of the new AoS rules release, but from what little I've read I'd also picked up that this was initially geared towards almost casual, scenario based encounters.

There are glaring things missing from these rules though, the most obvious being the Army List building and points cost....On the flip side, it encourages scenario play which is the best way to play the game.

This puts me in mind of something that Andrea Sfiligoi (games designer of SBH) once posted on the SBH mailing list when discussing points systems:

There are so many variables involved -- actually I do not use point systems at all in my own games, I just create two warbands and have my opponent choose the one he prefers. I include point systems in my commercial products because people ask for them, it is a sort of necessary evil. :-)

Point systems are there to give a beginner something to start from, they are not accurate representation of game balance -- war is never balanced, there is always some factor which allows one side to gain the upper hand. The fun is discovering what that means in game terms.

Where as at Redditch people tend to play for the enjoyment of playing a game, and the narrative feel of AoS, lends itself heavily towards those types of players.

This is certainly the mode of gaming that I'm enjoying most at the moment, and something I'd like to pursue later in the year by running a narrative based campaign based on a fantasy skirmish system.