Age of Sigmar: Game Balance

Introduction

Game balance is a crucial issue, in war gaming.  A game that is not balanced well at all will be no fun to play....unless a person takes great joy in crushing an opponent when there is no fairness involved.  Personally, I find competetive play to be a great concept and it sometimes is a ton of fun.  What makes it less fun is when armies/companies/forces are unbalanced and the winner is decided upon by the army lists and playing the game itself becomes irrelevant.  Thus, game balance is critical.  Some games (ie, Flames of War) are near perfectly balanced.  I have even heard of some (Chain of Command and Bolt Action) that take it to another whole level....which is just crazy.  Then there are other games, that are not so well balanced.  Unfortunately, for a long time now, it has been a tradition for GW to make great games that lack balance.  They are fun to play, but they require a lot of balancing to be done by the players.  Now on to the Age of Sigmar...

The Age of Sigmar deals with game balance in a really creative way: the game tells the players themselves to balance their armies.  For many long years, the fantasy game produced by Games Workshop (Warhammer Fantasy) was declared to be balanced.  That game system used points: each model or item in the game was worth a certain number of points and this is how fairness was established.  However, given that the game was amazingly complex and that the community of people who played the game were notorious for playing like total jerks, this system almost never really worked.  Good tournaments would have their own, additional rules added in to try to stop the stupidity that would result.  However, people always did figure out a way to abuse the game.  After decades of this happening, the leadership at GW decided that a new solution was needed.  Now, players control the fairness level themselves and they do it very directly.  To be fair, the game was never balanced like Flames of War.  It was good, but much was required to make it fair for tournaments, events and people who play very frequently (as do most Warhammer players).


An intuitive approach

Right before this game was released, much of the contents was leaked online on the rumors sites and popular blogs.  To say that it was a surprise is a massive understatement.  In particular, one part of the game that was so surprising is that of balance.  As stated above, the game tells players to balance it out themselves.  Now, when this first came out, I realized that it would be great.  Why? This way, two or more people can play a game and they can make sure that there are no super powerful units that just totally destroy the enemy army.  The players can make sure, finally, that the game is actually fair and fun to play.  In tournament play, this type of fairness almost never happened.

When the rumors first started hitting the sites, I had thought that it would be really easy to make a good guideline for fair and fun games.  The guideline is incredibly simple and is as follows:

1. neither player may have more total "wounds" then their opponent: both players agree to a "wounds" total
2. neither player may "purchase" the same character more then twice
3. no more then one-third of the "wounds" may be spent on characters
4. no more then one-third of the "wounds" may be spent on war machines or monsters
5. no special characters in games with less than 100 total wounds

Of course, players can take this a lot further.  There are a ton of limitations that may be applied, such as: number of wizards, monstrous units (like Kroxigor or Ogres), ect.  For a game that is meant to be played in a casaul fashion, this sort of guideline will be great.  It can be modified, as more people acquire more experience and find out what works and what does not work.  For example, a really great modifier would be to take into account "troop quality level".  All units would be assigned a quality level and this would balance it further by making it so higher quality level units cost more wounds then did lower quality level units.  

Now for those players who want to take this to a tournament, bear in mind that this system was specifically NOT designed for tournament play.  This is not Warmachine/Hordes...this game is designed for more then super competitive, obsessive (and often jerk) tournament players, as the current tournament scenes aptly describe (Warhammer and Warmachine/Hordes).  Now, there was a tournament scene with the old rules but they were never designed for that super close level of play.  The rules just were not designed to be inspected that closely by that many people and found to be perfect.  They were not made for that sort of play, anyway.  This is part of the reason why tournaments were so awful before...people would abuse the points system horribly and most games were decided before any dice were rolled.  Note that this way of playing is gone forever, however, the players have to take some time to balance out their armies more if they intend to play super competitive games where winning matters a real lot.   

As time goes by we will see if Games Workshop adds any more complex force restrictions for more competitive play, but I would bet that to not be forthcoming anytime soon, if at all.  The old tournament scene is part of what destroyed Warhammer in the first place, as so many people stopped playing when they realized just how messed up the tournament scene was: army list design and abuse was practically the only thing that mattered.   

Go play some games!

Go and try out the guidelines, then depending on how much winning and competition matter to you and your gaming group, modify the guideline to better suit your games.  It is only a guideline and what matters is having fun with friends/family.  The Age of Sigmar is here, go have some fun and enjoy the new rules! 

Why play "The Age of Sigmar"???

Hello all,


The "Age of Sigmar" is a revolutionary game, made by a company that is more commonly associated with an inability to change.  For a long time, the previous fantasy game produced by Games Workshop (Warhammer Fantasy), stayed essentially the same.  This is no longer the case.  The Age of Sigmar is a really fantastic, fast paced game that can be played by just about anyone.  There are two main components to this "awesomeness" that is the Age of Sigmar: speed and flexibilityplayer choice.



Speed

The Age of Sigmar is most definitely not a game designed ONLY for hardcore, obsessive gamers.  This is a major selling point for GW (Games Workshop) because it will bring a lot more people to the hobby, then for an elitist game.  Privateer Press makes a game called "Warmachine/Hordes", which is really quite a neat game.....but certainly not for anyone but a hardcore gamer.  In fact, for quite a while, their policy was that you were supposed to make the roughest, hardest possibly army and try as hard as possible to crush your opponent.  This is a different type of gaming "philosophy" then what most people like, as most people want to have an enjoyable social experience, with other people.  If this is what makes a person happy, then by all means go for it, but speaking from experience....it probably will not make too many people happy.
The Age of Sigmar takes this gaming philosophy and follows through with it in game design.  The Age of Sigmar is set up to play a fun, social, relaxed and sometimes even comical game....while not taking very much time to do so.  This frees up time to paint, assemble, play more games or do other things not related.  The size of your army will, of course, determine how long games go for.  However, the games are a huge percentage (say about 33%) faster then they ever were before.  If you and one of your friends wants to play a small game (say about 35 models or less), it will probably be one of the fastest miniatures games you have ever played or heard about.
The Age of Sigmar is designed to be quick: to make attacks (the "to hit" and "to wound" rolls) against the enemy, simply look at your model's weapon's stat bar and it will tell you what you need to know.  There is no need to compare a stat to an enemy stat: just take 30 seconds to look at your two stats, then start rolling dice! The next step is to tell the opponent if your weapon has any "rend" capability.  If it does, then their "save roll" (the roll to determine if their models survive the attack) will be affected negatively.  If there is no "rend" effect, then they can make their save straight up.  All in all, two people could have a couple units each fight and have each round of each combat last less then four minutes.  In this new game, unlike most other games out there, there is no need to rush, stress out or worry about people slow playing.
The second huge aspect of this speed factor, is that units are in "skirmish formation".  This means that the units may be ranked up (like how ancient warriors often fought) or left in a very loose group of models.  They can switch back and forth, or just keep one shape.  Terrain is much more usable, because models flow around it (including monsters and cavalry) like water around rocks.  There is no idiocy of having units being unable to charge due to friendly units being in the way: that sort of super intense, super high management level tactics is simply gone.  You want to have your unit of cavalry charge a unit of enemy swordsmen?? Then simply measure out your range and see if you can reach, then move up and charge! The new system is so simple: it is a breath of fresh air for all involved.  



Flexibility/Player Choice

The next major section is that of flexibility.  The Age of Sigmar is, in all probability, the most flexible game out there in the gaming market.  Here is a short breakdown of different options for playing the game, all made possible by the rulebook, which gives a ton of power to the players to decide what their game will be like:

1) Small vs large (or large vs. epic) armies
2) Themed, storied battles vs. free for all's and more "standard" battle types
3) Lots of terrain vs. very little terrain
4) Themed, mystical terrain vs. "normal" terrain
5) Bands of heroic characters vs. armies consisting mostly of just regular soldiers
6) Armies consisting of multiple factions vs. armies consisting only of one faction

....and it goes on and on.  The game is designed to be fun, thus there is so much that the players can do with it, as the short (!) list above shows.  Games Workshop has listened to the demands and complaints of players for years now and the new game is the solution.  For so long people have wanted to have more control over the game, and to have the game be less standardized and to have it feel less like it has an iron fist controlling what it is and how it is played.  That time is now here!

I for one, am very excited.  Me and the people that I know, we want to play in a relaxed, fun, non-competetive fashion.  We just want to have a nice time and relax and chill out while playing a great game.  The game allows us to do that.  If we wanted to add in neat rules for the terrain, that is now here too.  If we wanted to have very interesting and themed battles, that is now here too.  A new age is here and the old times are gone forever.


This a new age for fantasy gaming and where it goes depends on the people that play.  That is why GW made this game so fun, flexible and easy to learn: because they realized that they need to make it appealing to more people and more types of people, not just traditionalist gamers.  That did not work in the past and now is the time for new methods of production and development.

Welcome to The Age of Sigmar!!!

Defending the realm!

Introduction


A new type of article for this blog is entitled "Defending the realm!".  This series of articles will focus on responding to unjust attacks made on the game by opponents of the new system.  These people, one will notice, tend to be of the old Warhammer community, and are usually opposed to the new system.  They are reactionary, change makes them angry and they have a love for fighting and arguing....especially online where they feel they can get away with it.  These articles will help to combat the extreme amount of anger, hatred and vile attacks being made on the new system by members of the old community.  These people, as one will find out over time, are very loud and like to spam the internet with their baseless attacks and rants.

This is part 1, of the series of articles in response to the craziness being posted on the site hosting this so-called "sandwyrm".  More will follow later!


Deception and power

This first article will address an attack on the game made by an individual at a certain blog.  Many of the people from the old community, especially the "veterans", have their own blogs and some of them have a "leadership" position in the old community.  Sadly, almost all of these people have a very negative influence on the old community, which is part of the reason why the community is so messed up.  There are many blogs (and some forums), and most of them are of this type, especially the influential blogs.  Blogs such as: bell of lost souls, blood of kittens, warseer, dakkadakka, the back 40k and natfka faiet 212 are there, along with torrent of fire.
This particular person goes by the name of "Sandwyrm" and rants at his followers and minions on the blog known as "the back 40K", at www.theback40k.blogspot.com.
An introduction to this person is needed, thankfully it will be brief.  This person is a "veteran" gamer, has been playing Warhammer games for some time and is one of the noisy members of the old community, a so-called "leader".  This person belongs to a exclusive club of gamers that seeks to dominate the old community, dictate what people think, how they act and the direction of the game.  People like him are very upset at the new methods that GW is using for their game and they want things to go back to how they used to be.  Thus, they will (and have been) spew (ing) vile hatred online for months at a time in a vain effort to convince GW to cancel the whole project and bring back the old Warhammer.  You see, many of these people have huge egos and they think that their endless whining and yelling (online, mostly) will have a positive effect on GW.  They even try to form protest groups and petitions.  None of this has any effect, of course.
In the following paragraphs, I will try to explain the deceptiveness and childish anger with which the "article" written by this "Sandwyrm" was created and what it means.


New Models

For years and years, members of the old Warhammer community have been complaining and whining endlessly about practically everything GW does.  One of their complaints was that the models are too cartoon-ish and stupid looking...essentially, they want the models to be realistic.  Lo and behold, this has come to pass.  GW models are some of the finest in the market, if not the very best there is.  "Sandwyrm" complains about the models being hard to assemble....this is a side effect of having amazing models.  The more complex, realistic and detailed a model is, the harder it is going to be to put together, generally speaking.  What else this "sandwyrm" does not consider is that a model of that complexity being single piece (his criticism) is that the model would lose detail level, be harder to produce effectively, give the player far less chance for conversion and of course be easier to break and harder to get off of the sprue.  None of this matters to this "sandwyrm", because he just wants to find something to be mad about.
The second main point that this "Sandwyrm" tries to make is that, supposedly, the game now is being marketed towards a lower gaming age even though it does not say so.  First, this is balantly untrue.  The game is still perfect for adults, as well as older children and teenagers.  You can see this silly logic in play: an older, "veteran" gamer with a grudge, sees the game being made more simple and easier to learn, decides that this means it must be for children and not for adults.  Again, this goes back to the issue at hand with these types of "gamers".   They are extremely reactionary, confrontational and love to complain/argue about virtually everything.  He also says that the game's models are too complex to put together for this age group, which is true.....but it has always been that way.  GW models, as a general group, are much harder to assemble then most other game's models.  This has been a fact for a long time and is something that this person decided very purposefully to ignore.  See...deception at work.  Also, he decides that he somehow knows how the game works better then the people that designed it.  Apparently, this game has way too much going on (in a typical battle) and so is not right for it's (supposed) age group.  Fallacy leading to fallacy, that is the sum of his arguement.  The game is actually very simple and fast, if you read his whole article, you will see that he says this himself and anyone who plays the game even once is going to see this.  Lastly, for this section, he says that the models will break a lot.  This generally is not true.  GW models are tougher then they look and this is being reinforced as company policy with their new models.  The models are bigger, more solid and in general less wispy then many of the old models.  This is another point of rage for many of the old "gamers", but for this part of the article, it illustrates that yet another point of complaint from these "gamers" (that the models were too small) is being addressed.

+1 to Games Workshop, -1 to the angry reactionaries.


Terrain

This is where you see this so-called "sandwyrm" really start to become polemical (and that is putting it lightly) and deceptive.  He obviously thinks he sounds very intelligent and perceptive, yet the discerning reader will realize he is trying super hard to make the game sound lousy, with a snotty mocking attitude.
He describes the terrain in a way as to try to make it sound stupid and unreasonable.  This is of course because of his mission to make the whole game sound horrible, when it is not.  The Age of Sigmar is a fair, fun and thematic game.  The terrain is not in there to try to screw up your opponent's strategies or confuse his deployment.....which you realize is exactly what this "sandwyrm" was thinking.  The terrain has really interesting rules purposefully to add flavour to the game.  If you and your opponent do not think it sounds terribly fun, then don't use it.  The terrain is there for super themed games, with it's current rules.  Just like with the lack of points-for-models (more on that later), the idea is to put the power into the players hands (just like people have been whining about for years and years).  Don't like the terrain rules? Then don't use them! Terrain in the fantasy game has been, for a very long time, effectively just been used to make the table look nice.  For so long now tournaments and individuals bring the terrain to "spice up" the table, to add to the visual experience, but not for the actual rules.  So it is quite disingenous of this guy to imply that people have always used the terrain as is, because that is not at all true.  Terrain is used in two ways: literally, to make the game more wild or aestically, to make the game more visually appealing but with no/very little added rules effects.  It is all up to the player, which is great because it encourages people to do what makes them happy instead of feeling like they are cemented to a particular way of using terrain.

+2 GW, -2 old reactionaries


Game Rules

Another complaint that many people have had, for years, is that the two game systems GW makes were too complex and complicated.  People really wanted this to change! Now what is a complaint being made by this "sandwyrm"?? Of course, he says the game is not complex enough.  Enter the spoiled little child that is never satisfied and just wants to fight with everyone around him.  This is the sort of behavior that is seen all across the board in the old Warhammer community and has driven many people away to more positive gaming communities, like Flames of War.  People often act like spoilt children: they just cannot be happy with what GW does for them and what the game is like.  This is nothing new, sad to say.
He says that "there are no formations or block-movement, which is essential for any kind of real tactical play in a fantasy game" and this could not be further from the truth.  The Age of Sigmar is very tactical: deciding how to deploy, advance your battle line and of course how to issue charges is quite complicated.  Charge with the wrong unit in the wrong section of the battle line and the game will not go well for you! The same basic (and complex) tactics that were part of the old game are larger part of The Age of Sigmar, barring some specific ones.  Next he uses a citation from a TV show to back up his logic.....again, trying to sound intelligent but not really working.  Block formations are not necessary for a fantasy/historical game to be fun or for it to be tactical.  The Age of Sigmar is going to be a very complicated game...but will be easy to learn! It uses the same unofficial motto that Flames of War does: "easy to learn, difficult to master".  To be great at this game will take a lot of skill, but to just learn the basic skills will be super easy.  This was not always true and this is part of the excellent new direction that GW is taking the game.

The next "critique" he offers is for the shooting phase.  The shooting phase is not at all overpowered.  It all comes down to you and your buddies/family members/whoever you play with.  The armies can be totally unbalanced or unfair if you want them to be, or they can be the opposite.  I would personally keep them very balanced, but having very unbalanced armies for themed games or special scenarios could be awesome.  If you want, for example, you could have 50 Goblins with a few leaders try to take on a Chaos cavalry force, with leaders.  It probably will not go too well for the Gobbos, unless the Chaos force is very tiny.  This is all up to you.  Shooting does not have to be super good, but if one person takes a lot of powerful shooting units and the other person has no effective counter.....then it probably will seem unfair.  A point which this so-called "sandwyrm" does not notice, or care to notice.

+2 GW, -2 old reactionaries


........to be continued! 

Welcome to "The Age of Sigmar"!



This is a blog devoted to Games Workshop's new Warhammer game.  There will be battle reports, tactics articles (tacticus), and educational articles on this blog.  Disclaimer: this blog is completely unofficial, is not endorsed by Games Workshop, does not own anything to do with Warhammer (including Intellectual Property), and exists purely to talk about the wonderful new creation of GW's, the "Age of Sigmar".

I have been a Warhammer player for a long time, over 2 decades.  With that has come highs and lows, experience and wisdom.  I have played numerous other war games as well, and even a few board games.  I have won plenty of tournaments (for what that is worth), including a 5+ winning streak.  I have also had experience running tournaments, events and a gaming community.

This blog shall exist to help players to the game, explain trends and tactics, discuss army lists and even talk about "higher" issues, such as: company policy, game balance and the Warhammer community (with it's endless issues...).  This blog is mostly directed towards newer players (see below), but is of worth for older players as well.  Of particular note: this blog is not going to join the pyschotic frenzy of blood crazed "gamers" (they have no right to use that title) that have been and currently are attacking the game and the company that made it.  This blog is not for the old Warhammer community, this is for people who play the new game and don't subscribe to those old, hateful values that were so popular in the Warhammer community.

Warhammer used to be an amazing game, until the community ruined it.  Warhammer tournaments used to have forty plus people (at local stores!!) with more who wanted to play but could not fit in.  People would travel all the time to play, there was a better attitude towards the game and fellow gamers, and people knew how to have fun (which is not approved of now).  All of this was slowly destroyed over the long years by negative attitudes in the community, which were screamed out at any passerby by those noisy individuals.  Because of this, the game has slowly dwindled to nothing.  The end point of the game was right before the "End Times" (the end times in the old fiction), where the game was not making any money for GW.  All of this has changed, and for the better.

There has been a change of policy in GW headquarters and it is drastic.  It is obvious that GW is making a new game, not a "new edition".  They are abandoning most of the old game and most subsequently, most of the old community.  No one in their right mind would wish that sort of community on any gaming company and finally something is being done about it.  This new game is almost completely different, with so much of it being positively influenced by other games, such as Flames of War.

This is where we stand, although almost all of the new players would not be familiar with the history of the game, this is the edge of the cliff that we stand at.  Fantasy was practically no more before the release of this game, and now we will all see if Games Workshop can recreate their epic game/hobby and draw in new, positive, fun loving customers.  One thing is for sure: the old ways of doing things were not working and new methods were needed.  Many people in the old community are angry about this (an understatement if there ever was one), but there views are no longer valid, being that many of them have spent the last half a decade raging at GW while simultaneously complaining about not having all of the very things that GW is now doing/creating.

This is a new age in Warhammer! The game has been reinvented, and is now faster, more fun, more fluid and most obviously was designed with having fun in mind.  The old, competetive game system that was used almost exclusively for obsessive, competetive tournament goers is gone.  The new game works very well for people who want to have fun, not crush their opponents at any cost (including numerous forms of cheating).  This new system will appeal more to the type of people that play flames of war and other more fun-based war games, and it will appeal to people that do not play any of those, because it is so great.  This is a game that a person can pick up and learn to play within a few days.  The old game took years for a person to become any good at and that is no longer the case.

On a happier note, this game is very flexible.  For countless years, the internet has been filled with whining and crying from the old Warhammer community demanding for the players to have  more control over the game, more flexibility and less restrictions from "big, bad GW".  All of this and more, Games Workshop has granted the players.  This game was designed for players to be able to do what they want.  Players can play with small warbands or they can play with large armies.  Heck, they can even play with epic sized forces, such as 300+.  The games can be very themed and scenario driven, or they can more standard.  Armies can be balanced far better (in terms of fairness) then before, due to the player having total and absolute control over this part of the game.  Players can use forces made out of only heroic characters, or they could go to the other side and only use common  joe foot troops.  The possibilities with this game are near endless!

Welcome to the Age of Sigmar!! This is a new age in war gaming, where people will have fun playing a game, be able to choose multiple ways of playing (small vs. large games, hero warbands vs. armies, themed/scenario based vs. free for all brawls..) the game and of course there is the epic new fluff to go along with this game.  The future looks bright, brigter then it has for over a decade, easily.  The Age of Sigmar will bring GW's fantasy gaming back to life and hopefully in the near future, the same treatment will be done to their sci-fi part of the game and reinvent that as well.

Couldn't be better!