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AoS First AoS Battle

Discussion in 'Battle Reports' started by The World Turtle, Jul 9, 2015.

  1. The World Turtle
    Jungle Swarm

    The World Turtle New Member

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    Hey all,

    Wanted to share my thoughts on Age of Sigmar after playing my first battle. I played a friendly game against empire. We agreed to 80 wounds total with no other restrictions just to try and get a feel for things. I tried to take a variety of units to see what worked.

    My List
    Slann
    Oldblood on foot with Great Weapon
    22 Saurus w/ Spears
    14 Temple Guard
    10 Skinks with Boltspitters and Moonstone Clubs
    5 Cav
    1 Stegadon w/ Sunfire throwers

    His list
    General on Peg w/ lance
    General with battle standard and GW
    2 Warrior priests w/ GW
    30 State troops with sword and shield
    30 State troops with Halberd

    He set up his troops generally next to each other in the middle of the board and I set up with my Skinks hiding in some terrain by themselves, the steg up the middle, and everything else off to the left side in an attempt to get a combo charge on his left unit (halberds) early on before the other could join in.

    Lizard Turn 1
    Mostly just moved forward with everything. The Slann summoned 5 new temple guard.

    Empire Turn 1
    Also moved forward with everything. Kept his heroes pretty much in the back.

    Lizard Turn 2
    Here's where it got fun. Slann summoned a unit of skinks. Skinks shot a couple guys off the troops with swords and shields. Stegadon and summoned TG moved into charge range. Everything else moved up, but was still mostly out of range. Stegadon unleashed the Sunfire throwers. Killed 6-7 state troops with Halbreds right off the bat. Then both the Steg and 5 TG charged in successfully. I went with the steg first and did 4 wounds with the horns, before rolling 14 stomp attacks. Think I did another 6 or so. He killed only 1 TG, and my TG did 3 or so more. No battle shock since he had used the no battleshock command for that unit.
    Note: My Oldbood was sort of hidden in terrain this trun and I forgot to move him. Even when I did remember he kept running 1" in this game, so he fell behind everyone else and I never got to use his buff on my Saurus, or see what he could really do.

    Empire Turn 2
    After casting a couple prayers he retreated with his halbreds and charged my Steg with his Swords. He did a couple wounds and I did more back. Still no battleshock due to him using the command ability on the Sword unit this time. The ability is pretty potent when targeted in smaller games.

    Lizards Turn 3
    I thought this was going to be the big one where I got everything in. I did manage to get the unit of 14 TG into combat with the Sword Troops and my 4 remaining summoned TG back into his 12 or so remaining in the other unit. Unfortunately everything else either go crowded out as my TG piled in or failed the charge. TG + Steg took out a bunch of Sword Troops and he lost another 5 or so due to battleshock, leaving only 3 left. In the other combat all just 1 or 2 wounds done each.

    Empire Turn 3
    He moved in with his heroes now, but it was too little, too late. His Peg General charged my Saurus cav, while his other 3 characters charged my steg (think he really wanted to take it out after all the models it killed). In combat he went first with his general and took our 4 of my Cold One riders in one go (that guy is pretty nasty on the charge). Then my steg took out his standard bearer general. He finally took out my remaing summoned TG and I took out the rest of his Sword troops. We called it here since he had only ~10 models left and his general was about to get swarmed by my Saurus, and remaining units by my unit of 14 TG, Steg, and the skinks I had slowly been moving up. I only lost the 5 summoned TG, 4 Saurus cav, and 5 wounds on the Steg.

    Overall thoughts:
    1. The Stegadon with Sunfire throwers was so good. Against an infantry army it can pretty easily get off 15 or more shots, charge in and if unwounded have the ability to do 10 wounds pretty easy. Over the course of the game he caused at least 25 wounds. And now you can shoot in combat too? I forgot this rule, but man. Seems like this unit is super good.
    2. Having to be within 18" to dispel is a pretty big change. In theory you could sit back with a Slann in the corner or even behind some tall terrain and just keep summoning new units. I didn't bring a ton of extra models and took a pretty commanding lead early, so I sort of stopped summoning after the first couple turns, but if an enemy doesn't have long range shooting or flyers there is not a ton they can do.
    3. On the other hand, normal spells are not that game changing. Definitely nothing like dwellers, or mindrazor. Seems like summoning is the most powerful thing.
    4. Also the constellation that let's you reroll 1s to hit for your whole army is pretty strong and would would only be stronger in larger fights. Especially if you remember to move your Oldblood and get his +1 to wound on some units too ;)
    5. Seems like summoning skinks is a pretty low risk move, especially if you can keep them out of combat. Just stay 16" back and you're not in too much danger of taking high casualties (unless your opponent is a gunline)
    6. Against non elite infantry Temple Guard can put out a ton of damage. In terms of what used to be our special, they seem so much better than Cav even on a 1 to 1 tradeoff. If you use wounds as the currency it's not even close
    7. I like having skinks with 16". With so many units having bonuses for 20 or 30 models they are perfect for targeting units close to that point and taking off just enough to prevent the bonus. Chameleons are probably even better at this.
    8. Even if they do get into combat I don't think thats so bad. If your opponent sends something good after them you can always try to retreat and take that unit out of the action. If they send something soft you might be able to handle it. Boltspitters + Clubs gives you 2 attacks and you get to shoot still.
    9. I think you have to be very agressive with charges. My opponent help back his heroes for a turn or two because he was worried that I would take them out if he put them in combat. That's true, and I understand wanting to hold onto the buffs they give you, but in AoS having more units in combat gives you a lot of options and flexibility in that phase.
    10. Overall the game was a lot of fun! I know some people are pessimistic, and I do sort of miss the tactics of flanks, and charge arcs, but there is definitely still strategy in the game.
     
    n810, pendrake, Kwalaar and 5 others like this.
  2. Kwalaar
    Skink

    Kwalaar Member

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    Thanks for the battle report and the insights it offered. Makes me want to try it out. Cheers!
     
  3. n810
    Slann

    n810 First Spawning

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    dang 8 wounds, (cold ones have 2 wounds now). :inpain:
     

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