Hey y'all! @Mesandres and me played a few games of Skirmish at the last two weekends, and I'd like to make a quick review of it, based on my experiences, and also ask a few question about it. TL;DR: It is more fun than I expected. I went into this with VERY low expectations. My observations so far, based on a few matches against Ironjawz: Cons: 1. Half of our army can't be played. I understand that the Dinosaurs are off limits, that's ok but it hurts us a bit. The other ones are the ones I am kinda angry about: Kroxigors, Salamanders, Chameleons, Razordons, Astrolith Bearer, Sunblood, Eternity Warden and Skink Priest are excluded solely because they are made of resin it seems. Skink Chief, Tehenhauin and Jungle Swarms are out because they are compendium units that aren't that strong either, it would not hurt anyone if those had points. None of the above (perhaps with the exception of Chameleon Skinks, I am not sure) would break the game and they would provide tactical options. Which leads to my seconds point: 2. Our available units - with the exception of the Oldblood) are all either glass cannons (Rippers, Terradons, Saurus Knights, Starpriest) or rendered pretty useless (or at least weak) because they rely on strength by numbers (Skinks and Warriors) or buffs (Guards). Of the three spells we have available (Arcane Bolt, Mystic Shield and Summon Starlight) only the Arcane Bolt is actually good for something IMO. Pros: 1. Fast games. 2. Nice battleplans. Also usable for AoS 3. Pretty cheap rules (8€) 4. A few pretty nice items. 5. Renown-System does provide rewards and yet doesn't make the game too imbalanced, at least not in the 30-60 points range it seems. Neutral: 1. The movement phase can be VERY important. Bad positioning can make a match a desaster. 2. Elite models that do not rely on buffs can be very strong, which of course favours armies like (SURPRISE!! ) Stormcast. 3. The book (at least the German translation) contains multiple typos and weird sentences. I don't care enough to call it a flaw (which is why it is listed here under "Neutral") but it is weird, not quite the level of quality I expect from GW. The matches between @Mesandres Ironjawz and my Seraphon were - surprisingly - pretty balanced, multiple times dice luck or a single wound made the difference between a victory and a defeat. They were close and they were fun. Our lists: Ironjawz, 60 points: 1x Warchanter 5x Brutes 1x Gore Grunta Seraphon, 60 points: 1x Starpriest 5x Saurus Knights 3x Terradon Riders I think a Megaboss would tip that balance though, since I think there is nothing in our arsenal right now that can really kill him quickly, and both of his buffs are of the few that are not aimed at a single unit so those will work as well as in a normal AoS game. Which is a HUGE. And that also brings me to a point I want to talk about: Either I missed an explanation for some things or they are very badly designed. So if you have more insight than me please post your explanation!: 1. Buffs: Most buffs in the game are aimed at units. In Skirmish all models are their own units. So that means stuff like Mystic Shield, a Warchanter's Frenzy of Violence, or a Starpriest's Serpent Staff are almost useless, and an Oldblood's command ability is completely useless, while an Oldblood's Wrath of the Seraphon is not too bad and the aforementioned buffs of a Megaboss are extremely powerful, since one works just as good as in AoS and one even becomes better than in stock AoS with all models being single units. --> Everything targeted is bad, everything affecting areas is good. Well, OK, then let's play that Skink Priest with priestly trappings!..... except NOPE. No points... Ok then the Astrolith Bearer. It is stationary but at least provides an area buff! ....except NOPE. No points. Improve the guards with the Eternity Warden's buff!! ...except NOPE. No points. At this point I'd like to scream "F*** YOU GW!!" at the top of my lungs. The only damn buff in the usable part of our army that works that way is the Guards' ability that gives them +1 on their saves if they are near a hero. 2. Units with special weapons: I don't understand from reading the book if one of my Terradon riders or Knights gets the bonus from being an Alpha. Any ideas? I understood that the special weapons rule applies so @Mesandres can play a Brute with the Klaw and I could possibly play a Master of the Skies instead of a Terradon Alpha (which would be a bad idea). But the rest? 3. Banners: Well, I guess banners are kinda useless? Ours affect bravery. Since only the bravery of the general matters our banners only work if they are near the enemy general? Very weird. What about Skeleton banner bearers? Even more useless because everything that summons models has to be ignored? I don't get it. 4. Musicians: Ehhh... musicians only affect themselves or what? Pretty much the same as with the banners. 5. Battleshock: Meh.... It doesn't really affect the army sizes we are currently playing, but the way it looks I'd say that a high bravery of 10 doesn't really give you any advantage over someon who has 7 or so. And I don't think there is any general in any army that has a bravery of 5 or lower, except a Grot Warboss. Again, this sounds as if I hated the Skirmish rules but IMO they are just very rough around some of the edges. I generally like the gameplay with the few models. They just seem to not have thought it through which is what makes me angry a bit. That's it for now. I will post more experiences soon I guess.
Can't edit my post so here's an addendum: Items: Do we get to keep all the items earned in the campaign if we didn't use them? What about the spells? Are those permanent? I mean: Stacking all those items and buffs on one unit (the general) that will create weird situations I think... EDIT: Also 25 points for starting is is too low IMO. We started at 30. EDIT2: The fact that you can neither change your general nor swap out any units between battles means that of you start with a low point value (like 25 or 30) you cannot play certain generals at all. I am kinda lucky that this applies to Ironjawz for example. The Megaboss is 28 points so the only way to play him at 30 points would be to take two Grots (because you have to have at least three models in the warband) or something for the first game. I wonder if @Mesandres would try that. It does sound like a fun experiment though.
One or two of them. For example the one about the items. It is only one item it seems. But most are just not clarified yet by GW. So Skirmish - while fun - remains horribly balanced and full of rule holes. I hope there is some kind of FAQ soon.
I gotcha I can answer a few. The musicans have a 6" bubble for their effect. You can bring your alpha from a unit and I'm not sire how the banner works sadly, I've been wondering that too lol.
[Hi guys, I at the moment have not enough time to write here my answers, but I'll come back here and edit this post as soon as I can (so this evening or tomorrow)! Spoiler alert: I don't have an answer for all of these questions, or at least official ones. I can simply tell you how I believe things work! Sorry, guys, see you soon!] --- EDIT!!! My answers in bold: And that also brings me to a point I want to talk about: Either I missed an explanation for some things or they are very badly designed. So if you have more insight than me please post your explanation!: 1. Buffs: Most buffs in the game are aimed at units. In Skirmish all models are their own units. [...] I feel you: there are really too few units we can use in Skirmish (officially...), but at the end of this post I'll post a useful link which can be SUPER handy! About buffing abilities/spells: in the "SKIRMISH FORMATION" paragraph on page 16 of the rules, I read "Each model in your warband is therefore treated as a single unit..." and "the abilities of specific models (like musicians) still have an effect on friendly models within 6'' chosen from the same warscroll". So what I suggest is to play as abilities which usually have an effect on "units" in Skirmish have an effect on "all models of that warscroll within 6 inches of the target". Ex. If you use the Serpent Staff ability of the Starpriest you - choose a target (let's say a Saurus Knight Alpha nearby) - see if there are other models of the same type of the target within 6'' (so any model from the same Warscroll, in this case let's pretend a Saurus Knight Musician positioned 5 inches away from the Alpha) - activate that ability for all those models you just saw are elegible 2. Units with special weapons: I don't understand from reading the book if one of my Terradon riders or Knights gets the bonus from being an Alpha. Any ideas? When making your warband list you can freely choose to turn a model from a specific warscroll (let's again say "Saurus Knight") into a champion, another into a musician and another into a standard bearer. Furthermore, you can choose to equip each of them with different weapons. Ex. If you field 4 Knights, they can be a champion, a musician, a standard bearer and a "basic" saurus knight. You can also decide to equip the first 2 with Celestite Blades, and the remaining 2 with Lances. The only case this is not possible is if in the description of the warscroll there's something like "1 model in 3 can be equipped with...". In this case, to field a model equiped with the special weapon you first have to field enough models from the same warscroll to unlock the special weapon. Ex. You know 1 every 3 Kroxigors can be equipped with a Moon Hammer. If you could use Kroxigors in Skirmish, you should field 2 of them with the basic weaponry before having the possibility to add a Kroxigor equipped with Moon Hammer to your warband. 3. Banners: Well, I guess banners are kinda useless? Ours affect bravery. Since only the bravery of the general matters our banners only work if they are near the enemy general? Very weird. What about Skeleton banner bearers? Even more useless because everything that summons models has to be ignored? I don't get it. That's really ambigous. Since in Skirmish the Battleshock Tests work differently I believe Stardrake Icons are useless. This is not a big deal since, as you said, Death's standards are usually as useless as ours! 4. Musicians: Ehhh... musicians only affect themselves or what? Pretty much the same as with the banners. Already answered before. 5. Battleshock: Meh.... It doesn't really affect the army sizes we are currently playing, but the way it looks I'd say that a high bravery of 10 doesn't really give you any advantage over someon who has 7 or so. And I don't think there is any general in any army that has a bravery of 5 or lower, except a Grot Warboss. To me is a big plus to have Bravery 10. If a warbard looses 3 models in a turn and its general has Bravery 10 you can roll a 6 in the Battleshock test and no other models flee. If a warbard looses 3 models in a turn and its general has Bravery 7 you can roll a 6 in the Battleshock test 2 more models flee!
Just edited the previous post to give you MY answers! Don't know if they're correct, but still... I just have to add: - Command Abilities, Artefacts of Power and Spells your general has ARE PERMANENT - Rewards of Battle (page 19) work only in our next battle Hope to have written everything clear!
You're welcome, guys! WHOOW, I almost forgot! http://www.tga.community/forums/topic/9851-age-of-sigmar-skirmish-full-points-list/ This is super-amazing if you want to use models like Kroxigors, Salamanders, etc. in Skirmish! Just read the first post