Oathmark Solo Test Game, Turn 8

I finally found some time to wrap this up (sort of), so here is what was to be the final turn of my solo test game of Oathmark.

The Warg Riders managed to contact the Minas Tirith Archers, this time actually drawing serious blood, and forcing the Humans back in disorder.

The Warriors then wheeled back before slamming into the Warg Riders, who were not able to fight back very well, and were pushed back.

The Trolls were still unable to comply...

The Dwarven Archers broke the Dunlendings closest to them - I forgot to roll for Cascading Panic.

The Orc Archers (Goblin Archers) managed to take down a single Dwarf.

I had forgotten to mark the Minas Tirith Warriors as activated, but luckily the Dice Gods had me covered when I tried to activate them.

The Dunlending Spearmen failed their activation roll and stayed put.

The Dunlending Militia smashed into the very small unit of Dwarf Soldiers, but got mauled.

The psuhback send ripples right back through the Dunlending lines.

The Rohan Archers failed their Activation Roll, and thus had a +1 to TN when shooting at the Orc Archers...

...but never the less all but annihilated them.

At this point I could see no use in continuing - Saruman's invasion had been brought to a halt - for now.

The last couple of pics show the battlefield as it were when I called it quits.

Thoughts on the game so far:

It is NOT as simple as God of Battles - far from!

To me, the mechanics seem a bit clunky; I, for one, cannot memorize the stats and special rules for every type of unit, and I have to look to the roster and meticulously calculate Target Numbers every time some interaction occurs, which slows down gameplay considerably. In GoB, I really only had to memorize one stat for each type of unit, and 'rank bonuses' were sort of worked into the number of dice rolled (depending on unit size). Tomorrow evening, I have a gaming session with a live opponent (2000pts), and after that I shall have a better idea of how the game flows.

Movement: Some really quirky situations arise when units are close together, and one is trying to make contact, and I think some houseruling/consensus of rules interpretation will be necessary to avoid heated discussions when battles hang in the balance.

I like the way some of the Special Rules work - especially Charge (X), which forces you to carefully position shock units before committing them to battle. The Brace rule (spears) can seem a bit meh, but I think that careful positioning of spear units to take some of the air out of enemy shock troop attacks can be the key to success in many battles.

Missiles: Brutal!
I still think that defensive tactics will be very hard to cope with. Place a line of Spearmen units in front, a line of archer units close behind them, have some crack troops (Warriors and/or Linebreakers) guard the flanks, and the enemy should have a very hard time cracking your position. Of course, if the enemy has a lot of Elven Archers and/or catapults, you may want to reconsider your tactics...

Terrain:
I think terrain is not going to be very popular. Having to halve one's move is not nice when facing enemy archers, as it gives them even more chances to decimate your units before you can reach them.
Some units have 'Nimble', which allows them to ignore terrain movement penalties, and as mentioned before, I really think that Wolves/Wolf Riders should have this special rule. As it is now, some Elves on foot move faster through rough terrain than those quadrupedal predators, and I think that is weird and just wrong.

I already toy with the idea of making a house rule that lets units assume 'mob'-formation to gain Nimble, but get an Activation/Morale penalty, lose rank bonuses, and have TN+1 when fighting (but maybe force enemies to shoot at them at TN+1) while in this loose formation. This would make it more viable to play games in dense terrain, which to me is more interesting than a large open battlefield. But it is too early to introduce this, as I still have to learn all the ropes of the game (although I do have the rules ready in my mind).

Overall:
I am in two minds about these rules.
The game works, although I fear that it runs too slowly for my taste. I like the versatility of army composition. and with the right additions (Oliphaunts. anyone?) it may cater very well for Middle-Earth battles like the one I just snailed my way through. I think some of the peculiarities are really weird, and will have to be houseruled in order to not create awkward situations too often; it can be done, but it is often harder to find consensus on house rules than finding a ruleset all can agree upon.

Well, as mentioned, I am playing a 2000pts game tomorrow evening, and I shall of course record it here, as always.