2019-08-06: Age of Fantasy Skirmish AAR

Emil and I duked it out in the garage attic once more - he playing the staunch defenders of Gondor, and I the devious Goblin horde.

We played the standard 4 Rounds.

We rolled only 3 objectives this time, and Emil won the deployment roll-off.

The first couple of photos show the table before deployment (almost - we had just begun placing units when I remembered to pull out the camera).

The next three pics show the forces deployed.

This photo I snapped to make sure that all Objective Counters were shown (there is one in the ruined throne room upper center right).

In Round 1 both forces sped forward - I was able to secure two Objectives, while Emil took the last.

In Round 2, the fighting commenced. The Gondorian wizard hit one of my Trolls with a Fireball which left it flat on its back. My Shaman failed horribly to cast Glare on the enemy Wizard.

I could not defend the Troll, and he was quickly dispatched at the beginning of Round 3. My other Troll took its place, was also hit by a Fireball, but shook off most of the effect. My Shaman failed another casting attempt.

Early in Round 4 it became clear that Emil could not shift the Goblins from any of the two Objectives I held, and we agreed to call it a day, with a 2-1 win for the Moria horde. Before that, my Shaman actually managed to Glare the Wizard, and managed to inflict a whooping 3 hits (on 2d6), and one of those was saved, leaving the Wizard to cast another spell.

The game could have gone either way, but I succeeded in taking and holding the two Objectives closest to my side of the table with the majority of my warband. I need to think up some alternative scenarios, though, as the game may get a bit samey.

2019-06-14: Age of Fantasy Skirmish AAR

Emil and I played 400 points/5 Rounds Moria Goblins and Gondorians on a 4x6 table in the Attic this afternoon. The sunlight played tricks on my camera for the first couple of pictures, but the red dot marks an Objective Marker..

Boromir lead a force headed by two Knights of Dol Amroth, and supported by the more arcane arts of his father (having a Palantír in his possesson, Denethor seems fit for the rôle as 'Prophet' (Wizard)). I shall paint a Saruman or Gandalf (or even Radagast) somewhen soonish, but in the meantime, Denethor will have to do.

As I have not been able to locate my Mori Goblin Shaman (I know I have one, somewhere, alongside some Goblin War Drums, and a Moria Goblin King (I think it is called)), but in exactly what box they are situated eludes me completely), I have not painted him up for the Goblin force, either, but instead I bolstered their ranks with another Troll (of the Mordor kind).

 

The positions after Round 1:
My Goblins had seized two of the four objectives, while the Gondorians clamed the one on their far left.

In Round 2, the action was focused near the only non-claimed Objective, and the large tree in the center.

Denethor attempted to cast a Fireball, but failed miserably, and my Trolls seemed to have forgotten how to use a hammer.

Round 3.
Denethor all but annihilated a Goblin spearmen unit with a fireball, but was the rapidly dispatched by some archers and my Boss.

The Mordor Troll almost single handedly held back the humans, while the Goblins fell like ripe fruit.

A handful of Goblin archers rushed for the far right Objective, but were spotted by Boromir who failed to wipe them out, and the Objective changed hands.

Round 4.
Both forces were worn down at this point, and the game really hang in the balance.

Round 5 started with the Goblins taking Break Tests.
I tried out my house rules for this, and as I had one Hero standing, each unit rolled two dice and picked the best result. Some of the Goblins farthest away from the Boss broke and ran away (among those the archers guarding the objective in the central ruin, which was kind of a bummer).

I tried very hard to kill off the last Gondorians within reach of the ever contested objective on my left, but the dice were not in my favour, and I had to give up.

As the objective in the central ruin could no longer be defended, the outcome of the fight at the tree was no longer of any consequence, as Gondor would inevitably end up controlling at least two Objectives, while I could only hope for keeping my single one (Boromir having reclaimed the opposite flank), so we called it a day.

Conclusion:

It was a tense and close fought game, and I still really like the simplicity and fast flow of the One Page Rules.
Had I managed to kill a single human more in Round 4, the Gondorians would also have had to take Break Tests at the start of Round 5, which might have changed the outcome decisively. As it were, I did not have the necessary luck with the dice (especially my Trolls were not able to hit a barn with their warhammers), and I may have been focusing a tiny bit too much on taking/holding Objectives, instead of killing the opposition.

We shall definitely play this game some more - but I also want to get some Grimdark Firefight and SAGA Age of Magic up and running, so I think I am looking at a busy summer!

2019-06-06: Age of Fantasy Skirmish, Goblins vs Gondorians, Game 2

We played 350 points right after a short trip to the local store for a cold sixpack. This time the Objective Roll yielded only 3 Objectives, and they were distributed evenly across the table.

Initial setup from the Gondorian side

I quickly seized the Objective on my right, while Emil moved fast to control the other two. I then pushed forward with my Cave Troll and a bunch of Goblins between the center and left Objectives, making it possible to go for either.

At the same time, a single unit was running fast forward on my extreme left to outflank the enemy.

The Minas Tirith Knight succeeded in skewering Tiny on his lance, removing him from the equation, and I was pretty certain, I had now lost the opportunity to take a second Objective.

At this point, though, the Gondorians had lost more than half their models, and each of their units on the table now had to take a Rout Test. As most of the units have a Quality of 5+ or 6+, the Gondor Force crumbled right away, which was kind of meh...



Conclusion:

This was the first time I encountered the Rout Test, and I must say, I think it is far too brutal.

Heroes, per the rules, provide a re-roll of any results of '1' for models within 6" of them, but this is still not good enough, I think.

My suggestion will be as follows:

Each Hero within 12" of a unit provides one extra dice for Morale Tests. That means that a unit within 12" of one Hero would roll two dice and pick the best result for the test (three dice if within 12" of  two Heroes, and so on).

The unit may re-roll one failed dice for each Hero within 6" (not only results of '1').

This way it is possible to bolster the ranks by spreading out the heroes among the common troops, and being close to a Hero will actually strengthen the resolve of the warriors.

We shall have to try this, of course, before we put it down as a solid house rule, but I really do not like to win a game by default, because my opponent's army is smaller.

2019-06-06: Age of Fantasy Skirmish, Goblins vs Gondorians

Emil and I met up in the Garage Attic this morning for a 250 points game of One Page Rules Age of Fantasy Skirmish.

Boromir and an unnamed Knight of Dol Amroth were leading a Gondor patrol, supported by a mounted Knight of Minias Tirith (Heavy Cavalry) into some Goblin-infested ruins, and the Goblin Boss, on the ohter hand, had brought a Cave Troll to the party.

The Goblins advanced in force in the center while the Knight of Minas Tirith swooped round the flank.

Soon, the two sides clashed.

While all the big shots were busy with the grand melee, a pack of sneaksy Goblins ran around the old ruined tower to threaten the Gondorians' hold on it.

The Human heroes were holding their ground against Tiny and the gibbering hordes.

At the end of Round 3, the fighting was centering around the Throne Room objective, and with both sides holding two objectives each, the game seemed destined to be decided by who could secure it.

In Round 4, Boromir, after standing up to Tiny, got knocked down in single combat with the Goblin Boss - and this allowed a single Goblin to slip into the Throne Room and secure it for the Moria forces.

Conclusion:

This third game of AoMS was exciting and a very close fight, and I still think the system is fantastic.
I also think that it would be very easy to come up with other scenarios (Fight at a Ford/Bridge, Fighting Retreat, Escorting something through enemy territory, etc...).
The Cave Troll did well by keeping the Gondor Heroes at bay, allowing the common rabble some leeway to take on the more manageable Human warriors.

We decided right away to play a game of 5 Rounds with 350 points - I shall post the AAR of that later this evening (or, barring that, tomorrow).

2019-05-22: Age of Fantasy Skirmish, 2nd Game

With short notice, I managed to get a Wednesday gaming appointment with Emil, a former workmate who has a taste for fantasy and sci-fi, and we played the same 150 points forces used by Ulolkish and me Monday.

We rolled up 3 Objectives, and I won the Roll-off and thus the initiative for the first Round.

In all the mayhem and excitement, I forgot to take pics after Rounds 1 and 2, but my plans worked fine, as my Necromancer actually raised some Zombies... 😏

The Gondor archers managed to take out two Skeletons in cover at one point in Round 2 or 3, and all in all the dice were behaving less stubbornly than usual.

The raised Zombies worked a treat, blocking the Gondorians from attacking the Necromancer and guarding the Objective on my left, while my Skeleton Horseman swept around the entire battlefield to threaten the Objective in the far tower ruin.

ON Turn 4, another mob of hungry shamblers clawed their way out of the ground near the threatened objective on my left, and effectively decided the game for me. Below is the final lay of the land, the game ending 2-1 in favour of Argonor.

Conclusion:

I like this game very much! It is simple, fast-flowing, and a newcomer can pick up the rules along the way while playing.

Wizards are very powerful in small games, being able to cause a lot of turmoil with their spells. Next game I shall turn up to 200 or 250 points, and maybe I shall build another Lord of the Rings themed warband to face off against the Gondorians - Mordor Nazgûl and Orcs, or Haradrim could be interesting choices.

I have repaired my two Knights of Minas Tirith (painted for Battle Companies years ago, and shattered when a box of (painted 😡) minis tilted over and hit the floor) - at least I hope the one with a horse's broken leg will prove well enough welded by the Poly Cement; the other one, a conversion, just had to be glued to the horse. I also may opt to field a Boromir, Captain of the White Tower, as a Hero alongside the Knight of Dol Amroth.

2019-05-20: Age of Fantasy, First Game

An entire table of Ziterdes ruins!

Ulolkish and I played the standard basic game with the recommended starting forces of 150 pts. each, and rolled up four objectives to place on the table.

The Mortal Gods bases are just for convenience, as most groups are 3 strong.

In all my eagerness, I forgot to take a photo of the initial setup, but it was pretty straightforward. I won the roll off, chose table edge, and moved first on the first Round.

In the first couple of Rounds, we forgot to make Fear Tests when my Undead came into contact with enemies, but all in all we rather quickly got to grips with the rules (especially considering we just played four hours of God of Battles).

I very quickly seized 3 of the 4 objectives, while the last one was contested.

The Necromancer tried raising some Zombies, but without any luck.

Skeleton Horsemen apparently are made of glass (or very brittle bone) - after killing one Gondor Fiefdom Warrior off at impact, my lone rider hit the dust. Argonor kept muttering incantations, but nothing happened...

I managed to seize the fourth objective, but was about to loose the one in the center of the board.

Which happened soon enough. My lacking ability to roll more than 2 on a D6 still kept Argonor from bolstering the ranks of the Undead with some not so fresh meat.

On Round 4, a lone surviving Fiefdom Warrior leapt for the objective on my far right, and managed to seize it - and Argonor finally succeeded in summoning a bunch of Zombies, which kept the objective in the building on my left from being taken by some Warriors of Minas Tirith.

End Score: 2-2 - a fitting end for our first foray into One Page Rules!

I showed OPR Grimdark Skirmish to Ulolkish afterwards, as I think it quite possible that we might dust off some of our old W40K minis for a scrap now and then, knowing we can set up and play a game in less than 1½ hours, and he seemed to agree.