future of AoS?

[Steel Angel]

Hi yall as soon as my daycare issues are over I am back to gaming.

 

I seem to be at a cross roads of sorts. I like AoS and am getting realy into stormcast, but here's the thing do you all see Aos as one of the big events at OFCC and not just say a one day off event?

 

If so then kewl ill start getting more and start painting.

 

If not then maybe I'm better off starting a Tau army as I always wanted.

 

OFCC is my big yearly event and would like to get the most of it.

[splinx]

After talking to many folks including organizers i am sure that something AoS related will be going on next year at the OFCC. I think the onus is going to be catering for everyone by the sound of it so i am hoping for a WH8th/9th, Kings of War, 40k, AoS, Bloodbowl, Warmachine, Malifaux and other games accommodated type set up. After the demise of WHF i don't think numbers will warrant any big event other than 40k for next year. 

[Nathanvoodoo]

I, personally, enjoy AoS far more than 40k - in it's current form.

 

My past few 40k games have just felt exhausting. Turn 4 and 4 hours in and I just don't feel like playing anymore- whether or not it garners a win. 40k is a rules heavy drag- and it took me trying something else to realize it. Am I done with 40k? No. I'll still play- but I'd rather play AoS.

 

AoS has been nothing but enjoyable since I started to grasp how it actually plays. I honestly think it's a real shame that so many players just quit Fantasy, or barely tried AoS before deciding that they hated it. It's got far more depth of play than it appears, from just looking at the 4 pages of rules.

 

Do I think it could be made into a competitive format OFCC event. Absolutely.

-Organize a points format- I like the Scrollbuilder SDK one. It's quick to use, and lets players quickly write lists and balance them to one another. Ordo Comp, is too confusing, and though I want to support it- it makes the game feel like casual play; IE bring whatever you want, we don't need balance. Nurglings and Putrid Blightkings don't weigh the same in the game and competitive play demands they be assigned a points value.

 

-I'd also say a small errata list would help the competitive scene. Slight tweaks in rules to increase competitive decision making. Things like charging through terrain, shooting while within melee distance. Playing with those really alter the way people will play the game. - and create a more austere decision making process.

 

I can already hear the crowds whining "We shouldn't have to write the rules for competitive play!" "AoS just sucks!" Well, look at the ITC rules eratta in 40k. Also, don't for one second try to tell me that 40k is a balanced game. "oh you got a Morkanaut? HA don't ever expect to play it!"

 

I guess that is the biggest challenge to AoS for OFCC. Getting people to play it! The friday nights at GG have had good turn out and everyone seems to have a lot of fun. My only complaint is that it's happens on a friday night and I often have other pressing things keeping me from attending.

 

 

 

Well, it's fun. I've played it. Once you figure out what you are doing, and get some basics of balance it's a really entertaining hobby game.

[Brother Glacius]

The folks in the league at game night sure seem to be having fun with it. The biggest problem with AoS though is not enjoyment, but lack of structure. It simply takes too much work to make it work for an event like the OFCC. WFB already had a structure that just needed to be molded a bit. AoS has nothing. I don't really see the OFCC elevating AoS to a multi-day event like 40K or WFB.

[Sylvos]

The folks in the league at game night sure seem to be having fun with it. The biggest problem with AoS though is not enjoyment, but lack of structure. It simply takes too much work to make it work for an event like the OFCC. WFB already had a structure that just needed to be molded a bit. AoS has nothing. I don't really see the OFCC elevating AoS to a multi-day event like 40K or WFB.

It can be done Bro G. You just have to see the entire event as one huge narrative rather than a series of matches.

 

Trust me, it can be done.

[Nathanvoodoo]

In response to Bro G

 

Maybe-

But it doesn't seem too difficult to organize a structure to be adopted by events.

 

If one were to say starting next organized GG league

• Scrollbuilder points values will be used in escalation IE game 1 1000 (or as close as a player can acheive) point matches, Game 2 1100 point matches, Game 3 1200 point matches, etc.
• Game scenarios will be released the week prior to the match to allow list building
• Erratta And Rules FAQ-
  • Units may not make shooting attacks in the shooting round of combat while within melee range of an opponents melee attack- IE if an archer/cannoneer/etc. is face to face with an opponent or in direct threat of being harmed he's not going to draw his bow/gun/etc, aim and shoot
  • Units charging into cover, halve their rolled charge distance before adding any possible special modifiers. This applies as long as any models from the unit were to end their charge in the cover.
  • Summoning units... blah blah blah and so on...

 

I mean, yeah. That was tough.

 

And the best part about it is if someone breaks the system- because it is a community built rules structure- the community can just alter it. No one is left screwed out of using their beloved models because their rule book says they aren't worth using anymore. You just alter the points values you and your community assigned them.

[Threejacks]

With the WHFB club community being fragmented now it may seem that OFCC would likely consist of perhaps 2-3 one day events for various other games that have spun off the old group.Those being WHFB 8+,AoS and KoW,which I would be ok with..I can see playing AoS and probably throwing down for some KoW as well.By that time WHFB should have a solid post 8th edition version and comp so im sure it would have a fair amount of participants.

 

Of course being a fan of AoS im about to the point that Nathan is were I`m really starting to look away from 40k,even selling some of my AM stuff now,though I still like all my other factions.Now im really focused on AoS and testing out the stuff Sylvos is working up as that will be the foundation of our club events and hopefully ends up being what we see at OFCC,Large "Master" army lists to choose warscrolls from for a varying amount of scenarios to be played.Lots of fun stuff can be done with that!

 

But I hear ya Steel Angel.I also have plans for my next goofball Ork list for next year..Pirate Flash Gits and their Skullhammer /super heavy land Pirate ship!.Yeah going for the NO WINS this time,lol.If AoS only ends up being a small event,ill still get in on it for sure!,,but if it ends up gaining momentum and ends up a featured team event like 40k,ill be all over that.

[Brother Glacius]

@NathanVoodoo - I don't know how much you know about fantasy battle, or the history of the OFCC, but a good number of people put in a lot of work to try and bring balance to that system for the OFCC. And they didn't have to change core rules. They also didn't stop you from bringing what you wanted. In fact, the whole point of the OFCC was to allow people to bring those units that the current books made less than worth it, and still have fair match ups. The theme of the OFCC used to be "play what you want, and still have good games". I would really like to see that "blah blah blah" make AoS a viable event system for the OFCC, but I think you are seriously underestimating the effort required to do that.

[DisruptiveConduct]

"play what you want. And no special characters. Or this. Or that. Whats yer comp score?"

[Nathanvoodoo]

@bro g

 

I don't doubt for a second OFCC is an immense amount of work- I'm a member of a completely separate club who hosts an annual rally that brings people from all over the country- it's brutal - the amount of work we put into it. It feels thankless at times and often the members of my club are so tasked by it they don't even get to enjoy it. We do it for a number of reasons,but it's always hard on us.

 

I guess, basically what I'm saying is- if we want AoS to have a big community event we need to establish a consensus on composition and errata and then get players onboard. Otherwise it's going to fall to a small single day event or some such.

[evil_bryan]

It is still early in the process, but I can tell you three things:

 

• Age of Sigmar will be played at the 2016 OFCC
• Work will be done to provide additional structure and guidance for playing AoS
• Age of Sigmar being played does no rule out other fantasy games being played, the choices for what those games are have yet to be determined

 

The 2016 OFCC looks to be the largest and most diverse event in the history of the club. Make every effort to attend, and I am sure you will have a great time.

[McNathanson]

"play what you want. And no special characters. Or this. Or that. Whats yer comp score?"

 

It was the quickest way to weed out players whose idea of "what I want to play" was so far from the organizers that we didn't want them coming.  I know some people find smashing face with a giant 1000 pt SC to be fun, and that's fine.  And other players hate comp, because they like to win based on exploiting bad game design, and that's fine too.  But the people who started OFCC were just trying to find a way to bring like-minded players together for a weekend of gaming (players who like close games that aren't won or lost before deployment, and come down to generalship and a few lucky dice roles).  So yeah, OFCC was not for everyone, and was never meant to be!

[McNathanson]

FWIW I think all it takes to make AoS into a big hit at OFCC is for a few motivated individuals with some organizational skills and follow through (it's a fair amount of work!) to make it happen.  Decide on a balancing system (e.g. Scrollbuilder or Ordo Comp or whatever), figure out a "points size", build a simple but effective errata set to fix the main issues.  Document this all neatly, get it approved by the Ordo Senate, and publish it to Ordo as quickly as possible, so that people who want to participate have plenty of time.

 

Nathanvoodoo, I'd say if you have the motivation, recruit a few people to help, and make it happen for OFCC 2016!  I know if there were an AoS event that didn't conflict with Malifaux, I'd be very tempted to get going on converting an army to AoS!

 

Build it and they will come!!

[Threejacks]

FWIW I think all it takes to make AoS into a big hit at OFCC is for a few motivated individuals with some organizational skills and follow through (it's a fair amount of work!) to make it happen.  Decide on a balancing system (e.g. Scrollbuilder or Ordo Comp or whatever), figure out a "points size", build a simple but effective errata set to fix the main issues.  Document this all neatly, get it approved by the Ordo Senate, and publish it to Ordo as quickly as possible, so that people who want to participate have plenty of time.

 

Nathanvoodoo, I'd say if you have the motivation, recruit a few people to help, and make it happen for OFCC 2016!  I know if there were an AoS event that didn't conflict with Malifaux, I'd be very tempted to get going on converting an army to AoS!

 

Build it and they will come!!

This is pretty much what we are doing now with the League sessions and various other meetups around the area:)

For now its mainly trying out the scenarios that Sylvos has made up along with his comp system,which is very mild and fits well with the original intent of AoS.Though I should point out from the following of the game on various forums,that its really more about how scenarios are layed out than it is any sort of comp system as to how balanced the game is.Comp is mainly for TO`s to put out there so they don't have to deal with the "20 Bloodthirster" guy.

 

Not having a set points/comp system is likely stunting the growth of AoS currently,,certainly not a good thing.But once people start getting some games in and seeing that really its not the kind of game were you will build and army list to take all comers at an event,but more a game were you will build an army "Scroll compendium" of units based on the slated scenarios you will face at an event.The choose from your compendium the units you will play for each scenario.Its going to take a fair bit of time for some standard comp systems and event scenario sets to rise to the top of the stack in order for the game to really start to take hold.Of course the more players we have playing and testing out comp and scenarios that faster that happens:)