Playing Age of Fantasy

The last few days have been a bit of a flurry of assembling Undead and Ork models. The number of Undead I have is staggering and I still have some models to assemble. The Ork army is a slower build as many of the models are the older Mantic PVC 'plastic' and they come with mould lines that you could shave with. I am currently assembling a few more Ork chariots as well as a character model mounted on a chariot. After that I will assemble the giant and also try to get some archers to help fill out a force. 

As I am building models I have been taking some time to test out the Age of Fantasy rules from One Page Rules. Age of Fantasy is a simplified fantasy ruleset in the same mould as Age of Sigmar. There are no ranks, the rules are a bit simplified and it has the same feel. It is a quick game, most games only last four turns, and there are a lot of optional rules you can add on to customise the game to your liking. 

I built a small Halfling force as well as an Undead force to use while I familiarise myself with the system. The core mechanics of the game really haven't changed a lot since I first experienced the rules. Aside from the morale system I actually didn't have to learn a lot of new rules. What has changed dramatically since I first experienced the OPR rules (other than them now being more than a single page) is the ecosystem that underpins the OPR rule systems. 

Aside from the online army builder, that powers the links I posted above, there are also dynamically generated army lists for eight different rulesets. And if you are a Patreon subscriber you can also get access to a unit builder with which you can create your own units or army lists. You can build your own units and then add those units to an existing army list to let your create custom units. It is really an amazing set of tools.

The basic rules for the various OPR games are free and if you are a Patreon subscriber you get access to the 'Advanced' rulebooks. These are also available for sale from the Wargame Vault website. I don't have a 3D printer so I source my rulebooks from Wargame Vault. If I did have a resin 3D printer I would most likely subscribe via Patreon since that option gets you STL files on a monthly basis. 

Back to the game

The Halfling force I am using is technically illegal since I had to base it on a 1500 point army to be able to add enough units to get it to 1000 points. The OPR Halfling force is largely based in the Mantic Halfling range and so it has entries for Zeppelins, Troll Riders and an Iron Beast. None of which I have :-( It is probably also why the army list has options for Beast Riders on dogs. Once the Canada Post strike is over, and Christmas has passed, I will look into how to order some Mantic Halflings (as well as some more Orks). Until then I have to fudge the army list to make it to 1000 points. 

The Undead force was a lot simpler to build. I played a few games yesterday using [a different version of the Undead list and it was useful but it did have a habit of crumbling apart when hit with the Halfling artillery. I have high hopes for the new Undead list. 

Hitting things

Units in Age of Fantasy have two stats: Quality and Defence. Defence is the armour rating of the unit and Quality is everything else. If you have played Songs of Blade and Heroes then you are familiar with the concept. Most units in the game have a quality rating of 4 - 5+ with green, or very bad, troops having a 6+. Elite troops are usually a 3+. In Age of Fantasy a roll of a 1 is always a failure and a 6 is always a success. This means that no matter how good or bad your units are there is always the possibility of failure or success and no matter how sharp your enemies weapons are you can always roll an armour save. Weapons are rated for the number of attack dice they generate so, in Warhammer fashion, you will be rolling a lot of dice when you attack.

There aren't a lot of units in the game that have a high Defence or Quality so you don't run into situations where there are unkillable units or models. It is similar to the latest version of Age of Sigmar but instead of a lot of 3+ rolls you have 4+ rolls. Despite modifiers (of which they are very few),  units always have a chance to hit, or save, so even the weakest units can put damage onto elite units or models. Something that isn't the case in every game. 

Fatigue

One interesting addition to the rules is the concept of Fatigue. Once a unit fights a combat it is Fatigued and in any subsequent combat that turn will only hit on a 6+ in melee. So even an elite unit with a Quality of 3+ will only get a single round of combat at that value. If it is attacked again in the turn it won't be as effective. Swarming an elite unit with smaller, weaker units is a more effective strategy in Age of Fantasy than it is in games like Warhammer. 

Playing the game not the army

My first few games didn't go the way I expected to as I was playing the army and not the game. What I mean by this is expecting an army to match a trope and not to match the stats and abilities in the game. The Mummified Undead list plays quite differently than a Warhammer Khemri army does/did (I played a lot of Warhammer with a Khermi force). Once you get over that mental block and play the force based on the stats it goes a bit better. I tend to have this issue almost every time I start a new game and the fact that the Undead force I have matches my old Khemri force doesn't help.

Fatigue makes Age of Fantasy a significantly different game than Age of Sigmar. Units have one full-powered punch each turn and after that they can be attacked by less effective units with less risk. This means that you often want to save your heavy hitter units for later in the turn to make sure that they don't get pounced by tarpit units and whittled away. It also requires you to position your forces in a way that I haven't necessarily had to in Age of Sigmar. You want to save yourself from a charge from a better unit or a large unit but you don't need to protect your flanks from attacks from chaff like you do in Age of Fantasy. 

Morale

The one issue that I am still trying to wrap my head around is the morale system in Age of Fantasy. There are two times that a unit will take a morale test - if it loses combat or, at the end of an activation, if it takes wounds from an attack and it is below half-strength. Melee combat results in the losing side taking a morale check and potentially being removed from the table if it is below half-strength. Any other damage (from a spell, shooting or other ability) can put a unit in a Shaken state. 

I am still not sure what I think of the system but I am going to reserve judgement until I have played more games and tried out a few different armies and army lists. 

Having fun

I think that the main thing that Age of Fantasy gives you is a quick and fun way to put out a large fantasy army and try to smash your friend's minis. The basic rules are quite fun and the Advanced rules add an immense amount of scenarios, magic items, game options and scenario options. It uses alternating activation (which is the hallmark of a fun game) and it doesn't bog you down with a lot of unnecessary rules. 

Since it is, mostly, miniature agnostic you can use any minis you want and it is a perfect use for any Kings of War or old Warhammer armies you have. The GFN Gaming page on Youtube has a number of Age of Fantasy videos using some of the oldest GW Warhammer minis you have seen. It isn't as flexible as Sage: Age of Magic in terms of being able to use other game system's figures but you can find a pretty good match for any Age of Fantasy unit from the available online miniature sellers and 3D designers.

Probably the most telling part of the game's 'fun factor' is how quickly I started building forces, deploying and moving in order to play well within the rules. It took me a long time to start thinking tactically in Warhammer and I still can't fully wrap my head around Age of Sigmar after all of these editions. Age of Fantasy only has a few rules that require you to change your tactical thinking so it is much easier to start thinking tactically and planning out your game. And that is always the route to having fun in a game. Felling as if you understand the rules well enough to make smart choices as you play.