My first AoS game

So after a break of 17 years my Wood Elves have marched again into my first game of Age of Sigmar (AoS). I can keep my comment on the new system short by just saying we had a blast. The simplification of the rules makes the game much more fluid and thus entertaining and you quickly start to memorize the most frequent stats.

We had one tweak to the rules, though: every side of the battle had the same amount of wounds. Other than that we played the game "as is". The game was balanced and although one side got tabled, the other was lucky to win.

This game features me (Wood Elves) and LoOn (Vampires) vs. Gabe (Beastmen), Dragonking (Skaven), and Goldark (Orks). The teams were decided by dice rolls.

This was how we set up (in the interlocking corners design). My Wood Elves are right in front of the camera, LoOn's Vampires are to their right and to the center left (to the left of the large tree).

My Waywatchers quickly moved into the Wood in front of them...

...all giddy for the Water Trolls and Wild Orkz in front of them.

The vampiric Varghs charged the the approaching horde first and tied them down...

...but since this is AoS where you can fire into close combat, the Varghs still got fire support from the Waywatchers.

In the meantime, the large block of archers took aim at the approaching block of Beastmen whose numbers started to dwindle quickly...

...also because the second block of Beastmen was simultaneously charged by the Undead.

Behind the temple's columns, the Wood Elves' wolves also tied down the Orkz' boar cavalry. The biggest threat, though, was the unit of Jezzails (in the upper right corner from the temple) who basically killed at will.

After the 2nd large volley of fire it was time for the Wardancers to enter the fray and block the enemy from crashing into the archers.

The Wardancers successfully engaged the remaining Beastmen...

...but the Skaven Slaves passed them and crashed into the archers' lines.

Also, the Beastmens' general proved to be quite persistent...

...so the Wardancers went from 8 to 3 men before they could kill him. (and it didn't help that he continued to call them "Ladies")

On the right flank, the Varghs were lost in the close combat with the Orkz, but thanks to their sacrifice the Waywatchers were able to clean the table. However, after that the Jezzails moved into position to fire at them which proved to be the Waywatchers' doom despite their cover in the woods. I am not familiar with that weapon, but the Jezzail's destructive power seems bigger than any other ranged weapon the Wood Elves have.

Up center the archers were able to finish off the Skaven Slaves despite numerous losses, but now the remaining Boar Cavalry charged in plus the Orkz' still standing general with his big axe.

A Skaven Warpsmith also engaged my general, my Standard Bearer plus the resummoned Wolves came to her help. However, even with combined efforts the Warpsmith proved to be a tough enemy before he got eventually removed.

Overview of the center where I wasn't sure if I can hold it...

... until the Undead Legion (still on the left flank) successfully resummoned the Varghs...

...and sent them to my help. This was it for the Orkz who had only their catapult left which was busy with the delivering of Gork's (or was it Mork's?) punishment at very random directions.

Once the center was clear, the Undead and Wood Elf Allies moved into the ruins of the temple to lock down that bothersome Jezzail that was responsible for so many deaths.

The wolves charged the remaining Warpsmith, the Varghs the Jezzail while the remaining archers' delivered still generous fire support due to me rolling above average.

Once the Jezzail was gone, we ended the game, but we just placed the Varghs around the Orkz' catapult for a final picture.

So in the end, the Alliance between Beastmen, Skaven, and Orkz got tabled because Vampires and Wood Elves could play their best game of marching and firing and roadblocks. Nevertheless, Vampires and Wood Elves were lucky: if for some reason the resummoning of the Varghs (and/or Wolves) had failed, the Wood Elves' archery would have been of very little use in the final rounds of the game.

I'd like to finish this battle report with a brilliant quote by Goldark who remarked on why this game is so much fun:

"In the end, it's just the final percentages that count before the roll of the dice and not how many tables you had to go through to get there."

Amen.