Does experince matter?
Posted: Sun May 15, 2016 7:22 pm
Does it really matter that a person has play 20 years of Warhammer in the Age of Sigmar? I have only playing for the past 8 months, but I have won the last 11 of the 12 matches that I have played. Now I will say that some of these matches have been very close and I barely skated by with the victory, but I do think that is a little odd that I am the one in our group with the least amount of experience but I am winning.
Now I have some thoughts on this and I would like to run them by you all to see what you think.
My theory is that what ever experience you had with WHFB means very little in the Age of Sigmar. That experience is simple a general knowledge of wargaming and doesn't give you the edge in AoS. My main reason for this that Age of Sigmar is a completely new game when compared to 8thE. While the models may carry the same the name they play in a very different way. The new skirmish style is also different making for more chaos on the battlefield, and the random intuitive each turn creates chaos its self as each player is fighting to the chance to strike twice. While there is some complaints about there being little balance in the game and of over powerment of models, I have come to think that all the models are in fact over powered to some degree.
I think back to a game that played against Ogres two weeks ago. I brought to the table 10 Drakespawn Knights, 20 darkshards, Dreadlord on Dragon, 10 bleak swords, 10 executioners, 5 dark riders, Drakespawn Chariot and a 2 sorceress.
He bought, 20 night goblins plus 3 fanatics, 5 ogres, 4 iron guts, 4 lead bluchers, Ogre Chief, Giant, 10 squid hoppers, 3 of some kind of wizard, and Giant squid.
Now this is a pretty scary looking force, and when look at mini of his models have multiple wounds the task to victory becomes daunting. Added in that he has "15 years of Warhammer experience" at the beginning of the battle I was a bit scared that I would lose. But then I remember that I don't have the baggage of Warhammer FB and the Rank and Flank style, that I have only played Age of Sigmar, and that unlike him, I have been a very active member on communities like d.net, youtube, and other forums of information and tactics. So when I won the first turn and choose to go second, it surprised him, and I let his army approach me. When my 20 darkshards unleashed 40 attacks on a giant and killed in turn one cause he placed in a bad position he called it OP. When my Drakespawn Chariot charged his goblins and I moved to the back of his ranks to get the most about models there he was confused until 3 of the models died cause I rolled sixes. He bemoaned me casting Mystic Shield on my Drakespawn creating an near impossible forces and then doublely pissed when I showed him the FAQ where it said I could even though he could have did the same, but never did even after I did. And in turn 2 when my 6 of my surviving executioners wiped out his general letting me win the game, he said that my force was OP and he hoped Dark Elves would get a nerf on app.
Now I won and my Dreadlord was only three wounds away from death, so I don't think that my force is OP. But I do think that I had the advantage over him the whole time, because he just believe that his "15 years or experience" was force multiplier in a game that he only play 4-5 times to my 10 at that point.
I think that in AoS your past experience doesn't really matter. He held back by well that is not how it the that's now how it used to be idea. Every time something happened in the game that didn't go his way or that he didn't understand a rule, cause he "knew" the rules, he would become upset. I saw this a little bit in D&D when the switch was made from 3e to 4e there was a crowd of 3 or 3.5e players that simply didn't want to give into the new rules and fought against them. They never really had fun at Dungeon Wednesdays, cause they couldn't accept a new way playing the charcter.
I feel that AoS has both raised and lowered the bar for wargamming. On one side it a great game that allows newbies (me) to play the game and to slowly build their to armies at a pace they want with out the rush (that's going to change ) of feeling like they need to be the competive field. But I think for people who look for the tatics and see the different strategies it has raised the bar to new level. In my group games have been extremely unpredictable and even in the SCGT the matches that I watched on youtube, you never quite knew what was going to happen.
So that is rant, Tell me what you all think, does experience in WHFB matter in AoS. FOr you new guys what has your experience been playing older hobbyers and for the old guard have you been surprised by a newbie snatching a victory from you?
Now I have some thoughts on this and I would like to run them by you all to see what you think.
My theory is that what ever experience you had with WHFB means very little in the Age of Sigmar. That experience is simple a general knowledge of wargaming and doesn't give you the edge in AoS. My main reason for this that Age of Sigmar is a completely new game when compared to 8thE. While the models may carry the same the name they play in a very different way. The new skirmish style is also different making for more chaos on the battlefield, and the random intuitive each turn creates chaos its self as each player is fighting to the chance to strike twice. While there is some complaints about there being little balance in the game and of over powerment of models, I have come to think that all the models are in fact over powered to some degree.
I think back to a game that played against Ogres two weeks ago. I brought to the table 10 Drakespawn Knights, 20 darkshards, Dreadlord on Dragon, 10 bleak swords, 10 executioners, 5 dark riders, Drakespawn Chariot and a 2 sorceress.
He bought, 20 night goblins plus 3 fanatics, 5 ogres, 4 iron guts, 4 lead bluchers, Ogre Chief, Giant, 10 squid hoppers, 3 of some kind of wizard, and Giant squid.
Now this is a pretty scary looking force, and when look at mini of his models have multiple wounds the task to victory becomes daunting. Added in that he has "15 years of Warhammer experience" at the beginning of the battle I was a bit scared that I would lose. But then I remember that I don't have the baggage of Warhammer FB and the Rank and Flank style, that I have only played Age of Sigmar, and that unlike him, I have been a very active member on communities like d.net, youtube, and other forums of information and tactics. So when I won the first turn and choose to go second, it surprised him, and I let his army approach me. When my 20 darkshards unleashed 40 attacks on a giant and killed in turn one cause he placed in a bad position he called it OP. When my Drakespawn Chariot charged his goblins and I moved to the back of his ranks to get the most about models there he was confused until 3 of the models died cause I rolled sixes. He bemoaned me casting Mystic Shield on my Drakespawn creating an near impossible forces and then doublely pissed when I showed him the FAQ where it said I could even though he could have did the same, but never did even after I did. And in turn 2 when my 6 of my surviving executioners wiped out his general letting me win the game, he said that my force was OP and he hoped Dark Elves would get a nerf on app.
Now I won and my Dreadlord was only three wounds away from death, so I don't think that my force is OP. But I do think that I had the advantage over him the whole time, because he just believe that his "15 years or experience" was force multiplier in a game that he only play 4-5 times to my 10 at that point.
I think that in AoS your past experience doesn't really matter. He held back by well that is not how it the that's now how it used to be idea. Every time something happened in the game that didn't go his way or that he didn't understand a rule, cause he "knew" the rules, he would become upset. I saw this a little bit in D&D when the switch was made from 3e to 4e there was a crowd of 3 or 3.5e players that simply didn't want to give into the new rules and fought against them. They never really had fun at Dungeon Wednesdays, cause they couldn't accept a new way playing the charcter.
I feel that AoS has both raised and lowered the bar for wargamming. On one side it a great game that allows newbies (me) to play the game and to slowly build their to armies at a pace they want with out the rush (that's going to change ) of feeling like they need to be the competive field. But I think for people who look for the tatics and see the different strategies it has raised the bar to new level. In my group games have been extremely unpredictable and even in the SCGT the matches that I watched on youtube, you never quite knew what was going to happen.
So that is rant, Tell me what you all think, does experience in WHFB matter in AoS. FOr you new guys what has your experience been playing older hobbyers and for the old guard have you been surprised by a newbie snatching a victory from you?