Like the World-that-was better? Why not play in it

[Oppenheimer]

I really like the lore from the world of Warhammer fantasy and have struggled to get into the lore of AoS. But, one thing that GW has always said since AoS started is that narrative play can be used to recreate battles of the past. So, I like to play games set in the Old World using AoS rules and minis. Anyone else do this?

For example, using Heinrich to invade Bretonnia or having Vlad and Isabella conquering the Empire. I have Orion and the other wood elves attacking beastmen. 

The only drawbacks are that sometimes I want to use the new models too and also am sometimes unsure of which versions of the rules to use. For example, in one battle we wanted to play with Alarielle the radiant but wanted to use the stats and figure of the new Alarielle mini also since we wanted to use all the highborn stuff using the new factions is difficult as there's no synergy left. So, we decided to use the old High Elves pdf and make some tweaks. We took the Alarielle the Everqueen rules and mashed them up with the Alarielle the radiant rules. Doesn't stop us from using allegiance abilities or anything else. I attached the pdf of my Alarielle mash up.

Does anyone else recreate battles of the past and play their games in the old world? Any other suggestions to keep the old world battles and original pdfs in line with the current range and rules?

 

alarielle-the-radiant.pdf

[Ollie Grimwood]

Good idea, I always thought the compendiums are better suited for doing this rather than playing in an AoS setting.

May I suggest the Great Orcish Philosopher Morglum Necksnapper for some rules ?


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[obaobaboss]

My battles are also happening in the old world. Even more, I put the new AoS Miniatures on square bases ?

I do not play with named characters, so I have no problems with their new rules. 

[Oppenheimer]

25 minutes ago, obaobaboss said:

My battles are also happening in the old world. Even more, I put the new AoS Miniatures on square bases ?

I do not play with named characters, so I have no problems with their new rules. 

What armies do you play with? If it's something like wanderers or chaos the synergies are still intact but if it's "highborn" or "exiles" the new rules can be problematic.

[VBS]

Like others, I really struggle with the AoS setting, story and imagery, finding the Old World's depth and familiarity much more appealing.

And although I didn't have the chance to try it out, this blending would definitely be the way to play AoS for me. I see AoS as a nice alternative if I wouldn't be able to play a full WFB game (or KoW) or for smaller games, as it has a more simple and relaxed approach.

One of the things I liked a few years back was mixing warhammer gaming systems throughout a campaign, I think the idea was mentionned in the General's Compendium. A first game of skirmish, then a small scale game (or warbands) and finally a large battle (could throw in Warmaster if I ever bothered). I could see AoS as a precursor for a WFB game or something similar for such a scalling campaign system. An idea that just flew through my mind   

I think adapting the games to the Old World would require minimal change. Main issue could be keywords. Change the appropriate warscrolls to the "parent race" as per the WFB army books/compendium (so like Kharadron Overlords are simply treated as Dispossessed, for example). Some warscrolls could require individual tweeking (as you did with Alarielle) but it ain't too bad as most of the AoS range is completely new and the old armies are definitely getting ignored.

[Oppenheimer]

I agree that keywords would be better used if they could have even more synergies. For example Human, Aelf, Duardian, etc currently don't actually do anything as keywords. It would be nice to have those ones also give access to some of the allegiance abilities and synergies of their sub factions or something along those lines.

[chord]

There is a user created battletome for the end times here  

 

[Oppenheimer]

Yeah I saw that which is very neat. Unfortunately as soon as I started reading it I got a bit of a sour taste in my mouth as they misspelled Bretonnia and the deployment rules for la Maisontaal don't seem like you could actually fit your army in the Bretonnian deployment zone.  :-/

Still, it's always nice to see stuff in the old world.

[awcamawn]

11 hours ago, Oppenheimer said:

What armies do you play with? If it's something like wanderers or chaos the synergies are still intact but if it's "highborn" or "exiles" the new rules can be problematic.

If you use the compendium warscrolls doesn't it fix this? For example, the command ability of a Dreadlord hero from the dark elf compendium affects "Exiles", as do the "Strength of Khaine" and "Orgy of Slaughter" abilities on the compendium version of the Cauldron of Blood's warscroll. And so on and so forth. While some abilities are specific to certain unit keywords, like Witch Elves or Black Ark Cosairs, many if not most abilities in both the dark and high elf compendiums seem to target the Highborn and Exiles keywords you mention. 

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Compendiums/warhammer-aos-dark-elves-en.pdf

 

As a newcomer researching the tabletop game after playing Total War it was bewildering to discover the setting that introduced me to Warhammer had been destroyed long before I had even set foot in it (it was a little heartbreaking even as a new fan to find out how they played out my beloved King and Queen of Athel Loren during the End Times novels, rest assured Orion will be exacting his revenge alternate-timeline style when Total Warhammer 2 releases). This left me in a weird position; I was very attached to the Wood Elves as an army and was going to play them on the tabletop no matter what, but I had not spent enough time with the Old World to get truly attached to it as a setting. The Total War mechanic of choosing Orion or Durthu as your lord and then being limited on recruiting either forest spirits or elves respectively prepared me for the formal split of Wanderers/Sylvaneth factions in AoS, so I was fine with making a pure Wanderer army as that was already what I was primarily accustomed to. And I do enjoy the open-ended nature of the AoS setting in that it gives you the freedom to tell whatever story you might imagine without being beholden to decades of built up history that can potentially hamstring your storytelling. Buuut there's always that happy medium between the complete blank slate that is AoS and the rich tapestry of lore and ideas for you to build upon in the Old World setting.

All that said I do really like the idea of setting games of Aos in the Old World, all those awesome old factions and characters are what ultimately brought me to the tabletop and there seem to be so many stories left to tell! Nice work on the custom Alarielle warscroll btw... 

[Oppenheimer]

The pdfs mostly work but some stuff can be missed like you mentioned orgy of slaughter. That is only if Helebron (ie two sword death hag) is on the cauldron in the PDF version whereas all cauldrons get that command ability regardless of who is on the back (ie witch brew hag rather than sword version) in the latter warscrolls. But the differences are pretty minor on the whole for the aelfs.

The old Stragoi Ghoul Kings and their faction are really different I'm their old versions. So using the Vampire Counts pdf gets dicey. At least three synergies aren't broken since Death mostly still works with all other Death.

[obaobaboss]

On 18.8.2017 at 4:55 PM, Oppenheimer said:

What armies do you play with? If it's something like wanderers or chaos the synergies are still intact but if it's "highborn" or "exiles" the new rules can be problematic.

Empire and Greenskins. To be honest we do most of our houserules on the fly (we are more the beer&brezel-gamers).

[Greyshadow]

I have been doing a bit of research lately to try to properly understand the background of the Age of Sigmar. (The best thing I did was read City of Secrets from the Black Library). I have come to the conclusion that the best place to be for Warhammer gaming is the Mortal Realms.

Alarielle in Age of Sigmar is the very same Alarielle from the Old World. She survived the world's destruction by becoming a God and was bought to the Mortal Realms by Sigmar during the Age of Myth. The Aelves of the Mortal Realms have the same origins as the Wood Elves from the Old World too. Tragically, Alarielle has now turned away from the Aelves and now fights with the Sylvaneth. The Wanderer Aelves, who have lived for centuries in the forests of Azyr, are now returning to the ancestral kingdoms in the Realm of Life.

My point is that the Age of Sigmar is the continuing story of Warhammer. The same conflict between the forces of Order and Chaos has just moved to a new battleground. Don't get me wrong, I was ready to dig my heels in not eight months ago. I'd recommend giving the new setting another go though, I think you will find that what you love about the Old World is still there but with so much more. 

[Vogless]

I too miss the Old World.

City of Secrets was AWESOME!!! I was hoping from the start that the world would progress over time, bringing the game back to a new, fresh Old Worldy setting without the constant threat of the END being around the corner. I'd like to see the Stormcasts and Chaos back off a little and let the mortals get more limelight.

I was hoping for more books like City, but it's been a while now. 

 

[Greyshadow]

Josh Reynolds’ lamentations series starts next month. Looking forward to that book!

[SuperHappyTime]

I didn't like the AoS fluff originally, but it drove me to make my own fluff. That has changed with the story of Shadespire in the Skirmish book, as I have ideas that are my original ideas, but might fit into the actual AoS fluff.

If I want Old World fluff, I'll go play Total War.

[MacDuff]

There is also the opportunity to bring the Old World to the Mortal Realms. Given the infinite scope and with magic now set to 11, battles from the world that was could be fought again, and the named heroes and  villains 'resurrected' to fight again. Sigmar might do it to choose heroes not selected before. Nagash could be looking for worthy undead to fill his ranks. The Salaan could 'reimagine' lost times and bring Lizardmen back to life (if they won). The rebirth in AOS of long dead favorite minis already have 'stand in' rules, and this could let their storylines start up again. City of Secrets lays out a roadmap of how the realms will rebuild, much like before but with new fantastical additions.