Will we use the battle in realms??

[mmimzie]

As the battle in realm mechanic seems to be quite options. Do you guys think we will use it in the long run?

 

In the past gw has released lots of cool mechanics similar to setting your battle in a realm. However, often times these mechanics tend to be ignored completely.  Do we think casual pick up games, competive games, or tournament games will take advantage of the realms thing??? Or do you predict it will be messed with and then ignored??

[Arkiham]

tournament wise i think not its too swingy, but id like to be wrong 

[amysrevenge]

I think yes.  To not use them is a huuuuuge unintended disadvantage to factions without battletomes.

[PJetski]

I plan on using it in matched play, seems like it will add a lot of new variables for both casual and tournament play.

[Sleboda]

I'll use them in my house, for sure. 

[Jamopower]

I'll use the Life realm rules with my themed board for sure, but don't believe they'll be a standard part of every tournament pack.

[hughwyeth]

51 minutes ago, Arkiham said:

tournament wise i think not its too swingy, but id like to be wrong 

I think this will be interesting. Right now there's not a huge divide in how the mechanics of the game work for competitive vs casual- perhaps you'd use different scenarios and the list building limits aren't there, but otherwise you're playing the same spells and abilities and terrain rules. But with these additional rules, the divide could become quite big- casual games that tend to use all the extra rules in AoS 2 and tournament games basically sticking to AoS 1 with the few core rules changes. 

[Skabnoze]

I'll use them in just about all of my games unless an opponent is really dead-set against them (but I usually don't play against anyone like that).  But after reading the article I think a lot of tournaments are going to leave these rules at the door - and that is a shame.  From the teaser it sounds like GW did not really work these rules into the game structure any more than they currently are and so I feel that many people will ignore them.

I have a feeling that even with these rules being in the main core rulebook, and so easily available to everyone, that they won't be used at big events.  There seems to be a very big push to standardize, simplify, and remove some of these extraneous rules from top-level events.  The events that did use something out of the norm in some cases seems to have had reduced attendance and those rules cited by some people as the reason for not attending.  I personally think this is a shame for a couple of reasons. 

First, while Age of Sigmar can be played competitively it is obviously not developed with that as a primary intention.  The majority of rules added to the game since it was released (across all of the supplements) are rules intended to add world-building flavor and exciting events into the games.  At it's heart, Age of Sigmar is trying to be something fantastical and exciting.

Secondly, I think some random elements are good tests for a general.  One of the key aspects of generalship and command is the ability to tactically respond to the unknowns of the battlefield - and that is not just the enemy.  To me, if you want a contest to see who is best in this regard then the ability to take advantage of good situational abilities and play around disadvantageous ones is a big part of that.  In this regard I view the realm rules (although I don't know much more than the small teaser so far) as being like mystical terrain.  Taking advantage of mystical terrain and mitigating the negatives is most certainly a skill and the realm rules seem pretty similar.

The tournaments that do end up using Realm rules I think will choose a specific realm for each round and most likely publish that ahead of time in the event packet. 

[mmimzie]

They could word the rules in such a way that you could easily put them in any game. For instance the core rules have a rule thst you and your opponent can roll off for what realm the battle is in. And  folks thst bring the Griffin battle mage usually do so they can get +1 to cast. 

 

They could stick the rules in a way where unless it is strictly faq'd by the event than any player could choose to invoke the rules. 

 

I would personally like to see them in all my games including tournaments, but I can live with out them. 

[Ollie Grimwood]

I think people may treat them a bit like the scenery rules and use them as and when they see fit. I’ve used scenery rules for some games and not others in the same tournament I can really see this being the same. 

[syph0n]

I'd hoped that you could simply pick which realm your army was from (or not at all, if you wish) a bit like you can choose a temple or enclave with the recent Aelven releases. 

From the community article, I've read it as it's the realm the battle happens in. Not sure without seeing this in action. 

[amysrevenge]

1 minute ago, syph0n said:

I'd hoped that you could simply pick which realm your army was from (or not at all, if you wish) a bit like you can choose a temple or enclave with the recent Aelven releases. 

From the community article, I've read it as it's the realm the battle happens in. Not sure without seeing this in action. 

Definitely sounds like some of both.  You pick what realm you're from, and bring your artefacts with you wherever you go.  When you have a game, you pick a realm and spell(s) and command ability at that time.

[Marc Wilson]

I’ll be making every effort to make my tournaments utilise everything in matched play - just like now. Is ‘swingy’ (still a supposition) bad? I don’t think so - unless you have a paint by numbers strategy and list which could be derailed.  If it is derailed, well, that’s a good thing. Anything that consolidates AoS as an immersive two player game, and less of ‘you wait their for an hour whilst I do my stuff’ is better.

I’m hoping people have to compromise and legislate all over the place!

[kuroyume]

I probably won't. Based on trying to play with Malign Portents, they'll add a non-trivial amount of time to set-up and a lot of looking at books during the game.

[syph0n]

42 minutes ago, amysrevenge said:

Definitely sounds like some of both.  You pick what realm you're from, and bring your artefacts with you wherever you go.  When you have a game, you pick a realm and spell(s) and command ability at that time.

If that's the case, YEAH for Ulgu Aelves. 

[treeclimber]

I will definitly use them! I have never used the current ones because I only realized they existed when reading some replies in the AOS v2 thread. Hopefully they are more front and center this time around so others don't miss them.

[PJetski]

What good is another point of Rend for >12" shooting attacks if your army gets charged on the first turn? What good is more Rend when you face Nighthaunt, or Seraphon, or Pestilens?

There are command abilities, 6 spells, and realmscape features for each realm - to say that a realm will only effect one type of army when we have seen all of 1 ability from that realm is foolish. 

The realm bonuses aren't meant to be balanced across every army. Taking advantage of the bonuses available to you, especially when those are determined on the fly, is a true marker of a generals skill. 

[Marc Wilson]

People will tire of putting all their eggs in one basket and hoping for a 1/6 chance of maxing out. ‘All this’ or ‘All that’ armies will soon come a cropper I think.

[Jamopower]

The problem just is that you can't make ashooting death army etc. So there is often a situation where one sides gets unfair edge just because of adice roll happened to put him to a wrong place. I understand that some people take it as a challenge (me included), but imagine losing a GT final just because you happened to roll a realm that strongly favours the opponent. 

[Skabnoze]

8 minutes ago, Jamopower said:

Does it matter if only one side gets any benefit from them, as in the examples, above? 

Despite there being point costs in this game wargames like this are effectively asymmetrical games by design.  When you have a game involving completely different forces and rule-sets the idea of perfect balance is a pipe-dream.  Someone is almost always at a disadvantage of some sort from the start of the game.  There are various attempts to mitigate this, but it is always going to be the case.  So one side having a benefit over the other is already a thing due to the nature of this type of game and all that remains is the degree of this effect.

[Skabnoze]

3 minutes ago, Jamopower said:

The problem just is that you can't make ashooting death army etc. So there is often a situation where one sides gets unfair edge just because of adice roll happened to put him to a wrong place. I understand that some people take it as a challenge (me included), but imagine losing a GT final just because you happened to roll a realm that strongly favours the opponent. 

As long as nobody was blatantly cheating, the rules worked in a way that the designers approve of, and all of the participants involved had fun - who cares what the result of a GT was?

[Jamopower]

1 minute ago, Skabnoze said:

Despite there being point costs in this game wargames like this are effectively asymmetrical games by design.  When you have a game involving completely different forces and rule-sets the idea of perfect balance is a pipe-dream.  Someone is almost always at a disadvantage of some sort from the start of the game.  There are various attempts to mitigate this, but it is always going to be the case.  So one side having a benefit over the other is already a thing due to the nature of this type of game and all that remains is the degree of this effect.

Yeah I agree, but I have understood that the whole point of tournament gaming is that the sides should be as even as possible from the beginning of the game. Thus adding a random element that tips the balance either way is perhaps something bg that is not so welcome in a tournament environment. 

[Jamopower]

2 minutes ago, Skabnoze said:

As long as nobody was blatantly cheating, the rules worked in a way that the designers approve of, and all of the participants involved had fun - who cares what the result of a GT was?

I would say that a lot of people care, even if you don't

[Skabnoze]

42 minutes ago, MrZakalwe said:

True but How much use do you imagine Ironjawz will make of the flaming projectiles (and all the rend it adds to ranged attacks) compared to a wanderers list, for example?

 

Fiery arrows just makes them prettier and easier to see coming and dodge.

Wanderers will get little use of those because they will all be dead - crushed under the avalanche of the forces of the Fist of Gork! 

WAAAAAGH!!!

[Jamopower]

It's also good to remember in this context that recently there was 70 out of 170 drop outs for Scgt, and from reading the posts on this forum, the reason for many was that the malign portents scenarios and rules were included for some rounds. However absurd it sounds, you can draw some conclusions from it regarding the realm rules in that kind of environment.