I love the GHB2019 generators! What are your experiences with them?

[wayniac]

I just picked up GHB2019 yesterday and have been flipping through it.  Personally I think the army generator, terrain layout generator et all are probably one of the best things GW has added.  I am so tired of the same boring "Matched Play, Pitched Battle" and I really think the army generator alleviates a lot of the prior stigma of Open Play, that being there was zero guideline for how to pick something without lengthy discussion with your opponent (and we know how that usually goes over).  Of course it won't be quite as balanced as matched (not like matched points is really balanced though) and I do suppose it rewards people who have larger collections instead of your typical "I bought 2000 points of X only" but overall I think it's a great idea that adds a lot of possibilities for a more open-minded group who wants something different.  Has anyone given them a shot  yet and can offer their experiences? 

I also really really like the terrain layout generator (the piece of terrain generator not so much); I find it's often really hard to figure out where terrain pieces should go so being able to roll on that table and have a guideline for where pieces should be set up adds a lot.  This in particular I think has application outside of Open Play since even in Matched Play you need to set up terrain, and this provides a (relatively) impartial guide for where it should go.

I really think with this, plus the open war table/cards, Open Play just got a lot more interesting.  It's still not for everyone and I've already heard some dislike of the system since it's "random", but overall as a concept I could see this sort of thing being great for game night in a group/club that isn't dead set on matched play 24-7.  Between the army generator (and I suppose you could pick rather than roll if rolling is such a concern; it already mentions you can agree on the force points beforehand), the terrain generator (layout, at least), the hidden agendas and the open war battleplans, that sounds like a lot of fun to me.  Not to mention the application for narrative campaigns without just using your standard X points method.

What are your thoughts on them?

Edited July 29, 2019 by wayniac

[Skreech Verminking]

Well it sounds interesting, although I’m not really a fan of rolling and setting my table up for half an hour.

most of the time when me and my buddies meet, we usually just throw on the table, what ever looks cool and in such a way that both sides have its ups and downs.

I think the only thing I’m using is the table for rolling what kind of special terrain rules it has, with the exception of the woods, which always get played as a line of sight blocking terrain, just like in the rules.

Edited July 29, 2019 by Skreech Verminking

[Nacnudllah]

I played a battle recently using the Close Quarters battle generator (FEC vs. Freeguild), and it was a pretty good time.  My only complaint was that near the final turn I rolled a ton of reinforcements and didn't even want to get them out of the box because the battle was nearly over anyhow.  The battle was engaging, wacky, and fun.  We  had a hilarious narrative moment where my opponent's back was to the ropes (so to speak) and he rolled a 66 for his reinforcements.  He decided to bring on his Collegiate Arcane of 5 Wizards and the Wizard-wagon (whatever it's called), which was quite the spectacle and turned the battle on its head a bit.

I think the best thing about it was that you didn't really know what to expect, but with reinforcements coming in at the end of each turn you did actually have time to plan for how to deal with them.  It's not like they just showed up and charged before you could figure out what was going on.

[Azlak the Damned]

I've played a couple of games using these rules. Me and my mate decided to even make random tables for our collections and roll on those. So instead of always bringing on the best "Linebreaker" unit we had, we'd roll for a random one. Enjoyed all games we've had so far. Used a lot of models that I wouldn't normally stick in a game (I play Khorne). Only issue we've found is when getting towards the force points limit of you're both on 9, one of you could roll 1 point with of models and the other 6 points worth which can really make for an uphill battle for the underdog. 

That said, I prefer narrative play and the randomness of the open war generators is great. Much prefer this than matched play as I also like to tell my own story as I'm playing through games. 

Once we've got the Warcry buzz out of our system we plan to do a narrative campaign using the open war and narrative rules where my Khorne army attack a city stronghold Cities of Sigmar army). Plenty of scope for sieges, underground fighting, streets of war etc.

[PraetorDragoon]

I haven't used the open war generators yet, as I'm not fan of rolling. However, I am thinking of using them as replacement for points. I.E. using the 1-2-3 force point cards as example for army building at x force points. Any thoughts on this?

[Kamose]

I've played quite a few games using the new Open Play rules in the GHB 19 and I've enjoyed all of them immensely.

I love how you choose what specific units to bring on while also rolling randomly for the general type of unit. It's a very clever way of making you think creatively about what reinforcements to bring on but with randomly determined limitations. Also the fact that you can pay for substitutions means you never have to worry about rolling unit types you don't own or can't field. So I can roll a Horde unit but if I really need my Linebreakers I can just sub them in...or not! It all depends on how silly or serious I feel like playing today! In all it leads to all kinds of silliness and I love it! My only complaint is that deploying within 3" of the board edge means the reinforcements that arrive late in the game may not do much before the end.

All in all these new Open Play rules are a win in my book and I intend to play a lot more games with them! 😀