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Author Topic: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!  (Read 7896 times)

Offline Dosiere

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Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« on: July 27, 2015, 04:40:08 AM »
For those playing age of sigmar I've got a few house rules that have worked out and I'm interested in hearing about any others.  My club and myself have been playing AoS a bit and we found that the game just doesn't work.   ::heretic::  However, through a series of house rules the game has been strengthened greatly, at least for me.

1) measure from the bases.  No base humping.  It makes it flow better, and saves a lot of time and shenanigans in the combat phase.  Anything on a 25mm base or smaller is going to be fighting in two ranks so you don't have to check every damn model like you do normally.  Again, no base humping either way, it's not cool.

2) shooting into or out of combat incurs a -1 penalty to hit.  These are cumulative.  Shooting isn't as OP as I originally thought but shooting into other combats can be... Frustrating.  This encourages a new layer of tactics where you can mostly lock down a shooting unit in combat to lessen its threat to your units. 

3) summoned units cannot perform any actions in the hero phase of the turn they are summoned. The purpose here is to prevent a summoned unit from summoning another unit and so on.  Like shooting, summoning isn't as OP as I thought assuming you are playing to a reasonable turn or time limit.  Since they count as casualties if killed but don't count as part of your starting army, it's easy to pull off a minor victory against someone summoning lots of stuff.

4) Nagash is broken, filthy broken.  If you want to retain some kind of balance in this game it's better not to use him.  At least, house rule out the book that gives him all the extra spells per turn, 3 is more than enough.

5) been making lists using azyr comp system.  Not perfect but the club has been using it.  The games are much more engaging when you feel like there is some parity.  For sudden death try this: each player can write down if they want to play with less points in the hope of achieving a sudden death victory.  Both players write it down and reveal it at the same time.  If both players chose to play at a lower point value then use the original.  Otherwise the player using less points can use the sudden death mechanic.  The ratio is 50%. So if you're playing a 15 point game you can opt to use only 10 points of your army. 

6) did I mention no base humping? Seriously, just don't do it even if it means losing attacks. 

So, I'd honestly rather be playing WfB but have been playing AoS since there is a group trying real hard to make it work.  These rules have made the game much more enjoyable for myself.  I encourage you to try them if they interest you and I'd love to hear what you guys have been doing if you're playing AoS.

Offline Oxycutor

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Re: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« Reply #1 on: July 27, 2015, 11:14:32 AM »
I think the only house rule we're using is that the base is part of the model.   Since when you pick the model up, the base comes with it.  It physically is glued to the model most of the time.   So if the base is part of the model, that solves a lot of the issues with base overlapping in the first place

Offline Demonslayer

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Re: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« Reply #2 on: July 27, 2015, 11:22:59 AM »
1) Thou shalt not field the same named character twice  :icon_rolleyes:.

We haven't actually played any AoS games yet, so threads like these are quite helpful! Measuring from the model's center seemed like a bad idea anyway, good to have that sentiment confirmed!
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Offline Alexis

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Re: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« Reply #3 on: July 27, 2015, 11:49:01 AM »
1) Base to base

2) No pre-measuring (I have found this to be a good addition, given the vulnerability of characters being single models)
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Offline Warlord

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Re: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« Reply #4 on: July 27, 2015, 12:13:01 PM »
1) Thou shalt not field the same named character twice  :icon_rolleyes:.

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Offline The Peacemaker

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Re: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« Reply #5 on: July 27, 2015, 01:00:05 PM »
Personally I'm against a house rule for bases as the rules specifically state to measure from the model. So my AoS models don't even have bases!
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Offline Darknight

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Re: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« Reply #6 on: July 27, 2015, 03:11:50 PM »
If the model has a base, you can measure base-to-base and the distance counts as 1" more (so, two models in base-to-base contact are 1" apart).
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Offline SoonerSox

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Re: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« Reply #7 on: July 27, 2015, 10:15:08 PM »
One of my requests of opponents is that they use war scrolls from only one faction. Had a guy playing ogres and skaven (his reasoning was that rat ogres were their offspring LOL) as if one of those wasn't already OP enough.

Offline Dosiere

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Re: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« Reply #8 on: July 28, 2015, 01:35:24 AM »
Interesting I haven't seen anyone try to use different factions in the same army yet.  At least by that I mean they have taken only things from order, chaos, etc...

Offline Darknight

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Re: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« Reply #9 on: July 31, 2015, 11:26:33 PM »
I am going to do that - I want to field monsters as "bound things". And some guys on the FB group I am part of did that - one chap fielded a Hellpit A-bomb alongside his Dwarfs with a "rune of obedience" carved into it.
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Offline Krokz

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Re: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« Reply #10 on: August 01, 2015, 11:43:17 AM »
Quote
Army restrictions
Maximum 15 Warsrcolls.
Maximum Warscroll size is based upon regimental bonus as follows:
If a unit of one wound models has a Regimental bonus, they can have up to 10 wounds over their maximum number for Regimental bonus (ie: orc archers can be 30, goblins can be 40). If a unit has no regimental bonus or has more than one wound / model the maximum wounds for the unit is 25.

Battalions are allowed but must be Deployed in their full force to have their Special rules.
Scenery for deployment (like Sylvaneth Wyldwood) count as a Warscroll.

Add ons to units count as part of the Warscrolls and do not take up an additional Warscroll from the maximum allowed. This includes the following Warscrolls: warmachine crew, engineers, orc bully, skaven weapon teams, night goblin fanatic - 1 per parent unit.
Maximum of one named special character. The following are banned: Nagash, The Glottkin, Lord Kroak.
 
Faction Army restriction:
0-2 for Warscrolls with Regimental bonus
0-1 all other Warscrolls (except if part of Battalion)
Cannot do objectives
 
Single race/Compendium Army restriction:
0-3 for Warscrolls with Regimental bonus
0-2 all other Warscrolls (except if part of Battalion)
                 
Deployment restrictions:
You must Deploy at least 50 wounds, but not more than 150.
At any time during the game (including deployment) you can not have on the table:
more than 40 wounds in keyword Heroes
more than 4 Warscrolls with Wizard keyword
more than 4 Warscrolls with Warmachine keyword
more than 4 Warscrolls with Monster keyword
 
You can only summon units that you have in your Army (in Reserve, as in not Deployed, or have died in course of the battle).

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Re: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« Reply #11 on: August 04, 2015, 03:40:02 PM »
The first house rule that my local store implemented was "You always fail on a roll of a one".

I have to admit, that might have come into place because of my automatically hitting handgunners...

Offline Darknight

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Re: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« Reply #12 on: August 04, 2015, 03:57:11 PM »
I think that houserule - while seeming good on the face of it - changes the whole dynamic of the game. The ability to stack to the point where you CANNOT fail is a key part of the synergies of the game. It also challenges the central mechanic - that modifiers are applied to the roll, not the target.

Bear in mind there are rules which say "on a roll of 7 or more..." on a d6. That shows modifiers are applied to the roll. The roll is not (for example) a 6 plus 1, the roll is 7. As in, actually 7. You rolled a 7.

So, if you want to say "you fail on a 1" I would respond "Ok - I didn't roll a 1, I rolled a 3; I have +2 to my roll."
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Offline Oxycutor

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Re: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« Reply #13 on: August 04, 2015, 04:58:05 PM »
I've already said we ignore the "base is not considered part of the model" and actually do count it as part of the model.  It just makes it so much easier, and stop stupid things like people putting their models on top of mine. 

But the main house rule is RTFR.  i.e Read the rules.  In the games I've seen people are not piling in properly, moving and shooting through other models.   Don't assume anything works as it did for WFB or 40k, and they're not checking if a rule affects a characteristic or dice roll.

Offline StealthKnightSteg

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Re: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« Reply #14 on: August 05, 2015, 04:08:15 PM »
My own house rule: icorporats a piece of the TLoS rules of 8th. Any part of the model not being part of it's body don't count for range measurements (and seeing stuff). So no weapons, banners, tails etc..
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Offline Oxycutor

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Re: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« Reply #15 on: August 05, 2015, 04:12:27 PM »
I would include banners as things you can see.  It's what the purpose of a banner is for, so that you can see where your and other friendly units are on the battlefield.   That would mean it would be obvious that where there is an enemy standard, so is the enemy

Offline StealthKnightSteg

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Re: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« Reply #16 on: August 05, 2015, 05:23:40 PM »
still whacking a banner because you can reach it with your melee weapon or someone's body, what would do more damage to that person? Or using the tip of your spear to reach a target 2" away while the model is already stretching? Or measuring from the body so the 2" long spear can hit something?
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Offline Oxycutor

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Re: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« Reply #17 on: August 05, 2015, 08:58:54 PM »
Ah, I thought you were talking about shooting LOS rather than close combat.  And more so that it makes a unit visible.  Misunderstood what you were trying to say. 

Although it doesn't make sense all the time, it makes the rule simple.

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Offline Dosiere

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Re: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« Reply #18 on: August 06, 2015, 11:25:42 PM »
I haven't really had a problem with TLoS, I guess between 8th Ed and 40k I'm just used to it.  The real problem with it is terrain.  If you have terrain that allows you at need to limit LoS it works much better.  In Some ways AoS actually lets you have real terrain, of the kind you could never use in WFB. 

Remember those awesome LotR boards GW made when that game first came out?  I drooled over those pictures.  I think if you played on something like that a skirmish game with TLoS would make more sense.

Offline Darknight

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Re: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« Reply #19 on: August 07, 2015, 01:50:38 PM »
A simple suggestion, taken from the old Epic game...

When rolling for initiative at the beginning of each battle round, do not re-roll ties except during the first turn. Instead, in the case of a draw the player who had the initiative last round loses it this round.
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Offline Alexis

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Re: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« Reply #20 on: August 07, 2015, 03:02:48 PM »
Does anyone house rule cover saves, i.e being behind and not on a wall?
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Offline Dosiere

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Re: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« Reply #21 on: August 07, 2015, 03:08:50 PM »
A simple suggestion, taken from the old Epic game...

When rolling for initiative at the beginning of each battle round, do not re-roll ties except during the first turn. Instead, in the case of a draw the player who had the initiative last round loses it this round.

I like that, LotR had a similar mechanic iirc. 

Offline Dosiere

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Re: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« Reply #22 on: August 07, 2015, 03:15:21 PM »
Does anyone house rule cover saves, i.e being behind and not on a wall?

Well, if you look at the specific terrain warscrolls they do include more detailed cover rules.  If you aren't using those warscrolls though I do think you should probably house rule them.  Otherwise you will get silly situations like a unit on top of a wall gets a cover save but not if theyre behind it. 

Offline StealthKnightSteg

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Re: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« Reply #23 on: August 07, 2015, 03:19:15 PM »
A simple suggestion, taken from the old Epic game...

When rolling for initiative at the beginning of each battle round, do not re-roll ties except during the first turn. Instead, in the case of a draw the player who had the initiative last round loses it this round.

Can't roll first round as the one first finished with setup decides who goes first.
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Offline Darknight

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Re: Age of Sigmar house rules, let's here em!
« Reply #24 on: August 07, 2015, 03:33:40 PM »
Oh, okay then - I missed that.

Well, I would simply say don't re-roll ties for initiative; instead in the case of ties the one who had initiative last time loses it.
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