Topic: Counts as and you in Age of Sigmar.

[Alexis]

Well, now that your only limit is your imagination, is anyone taking counts as warscrolls and converting it to fit your army's theme?

I plan to use a large reaper bear model with tamer that I have as an ogre maneater. My friend, Vlad von Carstein, is going to make himself a dwarven steamtank (this actually autocorrected to Stormtank  ) because his army is going to be based on an engineers guild.

Thoughts?

[Darknight]

I am very much doing this. I am going to use some human infantry (probably Empire) to represent by Myrmidian Legionaires. I shall also be using Stormcasts to represent the Praetorians.

I have a Scorpion bolt thrower on order - and that will use some suitable rules (perhaps Dwarf or Elf 'thrower). And you suggested a pack of wolves, using the Chaos hounds rules!

I also want an A-Bomb .... counting as an A-bomb We found it and we have kept it in a cage and we throw it at the enemy, while cackling madly. It's not a subtle strategy . . . .

And I do want some kind of Steamtank - my army has a steampunk vibe, so I think that is very cool.

I think the "counts as" is a great idea - but I have something even MORE exciting!

It is "dukes as" (because Dukes outrank Counts and ... alright, I'll shut up).

What you do is take the unit in question (for example, Chaos Hounds) and then you reproduce the Warscroll changing the names of the attacks etc and giving it different (and more appropriate) keywords.

So, for example, for my army I would remove the "Chaos", "Chaos Warhouds" keywords. I would replace them with;

ORDER, MYRMIDIAN LEGION, ANIMAL

That is pretty obvious, but I could also take the Lord-Celestant rules to represent my Praetor. Now, she is a great warrior so perhaps the profile can remain unchanged - but the keywords would have to be totally changed (ORDER, MYRMIDIAN LEGION, HUMAN, HERO, PRAETOR).

This is a sort of half-way-house between inventing your own scrolls, and doing "counts as". You want to field the bear - cool! But you should change the keywords to ORDER, ANIMAL, OH S*** IT'S A BEAR.

You could also simply remove the ranged weapons - because there are no points, it is not as if you are gimping yourself.

[Gankom]

...we throw it at the enemy, while cackling madly. It's not a subtle strategy . . . .

Snip

Reading this I couldn't help but be reminded of just how many times in history that was the battle plan.

I'm probably going to be doing the same with the scrolls. I was already playing games were we used a wide variety of stuff from the different armies. Now we can keep doing that even better. I'm already planning a group of refugees fighting together, made up of small groups of Elves, Dwarfs and Humans. Fighting guerilla warfare style against the invading chaos.

[Lord_Crom]

I've made hard copy detachment warscrolls which are exactly the same in terms of stats but words change to fit the fluff eg state troop detachment is shoreparty. I've change the name of powers as well. In regards to using models and giving them the powers of a certain warscroll then I think it is fine. What you see if what they've got doesn't really exist any more as most warscroll add hidden things. Lord for storm cast with hammer firing cloak is my thoughts there. I'd not have a problem with an opponent doing just what your suggesting as long as I knew the scroll.

[Darknight]

It's interesting to look specifically at the Lord Celestant scrolls - there are three of them; the guy on the Dracoth, the guy with the hammer-cloak, and the guy with the warding lantern.

So, can I combine some of those? Like, can I give a Lord-Celestant on Dracoth a warding lantern? Or give someone a lantern and cloak?

I don't see why not - I mean, there are no points or anything So, it's not OP in the same way as other things would be. It gives advantages - but also disadvantages (single model to be removed removes all the features).

[StealthKnightSteg]

The guy with the Lantern is a Castellant.. not a Celestant

[Darknight]

Ah.

Well, can I field a Lord Castelialcelestialant?

[Oxycutor]

Usually the warscroll Description section has the weapon and armour options that a unit can have.   

And there isn't a warscroll that has the combination of options you want.

A Lord-Celestant on Dracoth with a Warding Lantern and Sigmarite Warcloak would be really powerful.

You would in effect be creating your own warscroll

[Darknight]

A Lord-Celestant on Dracoth with a Warding Lantern and Sigmarite Warcloak would be really powerful.

It would - would it be more or less powerful than two separate models?

You would in effect be creating your own warscroll

Indeed ... and without a points mechanism, what is (practically speaking) to stop one doing that? Provided the rules are sufficient both players can have fun . . .

This is really the crux of the "count as" thing in my view; because AoS doesn't have army lists or points, there is very little to say "that's unfair". In WFB, it is unfair to field Orcs alongside High Elves ... but in AoS you can do that. It is a short step to say "these are all the same faction so they have the same keyword" and a slightly longer step to say "these guys have some shooting attacks" or whatever.

I think fanmade lists - or even just personal lists - are going to be a huge thing in AoS. At least, I would hope so - that is one of the game's greatest potential advantages.

[Dosiere]

I think conversions are one of the coolest ways to enjoy this hobby, so short answer is yes.

However, I think models should be pretty clear what they are if you're going to be playing pick up games.  From experience I can say that having a model not visually represent it's rules is very confusing during a game. 

[Dosiere]

It's interesting to look specifically at the Lord Celestant scrolls - there are three of them; the guy on the Dracoth, the guy with the hammer-cloak, and the guy with the warding lantern.

So, can I combine some of those? Like, can I give a Lord-Celestant on Dracoth a warding lantern? Or give someone a lantern and cloak?

I don't see why not - I mean, there are no points or anything So, it's not OP in the same way as other things would be. It gives advantages - but also disadvantages (single model to be removed removes all the features).

Awesome idea but AoS does use model count to determine instant death.  So the more powerful an individual model the better it is in the game.  If you're not using instant death though I say it's all good.