Gaming | Casual, 4 Player Messy Fun

Look, I know, it's 2023, let bygones be bygones. And this particular game was played in 2022. However, the Space Dino very rarely games nowadays, so getting the chance to play was a blast, and I had to share the total of three photos I have of the night. 

My brothers, of which I have many, all came to visit over the holidays, which allowed me to finally have an opportunity to get in a game of Age of Sigmar. I dedicate so much time to this hobby but precious few playing, and it really showed. I limited the four players to 500 points each, and only to the rules on warscrolls. I find a lot of the rules in AoS, especially the army specific stuff, difficult to remember, let alone teach. So here we were, 500 points each of Nighthaunt (me), Sylvaneth (my newest army), Thunderstrike Stormcast, and Slaves to Darkness (or the Shovel Knight army, according to my youngest brother). 

This was also a lesson in how unbalanced warscrolls are amongst each other. While yes, armies are balanced in terms of what special stuff they get in the book, it really highlights to me how dependent units are on this stuff. I'm not saying it shouldn't, but if I manage to kill your support pieces that confer those bonuses and your warscrolls are inherently weak, well...

However, some armies have really good synergy within their warscrolls. My Nighthaunt were a complete pain for the Sylvaneth to deal with since I kept brining back Chainrasps with my Guardian of Souls. Not that the terrible die rolls from the Sylvaneth were any help. On the literal other side of the table, the Thunderstrike Stormcast, especially the 2+ save Annihilators, were just too much for the Slaves to Darkness player to deal with. Which all makes for the not the funnest of games, as there's some frustration. 

Sure, the army rules would help here, but getting people to read through a whole battletome and make an army list before starting a game, on top of not being as interested in it as you are, can be a lot to ask for. I do miss some of the ease of the early AoS days when it had a bit more beer and pretzel vibe to it. I think I need to just find a way to simplify all of those army rules and make it easier for newbies or very casual players to jump in. Just to make sure people aren't turned away by a heap of rules to make for a balanced game. 

Have you had anything like this before? How do you ease new players into the "full" rules of AoS, and not just the core rules? Let me know, I'd really like to crack that nut.

-The Space Dinosaur