First Battle Highlights

I recently had my first real taste of AoS in a game with my friends Orcs. We played the breakthrough scenario, where I had to get off the other side of the board, being blocked by his army.

I had;
1 Rotbringer Sorceror,
2x10 Plaguebearers,
5 Blightkings,
3 Nurglings,
3 Plague Ogres.

He had;
1 Black Orc Hero,
10 Black Orcs,
10 Orc Boys,
7 Boar Boys
1 Giant.

We had a very close game, with myself achieving a minor victory by getting the minimum number of models to achieve the victory off the table by the end of turn 6. So I guess due to how close it was you could say it was balanced, and we made some concessions to ensure we had balanced forces before the game. Below I'll list my first impressions of the game;

• We played it for quite a long time considering how small the forces were, about 4 hours. However this will definitely reduce the more we play, I think we'd be able to get two games in the same time next time!
• Access to re-rollable saves for the boys and Boar Boys is insane.
• Giants can do alot of damage but this is somewhat mitigated by how easy they are to wound, which with them being a monster, reduces their output as they get damaged.
• Nurgle demons are very resilient, getting a 5+ normal save then 5+ Disgustingly Resilient save. Add in Mystic Shield and you're laughing.
• The Icon Bearer ability for Plaguebearers/Drones is very powerful. If you roll a 1 for battleshock, d6/d3 wounds are regained. I did this three times in the game with my Plaguebearers.
• Blight Kings are great at dealing damage, hitting and wounding on 3s is great, then add in their Blighted Weapons and Virulent Discharge rules on top and they are amazing.
• Plague Ogres with Damage 2 are good too.
• Nurglings rule of if you don't kill a full base in one turn they regenerate to their starting wounds is ace, a great tarpit unit.
• The two basic spells for wizards are very versatile, although in this game I used Mystic Shield far more than Arcane Bolt, but I did use Arcane Bolt to kill the Orc General.
• My army was very slow, to combat this I'll be purchasing some Marauder Horsemen which I can give the Nurgle keyword to to keep synergies. I also intend to get a unit of Plague Drones as soon as funds allow!
• I think the scenario was key in making the game so fun, so we will continue to play with scenarios going forward.

Below are a couple of photos from the game, not particularly information, but you can at least see the kind of formations we were putting are units in. I really feel every person who is anti AoS really hasn't given it a chance and I'm genuinely gutted for them! Great game.