The other night we were short of roleplayers so I showed one of the group how to play Vanguard.
He has game from the kickstarter, but hads't yet had the chance to try it out.
To get things moving, and to avoid too much to think about in a first game, we used smaller, 100 point warbands (as recommended on page 45); goblins vs dwarves.
I had enough goblins ready from my earlier painting (see here) and began a dwarf force a while ago that never quite got finished (I know, hard to believe isn't it). Altogether we had a dwarf sergeant accompanied by three Ironclads, a Shieldbreaker and an Ironwatch facing off against a Biggit with his pet Mawbeast, two Rabble with spears, a Luggit and a couple of Spitters.
We played the first scenario, so it was all about seizing objectives and keeping hold of them at the end of the game.
He has game from the kickstarter, but hads't yet had the chance to try it out.
To get things moving, and to avoid too much to think about in a first game, we used smaller, 100 point warbands (as recommended on page 45); goblins vs dwarves.
I had enough goblins ready from my earlier painting (see here) and began a dwarf force a while ago that never quite got finished (I know, hard to believe isn't it). Altogether we had a dwarf sergeant accompanied by three Ironclads, a Shieldbreaker and an Ironwatch facing off against a Biggit with his pet Mawbeast, two Rabble with spears, a Luggit and a couple of Spitters.
We played the first scenario, so it was all about seizing objectives and keeping hold of them at the end of the game.
Goblins swarm out of the woods
While dwarves advance from the village (probably been kicked out of the pub)
The Mawbeast attacks
The Biggit catches my Shieldbreaker in the rear..
...and rolls this (exploded results included).
The game ended in a narrow victory for the dwarves. Just about every model had been killed or had fled, but one plucky dwarf Ironclad remained by the central objective. Even a last minute shot from a Spitter who rallied in the final turn wasn't enough to dislodge him.
We both had fun, and the smaller sized warbands helped teach the game. The goblins seemed a bit underpowered against the dwarves, especially given the tough dwarven armour, and the fact that most of the goblins were grunts, so died easily. Perhaps dropping the Mawbeast for more Rabble or similar would have given the numbers. Also the goblins didn't manage to gang up on the dwarves often enough. But for a teaching game, it went very well.
Discussing the game afterwards we thought it generally went pretty well. As with my previous games, difficulties only arose with the fatigue/forced fatigue and spending power bits. We felt that perhaps a more distinct name for Forced Fatigue would have helped in the explanations. Also Easy Army does nice stat cards, but the Army special rules would be good as well, given that otherwise you have everything in front of you on the print out (it might be that if you get the warband sets with the cards the special rules are included).
Now to get other people interested.
Glad you enjoyed the game, the fatigue/forced fatigue issue is certainly one of the things that has put me off the game.
ReplyDeleteI would certainly have a problem with that level of complexity if the forces involved were larger. Warbands of twenty plus would take forever to manage. I find at the up to ten-ish size its OK, and it certainly gets easier with familiarity.
DeleteThe Fatigue etc is what make your troops better than just ordinary fighters, giving them more flexibility; though often at a cost, be it reduced actions later, or Power to cancel the Fatigue.