Age of Fantasy: Battalions

You mark activated unit with green arrow token.
When unit fight in melee, they both taken GreenArrow Token - so the victim "lose" his move.
When already activated unit (with GreenArrow) need to fight in melee again, it flip token to Exclamation side.

I make deck of each unit used in battle. When card is played unit is activated. Player suppose to chose which card(ergo UNit) he activate. However you can as well just shuffle all cards from both players, and have fast, random activation - which i like a lot.

Using of deck to activate is much better and flexible approach, than marking activated unit with tokens. For next iteration I make deck of card a default activation method.

from the effort point of view: You need to make tokens glue on hard cartoon, otherwise a thin paper is not practical. Cutting big rectangles out as cards are much easier to do. And they serve as stats reminder as well.

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Ambush - what you expect from ambushing model? ley say tomb scorpion. To dig out of sand in the middle of hot zone and kill thouse pesky wizards/artillery, or flank charge elite units.
Placing model 12" away from battle cauldron, not being able to attack when you emerge, having to waste first 2x rounds, is ... not very an ambush.

let..
Ambush - at the end of each round (including first), mark a point on map, and then roll D3. If roll is equal or lower than the round number, the unit emerge in chosen place and may immediatly charge.

so.. Scorpion may fail to appear in 1st or 2nd round, but he will for sure create some impact in 3rd. Risk of having unit do nothing for 2 rounds(half of a game!) is a big enough penalty.

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Small Target - -1 to be hit by shooting attack. same as old Stealth. F.ex. the swarm unit should have it. It make no sense that arrows ar such effective in killing swarm of rats.

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you should be able to freely move with Advance through any own units. This would solve in elegant way heroes movements / being an obstacle.

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if Unit has multiple melee weapon, it choose one of them.
Necrosphinx is OP. And he should makeup his mind whether he mop the infantry, or trimm beasts head.

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all Deadly(3) are change into Deadly(d3) - remove "affect single model" wording.

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target need to be in unit front arch, at the time of activation (before pivot)

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Flanking
if half of your unit at the start of activation, is in target front arch, after pivot, then its not a Flank charge. *
AND
flanked unit is striking back with Devastated amount of attack (half) [if unit dont have devastated state (hero,monster), then full Attacks]. Charger has +1 to Combat Resolution.






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i think i would like to play as Lizards army now 

Unit losing activation if being charge, works good. There is less wearing double fights per rounds, it keeps battle fresh and interesting, without coming back to the same grinds.

I think units would be force to fight back with the full capacity = use Activation, if they can. This way sending "chaffs" would be more tactical. Great way to reduce power of strong units. Less dragging for the game with bureaucratic decisions ("should I save my activation for later? or strike harder now"). Which is also not believable (why would your warrior fight with half steam, to save energy for next one? its just not right).

Some strange case happen during flanking. Where the victim is force to fight back with half attacks, then after be activated again normally and strike with full power. Maybe penalize flanked unit with losing activation anyway?

Flanking with +1 Combat Resolution is good. Usually flank won the combat anyway, because opponent fight back with less dice=deal less wounds. Although if you flank Anvil unit, it makes the difference.
Not sure if its worth to complicate rule with +2 for Rear charge.

Monster with halving attacks from Devastated state, works good. They are significantly less powerful.

Unit should not be destroyed if he leaves the battlefield, instead it should redirect to either of the side, to stay in game. Losing units this way is cheap.

Units too often route and flee after melee combat (and Im constantly playing with Undead, which take 1 wound instead). I think I need to add Hero commanders with Inspiring, this rerolls would be crucial.


Dispel is too strong. Wizards don't manage to always cast a spell (like 50%), and even if they do, there are a high chance it would be dispelled. Resulting in lots of rolling and no effects. Even if the spell succeed, the effect is not so devastating. I think caster would need to sacrifice activation for the spell Dispel attempt and there would be 18" limit to target or casting wizard, but no LoS needed (so you need to position properly your wizards, without awkward checking for gaps between troops). Also multiple wizards may try to dispels a single spell then.

I use spear with shields, this extra +1 Defense vs missiles is not a game breaker at all.

First Strike and Last Strike are much more impactful, when monsters as well have Devastated state.

I use Great Weapons, and because of Last Strike the unit hit with only half attacks. Which result with only 2 hits, 1 wound, and lost battle for Great Weapons. Hmm... maybe GW with this ruling should not cost 2x more.

Ambush - with not being able to move when you deploy is good, this extra turn for opponent even things, its also 1 turn less ambusher will cause a damage, and Ambusher need to foresee a good place, to not be hit in the next turn.

Mummy scorpion with 1 point defense less, is much better.

Spells: Healing spell would be boost from [1d3-1] to 1d3. Its rare enough to cast it, to be rewarded with zero healing.
"immediately charge" spell need some clarification. I think it would just work like Command? Or maybe its ok as major spell?

i gave warlock reroll of failed artillery rolls, but it was too strong. Basically it doubles the effectiveness of catapults, they hit every round.
to nerf this effect Warlock is spending activation to make reroll (so you can hope to reroll only one dice per round) and need to be 3" from machine. This works nice, f.ex. you cannot try to dispel anymore, or cast spell. It make the warlock very passive, he is in practice attachment to artillery - but im not convinced its something wrong.


with "full attack strike back need activation" rules i was afraid that game will become static. Because you will not want to come closer to the opponent to not get charged first and strike with half attacks.
In game however, such abuse dont occur. You always want to move forward to limit the amount of shooting attacks you take. The game is about controlling points, for that you need to advance, even if the penalty is a disadvantage in a round of combat. Activation you receive every round, so its very rare to move forward first, and then be charged, and defend with half attacks. You can always stop before enemy charge range.
in fact it simplifies the rules, and it feels good.

Healing spell - i will nerf it from D3 to D2. you never use spell on Core troops. And Changing monster status from devastated back to normal, is a massive benefit.

I change pair weapon from every 1 is +1 save check, into every 1 is additional hit dice. [as per MrCrow;s Lost World rule]
It works good. Paired weapon before deal too much damage in hand of poor troops, simply by bypassing quality check. Now its more believable, you want your elite troops to have 2x weapons. Otherwise, its lose of money and +1 Defense vs shooting from shield is a great benefit for Core units.

Great weapons, are also almost disadvantage in the hand of weak units. They just die before they can use it. It have its place, when you place your Core troops in front of some giants, to deal them those precious 2 wounds, otherwise stick&board is your bread and butter. Great weapons are great, if your soldiers are heavy armoured, and can survive the strike. I LOvE IT, it works how it should.

with mundane equipment i want to have weak special rules, just a little niche, nothing else. Otherwise, special units, doesnt feel that good. And whole combat is like trashy superheros battle, where everyone wield great power.

Stealth - i gave stealth (cannot be charge or shoot from further than 6"), and suddenly the rat swarm units is great in infiltrating the opponents backs, stopping opponents artillery and wizards from causing havocs.

Ambush - you dont have to wait with scorpions to try to deploy them in the end of round. You can try to do so any time during round. Which create great option, to use scorpions as a blocker.

I try the Sharpshooter (sniper) rule - if you dont move you hit on 5 or less (83% hit chance). Hmm... its very good. Usually you dont move anyway when you shoot. Need to think about it more.

I clarify you dont lose activation, when you Flee after being shoot.

Spell enchantments are quite weak. I think i will boost them, by not lasting only one round, but whole game. Poison(every 1, reroll 1 enemy save) or +1 attack dice is not very game breaking. Enemy still can dispel them after. Casting spell often fizzle, if you boost own troop your 60 points investment is not causing 2 wounds to enemy Anvils. It also reduce amount labor with putting there and back tokens, and book keeping which spell marker to remove.

i think i need to reprint my units cards, because i make so many amendments, im getting lost

Fear - working as winning tie's in melee, is much more useful. And impact the game in proper way. Even if need exceptions (not affect NoRetreat, and other Fear units).

I come to conclusion that unit is striking with ALL their attacks in melee, not pick one [as in vanilla AoFR]. Its one less bureaucracy decision to make. And its more fun to "fire all guns".
Necrosphinx Decapitation need nerf which would be 1/0 attack, Ap(2), Deadly(d3). This would mess him up enough, if you wound him. But its even more fearful when he is at full strenght.

Enchants can be only one on unit - quite obvious.

Ambush - in first round unit emerge on roll 1,2,3 - otherwise always in 2nd round. Still cannot charge. Simple and useful.

Some spell make you charge. For that i change the wording for Melee. If you dont use up Activation you hit with Devastated (half) attacks.

Ratmen grenadiers need Poison(5/3), instead Poison. otherwise they rarely reroll target defense. or maybe also Blast(2)?

mummies with 8/15 Tough work much better.

Last Strike for Great weapons is too penalizing. I need few games to become convinced. Its just too often, when you dont hit with full attacks, or are just whip out without retaliation.
First strike is different, because for LastStrike, whole enemy army act like having FirstStrike against this particular unit. Its sometimes ok, like for Mummies. But feels very wrong for normal infantry warriors.

that saying:
Spear - First Strike on front, all flanks Last Strike.

Dwarfs, my first army. Im fed up with this short blokes, but i needed some heavy armoured army to test AP.

Paired Weapons is too weak. I reroll the '1' but there is rarely any benefit from that. ...hmm.

Indirect artillery, need -1 to hit, if there is no LoS, otherwise its ridiculous when you cannot hide from catapult.

I need to clarify how Loners (heros) move, what they see, whay they can charge (shoot). I like that heros are used to catch some saboteurs behind front line.

Flee order need to be clarify. I sometime choose to escape into better position. Also Flee as reaction to charge, sometimes prevent you completely from catching fast unit. On the other hand, why would you just left your unit for certain death. Hmm... need to be thought about.



Runes magic - my Rune of Stone is very fun, because im never sure if its beneficial or penalising my troops or opponent . My perception of this rune even change during game (enchants are permanent). I was like "good good more defense is OP!", "nooo... Strike Last is too harmful!". As for first game i think its ok.

Rune of Storm - is interesting i think, but due to playing against Scaven, no target was worth the spell.


Slayers (berserkers) - are not slow. So they work as cavalry. Which also increase they life span, because they 1 turn shorter are shoot at. I gave them 1 defense against shooting - i think this should be special rule "naked" or smth like that.

Miners are okish... rather poor unit. But do his job as ambusher.

Veterans (Longbear) - first seems like better warriors, But +1Qua and courage, make them fail Morale only on 6. Which make a significant difference. They are even better than Hammerers in regard of Morale. Hammerers when close to Lord, are never testing Morale, but losing 1 wound, which is not the case with Veterans. All in all i think Veterans are working good, and believable as old experience warriors.

Hammerers - have special great weapons that doesnt have Strike Last if charged. Which is great because they work as Tanks. Bodyguard rule is kind of detrimental, because they have low chance to route anyway, but this way they take 1 wound more. Anyway IMO good.

Ironclads - if you need tankier tank. Ethereal (1) [ward save 16%], surprisingly often kick in - and make good impression about theirs magic armors. and Defense 4 is a good value, to boost them with Rune of Stone to Def 5.

Armor Values:
I decide to include Shield in total Defense: so no 3(4), because the shield is already in 3(3). this allow me to lower the high armor values. Hammerers have same armor as Veterans, even if they dont have shield, but thats because they have Gromril Armor. Dwarf Lord has "only" 3 defense, because he has Great Weapon- no shield.
Slayers has lower Defense against shooting, because they are bare chested - in melee they can parry with axes thats why 2(1).

Rangers - the crossbow need tweak taken into account rifle and bow. But i need to think about it. Feels strange that Crossbow dont have Reload.

Demon Slayer - need some customization: +1 Ap, great weapon, First strike, Fear, Ethereal(2). All optional.