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A little background, first. Been playing 40K for ~10 years. Mostly Imperium (Ultras, GK, IG and SoB), and 1,000 points of Crons. Started in 4th, mostly played in 5th, 6th nerfed my GKs as built, and now I don't even recognize the game. My kid (well, at 24, hardly a kid anymore, lol), feels pretty much the same. We do the odd 5th edition game here at home, which is fun, but we're still a little soured on 40K. I always found WFB cool to look at, and there were some models/armies that I thought would be cool to paint, but never actually played. Payed little attention to AoS when it launched, but got interested a couple of weeks ago. I know and accept the fact that every gamer is looking for something different in the experience. What I'm looking for is fun. Setting up some metal and/or plastic dudes on a table, rolling dice, and having fun, win or lose. AoS seems to bring that in spades. Or, it seems, you can make it competitive if you desire. Seems to be pretty open ended in what you want to get out of it. The biggest plus is the minimal start up cost, and only four pages of rules.

Sooo, yesterday on the way home from work, I stopped at my FLGS, and bought the Slaves to Darkness Start Collecting set. I would have bought the SCE/Khorne starter set, but I figured I'd let my kid decide what Alliance he wanted to play, rather than lock him in to something he might not want. When he got home and I showed him my purchase, he expressed an interest in the Death Alliance. So, good move on my part.

I'm actually pretty excited about this game. I've downloaded the rules, as well as a bunch of War Scrolls. I'm off today, so I plan on doing some serious building and painting today. As of right now, I'm not planning on using any comp systems, but never say never. I want to give the game a chance with the "official" rules first. Most of my 40K play was Apoc games, so I really appreciate the mix and match that AoS gives you. Really looking forward to start playing.

I approve not using comp . I prefer thinking that there is a certain level of difficulty to the scenario that you find out during the game and it actually excites me. MongooseMatt here have become adept (or so he claims ) at picking the right forces for a mission without using any comp system aswell. Four pages of rules are a real boon for the modern working man. These days I haven't got the will to go through some of the older sets of 40k rules, not to speak - a whole new game... I'd recommend you also join one (or all) of the FB pages - there's a ton of pics every day posted there to inspire you, battle reports, discussions etc.

Congrats and welcome! Those start collecting boxes are a good deal if the faction appeals to you. I'm not sure wher in IL you are but there are a lot of gaming clubs and events should you decide you w at to branch out of attend an event. Adepticon is not the only one. And the Chicagoland area has lots of options. I live in Madison, WI but in Sweden for school. I'm amazed at the options so hopefully you find whatever you need to explore the game and enjoying it.

Welcome.

Ultra Grey wrote:
A little background, first. Been playing 40K for ~10 years. Mostly Imperium (Ultras, GK, IG and SoB), and 1,000 points of Crons. Started in 4th, mostly played in 5th, 6th nerfed my GKs as built, and now I don't even recognize the game. My kid (well, at 24, hardly a kid anymore, lol), feels pretty much the same. We do the odd 5th edition game here at home, which is fun, but we're still a little soured on 40K.

Opposite timing to me - I played until 3rd released and then left to come back at 7th. I did move to WFB when 3rd 40k came out.

Ultra Grey wrote:
I always found WFB cool to look at, and there were some models/armies that I thought would be cool to paint, but never actually played. Payed little attention to AoS when it launched, but got interested a couple of weeks ago. I know and accept the fact that every gamer is looking for something different in the experience. What I'm looking for is fun. Setting up some metal and/or plastic dudes on a table, rolling dice, and having fun, win or lose. AoS seems to bring that in spades. Or, it seems, you can make it competitive if you desire. Seems to be pretty open ended in what you want to get out of it. The biggest plus is the minimal start up cost, and only four pages of rules.

Totally. Here's some wording from the next official AoS event that sums up the intention*:
"No matter whether you’re a seasoned player or if this will be your first step into playing our games, the focus for this event is on camaraderie and playing in the spirit of the game; that is to say non-competitive and fair play are the order of the day."

I have some friends that I play 40k with. More recently we've found ourselves playing AoS more. Or playing games of AoS on either side of a doubles 4000pt 40k game. The lack of points has changed our mindset in selecting units - we're now more likely to field what looks cool or feels right rather than dropping a unit because the cost vs stats doesn't add up.

Ultra Grey wrote:
Sooo, yesterday on the way home from work, I stopped at my FLGS, and bought the Slaves to Darkness Start Collecting set. I would have bought the SCE/Khorne starter set, but I figured I'd let my kid decide what Alliance he wanted to play, rather than lock him in to something he might not want. When he got home and I showed him my purchase, he expressed an interest in the Death Alliance. So, good move on my part.

My friend just bought that Slaves set. It's got him into AoS too. With that he - and you - can start playing. Plus with the current reboxings you can easily expand with FLGS discount.

Ultra Grey wrote:
I'm actually pretty excited about this game. I've downloaded the rules, as well as a bunch of War Scrolls. I'm off today, so I plan on doing some serious building and painting today. As of right now, I'm not planning on using any comp systems, but never say never. I want to give the game a chance with the "official" rules first. Most of my 40K play was Apoc games, so I really appreciate the mix and match that AoS gives you. Really looking forward to start playing.

Yes. Play vanilla first. I've played more games without points than with.

But - and this is a big but - always play with scenarios. Do you not play to the death games (outside of initially learning the rules). You can buy these in the AoS app (highly recommended) and are a big part of the campaign books. I like the campaign books. It provides some fluff and advances the story. At the end of each chapter there is then a scenario you can play.

Another tip is to assign rules/warscrolls to the scenary pieces you have and then randomly allocated them onto the field. This makes it easier to recall what is what.


Edit: *There's actually a free scenario on the event page: http://warhammerworld.games-workshop.com/throne-of-skulls-clash-of-empires/

Ultra Grey wrote:
I'm actually pretty excited about this game. I've downloaded the rules, as well as a bunch of War Scrolls. I'm off today, so I plan on doing some serious building and painting today. As of right now, I'm not planning on using any comp systems, but never say never. I want to give the game a chance with the "official" rules first. Most of my 40K play was Apoc games, so I really appreciate the mix and match that AoS gives you. Really looking forward to start playing.

Sounds like you're definitely coming to Age of Sigmar with the right mentality. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely some problems with the game. It is, after all, a first draft right out of the gate, and GW doesn't do real play testing, so there were bound to be problems and hiccups. That on top of a rollout that has been and continues to be just extremely poorly handled in terms of communication and community relations. So yeah, a lot of people who dislike or complain about the game are expressing perfectly legitimate grievances.

However, if you're just looking for an excuse to paint some cool models, and then push them around a table while rolling some dice, then you're in the right place. That slaves to darkness starter box kit is a great deal, and I think you'll be happy with it, as well as with some of the other recent chaos box sets and releases. Definitely check out the recent Grand Alliance of Chaos book, which will bring you up to speed on all the various chaos sub-factions currently active in Age of Sigmar.

As for your son, well, the Death factions haven't seen much attention, yet. More than destruction factions like Orcs or Ogres, certainly, and more than the elves, but still, not too much, yet. That said, we do know that Nagash and the three mortarchs that come in the plastic box kit - Mannfred, Neferata, and Arkhan - are still kicking around, though Mannfred and Neferata currently seem to be doing their own things, with only Arkhan still reporting directly to the big guy.

Still, while we haven't yet seen much in the way of new models and fluff yet, the rules in the Vamp Counts and Tomb Kings free pdf battletomes are still pretty nice all round. I'd shy away from the casket of souls and the black coach, but beyond those two units, pretty much all of the characters and units available are interesting and evocative on the game table.

The malignants starter box is a nice deal, like most of the starter armies, but if your son decides he wants it, be aware that the Mortis Engine is a pain to assemble, and parts of it need to be painted before it's fully put together. It's also not quite as strong a formation out of the box as the other starter kits, since the Mortis Engine really isn't as powerful on the table as the model would lead you to believe. In particular, it isn't a hero, making the undead starter box the only box that doesn't include a hero to lead them. So you might want to add a bit to it rather than use it against the slaves to darkness set in pure 'out of the box' games.

Assuming your son is interested in that particular kit in the first place. There's lots of options within the Death alliance, from spectral hosts of ethereal malignants to deathrattle legions of skeletons and wights to zombie hordes backed up by necromancers and corpse carts to charnel ghoul packs led by monstrous crypt horrors and ghoul kings to ravenous vampyric blood knights and vargheists, and that's just on the vamp counts side; on the tomb kings end there's nigh invincible animate statues, ranged armies of skeletal archers and skull catapults, more deathrattle legions, thundering chariots, etc. Lots to choose from, and it might be worth looking into the pdf rules lists before jumping into a particular theme with the malignant starter set.

Welcome to AoS, I'm sure you will have tons of fun, especially with the relaxed attitude you seem to have.

Welcome aboard! Just to reiterate what has already been mentioned, use Battleplans whenever you can - this is where AoS really shines.

Thanks for the warm welcome and suggestions, guys. It's appreciated. My FLGS has an AoS newb night on the 19th. I'm thinking about going. Not to play, just to watch and learn. Might play a couple games here at home with my kid, using 40K models as proxies.

Good call. I'd imagine that group would be just as open to run proxies and get a feel for the game before main any larger investment. Enjoy your games, sounds like you will have a great experience 3)

That slaves of darkness starter set is awesome. With the new chaos grand alliance book being release I think you will enjoy the massive amount of options you can take in your list.

What are you thinking your next addition will be? I think warshrines are a fun addition personally.

broxus wrote:


What are you thinking your next addition will be? I think warshrines are a fun addition personally.

Most likely something Khorne. I'm thinking either Bloodreavers or Blood Warriors. Given that I'm sitting comfy on some heavies already with Chaos Warriors and Knights (who can select Khorne as a keyword), Bloodreavers would make more sense. I've heard in units of 20, they're actually pretty good against elite type stuff. Makes sense, roll a ton of dice and your bound to do some damage. I think I'll stick with infantry for my first couple of expansions, then do some vehicles and additional Hero types. Demons are definitely in the future, as well. And then, of course there's scenery. Any suggestions for non GW scenery is appreciated. Their stuff is cool, but spendy, to be sure.

Ultra Grey wrote:

broxus wrote:


What are you thinking your next addition will be? I think warshrines are a fun addition personally.

Most likely something Khorne. I'm thinking either Bloodreavers or Blood Warriors. Given that I'm sitting comfy on some heavies already with Chaos Warriors and Knights (who can select Khorne as a keyword), Bloodreavers would make more sense. I've heard in units of 20, they're actually pretty good against elite type stuff. Makes sense, roll a ton of dice and your bound to do some damage. I think I'll stick with infantry for my first couple of expansions, then do some vehicles and additional Hero types. Demons are definitely in the future, as well. And then, of course there's scenery. Any suggestions for non GW scenery is appreciated. Their stuff is cool, but spendy, to be sure.

you can get usually pretty cheap 2nd hand aos stuff on the trade site here. if you arent determined to have new, could save alot.