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I had a conversation with my wife last night, as we are finding ourselves more and more interested in playing AoS. Playing with SCGT's Comp rules were an epiphany, and even though it isn't everyone's favorite, I felt like it taught us that the core AoS rules were actually REALLY enjoyable... we just happen to like/need more structure in our list-building for games.

We are thinking of running armies built on foundations of Flesh-eater Courts, and Sylvaneth respectively, but are quickly finding that we are curious as to how different Comps manage Summoning, and if anything has been said about how the Generals Handbook plans to do it?

Summoning without any adjustments feels like it thrusts the game right back into launch AoS, where bigger collections are outright rewarded. Fine I suppose, but not how I would love to approach the game.

SCGT uses a summoning pool that takes away from your deployed force. So a non-summoning army would deploy 100 pools, while a summoning army might deploy 80 pools but have 40 pools in summoning.

I think it's a decent balance, giving summoning armies a bigger potential force but with the drawback they can't deploy as much and could get cutoff early if you kill the summoners.

PPC has a separate Summoning spell that costs points and is purchased as an upgrade to a wizard. That wizard can then cast it as a normal spell.

When the spell is cast, you pick a casting value (7, 8, 9 or 10) and the higher casting value you pick - the more points will be summoned if successful. Unlike normal spells, the summoning spell can be unbound from anywhere on the table.


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EDIT: The Flesh-Eaters are abit different, however, as they don't rely on spells for their summoning but abilities instead. In their cases, the abilities have been included in the cost of each model.

I haven't heard anything about changing summoning in the General's Handbook...but I sure hope they do somehow!

So how does either Comp deal with something like Seraphon who only have summon spells for Warscrolls the've already included?

IE... do I need to have a deployed Bastiladon, to have the Summon Bastiladon spell?

Also, doesn't the PPC comp, end up not letting you summon most of the things they could, as so much of their list, at a glance, is above even the max 200pt threshold?


The wife is saying she actually is considering Seraphon so I am trying to get a sense of things before we dump all kinds of money.

And while i'm asking... any Seraphon players around? Should we start with one, or two "start collecting" boxes?

Haven't looked that closely at Seraphon but think SCGT treats it all the same. You don't need to deploy a bastiladon to summon one - that was a misinterpretation of the rules some people had and the FAQ cleared it up too. Anything that you bring onto the table outside the normal deployment is in the summoning pool.

Aye, no need to have the model to use its summoning in AoS original game.

Well, 200 pts in PPC lets you summon alot pf things - just not most the big nasty monsters But 20 Warriors with full command is fine for example.


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One start collecting is excellent - from then on its more fun adding some stuff here and there, such as Saurus Guard and Bastiladon or Stegadon imho.

Some big things indeed cannot be summoned in PPC, and you'll need to remember the rules for PPC's summon spell, but within those restrictions you can freely choose what you want to summon, and need only decide at the moment you are actually summoning it.

In SCGT you must select which models to have available for summons when you make your list, and once those models have been put down you can no longer summon at all, but you can pick any model you want and have a bit more freedom in how you summon them.

Strong rumour: The General's Handbook will prevent summoned units summoning other units in the same turn for Matched Play (as well as 1's always failing).

As for Start Collecting boxes, I'd recommend one first. Get a feel for the army. And then maybe mix in another box/unit from the same Grand Alliance.

In the combined podcast episode from the SCGT guys, Ben Curry makes a comment of playing with the "new summoning rules" but doesn't elaborate more than that.

I like the SCGT solution but there is some obvious flaws, mainly Destruction getting a 10 pool boost, but non-summoning Order/Death/Chaos armies not receiving any benefit.

Summoning can really wreck open play if left unchecked. It's no fun to finally kill a Greater daemon in a last ditched attempt only to have it brought back again the next turn. If you are going to play open play (no comp) I suggest declaring all summoning before the game (so the other player can compensate).

 Bottle wrote:
In the combined podcast episode from the SCGT guys, Ben Curry makes a comment of playing with the "new summoning rules" but doesn't elaborate more than that.

I like the SCGT solution but there is some obvious flaws, mainly Destruction getting a 10 pool boost, but non-summoning Order/Death/Chaos armies not receiving any benefit.

Summoning can really wreck open play if left unchecked. It's no fun to finally kill a Greater daemon in a last ditched attempt only to have it brought back again the next turn. If you are going to play open play (no comp) I suggest declaring all summoning before the game (so the other player can compensate).

Oh, i'll probably never play no comp, or no points AoS. Not that I don't believe it can't be fun, and fair with an interesting scenario, but its just not in our wheelhouse. My wife and I, and our local players just like structure to our force-building.

We've tried SCGT and PPC at this point and really like both, and are eager to see what General's Handbook offers.

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:

 Bottle wrote:
In the combined podcast episode from the SCGT guys, Ben Curry makes a comment of playing with the "new summoning rules" but doesn't elaborate more than that.

I like the SCGT solution but there is some obvious flaws, mainly Destruction getting a 10 pool boost, but non-summoning Order/Death/Chaos armies not receiving any benefit.

Summoning can really wreck open play if left unchecked. It's no fun to finally kill a Greater daemon in a last ditched attempt only to have it brought back again the next turn. If you are going to play open play (no comp) I suggest declaring all summoning before the game (so the other player can compensate).

Oh, i'll probably never play no comp, or no points AoS. Not that I don't believe it can't be fun, and fair with an interesting scenario, but its just not in our wheelhouse. My wife and I, and our local players just like structure to our force-building.

We've tried SCGT and PPC at this point and really like both, and are eager to see what General's Handbook offers.

Fair enough! I still play open games from time to time but only because I sometimes play in a GW store and the staffers still like to do so. Once the General's handbook drops I doubt I'll play without points again too.