Tell me some games that you love! I wanted to add a couple more things, but I felt like the video was getting a little too long: 7. The models are comparatively cheap. Every single box in the game is designed to be come with a playable unit size (4 cav, 12 infantry, etc.) and they're all $35. The boxes that come with heroes come with ~5 heroes and they're also $35. 8. Heroes don't have their own attack profile or dice to role. When you add an "attachment" to a combat unit, it gives the unit extra abilities, special rules, etc. which I LOVE. It makes list building so much fun because depending on what attachment you have in a unit, the unit can function very differently.
I've looked at the game and some of the people painting armies on the LAF, but it's something that I'm still not sure about. I have been playing a lot of Dragon Rampant (Mixed with Lion Rampant stuff) and some Oathmark...Oathmark tends to fill the rank and flank itch for me there and both games are open for using whatever minis I want in the force.
one of my favorites to play is the OnePageRules fantasy/grimdark games. The basic rules are free, and if you have a 3d printer, you can either join their patreon and get their models there, or get the files off of myminifactory, so you can create your own army from scratch.
Thanks for the thoughtful, honest take on this game Scott! I always love to hear this kind of "personal perspective" on these sorts of games! I've heard whispers about ASOIAF for awhile now and this might just have been the push I needed to go and pick it up myself! Great vid!
Really fond of the idea of alternating activation in a wargame. More immersive and tactically engaging than "all my units do all their things, then all your units do their things.
Personality I find it less immersive, "oh yeah my whole army sits and does nothing as 1 unit moves forward by itself and the enemy gets to counter it however they want, with 1 unit... Then suddenly the side that has left over units gets to move a bunch of stuff in coordination..."
@@matthiuskoenig3378 It's that last part that I dislike, though I don't dislike it any more than alpha striking which comes from all going at once. Both are a meta tactic caused by the turn order mechanism, neither one really fun to experience or IMO, play.
@@matthiuskoenig3378 there are ways to balance it, but for me makes much more sense than "look, the whole enemy army is moving and firing, let's just stay put and wait for our turn, boys... if we are alive" - i'm realy fond of bolt action random activation method
@@matthiuskoenig3378 Still far better than "yeah, my whole army sits around doing nothing while the enemy does everything and kills us". IGOUGO is a dated mechanic that luckily most developers are moving away from.
I vastly prefer alternating over watching literally everything move before me. My favorite method is what X-Wing utilizes though. It's a bit more complicated than just alternating actions but it helps account for pilots having more or less skill than other pilots.
@@Kobylad I'm in the Midlands mate, play in my flgs black dragon miniatures. Quite a few players here and around. There's a great FB group, Warhammer fantasy 6th edition (imaginative name) where folks chat and advertise events like Warhammer resurrection
But they seem to be supporting this one rather well - and tbh, it appears to have landed quite well, as well. Ie. There's good reason to support its longevity.
I’m so excited to see you getting into a game that isn’t from GW! I appreciated the part of this video about rules because that is personally my favorite part about non-GW games, they have genuinely good and interesting rules!!!
I love listening to people passionately talking about things they love. It's a nice change from the negativity that thrives on the internet. Don't know if I'll ever play ASoIaF, but still enjoyed the video!
I'm hella into Middle Earth SBG at the moment. It's just such a great system with models that are so simple yet fun to paint. It's really got me into LOTR lore etc. in a way that 5 years ago would seem laughable. Edit: while it's not alternating actions, it's alternating phases, your hero characters have resources that they can spend to act out of sequence etc. It adds a great deal of tactics/strategy. I feel like it'd make a good contrast to ASOIAF as it's very skirmish and almost roleplay heavy so like the polar opposite of block infantry.
I’ve been thinking of getting back into Middle-earth SBG. I used to play it around The Two Towers edition, but I don’t think I played it as efficiently as it’s meant to be played.
I love the SBG system, be nice if they update some of the troop kits eventually (although I enjoy the simplicity of the fairly bad plastic moulds for painting goblin hordes lol). Just comparing it to the Warhammer systems it's amazing how much better it feels having fixed charge ranges and the ability to react to your opponents movement before the combat begins. And having heroes be properly heroic is pretty great.
@@Jorfik yeah for me 40k/AoS tends to boil down to, if I have a great turn my opponent has a shit one, if I have a shit turn my opponent rejoices at my sadness. It just doesn't feel interactive at times.
Conquest by Para Bellum. You want a modern rank and file game? Boom! You want a Skirmish game? Boom! You can use the same miniatures! Also all rules free on their website.
i've just been indulging in my over 20 years of love for Star Wars with Legion models arent as good as warhammer but i get to paint 501st clones and recreate scences from RotJ
Yeah I have a friend that wants to try sw legion as well. Problem for me is I’m not really feeling the Star Wars universe anymore. No miniature game beats warhammer lore for me yet but I do hope I’ll find one as well.
I think the models, post sprue adoption match warhammer, it's just not as bombastic imo. my Mandalorians had plenty of details i had to paint when i did them, and their nature let me paint each of them with unique colors+decals, whereas with my sisters of battle 40k army, i know it'd be goofy if i did that.
ASOIAF is actually what got me into wargaming! Really happy to see it get more traction recently, it's a fun system that deserves more players. Something I would have mentioned is that there is a fantastic, free Tabletop Simulator mod for the game so you can completely try the game before you buy anything. My biggest gripe is more with the publishers, and that's how poor the worldwide distribution is (even precovid/brexit). Might not be as big of an issue in the US, but the UK has had year long delays on new stuff, which kills a lot of the hype. It's frustrating to see half the world playing with new toys while you have to proxy/pretend it doesn't exist.
Good work Scott. It's refreshing to see something different other than the latest GW hotness behemoth . As a non GW gamer it's really appreciated and I hope more YTubers do the same.
The minis look good, and people seem to be loving the game. I'm not feeling faction based rank and flank games anymore, though. I like games like Dragon Rampant and Oathmark where I choose the minis I like to be part of the army I envision. I'm glad ASOIAF is out there though, people deserve to have all these great options!
Battletech. Been a fan for years. Scalable down to a tabletop RPG, scalable up to planetary and system operations which have reach all throughout. The lore is more fleshed out, less cheese, the IP has less drama (lookin' at you, GW), and who doesn't love giant freakin' stompy robots?!
Battletech is where I started... I am loving (from a distance) their new miniatures which was a huge issue with the game in the past. Part of that is too many Mech designs out there and often the don't look cohesive at all (a Gauss on a Hollander vs a Gauss on a Ceasar) and you cannot tell what belongs to who or what weapon is what on a mech... many times it's hard to tell Mechs are from the same game! The depth in the game itself is both great and meh. I do however love the fact all damage is resolved at the end of that phase so "dead" units still get to shoot that turn. However there is an issue with too much complexity to the game that can make them drag on too long... or the extreme luck ruining a good game with a headshot.
I finally was able to show this game off to a couple of friends. The next day they both bought starter sets and now we play it weekly. It's a lot of fun. Glad you're enjoying it.
For the longest time, I was looking to find a rank and file game that filled the whole that WHFB left in my heart, then I found ASOIAF. Despite never having played a game I’m collecting and painting it. Discovering one of my favorite RU-vidrs has a passion for the game was the cherry on top!
Honestly it's one of my favorite games of all time. Sorta Picked it up at the beginning of the pandemic on a whim. I had heard D6 generation waxing about how cool the game was. I think one of the biggest Pro's... is it is ready to go out of the box. Everything is built and each faction color coded. The starter box and a few other boxes sets you up to have a lot of fun right out the gate. Dark Sword Miniatures sculpts are also getting better each faction, each unit. Really glad to hear you like it. Loved the painting video of the Reapers showing 10min vs 1 hour vs 10 hours. It made me rethink painting of this rank and file and spend most time on what models I wanted to be in front and spending less time on the ones in the back. Thanks for your content and welcome.
Really great video Scott! It is incredible to see how those of our generation of the 90s go through a similar stage. I remember that I started with the hobby with the miniatures of the Lord of the Rings, moving on to Warhammer and Confrontation. And to return to the hobby during 2017 with the new editions, I remember that since that year I discovered your channel as well. Pure and living nostalgia. I have not yet been able to catch a game that really "catches" me but I am already looking at the end of the pandemic to be able to try some games such as Monsterapocalypse, AT-43 among others that I have always wanted to play. On the other hand, it's good to know Scott that you're doing a project for yourself, and not just because of the channel. It is important for your emotional and mental health. I'm glad that you can share that with those of us who have followed you for so many years, and I hope you can find more moments like this!
I've been playing various miniature wargames for something like 13 years. ASOIAF is by far the most strategic and balanced game I have ever played, I would strongly recommend
Alternating activations is one of the reasons I really like dropzone commander. That and the lore, and the models, and the lack of rules bloat... And each unit gets a transport... and you can play apoc scale games without bankrupting yourself
There are bunch of games I'd like to play but it's straight up impossible for me to do so since my local gamestore doesn't organize play for anything other than Warhammer and MtG. Like for example OPR's Fantasy game and Vincy V's Reign in hell. Main reason why I like both is because they're miniature agnostic games and ever since I got into 3d printing I've just been building armies based entirely on the models I wanna use but in Age of Sigmar I always struggle with getting it to work thanks to silly rules like requiring 3 battlelines. Most factions just don't have an option for single model,elite battleline so you're usually immediately forced to have like 30 models you don't even want in your army and that is just not fun for me.
Im glad you found a miniature game your passionate about that isn't warhammer. I recently switched from warhammer to Infinity and I cant imagine going back.
A lot of the mechanics you discuss in this game remind me of Oathmark, by the author of Frostgrave rules. A big advantage of Oathmark is you can use low fantasy miniatures already in your collection.
Hmm gotta say. After coming into warhammer 40k a year ago and like you said only having the GW/warhammer glasses. I rlly like how you explained this and sounds perfect to what kind of miniature war-game I like. That chess refrence was spot on too i never rlly liked the whole move my entire army then yours turn seemed idk a little lack luster and not as stragegic
Cool to hear that you're enjoying a game that captures the feeling of when you started wargaming. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about it and hope you continue to have an awesome time with it :)
Also the ASOIAF minis are so much fun to paint. Have a ton of detail and are much more affordable than GW minis. Not sure theyll ever introduce the Army of the Dead but it would be fun to have a special set of rules for them, or like a Pandemic-style players vs. Game expansion.
Rank and file troops on a movement tray is one of the biggest things I miss about Warhammer fantasy because every damn game now is a skirmish game. 40 pikeman on a movement tray slowly sliding forwards and being cockblocked a boulder because you deployed poorly just brings back good memories.
Historical ancient and medieval tabletop games is my thing and has been for 35 years. I find history more fascinating and deeper than lore created by a fantasy or sci fi setting (although it can be cool too). The figures I play with are smaller (15mm) but a standard game can have a couple of hundred miniatures on the table for each side. Armies and units do not have special abilities, but armies have individual flavour based upon their historical structure.
Last year I delved into WH40K and find it interesting and different. The lore is interesting, the figures fantastical and fun to paint. The game play is very different from historical wargames. A lot of it is about heroic single figures and stacked buffs/debuffs/effects. I really prefer the historical stuff but it is all fun and in the end it is great that there is heaps of variety so people can find and play the game they love.
I have been exploring Oathmark. I like their campaign game ideas and freedom to build your kingdom as you wish. It's not perfect and you can play a game with 2 boxes of miniatures, One for each side.
What a great review for a great game. I bought into this game a couple months ago myself. I have found a lot of joy in painting the models and playing. I am glad to see someone with such a large following tell people about it.
Going through the same thing. Rediscovering my love of miniature games and hobbying again. Finally got play in person games at my LGS and can't wait to play more again.
I have recently gotten into Moonstone. The game barely uses dice and is a lot of fun to be able to pick what you want in a faction and have them work well together.
Just got into Conquest, last argument of kings, and it's freakin awesome in a lot of ways. Also infinity has been a good companion for some time now... Planning on testing punkapocaliptic and saga.
Acronyms can skip the connecting words. Example: NASA = National Aeronautics and Space Administration :. Therefore this can happen: a Song of Ice and Fire = SIF
As soon as I find someone who plays it, I'll try it. I'm overjoyed that you produced content about non-GW product. The community needs more of that (I understand why people use it so frequently). Great video. You've got some new camera tricks that I haven't seen before!
I'm not saying this video is part of the wave of anti-GW sentiment rolling through the RU-vids over the past couple of months, BUT...now that channels like yours have developed such amazing reach, I think it's a good thing for the hobby as a whole to see people like you exposing the GW community to excellent games from other publishers. There's no denying that GW has a pretty dysfunctional and frankly exploitive attitude toward its audience (charging $200 for $6 worth of plastic and a $20 book in a $12 box, and requiring long-time players to buy $200 worth of books in six months to get about 20 pages of content to keep a thousdand-dollar army they've been playing for a decade competitive). It can only help both GW and its community to be reminded that there are literally dozens of great games and thousands of great models out there that have nothing to do with Warhammer.
I would really love too see now if this, maybe some painting videos or just anything to be honest 😂 going to buy this at the end of the month too play with my dad and some friends! Thank you for this video!
Low fantasy is exactly why I liked warhammer fantasy and its models way more than AOS. I like that medieval realism with the occasional magical item, wizard, or monster instead of every unit having huge armor and weapons and magic and monsters everywhere.
Star Wars Legion was the first wargame I played (and painted actually) and I still love it. First...it's SW lol. But I like the mechanics behind it as well, including alternating activations.
Welcome to the club For me it was even like that I bought the game and knew absolutely nothing about Game of Throne except for the previews on TV. Until I showed it to a friend and he said "That's Game of Thrones" Then I started reading the books in (a little) shame
Great game. Great mechanics. Easy enough but super crunchy if you want. Super competitive or fun fluff with one of my favorite IPs. We tend to call it SONG.
Hello dude, I love your channel and can remember being younger and being obSESSED with your channel. Personally I really enjoy another sort of approach, and I prefer flames of war or Great War! 🙃
