Two Rounds, Two Hours: My First 1,000-Point Game

The orange Stormcast were finally ready, so I headed over to Peter's for our first proper 1,000-point game of Age of Sigmar: my Stormcast Eternals against his Flesh-eater Courts, about 950 points each.

The night started with a laugh. When I got there, I spotted a shiny new General's Handbook on the side. Peter had bought it because he thought we'd need it. I had to break the news that Claude and I had changed direction, and we were playing with the free rules instead. To be fair to him, it came in handy anyway: we used the objective markers from it to set up Border War's four objectives.

The armies

I brought Lord-Terminos with a unit of Reclusians, Lord-Vigilant on Gryph-stalker, Lord-Veritant, ten Vanquishers, Liberators and three Prosecutors. Peter brought an Abhorrant Gorewarden, Grand Justice Gormayne, a Royal Decapitator, two units of Crypt Flayers, Crypt Horrors, and Cryptguard: one unit of 10, and one reinforced unit of 20.

I'll come back to that unit of 20.

Round 1

Peter's Crypt Flayers went straight for my Lord-Veritant, screaming at him from range, and he was about to be finished off. I used the Counter-charge command to throw my Vanquishers in the way, which saved him from an early death and felt like a very Stormcast thing to do.

They had their moment, too: the Gorewarden only managed two hits against them, and they hit back hard with 14 hits from 20 attacks. Annoyingly, it survived thanks to one of the Flesh-eater Courts' Delusions, an army rule that changes each round. Worth knowing about if you ever face them.

Then Peter's Royal Decapitator tried to take my Lord-Vigilant's head off, and that started our first proper rules debate of the night. The ability depends on how much health the target has, and we couldn't agree whether that meant the damage he'd already taken or his full Health. Peter rolled a 6, and Lord-Vigilant was "executed" and taken off the table. Then I checked the rules: read properly, Peter needed an 8. Lord-Vigilant was back on the table!

My Reclusians weren't so lucky. Reinforced units hit hard. Really hard. That unit of 20 Cryptguard, every one of them with more than one attack, piled in with something like 46 attacks and tore them apart. I was a bit gutted: the Reclusians look great and they're meant to be the ones doing the chopping, but they were swallowed whole by a huge ball of rotten death. Lord-Terminos would go the same way in round 2.

I did score Seize the Centre as my battle tactic. Round 1 ended 10–6 to Peter.

Round 2

Peter's Delusion that round brought models back to his Cryptguard, which felt a bit unfair given how much damage they'd already done. I rallied and brought back some Vanquishers.

My three Prosecutors finally got their moment: the Vanquishers had already done most of the work on the Gorewarden, and the Prosecutors finished it off, so the Gorewarden went down in round 2. Their range came in really handy here, and it's made me rethink how I set up my army: being able to pick off enemy Heroes is really useful.

Then the 20 Cryptguard found Lord-Terminos. Fifteen saves needed, and nowhere near enough Health to survive it.

Grand Justice Gormayne also used his artefact on my Reclusians, which started our second debate: does my Ruination Chamber protect against an artefact? We read it through together and agreed that it does.

My Lord-Veritant's prayer came off, I brought back more models with a rally, and by the end of round 2 it was 16–15 to Peter. We'd been playing for two hours, so we called it there.

Pizza, and why this hobby works for me

Two hours is a long time on an empty stomach, so we ordered from Stupid Good Pizza in Heaton. It lived up to the name. There's something very right about a pizza box on the edge of a battlefield, and Peter leaning in for a slice mid-round.

It was a genuinely great night. Over the years I've spent plenty of evenings out, and this was a different kind of good night: a table, an army each, people I care about, and something to think hard about. And it's not just the games. Building, painting, reading up on units and writing these posts have all become part of it, and it's the kind of hobby you can really sink your time into.

Next up is a Spearhead game with my best mate James (the one who swapped a night at the pub for painting), trying out different armies.

What I learned

• Reinforced units are no joke. A reinforced unit is twice its minimum size, at twice the points. Twenty Cryptguard throw out a lot of attacks, and I had nothing that could deal with them.
• I need more ranged units. My three Prosecutors did some of my best work all game.
• The battletome beats the screen. Peter had his, and every time we had a question it was quicker and clearer than anything else. I've since bought mine.
• Write down army rules that change each round. Peter forgot his Feeding Frenzy Delusion the whole game, and it would have made those Cryptguard even worse.
• Set up your terrain properly. We had some terrain from my starter box, but I don't think we placed it correctly. That's going into the Game Assistant's setup steps.
• Two rounds in two hours is normal for beginners. We'll be quicker next time.

How the Game Assistant did

This was the first real test of the Game Assistant, and honestly it was a mixed bag.

The good: it kept the whole game on track. Unit health and models left (our last game was an Excel sheet), command points (we'd have forgotten them all game), battle tactics, scoring and the setup flow were all genuinely brilliant. Without it, I doubt we'd have got through a full game.

The not so good: as a rules reference it couldn't compete with the battletome, and some screens tried to show far too much. Peter barely looked at anything except the command point prompts. A few of the dice results got some side-eye too, mostly because mine went better than his.

So I'm making changes. The Game Assistant is becoming a companion to your battletome: it tracks the game and keeps it moving, and your battletome tells you the rules. It'll be simpler, quicker to glance at, and you'll set your army up once and reuse it.

Next time: more rounds, fewer Reclusian funerals, and a plan for those Cryptguard.