And so, on a gloomy Saturday afternoon two consenting male adults met behind closed doors in the confines of a house in Stevenage Old Town. Their aim, to test out the Oathmark Fantasy game system, written by Joseph McCullough, the author of the popular Frostgrave skirmish game.
“Male A” had brought a Goblin horde to the table, “Male B” a re-purposed Viking army which was serving as a “Human” army. A Christian priest doubled as a “Spellcaster”.
The Humans were fielding large, deep close-combat units, the Goblins a larger number of smaller units of spear, bow, wolf-riders and an artillery piece.
“Male A” decided to advance on a short front with a refused left wing. The goblins were more strung out. The artillery/ballista hit the human archer unit. Carnage. With a range of 42” and positioned in a hill it could dominate the whole battlefield. This was going to be tricky. (Note 1) The Humans ploughed on towards the Goblin line as the Goblin left started to sweep round the flank. The archers took more damage and eventually fled the field. Then the human line hit the Goblins. One Goblin unit fled but more were there to take their place. Eventually the Goblins turned the human flank and the Humans departed the field in defeat.
So, what did we make of the much-vaunted Oathmark. It is a very simple set of rules. We took two hours simply because we didn’t know them. The rules are a bit frustrating in their layout, but nothing too problematic. Probably a decent set of rules for those who want to play Fantasy in the style of Warhammer or Kings of War.
That said if Osprey released “Oathmark Historical” (as with Kings of War Historical) would I play them in preference to To the Strongest. Definitely not (Note2) .
Simon
Note (1) The artillery debate was akin to the Palmyran Cataphract discussion albeit not conducted in Australian. It seemed a very powerful weapon for the points cost. That said its “power” could have been down to the limited terrain which did allow if to dominate the batttlefield .
Note (2) People may recall that Simon Miller did plan a “Fantasy” version of TtS, which indeed was intended to be released after the Ancient set. I wonder what ever happened to them. I must ask him!
“Male A” had brought a Goblin horde to the table, “Male B” a re-purposed Viking army which was serving as a “Human” army. A Christian priest doubled as a “Spellcaster”.
The Humans were fielding large, deep close-combat units, the Goblins a larger number of smaller units of spear, bow, wolf-riders and an artillery piece.
“Male A” decided to advance on a short front with a refused left wing. The goblins were more strung out. The artillery/ballista hit the human archer unit. Carnage. With a range of 42” and positioned in a hill it could dominate the whole battlefield. This was going to be tricky. (Note 1) The Humans ploughed on towards the Goblin line as the Goblin left started to sweep round the flank. The archers took more damage and eventually fled the field. Then the human line hit the Goblins. One Goblin unit fled but more were there to take their place. Eventually the Goblins turned the human flank and the Humans departed the field in defeat.
So, what did we make of the much-vaunted Oathmark. It is a very simple set of rules. We took two hours simply because we didn’t know them. The rules are a bit frustrating in their layout, but nothing too problematic. Probably a decent set of rules for those who want to play Fantasy in the style of Warhammer or Kings of War.
That said if Osprey released “Oathmark Historical” (as with Kings of War Historical) would I play them in preference to To the Strongest. Definitely not (Note2) .
Simon
Note (1) The artillery debate was akin to the Palmyran Cataphract discussion albeit not conducted in Australian. It seemed a very powerful weapon for the points cost. That said its “power” could have been down to the limited terrain which did allow if to dominate the batttlefield .
Note (2) People may recall that Simon Miller did plan a “Fantasy” version of TtS, which indeed was intended to be released after the Ancient set. I wonder what ever happened to them. I must ask him!
No comments:
Post a Comment