Warhammer AoS VS Fantasy

Fantasy is better than AoS.

Now that I have your attention, Warhammer is owned by a company called Games Workshop. The Warhammer series of games involves playing a strategy game which involves painting and building figures and battling them on a table or map, rolling dice to show how many units are destroyed. This is a very simplified version in case you, my dear readers, aren’t entirely familiar.

Photo by Jack B on Unsplash

For those who have played either of these games (or both,) their positions in the game rankings is a contentious topic. I will start off by saying I have never personally played Age of Sigmar (AoS) and I have played Fantasy but a little. I have dug into the lore a decent amount, on the other hand, and am a big fan of it.

 With the background and basic information given, Fantasy is better than AoS. Fantasy had bigger armies and better variety as well as a much better story behind it. There is another system called Warhammer 40k which is a science fiction game version of the franchise. AoS is widely considered a watered-down version of the 40k game. It has been simplified and troops were reduced. The armies also went from 15 distinct races to being condensed into four factions, making the game’s format less personalized. These races now have no personal goals. The game was brought from a roleplaying tabletop large-scale strategy game to a small-scale conglomeration of other similar races being brought together.

It’s hard not to see this as a dumbing-down of the game. The rules had been greatly simplified as well. It went from having individual army books of several hundred pages and a primary rule book of 528 pages in the last edition to one rule book of four pages and some online stats for the other races. The main advantage which derives from this is it costs a great deal less.

The people who do play AoS often mock those who don’t enjoy it by stating that they are just resistant to change. The older players are upset by a super-simplified version of their game. Their pieces no longer match the armies they’re supposed to represent and the rules for their armies have been removed or entirely changed.

The lore itself took a very strange turn, going into a multiverse and completely killing off a few races. These races have people who have been playing them for up to 10 years. This, of course, upset quite a few people. The idea behind this was to make newer players interested in the game. The problem persists, though: it does interest newer players, but continues to push away the players who have been playing it for years.

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Mark Drew has been LARPing for three and a half years, at Ashendael Underworld, has been a Dungeon Master using edition 3.5, he is 25 years old and has worked in fast food, and manual labor. He’s been working on a novel for several years.

Halloween Board Games

Since we’re in the season for it I thought I’d talk about my two favourite horror board games I’ve played: Betrayal at House on the Hill and Elder Sign. These are both games you should play with your friends on this Halloween.

Betrayal at House on the Hill is a dangerous one, to be sure, but one of the primary joys of it is that you almost never play the same game. It’s so variable. The way the system works: it has several players with a figure they move around a board. The players find various items that can be both helpful and harmful. The game will then have an increasing chance for a kind of item you find that can either turn you into a monster or make you die at the hands of a monster.

Photo by Ján Jakub Naništa on Unsplash

The player then plays as the said monster and begins either purposefully hunting the other players to destroy them, or have pre-set conditions to make it likely that the players get killed or lose the game. There is an entire book about these conditions which are kept a secret from the other players.

When the transformation happens, the monster reads out what happens to the other players adding some flavour to the whole situation. The game is meant to be played with a bit of a cutthroat stance of mind. The main problem that arrives from playing it is when people try to be to kind to each other. It’s not as fun unless the challenge is presented. I have gone through that on more than one occasion. In all other regards it’s a pleasure to play and can be played several times in one evening to make things interesting.

Elder Sign is a game based in the Cthulhu mythos that has you and several other friends trying to prevent the end of the world by flipping cards, each representing further terrifying situations. The classic events that are often involved in these stories feature prominently, such as playing a detective or a scientist. In this game you have health and sanity as resources that both go down from failing certain endeavours that are attempts to save the world. As the title says, you need to gather Elder Signs which are clues to saving the world. You get a random horror from the mythos to go against and each one does different threats against the world. Some will simply destroy the world right away, but others will simply add more danger to the players and make the game exceptionally more difficult by trying to kill the players or making all their actions more difficult.

This season I hope you enjoy playing these games with your friends and may you defeat your monsters or be the best monster you can be.

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Mark Drew has been LARPing for three and a half years, at Ashendael Underworld, has been a Dungeon Master using edition 3.5, he is 25 years old and has worked in fast food, and manual labor. He’s been working on a novel for several years.

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Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 is the best version you'll ever play

If you’ve ever played Dungeons & Dragons you’ve likely at one point or another played Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition. It is the best edition due to the fact that it has the most freedom to pursue various goals from being a monstrous creature to being a simple farmer. It has a varied amount of background skills that can be used in a fun and manageable format.

There were, of course, first, second and third editions as well. These editions had some rough points in them. They were, of course, earth shattering and made a monumental movement. It made the game system too hard to do anything in the earlier editions. Critical hits did not even exist until the second edition which is a critical (pun intended) aspect of the game as a whole. It wasn’t even a guaranteed strike! It was only effectively two attacks. Then in the third it was always a hit and dealt extra damage and there was a way to make it more likely to get them making the game more enjoyable.

There is also the edition which must not be named, but I shall name it here. The fourth edition. It was one of the most reviled editions of D&D posted. This edition attempted to make the game feel less like a creative and free-form boardgame and more into a hard and fast video game. This was removing the primary advantages which are inherent in a game without any preprogrammed walls and abilities. The lack of creativity that can be used in creation of items usable within the game and making combat quicker as well as more streamlined removed the freedom that makes the game more appealing than classic video games.

Fifth edition is a good edition – I won’t deny that – but it has a bit of fourth edition’s problems, just watered down. It adds simplicity which does make the game more palatable to newer players. Getting new players into the game is important. To do otherwise will make a game die. It is too simple though. It still limits the ability to make things and grow in new and interesting directions. No edition has as many supplementary books as edition 3.5. Fifth edition can be a good starting point for new players. If you’re ready to go somewhere and stay there? If you want to keep playing the game and truly get the undiluted experience, play Dungeons and Dragons Edition 3.5.

What is LARP?

Live Action Role Playing is the activity of going out to pretend to be someone or something else. It most often involves improvisational acting. The people who participate in it vary widely. As someone who has participated in that community I can personally confirm that the people who participate vary from those of military backgrounds, fast-food employees, teachers, and artists. They come from all walks of life and were inspired to do it for a variety of reasons.

One of the primary reasons people often speak of not wishing to participate in LARP is their concern that they lack acting experience or had never played Dungeons & Dragons. I have found that most people who have participated in LARP actually don’t have any past experiences of that kind. They more often have some interest in fantasy novels or physical activities which lends themselves well to the physical activity required by the hobby.

The kind of LARP I have known is a full weekend high combat event. High combat meaning it has a lot of running and swinging safe weapons at one another. What is swung is generally a latex boffer weapon which is made to be safe for light hits. There are safety measures involved to prevent undue injury, such as only being allowed to swing at a ninety-degree angle and having the weapons checked before game to ensure they are unlikely to cause actual injuries to people. The other form of weapon that can be constructed is foam. I will not go into the detail of its construction here but they are meant to be safe to hit anywhere but the head.

My friend’s boffer made to look like a frying pan.

It is a very high intensity LARP as you can not leave character until the game is over, which is a full weekend camping excursion. This kind of LARP also has high roleplaying aspects as you are supposed to stay in character the entire time.

Not all LARPs are quite as intensive as that. There is another kind that involves purely combat oriented action. If anyone has ever participated in paintball it would be similar to a medieval style paintball game of taking people out and trying to survive and it can last only an afternoon if desired. This is high combat, low roleplaying. 

There are other kinds of LARP which have no combat at all and are purely roleplay. These are often called parlour LARPs. One of the most common would be Vampire the Masquerade. There are various other kinds and I myself have never done that one. Instead I’ve participated in some science fiction versions which are also done in an evening and often have a set goal to achieve. They are people driven and sometimes involve puzzles. The most important is interaction and acting as your character would.

There are even more kinds of LARP out there but these are some of the most common brief forms present in Canada. I would suggest trying it out to anyone. Remember: there’s no need to be intimidated by a new and odd hobby; it’s just a chance to do something different.

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Mark Drew

Mark Drew has been LARPing for three and a half years, at Ashendael Underworld, has been a Dungeon Master using edition 3.5, he is 25 years old and has worked in fast food, and manual labor. He’s been working on a novel for several years.