7/23/2012

OLDHAMMER.

After reading some articles about Oldhammer in different blogs but especially in Diario de un Friki and Somewhere the tea is getting cold, me and my buddy felt the need to dust off his WFB rules 3erd edition and give it a try.

Después de leer algunos artículos en varios blogs pero sobre todo en el de Diario de un Friki y el de Somewhere the tea is getting cold , a mí y a mi colega nos entraron ganas de desempolvar la 3ª edición de WFB y probarla. 

My buddy has many old school Warhammer armies but none of them painted; and me well, I sold my Orc's army from 2nd edition long ago and some things from Chaos 6th edition as well. So neither of us had fantasy armies to play Oldhammer, but then we saw the mercenary list of Norses we then decided to use our Foundry Vikings.

Mi colega tiene varios ejércitos de la vieja escuela pero están sin pintar y yo lo que tenía lo vendí, así que no teníamos con que jugar hasta que nos dimos cuenta de que podíamos usar nuestros vikingos de Foundry como Norsemen.

We both had enough Vikikings to field 1.000 point armies each mounted on Litko's skirmish trays. We would not be using flyers, cavalry, artillery and magic but at least we'd be using magic weapons and stardards as well as champions for the units. The idea behind this game was to get a taste of the ruleset and decide if it will be worth to build old school Warhammer fantasy armies once again or not.

Teníamos suficientes vikingos para jugar con dos ejércitos de mil puntos cada uno. No usaríamos voladores, caballería, artillería ni magia pero al menos si usaríamos armas y estandartes mágicos así como campeones en las unidades. La idea era probar el reglamento y decidir si nos gustaba lo suficiente como para pintar un ejército de WFB. 

First turn of the battle. On the left three units of warriors + 1 of archers vs. three units of warriors + 1 of Berserkers on the right.

Primer turno. A la izquierda 3 unidades de guerreros + 1 de arqueros y a la derecha otras 3 unidades de guerreros + 1 de Berserkers.


My Berserkers charge but clash against a wall of spears. They held several turns but could not hurt seriously the enemy unit.

Mis Berserkers cargaron pero el enemigo tenía lanzas y golpearon primero. Aguanté varios turnos pero no pude hacer mucho daño.


My general with his magic sword Frostblade killed my buddy's general on the first round of combat. Then, he together with the Army Standard bearer destroyed the whole unit in a couple of turns!

Mi general mató al general de mi colega de un solo golpe con su espada Frostblade. Luego, junto con el estandarte del ejército, masacró a la unidad enemiga en un par de turnos.


My buddy's archers were shooting during all the game at my Huscarls (Norse warriors with shield and chainmail) and finally routed them. In the forest in the middle of the table another or my units without champion was also decimated and routed. My unit with the general and standard army destroyed another enemy unit and after that we decided to finish the game. It was a mutual slaughter.

Los arqueros de mi amigo estuvieron toda la partida disparando a mis Huscarls y al final los desbandaron. También se desbandó otra unidad mía que no tenía campeón. Mi general destruyó a otra unidad enemiga y después de eso decidimos dejar la partida. Había sido una masacre general por ambos lados.


After the game we had a chat about if we liked or not and if we were going to play it once again. We had mixed feelings as we thought there were too many dice rolls and that magic and heroes above level 15 could unbalance the game. But on the other hand we also enjoyed the game quite a bit with the manoeuvres and retiring casualties from units. Naturally, we took into account the fact that we played without almost all the things that make this game fun; we felt we were playing WAB instead.
We finally decided that we will leave it for the moment but maybe next year we will start to build armies to play it again.

Después de la partida estuvimos charlando sobre sí volvíamos al vicio Warhammer o no. Habían cosas que nos gustaron y otras no tanto. Por un lado no nos gustó el tener que tirar tantos dados ni tampco como se pasaban algunos objetos mágicos y los héroes de nivel más de 15, pero si nos gustó maniobrar con las unidades e ir quitando las bajas una por una. Por supuesto que tuvimos en cuenta que estabamos jugando sin casi todo lo que hace divertido al fantasy; la verdad es que parecía que jugabamos al WAB.
Al final decidimos dejarlo de momento y veríamos el año que viene.

16 comments:

  1. Mutual slaughter - nice!

    Nice looking game - interesting to see WFB played without many fantasy elements in it.
    Never played WAB but have the rulebook knocking around somewhere.

    My advice would be to get a load of wizards, monsters and demons and give it another go!

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  2. Of course you're right as it's what Fantasy is all about, but it was our first game and we decided to use Basic Rules and no magic to have things under control. We should be playing another game and this time with wizards and monsters but regretfully we don't have any to play, just those vikings.
    Eventrually, my buddy will paint his wonderfuls old scholl armies some day and then we will be able to play Oldhammer as it should be played.
    Cheers Thansants,

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    1. Look forward to seeing some high fantasy from you chaps some day :)

      Must say I quite liked the fact you played with regular troops, not every game should be like some climactic battle from Lord of the Rings - also I'm sure there's a really good campaign there. Norse tribe rises in renown through various internecine conflicts with neighbouring tribes. As they rise in power more powerful heroes flock to their cause, along with wizards/shamans bearing magical weapons and fantastical creatures. You could up the ante in Fantasy terms each game you played - miniature collections permitting of course!

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    2. I'm almost sure you will see something next summer, when we have some armies painted. As you said, it's miniature collection permitting!

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  3. I remember 3rd very vaguely magic if I remember could be very powerful and one sided so be wary.

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    1. Yes and that's why we decided not to use heroes or magicians above level 15.
      Cheers,

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  4. I can remember my units of goblins being blasted to bits by Empire Wizards

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    1. Precisely. And where were your Goblin Shamans when that happened? :)

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  5. Por fin alguien que publica una partida de Oldhammer.

    Muy interesante.

    Ah! me alegro de que ya te dignes a traducir el texto, es mucho más legible y agradable ahora.

    Felicidades

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  6. Los vicios de WHFB también están presentes en WHAB. Recuerdo una situación realmente idiota jugando con bizantinos que me quitaron todas las ganas de jugar.

    Tal vez el punto está en jugar como Oldhammer fantástico disfrutando de situaciones absurdas (¡y muy fantásticas!) y no tomarse muy en serio el sistema (que no lo es :P).

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    1. Totalmente de acuerdo. Además yo juego a esto con el colega de toda la vida y lo hacemos para divertirnos. Más que tomarmelo en serio lo que sí quiero es pasar un rato agradable.
      Supongo que a parte de si está bien o mal, WFB lo viví hace 20 años y jugarlo de nuevo me lleva a tiempos más felices y despreocupados.

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  7. Third Edition is what I played briefly. I've been intrigued by Oldhammer. Thanks for the report.

    PS- Almost done with my Talomir battle.

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    1. I guess if you played it briefly is because you didn't like it, did you?
      Can't wait for your battle in Talomir, but don't tell me the result, I rather see it on the blog once you publish it.
      Cheers,

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  8. Very good - another impressive AAR!

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  9. Thank you Monty, too kind!
    Cheers,

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