The IX Age – Why/Why Not and so on

[limburger 21683xp 0]

@switzhobbies I apologize if my post was a bit more blunt than it needed to be.
It is hard to get the tone across in text.

Of course the system isn’t ‘dead’ (no system ever is if there are people playing) and there definitely is no such thing as ‘wrong fun’.
Fact is that after 4 years it has gathered as big a community as it can possibly ever get.

If there was a market for this style of game then we ought to have seen more competition within this type from the industry itself. And that hasn’t happened.
Runewars is suspiciously quiet.
The Game of Thrones game may have a chance yet, but I suspect it may have run out of momentum too.

Part of this may have been its origin too. At least from what I’ve heard of the system has only ever been in the context of it meant to continue WFB that was ‘killed’ by GW. It was never in the context of “this is a cool system for mass fantasy combat”.

And then you’ve got the recent kickstarter for a few armies.
That campaign was not exactly aimed at new players and it also made a very big deal out of the competitive nature of the system.

This lack of public face is what is stopping the system from gaining the audience it could have had.
Yes, Mantic made fun of the ‘golden boy’ … as pretty much everyone did. I think that is why they got away with it.
Plus … the Sigmarines serve the same purpose as the blue smurfs in 40k. No denying that either.

It is next to impossible to get rid of that bad first impression that 9th Age has made.
And that does suck, because it would be cool to see a fantasy rank&file/ mass combat system gain enough traction to become the new standard with that type of game.

I don’t know how that could be done with a purely fan-driven game like 9th Age.
Unlike videogames there is no option for mere amateurs to start the next big thing.
A lucky Kickstarter and a boost from websites like OTT is all there is … and that requires someone to want to become the de-facto face of the system.

[woldenspoonsParticipant 3557xp 1]

@switzhobbies I’m a pathfinder for Mantic so I appreciate the good fight. Hopefully more choice of games means more gamers and it is nice to know somewhere out there Archaon didn’t win and it’s carrying on regardless. I presume no novels are released anymore so is the background touched upon at all?

[zeker1966 1633xp 0]

So back to the question posed. I personally don’t play 9th Age though there is a handful of people that do at the club I belong to. I do play and collect AoS. I also have much of Mantic’s stuff (though I haven’t actually played any games).

The models and the new fluff for AoS attracts me to the system. The potential for a small model count is also attractive. Though it should be pointed out that like 40K the model count can get quite large for a 2000pt game.

9th Age and mass battle games are not attractive to me (at the 28-35mm scale) because it is blocks of soldiers and the actual models don’t really matter or at least that’s how I feel. To me the point of mass battle games is the tactical depth of large armies and how they interact on. the table top. I just feel that if I want that sort of game I should be playing at a different scale like 10mm or even 6mm. At that scale I think it would provide a depth for the movement of units and flanking, etc. At the larger scale and unless you have a truly large table you are very quickly engaged and the tactics of movement are muted.

I could be wrong but that is my impression. In the end I’m all for everyone playing what they want to play. As for the system growing? I very much doubt it will grow beyond the fans that it has.

If my experience at my club at all represents reality than after 40K (and now kill Team) it is a long way to the next game as far as interest level is concerned. Blood Bowl, Guild Ball, Warmahordes, AoS all have similar sized followings at my local club. Boardgames and a few card games also have decent followings. If another game is to make inroads at the club it really needs an advocate. 9th Age has one in our club but so far I don’t think there has been many if any converts.

[switzhobbiesParticipant 459xp 1]

@woldenspoons

There is fluff being written! Imo its quite good. There was 1 pure fluff book made up for the Demon book

https://www.the-ninth-age.com/filebase/index.php?file/764

Its a fun read, a shameless nod to Dante’s inferno, and IMO a good glimpse into the work being done. I’m really liking the fluff, the world feels less grimdark, while at the same time no one feels objectively evil, not even demons or followers of the dark gods.

FWIW – mantic is well loved in the T9A community because theres lots of support for “classic” fantasy there. Especially the new monster/demon army. The T9A community got a chuckle, because that dropped the same time as the new Demon Army book!

@zeker1966

Nothing is stopping you from using smaller scale minis in T9A! One of the french translators plays using paper tokens and half scale (he converted everything to cm) because he plays in rural west africa away from his models.

I know some have discussed using 15mm/10mm minis and basing multiple models per base – heck I’ve been tempted to do this for other armies.

The game doesnt use true line of sight, and the base/unit footprint is all that really matters.

My advice – ask the guy at your club for a few demo games. T9A is very much about maneuvre and positioning – much moreso than whfb 8th was (the smash up in the middle is much less common).

As for physical size, strter sized armies (like the one from TMS’s) quickstarter are about 30-50 models and they flush out the core. Horde armies (rats, skellies, gobbos,etc…) Can all end up over 100minis for normal sized games.

But warriors, elves, dwarves, etc… Are all in the 50-100 range depending on playstyle etc… Since the balance is quite good, theres no “bad list” IMO. The game doesnt punish fun or fluffy ideas 🙂

Find out the forum tag of the T9A player in your club – I’ll hound him to make fun demos – its what im currently working on for my local area.

 

 

[switzhobbiesParticipant 459xp 0]

Update, this is a good video for a glimpse into some of the tactics and strategy:

Cheers!

[switzhobbiesParticipant 459xp 0]

https://www.the-ninth-age.com/index.php?thread/45142-golden-sword-ii/&postID=1171303#post1171303

 

T9A is running a painting competition for anyone who is interested!

[switzhobbiesParticipant 459xp 1]

Dark Wizard Gaming has begun a series of ‘learn to play’ videos

Have a look if you’re interested!

[bvandewalkerParticipant 2077xp 0]

Haven’t really played any games, though I do want try this and KoW. I like that it gave many mini companies a genric rule set to sell for (Watchful eye games terracotta Tomb Kings army KS thats on right now for example), wish Sci-fi had something similar on that grand a scale, might have helped the dreamforge grav stug KS (they are thinking about relaunching the grav stug).

 

 

[switzhobbiesParticipant 459xp 0]

@bvandewalker

I agree – the ‘liberation’ of mini companies to have a generic system to join to is important.

Kow vs T9A – it really matters what you want, fast-play rules with some generic stat blocks gives you kings of war. Its about the macro picture there and scales well to other sizes, as the footprint of the unit is all that matters. (15mm KoW is popular, as is using warmaster/10mm minis)

T9A is better at granular detail – if you enjoy list building and tweaking details, you’ll like T9A.

There are a couple ‘generic’ sci-fi games out there, but most of them are for such a small skirmish, its hard to create a product line for. I wish that Warlord released rules for Antares to use that system to ‘make your own’ sci fi system like you can do with Erehwon, that would be really good fun!

 

That said, I would love to see a “Laser Rampant” rulebook from Osprey!

[switzhobbiesParticipant 459xp 0]

New Issue of the 9th age magazine ‘The 9th Scroll’ is up

Hobby articles and miniature reviews are on there.

https://www.the-ninth-age.com/news/index.php?news/865-issue-15-of-the-9th-scroll/

C&C welcome!

[switzhobbiesParticipant 459xp 1]

For those who don’t know.

There is a raft of published works out now for T9A:

https://www.the-ninth-age.com/community/index.php?simple-page/

Fluff Books, Scenario supplements, alternate magic, terrain and weather, Mini-Games, side-games, and more.

Have a look!

[greyhunter88 1654xp 0]

You’ve convinced me to finally give it a go.

How out of date is the printed Rulebook on Amazon? It’s end of 2018.

Is it mostly just clarifications and errata, or have the core rules changed to the point where the printed book is now useless?

[darkvoivod 7112xp 0]

I played it on a convention a few years ago and quite liked it. It felled like old Warhammer, but actually better balanced. In the last editions it felled a lot of the armies where losing a lot of character and even if I only played a little there seemed massive balancing issues. I had wood-elves that really needed to play into their mobility to get the charge in, they where not tough enough to survive to much counter attacks. But highelves always struck first, charge or not and where better armoured.

The main reason I haven’t played more is that I’m constantly distracted by other games. I might get into it at some point.

[switzhobbiesParticipant 459xp 0]

@grayhunter88

It says 2018 becuase it was updated. I beleive the guy who does it has updated the amazon book each time we’ve done a revision.

if it is the 2018 rulebook, it is still completely valid – all that you get in the newest version is a two column layout, and the FAQ and Errata has been implemented into it.

heres the forum link to all the amazon books:

https://www.the-ninth-age.com/community/index.php?thread/43175-printed-rules-at-amazon-rulebook-gold-and-armybooks-version-2021/&postID=1124611#post1124611

@darkvoid – the balance is great. I didn’t really do tournaments until T9A because I found previous games (40k in this case) to be so unbalanced for formal play. I can pitch up in t9a and play a fun fluffy list, and still have a shot. I mean, i still lose because I’m terrible at it, but I give myself that glimmer of hope!

Check out the supplments, theres a tonne of fun stuff in there too!

 

[limburger 21683xp 0]

Perfect balance may exist in boardgames like chess, but it does not exist in wargames as there are too many variables to consider.
Anyone claiming it does needs their head examined.

People tend to claim something is unbalanced when they play an army without worrying about the rules, their opponent, terrain and their own strenghts as well as that of their own army (don’t play an army focused on movement when you prefer turtle tactics … ).

You don’t take on a tiger tank (or its fantasy equivalent) with unit that doesn’t have anti-tank capability.

And the most important lesson people forget :  NOT fighting is an option … use it.
Focus on objectives that your units can handle.
Don’t let the bullet magnet divert your attention from your objectives, but don’t ignore it either send in enough units to keep it occupied (you don’t need to kill it … in fact it is better if you don’t … ) or else your opponent can focus all of his attention on your army and you don’t want that either.

Same applies in reverse … make the enemy fight on your terms. Make sure your bullet magnet is shielded from dangerous units. Use terrain to your advantage or failing that use your cannon fodder .. that’s why it exists. Heck, smart players will use your units against you so think about what units can support what units at their location.

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