Last night I had a game of Warhammer Ancients, first one in ages and also the first time I actually played the new 2.0 rules.

Naturally, I forgot to bring my camera so you'll have to live with these old pictures... but anyway, I was fielding a small Syracusan force. Contentwise it was pretty much early hoplite greek, but I chose Syracuse for two main reasons: First, as the WAB campaign progresses and game sizes increase, I'll be able to bring in my celts as mercenaries (hopefully filling in for my very few peltasts) and secondly because Syracuse fits better with the Project T theme and I wanted to see how they play under these rules.

Needless to say, I got royally spanked. Very much because I completely forgot the phalanx special rules for the first half of the game and even when I did remember them, I didn't get all the benefits because I didn't have the latest FAQ with me...

Nevertheless, it was a fun game. I'm not 100% sold on WAB, though. It rests too much on who manages to eyeball the charge distance better and gets the charge in and in general the combat lacks the ancients linear formation feel as the square unit blocks roll around the battlefield pretty much individually.

The tyrant will hire better bodyguards for the next game, but I think I will also test the Impetus! rules I recently bought.

Funny thing about Warhammer though, is that while it is so old and common that "everyone knows the rules", it has gone through so many editions and changes that you only think you know the rules when you really get down to the details. You know there's a rule for this, you know one version, but was that really how it went in this edition? In the end, you still have to look it up.

maxxon