Saturday 4 September 2021

Oathmark : Take Two

We wanted to give Oathmark another run out with our LOTR collections. We increased the points slightly and brought in the extra ‘bonus’ of characters ? As we get to grips with the rules we kept the scenario simple….kill as many of the enemy as you can ! I took just a few shots of the battle as we concentrated on playing.

Once again a Gondorian force against the Orc Hordes, the Gondorians are supported by two units of Rangers of Ithilien led by Faramir a Captain of Gonder
The usually Gondorian armoured units
The enemy have a troll this time
In hindsight we felt the blocks of infantry were a little squished in, the Gondorian knights led by Boromir got out of position and were wiped out far to quickly in fact before they had a chance to do anything
Fighting in and around the woods, the troll which has fairly poor morale was peppered by arrows and disappointingly also died before he was able to get stuck in properly
The Rangers in the woods of course.

Sorry I didn’t take too many photos. In the end it was a pretty clear Orc victory too many Gondorians had given away their lives rather needlessly.

Some thoughts on the rules…. Archery seems a little too powerful, the block infantry approach is very warhammer based but they need more space to manoeuvre, the characters are incredibly expensive points wise but have a fairly limited impact, as far as we could see they just improve your ability to activate. Which isn’t a great issue for the Gondorians anyway ? Overall they are interesting with the use of the D10 but we did find ourselves looking up the modification table a little too often. We’ll certainly give them at least one more go to try a different scenario capturing objectives perhaps. I’m not sure they are sufficiently different for me to get a copy, I fear the points based systems lend themselves to a more competitive approach which can detract from the game if not careful.

Nice to get the LOTR figures on the battlefield though.

Lots of painting at the moment in the dungeon and the development of a hex based setup ! 

Probably a short hiatus in posts depending on the internet connection as I am away for a week walking Hadrian’s Wall with my son. I will share some photos and we will be doing some wargaming on the way. 😀😀😀


16 comments:

  1. Fab looking game as always, Matt. Hex-based gaming? I like it! Looking forward to seeing the results of your Hadrian Wall hike.

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  2. Nice looking game Matt although the rules sound a bit clunky perhaps? I was never a fan of Warhammer - I played a game of their ECW rules once with my mate Nick and all the individual one to one combat when we had a cavalry melee involving 36 figures per side did my head in - talk about buckets full of dice! Enjoy your walk - I find it interesting you say you will be having some wargames along the way - very intriguing!

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  3. Lovely looking game with my favourite fantasy world :)
    Best regards

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  4. Lovely sized game. It has the instant look of a Kings of War type game, would those rules have given you something closer to what you were hoping for?

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  5. Great looking game, still to try the Oathmark rules

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  6. Lovely looking game! Ive been thinking of using my fantasy figures with dragon Rampant or maybe getting oathmark, maybe I won't bother with oathmark?
    Best Iain

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  7. Cool looking game. New rules always tricksy. Either good, bad or youve played them wrong.

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  8. I think as the other player I should sound a more positive note. Yes, the rules are a bit like Warhammer, but far simpler. There is a single dice roll of five or less dice to determine each combat or shooting. The use of d10 allows subtle but significant differences, so the men activating on a 5 makes them more reliable than the orcs activating on a 6. However, the characters help in this regard and the orc commanders certainly made a big difference to the way they played. Archery had a big impact, but then Matt did field four or five units form a total of about ten, so half the army were shooters. Personally, think there is plenty of scope, far more than rampant. We have yet to try scenarios, magic, champions and the campaign system. Dismissing them after two simple games seems overly harsh.

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  9. Enjoy the walk Matt! Look forward to some uplifting photos too. Gnomes and Fairies though, shame, not for me! Now, if they were 10mm 😉

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  10. Nice looking game Matt. I always think you have to give a set of rules at least three goes before you can gain an accurate impression and really get the flow of them.

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  11. A fine looking game and pictures. It's always nice to get a view on different rules too. Have a grand walking trip, photos will be most welcome🙂

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  12. A lovely looking game…
    I’m not that much into fantasy gaming… given my job it always feels a bit like a busman’s holiday…
    But having said that I do have a soft spot for the Lord of the Rings range…

    All the best. Aly

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  13. A great looking game. I haven't tried Oathmark. From what I've seen, I don't think it has what I want in a big battle game. I've been working on my own set of rules instead. They're coming along but family matters have put them on hiatus for the time being.

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  14. A great looking game but the rules aren't my cup of tea. enjoy your walk and hope the weather holds for you.

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  15. Very nice Matt, good to see the toys on the table, I did have a look at Oathmark but will be sticking with Infamy for now.
    Cheers
    Stu

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  16. Always nice to see the lotr troops on the table. I appreciated your take on the rules as well. Have fun on the wall. 😀

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