I started playing Armies of Arcana just under a year ago. I used to play warhammer fantasy battle and I had several large painted armies for that game system. When I tried my first few games of armies of arcana, I was delighted to realize that I would be able to find a new use for all of those warhammer armies. Here's a quick run-down on my view of the game:
Overall:
Armies of Arcana (AoA) is a fantasy battle game that works with either 28mm or 15mm miniatures. I play only at the 28mm scale. It is turn based and each turn is split into phases (movement, shooting, magic, combat, morale). Both players complete a phase before moving onto the next phase, which is an aspect I really like. This means that both players are constantly doing something and there is little time spent waiting for the other player to complete his entire turn before being able to respond.
Movement is handled well and one unique aspect of the game is that all units can adopt either skirmish or rank and file. They may switch between these two formations during the game and both have advantages and disadvantages. Skirmish formation allows for much better manoeuvrability and allows units to move through difficult terrain more easily. Rank and file formation is less manoeuvrable but grants the units greater bonuses in morale/courage and the mellee rules generally favour large rank and file formations when rank and file units are engaged with skirmishing units. That isn't always the case, however, as some units really excel while fighting in skirmish formation. However, without going into the details ... I've found this to be a really interesting aspect of the rules as whether to adopt skirmish or rank and file formation is a very tactical decision.
Shooting is powerful in this game and missile weapons closely match the effectiveness of their real-world counterparts. However, there are many tactics available to counter missile heavy forces so I haven not seen missile-heavy armies dominate in my games so far.
Magic is done very well. Most spells are support spells in nature and do things like making troops better, weakening enemy troops, creating terrain, summoning units, taking control of enemy troops temporarily and so forth. Magic is an expensive ability as wizards cost a lot so using them to just throw damage spells isn't a very wise idea. However, having a wizard summon a lake or forest in the right place or confuse an enemy unit at just the right moment can pay off in spades. Wizards can also use magic to turn very poor quality troops into much better warriors though the use of spells by granting them magical weapons, the ability to breath fire, extra limbs and so forth. Magic is also a very tactical aspect of the game.
Melee between units is resolved very quickly and is often quite brutal. Players resolve damage by rolling dice for each model's attacks and this usually results in a lot of casualties in a single phase, depending on which types of units are involved. In most situations, even if charged if you have troops in ranks you will get to hit back against the charger, sometimes at -1 if the trooper in the front rank has died.
The final phase is morale where players must test to see if units that have suffered casualties, are heavily outnumbered or were outmanoeuvred significantly lose their nerve and break. One thing I like is that units don't generally run away unless they have taken a significant beating and suffered heavy casualties. You don't get a situation where a big unit of infantry flee because a nearby unit was destroyed or ran away. To make an enemy battleline collapse, you really have to focus a lot of damage their way. Skirmish units break much more easily than rank and file units.
Things I liked:
- Great turn sequence. Constant player involvement as both players complete their movement, shooting, magic, etc before moving to the next phase.
- Superb balance between armies. All units are created using a standard creature creation formula (which is available printed in the rule book.) and has been intensively play-tested. This has resulted in very balanced armies across the board. I have so far never felt out-classed by my opponents army when playing equal point value games.
- Very tactical. I find myself constantly thinking about what do in my games ... how to manoeuvre my units, whether to adopt certain formations, which spells to try and cast and so on.
- Fast-paced action. A large game consisting of about 200 models per side can easily be played in under 2 hours once both players are familiar with the rules.
- Variety of army lists. There are around 15 army lists that come with the book and another 15 or so available for free on the web-site. You can use historical armies (Persians, Egyptians, Macedonians, Vikings, Saxons, Romans, Greeks, Celts, etc.) and all fantasy armies (high elves, goblins, orcs, wolf-men, ratmen, Lizardmen, Dark Elves, Dwarves, Wood Elves, Undead, Barbarians, Chaos, Giant-Kings, Halflings and Centaur Woodland Coalition etc.). There is also an official standard list of over a hundred monsters that any army can take so you can take a historical list and supplement it with fantasy monsters. You can also field artillery and vehicles.
- Price .... this game is very cheap. A single $20 rulebook is all you need. You can use ANY existing historical or fantasy miniatures you already have or wish to purchase from any manufacturer to play the game. Everything in terms of rules is included in the one rulebook or available for free on the website.
Areas for Improvement
- Vehicle rules are very flexible but a little clunky at the moment. The developer is currently producing trial rules that so far look very streamlined while keeping the same flexibility. However, I've only tried these trial rules twice so I cannot fairly comment on them.
- Seige rules have not yet been fully developed and are still in testing mode.
The truth is there's very little I dislike about this game. I am overall very happy with it and I'm very glad I discovered it. It's given a new lease on life to my miniature collection.
Overal Rating: 9 / 10
