While I continue to work through creating 150pt beginner lists for One Page Rule’s Age of Fantasy – Skirmish format, I’ve also been putting units through my printer. I couldn’t help myself, so this obviously meant starting with Dwarves. Then, I wanted to print a list that I already had models for thanks to the OPR Patreon, and that meant Mummified Undead.
Printing woes will mean calibration work is in my future, but I still got units that could be used for playing the game. So, I did.
Despite the name of “One Page Rules,” there were a few more pages than that for me to read to get a feel for the game. Not a ton of them, mind you, and they’re a quick, well-illustrated read. Even better, those rules are freely available on the OPR website. So, I sat down, read through the beginner rules for the Skirmish format, and started setting up my table.
Did I mention I have more printing in my future?
The core rules are clear and concise. You could play off of the single page (front and back) rules if you already know your way around this kind of wargaming. I’m still pretty new to this, so the beginner guide and its examples was appreciated. Going forward, I’ll only need to keep that one page on hand for reference (along with my army sheets, of course).
Seriously, there isn’t a lot to complicate play at the core mechanics level. Turns move quick (unless you spend forever deliberating). The attack resolution mechanics are clear. I think my whole go, including setup and teardown, was about 45 minutes. Given that this was my first time playing and I spent a while checking rules to make sure I was doing things right, that feels very quick.
The complexity of the game seems to be found in tactical usage of map features and the individual characteristics of the units. Fortunately, these abilities are all defined in the rules (even the single page version) and print out on the army list sheet.
Here’s where I know I missed some things. Forgetting a unit has Fast and can actually get to an objective marker in time to keep competitive was costly. Not utilizing multi-unit buffs was even more of a problem. This was no fault of the game, of course. The rules are right there and visible. I simply forgot to check abilities. Basic first-timer laments.
Despite myself, and my initial concerns about the Dwarves being a bad build, the conflict ran down to the wire, even ending in a draw. Skirmish is, at least in basic rules, an objective-capture game rather than a army routing one. Moreover, with games limited to four rounds, the need to move quick and gain the upper hand of location changes the approach to the game from habits/intuitions that the game revolves around defeating all enemies.
And I kinda love it. I’m already looking forward to playing more. (And printing more, lots more.) Better yet, because the core mechanics are so straightforward, I think I can already introduce my kids to it.
I’ll get to the other formats (both in Age of Fantasy and GrimDark Future) someday. For now, I have the ability to get more mileage even out of these meager prints and non-print terrain items thanks to the easy to grasp rulesets.