As a follow-on to yesterday’s post about Storm of Magic:

We’ve got one local player, Arromanche (who maintains the Army Builder 2.2 WHFB files), who doesn’t normally play in tournaments any more, but he always stops by to help out and play ringer if one’s needed.  He really hates magic in 8th edition… and Storm of Magic is a bridge too far.

Early in the planning, he offered “I’ll help out but I am NOT playing. The very word MAGIC means no way.”

Totally reasonable, and the help’s always appreciated (he knows the rules and books better than I do, better than you do, and better than both of us combined)… but I thought this was funny, so:

The Very Word MAGIC Mans ‘No Way’

Practitioners of the Arcane Arts are well familiar with a phenomenon known as the “Arromanchic Doldrums,” when furious Winds of Magic inexplicably and unexpectedly (inexplectably!) ebb– even during the most tempestuous of magical storms.

During any Magic Phase Arromanche observes the beginning of, instead of using the Wild Magic rules, use the following rules:

• Roll 3D6 to determine Winds of Magic
• The dispelling player receives the sum of the two highest rolls as dispel dice, treating the second highest roll as a d3 rather than a d6. If the two highest rolls are doubles, treat both as d6s.
• The limit of power and dispel die pools is 18.

I’m proposing using this rule at the tournament. So far one participant and one non-particpant have said they think it should be used… nobody’s said it shouldn’t. I’m still debating whether I should use it or not.

I might have mentioned that I’m running a Storm of Magic tournament in January: more to motivate folks to give the dang format a try.  The book came out, folks (myself included) bought the book, the cards, Arcane Fulcrum kits… and then never did anything with them.

So, between that, my actually painting some Fulcra, and Eric McK making the call to let folks spend 25% of their points on random Forgeworld & Storm of Magic choices at the (very successful, non-Storm of Magic) Toys for Tots tournament earlier this month: I decided to go ahead and get something on the schedule.

Key is trying to make accessible to folks who felt like paying who weren’t chumps who’d bought the book or felt like playing with the Scrolls of Binding and such.  I’m a fan of inclusive.  So, the format’s 2,500 points: percentages are based off of that (so, 625 minimum Core, 625 maximum rare, etc), and lists can spend up to 500 points on SoM choices (because in SoM you get an extra 25% to spend on those things, we can pretend you’re running a 2,000 point army).  Those SoM choices are totally optional: if someone wanted to show up with their usual 2,500 point army… they’d be fine.

I finally got the chance to get a game in last night: when SoM first came out, I pushed miniatures around the table with Sean for a few hours while we had the book open nearby, but I don’t think that counts.  So, my game with Casey was my first serious attempt at a SoM game.

I ran my usual Skaven list (the Empire’s still being assembled), with two Grey Seers instead of the Seer and the Warlord, and with two Warp-Lightning Cannons as my Rare choices (no Doomwheel, no Hellpit) and just one unit of Gutter Runners.  I spent my M&M budget on a Lvl 3 Fimir Banelord and a Chimera.

Casey ran a normal 2,500 point list: two units of Mournfangs, a horde of Bulls, a Slaughtermaster and a Firebelly.

I won’t do a turn-by-turn battle report, but I will do a braindump of impressions from the game… and that’s actually why I’m writing this post:

• We didn’t finish.  We didn’t really come close to finishing.  In just over three hours, we got in three full turns.  Now, a lot of that is because we chatted: with each other, with other folks… but decision paralysis from having a bajillion magic dice and an extra 8 (him) to 18 (me, if you count Lore of Shadow) spells to spend them on.
• The Scrolls of Binding didn’t seem to break anything.  They offered me a lot more choices (a flying monster, a Shadow caster), but I don’t think they turned the tide of anything, really.
• Did I mention the decision paralysis?  With so many dice and so many spells, it was kind of a lot of work to get through a Magic phase.  That shouldn’t be a surprise, but it is something to keep in mind when approaching the tournament.  Know your spells, try to have a plan.
• We did not have a single dang miscast.  Not one.  Several double-sixes for dispelling, but never for casting.  Huge bummer.
• We didn’t do anything with Cantrips.  My heart tells me that that means we were doing it wrong.
• On paper, it looks like the only thing that matters are the casters on the fulcra, and that everything else is just getting pushed around for the heck of it.  That wasn’t my experience at all: the units on the ground are how you supplement your caster’s attempts to push guys off of Fulcra.  
• Feast of the Fallen makes me sad.  Wow.

I’d definitely like to see us (locally, at the very least) adopt Eric’s 25% “random stuff” budget.  Cataclysm spells and Fulcrums aside, it’ll breathe some new life into armies that are starting to feel stale to their owners, open the door to clever and interesting conversions… and not be too bad, really.