Last night I had an introduction game of hordes from an experience player (and excellent Sensei) Ant. I'd borrowed the first couple of (biblically sized) rule books (think Rogue Trader) from Ant and had chose the 'Trollbloods' as my faction.
Ant took the opposite 'Skorne' Faction and we went at it.
My god its complicated... brilliant but complicated. The unit stats, the combinations, the ways in which you strike/throw/attack/slam/(add twenty more options) are breathtaking. The play style is organic and works more like chess with each unit being 'activated' in turn. Unlike Warhammer, this can create interesting combinations (think Street Fighter II - if you're old enough) ...
Add to this the 'warcaster' function (think Ash from Pokemon) with 'buffs' going from the warcaster to the warbeast, and animus coming from the warbeast to eachother ... daunting.
While warhammer may have you reaching for the rule book sometimes, this game is a constant 'monster stat delving' beast!
Saying all that, great, great fun. Ant caste a 'if you hit me I'll run towards you' Animus on one his light beasties. I then shot it up 'towards me' and managed to chop it up in turn one!
Subsequently, Ant didn't go so easy and my desire to do untold damage to Ant's warriors resulted in me forgetting to do 'regenerate' on my trollblood and him subsequently dying when he shouldn't really have - doh!
We ended the game with Ant turning it around from a serious pasting into a subsequent victory ...
I have to say I like it. Think Pokemon meets Dungeons and Dragons meets Edgar Allen Poe.
Great Stuff!
