Welcome to this, the first article in the “Reviews” series. In this series of articles, we will offer our opinion on games, books, miniatures… For this piece we are going to swap into Age of Sigmar. We have tested Gorechosen for you and here is our debriefing.
Three, blood-thirsty warriors are thrown into the arena. We have Pico, who embodies Redarg Bloodfane; Nano, who takes on the role of Vexnar the Reaper; and lastly, Mosko, who represents Heldrax Goretouched. The following photo shows our fighters next to their respective miniatures.
Pico:
I chose Redarg Bloodfane because of his brutal and demonic look. Although I picked this character because of his appearance, he seems pretty strong when you check out the rules. Sure it’s harder for him to hit than it is for the others, but when his axe strikes, there’s no denying it comes away with more flesh on it. Add to that his ability to counter attack, inflicting serious injury, and I am convinced I have the new champion of Khorne. I am the only one with red skin so it’s only natural that the God of Blood should grant me his favour.
Nano:
I like the more classical knight aspect of Vexnar the Reaper. Although he doesn’t inflict much damage with each strike, my hero has the advantage of launching multiple attacks when he’s in a good position. On top of that, his special rule enables him to draw his victims closer to him. That’s one way to start a dance to the death in the arena.
Mosko:
Heldrax Goretouched is so handsome I love him! He has a hint of the shaman with his kit covered in bones and all his scars. He’s such a brute! Add to that his ability to inflict a wound token when you throw a double six and he is potentially very dangerous – especially since he doesn’t need to be in contact to strike opponents with his massive axe. Heads will roll, I’m sure of it!
During the first round, after placing the players, Mosko finds himself sandwiched between Pico and Nano. Unsurprisingly, Mosko suffers a significant number of hits. The stand-out event in the round is Pico’s strike which inflicts 16 hits on Mosko.
Pico:
Mwahaha, the master strike that inflicted two injury markers on Mosko was a real pleasure. I definitely felt a surge of power. The poor guy didn’t even see it coming.
Nano:
I picked up the crumbs and don’t deserve any merit, but Mosko took four extra hits thanks to me. It’s sneaky attacking someone who’s down, but, what can I say? It’s more than tempting.
Mosko:
Good God, I couldn’t do a thing. All my counter attacks failed, leading my health track to nosedive. I must have picked up two of the dreaded “Critical Injury” cards. The first penalised me for the next attack (not too bad), but the second had me sweating like mad, because I had to throw 1d6 per wound token (two in my case). If I had thrown a six, my hero would have been decapitated and killed. Luckily, despite my desperate situation, I survived the trial. I hope the next round turns out better for me.
Battle rages on. Although each of the players suffers damage, Mosko is in a really bad way. Having received numerous wound tokens during the round, he decides on a tactical retreat.
Pico:
Ow! Mosko gave me a good whack with his axe, which scored 12 hits. On the one hand, it’s fair play because I didn’t go easy on him. On the other, I had no hesitation in striking back, and in the end the coward chose to run.
Nano:
My character is amazing. He’s causing damage all round. My enemies are suffering from it and, on top of that, I’m almost untouchable.
Mosko:
My death is fast approaching. I may be hitting hard but the dice are against me. Has Khorne abandoned me? The only thing I can be proud of is having crippled Pico, inflicting a penalty on his attack zone. You can believe what you like but I didn’t run away; I simply isolated myself to give myself time to think.
Nano charges Pico who decides to put distance between them to avoid seeing his health markers diminish further. So Nano uses his special power to place Mosko right in front of him and inflict a fatal blow.
Pico:
Nano is a real tornado of strikes; the order of the game wasn’t in my favour and I preferred to step back before suffering too much damage. It was poor old Mosko who fell at Nano’s hand.
Nano:
Oh yes! Look at me Khorne; I offer a skull up to you! Now, who’s next?!
Mosko:
The game was already going pretty badly for me; I had inflicted a lot of damage but, unfortunately, I’d received even more. You couldn’t say I was a mighty warrior and, next time, my tactics will be completely different.
The final duel takes place; Nano launches his flurry of attacks on Pico, who finishes by collapsing, lifeless, on the ground in the arena.
Pico:
A great final dual, but one that finished with me failing. This game is really good fun, and I really enjoyed the battle.
Nano:
I am the ultimate champion, and, I admit, I’m happy with my game. This game is really entertaining and strategic. I hope I won’t have to wait too long for a rematch.
Mosko:
Aha! Even dead, I was able to play, and I appreciated that a great deal. My hero was able to inflict the last blow, and one of my supporters threw his can of beer at one of my opponents. It didn’t turn the game around, but it’s always fun to carry on inflicting damage, even if the battle was over for me. It’s a way of passing time while waiting for the game to finish, and to begin to quench that thirst for vengeance over my detractors.
The pros:
- Hitting your friends.
- A quality board.
- Fun and accessible to all.
- Got the hang of the rules from the first game.
- You can choose your strategy depending on your hand.
- The injury cards are a stressful as you could want.
The cons:
- Tiles only supplied for the four main characters.
- Some characters are not balanced.
- The rules are a little scattered, even if they are quite simple. It can take a while to get going (especially after a few beers:)).
- Games Workshop should have offered a little kit for painting the Gorechosen miniatures for non-hobbyists.
- The game is hard to find.
Once we understood the mechanics of the game, all three of us enjoyed playing it. Getting inside the skin of a hero to beat up on your friends is pretty cool. The game is straightforward and fun, and there is a degree of strategy and a degree of luck. We would recommend it without hesitation, especially since the White Dwarf and the Gorechosen booklet offer a chance to play other heroes.
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