Human Empire Tactics

Humans

Setting:	Age of Fantasy
Games:	Age of Fantasy, Age of Fantasy: Skirmish, Age of Fantasy: Regiments
Species:	Human
Version:	v2.50

Note: as v2.50 is in constant development the following might not be accurate.

Why Play Humans

The Humans are pretty much bodies in numbers. You'll usually have lots of bodies and heroes capable of bolstering them.

Pros:

Lots of Activations
Very flexible army loadout

Cons:

Your troops are focused on quantity over quality
Your troops are reliant on buffs, either from your wagons or your heroes

Army Special Rules

Artillerist: Once per activation, pick one friendly Artillery unit within 6”, which may either get +2 to its shooting rolls or move up to 6” during its next activation.
Aura of Fury: Once per activation, pick two friendly units within 6” get Furious next time they fight in melee.
Battle Aura: Once per activation, pick two friendly units within 6” get +1 to hit rolls next time they fight in melee.
Battle Chant: Any attached unit gets the Furious special rule.
Battle March: Once per activation, one model within 12" can move by up to 6".
Boing: Effectively Fast 0.5. This model moves +D3” on Advance and +2D3” on Rush/Charge actions.
Inspiring: If the hero is attached to a unit of Infantrymen, that unit now counts as having Quality 4+.
Protective Aura: Once per activation, 2 friendly units within 6” get +1 to their defense rolls next time they take hits.
Takedown: When this model is in melee, may pick one model from the target and roll one die. On a 2+, it takes an AP(1) Deadly(3) hit.

Wizard Spells

Fireball (4+): One enemy unit within 12" takes two AP(2) hits.
Wild Form (4+): Friendly unit within 12" takes +1 to hit in melee. Absolutely useful since you'll chiefly be relying on melee.
Leech (5+): One enemy model within 12" takes a single AP(4) Deadly(3) hit. Pretty much all you can ask for when sniping a hero or heavy weapon.
Protection (5+): A friendly unit within 12" gains regeneration when they next get hit.
Blood Hex (6+): Enemy unit within 6" take a hit per model, making this hell for mobs of grunts.
Magic Wind (6+): One friendly unit within 12" can immediately move 6". This gives you a desperate escape button or possibly an easier charge.

Unit Analysis

Heroes

Battle Master: Your most versatile hero. Anything you need, the Battle Master is capable of filling in. He's not that bad alone either, with a 4+ quality and defense with an open selection of melee weapons. This is on top of the fact that their stock Hand Weapon comes with AP(1) so you can get by without a new weapon.
- Ranged: While not given by default, the Battle Master can gain some guns, a rarity among AoF. What you have is rather slim, however: you can only buy Dual Pistols for short-ranged AP(1) or a Slayer Bow long-range AP(2).
- Buffs: Battle Standard Bearer gives you Fear to reinforce a battle for your squad. Bounty Hunter has Takedown to help strike down enemy heroes. Cleric has Battle Chant to support the charging foes. Captain has Inspiring to improve a block of Infantrymen. Strategist has Battle March to push your numerical advantage.
- Mounts: Your cheapest mount is the Horse, which is Fast and has Impact(1) - Perfectly equipped for lances. The pegasus has Flying on top of Fast, and has its own attacks as well as improving the Captain's Tough value by +3. The griffon is a very pricy but tanky wall with a +2 to defense and +12 to Tough, and it has some devastating attacks with Fear and Flying. The dragon is a bit more expensive and is pretty much a griffon with a Breath Attack and even more attacks.

Champion: To call the Champion a toned-down Battle Master is a surface-level understatement. While still capable of picking up the same melee weapons without the AP bump, you will notice that the Champion carries a better selection of guns as well as new buffs. In addition, their mount selection is cut down to only the Horse and the Robot Horse with improved Impact and Boing for a bit of a speed bump.
- Ranged: The Gatling Pistol is a short-ranged rapid fire tool with AP(1) to cut through armor, with the Gatling Rifle doubling that range. The Grenade Launcher provides long-range bombardment to clean crowds. The Sniper Rifle gives you the tool necessary to take down key models including even heroes.
- Buffs: While still able to take Battle Chant, that is the only thing the Champion can take from the Battle Master. Battle Mage gives you a Wizard for casting and Engineer gives Artillerist so they can support any Artillery units.

Infantry

Infantrymen: Likely your most populous unit. While each is flimsy with a 5+ quality and defense, you'll be able to build big blocks of weapons out of them. Spears particular can make them very annoying (and costly) roadblocks and Halberds give them Rending to manage armor. They become especially effective with a Battle Master that uses Inspiring to improve them to something on tier of Elite Swordsmen.

Furious Mob: Literal glass cannons. Their defense is even worse, but each one carries AP(1) Flails and Furious to make charges pretty deadly for a block of fodder. Fearless makes them capable of holding the line once the casualties start racking up.

Militia: A smaller pack of Infantrymen with Dual Hand Weapons and Scout to get them a bit closer to their targets. If you intend for some shooting of your own, you can purchase some Pistols for some short-ranged harassment at the cost of their melee output. Whichever you take, they're best suited to ambushing a unit that's already in combat or wiping out enemy Artillery.

Elite Swordsmen: Elite infantry with Fearless and a 4+ on both quality and defense. While they're stuck with Great Weapons, they're plenty strong with them and still get to use the command group in order to improve their odds in a fight.

Marksmen: Shooty infantry, and as such have no business in melee. Their basic rifles may not have the best range, but they can punch through armor with AP(1). Taking the Crossbow bumps their range a bit, but your AP is now subject to Rending, which might ruffle feathers. One of them can also get a Dual Pistols (ideal for punching holes at short range), a Gatling Rifle (for rapid-fire armor-busting) or a Sniper Rifle, with the latter two taking full advantage of your range.

Hunters: Sneakier marksmen, carrying long-range Bows and Stealth to protect them from return fire. Scout gives them a means to get into position for optimal protection but do be wary of your targets. Without any AP, you're relying upon either weight of fire or a distraction to keep them from getting flattened by anything with decent armor.

Cavalry

Horse Marksmen: When you pick up Marksmen on horses, gifting them Fast as well as a surprise Scout for better positioning at the start. Your choice between the Rifle or Dual Pistols is ultimately a matter of choice as both options cost you nothing. You can also give one model either Dual Gatling Pistols or a Gatling Rifle for rapid-fire carnage.

Knights: The heavy cavalry, gifted with a 4+ quality and defense while Impact makes their focus getting to melee. They can grab Lances if you want to focus harder at melee, while Great Weapons provide you some welcome AP(2) to rip through most enemies.

Guard Knights: Elite Knights with a 3+ defense and Fearless so they can tank even more abuse. They come stock with Great Weapons to take down the worse, but you can buy Lances if you plan to ride off Impact.

Gryph Riders: Your biggest cavalry. Each one comes with Impact(3) and Tough(3) so they tank harder. The Halberds are pretty decent and each mount has some AP(1) attacks to complement, but you can grab Lances if you want to get a pack of super-pincushions.

Vehicles

War Wagon: Effectively a lightweight battletank that can threaten the opposition at any range. Up close it has AP(1) Rending attacks to handle troops while at range it has plenty of AP(1) shots to gun down the opposition. This unfortunately leaves it in a jack-of-all-trades master-of-none situation as it doesn't exactly excel at any situation and offers no support beyond being a weapons platform.

Hurricane Wagon: This wagon's meant to handle crowds by firing out small blasts while its Battle Aura allows nearby troops to keep up the offense. This goes a good way in keeping it protected from any up-close aggression, but it lacks anything to protect it from bombardment.

Beamer Wagon: This particular chariot gives a laser beam keyed to demolish monsters and vehicles with AP(2) Deadly(3). That said, this one is better for the bubble-wrap as its Protective Aura improves the defense of nearby units - a good way to dissuade a cannon from going off.

Altar Wagon: This chariot's more of a gatling gun made of magic rather than a cannon. With the number of shots it has to go off, it's enough to likely break light tanks and most infantry. Its boost is also somewhat suspect. Yes, Aura of Fury gives two units Furious, but the moment they go charging off, you're exposing the wagon to enemy fire. If you take this, you're going to make sure you have many layers.

Steam Tank: This chariot isn't quite the same as the others. It's not meant to buff any part of your army, just to blow stuff up, and oh how it does that. The tank cannon totes a devastating AP(1) Blast(3) Tank Cannon, which can pretty much flatten most blocks of infantry, while the turret can pepper the enemy with plenty of shots that can wipe up lighter crowds. If you're looking to take down enemy tanks and monsters more than crowds, you can instead take a Heavy Tank Cannon for AP(2) Deadly(3).

Artillery

Artillery: Your static emplacement, capable of becoming whatever you want of it. By default, it has a Cannon that can crush mobs with AP(1). The Volley Gun gives you a cheap means of firing holes through most things you run across. The Rocket Battery suffers a bit in range but has Indirect to get past cover while unable to trigger the penalties. The Heavy Cannon is more made to nail monsters with AP(2) Deadly(3). The Heavy Mortar is your extreme-range mob-buster, still given Indirect to ignore cover.

Human Empire Tactics

Contents

Why Play Humans

Army Special Rules

Wizard Spells

Unit Analysis

Heroes

Infantry

Cavalry

Vehicles

Artillery

List Building & Tactics

General Advice

Tactics

See Also

Navigation menu

Human Empire Tactics

Why Play Humans

Army Special Rules

Wizard Spells

Unit Analysis

Heroes

Infantry

Cavalry

Vehicles

Artillery

List Building & Tactics

General Advice

Tactics

See Also

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