Age of Fantasy/Tactics/Humans

Why play Humans?

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

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Pros

• Lots of Activations
• Very flexible army loadout
• Your heroes are all rather cheap

Cons

• Your troops are flimsy as hell
• Your troops aren't all that good

Special Rules

Wizard Spells

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

Unit Analysis

Heroes

• Captain: Your most versatile hero. Anything you need, the captain is capable of filling in. He's not that bad alone either, with a 3+ quality and a 4+ defense with Fearless. Their special ability is Inspiring Presence, which makes an attached unit of Infantrymen, Knights, or Greatswords count as Quality 3 - costly since this doubles the captain's cost, but makes that unit very strong.
  • Melee: Your basic hand weapon is pretty good, giving a full three attacks, and your melee upgrades are cheap as hell. You can go for dual wielding (6 attacks is not a joke), halberd (Rending), great weapon (AP 2 is great for heavy armor), a spear (Phalanx), or a lance (which grants Impact 1, but is only available if the captain's mounted).
  • Shooting: While not given by default, the captain can gain some guns, a rarity among AoF. What you have is rather slim, however: you can only buy a pistol (12" A1 AP 1), a rifle (pistol with double range), or bow (30" A1). The guns are pretty strong, since they can punch through armor at range.
  • 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 on top of Impact 3 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 +6 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 Fire Breath.

• Champion: Essentially a toned-down captain. They don't get access to any guns, so they're dedicated to melee alone. They also lack any manner of mounts except for the horse. Their special rule is Battle Chant, which grants the unit Furious. Though they lack any boosts like the captain, they give plenty to the battle.

• Bounty Hunter: The bounty hunter comes equipped with a pistol and is able to equip a second - a good boost. Of course, you can also grab a different melee weapon if you feel so inclined but you'll have to contend with a 5+ defense. Their special rule is Accusation, which lets them mark a single enemy model - this grants both Deadly 3 and Sniper against their chosen enemy. Ideally, this is what you pick to nail enemy heroes and monsters but only as long as you know you can take them on.

• Engineer: Another hero capable of wielding guns, though they're lacking in protection. Their special rule is Ballistic Master, which makes a friendly Artillery unit within 12" add +1 to their next shot. Aside from the horse, you can also buy a robot horse, upping the horse's Impact value to Impact 3.
  • Shooting: Aside from the pistol, rifle and bow, the engineer gains a few other guns. The gatling pistol and rifle make give A3 to their baseline counterparts. The grenade launcher (18" A1 AP 3 Blast 3) and pigeon bombs (24" A1 P 1 Blast 3 Indirect) give you some coverage, though the latter isn't so useful if you plan to be mobile.

• Wizard: Pretty much a naked man who slings spells. They absolutely should not be in combat. At all. If you buy the horse, you should be using it to get them away from the heat.

Infantry

• Infantrymen: Likely your most populous unit. While each is flimsy, you'll be able to build big blocks of weapons out of them. Spears in particular can make them very annoying roadblocks. If you feel the need to pack a surprise punch, you can give one model a harpoon, giving AP 2 and Deadly 3, enough to fell a hero if need be.

• Furious Mob: Literal glass cannons. Their defense is even worse, but each one carries great weapons and Furious. Fearless makes them capable of holding the line once the casualties start racking up.

• Greatswords: Elite infantry with Fearless and a 4+ on both quality and defense. While they're stuck with greatweapons, they're plenty strong with them and still get to use the command group in order to improve their changes of survival.

• Marksmen: Half the price of a blob of infantry, but you're getting half the models so it evens out. These are essentially shooty infantry, and as such have no business in melee. The bows they come with give you plenty of range, but you can buy them rifles for more damage or crossbows for better range and Rending. One of them can also get a pair of pistols (ideal for punching holes at short range), a gatling rifle or a sniper rifle, with the latter two taking full advantage of your range. Buying Hunters gives Scout, which gives you the ability to start blasting right away, and Skirmishers give Stealth, thus giving valuable protection.

• Light Cavalry: The less protected cavalry. That said, these are the cavalry able to pick up guns and bows, including dual pistols for the full pistolier experience. You can also give a guy either gatling pistols or gatling pistol for extra damage.

• Knights: The heavy cavalry, and that 3+ defense makes that point clear. If you buy Inner Circle, you grab them Fearless so they can stand firm a little more. If you're looking for more punch, you've got two options: Great Weapons if you plan to kill brutes, and Lances to ride upon Impact.

• Gryph Riders: The elite among elite in the riders. Each one comes with Impact 3 and Tough 3 so they tank harder. The halberds are pretty decent, but you can grab lances if you want to get super-pincushion.

Vehicles

• Hurricane Chariot: Of the chariots, this one gives you a pretty effective blast with AP 2. This means that most armored infantry and cavalry will take a beating. Also helpful is the Battle Aura, which gives two allied units within 6" a +1 bonus to hit in melee. This goes a good way in covering its weakness in getting focus-fired to death by making better bubblewrap.

• Beamer Chariot: This particular chariot gives a powerful laser beam that can easily blow up most elites and bruise monsters. That said, this one is better for the bubble-wrap as its Protective Aura makes two units within 6" add +1 to their defense rolls - a good way to dissuade a cannon from going off.

• Altar Chariot: 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 tanks and most infantry. Its boost is also somewhat suspect. Yes, Aura of Fury gives two units Furious, but the moment those two blow it, you're prone to leave it exposed. If you take this, you're going to make sure you have many layers.

• Tank Chariot: 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 4 Blast 3, which can pretty much flatten whatever it hits up, while the turret can pepper the enemy with plenty of shots that can wipe up lighter crowds.

• Cannon: So you like that cannon off the Tank Chariot but don't want to worry about it getting blasted oh-so-suddenly and wasting 255 points. Well, this gives you something of an answer: It's significantly cheaper and has Artillery to protect it from any clever bombers. The issue is that it's now a static setup, so you need to make sure it's in the right place. Fortunately, this cannon's got a 48" range instead of the tank cannon's 36".

• Rocket Battery: The rocket battery and mortar play two sides of the same goal of blasting mobs. The rocket battery does this by spitting two AP 1 Blast 3 shots, so it can at least has a bit of a chance of doing harm.

• Mortar: The mortar is a big boom. The Blast 6 means that it'll always blow up the mob it lands on, but it comes with the tradeoff of being all-or-nothing.

• Volley Gun: Short-range artillery made to shred everything to bits. You see those twelve shots with AP 2? That can easily spell the end of whatever you see. The issue is that it's only got 24" range, so it WILL become prime quarry for an Ambush force or some big cannons of their own.

Army Building

Tactics

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Pros

• Lots of Activations
• Very flexible army loadout
• Your heroes are all rather cheap

Cons

• Your troops are flimsy as hell
• Your troops aren't all that good

Special Rules

Wizard Spells

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

Unit Analysis

Heroes

• Captain: Your most versatile hero. Anything you need, the captain is capable of filling in. He's not that bad alone either, with a 3+ quality and a 4+ defense with Fearless. Their special ability is Inspiring Presence, which makes nearby units of Infantrymen, Knights, or Greatswords count as Quality 3 - costly since this doubles the captain's cost, but makes that unit very strong.
  • Melee: Your basic hand weapon is pretty good, giving a full three attacks, and your melee upgrades are cheap as hell. You can go for dual wielding (6 attacks is not a joke), halberd (Rending), great weapon (AP 2 is great for heavy armor), a spear (Phalanx), or a lance (which grants Impact 1, but is only available if the captain's mounted). Unlike the big game, your only mount for the captain is the horse.
  • Shooting: While not given by default, the captain can gain some guns, a rarity among AoF. What you have is rather slim, however: you can only buy a pistol (12" A1 AP 1), a rifle (pistol with double range), or bow (30" A1). The guns are pretty strong, since they can punch through armor at range.

• Champion: Essentially a toned-down captain. They don't get access to any guns, so they're dedicated to melee alone. They also lack any manner of mounts except for the horse. Their special rule is Battle Chant, which grants nearby units Furious. Though they lack any boosts like the captain, they give plenty to the battle.

• Bounty Hunter: The bounty hunter comes equipped with a pistol and is able to equip a second - a good boost. Of course, you can also grab a different melee weapon if you feel so inclined but you'll have to contend with a 5+ defense. Their special rule is Accusation, which lets them mark a single enemy model - this grants both Deadly 3 and Sniper against their chosen enemy. Ideally, this is what you pick to nail enemy heroes and brutes but only as long as you know you can take them on.

• Engineer: Another hero capable of wielding guns, though they're lacking in protection. Really, just keep them on the shooting. Aside from the horse, you can also buy a robot horse, upping the horse's Impact value to Impact 3.
  • Shooting: Aside from the pistol, rifle and bow, the engineer gains a few other guns. The gatling pistol and rifle make give A3 to their baseline counterparts. The grenade launcher (18" A1 AP 3 Blast 3) and pigeon bombs (24" A1 P 1 Blast 3 Indirect) give you some coverage, though the latter isn't so useful if you plan to be mobile.

• Wizard: Pretty much a naked man who slings spells. They absolutely should not be in combat. At all. If you buy the horse, you should be using it to get them away from the heat.

Infantry

• Infantrymen: Likely your most populous unit. While each is flimsy, you get three of them. Spears in particular can make them very annoying roadblocks.

• Furious Mob: Literal glass cannons. Their defense is even worse, but you get three of them and each one carries great weapons and Furious. Fearless makes them capable of holding the line once the casualties start racking up.

• Greatsword: Elite infantry with Fearless and a 4+ on both quality and defense, but you're down to one man. While they're stuck with a greatweapon, they're plenty strong with them and still get to use the command group in order to improve their chances of survival.

• Marksmen: Essentially shoot, but they have no business in melee. The bows they come with give you plenty of range, but you can buy them rifles for more damage or crossbows for better range and Rending. One of them can also get a pair of pistols (ideal for punching holes at short range), a gatling rifle or a sniper rifle, with the latter two taking full advantage of your range. Buying Hunters gives Scout, which gives you the ability to start blasting right away, and Skirmishers give Stealth, thus giving valuable protection.

• Light Cavalry: The less protected cavalry. That said, these are the cavalry able to pick up guns and bows, including dual pistols for the full pistolier experience. You can also give a guy either gatling pistols or gatling pistol for extra damage.

• Knight: The heavy cavalry, and that 3+ defense makes that point clear. If you buy Inner Circle, you grab the knight Fearless so they can stand firm a little more. If you're looking for more punch, you've got two options: Great Weapons if you plan to kill brutes, and Lances to ride upon Impact.

• Gryph Rider: The elite among elite in the riders. Each one comes with Impact 3 and Tough 3 so they tank harder. The halberds are pretty decent, but you can grab lances if you want to get super-pincushion.

Army Building

Tactics

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Age of Fantasy Tactics Articles
General:	General Tactics
Dwarves:	Dwarves - Sky-City Dwarves - Volcanic Dwarves
Elves:	Dark Elves - Deep Sea Elves - High Elves - Wood Elves
Greenskins:	Goblins - Orcs
Havoc:	Beastmen - Clans of the War Cry - Havoc Dwarves - Havoc Warriors - Rift Daemons
Humans:	Chivalrous Kingdoms - Duchies of Vinci - Eternal Wardens - Humans - Kingdom of Angels
Undead:	Ghostly Undead - Mummified Undead - Ossified Undead - Vampiric Undead
Other:	Giant Tribes - Halflings - Ogres - Ratmen - Saurians - Shadow Stalkers