Tried my first AoS game yesterday against Dwarfs. Here's my take on the game.
- We both tried the "fixed" formations in the warscrolls, using WISIWYG and minimum unit sizes (Wanderer Host for me, Clan Throng for him). That resulted in 42 models/55 wounds for me, 56/60 for my opponent - a good intro to the game.
- We agreed to measure from bases and avoid the more controversial rules, like shooting in/out/at combat, multiple musicians/standard bearers etc. I do hope they'll be FAQed at some point, at least the shooting.
- Eventually I lost everything besides the Spellweaver, but inflicted some significant casualties back (16 Dwarfs left).
- The game feels very fast and actually enjoyable. Having two turns in a row though can result in major swings in direction, and adds a random element that I don't believe was really necessary.
- "Activated" abilities. whether in my or the opponent's turn (whichever phase), feel very cool, and give an impression of constant participation in the game. That said, having no reaction when charged is really weird and opposite to this theme.
- Movement and piling in in combat felt like a chore, to be honest. With relaxed movement rules and big enough trays, or, hell, just ignoring the "skirmish" part, and keep them all ranked should fix the issue.
- Generals are beasts, as IMO it should be. But lone models being essentially unbreakable is way over the top.
- Taking all battleshock tests at the end of the turn is very counterinitiative. In bigger games one must have loads of tokens just to keep track of every unit that has lost a model.
- Formation bonuses are awesome, even though I didn't try the Wanderer Host special deployment rule for simplicity's sake.
- GW has again put unnecessary emphasis on the "specialness" of terrain. We rolled for like 8-9 terrain pieces, and ended ignoring most of their effects apart from "Deadly". Having to keep all their rules in mind will take time, and we'll probably switch to just assigning special rules.
As for WE units:
- GG are pathetic in combat, and reasonably good in shooting. Quarrelers are significantly better though.
- Spellweaver ressurecting models, and not restoring wounds, is really powerful with cavalry. She's somehow comically unable to do anything to lone heroes

- Waywatchers are awesome with fast shot.
- EG in small units are nothing to write home about, but taken bigger, and with proper buffs, can potentially be quite useful.
Overall, I really liked how the game played, and definitely will be trying it again. Keep in mind that at the current stage you can safely classify AoS as being in alpha, and I believe with the new campaign books the game will develop nicely. - No points is one thing I definitely don't like, so I plan to use the event pack for the first AoS tourney in September. Surely it must have some restrictions/scenarios/objectives.