Post by Andrew on Jun 16, 2010 20:09:38 GMT -6
Well, the local just got a preview copy today...needless to say, I took a long peek. Here's my thoughts:
First Impressions
At 528 pages (of which only 149 are actual rules), this book is freakin' huge. 2" thick... It's very well laid out, and full color to book. All movement and combat scenarioes have pictures, as well as oddball situations having pictures. Stuff is easy to find, everything is referenced to a different page when necessary...overall a good plan. Many abilities gained names to be spread throughout...like how Magic gave names to abilities that otherwise required a few lines of explanation, so that's kinda neat. Overall, good first impression.
Eeexcept the errata that's already included!! LOL. Yes, there's a small slip of paper inside, an errata to page 149, telling you how to win via Victory Points. No matter the size of the game, if you have 100 VP more than your opponent, you win. If you have double what he has, Crushing Victory. At least it's full color too...
Rules
I flip to the rules section, and immediately I notice it's written entirely by Mat Ward. *sigh*
The book is split between basic rules and advanced rules; thankfully, they put spellcasting into the basic rules! No more BS hunting for the damn page. Just like the 40k book, it's split down the phases, so here we go into the changes with the new edition.
General Rules
- You can always check distances before declaring any action; charge, flee, magic, shoot, etc.
- Templates are if even slightly touched, then you are auto-hit, no more 4+
- It is indeed true LOS, just like 40k
Movement
- When ending a move, you can't be within 1" of any unit (friend or foe!) or impassable terrain
- A reform is your entire action, however!
--> If you have a musician, you can perform a Swift Reform on a successful Leadership Check. This allows you to move (but not march) and or shoot, at the due -1 for moving.
- You may redirect a charge into a new target if your current target flees; like 6th edition. Requires a successful Leadership Check.
- Charge moves are 2D6 + Move value. See special rules for more details.
- Failed charges only move the highest D6 rolled.
- Stand and shoot is based on the chargers' move value. If they are within it (4" for most humans), then you can't. Anything farther, then yes.
- March is normal for all units (ie. heavy cav rumor bunked)
- You can ignore march blocking with a successful Leadership Check; if you fail, you only move normal but still count as marching for shooting purposes
Magic
- Generate your power dice with a 2D6 roll. (Winds of Magic roll)
- You can channel 1D6 per caster, requiring 6's. Each nets you one additional power die.
- Power dice cap is 12 (so there will never be more than that per turn)
- Dispel dice are equal to the highest die rolled for the Winds of Magic that turn.
- Can channel the same as power dice; max 12 too.
- When casting, choose 1-6 power dice (no level limiter).
- The total of the dice rolled plus the level of the caster must equal or beat the casting value to succeed.
- As a total, 1 or 2 always fails, no matter what.
- If you fail to cast, or get a 1 or 2 for your casting total, that wizard cannot cast any more spells that turn.
- Can cast things with Irresistable Force, so opponent cannot dispel.
- However, when you do you also Miscast. Roll on the Miscast chart...most involve S10 and blast templates...
- Dwarves get +2 to all dispel rolls.
- If you cast a Remains in Play spell, you can continue to cast more spells from that caster.
- Bound spells now require power dice to activate; they never benefit or suffer from modifiers.
- Common magic items list is 82 items: 19 weapons, 12 armors, 12 talismans, 11 standards, 14 arcane, and 14 enchanted.
- My favorite is a Wizard Hat, making a non-magical character a Level 2 caster that suffers from Stupidity.
- Each Lore has a special ability and a signature spell.
- The cards are just for practical usages.
Shooting
- All shooting is in 2 ranks.
- As it's TLOS, intervening units give Hard Cover.
- You get both armor and ward saves against wounds like normal, but now you must choose between ward and regeneration saves if you have both.
Close Combat
- Fighting is in two ranks; this works just like spears do now, except models in supporting ranks only give 1 attack each.
- If the unit is 10-wide (horde rule), you get an extra rank of supporting attacks.
- Attacks are in purely Initiative order, just like 40k (ie. simultaneous strikes can happen).
- New combat res. factors: Charged +1, Charged downhill another +1.
- You only get rid of rank bonus by having at least two ranks of 5 in the flank. Can't be skirmishers.
- If the defeated unit has more ranks than the enemy, they test on unmodified Leadership.
- If you win, you can Combat Reform (like a normal one).
- If you lose, you can Combat Reform on a successful Leadership Check.
Advanced Rules
- Always Strike First: you get ASF like normal; plus, if your Initiative is higher, you get to reroll failed to-hit rolls.
- Devastating Charge: +1 attack on the charge
- Fast Cavalry:
-->Vanguard: get to make a 12" move before the game begins
-->otherwise same as now
- Fear: only test at the start of every round, even if passed previously.
- Fight in Extra Ranks: see Spears, below
- Flaming Attacks: causes Fear in warbeasts, cavalry, and chariots; also get to reroll failed to-wound rolls when assaulting a building.
- Flyers: Swiftstride, and 10", 20" march (so 10+3D6 take highest two on the charge)
- Flying Cav is treated like Fast Cav with Flyers.
- Hover: Flyers, but can't march (like Bat Swarms and the like)
- Magic Resistance: Boosts ward saves against magical attacks; so a dude with a 6+ ward and MR:2 would get a 4+ ward against magical attacks.
- Quickfire: Can be used in Stand and Shoot when within minimum distance.
- Stupidity: if you fail, you stumble forward D6".
- Skirmishers are 1/2" coherency, otherwise still in block formation
--> Free reforms, like Fast Cav.
--> Can march and shoot, like Fast Cav.
- Swiftstride: roll additional D6 when charging; take the highest. Additional D6 when fleeing; add it in.
- Stomp: additional attack at Initiative 1, auto hits at normal strength (plus bonuses)
- Thunderstomp: additional D6 attacks at Initiative 1, auto hits at normal strength (plus bonuses)
- Terror: no more bubble effect; only test in combat, every round.
- Volley Fire: half of the models in successive ranks can fire.
Troop Types
- Infantry
- Monstrous Infantry (trolls, Ogres, Minotaurs, etc)
--> have Stomp
--> only need ranks of 3 to get bonuses
--> Supporting attacks aren't limited to 1, but 3 each.
- Cavalry
--> treat anything other than open plains and hills as Dangerous Terrain.
--> Swiftstride
- Monstrous Cavalry (Bloodcrushers, etc)
--> Stomp
- Warbeasts (war hounds, dire wolves, etc)
--> Swiftstride
- Monstrous Warbeasts (great eagles, etc)
--> Stomp
--> Swiftstride
- Monsters
--> Thunderstomp
Weapons
- Parry bonus (hw + shield) is now a 6+ ward save. Not usable against impact hits or Stomps.
- Bows & Longbows have Volley Fire.
- Great weapons are +2 strength when mounted again.
- Javelins are don't incur -1 when move and shoot; also have Quickfire.
Standard Bearers
- When you flee combat, the banner dies forever; model must be replaced by rank & file.
- Command groups die in the following order: musician, banner, champ. No exceptions.
- BSB's allow you to reroll all failed Leadership checks, not just morale.
Warmachines
- Stonethrowers fire thusly: place the template within range, scatter as normal.
- Can now fire Indirectly! Scatter as normal, but on hits use the small arrow on the targeting circle. Subtract firer's BS from distance scattered.
Terrain
- pages 116-131 define all the terrain.
- Forests and Rivers are Mysterious Terrain; roll a D6 once a unit first enters said pieces. 1 is normal, 2-6 has neat effect. Lasts the game.
- The Temple of Skulls terrain piece has an in-game effect!
Army Comp
- It is as feared; percentages are in, slots are out. 25% Lords, 25% Heroes, 25%+ Core, 50% Special, 25% Rare.
- No more than 3 of the same Special, and no more than 2 of the same Rare. This is doubled at 3000+ points.
- Pages 136-139 cover the use of allies in multiplayer games.
Victory
- Captured banners are now only 25 VP; the BSB is still 100 VP.
- If a unit champion kills a character in a challenge, +50 VP.
The Rest
- 6 standard missions: 4 VP, 1 Break their Army, 1 Objective.
- 13 narrative missions.
- 1 legendary mission.
- Rules for the Wrath of Thunder, a Dwarf zeppelin.
- Rules for the Doom Engine, a Chaos super-siege tower.
First Impressions
At 528 pages (of which only 149 are actual rules), this book is freakin' huge. 2" thick... It's very well laid out, and full color to book. All movement and combat scenarioes have pictures, as well as oddball situations having pictures. Stuff is easy to find, everything is referenced to a different page when necessary...overall a good plan. Many abilities gained names to be spread throughout...like how Magic gave names to abilities that otherwise required a few lines of explanation, so that's kinda neat. Overall, good first impression.
Eeexcept the errata that's already included!! LOL. Yes, there's a small slip of paper inside, an errata to page 149, telling you how to win via Victory Points. No matter the size of the game, if you have 100 VP more than your opponent, you win. If you have double what he has, Crushing Victory. At least it's full color too...
Rules
I flip to the rules section, and immediately I notice it's written entirely by Mat Ward. *sigh*
The book is split between basic rules and advanced rules; thankfully, they put spellcasting into the basic rules! No more BS hunting for the damn page. Just like the 40k book, it's split down the phases, so here we go into the changes with the new edition.
General Rules
- You can always check distances before declaring any action; charge, flee, magic, shoot, etc.
- Templates are if even slightly touched, then you are auto-hit, no more 4+
- It is indeed true LOS, just like 40k
Movement
- When ending a move, you can't be within 1" of any unit (friend or foe!) or impassable terrain
- A reform is your entire action, however!
--> If you have a musician, you can perform a Swift Reform on a successful Leadership Check. This allows you to move (but not march) and or shoot, at the due -1 for moving.
- You may redirect a charge into a new target if your current target flees; like 6th edition. Requires a successful Leadership Check.
- Charge moves are 2D6 + Move value. See special rules for more details.
- Failed charges only move the highest D6 rolled.
- Stand and shoot is based on the chargers' move value. If they are within it (4" for most humans), then you can't. Anything farther, then yes.
- March is normal for all units (ie. heavy cav rumor bunked)
- You can ignore march blocking with a successful Leadership Check; if you fail, you only move normal but still count as marching for shooting purposes
Magic
- Generate your power dice with a 2D6 roll. (Winds of Magic roll)
- You can channel 1D6 per caster, requiring 6's. Each nets you one additional power die.
- Power dice cap is 12 (so there will never be more than that per turn)
- Dispel dice are equal to the highest die rolled for the Winds of Magic that turn.
- Can channel the same as power dice; max 12 too.
- When casting, choose 1-6 power dice (no level limiter).
- The total of the dice rolled plus the level of the caster must equal or beat the casting value to succeed.
- As a total, 1 or 2 always fails, no matter what.
- If you fail to cast, or get a 1 or 2 for your casting total, that wizard cannot cast any more spells that turn.
- Can cast things with Irresistable Force, so opponent cannot dispel.
- However, when you do you also Miscast. Roll on the Miscast chart...most involve S10 and blast templates...
- Dwarves get +2 to all dispel rolls.
- If you cast a Remains in Play spell, you can continue to cast more spells from that caster.
- Bound spells now require power dice to activate; they never benefit or suffer from modifiers.
- Common magic items list is 82 items: 19 weapons, 12 armors, 12 talismans, 11 standards, 14 arcane, and 14 enchanted.
- My favorite is a Wizard Hat, making a non-magical character a Level 2 caster that suffers from Stupidity.
- Each Lore has a special ability and a signature spell.
- The cards are just for practical usages.
Shooting
- All shooting is in 2 ranks.
- As it's TLOS, intervening units give Hard Cover.
- You get both armor and ward saves against wounds like normal, but now you must choose between ward and regeneration saves if you have both.
Close Combat
- Fighting is in two ranks; this works just like spears do now, except models in supporting ranks only give 1 attack each.
- If the unit is 10-wide (horde rule), you get an extra rank of supporting attacks.
- Attacks are in purely Initiative order, just like 40k (ie. simultaneous strikes can happen).
- New combat res. factors: Charged +1, Charged downhill another +1.
- You only get rid of rank bonus by having at least two ranks of 5 in the flank. Can't be skirmishers.
- If the defeated unit has more ranks than the enemy, they test on unmodified Leadership.
- If you win, you can Combat Reform (like a normal one).
- If you lose, you can Combat Reform on a successful Leadership Check.
Advanced Rules
- Always Strike First: you get ASF like normal; plus, if your Initiative is higher, you get to reroll failed to-hit rolls.
- Devastating Charge: +1 attack on the charge
- Fast Cavalry:
-->Vanguard: get to make a 12" move before the game begins
-->otherwise same as now
- Fear: only test at the start of every round, even if passed previously.
- Fight in Extra Ranks: see Spears, below
- Flaming Attacks: causes Fear in warbeasts, cavalry, and chariots; also get to reroll failed to-wound rolls when assaulting a building.
- Flyers: Swiftstride, and 10", 20" march (so 10+3D6 take highest two on the charge)
- Flying Cav is treated like Fast Cav with Flyers.
- Hover: Flyers, but can't march (like Bat Swarms and the like)
- Magic Resistance: Boosts ward saves against magical attacks; so a dude with a 6+ ward and MR:2 would get a 4+ ward against magical attacks.
- Quickfire: Can be used in Stand and Shoot when within minimum distance.
- Stupidity: if you fail, you stumble forward D6".
- Skirmishers are 1/2" coherency, otherwise still in block formation
--> Free reforms, like Fast Cav.
--> Can march and shoot, like Fast Cav.
- Swiftstride: roll additional D6 when charging; take the highest. Additional D6 when fleeing; add it in.
- Stomp: additional attack at Initiative 1, auto hits at normal strength (plus bonuses)
- Thunderstomp: additional D6 attacks at Initiative 1, auto hits at normal strength (plus bonuses)
- Terror: no more bubble effect; only test in combat, every round.
- Volley Fire: half of the models in successive ranks can fire.
Troop Types
- Infantry
- Monstrous Infantry (trolls, Ogres, Minotaurs, etc)
--> have Stomp
--> only need ranks of 3 to get bonuses
--> Supporting attacks aren't limited to 1, but 3 each.
- Cavalry
--> treat anything other than open plains and hills as Dangerous Terrain.
--> Swiftstride
- Monstrous Cavalry (Bloodcrushers, etc)
--> Stomp
- Warbeasts (war hounds, dire wolves, etc)
--> Swiftstride
- Monstrous Warbeasts (great eagles, etc)
--> Stomp
--> Swiftstride
- Monsters
--> Thunderstomp
Weapons
- Parry bonus (hw + shield) is now a 6+ ward save. Not usable against impact hits or Stomps.
- Bows & Longbows have Volley Fire.
- Great weapons are +2 strength when mounted again.
- Javelins are don't incur -1 when move and shoot; also have Quickfire.
Standard Bearers
- When you flee combat, the banner dies forever; model must be replaced by rank & file.
- Command groups die in the following order: musician, banner, champ. No exceptions.
- BSB's allow you to reroll all failed Leadership checks, not just morale.
Warmachines
- Stonethrowers fire thusly: place the template within range, scatter as normal.
- Can now fire Indirectly! Scatter as normal, but on hits use the small arrow on the targeting circle. Subtract firer's BS from distance scattered.
Terrain
- pages 116-131 define all the terrain.
- Forests and Rivers are Mysterious Terrain; roll a D6 once a unit first enters said pieces. 1 is normal, 2-6 has neat effect. Lasts the game.
- The Temple of Skulls terrain piece has an in-game effect!
Army Comp
- It is as feared; percentages are in, slots are out. 25% Lords, 25% Heroes, 25%+ Core, 50% Special, 25% Rare.
- No more than 3 of the same Special, and no more than 2 of the same Rare. This is doubled at 3000+ points.
- Pages 136-139 cover the use of allies in multiplayer games.
Victory
- Captured banners are now only 25 VP; the BSB is still 100 VP.
- If a unit champion kills a character in a challenge, +50 VP.
The Rest
- 6 standard missions: 4 VP, 1 Break their Army, 1 Objective.
- 13 narrative missions.
- 1 legendary mission.
- Rules for the Wrath of Thunder, a Dwarf zeppelin.
- Rules for the Doom Engine, a Chaos super-siege tower.
