New Rules

A few 8th Edition rules I have read:

Pre-measuring for both movement and shooting is allowed in 8th Edition.

I can see how this is going to allow new players to be drawn into the game much easier. I can also see it will slow the game down if you have a player that wants to pre-measure everything. That's where Sportsmanship scores will come into play during a tournament game. ("Did your opponent refrain from doing any unnecessary pre-measuring?")

Units attack with both the front rank and the 2 rank as well. Units in the second rank get only one attack instead of their listed attacks.

Horde units are units that are ten models wide. Horde units allow a unit to attack three ranks deep instead of just two.

Empire is now an army that a beginner can take. Guess weapons are a thing of the past. Shooting cannons is a matter of choosing a point on the game board that the cannon can see and is in range of the cannon (pre-measuring allowed) and shooting at it. Cannon balls still bounce a random amount so the shooter has to be aware of that.

Magic cards are coming back into play and will be available July 10th. I haven't read to far into Magic; I have a Free RPG game this weekend I running and have to prepare for.

The caster rolls 2d6 and that is the power dice available for the round. Each magic user adds 1 to the dice to a maximum of 12 dice available. When the 2 dice are rolled; look at the highest die and that is the number of Dispel dice your opponent has. I am sure there are rules that add to the Dispel dice; I just haven't gotten that far into the rules.

So far the rules I have read make me very excited about the new edition. I will be getting my Empire pieces back out and will be playing them as well as Daemons and Beastmen. Maybe Skaven as well.

Just got through looking at it...Wow! number 1 thing, don't miscast! 3 out of the 5 results cause a str.10 hit on the wizard and troops in the surrounding region, 1 result causes a str.6 hit on all friendly wizards and a lose of D6 power dice, and the last result causes a lose of D3 magic levels(and D3 spells too) and D6 power dice. As for magic casting, it is 2D6 power dice at the beginning of the phase with the largest die of the 2D6 also being the amount of dispel dice the other player gets for the phase. In addition to those, each mage on the table has a chance to add to their pool by rolling a 6. This is done by rolling a D6 for each wizard in your army. Any wizard can use up to 6 dice to cast any spell, and whatever they roll they add their magic level to the dice roll. If a wizard fails to ever successfully cast a spell they cannot attempt to cast another spell that turn. So, alot of changes, and that is just in the magic phase.

Nathan

For h-t-h, they have done away with +1 for outnumbering. So, the basic combat results are +1 for charging, +1 for a standard, +1 for flank, +2 for rear, and up to +3 for ranks of at least 5 models. To negate rank bonus from a flank/rear charge you must have at least 2 complete ranks(2 ranks of 5.)

Alot of the new edition will also focus on direction. Another major change I saw was that skirmishers no longer have a 360 degrees line of sight. These units now have a front, flank, and rear just like a blocked up unit. So, you can actually charge a skirmished unit in the flank while they are still in their "loose formation." The rule is the same for a charging skirmished unit. They must be facing the unit to charge.

The other big one was the range of flying creatures. They now move(glide) 10 inches, charge 10 inches, and march 20 inches. Also flying cav. is no longer skirmished...Bret Pegasus knights will now have to fly in ranks.

The last major change is the terrain. Terrain will now have special effects on troops moving through it. One example is a river that causes your passing troops to be +3 initiative till your next turn. These effects are not known though until you take the risk of putting your troops into the terrain. Then you roll on a chart to see the effect the terrain piece has on your forces. After one person rolls on the chart that terrain piece bestows that effect for the rest of the game(it is no longer random.)

Nathan

gamewizard wrote:

Pre-measuring for both movement and shooting is allowed in 8th Edition.

Worth repeating

I am excited about the changes; that they can bring in new players to the game more easily.

Just my overall opinion of the rules so far. I'm not going to pick at them until I read further.

There is a big miscast chance if you roll one die; not so much if you roll two or more. A 1 or a 2 is an automatic miscast. The caster gets to add their level to the casting die.

Pretty sure that a 1 or a 2 is just a failed cast, not a miscast. There's a big difference now given how damaging miscasts are.

Fail to meet the casting value means the wizard cannot cast anything else that magic phase

him. well that mean as long as I bring lvl 2 wiz in my vamps that they will always cast rez as long as I have skel and beast on each of the guys....ok. That sucks for my skaven, have to really I have enuf dice to cast all my spells, no more " well lets see what the dice say."

do you still have to roll for spells, or does each caster know everything, or can you hand pick the spells per caster?

You still roll for spells.

What about fighting and initiative values? Still chargers swing first or is it initiative?

Its completely initiative based in 8th., charging gives you a +1 bonus to combat res and always strike first lets you reroll hits if you do have higher initiative than your opponent.

Yeah combat is in initiative order, and there is no more +1 to your save for using hand weapon and shield in close combat (no more 2+ armour save chaos warrior/temple guard/iron breakers.) Instead, hand weapon and shield will give the model a "parry save" which is a 6+ ward save in combat.

Nathan

Fulminata wrote:

Pretty sure that a 1 or a 2 is just a failed cast, not a miscast. There's a big difference now given how damaging miscasts are.

My bad on not reading that. I misheard what you said. I blame it on the awesome sewage smell.

The shop smells much better now. Rob, Andy, Mike, and Ray worked on it.

Ok, Mike, me and Ray watched while Rob steam cleaned the carpet and Andy mopped all the concrete.

Anything done to fix the very different power levels between different armies? Doesn't matter if the rules are great if the power levels are totally wacked out.

That said I hope the game is a success and maybe when they release the next Orc and Goblins I will fall in line:)

No, it doesn't appear to have fixed any power levels of the armies. Daemons will still be up there as well as empire and dwarfs with their artillery. Pretty much nothing has changed as far as where the armies stand level wise.

Lizards and vampires have taken a pretty good hit but daemons and dark elves are still right up there

Overall I believe this edition will be a great success. I plan on it being that way at CHG and will be pushing it as best I can on new players.

If I can get as big a group of faithful players for Fantasy going at CHG as I do for 40K then I will deem it a success.

So far the new rules set has generated much excitement at the shop.

Dannato wrote:

Lizards and vampires have taken a pretty good hit but daemons and dark elves are still right up there

What!?

WTS 1x Lizard Army. Will trade for hopes and dreams...

The Lizardmen won't take that bad of a hit in the new rules as long as you stay away from the magic phase. Just take a saurus old blood, a couple of priest for dispel attempts, loads of warriors w/ spears, and as many stegadons as you can(D6 +1 impact hits and the thunder stomp rule.)

Orcs and gobbos will move up a step. Skaven may as well. Both these armies can bring large units of cheap troops, and given the new bonus for ranks in combat (more ranks than enemy in h-t-h makes your unit stubborn) Slave units will become the new zombies/tar pit.

Nate, you should run slann with cupped hands just to blow up other characters:)

I'm pretty excited about the changes. From what I have been hearing my Ogres just might have to come out of retirement. I also might have to finish up my Skaven - the Plague Tower Catapault thing is looking really tasty now since you get to measure - I was terrible at guessing range.

Lol. Yeah, that is what I thought too. Run the slann with cupped hands, BSB, and the know every spell discipline. That leaves me with enough points to also take a old blood with light armour, the burning blade, and maiming shield.

So, after a brief perusal, here's what I've got. I'm focused on army selection, so I wanted to see if ogres would be viable.

Monstrous infantry like ogres get their full complement of attacks when attacking from the 2nd rank.
They only need to be 3 wide for a rank bonus and 6 wide for the horde rule.
They get a special Stomp attack that always strikes last.

Also, breath weapons are one shot only.
Monsters get a Thunderstomp, which is like the Stomp, bit it does d6attacks at the base strength.

Monkey wrote:

So, after a brief perusal, here's what I've got. I'm focused on army selection, so I wanted to see if ogres would be viable.

Monstrous infantry like ogres get their full complement of attacks when attacking from the 2nd rank.
They only need to be 3 wide for a rank bonus and 6 wide for the horde rule.
They get a special Stomp attack that always strikes last.

Also, breath weapons are one shot only.
Monsters get a Thunderstomp, which is like the Stomp, bit it does d6attacks at the base strength.

I think most armies are going to be viable under 8th. These changes will bump Ogres up, but I think they will still be considered a mid-tier army. I could be very wrong though. Since no one has really broken the % based lists yet, you could really see a nasty army come out of left field for the big guys.