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My recommendation is to use 8th edition with 7th edition terrain rules.

As far as the base rules were concerned, 7th edition was sorely lacking. The rules too heavily favored getting the initial charge off and/or having ASF(meaning cavalry and elves were OP). Steadfast and step-up solved this problem eloquently and in an almost perfect fashion(sorry dudes, your 8 knights should never win against a huge block of infantry to the front)

Magic in 7th was IMO actually more broken than 8th was, for certain armies. Some armies had the ability to spam cheap wizards for total magic phase dominance, others didn't and had no chance of getting anything off. 8th was more of a level playing field. The only change I would make to 8th edition magic is to make all the "test or die" spells into test or take a wound with no saves allowed.

Some people don't like how steadfast made monsters and flank charges almost useless. However I found a nice fix to this. A monster always counts as having 2 ranks, and units hitting the flank of an enemy unit double their rank bonus for calculating steadfast.

And for obvious reasons, the 8th edition army books are way more balanced than the garbage of 7th and 8th(which was basically hard on for daemons and elves, everyone else can suck it).


So basically my fixes in a nutshell is play 8th edition, but change the Test or Die spells into Test or take an unsavable wound, Monsters always have 2 ranks, and units in the flanks double their rank bonus when calculating steadfast, and use the 7th edition terrain rules.

I think your final set of house rules could prove to be very enjoyable. I would definitely be willing to throw in with this if it were played at my LGS.

 Kasrkinlegion wrote:
I think your final set of house rules could prove to be very enjoyable. I would definitely be willing to throw in with this if it were played at my LGS.

Thank you, I agree and I hope they do. Its a starting point nothing more but the aim is really small tweaks for broad impact. After discussing it with the best/veteran minds in our group we believe what I posted to be a solid start. What we don't want is to completely rewrite a rules set for a few offenders or a massive living FAQ. Better to just push the broken parts out, which is another shout out to earlier editions.. much easier to manage the power level.

The other concept that is actually really appealing without an FAQ is to strictly enforce the 'dice to decide' rule in the event of no clear answer. Ya its random but thats actually a good thing. Basically you can count on certain undecided things going in your favor.. sometimes. Can the spirit sword bypass a generals LD? Maybe. An so on. You know the risk of including it so then its a risk vs reward scenario.

Any more thoughts on what I've listed? Anything major we may have missed?

No Chaos Dwarfs nor Mercs? Hmmm ¬¬

Just use the lists from Ravening hordes. They were still usable in 7th. Not too many options, but enough to be competitive (edit: for those two armies, I mean).

If you add 2d6 to movement stat in order to get charge distances, be prepared to see dwarfs charging up to 15'' and some cavalries up to 21''. Honestly I'd go with just movement stat + 1d6. If it's merely an Initiative matter when it comes to close combat, there should be less worries about always getting to charge and never be charged.

No Chaos Dwarfs nor Mercs? Hmmm ¬¬

Haha funny you said that, I just had a friend come out of the wood work and say the same thing.. seems our 'revival' is building steam! In the near future we will address these (dogs of war rules from 6th are allowed btw).

On longer charge ranges, legacy dwarves that can actually reach combat will be interesting, same with mv 4 infantry. Not that concerned because they will spend points on infantry instead of gunlines. Its a trade off.

What I do need some further input on is daemons. They are the crux of the whole thing. I have been advocating for just removing them entirely but we have at least one player who wants to use them.. only there isn't a balanced book, by comparison. The other option (and a messy one) is to nerf them. Hard.

Edit- NM daemons are out.

Ok so after a series of testing heres what we've settled on for the foreseeable future (with a few possible bugs in individual ABs that will be addressed as they arise). Its an awesome rules set tbh and has completely renewed my interest in whf.


WARHAMMER ‘LEGACY’ EDITION
The 7th edition rulebook will be used with the following Errata:

Movement
-“Random Charge Range”. All charges will instead be resolved by adding the result of 2d6 to the charging units normal movement rate. Flyers remain unchanged. Frenzied models will only be forced to declare a charge if found to be within double their movement rate from an enemy unit.

Shooting
-“Volley Fire”. Units armed with missile weapons fire in 2 ranks instead of 1 rank.

Close Combat
-“Step Up”. So long as a model is in base contact with an enemy model when it is their turn to strike the model may attack. This replaces the combat rules that state: models that are stepping forward from rear ranks to replace casualties can’t attack that turn.

-“ASF/ASL”. If a model has both the Always Strikes First rule and the Always Strikes Last rule, the two cancel out and neither applies, so use the model's initiative.

Psychology
Fear:

-“Fear”. At the start of each close combat round, each unit in base contact with one or more Fear-causing models must take a Leadership test or be reduced to Weapon Skill 1 for the remainder of that combat round. Models that are Immune to Psychology or that cause Fear are themselves immune to Fear.

-“Charged by Fear-causing Enemies”. Replace with: Each time a unit is charged by a Fear-causing enemy it must test for Fear. If the unit fails its test and its unit strength is lower than the total unit strength of all Fear-causing models, it must immediately change its charge reaction to Flee. If its unit strength is equal or greater, it will continue to fight on as normal but will be reduced to Weapon Skill 1 for the remainder of that combat round.

-“Charging Fear-causing Enemies”. Replace with: Each time a unit declares a charge against a Fear-causing enemy it must test for Fear. If the test is failed the unit must remain stationary and is treated as having failed a charge.

-“Defeated by Fear-causing Enemies”. Replace “automatically fail their break test” with “are treated as having automatically failed a Fear test in the following round”.


Armies of Legacy:

6th Edition Army Books:
Beasts of Chaos, Brettonia, Dark Elves, Dogs of War, High Elves, Hordes of Chaos, Lizardmen, Ogre Kingdoms, Skaven, Tomb Kings, Vampire Counts, Wood Elves.

7th Edition Army Books:
Dwarves, Empire, Orcs & Goblins.

Regiments of Renown:
ANY single Core, Special or Rare unit choice, chosen from your army’s coinciding 8th edition army book may be selected as a 0-1 Rare choice aka a “Regiment of Renown”.
All characteristics, equipment, costs, upgrades etc will be used exactly as written in the 8th edition army book. Any special rules not included within the 8th edition army book that do not exist in the 7th edition core rules such as Stomp, Heroic Killing Blow, Vanguard etc will be ignored. Magic Items such as magic banners will instead be selected from the army book listed under “Armies of Legacy” noted above. Where an existing Core special rule or Spell is included, the 7th edition rules will instead be used. If no Spell exists then substitute the first spell from the same lore instead. Monstrous cavalry/infantry are treated as ogre sized infantry.

A FINAL NOTE
There are no FAQs. The 'dice it' rule will be strictly enforced. If after referencing all relevant rules a dispute remains, players must resolve EACH instance by rolling a d6 to determine which interpretation applies.


Edit- put the wrong version up.. fixed now.