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What do you think of the 8th edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle rules compared to 7th edition?

Had my first game yesterday with my bretonians and it was amazing!

Excited.

Not had a chance to try them out yet :(

The last option ought to be not played yet rather than no interest imho Yakface, since people that don't play WHFB and have no intention of doing so will affect the poll percentages

For me, 7th worked.

8 also works, just differently.

I did not enjoy previous editions that much - this one definatley seemed much more exciting to play. Although only had one game thus far

bit ticks for new charge rules and pre-measuring

Slightly.

Some things, like if you take a special weapon(halberd/GW) you HAVE to use it and no other weapon, is just stupid.

I have played quite a few games of 8th so far (about 15 I'd say) and I am loving this edition. Granted I did not play too much of 7th, as I feel out of the hobby for it's whole life.

It's fast paced and the rules are simple, so it's much easier to play a game.

I think it has been sped up nicely, the magic phase is more interesting now, and combats are (as a Bostonian would say)wicked awesome yo.

Mark me down for "kinda improved" - for the most part I think the new rules are better than the old ones. I don't like the Horde rule though, and it smacks of cash grab.

"Horde" should be a special rule that applies only to Goblins (of all varieties), Skaven, Skeletons and Zombies.

I never could get into WHF because the game was too slow and restrictive but I've tried a few games with the new rules and I'm very impressed. I'm even planning on starting Skaven once I finish my current projects.

This ed got me to play WHFB!!!

Love the new rule set, everything I wished for came true

Essentially, I think they are just backwards and strange (Wait, a 6+ Ward for a shield? Wha...)

Though some things were nice, overall, I preferred 7th.

Well, factoring out all of you who don't play WHFB (quite a few, it seems!) the "betters" are winning by a landslide! Woohoo

I, personally, love the new rules, I think they hit the nail on the head with this!

Love em. Streamlined things and made it more fun and less of a chore to play. I agree with RiTides, they hit the nail on the head.

Long Live 8th!!!

I'll play, but it is an entirely different game. It is still very unbalanced (Maybe even more so *shrugs* )

Cryonicleech wrote:Essentially, I think they are just backwards and strange (Wait, a 6+ Ward for a shield? Wha...)

Though some things were nice, overall, I preferred 7th.

It went the way of "oh, inch high grass, 4+ cover, and you disagree? HAH, you just made it a 3+ sucka!!!!!!!!!!!

I know of very few games besides chess that are balanced. But this game is just *&^% fun! 8th is such a blast. I am glad to see the winds of magic, the new force org, and most important, the terrain rules, they rock.

I chose "I don't play WHFB (and the new rules don't interest me) or I don't have an opinion.", I haven't played WHFB so I don't have the foggiest idea if the new ruleset is better or worse. I'm interested in starting WHFB though, Tomb Kings seem fun gaming-wise and painting them should be a breeze even with my puny painting skills

My Dwarves are way better to play now! Im really happy with the new rules.

Don't play fantasy.

played my first game (finally) yesterday with my dwarfs......cannons are so much better. dwarfs are so much faster now, and firing in two ranks is great (lots of thunderers and quarrelers in my army). runelords also still pack a mighty anti magic punch....altogether i'm fairly happy with the changes in 8th.

skyth wrote:I'll play, but it is an entirely different game. It is still very unbalanced (Maybe even more so *shrugs* )

Considering the variables in the system, that there is any balance whatsoever seems praise worthy to me, and 8th has certainly levelled the playing field somewhat. Daemons for instance didn't benefit as much from the new rules as say, Ogres. Some armies which didn't play so well before are now feasible, and fun! Take the old Magic Heavy armies. Lot less dependable now, as sure you might have a stonking magic phase with 12 dice of glory, but then you might just roll that fateful 2, and be facing an uphill struggle. The whole game now has a random factor in pretty much every phase, meaning tactics rather than list now play a bigger part in deciding the victor.

Cavalry is the only thing to have been brought to task. They struggle to break large blocks (good thing to my mind) but can be deadly if fielded in an expensive horde (good thing to my mind).

I'm really enjoying 8th Edition!

I'm more interested to try out 8, I played in 7 and quit after playing a LOT of lopsided games. I couldn't really find an option that explained this so I picked:

I don't play WHFB (and the new rules don't interest me) or I don't have an opinion.

I don't play but I'd like to, the difference being the new rules DO interest me!

I have just always been intimidated by the massive painting and minis commitment. 40k is bad enough but 40 marines and 6 or so tanks and you have a generally decent army. In WHFB (any edition) you probably need 200 models or so. Tougher,..

I could paint 2 or 3 40k armies for that investment of time. (I don't play with unpainted ever.)

I also had a bad taste from 7th edition, I played in a few tourneys and a few for fun games but, more often than not I had a very slanted game set, sometimes in my favor sometimes against me, few of which were very fun.

It would be my hope the 8th edition rules would fix this, for example in 8th I had what I thought was a pretty normal vanilla Dark Elf army, A Black Dragon, 2 little sorceresses, 6 bolt throwers, 6 units of crossbowmen 3 big spear blocks,an executioner unit and a unit of dark riders and 2 small units of harpies. Kind of a little of everything, no hydras or wyches.

For the still interested: Here were some of my games 7th ed that left me thinking really? (Will 8th still do this sort of thing?)

vs Dwarves: With a 3 inch move the dwarves could nevber reach me so I set up on my back edge and shot. No melees except the black dragon eats the anvil of destruction, bolt throwers kill all the Ironbreakers, loss of this unit, causes another dwarf unit to flee and terror checks claim another. I loose nothing.

vs Beastmen: Turn 2 my entire infantry line dies after the brayhorn blows and 6 units of skirmishing Beastmen rear charge every infantry unit in my army. Cascading morale checks also take 2 of the the bolt throwers, and chariots get the remainder. I kill no units.

vs Nurgle foot demons: Harpies easily keep this entire army from ever march moving, Boltthrowers kill all the big demons and then missile fire kills the small ones before any melees can occur. I loose nothing

vs Bretonian: despite killing 2 big units of knights down to a champion and a standard with missile fire the turn 2 charge wipes out every infantry unit I have except the executioners. Cascading morale checks claim some too and actual melee death in later turns the rest. I kill one unit of knights all game and get tabled.

vs Undead: Bolt throwers shoot the vampire on a beast dead turn one and the game ends.? I wonder why I bother setting up the remainder of the army and why everyone thinks undead are so nasty?

vs Empire: Turn one great cannon fire claims my general and black dragon, and a bolt thrower, a turn 2 volley gun miss fire actually obliterates the executioners with 30 shots. I never reach the empire line with anything and a big unit of pike takes the center out of my army easily. I kill nothing.

vs Orks: The Black Dragons second turn flight move sets the Ork line up to take 8 terror checks, between this and a failed animosity fight they loose 6 units including the general and Black Orks. The player concedes. No melees or shooting occur.

After all these games, and others like them, I quit 7th edition.

When I won I never felt like it was anything other than a trick of list building, or opponent vulnerability and when I lost I generally felt handicapped by match up, or deceived by some special rule or hidden magic items in a list.

Do you think 8th will be as gimmicky? I was hoping perhaps not! ?

Ogres FTW!!!

Stomp, easier to get Bull Charge, ranked at 3 wide, Casualities removed from the rear, Stacking Gut Magic buffs, more Casting dice on average...

Ogres are at least Mid Tier now. Magic heavy armies(one of our previous weaknessess) have been nerfed.


one thing we need to do is watch out for cannons , but then again we always had too

I've only played 3 games with the new 8th edition rules but I absolutely love them. War Machines are now very killy, and with my dwarves being able to rune them up have turned them outright monstrous. I flattened 11 Chaos Warriors with one rock at one point! Magic is devastating and unpredictable the way it should be and I know my High Elves will never leave their Mages home again. I've got 2 wins and 1 loss so far and can't wait to experiment with different lists. Love the Horde rule. I don't think it's just GW wanting more money. I've even custom built a few new movement trays for my High Elf spearmen. Fighting in 5 ranks with spears is awesome!!! I find myself wanting to build army lists that I never would have tried and trying units that I never would have fielded and I think this was a very smart move for GW.

Augustus wrote:I'm more interested to try out 8, I played in 7 and quit after playing a LOT of lopsided games. I couldn't really find an option that explained this so I picked:


It would be my hope the 8th edition rules would fix this, for example in 8th I had what I thought was a pretty normal vanilla Dark Elf army, A Black Dragon, 2 little sorceresses, 6 bolt throwers, 6 units of crossbowmen 3 big spear blocks,an executioner unit and a unit of dark riders and 2 small units of harpies. Kind of a little of everything, no hydras or wyches.

Do you think 8th will be as gimmicky? I was hoping perhaps not! ?

That seems hardly vanilla, and very VERY much "I'm going to take as much shooting as possible". It's very much heavy-handed on the shooting side and screams "I will march block the enemy and gun them down". Your games then, likewise, either went that way [success, enemy is tabled and you avoided combat like you intended] or didn't [enemy was too tough, got to me, took out key elements of my army].

Mostly it was a failure of your enemy to really handle your list. If they had no magic or shooting whatsoever then the harpies could do whatever they wanted. Once they got to combat with you it depended what they were fighting - your crossbowmen wouldn't stand up to a strong breeze in combat, and if they avoided your executioners you'd never get the chance to retaliate. Your general on a black dragon faces the same problems that vampire general on a monster [stupid idea, NEVER put the general out in the open like that!], just his was much more important to his army than yours - and he didn't build to prevent calamity. It's possible to have a wight lord or vampire in every unit and thus minimize losses from losing the general, but he apparently didn't do that. A few cannons or bolt throwers and your dragon goes down, simple as that.

It seems like you played a very shooty-spam list against opponents who either didn't know how to deal with it or had lists that naturally resisted damage from it.

In 8th your games should be much more interesting - your spearmen will get more attacks, but get munched much faster because the enemy gets more too. Your executioners will face troubles as they get cut down in droves, but the remainder should cause all kinds of havoc. Your crossbowmen can fire more shots with smaller unit profiles, giving you more maneuverability. Your dark riders can make a vanguard move before the game starts, getting into range faster. They can also stand a chance killing warmachines in melee, since you pick 6 models to fight, thus allowing more than just a couple to get into the fight and kill the enemy. BSBs allow re-rolls of all ld checks, so your collateral damage panic checks won't be as crippling if you take one. Terror no longer causes a 6" aura, so your dragon will less likely solo half the enemy army.

In short some things were strengthened, some weakened, but it will be more of a game than a coin toss from here on out.

the new magic rules seem to lend themselves to alot of abuse. If you don't care about a miscast you can get your best spells off pretty consistently, and the miscast table really isn't that bad considering what you get when the spell goes off. I wish they'd kept some restrictions in about who can cast what. I'm not a veteran fantasy player or anything just a thought.
AF

the thing is that most spells that are high level will require a Lvl3-4 mage even with a ton of dice. this means you are risking a 100+ point charactor in the hopes that you get the spell off. half of the miscast table will kill or seriously wound your mage and will decimate any nearby units.

of course you can now run more(on average) charectors per army so you will likely have replacements.