Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Ok ok, I know I'm way behind the curb here, but I haven't been paying attention to GW for a while now. Anyway my interest has recently been piqued, and so I'd like to know what changes have been made to the game since last I knew the rules...

You'll need to pick up the new rule book - 8th is a complete overhaul. Its basically a whole new game played with the old army books. Changes have been made to movement, combat, unit formations, magic (casting, spells and items), monsters, warmachines, wound chart, etc ....

It's not like 7th when you could play with a sheet of notes and the 6th ed book.

And the rulebook is what now, $70? XD
Well, we'll see what happens. If any of my gaming buddies want to get into fantasy I'll probably just have to bite the buillet and get it...

The shortest answer? Many and varied.

The short answer?
- Magic pool is not solely determined on number of casters
- Casting and the base rulebook spells are changed extensively
- All combat if fought in initiative order (regardless of charges)
- In most circumstances, one additional rank of models will fight (with a single attack) in a given combat.
- Models will "step up" to fight- that is if you have high initiative or ASF, you can't kill everyone in base to base to avoid return attacks.
- Charge distances are random- 2D6 plus your movement (generally)
- Templates now hit anything they touch (no partials)

There are many, many more- too many to sum up here. Best recommendation is to borrow or buy a rulebook from the Island of Blood set (they're fairly cheap on eBay).

RZ

I PM'd something i hope is helpfull.

I like most of those changes, but... Random charge distance wtf?

I can't really comment on that i started playing when 8th came out as it seemed as a great opportunity to get into fantasy. I do enjoy the game quite a bit more than 40k lately.

Just go on ebay and get the mini book for like, $25. Coming on here asking what the changes are....there's not enough time in the day to go over them.

MasterDRD wrote:I like most of those changes, but... Random charge distance wtf?

Bad rule mechanic from War of the Ring ported over to be a bad rule mechanic in 8th edition WFB.

People need to stop complaining about the random charge range, it's actually made the game a lot better. I can't count the number of times in 7th edition where people would stay 8.5 inches or so away from each other because neither one wanted to let the other charge, it was completely playing six turn of chicken. Now with the variable distance, combined with the charge advantage being reduced, it's made for a lot more eventful games.

Thank you for letting me know that that bad mechanics are ok and tactics to overcome what your opponent is doing are hard. I shall forever go around not complaining about bad rule mechanics. You just saved me a lot of time in the future. I feel so relieved now. /whew.

You're welcome, and what's with the hostility? Is no one allowed to disagree with you?

It wasn't a tactical issue, it came up in every other game, two units would end up doing the dance to see who would charge, since going first actually meant something.

Now, people aren't as afraid of charges. Games move faster, certain armies now have a chance to actually be offensive (dwarfs come to mind), missile unit guinlines aren't as annoying to play against, as instead of 2-3 turns marching, you could potentially close the gap in 1-2 turns, and faster moving units still have an advantage via swiftstride. Just calling something "bad" without defining why is just an empty statement.

greenbay924 wrote:You're welcome, and what's with the hostility? Is no one allowed to disagree with you?

People need to stop complaining about the random charge range

Apparently that is your stance. You said to stop complaining which is obvious that nobody is allowed to disagree with you.

It wasn't a tactical issue, it came up in every other game, two units would end up doing the dance to see who would charge, since going first actually meant something.

And it was just two units in a vacuum. Nothing to do with flanking units or setting traps. Right.

Now, people aren't as afraid of charges. Games move faster, certain armies now have a chance to actually be offensive (dwarfs come to mind), missile unit guinlines aren't as annoying to play against, as instead of 2-3 turns marching, you could potentially close the gap in 1-2 turns, and faster moving units still have an advantage via swiftstride. Just calling something "bad" without defining why is just an empty statement.

Yep, that's why there are two threads on the front page right now about cannons and gunlines being OP, and several discussions about Empire or Dwarfs degenerates into that argument.

It's given that you attempt to take as much randomness out of the game as you can either by stacking the odds in your favor, stacking the army in your favor, and any other multitudes of things to help remove the randomness from the game to a more predictable state. ADDING randomness into a basic and deciding fundamental of being able to engage in combat goes against that. But this isn't a new argument.

You should note what I said was an impartial statement (granted I used poor word choice), with no hostility towards anyone, your response was a sarcastic reply adding no value to the thread.

I said missile...not warmachines. Warmachines are still a pain, as they can sit far back. Most missile troops have to maintain a certain distance, and cannot move and shoot (for the most part). Closing the gap on a 24" range is a lot better now given the average charge distance, obviously helping slower moving troops more than fast.

And I say this with my hydras having a tack record of failing charges needing 6 or less on dice.

Also, random charge distances was almost a must once they added in people can measure at any time. This way people can't just measure up an ideal charge, there's still some random factor added in to make it gamble. I view it as being a bit more tactical than before, as you have to consider the consequences of a failed charge.

12thRonin wrote:Yep, that's why there are two threads on the front page right now about cannons and gunlines being OP, and several discussions about Empire or Dwarfs degenerates into that argument.

Dude, this is game played by nerds. We complain about stuff being overpowered, whether it is or not. If you're going to take a thread or two of people complaining something is overpowered as evidence that it is, then everything in this game is overpowered.

It's given that you attempt to take as much randomness out of the game as you can either by stacking the odds in your favor, stacking the army in your favor, and any other multitudes of things to help remove the randomness from the game to a more predictable state. ADDING randomness into a basic and deciding fundamental of being able to engage in combat goes against that. But this isn't a new argument.

Manoeuvring for the charge was a key (arguably the primary) strategy of 7th ed. It brought tremendous advantages and frequently resulted in decisive victory for the charger over the charged where the units would otherwise be fairly equal. Which was fine, as far as strategies go, although it did make it tip the game balance too strongly towards hard hitting units.

The core of the game is no longer in getting the charge, there are a whole host of strategies now opened up because the charge isn't paramount in winning combat.

I like the charge rules. As said above its not all hinged upon the charge any more. And with the step up up rules you see a lot more infantry blocks battling it out. Its always fun seeing dwarfs get a chance at getting a charge in now.

And saurus getting a chance to strike back.