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Hey guys,

I haven't played since the 6th edition with my orcs, and I'm thinking of starting again with the new edition. However, here's what's going through my mind :

I started to play with the 5th edition, Herohammer. When the 6th edition came out, I naturally continued on this path, using all my 3 Heroes slots and my Lord slot in a 2000 pts army for my General, Great Banner, Shaman and Boar Rider Hero (all 4 stacked with their max points in magic items). But then after a tournament people made me realize that this many heroes were not necessary, for instance just a Hero as my general and a shaman would do the job (with a total of ~75 pts of items for them). That I could use the points to add more boyz, for example.

It opened a brand new way to play my Orcs, a lot more fun, where my 2 characters where just secondary to my army. Instead of having a few big units, stacked with heroes (with a specific hero for each unit), I had more "stand alone" units (of like 20 boyz/big 'uns/black orc) and at the end of my deployment I'd put my Black Orc Warlord at the best spot where he could negate the most animosity. This new way to play the game was a lot more fun, the only problem is it coincided with the time I stopped playing.

So for about 8 years I've been thinking of playing again with this "new" way to play my boyz, but then I looked at the 8th edition rulebook. It seems that the whole "Herohammer" is back. It seems that you can/should place a hero in every unit you have, that you should have more than one Shaman/wizard/sorcerer/caster, and that now the standard for the size of a unit is more like 30+. I know that I haven't played a single game yet but its the sense that I getting when I look at the rules and the changes from the previous edition.

So, am I right ? Is Herohammer back ? What's the new trends with the new edition ? Are the multiple 20 boyz units gone ? Can it be viable to use less than 20% of heroes and lord combined in an army ?

Basically, what are your thoughts on the new edition ?

Thanks

Mart

PS: Sorry if my post is a bit confusing, it'd have been easier to say it face to face than writing the whole thing

Herohammer rests with 5th edition along with green bases and blood red horns.

The Horde rule as well as steadfast are useful these days. You'll want big units(30-50).

Generally games are capped at 2500 points now, 2250 for those still clinging to 7th edition. It's not uncommon to use both a wizard and melee lord in an army as they are % based instead of slot based.

It's not so much hero hammer as most armies will have at least a few infantry blocks that are hard to shift or kill quickly. So whilst there are more options to field more characters. As well as common sense that most/all armies should have a battle standard bearer due to their usefulness nowadays. They aren't something you should rely on to carry your army through everything it faces.

As for trends? I've seen much more viability for large blocks of infantry and war machines. Hero %s will likely be used up alot at low points games with lords % taking on more use at bigger scale games. To be honest Herohammer in the way it was in earlier editions isn't the way to go any more. 8th edition has really levelled the playing field for all armies to compete now for the most part.

Thanks for the comments, it's a bit of a relief to hear that !

Any other comments regarding the mechanics of this new edition are still welcome ! Meanwhile, I can't wait for the new Orc codex to hit the shelves

Yarrgh, again with the codex! We call them Army Books down in this neck of the woods.

I wouldn't describe this as hero hammer at all. The strongest 2500 point list I've built has only a general and a BSB. Outside of magic and magic defense, I feel like a great deal of the focus is on making characters survivable enough to not get hacked up by rank and file...

Red_Zeke wrote:Yarrgh, again with the codex! We call them Army Books down in this neck of the woods.

I wouldn't describe this as hero hammer at all. The strongest 2500 point list I've built has only a general and a BSB. Outside of magic and magic defense, I feel like a great deal of the focus is on making characters survivable enough to not get hacked up by rank and file...

Whooops sorry for that, thought it was used in Fantasy too

Thanks for the comments, and at last I'll have a lvl 4 shaman AND a warlord in a 2000 pts army