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Just looking for some discussion of Overwatch and unit and army traits. (Overwatch or not as a rule has been argued elsewhere, so let's leave that there.)

Standard "Where I'm coming from" Ignore if you're the type who ignores such things.
I have a group of close friends, and we play regularly, even now, so I get 3-4 games a month in. I'm not a newbie, having played for 25 years. I've played local tournaments (Against all types, and done well, even against cut and paste meta), I'm not interested in the time or cash expenditure to go larger. Our group would certainly describe itself as build for cool, play to win. I know the game, have practical experience (more than most I suspect for number of games), and like hearing different ideas, thoughts, angles. I am not a fan of trite, absolutes stated in monosyllables. I also have a wry sense of humor that hopefully comes through, but we all know the way typed words work.)

So, Overwatch is out as a universal thing, with exceptions (a strat, a type of terrain, etc).

I know the plan is to add Overwatch as an ability to certain units, but that's a codex thing, and clearly if your title doesn't include the words Space and Marine in it, you will be waiting (possibly a year, but they've been better at getting things out in the book cash grab 40k is).

Clearly this hurts units and army traits that relied on this. For example (and just a few examples):

A: Mordian IG trait. Hitting on 5's in overwatch (or 4's with the strat) was something, especially for a vehicle. You still can, but it's one vehicle a turn, and costs an extra CP. I don't see a reason to ever bother the cost for a squad of IG (3 hits with a S3 no AP weapon...) So, is taking this trait useless now? Or just weaker? I'm not sure how often it was even being played. Thoughts? (there are other armies with the same trait, so are they in the same boat?)

B:Howling Banshees: Their big thing is movement and no overwatch. It still is. How much has this changed? With Overwatch so limited, how often is this going to apply? It still seems useful for a fragile glass cannon unit (that is completely overcosted now...but that's a digression). For me, against Howling Banshees they are certainly high on the list of units I'd overwatch against in the Eldar codex. So what is this worth now?

Add your own units affected by this.

So, what do we think?
How many units in a codex will get such a rule? Are we looking at one or two specialists, or any unit the designers think puts out massive firepower and deserves it? (And perhaps they want to sell more models of...oh man, how could I even suggest that...)

Will models with the "No overwatch" ability stop paying for it? (whatever it is they might pay for it in GW's cost mathematics. Maybe they pay nothing...)

The Tau have already been dealt with, do you think other armies or units will get a special rule? Will it be linked to army traits such as the Mordian one?

How big an advantage will it be to have your codex (such as SM's) over armies that have not had this type of rule added in as a unit ability?

Has it changed your own army thoughts? As in "I used to run X, but now it's pointless, so...." or perhaps "Still valuable, because the terrain rule just means I need to be more astute on the table"?


Hmmm is this a tactics section thing? Sorry if it is, I see it more as a game design thing.

Most likely all traits that affected overwatch will be changed.

They will either be changed to allow free overwatch, or will gain a new bonus on top of their old one.

we know Ironhands simply LOST their trait that affects overwatch. so expect armies with similer traits to have it removed as their codices come up