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 Dysartes wrote:

Tyel wrote:
11th... What? "Players were bored of standing in circles, so now they'll stand in terrain instead".

In fairness, that will at least make what we see on the table make a little more sense - for example, Eldar Guardians taking cover rather than scratching their butts in a random bit of empty ground.

... with the irony of them now being easier to shoot than when they were standing on the empty ground.

 Dysartes wrote:

Tyel wrote:
11th... What? "Players were bored of standing in circles, so now they'll stand in terrain instead".

In fairness, that will at least make what we see on the table make a little more sense - for example, Eldar Guardians taking cover rather than scratching their butts in a random bit of empty ground.

If only we could choose to put the objective markers inside buildings if we wanted too...

Tyel wrote:
Have GW even said what they are trying to achieve in 11th?

I may be reading tea leaves, but didn't they say the goal was to put the narrative back into the focus of the game?

They are making game-play rules changes that are also narrative in nature:

Objectives as terrain pieces, not random circles is narrative-centered.

Layered Detachments allow for more army customization is narrative-centered.

Detection Range is narrative-centered.

Victory Conditions based on opposing armys narrative focuses is narrative-centered.

 alextroy wrote:

Tyel wrote:
Have GW even said what they are trying to achieve in 11th?

I may be reading tea leaves, but didn't they say the goal was to put the narrative back into the focus of the game?

They are making game-play rules changes that are also narrative in nature:

Objectives as terrain pieces, not random circles is narrative-centered.

Layered Detachments allow for more army customization is narrative-centered.

Detection Range is narrative-centered.

Victory Conditions based on opposing armys narrative focuses is narrative-centered.

Then again, last time they explicitly tried to make the game 'Forge The Narrative™', it led to gibberish like Creed and the Grey Knights defending the psychic wasp monsters of Fifteen from the Chaos stronghold thirty feet away...*


*actual plot of the inaugural 6th edition White Dwarf battle report

"Forging the Narrative" became such a meme that every time I go back and peek in my old 6e apocalypse book, seeing those little 100% unironic tidbits scattered through the book is like taking psychic damage.

At least now rather than telling you to "Forge the Narrative" they are making the rules fit the narrative.

 Dysartes wrote:

Tyel wrote:
11th... What? "Players were bored of standing in circles, so now they'll stand in terrain instead".

In fairness, that will at least make what we see on the table make a little more sense - for example, Eldar Guardians taking cover rather than scratching their butts in a random bit of empty ground.

Honestly, I think this is a nice little change in terms of theme/narrative. In past editions, my group would tend to stick objective markers near/on cool pieces of terrain and toss out a short sentence about why that piece of terrain was important. Bell tower? Sounding the alarm for reinforcements. Big chonky building? Has some of the last functioning cogitators in this part of the city. Bridge? Bridge.

Reframing things from "this empty patch of ground is important" to "this ruin is important" instantly makes it a bit easier for me to throw a story onto a game. Even if there technically wasn't anything stopping you from putting terrain near your objectives in 10th.


My inner optimist is hoping that modest changes like this and whatever the narrative missions end up looking like will help make the game feel more thematic again. Not that we have a ton of evidence one way or the other yet.