So we've got a brief summary for 6th edition so far - let's see what's what from Natfka! My comments in blue.
Core System
- Change to Pre-Measure like WHFB 8th Edition. Give or take - not a terrible thing but something I thought was a skill to seperate moderate players. Now there should be no arguments :P.
- Force Organization Chart is still in use, no use of Percentage Phew.
- Adding new FoC Slot called "Fortification" [0-1] / see below Uh-oh.
- Phases remains the same, Movement, Shooting, and then Assault Good.
- No Psychic Phase
- No Initiative Phase A what?
Movement Phase
- Movement is pretty much the same. Infantry can move 6", Jump Infantry 12" and so on.
Shooting Phase
- Rapid Fire weapons can now fire at target 24" away irregardless of moving or not. (or choose to fire twice at target 12" away) Nothing really big here - just rapid fire weapons are a bit more useful on the move.
- Pistol is pretty much the same.
- New Weapon type "Salvo" - firing at max. range & max. shots if not move, or 1/2 range and 1/2 shots if moving. Wait and see.
- Heavy Weapon can now be fired on the move, but will be subjected to 'snap fire' rule. Woot? My Long Fangs can flee a mighty 6" and maybe land one rocket... Depends if there's anymore implications but it'll be like Going to Ground in the open - sometimes that one six will come up but don't count on it.
- "Snap Fire" allows certain weapon types to shoot even if moving, but with a BS of 1 (ie. 6 to hit)
- Blast Weapons cannot "snap fire"
- You can only killed as much models in target unit as you can actually see (and within max range). This hurts shooting quite a bit and is probably a nice adaption of TLoS (if kept). Shorter range armies aren't going to be able to ping as much now as well.
- Casualties are now removed from closest to furthest. As said before, this could have some very good tactical implications in how you place models within squads and how both players seek to take advantage of this.
- Wound Allocation is completely changed. How :P?
- When shooting at unit partially in cover, player can choose to "Focus Fire" to kill only models in the open (or in a less covered position). I'm going to assume no cover for such? Shooting improves.
- You can now throw (most) grenades in the Shooting Phase at the range of 8", limited to 1 grenade per unit per Phase. Fun times.
Assault Phase
- Charge Distance is now 2D6" adding together. Something more reliable than the usual 2D6 pick highest (or 1D6) and obviously benefits assault units with a significant threat range increase (+6") but as anyone who has played Fantasy can tell you, getting those double 1's when you're 3" away with open ground for miles around, well it can be frustrating.
- Unit can elect to "Overwatch" if being assaulted. Simply a "Stand and Shoot 40K version" - resolved at BS1, Template does D3 hit instead. Who will be the first to ignore this restriction?
- Overwatch can be done only once per turn.
- Unit declaring multiple assaults will suffer from "Disoriented Charge" (not get +1A)
- Unit assaulting multiple enemy unit is subjected to multiple Overwatch.
- Unlike Stand & Shoot, Overwatch does NOT cause Morale Check or Pinning.
- Pile-in reduced to 3" and is done at the model's Initiative Step (ie. before the model could strike)
- Casualties are removed from the front rank, like the case of Shooting Phase This removes wound allocation but unlike shooting, can be a right pain, particularly with smaller pile-ins (I'm assuming they mean Defender Reacts here?). Remember walking up to units and just engaging a couple of guys, killing everyone in the kill zone and then the rest can't do diddly? That could be coming back.
- Units can elect to auto-fail Morale Check at the end of Combat if all models in the unit cannot hurt the attacker at all (ie. S3 vs T10). Finally - common sense.
- Challenges are in for IC. Because if I was a weak ass tiny-man Captain against a huge ass Warboss, I'm not going to refuse and order everyone around me to hack at it whilst he tries to get at me. No, I'm going to try and be heroic. Thematics are great for theatre.
- Close-Combat Weapon now have AP value, ranging from AP- to AP1. Pistols don't grant more bonus than in 5th Edition.
- Power SWORD and Lightning Claws are "S: as user" AP3, though Power AXE is S+1, AP2, but is subjected to penalties (Initiative Reduced) AP3 hurts - who gets much AP2 therefore outside of Marines? Marines still die...do Terminators? Their greatest fear was all those power weapons which now get a 2+ armor save in return...
- Fists and Chainfists are Sx2 AP2 and Unwieldy (Intiative reduced to 1), Thunder Hammers has "Concussive" (the exact (or almost) same rules as in 5th Edition)
Vehicles
- Vehicles are now limited to move at the maximum of 12" in the Movement Phase (though it can move further in the Shooting Phase if desired)
- Vehicles can opt to move "Flat Out" in the Shooting Phase, adding an extra 6".
- Vehicles movement and weapons. Defensive and Primary Weapons are gone. You can fire all of your weapons at most of the time. But moving faster will result in less weapon fired at basic BS, the rest will be fired at BS1 (Snap Fire) Sounds good - depends on exact wording.
- Fast Skimmer moving Flat Out can be more lethal (fire more weapons than in 5th and moving faster [12" Normal + 18" Flat Out])
- Skimmer got a cover save called Jink, basically 5+ cover save and improved to 4+ if going Flat Out. Dark Eldar - do not buy FF :P.
- Vehicles count as WS0 (auto-hit) if stationary and WS1 (3+ hit) if moved. No idea on how Fast or Skimmer will have bonus, as cover aren't used in Assault. Good - shooty mech is now much harder to bounce off in combat.
- Flyers are now in, with its own rules. Eh - trying to sell Forgeworld? Looks interesting with the MCs and how they could interact but I can imagine the whole construct being annoying. We shall see =D.
- Flyers can move very fast and is hard to target (6 only to hit) unless the shooter has Skystrike rules that allow them to shoot flyer at normal BS.
- When moving fast (called "Zooming") Flyers cannot move less than 18" and cannot disembark any models.
Vehicle and Damage
- New Vehicle Damage Chart, one to rule them all. 1-2 being Shaken, 3 Stunned, 4 and 5 Weapon Destroyed and Immobilised, and 6 Explodes! You only roll the table if the shot penetrate the Armour. Wrecks occur only from taking certain amount of Glancing Hits.
- AP 2 weapons add +1 to the chart, while AP1 adds +2. So pretty much what we thought - though I thought six wouldn't be Explodes until you brought in AP3 (but only looks like AP2/1). Torrent of fire is now very important - AP1 is still 50/50 when penning but all those missiles & dreads? Flat six but if you're getting two+ glances per unit... You can reliably attrition off vehicles. Issue - AV14 for some armies. Four hull points is a lot and some armies just don't have much AP2/1 (hi Nids!) - can they drop AV14?
- AP"-" is no longer -1 on the table.
- Open-Topped is +1 as well.
- No more "Half Strength if the center hole is off", you always use full strength for any blast that hits the vehicle. Blasts became much better anti-tank. Doomsday Arks, Psyker Blasts (hello always S10 AP1 shots), etc.
- Hull Points - a new style "wound" for vehicles. Any Glancing Hits removes 1 Hull Point, Penetrate Hit removes 1 Hull Point as well as rolling on the Damage Chart above. If reduced to 0 HP, the vehicle becomes Wreck. See above really - tanks are more durable in the short-run but reliably weaker over the long haul for lower AVs.
- Vehicles has 3 or 4 HP, notable 4 HP vehicles are Ghost Ark, Land Raider, and Monolith. Details can be found in the rulebook appendix. (Bloodwing stated that some player propose that the formula for Hull Points is Front + Side(once) + Rear divide by 3. Fractions rounding down - this seems to be true.
Vehicle and Passenger
- Passenger can only disembark if vehicle move 0-6".
- Disembarking rules changes, you now place models in base contact with the access point and move up to 6" - this is the furthest distance the unit may move. There had better be more rules here for Fast vehicles - otherwise you can really take a punch to the face for BA and DE (unlike the rule clarification when flat-outting into terrain). Otherwise, another minor restriction on vehicles + passengers.
- Embarking is pretty much the same.
- Unit count as moving if the vehicle moved 0.1-6", and can only "Snap Fire" if the vehicle move 6.01 - 12"
- Open-topped transport rules are the same (access points and fire points)
- Exploding Flyer that has "zoomed" will result in a S10 no armour save on its passenger. And some sort of S6 Large Blast at any unit under the point the vehicle goes on flame. This is where flyers could be annoying :P.
Psychic Power
- NO PSYCHIC PHASE (or whatever people are assuming they are) Good.
- Perils of the Warp causes one wound, no saves of any kind allowed. Good though I hope they are more common somehow.
- Types of psychic power, witchfire (psychic shooting attack), focused witchfire (has a chance to allow player to choose the target model when removing casualty by rolling low scores on Psychic Test), nova (affects all enemy units within range), maelstrom (affecting both friendly and enemy within range), blessing (augmented friend), and malediction (de-buff enemy).
- "Deny the Witch" - every models/units have a slight chance to nullify the effect of psychic power (6+). Chances increase if your unit has Psyker. Yes because a 6+ is reliable.
- Psychic Hood is reduced to 4+ Deny the Witch if the target of the power is within 6" of the wearer. FAQ: Tyranids reduced to 1". This is way too short - ask Tyranids with 12". We will assume everything will be FAQ'd to around this range but still, psychic powers just go bananas?
- There are 5 new Disciplines of Psychic Powers in the BRB, each has 7 Powers. Each army can access different Disciplines, some cannot use them at all.
- Casting Psychic Power remains the same as in 5th.
- Psychic Powers now have 2 level, calling Warp Charge 1 and 2. Mastery Level 1 can only use Warp Charge 1 power, while Mastery Level 2 allows you to cast 2 "Warp Charge 1" power or 1 "Warp Charge 2". Higher Mastery allows for more.
- Each Psyker generate Warp Charge equal to his Mastery Level. No random power pool - phew.
Characters
- Look Out, Sir! is in. Grants character 50% chance to evade the attack if he's within 6" of friendly unit (works in combat too), resolved each successful Look Out Sir on the models within 6" instead.
- Look Out Sir! is improved to 2+ for Independent Character.
- Character can issue / accept challenges.
- One model in your army will be the Warlord (one with highest LD), Warlord can roll on a table (there's 3 table, you can choose 1) to see what benefit he receive. Examples are units within 12" can use his LD, the Character count as Scoring Units, Warlord has FNP if within 3" of Objective. More random factors are fun. Hopefully it's before game - Possessed anyone?
Tidbits
- Fortification - a new addition to the FoC, limited to 0-1 this allows player to purchase some kind of terrain for their army. Expensive one are Fortress of Redemption (220 points) and cheap ones are Aegis Defence Lines (50 points) Blargh.
- Allies - a new system that allows player to have a detachment made of another army in the list. Allies works like WFB8th Edition with best buddies, normal allies, and untrusted. The detachment is limited to 1HQ and 1 Troop(compulsory) and additional 1 Troop, 1 Elite, 1 Fast Attack, and 1 Heavy Support. Blargh - depending upon how this works you may find Farseers, Sanguinary Priests, etc. on sale at this Games Workshop store...
Missions
- There are 3 Deployment Types, one being the classic Pitched Battle, second one is reversed Pitched Battle (deploying along the short table edges), and third one is a triangular deployment. Short table edges? Get out. Triangles can work. Pitched yay. Why did Spearhead go?
- Selecting deployment zone remains the same, roll-off to see who deploys first and go first.
- Seize Initiative is still the same. Good - I hope RGL is in.
- 6 Missions with 2 Level Objectives. Primary Objectives grants more Victory Points, but harder to achieve. Secondary Objective is always 1 VP and has 3 of them. Good. First Blood (for getting the first "kill point", Bad Slay the Warlord (for killing the enemy Warlord - aka. general), Bad but not crap and Linebreaker (having your units in enemy deployment zone at the end of the game good)
- Deep Strike Mishap is softened now: 1 - You're Dead, 2-3 Misplaced, and 4-6 Delayed.
- Feel No Pain dropped to 5+ Little difference really but we can see this coming directly from Blood Angels and the general encroachment of the power into every book.
- There's still only 1 Level of Instant Death, no Instant Death(x) Yes but does it only cause two wounds? If so - good.
- Fleet allows for re-rolls on Run and possibly Assault distances.
- "Hammer of Wrath" allows model to make single attack at their base strength before combat on the turn it assault. Jump Infantry and Bike have it.
- Monstrous Creature can make "Smash" attack, forfeit half of its attack to resolve attack at Sx2 against vehicle.
- Flying Monstrous Creature can make two mode of movement. One being 24" move, performing D3+1 "Vector Strike" on a single unit within the path and then shoot up to two weapons or run 2D6" in the shooting phase. However, it cannot assault or being assaulted unless it get shot and fall down from the sky first (can't remember how you fire at it, 6 only?) Should it fall from the sky, it will take S9 hit and can now be assaulted as normal. Interesting - does not make double Flyrant armies super viable but could make them more useful. How about a Daemon flying circus though... hmm :P.
- Sniper has rule to allow them to allocate wounds to the model of your choice if you roll a 6 when rolling to hit.
- Rage is now +2 Attack on assault.
- Many new generalization of rules...such as Armourbane (roll 2d6 for armour penetration) and Fleshbane (2+ to wound)....this also expands to weapons as well (unwieldy, concussive, etc.)
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That's not all obviously and there are some good things and bad things. It looks like the difference between shooting and combat has been brought closer together and more emphasis placed on not always taking tanks but weight of fire still drops tanks quite handly and with decreased cover/focused fire, weight of fire drops infantry handily, too. Still far too early to say what will be good and what won't be but at least it's not a complete failure in terms of all the rules. We shall just need to see how the Allies/Fortifications really work though, the whole edition could hinge on this ^^.
