Reading through the new High Elves book, I noticed one rule that, to me at least, foreshadows changes for 9th Edition Warhammer.
In the Army Special Rules we have the Valour of Ages rule which reads:
If your opponent's army roster contains one or more models from Warhammer: Dark Elves, models with this special rule re-roll all failed Panic, Fear and Terror tests.
The bolded part is mine. I'm pretty sure the previous book wording was "when fighting a Dark Elf army".
The wording change leads me to suspect that Games Workshop is preparing the ground for Allies in normal Warhammer forces (rather than scenario, doubles, campaign games etc).
I hope this isn't the case because, along with current emphasis Flyers, this is the one rule that makes 40k so unappealing to me at the moment. The thing I like about Fantasy is that it is an army game where each race has its own flavour. I'd hate to see you being able to add units from other armies to paper over race-specific composition deficiencies. For me that shifts the skillset from tactics to list-building and further reinforces net-listing.
Hopefully I'm wrong.
I absolutely 100% believe there will be Allies in 9th edition. I agree it would be a poor move but they've already done it with one game and seem to believe it will cause people to buy more models.
ReplyDeleteI would suspect that there would be limits on numbers and which units can be taken a-la-dogs of war rules. Never the less I agree that it would detract from the game in a major way. The more I look at the way GW is going, the more I believe the overall marketing strategy is to create an arms race that continually force players to buy newer, bigger or better monsters, monstrous cavalry and flyers, just to remain competitive. (40K suffers from this in a major way. Just sold off my SM and CSM armies, as these are no longer competitive) I can understand why FOW is becoming so popular...
ReplyDeleteMaybe this is just a rules clearup for those who play Storm of Magic?
ReplyDeleteI think the move to allies is inevitable. It has worked well enough in 40k and don't I think it has ruined the game at all. In fact the loudest protesters now appear to adore allies. It is still limited to 1/3 force organisation at the end of the day.
ReplyDeleteI would think that allies will be available but limited to 25% of your army for 9th. Some will see it as list building but others will see it as more tactical flexibility. You will not see Skullcrushers of Khorne in ever army, as I think allies will still have to have a standard army composition, so 150+ core, <150 rare, <300 special etc
This of course is assuming that army organisation remains the same in 9th.
Yay. Finally get my 5th/6th edition Chaos army back.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I would like to see the natural alliances of beastmen/chaos/daemons in action again. Core troops rather than specials or rares would be more to my liking, but I would expect GW to push the monstrous cav, flyers and more expensive models rather than the rank and file
ReplyDeleteAllies could also be like this:
ReplyDeleteAllies must have a general!
Allies must make up less than 50% of your army points
Allies core units count towards special selection in your army, special as rare options, and no rare allies can be taken.
Would the above be so bad?
So you can ally with those Mournfang, but they count towards rare selection!
I just don't want them to introduce Allies into what is currently a perfectly fine game without them.
DeleteThe concept is fucked for 40k and it's just as fucked for Fantasy.
Learn tactics guys. Don't wallpaper with list construction.
I want to take Mournfangs or Skullcrushers with my Dwarves. Then I can proxy them with...., wait for it......
DeleteBEAR RIDERS!
This alone would make it awesome.
DeleteI agree with Pete. Don't fix it if it's not broken.
DeleteTane, do you have bear riders?
I have one model in my dwarf army, Reaper I think it is. Have always wanted bear riders in my dwarf army. Yes, I'll admit to it. I have a Dwarf army. have not played it for 3 years or more, but yes. I have a dwarf army.