Reecius here from Frontline Gaming to share some thoughts on this transition into a new edition of our favorite game.
Oddly, the usual sense of trepidation, anxiety and hopefulness associated with an edition change isn’t here for me that usually is. This strikes me as doubly odd as now owning a game store that earns my and my co-workers livelihood thanks in no small part thanks to GW games, I am strangely calm coming into this when the stakes are actually much higher for people in our position than others. Even the fact that we have already signed a contract committing to a large financial investment in the Las Vegas Open 2015 which features GW games hasn’t ruffled us.
Per usual we get tons of questions about this or that fact about the edition change and instead of speculating, cursing or praising rumored rules changes taken out of context, we are simply waiting for what will be.
I think with the turmoil and rapid change the game has gone through with the change from 5th to 6th, and especially since Christmas with the introduction of Escalation, Stronghold, Formations, Dataslates, etc. has really inured us and many others to change. Now, we all simply and calmly play the waiting game.
In the meantime, we play other games, too. I have been having an absolute blast playing Dropzone Commander and I have gotten in a number of games of Infinity and X-Wing, too! It’s been a nice opportunity to get a change of pace.
What anchors us here and keeps us from any hand wringing with this change is that no matter what may come, the community of gamers we are a part of is strong. Yes, there is a vocal minority of haters in our community (looking at you, BoLS Trolls, haha) and yes, there really are some of the elusive WAAC gamers so often spoken of, but so seldom actually encountered. In general though, we are a community of intelligent, nice people that share a common love of gaming, painting miniatures and going “pew pew!” with our toy soldiers.
If this edition is good or bad, the wheels will roll on and and we will continue to come together to enjoy the camaraderie of our hobby. We can make adjustments to any rules we truly don’t like, and we can alter how we play to accommodate. We can also just choose to play other games, too. The friendships we share with one another are what make table top games special, the actual games we are playing are really just window dressing.
So bring 7th ed on! I hope GW hits it out of the park and justifies this rapid change. I hope that we can settle into this edition and not have to go through all the crazy ups and downs this time around. Most of all, I hope we have many more years of fun in the Grim Dark.
To be honest everything that has been confirmed I have liked. Everything is fixed modifiers now so you get advantages for being better (Vindicare being able to shoot fliers at bs 8 comes to mind)
In addition there is built in diminishing returns to psykers now. So psyker spam is going to be more detremental. Sounds like a lot of issues are being taken care of so it will be interesting to see all the small changes.
I definitely agree. Everything I’ve seen so far from WD pictures looks good. Even D-weapons seems to have become useable! Really curious about the rest.
(And I don’t care for Unbound… that it’s possible doesn’t mean everyone will do it… and if I ever get to face an army of nothing but Lone Wolves I will simply laugh)
Yeah, I am liking a lot of what we’ve been hearing, too. I am cautiously optimistic.
My sources indicate that snap is still flat bs1, not -2 bs. I am trusting their review.
We shall soon see!
Agree as well. Seriously excited for this edition. It is as if GW has been secretly listening to all the complaints all along.
It’s also been a fantastic popcorn fest watching people explode in rage, only to calm down and sulk away quietly as the accusations are countered as more updates come out.
Right?! Haha, we just have been waiting to get the whole picture instead of flipping out about rumors out of context.
I seem to remember you talking on Signals from the Frontline when you came back from Adepticon about how many were saying that things had to change. Well, here it is, a new ediiton and reactions seem to be ranging from unexcited to frothing-at-the-mouth angry. Am I the only one who is excited? It certainly feels like it.
I want to be excited but have been disappointed so many times that I simply remain patient at this point.
We shall see very soon what we get. But you are right, a change was needed. Let’s just hope it is a positive change =)
This reads like a a sermon, not a eulogy. Peace be with you. I mean Apocalyptic Warfare be with you, but also peace.
lol!
I am doing my best to breath calmly… but after just purchasing a full Daemons psychic-heavy army (from Frontline Gaming) I am a tad worried about the proposed changes to the new psychic phase. I guess all we can ever do is wait and see. Hope for the best, plan for the worst.
Yeah, everyone who has a tuned list for 6th is waiting with anus clenched. I stopped working on my Scout army for the exact same reason.
I think your army will be stronger in 7th, if any of these rumors hold up.
I read thru the WD w a lot of the 7th in it and honestly I like most of it. Not a fan of unbound as the new baseline, as was quoted, but I think that just means you need to have a proper conversation with your opponent beforehand (something bols trolls seem to be freaking over). I think 7th has great potential, and I’m very excited. It sucks to drop $90 on a new book after 2 years, BUT if it makes the game better Im all for it. Id just like to see this ed last 5-6 years, OR go on as a “live” edition. Great write up Reece. I think you guys have the right mindset for the oncoming change
Yeah, agreed. I am willing to fork up the dough if the game gets better.
I’m sure it won’t be as bad as advertised, I’m giving Bolt Action a go now-a-days, it’s not like I’m ever going to stop playing Warhammer!
Warhammer has such beautiful kits it is impossible for me to turn my back on them! With the detail and ease of conversion they give in every kit, it screams out to my chop shop attitude.
40k will survive, at first people abhorred the changes to Fantasy, step-up/fighting in extra ranks/steadfast/the magic phase, but all of those changes were great… Well except the magic phase (not only the heinous strength of the Spells but the complete lack of reliability, which goes with the power level of the spells-too powerful so needed to be unreliable/more reliable they could stand to be toned down), but that’s a pretty solid turn out!
If the Psycher Phase goes well, it could herald some promising changes for WHF!
Good point, I had not thought of that. This could mean a better Magic Phase, too, which I agree is way too powerful in Fantasy.
I started playing in 5fth loved it, greatly enjoyed all the additions in 6th, really was impressed with with the amount of new material GW have been trowing at us…
The hobby is a bit on the expensive side but for me that’s always been the case and I understand it. It cost a crap tone of money to develope, store, create and distribute all those models.
I really feel that since I started playing 40 k I wished it and they created it. 7 ed sounds epic and I can’t Waite…
Glad you have such a positive outlook, that’s awesome!
Can’t wait. I agree with you! It will live on.
I hope they don’t reboot this often going forward, but the game did need it so here’s to hoping!
Nearly everything Im fine with, Ecept the psykerphase. It seems to me that unless you have alot of psykers, you are SOL
quite the opposite. There is a dimnishing return on taking more psykers. You only get 1 D6 per mastery level. With one D6 you have a 50% chance to cast a warp charge 1 power. This is a huge nerf. So any additional mastery level you have in your army has dimnishing returns, because you won’t be able to reliably cast a power for a mastery level.
In 6th, you have a pretty high chance to cast all your warp charge 1 powers you have.
What you will be able to do in 7th is throw dice at a very important spell to be sure it gets through. But with each dice you increase the chance of a double 6 to peril.
But the defender can do the same. You can ignore the powers you don’t care about and spam your defense dice on the dangerous ones. But you won’t risk a peril while defending.
I really like how the psychic phase is shaping up. It’s like a mini pokergame of some sort.
Quite the opposite. If you have very few psykers, you won’t be able to get any powers off because you won’t be able to throw enough dice to be reliable. On the other hand, if you have a lot of psykers, you will guarentee having enough dice to reliably cast the powers you need, and any leftover dice is just a bonus.
Warpcharge 1 power. Chance to successfully cast the power:
1 dice = 50%
2 dice = 75%
3 dice = 87.5%
4 dice = 93.75%
One ML1 psyker
D6+1 dice. average of 4.5 dice for one power.
= 4.5 dice per power
-> high chance to cast your one power.
Five ML1 psyker
D6+5 dice. Average of 8.5 dice for five powers.
= 1.7 dice per power
-> You won’t be able to cast several powers.
Ten ML1 psyker
D6+10 dice. average of 13.5 dice for ten powers.
= 1.35 dice per power.
-> You may successfully cast just over half your powers.
See a trend?
More psykers gives you a dimnishing return on dice per power. You will have more dice to throw at some few powers, but you will only cast a fraction of what you could before. And there’s a very high chance of perils too.
In 6th if you are able to succesfully cast most powers, even with 10 psykers in your army.
This is a big difference for a Jetseer council that heavely relies on it’s psychic buffs.
Agreed. And, it is a REALLY good thing for the game, IMO. The Psychic phase was the main reason things got so out of control. I would prefer less powerful buffs used less often to just give you a little boost where you need it, not entire armies ignoring cover and being twin linked, that was lame.
Hmm, Ok. I was just wondering, too bad for my Primaris Psyker heavy IG army
This is only true if you are going to attempt to cast a power with each psyker. If you instead think of additional ml1 pskers as essentially purchasing dice for your primary caster (to enhance reliability) than there is no real deminishing returns.
I like your Zen garden Reece!
Indeed, very impressive.
Thanks, took a lot of work =P
I’m really liking the changes to Psychic powers and the new phase. One thing I was wondering about is how it will effect pieces of wargear that either help with psychic powers or help DtW. Like the Eldar ability to regain a Warp Charge on a 5 or 6 after casting successfully. Or the Farsight Enclave Talisman of Arthan Moloc which allows 4D6 DtW where only 1D6 is usually available.
Anybody for any ideas? All speculative of course.
Do we know how the defending player generate dice in the Psychic phase?
That will be critical. As it’s sounding a lot like the way 7th Fantasy tackled magic and that system broke under the codex creep of some armies being able to generate insurmountable piles of Power dice.
The acting player rolls one D6.
Both player generate the D6 result + mastery levels in their armies as power dice.
Thanks 🙂
Yeah, so it seems that you both get a pool of dice each player turn for offense and then defense. I like it.
I appreciate this post! I also FULLY agree. WH40k is going to be as fine as we decide it is… I am having a blast with the game and I think I will continue to have a blast into 7th ed.
The real burning question though…will 7e finally bring more posting of iNcontrol batreps? 😉 Us rEmote-cOntrollers need to know.
Of course it will! haha
The upshot of this edition is that the community stands ready to step in and fix things that are obviously broken this time. Everyone agrees unbound won’t be allowed unless agreed upon by buddies in a fun game. It does look like battle brothers can still join each other’s units for rules stacking, but maybe they’ve toned down passing rules on to the unit.
That exactly my hope! The issue was not independent characters joining the unit it was how their rules interested with them.
Stupid phone… Interacted…
I agree, I hope they tone that down.
“The upshot of this edition is that the community stands ready to step in and fix things that are obviously broken this time.” < This. I'm not interested in dicking around for 2 or 3 years with broken shit and people hemming and hawing. If it's broken out of the box, I'm confident the community will get to work on it immediately. If the community doesn't, I will be disappoint.
Still, I'm optimistic. Will be nice to have to *try* to win. /wink
That is exactly my attitude. This go around, if they deliver us a turd rule, we’re axing it immediately. No dicking around.
DZC models are really meh, Games Workshop has spoiled me for little things like detail and theme. It must be really balanced and fair the way you keep mentioning it. Does the starter box come with any cranial apparel?
7.0 is going to be crazier than 6th edition and I can’t wait for the squirming to begin….oh wait it already has. I thank God for providing my hobby with so many scared men, I’m grateful for their poor examples.
“I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing….only I will remain”
Bene Gesserit incantation