So for those of you unaware a massive leak with the majority of the 10th ed core rules has just slipped! As part of this release we get to see the new Universal Special rules, rules for the shooting, charge and fight phase, strats etc.
Remember, these are all rumors until confirmed by GW!
#5: Shooting Phase is mostly the same – This is big news, as after the barbgaunt revel people were wondering if units would lose the ability to split fire. Well stock up on those barbgaunts, as you can still freely split fire now. Monsters and Vehicles can shoot out of and be shot in combat but incur a -1 to hit penalty. We also got confirmation that the stealth ability gives you a -1 to be hit in the shooting phase
#4. Combat is very different: The 1″ bubble for fighting in combat is now gone, in order to fight with your models, must be in base to base contact with the enemy, or a friendly model in B2B with the enemy, to fight. The player whose turn it is goes second in picking the first unit to fight at each step so fights-first abilities are a lot more valuable. IT also looks like Fights-Last abilities are gone.
#3: Some big changes in USRs: Precision shots trigger after a shot has wounded now so characters with a higher toughness in a squad are vulnerable. Hazardous is replacing the old “Gets Hot” rules with one major change: You now just roll 1 die per weapon not per shot. This makes multi-shot plasma weapons a lot safer. However, failing this roll will cause non-vehicle models to be destroyed and vehicles/monsters to take 3 Mortal Wounds for each failed roll.
#2: Deployment is much different: Some standard deployment abilities we know and love are changing. Units that make pre-game scout moves can still make these moves in transports, but the transport needs to only have models with the scout ability inside to do so. You are now locked at having a maximum of 25% of your army in reserve, so 500 points at a 2K battle. You also cannot bring strategic reserves on anywhere in your deployment zone, regardless of turn number now.
#1: That’s a lot of strats for a “streamlined” edition: There are now 11 core book strats, some are staples, counter-attack, command re-roll, others are slightly different. Overwatch now can trigger in the movement phase, insane bravery is used after a failed battleshock test. The last set are wholly new, and somewhat controversial. Grenades are now a strat that you use within 8″ of an enemy unit, you roll 6D6 and inflict a mortal wound for each roll of a 4+. Tank Shock might already need a FAQ. RAW you roll 1 D6 for the strength of one melee weapon on a vehicle after it has charged. For each 5 or 6 you inflict 1 mortal wound. The issue is if certain walkers are vehicles there is no carve out for them. Thus a Brutalis Dread could roll 14 D6’s using this strat. Heroic Intervention is a true counter-attack strat now as you can counter charge with any unit (except non-walker vehicles) in your opponent’s turn, but you are limited to a 6″ range. You also forgo any charge bonuses.
Conclusion: I don’t know exactly how i feel about some of these rumors. Overall I don’t know if this is a reset so much as turning the clock back to the end of 8th ed. I worry GW will quickly bloat the game with different detachments and strats as it seems to have quite few at the initial launch. The fact that they don’t seem to have any caveats for walkers in what should be a painfully obvious edge case is also concerning. I will wait to form a final opinion until the games release but there are some red flags starting to pop up here.
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