BREAKING NEWS: Warhammer 8th Edition Q&A Live Stream Explained!
Things are moving fast indeed this week, with this Q&A Livestream uploaded to Warhammer TV's Facebook live stream two days ago:
If you can't watch it now, here's a quick transcript written by user n1ghtl1fe on The Warhammer Forum. Thanks very much dude!
The tank mechanic discussed there is actually a very good balance mechanism, as I discussed here.
I see the reasoning... but I'm going to miss that flamer template.
Also stealth nerf for D-Scythes!
I hope the 5 books will refer to faction hand books, which means we can start wildly speculating about the 5 factions we will now have. I really hope they keep up the downloadable war scroll format from AoS though, as the books are often a neglected purchase from new players. It's hard to run a game when a student has 1500 points of models and no idea how to use them.
Again... 10 man Guardsman squad... blowing up Land Raider with lasguns. Welcome to the new future!
As you can see, the assumption I made about Chaos returning to top villain status based on the map is confirmed. That's about it really, apart from furthering the line that this is the game we asked for.
I think we can infer that the main design goal of this edition is to simplify the game, and clear out a lot of the rules bloat that infected 7th Edition. If you remember back when Death from the Skies was released, there was a lot of rumour mongering about how there were two factions in Games Workshop. One side argued for simpler rules, whereas one argued for more complexity. I think the simple faction won.
I'm glad they did, as the FAQs were getting ridiculous... and everyone remembers how grenades were simply being played wrong since 7th Edition was released.
Either way, Orks have a chance of being great again, so lets see!
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If you can't watch it now, here's a quick transcript written by user n1ghtl1fe on The Warhammer Forum. Thanks very much dude!
"Just in case people missed the live Q&A earlier today:What we have here is more confirmation of what we've been hearing all along. A lot of rules from Age of Sigmar will be finding their way over to Warhammer 40K. As many can attest to, AoS is actually a fairly god game for shooting armies, so it was really a natural progression that many of the mechanics found their way to 40K.
Q: Working with a couple concepts, change movement, armor modifiers, new way of doing charges, if you charge you strike first, morale changes.
A: Yes. these were concepts discussed at Adepticon.
Q: Any specific rules around vehicles and armor values?
A: No armor value anymore. All models use the same type of stat line. Big tanks get wounded (all have a damage table and stats decrease). Different for every model. Keeps vehicles through the game. Str and Toughness works where everyone can hurt everyone. (sounds like AoS there)"
The tank mechanic discussed there is actually a very good balance mechanism, as I discussed here.
They're not going to bin faction character and selling points they've been building up for the past few decades (at least not this time...). With all the progression that the Gathering Storm has been building, they want to maintain the themes they've worked on for each race (again... at least this time around...).
Q: Will each army keep its current play style?
A: Yes they are trying to keep the styles similar.
... Ok.
Q: Is the game still a D6 system?
A: Yes it is
As someone who tries to teach this game to teenagers in about a 55 minute activity slot once per week... yeah this was one of the biggest issues with 40K. 2 hours for a decent sized game now fits nicely for me, as the standard 500 point starter battle might actually fit inside club time.
Q: How long does a game take in comparison to a 1500 point game now?
A: Games were taking 3.5 hours during team tournament in 7th at Adepticon. 1500 points is about 90min. Games should take about 2 hours in general.
Expect the same kind of narrative play from AoS, with campaign trees and suggestions. I really like this part of the General's Handbook, and if I had more time wold have made something beyond the two faction war that has sprung up between club members (Dark Angels versus Tau and Space Wolves... it makes sense to the students at least).
Q: Support for narrative play allowing connections to offshoots such as Shadow War?
A: Yes absolutely. Lots of campaigns, war zones and lots of ways of reflecting the 40k galaxy.
I'll believe that when I'm holding the Sisters of Battle Battletome.
Q: Will any models - miniatures and scenery NOT receive new rules in the new edition?
A: No. they are all in
Formations and the Codex Doctrines in a new form, presenting somewhat of an interesting new concept. With these formations being open to everyone, you can now have a great deal more freedom in bending the force org chart to your army's theme. Very much in the vein of Your Dudes, I approve of this, but garauntee Space Marines will be the first to have their own special organisation chart, with command points.
Q: Command points? what can you tell us.
A: Charges fight first, armies playing to play style. One of the mechanisms is called Command Points which allows you to make the army. You generate command points based on how large the army is. (Reroll dice, interrupt charging going first with a command point, etc. They are super valuable and tactical to use. Once they are gone they are gone. Additional command points will be in the various codexes (see below) Command points will for example, not only define a Space Marine army - but also the FLAVOR of Space Marine Army.
Battle Forged - Force org is in during base and competitive play. About 14 different force orgs charts.
New books!
Q: Are codexes going away?
A: No. There will be new ones in the new edition.
Aww. There was always something satisfying about dropping a massive pie plate on the Imperial Guard. And now flamers won't be able to properly go FOOM! This step is taken to stop all that faffing around with scatter dice and terrain getting in the way of templates.
Q: Are Templates going away?
A: Yes they are.
I see the reasoning... but I'm going to miss that flamer template.
Also stealth nerf for D-Scythes!
This remains to be seen, as it is one of their major talking points. Simply because something has been play tested doesn't mean it will always work. That said, I fully expect GW to go over board on getting this edition to launch properly after the Age of Sigmar debacle.
Q: Are there limits to command points?
A: Yes. 1 per phase and also by formation.
Q: Has the new edition been better tested?
A: yes. A lot. In the US. Frontline, Nova, and Adepticon have tested every single unit from every codex.
Ah... so now free downloads?
Q: How will I get access to the rules for my army
A: Everyone will get their new rules Day 1. On launch there will be a series of 5 books. On that day there will be all rules available. All points have been rebalanced and units have been play tested. When your codex comes out it will include new command points, etc. Army special rules, etc.
I hope the 5 books will refer to faction hand books, which means we can start wildly speculating about the 5 factions we will now have. I really hope they keep up the downloadable war scroll format from AoS though, as the books are often a neglected purchase from new players. It's hard to run a game when a student has 1500 points of models and no idea how to use them.
As in AoS, pretty much no unit is invulnerable. Guardsman are going to have a signifigant buff now, as the humble flashlight lasgun can now blow up a Land Raider.
Q: Will broken units be taken down a peg?
A: All units have been play tested. At launch this will be the most robust and most balanced version we have.
Again... 10 man Guardsman squad... blowing up Land Raider with lasguns. Welcome to the new future!
Generals Handbook, keeping the meta refreashed on an annual basis, instead of waiting for everyone to get new codices. Good.
Q: Will matched play session of the 3 ways to play be updated regularly?
A: Yes. Looking at AoS and how it was done. Book will come out annually which addresses all three styles of play.
In my experience they hand these out like candy. As most of the rules will be put on the unit data slates anyway, this just needs to deal with the basic game rules, which most of us will take for granted anyway (i.e. measure the distance with a ruler, roll to hit etc.)
Q: How will free rules be presented?
A: Digital and all of our stores and some independent stockiest will have a limited supply at launch in print format
As this will be a copy paste job of the AoS one, I wonder if they'll simply roll them into one. That would be a large amount of stored data, but Battlescribe seems to do okay.
Q: Will there be an App with an Army Builder like AoS
A: We are working on a WH40k App. Not available on launch but later.
Tournies do as tournies does. I have absolutely no doubt some group will take umbrage over a specific rule and tweak it to support their own ideas. But that's not really Games Workshops job, as they only have to produce a basic functional game. Then people can make their own "No Lords of War" tournament, or "Only Lords of War" tournament.
Q: Will we see a specific set of tournament rules?
A: Not a specific set - but match play is a good start and some guidance to tournament organizers
Ooh, good question!
Q: How can we be confident you have had enough time to do this for all models and rules?
A: Its been a long time in the making. We engaged with others quite awhile ago and we are pleased and confident that its going to be great.
Q: What were the Top 3 goals of the design team for this edition?
A: Lots of goals. 1 to make a game that worked for all three ways to play. Spent a lot of time on the background. Push to the forefront the battle between Imperium and Chaos. Thats not the rightful place. Chaos is the big threat to the galaxy. You will see that come through more over the next couple of years. Over the 2+ years that 7th has been around we have received a lot of feedback from players. This edition tried REALLY hard to make it the game you asked for. We are listening and trying to tick the boxes that you are asking for.
As you can see, the assumption I made about Chaos returning to top villain status based on the map is confirmed. That's about it really, apart from furthering the line that this is the game we asked for.
I think we can infer that the main design goal of this edition is to simplify the game, and clear out a lot of the rules bloat that infected 7th Edition. If you remember back when Death from the Skies was released, there was a lot of rumour mongering about how there were two factions in Games Workshop. One side argued for simpler rules, whereas one argued for more complexity. I think the simple faction won.
I'm glad they did, as the FAQs were getting ridiculous... and everyone remembers how grenades were simply being played wrong since 7th Edition was released.
Q: When is the new edition being released?
A: This year. We will have more news on that very soon. But not today.
Q: Will we see more at Warhammer Fest?
A: Safe to assume we will show more there.
Q: With the advent of AoS we saw a lot of models disappear. Will the same thing happen to 40k?Interesting... one for casual games and one for more formal and competitive. I look forward to this, but wonder if there will be some factions which excel at competitive games, whilst others do better in casual.
A: No. All factions and models currently represented will be there.
Q: Will we have points on launch?
A: more than one set of them. We have two different ways to play. One called Power Level focused on narrative play, doesn’t matter what you equip with. broad brush stroke. Just for fun but has some structure.
Then there are matched play points which are more granular where you are paying points for models, weapons, equipment, etc.
Two different ways focused on the way you want to play.
Either way, Orks have a chance of being great again, so lets see!
Grand Alliances. Wait and see for what they will be.
Q: Some factions seem to be missing from the website
A: Site is from a narrative point of view. All factions are still there. (eg: Astra Militarum vs Tempestus Scions). its a very top level view of how things fit.
Q: Will we see any new factions we haven’t seen before?
A: Yes. New things on the way. (even for launch)
Sky's the limit! As a lasgun can kill a Wraithknight, the big stompuy things will need some kind of beardy cheese defences.
Q: What about monsters being effected by Damage?
A: As they get wounded they get weaker. Just like vehicles. Its very fun and narrative.
Q: Will bolters be able to damage tanks?
A: Yes everything can hurt everything - BUT its hard to do. No stat is capped at 10 any longer. The big heavy weapons cause multiple damage now.
Another port from AoS, it's a simple balance mechanism that means broken combinations can be tweaked by dropping key words. Superfriends may still be possible, but it's just easier to correct.
Q: What sizes of games are supported?
A: All sorts of sizes. Match play scales through about 1000 points to much larger. Narrative play scales from about a 1000 to the skies the limit.
Q: What model has the highest wound count.
A: Knights are pretty high - but don’t recall off the top of head.
Q: Recognizable Force Org Chart?
A: Yes
Q: Allied forces still viable?
A: yes but it works differently now. Addresses Death Stars. Its a keyword driven system (like AoS) so some units will NOT play off of other units due to key word. Abilities are passed on to units they SHOULD be passed on to and not units they should not.
Q: Will there be deathstars in the game?
A: A tournament term - they normally come about as a result of holes in the rules and work as never anticipated. Things that don’t fit the narrative. The keywords help keep this in check. We can be much more in control of the synergies.
Yay! But I wait to see how. Close combat in AoS is more like close quarter shooting. Whilst I'm not fussed about that, I don't see a big reason to not shoot someone from far away as opposed to hitting them up close if I have the choice.
Q: Is close combat going to be viable again?
A: Absolutely. Its a huge part of the game and was missed before. You will see some changes.
Horus Heresy players beware...
Q: Will there be benefits to sticking to one faction?
A: Yes there will be. Mostly based on command points.
Q: What are you guys most looking forward to?
A: Looking forward to reaction to the finished product. We want to see how close we got to what people were asking for.
Q: FW Rules
A: Will be available in the same way though not necessarily the same place.
If you're still here, well done!
Q: Background change?
A: We aren’t going to radically change what 40k is about but we are going to advance the storyline and add more background.
Q: People asking about I bought a rulebook or codex fairly recently and now it won’t be valid. What should I do?
A: Everything we have launched in the new game - our customer service people will send vouchers for the value of their purchase for last 8 weeks if you have proof of purchase. Email customer service team on GW website and they will sort you out."
Thanks for reading.
If you liked what you saw, and you want to help out, please leave a comment. Sharing this with your friends, and following me on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ would also be hugely appreciated.
If you have anything you want me to look at, let me know in the comments below. I'll probably be able to write an article about that topic within a day!
If you really love what I do here, you can make a one off donation at my PayPal, or become a true hero to table top education and make a regular donation to my Patreon. Every Little helps!
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