WFB 9th Edition

[fatolaf]

LM are confirmed by many to be gone, it's not the first time Gw have wiped a race out, also ogres, dwarves , Bretts will only have a few units left as part of the empire army.
Ome major point of the change is to slash the model range, no point doing that and then still having rules for the old models. They want people to buy the new ltd ones and the super soldiers.
Low model count aided by 50% lords etc keeps the kiddies coming back for more, where as the old days of building huge model count armies is now the proviso of other companies with tighter/balance rulesets..

It's exactly the same thing they did to 6th ed 40k, with "6.5" which killed the game as we all knew it, but sells more models which is all they care about, big Stompy robots smash face

[Pip]

Been reading about this too. You can probably guess how I feel about it.

Focusing on the positives and trying to stay grounded:

1. The "reliable" rumour-mongers (Darnok and Harry) make no mention of Lizardmen being dropped. The only one who explicitly says that is EarlyBird who has a very bad track record for accuracy - only 20% of what he's predicted has ever come true, and most of his successes were easy guesses. So that is probably just a randomer hearing "6 factions" and guessing wildly. (Ditto round bases, for that matter).

That being said, it's not a stupid guess. If there are going to be 6 factions then the only thing you can say for certain is that a lot of army books are going to either cease to be independent or cease to exist. Lizardmen are maybe the race that's least pally with anyone else so it feels worryingly possible.

2. Lower model count is the most sensible thing they can do except lower prices (which as we all know GW has a religious aversion to doing). 8th brought some interesting innovations in the rules but it massively increased the buy-in price (in £ and hobby time spent modelling and painting) for an army. You never used to see people pushing bricks of 30-50 models around in 6th unless they were Skaven or Goblins players, now it's the norm for infantry. And you can say what you like about Monstrous Cav being everywhere etc. but they don't fill up your Core points.

How I actually feel:

1. The Warhammer world has got 30 years of development behind it. It's got flavour, it's got depth, at its best it's actually funny too. The shameless historical pastiches was always something I loved. Yes it's a derivative mish-mash but so is all pulp fantasy.

Most people with existing armies got into those armies in part because of some affection for the background. Tearing up that background in favour of "create-your-own-setting" in a sea of chaos feels like a slap in the face.

2. "You can still use your 8th edition armies", if that's the line they're actually going to take, is nonsense. It's Oldhammer by another name. No commercial support for the models and no revisiting (ever) of the rules means no new players, barring the very ebay-savvy. You might as well keep playing 8th. Otherwise it'll be you, your out-of-date army book which needs a dozen non-existent FAQs and your cherished models playing in a field of new fantasy space marines or whatever.

3. If you read the reaction this is getting, nobody wants this. As such, it seems pretty likely that 9th edition won't sell... and if this is their last ditch attempt to make WFB back into a cash cow, it'll probably be dropped. There'll be no second chance with WFB Classic 10th edition... just the end of the line. If they'd done even any market research this could have been avoided.


"Wait and see" is of course the best thing to do - this is all still rumours. But if they're even partially true, I may have involuntarily been made an Oldhammer player.

Personally, I think if the tournament scene is looking to stick with a previous edition, 8th may not be the one to pick. I was leafing through my 6th ed. rulebook this morning - anyone want to give it a try?

[underscore]

Ome major point of the change is to slash the model range, no point doing that and then still having rules for the old models. They want people to buy the new ltd ones and the super soldiers.

The do also need an instant userbase though - having an 8th->9th conversion method would be a good idea... so probably won't happen.

The Warhammer world has got 30 years of development behind it. It's got flavour, it's got depth, at its best it's actually funny too.

I guess this is the main difference for me: the Warhammer fluff I remember from being younger was funny with depth, when I came back into it 15 years later the benign-British-comedy-fantasy style seemed to have been well a truly lost. Playing Quest recently certainly seemed to underline that even more.

So I guess I feel that I should, in theory, be annoyed that it's getting dropped. But in all honesty they killed it at some point while I was gone (or it was a slow slide over the whole period), this is just the logical conclusion.

[katarr]

I don't love the change of setting etc but similarly I have complained before that the fluff never changes so at least its trying something - who knows how it will turn out.

The implication it seems to be that the rules are not going change drastically with just a few tweaks so if how they proceed is all mad nonsense then I imagine the tournament scene with either revert wholly to 8th or 8th with the 9th tweaks but not new books/combos etc.

But most importantly like you said - wait and see.

[Pip]

The implication it seems to be that the rules are not going change drastically with just a few tweaks

That is one of the parts of this rumour set that I find fishiest. On the one hand, there's going to be a massive reduction in scale, approaching the level of a skirmish game, on the other hand... the rules aren't going to change much? Seems like a contradiction.

Then again the rules changes that ushered in the age of big blocks weren't huge so maybe it's possible.

[TkaiC]

I'll believe it when I see it.

Personally, having the option of Rat Ogres and especially Plague Monks as core for Skaven without having to pay the respective special character taxes would make the whole army hugely better so not too sure why that's listed as 'not much change'!

[fatolaf]

That is one of the parts of this rumour set that I find fishiest. On the one hand, there's going to be a massive reduction in scale, approaching the level of a skirmish game, on the other hand... the rules aren't going to change much? Seems like a contradiction.

Not been much mention of the actual rules yet, will still be in playtest mode, 8th ed had major rules changed at the very last moment. But I would not expect

a) the rules to resemble anything like 8th
b) Them to be anything other than a list of words to make you buy big stompy things a la 40K 6.5 edition

[fatolaf]

Personally, I think if the tournament scene is looking to stick with a previous edition, 8th may not be the one to pick. I was leafing through my 6th ed. rulebook this morning - anyone want to give it a try?

6th Ed  was the last set of rules that actually resembled a military tactical ruleset, whilst it was not perfect by any means (lapping round for instance was a pain) it was great fun and would be interesting to see i combined with current army books....

[The Trampoline]

6th Ed  was the last set of rules that actually resembled a military tactical ruleset, whilst it was not perfect by any means (lapping round for instance was a pain) it was great fun and would be interesting to see i combined with current army books....

Lapping round was 4th and 5th, it was dropped for 6th. Big change I remember going into 6th was that you now needed a rank of 5 models to have a rank bonus, where previously it had been four only.  That and magic was diced based and no more cards.

[Berimbolo]

After discussing this with a few mates back home, apparently the Round Bases is true (I know the photo was fake) seems immensely daft and another way to piss off Fantasy Players who have been playing, collecting and gaming armies for a long time.

I mean if you look at 8th from our stand point, the game is great as it stands, obviously rules need some clarifications and a couple of army books are missing but but 8th has been fantastic and definitely the best edition of Warhammer for me, even surpassing the golden age of 6th Edition.