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Post by herjan1987 on Oct 30, 2023 15:58:25 GMT
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Post by sedge on Oct 30, 2023 16:45:25 GMT
Re-posting for ease of reference (plus the glorious artwork): Old World Almanack – Your First Look at the Rules The bascinets have been polished, the arrows fletched, the desert dust blown out of all the crevices, and Warhammer: The Old World is nearing release in early 2024. As the Warhammer Design Studio unrolls the last of the green flock, it’s time for us to start taking a longer look at the actual rules of the game in a new series of articles in the run-up to release. Today, the Old World Almanack looks at the basic structure of the game, and the first main phase: the Strategy Phase. Game Structure Warhammer: The Old World is a new game, designed from the ground up to simulate large regiments meeting in combat as volleys of arrows and artillery shot soar overhead, and cavalry, wizards, heroes, and monsters crash into combat all around them. That’s not to say that it hasn’t taken plenty of inspiration from what came before it – including several popular editions of Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Much of the complexity has been kept (and – particularly regarding morale – added), but a lot of thought has been put into the structure of the phases, in particular when units and characters might use their abilities. Warhammer: The Old World is a game of Rounds and Turns; each game is broken down into a number of Rounds. During each Round, both players will take a Turn, each of which is broken down into four main phases: the Strategy Phase, the Movement Phase, the Shooting Phase, and the Combat Phase. Finally, every Phase is broken down into four steps called Sub-phases. The Strategy Phase We begin with the Start of Turn sub-phase, which is when certain units perform special actions or take tests. These aren’t common, and their details will be clearly stated in their rules. For example, Stone Trolls would take their Stupidity tests at this juncture, and it’s also when Night Goblin Fanatics are placed on the table. Additionally, a particular scenario may require you to check whether a victory condition has been met at this point. You may also use this period to tidy the table, removing stray casualties and errant dice. The second sub-phase is more exciting – Command. This is when most Characters’ special rules fire off. For instance, a Bretonnian Lord brandishing the Falcon-horn of Fredemund may blow it in the Command sub-phase, hopefully preventing opponents from being able to Fly. Where would Warhammer be without magic? You’ll note that there’s no Magic Phase in the game – instead, magical powers and spells are cast during relevant phases. Hand of Mork (or Gork) is a Conveyance spell, which means it’s cast in the Movement Phase, for instance. However, the third step of the Strategy Phase is Conjuration – which is when you cast Enchantments (magical boosts for your allies) or Hexes (magical penalties to your enemies). Players take it in turns during this step to choose Wizards who aren’t fleeing to attempt to cast spells. The Tomb Kings, for instance, might choose to cast Djaf’s Incantation of Cursed Blades from the Lore of Nehekara. What’s a Casting Value? We’ll go into more detail on Magic during another article… The final step in this Phase is Rally Fleeing Troops. This is when the active player must attempt to rally all of their units that are fleeing. To take a Rally test, choose a unit and roll two dice against its Leadership characteristic. If you fail, it will continue to flee during the Movement Phase; if you pass, your unit is allowed a free reform move and returns to the fray. We’ll have more on Morale in a later article too, but please do bear in mind that if your unit is under half strength, it gets a -1 modifier to its Leadership when attempting to Rally. Under 25% and you need a natural double 1 There’s a lot more to clue you in on for Warhammer: The Old World in the coming months. We’ll be tackling the rest of the Phases, plus rules for Magic, Morale, Psychology, and other matters, and we’ll also be taking a closer look at the factions, the setting, the models, and… the future of the game, only here on Warhammer-Community.com.
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Post by thegoat on Oct 30, 2023 20:09:43 GMT
Okay, the four phase structure presented in the article actually sounds pretty good.
But this sentence, "Players take it in turns during this step to choose Wizards who aren’t fleeing to attempt to cast spells." makes it sounds like you can cast spells during the other player's turn? By my memory, you could do that in fourth edition. But not in fifth through eighth editions.
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Post by FvonSigmaringen on Oct 30, 2023 21:35:18 GMT
Alas, I can see the danger of GW's original sin recurring: rather than once and for all fixing the various problems of the last edition, GW once again changes basic elements of the rules. In the past, that just led to new problems (some of which very obvious, except to the blind), which then may or may not be solved by Update Versions.
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Post by tileag on Oct 31, 2023 0:09:53 GMT
Hmmm interesting
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Post by thegoat on Oct 31, 2023 0:37:02 GMT
Alas, I can see the danger of GW's original sin recurring: rather than once and for all fixing the various problems of the last edition, GW once again changes basic elements of the rules. In the past, that just led to new problems (some of which very obvious, except to the blind), which then may or may not be solved by Update Versions. While I agree games workshop has a tradition of overreacting and changing two, three, or more variables all at once when a tweak to a single die roll is all that was needed to fix a problem in the rules. But I understand why they are not doing a revision from the last Warhammer Fantasy rules set (8th). Had they done a 9th edition straight after the End Times, a revision would have made sense. But so much time has transpired, and the way GW writes rules in their other games has radically changed over that time. A major rewrite makes sense. I am a self described grumpy old longbeard who hates change. But I think we should keep an open mind with these new rules.
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Post by gangland on Oct 31, 2023 2:59:18 GMT
I am worried that this new magic system will either go how the new 40k is and make it practically useless or will make it more convoluted than it was with having the different spells spread out through the different phases. I am also not liking this whole strategy phase. I remain cautiously optimistic though and can't really say much until the full rules are out and I got some games in. I think I won't worry too much of basing new minis well on the new base size nor getting those bases done quickly.
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Post by rustynumber on Oct 31, 2023 7:17:28 GMT
I wouldn't even be upset if they added in a stratagem type system, as long as it's Lite like 10th edition 40k (or was supposed to be...) Especially if it's tied to Lords proximity. But I expect the magic system is fulfilling that type of thing anyway.
Will be interesting to see how doing spells in different phases will change things up, being able to time buffs/debuffs/movement options better or worse.
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Post by lordofskullpass on Oct 31, 2023 9:15:23 GMT
Well the introduction of the Strategy Phase and magic spread across the turn is certainly interesting and offers some new tactical challenges.
Having variable Flight moves makes sense, it means smaller creatures like Harpies and Furies will have a speed advantage over big, cumbersome monsters like Dragons and Manticores.
Placing Night Goblin Fanatics on the table at the very beginning of the turn before any movement has now turned them into a pre-planning challenge - no more moving or waiting for your enemy to move within 8" of you, then stopping everything to release your Fanatics, now you have to move within 8" and then wait until the following turn before they are released. Not sure if I like that, it doesn't take long for Night Goblins to shove a Fanatic out of a unit, certainly not the wait between the current turn and the next one.
The reincarnation of Djaf's Incantation of Cursed Blades looks truly terrible, a downgrade even when compared to the 8th Edition version, in what was already sadly a weaker magic lore. However, if spells from other magic lores are similarly toned-down in an attempt to return to the less game-breaking magic of 6th and 7th Editions, then it may turn out to not be so bad after all.
Also, sad to see that the unique Incantation system from the 6th Edition Tomb King book won't be returning, sounds like GW are again trying to homogenise magic usage as per 8th Edition, which took some of the differences and uniqueness away from some of the factions.
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karnus
Junior Member
Posts: 69
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Post by karnus on Oct 31, 2023 9:41:49 GMT
*Quietly vibrates with excitement*
As hard as it is - you cannot look at this through the lens of them building on 8th edition. This is a complete re-write from the ground up, a new game in the same vein.
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Post by KevinC on Oct 31, 2023 12:38:44 GMT
I'm excited to see this game! Magic seems like it might be a smaller part of the game than in WFB, but it makes sense seeing that the Colleges of Magic have not been invented yet...
Again, I'm not seeing TOW as a replacement for WFB. Much like HH and 40K, I plan on playing both WFB and TOW...
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Post by mottdon on Oct 31, 2023 13:42:48 GMT
Sounds interesting. Still too early to tell for sure, but I'm intrigued. Splitting the magic up over the phases, activating heroes equipment, etc., sounds like it could give you more control over your army than before. Time will tell.
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Post by lordofskullpass on Oct 31, 2023 13:49:31 GMT
As hard as it is - you cannot look at this through the lens of them building on 8th edition. This is a complete re-write from the ground up, a new game in the same vein. That's certainly fair, though my concern about Fanatics also relates to 7th Edition (which had the same rules for them as in 8th), and I don't think there were even any spells in 7th that were as weak as this Tomb King spell.
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Post by herjan1987 on Oct 31, 2023 14:27:35 GMT
There’s a lot more to clue you in on for Warhammer: The Old World in the coming months. We’ll be tackling the rest of the Phases, plus rules for Magic, Morale, Psychology, and other matters, and we’ll also be taking a closer look at the factions, the setting, the models, and… the future of the game, only here on Warhammer-Community.com. This paragragh gives me hope that they want to support, the game for the long run.
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Post by herjan1987 on Oct 31, 2023 16:33:24 GMT
I'm excited to see this game! Magic seems like it might be a smaller part of the game than in WFB, but it makes sense seeing that the Colleges of Magic have not been invented yet... Again, I'm not seeing TOW as a replacement for WFB. Much like HH and 40K, I plan on playing both WFB and TOW... Its more like the winds of magic is not common enought. Its mostly spunged by the Great Vortex in Ulthuan. Remember that how magic is tied to chaos.
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