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« Last post by Wyddr on March 22, 2024, 12:03:12 PM »
So, the rumors have been confirmed: GW is releasing AoS 4th edition this summer.
The surprise? They're doing a total rewrite of everything, apparently. They're also parroting their whole "simple but deep" mantra they paraded around before 10th edition and that, frankly, worries me. I find 10th edition pretty Yhwh-condemneded shallow, if I'm honest - so shallow, and so *not* an improvement over the abysmal 9th edition, that I've pretty much stopped playing 40k.
The rumors I've heard so far (and my thoughts)
No more melee weapon ranges
It's going to be 3" to fight or something, sort of like 40k. This isn't the worst thing ever (save a lot of tiny measurements), but it will mean everything will be more killy, which is bad. My bullgors really do NOT need the offense boost. I wonder, also, what will happen with weapon profiles as a result - one of the primary reasons to take spears is the added reach, for example. One presumes they'll flatten it out somehow.
Color Coded Rules
I mean, whatever. I never found these rules confusing in the first place, so I don't see how color coding will make any difference to me personally.
Some Change to Double Turn
Now, I have zero problems with the double turn as it stands now, but I can see putting some kind of cost on it, but other than *going second,* I don't know what that would be, honestly. I'd hate to see it go or make it unusable, because it is one of those things that makes the game interesting.
More Reactions in enemy turn
I, for one, would LOVE to see the old WHFB charge reactions come back, though I doubt this is what that means. I guess you'll get an expanded suite of commands similar to Redeploy and Unleash Hell. I'm totally okay with this and, if done well, could keep the game a tactical challenge.
3" range to claim objectives
Not crazy about this one, if true. I like being able to swing objectives back and forth more easily, and the smaller footprint makes this very tough. The decision (if true) along with the melee range thing suggests they want a more killy game, which I think is broadly a mistake. The central problem of 40k (which GW seems determined not to learn and the fans seem determined not to see) is that everything (everything) dies too easily and too often, meaning you can only reasonably play a decent game on something choked with LOS-blocking terrain.
I don't think AoS (with its relatively modest shooting phase focus) is likely to become that, exactly, but I don't want to play games in which everybody gets tabled in Turn 2 and you just steamroll over opponents. Those are my least favorite and least interesting games to play, and one of the reasons I ditched 40k is that was the only game I ever got to play at all - just two brainless masses of troops exploding without so much as a trick in their bag.
Anyway, I'm concerned what GW is going to do to what is otherwise a pretty well-balanced, pretty interesting game. I honestly don't trust them much these days.