@GML & Irisado: The unit by unit deployment, is not the end of the world.
However there are several reasons not to use that mechanic. Have you considered MSU armies vs armies with very few units. The few unit armies will essentially always deploy first.
I still cannot see why this would be a major issue. What are the other reasons not to use it? You've only mentioned one.
It's a tried and tested mechanic. It works well with Age of Sigmar and has worked well with previous editions of Fantasy and 40K.
Also why would I buy rules when I have to invent them myself anyway, why reinvent the wheel?
That's a bit of a distortion of what reinventing the wheel means .
Furthermore it's a matter of game balance.
How would voluntarily agreeing to add an extra game turn radically alter game balance?
GW has taken a pragmatic option by reducing the game length in my opinion. I'm surprised that it's proving to be such a controversial topic for some of you.
I've already mentioned a couple of reasons.
1. MSU
2. Time consuming
3. Natural breaks/pauses between games
4. Game balance is questionable, I know that this was how it was played a couple of editions ago, but they could have come up with something better.
Say player 1 deploys 50% of his points(either narrative or matched), then player 2 deploys 100%, then player 1 deploys the remaining 50%. (an example just from the top of my head)
It might not be reinventing the wheel, but when they serve us rules, that I immediately see flaws in, I will be disappointed. Coming up with houserules myself or with some buddies, is still inventing.
How an extra turn would radically change the game balance?
- Well, some armies are simply not as durable as others.
- One army may have a lot of more victory points left to score, than the other.
- Et cetera.
My issue is not with the reduced gamelength itself alone, it's because GW has come out bragging a game will be much faster now and this is their solution, instead of reducing tedious dice rolling.
To those that claim the game is mostly over long before turn 5, I feel sorry for you since you are either:
1. A victim of a poorly balanced game
2. A very good or very bad player, with bad matchups
3. Having extreme dicerolls, one way or the other.