Keep in mind that with 7th edition, you can take as many detachments as you want and still be battleforged as long as each detachment has the minimum 1 HQ and 2 Troops
Yeah, multi detachments for lots of characters is really the only approach to go, but it still doesn’t feel right to me. Army composition was a layer of metagaming that forced us to make tough decisions, and I always felt that it added such dimension to the game. Multi Force Org charts/detachments never really felt right to me, almost as if I was cheating despite the fact that it’s been an option for so long, and don’t get me started on Unbound. I just have to adjust… or simply play house games which don’t have to be dictated by 7th Edition.
Bear in mind that a lot of the themed armies are delivered via formations in Waaaggh! Ghazghkull.
I haven’t seen it yet, but I am sure you are right. The way they did this Supplement book feels like day 1 DLC for a video game, stuff that should have been in what I paid for, and cut out to make yet another sale. I’ve never been a fan of formations, seeing it as a stupid gimmick, but again I have to adjust, I know this, and I accept that.
The mob rule is still size dependant: a big ork mob with a character with a bosspole auto-passes morale checks on a rerollable 2+ in exchange for one or two orks getting a good shoeing.
Yes you get a reroll to try and mitigate running away. As for one or two Orks getting lost, pretty much every time with my rolls I was loosing 4-6. Yes part of that was my rolling, but in each of the four games I’ve played I’ve lost out big time due to Ld deaths, which can be triggered in any phase. And I don’t think you’ve played against armies that tote out Fear yet.
It's a bit frustrating to think that a "think tank" of developers get to write codex material, vs. a dedicated writer/developer who has a proven track record...Why did it have to include Matt Ward...I can't think of anybody I know who's familiar with the game that can truly say they like his approach to any army...must have a following in England
I have yet to meet someone that likes Ward’s fluff, but there are some who likes how he writes Overpowered rules. I don’t know exactly why they’ve changed to a Dev Team verses single author, but Orks and Nids are perfect reasons why it was a bad choice. When you have an author that loves an army, they’ll be able to put out a good book that can stand well on its own feet. This is due to a term known as personal bias. When you have a team, there are multiple personal biases floating around, and when a team for the most part wants a Xenos army to be punching bags for their beloved SMurfs and IG, that is what is going to happen.
We don’t know how big the team is, but we know of the big three, Phil Kelly, Robin Cruddance, and Matt Ward. We know that Phill Kelly is a Xenos player, and we know that Cruddance and Ward are not big fans of Xenos having a leg up on the Imperials. It’s their personal bias, the two really love the Imperium in the same crazy way that we love Orks, and the problem with personal bias is that it often manifests itself unconsciously.
In 5th Edition I don’t think Cruddance knowingly broke the Tyranid army into a near unplayable force. I think he honestly did his best to try and make them a good army. He failed in my opinion (and a lot of other players feel the same), but I do believe he tried. His codex for IG was one of the best if not the best 5th Edition book after all, but he loves the IG with a passion, and that bias shows through.
I can’t say why the dev team thought the old Mob Rule was overpowered, but I do believe they must have thought so otherwise they wouldn’t have changed it in the manner which they did. Taking that away makes a mob of 30 boys a lot less intimidating though.
7 Wounds in any phase will trigger a Morale Check, a single successful kill from a Sniper causes a Pinning Test, if you’re in CC with something causing Fear that forces a check which if failed not only forces WS1 but unless you get that 1 you loose some extra boyz, and this is just the tip of the Iceburg, there are many more ways to trigger Ld/Morale/Pinning tests, all of which have the potential for the Orks to kill each other.
If I was playing against Orks, even without a list tooled for Orks, it isn’t hard to Ld check them to an easy victory. That 30 Mob, I can cause 7 wounds or more with a couple different Psychic Powers. And in the shooting phase, 7 kills there and then move on to another enemy unit. One player turn can force a plethora of Ld checks that we previously didn’t have to worry about. And don’t forget Trukk mobz, if their ride blows up you have to take a Pinning test (and should you loose 3+ Orks to both the vehicle explosion and the Ld test, then you have to take a Morale test for loosing 25%).
Yes I know I sound like I’m just sour grapes over the whole thing, and that’s a fair assessment. But Ld is what kills the Orks now like no other, and there are so many ways to cause Ld checks that I didn’t even write down, not to mention the stray unit/power/ability that forces rerolls on successful Ld checks. I’m very disappointed that my Orks are now timid squabbling cannibal zombies. Incredibly disappointed.
Adaption is the only way through. Adaptation and playing house games where I use the new codex like a coaster, the developers do call it a beer and chips game now after all.
Peace
~OD
EDIT: Forgot to mention, should something like a Sniper force a Pin test, which is passed by Breaking Heads or Squabble BUT those wounds cause 25% casualties you have to take a Morale Test. That's already happened to me in game a couple times.