@Killersquid: Sorry if I sound too negative, while my main army (Eldar) does not rely on melee, I'd like to start using some of the units that are currently collecting dust like howling banshees, which has been nerfed every edition since 4th, in which they were balanced but were probably too good against MEQ, so many complained, and GW listened to those complains.
About activation, if it's a set number of units to strike first for the player who's current turn it is, it doesn't scale very well when using either small or large armies.
@GML: a 10 man unit can certainly lock up 3 units, but a 30 man unit is going to have a much easier time to do just that. Not to mention a blob of 50.
Since grots, gaunts and conscripts are essentially cannon fodder, allowing them to lock up 2 or more shooty units is gold worth, and worst case scenario, the opponent will just back off and will sooner or later run out of space to withdraw to.
Say 30 grots charge into a unit of assaultmarines, but at the same time locking up 2 units of 5 tactical marines, with the 3" pile in move. Now they are going to be a fleshwall much longer than if shot at by the tactical marines. With a unit of 5 terminators it's much harder to achieve.
Locking up 3 units also makes it less plausible that those marines and assault marines will leave combat, because winning the combat might be more profitable, that will always be a tough tactical decision.
@Irisado: While I do not know the rules of AoS, but from what I've heard of them it seems like 40k is getting a lot of them. As for the elite CC units beating the hordes I hope that moves over to 40k as well. However I think it' a bit more complex than elite or horde units. Fragile elite units will likely suffer from the new rules (like banshees) while more sturdy (like khorne berzerkers) will prevail, not only because they are sturdy, but they are also focused on making several attacks, comparred to assault terminators for example.
@Everyone: Where I don't have the new rules I will fill in the gaps with the current rules, as the announced ruleschanges are probably the biggest changes. So don't just read my words out of context, because it's not that doomy & gloomy.
I am happy that we will get a new edition and a shake up of the balance, but there are sadly several missed opportunities for GW that I'm pointing out, and some things that changed in the opposite direction of what I was hoping for.
I'm also worried about how the (wound+toughness+armour)/squareinch footprint is going to work out in the new edition.
I think guardsmen in chimeras might have a quite high value in that department, which seems to be a more and more important thing. Combine that with lots of shooting and cannon fodder units, thats the reason I think IG/AM will do well in this edition. I wouldn't be surprised if rhinorush returns as well. ATM we will just have to wait and see.