40K: Warhammer Q&A – The Big Ones
After Warhammer TV’s big Q&A session, there was a lot to go over. Let’s see if we can’t break this down a bit.
In case you missed it, Games Workshop’s Pete Foley and Andy Smillie were on Warhammer TV yesterday. They hosted a Facebook Live Q&A session that was pretty informative! You can see the video HERE or your browser supports it, here’s the Facebook video:
And for those of you who can’t access video for whatever reason, we also had a summary of all the major questions asked during the Q&A HERE. You might want to check either of those out before we continue because I’m going to be referencing the video and the questions. It will make more sense if you get them in context.
That said, let’s jump in!
The Big Ones
So what were the “Big Ones” from yesterday’s Q&A? The first major point that a lot of folks are concerned with is a phrase that was repeated a few times: “Everybody can hurt everybody” – that means that everyone has a chance to actually do damage to everyone (or everything) else. Yes, your lowly guardsman with a lasgun has a chance (however slim) to damage a Land Raider. But let’s unpack that a bit.
In Warhammer 40k 7th edition, vehicles have an Armor Value and facing. They have Hull Points. They have a Damage Chart that you roll on to determine what type of damage it takes – you know, that whole weapon destroyed, immobilized, shaken/stunned one? All of those concepts are gone now. Well, the Damage Chart is changing into something new…more on that later. But the point is that these concepts are going away so we need to take a look at what we’re getting and see if it makes sense in context.
This system is already in place for AoS and it works pretty well for big creatures. Why does it work? Because they have more Wounds to chew through. Right now, a vehicle has a couple Hull Points. 2-4 in most cases. Monsters in AoS have upwards of 8-16 or more wounds – that means damage can get a lot more granular.
As the vehicle takes damage it will become less effective – as it should. Weapon Destroyed results are factored into the Damage Table as it’s attacks get weaker or it loses numbers of attacks. The movement stats will also probably go down as (to use a Land Raider as an example) the tank tracks get shot-up. The Warhammer TV crew also mentioned that maybe the “to hit” stat will decrease as well reflecting the crew getting shaken and stunned. And I won’t even go into how this system is perfect for Monsters because that’s already evident in AoS.
“But what about my Guard Squad shooting 150 lasgun shots into it?” Yeah – what about that? We don’t know the stats on the weapon damage or the vehicle yet. We don’t know the odds of getting damage through yet. We don’t know what special rules vehicles might have to conpesate for getting shot at with small arms fire either. What if vehicles have a special rule like stone skeleton:
My point is that it’s still too early to tell. In the video Andy mentioned that when he played a game he felt like all his guns “felt right” Battle Cannons worked great against vehicles, infantry weapons “felt right” – I’m willing to at least wait and see the rules before I start panicking that Guard-Blogs are the new hotness.
Command Points were the next big thing they discussed. They showed off 3 of the new 14 Force Organization charts. And they were pretty confident that no matter what army you collected, what formation you were using, or whatever your play style, the Force Org charts would have you covered. The type of Force Org structure you choose would determine how many Command Points you would generate at the start of the game. I believe it was between 3-9 depending on the “level” you used.
They didn’t say if you could generate more Command Points during the game but they did mention that they were a limited resource. You can only use 1 per phase and they would allow you to do things like re-roll a die. The Command Points will have some “generic” effects (like the re-roll) and they mentioned you could use a die to activate a unit during your opponent’s assault which would allow them to “get their swings in first” and it could be a very pivotal moment in the game.
Counter-Charge FTW!
The Command Points can also be spent on army unique abilities. We don’t have any info on this yet other than to say that the armies will get their unique abilities as the codexes come out. So on Day 1, we’ll all be able to play and use the generic effects for Command Points. But don’t worry, your armies unique flavor isn’t going away – just give it time…
Game Length was another big one. We touched on that already but the key indicator is that GW wants games to be faster. In my mind, that means less rolling for things that will have little to no impact on the game. I also think that means things are going to be very deadly and decisive. I won’t harp on this point too much, but I’m all in favor of making the games play faster.
Rules Testing and Balance was another big point they drove home. Questions of “broken units” like the Riptide came up. Andy and Pete were quick to point out that they have been taking in fan feedback and getting outside play tester groups to assist. They reached out to the folks who run massive events like LVO, Adepticon, and NOVA to get their input and feedback. This edition will be the most tested edition they have ever produced by folks who know the current game and have a passion for making the next edition even better.
That’s pretty great news because those are the types of folks who are invested in making the game great. For some of those guys, their lively-hood depends on the game doing well and people liking it. They have dedicated lots of their own time and money to get those events going so naturally they want the game to succeed. And I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t hold back if something was broken. And even if something is deemed “broken” GW has said they want to have an annual update via some type of General’s Handbook for 40k. So things will get fixed.
Points were another big thing discussed. There will be two types of points depending on how you want to play. If you’re looking for a “relative power level” so you can do some narrative-type games, then use the “Power Level Points” designed for just that. Those points are very high-level and not super focused on what wargear this Sargent has. It’s a little looser but designed so you can quickly gauge the relative closeness to other forces.
Match Play Points are pretty much what we have now. You’ll be able to kit your forces out how you want them and everything will be pointed out appropriately.
Day One Support was the last major point I want to bring up. EVERYONE is getting what they need on Day One. That means every model currently in the game will have points and rules. Everyone will be on the same footing Day One. There will be Digital and Physical copies of the books – and there will be FIVE books on launch day! Everything you need to start playing YOUR army, whatever army you have, will be available Day One.
Folks, this is HUGE. The baseline just got reset for everyone at the same time. And everyone will be in the same scramble trying to figure out what to do at the same time. It’s no small task to equalize the entire playing field AND support every single army. If GW can pull this off…Oh man.
I am super excited about 8th Edition. I’m tying to stay cautiously optimistic but the more we learn about it the more I’m ready to jump on the hype train and just start playing. I can’t wait to see what GW has in store for all the armies I play – heck, I want to see what EVERYONE is getting. It’s going to be like Christmas for all 40k players on the same day. Who’s ready?!
8th can’t get here fast enough…I hope you’re using this time to get your collections prepped for war!
