5 Things AoS Should Steal From 40K
Warhammer 40,000 8th has certainly borrowed from Age of Sigmar – now it’s time to give back!
If you’ve been following the news about Warhammer 40k, then you’ve seen the rules-borrowing it’s been doing from Age of Sigmar. This isn’t a bad thing either. An easy to follow core rules set is a good thing in my opinion and condensing the core mechanics down is a welcome sight. That said, 40k is still double the rules compare to AoS and there are a few gems in there that AoS could certainly use. Here are our 5 cherry picks from the rules of 40k that need to make their way back to AoS:
Shooting Into Melee
As of right now, in the AoS rules, there is nothing from stopping you from shooting into a Melee fight. Take a look:
It’s pretty clear to me – there is nothing stopping a unit from firing into melee. At least in 40k, the chance of hitting your comrades is enough for a unit to second guess shooting into that mess of troopers fighting. Now, I’m not saying firing into melee shouldn’t be allowed – I actually like the pistol rules from 40k too. But there should be a penalty for shooting into Melee! That or folks just find something else to shoot at.
Picking Off Characters (With Shooting)
Look, I get that some characters are a tad too large to NOT be a target (see Nagash). However, I really like how 40k a limitation on at shooting characters. “If the character has less than X wounds, it can’t be targeted by shooting as long as it is in within 3″ of a friendly unit.” It’s simple, clean, and it makes sense from a ground level view. Now, if your unit has a “Sniper” ability…all bets are off!
Power Levels
This might seem redundant now that we’ve got the General’s Handbook with points, but, I think AoS could have used them. Heck, AoS could have pioneered the Power Level idea! It would have certainly made the reception much better at launch. As it stands now, AoS is really already using a Power Level system – the difference is that the 40k Points/Power Levels are a lot more granular. I think AoS could use some of that granularity.
There is a subset of players who actually do like working out each and every point for there army and right now for AoS, it’s a tad loose for them. Tighten the points values up by allowing folks to point-out upgrades and then compensate with generic power levels – problem solved! Although, that’s a lot of extra work…
Chargers Strike First
I really like how Close Combat in AoS has that strategy of picking your melee combatants in an “I Go, You Go” fashion. However, one thing that never sat quite right was the idea that if I charged in with a ton of little units into a BIG unit, and the big unit swung first, all my little units would go *poof* – especially when I charged them! Why would I ever engage a unit with more than a unit or two? Maybe that was the point – but I don’t like it.
The idea that units that charged strike first in a melee round makes sense to me. It rewards you for being the aggressor and taking the charge – or at least risking it! I let the on-going combats sort themselves out like normal, but let chargers swing first!
Command Point Bonuses
The General’s Handbook added a way to construct armies in a frame work and it does work well. But I’d like to see the same or similar types of Command Points ported over from 40k to AoS, too. The Command Points, even the basic “spend a point, get a re-roll,” are a really cool mechanic. Plus it allows GW to add army specific Command Point options later on. I really hope we get to see some version of this in AoS – I think it’s a great way to add some extra tactical options to the game.
It’s a fairly short list – from what we’ve seen so far, what rules would you want to see AoS adopt/borrow/steal from 40k?
