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9th Age Beta Rules 2.0 - New Saurian Ancients Book

Discussion in 'Lizardmen & Saurian Ancients Discussion' started by Gary_M, Dec 21, 2017.

  1. Gary_M
    Razordon

    Gary_M Well-Known Member

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    Unfortunately my cold bloods have been boxed up for some time now, but their influence is growing on my psyche (must be the machinations of my slann!) and had a look at 9th Age to see if there were any developments.
    With v2.0 of the Rules now out, I wondered if any of our venerable scaled ones on this grand forum could give any clues about our new army book?
    I understand though if you are sworn to secrecy.
    I’m a bit annoyed that our book comes out on 22nd December. Another whole day to wait!
    I haven’t had a chance to read the rules yet, so if any one has any views on changes there, please feel free....
     
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  2. NIGHTBRINGER
    Slann

    NIGHTBRINGER Second Spawning

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    Probably fairly unlikely. We don't get a lot of T9A discussion around these parts anymore.
     
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  3. Pinktaco
    Skar-Veteran

    Pinktaco Vessel of the Old Ones Staff Member

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    What do you want to know?
     
  4. Gary_M
    Razordon

    Gary_M Well-Known Member

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    Anything and everything!!! LOL
    To be honest I don't know. What changes have been made to our beloved cold bloods, rules etc
    Been a long time since I played 9th age, and was a while ago, so can't remember much of the rules / saurian ancients.
    One thing, are we able to have different standard on saurian warriors again?
     
  5. Pinktaco
    Skar-Veteran

    Pinktaco Vessel of the Old Ones Staff Member

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    Well, the book is out now :)

    Sorry for the late respons.
     
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  6. Lawot
    Kroxigor

    Lawot Active Member

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    A summary of major changes in 2.0:

    Magic has been reworked. It's way less random - spells are selected, there's less variation in power dice availability, and there aren't the big nuke spells. All of which means that you don't need to put a bunch of points into magic for the off chance that you roll well and annihilate your opponent's army in one turn. I'm a huge supporter of the new magic rules - I think that 7th edition introduced a new level of randomness into an already unpredictable phase, and 8th edition brought it to an absurd level of reliance on luck. Redesigning that was one of my earliest hopes for the 9th Age, and I'm glad to finally see it executed.

    Characteristic profiles have been redone, as well. Weapon Skill, for example, has been split into Offensive and Defensive. For now, most units have the same O and D as the WS that they had in previous versions, so there's little impact, but in the future it will allow units to be more precisely designed to fill a given role. There are a few changes like that, which open up new possibilities but don't really change anything in the short term.

    Armor Piercing is a new attribute (characteristic?), separate from Strength. This long-awaited change helps address the problem of "high-strength attacks are everywhere" problem that was inherited from 7th and 8th edition Warhammer. Now armor can be worth something again!

    I think those two are the big ones for game-wide rules...there are a few smaller changes, as well.

    With these BRB changes, the armies have all been given a new rulebook with relatively minor changes, pending a complete overhaul when possible. I'm pretty excited about the process for these changes and rewrites - namely, the Background Team is developing the character of each army, and those are finally driving the rules, so that we have a fun and characterful game to play. The people who are on the current team to provide input on the Saurians are doing a really good job, and have breathed new life into some of our units that were useless yet central before (*cough* Saurus *cough*). So @Pinktaco might be able to correct me if I get any of these wrong, but here are some of the big changes to the SA:

    Saurian Warriors:
    Totems got tweaked, and recosted, plus some changes towards favoring blocks of these guys rather than the 10-man MSU.

    Temple Guard:
    Finally got some serious changes. They now carry a "Cobalt Club" instead of a halberd, allowing them to gain +2S on a one-handed weapon, so that they still have their shields in CC. As mentioned above, AP is now separate from S, and the new club doesn't give any AP. So there are new challenges, but overall their damage output has become better while also making them more resilient, and helping them to function as the immovable brick they were always supposed to be.

    Thyroscutus (heir to the Bastiladon for you 8thers):
    The Ankylosaurus is now Unbreakable. Still not a massive monster on its own, and there are definitely some who say that this isn't enough, but the goal is for it to better hold up troublesome enemy units.

    Salamanders:
    ...can March and Shoot again. Together with some BRB changes to how Flame Throwers work, these guys are once again going to strike terror into the hearts of our enemies.

    Caiman Ancient:
    Dropping the situational bonus to his unit's WS, together with the ability to be the BSB, seems to have made this guy playable and fun.

    Snake Swarms:
    They used to have the rule that basically gave Poison to friendly units engaged in the same fight as them, but that was hard to ever actually use profitably. Now, opposing units that successfully charge them have to take Dangerous Terrain tests. I'm upbeat about this, as I think it solidifies their role in bogging down enemy units.

    EDIT:
    Raptor Riders! Changes in the BRB seem to have made them competitive again. I don't have a detailed explanation, but I'm very excited to see them actually work!


    I hope all that's helpful! Overall I'm really pleased with the changes - we have more sensible units, being designed to actually do the jobs they're supposed to do, with both character and playstyle in mind.
     
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  7. Gary_M
    Razordon

    Gary_M Well-Known Member

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    @Lawot thanks for the detail. Really helpful.
    Managed to print the army book, rules and magic (this morning!)
    Looking forward to try a few games but my local group only have one or two others that play (more like dabble) in 9th.
    Will have to get my son (Dark Elves and Beastmen, or whatever they're called now) to play a bit.
    Maybe a few low value training games to get the hang of it.
     
  8. Lawot
    Kroxigor

    Lawot Active Member

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    @Gary_M There is a "Starter Set" of rules, though it was written for the 1.3 rules. But keep an eye out, if they adapt it for the 2.0 version, it'll help you test things. It's basically a simplified ruleset, and comes with pre-determined army lists and some setup stuff, to save you from some of the more complicated things to learn.

    Even when my gaming group and I started trying out the 9th Age, we had a ton of fun...as much as it has a reputation for being tournament-oriented, the general balancing and removal of the more egregiously broken units, along with the insane level of randomness in magic and nuke spells, has made it a game that is a little more intuitive and sensible than Warhammer proper. Because of that, it's been pretty easy to pick things up and have a good time.

    Whereabouts do you live? I'm in western Massachusetts, USA. On the odd chance that I'm anywhere nearby, I'd be happy to get do a test-drive of the new rules together.
     
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  9. Gary_M
    Razordon

    Gary_M Well-Known Member

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    @Lawot thanks for the offer, but as I live across the body of water you call "The Pond" that might be both a bit difficult and a bit expensive LOL!
    This is what I love about gaming - Kindred spirits willing to help each other.
    In all seriousness, your offer is greatly appreciated and I am somewhat annoyed I can't take you up on it.
     
  10. Warden
    Slann

    Warden Tenth Spawning

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    I saw Saurian Ancients v1.3.4 on the download page, is this the right one? The date on the front page said 27 Jan 2017...

    Also wondering if there are plans for a full on army book, like the Sylvan Elves/Undying Dynasties?
     
  11. hardyworld
    Kroxigor

    hardyworld Active Member

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    I believe the rules they are discussing is under the "beta rules" tab. Those rules were updated Dec. 21, 2017.
     
  12. Lawot
    Kroxigor

    Lawot Active Member

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    @hardyworld Correct!

    The 2.0 rules being tested can be found here. As I understand it, here's the overall progression:
    2.0 beta (as v0.201) is available for testing, in the form of the BRB, one full armybook (Warriors of the Dark Gods), and a bunch of "slim" army books - rules only, no fluff. The slim books are adaptations of the 1.3 rules, with a few basic changes: First, each team got to rework 8 units. You can find the thinking behind the Saurian Ancient reworks here. Then, they adjusted points on a number of units. Finally, they made any necessary compatibility changes (like when a special rule no longer exists). We will go forward with these slim books while the BRB 2.0 is tweaked through the Beta period. After that, the armies will be get a full overhaul, one by one, published first as beta rules for testing, and then as the full book in the same style as the WODG book.

    The projected timeline for the beta period is available here. In summary: The beta is available now, and the necessary teams are collecting feedback for most of this year. In February, there will be a quick update to address the most egregious mistakes, and around May they expect to complete some playtesting and make updates to the army books. By October they want to do a round of balance tweaks, aiming for release of the solid 2.0 at the end of the year.


    So it will be a long time before the Saurian Ancients full armybook is out, but I think the 0.201 SA update is good enough that I'm happy to keep playing with them for a while.
     

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