A friend of mine sent this to me via email and apparently he got it from a pretty reliable source but i cant confirm any of these rumors completely. Here you go: Regardless the stuff that is now confirmed includes a drastic change to the composition system. It will be: 25% core MINIMUM 50% special MAX 25% rare MAX 25% on heroes including mounts MAX AND 25% on lords including mounts (dragons etc) MAX which means in a 2250 game, ~560 points can be spent on a lord character (and perhaps more dramatic, lord characters can be present in small point games i.e. Orc lord in 1000 pt games). This would eliminate completely tooled up Vampire Lords on Zombie Dragons, which already are very weak. This change does not effect Daemons as dramatically as most believed, at 550 a fully tooled up Bloodthirster will be available and this can be taken in addition to 3-150pt Heralds. The massive nerf to Vampires and Tomb Kings due to 25% for ALL characters rumor is also not going to happen. On top of this at games under 3000 points, you are limited to 2 of the same rare choice and 3 of the same special choice. High elves are specifically exempted from this. As soon as the rumours are finalized Im going to type up a strategic summary review, but from the "for sure" stuff Im seeing Im drawing a few cautionary preliminary assessments: 1.) Dark Elves will be the shit. Good core infantry blocks with high int and reliable rerolling to hit with hatred, assassins counting towards their core % (which is dumb but wont be errata'd at this point until a new book is out), the rare restrictions will allow them to take 2 hydras AND 2 RBTs (also due to the hydra being way undercosted at this point), hydras will be able to use breath weapons INTO combats allocating 2D6 Str5 hits as well as having 11 attacks! And although you wont be able to combine Ward Saves with regen (now both just a type of ward), you can still combine Armor and Wards, thus the unkillable dark elf lord is still in effect. 2.) High Elves will be pimp as well. With no restrictions on slots, they can have 5 RBTs as rare choices. They likewise have spectacular infantry blocks with high int but will suffer a bit from the nerf to Great Weapons (now always strike last). 3.) Daemons will still be good. Bloodthirster is still viable at 2K points. Heralds of Khorne will still be 0+Armor with a 5+ Ward. Nurgle will take a big hit, with only either the ward or regen. I expect to see lots of block infantry likely bloodletters/slannesh due to their high int values. 4.) Vampires still not bad, but not great. Unclear on how the infantry "Stubborn to the Front" will effect undead. No more autobreaking with massive zombie units, but the big nerf to the character % isnt going to happen. Certainly Vampires wont be in same category as the 3 above though in terms of power level. 5.) Horde armies just got alot better. After going to the Capital City Carnage in Austin and seeing mad amounts of Skaven armies, I think Skaven will be even more popular. Certainly in terms of power level will be top 3-4 (along with DE, HE & Daemons) as they can now field 2 doomwheels+ 1 Hell Pit at 2250. Greenskins also getting much better but can no longer spam more than 6 bolt throwers. 6.) Tough infantry block armies will get better. 2+/3+ Armor Save Warriors of Chaos blocks (now stubborn to the front), Lizardmen block armies etc. will be more competitive. All cavalry Warriors of Chaos now impossible?? 7.) Chariot lists better. Jordan Braun-style spam chariot lists will no longer autodestroy due to Str7+, thats scary considering how well he does with chariots now. •Army construction is moving back to percentages. •Strength in Depth/ Stepping up (models may fight in 2 ranks) •Crush attack for larger creatures •40mm models moving to 3 model-wide ranks. •Multiple objective driven scenarios in the rulebook •All non-english rulebooks are moving to inches. •Power dice aren’t generated by the number of spellcasters. The pool is decided by 2D6. Magic users add their magic level to the score rolled. All Wizards have a chance to generate more power dice. •All missile units fire in two ranks (not just High Elves). Missile units will not gain a rank when shooting from hills. •Autobreaking from fear or terror is gone. •Combats are strictly decided in initiative order. Warhammer 8th Ed Rulebook to be released July 10th 528+ pages. Full colour Possibly going to get the pdf erratas for all armies on July 6th Introduction games for Warhammer 8th edition starting around May 22nd (only one scenario apparently) Copies for Staff available early May The book is up for advance order from a swedish store. £45. There will be a "General's" Edition as well as a "Gunner's" Edition: Both are the basic rulebook along with multiple different gimmicks, as golden templates, dice, angulometer, combat-resolution-calculator, markers and more. "General's Edition" is supported with a white linen bag with two silver coins attached to it, so if you fall in battle, they may put them on your eyes... Other rumours (and description of above) These are all listed in no particular order. ARMY SELECTION AND OTHER BITS •Army construction is moving back to percentages. All from Avian (more likely): 25% max characters (includes mounts) 25% min core 50% max special 25% max rare I am just going to spell this out how it is. People have seen printed in GW rulebooks 25% max characters and 25% lord 25% hero. I think many GW stores will be basing their demonstrations on 25% lord 25% hero. Make of that what you will. Just so I am clear on this, as there has been some misunderstanding, you can have a lord level character leading a small army if you want to (within the points), you don't have to take a hero as you do currently. I have heard nothing about unit champions being the general Allied Forces •Allied forces will not get a % allocation. However, rules for using allied forced (i.e. an updated allied forces chart) are in the rulebook. •Allies are now split into 3 groups: Forces of Order: High Elves, Wood Elves, Lizardmen, Empire, Dwarfs and Brettonia Forces of Destruction: Chaos of any kind, Skaven, Greenskins, Dark Elves (edit. Vampire Counts may go here). Neutral: Ogres and Tomb Kings •The allies rules are intended to be used by more than 2 players. You are not supposed to use more than one armybook in your army. •Allies are allowed to use the other army General’s leadership, but cause panic in units of the other army if they are forced to flee. If an allied unit is forced to flee through another ally from a different group, the stationary unit counts as dangerous terrain. I.e. High Elves flee through Warriors of Chaos. •Categories for core/special/rare are remaining. •Special Choices: No more than 3 of the same type - Examples; No more than 3 units of Chaos Knights, or 3 units of Forsaken etc in the same army. Rare Choices: No more than 2 of the same type - Examples; No more than 2 Hellcannons, or 2 Chaos Giants etc in the same army. •These numbers are increased when having games of 3000 points or more. (Up to 6 special and 4 rare). High Elves ignore these restrictions. •There will be a system wide errata to clear up issues for each army. You may measure distances whenever you want. MOVEMENT Standard Movement •Measure the distance for the furthest moving model, and perform whatever manoeuvres you wish within that lax limitation (i.e. they all move like fast cav currently do, minus the reform). •(edit: It seems I am very close with this, the champion one is only by process of deduction. Still awaiting further confirmation on all this) Standard Bearer = Re-roll one of the charging dice Musician = +1" Charge bonus Champion = One free reform (edit: As it has caused some confusion, these are all only additions to what all the command models currently do) Charging. •Rumoured to be: Infantry M1-M6 = Basic Movement value + 2D6 Fast Attack M7+ (Cavalry and fliers) = Basic Movement value + 3D6 use 2 highest) •+1CR for charging. -Avian (more likely) Fliers •Move 10 " and march 20 ". They ignore terrain whilst moving. While fleeing or pursuing, they use their ground movement. (note: the ground movement part may not be entirely correct) Marching. •Movement distance as normal. When there's an enemy within 8", the unit has to pass a leadership test to march. Not sure how this applies to Dwarfs. Reforming •Units may reform once, but may neither move nor shoot the same turn. If the unit has a musician, it may move afterwards, or shoot. (Note: I'm pretty sure I'm missing some details on that one.) Heavy cavalry - Avian says this is possibly speculation •- Rumoured to be something like this: All infantry and cavalry models (i.e. smaller than ogre sized) with a passive non-magical save of 3+ or better cannot march move. I.e. heavy armour and shield would allow you to march, as the +1 HW & shield is only in combat. Brettonians and Dwarfs will be exempt Skirmishers •Skirmishers are now a fixed formation, with a 1 inch gap between each and every model. -Avian and Kah-thurak - Note. The gap between them may actually be the same size as the base width. X = Model O = 1" Gap between X O X O X O X O X O O O O O O O O O X O X O X O X O X Still rank up in combat. May or may not have 360 Line of sight. MAGIC NOTE: The magic rumours nobody seems to agree on, so rather than try and find what exactly the truth is I will just put here most of the theories Edit: I've sorted out the ones that seem more likely, based on the info from anonymous sources: Generating Power and Dispel Dice •Power dice aren’t generated by the number of spellcasters. The amount of dice is decided by 2D6. The active player gets the total as power dice and the other player the highest throw as dispel dice (throw 3+5, = 8 PD and 5 DD). (confirmed) Channeling (confirmed that it exists) •Each wizard may roll a D6 and generate an additional power dice on a roll of 6. •Each enemy wizard may roll a D6 and generate an additional dispel dice on a roll of 6. •You may not channel while fleeing, off the board or when you suffer from stupidity.. Maximum Power and Dispel Dice •The maximum number of power or dispel dice you may have at any time is 12. This includes any power/dispel dice generated by special rules, spells and/or magic items. Casting Spells •To cast a spell, roll 1 to 6 Power dice and add your caster's power level. EG: A Slann casts fireball and uses 2D6. He rolls a 3 and a 4 - score of 7. He than adds his Power Level of 4, which results in a total roll of 11. Miscasting Here is where I think we need a lot more information. •It is rumoured that miscasts are entirely gone, but are replaced by a combined irresistible force/ miscast table effectively: •When you roll a double 6 the spell is cast with irresistible force, but the Caster has to roll on the "lost control" chart, which is devastating, and far more worse than the current miscast table. Lost Control Chart •Roll of 1: This has been confirmed as being even worse than number 4… Which (pure speculation) may involve every model in the unit taking a hit, this was something I actually heard a while back, but it could be worse than this. Roll of 4: The wizard is sucked into the warp and the large template is centred over him. S10 hits for something (could be the centre model, meaning S5 for the rest?). Bound spells •Bound spells are cast like normal spells now, but instead of your caster's power level, you add the level of the magic item. (Not 100 % sure on this one) •Every magic user has access to the pool. •Most spells generally have a basic and an up-powered version (more likely) – Avian Lore of Fire •Some spells will scale up. One Example is Fireball; which sounds like it could be D6 S4, or 2D6 S5, or 3D6 S6 hits. Lore of Metal •One spell from the Lore of Metal: Swap the enemies armour save for their toughness, e.g. 1+ save and toughness 3 becomes toughness 1 and 3+ save. Lore of Shadows •One spell you can switch the position of two characters that are 'within 18"' (not sure if they have to be within 18" of each other, or just to the caster). •Something rumoured is carrying over power dice, but holding too many could lead to a ‘magic backlash’. Wizard will recieve wounds or hits if he didn't use the excess power-dice (than originally allocated) at end of the turn. •Each lore to get a mega spell. •Spells can be chosen, not rolled for, but can't be duplicated in the same army with the exception of the first spell of the lore -Avian (more likely) •If a wizard fails to reach the casting value, it's a miscast. -Avian (more likely) Spells are now categorized. There are: Missiles, Curses, Buffs, Direct Damage and Power Whirl spells. •Missiles: Require Line of Sight and may not be cast into close combat. •Curses: Modify enemy stats and/or equipment •Buffs: Support your own troops •Direct damage: Spells that use templates or apply to the whole target unit. •Power whirls: Apply to all of the battlefield or move across the table.!? Each lore has an additional effect. For example: •Lore of Shadows: After the wizard successfully casts a spell, he may switch places with another friendly character of the same unit type. •Lore of Death: For each wound caused by lore of death spells, roll a D6. On a roll of 5+ you are granted an additional power dice. •Lore of Fire: If the enemy suffered a from a fire lore spell earlier this magic phase, the caster is granted a Bonus of +3 when casting a fire spell upon the same target. •Lore of Metal: Direct damage spells from the lore of metal have no strength value. Instead the unmodified armour save of the target is the required roll to wound. This causes flaming attacks and ignores armour saves. And the other rumours: •Each spell can be cast once per magic phase, regardless of how many casters there are. - Avian says this is possibly speculation •Dispel scroll only adding dispel dice (+2 dice to the dispel dice pool once per game). (edit - possibly speculation) SHOOTING Bows fire in 2 ranks as standard. •Units armed with bows, short bows and longbows fire in two ranks. Units armed with handguns, crossbows, anything else fire in 1 rank - Avian and someone else, so I'm considering this confirmed now. •Missile units will not gain a rank when shooting from hills. -Harry I think True Line of sight Units draw true line of sight. You are considered in cover when shot at through another unit, granting a -1 or -2 penalty on to hit rolls. Note that someone else has said this is more likely as well. War Machines •Weapons using the flame template or large or small blast templates automatically hit any model in contact rather than cause partial hits. If you are touched, you are hit. -Avian and someone else, so I'm considering this confirmed now War Machines: There'll be no guessing anymore. You place the template (or point of impact) where you want the weapon to hit and roll normally for scatter. Take with a big pinch of salt at this stage. Change to Wound table •All the ‘N’ are replaced with a 6… I’m taking this one with a fair bit of salt. COMBAT NOTE: Trying to nail down what the facts are here is very hard. Some of this is only my understanding of what has been discussed. Supportive Attacks •Infantry models in the second rank can fight, with a maximum of 1A per model. - Avian/Harry. Great weapons can only be used in one rank. – Godless. •This is only for models fighting to the front. Units charged in the flank or rear only fight in 1 rank, but being charged in the flank or rear will not stop units fighting in multiple ranks to the front. •Most special rules apply as normal. however... Whatever combination of weapons/ special rules/ spells/ whatever, infantry can only ever attack with 1 attack per model in the second and subsequent ranks. •Spears +1 rank as normal, but one attack only (fighting in 3 ranks). •Spearelves may fight with an additional rank as normal (citzen levy). •Cavalry still only fight in 1 rank. •This does not apply to Monstrous Infantry, who are rumoured to fight with their normal number of attacks from the second rank (more likely). Stepping up. – Harry/ Avian / other people •Casualties are strictly removed from the back. [extremely likely]. Horde •10+ wide units attack with one rank more than normal. There are no other requirements to be a Horde. - Avian Stubborn •If you are only engaged to the front and have more ranks than the opponent, you are Stubborn. - Avian/Harry Unit Strength •Unit Strength is completely gone, lots of things are altered to compensate for this. -Avian Rank bonuses •Unchanged. Up to 3. One Save. •A model can always take an armour save. They can then take either a ward save or a regeneration save. Monstrous Creatures •40mm models moving to 3 model-wide ranks. Ogre sized models are officially being put into their own size category (finally). Crush them! •Monstrous Cavalry and Monstrous Infantry are granted 1 bonus attack with the "always strikes last" special rule, at base strength Destroy them! •Larger Creatures and Monsters do D6 attacks instead of 1 attack for crush them. Striking in Initiative order •Combat will always strictly be resolved in initiative order (confirmed). Chariots •S7 autokill is gone. - Avian (more likely) Outnumbering Enemy •There will be no CR bonus for outnumbering the enemy. Flank/ Rear charges & Combat Resolution •Units need to have at least 2 complete ranks in order to negate enemy flank/rear. (more likely) Change to Wound table •All the ‘N’ are replaced with a 6… I’m taking this one with a fair bit of salt. Breath Weapons •Now apply in close combat, dealing 2D6 hits with the breath weapons strength. This is in initiative order. At the moment it looks like it will be in addition to regular attacks, not instead of. WEAPONS Combat Weapons •Great weapons Always strike last (this overrides any army book rules). Can only be used in the first rank. - Godless Missile Weapons •Longbows Same. See shooting above for more rules PSYCHOLOGY and SPECIAL RULES •The number of universal special rules has doubled. Presumably this is just drawing in some from the army books themselves. Panic •If a large unit panics, ie. 30 Orcs, they panic all smaller units within 18 inches. But if your general is withing 12 inches you are immune to panic.. Take this with a lot of salt.- Avian says this is possibly speculation(Avian) Fear and Terror •When you charge a Fear or Terror causer you take the Fear/Terror test not before you charge, but at the start of the combat phase. - Avian If you fail the Fear/Terror test you are reduced to WS1 & A1. Presumably mounts are reduced to WS1 & A1 as well. Terror comes with a chance to run away. •Autobreaking from fear or terror is gone. •Leadership tests against fear is rumoured to be going •Fear and Terror incorporate immune to panic (with possibly a change to crumbling for undead). Killing Blow •Killing blow only against models in a similar size category or lower (large creature>ogre sized> infantry/cavalry sized) (edit: apparently this is close, but not quite right). Killing blow is still a roll of 6. Always Strike Last •Models with great weapons will always strike last Always Strike First •ASL combined with ASF cancel each other out. Strike in initiative order. However ASF + higher initiative than your enemy: Reroll to hit rolls. So even if Swordmasters and White Lions are striking in initiative order they may get re-rolls to hit! Frenzy •You still get +1 attack on the charge (front rank only). You may suppress charging with a leadership test. If you fail, you have to attack the closest target. Magic Resistance •This has been changed to improve an existing Ward Save, or to grant a Ward Save to magic. Magic Resistance 1 = +1 Ward Save against Magic. For a unit without a ward save this is 6+ Magic Resistance 2 = +2 Ward Save against Magic. For a unit without a ward save this is 5+ Magic Resistance 3 = +3 Ward Save against Magic. For a unit without a ward save this is 4+ For things that already have a Ward Save, Flesh Hounds for instance, they have a 5+ Ward save already, and MR(3). This gives them a 5+ save against shooting/ combat, and a 2+ Ward Save against magic. Regeneration •Regeneration will come in several types. The Slanns ability for example will grant him Regeneration (3+), while there is a mundane magic item that grants regeneration (6+). MAGIC ITEMS •Apparently there is an absolutely HUGE list of magic items in the book… Could easily be 50+ (possibly 85). There is a chance you may not be able to duplicate most of them in a list. OTHER RULEBOOK CONTENTS •Multiple objective driven scenarios in the rulebook (no kill points). See GW grand tournament and doubles scenarios. •15 or so missions in the new rulebook. 9 or 10 of the missions required units to capture objectives (not just core). Units must have banners to capture objectives. Several missions had multiple objectives •Victory Conditions Interestingly something I picked up from a post was that ‘victory conditions’ have been referred to in the last 3 books, not victory points. •A section in the rulebook dealing with specific issues that may arise during battles Terrain •Difficult terrain may be merged with very difficult. •D6+4 compulsory terrain. •Terrain will not just affect the movement phase so much but will affect fleeing units, like in the War of the Ring game. •The rulebook includes terrain rules for all the GW products. •Bonuses and hazards for terrain (such as rolling the dice to see how many people don’t make it out of the wood...). This appears to be D6 for every model, on a 1 a model is lost. This is only the tip of the iceberg… •Finding a magic item in the woods. •Something to do with a unit charging out of a cursed forest causing fear. - Avian says this is possibly speculation •Fighting in woods is -1 CR for ranked infantry and +1 CR for skirmishers. Might be worse for cavalry. – Avian •There are rules for dangerous terrain, and for some unit types different types of terrain are treated as dangerous.
Well while HE's may get a bit of a boost from the 'no more than two same rares', I can't see it being above 4 so there won't be 5 bolt throwers. Apparently ASF and ASL will just cancel now and go to initiative order, so HE with GW will still go first most of the time. And ASF has an extra rule where you reroll missed to-hit rolls if higher initiative. Sweeeeet. In addition, since everything is fighting from the second rank now, spears get an extra rank so HE spearmen get to fight in....... 4 ranks!!! Rerolling misses against most with their high initiative. Like a Big Mac, I'm lovin' it! If bows get to fire in 2 (2.5?) ranks as rumoured, Seaguard become awesome. ASF for chargers is going, so you want to charge my 6x4 block? Cool, first min 12 arrows at you for stand and shoot. Then I go first with my higher initiative with 25 attacks. High WS and reroll misses, thank you. And of course my noble's initiative means his 3 s6 GW attacks are still going first, and also rerolling. Unfortunate for my LM army if I have to defect back to HE, but such is life.
"Stepping up. – Harry/ Avian / other people •Casualties are strictly removed from the back. [extremely likely]. " "•Infantry models in the second rank can fight, with a maximum of 1A per model. - Avian/Harry. Great weapons can only be used in one rank. – Godless" Striking first is great and all, but don't forget these rumors.. When a saurus block is fighting with HE or DE, it literally doesn't matter at all who goes first until one side starts losing from its "fighting ranks". Example: Block of 20 sword masters strike first against 20 Saurus with 10 rerollable attacks (great weapons only in one rank), and kill about 3.95 Saurus. Saurus attack back with 15 attacks (HW+SH). They kill an average of 4.17 elves back! This assumes rerolls for the Swordmasters too, and that's a big assumption. If ASL cancels out ASF, then why would they still get rerolls? Rerolls are only for ASF + higher initiative. Elves only kill 2.96 without those rerolls. I am thinking in infantry vs. infantry battles, the combination of hitting power and staying power is going to matter more than who can get the first kills.
You make a good point, Caneghem. Toughness is indeed going to play a big roll in this edition. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Keep in mind a couple of points in your example though. Nobody takes blocks of 20 Swordmasters, it is just innefficient for the points. I saw that changing in 8th until it was revealed GW would fight only from front rank, still no reason whatsoever to take more than 7x1 or 7x2 SM, which makes them a support unit and more likely to be on the flank. Which brings up an intresting point. Casualties strictly removed from the back. What about in flank or rear charges? Then you are losing fighting models straight away?
•If a wizard fails to reach the casting value, it's a miscast. -Avian (more likely) If this is true it will then simply be a case of going, "Oh I have a level 4 wizard and a spell in need of reaching a CV of 11, I'll roll 1d6 - Oh No a miscast!...cupped hands...bye bye enemy wizard..." This is assuming cupped hands will still work in the same manner as it does now. This would be a dirty dirty tactic to use so I do hope it's not true... -Eagle
dont like anything i hear. its still going to be a herohammer. with more stupid rules, and this game is defenetly going to be dice game.... bad news for me. dont see why they want a lotr and 40 mix.
Ok I kinda have to agree with Walgis here. It seems like Gamesworkshop is trying way too hard to make fantasy appeal to the 40k crowd. Its going to be really irritating to have the same game with different models. I was happy when every other basic infantry didn't have 2 attacks and army books weren't designed completely around promoting models that weren't selling as well (or atleast not as obviously). Take the high elf army book for instance. Noone was buying dragon prince models going for silver helms instead and having fun with an all cav army, so they got an extra attack and silver helms were bumped to a special choice, where they really just can't compete with the dragon princes for only 7 points more before upgrades. Oh well, I really hope 8th edition isn't as bad as so many people are adamant that its going to be, and I'm sure some of the rumors are exhaggurated to make the new changes seem rediculous, but the closer we get to july, the more worried I become that we're going to have to buckle down and whether through 8th edition like 40k players did with thier 4th.
Oh I know there won't be 20 strong blocks of swordmasters, but it is interesting to compare our 11 point heavy infantry to 15 point elven elites. Also remember, for flankers to remove ranks they need 2 complete ranks! I think it will make for a very interesting game, with this dynamic at least. I could see them just saying take models from the back rank, leaving those engaged in combat for last. Say you are 20 strong and you get flank charged. If you lose 4 models, the 5th one still fights back on the engaged flank. If you lose the whole back rank, then only 3 models fight back. I'm sure rear charging will work similar to front charging, except only the one rank gets to fight back.
That rule I dislike.. What about cavalry? I certainly can't see cold ones being remotely useful anymore, combines with the rumour that their armour won't allow them to march, but a lot of other cavalry choices will be hamstrung too. Its all well and good for GW to want the big spectacle of large armies and huge units facing off rather than a few monsters/characters supported by one or two blocks, and I can see the reasoning from an economic standpoint to make people buy more models, but it doesn't really work unless your core is dirt cheap. Skaven, O&G, Empire and the likes will be fine. LM if we take a skink horde. You certainly aren't going to be fitting hordes or saurus into an army. One maybe two big blocks at 2k. Same with elves, my HE are already skimping on characters and have no monster they pushed it to get 3 infantry blocks, I can't see myself fielding more. Wood Elves simply have no chance. Chaos and Daemons ain't cheap either, nor is the humble skeleton warrior. I'm wondering how its going to work out.
Well if you look at two ranks to cancel ranks, it changes the dynamics of the game. A new "type" of unit is created, the "flanker". Flankers need to be cheap enough to form two ranks, preferably with some extra moels, and relatively quick. These two facts combined means these will be relatively weaker units. Your heavy cav units will probably do well hunting this type of unit, to keep the pressure off of your own main line and flankers. I hope skirmishers aren't moved around in "fixed" formations though, I can't see what I'd be able to do with them that way. Maybe they will get other changes to make them more appealing.
Ok no skirmishing formation, they will be even harder to manoeuvre then normal units. I hope it's not becoming like 40k, I want fantasy to be different, fantasy has always been the best of the three warhammer games, don't screw that up GW