It's me, back again with more about the changes coming in Warmachine. Today I'd like to talk a bit about the changes to the rules. Admittedly, this was a hard article to write, as not a lot has changed, but the stuff that has is significant in small ways.
Lets get the elephant out of the way though. Hordes is not going away. It's just being incorporated under the Warmachine title (Come on guys, WarmaHordes was such a catchy name!) with all of the rules for warlocks and warbeasts in the core rules. It'll all be the same title now. It changes nothing, really, but its something worth mentioning that I think I missed before.
But now! Actual rules changes.
Movement is being simplified, for the most part. The bonus for 'running' is now unified across all models, rather than double your movement stat. Disengaging from a fight is no longer risky, opportunity attacks are gone you just give up attacking if you want to leave a fight.
Strength is now attributed to a weapon, rather than being a split stat between your model and it's weapon. Strength roll offs are gone, though those didn't come up too often.
Sprays and AoE's have changed drastically. Gone are the templates we used to use. Spray attacks now hit everything in a line centered on the base of the target. AoE weapons hit the target plus a number of models in a set distance away from the target, so an AoE 2 weapon would hit up to 2 extra models up to 2 inches from the initial target. Blast values have been simplified too, no longer needing to math the half value of the weapon strength.
All warcasters and warlocks have a new function for control ranges and spellcasting. It's no longer your focus/fury, and double that for your control range. You now have your Arcane stat which revolves around your spells and focus/fury, and your control range, as totally separate numbers.
Your warcaster/warlocks also have modular spell lists! Some spells will be set, but each one will have a number of options you can choose from before the battle starts, so you can adapt to your opponent! Similarly, warjacks and warbeasts released after MK IV will have weapon and head options that will drastically change the battlefield roles of the unit. This won't be true of older 'jacks and beasts, but any new ones will have that glorious freedom.
So far that's all the major changes. Everything else is still Warmachine/Hordes as you knew it. Of course the rules we have now are still the beta edition and might change a bit by full release in October.
I look forward to running the game in store again and testing out the changes some day soon.
Until next time, may fate keep you well.
-Blair
