Well, it is finally here, and it is something we have all been waiting for! Let’s dig into what was done, if it actually addresses the inherent issues, and what still needs some fine tuning!
Fate Dice Get Toned Down
The first thing that sticks out to me is that Fate Dice get limited to once per phase. Now. The wording on it is a bit ambiguous, but I take this to mean ONCE PER PHASE, not per phase per unit. There is already an army that has that interaction, and the rules are worded differently. Let’s look:
Because the Once per phase comes at the beginning, the verbiage insinuates that only a single unit/model can benefit from this rule instead of 1 time per unit. Lets dive into how Acts of Faith is worded
The SoB rule starts the sentence with “Before making a dice roll for a model or unit”. In addition there is another clause above that states each unit can do this once per phase.
Don’t worry, I think Craftworlds will be fine, even with this going on.
Couple this with big points hikes to Wraith Knights, and moderate ones to other abusers of indirect like the support weapons and Night Spinners and eldar players may be forced to bring a couple different units!
Towering? More Like Towering Points
Again, not much was done here other than simply hiking points up for units with the Towering keyword. Knights, Wraith Knights, etc. I think the intent here is to make small changes incrementally, see how the data shakes out, and then adjust core mechanics and rules if necessary. I feel like this is a solid way to approach the first balance patch, though there are still some glaring issues.
Indirect Fire
The indirect units got the towering treatment, receiving points hikes all over the place. I feel this isn’t the best approach for this specific rule. Indirect was an issue over the last 2 editions, with GW having to create the indirect rule in 9th to help even it out. When 10th came out they kept the rule but then gave a large portion of those units the ability to either ignore the penalty, benefit from +1 to hit, or just flat out ignore cover, or some combination of the above. Why did you bother to include the rule if most units ignore it?
Indirect is going to continue to be a bit of an issue, though it should tone down a little.
Glaring Issues that still Need Addressed!
Towering is still a problem. Sure you can balance the game around points but towering provides so much potential for alpha strikes due to the inability to hide it. It can be mitigated to some degree by using larger terrain, but I’d bet most people don’t have 12″ tall pieces of terrain laying around. What I’ve chosen to do is simply pick 2 – 4 smaller ruins features and simply rule that they ignore the towering rule. this provides some measure of protection for both the knight player and the opponent.
Devastating Wounds is arguably my least favorite interaction in 10th. I don’t want to play Sigmar (Though I am going to start because my daughter wants to learn). I certainly don’t want that level of mortal wound output in 40k. If I did, I’d simply play more Sigmar. Its a lazy mechanic that relies on a shitty single-player interaction with armies that can either spam or abuse it, and other armies that have almost none of it. I’m not doing anything with this right now, I’ll just see how it shakes out.
Overwatch is close second for my least favorite mechanic so far. 24″ is absurd. Oh do you have t3 bodies? have fun picking them up in your own movement phase, nerd. I’ve lost whole squads to stacking overwatch with rerolls and lethal hits or Sustained hits. Its pretty stupid. Got to a point where I literally couldn’t move 2-3 units because my opponent could simply overwatch them and then I’m just up shit creek.
I understand increasing the interactivity, but for the love of god reduce the range to 12″ or increase the CP to 2, and then armies that can multi-overwatch spend 1 instead of free. I will say that I usually save my Archon ability for overwatch. To hell with losing whole squads on my own turn.
That about does it. Overall I think its a softer approach than we are used to from GW, but I think there is a genuine effort there to fix the stupidity that was released on launch.
Chris
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