Hey guys, Jive Professor here. Now that I’m freshly back from the front, I have good news to report – 8th edition is a blast!
That is not hyperbole. Things explode a LOT now.
There are many changes, big and small, in every part of the system. Overall though, I think the best way to sum it up is this:
8th Edition is Morehammer.
Yes, Morehammer. Everything about 8th edition lends itself to the principle of play more Warhammer – faster movement, easier maneuvers, easier targeting, less march blocking, bloodier combats with more models fighting, bigger spells with more outlandish effects, more bears riding tricycles, extra cheese, hold the mayo.
Nom nom nomhammer
The entire purpose of 8th edition is get the action going from turn 1 and keep it going throughout the entire game. More models are taking part in the fight than ever before, meaning you get to chuck more dice with your hard-bought citadel miniatures. Far less things are “automatic”, such as auto-breaking from Fear and Terror, Frenzied units having to charge, units being stuck with their first reaction choice, and so on.
Your troops have a far greater chance of actually dying to a sword, bullet, or laser beam than they do of just getting spooked and cut down. This means more dice, more action, more flipping tanker trucks, and More Warhammer. This is a great thing.
Though I dearly loved 7th edition, it had its blemishes. 7th was not unlike carpentry. When you think of carpentry, you generally think of sawing wood and hammering in nails and such, but in reality most of a carpenter’s time is spent planning, visualizing, measuring, and shaping the wood to just the right shape. List construction and deployment were way, way more than half the battle.
At this rate, where would we fit in all the lasers?
Obviously there was a great deal of skill and mastery involved, but it was heavily weighted to the pre-battle aspects. Army book, Army List, and Deployment were the Holy Trinity of 7th Edition.Your ability to change things up in-game were very limited.
My experiences with 8th Edition Morehammer can best be described as improvisational jazz. You need to be a skilled musician to play, no doubt about it, and you’ve got to know what your instrument is capable of. But you can’t show up with sheet music and get red in the face when nothing goes according to plan. You’ve got to adapt to the ebb and flow of things, try and control the natural chaos as events unfold. It is an entirely new skillset, a completely different way of looking at things. A way of looking at things that is more this:
And less like this:
So yes to 8th Edition, and yes to Morehammer.
What do you guys think of the new edition guys? Have you played it yet? What have your experiences like? If you haven’t played yet, are you looking forward to 8th or dreading it?