I get some spare time again, so here am I with another blog post.
An the very beginning, I wish to thank you all for so many and so nice responses. I did not expect to get so many of them, and so positive ones. Thank you a lot.
And now to the topic...
Why I like 8th
I think you all (or most of you
) still remember 7th ed. I know, it was great. We all love it. But let's face one basic fact: Except very few armies (WE included), the game turned into herohammer, or eventually deathstarhammer. No, really. Just think about it.
7th ed era of sheer killing
In 7th, if you where looking to be competitive, you care about one single thing about your units (heroes included): sheer killing power. The ability to kill enemy models as fast and as brutally as possible. If you manage to do it, you win. The killing power for close combat was estimated pretty simply - as combination of A, S and WS, supported by M and adjusted by I and another support effects (as hatered). For shooting, it was simply S, BS, and No of shots, supported by another effects (as poison). For magic, it was even more simply - it depends upon what lore can you take (and if it have THAT spells) and how many additional PDs you can generate. End of story.
There also was one more thing you can care about your troops - staying power. If you have enough stying power, you can counter killing power units by holding them up long enough to smash them with your own killing power-based unit. The stying power was also simple - it was combination of T, AS, WS and regen.
And this was the problem. Noone really cares much about how many the models costs. If your unit costs you 1500 pts out of 2250, it was OK, as long as it was dangerous enough. Noone really cares about blocks of cheap infantry - they where nothing but cannon fodder. Noone cares much about anything that killing power - and ways how to support it. Take one or two superunits, three or four supercharacters/supermages, add few fastcav/cheap skirmish units for diverting, eventually one delivery unit for your superkiller character and tada! - you just get the typical 7th ed powerhouse army. Army able to dominate the battlefield.
And now, 8th ed comes in
But this all changed with that "oh so stupid so random so boring wtf gtfo lol" 8th ed. And GW manage to change this completely with 3 rules only. Yes - 3 simple rules changes the game where it is today. And I must say that as far as competitive gaming goes, I like this new state much more that the old one. Because it not only allows much more diversity, but it is actually pretty balanced. There are new types of deathstar and they are pretty strong. Yes. But the system itself give you several different ways how to counter them.
And what more, this 3 rules have one superawesome side effect. Unlike 7th ed, now each and every army have its own unique playstyle. Basically it is based upon how strong, how tough and how cheap units are you able to field and how good your shooting options are. Of course, you can ignore it and go for some general methods of playing, but if you wish to use your army maximally effective, you need to learn how to do it. You will find that unique part of your army and learn how to use it. You know what I mean? Oh, no? Ok, let me give you one simple example:
In terms of diverting, noone have better options that Orcs. You can go full-orc army, supported with multiple naked goblin big bosses on wolves. Actually, they are pretty awesome. They are fast cav, they cost you stupid 47 points, they did not cause panics... Not to mention small wolf rider units for 50 pts! WTF? This is awesome! This is ridiculous! Oh, wait... We are not talking WE. We are talking Orcs. I mean, like... WTF, diverintg? What for? If you wish to be effective with orcs, you do not need it! You will miss that 200-250 points you put into uncomparable diverting options badly. Why? You are asking? You are orcs! You do not care whether you charge them or they charge you. You do not care at all! All you care about is to be IN the fight. So gtfo diverters! You are standing in our very own way!
Did you get my point? Can you imagine how awesome will such diverting units be for WE? I can. But for orcs, they are just... meh. They can use them, but if you wish to be trully effective, you need completely different things.
The reign of 3 rules
Ok, back to the topic. So, what are this 3 super uber extra rules I am talking about? The 3 rules who make every army unique, who allows multiple different playstyles, who makes most of the units effective?
New way of removing casualties, support attacks and steadfast.
This is it. And if you think about it, it really works. Remember the killing power thing I was talking about in 7th ed? Well. 8th ed have MUCH more diversity. You can go for killing power now. You can keep killing your enemies - and after some time, you will eventually even get some VPs out of it. But (usually) it is not matter of simple "charge - kill - break" one turn madness.
You can also go for staying power. This will allows you to deny the points and to pin dangerous enemy units down without actually doing anything.
Or you can go for sheer numbers of cheap models. Yes, you will loose tons of models and in the end often whole unit, but who cares? That 40 slaves of yours (worth stupid 80 VPs) just manage to hold enemy superduperkillapowa unit for 3 turns pinned down! You know what that mean? It means that unit most probably get 80 VPs for whole battle, while I was able to not care about it at all, not to fear it. Nice try, mate. Be my guest and come again.
And it really works. At 1st glance, you can think that deathstar horde units with killing power are damn strong. They have killing power and numbers. But hey. I have my dwellers. Or lucky Infernal Gateway. Or purple sun. Or pit of shades. Or enfembling foe. Or final transmutation. Or kadon. Or Bad moon. Or 40 skaven slaves... No matter what I have, enjoy your horde dying, or doing nothing. Nice try, mate.
So as the result, 8th ed have very nice rock-paper-scissor system inside. And the system is based on this 3 rules. They give you very nice options, all viable. You can go for big units of cheap models, like 40 skaven slaves. And they can be countered by sheer killing power. You can go for big units of decent models, like 40 halbediers. And they can be countered by monstrous infantry. You can go for multiple medium-sized units of decent infantry. And they can be countered by hordes, killing power or monstrous infantry. You can go for monstrous infantry. And the counter will be big cheap units, or killing power, or great staying power. You can go for strong hordes. And you know the counters fro previous paragraph. You can go for much more things, and all of them have multiple counters.
It works. It is nice. And I like it.
So... Why I like 8th?
Because of all above. I can understand why so many people hates it. Last 12 years (6th and 7th ed), everyone was able to play more or less the some game, his game. The game was still the same, the basic strategies was the same. For freaking 12 years. And now BOOM and everything is different. Old strategies are obsolete. And you need to learn new things and adapt. After freaking 12 years...
But in fact, I love 8th ed. No matter what many players keep saying about how random it is, and how simple it is, it is not. This eddition have a lot of diversity. It have a lot of unique. It have DAMN high skillcap, much higher that 6/7th ed. It supports multiple viable strategies. It gives you many options what to do, how to play and how to counter. And mainly, it is FUN...