Yes, it's that time again! A brand new edition of Warhammer 40,000 has leaked across the pages of the internet and, as expected, the doom-mongers are already hard at work; ranting about Games Workshop have broken Warhammer 40,000 forever and we all might as well play War Machine instead. Expected, but still a little depressing, since I believe this could be my favourite edition of Warhammer 40,000 yet.
But what do we actually know about 7th ed? Far too many people have extrapolated wild conclusions from the two pages of White Dwarf that have leaked online and the usual crowd have whipped up a negativity frenzy based on some deliberately vague and limited information. Seems a little churlish, eh? Anyway, here's a handy compendium of what we actually know. I won't venture into pointless conjecture about rules we know nothing or very little about, but I will give my opinion on each of the major changes.
The Psychic Phase
Well, we know that 7th ed will shake up the order of the game with the return of a dedicated psychic phase. This phase will work in a similar fashion to Warhammer Fantasy's Magic Phase, with the leaked pages saying you roll for a random number of power dice at the start of the phase and add more based on the total of all your Psykers' mastery levels. It's stated that the enemy player can use the dice in their own pool to deny your attempt to cast a power. We also know that Perils of the Warp now involves rolling on a table to determine what happens to your psyker and it is hinted that Perils is now much more dangerous.
In addition to all of this, a new psychic discipline has been added; The Discipline of Daemonology. Interestingly, two forms of this discipline are mentioned; Sanctic and Malefic. Malefic Daemonology is confirmed to allow you to summon Daemonic entities though it is hinted that this comes with a high risk for your Psykers unless they're a Daemon themselves. It's unknown what Sanctic daemonology does and, frankly, I'm not really interested in speculating since that just generates buzz that, most often, turns out to be bullshit. The leaked pages don't offer more but what they give us obviously shows that the way Psychic abilities work in Warhammer 40,000 is being totally re-structured.
From what we know, this sounds like it could be a lot of fun. It certainly gives more prominence to Psychic powers which are normally a very minor part of the game. Hopefully this will incentivise people to field more Sorcerors, Librarians and Farseers to spice up their lists.
One thing I'm interested in is how armies like the Black Templars or Dark Eldar (both devoid of Psykers) will fit into this new paradigm. Once again, I won't speculate, but it raises interesting possibilities for two of my armies...
Tactical Objectives
The leaked pictures state that the 6 Eternal War missions will be present in the new book but now an additional 6 missions, branded "Maelstrom of War," will be on offer. These new missions use a new Tactical Objective system which consists of 36 objective cards. Although it doesn't go into much depth on how these work, the page says that players will have several different objectives in play at any given time and require them to meet specific conditions such as manifesting a psychic power or assassinating a psychic power. It states that players will have to think strategically, using the example of trying to simultaneously hold an objective while assassinating the enemy general on the other side of the board. Once an objective is achieved, a new one is drawn from the deck, ensuring the player is constantly having to adapt to changing battlefield conditions.
I'll say now that I utterly ADORE the idea of these dynamic objectives. Real warfare rarely has one set of static, unchanging objectives that are the same for both sides and this new system will lead to assymetrical play as both players strive to complete different objectives at once and adapt to new conditions as the game continues. It's narrative, it's more realistic and it breaks away from the "hold a static point and kill the enemy general to win" gameplay in the current missions.
Battleforged or Unbound?
This is the biggest change and the one responsible for almost all of the nerd-rage currently choking forums like a noxious fart. Basically, the new edition offerss you two ways to construct your army list. You can choose an Unbound list or a Battleforged one.
An Unbound list essentially does away with the Force Organisation Chart (FOC), allowing players to take whatever they want. They still have to stay within the squad-size limits and overall points limit of the game but other than that, they're free to throw together whatever force they want. A Battleforged list retains the FOC and is described as "desirable" because it grants bonuses to the player using it. It's not stated whether these bonuses are only against unbound armies and what they actually are in the first place, so we'll have to wait until May 17th to find out what they are (alternatively, head to a forum for pointless wishlisting).
There is an "all-new" allies matrix and, although there is no detail given on this, it is confirmed that Unbound armies still have to stay within the limits of this matrix.
Personally, I rather like this change. People have been circumventing FOC since the dawn of 6th edition (making FOC changers like Belial slightly pointless) so it's nice to have it formalised. Unless your group is populated by the kind of arseholes that Screamerstars and Riptide spam lists, this presents an opportunity for fluffy, narrative lists like an Ultramarines armoured column led by Sgt Chronus or a Black Templar Sword Brethren strikeforce. The existence of Battleforged armies still allows you to play in the old-style so I see little point in the rage. Assuming you agree what you're doing beforehand with your opponent, this new approach to list-building only adds more options while still allowing you to agree with your opponent to play within the FOC.
It's a simple matter of refusing to play against broken spam lists and agreeing with your community on the kind of games you want to play. If it's really such a difficulty to talk to people work this stuff out with your opponents, I'm not sure an inherently social game like Warhammer 40,000 is for you.
Games Workshop has always said that it's up to you how you play, and if you need a strict, ultra-balanced and incredibly rigorous ruleset to have a good time, you're probably better off in a chess club.
Me? I'll be on the frontline, revelling in the glorious carnage as I smite my foes in the Emperor's name.
Stay beautiful and remember;
The Emperor Protects.
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