4th edition leaks and rumors

[system]

We were not allowed to take photos or video but here is what I remember/had time to write down from ronnies speech:

Rulebook:
core rules
advanced kow

expansion books:
Huge story arc throughout the planned books
Faction focus (3-4 armies) with their part in the story and updated lists and models

All current army lists will be in 4th (in some form)
Going to do to mantic Varagur

No command dice

Four years of 4th

two books a year with background and deep dive into factions

More fluid movement

all heroes move to 40 and 50 mm bases

General:

new army building rules

targeted traits instead of keywords

centre point and facing midpoints instead of leader point

los is taken from anywhere on the units front facing

command orders for every army

Movement phase:
move flexible and fluid movement

1" rule is gone

countercharge replaced with Reform and Withdraw

Withdraw can be risky though

Ranged phase

LoS and cover rules updated

+1 for staying still instead of -1 for moving (shooting values adjusted accordingly)

Unless devastated, a unit cannot be routed from ranged attacks (wavering instead)

Combat phase:
max 2 units engaged per facing

reform allows a unit to reposition in a combat and can be part of a multiple charge

reform can also allow a wrap around into another facing

when engaged with multiple enemy units, a unit can split its attacks

we are doomed - take extra damage

Army Building

armies use battalion structures

core, auxiliary, specialist, support and commander types

some commanders will help theme an army - by changing a units type (eg specialist to core)

5th of october, possible to join for “last minute playtesting” (under NDA) just to iron out any final kinks and/or typos

translations, but master rules and faq in english

22.9 will be Kings of war week at mantic

ship the books last week of november

“army A”, trident realms, halflings, salamanders, out first

yes to plastic placoderms

all Champion heroes will be major players going forward

Rule called yielding still for some heroes

Tough heroes are units

edit: Legion unit sizes only available via certain Hero choices

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Sneak photos, originally posted by MattL who got them from Dakka Dakka.

[Dubren]

Can’t wait to see more of the new faction.

[Sceleris]

Ophidians at long last?

[FredOslow]

Pretty sure we were all told to not take photos or video so a part of me wants to say boo hiss.

[Gerrcinn]

boo away cause I’m not on facepage so I appreciate the limited photos and the full breakdown. Will try to hassle Ronnie and Alessio for a full interview

[DarkBlack]

Could be good, I suppose.

It will probably be fine, but that’s enough being changed that I’m not sure it will feel like the same game. Which makes me weary.

[Gerrcinn]

then don’t play it. I’m almost 50 and I’ve seen a lot of new editions and people lose their shit and I rarely see people just stick with the edition they like. It baffles me, if the sound of fourth doesn’t do it for you then stick with the edition that works.

[WolleK]

Looks good on first sight, although I am a bit worried about their time line for the release. A playtest on september 27th and sending out the books on late november already??? Anyway, it’s nice to see that kings gets attention again.

[Tomatogo]

Shooting not routing unless devastated is really cool i like that a lot.

Wonder what “targeted traits’ means? is that like army special rules or something?

[Thomarsar]

Sounds liken an “open beta test”. Hopefully, they already have had a group of playtester doing a lot of work already. Now they hopefully just want the wider community to join in and try to break the game, so it can be fixed before release.

[mattjgilbert]

It’s not really a playtest - all that’s been done for the last 12 months. It’s just an open day, come and play the new edition day, at Mantic HQ.

[BobFrapples]

2 books per year, each book looking at 3-4 armies…sounds a bit like the Clash of Kings model of annual updates is gone. And the potential for power creep in the latest hotness as new models are released with a book which are more powerful than the previous book

I’m usually a positive pants kind of a guy. All of the rumours I’d heard were OK and I was taking a wait and see approach. But this sends chills through to my core.

I’ll still take a wait and see approach. I’ve no choice But this worries me. If 4th is touted to last 4 years, with 2 books per year = 8 books. Covering 3-4 armies per book….you might be waiting until the last book release of 4th edition before your particular army gets any love. Who remembers Wood Elves at the end of 6th WFB, or Bretonnians and Tomb Kings in 8th?

[5plustohit]

I doubt it will be anything like Warhammer fantasy, the armies released would probably get a few new units at most plus new models for one of the armies.

[BobFrapples]

I hope so Mo. The Clash of Kings model of annual updates for all is the USP for KOW. It’ll be a sad day if I have to wait nearly 4 years for my army to get any updates.

But, I’m trying to stay positive and I hope that those making the decisions know what they’re doing and don’t leave some players waiting that long because I will predict an exodus from the game if they do.

[Thomarsar]

I played Brets in 8th, the ETC amendements gave them some of the love GW didn’t, but is was still out of whack. My best memory of that was playing against demons. His Demonlord bird with two heads blew it self up T1, making it an even game that I barely won.

For Kings, it seems that at least up till now, new faction updates outside of CoK have been as balanced as they managed make it. I think the selling point will be new cool models/rules etc, rather than “buy this to win the game”.

[5plustohit]

Unlike WHFB, all the armies will get updated for 4th Ed so I wouldn’t worry much!

[Rory]

Excited to see what 4th brings, I like the sound of a number of elements… The changes to shooting, the ability to split attacks etc.

There’ll be a little bit of work involved in rebasing my individuals, but I think the change makes sense. For some of the smaller-scaled models I’ll need to put some thought into how to fill out the base.

One thing I’m not looking forward to is all the moaning that will go on. We’ll have handwringing, threats to leave the game, ultimatums issued to Mantic etc. Arrgh, can people not just play the edition of the game they prefer, do we need to hear all about it? The happiest 40K community I’m in on Facebook is the 2nd edition closed group… Rarely a mention of contemporary GW, they’re just happy as pigs in muck just playing the edition they love. Nothing to stop people who love KOW 3.5 sticking with it.

[pforson]

“more flexible and fluid movement”

Opinions on this?
Obviously it depends on the implementation, but one of the key strengths of KoW is that the movement is rigid and restrictive (move straight and pivot). It rewards good positioning/facing and punishes mistakes. ‘fluid’ movement is often less tactical and more forgiving. hmm…

[Rory]

I am open to it.

People say movement in KOW is simple, and I don’t doubt that a shared understanding has emerged at a competitive level, but to be honest - playing casually at home - there are times we’re not sure whether we are doing things correctly.

I can’t imagine they will create a situation where skilled piloting of units into flanks / rear is no longer a focus.

[Basha]

I do like the bonus to shooting if you didn’t move but wouldn’t have minded seeing change facing not counting as movement for war machines in particular as they need a bit of love…