If Mantic brought out an undead refresh that was based on a Hammer Horror aesthetic, evoking peak John Blanche WHFB art, I would be on it like white on rice.
I am sure their refresh, when it comes, will be amazing one way or the other.
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And finally the combat phase!
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I kind of liked the un-sticky combat as maybe more realistic in the sense of no-one being able to box, let alone fight in steel armor for hours on end. But given the units and their basing the sticky combats and ability to direct attacks is probably going to be way cleaner.
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I suppose another way of looking at it is that withdrawing from combat in such a way as not to collapse, and take heavy casualties, is a manoeuvre only veterans and elite troops might do well.
The nerve test, to do it successfully, makes sense in that regard.
Concerning the point about heavy armour and fatigue, youāre not wrong there. Hoplites were famous (or perhaps infamous) for waiting until the absolute last minute to don their full armour, and they would remove some or all of it at any opportunity. Likely because of the interplay of heat and fatigue.
When I think of non-sticky combat, I probably think more in terms of skirmishers and small group tribal combat, where mobility could come into play more easily.
I suppose a difficult is that the KOW world is a kind of generic fantasy battle world that somehow represents bronze age phalanxes, high gothic knights in armour and steampunk / early industrial shooting. Realism is always going to be touch and go.
Overall I think you could make a case for sticky and non-sticky being correct in some way, ultimately whichever is the better game mechanic should win out.
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I think this update on Combat looks the least contentious of any so far? Or is it just because most of the reveals have already come out before now..
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Looks like wavering in combat is gone - so makes combats more dynamic and bloody, but doesnāt answer anything about what happens with previously fearless units?
Centering in multicharging is sensible and splitting attacks useful, but not game breaking.
āHowever, the We Are Doomed result now causes additional damage instead of Wavering the unit. This makes the outcome more impactful and better reflects the chaos of a unit breaking under pressure.ā
Not really sure this does as intended really - as being wavered and unable to attack is a lot more impactful than just taking extra damage and fighting on?
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Yeah you might be right.
I noticed that units engaged in several facings are not allowed to Reform. So if you get one in the front and one in the flank, no longer can you countercharge any of the two units. you are forced to stand still. but it seemed like you could attack either unit, which in practice is the same as if you countercharged. in any case, the unit in the flank might get to go again with double attacks (which I assume is still a thing in the game) if it gets to be their turn again and nothing has died yet.
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Conceivably you would add the damage and then recheck the nerve?
If a unit can survive boxcars it will not have much damage on it anyway.
But it now means infantry hordes and the high end nerve regiments (or old LI/LCav hordes) are free from being wavered - and now potentially hitting back in full force.
Heal, regen and other wound removal rules going to take more presence over the waver/fearless ones?
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Yes, but it removes a lot of frustration from the game.
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What will be left of the āfearlessā rule is a big question. I play Undead and fearless (and lifeleech, I guess) is the āreal army wide special ruleā (not Undead skeleton dogsā¦). Iām curious how they will handle fearless in 4th.
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Fearless will most likely stop waver from shooting, maybe even the damage from a 6,6 in combat.
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Could be. A big downgrade nonetheless. Not a big problem if the points costs are ammended accordingly.
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Yeah, Fearless and how flyers will work are possibly the two biggest unanswered questions (outside of specific army/faction composition).
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I was hoping, that siege rules would already be part of the advanced rulesā¦
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RE: Waverless combat, I have two main thoughts, largely around army composition:
- There was a bit of a haves-and-have-nots situation going on with Fearless and army-wide Fury, but especially with Fury aura access. If you were playing a global Fearless/Fury/Headstrong army by accident (as in, thatās not why you chose that faction, and I donāt think anyone was selecting their army based on those rules alone*), then it was a cool freebie that made your army stronger for virtually no cost. If you were playing a waverable army but with access to a Fury aura, you were probably taking it every game at least in part because of the aura (Tangle, Riftforged Shrine, etc). If you were playing a waverable army without access to a Fury aura (because the RC didnāt put it on one of your cool models), then it was time to play honest Kings of War and throw yourself on the mercy of the dice, potentially unlike your opponent ā¦ but also see #2 below.
- Any meaningful, waverable, slow hammer in a list without Fury aura access had Chalice of Wrath, Dwarven Ale, or Staying Stone (typically in that order) on them to remove or mitigate wavering in combat. I was thrilled when Potion of the Caterpillar was removed, as it was always taken on cav hammers, which now had to think about what item they were taking (often but not always Boots of Striding) Likewise the removal of the need for anti-waver tech opens up the item design space, whatever that might look like.
Dropping combat wavering ups the tempo of the game in a satisfying way (and to me several of Alessioās changes look to have been made with tempo in mind), but it also addresses some inequities in army balance and removes some boring composition pitfalls from the last two editions. IMO good list building is when people actually have to make choices.
* While I donāt have an army that is entirely Fearless, most of my armies do have hammers that are either Fearless or Furious, entirely by design 
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Iām really excited for all these changes, canāt wait to play. Itās refreshing to see such positivity and healthy debate too, and not endless negativity.
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Refreshing positivity is just the worst.
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