So there has been talk of Flyers not always getting Speed 10, a plan to separate Fly from Nimble (which I assumed meant Flyers would not automatically get both) and a lot of talk about the dominance of Crushing Strength (some talk of reducing across the board or putting in a little TC instead).
Then lo and behold! The Hero on Chimera is revealed! How exciting to see how this unit will be now that all the above mentioned tweaks have been buzzing around for so long!
Speed 10, Fly, Nimble, Crushing 3.
What happened to the fixes?
With keeping the ability to At the Double and Nimble pivot 90 (unless this rule changes) this unit will be as powerful as ever to threaten the flanks of an army!
It will not help to make Phalanx good vs flyers from the front, when these juggernauts will (as always) slam into them from the flanks!
I was really looking forward to Speed 8/9 with Nimble, or Speed 10 non-nimble on EXACTLY these kinds of units…
That monstrosity must be around 350+ points. I hope anyway. With points of troops seeming to go down a bit in 3rd, that’s a big chunk of a 2K army. War machines seem like they are getting two weaker shots at 5+ instead of one stronger shot at 5+. Makes them a bit more reliable, so maybe it will balance out the flying threat a bit. Just have to see when 3rd is in your hands I guess.
Given that we don’t know the restrictions on Titans, it is a bit early to say. I wouldnt run a dragon under 1800 just because it isnt really fun. Im thinking the fix for flyers focused around the units that were too strong, like Drakons and Elohi. Im expecting both to be irregular, but what do i know.
Quite disappointed when they showed the Lord on Chimera. I had hoped they would make those heavy hitting flyers a bit less maneuverable, which would give light fliers a little tactical advantage.
Oh well, I just have to eat up Freds army with drakon riders in the next version too.
Without seeing all the context its hard to know. There definitely seems to be some passive debuffs to fliers such as the bonus for charging off hills not applying to them etc. Unit strength seems to be an even bigger factor this edition with lots of infantry units getting higher unit strength, so sinking 320+ points into a flying monster might end up being an even bigger investment.
Keep in mind that the Chimera is also on a 75mm base not a 50mm anymore, and is height 6 (height 5 in old money). So its a little less manoeuvrable and harder to hide. Its also 10 points more expensive than the old Varangur King on Chimera, lost a point of nerve and its Elite no longer works on its ranged attack.
These are all small changes but I Imagine they’ll add together to tone down these big monsters a little.
I’m guessing that the splitting of nimble and fly is going to hit things like Drakons and Elohi more than these big monsters.
Gotta say, I was disappointed when we saw the King on Chimera spoiler. Basically identical to the Varangur one that tilts me every time I face it. Nimble being split out suggests other flyers might not automatically have it at least? And Spellcaster: 0 I’ve noticed cropping up on things that I’m guessing can only take the spells they have and aren’t open to the larger spell pool (a weird thing in 2E where access was granted to way more spells than was likely intended, back when there wasn’t a spell pool per se!)
Speed 10, Fly, Nimble, Crushing 3. 