I’m so cynical after what happened with the 40k 10th edition release. People tell me that the AoS development team has done better in the past and that AoS 4th edition may well be a tighter product. But we shall see.
With the few games of 40k 10th I’ve seen, the board is generally incredibly crowded. It seems to be a matter of trying to place certain units across from certain enemy units during deployment, because you’re not really going to get a chance to select matchups once the game starts.
I completely agree about Warcry not quite doing it. I really enjoy underworlds aesthetic but something about Warcry never quite hit that fantasy feel I wanted. Seeing Skaven as a core set army is actually pretty insane when you think about it.
Greetings-Hello man-Andy! I’ll probably pick up the launch box at this point. My son loves him some Skaven & I like the look of the new Stormcast minis. This small scale game mode seems like a win for new players. Worst case, it’s exactly like Combat Patrol where we play 1-2 time to get our hands around the rules before moving up to the full game.
hopefully it isn't wildly imbalanced like 40k Combat Patrol, its a great idea but it was DOA bc it just was all over the place with regards to power I think with the way AOS scenerarios are, a double sided map with one side having 3 centerline objectives and the other having 5 X shaped objectives would be fine. They basically all use that anyway i think
If this turns into a just pile all your minis at some point on the board and wait for melee to kill them all game, then pass. I would love a more interesting game that uses these minis (and by minis I mean Skaven :) )
This is my actual current assumption of how this game will play. I feel that's kind of just sigmar in general. Because it's a very melee heavy game, inevitably there's just a bunch of models in the middle of the board. And the smaller board size means that you won't be able to avoid that. You'll always ends up in charge distance. But we'll see. As I say, I'm enjoying the excitement of potential for now!
I feel combat patrol fails because they maintain the same unit mechanics as the larger 40k system, and believe Spearhead will fail for the same reason. Because Spearhead boxes are designed for big AOS, they will sell models which function for AOS primarily, which means big unit sizes that fit on a big table. Until they are able to make it so that I'm playing with more than 4 or 5 units, these small scale GW games will lack any depth and remain overshadowed by their older brothers.
it wont be very competitive. It cant be. Combat Patrol taught us that pretty fast. It's just a marketing thing to get early games in with a new army or to onboard new players. It sets a minimum purchase for a new player at 140$/80£ so they can experience everything. A consumer who wants to try this hobby can find an army they like, buy 1 box, and play a game. From a business perspective, that's perfect. It doesn't need to be balanced, it just needs to work. This game mode (and combat patrol) exist to *sell models*. They don't want a fair-weather first-time hobbyist buying just one squad of Stormcast and a few paints when they can upsell you for more than twice as much with a vanguard/combat patrol box. Suddenly it's simple to get in and play, you only have to build and paint 1 box, and you're in, and now you're hooked! The game doesn't really exist by any competitive metric at anything below 1000 points, and rules cost money, as GW refuses to let us forget. So giving us some free ones to get us in? That's just that first drag you take when someone offers you a hit from their vape pen. The company that sells it wants you to have a taste and see it all and get hooked and one single character model probably won't do all that on it's own. It's a scheme.
so.. spearhead, combat patrol.. to me these seem like games created because GW has realized that people are motivated to buy stuff that is 'playable'.. right?
It would have been really nice if GW released alternate Combat Patrol/Spearhead lists for people who already have miniatures. Shame GW is a bit inflexible.
With GW squatting all the Warcry warbands and the listing of "Twist deck" in the article, It really feels like Spearhead is aiming to replace Warcry imo
Yawn I think I said this yesterday. But now we’re moving into AOS4 and GW is on a bad-decision streak. If only they would ask game stores to support this format for tournaments etc. The great thing is games like this are balanced on cost of boxes. Don’t need two boxes to mix-max. Oh wow they are doing two spearheads in the launch box. Nicceeeeeeee.
Tbf I think the main point of this is to be able to tell two newcomers they can buy a speardhead/vanguard each and play a game together. The reason combat patrol didn't work is because they put minimal effort to actually make it worth playing compared to the full game but it looks like AoS theyre trying harder to make it fun in its own way