Coolest Rule in 8th. Wheeling does not count against charge

How to beat those cowardly High Elves?

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Blaznak
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Coolest Rule in 8th. Wheeling does not count against charge

Post by Blaznak »

I'm putting this in tactics because I'd like to see how this affects our troops specifically, instead of a full analysis of the rule for the rule's sake.

In 8th, the rule now says
1) Declare your charge
2) Determine if you are in range (Roll them bones and measure!)
3) THEN work out movement.

The rule actually goes on to say, if you are within range, the unit can move an unlimited distance as long as it follows the specific rules:

1) Only one wheel (other than shutting the door), to a max of 90°.
2) You must try to maximize troops v troops.
3) You must avoid "stuff" (impassable terrain, etc.).

At the 500 point battle, my witch elves were diagonal to the lizardmen. My closest figure was within 12" but I rolled 13". The mentality of the opponent was:

1) I could not make the charge work as my alignment wheel counted against movement.
2) I could not make the charge because I needed to wheel to maximize troops and that counted against movement.
3) I could not make the charge because I did not have enough movement to "shut the door".

None of these things seem to be true of the 8th edition rules.

So, how can we use this to our advantage? I think one of the first things I'm going to look at is our longer movement rate than many of the other lesser races. It is probably worth it to attempt charges on the angle if you can have your unit be within the charge range.

Second, many of our units don't need huge fronts to work properly. Crossbows? A unit of 10 run 5 across gets all its shots. Dark riders? Uh, single file still seems to work just fine! This means we can get behind/between terrain that will prevent enemy charges succeeding. It may be worth it to focus on placing impassible terrain (just like our cold featureless homeland would have) to maximize this sort of placement.

Third, I think its more important than ever to make sure supporting units are set up to defend against a lucky die roll. I don't think our army has ever been the best at having one lonely unit try to hold the center of the battlefield, and I think knowing the wheeling in the charge is no longer a factor makes this a bit worse.

Knowing this and using staggered or angled troops make force charges against harder troops. Here's an example:

You have a "soft" unit of witch elves all ready to be charged by some nasty enemy (lets say skaven slaves because that's funny to think they could hurt the witch elves, but they, being slaves, are useful to the example.)

All the block of skaven has to do is be within the charge range and they come screaming across the battle field. However, now presume there is a unit of dark elf spear on either side of the witch elves and just slightly ahead. The skaven might not be able to make it through or around that gap as they are only allowed one free wheel.

Well, I know this is not complete but I thought it might be food for thought. And, its painfully obvious that with rules this new there may be parts of this I am missing..

Yours,
~B~
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Killerk
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Post by Killerk »

I see nothing cool in the rule :? .

for the DE it's a major draw back, for we always controlled the movement faze, now ........... we can't :evil: .

additional you need no skill in playing the game.
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Blaznak
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Post by Blaznak »

Well, that's part of the conversation I'm hoping to inspire - I don't think we are out of the running, it just requires more cunning than before. So, That's what I'm looking for, a positive spin on the rule that we can exploit, er, use, to our advantage.
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Post by Fuzzydeath »

In 7th ed, we'd use harpies, dark riders, and shades to march block and deny charges until we could line up a charge of our own choosing.

Not only was this pussyfooting-around not very fun for me, it was VERY unfun for the opponent.

Just because we can't do that anymore doesn't mean it's bad for the game.

I quite like it, actually. Warhammer is called Warhammer, not SwishyPoke, after all.

And we hardly suffer for being on the receiving end of a charge. Between Init and Stalwart, the outcome will be the same whether being charged or doing a charge.
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Calisson
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Post by Calisson »

Charging rules are worse than what you wrote:
the distance is the minimum distance between any part of both units.

Example, for "A" wanting to charge "X", where "X" is made of "X1"... to "X7":

Code: Select all

X7
X6
X5
X4\     /
X3 \#  /
X2  \ /
X1+++A

"A" sees the model "X5" in his frontal 90°LOS.
But the distance to measure is between "A" and "X1", not "X5" (see page 6 about distance measuring).
Roll 2D6 and add your movement, compare to that distance (along "+++", not "\\\").
Then, "A" charges by moving straight ahead, wheeling once, when you wish, to a maximum of 90°.
The final position must maximize models in contact. Therefore, it is acceptable for "A" to end up against "X2", in contact with "X1" and "X3" but not even "X5" who was the closest visible model!
Another perfectly acceptable charge is for "A" to end up against "X6", even if the initial distance between "A" and "X6" was a lot above what has been rolled. This is written in page 20: a charging unit has an unlimited movement!
Moreover, there could even be an obstacle across the most direct path where the distance was measured (even if "+++" and "#" were impassable terrain), it would not matter.
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Thanee
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Post by Thanee »

Hmm... I can't say I consider this the coolest rule in 8th Ed.

In fact, I don't really like it at all, since it makes the way units are moved/positioned even less important. It takes tactics away from the game, which I don't see as a good thing.

Bye
Thanee
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