Shooting and Assault the New Way!

As we get closer to the release of 6th, the more reliable rumors start trickling out of GW. Now, it is hard to make any sort of assumptions based on even this information but it does make the mind race.

3rd Edition Shooting Guide

Shooting

The trend since 3rd Edition has been MOAR DAKA! This is most evident with the changes to rapid fire weapons. In 3rd it You had to choose if you wanted to fire to full effect or move. If you moved at all, then you could only get one shot off but if you stood still you had a choice with rapid fire weapons. you could get two shots at 12" or one shot at full range.

Fast-forward an Edition and in 4th you still had to stay still to fire at full range but you could move and fire twice. That was a huge game changer. This spawned the Rhino Rush. this is where you drive your Rhino forward as fast as it'll go, have all your boys jump out and fire twice into the enemy. It was devastating if used judiciously.

There was no real big changes from 4th to 5th Editions in terms of shooting but there were big changes to cover and line of sight. that means you are shooting the same amount but your enemy is getting more saves. This made shooting a lot less effective in 5th and the focus shofted more to close combat.

According to the video, we can expect to see MOAR DAKA is 6th Ed. You'll be able to move and shoot rapid fire weapons once at long range. You'll also be able to move and fire Heavy weapons with something called snap shot. That makes me wonder why anyone would stand still to shoot anymore. There has to be some advantage. My assumption is that there will be a penalty to your BS when you choose to move and shoot.

The best news about shooting in 40k is Overwatch is back! I love this rule. Back in 2nd Ed, you could forgo your shooting in your phase to shoot your enemy in his shooting phase. It was brutal and devastating for armies that were forced to cross the field to get into assault. I love this feature so much and could not be happier that it is back.

It also sounds like 40k is taking a leaf out of Flames of War's book with shooting people that are assaulting you. Now, I've never played it but I hear that in FoW you get to shoot anyone that assaults you. That seems a little bit more true to life than having an enemy unit get to move, shoot and assault you with no response.

Also in FoW, if you suffer a certain number of casualties from shooting on your assault charge, it fails and you are pinned. This adds an added level of strategy to a charge. You have to soften up a bunker full of guys before you decide to charge it. More realism and I love it.

It also sounds like GW is trying to make the game more cinematic by giving weapons with special rules some small added benefit. Flamers for example will be able to lay down a wall of friggen fire for charging enemies to run through. As if we needed another reason to take flamers, now they are brutal anti-infantry weapons. I can't wait to see what other little extras are hidden in the rules.

Assault

It also sound like there are going to be some changes to the way Assault is run. Challenges, Krak grenades in CC and picking your casualties are a few of the things that Simon gibbers about on the video. All that sounds great. He really does not elaborate enough for me to make any assumptions but it does get me excited for close combat!