May 14, 2024
Hi everyone,
We're back with more rules updates for 3rd edition, but before you get into this post, make sure to check out our last one for more juicy info!
In our last post, we spoke about some of the major overarching changes that are coming to 3rd edition, which got pretty wordy, so in this post we wanted to focus on many smaller changes that are coming your way, but that we think are important to highlight.
First off, let's talk about something that many people are curious about: force organisation.
One of the common issues that we've been having since the inception of OPR, is that new players are a bit lost when creating their first army list. The ability to just use any and all units is one that confuses many players, especially because they feel that it can't possibly be a balanced way to play. For many years we have had a set of force organisation rules in our "Competitive Rules" document, which for many players has become the standard way to play.
In order to help new players out, we have decided to move the force organisation rules to the core rules of the game, as an optional way to build your armies.
The rules are pretty simple: when playing a standard 2000pts game, players may take max. 4 heroes/casters, max. 3 copies of each unit, no unit worth over 700pts, and max. 10 units in total. These are not super-restrictive rules, giving you the freedom to build a large variety of different armies, without going absolutely crazy. Oh, and don't worry about having to write any of this down, if you have force organisation enabled, Army-Forge will automatically let you know if you're breaking the rules.
In any case, the new force organisation rules are completely optional, so if you want to make an army of 100 heroes, or 100 units, or whatever, you still can. :)
Another common issue that we see with a lot of players, is that they are confused about line of sight.
Currently, the line of sight rules are kept pretty simple, with the game being played essentially on a 2D field, and drawing lines between bases. For veteran players, this system is easy to grasp, and usually they will just play with whatever line of sight rules they want, regardless of what the game says. For new players however, this system has been causing a lot of confusion, because there are many situation that are currently kept a bit vague, and it's not easy for everyone to use the 2D field concept when playing with physical miniatures in a 3D space.
In order to help new players out, we are going to provide 3 options for line of sight in our Beginner's Guide, so that players can pick what they prefer:
The rulebook recommends using Basic LoS for new players, and only if they are not satisfied with it we recommend using a different method. Top-Down LoS is the same as the current rules, with the addition of height, whilst Volumetric LoS is new, and provides a hybrid experience for really advanced players.
For veteran players, this new addition may seem a bit superfluous, but we think it's going to be really helpful for newbies. :)
Let's talk about another thing that is changing in the new edition, which is magic.
Magic is one of those things that people have been complaining about for a long time, and we thought is in need of a re-fresh. The new system is still familiar, but comes with some important tweaks that make it feel new:
In practice, it works like this: A basic caster starts the round with 2 magic points. When activated, it spends 1 point to cast a level 1 spell, and then 1 point to improve its roll. Then it rolls one die, and on a 3+ the spell is successful. Simple as that.
The goal of this new system is to make magic feel a bit distinct from everything else, making it a bit more like you're brewing up spells. The new system also gives players more choices in how to manage their magic points: they can put multiple dice to cast a single spell more easily, or try to cast multiple spells, or save power up for a later round to cast an even bigger spell. This system makes blocking feel a bit more like an option, since you don't have to sacrifice all of your caster's power to do that (as an added bonus, friendly casters can now also boost each other, adding more choice). Finally, the new casting system also helps differentiate casters much more than before, as there are now 4 levels of casters, and you can now also upgrade many casters from level 2 to level 3.
We think that it's an interesting system, that will definitely need a little getting used to for some players. For those that don't want to bother with so much choice, they can simply invest all their magic points each round in a single spell, which will get them an equivalent result to casting spells right now. But for those that want to fully use the new system, it's going to be much more engaging. :)
Alright, this post is getting super long again, so here's a few last highlights for you:
Whilst there is much much more we could talk about 3rd edition, we think that these last few posts should have given you the overall vibe of where things are going, and you'll get to see the actual rules soon. We can't wait for all of you to get to play this new edition, and are eternally grateful for all of your support. :)
Keep your eyes peeled for the 3rd edition announcement post, where we will provide a detailed changelog of the updates.
Happy Wargaming!
– OPR Team
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