A change of heart.

From: Peter Ramos <primarch_at_...>
Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2002 08:49:44 -0400

Hi!

I received my issue of Firepower issue #8 yesterday. I was particularly
interested in this issue because Jervis would talk about his progress on
the rules for the new epic game.

I found it VERY interesting.

It's ironic that he said that he would not start from scratch, but
judging from the articles, he's pretty much is changing everything about
the older game and for the better IMO. Here's some highlights:

1. the stats will have more detail with clear difference between
anti-tank shots and anti-personnel shots.
2. integrated action phase. IMO this is the single most important
feature of the game. It shows a move to more modern game mechanics where
the "you-go-I-go" mentality is cast away. A number of games, including
Heresy use this mechanic. A very important step in the right direction.
3. the method for allocating blast markers changed. Many dislikers of
epic40k found the blast marker rules cumbersome and not well thought
out. Fortunately Jervis changed them. Now you accrue one blast marker
for every formation that fires at you and an extra one for every
casualty. Excellent change (and very Heresy-like too!). A definite
improvement from the older rule.
4. crossfire. An interesting mechanic. Basically if certain condition is
fulfilled you get support from nearby units as you fire at the same
target. You suppress more this way (as you should). It definitely
encourages to coordinate attacks and catch enemy units in a crossfire.
5.Initiative. The way he proposed it worried me for many reasons. But he
added more information to how it worked. Funny enough it turns out he
was reading our minds since the solutions to potential problems he
already put in place. You need to roll for initiative each time you
activate a unit. Initiative allows you to perform one of several action
(move and shoot, assault, march, rally and some special action to be
mentioned at some other issue). If you fail to activate you can still
move but cant fire. Which is an excellent solution rather than doing
nothing if you fail as most mechanics do. Also you can try retaining
initiative but each additional activation incurs a -1 penalty to the
roll, so its self limiting. In summary a MUCH better approach to the
mechanics.
5.They are playing around with rules for artillery which seem very
interesting. In a sense it looks more like the SM/TL rules since once
the template is placed you roll for hitting. Instead of barrage points a
table will dilate the "to hit" depending on target and ordinance type
(AP or AT). LOL, VERY Heresy-like. These rules are still in flux, but
he's got the right idea.
6. Also he's changing the close combat rules, which I thought were
pretty shitty. The exact details are vague, but they are meant to go
away from the excessive randomness of the epic40k rules.
7. Army list changes. Even if all of the above changed, if they left the
current way to construct you army, I would doom it to failure. The epic
40 army composition scheme is just open too much to min/maxing. That has
changed. Jervis stated in his battle report of the rules that all the
army list and organization would change to reflect each army. For
example space marine formations are small and with high initiative can
get a lot done, but they cant soak up too much attrition nor dish out
too much firepower. IG formations are large and cumbersome but with
lower initiative. The can soak up a lot of casualties and dish out a lot
of firepower. In the battle report the IG lost since the space marines
could out maneuver those big formations and activate a lot of their
formations and wear the IG down. All in all an excellent approach to
army organization.

While I still annoyed that we don't have any real way to impact the
design in progress, it seems Jervis is going in the right direction with
all his mechanic decisions. I am increasingly becoming more eager about
the new game. It sounds like something that's playable and addresses
players demand for what a game of this type should have.

A change of heart.

Peter
Received on Sat Apr 13 2002 - 12:49:44 UTC