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Interesting update on the Battlewagon saga - they appear to be returning to the SM/TL version of the Battlewagon, which should make things a lot less confusing.
FROM JERVIS:
... and back again.
First of all, I'll look again at the costs of the Stompamob.
Anyway, returning to the BW. By the time I'd spoken to Andy and he'd underlined that he basically saw it as a bigger version of the trukk, I'd already asked Mark Bedford to make a *big* Battlewagon model based on the pics in the 40K codex. The model that Mark made was huge, very nearly battlefortress sized, and when Andy saw it that's exactly what he said "It's a battlefortress, Jervis, not a battlewagon".
So, we headed back to the drawing board. As I wrestled with the various different options, I remembered that early in testing we'd combined guntrukks and gunwagons in a single catagory, as the differences between the two had been too fine to really show up well in Epic, and also because this allowed us to use a wider range of models in our Blitz Brigades (for example, Bowelburners had been gun trukks while Lungburstas had been gunwagons - by combining the two it was both easier to play Orks, and also Ork formations become more varied and eclectic in their mix of models). So, I thought, why not combine wartrukks and battlewagonz into a single catagory called 'wagonz'. Just as Gunwagonz have stats based on an average of of the stats for guntrukkz and gunwagonz, the 'wagonz' could have a set of stats based on the average between the trukk and battlewagon. After much talking and arguing and looking at models i have decided that this is the best path to take for the smaller Ork transport vehicles.
Now, I *know* that some of you will throw up your hands at this and say it is an example of the abstraction that put people of E40K, etc etc. However, I really don't think this is the case. First of all, with the Orks there *has* to be an element of abstraction in the list, because categorising Ork vehicles goes completely against the Ork's background; the fact of the matter is that no two Ork vehicles are really ever exactly the same - they are all 'one-offs' and the Ork lists need to reflect this _in as playable a manner as possible_. This second point is really important, as one thing that became clear as we compared the models for trukks and battlewagonz (keeping in Mind Andy's edict on the size of the BW) was that it was hard to tell at a glance where the trukk models we had made stopped, and the battlewagonz models started. As both sorts of units could be in the same formation this could lead to a lot of confusion, if not on the part of the Orks then at least for their opponents. The same really didn't apply to the fortress sized models, which were clearly in a different category to the smaller vehicles.
Anyway, taking into account all these things wartrukz and battlewagons will be going from the Ork list, to be replaced by 'wagonz'. Wagonz will have the following stats:
Armoured vehicle, speed 30cm, armour save 5+, two big shootas, transport 2 units.
The gunwagonz/flakwagonz will stay the same, effectively replacing the shootas and one 'space' and transport capacity of the 'wagon' for better weapons.
This still left me with Mark's really rather nice ex-battlewagon-and-now-battlefortress sized model. I decidded to incorporate it into the lists by making it a 'battlefortress' that has one Big Gun and four Big Shootas, that can transport eight boyz stands, and adding a 'gunfortress' to the list, which will be represented by one of the old battlefortress models for E40K, and which has three big gunz and five big shootas, but can only carry four boyz.
In this way the fortresses mirror what happens with the wagonz. This will give us (in order of size) buggies/wagonz/fortresses, with wagonz and forts getting transport versions and gun versions to choose from. Battlewagonz and trukkz merge, but battlefortresses split into two versions.
Phew! I'll be incorporating these changes into the updated Ork list as soon as I can - later today if possible. Before I do I just need to check that the models we have fit well in the new catagories, and other fun range management stuff like that (which is why i didn't make the changes earlier when updating the lists)
Best regards,
Jervis Johnson
Head Fanatic |
I'm not sure I like it ... but it is unique !
?We kept is simple: APCs = the plastic B/Ws from SM1&2, Battlewagons (most of the models = MBTs, , Battlefortresses = Heavy Tanks, and Flakwagons are obvious. ?When a game has 6 armies (or more), with more and more versions of vehicles and models, it gets bogged down with a morass of detail. ?More detail is good if you have 4-8 (or so) models on the board, but in Epic games with dozens on the board it only slows things down. ?Big Shootas, little Shootas, Guntruk, Gunwagon, etc., etc., etc., - Get Real !!! ?Were they trying to make it confusing or what !? ?
