No different to before, and it's silly to see GW give rules keywords now as well as units. Do they think we're infants?
- You can only shoot in melee if you have the ability Shoot in Combat.
This on the other hand certainly is a step in the right direction - it was always dumb in previous AoS Editions to allow any missile troops to shoot at enemies they're fighting in close combat when said enemies would be far too close to use missile weapons against them, and gave missile-oriented armies a massive and unrealistic advantage over melee-oriented ones. So long as only units armed with small, handy missile weapons like pistols, throwing axes/knives e.t.c are given this new Shoot in Combat keyword, this will be a big improvement toward capturing the realism of close combat fighting in the game. Melee troops should be able to overpower missile troops easily in close combat, as they have always done throughout pre-firearm history.
- Natural 6s are now critical damage, mortal wounds are now mortal damage.
Critical Damage is something that seems to have come from Warcry and Underworlds, it'll be interesting to see how they differ from mortal wounds.
- Instead of allocating damage points to a model in a unit, damage points are now allocated to the unit as a whole. When the total of damage points allocated to a unit equals the Health characteristic of that unit, the commanding player removes a model from that unit, but they must stay in coherency. This is suppousedly more convenient but I'm confused.
This is honestly no different from what's been seen before - you're still removing a model from the unit once enough wounds have been allocated to kill one off. It's just fancier wording.
- Expect spears to now have Anti-charge (+X Rend) to justify your weapon loadouts from different kits.
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I'm interested in this new 'Control' statistic that has now replaced Bravery - is this referring to a new Morale mechanic, or is it referring to how difficult it is to keep a unit disciplined, and by extension how easy it is for said unit to charge without orders?
I also like this idea of units suffering wounds if they want to pull back from combat, as the enemy attempts a last few strikes as their foe turns to withdraw. I can't remember if this was part of previous Editions, but if not then this is a good move.
