Going to ressurect this thread as the games draw near, but i have been contemplating what i think we might see and what i would like to see gameplay wise for the wargame. Most likely possible- D8s have been confirmed i believe for the wargame as well, i just hope its not symbols. To me wargames need to run off regular dice so players can use what they have or buy more custom ones for their forces. Plus id rather not be forced to buy CBs custom dice to play. Its ok for boardgames imho just not tabletop wargames. Also, new previews have been pushing the board games initiative wheel, so i think that might be their wargames answer to activations. Not using orders to not be like infinity and not using traditional alternating activations i think is really good for uniqueness and draw to the game. Imagine each player has a token on the initiative wheel and each unit in your army has an initiative value that pushes you around the wheel but they are different so you might want to be strategic in which units you activate and when so you can dictate flow and possible get multiple activations in before you opponent just due to who you chose to activate and when. Things i want to see- I want to see some things similar to infinity to remain. Mainly an ARO equivalent and rangebands. Having reactions and options for how to mitigate your opponents activations is such a good mechanic and in a fantasy setting can open up more creative options for CC rather than just walk up to base contact and roll a dice. We can see block, dodge, counter attack type options. Adding rangebands including for CC weapons like 1, 2, 3 inch ranges can create a deadly dance of action, reaction, reposition, move, action etc... trying to get into prime sword rangeband while your opponent might try kiting you with a halberd could be a fun dueling mechanic. Then add in ranges for magic and ranged weapons that are more infinity-esq but obviously have the weapons function differently.
Same here. I'm semi-ok with symbols on dice, but I am tired of the "roll hits & shields" mechanism in games. It's never fun to finally roll a ton of hits, but have them all cancelled by a lucky defensive roll. It takes you from the excitement of a good roll straight to the most boring result possible - nothing happens.
Which is then even more frustrating to be put down by an impossibly roll and you can't do a thing but just put everything back in your transport case... I'm fine with "hit & shield", since it's the most streamlined and fair way for both parts to manage attack rolls, because if one would go all "only hit" it often only means "who go first win".
Is it though? A roll against a static number is generally more streamlined than an opposed roll. As for fairness, it depends on the definition of "fair", but I'd say there's a ton of conflict resolution systems that are more fair and interesting than "roll hits & shields". It's a solved issue, really, we are not stuck with the same mechanism that Descent used in 2005.
You know to be honest i wouldnt even be that against the system using the symbol dice. Im just afraid of them making combat boring. What makes infinity great (and should be present in warcrow) is how you use the terrain, movement, reactions, and variety of options to play a "deadly dance" with your opponent. CC in infinity is ok being just b2b smacking cause its not the primary form of combat (shooting is), its a different tool to address certain obstacles, plus they still make it somewhat unique in that it's very strong, crit heavy, but swingy. And the journey to get into CC is half the excitment of trying it. With fantasy, CC becomes the norm and needs to have that mobility and options seen with ranged combat in infinity. Imagine a swordsman vs pikeman, the sword keeps trying to close the gap to get a good hit in but the pikeman keeps blocking/ dodging back to keep distance only for him to dodge around a corner where the swordsman player has an assassin on a roof. He is behind the pikemans los but in zoc, he jumps down to slash the pikemans back and the pikeman needs a dodge -whatever number to change facing too. He barely succeeds but now is 2 vs 1, except pikeman player moves an archer over to see the swordsman, shoots and kills the swordsman from afar, but its not enough as the assassin specializes in closing the gap and rushes in to have good dagger range vs bad pike range and proceeds to shred the pikeman before dodging an arrow and dissappearing into the shadows again.
I still want them to streamline more into making it like shooting but in B2B. Delete Martial Arts, bring CC scores down, indivitually add Burst to some troops. Example Shaolin: CC16, +2 Burst, +2 Damage, DA CCW Vs. Fusilier: CC13, no bonuses, CCW or Pistol The Fusilier could get lucky but unlikely. Your good CC troops are still good. There can still be bonuses for multiple troops in base contact. Surprise can still work as normal. Getting rid of a chart!
I think this is somewhere an Aristeia!/Warcrow style dice system can really add weapon differentiation. By tying weapon abilities to and hollow or symbols you can have things like axes being good at extra damage, swords parrying, spears creating openings that others can exploit, hammers being good against armour, etc.
