Patch Notes - April 25th 2024

April 25, 2024

Hi everyone,

Today we're launching our second update of the year, with v3.3.0!

Whilst not a huge update, v3.3.0 brings some important changes to a few of our core mechanics, as well as a fresh new look for the games. We're going to discuss some of the most important updates first, so that you know what our thoughts are behind them, and then there will be a big list of patch notes for you to pour over.

__wf_reserved_inherit

Style Update & Yearly Releases

This year marks the 10th anniversary of OPR, and with it, we have been improving a lot of things for you. We have been updating and releasing more lore, have been publishing new books with tons of art, and now it's time that we finally update the layout of our rulebooks as well.

The old style of our rulebooks was created all the way back in 2017, and until now the layouts, borders, and illustrations have all remained the same. Since then, OPR has grown from a tiny one-man project, to a full-blown company which is recognized internationally as one of the best up-and-coming wargame studios out there. This means that there are a lot more eyes on our games now, and we have more budget to allocate, so it was finally time to change the way our books look.

All of our core rules, beginner's guides, advanced rulebooks, and free extras have been now updated with a new style, and we will be updating the remaining expansions over the coming months (the rules have already been updated to v3.3.0, it's just the layout updates that are coming later). If you've been checking out the Grimdark Future World Book or the Secrets of Tixal narrative campaign, then you should already have an idea of how things are changing.

The core rules sheets and free extras have been re-worked with a new minimal layout, which brings a splash of color and looks much cleaner now. All of the beginner's guides and advanced rulebooks have also been updated, with colored pages, new illustrations, and finally diagrams featuring OPR minis.

We hope that you like the new layouts, and that they finally allow OPR games to look like a professional product.

With this new style, and with some of the feedback we've been having regarding the frequency of our rules updates, we are also contemplating switching our rulebook updates to yearly releases, whilst keeping army updates to the current quarterly schedule. This would allow us to finally justify the sale of physical rulebooks, which many of you have been asking for, and which would then be valid for a full year. This would also mean that for those that want to print the books at home, they will only have to print them once a year.

Nothing has been set in stone yet, and we are looking into what we can do, but we hope you like this idea.

Army-Forge Community Lists & Base Size Recommendations

Besides the new style updates, we are also updating Army-Forge to give you even more cool features!

The first new feature is that as long as you are logged in, your army lists are saved to your Army-Forge account. This means that your lists are now available across all of your devices, so no more re-creating your lists on desktop and mobile to make them match.

The second new feature is the addition of community list sharing, which allows you to share any list you made for a faction in Army-Forge, which other players can then see and rate. This will make it even easier for new players to find pre-made lists, or to check out lists for inspiration.

Finally, soon we will also be adding base size recommendations for all official OPR armies, which has been one of the most requested features ever. These base sizes are fully optional, and you can disable them from the menu, as they are only meant to give you a general idea of what base sizes are expected for each unit.

__wf_reserved_inherit

General Rules Updates

Alright, moving on to rules, let's start with the three most important general rules changes.

Since OPR was created back in 2014, the morale rules have not changed a lot, but the gaming landscape has. It's been 10 long years since we first conceptualized how units should behave when failing morale tests, and as new games have come out, and old games have been updated, player expectations have changed a lot. Where once the OPR morale rules were hailed as being awesome, they are now seen as being bothersome, and so we think it's time that we adapt as well.

For our main battle games, we are changing the Shaken rule to be more forgiving, and give players some extra choice. In this new version, Shaken units are still able to act normally, but they get -1 to Quality and Defense rolls, halve their movement, and can't seize objective markers. Units may choose to spend their activation idle in order to stop being Shaken, but don't have to.

This change makes it so that Shaken units can fight on, so that you don't have to watch your beautifully painted minis just sit there all game idle because they keep getting Shaken. It does mean that games are slightly longer, as units that previously had no choice but to skip their activation will now be able to act (with a penalty).

For our skirmish games, we are changing Wound Checks and Rout Tests, again to make the game more forgiving, but also slightly less deadly. In this new version, units are not Stunned anymore, but are Shaken instead, with Shaken working as described above. This also means that when units fail a Rout test, they are Shaken instead of Stunned, and are only Routed if they were already Shaken.

This change has a bigger impact on the skirmish games, as it means multiple things. Since units are now Shaken instead of Stunned, you can't auto-kill them by charging them or hitting them with a shooting attack, so the game is a little less deadly. It also means that units that are charged in melee and take wounds will actually get to strike back (if they are not Knocked Out), which makes the game more balanced.

Note that since Shaken is now less painful than before, the cost of morale and morale-related rules has been changed, so many units across the board are now slightly cheaper.

__wf_reserved_inherit

The next important change, or rather addition, is the introduction of Assault rules, which are meant to help Hybrid units perform better (Hybrid units are those that have equally strong melee and ranged weapons, wasting points by not specializing).

Assault is simple: when you declare a charge and pick a target, you may shoot at it before charging, but get -1 to hit to both shooting and melee, and halve your move. In order to keep things clear and easy, morale tests from wounds are now taken at the end of an activation, unless the unit was engaged in melee, so you don't take two morale tests when Assaulted. We have also clarified that if the target of a Charge was killed before the unit reaches its target, then the unit may complete its movement and then end its activation.

This means that units that are sufficiently close to the enemy can increase their power by both shooting and striking, which is especially handy for Hybrid units. It also creates a new game of cat-and-mouse, as Hybrid units now want to get into Assault range of the enemy, whilst enemies want to move away and not end their activation in Assault Range. We are looking forward to seeing how the community reacts to this change, and tweak it as necessary.

Finally, we have re-worded Blast, Furious, Relentless, and similar rules, to try and make their interactions clearer. We have also added notes and examples to the special rules section of the Beginner's Guide, which should hopefully answer some of the most common questions people have been asking since 3rd edition was released.

__wf_reserved_inherit

Army Specific Updates

When it comes to army specific updates, there is lots of tiny stuff here and there, but these are the most significant changes.

Alien Hives have been slightly re-worked, after hearing that they are a bit too strong from a lot of community members. We are toning down the combo of Furious + Combo on Grunt units, as well as change monsters to be Quality 4+ so that they are easier to field in smaller games. We also changed how Spores and Spore Guns work, to avoid a lot of the confusion and imbalance players found.

Custodian Brothers have been tweaked once again, to give players more control over specialization of units in this already tiny army. We are also adding the option for Great Sisters to become Casters, to give the Custodians a bit more of a chance against more conventional armies.

Shadow Stalkers have been heavily re-worked, so that they better fit with our upcoming miniatures release. This means that a lot of units have been re-named and re-worked, and we have added a couple of new units and hero mounts for you to check out (and dream of what the minis will look like).

__wf_reserved_inherit

Patch Notes

Alright, enough waffling about, here's the full patch notes for you:

General Rules

  • In AoF and AoFR, changed Force Org. of heroes to be 1 per 375pts in the army
  • Increased amount of recommended terrain to the previous upper value
  • Units can now Assault when charging (shoot before moving, but get -1 to hit and half move)
  • Clarified that if the target of a Charge is destroyed before base contact is reached, then the unit may complete its move and ends its activation
  • Clarified that Fatigue only applies until the end of that round
  • Morale tests from wounds are now taken at the end of the activation
  • Clarified that units that were in melee don't take morale tests for wounds for that activation
  • Shaken now gives -1 to Quality and Defense, halves move, and must stay idle to remove condition
  • Moved "shaken units can't seize objectives" from mission rules to shaken rules
  • In GFF and AoFS, models are now Shaken instead of Stunned
  • In AoFR, melee losers now get -1 to morale if charged in the flank, and -2 if charged in the rear
  • In AoFR, clarified that units that start with 1 model count as having 1 full row
  • Clarified that routed units count as destroyed
  • General grammar and spelling fixes

Special Rules

  • Added more examples to the special rules section to further clarify common questions
  • Clarified that Ambush and Scout units are set aside before deployment
  • Blast, Furious, and Relentless have been re-written to clarify interaction with other special rules
  • Added a note that Casters get spell tokens even if they are not on the table
  • Added a note that Heroes that joint units are permanently part of the unit, even if all other models are killed, and that they can't leave/join units in-game
  • Impact has been extended to only hit on 3+ when assaulting
  • Clarified that Poison and Rending ignore the Regeneration rule, and not other forms of regenerating wounds
  • Added a note to Poison to remind players that dice may only be re-rolled once
  • Added a note to Reliable to remind players that the Quality 2+ it gives can still be modified, suffers from Fatigue, etc.
  • Clarified that each model with Sniper may pick a different target from the same unit
  • Added lots of notes and examples to better explain Transports
  • In GFF and AoFS, Blast now spreads to enemies within 3" of any model in the target
  • In GFF and AoFS, clarified that Fear only applies to melee
  • In AoFR, Counter now applies to the two front rows
  • In AoFR, Impact now applies to the two front rows

Advanced Rules

  • Reworked the Terrain Selection to be more balanced
  • Reworked some of the Deployment Styles to be more balanced
  • Reworked Solid Building rules to be in line with current standards

Expansions

  • For Campaign Rules, Routed units now count as casualties
  • For Campaign Rules, clarified that you get +1XP for killing a unit, +2XP for killing a hero unit, and +3XP for killing a hero and its unit
  • For Campaign Rules, Hero skill traits now increase their cost by 10pts for skirmish games, and 30pts for regular games
  • For Campaign Rules, reworked the Warden skill trait
  • For GFF Campaign Rules, Warbands are now called Strike Teams
  • For Solo & Co-Op rules, added Assaults to hybrid decision tree

General Army Rules

  • Advanced Tactics (and similar): Fixed cost to be in line with other rules
  • Devout (and similar): Re-worded to align with new wording style for Furious and similar
  • Protected (and similar): Re-worded so any hits the unit takes get AP(-1)
  • Seer Council (and similar): Unit now loses all unspent spell tokens at the end of the round
  • Spell Warden (and similar): Clarified that the rule applies to the unit and not the model
  • Surprise Attack: Increased cost for dealing damage on deployment (not counter-play)
  • Undead (and similar): Units now only take wounds on rolls of 1-2
  • War Chant (and similar): Clarified they get exta hits on 5-6 from Furious itself

Grimdark Future

General

  • Re-worked amount of Impact on most vehicles to be half their Tough value

Alien Hives

  • Grunts can now upgrade with either Furious or Poison, but not both (they can always upgrade with No Retreat)
  • Removed Fearless from all Carnivo-Rex monsters
  • All big Tough(18) monsters are now Quality 4+ and have Fearless
  • Re-worked which monsters have access to melee upgrades
  • Spore Guns now have the Exploding Spore rule instead of spawning spores on misses
  • Spores / Massive Spores now come in units of [5] / [3] and have Tendrils as melee weapons
  • Re-worked the Explode rule, and models only explode in melee after both sides finish attacking

Battle Brothers

  • Assault Brothers now have Heavy CCWs (AP+1)
  • Destroyers and Destroyer Hero can now take any combination of shields and melee weapons
  • Blood Brothers' Guard Brothers now have Heavy CCWs (AP+1)
  • Watch Brothers' Battle Brothers and Watch Vanguard now have Heavy CCWs (AP+1)
  • Wolf Brothers' Rookies now have Heavy CCWs (AP+1)
  • Wolf Brothers' Riders now replace all pistols with shields (instead of any)

Blessed Sisters

  • Destroyers and Destroyer Hero can now take any combination of shields and melee weapons

Custodian Brothers

  • Great Sister can now upgrade with Caster
  • Re-worked most units to allow for better specialization
  • Destroyers now have access to more weapon-mount upgrades
  • Custodian Heavy Walkers now have Tough(15) instead of Tough(18)

DAO Union

  • Stealth Suits can now upgrade with Boosters (Flying)

Dark Elf Raiders

  • Energy Ram upgrade now as Impact(5) (instead of Impact(2))

Dwarf Guilds

  • Berserkers' Assault Grenade Launcher now has 18" range and AP(1) instead of 24" and Indirect
  • Elites now have Protected
  • Powersuits now have a Rail M-Rifle instead of a C-Beamer
  • Removed incorrect Autocannon option for Trike
  • Re-named rocket weapons from the Fortress Tank to fit our models

Havoc Brothers

  • Culists now replace all Rifles for Pistols instead of any Rifle
  • Havoc Brothers can now replace all Heavy Rifles and CCWs for Heavy Pistols and Heavy CCWs
  • Havoc Support now has access to Heavy Flamers, Heavy Fusion Rifles, and Plasma Cannons
  • Change Disciples' Support now has access to a Hexed Cannon
  • Lust Disciples' Support now has access to a Noise Cannon
  • Plague Disciples' Support now has access to a Plague Launcher
  • War Discples' Berserkers now have Heavy CCWs (AP+1)
  • Lust Disciples' "Overload" spell has been renamed to "Overpower" to not confuse it with the unit special rule

Human Defense Force

  • Re-worked Demo Charges from the Veteran Squad to be an A1, AP(4), Limited weapon

Human Inquisition

  • Slightly re-worked Inquisitor "Hunter" upgrades to be in line with other factions

High Elf Fleets

  • Elementals were separated into a ranged unit with Relentless and a melee unit with Furious
  • Re-worked weapon options for Jetbike Strikers and added a Flicker Shield upgrade
  • Support Artillery can now upgrade with a Hologram Field, weapons have more attacks, and the Heavy Mortar is now an AP(2), Deadly(6) weapon
  • Combat Walker double weapons have been combined into a single profile
  • Added new melee weapons to the Great Elemental and Titan Elemental

Jackals

  • Re-worked Beast Riders so that all models can upgrade their weapons

Machine Cult

  • Crawler Tank now has Crushing Legs + Stomp instead of Impact

Orc Marauders

  • Wrecking Ball upgrade now as Impact(5) (instead of Impact(2))
  • Orc Buggy now has access to Gun Master, Battle Ram, Red Paint Job
  • Only the Truck, Looted Tank, and Battle Rig now have access to Boarding Plank and Wrecking Ball

Prime Brothers

  • Assault Brothers now have Heavy CCWs (AP+1)
  • Raider Squads, Assault Squads, and Guard Squads now have access to Relic Swords (A1, AP(2), Deadly(3))

Robot Legions

  • Jetpack upgrades now give Swift (ignores Slow rule)

Saurian Starhost

  • Frog-Mage can now upgrade with Temple Guard (if it's part of a unit of Guardians, they count as Quality 2+)
  • Re-worked Demo Charges from the Chameleons to be an A1, AP(4), Limited weapon

Soul-Snatchers

  • Grinder Truck can now be upgraded with Impact(5)

Titan Lords

  • Titan Hammer and Titan Chainsaw now have +1 attack
  • The King Heavy Titan's "top" weapons now have +1 attack

Wormhole Daemons

  • Clarified that "Havoc Symbols" are used during an activation
  • "Overload" spell has been renamed to "Overpower" to not confuse it with the unit special rule

Age of Fantasy

Deep-Sea Elves

  • Heroes can now upgrade with Sea Guardian (Scout) to better fit into units
  • Heroes can now be mounted on a Blaster War-Eel (Constrict) or Barrier War-Eel (Stealth) to better fit into units

Duchies of Vinci

  • Drones now have Quality 5+ and Good Shot, and their Bot-Bows now have 18", A1, AP(1), Rending
  • Re-worked Slingshot into two weapons, one with Deadly and one with Blast

Halflings

  • Zeppelins now have Hand Weapons

Havoc Warriors

  • "Overload" spell has been renamed to "Overpower" to not confuse it with the unit special rule

High Elves

  • Re-worked High Noble upgrades to better fit the various hero sub-types
  • Lion units now have Protected (instead of Stealth)

Orcs

  • Orc heroes can now upgrade with Scary Shields

Rift Daemons

  • Clarified that "Havoc Symbols" are used during an activation
  • "Overload" spell has been renamed to "Overpower" to not confuse it with the unit special rule

Saurians

  • Frog-Mage can now upgrade with Temple Guard (if it's part of a unit of Guardians, they count as Quality 2+)

Shadow Stalkers

  • Tweaked unit and weapon names to fit with our lore
  • Added new units: Spectre Champion, Reaper Champion, Great Terror, Ascended Fiend
  • All units can be upgraded with a Shadow Censer (Warning Cry)
  • Spectres, Spectre Hero, and Great Screecher can now be upgraded with Shadow Step (Teleport)
  • Added Command Group to Scourges, Spectres, and Reaper Flayers
  • Tormentors now have Quality 4+ and can upgrade with Deadly Stingers
  • Phantoms now have +1 Defense and +1 attack
  • Reapers now have Headtaker instead of Ensare and have +1 AP
  • Spectres have new weapon options
  • Reaper Flayers now have Defense 4+, Headtaker, Stealth instead of Ethereal, and new weapon options
  • Butcher weapons have been re-worked
  • Shadow Hounds now have Quality 5+ and Defense 5+, and Stealth instead of Ensnare
  • Fang Swarms now have Stealth and Ensnare instead of Ethereal
  • Fiends now have Ensnare, Rending melee weapons, and can upgrade with Poison ranged weapons
  • Great Horror now has Breath Attack, Flying, no Ensnare, and re-worked weapons
  • Great Fiend now has Quality 3+, Ensnare, Rending melee weapons, and can upgrade with Poison ranged weapons
  • Great Screecher lost its ranged weapons but gained Caster(3), and now has Ethereal instead of Stealth
  • Terror Beast now has Quality 4+, Protected instead of Regeneration, lost Ensnare, and has re-worked weapons
  • Blind Behemoth now has Quality 3+, and re-worked weapons

Vampiric Undead

  • Added new unit: Stitched Butchers
  • Added new mounts for Vampire Master: Zombie Horde, Skeleton Dragon
  • Re-worked weapon upgrades for Werewolf Champion
  • Winged Terror now has Devour, and Winged Steed now has Impact(2), Tough(3), and Hooves (A1)

That's it for today. If you want to give feedback please join our Discord, and leave your comments in the "balance-feedback" section. Thank you all for your support, we hope you enjoy this patch and the new book layouts!

Note: As usual you can expect us to monitor the update over the next few weeks, and post another small patch to fix whatever bugs people may find.

Happy Wargaming!

– OPR Team

Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/onepagerules

Join our Community: DiscordFacebookTwitterReddit