Hi everyone,
Today we have a lot of VERY exciting updates for you, which may change how you play OPR games forever. We’ve been working very hard on these things for months, and it’s very satisfying to get them out to you, so let’s go!
AI Rules for Solo-Play
Here’s a scenario you might be familiar with: You’re finally done building and painting your newest models, you’ve built some matching terrain to go with them, you’ve put together an awesome army list to try out a new strategy… and then nobody is available to play. :(
Well that’s something you won’t have to worry about anymore, because today we’re releasing a brand new set of shiny AI Rules for solo-play. :D
The AI Rules are pretty simple to use: before the game you assign each unit a type, be it a melee unit, shooting unit, or a hybrid of both. Then once you are playing you randomly determine which unit activates next, and depending on its unit type you follow a very straight forward decision tree to see what it does next.
For those of you that want to take things one step further the AI Rules also come with guidelines on how to randomly create AI armies, randomly place objectives, randomly deploy AI armies, and details on how to handle terrain, special rules, spell casting, etc.
These rules are perfect to play solo games against the AI, play coop games with multiple players against the AI, play mixed games with teams of players and AI, or even just play games of AI vs AI and watch them fight to the death!
Additionally these rules can serve as a baseline for you to create you own AI rules, come up with narrative scenarios, or do whatever else your heart desires. Hell, you could even write a full single-player campaign using these rules, so the possibilities are endless.
The AI rules are available for both big battle games as well as skirmish games, and we’re going to be refining the over time. Any and all feedback is very welcome here, because we’re sure that some AI moves that make complete sense in our heads won’t make any sense in yours, so let us know where we messed up!
Quickplay Armies
Quickplay Armies are pre-made army lists designed to be ready to play out of the box, without the need to count point costs or create your own lists. They are the perfect thing to dip your toes into new armies and see if you like them!
To give you a taste of the new AI Rules we’ve come up with a classic sci-fi battle of soldiers fighting off hordes of zombie-like creatures. This is a GF: Firefight set and we recommend playing a game as the Rebel Guerrillas against the AI first and then playing as the Infected Colonies against the AI second… there’s nothing like seeing a fight from both sides!
This week’s Quickplay Armies: Rebel Guerrillas vs Infected Colonies
Rebel Guerrillas
- 1x Commander w/ Inspiring, Shotgun & Energy Sword
- 3x Rebels w/ 1x Minigun & 1x Gun Drone
- 3x Rebels w/ 1x Plasma Rifle & 1x Gun Drone
- 1x Chelonian w/ Wrist-Flamer & Wrist-GL
Infected Colonies
- 1x Monstrous Tyrant
- 3x Zombies
- 3x Infected w/ 1x Infected Dog, 1x Pistol & CCW
- 3x Infected w/ 1x Grenade Launcher
- 1x Infected Hunter
The Rebel Guerrillas in this set focus on bringing a variety of different ranged weapons and Gun Drone to try and fend off the infected from a distance. The list comes which a Chelonian that can be very deadly up close, whilst the Commander can keep his soldiers in the fight with his Inspiring rule.
The Infected Colonies on the other side focus on a mass of mindless fighters backed up by a brutal Monstrous Tyrant. Whilst the majority of the army is not very strong their numbers shouldn’t be underestimated, and watch out for the Infected Hunter who can pounce at enemies from around corners and take them out in one swipe.
New Army Books Layout
Is it finally time to update our army books with the new look? Yes it definitely is!
Over the next months we’re going to be updating all of our existing army books to a new layout, which should make them look a lot better than what we have now. You can expect each army book to come with a cool thematic illustration, a clean and pretty font, as well as some stylish page borders.
We’d love to show you a preview of what they’ll look like, but due to some last minute changes we can’t. The only thing we can say is that we’re going to keep the current format, so each army should still be on just 1-2 pages as they are now.
Because there are a grand total of 86 files to be updated we won’t be able to do it all at once, so instead we’re going to be gradually releasing the new look as we go. Don’t worry though, all armies are going to continue to be available, so if your army is at the bottom of the list you’re not going to be left out whilst we do this.
Below you can see the order we’re going to be tackle the armies in. This is going to be done in 4 waves, each one updating about 20 files. If everything goes according to plan I will release a new wave every 2 weeks, else I will release a new wave every 4 weeks.
Grimdark Future
Wave 1 – Battle Brothers & Detachments, Orc Marauders, Human Defense Force, Alien Hives, TAO Coalition
Wave 2 – Havoc Brothers & Disciples, Robot Legions, Battle Sisters, Dwarf Guilds, Mercenaries
Wave 3 – Soul-Snatchers, Titan Lords, High Elf Fleets, Wormhole Daemons, Machine Cult
Wave 4 – Ratmen Clans, Dark Elf Raiders, Infected Colonies, Rebel Guerrillas, Gangs of Hive City
Age of Fantasy
Wave 1 – Dwarves, Vampiric Undead, Mummified Undead, Humans, Orcs, Goblins
Wave 2 – Chivalrous Kingdoms, Ratmen, High Elves, Havoc Warriors & Disciples, Beastmen
Wave 3 – Wood Elves, Saurians, Dark Elves, Ogres, Rift Daemons
Wave 4 – Eternal Wardens, Kingdom of Angels, Deep-Sea Elves, Ghostly Undead, Worshippers of the Spire
Upcoming Balance Changes
Since we’re going to have to touch up every single army in the game anyway we’re going to be taking this opportunity to make some balance changes to the game.
We’re not going to go into too much detail yet, that is something we’ll reserve for future weekly news posts, but you should know that we’re going to be reviewing every single unit and army to see if they need a re-balancing. If you felt like your army was lacking in some oomph you’ll probably get it with these changes. :)
The changes that are coming aren’t going to be too big, as this is not a switch to 3rd edition, but they’re going to be significant enough that you’re going to feel a difference.
The biggest things that you can expect are some much needed reviews of weapon upgrade lists to give units more tools to work with, a complete overhaul of all spell lists to make them more balanced and consistent, and overall a lot of standardization across the board to make units feel appropriate for their type.
Note that also these changes are all going to be points balanced with the current armies, so just because your army will be updated on wave 4 doesn’t mean that suddenly it’s not viable anymore or that you will be at a disadvantage.
Game Updates & Patch Notes
Finally let’s get to this month’s big game updates!
As always there’s a ton of stuff here, so let me just highlight the most important changes:
- Psychics and Wizards can now either cast a spell or block a spell each round, and we’ve modified the way blocking works so that level 3 casters have a better chance at blocking than level 1 casters
- In skirmish games we clarified that when splitting melee attacks between multiple models they all get to strike back
- Also in skirmish rout tests are now taken at the end of the round, this way special rules that affect morale until the end of the round still apply
- Another skirmish one, when units with Tough(X) are stunned but haven’t taken at least X wounds yet, shooting hits and charges won’t instantly kill them, but instead they will take an additional wound
- For supporters on Patreon, the Command & Control rules from the Full Rulebooks have been re-worked to be clearer
Alright that’s enough, now to the full patch notes:
General
- Clarified that markers become neutral if both players are seizing them at the end of the round
- Modified the Psychic/Wizard rules so that they can either cast or block a spell each round, and they must roll higher than the caster to block
Firefight & Skirmish
- Clarified that when attacking multiple units in melee they all get to strike back
- Rout Tests are now taken at the end of he round
- Clarified that Blast weapons now spread hits among targets within 3″
- Flying units may now jump gaps without having to roll for it
- Tough units that take hits or are charged whilst Stunned take 1 wound instead of being Knocked Out, unless they already have X wounds
- Damage from Falling was re-worked to affect high defense units more
Campaign Rules
- Clarified the Suppressor hero specialization trait
- Heroes become 5pts more expensive for each specialization trait they get
Full Rulebooks
- Re-worked the Command & Control rules to be clearer
Grimdark Future
Alien Hives
- Added new unit: Massive Spore
- Re-worked the Explosive Head rule so that all types of spores can’t be pinned anymore
- Increased the Blast value of Spore Mortars for consistency
- Invasion Spores can now be upgraded to spit spores
Battle Brothers
- Fixed cost of Raven Heavy Gunship
Havoc Brothers
- Fixed Infernal Brutes upgrades list
Havoc Brother Disciples
- Added new unit: Greater Lord of Change
- Fixed the Plague Flail upgrade for the Plague Destroyers
High Elf Fleets
- The Seer Council doesn’t count as a hero anymore
- Re-worked the Wraith Titan’s upgrade list
Human Defense Force
- Re-worked the Executioner special rule (Firefight)
Machine Cult
- Added new unit: Machine Deacon
- Modified EMP rule to be more consistent
Mercenaries – Elven Jesters
- Fixed upgrade table C
- Modified EMP rule to be more consistent
Mercenaries – Feudal Guard
- Added new unit: Feudal Cavalry
- Added new weapon options to most units
- Generals and Champions can now take Honor Doctrine
- Feudal Elites now have Honor Doctrine as an option instead of a must
Orc Marauders
- Added new unit: Goblin Tank
Robot Legions
- The Nanobot Wraith-Shard’s Spirit Attack now has +4 attacks and -1 AP
- Spider Robots now have +2 attacks, -6 tough and more upgrade options
Soul-Snatchers
TAO Coalition
- Lowered cost of Missile Pod in upgrade list A to 20pts
Age of Fantasy
Goblins
- Re-worked the Surprise! special rule to work better in AoFS
Humans
- Fixed upgrade list for Wizards
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That’s it folks, once again a huge update for you, hope you all enjoyed it. :D
Happy Wargaming!
– Gaetano
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