A "BasementHammer" approach to rules fixes, core scenario options and expanding the game, both for Warhammer Fantasy and Mordheim.
The Objective: enrich the Core Rules with more narrative and story, and add more options for even richer games.

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Monday, October 5, 2015

Rules Patch: Battle Standard v8.1

In Warhammer 8th Edition, the 'Hold Your Ground' rule granted by the Battle Standard, which in 7th Edition granted re-rolls to Break tests, changed to allow re-rolls to *ALL* kinds of Leadership tests. This had a tremendous stabilizing impact when coupled with the General's Inspiring Presence.

PROBLEM: This change led to an increase in the benefits of maintaining as many units as possible within "the bubble": units within range of both the General's Inspiring Presence and Hold Your Ground not only re-roll Break tests at high Ld, but also swift reform tests, Panic tests, Frenzy tests, Fear tests, etc etc. This makes it so that, for the vast majority of armies, there are few benefits for mobilizing units outside this big clump, and that lessened the diversity of strategies.
SOLUTION: the 'Hold Your Ground' rule grants units within 12" the ability to re-roll Break tests and Panic tests.

This change puts more visibility on how important it is to keep Frenzied units under control, does not make swift reforms a certainty, and certainly brings back Fear and Terror as offensive mechanics to look out for, even in the thick of the front-line.
Given the huge value that re-rolling Break tests already is, the necessity of the Battle Standard in itself does not decrease in the slightest, but opens up opportunities for other rules to be relevant and interact more with strategies.