Warhammer Warbands & 'Freeform Movement': playtesting

In this post I will tell about my attempts at bringing a type of Age-of-Sigmar-like Freeform Movement into Warhammer 8th Edition rules, in the context of the Warbands rules. 
It looks very promising and close to what I've been striving for.

Previously I have discussed and tested some rules for Freeform Movement (part1, part 2, part 3), which was inspired by the unit movement mechanics present in Age of Sigmar. Being very honest, this type of unit movement was not really an innovation of Age of Sigmar: this was mostly how Skirmishers moved in 6th and 7th Edition, which was scrapped in 8th edition in favour of quadrangular units of spread-out models. The innovation that Age of Sigmar brought to it, however, was one of the great cinematic mechanics or Warhammer 40K: Pile-in.

I attempted before to introduce these Freeform Movement rules in regular Warhammer 8thEd games, and I quickly managed to slow down the game: Pile In and Retreating from Combat was great but moving large units with a fully dynamic shape was a bit of a nightmare, regardless of how useful it was tactically (dissected here). So I decided to tackle this last problem twofold: narrow down the size of the units on the table, and reduce the freeform-type movement only to Skirmishers, Fast Cavalry and units in 'Loose Formation' (a rules variant that allows nonskirmishers greater movement flexibility at the cost of Combat Resolution bonuses).

How to do this? The perfect tool already existed: Warbands.
Warhammer Warbands games are smaller-scale Warhammer games (100-499 pts), following essentially all the same rules, but allows for minimum units sizes to go below the listed value in the armybook. This allows for a greater variety of unit types to be fielded while still keeping the game small and the table less cluttered with models.
And what do you know: we found that mixing normal ranked-up units and others with high movement flexibility led to a very very interesting and tactical game.

- New roles for your good ol' units: The terrain could be explored better and many average units now gained great tactical value, as they were better able to position themselves to counter-charge (or Pile-in), and explore new battle roles as harassers or very strong strike forces where before this could only be performed by Skirmishers or Fast Cavalry. A unit in the right place (even if not a powerful one) can make much more of a difference. In this way, one can maximize the value of small-sized units which previously had to be taken in very large numbers to be in any way effective, as strategic movement now becomes much more important.

- Chained combats and combined arms strategies: because the Pile-In rule allows units within 3" of an enemy to immediately get engaged in combat, this makes combined arms defensive formations very interesting (if you charge a unit you must fight the surrounding ones). Therefore, engaging in combat and managing unit coordination becomes far more interesting than it ever was, with many more possible combinations. It also makes for massive cluster combats to get triggered very quickly, with all units entangled in the middle, and possibly leading to quicker combats and games (which I think we all are fond of).

Coordinated unit formations can advance and concentrate on enemies using Pile In, enhancing creativity in defensive strategies.

- Baiting and Retreating even better: Given that units can elect to retreat from close combat, this allows for better control of which units are commited to which fights, and allows very interesting shenanigans in controlling the battlefield. Of course, ordering a retreat is not without its risks, as the units must immediately test to Rally to see if they reorder their line or keep running. 

- Harassers become more true to form: Even better, units that before would anyway serve in harasser roles (because there was never any point to ranking them) but did NOT have the Skirmisher or Fast Cavalry rule can now benefit from the same movement flexibility. They only miss out on using Unit Standards, and the -1 to be Hit with rannged weapons (Skirmishers) or the Vanguard rule (Fast Cavalry). We are talking about things like Chaos Warhounds and Dire Wolves, who simply 'feel' like they should have been skirmishers.

Dire Wolves adopt Loose Formation to cut around terrain more easily.

- Small Elite shock troops for guerilla fighting: thanks to the Warbands rules, units composed of elite or expensive models could be now taken in small sizes (therefore more affordable), and when maneuvered correctly, say as an opportunist flanker, became very very usable assets when before they had to be taken in large numbers to have a decent cost-benefit out of them. Even better, they can be used as strike forces against enemy Commanders or wizards, as their small unit size can allow them to squeeze past bigger units and not expose themselves to a charge, and use the terrain to block any pursuit by larger units.

- Large lumbering but very steady units: Conversely, keeping one or two larger units of ranked troops added a large punch (due to the large number of Combat Resolution bonuses they can use) and provided a strong army center as they would almost always benefit from Steadfast. Even (or especially) cheap Core troops are really effective at this, as larger units can be fielded for less points. The contrast in maneuvering speed between them and 'Loose Formation' units also made the game look more realistic, as the large ranked unit slowly swivels around to face its threat, while small contigents of models jump around the battlefield, taking cover and trying to reach the enemy's backline.

Cheap core troops are very useful in large numbers against even powerful models, thanks to their ability to remain Steadfast and concentrate Combat Resolution bonuses from ranks and Standards.

 - Shooting becomes more important: with more small units to shot at, some of which possibly containing higher-points models, the chance of eliminating entire units quickly with ranged shooting becomes much more appetizing and feasible. With the added ability to explore complex battlefields, units can achieve better positioning to shoot and even embark on forward strikes to eliminate warmachines, but also have to account for...

- Better cover: with added movement flexibility and ability to explore terrain better comes the chance to set up more complex batttlefields, which provide more tactical choices for moving through cover (and avoid enemy fire) and blocking your opponent's charges.

Explore all the nooks and crannies of the battlefield by moving with Loose Formation.

- Adaptable to Warhammer Army games: Needless to say, these rules are also very easily applied to small-scale Warhammer games (500-1000 points), only forfeiting the Warbands-only rule to take ultra-small units (3-8 models, depending on listed minimum size). And because unit positioning is more elevant now, the games becomes more balanced at that scale than they used to, because more units on the table can control more of the board than before (due to their higher freedom of movement). It also used to be the case that certain units, if taken in lower points games, would have an overpowering effect on the whole game; or vice versa, in that certain armies could really only become effective at higher points levels because their units were not well-rounded enough (so they had to take many different types to deal with every threat) or because they needed certain costly synergies to make the army work. With added movement flexibility, the underdogs now have more strategic options to chose from, and therefore this is something that should appeal to the more tactical-minded players too 

- Flexible Squeezing: this is something I proposed in a previous post, as a compromise to getting rid of my rules for full flexible movement for large units, and still allowing them some ease of movement around terrain. This rule was inspired by the Kings of War ruleset, where units ignore impassable or blocking terrain while turning or pivoting, as long as they finish the movement at least 1" away from it. A great and simple idea, that can make wonders when fiddling around with large units around nasty special-effects terrain or just simply blocking terrain.

So there you have it. These 4 rules, especially in the context of the Warbands rules, work wonders.
- Pile-In
- Loose Formation
- Retreat from Combat
- Flexible Squeezing (see above)

Try them out (together or just one or two) and see how you like them. I would suggest ~300 points in a Warbands game (not too much, not too little).

Phew! Done. Now to put this together into a proper rules document I can upload...

Roll high and prosper!