Fixing WHFB – Multiple Wounds

Short one today on multiple wounds in Warhammer Fantasy. The rule is essentially that if wounded after save attempts, that wound will multiply by the multiple wound rule (2, 1d3, 1d6, etc…). I’ve always felt that this is a bit much. It only really penalizes things on the board with more than 1 wound. Basically that’s anything over man-sized (or Orc sized) and characters. The big issue I have with this is the random element is too high for kill potential. Most monsters are relying in high toughness and a mid level armor or regeneration for defense. Characters typically are low toughness and high armor and good ward saves for defense. Larger than man-sized infantry typically get the short end with a middle ground of save and toughness.

The big issue with these defenses if that you get one shot (or maybe two with Wards, etc…) to save the wound. When dealing with singular wounds this system generally works well – but when you are dealing with wound multipliers, it’s save or die.  This is compounded when looking at weapons that are extremely high strength like cannons which allow no armor saves.

Beer and Pretzel vs. Competitive.

There is a big separation in the camps in which most gamers fall.

There are those that feel that games should be fun. Relaxing. A hobby. These are your beer and pretzel gamers. For those not familiar with the term, it paints the image of a few friends around the gaming table. Having a few brewskis and munching on snacks. The same general body language of one kicking back after work and watching a movie with their significant other or catching their favorite sport team on TV. These guys don’t care about how the game ends – it’s the journey that counts. Bunch of slackers.

Then there are those gamers would are the win at all costs lot. The ones that are frothing at the mouth if they are losing. The ones that get mad when people give ‘bad tactics’ online. These are what make gaming not fun. These are the problem group – they will tell you how much you suck at life because you aren’t playing to win at a pastime.

The Necessity of Redundancy

One of the biggest tactical concepts that many newer players (and some older players) never fully realize is that of redundancy.

Redundancy is essentially having more than a single unit or type of force in a table top battle game. The importance of this is to strengthen a certain position to such a degree that an opponent cannot simply target and remove the threat. Players that hate this tactic will often refer to in in the slightly derogatory term “Spamming”. It’s a delicate balance, however. Having a lot of a good unit/item/etc, is a good thing. Having so many that it means you are lacking in other areas means that you build in tactical weakness.

A common example of this are Ork Boyz in 40k. Ork Boyz are good. They are cheap, have good combat stats, are able to bring incredible numbers. Having a bunch of Ork Boyz is a GOOD thing. But if you built an army with nothing but Ork Boyz you are weak to anything that doesn’t require massed combat troops (Vehicles for example.)