This week in Heresy Land, we have been landed with the revelation that the old Rites of War are now being subdivided down into items that will be called Tactica (effecting the entire army); Advanced Reactions (effecting a unit); and Gambits (effecting single miniatures - and champions at that).
At a legion level, it is clear that there will be some effort present to retain the old feel of the legion and their play styles. This is clear from the Space Wolves example in the Warhammer Community, and the World Eaters "Lost to the Nails" which is very cool. However, I am also very cautious as clearly we are not seeing the full picture emerge just yet. I really want to see the character of the legions come out more clearly.
The Gambits are a bit hit and miss for me. The Raven Guard example is nice enough and perhaps a prime example of what we might expect from a legion who focuses on a quick dispatch. I also like Perturabo's gun them down for daring to challenge him.
The Advanced Reactions are clearly going to remain in play. The Dark Angels example of repeating a fight phase is interesting and when timed well is going to swing games. And of course, the Night Lords better part of valour is very, shall we say, fitting.
In addition to all of this, we are still seeing the focus on centurions unlocking other parts of the loose confederation of force organisation chart elements. Hopefully we will see some legions get some nice unlocks, although the differentiation for Apex ones for some legions makes me want to hold my breath.
Overall, I now have mixed views, but largely because I have mixed sight of all of this. We know that we are missing critical parts of the puzzle here at this point in time. Without seeing all the parts together, its hard to know how everything is going to hang together. Put in a more blunt fashion: the success of this edition is really going to depend on how the legions special rules have been handled. From what I'm seeing some of this is very flavourful, but we need to wait to see what the rest looks like.
Finally, I note that there cannot be too many more reveals about third edition left to see. We have seen pretty much every phase of the game (not so much psychic abilities arguably). Hence here's my prediction: we are a matter of weeks away from pre-order now. I'm even going to suggest by the end of July. I have no sources for this claim other than my untrustworthy gut instincts based on the fact we've seen most juicy reveals already.
