Man these rules look sweet. Me and my bro are gonna have a game tomorrow. Just need to decide what to proxy Tau Forge Fathers vs Ork Marauders maybe:)

Warning, long post alert.

Ok, so me and my brother just played our first game of Warpath. Now let me start by saying that we both love Kings of War, and Mantic Games as a whole. Unfortunately there were good points and bad points to our match. We are comparing this to 40k, as this is where our Sci-Fi wargaming experience lies, and it will also be Warpaths main competitor. Also, this is all first impressions from one game, things may change as we play more.

First the good.

Having the BFGs able to fire at seperate targets is great, no more wasting an entire squad’s shooting to fire one rocket etc. The varied weapon options also add a certain versatility to the units that 40k often lacks.

The vehicle movement was great, from what we saw of it. Having to actually maneouver vehicles is much more interesting than infinite pivoting etc. from 40k. It also prevents silliness like “strafing” along board edges to prevent rear armour shots.

The Forgefather list is awesome. I admitedly was rather sceptical when I first heard about Squats, but the list really is cool. Plus the Rook bloody rocks.

The rules are also very easy to learn. Especially if you have played KoW. I already feel as though I know the rules fairly well after a single game.

I also really liked having modifiers. They add a nice bit of complexity to the shooting, and allows cover to work much better than 40k’s “everyone gets carapace armour” system.

Now, for some bad points.

First, there seems to be some major balance issues. The Marauder list seems quite a bit weaker than the Forgefathers. Mainly due to their shooting being so powerful. Most of the Marauder units were wiped off the board without ever firing a shot. Let alone coming anywhere close to melee range. There wasn’t a single melee fight in the match. And this was with them in cover and at long range too. Also, the Ordnance weapons seem ridiculously overpowered. The Jotun did more damage than most of the Forgefather army put together. If it was double the cost it is, it might be more acceptable. The Marauder Big Shell Gun was also way too effective. It was literally the only Marauder unit to do any damage. for 50 points, it can pretty much wipe out a unit with each shot, providing it hits. Note that it also ignores most modifiers to hit.

Second, the game seems to favour shooty armies over melee ones. The lack of restrictions to where objectives are placed (in your deployment zone, being the obvious place to put them) allows a shooty army to sit back and just blow the melee army off the board without ever having to move. In contrast, melee armies will have to slog over to the enemy before they can bring their weapons to bear. The main problem with this is again, that Forgefather firepower. Units dont last 2 seconds under fire from them. The only solution seems to be to mechanise every unit, which is a problem with 40k too really. I recommend that objectives should have to be placed outside the deployment zones, to force shooty armies to atleast move somewhat.

We feel as though the units could do with a seperate to hit with range and melee. This would allow for a greater diviersity of units, as when there are 8+armies, they will end up rather samey it seems. Also, we feel as though seperate weapon profiles are needed for all guns, not just BFGs. Basically as it is now, all units feel the same, regardless of what gun they are firing. Obviously, this may lead to stagnation. Even KoW has Crossbow, Bow, Handgun etc.
Also, seperate movement values should be implemented. KoW has it, so why doesn’t Warpath? having all armies the same speed just seems boring. Also, any unit that is supposed to be fast, will have to rely on special rules, and it just seems as though a number would be easier.

The Nerve system, whilst great for KoW, doesn’t quite fit a skirmish game to our eyes. Seeing a giant mortar shell hit a unit, and none of them die, just seems too abstract, and quite frankly, dull. Also, you can blow a unit to within an inch of its life, and it still puts out just as much firepower, basically you arent rewarded till they completely dead(routed).

Tanks, we feel could use more firepower. As it is, they just seem lackluster compared to the mighty ordnance. Maybe allow the tanks main gun to be selected from the ordnance list? or else another set of weapons somewhere between BFG and Ordnance in power.

Also, thematically, the game feels like playing KoW with a 40k army. It basically feels like KoW but with 40k movement and units. The game could use some key defining features, to seperate it from both 40k and KoW.

Sorry for the long post, and please dont read this as a flame post, I love the idea of Warpath, it just needs some work before it is on par with either KoW or 40k.