A new set of Warhammer FAQs have been released, this time including the new Orcs and Goblins book. For us Greenskins, in my view some of the more important "changes" were:
- You may use the General's Inspiring Presence, you must not.
This was such a strange and frustrating thing, when if the Giant was running next to the Orc (or even Goblin) general you had to use the Inspiring Presence, not the Giant's leadership of 10 for the breaktests. So now it's perfectly safe to deploy the Giant where he will do the most damage, close to the General or not. This was also frustrating when Lore of Death spells lowered the General's leadership from on top of his Wyvern, making everyone within 18" use his new leadership of 5 or 6. Good to have this rules hiccup fixed.
- You can now move your characters around freely within a unit as part of their regular movement, no longer needing to reform for this.
If you're a longtime reader, you will know I've had some trouble keeping my Orc Shamans in the right corners of my units in order for other units nearby to benefit from their spells (the 'Ere We Go spell buffing both the Savage Orcs and the Black Orcs, for example). Being able to move and march normally and still change where my Shaman is in the unit will be of great help for this. Also, whenever a space in the front rank is freed up, characters in the second rank will have to move forward. It's no longer possible to hide fragile characters forever, which is a welcome change.
- The Night Goblin Shamans Magic Mushrooms won't save your spell from failing if your normal power dice show less than a 3+.
This makes it a bit more risky to throw a single power dice plus the mushroom dice at, say, the Sneaky Stabbin' signature spell. A good change probably, although it does make the level 1 shamans that I like less useful.
- You are not able to reveal Nasty Skulkers to replace characters and command groups from the front rank of a unit
I think the main benefit had this been allowed would be to bring your shamans out of base contact with the enemy while still with the unit. It's a change that makes good sense, although it does mean that if you're only keeping your Goblin units in ranks of five, with a full command group and perhaps even a character, your Nasty Skulkers won't be as effective, especially not all three of them. So if you plan on bringing a full set of three, you'll have to be prepared to go wider as a unit.
