I really like the idea of being able to field an army in whatever shape I choose, be that a nine trays in a row, a random "L" formation or just a bunch of single trays on their own. Do you think there will ever be rules to allow for more unique formations and associated costs? Is it even possible?

I'd love to hear your thoughts as I'm considering trying to come up with my own house rules for random formations and could use suggestions!

i dont think so, the defined formations have an associated cost, and allowing random formations would posibly be unbalanced , if not completely broken

Agreed. We don't need a cheeseball making a unit that stretches from one end of the board to the other to screen his other troops, or something just as silly.

Agree that the shown formations are established rank and file. It was armies use to get their force multipliers.

I'm going to deviate from the pack a little bit. I don't think you'll ever see a world where you can make up whatever formation you want, and the game mechanics and physical limitations of square interlocking trays means there's not a ton of options anyway. But I wouldn't put it past FFG to come up with ways to allow more creative formations than what are currently shown on the unit cards.

For example, I could imagine that an upgrade card would allow you to deploy wider than the allowed formation (for more threat) or deeper than the allowed formation (for more rerolls) and in both cases the frontage changes how the unit moves and how they can command the battlefield. Maybe these formations would be options that don't impact threat or accuracy though, and only provide the geometric value of the formation? Who knows?

I could also see a wedge formation. Just turn your "L" shaped formation and pivot the models to form a ">". In game terms, you wouldn't have side flanks which could be a real benefit, but then maybe you can't have ranks? Another negative if you had, say, a 3 or 5 tray wedge formation is that you would lose threat with each tray lost.

I don't know, it could be interesting.

I bet we'll see upgrade cards for some units that let you change the shape of the unit, either that or heroes who do it. We already have cards like column formation that let you reverse the roles of rank and files, it's not too much of a stretch that we'll see things that adjust shape.

It would also be fun to get alternate unit cards with unique unit shapes.

12 hours ago, Taki said:

I bet we'll see upgrade cards for some units that let you change the shape of the unit, either that or heroes who do it. We already have cards like column formation that let you reverse the roles of rank and files, it's not too much of a stretch that we'll see things that adjust shape.

Honestly, I don't want to see thing...1) If it is a mid game change it will slow play down, and that would be annoying enough 2) To remain balanced, which is the reason you see the set formations with point costs as opposed to WFB style of just a min unit then add what ever you want, the cards would have to also have a very specific formation you can shift into for very specific units, which honestly can be accomplished without the change of shape and just have more options similar to Column Tactics.

I feel that it is more likely we will just see different units with more unique formations...

14 hours ago, Elliphino said:

I'm going to deviate from the pack a little bit. I don't think you'll ever see a world where you can make up whatever formation you want, and the game mechanics and physical limitations of square interlocking trays means there's not a ton of options anyway. But I wouldn't put it past FFG to come up with ways to allow more creative formations than what are currently shown on the unit cards.

For example, I could imagine that an upgrade card would allow you to deploy wider than the allowed formation (for more threat) or deeper than the allowed formation (for more rerolls) and in both cases the frontage changes how the unit moves and how they can command the battlefield. Maybe these formations would be options that don't impact threat or accuracy though, and only provide the geometric value of the formation? Who knows?

I could also see a wedge formation. Just turn your "L" shaped formation and pivot the models to form a ">". In game terms, you wouldn't have side flanks which could be a real benefit, but then maybe you can't have ranks? Another negative if you had, say, a 3 or 5 tray wedge formation is that you would lose threat with each tray lost.

I don't know, it could be interesting.

I hadn't thought of a wedge formation. I really like that idea!

45 minutes ago, Hepitude said:

I hadn't thought of a wedge formation. I really like that idea!

i think it would be hard to do a wedge formation with how the trays lock together.....

2 hours ago, Klaxas said:

i think it would be hard to do a wedge formation with how the trays lock together.....

1/3/5

7 hours ago, Taki said:

1/3/5

I think you could also do a 6. Basically a 5 with an extra tray in the heart of the V. It would look like a B-2 Bomber

On 4/26/2017 at 7:55 PM, Elliphino said:

I could also see a wedge formation. Just turn your "L" shaped formation and pivot the models to form a ">". In game terms, you wouldn't have side flanks which could be a real benefit, but then maybe you can't have ranks? Another negative if you had, say, a 3 or 5 tray wedge formation is that you would lose threat with each tray lost.

I feel like this is unlikely, simply because none of the movement templates work right off the corner of a unit, and there's no good way for such a unit to square up sensibly.

That's a good point. I'll mess with it and see if I can come up with somthing.