9th Edition Brainstorming - Alpha Legion Edition

I AM SNEAKY

Games Workshop has been kind enough to release the short version of the rules at this point.  I've taken a look at that and done some vaguely-informed speculating already.

At this point we're still missing a few details -
-Revised points costs
-Full details on missions
-Full details on core stratagems
-Full details on force org charts

I do think we have enough data on the force org charts to make some educated guesses - Battalion, Patrol, and the Lord of War detachments are enough for us.

There's actually some good news - at a glance, Alpha Legion at least has a decent toolbox of stratagems and the like that'll help us.

What do Core Rules Mean For Us?
1) Max of +1/-1 Modifiers - OH NOES(?)
I imagine that a lot of Alpha Legion folks (and probably some Raven Guard folks, and Aeldari, and probably some others) picked up on this pretty quick.  Does it hurt survivability of infantry at a basic level?  Eh, sometimes.  How often were you going to give more than one unit a -2 to hit?

It's not that hard to get units to -2 to hit or more between Dark Apostles and Miasma of Pestilence (for those who can take the Mark of Nurgle - IE the Possessed).  Or you could add relics and warlord traits - IE, Clandestine, or the Shade Blade.

My follow-on question - how many things does Alpha Legion actually try to use this combo on? 

We really kind of want the Mark of Slaanesh on our shooty stuff - who cares about defense when the target's dead.  Also, we can put our important guns behind other units and use Conceal to make sure the enemy has to shoot other stuff first.

Ok, so that leaves us with melee troopers - which is pretty much "Possessed" and "Demon Princes" - demon princes should be leveraging their character status for protection.

Note that Possessed still kind of like it because it works in melee, but Possessed may still benefit from having other Demons around for daemonic loci.  Slaaneshi demons come to mind with the whole 'advance and charge' thing.

2) Coherency and Screening Units - We Got Smaller
Cultist utility as screening units may take a hit based on the new coherency rules.  Don't expect your screens to be as large - a minimum-sized cultists squad covers less than half the space it used to.

This impacts anyone larger than 5 guys.  It means that most of our stuff cars about it, outside of Havocs and Obliterators.

If you're bringing 3 cultist squads to fill out a battalion (and I'm guessing we probably still will be) just know that they won't block off as much space. 

Note also that we have access to Scrambled Coordinates - so we can push folks back 12".  This'll help us with pushing anyone arriving from reserves back out of assault and rapid-fire range, which is what we generally care about.

3) Morale - At Least We Won't Have To Feed The Cultists
Morale got a few changes - you only lose one guy for sure when you fail morale.  Next up, though, is attrition - you roll 1d6 per model, and on a 1 they run away.  If you are under half-strength, that attrition roll takes a -1.  Morale gets a little less predictable, but it's not going to be hard to knock out low-leadership, low-save, low-toughness units.

I mean, we kind of knew this already.  Ld6 means there's always room for failure if anyone dies.

4) Command Phase
Getting 1 CP a turn is going to help - Chaos has plenty of awesome stratagems.  The only vague concern I have about the 'command phase' is that I suspect a lot of "beginning of turn" effects will get moved here.  Hopefully Dark Apostle prayers will remain "at the beginning of the round."

5) Force Org Chart Changes - Chaos has Friends, Really
Here's our mixed bag.  If you were playing pure Alpha Legion, the biggest difference is going to be in how many HQs you want to bring.  Double battalion was pretty normal for 2k, which meant 4 HQs and six troops. 

If you're skipping out on multiple Lords of War, you might as well go with a battalion - 2 HQs and 3 troops is reasonable.  You've got room for another HQ - and we have good ones.

If you're bringing in allies or mixing Chaos, the question's going to be 'what do you need?' because that's gonna cost CP.  Look at what units you need from either other Legions or the Demon Codex.

The thing that really hurts is the eye-watering 6CP to bring a Superheavy Detachment.  I've been mucking around with 3x Lords of Skulls (or 2x Lord of Skulls and a Kytan Ravager) and that's a giant kick to the CP.  Then again, that list was a bit more CP-efficient than others, since it mostly cared about popping the Daemonforge stratagem 1-2 times a turn and maybe re-rolling a psychic test. And possibly a charge.

Mixing Chaos knights with the chaos codex is a little more like 'mixing Chaos marines with Chaos Knights' - based on spoilers, the Renegade Knight book will have rules for taking a Superheavy Detachment without paying CP, provided the warlord is in said detachment.

Relics, Warlord Traits, and Stratagems
GW is tweaking points for 9th, so your lists are going to get smaller.  That being said, one of the things I like about Alpha Legion is that AL has a pretty solid tool kit at its disposal with respect to warlord traits, relics and stratagems.  Note that the Chaos Marine codex already has some solid ones - I'd say the stars of the show tend to be "Veterans of the Long War" and "Endless Cacophony."  If you've seen CSM on the table, you've seen them.

Hydra's Wail
Can everyone regenerate CP every turn?  Yes.  That's the biggest hit the Wail took.  You don't have to take any gear to get it.  However, to get the most out of it, you want to play it against an enemy that's going to plan on dropping 3-4 stratagems in a given turn - bonus points if they have defensive stratagems.

It won't bankrupt them on hot dice.  I'm a little sad, since this was one of my go-to relics. 

Clandestine & the Shade Blade
The perk of these items - a warlord trait and relic, respectively - was that they added a -1 to hit to you.  Well, that doesn't stack any more. 

I suppose if you want to give a Warlord trait to a Lord Discordant, or something else that's going to get into melee, then Clandestine has some use. 

I can't really say I'm a fan of the Shade Blade - S5 is nice, but the 1d3 damage is 'eh.'  If you're going up against multi-wound models, reliability matters. 

Viper's Bite + Headhunter
Killing characters is always great.  Screening changed a little with the whole "Look out, Sir!" rules - characters need to be next to something now - but this still ignores it in hilarious fashion.  Infantry screens are so-so, but being next to a vehicle means you gotta pop a tank to get it out.

Master of Diversion
This warlord trait is almost always going to be useful.  Being able to redeploy units is awesome.  Never underestimate it.  This is pretty much my go-to for its utility.  I'll probably take Viper's Bite + Headhunter on someone with a stratagem, as that guy's gonna draw fire after he splatters a VIP's brains.

Conceal
Since we can't get more than a -1 to hit vs. shooting anyway, the next best thing is "hahaha, you can't shoot me anyway."  2CP is a bit more affordable now that we start with 12CP and we get 1CP per turn back.

Scrambled Coordinates
GW's teased the part where just about anyone can pay CP now to come in off board edges from reserves.  There are a handful of units that pay extra to say "No, you come in more than 12 inches away instead of 9 inches."

Trust me, that 'more than 12' is important - it means you categorically are NOT assaulting the target, and odds are that you're not rapid-firing (generally speaking).  Sure, some stuff has a 24" shot, but you were never going to screen that anyway.

Ambush
As above - reserves are gonna be more common, so someone might as well catch bullets.  And since we have more CP, using this stratagem isn't so bad.

Devastation Battery / Punishing Volley
This is build-specific - you have to take Havocs or Obliterators and pay a CP for the detachment upgrade.  The reason you take this is because if you go second, you can use a stratagem to have Obliterators (or havocs, I guess) shoot something during your opponent's turn, and then you can use Conceal to make sure they live another turn.

I say 'Oblits' because if I'm not going second, I can leave them in reserve and drop them in later.

This is plenty affordable, especially with regenerating CP.  If you're turned off by the randomness of Obliterators, think about what they can do after someone moves into range. 

Soulforged Pack
This one's going to be a little harder to gauge.  If you are taking it on our smaller demon engines, it's not bad - you're out one CP.  If you are going to use it with Lords of Skulls - the question becomes "Do I really want to advance and charge?" because you're out 6CP for the LoS detachment, and the main reason you'd take Soulforged Pack is the "advance and charge" stratagem.

The Shape of Armies to Come
My gut says that pure Alpha Legion is probably going to build towards a Battalion at 2000 points.

I suspect that I'll start out with a sorcerer, a dark apostle (and friends), and 30 cultists still.

Sorcerers are probably going to stay just because of the utility of our psychic powers.  The Dark Apostle is too useful as a buff bot - prayers TBD.

Cultists are kind of a "we'll see."  Early leaks indicate that the point cost is up on the cultists.  They're taking a hit from morale and coherency rules.

Our troops choices are still going to be something like the following -
-10 cultists (cheap, takes up space)
-20-30 cultists (not cheap, takes up more space)
-5 marines (relative cost TBD, but has heavy weapon)
-10 marines (definitely not cheap, but has a couple heavy weapons and durability)

It's all going to be about what our guys cost, now.  I have ideas about allies, but I want to see what I'm out in terms of points and CP.

The other concept I want to play with is still 3 Lords of Skulls, but I've still got to build one.  Pretty sure I'll be taking a Patrol detachment with that.

9th Edition - Unit Coherency and Screening

By now I imagine most folks have noticed that the 9th edition rules are out.  At least, the short ones are - we haven't seen all the detachments yet, or the core stratagems.

I've already done a bit of thinking about the impacts of them - and if you're like me, you like not getting charged right off the bat.

This means you bring screens.  And if you like screens, you're definitely going to pay attention to the new unit coherency rules.  I figure that a visual demonstration is going to be worth a lot more than a few words.

The Old Rules

-horizontal coherencies is 2" between models

-vertical coherency is 6" between models

-if you are out of coherency, move into coherency next time.

The New Rules

-horizontal coherency is 2"

-vertical coherency is 5"

-if you are out of coherency, there's a coherency check during the morale phase - and those units just bail out. (But aren't casualties for Morale purposes

-Units with 6+ models treat coherency different - models must be in unit coherency w/ 2 models instead of one.

This last one is the biggest change for large units.  I think the easiest way to show it is visually.

A Brief Demonstration - Admittedly in a Vacuum

Our Stars

 I'll start with a typical unit employed for screening - a minimum-sized unit of cultists.  Everyone knows and loves them.  They're cheap.  They fill a troops slot if you need that.  Their main strength is that they take up space - if they're here, you can't deep strike close to them, and unless you kill them first, they might block an assault for a turn.

If anyone's asking, these are some of my cultists I use with my Alpha Legion - filed off the GSC logos.

If there are several squads of them, ignoring them means they might claim objectives or eventually chip away at something.

Screens in 8th

Putting the 'chain' in Daisy Chain

 Ten guys on 20mm bases two inches apart can spread out about 25-26".  No one arrives from reserves within 9" of them - so one unit can deny a heap of space.

9th Edition Coherency

More daisy, not so much chain

 This is a unit with more than 6 models, so they have to be in coherency with 2 models instead of one.  This gets a vote on how much we can spread out.  As you can see, it's not as much.  I'm not sure I could spread out a ton more - I might eke out a fraction here and there and make it exactly two inches, but that's about it.

As you can see, we're less than half as broad - we're 11" and change wide, and 4 inches deep.  The depth part is negotiable if you want to slap them on the front line - but that's about as wide as a 10-man unit gets.

How Do I get Back to that Sweet, Large Footprint?

Phone a friend time!

 So I grabbed another cheap screening unit - if you look closely, you'll notice that's a ten-pack of brimstone horrors.  For the sake of this experiment, it's deployed in coherency with the cultists as though it was one unit.

Initial Thoughts After Seeing Pictures

1) Screen Footprint Reduction - Ouch

Ok, so this one's obvious - especially from the pictures.  Your large screening units are not going to cover as much ground.  They're going to a little less than half of it.

2) 12" Denial Bubbles Are More Valuable

Some troops have an innate "no one comes in from reserves" bubble of 12" due to abilities.  Others can get it from stratagems.  As screening units get smaller footprints, anything that increases it becomes more valuable.

3) Screening Is Still Important

Lots of armies already have units that hop out of reserves - terminators and Crisis Suits fall out of deep strike.  Demons hop out of the warp.  Necrons hop out of...wherever they do.  The list goes on.  Also, note that you can pay CP to walk on a table edge in 9th.

Screens matter because screens push that out.  Melee units and short-ranged shooty units care about screens, but anyone with 24" guns is most likely to just laugh and shoot anyway because they've got range.

4) You'll still probably want to bring some screens

Obviously it's a bit early to make predictions about the meta for 9th - but considering that there's even more options for deployment shenanigans than before, I'll be surprised if we don't see mid-field infiltrators or a couple cheap backfield squads.

Next Steps

Obviously, we'll still need data on what point costs turn into.  Cheap screens are useful.  Multi-purpose screens are great too - if you can take up space and kill things, that's useful.  However, the big question is going to be "what do cheap units like Brimstone Horrors and Chaos Cultists cost?"

Because honestly, those guys exist to take up space.  You bring them to fill out a force org chart and to take up space - either on objectives or in front of something important.

A final bit of a laugh

So I've played the game off and on for a minute - I recall blast templates being a thing.  Ironically, now there are large units clustered together - what used to be spray and blast weapons are more effective against them - AND no one's gonna waste time arguing about who's under what stupid template.  GREAT SUCCESS.

9th Edition - First Impression of New Rules

We've been waiting for a hot minute, but finally, GW's kicked out the 'core' rules - so let's SPECULATE! BECAUSE THE SKY IS FALLING!

No, seriously.  It's time to actually read something and think about it.

DISCLAIMER - this is a first impression.  More is INVARIABLY going to emerge after experience, games, and more reads.  This is meant to be thought-provoking.

SCOPE
This is based on the rules leaked on 2 July - the core rules.  It doesn't include all the detachments and all the missions or scoring.  It includes the basic turn structure, though, which is a fair amount to digest.

Once we have those, we'll have an idea where 9th might go.  I mean, we'll then need to see point values, and we'll have the stage set.  Then people might play games if Nurgle isn't making the tallyman work overtime.

That being said, I'll take it from the top, and focus on changes from 8th.

Unit Coherency
This is going to be a change-up.  Note that unit coherency now changes based on unit size.  If you're 1-5 guys, it's the good ol' 2" between guys.  If you're 6+ dudes, you now have to be in coherency with two guys.  Also, if you're not in that coherency, you lose guys - but at least they don't count for morale purposes.

The short version - unit footprint is getting smaller.

The long version - screening units have a much smaller footprint.  Combined with what we know about strategic reserves, life's gonna get interesting.

Dice Modifiers
Well, we got clarification here, but it's more or less what's expected - at the end of the day, you can't have more than +1 or -1 to a dice roll.

So, you can layer multiple -1s to hit to counter a +1 to hit, though - so it might be worth bringing multiple buffs/de-buffs in case you want or need to stack them, or spread them out.  I'm not sure how practical it's going to be, though.

The question, of course, is going to be "What kind of buffs to do I want to bring?" which assumes, of course, that you've got a variety.

All in all, this is a hit to some armies, but probably a decent balance move.

Modifying Characteristics
Hey, at least we got an order of operations in the book - I'll take it.

Turn Phases
We now have a 'command phase' - you'll definitely get a CP during it for being battle-forged.

My follow-on question - there are a lot of "at the beginning of your turn" abilities, and some "beginning of the round" abilities.  Are one or both of these going here?  I suspect that "beginning of your turn" abilities will now be "command phase" abilities.  Hopefully 'beginning of the round' abilities stay there - chaplains, etc. will feel a bit of a hit.

Move Phase
There are three standouts here -

First off, your unit chooses from one of four things - 'move', 'stand still', 'advance' and 'fall back' - which means you can't have some dudes shuffle and the heavy weapon guy stand still.  I'm ok with this clarity, for the most part.

Falling back disables psychic powers this time around, though - that's gonna take some getting used to, assuming you had powers.  Alternatively, you can lock up psykers in melee and make them wonder if they want to be there.

'Fly' no longer lets you fall back and shoot, which is sad.  Or glad, depending on whether you liked Tau.  Insert sad Riptide noises [HERE]

Reserves
Note that you don't have to come on by turn three - you only die at the end of the game.  Kind of expected, given the changes to aircraft and the fact you can pay CP to keep dudes in reserve, per the leaks/previews we've had.

Transports
Now you can't hop into one if you're engaged.  I'll admit I'm rusty on transport rules because I didn't see a ton of them, and I sure didn't see a lot of folks get back into them.

Aircraft
Pretty sure most of this already got previewed - but at least now flying off the table isn't a bad thing, and it might even be useful.  Then again, removing a target means it makes the other guy's shooting phase that much easier.

Psychic Phase
At a glance, it looks like nothing really changed.  It looks like they just codified 'you get to try each power 1x per turn unless it's Smite' and "Smite gets harder each time you try it."

Shooting Phase in General
A lot of this looks like housekeeping/codifying stuff - like "pick all your targets first" which just means "might want to think about math and odds."

The blast weapon buff is pretty nice - minimum 3 hits, max hits on 11+ - is going to help, and blast weapons are going to be at a premium since screening got a LOT harder.


Shooting Phase - Look Out, Sir
Character screening got a little more complicated, but again this got previewed.  I'm largely ok with this.  Mostly, you just need to be within 3" of another unit or vehicle - you can't 'screen' a character with that tactical squad that's a foot away.  And you can't screen a character with a character, but I'm pretty sure that was already a thing.

Basically, bring a squad to hide behind.  Bring two.  Or hide behind a tank or two.  Or just have more than 9 wounds and be sad.

Shooting Phase - Big Guns Never Tire
I think a lot of folks are psyched about this - even if you're not a big melee monstrosity, you can still defend yourself a little. However, -1 to hit from heavy weapons (and no blast weapons) is going to hurt.

You can always gamble and hope you scraped off everyone attached to you - but you have to declare all your targets. (So you can try to dump your backup weapons into some randos climbing on your hull, hope they die, and dump a battle cannon onto something else.  Either you kill 'em and shoot someone else in the bargain, OR lose the battle cannon shot. Math is your friend!)

Ranged Weapon Types
Infantry take a -1 to hit after moving and shooting heavy weapons.  That's the big change here.  Note, though, that if you're already taking a -1 to hit at a target and you need to move, well, you're not losing anything else at least.

The big change here is blast weapons - they depend on the number of dudes in the unit.
1-5 guys - roll for number of attacks
6-10 guys - roll, but it's minimum of 3
11+ guys - max attacks

Can't shoot into Engagement Range if you're a vehicle, which is sad.  Blast weapons can put out the volume of shots, now.

Making Attacks
Wounding, mortal wounds, and damage look pretty unchanged from what we knew.

Charging
The biggest change I see off-hand is the change to multi-charges.  You either make all your charges, or none of them.

Overwatch has also been changed - you need rules or a stratagem to overwatch.  Honestly I'm not too miffed about it; overwatch is either heavily influenced by army stratagems (IE - Tau, Iron Hands, etc.), weapon types (...why are you charging flamers again?) or lucky dice (Like that time a Hellwright on Dark Abeyant blew up a near-mint Knight Armiger on overwatch.  Don't think about the odds.)

Elgibility to fight got a slight change (that will probably be easier to explain with pictures).  You can fight if you're in engagement range, which is an inch.  You can also fight if you're within half an inch of a friendly who's within half an inch of an enemy.

Morale Phase
Morale got a change as well, but the impact is a little more variable.

You still take a morale check based on casualties.  Dead guys + 1d6 vs. leadership.  If you roll a 1, you auto-pass.  If you roll higher, one guy runs away, and THEN, attrition! Drop 1d6 per guy, and on a 1 they run.

Casualties are going to be more variable, based on the number of survivors.  You're going to lose 1 guy per failed morale check, and could assume another 1 in 6 will flee.  (It's not perfect math, but it's a reasonable enough guess for you to go with.)

So let's take a unit of 20 guys at Ld10.  Kill 10.
8th Edition Ld Check
-straight dice - between 1 and 6 flee.

9th Edition Ld Check
- 1/6 chance to auto-pass.
-when you fail because your dice hate you, 1 dude flees, and out of the remaining 9, 1.5 flees, since you're above half-strength.
-Note that if you get lower than half-strength, it gets worse, since the combat attrition takes a -1 modifier. (so there's a 1/3 chance of fleeing, vs. a 1/6 chance. Ouch.)

Short version - math is going to be involved, and I think we'll probably still have the 2CP auto-pass stratagem.

Note that the coherency check occurs here as well, but doesn't count for morale.

On Objective Markers
The rules codify that an objective marker's a 40mm base, and spell out how close you have to be to claim it.  I'm ok with this, since it puts everyone on the same page.  There's nothing wrong with standardization.

On new table sizes
It looks like you still start 24" away from each other, so I'm not sure how much of a difference it'll be.  At most you just use your old tables and mark off a couple inches on either side.  Blammo, done.

In Summary
I remain cautiously optimistic.  The biggest changes I see are as follows -

-unit coherency gets a vote on screens
-tactical reserves & widespread availability thereof
-level playing field of CP
-dice modifiers limited to +1/-1
-multi-charges are all-or-nothing
-vehicles/monsters get a little mobility back with move-and-shoot

Now I just have to actually, y'know, play some games and get ahold of new point values, rules, etc.

9th Edition Cometh - Reckless Speculation Time

A wise man once said that opinions are like children - anyone can have them, but not everyone should.

Comedy
I will always be amused by people who run around screaming about how the sky is falling.  The game is changing.  That's what the game does.  If you started in 8th, I absolutely understand some nerves about an edition change since it's the first time it's happened.


What Do We Actually Know
We won't know the full extent of changes until you see actual rules.

That being said, some folks have done a fine job of collecting what GW has actually told us - and I'm definitely not going to do it myself.  Blood of Kittens has a nice compilation of it - might as well look at that.

Highlights
There's a LOT of stuff that's out there - so I'm going to pick out the stuff that jumps out at me as 'important' in terms of impact on gameplay.  Some of it's fairly obvious, but it's still worth laying out in one spot.

1) Command Point and Detachment Changes
Honestly, I think this is going to be one of the biggest changes for people, and it's also one we don't have all the information on yet. 

On the bright side, everyone starts on a level playing field with CP now.  This is kind of nice - there's not as much pressure to bring 2-3 battalions now for CP.  From the sound of it, we regenerate a CP a turn - though they haven't exactly explained how.

Now here's the other piece of the puzzle, and I don't have 100% of it at this time -
-Detachments cost CP
-If your Warlord is in a Detachment, that Detachment does not cost CP
-We know a Battalion detachment is 3 CP

Some armies don't care about mixing - loyalist Space Marines, for example, love their doctrines and so they'd be happy to bring a single detachment (Unless you're mixing chapters). 

Other armies, however, do very much care about multiple detachments - Chaos Demons, for example, love mono-god detachments (characters get Locus of [DEITY] abilities, like re-rolling charges) but an all Khorne army basically skips two phases of the game.  Chaos in general can play effectively together.

So my question, then, is - what are other detachments going to cost?  If I'm looking for like an Elite unit and an HQ, then maybe 1CP for a patrol unit isn't a bad deal on top of my 'free' Battalion my Warlord is in.

2) Mission Objective Changes
Apparently GW's taking a page from the ITC book here and going for varied mission objectives.  I'm kind of ok with this, provided that the mission objectives are balanced.  Having a variety that we can pick from based on the matchup makes sense to me.  Anyone who's played Maelstrom of War has invariably had a game or two decided based on craptastic objective draws.

3) Terrain Changes
I'm ok with this one as well - codify rules.  I expect to see aftermarket laser-cut tokens for terrain, or some sticky notes for this.

4) Point value Changes
They've said it's going to happen - so far they've given us point values for two units.  Also, GW said they're going to launch their own official army-building app, so I'm kind of ok with that. 

As for what impact it has - honestly, we need to see all of the above to have a guess.

5) Changes to Reserves and Arriving from it
There have been hints about changes to what you can do with reserves.  In 8th, you needed a neat rule to go into reserves and it governed how you arrived.  Apparently you'll be able to use CP to go into reserves now, and you may be able to walk onto a board edge now.  More to follow.

6) Hooray Vehicles!
Tanks get to move and shoot heavy weapons without a penalty? SWEEEEET! (Also I guess if you play 'nids or otherwise have shooty monstrous creatures, YAY).  Tanks get to shoot non-blast weapons into melee? SWEEET!  Blood is a paint job now! (Or it always was, if you were a Knight or Khorne disciple)

I'm actually kind of ok with this.  A LOT of vehicles are going to be a bit more useful now - or at least more mobile.  Taking -1 to hit when you moved (on top of a potentially degraded stat line) is a big 'meh.'  At least, a lot of vehicles are going to look more useful, and charging them to keep them tied up is going to be less attractive.

7) OMG OVERWATCH IS TEH NERFED!
Ok, look.  Let's be honest here - outside of the occasional HILARIOUS hot dice, how often did overwatch change the course of the game?  Did it happen with units that were already proficient with it, either by rules/stratagems or by weapons? (IE - Iron Hands w/ stratagems to hit on 4+, Tau, or folks w/ flamers?)

Honestly, I want to see who gets rules that help out overwatch in the new edition. 

Speculation
Having mocked people who believe the sky is falling, I'm going to try to keep my speculation on the more constructive side.

1) You're going to have to Re-Do Your Army Lists
This is kind of a given, what with the changes to detachments and point values.  I suspect the Brigade list is basically DOA for 2,000 points.  It wasn't impossible to build for in 8th, but it did provide a challenge - and a heap of CP.

2) You May NOT have to Re-Do Your Army Concepts
If you had already built a list that included screens, anti-infantry, anti-tank, and scoring units, you probably had a decent list.  The question is going to be how many detachments you need, and what you end up trimming.

Frankly, my plan is to sit down with my old lists next to a blank sheet and see if I can transcribe them.

3) You Will (Still) Definitely Want Screens
First off, I'm sure there are still folks out there who don't bring screening units.  These people confuse me.  You have clearly never experienced something like a Kytan Ravager charging something juicy from 48 inches away. (Technically possible with Warptime, a good advance roll, and Soulforged Pack).  Or you've never had Slaaneshi terminators double-tap something juicy, then charge something else (paying 1CP for a '6' on a charge dice and still having access to a re-roll? Yeah, if something's in charge range they're making it.)

There are plenty of things with long threat ranges, and now there are going to be even more ways to bring reserves into the field from new angles.  If you have bodies on the field, you limit the other side's ability to do this AND you make them choose between shooting something important, and shooting your screens.  Bonus points if your screens are something more threatening than Chaos Cultists or Brimstone Horrors.

4) Pre-Game CP spending Sprees May Get Attenuated
I think folks were happier to blow 3-5 CP before the game when they had 15-18 CP in 2,000 points.  That may still happen, but it may not be as much of a given.  Still, extra relics and warlord traits can be pretty useful, especially if any of those help refund CP.

5) Tying up vehicles in close combat is still going to be useful
On the one hand, I think we're all psyched that vehicles can shoot into melee.

On the other hand, there are a couple limits -
-heavy weapons aren't as accurate in close
-you can shoot at folks in engagement range
-you can nominate targets outside of engagement range
-you have to kill everyone in close if you want to fire at distant targets

So, you can't stop a vehicle from shooting by charging it, but you can still dictate its target priority.  You'll just have to make sure whatever you throw at the vehicle is tough enough to survive some shooting - you want to force the vehicle's commander to decide between trying to scrape you off with their guns, or falling back and committing another unit to taking care of the distraction.

6) Games Will Probably Be Smaller and Faster
If unit costs are changing (and look to be going up, if cultists going from 4 to 6 points is any indication) I suspect that armies are going to get a little smaller.

I'd say games will get faster, but that's only after we all get a firm grasp on the rules.

Conclusion
Obviously, this speculation is as good as the info we have - which is incomplete.  As with any speculation, there's a fair chance that we can look back and laugh.  It's probably healthy to do so.

That being said, I'm cautiously optimistic about 9th - I REALLY want to see the new detachment rules, because that's going to dictate how my Chaos lists change.

Alpha Legion Possessed - Testings Free Hugs, Further Thoughts - and Future

So, I managed get a game in and test out the Possessed as discussed previously.  I opted to bring the following -

The List

BATTALION 01
Sorcer w/ Jump Pack
-Mark of Nurgle
-Bolt Pistol/Force Staff
-Warp Time, Miasma of Pestilence

Demon Prince w/ Wings
-Pair of Claws, Warp Bolter
-Mark of Nurgle
-Smite, Diabolic Strength

18 Possessed w/ Mark of Nurgle

Greater Possessed - Mark of Nurgle

10 Cultists
10 Cultists
10 Cultists

BATTALION 02 - Pay CP for Devastation Battery detachment trait
Dark Apostle
-Prayer of -1 to Hit, Relic - Hydra's Wail
Warlord - Master of Diversion

Chaos Lord in Terminator Armor
-Viper's Bite
-Chainfist
We Are Alpharius - Headhunter

8 Chaos Terminators
-Combi-plasma, Chainfist

16 Noise Marines w/ Sonic Blasters

2 Dark Disciples

10 Cultists
10 Cultists
10 Cultists

3 Obliterators - Mark of Slaanesh

The Big Idea
The possessed module is pretty much there - Warptime is there to get upfield, the Dark Apostle and Miasma are there for buffs, and Diabolic strength + the Greater possessed gets you to S8, which is nice.

The Noise Marines are there to help with screen-clearing.  Odds are good they'll be close to someone that's giving them a re-roll on 1's, and in a pinch you can go Veterans of the Long War + Endless Cacophony for hilarious carnage.

The Obliterators are the reason I took Devastation Battery - a buddy of mine clued me into it - if I don't go first, then I make the enemy think about eating 18 shots from Oblits at the end of the movement phase.

If you haven't looked at it again - it's at the end of the movement phase.  If someone deep-strikes on turn one, you get to potentially hose down someone that walked out of a pod and pointed a gun at you.  Odds are good that something walked into range that you want to shoot.  Frankly, I think it's probably worth 2 CP.

The terminator blob is there because sometimes things need to die behind the lines, and sometimes you want to keep the other army honest.  Frankly, I think this is about as good as it gets for chaos terminators.  Combi-plasma kills things, and has the range to abuse Endless Cacophony even if the second volley isn't a double-tap.

With respect to melee, the chainfist is about as good as it gets.  You lose a little accuracy, but gain the ability to engage whatever you want.  I'll take reliable damage for a couple more points.  Your other melee options are there for killing infantry, and that's pretty much it.

Cultists....are screens.  Occasionally they contribute.

The Test
I went up against a buddy's Black Templar brigade, which basically deploys mid-field and plays a nasty objective game with a lot of guns and melee punch.  And with drop pods.  The short version is this -

THE OPPOSITION
Helbrecht
Chaplain w/ Jump Pack, Crusader's Helm
Lieutenant w/ Powerfist, Mastercraft Bolter, Witchseeker Bolts, WL Trait to Deny the Witch
Vanguard Vet Squad (Bunch of stormshields, several thunderhammers, lots of pain)
Relic-bearing Servitors (the three BT-specific elite guys)
Sternguard Vets
4 squads of Incursors
2 Squads of Scouts
Multi-melta bike
2 Squads of Suppressors
Grav-cannon Devastators
3 Squads of Eliminators (2 las-fusil, sniper rifle on sarge)
2 Drop Pods (Sternguard in 1, Devs, Servitors, Helbrecht, Lieutenant in the other)

As you can see, there were a LOT of guns out there.  The only thing of his that HAD to deploy in his DZ was the Bike.  If you don't push them off objectives early, you have a hell of an uphill fight on objectives, and PS - dislodging Primaris marines from objectives is ANNOYING.

We played the scenario with 3 objectives across the middle.  Mercifully, I went first.  We called it at the end of round five, as I was ahead on objectives and while I was down to cultists and HQs, he was basically off the board.

HIGHLIGHTS -
Possessed Warp-timed it up the field and got a charge into the Vanguard Vets.  I don't need  a bunch of 3++ jerks with thunder hammers running around my lines.  I multi-charged into an Incursor squad just to make sure that I could get into some kind of fight.  Ultimately this fight drug on through round three, ending with the Possessed dead, the Incursors dead, and most of the Vanguard dead.  The Demon Prince accounted for the rest.

The Greater Possessed ate a squad, then tried to stop a multi-melta with its face.  Its face was not multi-melta proof.  At all.

The Noise Marines used Conceal on turn one to mess up his target priority, and the cultists in front them ate a reasonable number of bullets.  Which is fair enough, considering what VotLW and Endless Cacophony does to...um, anything you point it at in cover.  These guys accounted for significant numbers of enemy snipers and Incursors, which is probably why they died.

The Obliterators had terrible luck with saves, and 2/3 of them died in the first round of shooting to Suppressors, because clearly the dice gods hate painted models.  The last one managed to do reasonably well.

The Terminators accounted for his drop pods - the grav devs and Sternguard had to die ASAP, and the Terminators got that job.  Then they managed to land a bunch of wounds on Helbrecht in assault - which he promptly saved.  And then they returned the favor.  They absorbed a LOT of shooting before ultimately dying.

The Terminator Lord got the honor of capping Helbrecht at short range.  Viper's Kiss is 100% worth taking on that config.  The Lord then also found out the Lieutenant doesn't come with an invuln save, which was a lot funnier to me than the Lieutenant.  AP-4 on a 3+ means "red mist," apparently.

The Demon Prince buffed the Possessed, then cleaned up a few squads of Incursors, and made more saves than it had any right to do so.

Cultists - well, half of them died terribly, and the other half helped hold objectives.  Most importantly, they managed to help push his drop pods

The Lessions, and Further Brainstorming
Possessed Buffs - Honestly, Possessed are a volume-of-attacks unit.  First impression on buffs is this - You reliably want to get Demonic Strength and Miasma of Pestilence off on them.  While it's tempting to put both on one psyker, snipers are real and that's a big target. (Plus seriously, sorcerers aren't THAT durable.).

A note on Marks - while Miasma of Pestilence is great for an additional -1 to hit, rumors about 9th edition currently suggest that we might see modifiers capped at -1.  On a more firm/practical note, switching to the Mark of Slaanesh would allow us to get Slaaneshi heralds in for an advance-and-run aura, another +1S, and we'd switch to Delightful Agonies for 5+ to ignore wounds.  The perk is we can use that on all our shooters in the army.

Food for thought.

Noise Marines are hilarious.  I think anyone who's run them knows that.  The only safe way to kill them is "shoot them when you have no infantry within 24 inches" otherwise you're gonna lose something.

Obliterators are a bit random, but getting them into cover makes it just that more annoying to shift them.  That being said, in this list the only other thing that MIGHT soak anti-tank fire is the terminators - so these guys are competing with Noise Marines for Conceal, and it's going to be a matter of "who do I need alive more?"  That being said, I like the versatility of them in this list.

The terminators stay.  The only real question I've got is - do I think about going for an Emperor's Children Battalion? The main reason to do so is to get access to the 'Honor the Prince' stratagem, which means for 1CP one of my charge dice is a '6.'  Considering 9th is around the corner and is going to change detachments, I'm not 100% onboard with this approach.

Next Steps
I'm definitely going to paint up a Possessed squad - a full 20 - and finish up a Demon Prince conversion.  The Terminators have kind of been on the to-do list for a while, but can wait for a minute.

I have painted soooo many cultists.  So very many.  But frankly, they're going to be relevant for some time.