Third Edition has been live for just about a month. That’s more than enough time to make some wild and semi-baseless judgements on the Winners & Losers of Third Edition.

We are talking in sweeping generalities and will not be getting into specific unit entries, nations, or army lists.

Winners

Light Mortars – Huge glow up for Light Mortars. The range increase from 24″ to 36″ already makes them viable but it’s the inclusion in the Rifle Platoon that truly elevates this little weapon team. With Medium and Heavy Mortars “locked” in the Heavy Weapons Platoon you are always going to have access to a pair of Light Mortars in the Rifle Platoon – the foundational building block of all Third Edition army lists.

Forward Observers – Outside Brits (who got one for free), Forward Artillery and Air Observers didn’t see a lot of play in Second Edition. But with a few key changes to their rules FOAs are a real Third Ed Winner. For one, Infiltrator (a new Special Rule) is fantastic. With Infiltrator, these little three-man FOA Teams are difficult to eliminate. But more importantly, FAOs now passively act as spotters for all indirect fire weapons (except for Multiple Launchers) including those mounted on vehicles. So your Priests, Brummbärs, and Mortar Carriers can now use the FAO as a spotter! Something they could never do before.

MG Teams – No more Exceptional Damage! Enemy Snipers can no longer one-shot your MG Teams! That change alone makes MG Teams more viable but when you take into account the To Hit changes these six-shot weapons will almost always be hitting on 4s. They finally feel like a suppression weapon system.

Squad-Based Team Weapons – See above regarding Exceptional Damage. Any Squad-Based Team Weapon cannot be removed from the squad by special means. You are only going to loose that Flamethrower or Panzerfaust if you, the controlling player, choose that model as a causality.

Armored Platoons – Big Winner right here. In First and Second Edition the Armored Platoon was relegated to games of Tank War and a few very specific Theater Selectors. It was a rare sight indeed to see more than two AFVs in an army list. No more! You want to bring five AFVs in a standard game of Bolt Action? Go right ahead! The new Platoon systems makes it no trouble at all to run a whole tank squadron.

Officers – Excuse me, Platoon and Company Commanders. Both levels of Commanders have boosts to utility and drops in cost. Your Regular Platoon Commander is a bargain at only 30pts. For those 30pts you get a 6″ +2 Morale bubble and a 2 unit Snap To. Not bad at all! Company Commanders have a 12″ +4 Morale bubble and can Snap 4 units for just 60pts Reg.

AT Guns – Static AT Guns never made the cut in Second Edition (howitzers were just better). But now your AT Gun gets +1 To Hit when fired against enemy vehicles so you will almost always be hitting on a 3+! Oh, and they are much cheaper now too. Not bad, not bad at all.

Losers

Pistols – Pistols lost Assault and provide no additional benefit if you are armed with another weapon. You are paying +1pt for … nothing. Oh and there is also the downstream impact to cavalry. Now cav will suffer a -1 To Hit when firing on the move.

Close-Quarters Units – The changes to assaults (simultaneous swings in the open, defender first when in cover) has made assaulting a much, much more dangerous option for the attacking unit. In almost all instances you are better off blasting away at point-blank range instead of actually charging in. Units built to assault are taking a pretty big L.

Theater Selectors – As of writing Theater Selectors are gone. They do not exist in Third Ed. We might see something like Theater Selectors in the new wave of Armies of books but until then, may these thematic and unique Platoons rest easy.

Buildings – My goodness stay out of buildings! Not only do units inside no longer gain Extra Protection they are also hit on a base 4+ by HE that will then deal massive Dx hits (depending on the template) and you get no Cover Save! So if you get hit by HE in a building going Down will only half the number of hits, you get no bonus to your Cover Save. Enter at your own risk.

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What Winners & Losers have you found during these early days of Third Edition? Let us know in the comments!