The 40k 7th Edition Money Grab

Looks like I'm due for another rant!  So the big rumor on the web these days is the imminent launch (in May) of 40k 7th edition.

I would agree that there have been a few things new in this edition that were "game changing" being flyers and allies.  Flyers slowly worked themselves into a more manageable level with the addition of anti-air and more air for armies, as well as "super flyers" like vendettas getting points increases.  Allies on the other hand got more and more broken with super bro units abusing the battle brothers rules.  Other armies like Nids got the shaft with no ability to ally.

Let me regress a bit.

Games Workshop is a business.  I'm in sales.  I get the fact they need to make money.  The problem is I see them getting desperate.  Books and especially digital editions are easy money grabs and relatively reliable sources of income.   They know what to expect out of a new edition in terms of $.  So apparently their fiscal year closes at the end of May.  No big surprise that 7th edition 40k is scheduled to release before the end.  It just seems like a blatant attempt at a money grab.

I'm used to their typical behavior of making whatever new kit in a codex "required" to be competitive, and making whatever the previous good build obsolete.  Heck, I'm still pretty angry over all of the guard stuff I just purchased in the last 6 months that I can't even use outside of forge world (medusa, griffon) plus my cool characters they're going to make me buy an EXTRA supplement just to play (Marbo, Al'Raheim, etc.). I've gotten used to this behavior by GW... the will to resist has been beaten out of me.

Yes 40k 6th edition needs some tweaks (which I'll get into) but this could easily be an FAQ printed for free (perish the thought).  Previous editions did just that.  Let me break down the releases for you all:

Rogue Trader: 1987
2nd Edition: 1993 (when I joined the hobby, seems so long ago!)
3rd Edition: 1998
4th Edition: 2004
5th Edition: 2008
6th Edition: 2012
7th Edition: Supposedly May 2014

So we basically get about 4-6 years between editions.  We haven't even gotten to the two year mark for this edition before it's supposed replacement.  Let me break down what I've bought for rules between 6th edition and now with most of this being necessary to play.

- Big Rulebook
- Mini Rulebook (no way I'm carrying around the big one to games)
- Death from the Skies (or you had to buy the white dwarf)
- Stronghold Assault
- Escalation

Some of these relatively recent.  So basically 7th edition will probably obsolete the rules of all of these.  We start all over again.  And in typical fashion, the only rules that will be available to start will be the big rule book... mini rulebooks months after.

This is all in the last 2 years.  Yep, just 2.  As a customer I feel a bit swindled.  Now I'm being told there will be a new edition that is being rushed to get out before their fiscal year ends?  Really? One of two things is happening:

1. Very minor tweaks/adjustments, meaning major money for something that could have been FAQ'd. It's not like we don't already have to carry around a metric ton of rules anyway with all the digital codexes.

2.  A major overhaul, meaning they basically have been working on this since 6th edition was released, which makes me feel like 6th was rushed.

Either way, this is ridiculous.

Now, I do agree there need to be some things that need to be fixed.

Allies: battle brothers is broken.  The design team does not factor in all the broken combos between codexes, at best they look at inner-codex balance.  This could easily be fixed by making all battle brothers allies of convenience.  On the flip side helping the xenos armies by making all armies able to ally with each other using desperate allies at the least.

Assault: It just doesn't work.  Perhaps going back to some sort of consolidation into fresh combat will help assault units become viable.  As well as getting back to some element of assaulting out of transports.  For the most part units can't make it into combat, and if they do and slaughter the unit they attack they sit around to be shot to pieces.

Ignore Cover: It's the new black. Everything seems to ignore cover these days.  It seems to be getting a bit extreme.

Things that I think are ok as is and hope they don't get changed:

Flyers: I honestly feel they've been balanced over the last almost two years.  Adds an interesting element to the game

Look out sir: Maybe we limit it to 4+ on everybody but it's still a great part of the game.

Overwatch: not extreme but still a good way to have a last shot at incoming charges

Pre-Measuring: awesome.  makes for a lot less hard feelings in a game and levels the playing field between new and old players (who got really good on knowing distances).  A ton less blow ups in games due to someone making dodgy movement.

Fortifications: they're cool and add a neat element to the game.  I highly doubt these are going away as they help sell models.

Random charge length: maybe I'm the only person in the world that likes it, but if you want your charge to be sure to succeed, get closer to the target.

Ah well.  I'm a sucker for Games Workshop.  They still make some beautiful models and I love the background of the game.  There is also a pretty big player base (for now) so I can actually get games in.  They just are making it harder and harder to want to keep up with all this blatant money grab BS.

Rant off...  I'll get back to my usual painting updates next.

Droned Out, and Not-So-FLGS

I spent the weekend frantically painting, I give kudos to my wife for being patient with me this time of the year every year.  Yesterday was spent painting drones all day.  Whoa, they are monotonous.  I guess since it's the exact same model over over.  I'm about 90% finished with them: 8 marker drones and 12 gun drones.

Additionally, I painted about 25 flying stands.  I realized after playing tau for so long the drones pop off those flying stands all game long.  It gets super annoying.  Even though it'll be a bigger pain to transport them since they'll take up more space, I'm going to glue them down to the basing.

Here's where I left them at last night.  All lined up in their assembly line painting.

On to my little rant.  I went to my local gaming store Saturday for an Adepticon practice tournament. It was 1,850 and designed to prepare for the champs.  I really wanted to knock the rust off my dice and was excited to participate.  Made the 30 minute drive over and got my army out and set up on my display base.

After chatting with the other players I made it over to the check in.  Was #17, and heard an employee say, "well I guess that means we have an odd number of people".  I thought nothing of it.

Table pairings came and apparently they just went down the line for pairing.  When it got to my name they said I had a bye.  F@#K!  Maybe I am getting old, but honestly the point of playing in a tournament is "playing".  Not getting full victory points for a bye.  I don't want to wait around 2.5 hours until the next round starts.  Why they didn't have a ringer army was beyond me.

I went up to the counter and asked for my money back and to withdraw from the tournament.  The owner asked if I'd like to play a 1,000 point game.  My response was no, I was here to play my 1,850 list.  He then followed up with saying he could scrap something together.  I said no, I was looking for a competitive game (and didn't want to basically try to rush the game in a short window of time). Was this an unreasonable thing for me to expect?  Still not sure why there was no ringer army prepared since half of the time you'll get an odd number of people.  I've run many tournaments and it is just something you have to prepare for.

Packed up, then drove home.  On the way back my blood was really boiling and is making me reconsider going to that store anymore.  It is pretty irritating I basically wasted a few hours of my Saturday. At least I got to get a workout in and a little additional painting.

I thought more and more, is it time that I look at opening up my own store?  There is a lack of gaming stores in the Chicago area.  We have Games Plus in Mt. Prospect, and now Draxtar (my lovely experience Saturday) way out west in Batavia.  Not a whole lot in-between.  I know a couple of people that are interested in getting together to do this too.  Having been in trade sales at GW, I know how ridiculously hard it is to run a gaming store, but I wonder if I could make it work.  Food for thought...

Back to painting drones!

NOVA and a Hobby Change of Direction

Just got back from NOVA.  Almost had everything completely painted.  I made my biggest mistake that I said I wouldn't.  Just didn't get that many practice games beforehand.  Which meant I didn't really know what my army could and could not do.

With that said, I did fairly well.  I went 3-1 on the first half and was put in bracket 3.  I then choked in my bracket and went 2-2.  The first loss was due to a tiebrekaer and the second loss was a little suspect.  I won't bitch on that, but there was some less then fair things that went down on that.

I guess I've reached a point where I need a little change of pace.  I have a blast playing 40k and really enjoy competitive games.  I just need to stop painting armies like it's going out of style.  My wife will agree with that completely.  Some of the 40k big tournament scene has gotten a bit out of hand with the whole Torrent of Fire throwing around phrases like "expert advice" and making the scene some big ego driven top tier crap it's just sucking the fun out of things.

To completely contrast I went over to the Infinity room.  Here is where I felt 40k was 15 years ago.  A growing competitive scene, people generally enthusiastic about sharing the hobby and getting others engaged, very inclusive.  Part of what I miss is really sinking my teeth into a miniature and painting like every model is a hero.  When I was a kid on a very limited budget that's what I did.  I'd like to get back into that spirit.

In addition to that I really want some eye candy terrain.  Really immerse myself in the action, make it a true joy to play on.  With Infinity relying on tons of terrain, I want to create that display board effect that I try when I do my more time intensive display boards.  To capture that feeling of what the army/story/game is all about.

I've picked up some Ariadna models, I absolutely love the Frenchies.  I had to catch myself from thinking right away on my next force, how to expand, all that crap. I'm just going to sit down and really spend some time painting them to a high level, play a ton of games, and make some seriously kick-ass terrain.  Once that's done, I'll look at another force - preferably more anime/outrageous (like Nomads or Yu Jing or Pan Oceana).

With the GW Chicago Battle Bunker rumored to close soon, I'm losing my major 40k hang out.  This will give me a chance to try the whole infinity hobby out, and work on my gaming basement to get some 40k tables going so I can start hosting mini events / bbq gaming drink fests at my house.

There's my rant.  Looking forward to a bit of hobby changing direction!

6e Allies: Nerd Rage

Let me start off by saying that we're naturally resistant to change.  Change is scary, and most of the time we assume the worst.  But I'm just not able to get my head around any good redeeming qualities of Allies in the new edition of 40k. 

I think it's great if you and your friends want to do a fun game with some themed allies, but I can't think of anything but broke.  As far as I know, the codex were written in isolation of each other.  Never did they think about how an allied retinue would help.  In my mind, outside of Grey Knights each codex has its benefits and drawbacks.  Allies basically trump that.  

Visually it bothers me as well.  Very rarely will we see themed up allies that match the parent list, it's just going to be borrowing from each others armies to get new combos.  It's a sad way to get cross army sales from GW.

I really hope I'm wrong in my extreme distaste of allies and it will only be used as "with opponent's permission" or something to that degree.  Otherwise if it gets too over the top, I'm sure most tournaments will end up having no-allies only tournaments. 

We'll see one way or another in less then a week.  Until then, I need to get started painting on my beastmen!