Thursday, May 8, 2014

40k, what's the big deal?

So the last edition, 6th edition has been my favorite in a long time, for many reasons internet bloggers and forums have been ranting and raving about. My favorite edition prior to 6th was 2nd. Once Alessio Cavatore got his hands on the rules writing and streamlined everything I lost some of my interest in the game. I played competitively on occasion but it's never been a serious thing for me. I love the hobby side, and contrary to some (http://bloodofkittens.com/blog/2014/05/06/meat-meta-7th-2nd/) I don't think the game is dying, and I don't think it's supported by the 17 to 24 crowd solely. I like options, and I like details. I'm not sweating the fact that its become more random and more focused on narrative. I'm kind of glad it did and I dread the inevitable pendulum swinging back within a few editions but until then I'll ride the wave. If you're that guy who sits around min/maxing his WAAC list then obviously you and I part ways on all this. That's a style of play, it's just not my style of play. I'm looking forward to be being able to write out some short, storied campaigns and reporting them on this blog in story mode. I always look forward to the next edition of 40K. Part of that has been that I wasn't a fan of 3rd through 5th. 5th wasn't bad, and really got me back into it on a regular basis but I feel like 6th and 7th aren't the doom people think they are to 40K, I think it might just be a new golden age. There's something else I think people are missing. GW has managed to move through a couple of decades with little to no real competition. The 90's especially were filled with glory for the company. The result was poor decision making and lazy game/model design. These days things like Kickstarter and some successful promoting of games that can compete with GW have made a lot of headway. This will inevitably take a chunk out of GW's sales, and I think they are finally facing that but the gaming community seems to be having diffulty with it. I feel the last few years GW has bounced back, coming out with some awesome kits and putting out content that some would have you believe is just too much for any real gamer to accept. Ironically as most of us know, these were the same people complaining about slow release periods a few years back...I guess be careful what you ask for. I like the glut of new content, it opens up many more possibilities. Sure it can make rules more complex and may cause balance issues, but I grew into gaming during a period when it was pretty common for players to house rule the games they played to make them more satisfying, and it's unfortunate that some gamers have lost sight of this. I've never been afraid to make some modifications when needed to make a game more. I'm not too worried about imbalance, sensible players will work together to figure out a fix on their own. I'm confident that in the coming months I can locate some players interested in enjoying the universe and game that GW has created, and that I can look forward to some games that are truly narrative (I know a bad word to some) games. Even with daemon summoning dark angels...

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