Wednesday 6 November 2013

Why i Went off 40k

I used to like 40k, back before 6th ed and all its failings. Back then it was a tactical game, where you had to make difficult choices about what units were going to fill up your valuable slots on your force organisation chart. Back then there were no OP super units like riptides or flyers. My main issue with 40k now days can be boiled down to 3 main points. Flyers, Force Organisation and Fluff.

Flyers

These things break 40k, there is no unit to compare them to in Fantasy as every unit in Fantasy has a decent shot at killing (or at least harming) any other given unit. For those of you wondering what i am on about the flyer special rules state that non flyer units wanting to shoot at a flyer can only fire snap shots at it (meaning you can only hit on 6s), what this means is that 99% of your army can only hit it on 6s. To add to this the flyer can elect to evade giving it a 5+ cover save (but causing the flyer to only be able to fire snap shots next turn). What this does is force players who dont have flyers to either buy a flyer or play Tau, who boast a fearsome array of anti air weapons. Add to that the fact that flyers cannot be effected by templates and are vehicles (meaning most of your standard infantry weapons wont hurt it) and at the end of the day you have a unit that is a must have in all armies to prevent being tabled

A Flyer, you can smell the broken
.Force Organisation Chart

The Force Organisation Chart is the way you build your army list in 40k. The way it goes is that it allows you to have 2 HQ units, 3 Elite units, 6 Troops units (2 minimum), 3 Fast Attack units and 3 Heavy Support units. Now this was great, it forced players to make tough choices about what units to take. Do  you a extra squad of terminators or do you want a squad of veterans? Then 6th ed came along and stated that in games of 2000 plus points the force org chart would be "doubled", allowing you to take double what was on the force org chart. Now this meant those though choices went away. Why not have those extra terminators and the veterans? It also made things like unit spamming a viable option and  has lead to some races being turned down games.

Fluff

This has been a issue ever since the latest Tau codex, the 40k universe is a grim dark place (some may say a grimdark place). There isn't even the faintest flicker of hope. The imperium is backwards  stagnant hulk, the eldar and aloof, arrogant and dying and the tau are apparently all mind controlled robots. Compare this to fantasy where the Empire has beaten every major chaos incursion, made good allies and is progressing well. The 40k fluff is bleak hopeless and utterly uninteresting.

So there you go, the reason why i have become less interested with 40k over time. Hopefully one day things will improve but until then fantasy will be my preferred system. Until next time

Rex " I love trees" Foote

5 comments:

  1. Hi Rex, welcome to the club of disaffected 40K fans! Sold my CSM, SM and Tau over the last year. Last few up on tradme now. The rate of obsolescence of expensive models, and rate of new factions/chapters that arrive almost every month has made 40K uninteresting, expensive and leaching veteran players. I do also have some concern for Fantasy. The corporate machine just lumbers on, churning out bi-monthly new releases, expensive monsters, emulating the money making machine 40K has become. I am worried that GW are losing sight of the fact that WHFB has a core of dedicated veteran fans (Ie 5y+ experience, some of us up to 30y) that keep it going., not flitting young boys with parents with deep pockets, who soon loose interest. Warmachine (and other systems) seem to be gaining a lot of ground at GWs expense.

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    1. The thing that really gets me was that it was a good game, 4th edition was a good edition for 40k. You had the force org chart that got people to make tough choices army list wise. The codexs were well written and had lacked super units, the rules had a distinct feeling the stood them apart from fantasy, things were good. Now skip ahead to 6th ed and its like GW wants people to unit spam super units so they can sell more. It made no sense to double the force org chart at 2000+ games, and flyers just suck. Its getting to the stage were i will still play 40k, but every time i play a game i wish i was playing fantasy instead

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  2. Flyers are pretty bad i reckon. Hate the things. Force organisation doesnt bother me as i try play games at 1K points or less. Fluff, well i ignore the fluff as it doesnt effect game play.

    So i think it entirely depends on the players you play with not the game itself. For example at the club we have a bunch of us agreed to keep flyers out of the game. We also have all got casual armies instead of competitive builds. If you can create ground rules in your group of players it all of a sudden becomes a lot of fun and a lot cheaper.

    Yet again depends on who you play with in my opinion. The game has very few problems when players set limits and create their own balance.

    But id argue 40k is still the biggest of them all, the number of 40k topics on forums dwarf all the other game systems combined in size and popularity. And most of them are not young boys (i.e 19-50 years of age). But i can see what you guys are saying but its easy to over come those problems. Just gotta find the right players :P

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  3. I understand where you're coming from but it seem that some of us have limited options. Around here, nobody plays fantasy (what I would give for a game) to the point that I'm considering selling my Empire to double down on my IG. Sadly, I like fantasy more than 40k.

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    1. I feel your pain, not many play fantasy at my club but enough do to ensure that i get at least a game very club night. I too have a 40k army only because so many people play it. I would advised you try out universal battle, which is kinda like a digital table top to play games of warhammer on.

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