Games Workshop at it again!

Today it seems that two of the biggest Warhammer blogs, Bell of Lost Souls and Faeit 212, were pulled down by Games Workshop. The reason? They showed photos from the next as yet unpublished issue of White Dwarf magazine. Now don't get me wrong, I can understand that Games Workshop want to be the ones to reveal the new toys and info but this is FREE advertising for them. That is really what our blogs are about, whether we are going through battle reports, new painting photos or showing info/rumours on the upcoming releases. It is all free advertising and the company needs to realise that.

Games Workshop's reputation is sliding further and further down with everything they do like this.

Rather than picking on the sites who recieve and then post this information, Games Workshop should be looking for the individuals who are leaking the info in the first place.

Flyers

There is a lot of vitriol on the internet at the moment it seems towards flyers under 6th edition. The general opinion that I keep seeing is that flyers break the game because if one player has an aircraft or a flying monstrous creature and the opponent has no means to counter that in their list (no interceptors or skyfire) then the flyer will win the game.

I disagree with that statement but I do see a concern there. Flyers have been a nice addition to the official rulebook and have certainly added a new dimension to the game. However due to Games Workshop's crawl of codex releases, even though they have sped up since the release of 6th edition, there are plenty of armies that either don't have a flyer or a viable means of dealing with them outside of fortifications.

Everyone needs a flyer of some kind and that brings me to the other concern of mine. I have a fear that Games Workshop is going to over do the amount of skyfire weapons that can be found in each codex. Chaos Space Marines recieved flakk missiles purely for Havocs. Then Dark Angels came along and four or five units then had access to flakk missiles. Tau are phenomenally good at shooting flyers down. My concern is that as more codexes get released and more units get access to flakk missiles or skyfire options it will become less and less likely that anyone will bother taking flyers. Except maybe Chaos Marines as their Helldrake is far far too good not to include.

Games Workshop needs to give serious consideration here I think to how they handle it as more books get released. I'd like to see flyers remain as a useful addition in an army list which they won't be if everyone gets more than a fair share of anti-air weapons and/or units.

What Do I Want Out of 40K?

Earlier today Fritz 40K, posted a question: "What do you want out of 40K?" Basically, outside of a tournament or league environment what do you want out of the game? He has some thoughts on that and here are mine.

1. I want to be able to immerse myself into the universe of 40K. It is one of the reasons why I get cheesed off some times and why I started to combine all club member games into the Midas Crusade. I love the universe of the game, often more than the game itself, and I want to feel that I'm taking a part in it. Even if I do lose more often than not.

2. I want to play games against people who aren't twinky powergamers or list optimizers. I don't get any enjoyment out of a game like that. Simple and fun games is where it is at where the game can swing back and forth before the end.

3. Missions. There is a reason that Battle Missions is my favourite sourcebook for 40K. The missions in the rulebook are basic and quite dull if I am honest. What you get from Battle Missions is a nice mix of possible engagements that may be slightly unfair to one side or the other but make for a far more interesting and enjoyable game.

4. Small games. I hate Apocalypse size games with a passion. Played them and just got bored. Give me a game between 1000pt and 1750pts and I'm happy.

New 40K FAQs

Games Workshop have released some new FAQs for the 6th edition rules and codexes.

I've just downloaded and read throught them. I don't see the point to the new clarifications. Most of it was common sense and not needing of FAQs.

Grey Knight Grand Strategies

A little while ago I was asked to do these in addition to the warlord traits. Here they are if anyone else wants them. I've also been asked to do the Dark Eldar combat drugs as well at some point.

 

Primarchs: Some Musings

Back when our club first started we had 8 players and that was it. We started playing in our local FLGS (above) where it was a little cramped but we could happily fit two tables and get our games played. As more and more locals became interested we had to move out to another venue (and then another and another...etc) and now we have about 16 Warhammer players.

It is unfortunate but these days I fear that it is too many people. We can't get the games like we used to and to an extent some of the fun has been sucked out of it due to the bureaucracy of having to organise that many players. Not to mention there are a couple who are far too twinky and fail to see that the game is meant to be fun for both sides. All groups/clubs have this though.

Sometimes I really think I would like to just close the club down and start over with just eight decent players again. It would bring the fun back into the game I think.

Part of this thinking back is due to the Primarchs current situation. We have a venue that costs us £30 for four hours (not complaining there) but we are cramped into a side room and now we may be stuck with two tables (fingers crossed this week we can get a third in there). Some players have spoken of dropping out of the club because of the change in situations at the club.

The problem is that there isn't anywhere else in the town where we can have for that price (we can't charge more than £3 a member, we would lose people anyway) or where we can store the tables and terrain. This just makes me think the club would be better smaller and with select bods.

Demiurg first test

Played a 1750pt game tonight vs Ultramarines. Took my marines plus had my first chance to use the new Tau codex to represent my demiurg who I took as allies.

First thing I did was be a complete numpty and read the entry for plasma rifles instead of pulse rifles. Thought they were a bit too good. *sigh*

The mission didn't help at all. I was hoping for something where I could use two demiurg (fire warriors) troop choices to hold a home objective, while my marines went off to capture enemy objectives. Instead we rolled the Vanguard mission from Battle Missions. So I had to cross the board to get to the three objectives on the table.

Suffice to say that I lost this game and didn't get a good try out for the demiurg. Next time hopefully.

Tau Empire warlord traits

Warzone Trait cards

The Random Elements of 40K

I like random elements in games. Mainly because I find them a balancing factor where players can be a lot better at a game than others. Sometimes it favours the better player, the weaker player and sometimes it screws them both over.

Warlord Traits.
I like these in principle but all too often due to the nature of the results, in both rulebook and codex charts, a player ends up with a trait that doesn't do anything. An example being a warlord who counts as a scoring unit in a mission that is based on killing units not holding objectives.
I think a better way of handling this would be a single dice roll compared to the three tables in the rulebook and the codex one. The player then choses which table he'll take it from based on that roll.

Psychic Powers.
Psychic powers now work a lot more like the magic system of Warhammer Fantasy in means of deciding what powers your psyker has. I find this a tad awkward. Half the time I get powers that are useful, otherwise they are pointless all game.

Warzone Traits.
I know not everyone uses these as they are an option in the back of the big rulebook but really people should. A 2D6 roll sets up the environment of the battle from a cold ice world (Gets Hot rule is ignored) to a psychic dead zone (psychic tests are half leadership but no perils of the warp). The way I run this at our club for league games is that this is rolled for after deployment but before the start of the game. The warzone traits are the most interesting random part of the game for me. I recommend using them.

What are your thoughts?