I'm not just saying this to complain, or because I don't like change. I can see some good points in it. The rules seem fairly fun and easy to pick up, apart from a few key points
- There's no points values at all. They expect players to self-regulate what they use. That's fair enough, but it's so open to abuse that it's not even funny. Yes there's bonuses when you're outnumbered, but that doesn't help when you're playing three units of Skaven and a Grey Seer vs 3 Dragons, 4 units of Phoenix Guard, 5 Units of Swordsmasters and a Dozen Bolt Throwers. Outnumbering is done on models, not power either, so 5 Goblins are equal to 5 Chaos Knights, in the eyes of the rules.
There is absolutely no way you can be guaranteed a fair pick up game any more, or even pre-make a fair list to use against someone before arriving at a club. Points worked just fine, there was no need to change it other than the fact that list restrictions hampered sales. - Silly special rules: Wargamers have enough problems with credibility amongst the uninitiated, without being forced to ride an imaginary horse around to gain a special rule, or trying not to kneel throughout an entire game (god help you if you drop a dice). Yes, there's the argument for fun, but there's better ways of making a game fun than making a fool of the players. In fact I'd argue that if you have to resort to that kind of thing to make it fun, your game's already a failure.
- The background: or rather, the lack of it. They've basically thrown out 30+ years and thousands of pages of deep and nuanced established background, all for the sake of IP protection and shaking things up. The background was the main thing which drew me into the game and it was the main thing which kept me playing. Now it's all gone and replaced with the bland High/Heroic Fantasy pulp which doesn't interest me at all. No more than the End Times did.
If they'd wanted to shake things up, they could have held a major campaign and advanced the background, like Storm of Chaos or Albion did. There was absolutely no need to reboot the universe. In fact,it's probably driven off more players than it's drawn in.
The result of these three issues on myself and my hobby (apart from wanting to go and knock some sense into the GW Design team) is this: effective today, I am leaving Warhammer Fantasy behind me for the foreseeable future. It's just not the kind of game I want to play any more in terms of both rules and background. Instead I will be migrating back to Oldhammer (probably 5th Ed, as that's my favourite edition) and playing Kings of War. These represent the kind of games I want to play, so will be what I'm focusing on. I will be buying no new Fantasy models from GW, as I refuse to add to their sales figures for this shambles of a game. Instead I will be buying either secondhand or from bits websites.
This does not mean I am abandoning GW altogether.I will still buy 40k and Horus Heresy stuff, but I cannot and will not endorse the mess that they're promoting as the future of Fantasy.
I wouldn't have gone quite so far with it as they have but we are quite stoked for these new rules. Much easier to handle than the overly complicated old WFB rules.
ReplyDeleteAs for the points, we are limiting starting armies to 50 wounds.
Personally I am pleased that it's basically rules light and unbound. At last I can play the undead army that I have always wanted to but couldn't because both VC and TK had stupid forced heroes/lords and crumbling armies.
Thing is, limits like '50 Wounds' is still a major issue. 50 Goblins are not the equal of 50 Chaos Chosen, yet both sides have fifty wounds.
ReplyDeleteThere was nothing wrong with points limits, save for the occasional slightly over/undercosted unit. It kept things roughly fair. I'd lay money on them getting rid of them simple because it limited sales of big army lists.
Even the mess which is 40k Unbound at least has points limits to keep it in line. Unbound style lists for Age of Sigmar, I could have behind, as points would still have instilled some kind of balancing mechanic for the game. Having it so whoever can afford the most models/ power units/ combination of both is just silly.
The fact that everything in my Empire and Dark Elves forces can be taken in Kings of War without rebasing or count-as had convinced me to make the jump. A lot of players around my local area have done the same.