Monday 20 March 2017

40K - It's not me, it's definitely you


When I started this hobby back in the early 90s, I was far more into to the Fantasy side than the Sci-fi one. My first wargaming book was Warhammer Armies for 3rd edition, and my first full rules set was 4th edition Fantasy.


I got into 40K much later - picking up some Tallarn when they first came out, as I was still pretty obsessed with Frank Herbert's Dune at the time. But I was a few years older then, so while my fantasy interest ambled between Skaven and Empire, and eventually both armies were sold off, my Guard ended up staying in boxes at my parents house.


This meant that when I got back into the hobby because my darling wife was a painter, and we were looking for a joint hobby to do together, it was my Guard that first got caught up. This blog was first started back in 2012 in the aftermath of a Throne of Skulls tournament where my wife and I had rushed to get a 1500 point Guard army painted after I'd not quite remembered how little was actually painted...


But now? I'm not really interested in playing 40K. I'd been telling myself for a while that it was just that I wanted to play "narrative" games, but was that really true? On reflection, it's not that. People refer to the rules set having gotten "bloated", but that's really not it. Army power levels are massively uneven, and shovelling most of your models off before you've got a chance to do anything with them is no fun at all.


So, my Guard are getting packed away into boxes for a bit. I'm not rage quitting or sulking. I've made a rational decision that I can get more fun for less effort with other games for now. Rumour mill indicates a new edition of 40K later this year, and I rather hope it is a pretty massive overhaul on an Age of Sigmar scale to bring things back into a more balanced, fun experience.


In the meantime, I've got plenty to be pottering along with. I've got 1,000 points of Age of Sigmar Chaos to get finished up so I can give that rules set a go. I'm assembling a couple of figures to act as test beds for my planned Infinity colour scheme. I'm even getting a bunch of the Made to Order Inquisition figures all assembled and undercoated for when the enthusiasm returns.


You may also still see some 40K hobby, because I've got a few of those boxed game malarkies that need assembling and painting, and the intent has always been to assemble them to play the games they came with, not just as a cheap way of getting troops for my army. But for that to start, some other part done projects need finishing first.

Really, even with 40K on the back burner, it's hard to know where to start!

15 comments:

  1. Funny how things go, I really like 40 k but with so many other things to play I rarely get a game and most people I game with don't like it that much ? But I'm not going to sell it ...one day one day...

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    1. I like 40K as a concept, and I love the minis and rules breadth they're putting out. Just not how it's playing in practice.

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  2. A couple of years ago I came to the same rational, it's not that I dislike the universe or some of the army themes (Will always love a Slaanesh Chaos Force) but I just can't stand Big Wobots and Flying Things in my 28mm games, plus the rules got as you say rather bloated along with the Pay to Win attitude that seems to be fostering in players.

    Still one day I may get sucked into it again.

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    1. I'm not quite in the same place - giant stompy robots and flyers are, inherently awesome. My problem is where they're so good in comparison to anything else!

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  3. Ah, you see, if you actually played as often as I did, you'd not really notice about army power imbalance and so on.

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    1. You also handily get around it by buying both sides for your planned campaign so you can get the game balance pretty solid... :P

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  4. I feel I'm partly responsible for this & I feel bad about it, it was just when I read your last post I couldn't help myself.

    As far as I know 8th ed is coming this year, my hope is that they put more balance into the game so you can once again get your toys back out.

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    1. You're not responsible! This even got as far as "I talked it through with my wife"!

      And yeah, I am expecting 8th edition this year. I've got plenty to be going on with in the meantime...

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  5. Your thoughts very much reflect my own. I did start with 40K though, and it's always been my primary game, but the fun has been dwindling for a while now. At this point I'm playing so that I have a game to play once a week at my FLGS. I do still love getting out, chatting with the guys, etc. AoS has been slowly creeping into my thoughts lately.

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    1. AoS is near the top of my "to try" list. Just got to get my force painted up!

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  6. Our group mainly plays Kill Team in lieu of proper 40k games. Whilst I do have a sizable Alpha Legion 30k army, it was built more on aesthetics than table top effectiveness (which I've learned is a painfully obvious flaw in my design).

    Will see what 8th ed brings, but after 7th ed effectively killed the game locally, several of us are contemplating going back to 5th or 6th ed 40k if we're not happy with the new incarnation of 40k.

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    1. It's certainly an option (I've also seen people playing using other rules and 40K models). I'm definitely waiting for 8th first to see how it rolls...

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  7. "more fun for less effort" - That's just it!

    Even the sheer physicality of lugging a Guard army around...!

    I'm no fantasist but I've heard good things about the AoS mechanic. If they do indeed rinse 40k I hope they do it justice...

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    1. The "Shadow War" Kill Team / Necromunda mash up seems tempting, but is conveniently out of stock right now, thus saving my wallet.

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