Greetings sinners!
It's been a while since I posted and the ever increasing number of emails asking if I'm okay has reached critical mass (thank you for everyone's concerns). So I thought I better put everybody's mind at ease and give some insight to my absence.....
It's no secret that I'm struggling to come to terms with 8th edition and because of this my Mojo has pretty much hit rock bottom. It isn't that Eighth is a terrible game, because it is certainly an improvement on 6th and 7th in a lot of areas, so for quite a while I was mystified why I wasn't feeling it for Eighth.
I've been thinking long and hard about what I like and don't like about 8th in an effort to get my Mojo back.
So here's my top 6 (naturally) countdown to why 40k isn't doing it for me.
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| Looks like he isn't so special after all. |
Special Characters never used to bother me. I always thought that if a player used them they had no imagination and didn't really understand what 40k was all about (actually, I still think this), but 8th has really pushed Special Characters into a league of their own. Bobby G, Saint Celistine, Magnus and Mortarian are everywhere!
For me, 40k has always been about using the background as a setting for my heroes and anti-heroes. I don't want every other game to be against a Special Character. It ruins the narrative when Morty and Magnus turn up and there isn't a Plague Marine or Thousand Son between them.
5. Game Scale
This isn't a new one by any means, the game has grown steadily since Rogue Trader days.
I'm not a fan of Lords of War or Flyers (even though I own a few). For me, these types of units detract from the narrative of (anti) heroes and crack units making a name for themselves. This loss of individuality and the every model matters feeling has detracted from my gaming experience and diminished any narrative to the point that I'm left feeling that I might as well be playing a computer game.
4. Allies
I like the idea of allies, but I've always thought of them as a couple of units of Daemons in a Chaos Marine army or an Inquisitor in a Sisters of Battle army. I feel that allies need tighter restrictions to stop the 'soup' lists from drowning the narrative with their broccoli and cheese nastiness.
3. Over-Simplification
I don't mind simple rules as long as those rules allow for strategic use of units and promote tactical play. Unfortunately the rules virtually eliminate the use of cover and limit most tactical decisions to where to place your bubble wrap units to minimise the effect of Alpha strikes. This lack of depth leaves me with the impression that all units have very little value in the greater scheme of things and that spending a lot of time painting a unit only for it to be removed in one round of shooting (along with half a dozen other units) is a waste of time.
2. Detachments
I can see what GW was trying to do with the Detachments, but for me, this failed miserably. I much preferred 7th's unique formations such as the Daemon's Grande Cavalcade or a Deathwing detachment....something that stays within the narrative. I'm not saying all of 7th's unique formations were balanced but it would be much easier for GW to re-balance unique formations than it would be to re-balance entire armies.
Allowing all armies to make up their own formations via detachments is a recipe for disaster from a balance point of view as well as a narrative one.
Hmm.....there's that narrative word again.....
So that's 5 reasons why 40k isn't working for me at the moment. Most of them aren't even new reasons to lose my mojo, they've been around for a while. Now that I've written them down, what is clear to me is that the loss of narrative within the game is solely related to tournament play. The logical conclusion is to take a break from tournaments and instead focus on my campaign games with Rob like I have in the past. So what's changed this time around?
1. Scale Creep
I've mentioned scale creep before, but scale creep more than any other thing has killed my mojo stone dead. I can't get past how weedy regular Marines look now that everything else seems to have grown. I have 4 Noise Marines that have been sat on my paint station for 3 months and I can't bring myself to pick up a brush.
GW's lack of (non Primaris) Marines hasn't gone unnoticed but FW have recently released a couple of Red Scorpion Marines which I'm sure will interest Iain.
So as things stand, my Castigators just aren't holding my interest. Hopefully GW will one day release some scaled up versions of my beloved Noise Marines, but until then, the Castigators have returned to the Eye of Terror and my tournament days are over for now. Hopefully January will offer some solace with the Daemon Codex but I feel that my Marine days are over*
So with all that said, it's clear to me that I need to concentrate on smaller skirmish style games to get my mojo back. Fortunately I have plenty to choose from. The Path to Glory campaign that Rob and I trialled proved to be a great success (so much so that I realised I'm more of a 40k skirmish player than a 40k army player), Shadow Wars is still very much on my radar (and I suspect Rob is playing this with his mate Ben, because he hasn't played a game of 40k since 8th was released). Of course there is another game which GW have released which has really grabbed my interest...... Necromunda!
And as luck would have it, look what arrived in the post last week......
So my focus will shift to a much smaller (game) scale for a while as I immerse myself in all that Necromunda/Shadow Wars/Inquisimunda has to offer.
Until next time.....may Our Lady grant you her number ;-)
*Perhaps the odd Marine may show up on my journey, as I have an itch to build a true scale Noise Marine from one of the Primaris Marines ;-)
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