Thursday, November 12, 2009

7th Edition I Barely Knew You

Three years ago the 7th Edition of Warhammer was released. I remember going in to do a sleep study and bringing my brand new pristine copy of the hard cover book with me. It was a sleep deprivation study so I read quite a bit of it for those 3 horrible days. The problem is, I never did much else with it. Nerd Night gents, Anton and Chad, each started collecting armies at various points. Anton was accumulating Goblins and Chad had some Ogre Kingdoms models. Still, between the two of them I think I only ever got in 5 or 6 games total of Warhammer in the last 3 years.

Our group is pretty obviously immersed in 40K and Scott and Eric have stuck to those guns all along. It just makes sense to get the most out of one system I guess. In fact, even with as many games of 40K as we've played in the current edition, which is countless, we still have only gotten in a couple Apocalypse games and no Planetstrike games. We still have a lot more 40K to play to get the most out of this edition is what I'm saying.

One of the frustrating things about the Games Workshop hobby is getting the timing right. People scream and cry that its been years since their Codex or Army Book has been updated. The Tomb King's Army Book came out in 2002. I've barely touched it. At this exact moment I don't feel like I've gotten my money's worth out of it and I'm in no hurry to replace it. Conversely, my Dark Angels Codex is only a few years old and it was the first of the "stripped down" Codex philosophy that they built back up on over the last 2 years to make a superior product. Ultimately, the end result is that though my Dark Angels Codex still does the job, it kind of sucks compared to similar armies and since I've played it to death I wouldn't mind it getting an update.

What I'm getting at is that for the immersive player, the release schedule often doesn't feel fast enough and for the casual player it feels like it moves way too fast. If they released a new edition of 40K in 2010 or 2011 I wouldn't sweat it too hard - I've gotten a lot of enjoyment out of this edition already. Warhammer on the other hand, I've only played a couple of games over the last 3 years and I've effectively paid like $10 per game when you think about the cost of the rule book and how much I've used it. Its kind of a shame.

I know its heresy in certain circles, particularly amongst the most rabid players and younger types who think 4 years is a lifetime, but I kind of wish GW would slow down just slightly. We're going to see a new edition of Warhammer next year and my binding still creaks when I crack open my mint condition hardcover rule book. I hear rumor that the impending new edition of Warhammer will have the same sort of Expansion support that this edition of 40K has. I support this line of thinking. I had some fun with Warhammer Skirmish two editions ago and was always excited by the idea of the n--aval rules that appeared in the General's Compendium that I sadly never purchased when it was around. Take your time GW and milk the latest editions for all they are worth. Why not make it a 5 year cycle, two editions a full decade, and keep cranking out cool expansions to keep things fresh?

Regardless, I'm undaunted and still screwing around with updating my Tomb Kings. I have 20 Skeleton Warriors with hand weapons and shields now in the display case that weren't there previously. I'll be adding a front rank and five more basic infantry to make it a unit of 30 over the next week as well as completing an update on a unit of 5 Light Skeleton Horsemen. It only makes sense to end with a pic:

7 comments:

Chicago Terrain Factory said...

I used to live for new releases, now I curse GW every time they re-do an army book. I don't even start new projects because my 4-6 year time frame is too short for the GW product stream. On the up side, I will be able to skip from 6th WFB to 8th without ever buying 7th.

xNickBaranx said...

I've been thinking of putting my 7th Edition book on Ebay and try and move it before full word spreads of the impending 8th.

Overall I feel like I'm in a good groove for 40K. I have 3 armies and with the Expansions I have something to get excited about each year without feeling too overwhelmed.

Warhammer though... I technically own models for 3 armies - Orcs, Empire, and Tomb Kings. Actually, I could probably drop a Vampire Counts army on the table top too. But I just don't play often enough to justify keeping pace. All of my Warhammer Army books are barely touched.

Scott said...

That will chane my friend. I'm going to have to do a write up about my history with WHFB. Technicaly, I started there. One of my first armies was skaven (If i don't count those Rogue-trader era Eldar I had, or my epic Eldar).

I've owned the last there editions of WHFB and have only played, I think, two games. I;m much worse off that you.

However, as I've been telling almost every gamer I know, I am crazy about the new skaven. They are just amazing.

I think my plague monks will have to make a visit to Khemri.

Dasanton said...

Christ, I don't want to think about not only how much money, but time I have sunk into fantasy.

I probably have spent about 30-40 hours working on my Night Goblins, and have played a grand total of about 2 games ever.

I really do enjoy painting them, and they play in an enjoyable (although hardly competitive) way. They'll probably always be a back burner army... I have to admit, that I'm tempted by the new skaven, but I have way too much going on to even consider a new project.

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