Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Ranks and Flanks, Please.

So Age of Sigmar.

The last time I mentioned Warhammer Fantasy in a blog post it was when we were still anticipating 9th Edition.  Yeesh.  That was... yeah.  A train wreck?

I had started collecting those 4 End Times book sets toward the end of WHFB but gave up.  It's not that I couldn't find them.  I was actually able to keep up fine.  The problem was that I started getting a funny feeling that all these dollars I was spending for these books was not going to feel like money well spent when it came down to it.  Boy, was I right or was I right?

I mean, as collector's items they're great... provided you have the space and the desire.  As gaming accessories... Pffffft.  Can't use 'em in Age of Sigmar, can ya?  and oh, the world got destroyed at the end of that fourth one anyway. 

That's when I walked away.  Age of Sigmar is another skirmish game in a hobby that's overflowing with skirmish games.  That, and Bretonnia basically got, as my buddy put it:  "the whole finger."  Yeah thanks for that, GW.  Glad I spent money on your overpriced Bretonnia minis when I could have been buying generic medieval minis all because I wanted to support the brand end encourage more Bretonnian content.  See what that got me?  And people wonder why I have a sour taste regarding Primaris Space Marines.

Happily, there's Kings of War.  I switched to that because I like my ranks & flanks style gameplay and Mantic was more than happy to not only  keep that going, but to provide army lists for all the now homeless Warhammer factions.  The added flexibility also meant that I could have elements in my Bretonnian army that I never did before, like heavy infantry and monsters.

Kings of War 3rd Edition is coming soon, and I'll be buying it.  I haven't played in a while, so this'll be a good time to shake off the cobwebs.  

Side note:  When the switch from WHFB to AoS occurred, I was a  big fan of the Garagehammer podcast.  You know, it was these guys who made me aware of Kings of War in the first place, back when they did Garage gamer episodes.  They crowed about it so hard that for a moment I was afraid the podcast was going to go full KoW.  Then later, when AoS dropped and they switched to it, they actually spoke disparagingly of people who didn't switch with them.  I distinctly remember Dave saying "Aww... can't live without your ranks & flanks?"  or something like that.  Jerk move, man.  

Look, I got into WHFB in the first place because of the ranks & flanks style.  I like it because it's a better approximation of how medieval battles were conducted on a large scale.  That's the kind of wargaming I wanted to get into back then.  I still like it so yes, I like my ranks & flanks and I don't know why that's somehow a bad thing now that GW has moved away from it.  Fanboy much?

It's not like Kings of War is the only option for ranks & flanks anyway.  There's Hail Caesar (which I can also use my Bretonnians in, as a medieval army) as well as some really old ones like DBA.  I went to KoW because they had army lists for all of us in my group of friends who were sitting on fantasy armies.

Yeah I know, this post isn't exactly current events.  Well that's what happens when you're back from a 4 year hiatus from wargame blogging.  You come back with a few old things to get off your chest.

Local Meta Can Be Fickle

So after writing that last post I took a moment to look over the older posts from this blog.  I hadn't posted a thing since 2015 and that's only partly a result of my hiatus.

So much has changed in the wargaming community at large as well as my local area.  Stores have risen and stores have fallen.  My favorite one is dead but there's one or two more good ones that have arisen.  (Or I've become aware of.)  And yet... I've barely played in the last year or so.

Part of it is the community.  Not to be disparaging, but the gaming community around here just isn't for me.  (Maybe it's the same everywhere in regards to this particular aspect.)  The problem is the "flavor of the month" thing was getting pretty heavy for a while there.  Here's what I mean.

I could walk into a place like DropZone (RIP) in April and people would be all about Malifaux.  There'd be a Malifaux ladder, tournaments, special events, all the Pick-up games would be Malifaux (or 40k.  There's ALWAYS 40k.)  Come back in July and it's Infinity.  New Infinity tables scattered about the store, new Infinity displays, Infinity global events, Infinity ITS events, etc.  Come back again in October and see what's next...

Sometimes 40K would absolutely dominate, sometimes Warmachine/Hordes.  Sometimes you could get a pick-up game easily in one of those if you were lucky, but play anything else and... Maybe somebody who was playing when it was mega-popular still has their stuff with them and may engage with you in a game.  Maybe not.

Add to that  my own introverted nature and the idea of going to the game store for some pick-up gaming or a tournament frequently enough (and laying out enough money) to keep up with the latest fad and... no thanks man.

Don't get me wrong, I like all these games.  I've had armies for all of them.  Rasputina crew, Joan of Arc centered Pan-O army, Black Templars, Menoth, not to mention Soviets for both Flames of War and  Bolt Action... Plus ships for X-Wing, Star Trek: Attack Wing...  Ugh.  Too much.  Just too much.  And if you don't have someone to play against then these things just collect a lot of dust.

Most of that is on its way to eBay.  I need space in my basement.

I think, as great as it is to see so many options in wargaming, the downside is the way it dilutes the player base, except when the local meta is in love with a particular system.  Then you lose the advantage of flexibility but you still have to keep up with the meta because it's constantly changing.

If you've got all the time, cash and energy in the world to keep up, then I say more power to you.

I just don't.

Hello Primaris, Goodbye 40K.

It's been a while since I updated this, mainly because I've been taking a break from Wargaming.  I had gotten into too many games and not enough people to play them with, so they've been sitting on my shelves, gathering dust.

Keep an eye on eBay as I consolidate.

Of the several games I have, I plan to keep only a couple... the ones which I know people who play.  One of those is Warhammer 40,000, but I'm not sure whether that means I'll actually stay in it.

It's this Primaris marines business.  This may very well be the death knell for my Warhammer 40,000 'career.'  That's sad,  because I've really been into it for a really long time.  I'm even one of those guys who occasionally shows up at a convention wearing a full scale Space Marine suit.  (A Black  Templar, if you're curious.)  

I knew when we first started getting Primaris sets that these were going to ultimately replace the classic Space Marines entirely.  The models are properly scaled to other models in the game, they're far more effective on the tabletop than the older marines, and now all the named Space Marine characters are getting upgraded to the Primaris state.

Why?  Well it's simple.

Space Marines have been around for a long, long time.  I've got a couple of squads in my army that I've had for about 30 years now.  Over that time, I've been building my army and at this point, I really don't need much more, if anything.  My army is complete.  Now, with a lot of guys like me out there, Games Workshop really has to work hard to get us to buy stuff.  Sure, occasionally there's a new type of Space Marine unit that hasn't existed before, like Crusaders... or sometimes a new type of tank... Maybe some new characters, or whatever.

But what if there were a way to get all these players who have established and complete armies to buy, essentially, a whole new army over the next few years?  Especially when the models are more expensive and you just can't do without them?

Meet Primaris.

Space Marines, but more powerful, so you just have to have them in your force, more expensive, so GW is going to make a mint on selling them, and the models themselves are more impressive and just look better.

"But stop all this moaning."  you might say.  "Your existing army doesn't HAVE to go away.  The Codex still has rules for all your old stuff."  Sure it does.  For now.  And no, not all.  Got a pre-primaris Pedro Kantor, Grimaldus or Helbrecht?  I betcha this next Codex will only have the Primaris versions.

"You're still moaning."  You say.  "You can just use the old model.  The great thing about 40K is that it has the 'counts-as' rule."  Yeah that's true, but let's be honest.  How long (if at all) will officially sanctioned tournaments allow that?  Or even unofficial tourneys?  Think about it.  The non-Primaris model is smaller, which means it has an advantage when using terrain to take cover behind.  Is it a game-shattering issue?  No, but it'll get worse.  What about models that won't have a Primaris equivalent?  How far can you push 'counts-as?'

The last issue I have here is the fluff.  Let's be honest again... Primaris are a straight-up retcon.  Nobody ever heard of them before, never have they been mentioned or even hinted at, and now all of a sudden they've been around since the Horus Heresy and have seen enough action that the 'Primaris Ancient' is a thing.

Look, I'm not trying to talk you into not playing Primaris marines.  They're cool models, they're powerful as hell, and they are the future of Space Marines.  I get that.  If you like them, then more power to you.  Go buy 'em, paint 'em and play them to your heart's content.  I even understand why GW is doing it.  I'm a believer in capitalism and GW is, first and foremost, a for-profit company.  That's fine.

Let's just be honest about what's happening and why.

All I'm saying is I'm really not interested in re-purchasing my army when I've already got the Black  Templars XVI Crusade completed.  Yes, I have some Primaris models and yes, I've used them and yes, I know how good they are, but at this point I'm just  not looking to start over.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

So many options, so many vendors, all for Flames of War

So I decided to try Flames of War.

When I say I decided to "try" it, don't misunderstand me and think that by that I mean I decided to find a demo game or two, play them, think about it, look at some books, examine some models, sleep on it, and maybe in the future start putting money into it.

No, I mean I already chose a faction (Soviets) and have started buying books and models.

At first, it might seems like that's a stupid way to proceed.  What if I hate it?  What if I'm no good at it?  What if I can't find anyone to play with?

Well none of that really maters, because I've realized that 95% of my enjoyment of wargames comes from building the armies.  I love to build models, I love to paint minis, and I love the feeling of working toward building something cool.  I may never play Flames of War, but I'm gonna have an awesome Soviet force for it anyway.

That said, I don't want to rip the bank down doing it.  I make a comfortable living but that's not enough to let me spend money stupidly.

I started off with some inspiration, my first tank.  I picked up the resin/metal T-34 obr 1942 at my FLGS (Friendly Local Gaming Store).  It ran about $13 and is absolutely horrible.  The resin is so brittle I broke the fenders twice (in 2 separate places) on the resin hull.  Both times were before I had glued any other parts to it.  The first time, I dropped it from a height of about 3" onto my wooden dining room table, and I have no idea how the second happened.  I was able to glue the broken bits back on, but sheesh.  After gluing and painting the model it looks decent, but man... $13 per tank would kill me even if the quality was decent.

So I started to explore other options.  I know Battlefront sells all plastic tanks in various box sets and come in at around $9 per tanks.  That's still steep.  If I wanted to build a full size tank company I'm looking at $90.  I could break that up into two small companies and add an HQ command tank and have the minimum size Tank battalion with that, but what fun would that be?

So I bought a box of 5 tanks from Plastic Soldier, at a price that comes in around $5 per tank.  That's more like it.  I just received the box yesterday so I haven't started building them, but already I'm pleased to see I can build the tanks as 1942 T-34s or 1943 T-34/85s.  I haven't decided yet which way to go with that, but effectively I have a complete small tank company for half price.  I also ordered a box of 2 T-34s made by Battlefront in plastic, so I can compare the kits, but I have a feeling it won't matter much.  The Plastic Soldier kits are great and have plenty of detail for wargaming.

Once I have both boxes in hand, I'm thinking of doing an unboxing write-up on them.

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Warhammer 40,000 Taxes Due

So it's only been 2 years, and there's a new Codex: Space Marines now available for pre-order.

A lot of people are griping about it.  A lot of people are happy.  I'm going to try and say something different, though I admit I probably won't.

I don't know what's in the new Codex.  It might be totally amazeballs.  It might be the greatest Codex the Space Marines have ever seen.  Not sure when I'll know, because at this point, I don't have a lot of desire to buy it when it drops.

The problem is, more and more I feel like I'm paying to play.  With my other wargames I can stop spending money at any time and still be able to continue to play the game in any venue, at any event.  Not so with Warhammer.  With new codexes/army books/main rulebooks hitting every so often, it's like a gaming tax imposed by Games Workshop.  Want to keep playing?  That'll be $58.00 plus tax, please.  Otherwise you won't be participating in any tournaments or other organized events.

It hurts a little more than usual this time because it's been only 2 years since the last Codex: Space Marines was released.  Presumably this is because it was also only a 2 year gap between the release of the 6th edition main rulebook and the 7th edition.

Is it a huge expense, even stretched over 2 years?  I guess it isn't, but for that same money I could buy units or other models that DON'T come with an expiration date.

Yes, other games do sometimes introduce updated editions of their games.  Infinity is on 3rd Edition, Warmachine, Malifaux and Firestorm Armada are all on 2nd Edition.  I guess my gripe with GW is that their books are MUCH more expensive than the other games, and seem to come out a LOT more frequently.  This is one of the reasons I shrunk my Warhammer collection.  For a time, I had 3 Warhammer Fantasy Armies and 3 40K armies, but that's just too many books to keep up with.

Friday, January 30, 2015

Randomness is Killing Warhammer

In a wargame, some randomness is needed.  Battles are immensely chaotic things and a certain amount of abstraction has to happen to simulate all the millions of factors that go into whether a sword thrust hits armor or flesh, or whether an arrow hits the target or the side of a tree.

Too much randomness is a problem.  Both versions of Games Workshop's Warhammer game have introduced growing levels of randomness in their last few editions.  Things like spell selection, the amount of dice available for casting spells, even the distance a charging unit can go during an attack are all randomly generated now.

That's excessive.  When an infantry unit can outrun a cavalry unit in a charge, or a cavalry unit can fail to charge far enough to reach an enemy when that same unit could easily have moved an even greater distance in another phase of the game, that doesn't add anything of value to the game and actually makes it less enjoyable to play.  Few things are more frustrating than making a very well planned series of maneuvers to get your cavalry in perfect position to charge into an enemy unit's flank, only to have the charge fail because you rolled low.

To illustrate:

In Warhammer Fantasy, a unit of Bretonnian Knights can move 8" base.  If they march during the movement phase, they can double that to 16".  On the other hand, when they charge, they move the base 8" plus 2d6.  (It's really 3d6, ignoring the lowest number rolled.)  That means on a charge, it's possible for such a unit to only move 10".  If that 10" isn't enough to reach the target unit, it only moves 1".  (The lowest number rolled.)

This is idiotic.  The book explains this as a way to simulate factors that would cause a unit to stall its charge, but I can't imagine what can stall a charge but not prevent that same unit from moving double speed over the very same ground if there's NOT an enemy on the other side.  And yes, shooting attacks from the target unit are already factored in elsewhere.  (The Stand & Shoot or Overwatch rule, depending on whether you're playing Fantasy or 40K.)

So what we're seeing here is randomness introduced for its own sake.  An argument can be made that, since pre-measuring distances is also now allowed, it's the trade-off.  I call B.S. on that as well.  There are plenty of other game systems that have pre-measuring AND constant charge distances and are perfectly playable.

Spells (Or psychic powers if you're playing 40K) are also randomly generated.  I can't comprehend how this benefits gameplay.  Being unable to plan for what utilities and/or weapons are at your disposal makes it nigh impossible to factor them into your decisions when building your army, or what strategy you'll use.  You literally have to wait until you're setting up the game to find out what spells you'll have access to.  If you're lucky, you'll get spells that are actually useful.  For a faction like Bretonnia, who has a relatively weak magic phase, this can be mitigated by simply not investing many points in wizards.  For other factions, like Lizardmen or Dark Elves, this can be problematic since those armies are designed to make heavy use of magic.

Of course, it may not matter.  The number of dice available for casting spells might be very high or very low, because that's randomly generated now too, in both systems.  Low dice isn't just bad because it laves one with very limited power for their spells, but it also means fewer dice to try to roll the target casting value.  That means, because of all this randomness, the spell might not even successfully go off.

Expansions to Warhammer make it even worse.  Storm of Magic is nigh unplayable with Cataclysmic spells requiring so many dice to cast, there's a strong likelihood of a miscast, for which one would have to roll on not one, but two separate tables to learn the fate of the poor wizard.  Either of those tables can easily kill the wizard outright.  So someone please explain to me why I should invest a significant portion of my army's points allocation to a wizard who's very likely to get himself destroyed for trying to play the game as indended.

Here's a hint, Games Workshop:  That might be why Storm of Magic wasn't a super seller.  People want to feel like they have some modicum of control over the performance of their army.  We spend many hours building, painting and planning with our armies, we'd like to feel like, for better or worse, the performance of our army on the tabletop is a function of our own skill at the game, and not the luck of the dice.

Now, I understand that maybe this is Games Workshop's way of leveling the playing field...  A tournament champion and a novice player are more evenly matched when much of the game's outcome is a result of random factors.  This is not a strength in the system.  Yes, player skill mitigates some of the randomness.  I can make my knights charge when closer to the target so that I'm either inside my minimum charge range, or at least in a distance that's statistically likely to succeed.  I can use lots of dice to get my spells off (assuming I don't miscast in doing so.)  Even so, it doesn't take much to take a winning strategy and burn it to ashes when a die roll or two comes up unusually bad. 

So I don't know what to expect from 9th Edition but I do have a wish list item:  Games Workshop: Please, please please roll back some of these random rules.  Please.  

At least when I'm playing Warmachine I know exactly what spells I'll have access to, I know exactly how far a Warjack can charge, and I know exactly how much focus I have available to spend on magic which, by the way, always works.     

I know this post sounds like the rantings of a person who's jaded from having had too many unlucky rolls, but it's really not.  This was inspired by something I heard on a podcast this morning where a guy rolled several consecutive 1s on a 40K game and just couldn't kill one of his opponent's models.  It was a funny story, yes... but it highlights the problem with these systems.  I've been playing a lot of different game systems lately and I can tell you that Warhammer is beginning to really suffer from this.

Warhammer Fantasy Battles 9th Edition Rumors

Are just rumors, folks.  No need to start wetting our pants.

Seriously.  We go through this every time a new edition or army book comes out, and that's also true of 40k.  About half of what we hear is even close to being true, and the other half is true but looks different in its proper context.  Want to have some fun?  Google rumors from when 8th Edition was about to drop, or any of the 40k editions.  See how accurate they were.

Remember, End Times is supposed to be 100% compatible with 9th Edition, so they can't change it too much since it's also fully compatible with 8th.  Are Lizardmen getting removed?  Doubtful.  I'm sure that even in a worst case scenario Lizardmen will still be playable using their current book.

And as a Bretonnian player, I'll offer ZERO sympathy to anyone who complains about how their book hasn't been updated recently.  My Bretonnia book was printed in 2003, Jack.  Don't come here looking for pity.

So everyone relax, settle down, just wait and see.