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.