Hope for the Grim Darkness of the Far Future

There have been some great announcements out of Games Workshop recently and I have been trying to follow it more than I have in the last few years because of that.  Could it be enough to get me playing Games Workshop games again? Is there hope in the grim darkness of the far future? or only war?

Disclaimer: Please do not take this post as fact or as confirmation of any rumours.  I am only writing about what I have read on other blogs or websites and what I think about what I have heard.  I have not played or seen the rules for Shadow War Armageddon and have no insider knowledge about 40K 8th Edition. This was also written about a week before it was published so more information might be available by the time you read this.  If you want to know more there are plenty of blogs which have more reliable information than me, try Spikey Bits or Bell of Lost Souls for more reliable information.  This is just my opinions. 

I have talked before about why I stopped keeping up with Warhammer 40K.  The regular updates to Codexes made it hard to keep up since you needed to re-write lists (and buy more stuff) too often and I couldn't afford the money or time needed to keep up.  I still have my Flesh Tearers army and still like the game and the fluffy but I sort of decided not to buy anything else and just stick with what I have.  I had looked for other games to fill the void and it seems that as soon as I did GW started to do their best to drag me back in.

Bring Back Specialist Games
I have always loved GW's specialist games.  I have talked about how pleased I was to see Blood Bowl finally re-released already here. I also loved other games in the line which had also died off through lack of support.  Necromunda was a favourite of mine, as well as games like Gorkamorka and Battlefleet Gothic.  I mainly liked that these games were more accessible than Warhammer Fantasy and 40K.  They used less models, a smaller area and less time which made them easier to play or to get people to play with you.  More importantly they were fun and different enough from other wargames I played at the time to keep me interested.

With the release (and success) of the latest edition of Blood Bowl people started talking about which game would be next to be revived and Necromunda was one that seemed to be the favourite.  It was probably the best supported and longest running specialist game along with Blood Bowl and so seemed the most likely for a new edition.

What was announced was not exactly what people had been expecting.  Shadow War: Armageddon was announced but it quickly seemed to dawn on people this was a repackaged and rebranded Necromunda.  Instead of gangs the players were using kill-teams from the regular 40K factions.  At first I was sceptical that this might just be a new way of selling the kill-teams rules we have seen before but as we saw more it seemed to have its own rule set based on the original Necromunda rules.  These rules weren't great in earlier editions of Warhammer because they were too clunky with large groups of models but they worked well with the smaller groups and being able to personalise your kill team the same way you could your gang is great.

Will I pick up the Shadow War boxed set? Probably not.  It has turned out to be really popular (there are complaints online about how much it was hyped then how quickly pre-orders sold out) but I don't really need the models.  I could use the Blood Angels scouts but I do already have some and I have piles of Orks (and other random factions) that I have picked up from other boxed sets over the years and never used, I don't want to pay a premium for something that to play I only need the rules.  Luckily GW have just announced they will be releasing a stand alone rule book for Shadow War so people like me, that already have the models they need to play can just pick that up and go.  This is what I need form Games Workshop to get me playing again, a game that I can play with my existing models without needing to buy boxed sets and models I'll never use.

So where next for specialist games? With a new version of Blood Bowl and Necromunda, both of which I will be looking to pick up very soon, what could Games Workshop bring out next in the line and will it interested me?  Either way the specialist games line has definitely started to pull me back into the Games Workshop fold and I am pleased that they are doing it.

Warhammer 40K 8th Edition
Another rumour that has been going round is an 8th Edition of Warhammer 40,000. It has been a few years since the last edition and their have been big changes to Warhammer Fantasy since then so I think it is likely.

With Fantasy they started advancing the story with The End Times which we have seen in 40K with The Gathering Storm.  The fall of Cadia and the return of Roboute Guilliman are both new developments in the fluff that has been fairly static for years.  So after Gathering Storm could we see a 40K equivalent of Age of Sigmar?

I have thought about playing Age of Sigmar, it seemed to fill everything I wanted in wargaming in one game.  It was designed to be played in a number of different ways and looked like GW had taken the lead from Warmahordes and had a game that scaled well from small skirmish style battles to full sized armies facing off.  It had rules for narrative play, so you could play out a story, or competitive play where your could complete with equal points values.  I thought it was a very positive step from Games Workshop moving in the direction that other games have been going for years.

I didn't like where the fluff ended up though and personally think Age of Sigmar should still be taking place in the Old World.  But what about 40K if it follows this route and becomes a much more streamlined game with multiple ways to play I think it could be enough to draw me back in.  With Age of Sigmar the barrier (and cost) of entry has been lowered and while it is still going to be an expensive hobby Games Workshop seem to be moving away from needing multiple books in order to play with which will make it easier and cheaper to keep up with the game.

If the game does go this way it might be enough for me to dust of my army and get back on the battlefield.  I don't know how it is going to turn out yet, but if even some of the rumours I've heard about slimming down the rules and dropping Codexes are true then they are addressing some of the issues I have had with the game in the last few editions.  There are even rumours of them returning to some earlier rules from previous editions, like armour modifiers for weapons instead of a AP value, which I really liked.

Going Forwards

I'm going to look at getting the rule book for Shadow War: Armageddon when it is released.  Even if I don't go back to playing 40K it means I can use the models I already have to play smaller games.  I will also be keeping my eye on other specialist game line that may or may not get announced.

With 8th Edition I will wait and see.  If I can use what I already own and don't have to keep buying an updated Codex so often then I might look at getting back into 40K as well.  I do need to finish painting a few models from my Flesh Tearers army anyway and could probably expand that a little more without breaking the bank.

Maybe with Shadow War I could try out some new factions as well since I don't need as many models to play it.  I have wanted to do a Guard or Tau army for a while, that could be a good starting point.  Either way, I think I am feeling more positive about Warhammer 40,000's future, and my place in it, than I have in a long time.