Proliferation in 7th Edition 40k

Context
A bit of an editorial from me today, on the topic of proliferation in 40k. Although the word "proliferation" is usually used in a biological context, today I'm using it to simply mean the growth and multiplication of things. Specifically units, codexes and the like.

Rogue Trader Era
To start the discussion, let's go way to the start: Rogue Trader and the like. In those times, all the possible units and creatures for 40k were contained inside a single rule book - the Rogue Trader rule book. It didn't particularly matter if one player forgot their rule book as the other player who brought it would be able to tell them everything that they needed to know (and maybe forgot) about the units and creatures they were playing. This was good at the time, as it meant that both players in a game automatically knew everything about their opponent's army and their own.

Fourth Edition

Fast forward a little bit in to the era of 4th edition and we see a large growth in codexes. One for Chaos Space Marines (that still included daemons!). One for space marines (as well as those for non-codex chapters). One for Orks. One for Eldar. And so forth. In this era, Most people knew about the core armies that they would be playing against. People knew that all regular space marines had T4, S4, 1 wound each, and so forth. They had a good feeling for Orks - unlikely to hit and kill much with their ranged weapons, but reasonably good in close combat. Eldar were known to be a bit fiddly and required finesse to master. Chaos were not the same as space marines (particularly in the Ld department) and often better in close combat.

In the 4th edition, I feel that people still knew all the armies and permutations of them. They knew how to set up their armies to counter them. And they knew how to conduct a good game regardless of circumstances. And they still knew their opponents and their likely tactics. Whether this was a rhino rush, or a static gun line.

Proliferation

Forward a bit further in the years and we see the introduction of a few new armies. The Necrons came along with a rather limited number of units and we all learnt that reanimation protocols needed some strong weapons to circumvent. Then the Tau - excellent gun lines with high strength weapons, but very vulnerable to close combat. Some armies waxed in their power with new iterations of their codex, some waned as other things got nerfed. Chaos Space Marines and Daemons got split it to two codexes. Yet, players still knew roughly what every army did. Imperial Guard still brought tanks for the most part. Space marines were still the most forgiving army to play due to their 3+ saves. And so forth.

But now, I feel the meta is utterly different due to three things:

(i) the ability to take allies

(ii) the idea of unbound armies outside of Apocalypse

(iii) the multitude of data slates (Be'Lakor, Eldar Ghost Warriors, Cypher, Butcher horde, to name but a few) and new (arguably smaller) codexes and codex supplements (Skitarii, Harlequins, Clan Raukaan, Khorne Daemonkin, etc.).

It has now reached a stage where I can no longer look at a tournament (or casual) army and automatically know what they are about. 

It perhaps was not so bad when allies were first introduced. Eldar plus Dark Eldar - yes, we all knew what they were going to do. Daemons with Chaos Space Marines made for good fluff and solid armies (especially Nurgle on my part). Tau and Eldar were a popular choice for a variety of reasons. And death star units were in the ascendancy - especially the screamers of Tzeentch in pure daemons lists.

But now, I sometimes feel that I'm playing a mini-apocalypse game due to the sheer proliferation I see. What are those Orks doing with Astra Militarum? Are those Grey Knights going to be summoning daemons or not? Remind me, because I can't remember, what does Be'Lakor do again? What are Skitarii good at and bad at - what are their weaknesses and how should I counter deploy on the board?

Discussion

Is this a bad thing? 

Yes and No. Yes in the sense that I no longer know exactly how to play and exactly how my opponents army operates. No in the sense it is really nice to see a multitude of possible armies with vastly different strengths and weaknesses. 

The former means that games tend to take longer. Both players often question a lot of rules and more time has to be spent explaining what things do. This has been a progressive thing since Rogue Trader I think (yes - I'm that old) and hence my experience of the game is that is now takes a lot longer. I think this kind of detracts form the game a little bit - at least for those of us who did experience much earlier editions. Equally, at least we got rid of the old 40k vehicles book with its OHP transparency for hits. And all those d1000 tables from Realms of Chaos that made the game very unbalanced -- not that balance is necessarily any better in the current era, but perhaps a bit less random (except for daemons, obviously!). The game is nice and streamlined now - and that can only be a good thing!

The latter is something that I actually love. All those new armies are terrific to see. Especially for old timers like me. They can still provide surprises! Even if the "expense" is longer games. And I get to learn some new rules about a data slate I don't own once in a while.

So on balance, the recent proliferation we're seeing in the game might be a good one. But I'll temper that by the "entry cost" to the game, and the not knowing what an enemy army is going to do for newer, and even older players like myself.

Wargames Gallery: Typhus reaping orks

Charging in to a full mob of Orks, Typhus rolls a 6 for his daemon weapon and gains the maximum number of attacks possible. And he also does his stink bomb thing in assault. Plus his psychic powers. The Orks fail to cause a single wound and he slaughters many, resulting in the Orks bouncing off him and fleeing in to the distance. Sadly, he does not withstand the counter-charge by two more mobs of Orks the next turn, but this turn was epic for him! Such is Apocalypse.

Anvil Industry Medieval Legs

As part of my growing Alpha Legion 30k army that I'm building, I ordered a batch of parts and conversion bits from Anvil Industry. If you've not come across them before, then they're well worth checking out - they're a company from the UK and the make some absolutely awesome bits out of resin. What really stands out is the sheer quality of the bits - absolutely free of air bubbles and minor issues that can sometime plague certain better known companies.

One of the bits that I bought were the Medieval Legs, pictured below.

As can be seen, the legs come in a variety of poses (these are the running ones, combined with a pair of kneeling ones - sold separately). The main thing that stands out about them is their similarity to Heresy Era power armour. Indeed, they look like they'd fit in terrifically well with any of the early marks of space marine power armour - and indeed they do! 

Okay - lets be honest, they're not identical to early era power armour. But they do slot in nicely with conversion work for them!

As I've come to expect from Anvil Industry, these bits are absolutely superb. The clean up is minimal - this can be seen from the image. The amount of flash and vents requiring cutting off is low and they're ready to be glued in to place in minutes - no messing around with liquid greenstuff or the like, no need to bother reshaping them in boiling water (although as with all resin products, some cleaning might be needed to wash it clean of the releasing agents). 

I intend to use these particular legs in converting some space marine recognisance space marines (otherwise known as space marine scouts!). But more on that project on another day.

Games Workshop York

Just so we're clear from the outset, this article is about the city of York in the UK. In Yorkshire. Not a different city by the same or newer name in other countries that caused Google-based shenanigans for me!

I visited York earlier this week and chanced upon the store and whipped out my phone to snap a quick image of the place. As can be seen in the image, the store has a very active front to it and has a very nice set of displays in it to say the least. The interior is modest, certainly larger than some of the other UK stores that I've visited of late and has ample space for gaming, painting and so forth.

Physically, the store is located on Lendal in York, and has been located in this street for many years (at least over a decade and a half as far as I'm aware). This is on the far North West side of the city centre, on the outskirts of what I would think of as the "core" shopping precinct of the city. Equally, this also means it is pretty close to the train station and the old city walls. Curiously, the train station is not very centrally located in York, being offset to the West (ish) of the main shopping precinct and a little walk away. Indeed, this GW is probably close to St.Mary's Abbey (tourist attraction) on the West side than it is to the Disney Store (much more centrally located), to give a yardstick. I think folks who are visiting York will stumble across it very readily though as it is on the tourist trail to some extent. And its not so bad for the buses either - very easily accessible on foot and by public transport in general. But much like other UK city centre GW stores (Leeds, etc.) I'm not sure if there is a clear public car park nearby that could provide ready access to the store. 

Overall, impressed by the store, its layout, its staff, and displays and it occupies a reasonable location, despite being offset from the main shopping street as its certainly close to / on the main trek from the city centre to the train station.  Bit of a hike for the students at the University of York, however!

Preferred Enemy: Unpainted

A relatively new concept to me was being employed at a Games Workshop run tournament that I chanced to witness recently. They were employing a novel rule such that any model that was unpainted  had preferred enemy ruled against it.

As well as applying to unpainted models like the one pictured above, this rule was also being applied to models that had less than three colours on them. Indeed, it seems that to be classed as painted, models must have at least three obvious colours on them. I think this divisor between painted and unpainted is rather common in tournaments that I have attended in the past - I've certainly come across it multiple times in the past.

That said, I'm not too sure how I feel about the Preferred Enemy: Unpainted rule!

On the one hand, I can certain see that it would encourage players to get their miniatures painted in time for a tournament or event. But on the other hand, if that self same tournament already had composition scores associated with it, then what's the point - it just detracts from an even match up.

From a personal point of view, I actually don't mind playing against unpainted armies at all. I do prefer to play against painted ones, but that's just a preference as I'm very much in to the visual and painting aspects of the hobby, probably more so than the gaming side these days. Equally, if someone doesn't have the time to paint everything, but its all assembled and mostly WYSIWYG (or at least a sensible counts-as size at bare minimum), then I'm all good!

(Addendum: and: no -- I'm not making this stuff up just because its an April 1st posting!).

Sarum Pattern Respiration Masks for Heresy Era Space Marines

Close reading and inspection of the Horus Heresy rule books reveals a number of hidden gems and "easter egg" style gifts to the gamer. The first one of these is the Anvilus Pattern Backpack that one of the Death Guard can be seen wearing in Betrayal. Today, I wanted to note another one from Betrayal:- the Sarum Pattern Respiration Mask, pictured below.

The story in Betrayal goes that the World Eaters managed to form an alliance of sort (such that the World Eaters are capable of) with the Sarum Forge World having been deployed there and seen serious action. As a "reward", they got supplied with a new pattern of respirator. The nice part about this particular helmet is its visual similarity to those included in the space marine boxed sets. Although clearly a much later pattern, the Mk VII Aquilia Armour is probably the one that is closest to the Sarum pattern. That said, there are some subtle differences. But at a distance and at first glance, both the Mk VII helmet and the Sarum one are almost the same. Therefore, the World Eaters players should feel free to use this helmet in their conversions. And probably Alpha Legion as well - because they're Alpha Legion!