Brent’s Chump Fight: 30K vs 40K
Welcome again to a Terrible Tuesday, top of the morning BoLS post, with your host, Brent. Today’s post is short, with the expectation that a number of you will have opinions and want to chime in.
So let me set up the premise so I can get out of your way… not so complicated: it’s a Chump Fight! On the one hand we’ve got 30K, set off by Forge World’s The Horus Heresy, Book One: Betrayal, while naturally 40K is the 6th edition game we’re all familiar with.
In brief, this is the book that won the Reader’s Choice 2012 Best Rulebook – no small feat, given how many of you there are out there. (No, I can’t tell! It’s a secret, and Inquisitor Big Red would no doubt punish me in the not-so-good way.)
In my mind, with good reason. The Horus Heresy is the pivotal event of the Warhammer 40,000 universe – it’s the meat behind the meta, and at long last we get to play a game or two in it!
The new Dark Angels Codex compares favorably; it’s a beautiful, hard bound book. The artwork inside is unbelievable – moody, and maybe a bit scary – while the fluff and miniatures section are both as good as we’ve come to expect. The rules seem balanced, while this take on the Dark Angels is finally both original and fun…
…but just as important, capable of winning on the tabletop! Collectors, rejoice! Competitors, get to assembling plastic models!
Yet 40K is more than just this one book – it’s the game itself, encompassing the myriad other armies in glorious plastic, metal, and *cough* Finecast, all supported by books and fluff going back now decades. It’s a pretty big sandbox to play in.
So why do so many of us feel as if we’re about 10,000 years too late? (Oops! Biased statement.)
40K’s current theme can best be described as ‘S@&^$ Going South.‘ Abaddon is the big bad! No, the Tyranids swam across the void from another freakin’ Galaxy! No, wait – Orks will win no problem if they can just get their collective crap together.
Whoops! Here come the Necrons, from way back when, and ho! There goes the Tau from got here soon.
Yeah, we love it. If you’re reading this, you’re a fan. All that’s to the good.
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| My single, favorite Emperor and Horus pic capture of all time. |
But do any of them evoke the emotion of the Heresy? Yes, that’s what makes it good background, because it’s all been downhill ever since – and has hope ever died such a lingering death?
It’s all grim and dark and stuff. The history and Man’s slide into obscurity evokes the theme of the game perfectly. But, sometimes, don’t you want to smack the Emperor with Horus? Or see what Magnus the Red and his boys could do against a 30K Craftworld? Or lead the Ultramarines in some genocidal Xenos purge, because that’s what all the best Primarchs do on a Friday night?
My question to you, Oh Faithful Reader, is simple.
It’s a Chump Fight, 30K versus 40K… everything else aside, which sandbox would you rather be playing in? And why?
That’s it for today – thoughts? Comments? Hugs and gropings?
