FAQ YOU! 40k Edition
Well aren’t those just the cutest batch of updates!
Mr. Black here, and we have entered a new age, dear readers! A golden age where every problem with Warhammer 40K will soon be solved and any petty discrepancies and argument will be a long distant relic of the dark ages of the past! Yes, we are soon entering a brave new world in 2008!
Wait… It’s 2011…
IT TOOK THEM THREE YEARS TO GET OUT AN UPDATE THAT SHOULD HAVE COME WITH THE CODEX: SPACE MARINES RELEASE??!
Ahem, ok ok. Not going to get into that little issue. The important thing, dear readers, is that the FAQ is available here and now. But just what does it mean for the game as a whole? Well the insufferable Barnyard Boy himself briefly spoke about some of the ramifications HERE, so check that out to see some unique opinions and ideas for the future that some (including myself) didn’t even initially think of (or if you’re just a fan of seeing farm animals who can use a keyboard!), but let’s take a look at some of the immediate and long-term changes I believe this FAQ will bring upon us.
Deathwing Returns!
Yes, more than anything in my mind I foresee this bringing about the return of the Deathwing army for the simple reason that people love Terminators. I remember when I initially found out about the game, way back in the early nineties, my choices boiled down to Dark Angels or Tyranids- and the Angels almost won simply due to seeing the alabaster-white hunch-backs. Everyone loves elite armies and up until just recently (Space Wolves) the ability to field an All-Terminator army meant giving up the cool new toys such as 3++ Storm Shields and Assault Cannons, and in the end that really hurt their viability as an army. Now, I’m not saying all the major problems in the codex have been fixed (the basic costs are still rather high), but we have taken a large step in the right direction- bringing back the feared Deathwing to their rightful place as the premier elite army… At least until the Grey Knights come to challenge that title…
Rapid Response FAQ!
Everyone remember last year, and how long some of the FAQ’s took to get out? And even then they didn’t answer all the questions people had? I wish I could call that anything other than poor management, but really there is no excuse for such things… It’s not like the player-base didn’t ask those questions, it just seems like they where ignored. Well chalk it up to changes or the fact the Dark Eldar book was well written but most, if not all, the questions people had in regards to the book where answered by the FAQ (well, except some issues regarding the Archon’s Retinue, but that’s more of an errata than FAQ issue…). What does this all mean? Well rapid releases of the FAQ are a great step in making the game tighter and overall more enjoyable to play, both on a casual level as well (and perhaps more importantly) the competitive scene.
Marines Got Better
This is a minor one, rather trivial (well, until the moment it costs you a game), but allowing Marines to get their consolidation then normal move acts to make, what some players view as, an overpowered army all the better. Personally, for me the game was built on the back of the T:4 3+ save, so it doesn’t upset me at all, but I do know there are some out there who believe Space Marines are killing the game and need to be toned down, not boosted even further.
Less Counts-As… Maybe?
I will be frank here, I hate “counts-as” armies. Not for any general reasons involving power-gaming or codex-balance of anything of the sort, but just on a general level of “either play your codex or play the other one”- basically because (and again, my opinion, so don’t take it personally) that people who play counts-as armies tend to be high-and-mighty in their justifications of such and love to talk about “how their vision can’t be met with the codex their given”. I’m a bite the bullet kind of guy- either play with your book or do something different; I don’t want to spend the first two/three turns of the game constantly asking what unit represents what… On the other hand this may cause the exact opposite effect as more people will want to play Deathwing/Ravenwing/People Play Dark Angels?/Black Templar without actually buying the models. I suppose only time will tell in regards to this issue.
A Better Future
This is as optimistic as you’ll see me, but I’d like to believe that this may be a sign of things to come with Games Workshop. We all know over the last few years most everyone grew to just assume the only way Black Templar/Dark Angels where going to see the fun new stuff was a new codex release. After all, GW is the money-hungry-player-hating-corporate-machine after all, why would it make older codices viable when it can just release all new ones for people to buy? Well I’m not going to get into the logistics of that concept, but I will simply say this: Hopefully this is a move towards returning the “fun” aspects of the game (White Dwarf unit releases, Chapter Approved items, etc) while at the same time sharpening the game and refining the new releases towards more balance and competition-sense… Yes, I’m hoping that GW not only returns to the hobby aspect of their corporation but also maintains a better tournament scene, two vastly different ideologies in most people’s minds. Can it be done? Sure, but it will be tough and would require a lot of attention… But then again, GW is a multi-national corporation, who else would have such means?
And that, dear readers, is but a sample of things to come. I’m sure we’ll see events and items arise over the next bit of time that we didn’t even expect or see (for better or worse). So until then just keep your heads up and enjoy the fun (maybe even kooky) surprises GW has in store.
~So then, given the reinvigorated state of some of the older books, what do you expect to see hitting the tabletop and tournament scenes over the next few months?
