40K Deep Thought: Why Are Formations Free?
It’s a simple question – with not so simple answers…
Age of Sigmar has shown us the way Grimdark fans. If you want an example of a 180 degree turnaround of a game in record time – look no further than the Generals Handbook’s effect on Age of Sigmar.
For a year Age of Sigmar languished, and was treated with everything from disrespect to outright hatred. Heck in it’s first few months, it spawned The 9th Age. Everyone from customers to industry professionals scratched their heads and couldn’t believe what GW had replaced Fantasy 8th Edition with. Everyone blamed the 4-pages of rules, and the throwing away of the Old World’s 30+ year background.
Then a funny thing happened…
The General’s Handbook arrived like a bolt from the blue – and FIXED IT!
We have reports that even GW has been shocked by sales and the adoption of the game after that $25 product hit the scene. It turns out that that year of bitching may have misplaced the blame. It certainly wasn’t the miniatures fault which surprised no one. The big shocker was it wasn’t the short rules either. I’ve played the game with Pitched Battle rules and guess what – IT”S FUN!
It turns out you can make an entertaining tabletop miniatures game with only 4 pages of core rules. It also has the advantage of being an ideal game to introduce new players to the the entire wargame hobby.
The entire rules of Chess – still going strong after 500 years without a new edition!
Back to 40K
But what did the General’s handbook really provide that could apply to the Grimdark?
- It added points for every unit in the game – we have that already
- It added a set of standard balanced missions – we have that already
- It added special abilities for each Grand Alliance in the game – we have that already (per army)
- It added artifacts for each Grand Alliance in the game – we have that already (relics per army)
- It added points for every Batallion (read as Formation) in the game – WAIT WHAT?
And that is what I think 40K really needs right now.
We are already seeing a lot of newer armies being introduced that seem to have an uncanny ability to mess with existing meta winners. (I’m looking at you Genestealer Cult). I don’t even think the Allies table is to blame too much, but it can be reigned in a little. The biggest complaint I see is the ever lower relevance that points have in the game. By that I mean in the current rules you can take the same models and units, and build two different armies, one without formations and one that heavily leverages them. They will both have the same point cost, yet one will have a HUGE advantage over the other.
Giving Formations a point cost directly addresses this imbalance. We know it’s possible – because Age of Sigmar just got it and folks are jumping for joy over there.
How?
With so many formations in the game – exactly how GW would do it is a whole different bag of weasals. The big issue isn’t the vast number of formations, as the smaller ones are somewhat easy to assign arbitrary costs to. Where it gets sticky is the codex-defining Detachments such at the Gladius, Decurion and others. These large detachments have such variable size and component formations that costing them out could be complex. Still, I have no doubt the design studio could roll up thier sleeves and do it.
The big question is what will 8th Edition bring and will it have a grimdark version of The General’s Handbook baked into it?
~ Who would be ready for that? You can count me in.
