40K: 8th Edition’s Digital Future
GW’s been knocking out a lot of very interesting technologies that make sense for 40K’s future.
GW has been going down the digital road for many years. In recent weeks however it looks like they are laying down a pretty good framework for how the next edition of 40K might work.
Dealing with the Codex Problem
First of all, ditching the codex system and putting all the unit stats into an app addresses a lot of issues. If you look at Age of Sigmar, you see the 4 monster grand alliance books and their warscroll contents available in the Age of Sigmar app. Having the option to carry ALL the game’s unit rules on your phone is a concept that is here to stay, with both AoS and Warmachine embracing it with both hands. I think it’s a no brainer that whatever the next edition of 40K is going to look like, GW is planning on rolling out an app just as functional as the Age of Sigmar one. They did already put up the money to build the platform, why wouldn’t they reuse it?
Army Construction
I think we can all agree that army construction is a serious problem in current 40K. Maybe THE problem. WAR ROOM has been letting Warmahordes players knock out lists for years now and Age of Sigmar just got it this week! I think we can all see the writing on the wall.
A more interesting question is what this means for overall complexity of units, unit options and the allies-formation-detachment system. Both Warmachine and 40K have units with very simplified unit options, and allies/faction rules. These in turn make programming army construction into an easy technical challenge, compared to the “my army is pulled from 9 codices, and Forge World” mess 40K is now. I would expect a matching GW 40K army builder for the new edition and think that you shouldn’t be surprised to see things really get cleaned up in the overall army construction rules department.
Rules & FAQs
Now Age of Sigmar has 4 pages of rules. Their inclusion in the app is trivial. 40K is much more complex, but if GW wanted to, they could have the rules in a unified app. Better yet, imagine if the purple-text FAQs got automatically included in app updates. How awesome would that be?
Odds & Ends
We’ve seen GW jump into the digital app world with both feet. When not only Age of Sigmar but new product lines like Warhammer Quest and Blood Bowl get their own apps, I think it’s only a matter of time until GW’s REAL CASH COW, 40K gets it’s own digital apps. In a way, I can see the entire current line of GW apps as tests to get everything worked out before 40K new edition hits the road later this year.
Still we run into the double edge sword of moving our beloved physical games into the digital world. We all love an play our games for a reason.
- We LIKE the very physicality of the hobby.
- We LIKE playing with actual miniatures.
- We LIKE playing against actual people in person.
Tabletop gaming is distinct from video gaming.
It will interesting to see just how attached players are to all those paper books we buy and lug around with our beloved armies.
~What would you want to see for a 40K digital app, and how readily would you give up physical paper game books?
