40K Op-ed: Sportsmanship, Cover and 8th Ed.
BlackBlowFly here to talk about how good 8th is and how it (and us) still have a ways to go on the road to perfection.
Hi y’all it’s BBF here to talk about Warhammer 40k and the new edition.
Pictured: all of us – eventually…
It is the Rules, or Us?
I’m a really big fan of the new Edition and feel like Games Workshop did a lot of things right to get the game back on track again where it needs to be. The game lost the rules bloat which is something many of us really wanted. If you’re new to 40k what I can say is that’s really good for you – the last edition was terribad in many many ways, especially from a competitive point of view. One thing I’ve noticed is that with the simplicity of the new rules set there are unfortunately new ways to abuse the game and from time to time it still happens. Even if you are a totally casual player everybody (and I mean everybody) has a limit wherein there is a button that can be pushed that transforms your Bruce Banner state of mind into the Hulk. Maybe you have not been pushed all the way to the Null Zone yet, hopefully you never will, but just because you never experienced doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen. I’ve seen casual players go totally bonkers just because of one silly thing an opponent said during a game.
I swear I can see your Land Raider through the arrow slits!
Let’s Talk Cover
Here is an example to consider. The last edition cover saves were really crazy – for example certain units had a 2+ re-rollable cover save such as Ravenwing Black Knights within certain proximity to the Dark Shroud. All that is gone now and at best all you can get is +1 to your cover save. Cover is so much simpler now and that’s a good thing, right? The answer is yes it is but on the flip side it opens the door for abuse. If your unit is not completely in hard cover now they get no cover save at all. It might not seem like a big deal at first but in retrospect there are certain types of units such as super heavies that can produce a prodigious amount of fire power completely eradicating enemy units in a single turn.
So you might decide to hide your units behind line of sight blocking terrain to avoid the pain but then it happens – your opponent tells you they can see a pin point, it could be the very tippy tip of a banner or an antenna. You walk over to their side of the table to see for yourself and your unit is completely hidden BUT still they insist they can see that one infinitely small microscopic point. You know they are totally full or crap.
So what do you do?
Know When to Hold Em, Know When to Fold Em
If it’s a casual game my advice is stop, pack your army and walk away… but what if it’s a tournament? There are two options – roll off or ask for a third party to check. Well good luck with that, I have heard some people say you’re just not looking hard enough or even they that can somehow see around a bend… do you remember the movie Wanted, LOL.
There are two solutions to this type of numbing play style – GW could change the rules for cover OR we can just take it upon ourselves to just say no. I opt for the second option. Stand up for yourself. At worst just say NO walk and take the loss, let people know about it. If someone wants to win that bad and they pull this kind of underhanded tactic it’s not going to get any better. Ask yourself if it’s really worth it. If it were me I’d contest it but if the opponent is adamant I will walk away.
~So this is one example how the new Edition can be abused – have you had any other experiences of super abusable rules in 8th?
