40K: White Dwarf Crimson Fist Rules Risky For The Game
The Crimson Fists are getting some love with some new rules (which is good). However, those rules are coming in the new White Dwarf (which might not be so good). Let’s chat.
By now you’ve probably heard the news that White Dwarf is getting reworked (again) and will be packed with tons of cool new features, content, and yes – rules. We know a lot of folks are pretty pumped about this for different reasons but if you’re a long time player you probably know where we’re going with this and we’re a little nervous for the future of Warhammer 40,000.
Look – we don’t think it’s inherently bad that Warhammer 40,000 is getting additional rules in White Dwarf. It’s been done before however – that’s why we’re nervous. The problem is simply one of scarcity. This might come as a shock but not everyone buys White Dwarf every month. And while having rules in the magazine sounds cool (it is actually) it can also make it rough for folks to get their hands on the rules in the future.
This happened with the Genestealer Cults and the Chaos Cult gangs that were added to White Dwarf. While it was really great to get support for those gangs, if you didn’t get the White Dwarf for that month, you just sorta missed out for awhile. Games Workshop wisely decided to reprint those rules online for free at a later date. But there in lies another problem, but this time it’s for GW: “If the rules will be published later, why should I purchase them now?”
Crimson Fist Rules – Heck Ya!
Again, we really like that the Crimson Fists are finally getting some rules. Having Pedro Kantor in the Space Marine Codex as the Chapter Master for the Crimson Fists but with no Chapter Tactic just seemed kinda odd. But from the looks of things, the Crimson Fists are finally getting their due: Warlord Traits, 3 Stratagems, 2 more Relics, and probably a Chapter Tactic too. But… those rules should have just been included in the Codex to begin with.
Having these rules in the January White Dwarf means a lot of Marine Players are going to want to pick this one up. But what happens to someone who finds out about this 3-6 months later? I guess they are out of luck unless they can get their hands on back copy or find a (legal grey area) scan of the rules. And what about Tournament Organizers? Are they going to have to enforce having a copy of these rules? Will a print-out work or will they require the actual White Dwarf? Are these rules even going to be Matched Play Legal? There are a lot of “what ifs” with this method of rules distribution.
Could GW just release these rules online later – absolutely. They could also wait until the end of the year add just add them to the Chapter Approved. Then again, these are rules for Space Marines so I guess we’ll just have to wait until the Marines get a new codex in like 6 months, right?
As cool as it is to get new rules in White Dwarf, we also like being able to buy/get access to those rules at any point in the life cycle of the game. I know that I personally don’t want to search through back issues of White Dwarf to find “that one supplement I need” for my army. Maybe we’ll get lucky and GW will just give those rules away for free online. Or maybe they will add them to a “White Dwarf rules colllection” at the end of the year. But I guess those are problems we’ll all have to deal with later – for now, if you want to play Crimson Fists, you better make sure you can get your hands on a copy of the upcoming White Dwarf…
How do you like the idea of getting rules in White Dwarf? Are you cool with the short term excitement or are you more interested in the long game? Let us know in the comments!
