40K DEEP THOUGHT: Allies & Forge World Created a Golden Age
Some hold up 4-5th edition at the high water mark of competitive play – but have over a dozen years of True Line-of-sight, Allies and Forge World given us the game’s best era ever?
Can you believe that 5th Edition came out in 2008. This was the last edition that still used single faction armies. The allies table arrived with 6th edition in 2012. We have only had allies in the game for 8 years! Seems a lot longer doesn’t it?
Players still wax poetic about the game during these heady days around 2008 – and compare it to what 40k has become. They say we have seen the game running wild in all directions, and power lists everywhere. If ONLY we could go back to those simpler bucolic days all would be better.
RUBBISH!
While the details of the rules and the units are far different today – what hasn’t changed are the players. I would argue the game is almost identical to ten years ago. Let’s take a look as several issues.
Remember when Tau & Eldar were buds?
Allies
Some say that the Allies system has watered down the game. But has it? It seems that players gravitate to the handful of most broken combos no matter the edition and spam them as much as possible. Today’s Imperial and Ynnari soup are just a different take on the single codex Leafblowers, Rhino Rush, Nidzilla, and Draigo-anything of yesterday. If anything the allies system did cause one unexpected issue of slowing down the meta’s rate of change, as soup lists now have to have several units in several codexes all fixed before they go out of fashion entirely. A decade after they were introduced, it seems that the game is always dominated by 3-5 “power builds” at any given time. Just like the old days.
Rules Complexity
Some say the rules were tighter back then. 8th did indeed start off slim and trim, but in 2 years it is giving any earlier edition a run for its money. Even 8th’s developers admit in White Dwarf that the goal was not to make a simpler system. The complexity is there. The goal was to make the game more approachable for new players. They didn’t want 8th have less rules – they wanted it to have a smaller core ruleset – so most of the complexity was moved into the datasheets. This drastically reduces the amount of reading and studying a new player needs to do before putting plastic on a tabletop and rolling dice. If anything I would say that some earlier editions like 3rd were a bit cleaner in comparison to 8th.
Welcome to every edition ever…
Unit Balance
Tough Love time – there has NEVER been unit balance in the game going back to 1987. At any given time, there will be 6-12 units in the game that are totally busted, and by the time GW replaces six of them – they make a new set. The key to competitive play is often not on the tabletop at all, but the list-building phase. A stronger list in the hands of two equal players will win more often. It’s just the facts of tabletop life. Finding these lists is a major part of what learning to be competitive is all about. With the internet in place the speed that “power lists” proliferate is higher now than in the past – but it’s been fast for quite a while.
DON’T DO IT – It will break the game! (meh…)
Forge World
For over a decade, Forge World was considered taboo – mainly because the rules were extremely uneven, and folks didn’t’ want to shell out for both the pricy kits and yet more rules to support them. 8th has integrated Forge World into the game as smoothly as it’s ever been – and I would say the fear was unwarranted. sure there are a tiny handful of units you see now and then in power lists – but it is not dominating the game. If anything I would consider most Forge World units to be underpowered these days.
So Where Are We?
Overall I think we are in a good spot. 10 years ago – you had to read a lot, buy tons of books and White Dwarfs, and learn to deal with about 3-6 lists that were truly lethal. Today it’s almost exactly the same – except you can get you buddy into the game with less than half the reading and time. And that’s a great thing.
~What era of 40K do you think was the best?
