Goatboy’s Warhammer 40K: The Game Needs Better Win Conditions
When we play Warhammer 40K we try to have a winner and loser. So the question I want to pose is – how can we make those win conditions way more interesting?
Sure we can have draws on the 40K tabletop, but the overall goal of the game is to have someone win it and someone lose it. One of the Generals has to be victorious on the battlefield while the rival licks their wounds in defeat.
40K Win Conditions – Where Are We Now?
First of all I want to say I am not upset at the current games system for winning and losing. Gathering points in whatever ways necessary is an easy way to gauge wins and losses. I am not always a fan of how random the 40K mission deck cards can be but do see the idea that having an ever shifting game can make for an interesting time. It allows games to not always be so straightforward and brings in some randomness that might not be there if we just pit forces and their mathematical chances against each other.
I just think sometimes the random order of things can lead to some well – boring environments where one player feels like they can never win. I know the gambit system was set up to try and resolve that but what if we went a bit further? What if we shift things away from just a point victory and brought back sudden death style aspects?
Sudden Death Missions?
These all or nothing victories are not a new thing in 40K. I remember the time when First Blood would be the only thing games were lost by? Or how the Relic could be such a pain in the butt if someone fast enough or with enough tricks to be fast enough could grab it and run back to their deployment zone. It could be frustrating or it could be the only avenue to win. It was a hard thing to truly judge/play for at times and that could be interesting.
So what if we brought back something like this in the game? What if we brought single option win conditions that were less “oops I win turn 1” and instead something you have to try hard to pull off a sudden death win maybe on 3 or 4? Would it be too much? Would it be unfun?
I do remember the old days where the game was smash face against each other and on the last turn you hold an objective or two. Or the last “maybe turn” due to random nature of turn limits. It was an interesting time and a much simpler game for it. But again was it good?
How many times did you lose a game, because you didn’t end of turn 5? Or that you went all the way to turn 7? Or how someone with a fat base and a tough unit held onto that damned relic/poker chip/etc all the way to the end and you never got a chance to bring it back? Is it even worth it to think about it?
We still have some of this in the game now because your deck or auto draw app could just crap on you and everything youdraw, means you can’t score. It’s just the nature of the random beast that sometimes a solid armylist match up goes straight down the toilet in a sea of bad card flips.
It Wasn’t All Roses Back In the Day
I do know that the locked in turn limit is something I do enjoy. I always hated losing on a random turn 6 or the game ending at 5. I always found the Relic grab games to be annoying as you chased a biker across the field or watched the tricky Eldar Farseer flip you off in a cloud of dust. It wasn’t exciting to me even when I was able to squeak out a win thru shenanigans.
So why even talk about it? Because we have to investigate before we suggest anything. I personally don’t want the game to go back to the old system of pick your 3 objectives you are best at as it starts to create boring list and options as people find the best solution. I know I do this and every other competitive player does. But I also don’t like missions you can’t get.
Should GW Rework How Deck Drawing Works?
Let’s talk about the gambits a bit. I think the idea is interesting. But so far I have never chosen it nor have I had it succeed for or against me. Which lets me think why even have them? Or how do we fix them? I also don’t think we do fix them as they should be hard. So why not do something different?
What if you could take the deck, discard 2 cards at the beginning of the game, and then play with what is left. Would that make things far or we would see a whole slew of same card discarded each time? Would it be. Better to remove 2 cards and add 2 cards? Would it be cooler if we could create our own deck for the army?
Let’s say you had access to all the cards and always had to select 12 of them for your deck. This would ensure that if you didn’t redraw a card you would always miss out on 2. Would that let you create a different experience that can be shifted thru each game a bit? Would that let it still be random enough? What if you could put in some oops 10 point cards in there to help sweeten the need to change things up?
Or do we go back to a more locked in system for point scoring and shift from the game? What if we had cards that said if a Battleline unit scores this they get more points too? Would that incentivize taking some of those units or would it create a whole new game of who has the best “troop” choice in the game?
All I Know Is 40K Win Conditions Can Improve
I don’t think we should move away from 5 turns or shift into a true turn 5 sudden death win. I don’t want to see games effectively over on turn 1 either. There was enough of that with some of the Towering/Dev Wound/Eldar things that caused this without actually saying they win the game turn 1. I think I just want a bit more options in my pool of points that currently the deck doesn’t provide.
What do you think?
