Well, it's almost here!
There's not many people that would argue that 40k is in poor shape in 7th Edition. The rules are so expansive that it's borderline overwhelming, theres a thousand and one Universal special rules, that all interact differently to each other, and to the multitude of special rules of each faction, and it felt like every codex had a supplement, which was in turn supported by several campaign books, that for the purposes of the game, was largely unnecessary bar one or two pages of Formations or data slates hidden within the back pages.
And there was no sign of slowing down.
But, when Games Workshop announced 8th Edition, we knew it was going to be drastic. I had several conversations with long-time 40k veterans who were vehemently convinced that it would stay the same game that they (as a small percentage of the wargaming population) so dearly loved. While I knew for certain that streamlining had to occur for the game to be successful, I was also fairly sure that if they were to give it the necessary streamline, they had to shave the book-keeping down. Let's be real, it was getting a little crazy; even Orks (firm residents of the bottom branch of the power tree) needed anywhere up to five separate books (not including the amazing, if a little outdated Imperial Armour 8) to utilitize the force to its full potential. FIVE! That doesn't include the core rulebook.
So, the news that all current publications would be null and void came as music to my ears! The games designers could start from scratch, build synergetic armies and mechanics in a way that would make each race totally unique in its play style and tabletop performance, and cut away the cumbersome, word-heavy ruleset that did naught but slow the game down.
Templates are gone.
Formations are gone.
Warp Charges (in their current form) are gone.
Even Hull Points are gone.
The new Force Organisation charts herald back to when I first started in this hobby fifteen years ago. There were no faction-specific force organisation charts, there were no formations. You had your chart, and it was up to you to design an army within its structure that captured your imagination and tactical acumen. Every article that games workshop has released on different aspects of the upcoming edition (a huge improvement on any edition they have ever released before, in any of their game systems) has screamed one simple message; "Smoother, faster and more fun". Of the slowly growing pool of information that we've been fed so far, the game looks like it will play faster than ever before. No longer will Daemon players spend the first fifteen minutes of the game rolling up Psychic Powers. No longer will Guard players spend an eternity dropping mass templates upon the heads of their foes.
And for me, most excitingly, (practically confirmed, but we'll wait and see) the Age of Deathstars is over! No more Invisible, teleporting, board-spanning conglomerations of heroes, villains and demigods in such a combination as to prove almost invulnerable to damage! What a time to be alive!
All of this news, while gladly welcomed by half of the community, was condemned as pure heresy by the other half. The game they knew was no more, torn from their grasp, and all the books they had spent their hard earned pennies on rendered useless in the wake of this apocalyptic news of doom and gloom. And to those people, I empathise but also hold to account. A very similar series of events unfolded in the early days of Age of Sigmar, but there were a few small differences.
When AoS dropped, there were no points, there was very little-to-no structure, and most importantly, there were no answers; no feedback, no announcements, nothing. Radio darkness. It was over nine months before the arrival of the General's Handbook, the redeeming saviour of Age of Sigmar, the catalyst that turned the game from an unbalanced, unplayable mess (before several very solid community-developed scoring systems) into one of the single most enjoyable games I have ever played.
And was I mad about all of my books being made redundant? Sure, at first. But then, 40K codexes were being updated and made redundant every few years anyway. I have four editions of the Space Marine codex in a box in my shed, all redundant. Would I call them a waste of money? Absolutely not! I believe that I've got my money's worth out of every GW book I have purchased, and I don't regret one of them (well, maybe one…). Let's face it… I've spent a lot more on things I've enjoyed a lot less.
From this, I hope that the skeptical players learn from hindsight and history, and realise that Games Workshop knows what they are doing here. Age of Sigmar survived a much harsher transition and is flourishing like never before. Imagine the state of 40K after a well-rehearsed, well-planned transition that tackles everything wrong with the game, and accentuates everything great!
I'm very interested to hear your opinions on this upcoming era of change.
I, for one, am bursting at the seams for this release, and am madly painting my alternate-scheme Grey Knights in preparation!
Thanks for reading,
Gabe
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