A silk purse from a sow's ear

Since Zacho is busting my chops everyday to put pencil to paper, I thought I might throw out some thoughts that were inspired (most recently) by this post on The Back 40K. By way of preface, I must say I have a great deal of respect for the folks over there. I follow their blog precisely because they aren’t apt to go careening off into poorly thought-out arguments or vitriol or any other nonsense that can be had in scores of other places. That said, I don’t always agree. And that’s okay. Really.

So...

The referenced blog post was, for the most part, focused in it’s message and intent. The ‘fun’ is to be had in the replies! That is where I’ll start, and maybe work back to a look at the actual article later.

WARNING: OPINIONS FOLLOW!

They are worth exactly what you are paying for them.

First and foremost, 40K is a game. Not just that, it’s a DICE GAME. Sandwyrm said in one response referring to Celestine and Thawn, ”They break it in the “It’s no longer a game of skill” sense.” I contend that Sandwyrm (and please don’t take offense. I love ya, Man) is starting with a bad premise. 40K never was a game of skill. It is as much of a skill game as Monopoly. People can play it ‘competitively’. People can organize tournaments. That’s just the monkey-brain at work. People will race each other and a rolling wheel of cheese down a hill, for crap sakes! But, people also sit in their basements and roll dice and drink beer and push plastic around the card table. If you want a game to be reliant on skill, tactics, and strategy, this ain’t it.

I”m going to pick at Sandwyrm again (sorry, I really do like you...) with point two: Lots of people play the game incorrectly. There are many reasons for this. As mentioned above, a person could simply be trying to make the game something it isn’t. A person could just not have a complete understanding. A person could just be an ass... Many reasons. Back to the responses: “If a game can’t function without five 6” high hills on the table, then there’s something wrong with the game.”  In my experience, the game is almost always played without enough terrain. If you get the right amount of terrain on the table, the correct amount of terrain, that razor-spam Wolf list isn’t quite as scary. My 3rd ed. Grey Knights took the shiny new, 5th ed. Wolves to a draw by moving laterally and forcing them to come to me through terrain as an anecdotal example. The game does not work without terrain.

Following from above (so I guess this is point 2a), quit playing at 2000+ points. The game works for every codex at 1500 (+/-). I will put up to 1500 points of Tau on the table against any army. Beyond that, my odds drop significantly. 1000 or 1500 points forces the player to make the hard choices. You just can’t get all the toys in there. If you want to play more points, play Apocalypse.

Now, the main article. I agree with some of the observations, just not with the analysis, for reasons I already covered. Let’s review the conclusions:

1. Less Variety In The Competitive Scene (Marines Everywhere)
2. Less Reward For Learning To Play (More Randomness)
3. Increased $$$ Costs To Play (In A Bad Economy)

Tournaments are being played, almost exclusively, at 2000+ points. That’s why you don’t see the older Codices represented. Play a tournament at 1000 or 1250 or even 1500 and you’ll see those Xenos crawl back into the light. You’ll see more themed or fluffy lists. You’ll see more ‘players’ and less ‘WAAC-jobs’. Another, but I don’t think insignificant, reason for all the Marine lists is they are the most ‘forgiving’ to play. A mistake with Marines isn’t the same as a mistake with Eldar. And, it’s GW’s flagship army - what are you gonna do? The same argument addresses the second bullet. If you play at 1500, you have to learn to play your army. You can’t hide behind all those toys.

I’m going to leave the 3rd bullet alone for now. That is a whole ‘nother thing...