I was flipping through my 8th
edition WFB hardcover (you know, the one that weighs as many pounds as it
costs), just for inspiration, and I thought again about how I’d like to play
that game but… I just don’t care that
much for it. WFB and 40K are two very
different animals, and have traditionally been so for specific reasons (like
those who play them like them that way), although it sounds like the 9th
edition Fantasy game will be closer and closer to 40K, which I actually would
prefer.
I’ve heard it said that WFB players like those aspects of the game that make it different from 40K and
that’s one reason why they like it. Some
of those reasons are as I will annotate below, which happen to be the very
reasons I don’t care for it.
When I said “25th
Edition” in the title, that’s me just saying that this is the way I’d like to
see the game evolve. See, I’d like to
play in the fantasy realm, wielding swords and magic and big bad monsters—I
like fantasy stuff almost as much as sci-fi stuff. I’m a nerd of many colors. But there are things about the fantasy game
mechanics I don’t like. If I were to be
invited to tweak the game for it’s 25th edition (just to pick an
outrageous number), here’s a few changes I’d make:
1. The Math.
There’s just way too much math in Fantasy for me. Don’t get me wrong, I like math okay, but I
don’t want to have to crunch so many numbers when I’m trying to enjoy a game
that’s supposed to be action packed. I
like the streamlined 40K system in regard to this. WFB has chart upon chart of all the factors
you need to consider. Now there is merit
to armor penetration modifiers (which 40K used to have too, back in the day),
and some of the other numbers being factored in, but… it’s just too much. Trying to figure out who won a round of
combat takes a calculator, and that’s just not fun.
2. Hordes vs Heroes. In 40K, the squads are generally no bigger
than 10 figures, sometimes really big units get to be 20 or more models, but
that’s uncommon. And in 40K, it seems
like any one model can end up being the hero of the battle. That last surviving Space Marine Scout may
just defy the odds and come out on top more than the Dice Gods should allow,
and end up winning the game practically on his own. In Fantasy, 90% of your models are nameless
nobodies who are there just to die. You
don’t have a unit of guys, you have a block of fodder. Ranks upon ranks of them. In fact, the rules
are set-up so that massive units of nobodies is the best way to go. And the differences between “basic” units and
“elite” units is only like 1 or 2 stat points and having a great sword instead
of a regular sword. They’re the same
damn thing, so what’s the point? There’s
all just the same worthless fodder, but this one’s blue and that one’s
green. It seems to me that 40K has more
variety of units and that each has a better developed role with its own special
moves. It seems to me that one block of
troops is pretty much the same as the next big block of troops.
I have two issues with this:
(1) As I said, having 40 nobodies who all run away because of one scary monster
or bad roll is just… Well, sucky. I’d rather have 10 potential heroes than 40
fodder troops any day. (2) the real
world cost of building such an army is just terrible. We don’t need to revisit GW pricing here, but
how the hell are we supposed to afford such a force? It’d take decades to build up that kind of
army.
Now I now this is one of
those things people love about Fantasy.
This harkens to the Tolkien-esque armies in The Hobbit and TLotR, blocks
of amassed orcs and elves crashing into each other, forces so huge that the
dust of their marching blots out the sun.
I know that’s the effect it was build for originally, to go back to the
source material (let’s face it, WFB was originally a direct rip-off of
LotR). And that’s great if you like
that. But in the 25th
edition, I’d like to prune it back a bit.
So I’ll stop the
comparison/gripe there. Two main factors
to adjust for my 25th edition: Math/Extraneous Rules and Blocks of
Fodder. Some ways I’d do that:
1. The easiest way (which rumors indicate may be
kind of happening now anyway) is to play Fantasy more like a Warbands
game. There are special rule sets out
there, like Mordheim, that go that way.
I think if I wanted to play Fantasy that way right now (and could find a
friend or two to go along with me), I’d just play games of like 500 points and
do away with the minimum requirements on unit size and army basics. So you don’t need to have 80+ Core troops as
the cornerstone of your force. You might
choose to have a unit or two of core troops, but they might only be 5 or 10
models in size.
2. Emphasize characters and heroes. This would also play into a way to reduce the
mindless masses rules and the likelihood of a route. I’m imagining a small subset of rules for
promoting one rank and file model in your unit to be a minor hero or
leader. He or she has access to more
gear and better ability to rally your units.
(I know we kind of have that now, but I think they’re just higher value
fodder at this point.)
3. Doing away with block formations and making
everyone more mobile, like skirmishing formations. Maybe we still use trays or whatever, but the
models are staggered on them and not necessarily formed up in rigid ranks and
files. This would also do away with all
the rules about ranks and whatnot, making combat easier and not necessarily
encouraging us to spend more money on masses of models.
4. Reign in point values. I notice that in the newer army books,
character model point values are ridiculous. One core elf with a bow is only 8 points, but
the noble who’s stats are barely better costs 10 to 20 times as much, and that’s
without gear and with no special rules to make him cool. What the hell for?! And what fun is that? But rather than having to rewrite all the
army books, maybe we just set a separate points budget for buying heroes and
lords for our mini-forces. For example,
maybe you have 500 points to spend on them, and 500 to spend on everything else
too. Two separate budgets set to scale
for getting the cool characters you want without making them the sole models in
your warband.
Okay, I guess that;s enough
rambling on this topic for today. I
guess I got it out of my system.
The bottom line is, I’d like
to play a great Fantasy battle game, but not on the huge army scale and not
when it requires a calculator. (And not
when it has even more than 40,000 rules!) I’d like to make a small force with
these guys on foot, those scouts, a few models on horseback, a monster and a
wizard, all them with some individual character and potential, and none of them
forced to march shoulder to shoulder. Is
that too much to ask?
(Please excuse any errors in this one -- as it's after midnight, I'm not revising, I'm just posting this sucker.)
