Well here we are on the cusp of a new year. 2014 is upon us and 2013 is at its end. Terra has completed GW one at least, has seen some massive changes. In fact, 2013 seems to have the overtones of "The Empire Strikes Back" for the 40K hobby.another orbit and the Hobby, the
We have seen a rapid release of product this year from GW. In fact this is the fastest GW has put out product in its entire history. 5 codex's a years was a dream a mere 2 years ago. Not only are we getting Codex's at a rapid pace we are getting supplements and expansions at the same time. Not only has this given players a ton of new things to play with, it has also given them one big question. Whats is normal 40k? Not only that, but what is legal? Spellduckwrong touched on this a couple weeks ago. Well technically speaking its all normal. You play using what you want and don't play with the stuff you don't like. This barrage of product and rules has left the community a little blind sided and the narrative nature of the game finds itself completely at odds with the competitive side. It is the competitive side that is causing a lot of the questioning and arguments. Rightly so.
As a T.O. I am a little overwhelmed by the slew of products and rules. I applaud those running the big events like NOVA, The Las Vegas Open, Da Boyz and of course the event I attend Adepticon. I especially don't envy Reecius. The Vegas Open is the first event of the year so to speak. He has a lot of pressure on his shoulders. I salute your efforts sir and agree we need to come together as a community and fix things so those that want to play competitive, can with a minimal amount of confusion.
Tj, The man formally known as Old School Terminator, recently mentioned the Magic tournament scene in a conversation I had with him recently. Magic has a very strict and organized tournament circuit. they ban and limit cards that unbalance things or sku results. We should look to that as an example. If we need to restrict and strip things down to make the game work on a competitive level then lets do it. Limiting points is already in built. Banning allies or supplements may need to happen to make things balance out. We already do this to an extent, but it seems we as Americans need somebody to tell us its OK to do it. Well that's not the America I am use to. If somethings broken fix it.
The community has grown a bit soft and lazy in my opinion. GW is not going to do this stuff for us. We as the community need to do it. We need to do it now. In fact one of our local players has been calling for a conclave of players form around the state to hammer out a tournament standard. We will see if The Judge can get all the groups around here together. I know I will lend my help. We have to come together and get this all hammered out. 2014 must be the year we take back our game. The hobby must be stronger to grow. You cannot build without a firm foundation.
SO, play those narrative games with gusto. We have lots of new toys and tools to use in them. Contribute to the solution instead of being the problem when it comes to competitive play. I think 2014 will be a great year for 40K. It will also be a great year for Firestorm Armada. The new rule set is pretty tight. More on that next year though.
So with 2013 coming to a close I bid you farewell. See you next year.
Until then....
Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, WAR CALLS!!!!!!!
I'm of the mind that we need to set a standard 40k that is made of rule book, codices and codex supplements. All rules from those books are fine in standard. Then you can have unlimited, where anything goes, kill team which is already great, limited, which is standard plus FW 40k approved ect. I want to stress that removing allies is a step backward and will lead us back to the old snare of when older codices just sucked and there was no help. Well, allies helps and it is a good change in my book.
ReplyDeleteThese are very interesting times for 40k and I agree with TJ that any collective standard should be made from the rulebook. Looking to MTG is a great idea as it has a well developed and supported competitive tournament scene.
ReplyDeleteI think establishing a standard game or game types would be a huge boost for competitive players because we could build our armies knowing that they would be useable for multiple events. I'd love to be able to have one tournament army that I could take to any event without worrying about non-standard rules packs, various comp restrictions or anything else. I simply don't have the time or money to build, paint and practice with multiple significantly different versions of my army to suit different tournament requirements in addition to reacting to new releases!
What I'm getting to here is that having set game types along the lines that TJ suggested would allow TO's to pick from a community accepted range of types (limited = no FW/Escalation/Stronghold Assault, unlimited=everything), which in turn could mean that players could develop their competitive play and participate to a higher competitive level with their chosen army.
I think there are enough variables out there to allow TO's to develop their USP (e.g. terrain, venue, prize support) and for players to express themselves (e.g. model choice, painting, conversions). I also believe that competition thrives on practice and standardisation, so why not use this massive opportunity to come together as a community and establish exactly what game we're going to play to win?
Phew! Sorry if that comes across as a bit ranty, it's just that this is something I've been thinking about for a long time and feel quite strongly about!
Great blog by the way and definitely one of my favourites for good well thought out posts and topics. Cheers to you all for your efforts!