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Author Topic: Question for Warhammer 40K players  (Read 2549 times)

Offline Inkpaduta

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Question for Warhammer 40K players
« on: October 27, 2021, 05:53:02 PM »
I know 40K is a hugely successful and popular game. Tons of figures and numerous books ect.
My question for 40K is why is this? I am not being snarky I am curious why this is so. There numerous
other Sci Fi games out there. Why do you like to play 40K? Why not say Star Wars miniature battles ect.?
What makes it so special for you? Thanks everyone.

Offline Major_Gilbear

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Re: Question for Warhammer 40K players
« Reply #1 on: October 27, 2021, 06:09:04 PM »
I got into it at the end Rogue Trader (the first edition), but found it all rather dissonant and confusing to make sense of as a game. The first time I got into it as a game rather than a setting, was during it's second edition.

In part, it was at the time perhaps an age thing (being a teenager), but in each edition there have also been changes in tone to the setting, as well as changes to the rules and forces available. Some were more subtle changes than others, and some were for better/worse in various ways.

I guess what I liked most at the start were the models and the art, and the background stories. That's largely still what I most like today, although I do seem to have reached a point where I'm going backwards to older models and rulesets again.

One thing that always struck me about 40k was what a rich setting it was/can be considering that it was not based on any books or films or TV/comic series. Sure, there have been a few half-hearted dabbles over the years, and a lot of "inspiration" has been "borrowed" from other sources over the years, but then again most other things are like that too.

Not sure if that helps answer anything for you, but happy to explain further as required.  :)

Offline Battle Brush Sigur

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Re: Question for Warhammer 40K players
« Reply #2 on: October 27, 2021, 07:55:44 PM »
.) Space Marines are cool (Primaris are not, but I'm just old). In general, 40k is an amalgamation of everything that's cool.
.) GW is readily available and usually present in the customer's mind already through video games, board games, etc.
.) GW stores are possibly GW's strongest marketing tool since people can play there.
.) 40k speaks to boys in the their early teens.
.) You get everything ready-made, corporately designed and spoon-fed.
.) Say what you will, but the figures are well made.

*) In the German-speaking area up to very recently, wargaming was basically just GW, due to "playing war" was very much frowed upon. Still is to an extent, but it got better. Still, there barely are any wargaming rules from Germany. Notable exception is Steinhagel/Kugelhagel.  More and more of the broad blockbuster rules get translated to German now (the Warlord games, Saga, etc.) though.


All the above points may not apply any more, but that's how I perceived it back when I got into 40k. Now 40k certainly wouldn't sit on top of my "things I'd like to play" list, but I'd rather play it than Star Wars Legion. :D That's just me though. Anyway, I think the main thing about the success of 40k is the marketing and that in the beginning there actually was several cool ideas in there.

Funny thing is that right now with everything being driven by this weird mix of economizing every aspect of one's being and extreme narcissism and all that attention economics thing that of course runs on making broad stuff broader and not considering anything remotely less broad.

Offline Pictors Studio

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Re: Question for Warhammer 40K players
« Reply #3 on: October 28, 2021, 05:24:08 AM »
GW took one of the coolest sci-fi stories out there and made a game out of it set 30,000 years later basically with all the other cool sci-fi stuff added in.

So you have Dune as your basic universe, you've got some Star Wars thrown in there, some Alien thrown in there, some anime thrown in there and as you develop it you end up with a really cool backstory, some real King Arthur stuff going down. 

Plus the models were some of the best around at the time. 

Offline Diablo Jon

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Re: Question for Warhammer 40K players
« Reply #4 on: October 28, 2021, 06:46:22 AM »
Never really liked starwars, Star Trek or Doctor Who but I always loved 40k from the day I picked up the 1st edition rulebook, and a box of Marines and Ork Raiders, for my birthday in 1987, I've been hooked. I just like the grimdark vibe, the techno barbarism and chaos.

Offline Keith

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Re: Question for Warhammer 40K players
« Reply #5 on: October 28, 2021, 07:54:14 AM »
Partly nostalgia - I was there on day one and it was quite wonderfully anarchic and inventive at the time. An element of that is still very much there with it being a big universe with lots of room for players to fill in the gaps and narrative as they like (if that's your thing which, in my case, it is).

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Offline whiskey priest

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Re: Question for Warhammer 40K players
« Reply #6 on: October 28, 2021, 09:13:17 AM »
As I've said elsewhere, 40K is a terrible wargame with excellent merchandising

Offline Genghis

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Re: Question for Warhammer 40K players
« Reply #7 on: October 28, 2021, 05:46:59 PM »
I don't play 40K (the actual big battles game) - my slow rate of painting, the mass casualty removal and the constant stream of new models/rules changes that nerf your current force stopped working for me.

However, the setting is very cool.  It's an incredibly well developed and realised mythos, that's so huge there's scope to focus in on and incorporate pretty much whatever floats your boat sci-fi wise (not to mention scope for many historical/fantasy influences for good measure).  I love skirmish gaming within that setting, be it official GW games (Inquisitor, Necromunda, Kill Team, Blackstone Fortress), or using the 40K figures (and setting) in other games, such as Stargrave.

The figures and look of the setting are cool as well, but (as long as you're not bothered about playing in the GW stores) can be freely mixed/converted with 3rd party offerings for all sorts of fun that will fit right on in.
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Offline BeneathALeadMountain

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Re: Question for Warhammer 40K players
« Reply #8 on: October 28, 2021, 07:28:17 PM »
I watched my older brother and his friends play RT (just released) in a sports hall. Two of his friends (brothers) were/are excellent artists and really embraced RT. They had a beautiful harlequin force, a home made landraider, they even had a dwarf death roller from BB being driven by a gene stealer hybrid! I stared, gaped and took everything in. I went home and made 10 space marine beakies and ten genestealers out of Fimo (including death roller). My older brother never had the artist ability/patience/drive but I loved it and simply adopted his friends! When I had to go on my brothers school trip to York (my mum was supervising) his mates took me to GW where I bought the new RTB01 box set and my love of models was really born.

 I still love the “do whatever you like” RT world and have a large original Squat force (the metal contingent will probably have to be sold soon) and a good varied collection for inquisimunda but I have no real interest in the modern settings other than the amazing quality models. I can’t think of a GW purchase I’ve made in the past couple of years that I haven’t hacked up, re-sculpted or changed in one way or another. The possibilities with the range of plastics available and your imagination are endless (and potentially expensive). Ultimately I’d like someone to buy my carefully converted (but as yet unpainted) and hoarded Inquisimunda project as a whole (a lot of unused sprues of models included) so I could try and forget about their beauty and move my sci-fi skirmish to 15mm where I can quickly and easily sculpt the models if I can’t find them.

The only version of 40k I’m likely to play again is RT and it won’t be against competitive or serious people.

BALM

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Offline Storm Wolf

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Re: Question for Warhammer 40K players
« Reply #9 on: October 28, 2021, 08:36:06 PM »
Hi,

I am also a Rogue Trader era 40ker however my slight twist is that i realised some years ago that I had played tons more games back in the days of 3rd edition than i ever did with RT. So I have been porting some of the RT stuff over to 3rd which isnt all that hard really.
I have also been playing Stargrave scenarios with 40K rules because I have found that I have an aversion to all die that are polyhedral  :o lol
So for me its because I don`t really see the rules now when I am playing, and therfore I can play almost whatever the hell I want, I just have to stat it up and go ;). Something I can`t say with some of the newer games out there, and believe me I have tried.

More power to your gaming elbows

Glen
Only the insane have strength enough to prosper. Only those who prosper may truly judge what is sane.

Offline Hat Guy

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Re: Question for Warhammer 40K players
« Reply #10 on: October 28, 2021, 08:58:43 PM »
40k has a great deal of freedom in its own way, which attracts some excellent modelers and army builders. At my FLGS wargames night, it's pretty common to see Ghost Marines, Mechanicus Kroot, Hereteks and Anime Custodes on the tables, and these armies actually tend to belong to the better players. Other popular games, especially Star Wars Legions and Infinity, don't offer this kind of freedom.

I can buy 40k anywhere. Every games store stocks it and getting it online is super easy, rather than having to buy from a single website or distributor every time.

I can get a game of 40k anywhere. If I put a 40k army in the car, I can go to just about any wargames club and expect to get a game. I may prefer Warpath Firefight, Reality's Edge or Empire of the Dead, but I have to cultivate those games within groups. 40k will always be there.

40k is good, actually? Yeah, I bailed in 4th ed and liked to dump on the game for a few years, but then I grew up and have been playing 9th and it's pretty fun. Like most GW games, the extra layers of meta, errata and list-building drag it down, but that's almost every wargame these days. Batman and Crisis Protocol come with cards that are already defunct when you open them, Star Wars Legion doesn't even print a proper rulebook they update it so often, and don't get me started on Warmachine.

40k is the "gateway" game. Younger players (who the hobby desperately need, BTW) start with 40k and then move into indy games when they want a break. I'm the "old man" of one of my groups, and my wild tales of games not made by GW have drawn the youngsters into the worlds of Reign In Hell, Rumbleslam and Mongoose Judge Dredd.

Offline Elbows

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Re: Question for Warhammer 40K players
« Reply #11 on: October 30, 2021, 03:32:14 PM »
40K is just like D&D.  Neither of them are particularly good games, but they're just so popular they're a self-feeding beast.  40K and D&D are both to the point where more discerning gamers have long left the fold, but the number of gamers leaving doesn't outnumber the "new" people joining in to play until they likewise find something better.

I enjoyed my time in 2nd edition, and tried very hard to enjoy 8th (the first relaunch since they ruined the game with 3rd-7th).  After about 18 months I just realized I never once walked away from a game having had a genuinely good time.  I invested in a lot of terrain (not GW), only bought miniatures second hand or 3rd party...so I managed to avoid the insane GW prices.  So two big painted armies, a huge sexy table...and....absolute boredom.

We even modified 8th edition to use token activation which helped a lot, tried to create narrative stories/campaigns, etc. etc. etc.  All of the band-aids could not counter the fact it's a super mediocre/crap game.  The models (up till recently) were pretty cool, the IP/lore is strong...some of the books are great - some of the older ones are absolutely excellent.  It's a world you want to game in...with a super underwhelming product.
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Offline Inso

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Re: Question for Warhammer 40K players
« Reply #12 on: October 30, 2021, 04:12:39 PM »
I don't play the game any more but I read the stories, have a few of the codexes and buy some of the miniatures.

I just like some of the background and fluff and think that some of the miniatures are cool... but I reckon that the biggest thing is habit, familiarity and the fact that I can always buy GW stuff in town, when other stuff isn't always available.

The miniatures are usually very crisply detailed and are excellent for converting too :) .

Offline Storm Wolf

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Re: Question for Warhammer 40K players
« Reply #13 on: October 30, 2021, 09:51:44 PM »
People,
There are certainly better rules out there and I have tried a fair smidgen of them in the past 30+ years i have been gaming. A fair few of which I liked/like but I keep gravitating back towards that old grimdark/Rogue Trader vibe.

Prefered rules versions are in this order: 3rd/5th & RT, no likey 2nd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th ot 9th.
Fluff: RT hands doen all the way.

Maybe I can get some anti-GW patches on the NHS or something? lol

Doing 40K wargaming is better than no gaming at all in my mind. I also play it with alternate activation via coloured counter draw, with all close combat being fought in a single phase together. And I also play it as is.

It`s all toy soldiers, coloured or plain at the end of the day, may as well as enjoy it ;) :)

Glen
« Last Edit: October 30, 2021, 09:54:35 PM by Storm Wolf »

Offline Veteran Sergeant

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Re: Question for Warhammer 40K players
« Reply #14 on: October 30, 2021, 11:21:37 PM »
As I've said elsewhere, 40K is a terrible wargame with excellent merchandising

Pretty much. Got into it at the tail end of Rogue Trader/beginning of 2nd Edition. Was never balanced, and was cumbersome and time consuming to play. 3rd Edition permanently broke the game by emphasizing close combat.

I've always likened 40K to a game desperately trying to balance World War 2 Germans vs Late Medieval Knights as it struggled to figure out ways for the guy with glowing stick to survive running across the battlefield towards the guy with the rocket rifle. Add to this inherent imbalance, a competitive but broken meta often centered on elite units and overpowered characters, and the game is consistently a disaster.

The models and the back story were always the best parts of 40K. I got back into the modeling half of it about ten years ago, but every time I actually tried to play, I never had much fun.

I do really enjoy the Games Workshop board games typically. Space Hulk, Blackstone Fortress and even the faily simplistic Deathwatch Overkill are all still in my rotation, and I made custom figures for all of them (made easier by the overlap in usable models for them).

 

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