WHFB 8

[joroas]

But I'm actually tempted by this edition... god help me!

You're supposed to be talking me out of it................ 

[phreedh]

At the same time in Sweden, phreedh awaits the delivery of his recently purchased hardbound 3rd edition book.



Previous posters are right, it's nice to be off the merry go round. What killed WHFB and 40K for me was the fact that the only people I got to play with were people at a club, who lived and breathed this stuff. For me it was a past-time, I didn't even memorize my own army's (yeah, I had only one for each game) rule set. I had no idea what the other guy's guys would or could do. I was too casual about it. To play all-comers games, you really need to know the rules and all the armies - not by heart but at least the gist of it.

Now, I play SOBH in the basement with my mates and we enjoy fudging the rules as we go along, just having fun. I buy old WHFB stuff for inspiration, and revel in not having to memorize hundreds of pages of rules. I miss WHFB at times, the large scale battle and so forth. Hoping I'll be able to find a nice, compact rule set to substitute it with. HOTT is on the menu, but I'm not convinced yet.

Needless to say, I won't be buying WHFB 8... Those of you who do, have fun! I'm sure the game is better than ever.

Edit: Woah, sorry about the blog post...

[P_Clapham]

System wise making it more like LOTR would be nice.  However you could just pick up a version of those rules and go from there.  Right now I'm enjoying the War of the Ring rules, although I'm considering going with a smaller scale given that the LoTR minis are creeping up in price.

Is the new system a total revamp, in the vein of LOTR?
What miniatures come with it?

[Alfrik]

If your not into tournament play, all you need is the copy of the rules you like to play with handy when someone wants to play a miniature game and your all set.

[Spong]

I don't think £45 is an unreasonable price for a rulebook when you consider its around the same as a computer game and in a busy gaming year brimming with good releases I might buy one of those a month (not so much these days but it has been known).
I think the bone of contention is when GW keep revamping the rules rapidly, it smacks of not just change for the sake of change (which is bad enough), but change for the sake of 'loadsa money'.
They haven't got anything else to peddle to gamers so they just keep cranking out the same old thing with largely needless tweaks. Once upon a time they even corrected or modified rules by publishing the tweaks in White Dwarf. I can't imagine that happening now (though admittedly I haven't picked up a copy of that particular mag for a long while).
I actually loved it when they officially had multiple titles on the go and fully supported them with supplements and miniatures, the heyday for me of GW was in the early-to-mid 90's when you had:
WHFB, WH40K, Space Hulk, Inquisitor, Morheim, Necromunda (arguably the finest game they've ever produced), Gorkamorka, Warmaster, Epic 40K, Bloodbowl and Warhammer Historical. Add to that with the current LOTR line and some other stuff they could have re-released or introduced fresh such as Warhammer Quest and that prototype Ork Racing game they had going at GamesDay when Gorkamorka was released (Formula WAAAAGH!! I think?) and you'd have a very diverse set of products worthy of the punters cash, without the need for constant revamps, or at least slow the rate down with more systems to work through.

@ joroas: I agree with phreedh, it might an idea for you to try and find a more casual gaming group. Still with WHFB if you prefer it by all means, I wouldn't suggest abandoning it all together but just leave the merry-go-round . If you love the setting and the atmosphere of Warhammer don't be driven out of it by rules updates and hardcore players.

Which raises the point - surely there are in existance WHFB gaming groups who specifically only use previous edition rulesets?

[wolfgangbrooks]

"I think the bone of contention is when GW keep revamping the rules rapidly, it smacks of not just change for the sake of change (which is bad enough), but change for the sake of 'loadsa money'."

They are one and the same. The change is partly to keep the game from stagnating and part to keep them in business. I'd bet they'd be out of business less than a year after their last book if they ever decided to freeze the rules in place.

Not to mention it keeps them in the public eye with legitimate news items and it gives people something to look forward to. What you dislike is what they need to survive as a company and keep the game fresh for the fans. Why begrudge them it?

"the heyday for me of GW was in the early-to-mid 90's when you had:... "

Yeah, and didn't they start losing money then? Not to mention these games "tragic deaths" kept them from feature bloat like most long supported games. And most of them are free in the form of 'living rule books' that the fans have had a hand in, some like EPIC Armageddon are even getting more army lists from fan playtesters.

I don't play their games much, I'm just tired of the $$$$$$EVIL EMPIRE$$$$$$!!!!!!!! B.S.

[mweaver]

I mainly just play with friends - usually something to augment our D&D campaign.  I like a lot of the rumored changes, and so I will probably pick it up.  Also, I am a sucker for really pretty rulebooks - bought Black Powder and LaSalle even though I know full well I will likely never play a game of either - and I have spent enough time admiring the miniatures that I figure I've gotten my money's worth out of them.

Given that I am the one usually pulling together our WHF games, and they are already often a weird hybrid (Warhammerized versions of the D&D player characters running about), I may well wind up playing a hybrid of the seventh and eighth editions.

I do like the new templates and tokens, by the way!

[joroas]

I do like the new templates and tokens, by the way!

Yes, all the new gear is so tempting.................. 

[OSHIROmodels]

Yes, all the new gear is so tempting.................. 

Isn't it though 

It looks like the magic deck is back, which is another reason for me to buy it (that and the incredible amount of pretty pictures inside  )

cheers

James

[Viper]

I dropped out of GW stuff a wee while back though I still keep an eye on it cause I love the background (when it isn't being trodden all over in the interests of selling a shiney new product).

A friend of mine still plays though and gave me a run through of the kinda changes he noticed when he got a look at the book.

Basicly the game sounds less tactical and a lot more focused on randomness and rolling loads of dice.

"Complicated" things like guess range weapons are gone, charge distances can be pre-measured but charging is normal move + 2d6 (3d6 pick 2 highest for Mv7+), units all fight in 2 ranks minimum sometimes more, units all shoot in 2 ranks.

Personally I'm not sure if it's a good move, but considering it's the way 40k went I'm not surprised Fantasy is following.

The only tempting factor would be the GW store itself, my area doesn't have a single wargaming club, but that is a VERY double edged sword. I think I'd rather scrape together enough parts to make a small board of my own and find a good skirmish game with lots of character and tactical depth...

Now if only I could stop changing my mind on what setting/genre I want.
 

[white knight]

TBH, I still buy the rulebooks (not all the armybooks though) for eyecandy.

One of the rumoured changes in this edition is taking the average points cost per side of a game to 3000 instead of 2000, which has to be driven by the cheeky desire to sell more miniatures.

[Viper]

That's a fairly good point, I mean I've got a couple of the Imperial Armour books for that reason.

I guess I just tend to get my eyecandy from Comics and Novels more now, and goodness knows that's by no means cheaper.
 

The "average game size" thing is a bit of a funny one because different countries, different stores even, tend to just naturally end up with their own level of what an average game size is. Then again books saying "this is a good sized army" is far from new but if they've started bumping up the size of army they put that under...yes cheeky to say the least.

Also large ish, ogre/troll/minotaurs/etc, and large, giants/dragons/etc creatures have been given a lot of new bonus rules to make them even more dangerous...strange that when they've been releasing so many monster kits recently.
 

[Dewbakuk]

Also large ish, ogre/troll/minotaurs/etc, and large, giants/dragons/etc creatures have been given a lot of new bonus rules to make them even more dangerous...strange that when they've been releasing so many monster kits recently.
 

I think you'll find that's the other way round, the rules were finished a long time ago and the figures will be put in around that. The 3 model per rank rule for 40mm bases was a much needed 'fix' from the last edition. Forcing a unit of Ogres to be 5 wide in two ranks before it starts to get any of it's bonuses made the army practically useless. I played with my Ogre army once in the last edition before shelving it, and those Ogre armies that I did see used were essentially Gnoblar armies with a few Ogres in it. I'm looking forward to the new edition.

Yes, they have upped the number of figures/points in an army. Doesn't bother me as we mostly played larger games anyway but I can see that annoying many people.

[dijit]

Yes, they have upped the number of figures/points in an army. Doesn't bother me as we mostly played larger games anyway but I can see that annoying many people.

Yeah I'm one of those people. I've generally enjoyed smaller games, as it forces people to make harder choices with unit selections, and more careful with their units as they have less to throw away.
But back to the thread, I'm really not impressed now, after 18 years playing GW games, I gave up 40k last year, and it looks like WFB might be going this year too.
Duncan

[rob_the_robgoblin]

See, I still love 40k and I struggle to get into WHFB. I don't like many of the modern figs and I don't have enough old Dwarfs to make an army the size that they suggest. I prefer 1000 point games, quick and nasty.