Rogue Trader

[Ironworker]

I've always wanted to try it out. 

[Torben]

Personally I never really cared much for the rules themselves, but I'm a sucker for the ideas and narratives that you could make. It's a great toolkit but a subpar game in my opinion.

[grant]

The rumoured new John Blanche inquisitor/necromunda skirmish game might be right up your alley yhen.

What's this all about then? 

[Col. Aubrey Bagshot]

google "innocence" 40k skirmish game...
coming in a month or so...
or not, depends who you believe....

If it IS true, it really will make so so many people happy...
All those old RT sculpts will see daylight again....

[Torben]

Wait, so, Innocense is a relaunch of Rogue Trader or... what?

I mean, it would be great to see a re-launch of all the sculpts - they'll most likely be as expensive as buying them second hand anyway

Personally I think that if they do anything, they do something new. And it's most likely to be horrible.

[Ramshackle_Curtis]

GW dont want to support new games. Any game they release will be a "stand alone" game like space hulk and dread fleet. Probably mission based, with no rules for adding anything.

THe days of necrounda are long gone. I think the reasoning is that GW want to sell whole armies, so just selling gangs doesnt work for them (imagine being able to go into a store to play with only £20 worth of models! Preposterous!). Obviously SPace Hulk is not an army, but its £80 in the cash register-now-go-away. Any new games will be in this style.

Not that I think this is a good move, but hey ho. I love campaign based skirmish games. THe more customisable the better. In fact, I wrote my own rules, NUclear Renaissance:

http://www.ramshacklegames.co.uk/nuclear/downloads.html

Not great for doing 40k with though, as guns are over priced. maybe I should write a mod for it?

[Col. Aubrey Bagshot]

I think this quote from Dakka dakka says it best:

" My personal thoughts are that GW is probably looking ahead to a post-Hobbit future, and splash releases of these box games drive a lot of interest and are big money makers(excluding Dreadfleet). By killing off Specialist Games, this frees them up to re-release boxed sets for these IPs, or new ones like Innocence/Inquisition, but can limit the model production needed to the box sets.

Ideally they will create games that can be expanded via their current model range, so for example, Inquisition could feature other factions of aliens or heretics, so you could have a Chaos Cult or a Space Marine Scout kill team, or a Tau Expeditionary Force, etc. That is just what I would like to see, but it would be a smart move as with a little effort they could encourage people to purchase a box from another army, and maybe from there they get interested and expand it to an Ally faction for an existing army, or a full scale army.

Granted this is not too much different from the idea of Kill Team, but having a box set built around it would certainly drive more interest than a PDF release."

Which if you look at the RT rule book, and long for narrative based gaming, it would be far far more like the RT than current 40k...

[joroas]

So, the message is hang fire and see what emerges from the GW fog cloud? 

[Torben]

Apparently but - not to derail too much - I've also heard that the next splash from GW is going to be a revisiting of EPIC as well?

To me it seems more like wishful thinking by the fans right now rather than rumors. Anyway, we'll see, come November

[Col. Aubrey Bagshot]

So, the message is hang fire and see what emerges from the GW fog cloud?  

Indeed.
And hope that when the fog clears, us gamers of a certain age, will for once, not be forgotten...
Narrative RT style gaming, in the 40k universe, may yet again be part of all our lives!

[Ray Earle]

Fingers crossed. 

[Modhail]

So that particular rumour is called "Innocence" now?
I daren't hope.... My back still hurts from the knife that was termination of Specialist Games. 

imagine being able to go into a store to play with only £20 worth of models! Preposterous

Yup, no fun playing with only one figure.... 

[Ramshackle_Curtis]

Ideally they will create games that can be expanded via their current model range, so for example, Inquisition could feature other factions of aliens or heretics, so you could have a Chaos Cult or a Space Marine Scout kill team, or a Tau Expeditionary Force, etc. That is just what I would like to see, but it would be a smart move as with a little effort they could encourage people to purchase a box from another army, and maybe from there they get interested and expand it to an Ally faction for an existing army, or a full scale army.

Granted this is not too much different from the idea of Kill Team, but having a box set built around it would certainly drive more interest than a PDF release

I think this is specifically against GW philosophy. They dont want to encourage player to have small forces. They want EITHER a one off sale, jobs done end of story OR to sell a whole army. They push up sales by you not being able to play unless you have already spend £80 to 150 on a basic army.

Letting customers play small forces is counter intuitive to their sales practices. You can say "kill team" but notice that "kill team" events are pay to enter events at warhammer world, and you would not be able to play a kill team game in a store.

I would like to see a game about making small gangs, but I dont think it is very likely. It will be 2 factions in a box and no rules to add other models or develop it. I think this is not in the best interest of the hobby, or sales practices, but then GW makes it money, so what do I know?

If you want to make fun small units then get into inquistor, played at 28mm scale (p[layers call it Inq28). The rules are available for free from the GW specialist games section, so download them and have a look!

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?catId=cat480007a&categoryId=6700005a&section=&aId=21500020a

If you want some inspiration then check out the ammo bunker (another forum)

http://s3.zetaboards.com/The_Ammobunker/forum/3012278/

[Modhail]

Well said, Curtis!

And it's true, GW seems to want either a one off sale or a major investment. But then again there is no reason for us to give them what they want, is there?  (They sure as hell haven't been giving me what I want the last couple of years... Might as well return the favour.) If their marketing research is more than some beancounter wishlisting they'll catch on... eventually.

Good call on suggesting Inq28.
If you want something bigger than the 3-5 figures an Inq28 warband requires, but smaller than a full 40K army, check out =I=Munda/Inquisimunda. It's in the same spirit as Inq28, but more at the Necromunda gang sizes. There aren't any set in stone rules for it (Except maybe for the Empire of Ghost's effort*), but it's essentially Necromunda mashed into the 40K 2nd ed rulebook (Just use 40k point value x 10 as cost in credits), with any resulting oddness for the GM to rule on.
In the Emperor's Name is also a good alternative, if you don't want to restrict yourself to rulesets originating from the GW design team.
All share a certain DIY, storydriven mindset.

*: But don't forget to seek out Xanthos and Migsula's threads on Dakkadakka as well, those more or less fathered the concept a few years back.

Despite all the alternatives that already exist, I'd still like to see the innocence rumour to be true though, especially if the part about Blanche-inspired miniatures is correct. I've grown fond of his particular style of weirdness.

[Ramshackle_Curtis]

I never really found much you cant do with necromunda, except looting and vehicles. Plus the recovery charts are too harsh. But then again, it brings us back to Rogue Trader. All the simple fun of warhammer, but much more open ended, and more easy to make units for, as the points system is in place. Plus LOADS of resources for it. Just no campaign system. But again that would be easy to make, just a recovery table and a reward table. Having said that, isnt that what realm of chaos was for? I love realm of chaos. The "grey sensei" gang is basically inquisitors anyway.....