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View Full Version : Been a-round some squares.....



Mr Mystery
03-13-2015, 06:51 AM
Or, the alleged fyootcha for Warhammer.

So, to kick off......many alleged rumour mongers (I say alleged, because until you're accurate, your just a numpty making stuff up) claim all of Warhammer is going to round base, amongst other claims (which get more and more ludicrous).

But how is it stacking up so far? Here is my take on it, listing what we have seen and what we have been told by those known to be reliable.

Arguments and evidence for a complete overhaul of the game as we know it.

1) Harry has said he's seen play testing involving Warhammer models on round bases.
2) Larger round bases appearing in 40k. Easily overlooked, but does kind of make sense, seeing as Warhammer has 20mm and 25mm mounted basic infantry. Larger round base could be the 25mm base reborn.
3) A single image purporting to show the Screaing Bell and Plague Furnace mounted on the oval bases. I say purporting because there are those who claim it's a photoshop job. I'm far from an expert on these things.
4) Lots and lots and lots of people cropping up claiming it's all being scrapped and lots of armies being ditched, and is going purely skirmish.
5) YOU MANIACS. YOU BLEW IT UP. YOU BLEW IT ALL UP.

Arguments and evidence against a complete overhaul of the game as we know it.

1) Harry has said his understanding is what he's seen being play tested is an addition to the game, rather than a replacement.
2) Round bases....possibly more anecdote that set evidence - lots of kits released for End Times, and nothing that came with a choice of bases (barring Barry Bloodthirster, who comes with an oval base for 40k)
3) Many of the rumours are contradictory. Many have already proven to have been nonsense at worst, and confusion at best (Bubble Hammer. Yeah. World went squish. No bubbles. Lizardmen did not float off into space)
4) The last major system overhaul we saw was 2nd to 3rd Ed 40k. GW have said previously they wouldn't consider such a fundamental change of how the system works again.
5) 8th Ed works really nice at the higher points - only downside is that for a fair old while, Warhammer has been scaled up at the expense of being able to scale down for newcomers.
6) Some of the armies rumoured to be 'squatted' have fairly recently recevied significant updates to their ranges. In plastic. That's some expensve shelled out. Even if a range isn't selling particularly well (and we have no figures available for what is and isn't, let alone what GW might consider an underperformance), keeping them in production isn't a massive expense, and they should eventually make their money back (especially if you produce a new book that makes the entire army Well 'Ard!) So there isn't a great deal of sense ditching army and moulds.

Right, that's my rundown. I've probably missed stuff, so feel free to chime in.

I know my consideration - but this isn't about whether I'm right or not. It's meant to prevent de-railing of other threads by making it a subject of itself :)

Erik Setzer
03-13-2015, 02:58 PM
"5) YOU MANIACS. YOU BLEW IT UP. YOU BLEW IT ALL UP."

I actually plan to do my best impression of Krieger saying that (because he said it best) at my local Games Workshop tomorrow. I threatened to if they did that to the world, and, well, they did it.

- - - Updated - - -

I feel like the newer kits might actually support a round base system better. The Stormfiends are hideous at ranking up, so bad I have to turn the close combat guys sideways to rank them up for combat. The new Chaos units are oversized for square bases that need to rank up, but that's not a problem on round bases. The Morghasts rank up okay, but you still have to be careful with them in doing so.

Granted, it could also all be chalked up to them just not caring about how the models would work in games and instead just making what they thought would look "cool" and sell to "collectors."

Charles Keener
03-14-2015, 10:32 AM
The truth about this is there shouldn't be any rumors right now. GW should be telling us what's next. Either with something more detailed than a vague page of text at the end of the story or some detailed announcements about 9th edition right now. My gaming group has kept playing the game but we've also stopped buying models because we don't know what the future of the game is, GW should be telling what's going on.

Dr. Cheesesteak
03-14-2015, 11:05 AM
3) Many of the rumours are contradictory. Many have already proven to have been nonsense at worst, and confusion at best (Bubble Hammer. Yeah. World went squish. No bubbles. Lizardmen did not float off into space)

Is that based off the last pages in the Archaon book? How does that address 9th Ed rumors? They could always add those fluffy bits in the 9th Ed...

spazz
03-14-2015, 01:18 PM
Erik, the Storm Fiends don't rank up well because they are a skirmishing unit. Not that GW models having issues ranking up is anything new...
When all of these rumors hit I really thought that GW was(is?) pushing Fantasy and 40k together to make a single game that functions like warmahordes. Change the bases and then down the road move the rules closer together until the games are compatible.

40kGamer
03-15-2015, 07:25 AM
One must ask, does it even matter if they blow it up and hit a great big game reset button? Does 8th go away? Do the GW IP police, aggressive as they are, hunt down and burn every old edition of the rules? Nope. So regardless of what GW decides to do we can always play the not so sexy unsupported games. Some of us are still happily playing games of Warmaster and Ancient EPIC before it went to EPIC 40k. So at the end of the day there is no reason for anyone to have a psychotic break that leads to a chicken little moment.

Plus as a long time collector/gamer, the fact that GW is doing unexpected things like Harlequins in 40k and End Times in WFB, is quite exciting. It is an amazing break from the status quo of revisiting things over and over and over. At the end of the day I still do not believe GW will go to round bases as the WFB norm. So eventually 9th will drop and we can all go back to arguing over the lack of game balance ad infinitum. :p

Mr Mystery
03-16-2015, 07:48 AM
I'm wondering if we might see round bases as an option for certain units.

Say light infantry. Can be taken in ranked formation, giving the known bonuses, or as skrimishers, using round bases.

Certainly Skirmishers got hit fairly hard by 8th Ed. I was happy with this at first, as having to face entirely skirmish armies that just ran round and round and round, getting the game entirely their own way was a chore. But 8th Ed tipped it a bit too far.

Erik Setzer
03-16-2015, 09:16 AM
Erik, the Storm Fiends don't rank up well because they are a skirmishing unit. Not that GW models having issues ranking up is anything new...

I know they're skirmishing, but in combat you have to rank up, and I have to turn the assault-equipped models sideways because they can't stand base-to-base facing forward.

I'm also aware there's been ranking issues in the past, though in most case those can be worked around relatively easily (the exception for me, to date, is the old Clanrat tails, and give that some have broken off already, I'm considering clipping the rest off and saying they're a fanatical group of Clanrats that cut off their own tails to make sure the enemy has nothing to grab, or maybe they're just formed capture Skaven who were tortured, or whatever excuse I can find to get them off).

40kGamer
03-16-2015, 09:49 AM
I'm wondering if we might see round bases as an option for certain units.

Say light infantry. Can be taken in ranked formation, giving the known bonuses, or as skrimishers, using round bases.

Certainly Skirmishers got hit fairly hard by 8th Ed. I was happy with this at first, as having to face entirely skirmish armies that just ran round and round and round, getting the game entirely their own way was a chore. But 8th Ed tipped it a bit too far.

Skirmishers on round bases would be a cool. Especially if they have 360 fire and charge arcs or something. I have to admit that while I collect WFB figures I actually haven't played a game since 1999. Was that 5th or 6th? I just know my group jumped ship the edition where magic changed from cards to dice. Now the End Times shenanigans have peaked our interest in what 9th may offer.

Auticus
03-16-2015, 10:16 AM
5th edition ran until september 2000 so that was 5th you were playing in.

40kGamer
03-16-2015, 12:43 PM
5th edition ran until september 2000 so that was 5th you were playing in.

Thanks mate... it's been a loooong time. :p

Seriously thinking of firing up some basement games this summer and inviting all my fluffy friends.