No in depth analysis from me on the new codex yet. My first thoughts:
- You can't play them as spiky marines, they are different. Play them as Chaos.
- Why does this book cost $50? Seriously GW get a clue.
- Lots of good options in every slot. There is not a clear choice in any slot which you must take regardless of army theme.
- You can get lots of different flavors/themes and have them be decent.
- Chaos seems like any ally kind of book, both as primary and secondary force. Too bad they aren't battle brothers with anyone but daemons.
- Stelek's 2 matching and 1 unique unit in each force org area seems pretty accurate to me. Taking 3 of the same thing for any of your non-troop choices won't do the trick. I like the variety this gives.
My overall impression is ADD. Why? I want to try everything in the book. Each unit I look at I want to build an army around it. I like what I see so far, hopefully as I play with a bunch of different stuff the fun will truly come through.
Friday, October 12, 2012
Sunday, September 23, 2012
How Much Is Too Much?
Pre-orders for the new Chaos Space Marine codex are up on Games Workshop's website. For $50 you too can own the newest edition.
At that price I am seriously questioning my willingness to purchase it. It is mind blowing how much GW's prices have risen in the last 10 years. For comparison's sake the first codex I purchase was the Space Wolf one back in 3rd Ed. it was $9.99. Yeah 20% the cost.
Now I haven't thumbed through the new Chaos book yet, but I am almost certain it is not 5x as good. I am pretty sure the rules aren't error free. I can guarantee the fluff won't be worthy of literary awards. I am positive the painting/modeling sections won't be life changing. I don't want to pay more for the hard cover, which I don't want anyway. I am also sure it isn't a required text for a college class, which is about the only other type of books that have similar price range for the percentage of content you will use.
There are only two ways I see GW's current business model ending:
1. Eventually GW prices itself out of the market. At this rate of price inflation in 10 more years a codex will cost $250. Seriously at some point it just becomes impossible for people to buy the product, no matter how much MOAR FANCIER! it gets.
2. Gamers come to their senses before number one actually occurs and boycott forcing GW into bankruptcy, at which point someone not hellbent on alienating their consumers purchases the IP and starts selling the products for a reasonable price.
Now seeing as the collector's edition of the codex which was $83 (Yeah that isn't a typo $83, outrageous!) is already sold out, I have very little hope for #2. So GW will mercilessly continue to crush its consumer base...
So I put out my question, somewhat rhetorically, how much is too much?
Other companies get it:
D&D - Starter Box at WalMart $13.00
Flames of War - If you bought last edition's rulebook you get the new mini rulebook FREE.
Fantasy Flight - Our games are expensive, but our rules are incrediblly well written and we even FAQ those regularly. (Insert any major board game company here.)
Mantic(Kings of War/Warpath) - Wait, I can download your core rules FREE?
I could go on and on, but it really isn't worth it. At what point do I stop going back to GW? At what point am I so fed up with paying scads of cash for poor rules quality and a company who cares very little, if at all, about their consumer that I just quit playing?
That point is rapidly approaching, I think the only reason I haven't reached it yet is that I have too much invested. Maybe that is what GW is counting on. Makes me so glad to be your customer GW, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
At that price I am seriously questioning my willingness to purchase it. It is mind blowing how much GW's prices have risen in the last 10 years. For comparison's sake the first codex I purchase was the Space Wolf one back in 3rd Ed. it was $9.99. Yeah 20% the cost.
Now I haven't thumbed through the new Chaos book yet, but I am almost certain it is not 5x as good. I am pretty sure the rules aren't error free. I can guarantee the fluff won't be worthy of literary awards. I am positive the painting/modeling sections won't be life changing. I don't want to pay more for the hard cover, which I don't want anyway. I am also sure it isn't a required text for a college class, which is about the only other type of books that have similar price range for the percentage of content you will use.
There are only two ways I see GW's current business model ending:
1. Eventually GW prices itself out of the market. At this rate of price inflation in 10 more years a codex will cost $250. Seriously at some point it just becomes impossible for people to buy the product, no matter how much MOAR FANCIER! it gets.
2. Gamers come to their senses before number one actually occurs and boycott forcing GW into bankruptcy, at which point someone not hellbent on alienating their consumers purchases the IP and starts selling the products for a reasonable price.
Now seeing as the collector's edition of the codex which was $83 (Yeah that isn't a typo $83, outrageous!) is already sold out, I have very little hope for #2. So GW will mercilessly continue to crush its consumer base...
So I put out my question, somewhat rhetorically, how much is too much?
Other companies get it:
D&D - Starter Box at WalMart $13.00
Flames of War - If you bought last edition's rulebook you get the new mini rulebook FREE.
Fantasy Flight - Our games are expensive, but our rules are incrediblly well written and we even FAQ those regularly. (Insert any major board game company here.)
Mantic(Kings of War/Warpath) - Wait, I can download your core rules FREE?
I could go on and on, but it really isn't worth it. At what point do I stop going back to GW? At what point am I so fed up with paying scads of cash for poor rules quality and a company who cares very little, if at all, about their consumer that I just quit playing?
That point is rapidly approaching, I think the only reason I haven't reached it yet is that I have too much invested. Maybe that is what GW is counting on. Makes me so glad to be your customer GW, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
DOOM Scythes
Why did none of you warn me to bring lube? That was horrific.
My plan for fliers was to ignore them and deal with the rest of my opponents army and just weather the storm. Worked pretty well until I met DOOM Scythes.
Necrons are pretty good in their newest incarnation, not invincible, just very good. I went 1-1 against them. I got slapped around by their DOOM Scythes.
They are over the top. It would only take a few adjustments to fix them:
- They should only fire weapons to the front arc. Those weapons look fixed to me.
- The death ray should have to start its line on a model in the primary target unit within range and LOS.
- The death ray line should follow the hellhound's rules so the line can't end closer than it started to the firer.
Too easy. (As they currently stand, how are at least 2 not an auto include in every Necron army?)
My thoughts, take them as you will.
Monday, September 3, 2012
NOVA 2012 Weekend in Review
First and foremost, I want to thank Mike Brandt and his incredible staff for an outstanding experience. To undertake a task of this magnitude and have it come off as well as it did was impressive to say the least. I will break the event down further below.
Hotel - The Hyatt was fine as far as accommodations go, it was annoying that every little thing was an extra charge. Who charges for Wi-Fi in the hotel industry? Never seen that before. Their buffet for breakfast was very good, but pricey. My input which I know has less than no effect here: I would rather pay a little more for my room and have Wi-Fi and breakfast included, instead of breaking all the costs out. Grade: B-
Gaming Area - Plenty of space between rows of tables, so two bigger fellas could play back to back and someone could still get past. That is excellent. The space in between the individual boards in the row was a little slim, I don't know logistically if anything more could be done, but it was a little cramped. By the way to any gamer out there reading this, if you bring a giant display board good etiquette dictates the overlap should go onto your board not the board of the game next to you. Then when the gamer next to you asks you to move it so he can deploy his models, if you've made the faux pas of overlapping onto another board, don't shimmy it 1/4" over leaving 6" of deployment zone still covered. The temperature was good most of the time, and until the last day the hall was free of that stale, musty nerd stank. Well done. Grade: B
Terrain - I can't even imagine the chore involved in producing terrain on that scale. It boggles my mind, and I have built several boards. In my mind terrain should be graded on three criteria: functionality for play, durability, and appearance. I should also caveat my comments here by saying, I have been spoiled by playing on some of the best terrain available in all three of those categories. To me, the NOVA terrain seemed fairly durable, it stood up throughout the tournament. Appearance left a lot to be desired, I don't like playing on felt but I understand why that choice was made, the terrain looked like exactly what it was: mass produced. That said it did it's job and looked far better than it could have. The monuments for the narrative were the exception, they were beautiful, well lit, lovingly crafted, etc. Functionality was solid across most of the pieces, my one beef was terrain interfered too much in some situations. I like LOS blocking, but being able to hide several vehicles or monsters, or in my case several squads of bikes behind terrain creates problems in the system. The terrain was okay, this is the area I would like to see improve second most. Grade: C
Staff - They were polite, happy, and volunteers. Unfortunately there weren't enough of them, especially during some of the hobby seminars. There were gaps in rules knowledge for a few judges. There were also misunderstandings about some rulings, and how the tournament had FAQ'd certain questions. I will give the staff the benefit of the doubt on this one since it is a brand new edition, but this is the area I would most like to see improved. Grade: B
Prizes - WOW. I didn't win any, and I was a bit disappointed when several of the big winners were also pulled out in the raffles. My personal feel is if you win a big prize you shouldn't win a "door prize". However, the variety and amount of prize support was impressive. Obviously Mike and his crew did a great job finding sponsors and the sponsors themselves were very generous. They got big pluses in my book and several of whom I had never heard before will get my business going forward. One also lost my business based on how they treated a friend. Grade: A+
Scenarios - Very vanilla, and solid. I don't like moving objectives, but that is GW's fault for creating the relic mission. It also seemed like every mission primary was table quarters. A little more variety would be nice, but the scenarios were serviceable. Grade: B
Opponents - THANK YOU. These guys were fantastic. I couldn't ask for a more intense set of games with a better set of guys. I had a GREAT time. They were kind while crushing me, and gracious in defeat. When rules questions came up, we worked them out together and drove on. A genuine pleasure, if there is a hallmark of NOVA this should be it. The competition is tough, but competitors are genuine, kind and as interested in enjoying the game as winning (and they want to win BAD). Grade: A+
The summary: I think the best way to summarize is to say, I will absolutely attend next year so long as that is in my control. The weekend as a whole receives an A- from me. Definite room for improvement, but still of great quality.
Hotel - The Hyatt was fine as far as accommodations go, it was annoying that every little thing was an extra charge. Who charges for Wi-Fi in the hotel industry? Never seen that before. Their buffet for breakfast was very good, but pricey. My input which I know has less than no effect here: I would rather pay a little more for my room and have Wi-Fi and breakfast included, instead of breaking all the costs out. Grade: B-
Gaming Area - Plenty of space between rows of tables, so two bigger fellas could play back to back and someone could still get past. That is excellent. The space in between the individual boards in the row was a little slim, I don't know logistically if anything more could be done, but it was a little cramped. By the way to any gamer out there reading this, if you bring a giant display board good etiquette dictates the overlap should go onto your board not the board of the game next to you. Then when the gamer next to you asks you to move it so he can deploy his models, if you've made the faux pas of overlapping onto another board, don't shimmy it 1/4" over leaving 6" of deployment zone still covered. The temperature was good most of the time, and until the last day the hall was free of that stale, musty nerd stank. Well done. Grade: B
Terrain - I can't even imagine the chore involved in producing terrain on that scale. It boggles my mind, and I have built several boards. In my mind terrain should be graded on three criteria: functionality for play, durability, and appearance. I should also caveat my comments here by saying, I have been spoiled by playing on some of the best terrain available in all three of those categories. To me, the NOVA terrain seemed fairly durable, it stood up throughout the tournament. Appearance left a lot to be desired, I don't like playing on felt but I understand why that choice was made, the terrain looked like exactly what it was: mass produced. That said it did it's job and looked far better than it could have. The monuments for the narrative were the exception, they were beautiful, well lit, lovingly crafted, etc. Functionality was solid across most of the pieces, my one beef was terrain interfered too much in some situations. I like LOS blocking, but being able to hide several vehicles or monsters, or in my case several squads of bikes behind terrain creates problems in the system. The terrain was okay, this is the area I would like to see improve second most. Grade: C
Staff - They were polite, happy, and volunteers. Unfortunately there weren't enough of them, especially during some of the hobby seminars. There were gaps in rules knowledge for a few judges. There were also misunderstandings about some rulings, and how the tournament had FAQ'd certain questions. I will give the staff the benefit of the doubt on this one since it is a brand new edition, but this is the area I would most like to see improved. Grade: B
Prizes - WOW. I didn't win any, and I was a bit disappointed when several of the big winners were also pulled out in the raffles. My personal feel is if you win a big prize you shouldn't win a "door prize". However, the variety and amount of prize support was impressive. Obviously Mike and his crew did a great job finding sponsors and the sponsors themselves were very generous. They got big pluses in my book and several of whom I had never heard before will get my business going forward. One also lost my business based on how they treated a friend. Grade: A+
Scenarios - Very vanilla, and solid. I don't like moving objectives, but that is GW's fault for creating the relic mission. It also seemed like every mission primary was table quarters. A little more variety would be nice, but the scenarios were serviceable. Grade: B
Opponents - THANK YOU. These guys were fantastic. I couldn't ask for a more intense set of games with a better set of guys. I had a GREAT time. They were kind while crushing me, and gracious in defeat. When rules questions came up, we worked them out together and drove on. A genuine pleasure, if there is a hallmark of NOVA this should be it. The competition is tough, but competitors are genuine, kind and as interested in enjoying the game as winning (and they want to win BAD). Grade: A+
The summary: I think the best way to summarize is to say, I will absolutely attend next year so long as that is in my control. The weekend as a whole receives an A- from me. Definite room for improvement, but still of great quality.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
NOVA 2012
Getting everything packed then a last minute work meeting and I am on my way to play at NOVA. We shall see how things go, haven't gotten much play time with 6th as the Army felt other things were more important.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
The Internet, Nerds, and Gaming
I am currently in something of a miniature gaming hiatus, partially by circumstance and partially from lack of draw back to the group.
I have been removed from gaming by work for about 6 months up until my recent visit to the game stores as detailed in my last post. I did get to play one game with an old friend around Hanukkah time as well. Other than those brief forays into the mini gaming world my only association has been anonymously on the internet. Let me just say the internet hasn't made me excited to be a miniature war gamer lately. It seems the rift betwixt fluffy and competitive is as wide as ever, and the vitriol spewed is just as corrosive as I remember.
Let me ask a question that may never be adequately answered: If you don't like a person's opinion or delivery, why do you visit his site, write about him, or go to the trouble of adding disparaging definitions/descriptions of him to websites? Why give the publicity? Why not prove you are the bigger person and just ignore the hate?
Hoping something will spur my interest again soon, or these models may go to waste gathering dust indefinitely.
I have been removed from gaming by work for about 6 months up until my recent visit to the game stores as detailed in my last post. I did get to play one game with an old friend around Hanukkah time as well. Other than those brief forays into the mini gaming world my only association has been anonymously on the internet. Let me just say the internet hasn't made me excited to be a miniature war gamer lately. It seems the rift betwixt fluffy and competitive is as wide as ever, and the vitriol spewed is just as corrosive as I remember.
Let me ask a question that may never be adequately answered: If you don't like a person's opinion or delivery, why do you visit his site, write about him, or go to the trouble of adding disparaging definitions/descriptions of him to websites? Why give the publicity? Why not prove you are the bigger person and just ignore the hate?
Hoping something will spur my interest again soon, or these models may go to waste gathering dust indefinitely.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
GW (and other) Stores
I have recently moved to the Baltimore area, and because of that had my first opportunity to go to an official Games Workshop store. I have been to two so far, and several other local game stores.
Color me unimpressed with GW. I didn't have a bad experience at either one, just underwhelming.
The first I went to was the Battle Bunker in Bowie, MD. This is supposed to be the epicenter of Games Workshop events in the greater area, and to be fair there were several events going on. Terrain was plentiful, but not up to the standard to which I am accustomed. It appeared that the only terrain available was the prefab GW table and terrain kits. Nothing scratch built or innovative, and middling paint jobs on what was available. Gamers were plentiful as was their funk as my wife noted upon entry, and the age demographic was inviting (from teens to 50's with a nice mixture). I was mildly interested in a couple of the offered events, but didn't get any information until I approached an employee and began asking questions. I would have expected a new face to at least get a "Hey my name is Bob, can I help you? ... Feel free to look around, and grab me if you have any questions." Not only that, once I had asked the aforementioned employee about the events underway and what other were offered, I had to prompt him to give me a calendar of upcoming events. Maybe the guy is new, I will cut him a break, but my experience there didn't sell me on the GW Corporate gaming environment.
The second was the GW store in Columbia, MD. I had exactly the opposite experience with the store employee. He was friendly and out going, asked about my level of experience and armies I play, gave me information on events and handed me a calendar and facebook profile for the store. My problem here was the demographic of the store. I was easily 15 years older than anyone but the employee. I don't mind playing against younger opponents or teaching them to play, but a couple 12 year olds with their 2 tactical squads of marines is not my ideal gaming community.
I won't even mention the names of two of the game stores that ostensibly carry GW and other miniature war gaming products. A couple of boxes from two editions ago tucked behind the massive slot car track doesn't really count.
The most pleasant experience I had and the store I am most likely to return to was at Games and Stuff in Glen Burnie. The staff was pleasant and informative. I was greeted as soon as I walked in the door, even though there was an event in the registration phase. The staff also made sure they were available to me without being smothering. I didn't stay long enough to see if it was really enforced, but there was a policy clearly posted on the wall in the gaming area to keep language above board, and while I was there it was observed by the patrons. The store was large and well lighted and the gaming area was huge. Not only that having a variety of miniature and board games that I haven't tried was intriguing. From what the staff said they ran a 30 person GW tournament simultaneous to a 20 person FOW mega battle, and from the look of the game room that was no exaggeration.
So GW, a word in your ear, you aren't winning me into your stores on first impressions.
A shout out to my buddies in SLC, thanks for making the last several years of gaming fun. I hope I can find another group as entertaining to game with, and thought provoking to associate with as you.
Color me unimpressed with GW. I didn't have a bad experience at either one, just underwhelming.
The first I went to was the Battle Bunker in Bowie, MD. This is supposed to be the epicenter of Games Workshop events in the greater area, and to be fair there were several events going on. Terrain was plentiful, but not up to the standard to which I am accustomed. It appeared that the only terrain available was the prefab GW table and terrain kits. Nothing scratch built or innovative, and middling paint jobs on what was available. Gamers were plentiful as was their funk as my wife noted upon entry, and the age demographic was inviting (from teens to 50's with a nice mixture). I was mildly interested in a couple of the offered events, but didn't get any information until I approached an employee and began asking questions. I would have expected a new face to at least get a "Hey my name is Bob, can I help you? ... Feel free to look around, and grab me if you have any questions." Not only that, once I had asked the aforementioned employee about the events underway and what other were offered, I had to prompt him to give me a calendar of upcoming events. Maybe the guy is new, I will cut him a break, but my experience there didn't sell me on the GW Corporate gaming environment.
The second was the GW store in Columbia, MD. I had exactly the opposite experience with the store employee. He was friendly and out going, asked about my level of experience and armies I play, gave me information on events and handed me a calendar and facebook profile for the store. My problem here was the demographic of the store. I was easily 15 years older than anyone but the employee. I don't mind playing against younger opponents or teaching them to play, but a couple 12 year olds with their 2 tactical squads of marines is not my ideal gaming community.
I won't even mention the names of two of the game stores that ostensibly carry GW and other miniature war gaming products. A couple of boxes from two editions ago tucked behind the massive slot car track doesn't really count.
The most pleasant experience I had and the store I am most likely to return to was at Games and Stuff in Glen Burnie. The staff was pleasant and informative. I was greeted as soon as I walked in the door, even though there was an event in the registration phase. The staff also made sure they were available to me without being smothering. I didn't stay long enough to see if it was really enforced, but there was a policy clearly posted on the wall in the gaming area to keep language above board, and while I was there it was observed by the patrons. The store was large and well lighted and the gaming area was huge. Not only that having a variety of miniature and board games that I haven't tried was intriguing. From what the staff said they ran a 30 person GW tournament simultaneous to a 20 person FOW mega battle, and from the look of the game room that was no exaggeration.
So GW, a word in your ear, you aren't winning me into your stores on first impressions.
A shout out to my buddies in SLC, thanks for making the last several years of gaming fun. I hope I can find another group as entertaining to game with, and thought provoking to associate with as you.
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