So, there is a lot of doom and gloom right now. Players are fearing the coming changes and GW is of course tight lipped about it. I was going to reply to the 'Is 9th edition going to kill WFB' thread and instead I want to look at the signs and instead of assuming the worst, give GW the benefit of the doubt at figure out what 9th could look like if done right. The intent of this thread is realistic hope.
1) This is still Games Workshop and they make the best products. We are all fans of their work. Whatever the new setting is, it’s being built from the events of Warhammer End Times and that has been pretty cool so far. If handled well, the new setting could be even better.
2) We do not have confirmation about bases or what is going on with regiments and skirmishing.
3) They are not merging 40k with Fantasy. If they were, they wouldn’t be doing a 9th edition. Merging the games just ruins both Intellectual Properties and comes off as desperate. They know there is a sci-fi market and a fantasy market. They want both thriving. If they really wanted to stop supporting fantasy, they just finish the 8th edition books and then support it like they used to do their specialist games.
4) A changing, organic limited release approach to models (i.e. magic the gathering) could be good for the game. One of the problems right now is armies settle into what players are comfortable and works best in their meta. If an army book has bad or overpowered options, it’s hard to correct since it has to wait for the next edition of that book. Updates done through websites and digital books are OK, but won't make its way to players who prefer non-digital media easily. The game then becomes stalled in a certain metas until a new army book releases, it becomes frantic while players adjust and then it settles down and becomes stale again. Plus, retailers (and GW) get stuck with dead product.
So, their goal is to create a product that veterans love and that attracts new players to it.
It is very possible that Warhammer could look like this:
· Its the old world with new boundaries and alliances. Most of the same units are there. You can build your Dwarf army by taking Empire and using only the Dwarf units out of the book. Allies are naturally built in because army books are allies included together (i.e. like End Times). GW cuts out or reduces the redundant units and then as they make new kits, give you plenty of cool options for customizing. Honestly, they could make an elven spearmen boxed set with lots of cool parts that makes wood elves, dark elves or high elves. Of course, that's assuming elves even continue to appear like that at all. And before people groan over that, they could make elves cool enough that they look new but still related to all three of the elven armies and how you paint them gives them the feel you want. Even if you are really into dark or high elves, honestly the elf armies’ main troops are all mostly the same if they get most of the elven play-styles covered, elf players are going to be satisfied with the new Warhammer’s united elven army.
· The core rules could be very basic, and nearly identical to 40k for moving, magic, shooting and combat. In fact that might be why 40k got a psychic phase with warp charges, to make it compatible with this new set of fantasy rules. This means that fantasy players can hop into 40k easier and 40k players can hop into fantasy easier. This means more players. The only major changes would then be rules for weapons/ magic items, magic spells and regiments/ formations. The rest would basically be the same.
· Bases might be that they don't matter (i.e. 40k daemon players can play in fantasy really easily), so GW makes it so you can either use square bases and rank up easily, or round bases and need the special trays to rank up. If combat is just whatever unit is touching whatever unit can fight (instead of what model is touching what model) and characters can go into challenges together to face off. That allows both bases to be used, base sizes then barely matter and you get rid of the character frontline in deathstars. 3 problems are fixed!
· Limited releases could be a good thing. GW and retailers don't have to maintain as large of a stock, OOP Models retain or even gain value when players wish to sell them and armies are constantly growing and changing with storylines and new options. This allows players to stay engaged with their favorite armies and allows releases to come out each year at various key points. To me that sounds much more appealing than stagnant metas and having to wait for a new army book before I get something new for my army or a problem gets fixed.
So, that’s what I think is up. Warhammer is going to be the same core engine for both games. Both games will have their own settings, but be connected as they are now. The core game will be skirmish with rules for units taking on formations. This allows you to buy a box of 10 infantry and field it without issue, but have a reason for building a unit up and fielding more models in it. The armies are going to get streamlined and made more flexible so GW and retailers don’t have to maintain as wide an inventory for it. Updates and new units are going to come out through the White Dwarf for all armies every year. The world will be the Old World after an apocalypse with familiar places but lots of damage suffered with random Eye of Terror like places too. Even if they move the timeline forward decades or even a couple hundred years, you have a dark age that follows the immediate holocaust. But all those Incarnates, Ascendants and the Demigods would still be alive and active in the world. They will have established new strongholds and begun rebuilding their empires in the ruins of the old.
That is what my instincts say is coming…
1) This is still Games Workshop and they make the best products. We are all fans of their work. Whatever the new setting is, it’s being built from the events of Warhammer End Times and that has been pretty cool so far. If handled well, the new setting could be even better.
2) We do not have confirmation about bases or what is going on with regiments and skirmishing.
3) They are not merging 40k with Fantasy. If they were, they wouldn’t be doing a 9th edition. Merging the games just ruins both Intellectual Properties and comes off as desperate. They know there is a sci-fi market and a fantasy market. They want both thriving. If they really wanted to stop supporting fantasy, they just finish the 8th edition books and then support it like they used to do their specialist games.
4) A changing, organic limited release approach to models (i.e. magic the gathering) could be good for the game. One of the problems right now is armies settle into what players are comfortable and works best in their meta. If an army book has bad or overpowered options, it’s hard to correct since it has to wait for the next edition of that book. Updates done through websites and digital books are OK, but won't make its way to players who prefer non-digital media easily. The game then becomes stalled in a certain metas until a new army book releases, it becomes frantic while players adjust and then it settles down and becomes stale again. Plus, retailers (and GW) get stuck with dead product.
So, their goal is to create a product that veterans love and that attracts new players to it.
It is very possible that Warhammer could look like this:
· Its the old world with new boundaries and alliances. Most of the same units are there. You can build your Dwarf army by taking Empire and using only the Dwarf units out of the book. Allies are naturally built in because army books are allies included together (i.e. like End Times). GW cuts out or reduces the redundant units and then as they make new kits, give you plenty of cool options for customizing. Honestly, they could make an elven spearmen boxed set with lots of cool parts that makes wood elves, dark elves or high elves. Of course, that's assuming elves even continue to appear like that at all. And before people groan over that, they could make elves cool enough that they look new but still related to all three of the elven armies and how you paint them gives them the feel you want. Even if you are really into dark or high elves, honestly the elf armies’ main troops are all mostly the same if they get most of the elven play-styles covered, elf players are going to be satisfied with the new Warhammer’s united elven army.
· The core rules could be very basic, and nearly identical to 40k for moving, magic, shooting and combat. In fact that might be why 40k got a psychic phase with warp charges, to make it compatible with this new set of fantasy rules. This means that fantasy players can hop into 40k easier and 40k players can hop into fantasy easier. This means more players. The only major changes would then be rules for weapons/ magic items, magic spells and regiments/ formations. The rest would basically be the same.
· Bases might be that they don't matter (i.e. 40k daemon players can play in fantasy really easily), so GW makes it so you can either use square bases and rank up easily, or round bases and need the special trays to rank up. If combat is just whatever unit is touching whatever unit can fight (instead of what model is touching what model) and characters can go into challenges together to face off. That allows both bases to be used, base sizes then barely matter and you get rid of the character frontline in deathstars. 3 problems are fixed!
· Limited releases could be a good thing. GW and retailers don't have to maintain as large of a stock, OOP Models retain or even gain value when players wish to sell them and armies are constantly growing and changing with storylines and new options. This allows players to stay engaged with their favorite armies and allows releases to come out each year at various key points. To me that sounds much more appealing than stagnant metas and having to wait for a new army book before I get something new for my army or a problem gets fixed.
So, that’s what I think is up. Warhammer is going to be the same core engine for both games. Both games will have their own settings, but be connected as they are now. The core game will be skirmish with rules for units taking on formations. This allows you to buy a box of 10 infantry and field it without issue, but have a reason for building a unit up and fielding more models in it. The armies are going to get streamlined and made more flexible so GW and retailers don’t have to maintain as wide an inventory for it. Updates and new units are going to come out through the White Dwarf for all armies every year. The world will be the Old World after an apocalypse with familiar places but lots of damage suffered with random Eye of Terror like places too. Even if they move the timeline forward decades or even a couple hundred years, you have a dark age that follows the immediate holocaust. But all those Incarnates, Ascendants and the Demigods would still be alive and active in the world. They will have established new strongholds and begun rebuilding their empires in the ruins of the old.
That is what my instincts say is coming…
