CA2018 Preview - Matched Play

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/12/03/3rd-dec-chapter-approved-matched-playgw-homepage-post-1/

Apparently the Wraithknight is getting about a 100 pt drop.

Looks like 'First Strike' will replace 'First Blood' in the new mission format (at least, it does so in the sample mission 'Narrow the Search'). This always seemed much fairer, as it does not give the obvious advantage to whoever goes first.

For $30+ this book better have a ream of Excel sheets to go with it explaining the decision making theory behind their points rebalancing and optimization standards for use in list construction.

Sounds plausible. Looking forward to... Probably nothing much. First strike then, absolutely.

TeenageAngst wrote:

For $30+ this book better have a ream of Excel sheets to go with it explaining the decision making theory behind their points rebalancing and optimization standards for use in list construction.

LOL, in your dreams dude!

Doesnt look like formations for us..... like always

Indomitus Crusaders
Ultramarines Victrix Guard
Imperial Fists Siegebreaker Cohort
Crimson Fists Liberator Strike Force
Black Template Sword Brethern
Ravenwing Attack Squadron
Space Wolves Stalker Pack
Cybernetica cohort
Servitor Mandible
Annointed Throng
Deliverance BroodSurge
Windrider Host
Wraith Host
Emperors Blade Assault Company
Emperor’s Wrath Artillery company
Emperor’s Conclave Infantry Company?
Emperor’s Fist Tank Company
Tempestus Drop Force
Stompa Mob
Kult of Speed
Dread Waagh
Blitz Brigade

I never got the impression that DE are heavily involved in the Vigilus campaign at this point. There is a 'forces of the Drukhari' chapter, at least. However, I suspect that it's entirely fluff. We could get some formations in the 2nd Vigilus campaign book.

They are doing 3 books they said.

I'm just saying its now our turn and hinting i hope we will get a turn after 7th im still a bit salty.

The only thing that bugs me about this is just how many bloody books you need to play a game.

A single Eldar list could plausibly need seven whole books as well as their associated FAQS by the end of this month. That's a lot of stuff to lug around.

Imagine 2 books of hard fighting with detailed battles, mechanicus barely kicks out the genestealer cult, the eldar harrasing chaos, ultramarines roflstomp the new lord and after all that
Malys returns and blows Vigilus to hell just for the lols xD

This will be our best chance for Vect to return, here's hoping!

So wait, are they introducing formations to the game again?

Edit: HA! They actually are! This is simultaneously the best and worst thing they could do to the game. Oh god, the LVO is gonna be magic.

Yes. Here is an example:

https://whc-cdn.games-workshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PreOrderPreview-Dec02-p178-179-Content.jpg

Here is 1/2 of an example for CWE
https://whc-cdn.games-workshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/WarzoneVigulus-Dec3-WindriderHost-18ov.jpg

Yep. They are, in fact, adding back the single worst part of 6th and 7th. I made some frustrated noises upon finding out. They have yet to be identified as being from any known language or animal. If the words "gladius strike force" show up, or any other horseshit excuse to get units for literally 0 points, I may have an actual aneurism.

Well.. i have been told that the 7th Formations was unbalanced a little purpose to remove Tom Kirby as a CEO to move 40k into 8th style.

IDK if that is true, but i am 100% for sure Tom Kirby didnt care about rules balance as much as he should have, he has been marked for saying many times "we are not a rules company, we are a modeling one" And he says it in a rude tone every time.

Take that how you want, i'm not as worried as 7th, but i am still worried lol.

There's a timer ticking at GW HQ, right behind that wall of clocks they continually "reset". It's the timer for when their whole company tanks. I have a theory here so hear me out.

GW's survived on good will and through terrible, awful business practices because they were basically a castle on a hill. Every once in a while a king or wizard would come out, give us some new rules or models, and then shuffle back inside and leave the players to make heads or tails of it. These days they go out of their way to get down in the trenches, which means GW's practice of rules writing is no longer "here's a really cool thing we made" and more "here's what a reactionary consensus drawn from a bunch of complaining fanboys, competitive players, and extremely specific play testers chosen by nepotism have determined will correct the terribly unbalanced mess that was the previous major GT. Incidentally we have buffed all the units that are taking up warehouse space in order to meet quarterly sales goals... I mean diversify the meta."

I haven't heard any rumors about Vigilus or Chapter Approved yet and I've been waiting for them, as have a number of my sources. The information chain has dried up, not because it isn't there or because the leaks have been patched, but because no one really cares enough to hunt them down. No one was talking about it or making threads about it, this forum alone has been dead the past few months. No one's mentioned jack in the Facebook groups or the discords. Everything we do hear is pretty underwhelming, kinda like last year's Chapter Approved.

And they're protracting this Sisters thing so long it's turning into Half Life 3. Plastic Sisters are going to be huge, but they'll never meet the expectations of the community and because those expectations now are impossibly high. Once that faction launches, that's it. The cat is out of the bag, the wad is spent, the thing we were all waiting for has happened. There's nothing left to hype after that except codex rereleases, more paid errata, and new mission formats in campaign books. Woo.

If this was the old GW they could keep stringing us along with a new faction book or hell even an entire new edition just dropping out of nowhere. But with their transparency and willingness to give everyone what they want they've consigned themselves to meta churning and a game that's entirely too balanced to the point of homogeneity among the factions. Booooring.

So yeah, that clock's ticking down, and I'll give it 6-18 months after plastic Sisters release before the whole thing tanks.

TeenageAngst wrote:

There's nothing left to hype after that except codex rereleases, more paid errata, and new mission formats in campaign books. Woo.

But what exactly do you want a company like them to do? if you compare gw to a video game then each new edition is a new release of a franchise title, everyones hyped for some months, then nothig, maybe an expansion and then boom new release
if you compare it to fortnit gw would have to keep adding new armies, units, rules campaigns etc but that wont satisfy you either right?

In 18 months we will get 9th edition, kroot/exodite/2nd marine civil war/The Rise of Maolevolence (tau chaos god) or some other madness. The hype train never ends.

.

Yeah, there's still a lot of crap for GW to mine before they run completely out of material. Craftworld updates, Squat resurrection, new Primarchs, continued campaigns, etc., etc.

"Where next for 40k" is a valid question but GW aren't currently at risk of imploding and their current stock price attests to that.

Gizamaluke wrote:

In 18 months we will get 9th edition, kroot/exodite/2nd marine civil war/The Rise of Maolevolence (tau chaos god) or some other madness. The hype train never ends.

Nah, it will be 8.2. Basically they will say they are releasing 8th with better rules.

TeenageAngst nailed it by comparing Sisters with Half Life 3: the expectation is too high to meet. Although I don't think it's their last card to play. Basically, one can expect 1-2 Primarchs per year.

Artur_claro wrote:

TeenageAngst nailed it by comparing Sisters with Half Life 3: the expectation is too high to meet. Although I don't think it's their last card to play. Basically, one can expect 1-2 Primarchs per year.

really? does the basic 40k fan expect more than the worst from gw?

Artur_claro wrote:

TeenageAngst nailed it by comparing Sisters with Half Life 3: the expectation is too high to meet. Although I don't think it's their last card to play. Basically, one can expect 1-2 Primarchs per year.

No... no its not. most SOB players are just happy to have plastic models, i have over 3k of METAL sob, im with a few SoB communties, and no one has high hopes other than "We get plastic models and a codex!?!?!? WHAAA!?!?!"

SoB hasnt even had a codex in 12yrs+, No codex since 4th, there was a WD release of rules and then Imperial Agents had some, the Index of 8th is the closest to a rule book since 4th (well what was left of 4th)

SOB players at least are just happy for the codex/plastic, IDK about non-sob players as i've been ignoring anything they've been saying (EDIT: Its not that i dont value them, i'd rather talk to players about it that actually play them)

If GW didn't shackle themselves to a flawed game system there might be more things to hype, but this is the D&D 4e of 40k right now, and GW has hinted about 8th being the final ruleset with only token modifications made from here on out. There are fundamental aspects of 40k currently that are flawed and allow for serious imbalance and because of their wishy-washy handling of the lore nothing really functionally changes in-universe. As much as I hate Age of Sigmar at least they did something to divorce it from the previous game system and usher in a completely different tabletop game. 40k doesn't need that kind of heavy-handed treatment but they want to keep stringing 8th edition along all the while rolling us back to more and more 7th edition rules, now apparently right down to formations.

Formations. Great.
Looking forward to the Skyhammer and Gladius formations making a comeback.

Marines: one formation you can deep strike turn 1 with your entire army (ignore reserve restrictions) and charge (rerolling charges of course) and get free upgrades, and the other your entire army is obsec, including all vehicles, free upgrades and units.

Dark Eldar- you get to take three ravagers with dark lances, and can reroll 1's when shooting at titanic units as long as they stay within 4" of each other.


Suck it GW. Might as well bring back the psychic "Invisibility" power, for marines only of course.