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Now dont get me wrong im not saying i hate 40k.

because i love WHF and own 3 armies of said game.

its just that ive played a good number of games and i just dont see the hero worship 40k gets.

i have only army sat for my 40k games as i dont have any troops.

i had considered buying some, but i just cant see the point.

What do you guys think? What draws you to 40k?

What makes it stand out, or makes it better then other table top games?

Let me know as i would love to hear what everyone has to say.


thanks

Capitalization and a more legible font color would be much appreciated

You have to ask yourself what appeals to players about the setting. Personally, I love the fluff, and play mostly for the spectacle and story elements. It has this setting that's really not quite like anything else out there. Sure most elements of the fluff are taken from other stories and events, but it has a nice melting pot effect. Meanwhile, games like Warhammer Fantasy have a far more typical medieval fantasy setting.

Gameplay wise, it plays like just about nothing I've ever played. There's some cover tactics and fields of fire for shooting, but a robust melee element that you won't find in other sci-fi games. Sure it's not perfect, but it's a lot of fun. It flows reasonably well once you learn the rules, and the number of distinctive armies really makes it easy to make everything your own.

Anyway, those are just my half-asleep thoughts on the matter.

The sheer scale and size that battles can get to. And to adress the point of not enough 'Hero love' in 40K - Try playing a themed game that puts more emphasis on Heroes. If you pin their limbs you can even simulate their aquiring gear through a campaign just as easily as you could in fantasy.

As well, the fluff and the scale of the background is huge, and there are far greater opportunities for your army to be customized and create it's own legacy with an entire galaxy at your disposal, whereas WHFB regulates you to a single world, the likes of which has already been mapped and established more or less, and leaves little room for the custom army.

Like Brother SRM said, the cover and shooting systems are pretty solid, and close combat really adds a great cinematic touch because it's just never something you see in Sci-Fi. In fantasy, a melee charge is expected and is thus treated as just part of the game. In 40K, a charge is more along the lines of what you see in the old WWI footage, with hundreds or thousands of guys climbing out of their trenches or their emplacements and running toward the enemy with fixed bayonets. There're massive gunlines in the artwork that resemble those of the 18th and 19th century, where solid walls of infantry stretch for two or three kilometers and just fire at eachother (And if you've ever seen one of these gunlines used in an Apoc game, it's pretty stirring). But the close combat is definately the more cinematic of the two, and just picturing guys throwing their helmets at enemies, slashing with sword, bayonet and combat knife, tossing punches, biting, kicking, and all the other crazy stuff that happens in a general fustercluck.

Basically though, you actually need to play a proper army to truly appreaciate the game. The first "2 Troop, 1 HQ" force you'll start out with will be more of a balance between fun and learning, but when you start bulking out your army you'll really start appreciating the game more. It all comes down to patience. You've got to give your start in 40K the same patience you gave when you started fantasy or you just won't get into it. But I can assure you that it's rewarding once you do.

tl;dr

olympia wrote:tl;dr

QFT.

Also the GRIMDARK™ is what I love most about it.

For example, the Orks, I feel it says a lot about just how horrible the Warhammer 40000 universe is that these crazed, violent lunatics, whose societies revolve around killing or brutalising anyone and everyone - including each other - are the comic relief race.

Gwar! wrote:

olympia wrote:tl;dr

QFT.

Also the GRIMDARK™ is what I love most about it.

For example, the Orks, I feel it says a lot about just how horrible the Warhammer 40000 universe is that these crazed, violent lunatics, whose societies revolve around killing or brutalising anyone and everyone - including each other - are the comic relief race.

True, but you do have to have a quite dark and twisted sense of humor to appreciate them, which fortunately I do.

To me, and I am just starting out. It's two factors that made me decide to take the plunge. The first is that it does have a big player base. Historicals are a bit fractured in that everyone has their "period" and then they play what you bring to the FLGS. But you have to provide both sides and sometimes the period specific terrain. In 40K bring your folks and you will find someone ready to face you. Try that with a ancient summerian while another other guy has WW2 panzer grenaders, and third has an Austrian Napolionic army.

The second is that everyone has some grey in their story. The Imperium has fallen far from the emperors goals. The imperium is surrounded by forces and other races that at best would place them under their yoke as part of the greater good, to those at worst who would prefer to grind every last humans bones into dust, to those who could care less as long as someone remembers to bring enough tobasco sauce to the picnic.

A third reason, and most important really, is that I like the fellows at the FLGS where they play 40K also. I always know that I can walk in and have a game with someone I dont mind spending some guy time with on a Saturday afternoon.

To me 40k is all about converting models to make them more dynamic and believeable(im not saying that gw didn't do a good job, but a lot of the models are just too static, y'know...)and to play fluffy, background involving games with a story(campaigns are excellent)

I also love the tourney scene, and my current 40k army(traitor ig)is both fluffy and competitive(at least i hope so for the latter part )

this is what really draws me to 40k !!

Hi all.
The thing that makes 40k appealing is mainly the background and the artistry of the GW studio staff.
The actual rule set is probably the most over complicated counter intuitive currently in print , concidering the VERY SIMPLE game play.
(Rather than use one simple method that covers ALL units functions and a couple of pages with rules.40k uses 3 or 4 seperate systems to do the same job, that cover 12 to 20 pages of rules!)

GW PLC are in the buisness of selling toy soldiers.
Therfore 40k (WHFB based) rules are an eclectic mix of 'cinematic' and 'fluff based' rules and special rules , which sound cool to thier target demoghrapic.(11 to 16 yos.)

GW PLC depend on churning through new 40k players to keep the company going, and as 80% of 40k players quit before 2 years , they dont realy care about game play issues.

So from a bare rules standpoint 40k is probably the worst commercialy available.But the ehthusiasm for the setting and the minatures tend to drive the desire to be involved with 40k.IMO.

TTFN
Lanrak.

40k's rules are not counter-intuitive, they're simple and easy for newbies to learn.

Well between playing soulstorm and a friend bringing in an sm it just happened.

Lanrak wrote:Hi all.
The thing that makes 40k appealing is mainly the background and the artistry of the GW studio staff.
The actual rule set is probably the most over complicated counter intuitive currently in print , concidering the VERY SIMPLE game play.
(Rather than use one simple method that covers ALL units functions and a couple of pages with rules.40k uses 3 or 4 seperate systems to do the same job, that cover 12 to 20 pages of rules!)

GW PLC are in the buisness of selling toy soldiers.
Therfore 40k (WHFB based) rules are an eclectic mix of 'cinematic' and 'fluff based' rules and special rules , which sound cool to thier target demoghrapic.(11 to 16 yos.)

GW PLC depend on churning through new 40k players to keep the company going, and as 80% of 40k players quit before 2 years , they dont realy care about game play issues.

So from a bare rules standpoint 40k is probably the worst commercialy available.But the ehthusiasm for the setting and the minatures tend to drive the desire to be involved with 40k.IMO.

TTFN
Lanrak.

Now thats my whole point.
its a nice game but it seems that its to mixed up to play.
all smiles tho.

Fantasy whats all the hype about?

Units in blocks.

Declaring charges.

Facing, nana cant charge me you muppet!

Magic phase, wheres that scroll caddy?

A game that takes way longer then 40k to play

I have that old white dwarf model but I dont wanna buy anymore. I just dont see what all the hype's about.

+++

Its simple People like GUNS, TANKS and SWORDS + easier rules.

Thats why people like 40k.

Shaman wrote:Fantasy whats all the hype about?

Units in blocks.

Declaring charges.

Facing, nana cant charge me you muppet!

Magic phase, wheres that scroll caddy?

A game that takes way longer then 40k to play

I have that old white dwarf model but I dont wanna buy anymore. I just dont see what all the hype's about.

+++

Its simple People like GUNS, TANKS and SWORDS + easier rules.

Thats why people like 40k.

qft +1

haha I am thread killer!

thanks lol

Fantasy is awesome if you enjoy spending money on models that never get to do anything besides provide rank bonus and love playing 1 single scenario cause the game is so rigid it cant be expanded

Gwar: The Orks, I feel it says a lot about just how horrible the Warhammer 40000 universe is that these crazed, violent lunatics, whose societies revolve around killing or brutalising anyone and everyone - including each other - are the comic relief race.

Can I sig this?

I strongly believe that the 40k model quality is far superior to that of Fantasy. I’ve made attempts to build Fantasy armies time and time again only to become frustrated when prominent components of a model line look like garbage.

My latest attempt to build a Dark Elf army has become frustrated by models whose hands are nearly as large as the models torso.

My previous attempt to build a vampire counts army was frustrated by fat skelitons.

My previous attempt to build a Beastman army was frustrated by Minitaurs who look like something out of Adult Swim.

Why I like 40K. Two words: Chainsaw swords.

thanks all for the input. could someone lock this discussion please. thanks

I like the 40k background. I like the setting and the universe. The game is pretty fun too.

Lanrak wrote:Hi all.
The thing that makes 40k appealing is mainly the background and the artistry of the GW studio staff.
The actual rule set is probably the most over complicated counter intuitive currently in print , concidering the VERY SIMPLE game play.
(Rather than use one simple method that covers ALL units functions and a couple of pages with rules.40k uses 3 or 4 seperate systems to do the same job, that cover 12 to 20 pages of rules!)

GW PLC are in the buisness of selling toy soldiers.
Therfore 40k (WHFB based) rules are an eclectic mix of 'cinematic' and 'fluff based' rules and special rules , which sound cool to thier target demoghrapic.(11 to 16 yos.)

GW PLC depend on churning through new 40k players to keep the company going, and as 80% of 40k players quit before 2 years , they dont realy care about game play issues.

So from a bare rules standpoint 40k is probably the worst commercialy available.But the ehthusiasm for the setting and the minatures tend to drive the desire to be involved with 40k.IMO.

TTFN
Lanrak.

I'm not so sure that the target demographic is 11-16 year olds. How many 11-16 year olds do you know that can honestly afford a hobby like this?

oggers wrote:Well between playing soulstorm and a friend bringing in an sm it just happened.

I'm afraid I don't know what you are talking about. Soulstorm? What's this Soulstorm you speak of? Is that like the rumored Devil May Cry 2, or the Matrix sequels or the 5th Season of The A-Team?

Thread locked at the request of the original poster.