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What do you think of the free(ish) Warhammer 40K 'Spearhead' expansion that was released in two parts via White Dwarf & GW's website?


Suggested by Element206.

Option 3 for me.
Not having too many vehicles myself is the obvious reason why.

We love it here, as a matter of fact we held a tournament specifically for Spearhead only.

none of the above for me as I still haven't seen the Spearhead rules...even though I have been looking for a while now...and yes I definitely have the models for it

I love 40k, but the expansions.....Apocalypse, Planetstrike, Spearhead, don't have as much interest when I'm not bored of the main game yet.

It's certainly an interesting way to play the game, personally i'm not sure i'd like it though. But the main reason i don't play it is simply lack of tanks, i don't have that many and don't want to buy some more unless they fit in with a list im planning for a 'normal' game.

Dashofpepper has a good point as well, im perfectly happy playing regular 40k, so i may as well play the normal game instead of the expansions, with the exception of planetstrike, which i really like

Normal 40k works for me and I do not feel like changing anything about it.

I looked over the Spearhead stuff on the GW site when it came out and it felt like a way to push big-ticket items (surprise, surprise...) - vehicle kits, walkers, and large mobs. Not like that's unexpected or even blameworthy, I simply wasn't distracted from that fact by a different enough feel to the game. Apocalypse and Planetstrike simply have more character, which is necessary to justify an expansion game.

If GW just said "Here are a few cool missions and experimental rules we tried out at the studio to do tank battles," I would be applauding them, no matter how the things actually played. With Spearhead, I could practically hear GW corporate pandering to fat-walleted win-whores - "Hey, kid. Pssst! If you buy two more Land Raiders, I'll give you this cool special rule that'll help you trounce all of those lower-middle class peons at the store!"

I dunno what Spearhead is.

ZacktheChaosChild wrote:I dunno what Spearhead is.

aka "Warhammer 40k: buy more tanks." - just some rules they put out in WD this summer that basically let you take a lot more vehicles in a game than you normally could.

There was a full thing on the rules in one of the white dwarf issues a few months back!

i think the problem is that no one really wants to play spearhead?
I go regularly (like 5-6 days a week) to my local store, which is a GW Battle Bunker to boot, and there simply aren't any people who are interested. I mean I wouldn't mind playing because I have a baneblade and 4 land raiders, but most players don't.
Spearhead is a blatent attempt by GW to get us to buy more expensive kits like the baneblade varients.

There needs to be another option

I like the concept, and will buy the models evetually, but don't have the money at this moment.

Eldar Own wrote:It's certainly an interesting way to play the game, personally i'm not sure i'd like it though. But the main reason i don't play it is simply lack of tanks, i don't have that many and don't want to buy some more unless they fit in with a list im planning for a 'normal' game.

Dashofpepper has a good point as well, im perfectly happy playing regular 40k, so i may as well play the normal game instead of the expansions, with the exception of planetstrike, which i really like

WHY? i find the attacker has a huge advantage and the whole point of setting up forts is made redundant becuase the enemy just blows holes in your troops and deep-strikes in.

I love it actually.

The spearhed formations ad some nice game variety, allow for some cool modelling options, etc.

We have experimented with using spearhead rules with the regular missions (or those from Battle Missions) and they work fine, which adds even more variety.

We have also used spearhead formations in Apoc as well.

Anything that allows some options for more unconventional/ varied play rather then simply enforcing tourney-style "sportshammer" is a good thing in my book...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

CalasTyphon216 wrote:
Spearhead is a blatent attempt by GW to get us to buy more expensive kits like the baneblade varients.

And do they force you at gun point to buy them?

YES, GW wants to sell models. Period. Is that really news to anybody?!?

People can choose to buy or not.

I love the idea and wish I had time to dive in. As far as GW trying to get us to buy models, duh, they are in business! Let's just hope people join the hobby that want to support the company and keep them in business. Check their stock, they are not making a lot of money, in fact their stock is down last quarter so get out and buy some kits or you'll have to play some other game, oh wait, there is no other game like 40K.

Lets not forget that there are plenty of spearhead formations that many armies can still field without having to buy anything additional ... it gets three stars from me.

I'd play it just cause it'd feel almost like a nice way to have a mini-Apoc game. Besides, for us thread heads it's nice to be able to field all the tanks we had just sitting on the shelf.

Any game where I can cover the table in Chaos Space Marines is pretty awesome.

Any one have the rules in PDF format?...I am still unable to find them anywhere...and no back issues of WD available

wolfpack wrote:Any one have the rules in PDF format?...I am still unable to find them anywhere...and no back issues of WD available

The Spearhead formation rules can be found on GW's site here:

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?catId=cat440130a&categoryId=600005§ion=&aId=14900008a


As for the original rules, while they may be hard to find, they are coyrighted material so asking for a free copy will not be tolerated on this site.

Hopefully GW will release the rules as a free PDF, until then you could try ebay or an online retailer to get a copy of that WD.

I have and haven't found one yet...which is what I said...and I already have the relevant GW pages bookmarked...thank you

I do enjoy occasional Planetstrike games, and I have been using the Missions book for some interesting games. I like getting beyond the '3' games (although they do not bore me)

Spearhead had me all pumped up - since I play Mech Orks, but it is a bit confusing since you need to buy the 'Dwarf' magazine and then get the rest of the rules online, and then get your friends and opponents to do the same, and then figure it all out. They ought to put it all in one place. When I bring it up at our store no one knows what I am talking about.

I don't mind buying the models. I n e e d more....

lovely absolutly lovely but i'am the only one capable of fielding any spearhead units so i can't play it often

I don't know what "spearhead" is so...

GW needs to publish these rules in a seperate and single source...not all over hell and creation...

5th Edition is already weighted heavily towards favoring mechanized lists. Therefore, I am not really interested in playing an expansion that exasperates this trend.

I think spearhead is a great expansion for 40k IMHO , i look foward to getting my Skyfall spearhead up and running but as of yet only have one Valkyrie to make the formation so it won't be anytime soon

~UnDeAd~

Looking at it, I discovered (heavily IMO) that it was regular 40k- everything is usable. It just grants extra FOC slots, tank squadron special rules and a super-heavy per army. Not really an expansion, more of a rules tweak for a particular type of mission.

I like spearhead and have a lot of tanks, but I have only had the chance to play it once, just after it came out last summer.