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Made in ca
Regular Dakkanaut





It is the late 90s. The local games workshop is running its routine weekend games. You arrive on your bike with a backpack containing a ragtag collection of models: a space marine tactical squad, dreadnaught, and heavy weapons. You're sweaty and pumped up from the fast, drum driven music you got from a friend who loaned you a cassette tape they'd made. Its not rock music, which is what you're familiar with, but its got a similar energy, with way different instruments.

There is no nostalgia for better times of the good old days in this haze, this is simply The Way Things Were.

In the shop are the regulars occupying all the gaming tables, while the staff member sits at the painting table providing some tips to those working on their models. The staff member doesn't really play Warhammer that much, but wants to be a visual artist and loves to draw album artwork for local Death Metal bands.

They're sketching some grim dark all in pencil as they advise the noobs on how to shade their models.

At the tables - where the wargaming chat happens in earnest - the tone is excited. 3rd edition 40k is coming out. Warhammer fantasy still represents most of the large games played at the store and the players with fully painted and based armies speak authoritatively on what this means for the Grim Dark world. Warhammer is an expensive hobby and those with a large, fully painted army have earned their wisdom through the pains of pinning together top-heavy metal minis.

Most of us just throw whatever infantry and the odd vehicle we have on the table and roll dice.

But the buzz isn't just about 40k. Something else is bothering the nerd hive mind: a model named the Thunderhawk Gunship. It is an egregious figurine, massive in size and price tag. You're not stranger to the costs of Warhammer, but this seems strange even by those standards. It is vaguely marketed as a "collector's item". Not meant to be a wargaming token, but rather a pinnacle in hobbying for those who have mastered the craft of modelling.

Nonetheless everyone speculates excitedly, "can you imagine if it was on the board!?". Its profile is jarringly aggressive. Suddenly the power fantasy of your army on the table becomes vulnerable. A land raider is tough.... But this? It doesn't seem like it belongs, and yet it is part of the canon.

In the back of your mind you unconsciously realise the arms race has begun. It is not an appealing idea. It is too overblown and lacking in finesse. Later, you realise that it is perfectly rational. All warfare is an arms race and you have just experienced a revolution in military affairs.

The Warhammer Fantasy Battle vets are divided, some are resolute that such units could never exist on the tabletop because of their radical difference from the present game world. The more cynical present bitter conspiracy theories regarding the emergence of new forms of political economies known as "globalisation", stock markets and profit margins. They talk about things they've read on the web.

The rank and flankers are upset. The symbology of war-games is being upset by these new waves of design. Dice games are fickle and tedious, filled with accounting and data-entry. You are meant to be hamstrung by the game. The dice are in control and you are, at best, a passenger to the winds of fortune.

You know you'll never buy a Thunderhawk Gunship. You have a hard time imagining anyone who would (or even could?). But you cannot help but feel that this icon is a bad omen. You play your last game of 40k with the Dark Eldar and Space Marines in the 3rd edition box set. Decades pass.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/06/23 20:47:46


 
   
Made in us
Dakka Veteran






What?

The thing about 40k is that no one person can grasp the fullness of it.

My 95th Praetorian Rifles.

SW Successors

Dwarfs
 
   
Made in us
Inspiring SDF-1 Bridge Officer





Mississippi

I have no idea.

I always thought Forgeworld was GW’s reaction to Armorcast doing so well - rather than merely get licensing fees from a 3rd party producer (of Superheavies and then Titans), why not do it themselves and keep all the money?

It never ends well 
   
Made in de
Contagious Dreadnought of Nurgle





The writing is nice but I can only guess the intention and I think it's nonsense.
   
Made in gb
Preparing the Invasion of Terra






Forge World has made an Argel Tal model. Your argument is invalid.
   
Made in ca
Stormin' Stompa






Ottawa, ON

A fun read, great melodrama. But I can't say I sympathize. I came into 40k with the Battle for Macragge set, sometime in 4th edition. Creatures like carnifexes were flooding every tabletop and Baneblades and Stompas were the centrepieces at every event. We all dreamed of putting a super heavy on the field and never looked back.

Ask yourself: have you rated a gallery image today? 
   
Made in de
Longtime Dakkanaut



Bamberg / Erlangen

You missed out the best time of 40k so far if you stopped playing after an entry game of 3rd edition starter box.

   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka




NE Ohio, USA

Sure, whatever.

Some of us were quite used to seeing Armorcast Babeblades & Warhound/Reaver/Phantom titans on the table during 2e.
We were annoyed that the LE metal Thunderhawk had no rules.
So when Forge World was created & it was revealed their stuff would be playable? We were stoked.
And that price tag? What better reason to work a few hours of overtime each week?
   
Made in ca
Regular Dakkanaut



Canada

Decades pass and it's even worse than I could imagine.

-Space Marines invaded WHFB and killed it

-Editions change every 3 years

-The battlefield is littered with gaudy centrepiece models that are impossible to transport and cost hundreds of dollars

-A single blister pack costs the same as a unit box

-Plastics come in 500 jigsaw pieces but are monopose like metals from the 80's

-Eldar and Imperial Guard are still using the same models from when I was in elementary school but they cost more

-Social media "influencers" feed GWs corporate propaganda to the masses and people donate their money to them

Grimdark has never been more immersive bro just bask in the glory of it all.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2021/06/24 07:14:55


Old World Prediction: The Empire will have stupid Clockwork Paragon Warsuits and Mecha Horses 
   
Made in de
Longtime Dakkanaut



Bamberg / Erlangen

Okay, but couldn't this go in the already open thread about how you feel about the state of game?

And it can't be so bad if you still got an Indomitus box.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/06/24 07:42:02


   
Made in de
Battlefield Tourist






Nuremberg

Forgeworld stuff (and huge models in general) started as collectors items and centrepiece models for special games.

Their gradual movement into the main game has also coincided with scale creep in the basic infantry and a shrinking of the battlefields.

When I look at the game now, it seems like the board and terrain are dominated by all these enormous miniatures in a comically small space, bounded by board edges whenever they try to move. It's visually pretty jarring to me.

But then again, what can you do? People want to use their awesome big models and it seems churlish to say no.

   
Made in de
Longtime Dakkanaut



Bamberg / Erlangen

In the nicest way possible: Find like minded players and play with them.

In my ~20 games from late 8th to current 9th edition, the biggest units I saw on the table were Land Raiders, C'tans and Monoliths.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/06/24 10:32:33


   
Made in fr
Regular Dakkanaut




Now THAT'S some quality shitposting

It is nicely written, the melodrama is also nice, the topic of the thread is controversial enough and you clearly stated your clear-cut opinion.

This thread will surely turn into another nonsensical conversation !

I give you a 8.5/10. Depending on the number of pages your thread generates, I might give you a 9/9.5.

Keep it up

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/06/24 10:35:28


 
   
Made in gb
[MOD]
Villanous Scum







Okay.

On parle toujours mal quand on n'a rien à dire. 
   
 
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