Something Is Missing

Ah here we are - barely two months into the chaotic upheaval of the New Game that is 6th Edition Warhammer 40k.  Man o man has it not just been awesome? Here in Wolfbrothers territory we are having the time of our lives - the new game has turned out to be NEW in many more ways then most of us could have imagined. 

The old guard, the naysayers, the smartypants with their expert-hats-on continue to dodge the mustard and ketchup.... But with top competitive events playing out and madhouse GW FAQs hitting the fray they look more and more ridiculous. More people have eaten their hats in the last 75 days then I have experienced in the rest of my lifetime.

 Allies, Fortifications, 2nd Force Org Chart, Mysterious terrain and objectives, the Missions themselves, Secondary Objectives are still being proclaimed as broken, unmanageable, and over powered by the so-called Expert-hats. Obviously their extensive and expert knowledge of this Two Month old game has allowed them to wisely understand the intricate workings of these core concepts and modify the game accordingly.

One of my favorite ways to spend my internet and 40k time is to be entertained by the expert folks who lovingly explain how these parts of the game are Obviously Broken. They will also often drivel off into the topics of Obviously Broken Flyers, Deathstars, Footlists, and Listbuild combos.

I know you have heard all it too: Fortress of Redemption, Mysterious Objectives, and Firstblood are Obviously broken, so they are banned. On top of that, all types of space marine missile launchers NEED to have flakk missiles to deal with the Obviously Broken Flyer lists. Relic, The Scourging, and Big Gunz Never Tire are all lopsided and also Obviously Broken, so they wont be played. 2nd Force Org Chart can cause a meltdown on the spot cause it Obviously breaks the entire game in all ways. What is Mysterious Terrain anyways? its so unmanageable that we will just rip those pages right out of the rulebook. Warlord traits - its Obviously an unbalanaced and ridiculous game if one army can gain advantage over another - rewrite!

Ive ran plenty of Tournaments and understand that particularly the TOs of big events are in a tight spot to make all the "right decisions" to encourage the most folks to attend their event. I understand time and space management issues that can be particularly concerning in this time of chaotic upheaval - like Hammer and Anvil deployment and players placing terrain. Im not against reasonable accommodations. Most tournaments are not 6 rounds and I understand the custom missions or being selective about which are played at the competitive level events. Most of it is reasonable, realistic consequences of running a huge event of any sort.

  A lot of it is just plain Sillytalk. The ink has hardly dried on many of our rulebooks at this point in time. Drastic modifications to the game at this point drastically modify the game. Its that simple. The same guy bitching about Flyer domination is Absolutely Sure that Fortress of Redemption and Mysterious Objectives break the game and is playing without them. We are doing ourselves a huge disservice, specifically at the large competitive event level by crossing out huge intricate core portions of the game. 

Listbuilds at any competitive level start to fall into basic categories of opponent that you can expect to engage on the tabletop. Building your list accordingly, you have to make critical decisions at every stage of the army to include or not include basic and advanced tools of the trade so that you can be Victorious at most missions vs most armies/opponents. Each one of these core concepts that is thrown out immediately and directly impacts the scope of the game and victory conditions.

I am sure that most of the old guard and expert-hat folks making the decisions to throw out large and important parts of the game are doing so based on an obvious old guard agenda. Its not Obviously broken, its Obviously a threat they are not willing or fear to confront on the tabletop.

Allies, 2nd Force Org Chart, Fortifications, Terrain Placement, Mysterious Terrain and Objectives, Secondary Objectives, The Eternal War Missions are all necessary and important core parts of the game that are intricately linked. Playing without them is not playing 6th edition. I dont understand why you would play with Most of the new rules like nightfighting on turn 1 or 5 every game on a 4+, or being limited to half your army in reserve, or not being able to charge with units that arrived from reserve, or overwatch, or 2d6 charging, or countless other rules that are entirely different from the old 5th edition game of Warhammer 40k, but not these other parts that work and were designed to be played together as an entirely new game. 

Flyers, Deathstars, Footblobs are dominate and dominating, but Fortress of Redemption, 2nd FOC, Firstblood, and The Relic are unmanageable and break the game? Sillytalk.  In fact removing these core portions of the game have removed important listbuild archetypes that would be heavily impacting Flyers, Deathstars, Footblobs and anything else that the expert hats love to hate.

Learn To Swim.