Everyone seems to have their own two cents to put in on the
latest edition of the 40k rule set and with the confirmation of one aspect of
it I decided it was safe enough to take a stab at providing some perspective on
the matter.
To be clear, this is not a rant nor is it a speculative
piece I am simply providing some observations based on what we know (which is
still very little) about the new ‘unbound’ lists option. There has been a lot
of talk about percentages and side boards, but nothing has actually surfaced to
confirm either of those rumors, so I will only focus on unbound for the moment.
Apocalypse now?
Yes and at less than 2000 points, on demand whenever you
please. The initial heming and hawing about the prospect of your opponent being
able to field impossibly brutal lists was tempered by the fact that not
everyone is going to play unbound all day every day. Much like apocalypse, this
is just another aspect of the game that could allow for a greater range of
freedom when making a list, I have been using this example a lot lately but as
you may be aware I am the owner of a 26 sentinel strong army that has no
practical or competitive purpose other than to feed my varied and eccentric
tastes in this hobby. Previously there was no way in hell I could feasibly
squeeze more than six into a 1750 list, with 7th I could actually
field a decent and possibly balanced mobile infantry force (in theory anyways) I
have seen quite a bit of negativity towards this aspect of the new rule set,
but really this won’t change much day to day play, unbound is just another way
to work more models, or use the models you have in a game without having to
invest much or worry about making to perfect list. In that regard I think that
unbound also targets new and younger players who are not quite used to the math
hammer side of the game, or just want to play a game with “cool” models.
Unbound also solved another mystery that I had been
pondering on regarding supplements. For awhile a lot of people were wondering
why there has been such a deluge of extra army books as of late, my theory is
that this all falls in line with GW’s plans for 7th and the new list
building structure. Want to take an allied force? Double down on your profits
by releasing two books under one codex, Demons and CSM or CRS, IG and MT + INQ
and so on. Again this is just me postulating on why this may have been
structured as it is, I know GW is a publicly traded company, but not every
aspect of the rules is geared towards sales so there’s still a fair amount of
grey area with my theory.
Is this going to be a WAAC paradise, I don’t think so.
Echoing what a lot of the older community has been trying to drive home for the
last 20 years, it’s about talking to the guy/gal across the table and deciding
what and how you are going to play, I have walked away from plenty of games
because they just didn’t sound like fun and I don’t see why this would be an
issue everywhere else. At tournaments, at least for the first year anyways I
can see this as being doubly true, it sounds like GW has also introduced a
check and balance system to even things out, but with no further details I
really don’t care to delve too much into that area.
All in all I think its shapeing up to be a fun edition,
hopefully GW got over their Vista moment with 6th (sorry it was fun
but there were issues) and are back on track with 7th, are people
going to complain, yes, are people going to leave, yes. That’s fine if you don’t
enjoy the game anymore you certainly should find something else to play that
you do, but please don’t read a bunch of speculative articles on the internet
and declare that you’ll never play again before actually getting a few games
in, it makes us all look quite silly.
Cheers
-Scott
BH Senior Funksmith
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