Wednesday 26 June 2013

New Codex's, Supplement's and 40k in General.


What is happening to 40k?
Ever since 6th edition hit the shelves last year we have seen GW pick up their game in terms of the release schedule. This has undoubtedly been a huge success across the range as impulsive buyers, painters and generals grab their new stuff. Having codex's being released quickly means that we will likely see most of the armies completed by mid to late 2015 depending on what happens to Black Templar's and Sisters of Battle etc (I'm hoping Dark Eldar will be next year but my luck has run out since I had High Elves, Tau and Eldar all released in a row). However, what will happen at the end of that time? What will 40k look like? Nothing can be confirmed of course but without much effort it is plain to see it will be a bit overwhelming.

There will be a lot of confusion with the hobby. Depending again on what happens to the obscure armies that are currently in "am I profitable enough" limbo, we should see around 10-15 codex's for main stream armies. Add to this two supplement books for each army and we are looking at 30-50 books just for main stream 40k. Once we get into Imperial armour.......well.......good luck. I don't know about most of you but I struggle to remember most of the rules in the Rulebook, let alone all the codex's. It looks like it's about to get worse! I'm sure in your hobby travels you have met some players who truly know every codex and rule book inside and out. Well in two years time I doubt we will see many of them around. Anyway, now I want to talk about supplements.

The Iyanden supplement is awesome. I've heard endless complaints about it being an "overpriced fictional novel" or being a "money grab" but in all honesty, who cares! Nothing is more refreshing in this game than diversity. Plus, we can always obtain a "copy" of the codex from our favourite GW supplier: the internet. Rumours have it that supplement codex's are going to be around for the long-term, which in my mind makes perfect sense. I know Siceralc wants a Catachan supplement badly and I can't blame him, I want to be able to make a Haemonculus coven list just as bad (I know we can already, but It would be cool to have some modified rules and cool new coven weapons). In the long-term it means we will see diversity on the table. Nothing is worse then showing up to a tournament or your local games store and discovering that everyone else has exactly the same army list as you do.........that really sucks. So what will 40k look like in two years time? Something like this:

"Welcome to GW, what army are you looking at starting?"

"Well my friends showed me this really cool army from White Dwarf that had humans with gas masks on around big guys in Armour riding white bikes, where can I find them?"

"Oh, certainly, let me add up your total on the instore order points, you will need:
1. 40k Rulebook.
2. Imperial Guard Codex.
3. Imperial Armour 12.
4. Space Marine Codex.
5. White Scars Supplement.
6. $300 from Forge World stuff from Krieg.
7. $200 of Space Marine bikers.


"so just to let you know, before you get any models to game, you need about AUS$400 in rule books and another $500 in models......"


Of course this is about as gross an exaggeration as there is but you get the point. Starting in the hobby is becoming rather daunting for new players. However, as much as this may be, GW has made the right decision with the codex's and supplements.

Last point. What do people think will happen once we get to the end of the codex's? They certainly are not going to start re-releasing them over again. Will we maybe see new armies? I highly doubt it but you never know. In all likelihood they will continue to release codex supplements alongside more fantasy stuff. Plus, we are still waiting on a lot of models to be re-sculpted so that might be on the agenda to.

Cheers.    

15 comments:

  1. You said it correctly, diversity is refreshing.
    Honestly, they aren't even releasing codexes fast enough for my tastes. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it stems from the fact that I want people to settle into various armies as opposed to just playing the most recent one. I had to schedule a game against Tyranids for last night because I am frankly sick of playing against Tau. 4 out of 6 of my games with the new Eldar codex has been against them. It seems like everyone has pulled a Tau army out of some box in their closet. Before this, it was 6 months of Chaos in some form or another, now Chaos barely sees the tabletop. So, I want a slew of codexes so I have a variety of things to play against. At least this isn't 5th edition anymore and we aren't getting annual codexes. Don't get me wrong, I love that GW is kicking out the jams lately, but I want varied armies to play against. Perhaps I am being selfish.

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    1. Well I won't lie, I jumped on the band wagon with Tau and now play it as my primary army. Never expected Eldar to be release straight after Tau so got caught out and just stuck with it. I know what you mean about releasing codex's, even at their current pace the 2015 estimate seems an age away. However, as you say, the alternative of six monthly releases would have been deadly. Imagine it....by this time we would have only just begun to hear rumours on Daemons.......scary.

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    2. I know, right? The release schedule is sooo much better now. And with the supplements coming, it may let people who weren't totally thrilled with a previous codex to find a niche that they like to play. I know that competitive players will switch armies often, and that is fine. But the bulk of players aren't in that camp. I think they are just wandering from army to army looking for something that they really like. Hopefully, they will find something soon. And hopefully, they will paint the one that they decide on.

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  2. As I told you a few days ago in our discussion about this topic, I think that the increase of codex from 55 to 83$ was understandable in regards to the quality, color images, hard cover...but they should have included those supplements as well in the codex. As you said, it's annoying to go to play a game, and you need next to you the rule book, main codex, extra supplement codex and ipad(in my case) with your army list. Now, imaging you normally play 2 allied armies like me...that's too many books,that only slows down the rhythm of the game with awkward pauses looking for a special rule that you don't fully remember...

    Love the supplements idea with extra armies and different options, but I think they would be included in the original codex as 83$ for a bloody book(at least in Oz) it's expensive enough, unless you're someone that we know and Australian government buys you all the warhammer that you want....lol

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    Replies
    1. Haha nice, love it when the government buys you six Riptides..................

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  3. Totally agree about the diversity comments - it's really boring to watch the same games being played (i.e. Chaos vs Dark Angels, Chaos vs Tao, Dark Angels vs Tao, etc). I'm hoping that the fast rate of releases will reduce the impact of the 'newest army' syndrome where everyone walks in to GW on a Thursday night with the latest models from the latest codex (not thinking of anyone in particular here...). That being said, my Eldar army was in a minority at the Sydney store but I think I will see more Eldar armies when I return next month.

    On the cost front, having spoken to a whole bunch of people in GW stores in the UK (yes, I'm on holiday and I go into stores = nerd) and they are all stunned at how much we pay for everything in Oz. All Codexes are 30 GBP which is around 50 AUD and everything else is considerably cheaper. While I understand variable exchange rates, I think this is taking the piss somewhat.

    And on top of that, I'm tired of buying other people's riptides...

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    1. The debate about Australian costs will never end. I feel sorry for the Americans who have to put up with ever increasing price hikes with a lower proportional income. Furthermore, GW is trying to make it ever more difficult for Australians to access cheaper stockists (North America) as yet more embargo's are set to be introduced in July. It is as if they believe that we will all just throw up our hands and give in to paying full price at the stores. More likely we will simply just switch to the Australian discount stores or see a huge shift towards the re-cast market that a lot of Australians already use.

      Also, how many Wraithknight's do you think the government will buy to go with six Riptides?

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    2. I assume you are talking about the new trade terms? Basically:
      1. Retailers will lose their Games Workshop license if they do not have a 9-5 face-to-face street store. In other words, Internet retailers will no longer be able to be supplied by GW.
      2. GW will not supply any person who is suspected of or who is known to be a bitz reseller. That goes for retailers to, they are not allowed to "supply" products to bitz stores that are not purchased via shop prices. Or in other words, bitz stores will go. (There is some talk about how to get around this but substantially most will go).
      3. The Big One. All Games Workshop products must not be supplied to any third party persons who intend to sell the products on third party websites such as Ebay, Amazon, Facebook etc. etc.

      Basically, if you have a store front, GW is happy to support you in selling products, even online (with restrictions). However, they are trying to eliminate supply to Ebay sellers, Amazon sellers etc etc. Of course this won't affect second hand products. Basically, they want to push business out from the internet and into the face-to-face market (and of course, eliminate cheaper outlets).

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqBGtuKrJaQ&feature=player_embedded#at=661

      Watch that for the overview.

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    3. Also:

      http://www.kotaku.com.au/2013/04/the-iron-fist-how-games-workshop-intends-to-monopolise-the-online-sale-of-products/

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    4. Well looks like some lovely Chinese resin-casters may be getting a significantly increased income. I can't say at this point that any brand loyalty remains, if they want to be so greedy as to gouge unecessary profits from their smaller markets then they deserve neither my sympathy or my custom.

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  4. I was more talking about Chirs saying that he was tired of buying Riptides, but after reading that...WTF????

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    Replies
    1. He means his taxes going towards the special someone we know who uses the government to purchase Warhammer twice a week.

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    2. CrAzY424 is correct but I don't want to get into a political debate about it - we'd need a separate blog for that.

      Don't panic Ruben, I haven't bought you any Riptides.

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  5. CATACHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANS. That is all.

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