Well, we’ve all voted as a group and this is what we got for 7th ed 40K tournament format!
7th ed has proven to be a very divisive edition of our favorite pastime. People have been expressing strong opinions about all of the various elements of it and unsurprisingly, that division has made itself apparent in the voting, with some incredibly close calls on many of these issues. We have not finished debating how we will react to this data just yet, but that will be decided very soon and tickets will go up for sale along with format and guidelines very soon!
Do you want to see unbound lists at the BAO 2014?
Well, that came as no surprise at all to me. I was actually surprised how many yes votes this actually got, to be honest! Unbound is cool in that it allows so much freedom but it also opens the door for lists that would be absolutely no fun to play against. This could work well in a comped format or with TO approval, but in a competitive format, not so much.
How many Combined Arms Detachments (C.A.D.) do you want to use at the BAO 2014?
This one again, didn’t surprise me. Multiple C.A.D. can create extremely spam-tastic lists which annoys a lot of players. It does allow for really creative lists, too, but it looks like voters wanted to be conservative here.
Also, please note, that even if you add all votes for more than 1 C.A.D. into a single choice, the vote for a single C.A.D. still got more votes by a good margin.
What kind of allies do you want to use at the BAO 2014?
I didn’t know how this one would fall. I personally am fairly neutral on the topic of allying with your own book, but I do like using allies. There is still a decent number of folks out there that don’t want any allies at all as you can see, but it looks like most folks do not want to see a book or supplement allying with the parent book. And yes, there is some confusion as to the wording of the allies rule in the 7th ed BRB, but so far, only Space Marines have been given specific permission to ally with themselves.
How many points do you want the BAO 2014 to be?
This one kind of shocked me. In the past, this vote has always been super close but this year, 1850 won by a mile. So, we will likely go up to 1850 which is fun for list building but it means less games will finish on time. And to everyone that voted 1850, you better not complain about time limits as you brought this on yourselves, lol! But, hopefully it won’t be an issue. More toys for everyone!
Do you want to see Lords of War at the BAO 2014?
So, this one is a bit tricky. If you combine the yes with restrictions and yes without restrictions votes (which are both pro-LoW votes) more people want to see the big boys on the table top than don’t by a significant margin. However, there was a dead even split between those who want them with and without restrictions. Combine this with the fact that a lot of folks don’t want to see them at all and we’re trying to thread the needle between opposing desires.
I think it is interesting how much opinion has changed on this one. In the past LoW got voted down by a large margin. I would guess that Imperial Knights being so common and the changes to D weapons have made them a lot less scary than they were. I personally like using them, but the old D rules were just way overboard. Now though, I think they will be good fun and pretty fair.
Do you want Fortifications at the BAO 2014 and if so, which?
This didn’t surprise me at all. As Fortifications are all in Stronghold now, you have to address how to include them. As there are some wonky ones in SA, it is important to define which we are going to be allowing. By a big margin, you all asked for the inclusion of Fortifications but with restrictions on some of the stranger units. We will release a list of allowed Fortifications in the BAO 2014 Tournament Guidelines.
Do you want to see the psychic power Invisibility altered or banned for the BAO 2014?
Wow, this one was close! Only 4 votes made the difference. I personally think Invisibility is way too good and disruptive and I voted to nerf it, but, the vote to leave it be won out, narrowly.
Do you want to see the Malefic school of powers nerfed or banned for the BAO 2014?
Once again, I voted for the nerf bat, but most of the rest of you did not! Mostly, I am just concerned that it will slow games down too much, but, we will soon see. This one may end up being self-regulating as players realize it is tough to play this type of army in a timed setting.
Do you want to see a cap placed on Warp Charge for the BAO 2014?
Wow, another close one. I voted to cap it in some way, but as seems to be a trend, I was on the losing side of this issue again, lol! So again, we will see if it is all that bad to have huge disparities in warp charge during the psychic phase or not. It may turn out to be no big deal.
Do you want to see Come the Apocalypse Allies at the BAO 2014?
Well, another really close vote. This one doesn’t surprise me all that much either as the fluff gamers in most of us don’t care too much for some of the crazier combos this can end up creating. I personally am fairly neutral on this one as I don’t know how often you would actually see it.
Do you want to see the roll for first turn changed to be less powerful for the BAO 2014?
I am really glad we voted to change this as the roll for first turn now is REALLY powerful in a game that already rewards the choice for going first or second so much. As it stands in 7th, that roll is crazy good as it allows you to deploy first, make a deployment mistake, but then choose to go second. It punishes the better player and rewards the less skilled player which for me, is not a good choice for tournament play. It speeds things up for casual play though, so I can see why it was done this way. For the BAO 2014 though, we will define the order of operations for determining deployment zones and first turn in the player packet and will not be using the rule from the BRB on this one.
Who’s better, Kirk or Picard? Trekkie power!!
My man Kirk got voted down! Doh! He gets all the space babes though?!?! But yeah, we always include a funny question in our polls to remind people that while we care a lot about this, it is just a game in the end and we need to all be able to laugh about it. Picard is the more popular Starfleet Captain among our voters, though!
Conclusions
There is a lot of division in the community at present, clearly. We are still debating how to react to this data but, I see two courses of action before us:
- Offer one event with the poll results dictating what we do, which will result in compromises for almost everyone.
- Offer 2 40K events, one with restrictions, one without restrictions. This would in theory appeal to a wider audience.
We will make a decision in the next day or two, but speak up now if it matters to you! Would you want to play in 1 event with compromises made on both sides of the debate or have a choice of two events, each of which is more customized to a specific style of play?