Hello all, the voluminous Phat J here to talk about the hopeful, nay, necessary changes needed to make the upcoming 11th edition playable to an old grognard like me.
I can’t pretend to like Warhammer 40k. No matter how much my nostalgic heart yearns to return to the far future where the IS ONLY WAR, I just can’t seem to catch and hold onto the enthusiasm. In fact, I can pinpoint the exact moment I lost the love for the game almost 10 years ago. At a local San Diego tournament called the Broadside Bash (RIP), at the height of the 7th edition craziness, a Daemon player dropped a Nurgle Daemon Prince down next to a large platoon of guardsmen. He looked at me, smiling, and smugly stated that my unit was now toughness 0, which meant I needed to remove them from the battlefield. I protested and was told that my opponent was unfortunately correct. I shook his hand, packed up my beloved Baneblade ‘Old Belligerence’, and walked out. I never felt the same love of the game again.
Flash forward to 10th edition, and I decided to once again dip my toes into the Grim Dark. I bought the rulebook (quickly invalidated) and a sizeable Blood Angels army, joined the local San Diego league, and was determined to give it an honest go. I lasted a year before shelving the army and focusing on Warhammer The Old World. The reasons for this are many and varied and the point of this article isn’t to list all of the elements of 10th Edition 40K that I am UNHAPPY with. Rather, I would like to talk about the changes that I, the Phat Grognard, would like to see happen with the (unconfirmed..wink) soon to be released 11th edition Warhammer 40.
Turn the Power Levels DOWN
Games Workshop made no secret that they were looking to speed up the game. Starting with 8th edition things began to get streamlined. One of the characteristics of 10th edition 40k that I absolutely hate is how powerful almost EVERY weapon is in the game. Strength 8 AP -3 Damage 3? I’ll take 10 please. The game is very much point and click. Go figure that armies that tend to do very well are those that naturally reduce damage. What is the point of being a 2W Space Marine when even the lowliest gun is damage 2? Makes my old blood BOIL. Any unit caught in the open is most likely obliterated as soon as the enemy has them in their sights. What makes it worse is that almost every unit in the game has some kind of access to rules that let them re-roll their hits, wounds, damage, etc. It’s just too much for this grognard to handle! Slow the game DOWN. Let me react to taking damage instead of just removing handfuls of models.
In the far future, there is only CHECKERS
Warhammer 40k as it exists is very much a game of checkers. Both players position themselves across the board, hopefully in ways that are unseen by the enemy. Players then strategically move back and forth over line of sight blocking terrain, neither one wanting to be caught out in the open. The game is all about scoring points by out-surviving your opponent and a succession of gotcha moments. It’s boring. You’ve sunk my battleship. Give me a break.
Free stuff for EVERYONE
Wargear and unit upgrades should cost addition points. Full stop. The fact that Games Workshop thinks that the task of adding up points to take more powerful weapons or wargear options is too complicated is just ridiculous. We did that with pen and paper not that long ago. In this day of army lists apps (even GWs own app) can be put together and shared with your opponent in minutes. A plasma gun isn’t the same as a lasgun. This also leads to obvious choices and boring lists. Take that chainsword you COWARD.
Make Leadership Great Again
Leadership checks in Warhammer 40K used to be a thing. Back in my day, etc. Units used to flee the battlefield once they were sufficiently mauled in combat or in a shooting phase. It made things like a leadership characteristic important. Battleshock is the Temu equivalent. Its just not happening. Do you even understand? Leadership in 10th edition is based on scoring points. You fail a Battleshock test you don’t get any points. YAWN. I want my guardsmen to see a Carnifex and run screaming from the battlefield. Space Marines should KNOW NO FEAR. You think you’re scared now? Wait until I slap you in the TEETH you punk.
Force Organization Limitations
Being a Phat old grognard, I remember the days were players were limited with the amount of force options. This made list building more technical as opposed to the 10th edition ‘take three of the most powerful option’ list building that we see today. On the 40k battlefields of old you would see thematic lists that made sense from a narrative perspective. I get that the rule of 3 was adopted to try and combat some list building abuses, however, I think its time to go a step further and bring back force organization designators like ‘fast attack’ and ‘heavy support’ etc. I can see why from a sales point Games Workshop is unlikely to do this, because why limit the kind of models someone will purchase. From a game functionality standpoint it makes you have to think more tactically regarding what kind of units you will take to fill a limited amount of options, i.e. having a 0-3 restriction on heavy support choices as an Astra Militarum player.
Stratagem? Hardly Knew Em!
Enough with the stratagems, time to pull the rug out from under that crutch. Having 12 different ‘gotcha’ cards to play throughout a game is awful. ‘Hey my Leman Russ normally hits on a 4 and does 3 damage, but actually here is something that makes it hit on a 2 with a re-roll and they are lethal and..’ just SHUT UP, ok? Enough. There’s literally no need for them. Play the game where everyone knows what everything does. Nothing worse than playing a game, having fun, and learning that your tactics were thwarted by a ‘gotcha’ that you had no idea even existed.
Honestly, the list can go on and on. I truly disliked 9th edition and 10th edition seems so one dimensional. I get it, I’m a phat old grognard that pines for the nostalgia of 5th edition. However, I feel like a lot of what makes me dislike 10th edition are valid complaints that many people share. In streamlining and simplifying the game, Games Workshop got ride of a lot of what made the game fun and challenging and I just want try and get back to those days. In many ways 10th edition reminds me of the end of Warhammer Fantasy, when the sales team was running the show. How can we get our customers to use (purchase) as many models as they can on the table (reduce point costs) and make the game run around 2 hours (everything dies quickly, reduce play space). From a business perspective it makes sense, but from a phat old grognard’s perspective it just makes the game feel bland and predictable.
I’ll give 11th edition a go, as I always do. I’m a masochist at heart. From what I have heard from some pretty reputable sources things are not going to be changing all that much. More of a 10.5 edition. I do have hope that the pendulum will once again swing towards the old days and 40K can be more than a point and delete slug fest.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Do you agree or are you a young punk that disagrees? What changes are you hoping to see with the upcoming new edition?
