The long time rumours, for those who don't follow it intently, are that the 9th edition of Warhammer Fantasy battles - due out later this year - will scrap massed battle (or at least demote it to an optional play format) in favour of the sort of large skirmish with loosely defined units that will look more like its brethren Warhammer 40,000. Or for that matter Warmachine, Lion Rampant, Saga, and any number of genre fantasy games I know little to nothing about.
Key to this have been ongoing rumours of a switch to round bases for Fantasy, generally scoffed at but feared nonetheless by tournament gamers. For the rest of us it would at least be inconvenient, depending on how strict the rules are. Now until now this was all largely unsubstantiated. But trust the interwebs to provide further, rather more damming evidence:
For those who want to you can see more and join the debate on the Bad Dice Podcast Twitter feed: HERE
SO, I'd say based on this we are looking at at switch of the game to a more skirmish based format, with at least the ability to use older square based models. Other rumours I've seen suggest different, scalable, forms of engagement based on point size - with the emphasis on smaller games but with a free-for-all approach to the troop choice. We'll see.
But just perhaps the Death of Warhammer Fantasy Battles will be the birth of Warhammer Fantasy Skirmish, perhaps a better game? Or maybe we'll be hanging on to our old copies of the rules like precious artefacts, or switching to Oldhammer (editions 3/4 typically) and Kings of War in droves...
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There is much that could be said about Games Workshop good and bad. For my part (preference for scenario and narrative battles rather than competition) it's all about finding a set of rules that you and your opponent enjoy. My feeling is there are too many people who find themselves stuck into one system just play what you enjoy. The only downside is it can make it hard to break into a club if they have a fixed view. Actually I do quite like the idea of fantasy skirmish but there will soon be several rule sets to choose from.
ReplyDeleteCan't say I'm particularly worried if in fact this is the case. We'll just do what we've done with 40K - keep doing what we like to do, buy minis elsewhere and ignore GW entirely from here on in :-)
ReplyDeleteI like the speculative idea of allowing round bases and getting away from forcing the game to use closed ranks, but some photos of display models at World of Warhammer leading to the conclusion that Warhammer Fantasy Battles is dying to be replaced, maybe not the world's greatest detective work. This doesn't even confirm round bases will be permitted in 9th, let alone any other wild ideas.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to seeing the release of Dragon Rampant to see if that'll get my Empire guys out again.
ReplyDeleteKIngs of War for me.
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