7th Edition: "You were right about me"
So it is here. I will not post another 7th Edition based post, and it is strange to think that the data bank of memories and tactical notes, clues, tricks and themed forces will slowly lose meaning over time as people forget what it was like to play 7th Edition or even what some of the terminology meant. A generation of gamers will come to have never played it, and will never understand the things I wrote, or even the gist of some of the lessons to be learned. For the present company of Generals who form the Unorthodoxy Empire, I salute you all as we head on into this brave new world of 8th Edition.
I have struggled with the implications. For posterity, it's good to note that the new CEO of the company has done an absolutely smashing job at the helm, easing people into the transition towards 8th Edition and avoiding the missteps of the Age of Sigmar (AoS). AoS was nothing short of a jarring stab in the back by the old regime. Not only was it catastrophically wasteful of peoples money, but it was simply not even a game on the same plane as Warhammer Fantasy had been. En masse, model collections became obsolete overnight. The company flushed hundreds and, in some cases, thousands of dollars of their clients money down the toilet and did not apologize for doing so.
The new leadership led us up to this new edition with leaks and then with full blown "FAQ's" (which were little more than promotional pieces) followed by...actual FAQ's with a LOT of information in each one. They have allowed us to digest and discuss each change like never before, giving us a little breathing room to assimilate and come to accept the new reality and many blogs are dedicated to the pontification it breeds.
The information we have is that 12 pages comprises the primary rules, while the "War Scrolls" approach of the Age of Sigmar will be repeated for the units themselves. You will be able to download the individual unit information if you have enough patience, and a printer. Perhaps most significantly, all units you own are promised their own data sheet so nothing should be driven into obsolescence. We were also apprised that there would indeed be supplements, 5 of them to represent the five categories of factions, as Games Workshop sees them. These are what we assume collate much of the information for you. They will likely expand on it much the way Age of Sigmar did...eventually...
7th Edition was an apology edition much like the movie Highlander III was an apology for Highlander II. It stopped the incredible bleeding of Warhammer 40,000 fans that occurred when the latch to Pandora's box was carelessly left untended during sixth edition. 8th Edition will need to justify its sleek new look, an obvious effort to attract new gamers with rules they can easily learn, if not master as easily. They adroitly went out of their way to allow the "major voices" in the tournament scene have the rules and play them ahead of time, and even write articles so that the gaming populous would accept the new rules with more open arms. Strategically intelligent and it seems to have had its desired effect, much like the play testing of 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons did.
I really do hope that you have enjoyed reading my blog as it is a labor of love. I don't see waves and waves of comments or anything, but I see the view statistics and they have grown steadily over the years which means either I'm saying something interesting or you're incredibly bored. I hope its the former and not the latter but whatever your motivation for reading...keep doing so. I will be back and my dedication to the road less traveled will continue. Our quest hasn't changed, Generals. We still seek to find the diamond in the rough.
If you have thoughts about 8th Edition, share them. I'd love to discuss it below.
