Post
by Lovejoy » Tue Dec 09, 2014 10:31 am
These things are circular aren't they, gaming group,interests that is. It'll resurge no doubt.
I'm hopeful for 9th, but there's a lot of disillusion for me there. Which I will talk about now in a roundabout fashion.
I re-entered the Fantasy world in 7th Ed, thoroughly enjoyed myself mainly playing Bretonnians in Kyoto, often vs Ashmie's Woodies or Orcs, or a Russian friend's VC. 25 models was the optimum in that edition for most infantry units I seem to remember. It was manageable, the prices high but a good sight cheaper.
Later I found a player locally in Fukui where I lived, and we would play huge battles in the first year or so of 8th ed, pretty much weekly. Now you needed 35-40 models for that infantry unit. Ok, I'll suck it up, I thought. You could still get semi-ok deals because wayland and maelstrom would send stuff to Japan. A jolly time was had, taking on his Skaven, Dwarves and VC with Brets and my then new Empire. Happy days...but then we had all day to play (5-6 hour epics) and no pressure.
I don't know what happened after that, but what with the new Empire book, silly big stuff like Demi Gryph Knights (insert must have unit of choice) being de rigeur, lack of time, pressure to get a full game in limited time..interest evaporated. I suppose marriage and having a child has also contributed to my image of fantasy as equalling huge hassles and stress rather than joy.
Setting up units for a horde army like Empire could be 100-200 models, ranking up those bloody halberdiers, swordsmen, greatswords etc, only to take them off by the fistful. Playing Black Powder, where all the unit or none of it is on the table, really opened my eyes. Yeah, there are models galore, but easier to handle. Why can't Fantasy do that? It really needs to move with the times and reboot, I hope they thake that opportunity with 9th, but it's unlikely they'll do anything bold and original.
So to distill all the above irrelevant and discursive nonsense (sorry), the set up and transport of the number of models needed is a burden, removal of said models is a pain, it takes far too long to play, with many rules exceptions. Couple that with the pricing expected now for the next uber unit (granted, not much meta gaming like that goes on for our group, but these things do trickle in) and there you go.
Smaller scale games are the thing for me at the moment. 40k too holds a bit more interest for me now as it's a faster play with fewer minis. I would absolutely love to be wooed by Fantasy again, though. I want to see Brets resplendent once more. The idea of amalgamating armies seems like a good move, but I hope my favourites aren't eradicated. Something has to give though re the rules, so I am all for the End Times changes, and hold out hope that 9th will try something different.
2018 Hobby Progress: A modicum of Middle Earth SBG
). A decent sized game takes 3-4 hours usually, which makes it difficult to get a full game in and then do anything else at a Joshin event. WFB isn't really my game, so I doubt everyone will agree with me on this point.
- their Lady of the Lake has no more power, they lost all their knights in battle with Nurgle and thanks to the drowning of Ulthuan and the crowning of the new Elf Phoenix King Malekith, they now have the whole surviving Dark Elf race at their doorstep looking for a new home... 
Doh! They don't even need to cross the ocean now... Damn someone at GW dislikes Arthurian legend!