Warhammer Rumours, Changes, and How To Deal With It

Oh what to do about changes to your favorite game or hobby...

 

There have been some rumors flying around to big changes to Warhammer Fantasy Battles, a game that I have played since 5^th edition and actually started liking since 6^th edition. I have seen many changes since I’ve been involved in this hobby and some have been positive and some not so much (still not happy with the current skirmisher rules). Despite my instant dislike of the prospect (if true) of moving the bases over to rounds instead of squares/rectangles I’m trying to take a balanced look of what that might mean. Will the system be more flexible/lenient for basing like early editions of 40k were? I remember when it wasn’t an issue to have bikes or daemons on rectangular bases. As a matter of fact you could still find old ‘eavy Metal pics out there showing the combination of basing styles. Back then daemons were only supplied with squares so unless you wanted to buy separate rounds then you just used what came with the kit.

 

Will I be unusable in future rules incarnations?

 

 

Supposedly, per the rumors using square bases won’t be prohibited. If this is true then that’s fine, but one of my concerns is how the community will adapt the increasing absence of squares over time. Last time I played in a tournament (which was a few years ago) basing standards were enforced for 40K, which meant I couldn’t use any of my old daemons unless I rebased my models. NO THANKS! I don’t know for sure what the GW stance of this was, but they definitely moved away from the tournament scene over time and the community filled the void. If I were a big tournament player these days like I used to be years ago I would be very anxious about what this could mean for my Dark Elves. I had recently put a lot of work into them and the idea of having a major change that limits how they play in the near future bothers me to the point of halting all planned work I was doing on anything Warhammer. 

 

Back in the day squares and circles fought side by side...

 

I’m at a just wait and see mindset right now. This could all be blown out of proportion and we could just be suffering from the “sky is falling" syndrome. One option that I’m considering is maybe sticking with my favorite edition of Warhammer. I still play AD&D 2^nd edition. I didn’t like what happened to 4^th edition D&D and was tired of feeling compelled to have to purchase the newest set of rules. I liked the wonkiness of 2^nd edition rules and I have a group who is willing to play them too. We make changes to the rules as needed to fit our group. If I were to do this with Warhammer I would miss out on some of the new shiny minis, but at least I wouldn’t feel like I had to buy a new edition every few years to stay current; just some food for thought.