Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Remember That Time Games Workshop Ruined Warhammer Fantasy?

I do!  

I miss my Dark Elf Lord.

Remember when 8th Edition came out and there was legit hype that we might finally get a ruleset on par with 40k 5th Edition?  I do!

Remember when they almost actually did it, except the Magic phase was grossly overpowered compared to the rest of the game and if they had only toned down the magic phase they would have had a game that had great rules, the same great minis, and the awesome variety of army that doesn't exist in Space Marine dominated 40k?  I do!

Remember when they took our feedback ("magic phase is too OP") and instead of tweaking it and perfecting their game, they doubled down on it with the expansion that BUFFED THE GODDAMN MAGIC PHASE and made magic even more gamebreaking?  I do!

Remember when that effectively killed the game and all of us threw our hands up and said "fuck this, I'm going back to 40k?"  I do!

Remember when they subsequently fucked up 40k?!  I do!

Remember when they desperately tried to cash in on the last bit of community goodwill for Fantasy with the End Times expansion which basically added more BS over the top units, merged all the armies into a play-whatever-you-want-yolo mess which destroyed the flavor of the individual armies which was the best goddamn part of Fantasy in the first place?  I do!

Remember when they scrapped Warhammer Fantasy and replaced it with a little kid miniatures game that would be most ideally played with pre-painted unit ala Clix and the game was designed solely to appeal to little kids who like 40k but doesn't actually interest little kids and ofcourse Fantasy vets aren't interested because the game is complete horse shit garbage?  I do!

______

What should you take away from this?  That GW has absolutely no understanding of who their Fantasy audience was, what they wanted from the game and essentially delivered the exact opposite of what was needed on multiple occasions.  Gamers have not abandoned Fantasy: we are still interested in WHFB.  We would still play warhammer fantasy battles if there were solid rules and support.  Pro tip: release WHFB 8th edition, but eliminate every magic spell above number 3 in every magic line and you instantly have a game that is fun, balanced and playable.

RIP WHFB.  It wasn't euthanasia, it was a murder.