We were promised that 8th edition Warhammer 40,000 was going to need less books, but is that really the case now? How many books is too many?
This has been an extremely talked about topic over the past couple months, and one that I have personally held my tongue on. But, you and I both know that time has now passed.
Games Workshop said that they understood the need to carry around so many books for 7th edition was off putting, and they would be reducing the number of books needed to play a game of 8th. They started off great, a core rule book and an index was all you needed. The FAQ’s were available online, for FREE, I was shocked, they literally stood by their word, and it made transporting things for my next game a breeze. But that didn’t last long…
Shortly after the release of 8th (and everyone bought up the index books) GW announced they were going to be dropping 10 of the codex books by Christmas.
Why am I paying more money for corrections to the core rulebook I’ve already paid for?
Space Marines and Chaos were the first in line for this downward spiral. At this point we’re up to three books we needed to carry with us because there’s still some rules in the index that are still valid.
But to be fair, three books was still not that bad compared to the 5+ you needed for 7th. So I did what we all did, bought the new codex and added it to my stack of next game necessities.
But then what about the rules for my Forge World models? Are those going to be free to download? Absolutely not! Enter Imperial Armour, one more book for me to lug around for one or two models in my army.
My book stack is now at four and my backpack is starting to get some weight. Still not complaining though, it’s giving me a little bit of a workout during my commute from the car to the table, and four is still better than five… Right?
That nice little grey area of hope was short lived. I’m a Death Guard player, who also have their own codex now. Now, I love my full Death Guard list, but let’s be honest, it’s not winning many games, they’re just fun to play.
So if I want to be competitive in any way now I need both the Death Guard and Chaos codices, as well as the Core Rule Book, Index: Chaos, and Imperial Armour: Chaos. Five books is about where I hit my breaking point, this is getting to be a little excessive at this point. We are literally back to where we were in 7th edition…
Games Workshop announced that in addition to the 10 codexes they’re dropping over the next couple months they will also be dropping a new Chapter Approved book. Now, let me take a quick break from my rant and talk about Chapter Approved (plus my back is starting to get a little sore thinking about another book in my bag).
Now before all you GW heroes out there start in on how they need to make money, I get it, it’s business., but why am I paying more money for corrections to the core rulebook I’ve already paid for?
IMHO Chapter Approved should be a free downloadable PDF, not something we should have to pay for.
At what point in time do you start realizing the community is slowly starting to grow tired of the constant need to buy more books? Now you’re going to charge me even more for more rules… This is getting a little excessive.
So once Chapter Approved comes out I’ll be up to six books that I’ve had to buy and carry around just to play one game, 8th edition hasn’t even been out for six months yet. Explain to me how that’s reducing the number of books compared to 7th edition, and how new players are going to be enticed to jump in and start an army.
Simple fix… You ready? Core Rulebook, one codex per Faction, Imperial Armour, and all rule changes/additions be made free downloadable PDF’s.
We’re back down to three books and a smartphone or tablet. How hard is that? There wouldn’t be as much room for fluff, but where one door closes another one opens. That’s a perfect way to make more books for just the fluff, and let’s be honest, I don’t need the fluff when I’m playing. Plus that will allow GW to go crazy putting out as many books as they want for each individual army, just not ones I have to carry with me…
What are your thoughts? Are you tired of how many books we need to play one game? Are we looking at another 7th edition in the making?
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About the Author: James Rodriguez
