Jstove here, and today I want to talk about the boys at Frontline and the Independent Tournament Circuit, and some dope changes they are trying to make.
Recently, while reading gaming news, I saw the article that the ITC format will introduce chess clocks into their tournament rule set. Personally, I think it’s a great idea and I’d love to see clocking at all levels of play.
Future of Competitive Warhammer: ITC on the Clock
I’m a Chaos player, a Tyranid player, and a former Death Guard player. I sold my Death Guard army that had at least 80 Poxwalkers to a friend so he could get into 8th edition. I’m a huge fan of hordes and the horde meta, but hording isn’t for everyone and it’s subject to abuse.
Hordes are serious business in 8th edition and overall, I think that’s pretty great. Putting a lot of dudes on the table and winning games because of it feels pretty awesome. But hording has two major problems in the Sportsmanship game.
Players with weak game knowledge suffer fighting with and against hordes. They are unsuited to using horde armies and need to step up their game before they unbolt the training wheels.
Players with questionable sportsmanship ethics can use hordes advantageously to sandbag the game competitively in an unfair way. In a timed round of 40k, the player who takes a 45-minute turn has a significant advantage over the player that takes a 15-minute turn. One player is just commanding and fighting less.
Stop the Sandbagging
I also believe that there’s absolutely no excuse for sandbagging your movement phase with hordes. If you google “movement trays” you’ll find a half-dozen Etsy, Shapeways, and hobby vendors who are perfectly happy to tray up your models for cheap with laser cut wood or 3-D prints.
Add some texture and some paint so any of these trays will make an attractive addition to your display board as well as a life-saving game aid. There’s no excuse for anyone to take longer than 5 minutes in a movement phase if they have all the tools available to them regardless of the size of their army. You can plot everywhere you want to put your models on your next turn while your opponent takes his turn.
If it takes you more than 5 minutes to push all your toys across the table, then you have one of the problems I listed above. Either you’re not up to the task for the complexity of the army or you’re sandbagging for advantage.
A New Meta so Meta, It’s the Meta-Meta.
I’m excited about the idea of chess clocks in 40k and it’s something I’d like to see at all levels of play because I think it will shift the meta in a productive way.
First of all, players who can effectively manage horde armies will not be penalized by the clock at all. If you come correct with trays and have enough game knowledge and generalship the clock shouldn’t impact your list building.
But for players who aren’t confident about time constraints or want to push the meta in a new direction to get an advantage from the clock, like legally sandbagging the game clock by taking short turns to stack up free time when you need it. I think that could lead to some exciting list developments.
In an environment with time constraints, we might see the return of more elite or lower number units that are currently unfavored in a meta where everyone can just horde up all day and nobody will tell them to speed it up.
Will models like Noise Marines, Deathwatch Vets, and Sternguards see more play? All of these models are high-value premium dakka that have shooting effectiveness and volume of fire above their weight class.
Will premium budget dakka like these become popular in a time-restricted meta where it makes sense to have units that are less all-in on moving, and more all-in on rolling dice and making it count? Will the 8-point Devilgaunt have more of a say in list building against his 4-point Fleshgaunt brother?
The Theme Dream
While I do love hordes and think they will keep winning with players who can manage the clock, my hope is that the time management meta separates the wheat from the chaff in ITC. Horde players become the true horde players, and everyone else tries something different and interesting.
I love seeing lots of models on the table in my ‘Nid army. But I absolutely hate it when I’m looking at power armor. As much as I love Chaos, I freaking hate Cultists. I’ve never cared about the loser chumps of Chaos. I’ve always been a fan of the OG ten-thousand-year-old traitors who were out kicking ass when Emps was still walking around on his own feet.
I think shaking down the horde crowd a little will give us some new dimensions in list building in ITC. That’ll allow us to see a return to smaller, more thematic armies where such trends are appropriate. I would love to see a format where someone could bring an all Berserker or Noise Marine list and not feel like they’ve already lost for not farming CPs with Cultists.
