8th Edition is here, but can it avoid the bloat of 7th? Read on to see the breakdown of where 7th Edition went wrong and how the 8th may get it right
8th in general it seems to be widely embraced by the community. Common consensus seems to be that “This is better than 7th Edition,” or “This is the best edition yet.”
Well, I am here to tell you: so was the 7th.
“But the 7th edition failed us!” you may say. “In the end, it was a terribly bloated mess!”
A-HA! There you have it. The bloat! But we will get to that. My argument is there was nothing really wrong with 7th Edition as a set of wargaming rules. When the 7th Edition first arrived on scene, it was to great praise and adulation.
To me there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the core rules of the game. In fact, it’s my opinion that the 7th did not have any serious flaws right up until the Codex Necrons.
Yet many people today regard it as a failure. Let’s explore where the 7th got off track.
Formations:
Considered a GW marketing move by many, formations marked the beginning of the end. It simply did not make sense to add such an imbalancing factor to the game. First of all, they were largely inconsistent in terms of power and play-ability. Some formations cost over 2000 points and did virtually nothing where as others gained 10 USRs for units totaling up to less than 400! There was just no rhyme or reason to them. Secondly, as a way to counter-balance game play, they introduced a growing number of core rule exceptions.
Exceptions included:
- -Assaulting out of Deep Strike
- -Not paying points for upgrades
- -Shooting and Running
- -Not rolling for reserves
- -Essentially not having to take saves (rerollable 2+/3++ and 2+ FNP rerollable)
- -Tons and tons of different rerolls
They really just were a step too far ultimately. Beyond that I felt they started robbing the creativity out of list building, but that’s just me.
And lastly in regards to formations, there was an alarming amount of bad ones that you could tell were just made to move models. Did anyone really want a bunch of possessed? I don’t think so. This more than anything showed GW’s marketing department had a hand in the matter.
Decurions:
Faction Imbalance:
This is largely due to a rapid release cycle that was a bit too rapid for some factions, but not rapid enough for others. Basically, a handful of armies got A LOT of attention, GREAT rules, and formations while others just languished in ignominy. Such mechanics resulted in others getting few formations or updates (Grey Knights), and those they did were poorly designed (Orks) or amazingly over-costed (Blood Angels) or a combination thereof.
On top of that, some armies were just downright BETTER. Eldar, GSC, etc. vs things like DE, Harlies, BA and Orks. It created a system of haves and have nots, and left a lot of people feeling they were losing just because the tools they had were sub-par. Cue comparisons such as bringing a knife to a gunfight. Or Orks to a game versus Eldar. Take your pick.
Independent Characters, Allies and USRs:
If anything was “wrong” with the core rules, it lay in the combination of these three things. Sure the Allies matrix was better than in 6th edition, but it still needed more work. There was no reward for playing mono-faction and Battle Brothers was still too powerful (even at the end after the Chapter Tactics FAQ fix). They were too easily abused too many USRs conferring from random ICs joining squads they were never intended to join (Space Wolves and Dark Angels!?!?!?!). 8th Edition is flirting with this, but so far only faction keywords are preventing it. Let’s hope the slippery slope into bloat can be avoided!
A lack of early FAQ or Errata:
The most tragic and avoidable reason of all. How many little obvious things could have been fixed early on that weren’t? We went what, 2+ years without an FAQ? How much resentment and bitterness in players could have been prevented with timely fixes of issues? How much easier for TOs could their lives have been? I am just glad GW has turned a leaf on this and hopefully they really do stay on top of it for 8th. Whether you like their ruling or not, it is healthier for the game that way.
No consistent design philosophy:
7th edition changed abruptly and nothing was consistent in terms of the power-level between releases. Decurions is the best example of this. First nothing had them…then BAM! Necrons came out with them. Then a little down the road BAM they got turned up to 11 with tons of free options and even better formations and rules. Then BAM they realized they were TOO powerful and turned them back down to useless (looking at you Angel’s Blade). Unfortunately, that is just one example. The design team was just way too reactionary and receptive to the will of the player base (and likely marketing yet again). They needed to pick a style and stick with it at least through a complete release cycle before resetting. As we all know, that ship had long sailed by the end of 7th and the only way to fix this was with a reset across the board.
So far 8th doesn’t have these issues, and I hope it never succumbs to them. GW has to stay vigilant on keeping a steady, balanced release for ALL factions. In addition, they need to maintain a well updated FAQ and ensure that they stay on top of their Keywords. However, bloat is inevitable to some degree. We can only wait, play and see, all the while hoping GW learned a lesson from the demise of 7th and doesn’t allow GW marketing to butt into rules design too much anymore.
