Who Says GW Is Losing New Gamers?

It seems that the 40k blog network is raging about how GW is dying and the evidence is that every time they go to their LGS, all they see is Warmachine/Hordes gamers and Magic players.  This then constitutes solid proof that they are right, and we as the internet collective audience are to believe them implicitly, feel sad for ourselves and sell our collection at Rogue Market.

Let me tell you a bit about my local gaming scene.  We have a fast-growing scene.  We've added lots of new players since our store moved into a larger location.  Some of these ended up dropping the game after a few months but others have stayed on and expanded their forces.  In the end, we're gaining more players than we're losing.  Even our Fantasy players have increased.  We're almost at the point that we need a bigger store.

There is not a single WM/H player at my store that I'm aware of (and I've been gaming at that store since near its inception).  They sell the product, and it used to be given equal billing to the GW stuff, but it's now been moved over to a smaller section while the GW section has expanded several times.  Perhaps there's some embittered ex-GW fanboy who buys the stuff but he must stay in his basement* struggling to glue together those metal paperweights because we never see him.**

Now that I have that irrefutable data, I need to go e-rage on some forum.

However, the plural of anecdote is not data.

*We actually don't have basements out here.  Stupid earthquake codes and all that.  How am I supposed to get my nerd credibility rating?


**Did I come down too hard on PP players?  Good.  I meant to.

Disappointed

I had such high hopes for the Night Spinner. I was hoping it would revitalize my Eldar army but it sadly doesn't strike me as terribly effective. That said, I'm still buying the kit for the Prisms, and I'm going to magnetize it. I also intend on trying the vehicle out since I already have the Forgeworld kit and see if it really is as bad as it seems.

The biggest problem I have with it is that it's in the Heavy Support slot. There's already too much competition in that slot. Furthermore, I wish it was a Heavy 2 or something.

I really hope this isn't presaging the new Eldar codex.

/minor rant off.

Oh, and last day of school today! Man I love being a teacher.

My Turn To Complain About The New Space Wolves

I have heavily debated even posting this, as I have often complained about the complainers, but I'm quite concerned about the new codex. I want to get my thoughts and concerns out. I've actually been totally fine with all the Wolf rumors I've heard, powerful characters, cheap Grey Hunters, insane Bloodclaws, etc, until I heard about their psychic powers. This is where things get ridiculous.

Eldar are supposed to be the most powerful psykers in the galaxy. Yet ever since Second Edition (with our extremely overpowered codex) we've only had mostly weak destructive psychic powers. Fortune is nice, and a guide/doom combo can be powerful, but those are powers that rely on the relative power of the unit they are cast on. I'm not saying that they're weak powers, they're the best we have, but the destructiveness depends on the unit. Mind War can pull the teeth out of a unit, but there's a lot of hoops to jump through before anything can happen, and it only inflicts one wound. Eldritch Storm is a joke. I have tried it, even with a Doom combo and it is ineffective. Destructor is our best "killy" psychic power, but it's just a heavy flamer. Our power is in synergy.

Now the Space Wolves have two of the most destructive psychic powers in the game, and furthermore can nullify any psychic power on a simple 4+! Njal can do it on a 3+. Everyone says that you can simply kill the guy with the power, but if he's in a unit it's going to take a lot of work. Especially if you can't get any valuable units within 24". Plus, the powers are carried by a 100 pt character, and 4 of them can be in the army.

What's worse about Jaws of the World Wolf is that there's not enough rolls! A simple psychic test on LD 10 and then bam, death to everything that can't roll under its initiative. No cover, armor, or inv saves. No wounds caused, simply removal. There goes your 200+ point character or MC, sniped right out a unit far more effectively than a Vindicaire assassin. At least he has to roll to hit and to wound, and you sometimes get a save against him. The only other ability I can think of that can simply remove models is the Teleport Barrage stratagem from Planetstrike, which is once again an extremely overpowered piece of schlock.

Eldar will likely not really be harmed by Jaws of the World Wolf. Almost every model will dodge it on anything but a 6, and they'll have to roll 3d6 to get their psychic powers off anyway. What I'm worried about is my Tyranids. Goodbye Carnifexes!

The other problem with the initiative test is that there's no point in having an initiative higher than 5 (except for CC of course). An initiative test should be like shooting if your BS is over 5. If you miss and your initiative is higher than 5, you can roll again (an Init. 6 would have to roll a 1 on the second test, a 7 would roll a 2, an 8 a 3, and so on).

If I played Space Wolves, I could not in good conscience take this power against my opponent in a friendly game.

I really hope the 'nid codex has that power in mind when they write it. I hope that Zoanthropes project a psychic null-zone where no enemy psychic powers can take effect within 12" or something like that. That would make them useful again.

Ok, I got that out of my system. I won't complain about it again until I play against it, we'll see how it is then.

(Sidenote: In some crazy Apoc battle or something, one player with Lash and one player with JotWW...shudder.)