Hot off Imperial Guard and Werewolves in Space news, now Planetstrike rumors from the great fountain of rumors, Warseer. After loathing Apocalypse, I was instantly skeptical about Planetstrike.
I feared that GW was double dipping into the large scale battle salsa again. Much to my shock, as more and more information is filtered, this does not seem the case. Planetstrike is now turning out to be more like City Fight and less like Apocalypse. Still City Fight had the opposite problem as Apocalypse in being too small and really favoring certain units over other others. What Planet Strike is attempting, is to bridge both game expansions into something more people can jump into. Done properly it could be a welcome addition to 40k universe.
If the rumors are correct you will not have to expand much, for your current roster to play Planetstrike. Attackers basically get more Elite slots and defenders get more Heavy slots, which is not as extreme as many formations in Apocalypse. My biggest fear still though is that Super Heavies and Flyers will make there way into the system, turning it into, “He who has the money with make everyone else miserable”. Luckily, judging from the leaked pictures there is not a Titan or Baneblade to be found anywhere. There is no sign of formations just assets, which are my favorite part of Apocalypse. If the assets are not over the top like Apocalypse, this could make Planetstrike a very dynamic game. The hardest challenge for GW is making sure the Attacker has a chance. I have seen many games use a similar system and fail in the balance department, (Think about IG using six heavy support choices with fortifications). If GW can integrate the Stratagem system from City Fight successfully, it could be the key to creating the balance needed for Planetstrike.
What is GW’s money angle with Planetstrike? Simple, terrain and lots of it. Apocalypse proved one thing to GW, that is people will drop a ton of bucks for big things. What GW is banking on this time; by making terrain key to playing Planetstrike, you end up buying “terrain formations”. GW has in the past has been half ass, when it comes to terrain. This has started to change as evident with the Citadel Realm of Battle Gameboard. The new terrain for Planetstrike looks insanely cool.
This could be a brilliant move for GW, in the past GW has mostly ceded the terrain market to independent manufacturers. It will open a new revenue stream and lock up another portion of the hobby from outside sources.
I am cautiously optimistic with Planetstrike as this point. Since GW is not running Grand Tournaments this year, I am really craving new missions and challenging game play. Planetstrike is not going to be for everyone, the player that cannot afford to expand their army nor a good local gaming store will be out of luck. Luckily I have played Warhammer 40k so long, I have been bequithed too much terrain, just having to buy new boxes to fit it all in.