So I’ve been thinking about the implications of the new Imperial Knight model that GW is going to be putting out next week, and what it means for 40k in general. There was such a huge outcry about Escalation when it was released, and it was relatively easy to ignore when the only options for truly terrible abuse like the Revnant Titan were expensive and inaccessible. But what will the anti-escalation crowd do when a large contingency of regulars own a Knight? Or a couple Knights? Suddenly it’s not seeming like just ignoring Escalation is not an option. Also, if they end up having D weapons, what then? 40k is going through one of the largest changes to the game since it was created; this goes even further than the introduction of flyers. I think the greatest significance to what is happening isn’t the introduction of lords of war to the basic game, but if you look at the larger picture, the fracturing of the base game into a landscape from which you can construct your own. To me, this is preferable. It will take some serious effort to adapt to competitive environments, but that doesn’t concern me personally.
Also, as I always see things through the prism of Forge World, hopefully this release will continue the trend of opening up peoples opinions about the use of Forge World, as it will be increasingly difficult to see it as somehow inherently more broken than “regular” GW models and rules. I can hope.