GW is in a bit of a hotspot at the moment, Escalation has caused a hell of a meltdown. Furthermore, I just properly read the Warriors Code......interesting stuff. However, the real piece of the cake is the comment section of the Warhammer World Facebook page.
Before I get into the depths of such comments, I want to talk about something I just read in the Warriors Code. Everything else was fine, until I burst out laughing at one of the "examples" of an incomplete model:
"A Dark Eldar Raider or Venom where the crew are not in place."
I've had Dark Eldar for a long time now, and none of my Venom's have crew. They have all broken, snapped off or I haven't been bothered to assemble them. The Venom doesn't look at all "incomplete," and I'm yet to meet anyone who has said otherwise. This won't impact me in ANY way as I game in Australia, just thought it was amusing.
Anyway, onto the real stuff.
So, essentially, the updated Warrior's code allows for ALL of the formations and new expansions. The poor staff at Warhammer World have had to deal with the community meltdown over the induction of Super-Heavies. "Nick" seems to have the patience of a saint. If you have Facebook, you should head over and check out the "feedback." I can understand some people's annoyance at Escalation, I truly can. I don't particularly like it, but I'll vent my feelings on the blog rather than march down to GW and blast the poor staffy. Well, maybe sometimes I do. While there has been a lot of talk about how events will deal with the expansions, I'm not entirely in support of badgering the GW staff about the decisions made by HQ. Even the guys at Warhammer World have to listen to the top. Plus, Throne of Skulls is the companies flagship even, is anyone remotely surprised by it's induction? Also, saying "you will let escalation in, but not FW - that's stupid!" is pretty bad. Especially since FW has always been banned at GW events. You can't be surprised by any of it.
I guess it depends on what the hobby means to you. If Throne of Skulls is the majority of your gaming scene, then you have some right to complain. However, for the most of us, GW events mean very little. In NSW, Australia, we have a handful of GW stores running tournaments. I've been to a few of these and, honestly, they can be some good and relaxed fun. However, the majority of tournaments are privately run at non GW venues. They have their own rules about the game. I'm not going to go into this discussion again though. Escalation hasn't directly changed the way I game....yet, so I haven't had a meltdown as of yet.
Another thing to note, some people are calling this a "money grab" by GW. Or "pay to win" type event. I'm no business expert here, but I don't think GW's plan was to force you to buy one big kit instead of multiple smaller ones - which, would turn out to cost more. So, in a way, you are actually saving money...............................in a way. Some will simply turn to recasters in Eastern Europe or China. Some of the recasted stuff is insanely cheap, so I wouldn't be surprised if I begun to see more and more of it (I don't want to hear ANYTHING about them being "easy to spot." I've seen china recasts being claimed as the real deal, whilst the GW stuff to be fake!). I'm sure GW will come up with a "authentication" type process for the big boys. I know the big....BIG kits come with their own authenticity slip, but for the smaller stuff (such as Cobras or Baneblades) it might be an issue.
On the other hand, 40k will continue as normal!
Tyranids are around the corner, and Escalation doesn't exist for the Hive Mind, only Degustation......................