I remember when there were over 20 people participating in local tournaments on average at the more popular stores. Back then everybody was playing with the same set of rules. Now TOs have to decide what they will allow because there are SO many choices:
- Allies
- Dataslates
- Forge World
- Formations
- Escalation (Lords of War)
- Stronghold Assault (SHA)
- Supplements
It seems like most players don't like Escalation as it stands now mostly due to the crazy rules for D weapons. SHA doesn't seem that popular either with silly things like armor 15 and D weapons as well. I remember reading a tournament report for one GT that allowed Escalation and SHA - the attendance was quite low and every game was decided by whomever went first. Most everyone who attended said they would not bother again. As it stands now Escalation and SHA seem better suited for campaigns versus competitive events.
Allies will still play an integral part in 7th edition and there is no getting around that either (love it or hate it) - luckily the matrix has been tightened up... No longer will xenos hating Space Marines ally with xenos nor will independent characters be able to join monstrous creatures... Hooray for some common sense and going back to the basics.
To be honest I'm not a big of formations either as again there are SO many... Kind of like Forge World. It's too much to track and the holy crusade for Forge World seems to have gotten lost somewhere along the way with all this craziness - nor did Games Workshop add it to their new website.
The only dataslates I'm aware of are for Be'lakor and Cypher... I have noticed Be'lakor is very popular across the country and for good reason. I played a couple games with Cypher and he was a ton of fun while not overpowering—I am all for dataslates as they stand now. I also support the supplements as well and they seem to have been very well received.
Hopefully 7th edition will help us all out. I've noticed 40k follows 30k so you can expect to see a variety of Force Organization Charts - some will allow Escalation and SHA while others won't—TOs can choose which ones they want to support so in theory it should be simpler for everyone.
The bottom line is we will all have to work together if we want to participate in local tournaments with higher attendance... As it stands now I don't know two stores within my local area that follow exactly the same guidelines and I think that also hurts overall attendance.
I'd like to touch on the subject of wacky mission rules. I prefer missions that are straight forward and curb randomness. Tournaments are inherently competitive - that it's very nature. Things like mysterious objectives and terrain have not been well received plus they add more time to the game. I've had a good number of fellow players tell me they've had it with really wacky mission rules. On the other hand multiple objectives have become the norm.
Finally I think to a certain degree tournament play is not nearly as well regulated as it used to be... At least in my area. I remember hard line TOs that said up front before the first dice was rolled they would take a hard stand versus cheating and slow play. The last two events I attended definitely could have benefitted with with tighter supervision of the individual games. Cheaters and those that slow play will take as much as what they can get away with at the expense of other more scrupulous players. This also diminishes the number of players who attend... It's just not worth your time if you know chances are you'll probably have to play a TFG that pulls a lot of shenanigans throughout a game. I also remember events with more than one judge so they could better keep an eye on the games. What comes around goes around as per the proverbial saying.
So that's it, I've had my say. Hopefully it comes across as constructive. I'd love to see more players attending again... That's what it's all about.
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