Warhammer World have announced that they will be allowing Escalation and Stronghold in their events.
I can not express how sad this makes me. As readers of this blogg know, I have been a huge fan of TOS in the past. When they introduced the "best blow job" points, I stuck with it. When the introduced the crazy scoring system where the winner need not have won all 5 games, I stuck with it. When they ditched swiss paring, I stuck with it. But this is a step too far.
In the past I have likened TOS to an old Woody Allen joke. There is a scene where Woddy is trying to talk a beautiful woman into bed. She says to him " .. but sex with out love is an empty experience…", and Woody responds "…yes, but as empty experiences go, its one of the best".
In the past Ive taken the view that TOS is not a tournament, it's a gaming weekend, but as gaming weekends go, its one of the best.
But now…..!
Here's the thing, to get to TOS, I need to drive for bout 4.5 hours and spend cash on 2 overnight stays. For that I get 5 games of 40k in awesome surroundings. Now the surroundings stay the same, but the games…..!
Without swiss pairing, the "quality" of the games you get is much reduced. Last time I was there I went 4-1. In my 4th game I played somebody who had lost all three previous games. In my last game I played somebody who had gone 1-3. Both games were pretty uneventful. I doubt my opponents had much fun either.
So, now as well as taking the risk that I will be mismatched, I also take the risk that I will play somebody with a superheavy. For fuck's sake! How stupid is that!
And what really pissed me off is that. last night I posted on Warhammer World's Facebook page, respectfully expressing my view that this was a step too far and I would not be coming back, and this morning I find my post has been deleted…..!
I'm so angry about that, I'm tempted to go to TofS and indulge in some civil disobedience!
EYIG
Just wondering but what is wrong with Escalation? I don't see anything too harsh with it (apart from the Eldar Reverent titan, that thing is just plain abuse, plus with the variety of super heavy tanks the Eldar have, I saw no reason to implement it the Escalation book), but apart from that I don't see the supplement too bad, tbh..
ReplyDeleteThe way I look at it is that it works exactly like a Farsight bomb that is on the board first turn, and you get extra benefits, yes its going to cause a lot of damage to your army, but it has all its weapons on one unit, and that one unit costs a shed ton of points (just like a Farsight bomb), competitively its way too many eggs in one basket and anyone who takes the bait is going to be in shock to what it will be facing..
I mean the Special benefits are really good as well such as for 3HP you take off one Super unit you gain an additional VP, I mean that's really awesome when you have the amount of AT that most armies have, plus if you don't wield a Super-unit you get to seize on a 5+ which as from what I have heard can also stack.. Imotek and Vect are going to have fun times..
Apart from the Reverent titan, I really do not see the hate Escalation is given, I personally think it would be a fun addition to the game, to see a baneblade or a Stompa going barrel to Chain(oversized)saw, is kinda what makes 40k for me from my perspective..
We (my group and I) have tickets fro March, bought before they added in the Escalation etc stuff. Like you said, I go to ToS for a gaming weekend, not a tournament. I take (reasonably) fluffy armies I like the theme of. My DA don't have much to deal with a Land Raider, never mind a Baneblade.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't mind if it was a 'proper' tourney but I want five proper games...not to be effectively finished by the top of two should I deploy opposite a Revenant and not get first turn.
We have friends going this month and next so we'll see what the turn out is like regarding D-weapons, void shields etc but March might well be my last visit :(
And they're arseholes for avoiding the FB post.
Sorry Warp Forge, I missed your comment earlier.
ReplyDeleteIts about balance and fun. If somebody brings a revenant, or the transcendent c'tan, or the Lord of Skulls, or a void shield generator with 3 shields, behind which he hides a bunch of broadsides - not persuaded its gonna be much fun! The problem I suspect will be lack of tactical flexibility - if you kill the super heavy you win, if you don't you lose.
Rebel Grot - would be really interested to hear your friends experiences.
EYIG
Its ok :) sorry for late reply I don't usually go on Blogger much since I don't have many followers
ReplyDeleteI can understand your first point, but I think your second point could be argued on, in terms of tactical flexibility, I personally find this problem with 40k in normal games, such as seeing a seer-star or a screamer star - don't kill it in one turn and now I'm spending 2 hours watching myself lose, the old Tyranids - shoot kill Flyrants or Tervigon's before second turn or doom in a pod comes on and now there are too many targets means that you lose, which does get tedious considering that 40k is meant to be fun, not a game of tabling the other imo, hence why I'm slowly hopping off the 40k train and going on the route of Malifaux..
D-weapons have wrecked the game this weekend. I played a revenant titan and was tabled in 4 turns. Four turns took 25 minutes in end to end deployment and all I got was 4 hits on the titan which were then all made insignificant by the holofield. Not cool that this has been allowed in the rules. One guy did however beat a revenant titan to death with Mephiston thought and table the rest of the army in turn one!
ReplyDeleteodinsport - was this at Throne of Skulls? How many Revenants were there?
ReplyDelete2 Titans, a macro cannon, a fort with that stupid 15in template and a few baneblades.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, Jan 14 TofS.
ReplyDelete