40K and Me!

My return to 40k  unlike the return of Roboute Gulliman was not spectacular I did not awake from a stasis slumber to rule over the Imperium. It was mainly a group of friends were talking about playing a crusade and I wanted in lol. So after 6 or 7 games I think I'm a regular now ha ha ha Now ideally I would have picked a small elite army so I wouldn't have to have loads of models....... Except the Astra Militarium or as they are properly known Imperial Guard are my favourites and I always think that the normal blokes given a Las rifle and told to fight that Carnifex has a lot more guts than a super soldier. Plus tanks, tanks and more tanks. If you know 40k at the moment you will know Guard are the worst army having no new rules for years (A recent update gives us a bit of a  boost to be fair but still not there yet )  but that's only really a problem if you are a super competitive player. Playing for fun I take my victories elsewhere. Like my last battle I scored 3 wounds on a Knight Tyrant with Las guns!! My Bulgryns beating a War Dog into the ground was amusing as well. That's what my Wargaming is all about those crazy stories or ridiculous dice rolls that come off..... Or fail. I'm well aware peoole play for different reasons and that's absolutley fine. Different strokes for different folks and all that

Let's get the cons out the way cos they are dull but for balance I should say them 😁

1. The turn system. It feels archaic and so disheartening to watch half your army get shot away  especially when you have a weak army. Alternate actions seems so much better allowing you to react to a enemy move.  A few wrong deployments and boom units are dead and utterly  pointless you might as well not bother setting them up. Now I hear you cry you should better deploy and this is true. How ever their are times when you will just get blown away with out reply and after playing games like Bolt Action it just doesn't feel a fluid. We have played 40K once using alternative actions and it was good fun.

2. The amount of special rules! I have a home made 4 page cheat sheet and that's not even all the rules. The main rules are super simple but so so many extra rules you could do with remembering.

3. The whole leaning towards tournament play. Most FB groups and twitter are filled with meta lists and what you have to have in a tournamant and everything else is seen  as a waste and pointless. I may just not have found any groups yet but there is for me at the moment a lack of narrative gaming on 40k. They do have the crusade idea which is good for building a force but still adheres somewhat to the whole tournament feel. Now true this is all down to the individual and their friends so I cam do it myself that's true but its a shame not to see a bit more narrative set ups. 

And that's it  yeah yeah I know people find plenty more and some of you maybe wondering why I haven't put price as a con. Honestly the models are definatly on the more expensive side! However the models are some of the best I've seen and they go together really simply with a few exceptions (Wood Elf Blood Bowl team I'm looking at you!!!!!) also since I've been doing the hobby I have been lucky enough to chat to a couple of games designers and miniature designers who have developed their own world and lore which also requires time, effort and can be easily ripped off by other people. Another reason is I'm not tied to GW several of my Imperial guard troops aren't GW models. I can't see me playing at a GW shop or Warhammer world with my army so haven't got to worry about that and my friends are super casual about what models I bring. I have a theme for them their just not GW models.

The pros

1. I'm a big fan of the lore always have been even through my period of not playing games I always read the books from black library and every now and then bought a white dwarf. I'm not as interested in the  chaos side of the lore I prefer the Imperium vs Xenos but once again different strokes for different folks. As you may have guessed I'm not into the whole super soldier malarkey I much prefer playing the grunts who are in the field hence why Gaunts Ghosts and Ciaphas Cain are my fave reads and highly reccomended. 

2. The models are really nice sometimes they are a bit too detailed for my painting skills but I can't blame my poor painting on the model designers! 

3. The core rules are simple to pick up and are designed for quicker play (clearly designed for tournament play) even though the miriad of special rules can hinder this. 

4. I do like seeing big Chunky armies fighting across the battle field I can't lie. Humping them around to various places can be  annoying though ha ha ha 

There's bound to be more but that's all I can think of right now. I'm enjoying my 40k journey, still not quite as fun as Bolt Action but I'm enjoying the nostalgia of playing 40k when I was a wee teenager.