I don't even know why people play 40k as a competitive game, it really isnt fit for that purpose, perhaps one day it will be, with the right people working on it, but that day is not now, nor will it be anytime soon. There is however, so many miniature games out there that are tailored for competitive play, with miniatures just as cool if not cooler and thriving communities... Infinity and malifaux being 2 examples.
Just been getting into malifaux recently, very cool models and game! I think scale of battle has a lot to do with it though, smaller games are easier to balance for competitive play, the more moving parts the harder it is to balance everything, and 40k has that issue to the max.
There are many reason why this is so, but I think it boils down to two big reasons for myself: 1. It's THE game. It's played everywhere. I mean it. You can go to Kenya, people play the game. You can go to any tiny town of 300ppl in the United States, and people play the game. Not many games have the reach and common play experience. 2. The lack of the 'third space' (especially in the United States, where I live). My generation doesn't really bowl anymore, doesn't really do anything competitive outside of video games. Table-top games is a rare space where people gather to play. Even for my teenagers, most places now are walled off, shut down, or you have to pay now. The 'third space' is dying. With the combination of the above, I was a garage gamer for many years, but my god - playing a narrative event in a tournament setting was the most fun I ever had.
I think GW have tried to position themselves as this elite and masterful company. So when you look at the rules you get for the money you spend, it makes people angry. The truth is that GW doesn't have a complete handle on the rules. Being a Warhammer player requires patience and understanding; it's imperfect, something quite different from the image GW projects. The past several years have shown us that these rules need to be polished over time.
It's their culture. When people interview games-workshop employees, they are drummed on day 1 that GW is a model company, not a game company. They put all their focus on their models (and to be fair, their models are top notched), but they do not think rules are important. In their shareholder's meeting, GW point to the data set that most models sold never hit the tabletop - most models are sold to painters that don't play the game. Tournament players are a tiny percentage of sales, but they are the loudest in their opinion. Their number one demographic are parents buying a model for their young kid - that's why they went hard with one-man stores. One man stores are for that specific customer, not the table-top gamer. And so, this culture means model sculpture artists are paid very well, while rule writers are paid pennies (with neither receiving credit for their work). Edit: After re-reading above, to sum it up, GW views the game as a marketing device to sell the models - nothing more.
Well, they are a publicly traded company, and GW has been doing good since then. Their reach has only grown. It's a hot mess, but a lot of people really love that mess :)
Why is Kenny Omega slagging off tenth edition??
Top level trolling Sir
OMG I thought the same thing 😂
I don't even know why people play 40k as a competitive game, it really isnt fit for that purpose, perhaps one day it will be, with the right people working on it, but that day is not now, nor will it be anytime soon. There is however, so many miniature games out there that are tailored for competitive play, with miniatures just as cool if not cooler and thriving communities... Infinity and malifaux being 2 examples.
Just been getting into malifaux recently, very cool models and game! I think scale of battle has a lot to do with it though, smaller games are easier to balance for competitive play, the more moving parts the harder it is to balance everything, and 40k has that issue to the max.
Its a bit of a struggle at the moment - but think GW can balance it out again and get to a sensible place!
There are many reason why this is so, but I think it boils down to two big reasons for myself:
1. It's THE game. It's played everywhere. I mean it. You can go to Kenya, people play the game. You can go to any tiny town of 300ppl in the United States, and people play the game. Not many games have the reach and common play experience.
2. The lack of the 'third space' (especially in the United States, where I live). My generation doesn't really bowl anymore, doesn't really do anything competitive outside of video games. Table-top games is a rare space where people gather to play. Even for my teenagers, most places now are walled off, shut down, or you have to pay now. The 'third space' is dying.
With the combination of the above, I was a garage gamer for many years, but my god - playing a narrative event in a tournament setting was the most fun I ever had.
I think GW have tried to position themselves as this elite and masterful company. So when you look at the rules you get for the money you spend, it makes people angry. The truth is that GW doesn't have a complete handle on the rules. Being a Warhammer player requires patience and understanding; it's imperfect, something quite different from the image GW projects. The past several years have shown us that these rules need to be polished over time.
It's their culture. When people interview games-workshop employees, they are drummed on day 1 that GW is a model company, not a game company. They put all their focus on their models (and to be fair, their models are top notched), but they do not think rules are important. In their shareholder's meeting, GW point to the data set that most models sold never hit the tabletop - most models are sold to painters that don't play the game. Tournament players are a tiny percentage of sales, but they are the loudest in their opinion. Their number one demographic are parents buying a model for their young kid - that's why they went hard with one-man stores. One man stores are for that specific customer, not the table-top gamer. And so, this culture means model sculpture artists are paid very well, while rule writers are paid pennies (with neither receiving credit for their work).
Edit: After re-reading above, to sum it up, GW views the game as a marketing device to sell the models - nothing more.
Well, 40k is a hot mess since 5th Ed so.. yeah. Garbage.
Well, they are a publicly traded company, and GW has been doing good since then. Their reach has only grown. It's a hot mess, but a lot of people really love that mess :)