I've realized my problem with AoS...
I have a guess that the Age of Sigmar will eventually
become something interesting, maybe even worth playing. But I started seeing
what it was, heard that there was no WHF 9th, and wrote it off.
It took me some time to realize why.
Flashback: fall 2001. I had seen 40k as a game before,
almost bought a starter set when I was much younger and my brother had gotten a
catalogue, but I’d been turned off by my utter lack of painting skill, and the
money I’d need to get started. a friend of mine, who would go on to co-own my
LGS heard me voice my curiosity about the game, and offered me a ton of models
-- he'd gotten three of the 3rd ed starter sets, and as such had about 90 Dark
Eldar models he had no use for. "$30 and they're yours, and I’ll throw in
an extra copy of the rules"
I went home that day, wondering if I should. I did some
research, looking up info about the game online. I found a page that had
collected transcribed fluff from various sources and hyperlinked to more fluff.
I read about Sanguinius' fight with a Bloodthirster, about the drop site
massacre... I learned about the treachery of Horus and the failure of the
Emperor. I learned about Magnus pleading for continuance at Nikea, and later
for sanctuary when the wolves came for his children. I learned about the
nameless guardsman whose sacrifice gave the mortally wounded Emperor the chance
to stop Horus, and felt as I did when reading history books of great deeds, or
when reading quality fiction of depth and richness. When the sun came up, I was
still reading.
And that was how I got my start in war gaming.
But I was an avid reader. And I know the gravity that a
good background, a good story can create. The author can either create a fully
fleshed-out world, or show you enough of the world to make you believe that it
is fully fleshed-out -- and those hints are often far more compelling. I wanted
to see Gilead before the fall far more than Camelot (I hear it's a silly place
anyway). I wanted to read the narrative of Beren and Luthien as a whole story
and not as snippets through the Silmarillion. I wanted to know who made the
labyrinths from where the Balrog rose, or what Delirium claims is "on the
other side of the sky," or what great adventures Li Mu Bai and Yu Shu Lien
had with the Green Destiny, or exactly what Mance Raider saw in the frozen
tombs. There’s completeness that each of these holds and creates that spins an
air of weight about itself.
40k had that, for me, from the beginning. sure, I was
three editions in, and it would expand in its own way from there -- sometimes
in rich and interesting ways, like much of the HH novels... and sometimes, as
with the "Oll Persson was an immortal" it would be obvious that the
new writers did not understand why the old fluff had the significance it did. When
I realized that those I played 40k with were more into WHFB, I pondered the
entry into another arm of the hobby.
I again did research. This time it was easier -- I got a
copy of the old WHFRP books, and the Liber Chaotica, and similar sources so I
could read up on the history of their world, and understood that it too was a
fully-realized place that felt as if it was an alternate history. The rise of Ulthuan,
the corruption from within, the struggles of humanity, the whispers of the
primal compulsions of chaos -- it all felt real.
Some people throw themselves into a fandom. I have enough
students even still who come to school wearing their house colors, doodling
snitches and brooms when they should be taking notes, and who look surprised
when I tell them I’d be a Ravenclaw. I’m amused, and I like a good read, but I
don't feel like it's my home. even with GW worlds, I hold myself back from
jumping in headfirst... but the genius of the Liber Chaotica was that it made
me forget to hold back... it was as if I’d found the hidden library that
inserts itself in my dreams, and I found the worst possible book to pick up and
bring home to read. It felt real. And thus, the time I would invest in creating
my armies felt as if I was sharing in something far larger than myself.
I bought in, somewhere around 6th, and played strongly throughout 7th. 8th saw
my army severely changed, and for the lesser -- I don't say for the worse,
because they could still function on the table... but the arbitrary shifts they
had made turned them into lesser and less important than they had once been. They
lost gravity.
What I’ve recently realized is that Age of Sigmar has no
gravity to it.
To sidestep for a bit, I should mention that gravitas --
that sense of weight and significance and importance I was alluding to above --
is actually hard to create. Often it takes years and revisions and alterations
and a massive amount of work in order to capture that feel. Many good,
experienced writers cannot do so. One of my favorite classics - The Count of
Monte Cristo -- has virtually no weight to it, and the same author's
better-known Three Musketeers has perhaps one scene of weight (the former
priest executing his totally-not-a-ninja ex-wife) amid a ton of action and fun
and swordfighting. But both of them have real history to draw from in order to
create that weight for them. Fantasy and science fiction have to construct it
themselves.
Games do not need this if they have good rules, but
without it the drive to be a part of it is largely just another fandom, just a
general hobby. If it lacks depth, it lacks weight, and therefore it cannot hold
my interest.
Malifaux is like this. It’s an interesting system (but
not interesting enough for me to want to play it too much), with an interesting
background (which I’d like to read more about, but there isn't much effort made
to flesh it out), and some not-terrible characters. It is, therefore to me, a
novelty and not a serious game because I’ll have fun and put it aside without a
second thought.
Warmachine is like this as well, and Hordes. being that
they are both nation-sized games with brewing political and martial
machinations, the fact that there are only really about ten people in each
country that actually matter is remarkably shortsighted. It reads less like a
complete and fleshed-out world, and more like a one-off module for D&D. it
tries to substitute gimmick and unsuccessful tropes for quality writing. this
is of course my own opinion, and others may find the depth in these that I have
not, or they may have bought into the fandom which is related, but I fail to
see the compelling elements in these that make me want to be a part.
More likely than not, this gravity is really just my own
justification for buying in, and the "fandom" argument is nothing
more than my own bias. So interpret as necessary, and insert your own as
needed.
Age of Sigmar has been, from my limited perspective of
fourteen years' worth of paying attention, the second-worst implementation in
wargaming that I can point to. The worst -- certain parts of the 5th ed 40k
FAQs that forgot what a FAQ is for -- is also admittedly a personal grudge of
mine. allowing the fan base to believe that WHF 9th was coming to allow
everyone to dust off their rank-and-file units and play afresh a game steeped
in its own constructed and complete history, only to provide a game that is not
fully imagined and plays so markedly different was asking for backlash. Plain
and simple.
It might turn into an interesting game. It might develop, and enrich, and grow.
It might be the very reworking that others have claimed (with far too much
gusto to not be blind to the missing weight) that WHF needed.
It might not. And since it was released with so little
attempt at a fully-fleshed-out setting (relying on its history and the game
equivalent of name-dropping), as well as blatant gaps in acknowledging what the
players truly wanted, "not" seems far more likely.
The worst thing? I’m part of the problem. WHF has been
slipping, stagnating, for years. I’ve bought exactly three boxes of WHF models
in the last five years -- the Wood Elf stag riders because my wife wants to
paint them, a 50% off box of Witch Elves I’ll be converting to DE, and the new
Bestigors when they came out just before 8th dropped. I’ve got 5000 points of
Beasts (formerly of Nurgle, then mysteriously just... not), and another 3000 of
Ogres. I’ve got a 3000-point High Elf army in mostly secondhand bits and pieces
that I never got around to in favor of other projects. Why would I buy
anything? And with that stagnation, something big needed to come out of it.
But AoS wasn't what was needed.
the End Times was interesting, but ultimately just a gimmick that they probably
should have milked for far longer, made more of the limited models (I’d love to
just assemble and paint a Nagash, or kitbash it with a Chaos Knight), and
extended with a community-involved campaign. show that the railroading at the
end of Storm of Chaos was a mistake, planned out what would happen in each next
phase based on player involvement, and then steer it to a slightly different
end based on whoever ultimately won, tied into some design elements and game specifics
of the new game.
That’s why a "40k end times?" is at heart a
foolish idea to entertain -- they could only do it if they wanted to poison
their cash cow.
AoS may still grow, and it may have enrichment
opportunities in the future, but it had a botched introduction. And unless they
put a lot more work into the next phase of the product, they are not going to
keep it afloat. alienating many of their fans was a bad idea from the start,
but they still need to sell models and books to stay in business, so they need
avenues by which to do these things... but they have not realized that it's the
fluff just as much as the game that makes or breaks them.
I propose a "what if?" situation. I want anyone who bothers reading
this to imagine what WHF would be like if they had decided on doing it right --
releasing AoS in such a way that it grew its gravitas, connected with its
roots, and added to the experience of its fans. Imagine for a moment that they
were a little more up-front with their community, and that they created the
best possible environment in which to debut and grow their new product. Incidentally,
the "appropriate time" for something, or the creation of such a
situation in which the appropriate time comes to be, is what the rhetorical
term "Kairos" means. For those Tzeentch fans.
Imagine, for a moment, that they extended the End Times
throughout another year, but explained that it was going to be exactly as it
says on the tin -- the end of the world as you knew it, to be replaced and not
rebooted once the ET campaign was over. Now also imagine that they supported ET
as a full campaign. then, once it came to a close, imagine that they did not
release the final story... they announced the victors, and anyone who had
bought one of their books could use a code inside to set up an account that
would allow them to access a website that was filled with all those questions
that you always wanted to know the answers to, as well as the final explanation
of the end.
Now imagine that they gave a definite release date for the new product.
Imagine that rather than being lazy and using the same
bulletproof plot-armor characters, they used the goings-on to kill off some of
them, building both new characters and the feeling that there were many other
worthy people you just hadn't heard of. In other words, escape the warmahordes
problem of boiling international conflicts down to the goings-on of a class
president election. they could use some for their fluff purposes, but as the
game finds its footing they should all be phased out gradually in favor of a
new generation (or many) of characters that will change as the game grows.
Now imagine that, since 40k is largely caught up to 7th ed, they then devoted
monthly product releases large or small to AoS, in order to bring that game up
to speed.
Imagine, for a second, that the release had gone
something like this:
Month 1: fiction piece, novella length, from the point of view
of someone who had become a Stormcast, about rising to battle and being
redeemed, filling in many of the blanks at the end of the End Times books.
also, this could introduce the idea behind the new shift in such a way that did
not have players scratching their heads at release, and even would drum up
interest in what the models would look like.
Month 2: starter set announced with Stormcast vs khorne (now
that people know what a Stormcast is), with a steady slow stream of leaks about
what the game will be... including a definite announcement that WHF9 will not
be a thing (the sooner your diehards get their anger out, the better), had it
not been made clear even sooner. this month could feature a 40k release, and
then the actual starter could have come out to an expectant crowd instead of an
annoyed one.
Month 3: fiction piece, novella length, about the eternal wars of
chaos from the point of view of a Nurgle warrior, seeing the rise and primacy
of Khorne... and the capture and blunting of Slaanesh (but with care to note
that the daemons are still around, setting the stage for an all-chaos campaign
or game or the like for later), ending with the resolution to be patient (for
eventually everything rots away). release the new starter a week later, having
also added new excitement to Khorne's side of the new game.
Month 4: hardcover book like an atlas -- detailing how the
worlds interact, who is where, what is happening, why players should care, and
how their games make sense in the new format... with a section at the end with
rules for campaigns, and a teaser at the end announcing a forthcoming larger
campaign.... this way, it both encourages play in a variety of ways, and the
new cosmos and maps of various places and worlds and their interactions could
actually make sense. 90% fluff and information and 10% relevant game resource
would mean that it wouldn't be a must-buy for everyone, but it would definitely
add depth and weight to the surroundings.
Month 5: AFTER all allegiances and factions and worlds etc are
detailed (in month 4), release of warscrolls for each old model, so that
players can get a feel for how it will all come together, and can accurately
feel out how their army will play and fit into the greater puzzle, instead of
attempting to force the old system to make sense with the new rules. be clear
that (a) there will be a later expansion to army-sized conflict, and (b) the
old models are not necessarily going to have anything to do with the new game.
Month 6: release of three new starter sets and a small campaign
for them, so that they (and the two already-released) were completely
up-to-date... maybe focus on Nurgle, Humans, and whatever the Orcs/goblins
become. take care to fit it into the atlas.
Also unify the online element of the game -- including
the creation of an online record-system for campaigns (maybe a once-a-year $10
subscription that you can use to make army lists, upload pics of your units,
share lists with other registered users in preparation for games, buy from the
webstore, access your datascrolls/warscrolls/etc, and set up long-term campaign
structures). Debut it with the 5-army campaign, but have the ability for the
other factions to use it as well, as helpers to one of the existing sides.
Month 7: full-sized novel. fluff piece from the point of view of
the former generals of Slaanesh, competing with each other and the skaven and
others for supremacy... including some hints at shamylanesque twists. pave the
way for the rumormill, invest in creating the background, and show chaos in
various forms by depicting more information as to what it really is or what it
wants. if the new game wants to use a varied interpretation for of what Chaos
is, use this novel to describe and depict it.
Month 8. another 3-faction release, with starter sets for each,
new generals (named or not), and a campaign focused around the three. maybe the
old-world lizardmen, and the undead, as well as tzeentch. create a campaign
around them in order to drum up interest. given the lizardmen's ties to the
creators of the former world, and the legends of Nagash that were so integral
to the old fluff, the three primary factions could be competing for a number of
different causes. map and track based on the month 6 program, and use that
later.
Month 9: rules expansion: how to use more complicated magic,
additional rules for supporting units, and additional rules for groups of
models that act and operate as one.
Month 10: novel-length fluff piece from the point of view of a
human in the new world-construct, rising through the ranks and pondering the
past as well as the future, and some seeds of chaos beginning to take root.
show the effects of the month 8 campaign, and use the novel to broaden
information about exactly how the worlds are organized and implemented.
Month 11: another major release: Slaanesh, dwarves, skaven, and
Elves, with a campaign that focuses on some dramatic upheaval. during the
expansion, it would start laying out everything people want to know about
Slaanesh and its place in the new setting, and the idea that nothing is set in
stone in the new expanding and developing plot.
Month 12: release rules for integrating old Bretonnians into
humans, giving varied elves specific flavor, and reincorporating Beasts into
chaos... think like dataslates (or the new DA codex) providing new detachments
that fit a specific theme, as well as giving benefits and flaws (only actually
add flaws as a balancing tactic instead of just giving away the rhino farm).
Also, expanding off of the month 6 online tools, debut a
chess-style/fencing-style ranking system for players of a competitive mind.
it'd allow for finding matchups at appropriate skill levels, as well as
reincorporating a tournament/competitive nature to the game. it could be simple
or complex, could be expanded later to be useable via apps or xbox live or the
like, could be used to unlock special achievements via campaigns that would
perhaps give their characters further options or ranks or the like in later
applications/expansions, and set up a system that would translate into
tournaments.
Reinstitute prize support if it goes well.
Have the standings of the various factions influence (a)
faq-balancing of warscrolls, (b) benefits/perks in the next campaign, (c)
elevation of certain generalities to named heroes, including the ability for
campaign/tournament winners once a year to create new named characters for
inclusion into the fluff and perhaps the game.
And, most notable, be up-front and clear at the debut of
this new plan that this is the direction they want to go in, and why.
Month 13: major campaign: The Return of Slaanesh, with plot and
historical/current battles, and using the above-mentioned tracking system for
determining the next phase of the world-building. have it span many months,
incorporate many phases, and show how the development of the new world is
going, even as new events and personnel changes alter the game.
Month 14: release apocalypse-style rules for larger battles,
including the use of larger flying beasts and war-constructs. have it play into
the Slaanesh campaign.
Month 15: release small-scale skirmish rules for the creation of
mordheim-style warbands for use in a specific setting, including specs for
treasure-carrying, possessions, equipment, and stealth. include in the campaign
the reasons for warband action, and lead it to a finale partially based upon
the effects of the players.
Month 16: release a new expansion. no new armies, but a new
world/realm/area to play in. a fragment from the past that somehow broke
through time, with potential treasures. set up a campaign that would require
smaller skirmish games, stealth, and trickery (perhaps using space hulk blip
rules) in order to raid the wealth of the new plane... individual maps and mods
would come out every week for a couple months to play different scenarios. it
would also require standard play, and allow larger play. if successful, make it
a once-a-year big release and add warscrolls specific to the new arena (next
year could be sea combat, or flying, or jungle, etc etc.
In the future... two releases per year. one would detail a new method of play
and/or add new locations to the atlas. the other would be a campaign. each
would have in it new models for various factions (1-2 specialized kinds for
each faction that fit the new playstyle or events), each would further the
plot, each would expand the world. occasionally, a named character might die
and no longer be playable. new ones would come along. maybe best-scoring
players as per month 12 could be allowed to help design new characters.
If these were once-a-month releases, with the occasional step aside for 40k,
you'd have a completely new game, less old player loss, reasons for new models,
events that would get players active, reestablishment of tournaments and the
competitive end, a feel for the new world, and a fanbase that would feel
actively involved in their hobby. in a year and a half or so, it would become
as established as the old WHF was, and begin to feel as complete by way of
feeling like it is developing and living instead of just existing.
Rather than making it obvious that GW was trying to shed the dead weight of
WHF, as they had begun to consider it, they could have (and still could) build
something new and aspire to the same scale of what they used to have. instead
of a new game that is not really for old models, and the distinct feeling of
shame at having believed in WHF9, that so many of us have acting as a roadblock
to actually enjoying AoS for what it is and what it could be.
