For the last couple of months there was a steep decline in Warhammer Fantasy games, at our local club, at other clubs and even my place has seen fewer battles. The main reason behind this is most likely due to all the rumors doing the rounds.
- Round bases...
- Factions fading away...
- Less of a model range....
Now all of these are quite horrifying, especially if you look at the impact it will have on our hobby. The majority of players even just at our club have 100+ models each on square bases, quite a few of us have factions that are in danger of being discontinue.
1. Round Bases
There is one reason I believe it will be impossible to move over to round bases, imagine the following, a regiment of Skaven clanrats, 10 wide and 10 deep, that is a big horde, but not unseen. 100 Models on one massive movement tray, but now how long will it take to move those models with round bases 8 inches forward? How will you get your ranks and files to fill up correctly, it is hard enough with square bases and black orcs, but on round bases it will just be an unorganized mess. That is the only reason I not only believe it is unlikely but also impossible.
2. Factions dropped
This is one that I am slightly more concerned about, I get there are certain armies that sell and certain that don't. There have been factions that have been dropped before, Chaos Dwarfs spring to mind.
The chances of merging the human factions, well that can be possible, there are really hardly any guys out there who play Bretonnia, and they have not seen a new army book in more than 10 years. Beastmen disappearing... unlikely. Merged with the forces of Chaos like in the 6th Edition well that is a possibility.
Ogres merging with other factions might be a possibility or maybe used as mercenaries, I have seen a few beautiful Ogre armies, though I do not see them as very popular, but removing them I would really be disappointing, the idea in fantasy has always been the diversity for me.
Lizards disappearing... I do not know why they would consider it, it is not an unpopular army and it is a race/faction very unique to the Warhammer universe. The fact that I spent a small fortune to get the forces of Lustria going aside, if they were dropped I would have to move over to another universe that accommodates them ( here is looking at you Mantic).
3. Less models
This is something I do not see happening easily, having only core troops and maybe special at most stores while the rest are direct order only would make sense. It would make me less of a happy camper, but I would still continue. Dumbing down Warhammer will not save it, making it more accessible/cheaper might. Though I do believe the next edition of Warhammer might be quite a change.
Age of Sigmar
Now the beginning of this week I did see something quite interesting on GW's youtube feed. The Age of Sigmar is coming, 4th of July! So let's hope they do not break the rules but rather balance it out better. This will have to be quite a turning point for them, the competition are stiffer, 3D printers are on the rise, and their business model is in trouble, so if they do want to continue into the future they will have to tread very carefully.
Well until more news is available, until then good luck with those rolls.
