...is a hard question to answer. To that end we here at 40KOrigins labs created a questionnarie for Origins to help us find out. We got back a fair amount of results, although nowhere near enough to suggest it somehow represents the interests of the Games-Workshop player base as a whole. But, the results do give use a springboard for deeper discussions on the matter.
This is important because 40kOrigins is going to widen its view to take in all and any games related to Games-Workshop (note the new header). This is partially because we want to paint and play more than just 40K, but also because the other games are just too interesting to ignore. Don't worry, the primary emphasis will remain 40K. However, I've been itching to talk about Warhammer and Warhammer Historicals (my degree is in history) while GBPrime is a Battlefleet Gothic fanatic who'd love to post some articles. We both are interested in trying new things.
Nevertheless, we want to present stuff people care about so here is the results of the questionnaries from Origins. The scale is from 0% -- Everyone hates the idea completely to 100% -- Everyone wants this more than even beer!
1) What Games Would You Like to See Covered on 40KOrigins?
Some interesting observations here and some obvious ones. It's hardly surprising that players playing 40K would give the game a high score. More interesting is the high score for Blood Bowl -- a dear old favorite apparently -- and the almost as high score for Lord(War) of the Rings. Warhammer Fantasy received a lower total than I expected, but Warhammer Historicals did rather well considering I feared it would be at the bottom. Interestingly the individual scores for Historicals was very up and down -- people either loved it or hated it. However, that love part suggests a small, but devoted interest in the game that might warrant organizing an appropriate event.
2) What Types of Material Would You Like To See on the Website?
The only minor surprise is that Product Previews was last on the list. By comparison, web material on 'How to do X" was an winning desire. Most everything else caught good interest as well.
3) What Sort of Games Whould Like to See Us Run as Formal Tournaments, Special Scenarios, and so forth:
-
Warhammer 40K: 85%
-
Apocalypse Battles: 76%
-
Space Hulk: 75%
-
Skirmishes: 67%
-
Introductory Games: 62%
-
Warhammer: 50%
-
Historicals: 47%
-
Battlefleet Gothic: 32%
-
Epic Armageddon: 28%
Battlefleet Gothic and Epic Armageddon got little joy here, but 40K, Apocalypse, and Space Hulk seemed to draw everyone's interest. Real question is how this relates to interest as a whole.
So, here is your chance to respond and start a good discussion in the comments section about what 40KOrigins should concentrate on in the future, both in terms of web material and planned events (we aren't limiting ourselves to just Origins). This post will remain first in line for the next two days to encourage people to speak their minds.
At the Apocalypse game we helped run at Origins I used this new old model of mine for the first time -- an old Armorcast Tempest:
In this case I used the rules for the Eldar Scorpion (which is really just the Forge World version of the Tempest) instead of the Bell of Lost Souls' Lords of Battle because they are a bit better although the tank then costs more. It's strength D weapons were awesome against my local opponent's tanks.
I got the Tempest off Ebay a while back for about $65. The paint job is my own.
As we quickly approach the final line that is Origins I decided to paint up -- wait for it -- another squad of terminators so that the 40K Space Hulk game can have a more varied number of troopers (and because I just like terminators, of course).
These are the Black Reach terminators which if not quite as good as their regular flavored brethren still paint up rather well.
So, how many terminators does this make for me? Take a look:
What you see there is a whopping fifty-five (55) terminators -- both old and new style. That makes for eleven (11) squads of heavily armored, teleporting death. And, this of course doesn't count my dreadnoughts or land raiders.
Only one problem as I see it -- a "mere" fifty-five means I am still a good forty-five away from having a complete 1st Marine Company. Sigh. I think I'll wait a while before finishing that project.
Here is my last fully painted 40K army -- an Ork Speed Freak gang. The picture below doesn't include twenty painted bikes.
This is an old army I painted about ten years ago. My original theme was that the army had a band of Meks in charge who brought their boyz to complete in an orky competition called "Junkyard Waa!" (Let's see who gets the reference). I later added a unit of nobs and a warboss so that I could buff-up its close-combat potential.
I haven't played the army for a while, partially because the new Ork codex rewrote the design of a Speed Freak force and partially because I've been busy with other armies. However, after going through my models I think that one of these days I will paint up a battlewagon (or two) and the Deffkoptas I got from the Black Reach box in order to update my force. Then the boyz will return to bash some heads in!
Yes, it is yet more terminators. This time it's a squad of Thunder Hammer terminators.
What's nice about this set is that it finally gives me enough painted examples of the new style terminators for the upcoming 40K Space Hulk games at Origins. Now I just need to get the map done...
The march toward Origins continues. Here is another finished terminator squad:
Fast forward to sometime in 995.M02, or 1995 if you prefer. The Black Codex years of 2nd Ed are behind us, and while armor penetration rolls have gotten easier, everyone is still photocopying blast templates so they'll have enough blind grenade markers for a typical game. Meanwhile, Armorcast is making fantastic vehicles that we never thought would see the light of day in our favorite 28mm wargame. As a result, the battles are getting larger. We're still gaming every week, but now massed battles of 10000 points or more are happening regularly.
My own Space Marine chapter, the Distant Sons, are better defined now, and I've narrowed them down to a single paint scheme. The Distant Sons are unusual for a marine chapter at this time, since they're fielding marines in old-fashioned squads of 10. Better yet, I've got banners now, and they're starting to look like a proper force.
It's in the larger battles that Commander Qalsone (call-SOWN) loses his invincible aura once and for all. There's just too much armor-defeating nastiness roaming around now, and my typical opponant is now an Imperial Guard player, so I'm learning to despise battlecannons. It's because of all these imperial versus imperial fights and high body counts that we start to develop a storyline.
At first, Ranillon and I are just engaging in "war games". Qalsone and his marines attack an imperial guard garrison with "low power" weapons and they see how long it takes them to repel us. But the larger games played at the shop aren't buying that idea, so pretty soon we have our own Age of Apostacy going on, with marine fighting marine alongside IG players, and nobody is sure who is the traitor and who is the loyalist!
In the end, Ranillon's IG and my Distant Sons marines are on the winning side of the 60,000 point world-ending battle. [The game store closed down soon after.] Under Qalsone's leadership, the Distant Sons claimed the lives of a great multitude of loyal followers of the Emperor who had been led astray by their greedy commanders. A price was to be paid for this "victory", and our imperial forces were exiled and sent on an indefinate crusade. [Ranillon and I changed jobs and moved to Ohio.]
In 999.M02, Qalsone was given the opportunity to redeem his chapter's honor and return the Distant Sons to the Emperor's grace. Preparations were made to take part in a Great Crusade [the 1999 Chicago Grand Tournament], and new marines were drafted and prepared. Qalsone was promoted to Captain of the 3rd Company, becoming a Space Marine Captain at last. He was given one of the chapter's relics to aid him in combat, a weapon claimed from a fallen Inquisitor.
Onward...
I had to take a break from doing Terminators (in effect to clear my painting palate) and decided to paint up an old Catachan model in celebration of the new Imperial Guard codex -- namely Colonel "Iron Hand" Straken.
Rules-wise I think Straken makes for a darn good character -- great stats, fearless, and able to give everyone around him counter-attack and furious charge. He'll be my leader if and when I do a Catachan army.
However, until then it's back to painting terminators...